In this episode of the Digital Toolbox Podcast, Luis from LTR Concrete shares his journey from a young landscaper to the owner of a successful concrete company. He discusses the challenges of working with concrete, building a strong team culture, and the transition from exterior to interior work. Luis and his wife, Julie, also talk about their roles in the business and the importance of staying organized. The conversation covers the journey of LTR Concrete Inc, from starting the business to managing commercial and residential projects. It delves into the challenges of client management, payment terms, and the importance of office management. The couple shares valuable insights on the field and office sides of the business, emphasizing the significance of delegation and patience.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00
The Journey to Concrete Success: From Landscaper to Business Owner
03:20
Navigating the Challenges of Concrete Work: Exterior to Interior Transition
08:06
Building a Strong Team Culture in the Construction Industry
25:20
The Journey of LTR Concrete Inc: A Story of Growth and Challenges
39:25
Navigating Commercial and Residential Projects: Insights from LTR Concrete Inc
45:36
The Importance of Delegation and Patience in Construction Business
Keywords
concrete, construction, landscaping, business journey, team culture, interior work, company organization, construction business, client management, payment terms, office management, delegation, patience, commercial projects, residential projects
In this episode of the Digital Toolbox Podcast, Luis from LTR Concrete shares his journey from a young landscaper to the owner of a successful concrete company. He discusses the challenges of working with concrete, building a strong team culture, and the transition from exterior to interior work. Luis and his wife, Julie, also talk about their roles in the business and the importance of staying organized. The conversation covers the journey of LTR Concrete Inc, from starting the business to managing commercial and residential projects. It delves into the challenges of client management, payment terms, and the importance of office management. The couple shares valuable insights on the field and office sides of the business, emphasizing the significance of delegation and patience.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00
The Journey to Concrete Success: From Landscaper to Business Owner
03:20
Navigating the Challenges of Concrete Work: Exterior to Interior Transition
08:06
Building a Strong Team Culture in the Construction Industry
25:20
The Journey of LTR Concrete Inc: A Story of Growth and Challenges
39:25
Navigating Commercial and Residential Projects: Insights from LTR Concrete Inc
45:36
The Importance of Delegation and Patience in Construction Business
Keywords
concrete, construction, landscaping, business journey, team culture, interior work, company organization, construction business, client management, payment terms, office management, delegation, patience, commercial projects, residential projects
Enmanuel Tejada (00:00.326)
All right, cool. So we're live now, it's recording. I'm gonna do the intro.
Enmanuel Tejada (00:08.486)
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Digital Toolbox Podcast. I am your host, Enmanuel Tejada I'm the owner of Landscape Maverick. We are a digital marketing agency for landscapers, hardscapers, concrete companies, you name it, we do it. Whether it comes to websites, SEO, ads, we do it all. And today I'm joined by a very, very, very special guest. His name is Louis from LTR Concrete. Louis, introduce yourself, man.
LTR Concrete Inc (00:32.152)
Hey, how you guys doing? My name is Luis. I'm the owner and CEO of LTR Concrete. We're a concrete company based out of Southern California. We work in any county and surrounding areas and we do everything from decorative structural concrete. We're also a general contracting company that picks up commercial and residential work, remodels, all that good stuff.
Enmanuel Tejada (00:56.742)
Dude, that's awesome, bro. And Lewis, I mean, how did you even get into concrete? How did you even get into construction, bro? What's your story when it comes to that?
LTR Concrete Inc (01:06.008)
when I was younger, I was a little bit of a knucklehead and I had, I had some good friends, you know, that invited me into their landscaping. I was about 16 and, I tried it for a bit. it wasn't all I thought it was going to be, but you know, I liked it. after that, you know, the money wasn't all there, you know, it's kind of worked different. You know, it wasn't a paycheck, payroll, all that stuff. It was just kind of cash here and there, you know.
I was young so it wasn't really like I was an employee. So I ended up getting a job at a, like a, what was it like, a daycare development center or something like that. And then that's actually where I met my wife. I started dating her, I met her dad. Her dad works, her dad's a foreman for a company and they thought they were gonna get a kick out of taking me to work and make fun of me but.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:00.518)
Mm -hmm.
LTR Concrete Inc (02:05.848)
I was kind of already used to it and yeah, the owner of the company actually liked how I worked and invited me to stay. So yeah, I joined the company and yeah, everything kind of took off from there.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:20.326)
That's freaking awesome, bro. And so what like what did you get your starting? Because I know you mentioned you were looking for your landscaping buddies, but they probably weren't throwing down concrete though, were they?
LTR Concrete Inc (02:30.328)
they're your typical, I mean, out here in LA, you know, you got your gardeners and landscapers that, you know, kind of get into concrete and then kind of start getting into DG, landscape, hardscape, you know, a little bit of everything. So I did have some experience, but like I said, I was young, so I didn't, I mean, young and new, so I didn't really get like, looked at like, you know, actual help, let's be honest, you know, like he's learning. So, yeah.
I mean from there it was just kind of joining the other company where you know they were kind of like you gotta learn so you could you know be an asset to the company so they started teaching me. I worked a lot hand on hand with my father -in -law which he's an amazing form setter, amazing mason so you know everything came from there.
Enmanuel Tejada (03:20.39)
And Lewis, let me ask you right now, bro. Most important question of the day. What's more difficult, putting down concrete or putting down pavers?
LTR Concrete Inc (03:32.568)
They're both difficult. I think one thing that concrete, that makes concrete more difficult is concrete gets hard. You have, you know, a couple hours, sometimes not even hours out here in California when it gets hot, you know, I think it'll go minutes, you know, depending on what you're pouring. That time factor, you know, it'll get you. And if you're not moving, it'll go and...
Enmanuel Tejada (04:00.582)
Thank you.
LTR Concrete Inc (04:02.488)
And that'll be that, you know? So I think that concrete is a little bit more stressing and difficult because of that.
Enmanuel Tejada (04:13.094)
You know what, I think I agree with you too, bro, because especially putting on the finish, bro, like that shit takes finesse, that takes skill. That's not like you just throw it down and it looks beautiful. Like you have to finish it, you have to mold it, you have to do all types of shit. And it's, I think it's a lot more complicated than pavers.
LTR Concrete Inc (04:30.424)
I mean, hey, my respect to the paper guys. I mean, just to get, you know, precise cuts and to get the joints right, even on papers, it takes a lot of skill, you know, it takes a lot of patience and experience, you know, but yeah, concrete is a different type of animal, you know. Everything from hand pressure, how much pressure you put on your trowel, leaving chatter marks, leaving trowel marks, you know, California is really defined with their decorative finishes that, you know.
It's very competitive out here. Everybody wants to be the best. You have multiple companies out here putting amazing work. So it's always bettering your craft, always practicing, always staying on top of it.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:13.254)
Dude, thousand percent, thousand percent, bro. And Lewis, take us back to when you started your company. So you were working for your wife's, well, your current wife's dad who owned the company, right?
LTR Concrete Inc (05:27.)
No, he was just a foreman. He's worked for that company for many years. That company was based out of Westlake, California. Westlake Village. Yeah, I worked for them for a couple years, close to eight years. And one day I was just like, hey, I kind of hit that limit.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:29.062)
It was the Foreman, okay.
LTR Concrete Inc (05:55.48)
time to split out and look for other endeavors. I've always liked being in charge, be the lead, you know, take control of it, you know, so that's when I decided to jump in there, you know?
Enmanuel Tejada (06:10.47)
I feel you, yeah bro. And how old were you when you took the leap to start your own business?
LTR Concrete Inc (06:15.672)
That was four years ago, so I was about 27 28 26 27 somewhere around there
Enmanuel Tejada (06:22.822)
Wow, so that was only four years ago, bro?
LTR Concrete Inc (06:25.4)
Yeah, I've been, yeah, the company started 29 late 2019. So you could literally say that, you know, the company started, you know, putting jobs out 2020 right in the midst of the pandemic. Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:37.414)
Damn bro, that's crazy. That's crazy and anybody that's listening go check out Lewis's Instagram. What is it? It's a Build LTR Concrete Inc. Dude, if you look at his page, it looks like he's been around for 20 years, bro. Like the quality of the work. That's why I'm shocked that you said four years ago you started this company, bro. Like, holy shit, that's crazy.
LTR Concrete Inc (06:48.984)
That's good.
LTR Concrete Inc (06:52.632)
What?
LTR Concrete Inc (07:00.312)
Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, a lot of the guys that like are finishers, I've known them for years way before I started the company. I actually used to go for free with them before I started the company when I was still 24, 23 to try and learn how to finish. That's where I learned how to finish and everything. On Saturdays, we didn't work. I'd go out there and go finish for free. And,
until I got it down and then I started getting my days in and yeah. So we're a tight knit group, more like a family rather than friends, you know?
Enmanuel Tejada (07:41.094)
Dude, I love it, bro. And let's talk about that too. That's a big thing when it comes, especially when it comes to physical labor, I would say even more as far as building a culture, right? Like how do you build a culture? How do you, how do you keep your guys in line, but also make sure they have that family that work life balance with their family. How do you, how do you build that? So they respect you, but they still have fun with you.
LTR Concrete Inc (08:05.688)
I mean, I think it's a lot of, you know, at least with me, I see them as humans, you know? They're not my employee. Well, they are my employees, but they're not, you know? They're part of the team. They're there to help me out. If you see them as, you know, that it's their obligation, you know, you push them in a weird way, and then that kind of takes the love out of it.
So, and they're doing it because they feel they have to, not because they love it. And that takes away, in my opinion, from the quality. So, I mean, sometimes we have early days, like this past Memorial Day, we had to start this new concrete job. We had to knock down some trees and that. I showed up, you know, knocked down the trees and I told the guys, here's your paycheck, time to go home.
And I told everybody, thank you. It's all possible because you guys enjoy your Memorial Day. We have lunch together. It's pretty much caring for the guys. They're human. They go through shit just like you and I do. So just because their problems are different than ours doesn't mean that they're not impacted the same way. So to me, it's just that.
Looking at them as humans, looking at them as team members and making them see each other as team members, you know, it's not a competition. If you fail, he fails. I mean, there's a saying, you know, you're only as strong as your weakest link. If one of them is weak, yeah, you know, if one of them is not up to par, don't matter that I got a set of killers out here, you know, if he ain't with it, it ain't going to go down.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:49.638)
That's a great fucking point.
LTR Concrete Inc (10:01.304)
It all it takes is, yeah, it all it only takes one person to spill a gun or paint and then the whole job is fucked no matter how nice everybody else did it, you know? So, you know, it's more than anything creating that, you know, you got to support each other, you know? And I try to do it in that way, you know, making sure that pretty much nobody gets left behind, you know? If he's, you know, if the guy digging the trench fell behind, we're all jumping in there.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:01.51)
Yo, 1000 %
LTR Concrete Inc (10:31.576)
myself included. And that's kind of how I try to do it, you know, lead by example.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:37.926)
I love it bro. Yeah. And if you like you're doing like if you're leading by example, the guys will see that the way you treat them and they'll start treating each other that way too. Right. And I love the fact that you said that, you know, you treat them as human beings, bro. Like I feel like, especially with a lot of the influencers that do concrete or that do landscaping, I don't know why, but I get the vibe that they don't give a fuck about their employees, bro. Like they just, here hold the camera.
Let me look cool for like five seconds and then get back to fucking work
You fucking dogs. Like, I don't know why I feel like they're all like that, bro. Hopefully they're not. But I just get that vibe, you know, and if that's the actual the way they're treating their people, bro, that that sucks, bro. Like, I wouldn't want to make a shit ton of money and just feel like I'm have these guys slave in a way all day. That that sucks. You know, that would be a bad feeling. I want I'm sure you feel the same way, too. You want to share the wealth, too, right? Like, yeah, you're making money because you're the owner. You took the risk. But you want to see your guys level up. You want to see that beginning guy turn into a finisher.
one day and be one of the best on the team.
LTR Concrete Inc (11:42.264)
Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, one of our newest guys been in the country for a while, you know, just saw it as in like, I'm here just to make my money and then, you know, fix my paperwork, get everything right. And then, you know, one day go back to the Motherland, you know, which is cool. But I mean, there's so many more opportunities that are here that you got to try to get them to come out. And I'm happy to say that he sees them now.
Enmanuel Tejada (12:00.998)
Yeah.
LTR Concrete Inc (12:10.872)
He's trying now, he got himself a car, he's buying himself tools. He's seeing himself more as an asset now, not just like, they had me here to dig, now he's trying. So I feel like you gotta give them those opportunities. If you don't give them those opportunities, if you don't believe in them, they're not gonna believe in themselves. So you gotta try to push them in that sense, you know?
Enmanuel Tejada (12:33.67)
Dude, that's a gold nugget right there. If you don't believe in them, they won't believe in themselves. And that's a fact, bro. I love that. And that guy, a guy like that, he might even stick around much longer now because you gave him the opportunities and now he's buying the car. Now he's getting more confident. He might even say, yo, listen, I kind of like it here. You know, he probably came here and thought, I'm going to hate it, but I'm going to push through it for my family and get the work done. But now he's like, damn, I'm getting the work done. I'm taking care of the family and I like it here. So who knows what, what.
might happen in the future for him.
LTR Concrete Inc (13:05.784)
No, 100%, you know, and more than anything, like, I like that confidence that he's getting and believe it or not, sometimes he puts out more work and more heart into what he's doing than some of the other guys. Not taking away from some of my other guys, you know, but he feels that he has something to prove to himself, so he puts more love into it.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:35.238)
Damn.
LTR Concrete Inc (13:36.44)
And he appreciates it, you know, he appreciates me believing in him. And if he needs, you know, extra work, I try to find extra work for him here and there, you know, wherever I can help him out. And he appreciates that. And that brings more out of him and confidence in himself. And, you know, I just feel it makes him a better person. Now he tries to push the other guys to do better because, no, look, you could do it. So in a sense, that's what kind of creates the.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:05.766)
Yeah, bro, and a guy like that right there builds culture for you as well, because now he's pushing himself. He's liking the confidence in him, and he wants to see that in his teammates, bro. So that's awesome right there, bro.
LTR Concrete Inc (14:19.416)
Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:20.678)
100%. And Lewis, you know what, but let me ask you a question. What's the most difficult project you've been on, bro, as far as start to finish? Like what's one project that you started that gave you a shit ton of headaches? Like tell us one of those experiences.
LTR Concrete Inc (14:38.456)
There's been a couple. I think the most stressful one for me was when I started interior work. I was so fresh and new just, you know, we've done interior work here and there with the old company I was with. So I knew what I was doing, but I didn't really know how to manage it. And I wasn't 100 % sure that the guys that I brought in to help kind of got that feeling. So the project didn't kind of go as I had planned.
they would kind of, you know, kind of take advantage. Like, he, they would think I didn't know, but I knew what was going on. And that cost a lot of headaches, you know, definitely cost a lot of money because, you know, some things didn't want what I wanted. And that has my name on it, not theirs. So if it has to come out, it has to come out as my name on it. And I don't put my name in shit. So if we have to redo it, we have to redo it. So.
Definitely caused a lot of stress. Definitely a lot of headaches, but that client has called me, you know, hunt. I mean, I'm not going to lie, probably five times this week for five different properties they have that I didn't know about, by the way. It's just like, I didn't know they had, they have like at least 10 properties, you know, condominiums, houses for rent. They rent them out. They rent them out. So I mean,
Enmanuel Tejada (15:54.022)
Hahaha.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:59.942)
Holy shit, what do they do, like, sprint them out?
LTR Concrete Inc (16:06.36)
from that client. I mean, the husband is on the board of an HOA. And now the HOA has us coming in to repair, I think it's 50 roofs, change out, you know, some electrical panels that are outdated. So the insurance won't cover them. So we're potentially looking at a million dollar plus project out of just, you know, fighting the bullet on a couple of things to make sure that they were right. And...
you know, having that pride in the project itself and what we put out, you know? So, I mean, I think that was one of the most stressful ones, you know? Interior is completely different. There's details everywhere. Yeah, I think definitely that one project.
Enmanuel Tejada (16:53.99)
Damn bro, that's awesome. That's awesome too, but that you didn't want to you didn't want your name To be in shit like you said and you fixed everything you might have taken a loss on buying more materials and pay more labor to get it redone But in the end look at what you got out of it, bro So that's a perfect example of doing shit, right? You always pay us off in the end
LTR Concrete Inc (17:15.288)
Yeah, man, it's always a long game, you know. If you look at it in the short game, you ain't really going to get anywhere, you know. At least that's not the lead.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:22.086)
Dude, a thousand percent. A thousand percent. And that same client, like you said you did interior work for them, so do you guys still do interior work? And you also mentioned electrical, or are you guys only strictly outdoors now?
LTR Concrete Inc (17:38.392)
No, we're a general contracting company. I'm actually going to ship the gears. I might even change the name of the company. I'm still kind of going back and forth. we take a lot. We started taking a lot of 80 years now, a lot of interior, and taking advantage of, you know, being a general contractor, I have, an amazing commercial electrician and amazing residential electrician.
that you know now gives me that confidence to go after these jobs and be sure that I can put out you know quality work that is you know that is going to make my clients happy and you know so why not?
Enmanuel Tejada (18:22.598)
Damn, that's awesome, bro. And cause the reason why I asked is cause I don't, I don't really see a lot of the interior work on your page. I see a lot of the exterior. So what's your percentage like? Like what amount of your work is interior and what amount of it is exterior?
LTR Concrete Inc (18:38.488)
believe it or not, so far this year, I'd say probably 60 to 70 % has been interior work. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're still doing that exterior, but, I don't know, something about people trusting us with their house. Yeah. I mean, I'm not mad about it, but, it's definitely a little jump that we're going to start making into.
Enmanuel Tejada (18:47.558)
Really?
Enmanuel Tejada (18:59.974)
Hahaha!
LTR Concrete Inc (19:08.216)
You know, that interior and yeah, we, we haven't really posted much of the interior cause I want to kind of get all my ducks in a row, figure out what I want to do with the name of the company, whether it be open up another division of the company or just completely change the name simply because I mean, if somebody asks who did your bathroom, you know, LTR concrete, what they're not their concrete company, what type of work, you know? So I feel just the name itself kind of closes a lot of doors and.
Enmanuel Tejada (19:10.95)
That's awesome.
LTR Concrete Inc (19:38.648)
I just kind of want to figure that out before we start pushing the...
Enmanuel Tejada (19:42.342)
Yeah, bro, and I mean you guys have built quite an audience already on Instagram and stuff like that with Ltr concrete so I mean hey, I mean I'll give you some some some tips bro, especially because this is kind of what I do like digital marketing I will probably leave Ltr concrete and maybe even start up another Channel or another brand as part of the company maybe like Ltr what Ltr Ltr indoor something. I don't know something like that, but
LTR Concrete Inc (20:09.816)
Well, that's it.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:10.438)
I mean actually it's not too late to change actually you guys have what like 2k followers?
LTR Concrete Inc (20:14.872)
Something like that. Like it's funny though, when I actually opened up the company, the name of the company was LTR Contracting Inc. Out here in California, you gotta get a signature from whatever license, licensee you're trying to pursue. That makes any sense. If I want a General B, I need a license, you know, certifying that, you know, I have the experience for a General B. If you want a C8,
Concrete license you got to get it from a concrete company So I couldn't I couldn't get somebody to sign for my general B But goes back to my finishers and as being family My head finisher my main finisher his father -in -law Signed for my license, but because his father -in -law had a concrete license
I could only get a concrete license. So at that time it was the only option I had to be running legit. So it changed from LTR contract into LTR concrete. And that's where it kind of all took off. But everything, all the original ideas for logos, all the original ideas for the company were all LTR contracting.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:14.15)
really?
Enmanuel Tejada (21:38.502)
Damn bro, gotcha. So how did you go from having just the one for concrete to getting everything else? Did you just keep studying and get those?
LTR Concrete Inc (21:48.601)
Yeah, so the company I used to work for does a lot of prevailing wage, a lot of public works, a lot of schools, stuff like that. So for that, I always knew I needed a General B even though they have a lot of concrete. I needed a General B and an A engineering license. But in order to start building the portfolio, I just needed to get a license. So that's how I kind of started. Just started building the portfolio.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:15.974)
Damn, the story of LTR Concrete, huh? That's awesome, bro. And bro, let's get into some of the, I guess, the intricacies of running LTR Concrete. So how do you and your team, how do you guys stay synced up on projects? Do you guys use any sort of CRM or any sort of software to stay organized?
LTR Concrete Inc (22:18.68)
Yeah.
LTR Concrete Inc (22:38.68)
I use, well, Julie, which is my wife slash business partner. She's the one that's been putting us up to date with all of the software we use to stay in communication, document the jobs. She's actually here with me. Am I joining us, please?
Enmanuel Tejada (22:57.862)
Yeah, she should join us, yeah.
Hahaha.
LTR Concrete Inc (23:02.392)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
LTR Concrete Inc (23:08.12)
Hello.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:09.926)
Hello, Julie, welcome to the podcast. Yeah, can we shift the camera a little bit so we can get her some screen time, some air time?
LTR Concrete Inc (23:14.84)
Thanks. Software.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:17.862)
There she is. Awesome. Well, yeah, Julie, introduce yourself. Who are you? How do you, how do you know Lewis?
LTR Concrete Inc (23:25.464)
So he's my husband. I've known him since we were very young, 17 and now I'm 29. So it's been some time. I come from the medical field, so nothing to do with construction. And then he opened up his company and I decided to join him full -time.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:47.27)
Wow, okay, cool. And so, what's your role like as far as like, how do you guys split up your work? And guys, let's talk a little bit louder just so we can, the guys can hear us.
LTR Concrete Inc (23:47.448)
And then people tell you. Yeah.
LTR Concrete Inc (23:56.856)
okay. How do we split up the work?
Enmanuel Tejada (24:01.35)
Yeah, like how do you guys know what needs to get done? Who needs to do it?
LTR Concrete Inc (24:06.616)
I think early on when we first started working together, it was just like, I don't know, we were an unorganized mess. And now I feel as we've been growing, I know what his strengths are and what my strengths are. So I stick to my role. He's more of the builder person, hands on, of more of the office person. So that's where I'll come in and like, like, guys, we could use this software to help us stay more organized. I'll do all the bookkeeping.
Enmanuel Tejada (24:27.654)
Mm -hmm.
LTR Concrete Inc (24:36.12)
you know, all the office and side of things. And I definitely think like with everything with experience, you know, as we started working together, like she pointed out, you know, she saw that like, Hey, Lewis can't handle paperwork aspect or he can't keep up with the invoicing cause he's running around. So she would jump on that or, you know, so on and so forth. Yeah. So it was just, you know, with time, you know, like I said earlier, she kind of had a leap of faith.
I started the company in 2019 by 2020, like July, 2020. I was really busy and I'm like, Hey, you know what? You've been helping me out so far. How about you just quit your job? And okay. So she put in her two week notice. So it was the scariest thing to do. Cause at that time we had a four year old and I had a job at the hospital. It was a secure job benefits.
Enmanuel Tejada (25:19.942)
Hahaha
LTR Concrete Inc (25:33.976)
Everything you could 401k everything that screen security. It was perfect for us at that time. You had a mortgage and everything. I was like, I don't know. I really, I, you know, you can say, I believe in you then. Cause yeah, I was like, okay, I'll put it in my two weeks. Let's do this. Jump into this seven month old company and you know, I've said,
Enmanuel Tejada (25:39.174)
Right.
Enmanuel Tejada (25:53.894)
Wow, man, this is a freaking, this is an amazing story. And let's take us back to that actually, like when you guys were, you guys both were now full time in the business. How did you guys start to pick up new clients to be able to keep growing the business and be able to pay for everything and grow the business?
LTR Concrete Inc (26:12.088)
Somehow I think it was a lot of referrals. It was 2020. I mean, yeah, it was 2020. It's that year that everybody wanted their house fixed. Yeah. That depends. They look really weird out here. Everybody wanted something done to their house. Everybody was busy. So as much as I want to say, you know, it's because we were that good, honestly, it was just people wanted work done and you know, they, they would call people, you know, so referrals went around and,
Enmanuel Tejada (26:22.854)
Yeah.
LTR Concrete Inc (26:41.56)
people started getting to know us and refer us around. So I think that's how a lot of it went down. Although now that I think about it, now that we're this far in business, I'm like, we should have done more marketing in the beginning before I quit my job. We should have focused more on that so that later after the pandemic, we would still be good. So I mean, it's good.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:03.91)
I see what you mean. Yeah. Like, for example, you were going to quit your job and know that you guys were going to have a shit ton of work, a bunch of leads to get to instead of like you quit and like, okay, now how do we figure it out? Or like, how do we make it grow now?
LTR Concrete Inc (27:12.056)
And.
Yeah, and that's exactly what happened. We were like, shoot, okay, it's starting to slow down. Now what do we do? I wish we would have done it.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:23.75)
But the good thing, yeah, and the good thing was that people want to work down like Louis said, so that's the good thing. Is that still the case or have things kind of slowed down a little bit as far as people wanting stuff done to their homes?
LTR Concrete Inc (27:35.608)
I think it slowed down a little bit. I mean, now I have a lot of buddies that are contractors and stuff. And, you know, we hear a lot more often is now, you know, we hear some people have no work. Other people have a lot of work. So I, it's kind of the finding now, like people looking for that good work, you know? So, I'm happy to say we haven't stopped, you know, ever since that kind of.
Market kind of just started settling down. You know, we've been busy. You know, we had multiple jobs going on at the same time. So definitely blessed, you know.
Enmanuel Tejada (28:13.414)
Love it. Love it. Love it. And Julie, me and Louis were just talking actually. So how did you guys all stay organized as a team? Right? Do you guys, what, what software do you guys use and what's the schedule and like, like, do you guys have a meeting every day once a week? How does that look?
LTR Concrete Inc (28:29.176)
Well, currently we recently switched to LMN. So that's what we're using LMN and my company cam. So that's been kind of helping us keep our photos for each project, all our documents in one area, our subs when we do use subs, kind of taking pictures of what's going on at this job, what's completed. So that's been helping us communicate back and forth. Meetings, well.
That's the good thing about being married to your business partner. I think throughout the day we're just constantly, it's sad to say we don't really talk much about our personal life. It's more about work, like our clients projects. Yeah. I'll get a, I'll get a phone call, jump on the phone right away. Hey, I got this, this, I scheduled an appointment for this. And she'll be like, shoot, you already had an appointment. Shoot. Let me call them back. So it's a lot of that, you know, a lot of just constantly day to day.
figuring stuff out. We definitely try to make a point to sit down and just talk about our week on Sundays, schedule everything out. We actually use this planner. So it just kind of helps. Well, actually, a good friend of us referred us to this financial planner.
Enmanuel Tejada (29:45.094)
Hey, the LTR planner. Let's go.
LTR Concrete Inc (29:53.752)
And she makes these planners and they're awesome. She has hers, I have mine, and it just kind of helps you break down even down the budgets of what you're gonna be spending for that week. So, I mean, these help us out a lot. So when we sit down on Sundays, we sit down, go over our planners, kind of plan out the week. Of course, it doesn't go anywhere near as what we write down, but it kind of helps us gauge and get an idea of what we need to get done. Yeah, with construction, nothing goes exactly as planned. I mean, I would love that.
it didn't but it doesn't so we try our best to stick to what we wrote.
Enmanuel Tejada (30:28.71)
Hey, no, but you guys are killing it man. That's awesome. And when you guys use it Lewis the use use company cam yourself as well How much better is it than then just sending pictures on like whatsapp and stuff like that or like on text message email?
LTR Concrete Inc (30:36.792)
Yeah, yeah. I have it on.
LTR Concrete Inc (30:44.984)
Well, with my company cam, it saves it, you know, to its own kind of server. So they're not all on my phone. My phone is already slow as it is. I mean, I think today I had like 52 phone calls. So my phone just takes a beating. So add pictures and videos and text messages to all of that, you know, the phone just can't handle it. So I've noticed that the phone's been doing a lot better now that we have my company cam and it kind of just.
You know, it's there. I don't have to worry about sending that picture also, you know She could log on to the account and she'll see what I just uploaded So it helps out in that sense. We've got a couple of our guys to install it on their phones So if I'm on one job site and they're on the other they're taking pictures and documenting as well So it helps out a lot
Enmanuel Tejada (31:36.518)
That's awesome. That's awesome. And what about element? Well, I actually haven't heard of that, that system before. Does that do everything like job? Or like if it does a invoicing estimates.
LTR Concrete Inc (31:46.68)
It does do everything. It's all under one big umbrella. What I liked about it is the drop costing feature, which I feel that when it comes to construction, if you're not job costing, money can go so fast. You need to know where you're losing money and it helps you identify where you're losing money.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:08.87)
That's cool, that's cool. And were you guys using a system before that or was that your first CRM?
LTR Concrete Inc (32:16.376)
No, we were using a choice. It's a lot more simple. Yeah. Joyce, that's the name of it. It's a lot more simple, more like for services and stuff like that. We were able to mold it to our needs and it was, it was very helpful. It is still very helpful. But now as we started getting these bigger projects and it's a job cost, we needed more, which is why we started looking for something better.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:20.422)
before that.
LTR Concrete Inc (32:45.272)
which ended up being on man. So that's what we're on now. But I mean, we'll slowly switching into it because it's a little difficult, you know, it's a lot.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:55.046)
Yeah, cuz when more features comes more difficulty as well right like so many options you've done so many things you can do And that leads me to my next question too guys. It's like what percentage of your work is residential and what percent is commercial for you guys?
LTR Concrete Inc (33:10.552)
I think right now we're still maybe like 70 % residential and 30 % commercial. Getting into commercials, not easy. You gotta know people. What was that?
Enmanuel Tejada (33:22.886)
Yeah, yeah. How's the bidding process over there in California? How's the bidding process in California? Is it difficult to land jobs?
LTR Concrete Inc (33:30.52)
Yeah, unfortunately, I don't think it's how good you are is who you know. The connects you have, you know, there's definitely no preferred vendors. You know, vendors that have been there for a while. So they much rather go with them rather than, you know, trial and error, which is completely understandable. You know, I mean, we were on a project for the Cheesecake Factory. They gave us the opportunity to jump on there. But I mean, it's.
you know, a busy restaurant. So you see them having to have stuff done a certain way. And if you bring a new vendor that isn't used to that, you know, it directly affects your business. So I kind of understand them kind of going through their preferred vendors, but doesn't make it any easier for us, newer companies coming into commercial to get those jobs, you know.
Enmanuel Tejada (34:19.942)
Yeah, 100%. And how was that experience, by the way, like working at that cheesecake factory? Cause that's a very, I've talked to a couple of other concrete guys and landscaping guys and they did some work for Amazon and they were like, yeah, bro, like they like to do shit so differently. Like how crazy was it to do that?
LTR Concrete Inc (34:38.136)
I mean, it wasn't that nuts. I mean, we ran a communication line, so we cut through the parking lot and stuff. It's more dealing with like the clients. That was the difficult part. I mean, we had, yeah, we had a cones out, caution tape out, and they still wanted to run those over. So, I mean, it's one of those things, you know, the company itself was ready to understanding, you know, we provided them with timelines, you know.
as long as we stay within our timelines, they were cool with it, you know? So yeah. We just had to be out in crunch time. Yeah. Because I think the working hours were like from 7 a to about 2 p We had to be out because then dinner rush comes in. So and they needed the parking lot. So we had to work. Yeah. So we had. Well, it wasn't concrete. It was a lot of excavating.
Enmanuel Tejada (35:28.198)
Wait, what the fuck? So, was the concrete dry?
LTR Concrete Inc (35:37.688)
So that we can install a new communication line So it was a lot of transplates installing transplates making sure that dirt was cleaned up. Everything was cleaned up All the equipment was in a particular area fenced off so that people couldn't get hurt and try to jump on it So it was a lot of that, you know asphalt day because we have to repatch the asphalt You know, it was yeah kind of fun
running around. Yeah, I think you enjoy that for me was a safety thing. I was constantly concerned because I would see people there's big machinery. Obviously, they would just kind of ride their bikes right in front of the excavator. And we have cones, caution tape, they didn't care. They just go right through or as when we poured the asphalt was really hot. They would just want to walk right on top of it. And it's like,
Enmanuel Tejada (36:07.046)
Hahaha.
Enmanuel Tejada (36:29.158)
What the fuck? Like while it was being done, like the coin is like turning and they're like riding the bike.
LTR Concrete Inc (36:33.656)
Yeah, like you could see the steam coming off. Yeah, you could see the steam coming off and it was me screaming and the guy screaming, don't do it. And they just, yeah. For me it was very scary. I was constantly like, you guys, you guys could get really hurt. And it was, yeah, that was scary. But the cheesecake was awesome. They were understanding.
Enmanuel Tejada (36:42.822)
What the fuck?
Enmanuel Tejada (36:56.774)
Wow, that's awesome. That's awesome right there. And for you, Julie, from a billing perspective, how does it look like to receive payments from one of those big commercial jobs? How does that work?
LTR Concrete Inc (37:10.424)
I think it's a lot of the paperwork You know, you have to have certain certificates before the evening, you know, they'll award you the job Some companies are a little sneaky Especially like it's like this HOA company that we've been working with as a lady
They let us perform the job. They let us do everything. And then they asked for all the certificates in order to get payment. And if like we don't have that coverage, it's like, so now I have to go get that coverage. Thankfully we have everything that we need. But I'm like, what if we didn't? And now you're telling me that you need it to receive payment after we've performed the work. Or else we don't get paid. Yeah. Like it's kind of like.
Enmanuel Tejada (37:44.102)
Amen.
Enmanuel Tejada (38:01.062)
Yeah, that's annoying. I can imagine.
LTR Concrete Inc (38:04.152)
Yeah, but I think thankfully on my end, that's kind of my job to also make sure we are up to date with our licensing, our general liability, that everything's kind of in order so that we don't have those issues when it comes down to payment. So, yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (38:17.35)
wow, so it's not like all the licenses you renew them on the same day like some some expire early some of them. that sucks
LTR Concrete Inc (38:21.512)
No, there's so many fees. I think especially for Los Angeles, I have to pay like LA County, LA City. And we're also now in Ventura County, so I'm also paying taxes in Ventura County. And different business license for different cities that I work in. So for Cheesecake, I had to get a business license for the city of Redondo and another permit for the harbor because it was near the harbor.
So we have to have permits with the harbor. So it just down to a lot of paperwork, a lot of paperwork, a lot of billing and all of that is just paperwork, paperwork showing, proving that the work was done, showing that everything was done right. So it's just, you know, filling them is just paperwork.
Enmanuel Tejada (38:53.702)
Aw man.
Enmanuel Tejada (38:59.014)
Whoa.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:08.166)
Holy shit. And is the juice worth the squeeze? Like, is the pay from a commercial job much, much higher than a residential, even though it requires so much more office work?
LTR Concrete Inc (39:25.496)
honestly, the ones that aren't commercial. Yeah, I think they just go smoother. I don't have these new surprises from the city inspectors or. I mean, I like the commercial ones because it's like a set of plans. This is what it is. I'm in, I know what I need to do. I don't need to be confirming with the clients. I don't need to be doing this, that. It's just whatever's on that paper is what I do.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:26.886)
Really?
LTR Concrete Inc (39:50.264)
So in my sense - No, our guys like commercial. I can tell off the bat, they love commercial, they love working on it. And honestly, it's like whatever, I don't mind it. So I don't know. When we're talking about profit though, I think residential, like some smaller projects, it's easier to get more profit out of. But we enjoy, I think the guys enjoy commercial work.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:53.062)
Hahaha
Enmanuel Tejada (40:02.502)
I'm sorry.
Enmanuel Tejada (40:11.526)
Man, that's awesome.
Yeah, Lewis just wants to enjoy the, Lewis doesn't want to talk to the clients. He doesn't want bullshit from the clients. That's what he doesn't want.
LTR Concrete Inc (40:22.456)
Nah, it's not so much that. I mean, I have fun working with the clients, like just on our last project, you know, you know, the husband was awesome, you know, started talking about steak and all this and that, and creating, you know, their space. It's just, I started in commercial public works and all of that. So it's like my baby, you know, sit down, get us out of work now. But, nah, I enjoy both. It's just like I said.
Enmanuel Tejada (40:45.254)
Hahaha
LTR Concrete Inc (40:51.512)
Commercial's my baby, you know? I get a set of plans, throw on some headphones, jump on the Bobcat, X -Commit, or whatever it is, and start digging, you know?
Enmanuel Tejada (41:00.038)
Gotcha, yeah, 100 % bro, I'm sure you enjoy that. I'm sure you enjoy that, man. And what music do you put on when you're in the Bobcat?
LTR Concrete Inc (41:07.576)
depends. Whatever. I don't, I don't listen. I don't listen to that. I do. I'm, I'm a, I'm a big country fan. I listen to country and stuff like that. You know, definitely, you know, rock and stuff. you know, corridos, you know, just an array of stuff. It's a mix. You know, sometimes I'm feeling like a killer. So we listen to corridos.
Enmanuel Tejada (41:09.446)
Got on that daddy Yankee?
Enmanuel Tejada (41:29.094)
Hahaha
LTR Concrete Inc (41:34.52)
Sometimes, you know, I'm mad, I listen to some metal, some Metallica, you know, so it just... It depends on the mood, you know?
Enmanuel Tejada (41:38.63)
Sometimes I'm natural, this one's the better one.
You gotta be careful with Lewis when he gets on that metal, man. He might hit you with a bobcat. He might swing the fucking backhoe at you and fuck it. Man. And real quick, just going back onto the commercial jobs. One thing that I've heard from other contractors too, is that the payment sometimes sucks, especially when it's like Walmart or Amazon, because their payment terms are apparently net 90.
LTR Concrete Inc (41:51.224)
Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (42:09.67)
So you do the work and you get paid 90 days out. Like that kind of sucks.
LTR Concrete Inc (42:14.072)
Yeah, so that's where where your accounts come into play like your charge accounts So we have target counts with certain ready -mix companies certain, you know white cap, you know Home depot lows we have different accounts Because you know cash is king, you know, you have to be able to keep your cash some of these companies take forever to pay Right now we're working with a company that you know, if you're
Billing isn't in by the 25th. You got to wait till the next month So if you didn't reach a certain milestone By a day didn't submit you got to wait another month to get paid So it doesn't matter how much you got you gotta wait. That means you're covering payroll You're covering material covering every single aspect of it and you know, sometimes that's as you know an employee even myself I wouldn't understand why you know, the boss is mad and
Enmanuel Tejada (42:54.246)
Really?
LTR Concrete Inc (43:10.52)
certain things that didn't get done. We'll get it done tomorrow. Well, sometimes it's just that from today to tomorrow, you can't bill. Now you're screwed for an entire month. So, I mean.
Enmanuel Tejada (43:20.038)
Yeah, and those things, like you said, they might be hard to understand by a field guy. But what I love about you guys too is that you guys, like you mentioned, you put them before you, you put the employees before you. So even though that you guys are getting paid 30 days later, they're still gonna get their paycheck there. They won't even know what's happening on the back end.
And you guys are the ones that take on that risk. And that's why I think entrepreneurship is so cool, because you take on the risk, but you can also profit more in the end.
LTR Concrete Inc (43:52.184)
Yeah, no, 100%. There is, I mean, I would be lying to you if I said there isn't a benefit to it, but, you know, sometimes on certain projects you kind of consider like, is that risk worth this headache? You know, like, is it worth it? cause yeah, sometimes it's just over the top and kind of head breaking, you know, kind of sucks. But I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change my profession. I love what I do, you know? And, yeah.
I was about to say that you gotta love what you do to like go through all of this.
Enmanuel Tejada (44:27.27)
100%. 100%.
Gotta love what you're doing. Guys, I really, really appreciate you guys being on this podcast, man. And I think that a lot of people are going to see you too and be inspired because there's a lot of contractors out there that they make work with their wife, but they don't show, they don't show her, they don't show what she does. But you guys are, you guys are the one two duo. You guys are the one two combo. So you guys are leading by example, which I love. And what you guys are building with the company, with the kids, she's going to be a gangster, but she's going to be like, she's going to be good. She's going to be leading this company one day, man.
LTR Concrete Inc (44:48.664)
Thank you.
Enmanuel Tejada (44:59.704)
She's already she's gonna be able to tell the guys hey finish hurry up. Hurry up Of course my dad of course I'm always on the job side my parents are contractors. That was so cute, man. I love it That's awesome man, but yeah, I mean let me ask you guys one last question And then I'll let you guys go because I want to be respectful of your time I mean if you guys were to start over what advice would you give to yourselves as a young? Contractor and hopefully the audience can pick up from this advice right here
LTR Concrete Inc (45:08.824)
Thank you.
Enmanuel Tejada (45:29.798)
One from each of you guys, one from the office side and one for the field side.
LTR Concrete Inc (45:35.768)
No, you go first, why me? Honestly, get your office free. Get your office free. You can have all the tools in the world. If your office ain't right, you ain't gonna do anything. If your numbers aren't correct, whatever money it is you made, you're gonna owe it in taxes. If you don't know what you're doing, how to depreciate your assets, how to report your taxes, how to file, how to...
Enmanuel Tejada (45:37.798)
Hahaha
LTR Concrete Inc (46:05.976)
I mean, all of these little things that seem so minuscule that can be, you know, that changing factor between you, you know, being cool and the IRS coming after everything you have. it's, if you don't understand what's going on, you're going to be screwed and you're going to learn it the hard way. So me as a field guy, me as in first thing I did was go buy a dump trailer truck and a Bobcat.
I 100 % I'm not gonna say regretted it, but I wish I would have dropped that money into my office and build myself to be able to get these assets rather than just going out and getting them. Cause at the end of the day I had them, but now they were just.
helping me catch up with what I owed or with whatever consequences I was facing for not filing certain things at a certain time. So they might have made the money, but the money still wasn't there.
Enmanuel Tejada (47:10.886)
Right, so I like that man. Delegate, delegate, delegate. Gotcha. And what about you, Julie?
LTR Concrete Inc (47:15.416)
value. For me is be patient, be patient. I'm not a patient person and growth just comes in baby steps, little baby steps. So be patient and ask questions, focus on asking questions and building relationships and just be patient. That would be it on my end.
Enmanuel Tejada (47:36.87)
Boom, there we have it guys, delegate and be patient. I love it. Julie Lewis, thank you guys so much for being on the podcast. You guys were amazing. How can guys get in contact with you guys, whether they're landscapers, construction companies or clients that want to work with you guys and they live in California, how can they reach you guys?
LTR Concrete Inc (47:56.856)
You can go on our website buildwithltr .com or on our Instagram send us a DM And I think it's LTR concrete ink Instagram or social media handles and then yeah, or phone number. Yeah, just you know Google us will be there. Yeah, so
Enmanuel Tejada (48:20.55)
Boom, let's go. Thank you guys so much for being on this podcast. Audience, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Reach out to LTR, go follow them. Their content is awesome. Hit them up on their website. Hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day or your evening. Peace.
LTR Concrete Inc (48:34.36)
Thank you.