Build With ICF Podcast Episode 73 - Why ICF in NoCal with Michael Smith from Castle House Distributors

WEBVTT
00:00:01.143 --> 00:00:09.380
Two experts in ICF, decades of experience, one podcast, two hosts with a lot to say.
00:00:17.571 --> 00:00:24.119
Welcome to the Build With ICF podcast with your hosts, Trevor Brown and Heather Herring-Brown.
00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:29.897
Yep, they're a package deal. With over 20 years of ICF installation experience,
00:00:29.897 --> 00:00:33.860
Trevor can throw down some expertise on sales, marketing, and training.
00:00:34.103 --> 00:00:38.451
On the other side of the table sits Heather, a.k.a. the girl boss.
00:00:38.631 --> 00:00:43.117
And she's earned the title as the owner of an award-winning ICF construction
00:00:43.117 --> 00:00:47.693
company, a drafting and design company specializing in ICF. And the numbers?
00:00:47.948 --> 00:00:52.784
With a master's in accounting, she does that too. Sleeves up, boots on.
00:00:53.045 --> 00:00:56.185
This is the Build with ICF podcast.
00:00:56.818 --> 00:00:59.582
I don't want nothing for free, I'm here to work.
00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.747
Today, I'm not sitting across the desk from you.
00:01:10.991 --> 00:01:17.499
Today, I'm in a totally different zip code, a couple hours away for some meetings.
00:01:18.161 --> 00:01:24.241
Yeah. So now if you guys hear her, she doesn't sound as amazing as Michael and
00:01:24.241 --> 00:01:28.046
I. It's because she's talking on her laptop on the road somewhere.
00:01:29.061 --> 00:01:36.861
And so that's why. But yeah, we're here with the episode 73. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:37.421 --> 00:01:40.211
And figuring it out, even with technical difficulties, you know,
00:01:40.211 --> 00:01:41.881
my AirPods didn't want to connect.
00:01:41.881 --> 00:01:47.701
So I'm just using my laptop speakers. And I've been saying for a bit,
00:01:47.701 --> 00:01:51.871
I need a new laptop. So I guess sooner it's going to happen or going to happen
00:01:51.871 --> 00:01:54.115
sooner than later now because, yeah.
00:01:54.481 --> 00:01:58.681
It's pushing, pushing, pushing to get you the new laptop. So I think that's probably good.
00:01:58.681 --> 00:02:01.731
And that's why you're down in the big city. That's why you're not up here in
00:02:01.731 --> 00:02:04.481
the mountains where I'm at. And so you could go buy a laptop,
00:02:04.481 --> 00:02:08.601
I guess. So kind of exciting. This is, we've actually been talking about this
00:02:08.601 --> 00:02:12.592
for a little bit with this, with our, our new guests this time.
00:02:12.917 --> 00:02:17.391
We've got Michael Smith with Castle, with Castle, well, I keep saying Castle
00:02:17.391 --> 00:02:18.401
Rock and it's not Castle Rock.
00:02:18.401 --> 00:02:22.701
Castle House Distributor. So if I say that, I'm just going to preface ahead of time.
00:02:22.701 --> 00:02:26.771
If I say that, I mean Castle House, but Castle House Distributors out of Sacramento,
00:02:26.771 --> 00:02:31.681
California, and been excited. We're working on a few different things with Michael,
00:02:32.061 --> 00:02:35.521
and so we're going to be getting together here this next week at PCBC.
00:02:36.268 --> 00:02:42.241
So this is a great lead into it to get our episode in here finally to talk with
00:02:42.241 --> 00:02:45.791
you. So, Michael, I want to thank you for coming on the podcast.
00:02:45.791 --> 00:02:47.485
Welcome to the Built ICF podcast.
00:02:48.123 --> 00:02:50.288
Thank you for having me on. I've been looking forward to this.
00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:55.001
So let's just start out like we do. Let's start out with a little bit of,
00:02:55.381 --> 00:02:58.421
tell us about who you are and kind of your background
00:02:58.841 --> 00:03:03.741
and how you stumbled into this ICF world and have recently, you know,
00:03:03.741 --> 00:03:07.006
become, you know, in the position you're at at Castle House.
00:03:07.804 --> 00:03:10.877
Uh, gladly, gladly. So Northern California, born and raised.
00:03:11.277 --> 00:03:14.781
I grew up in the concrete industry, actually driving mixers in my twenties.
00:03:15.391 --> 00:03:20.417
So I I've come up through some technology side of it, some sales side of it,
00:03:20.417 --> 00:03:21.947
a lot of the equipment side of it.
00:03:21.947 --> 00:03:26.097
So spent a lot of time boots on the ground, job sites, spent some time somewhere,
00:03:26.097 --> 00:03:31.447
laser screeds, doing flat slabs, ended up going over to a CEMEX and I worked
00:03:31.447 --> 00:03:34.778
for CEMEX on a team that did a lot of education and promotion,
00:03:35.335 --> 00:03:38.604
for sustainability, new technologies, things of that nature.
00:03:39.021 --> 00:03:42.537
Probably about three years ago, you know, here in Northern California,
00:03:42.537 --> 00:03:47.257
obviously with the fires, you know, so many people losing their homes.
00:03:47.257 --> 00:03:48.940
It was affecting family members of mine.
00:03:49.839 --> 00:03:53.437
And i just really thought you know being a concrete guy there's got to be a
00:03:53.437 --> 00:03:57.357
better solution and we've got to be able to do something you know instead of
00:03:57.357 --> 00:04:01.159
putting fuel in the path of a future fire and building everything back just like it was,
00:04:01.774 --> 00:04:05.907
there's got to be a better way to do this and i started doing a lot of of in
00:04:05.907 --> 00:04:07.781
my personal time research,
00:04:08.241 --> 00:04:12.007
you know i have a 3d printer at home so i even connected with some 3d concrete
00:04:12.007 --> 00:04:15.217
printing companies and explored those and i think they're amazing,
00:04:15.217 --> 00:04:18.963
but I just didn't feel they were, you know, production ready.
00:04:19.108 --> 00:04:23.157
Yes, you can build homes, you can do things, but for a homeowner,
00:04:23.157 --> 00:04:28.853
the changes of having to use concrete anchors to hang pictures just doesn't seem appealing to me.
00:04:29.405 --> 00:04:35.054
The idea of being able to, I can, I can, yes, I'm 50, I'll be 56 this year,
00:04:35.182 --> 00:04:39.608
but I can still get up in the attic and run cables down through my walls if I need to, so on.
00:04:40.038 --> 00:04:44.957
You know, I'm used to being able to do things to my house. And so So 3D concrete
00:04:44.957 --> 00:04:48.421
printing, while it's amazing, I just, it wasn't connecting for me.
00:04:49.018 --> 00:04:53.497
And that's when, you know, I'm also, I'm now a past president for ACI Northern
00:04:53.497 --> 00:04:54.639
California, Western Nevada.
00:04:55.220 --> 00:05:00.015
I was the sitting president at the time. And I also share the awards committee.
00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:04.497
One of the projects submitted was an ICF home in Santa Rosa in the fire spark.
00:05:05.195 --> 00:05:09.257
I had a chance to go up and tour the home. And, you know, I knew ICF 20 plus
00:05:09.257 --> 00:05:13.960
years ago, but it was always just high-end custom homes because it was pricey.
00:05:14.757 --> 00:05:18.447
Well, I'm talking to the owners and I find out that what they built compared
00:05:18.447 --> 00:05:22.466
to what their neighbors built in stick price per square foot ended up being,
00:05:23.095 --> 00:05:24.302
incredibly comparable.
00:05:25.155 --> 00:05:29.763
One was a 7,000 square foot home. One was a 59 or 5,800 square foot home.
00:05:30.374 --> 00:05:34.612
And when you broke it down for what each of them paid, I don't know why anybody's
00:05:34.612 --> 00:05:37.842
building a stick because they can't get insurance other than the Cal Fair plan.
00:05:37.842 --> 00:05:42.082
And if you're not in California, California provided a, what's called a Cal
00:05:42.082 --> 00:05:46.388
Fair plan that people affected by the fire that have to go on the Cal Fair plan,
00:05:46.870 --> 00:05:48.472
call it the Cal Unfair plan.
00:05:48.472 --> 00:05:53.292
It's usually three to four times more expensive and it doesn't cover hardly
00:05:53.292 --> 00:05:59.402
anything. So, you know, it's what the state capitol is calling an insurance
00:05:59.402 --> 00:06:01.108
crisis here in the state of California.
00:06:01.276 --> 00:06:06.532
So, you know, all these factors really just kept me diving into what is a solution.
00:06:06.532 --> 00:06:08.562
And after touring that home, I
00:06:08.562 --> 00:06:12.423
started getting plugged in with some ICF builders, some of the producers.
00:06:13.111 --> 00:06:14.259
Obviously, I'm plugged in with
00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:18.005
the Dura, but I was also connected with BuildBlock and Fox, IntegraSpec.
00:06:18.249 --> 00:06:22.330
The home in Santa Rosa was IntegraSpec. And, you know, I just really started
00:06:22.661 --> 00:06:29.159
seeing that we can build a home cost effectively that insurance companies will
00:06:29.159 --> 00:06:31.316
insure even in a fire scar.
00:06:31.809 --> 00:06:34.669
And, you know, the turning point for me was when I was up in Paradise,
00:06:34.669 --> 00:06:36.927
touring homes in Paradise, two things came out of that.
00:06:37.525 --> 00:06:42.139
One, my wife was with me, and this is probably one of my favorite memories.
00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:44.695
We pulled up to the first house and she looks at it and goes,
00:06:44.950 --> 00:06:45.972
that's not a concrete home.
00:06:46.643 --> 00:06:50.409
And I told her it's the address. It's supposed to be a concrete home.
00:06:50.409 --> 00:06:53.394
I'm going to assume it is. And I'd already seen ICF homes. So,
00:06:53.882 --> 00:06:56.009
you know, I knew what to expect, but she's looking at it going,
00:06:56.009 --> 00:07:00.163
no, that's a regular home. And so we go inside, she's literally knocking on walls.
00:07:00.505 --> 00:07:03.369
And I had to go out in the garage and yell because the garage,
00:07:03.369 --> 00:07:08.349
you know, is separated by an ICF wall and yell before she realized the soundproofing.
00:07:08.349 --> 00:07:11.383
So on like that has to be a concrete wall because you would hear me.
00:07:12.099 --> 00:07:16.499
Here at our house you'd hear me yelling in the garage and so she as soon as
00:07:16.499 --> 00:07:23.085
we walked out of that house she's like if we buy a new house or build we're doing icf she's like i,
00:07:23.731 --> 00:07:29.109
was in that house and was just so blown away and i felt secure i felt safe she's
00:07:29.109 --> 00:07:32.749
like this is why aren't we doing this and so.
00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:36.219
Even though she thinks I should be doing more.
00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:42.279
I am peddled to the floor on out promoting ICF. And the second thing that was,
00:07:42.859 --> 00:07:46.539
the real eye-turner, Melissa Schuster, city councilwoman for Paradise,
00:07:46.539 --> 00:07:49.388
former city councilwoman, lost everything in the fires.
00:07:49.689 --> 00:07:52.054
They had a nice venue that was a wedding venue.
00:07:52.443 --> 00:07:56.609
They had this huge koi fish pond. They had this underground bar that's amazing.
00:07:56.609 --> 00:07:59.367
They had this big barn. They lost it all, their house, everything.
00:07:59.627 --> 00:08:02.013
They rebuilt the house in ICF.
00:08:02.474 --> 00:08:06.049
They rebuilt the barn as a distillery. They'd always planned on converting the
00:08:06.049 --> 00:08:07.495
barn to a distillery at some point.
00:08:08.364 --> 00:08:12.143
They named the barn, Burt Barn Distillery, which I thought is perfect.
00:08:12.799 --> 00:08:16.766
Their spirits are, the spirits line is called Embers to Eden.
00:08:16.766 --> 00:08:18.630
So, I mean, she's a wonderful woman.
00:08:18.984 --> 00:08:23.706
She, it just has a passion for being, you know, she's going to survive.
00:08:23.706 --> 00:08:25.996
She's going to make everything work and she will find a way.
00:08:25.996 --> 00:08:29.948
And she did. And she ended up at 2,200 square foot, two-story home.
00:08:30.928 --> 00:08:35.086
Nothing special. You know, it's just her and her husband. and the Cal Fair plan
00:08:35.086 --> 00:08:38.468
was $7,100 for insurance, which is outrageous.
00:08:39.316 --> 00:08:44.366
She ended up, she's a smart woman too, she invited insurance companies out for
00:08:44.366 --> 00:08:47.266
a gin and vodka tasting, free, complimentary.
00:08:47.777 --> 00:08:49.222
Their whiskey wasn't aged yet.
00:08:49.834 --> 00:08:56.225
And did a house tour while they were there. Mercury found out it was ICF, offered her $2,300.
00:08:56.910 --> 00:09:01.936
You know, $4,800 savings, I don't know about you, but that would make a huge
00:09:01.936 --> 00:09:03.819
difference for our lifestyle.
00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:09.708
So when we came back from paradise, I told my wife, this is what California
00:09:09.708 --> 00:09:13.668
needs. This is what, you know, I have family, two families, two of our families
00:09:13.668 --> 00:09:16.956
lost their homes, both rebuilt and ended up moving out of state.
00:09:17.810 --> 00:09:21.208
You know, my little sister is on 11 acres up by Camp Far West Lake here where
00:09:21.208 --> 00:09:24.963
we grew up. And her insurance company was going to drop her.
00:09:25.456 --> 00:09:29.965
You know, her property is probably, I don't know, we're six, 700,000.
00:09:30.713 --> 00:09:36.048
And she owed 125. And if she can't get insurance, they're going to foreclose.
00:09:36.048 --> 00:09:38.660
Well, she's got to go on Cal Fair, but she can't afford it.
00:09:39.158 --> 00:09:42.729
She lost her husband six, seven years ago. And so she's a single income.
00:09:43.217 --> 00:09:46.486
Also, by the way, my little sister, five foot tall, tiny little thing.
00:09:47.111 --> 00:09:53.038
She has cattle. She has chickens, an orchard, dogs, and a donkey.
00:09:53.978 --> 00:09:57.858
And she still works a full time job. And I don't know how she makes it all happen,
00:09:57.858 --> 00:09:59.853
but she has no quit in her.
00:10:00.265 --> 00:10:06.108
And to see this insurance crisis put her in a situation where she can't afford
00:10:06.108 --> 00:10:09.557
Cal Fair, and now she might lose her home to foreclosure.
00:10:10.387 --> 00:10:14.958
That really lit a fire under me. And that made it personal in a big way.
00:10:15.492 --> 00:10:20.090
So there's got to be a better way to do things. And that really led me to really
00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:24.100
push for ICF. And I ended up, I started speaking at universities on it.
00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:26.457
I spoke at UCLA with BuildBlock at their event.
00:10:26.828 --> 00:10:31.717
I spoke at Calcema and really started promoting it. And that became my passion.
00:10:31.997 --> 00:10:36.884
Unfortunately, CEMEX had a change and our entire department across the country was cut.
00:10:37.890 --> 00:10:40.850
Business decision. CEMEX was an incredible company to work for,
00:10:40.850 --> 00:10:43.329
no hard feelings at all, still very plugged in.
00:10:43.951 --> 00:10:47.590
But that led me to look for new opportunities. And getting this opportunity
00:10:47.590 --> 00:10:52.426
with Castle House, they offered me a vice president role to take over the distribution side.
00:10:52.896 --> 00:10:58.387
But the key focus of me taking over the distribution side was promotion and education of ICF.
00:10:58.682 --> 00:11:03.971
So they do doors, windows, everything to build a house, and then ICF block as well.
00:11:04.523 --> 00:11:08.191
And so it's been a great fit. I've been there a little over two months now,
00:11:08.621 --> 00:11:12.090
and it's been pedal to the metal. So it's been pretty incredible.
00:11:12.410 --> 00:11:16.080
And they're a New Dura dealer, right? That's what they do. Correct.
00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.286
We're a New Dura dealership.
00:11:17.547 --> 00:11:22.140
So yeah, great, great company to be set up with to do that.
00:11:22.140 --> 00:11:26.050
They can definitely, they know how to work with those big distributors in those
00:11:26.050 --> 00:11:29.184
areas. And you guys cover all, you know, Northern California,
00:11:29.585 --> 00:11:34.589
Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, you said? And Hawaii. And Hawaii. Okay.
00:11:35.130 --> 00:11:38.218
Well, there's where you want to go. That's the, that's where we want to be selling ICF.
00:11:38.938 --> 00:11:42.178
That's, that's the trick as you go there in the wintertime and sell ICF over
00:11:42.178 --> 00:11:43.622
there, then, you know, seasonal.
00:11:44.093 --> 00:11:47.358
But it's interesting when I hear the, you know, distributors and,
00:11:47.918 --> 00:11:51.628
and first of all, thank you guys for being WICVA members. You guys are WICVA
00:11:51.628 --> 00:11:55.869
members, members of the World Insulated Concord Forum Association, as is New Dura.
00:11:56.252 --> 00:11:58.152
So thank you for that support.
00:11:58.660 --> 00:12:02.728
I love hearing that we're, you know, like I said, people with passion.
00:12:02.728 --> 00:12:04.298
That's how this whole thing drives.
00:12:04.858 --> 00:12:09.248
I always am bummed a little bit when I, you know, when it has to come from a
00:12:09.248 --> 00:12:13.338
bad experience that somebody gets, you know, like I said, your passion of,
00:12:13.338 --> 00:12:16.039
you know, how it affected you personally and in your family.
00:12:16.300 --> 00:12:19.758
And I see that because I, too, spent a ton of time in paradise.
00:12:19.758 --> 00:12:24.926
I spent a ton of time, you know, in all around different fires in California over the last 25 years.
00:12:25.310 --> 00:12:29.958
You know, we're, we've spent, I've made a trip down the Palisades already and
00:12:29.958 --> 00:12:30.960
probably be making more.
00:12:31.442 --> 00:12:36.128
But it's, you hear people that have these experiences and that's where this
00:12:36.128 --> 00:12:40.808
creates this, you know, passion and desire to want to get involved with ICF.
00:12:40.808 --> 00:12:45.697
And so that's, like I said, I hate that it's a bad thing that has to push that, but it's obviously...
00:12:46.798 --> 00:12:50.178
You know, exponentially increased your desire to get it out there.
00:12:50.178 --> 00:12:54.218
So kudos to you. And that's awesome. But it's interesting with,
00:12:54.858 --> 00:12:58.378
from a Castle House standpoint, where you guys have, you know,
00:12:58.378 --> 00:13:02.108
I talk about all the time, I managed the Western 13 states for a lot of years.
00:13:02.108 --> 00:13:06.338
And we had, you know, everywhere I went, I had a different reason to sell ICF,
00:13:06.338 --> 00:13:07.758
right? Everybody had something different.
00:13:08.078 --> 00:13:11.638
You guys have a really unique setup with the, you know, the areas you cover
00:13:11.638 --> 00:13:18.158
because of, you know, seismic in California, fire obviously in California, heat in Arizona, cold,
00:13:18.618 --> 00:13:23.048
in Utah, you know, like it's just, it's an amazing combination of all the different,
00:13:23.048 --> 00:13:25.892
you know, aspects of why we, you know, we can,
00:13:26.478 --> 00:13:29.788
use ICF for all these different, different things. And it's,
00:13:29.788 --> 00:13:33.598
it's, you know, a big part of what, what we see out there with everybody.
00:13:33.598 --> 00:13:38.838
So it's really, to me, that's, that's an interesting thing that makes it very
00:13:38.838 --> 00:13:40.798
versatile product for you guys.
00:13:40.798 --> 00:13:44.168
And I know you sell a lot of stuff. Castle House does a lot of really cool products.
00:13:44.168 --> 00:13:47.298
I was looking through all the everything you guys do, everything to build a
00:13:47.298 --> 00:13:51.308
house, full line supplier, but have really started making a name for yourself
00:13:51.308 --> 00:13:57.146
as an ICF company out there too. So, and I'm only going to get more with your involvement, for sure.
00:13:58.810 --> 00:13:59.519
I'll say that,
00:14:00.349 --> 00:14:04.141
I'm sorry, Heather, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say, I love caring like when
00:14:04.141 --> 00:14:05.801
you took your wife to a concrete house.
00:14:05.801 --> 00:14:10.191
And I think that it's what a lot of people think. They think concrete house
00:14:10.191 --> 00:14:19.391
equals bunker, square, cold, all these things that ICF definitely is not and does not have to be.
00:14:19.792 --> 00:14:24.861
Yes, bunkers are built out of ICF. There's been lots of them built for the military
00:14:25.296 --> 00:14:29.737
because of different reasons, you know, ballistics testing and all that kind of stuff.
00:14:30.329 --> 00:14:35.066
But in, you know, in building and in designing homes for ICF,
00:14:35.652 --> 00:14:39.216
we tell our clients, we're limited only by your imagination and your budget.
00:14:39.564 --> 00:14:41.503
We can make that ICF house.
00:14:41.875 --> 00:14:44.609
Nobody will know it's an ICF house from the outside.
00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:48.856
And it's so crazy to have them come in. And, you know, one of the things that,
00:14:49.378 --> 00:14:55.421
we used to do is when we would build in a community and we would be competing
00:14:55.421 --> 00:14:57.355
with stick frame houses around us.
00:14:58.131 --> 00:15:04.222
While people were inside of the ICF home, we would set off some of the car alarms outside.
00:15:04.837 --> 00:15:09.421
And from inside our house, you couldn't hear it. And you would walk out and
00:15:09.421 --> 00:15:12.451
you would hear it. And then you would go into the stick frame house next door
00:15:12.451 --> 00:15:15.559
and you would still hear it as though you're outside.
00:15:15.954 --> 00:15:18.844
And they'd be like, oh my gosh, it is so quiet.
00:15:19.268 --> 00:15:23.281
But I love exactly what you said, you know, when you and your wife went and
00:15:23.281 --> 00:15:26.451
walked through there, just because that's something that everybody really,
00:15:26.451 --> 00:15:29.949
until they experience it, I think they have a preconceived notion about it.
00:15:30.628 --> 00:15:35.566
100 percent we so i do a lot of work at the state capitol also and assemblywoman
00:15:35.566 --> 00:15:40.166
laura davies i think it's district 73 and we're podcast 73 imagine that um.
00:15:40.986 --> 00:15:45.466
So she she's down in the san juan capistrano area we set up a site visit on
00:15:45.466 --> 00:15:49.836
a construction site and then about a mile away a completed home and they had
00:15:49.836 --> 00:15:52.129
the same reaction exactly what you're describing heather,
00:15:52.719 --> 00:15:57.546
they could not believe you know that the home they were in was what they just
00:15:57.546 --> 00:16:00.928
witnessed under construction because it looks like a regular home.
00:16:01.444 --> 00:16:05.726
Just they couldn't tell the difference. And then, you know, tying that into
00:16:05.726 --> 00:16:11.846
something Trevor was talking about, I'm constantly reminded I'm focused on the insurance crisis.
00:16:11.846 --> 00:16:14.606
I'm focused on building homes that people can actually insure.
00:16:14.606 --> 00:16:19.866
And that's a lot of the work I'm doing is focused on communities that have been
00:16:19.866 --> 00:16:24.426
devastated, are struggling to, you know, recover from that.
00:16:24.426 --> 00:16:28.026
Because if you want to build a home and stick, you're not going to be able to
00:16:28.026 --> 00:16:30.693
insure it. so you've got to pay for it outright. You can't finance it.
00:16:31.245 --> 00:16:35.906
If you don't get enough money from your insurance company to rebuild in full
00:16:35.906 --> 00:16:37.259
cost, it's coming out of your pocket.
00:16:38.085 --> 00:16:41.446
Because you're not going to be able to insure it unless you go on Cal Fair,
00:16:41.446 --> 00:16:45.659
which again, we know is not very fair. And that's not a knock on California.
00:16:46.646 --> 00:16:47.636
They're making an effort, but
00:16:47.636 --> 00:16:51.166
nothing government does is going to be very efficient. We all know this.
00:16:52.648 --> 00:16:57.786
It's unfortunate. But I'm so focused on the insurance side of it that sometimes,
00:16:57.786 --> 00:17:00.986
and the energy saving side, that I forget some of the other benefits.
00:17:00.986 --> 00:17:06.034
And we're down in the Coachella Valley doing a project, a 27,000 square foot mansion, high end.
00:17:06.568 --> 00:17:10.068
It's got a basement. They can only do single story. So it's got this massive basement.
00:17:10.858 --> 00:17:13.760
And I'm, I'm looking at this thinking it makes perfect sense. You're in the desert.
00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:17.427
You're, you're going to have a house that's going to stay so much cooler,
00:17:17.561 --> 00:17:21.199
require so much less AC. I mean, it, it's an above ground cave,
00:17:21.199 --> 00:17:24.068
especially since you have the basement aspect built into it as well.
00:17:24.376 --> 00:17:28.085
I mean, this is the perfect solution. And it didn't dawn on me until
00:17:28.526 --> 00:17:32.459
Coachella was actually running and they flew the drone up and you could actually
00:17:32.459 --> 00:17:37.259
see Coachella taking place and hear the music that, oh, they're also not going
00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:40.679
to be disturbed if they don't want to be by all the concerts.
00:17:40.679 --> 00:17:44.139
Stagecoach, Coachella, everything because of the soundproofing.
00:17:44.139 --> 00:17:47.849
I hadn't even considered that aspect. And, and you have to look at the neighborhood
00:17:47.849 --> 00:17:50.789
they're in. There's a bunch of very large mansions right around them.
00:17:50.789 --> 00:17:54.935
And a lot of these are to have events and host and have live music.
00:17:55.336 --> 00:17:58.139
Well, this is another perfect reason
00:17:58.139 --> 00:18:02.039
for ICF because they don't have to be disturbed if they don't want to.
00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:05.609
They can go out on their patio, enjoy it if they want to, or they can stay inside
00:18:05.609 --> 00:18:06.759
and not even know what's going on.
00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:10.870
So, you know, all these different environments, all these different climates,
00:18:11.038 --> 00:18:12.579
all these different benefits.
00:18:13.511 --> 00:18:19.229
I often forget when I'm focused on insurance and energy and then something happens
00:18:19.229 --> 00:18:23.117
and I'm reminded and I'm like, oh yeah, that's another box check that I keep forgetting about.
00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:27.829
Yeah, 100%. And insurance is like, we're seeing it everywhere.
00:18:27.829 --> 00:18:33.219
You know, affordability is a huge issue, not just in California or in Idaho,
00:18:33.219 --> 00:18:34.648
but all across the country.
00:18:35.095 --> 00:18:41.969
And when you look at insurance rates, adding $1,000, $2,000,
00:18:42.719 --> 00:18:48.309
and more per month, or even not being able to get insurance,
00:18:48.309 --> 00:18:52.653
maybe they could buy the house, but then they can't get insurance. That's a huge problem.
00:18:53.139 --> 00:18:58.209
And it adds to the affordability issue. I mean, I know we fought We fought our
00:18:58.209 --> 00:19:06.415
insurance company because we live in a fire zone and they tried to triple unknown caller. Wow.
00:19:07.166 --> 00:19:10.067
That was sorry bluetooth bluetooth
00:19:10.067 --> 00:19:14.062
heather's bluetooth into the board and i just got another call so,
00:19:15.304 --> 00:19:19.447
didn't know that was going to happen there's a first on the podcast now we know
00:19:19.447 --> 00:19:25.157
that happens yeah well we'll see if it actually makes it through the podcast or good lord yeah.
00:19:27.017 --> 00:19:33.097
You can always have some fun with it yeah yeah keep it real so so we like fought our insurance company,
00:19:34.037 --> 00:19:37.877
and showed them, you know, what our house was made of, sent in pictures during
00:19:37.877 --> 00:19:43.695
construction, sent them all the technical specs on it and showed the fireproofness of it.
00:19:44.137 --> 00:19:49.007
And we actually ended up seeing a decrease in our homeowner's insurance,
00:19:49.007 --> 00:19:50.657
which was crazy. Not a surprise.
00:19:51.117 --> 00:19:54.637
And then this year we got a renewal and I was worried we were going to have
00:19:54.637 --> 00:19:58.458
to go through this process of fighting it every single year.
00:19:58.957 --> 00:20:03.105
And second year, this year on the renewal, we didn't have to fight it.
00:20:03.511 --> 00:20:08.573
It went up just a small amount for inflation. Everything is going up.
00:20:08.939 --> 00:20:14.262
So it wasn't something that was huge for us again. But three of our neighbors
00:20:14.442 --> 00:20:19.739
are all now self-insured because they lost insurance, which is super scary.
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:26.658
Idaho doesn't have a plan. At least California is doing something to come up with a solution,
00:20:27.697 --> 00:20:31.383
but it's not a great solution for There,
00:20:32.399 --> 00:20:35.417
it might, it might work for some people for others, you know,
00:20:35.417 --> 00:20:38.557
just it, it puts you further in the hole because unfortunately,
00:20:38.557 --> 00:20:41.567
you know, I look at California where we're second, at least last I checked,
00:20:41.567 --> 00:20:44.532
we're second in the nation for median home price.
00:20:45.652 --> 00:20:50.191
We're second in the nation, second from the bottom, sorry, second worst,
00:20:50.477 --> 00:20:55.701
second worst on home ownership, meaning the percentage of homes that the people
00:20:55.701 --> 00:20:59.441
living in own it, where our home ownership is declining.
00:20:59.441 --> 00:21:04.093
That percentage is, is about to drop below 50% in California.
00:21:04.522 --> 00:21:07.274
And, you know, that's, that's the wrong direction.
00:21:07.704 --> 00:21:11.131
And I look at, you know, the next generation coming out of college, trying to buy a home.
00:21:11.711 --> 00:21:16.661
It's next to impossible. So, you know, there's so many issues that we face, but,
00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:21.901
highlighting the benefits that ICF brings to actually fix these problems without
00:21:21.901 --> 00:21:25.761
needing government intervention, without needing, you know, tax benefits,
00:21:25.761 --> 00:21:29.215
without any of that, just the product itself,
00:21:29.715 --> 00:21:31.251
solves so many of these problems.
00:21:31.251 --> 00:21:36.054
And I think, you know, some of the things I'm putting campaigns together on and working on.
00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.466
Low-income housing should be ICF because these people have to pay energy bills.
00:21:41.988 --> 00:21:47.803
Yes. And these energy bills are outrageous. You know, my last presentation that
00:21:47.803 --> 00:21:54.805
I gave, I highlighted in a two-and-a-half-year period nine energy price hikes in that time period.
00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:00.020
And it was an energy price hike of about 65%. Wow. And that's insane.
00:22:00.570 --> 00:22:04.553
Well, if you build low-income housing in ICF, like I don't think we should build
00:22:04.553 --> 00:22:09.247
low-income housing out of anything other than ICF because you're putting somebody,
00:22:09.746 --> 00:22:13.078
in a low income housing because they're financially challenged.
00:22:13.883 --> 00:22:18.103
And if you're putting them in a home, but then they have to pay 800 to $1,200
00:22:18.103 --> 00:22:20.936
a month in energy bills, you're not helping them.
00:22:21.395 --> 00:22:25.493
You're just, you know, putting them in a situation where they're going to still
00:22:25.493 --> 00:22:27.891
struggle to put food on the table and to buy clothes.
00:22:28.552 --> 00:22:31.023
You know, so I look at those things. I look at hotels. I mean,
00:22:31.023 --> 00:22:34.962
business owners, You want, you want to build hotels that is ideal.
00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:38.503
You will save the energy money in your pocket because you can still compete
00:22:38.503 --> 00:22:42.533
with local hotels on rates, so on, but you won't be paying the energy costs they're paid.
00:22:43.108 --> 00:22:45.993
You know, there, there's so many advantages and the one that's killing me right
00:22:45.993 --> 00:22:49.749
now, this one, again, bureaucracies make things difficult.
00:22:51.107 --> 00:22:56.237
Department uh dsa department of state architecture architect their interpretation
00:22:56.237 --> 00:23:03.239
for icf i across the country you have net neutral schools built in icf in california you have zero,
00:23:03.827 --> 00:23:09.969
and one of the roadblocks is dsa interprets aci and i will fight this to my dying day,
00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:17.289
you know aci's recommendation for concrete walls is four foot lifts per hour
00:23:17.588 --> 00:23:22.097
so that you get some time for the concrete to get a little set to it,
00:23:22.097 --> 00:23:23.767
but you still get consolidation.
00:23:23.767 --> 00:23:28.057
So when the next lift goes on, you can intermingle the two, but you also aren't
00:23:28.057 --> 00:23:30.707
going so deep that you can't get good consolidation.
00:23:30.707 --> 00:23:33.477
Because if you try to consolidate, you know, 12 foot at one time,
00:23:33.477 --> 00:23:35.967
that vibrator is going to be too long in the upper portions.
00:23:35.967 --> 00:23:40.877
You're going to get segregation. So, you know, I understand ACI's recommendation
00:23:40.877 --> 00:23:45.729
as far as four foot lifts per hour well dsa interprets that as four foot per day.
00:23:47.239 --> 00:23:51.007
Meaning you're going to have cold joints every four foot through those walls
00:23:51.007 --> 00:23:54.297
and you're also going to increase the cost of build and it kills me because
00:23:54.297 --> 00:24:00.079
aci's recommendations right where it says four foot lifts it also says avoiding avoiding cold joints,
00:24:00.823 --> 00:24:04.287
but dsa's requirement ensures you're going to have cold joints.
00:24:04.287 --> 00:24:06.001
Guarantees, yeah, cold joints.
00:24:06.664 --> 00:24:10.386
I don't get it. I, it's frustrating. It's a battle.
00:24:10.733 --> 00:24:13.807
I will probably never win, but I'm a United States Marine and,
00:24:14.127 --> 00:24:17.877
and all I know is I'm going to fight that battle. And I tell people sometimes
00:24:17.877 --> 00:24:19.647
I'm just too stupid to quit. Yeah.
00:24:21.402 --> 00:24:26.426
No, I think it's, and a lot of that is, and I mean, I'm going to plug,
00:24:27.075 --> 00:24:30.458
you know, WICFA here because that's a lot of why we're doing what we're doing
00:24:30.458 --> 00:24:35.698
with the World Insulated Concrete Forum Association is we're really trying to just educate people.
00:24:36.658 --> 00:24:40.758
I beat the word educate to death. That's definitely one of my bingo card words
00:24:40.758 --> 00:24:43.518
because it's something that we're just out there doing.
00:24:43.518 --> 00:24:47.018
I mean, I don't think, I was having this conversation with somebody else the other day.
00:24:47.018 --> 00:24:50.498
I said, I don't think I'm, you know, they're like, oh, you're an ICF sales guy.
00:24:50.498 --> 00:24:54.398
You know, you're really good at selling ICF. I go, I don't think I do. I don't think I sell ICF.
00:24:54.398 --> 00:24:59.018
I think I educate people about ICF and then they buy it, which I guess could
00:24:59.018 --> 00:25:01.448
be turned into a sale necessarily.
00:25:01.448 --> 00:25:04.268
So I understand where that comes from. But for the most part,
00:25:04.268 --> 00:25:07.198
all I'm trying to do is like educate people on this.
00:25:07.198 --> 00:25:10.048
And it's just little things like that that you find out about.
00:25:10.048 --> 00:25:13.878
And to me, that's, you know, and I'll get more information from you on this
00:25:13.878 --> 00:25:18.948
because I'd love to send a letter from WICFA, you know, to these people and
00:25:18.948 --> 00:25:22.298
say, hey, just I had a guest on, we talked about this.
00:25:22.298 --> 00:25:25.698
I just want to clarify. Is there anything we can do to help clarify this to
00:25:25.698 --> 00:25:27.445
you, you know, and how this works?
00:25:27.845 --> 00:25:32.017
Because I think I, you know, we have the backing of the National Concrete,
00:25:32.162 --> 00:25:35.085
Ready Mix Concrete Association is one of our partners.
00:25:35.363 --> 00:25:39.408
They're a concrete partner, and we couldn't do it without our concrete partners.
00:25:39.408 --> 00:25:43.526
While I'm on that, that's National Ready-Mix Concrete Association.
00:25:44.958 --> 00:25:48.308
The ICFMA, the Insulated Concrete Form Manufacturer Association,
00:25:48.308 --> 00:25:53.078
and the NHB, the National Association of Home Builders, our three major concrete sponsors.
00:25:53.078 --> 00:25:55.752
And without them, we couldn't do all this for WICFA.
00:25:56.898 --> 00:26:00.838
They would be a great resource for us to reach out. And I know we could tap
00:26:00.838 --> 00:26:05.098
into that, you know, and probably get a letter from everybody from NHB,
00:26:05.458 --> 00:26:10.298
ICFMA, and the NRMCA to send and get these guys straightened out a little bit.
00:26:10.298 --> 00:26:14.058
And like I said, sometimes I think there's—I trust me over the years,
00:26:14.058 --> 00:26:19.228
I've ran into guys that are just negative or hard to deal with or they're uneducated
00:26:19.228 --> 00:26:21.774
or, you know, even ignorant in some ways—.
00:26:22.923 --> 00:26:25.283
But most of the time I run into people, they just don't know,
00:26:25.283 --> 00:26:28.153
you know, they just don't understand what they don't understand.
00:26:28.153 --> 00:26:29.326
They don't know what they don't know.
00:26:29.639 --> 00:26:33.273
And so we're looking at it going, okay, this is what we're, you know, this is what we got to do.
00:26:33.273 --> 00:26:37.693
And I've, more times than not, I've watched their, their face turn and they
00:26:37.693 --> 00:26:39.613
go, yeah, I guess we didn't think of it that way.
00:26:39.613 --> 00:26:43.453
We'll change that. So I think that's something that we can dive into going back
00:26:43.453 --> 00:26:44.583
to the affordability thing.
00:26:44.583 --> 00:26:49.233
Another conversation I've had at length with people is, you know,
00:26:49.233 --> 00:26:53.093
everybody goes, you know, God, I have some people that literally just freak
00:26:53.093 --> 00:26:55.553
out when I say affordable housing and ICF.
00:26:55.553 --> 00:26:59.223
They just think that's like the complete wrong direction for us to go.
00:26:59.223 --> 00:27:01.865
I mean, people I know within the industry, people I respect,
00:27:02.238 --> 00:27:06.033
you know, will come to me and pull me aside and go, man, you get me just hair
00:27:06.033 --> 00:27:09.083
on the back of my neck stands up when you talk about affordable housing and
00:27:09.083 --> 00:27:11.524
ICF because I just don't think that's even feasible.
00:27:11.977 --> 00:27:14.633
And I said, well, I think you're looking at this from a different aspect.
00:27:14.633 --> 00:27:18.203
I'm looking at, I'm not just looking at building a shell and walking away from
00:27:18.203 --> 00:27:22.218
it because I have been involved with a lot of, you know, these,
00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:28.403
you know, homes that we go in and help people build and build it up and Habitat
00:27:28.403 --> 00:27:29.803
of Humanity is a good example.
00:27:30.283 --> 00:27:34.313
I mean, that's a great program, does a lot of great things, but I can tell you
00:27:34.313 --> 00:27:37.285
from working with them and other organizations like that.
00:27:37.971 --> 00:27:44.593
A lot of those homes end up getting lost by those people that move in because
00:27:44.593 --> 00:27:47.953
of the fact that they were in a bad situation when they got there,
00:27:48.262 --> 00:27:51.253
and then you put them in a situation they can't afford to sustain,
00:27:51.253 --> 00:27:52.586
you know, to operate the house.
00:27:53.335 --> 00:27:56.687
So, you know, a good example would be in Arizona.
00:27:56.687 --> 00:28:00.067
This happens quite a bit because people, they build someone a free house,
00:28:00.067 --> 00:28:04.397
but then the utility costs are $1,000 a month for, they keep the house,
00:28:04.397 --> 00:28:10.777
you know, under 75 degrees, you know, because it's 120 and they can't afford that.
00:28:10.777 --> 00:28:14.677
You know, it's not the, you know, in perpetuity for the rest of their life,
00:28:14.677 --> 00:28:16.827
they've got to keep operating this house.
00:28:16.827 --> 00:28:21.137
And so if we can build them a house at a very close to, I mean,
00:28:21.137 --> 00:28:25.267
and I fight, fight, fight, you know, about we can build this for the same price
00:28:25.267 --> 00:28:28.747
because Heather and I have done it for a lot of years. So I will tell you,
00:28:28.747 --> 00:28:30.987
yes, you can. If you tell me you can't, I think.
00:28:31.552 --> 00:28:34.959
You're not looking at it right. But even if we say it gets close,
00:28:35.255 --> 00:28:39.601
the operational cost is more detrimental to that customer over the next 30 years
00:28:39.601 --> 00:28:44.331
than whatever the little bit of an amount that that might change the build cost.
00:28:44.331 --> 00:28:47.701
So that's one of those things where I agree with you a hundred percent.
00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:52.911
And the interesting thing is, is back in like 2005 or eight,
00:28:52.911 --> 00:28:59.801
I'd have to look back the largest ICF full ICF subdivision in the country.
00:28:59.801 --> 00:29:03.653
And I don't know if it's been beat as 115 houses built in Sacramento.
00:29:04.163 --> 00:29:08.581
So, I mean, it's, it's legitimately like you guys figured that out a long time
00:29:08.581 --> 00:29:12.051
ago down there that this is like you should build and they weren't mansions.
00:29:12.051 --> 00:29:16.691
It was, it was just affordable houses. that they built. So it's been done and
00:29:16.691 --> 00:29:18.171
it needs to continue to be done.
00:29:18.171 --> 00:29:22.281
And I think the one thing that we're missing the boat on is people are looking
00:29:22.281 --> 00:29:24.991
at build costs and not looking at operational costs.
00:29:24.991 --> 00:29:29.321
And back again to another one of your points, the hotel thing,
00:29:29.321 --> 00:29:33.491
go back and listen to our episode with Gary Fetters on, you know,
00:29:33.491 --> 00:29:34.771
came on and talked about them, the.
00:29:35.611 --> 00:29:40.501
ICF specialists built two, well, they didn't, they built the ICF one,
00:29:40.501 --> 00:29:43.811
but at the same time, it was, I believe, at Hilton Garden or in Hampton Inn.
00:29:43.811 --> 00:29:44.909
It was a Hilton property.
00:29:45.310 --> 00:29:51.511
They built two identical in Arizona within 20 miles of each other and then compared
00:29:51.511 --> 00:29:55.101
the operational cost to it. And he goes on there, and I can't remember exactly
00:29:55.101 --> 00:29:58.651
the quotes, but the numbers were ridiculous.
00:29:59.211 --> 00:30:02.071
And that's when Hilton made the big switch and said, we're not building any
00:30:02.071 --> 00:30:07.641
more, you know, stick frame, you know, buildings where we have access to ICF.
00:30:07.641 --> 00:30:12.071
And so where they've got people that can build ICF, They always go to ICF now
00:30:12.071 --> 00:30:13.961
for hotels because the operational costs.
00:30:13.961 --> 00:30:17.781
So if that works for a huge company that's got all these rooms and stuff they're
00:30:17.781 --> 00:30:21.064
doing, you can imagine what that would do for Joe homeowner that,
00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:24.576
you know, is trying to heat and cool their 1500 square foot house.
00:30:25.104 --> 00:30:29.159
So I think that's, you hit the nail on the head on a lot of those.
00:30:30.479 --> 00:30:33.739
I think all this stuff is amazing and you're dead on with.
00:30:33.739 --> 00:30:38.289
And I think Heather and I have seen more and more lately just getting more involved
00:30:38.289 --> 00:30:42.954
politically that you're barking up the right tree being involved with,
00:30:43.070 --> 00:30:45.731
you know, some of your legislators at the state level.
00:30:46.138 --> 00:30:50.227
I know Heather and I are very involved and we've slowly figured out that,
00:30:50.575 --> 00:30:53.249
you know, you're kind of trying to eat an elephant if you're going to go up
00:30:53.249 --> 00:30:57.669
and try to, you know, walk up and talk to President Trump about something,
00:30:57.669 --> 00:31:00.536
you know, but you can make a change when you go and talk to your,
00:31:01.036 --> 00:31:05.879
city councilman or your, you know, county commissioners or your,
00:31:05.879 --> 00:31:07.419
you know, your state legislators.
00:31:07.419 --> 00:31:11.589
So the fact that you're getting in front of those people and getting the word out is huge.
00:31:11.589 --> 00:31:17.199
And anyone listening that has the ear of a, you know, local politician that
00:31:17.199 --> 00:31:22.349
can help us, a local legislator in your area, that's a big person to be talking
00:31:22.349 --> 00:31:25.229
to because a lot of this stuff happens at the ground level.
00:31:25.229 --> 00:31:30.009
I know Heather's seen a lot of that with the, well, California,
00:31:30.009 --> 00:31:34.359
I mean, you can talk to how, you know, the design stuff that they changed almost
00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:39.102
immediately after the Palisades fires so that they could get blueprints done faster.
00:31:39.567 --> 00:31:43.199
You know, I mean, that was all done like that. So it's. Yeah.
00:31:44.284 --> 00:31:49.441
A couple of the jurisdictions changed it to where it doesn't require an architect.
00:31:49.818 --> 00:31:54.334
It just requires, which they all required an architect with full engineering. Yeah.
00:31:54.983 --> 00:31:59.134
Now they are not requiring the architect. They're requiring a draftsman.
00:31:59.134 --> 00:32:02.357
It could be a draftsman or an architect, still full engineering.
00:32:02.594 --> 00:32:08.084
So just a lot faster, a lot more affordable in many cases to use a drafting
00:32:08.084 --> 00:32:12.874
firm over, you know, going to an architect to do your plans.
00:32:12.874 --> 00:32:16.644
And, you know, not to mention, you know, turnaround times and all that kind
00:32:16.644 --> 00:32:20.784
of stuff for fairly simple, you know, projects.
00:32:21.723 --> 00:32:24.224
Well, that's a huge part of the affordability that gets overlooked.
00:32:24.224 --> 00:32:27.744
I mean, we own a drafting company, so we know, but, you know,
00:32:27.744 --> 00:32:31.334
and we love our architects out there and architects are worth every penny when
00:32:31.334 --> 00:32:33.914
you're doing what they're doing because they do some amazing work.
00:32:33.914 --> 00:32:37.524
And if you're building a 20,000 square foot house or a commercial building,
00:32:37.884 --> 00:32:39.644
it's absolutely something needed.
00:32:39.644 --> 00:32:42.841
But if you're building a 1,500 square foot affordable house.
00:32:43.827 --> 00:32:51.304
You can take that plan and instead of paying $30,000, you can put $6,000 or $8,000 into a plan.
00:32:51.304 --> 00:32:56.384
And, you know, that's immediate $20,000 that you're putting in the pocket of
00:32:56.384 --> 00:32:57.494
the person buying that house.
00:32:57.494 --> 00:33:01.214
I mean, think about what an extra $20,000, you know, on the down payment would
00:33:01.214 --> 00:33:04.164
do for them or what $20,000 would do to go towards, you know,
00:33:04.164 --> 00:33:05.674
their appliances and all the other stuff.
00:33:05.674 --> 00:33:09.004
So, like, you're just right out the gate telling them that they're going to
00:33:09.004 --> 00:33:13.194
save them, you know, $20,000 by changing to a draftsman from an architect.
00:33:13.194 --> 00:33:18.684
And I've quoted this a million times on this podcast, but 85% of the plans drawn
00:33:18.684 --> 00:33:21.318
in the United States are drawn by draftsmen, not architects. so,
00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:25.336
Everyone thinks someone that draws blueprints is an architect. That's not accurate.
00:33:25.336 --> 00:33:29.036
There's architects and there's draftsmen and the draftsmen do the majority of
00:33:29.036 --> 00:33:32.266
plans in residential are drawn by draftsmen, not architects.
00:33:32.266 --> 00:33:37.306
And so they, anyways, that's just one step that I believe got done by dealing
00:33:37.306 --> 00:33:42.096
with local jurisdictions and telling them, hey, this is something that could help.
00:33:42.096 --> 00:33:46.466
Because I will say this, and a lot of people don't have a lot of great things
00:33:46.466 --> 00:33:48.536
to say about legislators and politicians.
00:33:49.096 --> 00:33:52.306
I will say this because we've worked with a lot of them. They're good and bad
00:33:52.306 --> 00:33:55.601
out there, don't get me wrong, and I can go either way on that.
00:33:56.012 --> 00:34:01.936
But I will say this, I have seen through the NHB at a national level,
00:34:01.936 --> 00:34:06.446
through the IHBA in Idaho at the Idaho level, and at our local,
00:34:06.446 --> 00:34:07.843
in our county that we live in.
00:34:08.471 --> 00:34:13.445
I've had more politicians and legislators and people come to us in the last
00:34:13.609 --> 00:34:17.590
few years and say, what can we do to bring the cost of housing down?
00:34:17.956 --> 00:34:22.496
They legitimately are concerned about this. We just passed at the national level
00:34:22.496 --> 00:34:28.356
a housing bill that was one of the most bipartisan bills to pass in 20-something years.
00:34:28.356 --> 00:34:36.196
I mean, it was 350 to 12 or something. It was a crazy bipartisan bill that was
00:34:36.196 --> 00:34:41.766
completely, you know, they passed it because everyone is behind affordable housing
00:34:41.766 --> 00:34:42.843
and trying to get this down.
00:34:43.215 --> 00:34:47.596
Now, the president in protest decided not to sign that, but that's another story
00:34:47.596 --> 00:34:52.766
I'm not too thrilled about. But that is, it's going, it's went through July
00:34:52.766 --> 00:34:55.487
1st and everything's good. We're moving forward with it. But like,
00:34:56.438 --> 00:34:59.402
I got to believe that ICF plays a role in this. And I think,
00:34:59.402 --> 00:35:02.992
Michael, you've seen that maybe more so than anybody.
00:35:02.992 --> 00:35:07.832
And I'm stoked to hear that you're pushing it from that aspect because we're
00:35:07.832 --> 00:35:12.011
going to be at PCBC. We'll all be at, all three of us will be at PCBC next week. Next week.
00:35:12.301 --> 00:35:18.092
And we're going to be meeting up with Grace from Home Res. And we're going to
00:35:18.092 --> 00:35:23.372
be actually in her booth, booth 218, I believe. I can double check it.
00:35:23.372 --> 00:35:25.617
I'll put it in the show notes. I believe it's 218.
00:35:25.977 --> 00:35:30.949
We're going to be there on Wednesday at PCBC talking about the way we do.
00:35:32.032 --> 00:35:37.692
How we can get some resilient houses and still make them affordable and what,
00:35:38.184 --> 00:35:39.722
ICF can do to play into that.
00:35:39.722 --> 00:35:43.515
So we're going to have some good conversation there. We'll be part of a panel on that.
00:35:43.866 --> 00:35:47.242
I know, Michael, you've got your people coming down. We're going to film some
00:35:47.242 --> 00:35:50.802
content that I think everyone will have access to. I'll put links to all of
00:35:50.802 --> 00:35:52.980
that in our show notes as well.
00:35:53.479 --> 00:35:58.842
But a lot of cool things. So, Heather, do you have your notes on our three questions
00:35:58.842 --> 00:36:00.672
with you or do you need me to do that?
00:36:01.472 --> 00:36:06.542
I do not. You have them there. I did not grab those when I left the office yesterday.
00:36:06.542 --> 00:36:10.872
But before we switch to those, I know, Michael, you have a training coming up
00:36:10.872 --> 00:36:14.942
as well. We're going to put it on the WICFA calendar. But do you want to throw
00:36:14.942 --> 00:36:17.684
out the information on that right now and give us a little info on it?
00:36:18.125 --> 00:36:21.189
Absolutely. Thank you very much for this. You know, Trevor, as you were saying,
00:36:21.549 --> 00:36:23.575
education is the biggest piece.
00:36:24.210 --> 00:36:27.242
So when I came on board at Castle House, the owners, you know,
00:36:27.242 --> 00:36:31.054
one of the things they shared with me was they believe ICF is the future.
00:36:31.223 --> 00:36:37.283
And they have one of them is an ICF specialist. The other three are not. And they asked me to...
00:36:37.981 --> 00:36:42.565
Start putting together a workshop. I might have misunderstood them because three
00:36:42.565 --> 00:36:45.495
weeks later when they came back and asked me what my thoughts were,
00:36:45.495 --> 00:36:48.235
I said, well, I booked the venue. I've already got the speaker lined up.
00:36:48.715 --> 00:36:51.235
The registrations will go live on Monday.
00:36:51.734 --> 00:36:56.701
And they were very happy with it. So I think they realized that I will just
00:36:56.939 --> 00:36:58.665
put the pedal down and make it happen.
00:36:58.665 --> 00:37:02.985
So coming up in September, September 18th, we put this together.
00:37:02.985 --> 00:37:06.585
Primarily, the first invites all went out to to municipalities,
00:37:06.585 --> 00:37:08.155
architects, and engineering firms.
00:37:08.544 --> 00:37:11.925
So these are not people that are gonna be buying product. This was not a sales
00:37:11.925 --> 00:37:18.185
focus. This was purely trying to educate from the design to the permitting side
00:37:18.185 --> 00:37:20.436
so that as we do build projects,
00:37:21.108 --> 00:37:24.504
the process gets simpler. People are more aware. They're familiar with it.
00:37:25.083 --> 00:37:28.238
And to that note, the speaker lineup reflects that.
00:37:28.507 --> 00:37:33.796
We have in the morning session, NRMCA is going to be speaking on concrete resiliency,
00:37:34.261 --> 00:37:37.401
sustainability. That's Brandon Ray. Great guy. I've done a lot of work with him.
00:37:37.878 --> 00:37:41.316
And then Brian Bordier with Nodura is going to be speaking on the material.
00:37:41.316 --> 00:37:44.549
And you were talking DOD work earlier. I think that was Heather.
00:37:45.048 --> 00:37:48.991
He's got a great section of his presentation that covers the explosion tests.
00:37:49.496 --> 00:37:52.846
And it's impressive. You know, the hurricanes, tests, all that.
00:37:53.816 --> 00:37:57.566
I love his material. I've watched him present before. Mid-morning,
00:37:57.566 --> 00:37:59.735
we've got a structural engineer speaking on design.
00:37:59.904 --> 00:38:04.966
And then we've got John Childs with 10X Construction who builds an ICF speaking
00:38:04.966 --> 00:38:05.870
on the construction side.
00:38:06.479 --> 00:38:10.578
After lunch is Mercury speaking on why they will insure ICF and,
00:38:11.296 --> 00:38:12.881
you know, sharing their viewpoints on it.
00:38:13.149 --> 00:38:19.169
Following them is the U.S. Bank Home Mortgage on the impact insurance rates has on buying power.
00:38:20.576 --> 00:38:24.845
And if you're saving $4,800, that frees up $400 a month toward buying power.
00:38:25.148 --> 00:38:28.566
So it allows people to qualify for homes they might not have been able to qualify
00:38:28.566 --> 00:38:30.729
for through the bank system.
00:38:31.147 --> 00:38:34.376
And then closing it out is Frank Gordon with BuildBlock. He's going to be speaking
00:38:34.376 --> 00:38:37.710
on schools, fire stations, and police stations.
00:38:38.110 --> 00:38:41.636
That's one of his specialties, a great guy. And that's one of the things to
00:38:41.636 --> 00:38:44.339
highlight with the workshop is it's free.
00:38:44.873 --> 00:38:48.416
We are offering three LUs for architects because three of the presentations
00:38:48.416 --> 00:38:54.087
are AA approved and for structural engineers, any self-reporting engineers for CEUs.
00:38:54.984 --> 00:38:57.443
We have IntegraSpecs coming, even though they're not speaking,
00:38:57.443 --> 00:39:00.833
they're going to be there. I believe Fox, one of the Fox distributors is going to be there.
00:39:01.403 --> 00:39:05.113
You know, this is an industry focused event. It's not, you know,
00:39:05.113 --> 00:39:06.743
a product. It's a solution.
00:39:07.192 --> 00:39:10.073
It's like bipartisan. We were just talking about bipartisan.
00:39:10.073 --> 00:39:12.783
This is a very bipartisan ICF meeting.
00:39:13.783 --> 00:39:18.842
It is. It is. And one thing I'll say, so the ICF industry for years,
00:39:19.010 --> 00:39:23.701
you know, I always viewed it as it hamstrung itself because everybody competed so hard,
00:39:24.212 --> 00:39:30.033
you know it was it was very common to hear my block is better than theirs because
00:39:30.033 --> 00:39:35.203
theirs doesn't do this so on and and it just it was frustrating to not see the
00:39:35.203 --> 00:39:37.783
unity and one thing i i love with with the,
00:39:38.363 --> 00:39:44.813
wicfa coming in and with the icfma being a part of it is i see i've seen that
00:39:44.813 --> 00:39:47.632
slowly start changing and i i i.
00:39:48.723 --> 00:39:51.898
In the last six months, I've seen that on steroids in California.
00:39:52.628 --> 00:39:55.916
One of the sites that I take people to is an IntegraSpec site.
00:39:55.916 --> 00:40:00.476
I work with Nicholas with IntegraSpec, and I take our people to his site.
00:40:00.476 --> 00:40:03.810
It's not about selling a block, a manufacturer.
00:40:04.088 --> 00:40:08.012
It's about selling the solution so that people can see if this is a problem.
00:40:08.488 --> 00:40:12.806
I've used BillBlock sites. I've used FoxBlock sites. Nobody has a problem with
00:40:12.806 --> 00:40:17.486
me taking people over, even knowing that's my potential client.
00:40:17.486 --> 00:40:19.721
They're probably going to end up buying block for me.
00:40:20.261 --> 00:40:23.336
It doesn't matter. The more exposure that we're all working together,
00:40:23.336 --> 00:40:26.908
the better it is. And so I'm really seeing some change in the industry.
00:40:27.361 --> 00:40:30.636
And you guys coming along right now is perfect timing because that's really
00:40:30.636 --> 00:40:31.780
highlighting the unity.
00:40:32.175 --> 00:40:34.932
You know, you got the manufacturers to get on board with this.
00:40:35.258 --> 00:40:40.466
And I really do think this industry is poised to have a new problem.
00:40:40.466 --> 00:40:42.630
And that problem is going to be keeping up with the demand.
00:40:42.793 --> 00:40:47.366
We're going to have to train builders, designers, municipalities.
00:40:47.366 --> 00:40:51.538
And so this workshop, if it's successful, which already it's looking to be,
00:40:51.910 --> 00:40:55.744
the ownership wants to continue doing them, maybe do Southern California,
00:40:55.963 --> 00:41:00.616
possibly do one in Arizona at some point, but to continue doing education.
00:41:00.616 --> 00:41:04.946
And so to that point, I targeted municipalities.
00:41:04.946 --> 00:41:10.086
I've been very fortunate to have an incredible network. And my wife and I,
00:41:10.086 --> 00:41:13.316
it's sort of a running joke. I tell her, Maybe I'm not aiming high enough because
00:41:13.316 --> 00:41:17.006
everything I'm shooting for just seems to be working right now.
00:41:17.386 --> 00:41:20.858
Timing and network, knowing the right people.
00:41:21.766 --> 00:41:24.826
I'm now doing a lunch and learn for what is out here. It's called the SVP.
00:41:26.031 --> 00:41:33.016
Boa sacramento valley building official association so all the building officials for the municipalities,
00:41:33.817 --> 00:41:37.603
some of them are registering their people for this event and they've asked me
00:41:37.603 --> 00:41:40.719
for their membership to come do a lunch and learn on icf.
00:41:41.432 --> 00:41:45.036
You know i everything's just been falling in place that i even started emailing
00:41:45.164 --> 00:41:49.203
the uh the media outlets you know channel three channel 40 channel 10 absolutely
00:41:49.203 --> 00:41:52.493
to see if i can get an interview done at the uh at the workshop.
00:41:52.493 --> 00:41:56.693
I don't expect, to me, that one, I have no expectation that that's going to
00:41:56.693 --> 00:41:59.797
come through, but I figure everything else keeps falling in place.
00:42:00.121 --> 00:42:03.250
Why not? Just shoot for the stars and hope for the best.
00:42:03.686 --> 00:42:06.784
I don't mind being told no or even being ignored.
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:11.620
So I'm going to keep pushing. So that workshop is a first for us.
00:42:12.031 --> 00:42:17.431
I'm really excited about it and I'm hoping that the turnout and the benefits are incredible.
00:42:18.053 --> 00:42:21.547
I will highlight one thing. I've shifted gears a little bit,
00:42:22.122 --> 00:42:26.143
with the workshop is there are a few builders that have been invited because
00:42:26.143 --> 00:42:27.293
we're going to need more builders.
00:42:27.293 --> 00:42:31.603
And then on top of that, a recent connection is a real estate agent that sells
00:42:31.603 --> 00:42:34.400
lots that his, his specialty is bare land,
00:42:34.905 --> 00:42:38.705
whether, you know, it's new acreage, it was subdivided and now they can sell,
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:42.820
you know, acre lots here and there, or, you know, as, as we expand,
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:46.424
where new subdivisions are going in that are going to be custom,
00:42:46.762 --> 00:42:52.182
He sells lots specifically, but he used to specialize in the foothill market
00:42:52.495 --> 00:42:54.325
and pulled out of it for insurance reasons.
00:42:54.771 --> 00:42:58.974
Well, he's now coming to the workshop and he might bring a few of his people
00:42:59.409 --> 00:43:01.362
that are either potential,
00:43:01.995 --> 00:43:06.903
buyers and also potential builders because I think we have just provided a solution
00:43:06.903 --> 00:43:10.933
for them that opens that market back up to people being able to build back in
00:43:10.933 --> 00:43:13.355
the areas they want to in nature, so on.
00:43:13.721 --> 00:43:18.883
And so I am now starting to put a little energy into the real estate side as
00:43:18.883 --> 00:43:22.850
well because they need the education to know that that solution is out there.
00:43:23.562 --> 00:43:27.484
That's so good. There's, there's so much truth to that that like all of these
00:43:27.484 --> 00:43:33.014
aspects need to be educated on this, but I have several leads that we get from,
00:43:33.014 --> 00:43:34.154
from real estate agents.
00:43:34.154 --> 00:43:37.224
I mean, that's actually a very common thing for us, especially up here in the
00:43:37.224 --> 00:43:39.944
mountains, because we got people moving up here and they're building second
00:43:39.944 --> 00:43:43.254
homes and they're, you know, and they're, they're big concern is fire and different things.
00:43:43.254 --> 00:43:46.784
So the fact that, you know, having those connections and having those different
00:43:46.784 --> 00:43:49.764
people in there is a, it's super smart.
00:43:49.764 --> 00:43:53.024
So yeah, I think this is going to be really good. I will be there,
00:43:53.024 --> 00:43:55.924
and I've got it marked on my calendar, so I'll be down there.
00:43:55.924 --> 00:43:59.554
We're trying to figure out if we can peel Heather away or not.
00:44:01.354 --> 00:44:08.554
She has a bridal shower, no, a wedding reception for our oldest daughter that next day.
00:44:08.554 --> 00:44:11.954
So it's going to depend on if that's going to stress our daughter out,
00:44:11.954 --> 00:44:15.814
if mom's not there or not, or if we can sneak away for the day and fly down
00:44:15.814 --> 00:44:19.164
and fly back. But we're going to definitely, I will be there for sure because
00:44:19.164 --> 00:44:20.607
they don't want me at the reception.
00:44:21.309 --> 00:44:26.374
No we want you at the reception we don't need you at setup if i can get out of setup then i can be.
00:44:28.368 --> 00:44:32.314
True true let me be clear family first always,
00:44:32.974 --> 00:44:37.264
believer in that so i completely understand but the next time you and trevor
00:44:37.264 --> 00:44:41.387
find yourselves out in northern california i don't care if it's bay area anywhere in northern california
00:44:41.765 --> 00:44:45.384
uh give me a heads up and grace and i will get together you guys take you out
00:44:45.384 --> 00:44:51.394
to dinner 100 yeah we would love that that'd be great so yeah i think we're real excited about,
00:44:51.994 --> 00:44:55.414
all these different things going on and in California, especially,
00:44:55.414 --> 00:44:58.341
I mean, we, we've got a lot of going on down there with the,
00:44:58.737 --> 00:45:01.664
you know, with your event and PCBC and all these different things going on.
00:45:01.664 --> 00:45:05.444
So I just think that back to what I said earlier, sometimes it takes kind of
00:45:05.444 --> 00:45:10.194
a bad or tragic event to get people really going in a direction that is going
00:45:10.194 --> 00:45:13.424
to be helpful to everybody. And I feel like we're there with California right
00:45:13.424 --> 00:45:16.138
now. It's really just the top of mind with everybody. So,
00:45:16.900 --> 00:45:20.006
Working on a lot of different ways to do that. But real quick here,
00:45:20.006 --> 00:45:22.772
I'm going to kick you over into some questions.
00:45:23.184 --> 00:45:28.904
So we ask three questions of every listener or every guest on here to talk to for our listeners.
00:45:29.833 --> 00:45:35.906
First being a memorable experience. What would you say in ICF-related memorable experience?
00:45:35.906 --> 00:45:39.456
You already mentioned one earlier, so you kind of already did that.
00:45:39.456 --> 00:45:42.356
But if there's another one or if that's your most memorable.
00:45:42.356 --> 00:45:45.918
But what's a memorable experience that you think of when you think of ICF?
00:45:47.026 --> 00:45:50.266
Obviously, the first one is just my wife's reaction, you know,
00:45:50.266 --> 00:45:54.666
because that's personal and for my wife to get to experience it.
00:45:54.666 --> 00:45:57.551
She hears about it all the time. She's been at conferences where I've spoken,
00:45:58.033 --> 00:46:01.246
but for her to actually go out and get to experience it and to see,
00:46:01.246 --> 00:46:05.619
even though she has seen the presentations, she knows the information.
00:46:06.135 --> 00:46:11.646
But watching how it impacted her you know her reaction to actually touching
00:46:11.646 --> 00:46:13.826
feeling seeing a finished product,
00:46:14.606 --> 00:46:19.636
that that moment is that made me realize everybody needs the hands-on everybody
00:46:19.636 --> 00:46:24.506
needs to do a site visit they need to realize because no amount of education
00:46:24.506 --> 00:46:28.086
is going to give the real picture until you stand inside an icf home,
00:46:28.706 --> 00:46:32.172
you just don't get it and so that that That was the biggest one, but I will say,
00:46:32.811 --> 00:46:37.646
I loved the 7,000 square foot home in Santa Rosa when I toured it because it's
00:46:37.646 --> 00:46:42.988
a couple, my age, maybe just a few years older than me that are both musicians.
00:46:44.033 --> 00:46:49.484
And they each have their own sound studio at opposite ends of the house.
00:46:49.797 --> 00:46:52.759
And so the house is set up beautifully. It's set up to entertain.
00:46:52.759 --> 00:46:56.415
They actually have a venue in the basement that is set up as a concert hall.
00:46:56.665 --> 00:46:58.644
You know, it's got a high ceiling, all this kind of stuff.
00:46:59.419 --> 00:47:05.540
It's a gorgeous home. But how custom made it was to their, you know,
00:47:05.795 --> 00:47:09.649
their particular needs so that they could both continue to pursue their passion
00:47:09.649 --> 00:47:11.329
and yet live under the same roof.
00:47:11.329 --> 00:47:15.639
And so touring that home, they did so many very unique things that each of them
00:47:15.959 --> 00:47:18.804
highlighted. You know, this was important to me. This was important to her.
00:47:19.129 --> 00:47:21.429
You know, they each highlighted what mattered and how it all came together.
00:47:21.429 --> 00:47:24.104
That was a great experience. That's pretty cool.
00:47:25.048 --> 00:47:29.419
Do you remember the second one, Heather? No, I should after doing these as long.
00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:30.893
I know, you do these all the time.
00:47:31.189 --> 00:47:36.559
No, no, it's been a busy meeting. I don't remember the second one. Okay, well, good.
00:47:38.279 --> 00:47:43.319
You haven't read it 73 times like Heather has. Now she can tell you her credit
00:47:43.319 --> 00:47:48.799
card numbers, which is weird, but the, uh, Well, hold on. She has a master's in accounting.
00:47:49.002 --> 00:47:51.119
She, she's good with numbers. That's not surprising.
00:47:51.719 --> 00:47:54.379
Yeah. She's not an English major, so we'll give her that. But,
00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:58.319
uh, no, the second question is, is the, what, I mean, I know this,
00:47:58.319 --> 00:48:01.409
this is a really loaded question for you cause you could probably do 30 minutes
00:48:01.409 --> 00:48:02.819
on just this, but pick one.
00:48:02.819 --> 00:48:05.449
What's your, what are you excited about in the future? Well,
00:48:05.449 --> 00:48:07.319
something that you haven't maybe mentioned already.
00:48:07.319 --> 00:48:10.719
I mean, Obviously, you've got a lot of passion and a lot of excitement for ICF.
00:48:10.719 --> 00:48:13.079
So, I mean, you've probably got a ton of things you're excited about.
00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:18.449
But is there anything, whether it be a product or a new concept or anything
00:48:18.449 --> 00:48:22.816
that you're looking forward that you think is just going to be really cool in the future of ICF?
00:48:23.403 --> 00:48:26.063
This pertains to California.
00:48:27.039 --> 00:48:31.721
And yes, there is one thing and the potential is there.
00:48:32.475 --> 00:48:37.516
And that is, to me, the home run would be building complete housing divisions
00:48:37.516 --> 00:48:42.116
out of ICF, because then we don't have to wait for a tragedy and build back
00:48:42.416 --> 00:48:44.271
from a lesson learned kind of thing.
00:48:44.811 --> 00:48:49.088
And right now, I was at a BIA event here in California, North State.
00:48:49.720 --> 00:48:53.071
It's a builder's association for homeowners or for home builders.
00:48:53.251 --> 00:48:56.089
So all the big home builders are plugged into this. In fact.
00:48:57.610 --> 00:48:59.556
Most of them are going to be at PCBC as well.
00:49:00.061 --> 00:49:04.996
I met with the president after one of the workshops there and had a conversation
00:49:04.996 --> 00:49:08.560
with him and he shared with me that some,
00:49:09.776 --> 00:49:14.466
home divisions or housing developments were in planning and have been paused
00:49:14.466 --> 00:49:19.686
because they're now in what's classified as a high-risk fire zone and they're
00:49:19.686 --> 00:49:20.831
struggling with insurance.
00:49:21.479 --> 00:49:25.396
That creates the opportunity. So now I have a site visit with them,
00:49:25.716 --> 00:49:30.973
with the government affairs team and their executive team in August doing a site visit for ICF.
00:49:31.716 --> 00:49:36.756
And then hopefully we'll get the opportunity to speak with some of these builders that have,
00:49:37.296 --> 00:49:41.196
developments that are on pause and see if we can get one of them to look at
00:49:41.196 --> 00:49:45.836
designing the homes in ICF, take whatever floor plans they currently have and
00:49:45.836 --> 00:49:49.050
convert them to ICF, give them some numbers, price it out.
00:49:49.916 --> 00:49:55.093
And see if we can truly start building some developments in ICF from day one.
00:49:55.668 --> 00:49:58.986
To me, that's something I'm really excited about because the potential is there.
00:49:58.986 --> 00:50:02.122
I mean, it's sort of been a dream, but now the need is there.
00:50:02.437 --> 00:50:07.026
The opportunity is present and now we just have to capitalize on it.
00:50:07.026 --> 00:50:11.006
So that's another one of the ones that we're chasing right now.
00:50:11.006 --> 00:50:14.446
And I'm super excited because if we actually get a development,
00:50:14.446 --> 00:50:16.740
you know, 100 plus homes somewhere going in an ICF.
00:50:17.575 --> 00:50:22.905
I guarantee you, I will be talking to news channels until they get tired of hearing from me.
00:50:22.905 --> 00:50:27.495
I'll be talking to everybody about it because, you know, we have to show the
00:50:27.495 --> 00:50:30.805
progress we're making and how successful this can be.
00:50:30.805 --> 00:50:34.635
So that's, you know, I won't take 30 minutes, but I'll definitely take that,
00:50:35.135 --> 00:50:38.325
nine minutes there. I agree 100%. And it's one of those where we're,
00:50:38.325 --> 00:50:40.595
yeah, I mean, you got to take away the fuel.
00:50:41.115 --> 00:50:45.655
And I think that probably one of the positive things that did come out of the
00:50:45.975 --> 00:50:51.412
Palisades fire was an eye-opening experience for people to kind of finally visualize,
00:50:51.888 --> 00:50:55.575
what we've been saying, which is it's not the trees, it's not the grass,
00:50:55.575 --> 00:50:57.285
it's not the brush around.
00:50:57.285 --> 00:51:00.645
You can rake all you want around your house, but if your house is built out
00:51:00.645 --> 00:51:04.137
of firewood, it's going to catch on fire and it's going to catch the house next to it on fire.
00:51:04.578 --> 00:51:07.095
So you can have, you know, all of the things you want to do,
00:51:07.095 --> 00:51:10.875
but if your neighbor's house catches on fire and the winds are blowing 50 to
00:51:10.875 --> 00:51:14.715
60 miles an hour and the flames are 28 feet tall and your house is only six
00:51:14.715 --> 00:51:16.187
feet away from your neighbor's house,
00:51:16.628 --> 00:51:19.325
that's a blowtorch blowing on your house and it's going to catch your house
00:51:19.325 --> 00:51:20.635
and that's going to catch the next house.
00:51:20.635 --> 00:51:24.735
So we're just feeding fuel. We're feeding the fire by what we're building.
00:51:25.095 --> 00:51:28.485
And I think that's what people are finally figuring out when you look at pictures
00:51:28.485 --> 00:51:32.785
of Malibu and you've got the Pacific Coast Highway on one side and the Pacific
00:51:32.785 --> 00:51:35.385
Ocean on the other and they all burned to the ground. It's like,
00:51:35.385 --> 00:51:37.485
well, they didn't burn down because of the trees around them.
00:51:37.799 --> 00:51:40.675
They didn't burn down because of brush and fire. They burned down because the
00:51:40.675 --> 00:51:45.583
house next to them caught them on fire. So that's a huge thing. So I 100% agree with you.
00:51:46.408 --> 00:51:50.179
Well, Trevor, just to highlight that, when I was speaking at UCLA at the ICF
00:51:50.179 --> 00:51:54.987
Symposium, I used the phrase, why are we putting fuel in the path of a future fire?
00:51:55.272 --> 00:51:59.119
And there was a retired fire chief. She stood up when we allowed comments.
00:51:59.119 --> 00:52:04.136
She stood up and she shared that when they are looking to fight a fire,
00:52:04.810 --> 00:52:07.639
they have to make tough decisions. And usually it's, we've got,
00:52:07.639 --> 00:52:10.887
you know, 30 homes here where the fire is already encroaching.
00:52:11.270 --> 00:52:13.889
We're not going to be able to stop it. So we've got to go to where the first
00:52:13.889 --> 00:52:16.639
break is. And so we're writing off those homes.
00:52:17.359 --> 00:52:22.539
We know we can't make a defense by trying to save these 20 homes.
00:52:22.539 --> 00:52:25.004
We can make a defense and try to save these next 100 homes.
00:52:25.475 --> 00:52:28.549
And she was highlighting that. And she said, if you had a block,
00:52:28.549 --> 00:52:32.789
just one block built out of ICF, we now know we have a defensible spot that
00:52:32.789 --> 00:52:36.295
we can start in and stage in and in safety.
00:52:36.510 --> 00:52:38.399
And now we can plan how do we attack the fire.
00:52:39.039 --> 00:52:44.561
And so it really highlights that it's not just your house like you're talking about.
00:52:44.921 --> 00:52:49.751
It's your, your community. It's, it's, you know, just enough ICF houses in general
00:52:49.931 --> 00:52:54.279
can, can put enough breathing room without adding fuel that can make a huge
00:52:54.279 --> 00:52:56.316
difference. And I think, yeah.
00:52:56.971 --> 00:53:01.558
And I think one of the things that I do recall, and I won't put this out as
00:53:01.558 --> 00:53:03.929
fact, but I think my memory, I remember,
00:53:04.446 --> 00:53:08.928
the guy, the builder who did those hundred and something homes down there,
00:53:08.928 --> 00:53:13.018
the second subdivision he did, he couldn't convince the developer or whatever
00:53:13.018 --> 00:53:15.197
to go with an all ICF subdivision.
00:53:15.545 --> 00:53:17.890
But what they did convince him to do was to do the perimeter,
00:53:18.308 --> 00:53:20.958
all the perimeter houses of this major subdivision.
00:53:20.958 --> 00:53:24.514
So I think they did 50 houses on the outside that were all ICF and then built
00:53:24.868 --> 00:53:28.708
another couple hundred stick frame houses inside of that and almost treated
00:53:28.708 --> 00:53:34.268
it like a moat or a wall, you know, the of the castle essentially keeping everybody out.
00:53:34.268 --> 00:53:37.607
So keeping the fire out. So that's another way to do it.
00:53:37.851 --> 00:53:41.668
And we've seen it. I mean, you can look at that Mexico City or the Mexico Beach
00:53:41.668 --> 00:53:47.308
hurricane photo, the famous, you know, the most recent famous photo of an ICF
00:53:47.308 --> 00:53:50.537
house where the entire hurricane took the entire coastline down.
00:53:50.978 --> 00:53:54.228
And there's one white house up on stilts that's sitting there and it's an ICF
00:53:54.228 --> 00:53:58.878
house. And the funny part is, is the house right behind it survived because
00:53:58.878 --> 00:54:03.078
it was just in the line of fire and it actually was shielded by the ICF house.
00:54:03.078 --> 00:54:04.917
So there was actually two houses that survived.
00:54:05.335 --> 00:54:08.338
One was an ICF and then the one that was right behind was lucky enough to be
00:54:08.338 --> 00:54:11.498
built right behind it was protected. So, yeah, that's a big thing.
00:54:11.498 --> 00:54:14.469
So funny. I've used that picture in presentations.
00:54:14.917 --> 00:54:16.368
Turns out, and I don't know this
00:54:16.368 --> 00:54:19.928
for a fact, but Brian was sharing with me that that was an Adura house.
00:54:20.548 --> 00:54:25.208
They use that. They use that all the time because it's a great selling point. Yep. I agree.
00:54:25.548 --> 00:54:28.848
I do know that that's true. Yeah. The developer that you're meeting with on
00:54:28.848 --> 00:54:34.108
that, if affordability and insurance is a thing, It just took that land that
00:54:34.108 --> 00:54:38.989
he purchased and made it like worthless if they can't build it.
00:54:39.572 --> 00:54:46.155
And now here's this solution that doesn't have to cost more money to do,
00:54:46.451 --> 00:54:50.659
but now it allows them to develop that community. It just, it's a no brainer.
00:54:51.449 --> 00:54:54.660
Well, and so one thing, I know we're in the questions, but just to highlight,
00:54:54.967 --> 00:54:58.634
California also has Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency.
00:54:59.521 --> 00:55:05.370
One of the downsides to that is the most affordable way to do that is with vinyl windows.
00:55:05.753 --> 00:55:10.341
And if you are a homeowner, you know vinyl windows have a shelf life.
00:55:11.561 --> 00:55:15.291
They have heat cycles they go through, they warp, they can take sun damage, so on.
00:55:15.722 --> 00:55:19.191
The old aluminum you know some people really like that clean look but they're
00:55:19.191 --> 00:55:25.008
horrible on heat transfer so you can't use them and qualify for title 24 but if you build an icf
00:55:25.415 --> 00:55:29.041
you're automatically you're qualifying for title 24 you can use aluminum windows
00:55:29.041 --> 00:55:34.721
so from a home builder standpoint it opens up your options of the materials
00:55:34.721 --> 00:55:40.136
you can use so you can look for affordable options that maybe you couldn't use previously.
00:55:41.309 --> 00:55:47.391
Yeah, it's, there's just amazing things that people don't realize just the round
00:55:47.391 --> 00:55:50.181
ICF thing that all of a sudden expands to these other things,
00:55:50.181 --> 00:55:51.821
whether that be different codes.
00:55:51.821 --> 00:55:55.031
And I've always said it for years. I'm like, we all know codes are going to change.
00:55:55.031 --> 00:55:57.951
We're always, you know, we fight some, sometimes we're looking for some.
00:55:57.951 --> 00:56:01.071
In Idaho, we're actually trying to get our code up a little bit on in certain
00:56:01.071 --> 00:56:04.791
areas because we don't qualify for some of the HUD money and stuff if we don't
00:56:04.791 --> 00:56:07.391
do it. So like, so codes are always going to be in the debate.
00:56:07.844 --> 00:56:13.091
One thing you can take code debate off the table for 20 years for you if you just moved to ICF.
00:56:13.091 --> 00:56:16.581
Like, I mean, ICF jumps 20, 30, 40, 50 years.
00:56:16.581 --> 00:56:19.751
I don't, I don't even know how far ahead yet, but I mean, it definitely jumps
00:56:19.751 --> 00:56:23.751
you a good 20 to 30 years ahead of any codes or anything by just doing ICF.
00:56:23.751 --> 00:56:27.831
So that, that is the same thing. Like you're talking about how 24 is the same
00:56:27.831 --> 00:56:30.921
thing in every state. Everyone's got some version of that that you're going
00:56:30.921 --> 00:56:34.151
to get ahead of by doing ICF. So that's, that's a huge part of it.
00:56:34.151 --> 00:56:36.601
But so your final question is here is,
00:56:37.285 --> 00:56:41.461
Why Castle House? Why, why would, you know, somebody's looking to do an ICF
00:56:41.461 --> 00:56:45.831
house. We'll even specify ICF specific and, and they're looking for somebody
00:56:45.831 --> 00:56:49.328
to work with. Why do they come in and see you guys? Give us a, give us your pitch.
00:56:49.990 --> 00:56:54.851
Well, I can highlight that one, we definitely have a passion for ICF.
00:56:55.251 --> 00:56:56.371
Yeah. You've proven that.
00:56:57.311 --> 00:57:00.721
We'll go the extra mile. I can already say that in the short time I've been
00:57:00.721 --> 00:57:04.895
there, reaching out to clients, offering to do site visits, offering to do education.
00:57:05.591 --> 00:57:10.491
You know we do little things like we have a 12 page informational that we'll send out that's just.
00:57:11.402 --> 00:57:17.038
Icf 101 because we know education is one of the biggest things and we see all sorts of issues like,
00:57:17.650 --> 00:57:21.621
people will have a house design and stick they'll send it to us we'll do a takeoff
00:57:21.621 --> 00:57:24.991
and give them hey this is what the block would cost you to do it in icf and
00:57:24.991 --> 00:57:28.755
they get all excited they're going to do it in icf and they go pull permits not realizing
00:57:29.184 --> 00:57:33.811
they pulled permits in a stick build They never had their plans redone and now they can't build an ICF.
00:57:33.811 --> 00:57:39.191
And so, you know, we do everything up front to try to educate and try to prepare
00:57:39.191 --> 00:57:41.781
you so that you avoid some of those pitfalls.
00:57:41.781 --> 00:57:45.121
And then the side note to that is under the ownership team we have,
00:57:45.121 --> 00:57:48.871
they have the construction company, 10X Construction is the other side of the
00:57:48.871 --> 00:57:50.531
house and they build ICF.
00:57:50.531 --> 00:57:54.387
Now, the guy who really leads that is John Childs has, you know,
00:57:54.551 --> 00:57:59.361
20 plus years of experience with ICF and they do incredible work.
00:57:59.361 --> 00:58:01.824
And I've never heard John say no.
00:58:02.178 --> 00:58:07.651
He's joined me at coffee houses to meet with potential ICF clients and they're
00:58:07.651 --> 00:58:11.961
curious to get some budget numbers. And he will, the guy works so hard and puts
00:58:11.961 --> 00:58:14.985
in so many hours and just does an incredible job.
00:58:15.262 --> 00:58:18.081
He is great to work with and he's got a lot of experience with,
00:58:18.081 --> 00:58:21.928
you know, he's done a lot of work both commercial and residential.
00:58:22.387 --> 00:58:27.387
The Coachella house is his baby. He is lit.
00:58:27.974 --> 00:58:32.254
Bo's the foreman, but John is sort of leading that. That thing's got a 27-foot
00:58:32.254 --> 00:58:35.294
diameter atrium that goes from the basement all the way through the roof.
00:58:35.294 --> 00:58:39.345
And, you know, I went down there, and I've seen a lot of radiuses done in ICF.
00:58:39.775 --> 00:58:44.004
They literally, all the blocks as they're cut are marked with 7-8s,
00:58:44.004 --> 00:58:48.602
you know, whatever the measurement is, because it has six different radiuses on this home.
00:58:49.131 --> 00:58:52.712
And it's all labeled, everything's structured. They're just so organized.
00:58:53.217 --> 00:58:58.824
And we actually took a second client that's doing a 24,000-square-foot high-end home, to that site.
00:58:59.103 --> 00:59:02.544
And he came back and said, okay, here's my plans already done an ICF,
00:59:02.544 --> 00:59:06.899
but can you modify it? There was things I didn't know you could do that I saw you guys do.
00:59:07.364 --> 00:59:12.494
And, and that's just the quality of work that, that I think the whole package
00:59:12.494 --> 00:59:15.314
we can provide. So from the castle house side, you're going to get the knowledge,
00:59:15.314 --> 00:59:19.730
the education, the support, the we'll go the extra mile, no question.
00:59:20.159 --> 00:59:24.094
And then on the construction side, you're going to get a team that does quality
00:59:24.094 --> 00:59:28.504
work with tons of experience and does a lot of things that people don't even realize you can do.
00:59:28.504 --> 00:59:32.454
So it's a complete package. And that's why I'm thrilled to be a part of the
00:59:32.454 --> 00:59:36.064
team. I'm grateful for the opportunity they gave me and they've put so much
00:59:36.064 --> 00:59:40.441
trust and faith in me that it makes me want to work even harder to drive this home.
00:59:41.034 --> 00:59:44.997
That's awesome. And that's, that's great. And I will put all your contact information,
00:59:44.997 --> 00:59:48.367
everything in the, in the show notes. So everybody's going to have a link to
00:59:48.367 --> 00:59:51.188
that. We're going to be putting this up on our social medias and everything.
00:59:51.525 --> 00:59:54.147
And we're going to connect them up with your social medias because that's how
00:59:54.147 --> 00:59:56.427
I've been following along and seeing this Coachella house and stuff.
00:59:56.427 --> 00:59:59.767
And you want to see some cool stuff. I mean, follow along and listen,
00:59:59.767 --> 01:00:02.707
you know, now you've heard, you've heard, you know, Michael talk about it.
01:00:02.707 --> 01:00:05.757
Now you can follow along with the whole construction on social media with you
01:00:05.757 --> 01:00:08.443
guys through, through that. So that's super cool.
01:00:08.774 --> 01:00:12.717
I, yeah. Great, great episode. So this was so much good information and so,
01:00:12.717 --> 01:00:14.197
so topical for right now.
01:00:14.197 --> 01:00:17.407
I mean, that's what I love is when we hit a, we hit an episode that's super
01:00:17.407 --> 01:00:20.427
topical and it's just right at the top of everybody's mind.
01:00:20.427 --> 01:00:23.797
And I think this, what's going on in California and all these different things
01:00:23.797 --> 01:00:26.257
that we're trying to do with the resilient home building and,
01:00:26.257 --> 01:00:29.217
and, you know, affordable housing. And we've hit all the buzzwords,
01:00:29.217 --> 01:00:30.638
all the bingo card words here.
01:00:31.132 --> 01:00:35.457
So that's been good. So remind everybody we've got, sorry, go ahead, Michael.
01:00:36.014 --> 01:00:38.867
I was going to say, Heather, Trevor, thank you for having me on. Totally appreciate it.
01:00:38.867 --> 01:00:41.297
And I look forward to seeing you both next week. Yeah, it's going to be fun.
01:00:41.297 --> 01:00:42.227
We're going to have a good time.
01:00:42.227 --> 01:00:45.947
And like I said, I tell Grace hello for us and that we're really sorry that
01:00:45.947 --> 01:00:47.237
she's not going to make it down there.
01:00:47.237 --> 01:00:51.177
But we look forward to getting together and grabbing a ribeye and some red wine
01:00:51.517 --> 01:00:55.157
with you guys. So I'm going to give our little plug here for our,
01:00:55.157 --> 01:00:57.817
you know, the World Insulated Concrete Forum Association.
01:00:58.573 --> 01:01:01.987
I'm just going right into the, roll right into the line, but it's.
01:01:02.101 --> 01:01:04.857
I don't know about it, but you remembered. I did remember. I pulled the sheet
01:01:04.857 --> 01:01:08.087
over here. The ICF industry finally has a unified voice. The World Insulated
01:01:08.087 --> 01:01:11.331
Concrete Form Association, or WICFA as we love to call it.
01:01:11.942 --> 01:01:15.700
Has launched to support the advocacy, education, and industry growth.
01:01:16.153 --> 01:01:20.691
Be a part of it. You can join right now. Go to WICFA.org. If you're a builder,
01:01:20.691 --> 01:01:24.871
manufacturer, engineer, distributor, industry professional who believes in building
01:01:24.871 --> 01:01:28.381
stronger, more resilient structures, just like Michael does,
01:01:28.381 --> 01:01:30.314
this is for you. That's why he's a member.
01:01:30.715 --> 01:01:36.221
You can go to WICFA.org or buildwithicf.com, either one, and you can click on
01:01:36.221 --> 01:01:38.381
the join now and get signed up.
01:01:38.381 --> 01:01:43.581
And we're getting just a, I'm excited. I want, I want a million members,
01:01:43.581 --> 01:01:45.729
but we're, we're getting closer by the day.
01:01:46.065 --> 01:01:49.561
It was just super cool to be like, we were up camping this weekend or up at
01:01:49.561 --> 01:01:54.801
our, our cabin, our family cabin that we've had this since 1950s and doing a
01:01:54.801 --> 01:01:57.581
lot of staining and things to it and fixing it up.
01:01:57.581 --> 01:02:02.021
But we, we do have our star link up there and we try to disconnect a little
01:02:02.021 --> 01:02:04.431
bit, but we were able to, to get emails and stuff.
01:02:04.431 --> 01:02:07.531
And I, I, you know, sitting up there staining my cabin and all of a sudden we're
01:02:07.531 --> 01:02:09.821
seeing, Hey, did you see so-and-so signed up?
01:02:09.821 --> 01:02:12.691
And, oh, we got another member signed up and, you know, we're getting the emails.
01:02:12.691 --> 01:02:16.691
So, so it's really cool. We appreciate everybody out there spreading the word,
01:02:16.691 --> 01:02:20.518
but we, we need them to. And we've got some podcast dogs there at Heather's.
01:02:21.851 --> 01:02:25.751
She mutes. We are a pet-friendly drafting company.
01:02:25.751 --> 01:02:29.261
And so, yeah, we've got dogs. We always have dogs around. We're a pet-friendly
01:02:29.261 --> 01:02:34.431
podcast. But yeah, I think super excited to everybody. What we see is basically
01:02:34.431 --> 01:02:37.491
a huge surge when everybody puts it out on their social medias and mentions
01:02:37.491 --> 01:02:40.074
to people, Hey, I'm a WICFA member. You should be a WICFA member.
01:02:40.480 --> 01:02:43.311
And that's all we're asking for people to get involved. And,
01:02:43.671 --> 01:02:47.491
you know, what we've talked about today is an example of, you know,
01:02:47.491 --> 01:02:52.301
people are asking, what are we doing as WICFA and what are we doing for the members?
01:02:52.301 --> 01:02:56.281
And PCBC is a great example. We're getting on a plane. We're going down there.
01:02:56.281 --> 01:02:59.201
We will be meeting with people. We're going to be spreading the word.
01:02:59.201 --> 01:03:03.751
We're speaking. We will be also down there on a media pass. We're actually representing
01:03:03.751 --> 01:03:05.244
the ICF Builder magazine.
01:03:05.604 --> 01:03:10.011
We will be doing an article about PCBC and our experiences down there through
01:03:10.011 --> 01:03:13.718
that. So we'll be interviewing some of the keynote speakers and people that we're working with.
01:03:14.465 --> 01:03:18.925
I do want to give a shout out to the ICF Builder magazine. If you have not got,
01:03:19.505 --> 01:03:22.455
one great, another little add on when you become a WICFA member,
01:03:22.455 --> 01:03:26.905
you get a free membership to the ICF Builder magazine. So you'll start getting
01:03:26.905 --> 01:03:28.330
that as soon as you sign up as a member.
01:03:28.719 --> 01:03:32.395
But if you haven't checked it out, this month is the ICF product directory,
01:03:32.395 --> 01:03:36.800
which I think is probably the most important addition that they send out.
01:03:37.287 --> 01:03:41.190
So the July, August addition is the ICF product directory.
01:03:41.532 --> 01:03:46.125
I'm a little partial because we did get quite a few shout outs in this magazine as well as WICFA.
01:03:46.525 --> 01:03:50.285
They talked about us a few times in here. So thank you to them for doing that.
01:03:50.285 --> 01:03:54.158
But we'll be writing some articles and putting some stuff out regarding what we're doing.
01:03:54.495 --> 01:03:58.335
But we've got other things lined up. We mentioned on the last podcast,
01:03:58.335 --> 01:04:02.345
but we'll be going out in October to Concrete Works.
01:04:02.345 --> 01:04:07.735
And we've got the World of Concrete, which we've got our booth locked down on
01:04:07.735 --> 01:04:09.965
that. So we will have our booth right there in the, you know,
01:04:09.965 --> 01:04:13.010
around with all the other ICF guys at Wickville. We'll have our own booth there.
01:04:13.311 --> 01:04:19.398
And we're working on putting together our live GMM at IBS and getting our booth going there.
01:04:20.465 --> 01:04:25.011
Our live GMM at World of Concrete, but getting our booth at IBS as well.
01:04:25.493 --> 01:04:30.195
And I will just shout out to everybody that attended our first ever virtual
01:04:30.195 --> 01:04:31.859
GMM that we did last week.
01:04:32.595 --> 01:04:36.115
That was super cool. Heather pulled it off from a technical standpoint.
01:04:36.115 --> 01:04:40.655
Everything went off without a hitch. I was curious if we would get there,
01:04:40.655 --> 01:04:44.245
but everything went off well. It's available to all of our WICFA members.
01:04:44.245 --> 01:04:49.583
If you missed it, you can actually go download it and watch it online as well.
01:04:50.588 --> 01:04:52.741
Anything else, Heather, you're thinking of that I didn't mention here?
01:04:54.165 --> 01:04:58.314
If any of our listeners, WICFA members or not, if you are going to be at PCBC,
01:04:58.517 --> 01:05:04.096
please reach out. Trevor mentioned we will be in booth, did you say 218? 218, yeah.
01:05:04.397 --> 01:05:07.931
But you can also email us, info at buildwithICF.
01:05:08.303 --> 01:05:15.466
We'd love to meet up with our members and potential members for WICFA and chat everything ICF.
01:05:15.918 --> 01:05:20.530
And then also you're going to be at Michael's training in September. September, yep.
01:05:20.951 --> 01:05:26.166
Yeah, so our calendar is getting full. I am looking at adding on our website,
01:05:26.537 --> 01:05:30.695
a page to be able to request that we come to your event.
01:05:31.075 --> 01:05:33.001
So we're looking at some website updates.
01:05:33.521 --> 01:05:36.766
But yeah, just lots of stuff going on. Very exciting.
01:05:36.906 --> 01:05:42.558
Yes, our GMM was great. You can go and watch the recording in the info hub in
01:05:42.558 --> 01:05:43.826
our well in the community.
01:05:44.226 --> 01:05:48.188
So just excited with everything that we have going on. This was really cool
01:05:48.188 --> 01:05:49.838
today. I'm excited to meet you.
01:05:50.198 --> 01:05:54.088
Next week, Michael. Tell your wife that I look forward to meeting her.
01:05:54.088 --> 01:05:55.941
I'm sorry she's not coming to San Diego.
01:05:56.798 --> 01:06:01.498
I originally was not going to San Diego and bought a ticket just last week as
01:06:01.498 --> 01:06:07.528
we were headed to the family cabin. So I had serious FOMO going on after talking
01:06:07.528 --> 01:06:10.598
with Grace from Home Res.
01:06:11.318 --> 01:06:16.953
Yeah. So very excited and just want to thank everybody for all their support at WICFA.
01:06:17.313 --> 01:06:20.028
And yeah, if you have any questions, reach out.
01:06:20.028 --> 01:06:26.207
We do have the email address for anybody having like difficulties with jurisdictions
01:06:26.544 --> 01:06:31.408
or I guess even engineering, any issues that you're seeing.
01:06:31.408 --> 01:06:36.041
Technical issues, political issues, legislative issues, stuff like that.
01:06:36.262 --> 01:06:42.588
Yeah, we have the email address help, H-E-L-P, at buildwithicf.com.
01:06:42.588 --> 01:06:46.972
So that one is like a highlighted one. So anytime we get an email there,
01:06:47.255 --> 01:06:50.958
we get a special notification so that we can jump on those issues right away.
01:06:50.958 --> 01:06:53.229
So just wanted to remind that.
01:06:53.392 --> 01:06:55.707
Wow, that was loud. I know. God.
01:06:56.445 --> 01:06:59.569
A lot of technical difficulties on this one. Bear with us, people.
01:06:59.569 --> 01:07:03.469
We're keeping it real here. So this is the redneck version today because I've
01:07:03.469 --> 01:07:06.249
got all kinds of different noises and dogs and things going on.
01:07:06.249 --> 01:07:10.369
But I apologize. I'll try to clean it up as much as I can, but that's what keeps
01:07:10.369 --> 01:07:11.620
us real and grounded here.
01:07:12.015 --> 01:07:15.949
Yeah, I would say just reach out at BuildWithICF on all the social medias.
01:07:15.949 --> 01:07:20.375
Reach out and give us an email at info at BuildWithICF. We're always looking for ideas.
01:07:20.666 --> 01:07:24.699
Give us people you'd like to have us come on for guests or information.
01:07:24.699 --> 01:07:27.719
We always do our listener question stuff so if you do have some let we have
01:07:27.719 --> 01:07:30.449
another one of those coming up so if you've got some questions you want to put
01:07:30.449 --> 01:07:32.971
out there please send them in to us we're happy to do that.
01:07:33.496 --> 01:07:36.349
You know again i keep saying this because i keep getting caught on some things
01:07:36.349 --> 01:07:37.249
there's so many different,
01:07:37.709 --> 01:07:41.319
podcast platforms if you guys have any if you do have a question for me just
01:07:41.319 --> 01:07:46.519
shoot directly to the info email or or through social media other than the because
01:07:46.519 --> 01:07:49.503
sometimes these podcast ones i don't get the notifications and so i find,
01:07:49.979 --> 01:07:55.319
two months later a question through some obscure podcast platform that somebody listened on.
01:07:55.319 --> 01:07:58.509
So, so please get hold of me. If you don't hear back from me right away,
01:07:58.509 --> 01:08:01.909
get on me. I've got a lot of different irons in the fire. And so sometimes I'm
01:08:01.909 --> 01:08:03.450
not good at answering back right away.
01:08:03.845 --> 01:08:08.949
Just bug me any way you want to, and I'm happy to chat. So other than that, I think that is about it.
01:08:08.949 --> 01:08:11.809
We're going to go ahead and get out of here. We did a good job of bumping this
01:08:11.809 --> 01:08:16.029
thing up over an hour. So we, we had good, we know we've got good information
01:08:16.389 --> 01:08:21.159
and a good guess when we can do over an hour and not be bored and turning off
01:08:21.159 --> 01:08:22.274
the, trying to get out of here.
01:08:22.693 --> 01:08:25.749
So, and we could probably do another hour, to be honest. We might have to do
01:08:25.749 --> 01:08:28.559
another one with you, Michael. You might, this might just be episode one for
01:08:28.559 --> 01:08:32.309
you. And then we'll do Michael part two, but thank you so much.
01:08:32.649 --> 01:08:36.549
Yeah. Thank you so much for being on here and hang tight. We'll talk here after
01:08:36.549 --> 01:08:39.509
we, after we get off the podcast, I got a few more things we'll talk about for
01:08:39.509 --> 01:08:42.919
next week, but as for our listeners, thank you everybody for listening.
01:08:42.919 --> 01:08:46.672
You guys kill it. You guys continue to be why we do this. What's that?
01:08:47.736 --> 01:08:50.256
Or if you're watching, yeah, we're going to play with it again.
01:08:50.596 --> 01:08:54.336
We did our first video one last week and put it on YouTube. I'm going to play
01:08:54.336 --> 01:08:57.696
with this one and see if I can make it work again, and we'll see.
01:08:57.696 --> 01:09:02.266
So I'd love everybody to see Michael's smiling face, and we can get on there.
01:09:02.266 --> 01:09:06.076
But I'll try that too. So if you're watching, yeah, hello. But thank you, everybody.
01:09:06.076 --> 01:09:10.896
We really appreciate everything that you do for us, and we'll continue to get more of these out here.
01:09:10.896 --> 01:09:13.856
We've got a couple of good ones coming up that I know for a fact Heather and
01:09:13.856 --> 01:09:17.748
I are going to record one that we've been wanting to get to for a while regarding
01:09:18.102 --> 01:09:22.176
kind of more back to our DIY pitfalls and stuff, but any contractor things you
01:09:22.176 --> 01:09:24.321
need to know about building the, you know, some of the,
01:09:25.116 --> 01:09:28.486
things that can happen and what you should expect.
01:09:28.486 --> 01:09:32.206
So I think we even talked about making it DIY expectations, right?
01:09:32.206 --> 01:09:36.026
And keeping realistic expectations. So that's going to be probably one of our
01:09:36.026 --> 01:09:39.546
next episodes. So keep listening for that. But anyways, thank you everybody.
01:09:39.546 --> 01:09:41.325
And we will see you on the next one.