Business Innovators Radio - Mastering the Flow: Plumbing Insights with Cesar Rodriguez of COR Plumbing

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Welcome to another engaging episode of Agents Lounge, where your hosts Francisco and Marco dive deep into the crucial world of trade partnerships within the real estate landscape. Today’s installment features a riveting conversation with Cesar Rodriguez, the master plumber and entrepreneurial force behind COR Plumbing, an enterprise that stands tall even amidst the chaos of the recent “winter apocalypse” in San Antonio.This episode unpacks the hard-earned journey of a dedicated professional who has built a reputable business from the ground up. Cesar’s narrative is as authentic as it gets, commencing his venture with a single truck and a loyal canine mascot, only to navigate through the uncertain waters of a global pandemic. The true essence of his expertise is illuminated — a master plumber who has clocked a staggering 8000 hours and aced a strenuous state examination to stand where he does today.Listeners will be lured into tales of pipe-bursting winters and the mayhem it brings to unprepared plumbing systems. PEX pipes versus traditional materials, the life-saving nature of preventive maintenance, and the efficacy of annual inspections — this episode is a goldmine for homeowners and real estate aficionados alike. Learn what a TMP valve is and why your home’s safety might depend on it, and why you should never take water pressure for granted.Cesar shares his love for deep-sea fishing and not-so-pro golf, rounding out the portrait of a man as committed to his family and community as he is to his craft. But the heart of this exchange lies in the emphasis on building solid relationships with partners like Airtegrity and the unanimous appreciation for Cesar’s collaboration.About Cesar Rodriguez:Cesar Rodriguez is a skilled and passionate master plumber, and founder of COR Plumbing, which he started in 2018. With over 20 years of experience in the plumbing industry, Cesar began his career in AC installation before transitioning to plumbing. He honed his expertise over an 11-year period with a focus on residential and commercial services. Known for his dedication to quality and reliability, Cesar grew his operation from a one-man, one-truck business to a six-person team known for timely service and expertise. He’s respected for his comprehensive skills in preventative maintenance, troubleshooting, and addressing common issues like water pressure and flooding. Cesar emphasizes the importance of regular inspections and maintenance, valuing customer education on these topics. He enjoys using cable machines, a skill in which he’s exceptionally skilled. His commitment to work is equaled only by his love for outdoor activities, including deep-sea fishing and golf, despite his admission of not being particularly skilled at the latter. As a family man and active church and community member, he believes in giving back and participating in communal activities. Looking ahead, Cesar envisions continuous growth for COR Plumbing, aspiring for a larger team and facilities, while maintaining the high-quality service that defines his business.https://corplumbing.net/About The Show Sponsor:The Agents Lounge Podcast is proudly sponsored by Airtegrity Comfort Solutions, your trusted HVAC experts in San Antonio, TX. With a commitment to exceptional service and top-notch comfort, Airtegrity is dedicated to keeping your home or business cool in the scorching Texas heat.Visit their website at https://airtegritycs.com to discover the range of services they offer. From professional air conditioning installations to reliable repairs and maintenance, Airtegrity has you covered. Their team of skilled technicians is equipped with the knowledge and expertise to handle all your HVAC needs efficiently and effectively.Whether you’re looking for a new system installation, need repairs, or want to schedule routine maintenance to ensure your HVAC system is running smoothly, Airtegrity Comfort Solutions is just a phone call away. Reach out to them at 210-446-0105, and their friendly staff will be ready to assist you.Experience the comfort and peace of mind that comes with Airtegrity’s exceptional HVAC solutions. Trust their reliable service and enjoy the benefits of a well-functioning heating and cooling system. Visit their website or call them today to schedule your next HVAC service. Airtegrity Comfort Solutions, your go-to HVAC experts in San Antonio, TX.Agents Lounge Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/agents-lounge-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/mastering-the-flow-plumbing-insights-with-cesar-rodriguez-of-cor-plumbing

Welcome to the Agents Lounge podcast, where we talk all things real estate with the industry's top performers. Join us as we dive into the inspiring journeys of successful agents and uncover the secrets to their success. Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, we've got the tips and tricks to help you navigate the world of real estate. Brought to you by Eritectady Comfort Solutions. So grab a seat and join us in the Agents Lounge. Welcome back to the Agenuity. Agents Lounge podcast. I'm your host today, Marco Salinas, and I have a co-host as well. His name is Francisco Bermudes Jr. Francisco, welcome. Hi, everyone. Yes, and so lately we've been doing

something a little bit different. This show is the Agents Lounge, which is mostly focused on real estate, but we're doing a lot of episodes with trade partners. And today we have one of our special trade partners that's been doing business with E integrity for quite some time now. and the business is called Core Plumbing, and it is owned by a gentleman by the name of Cesar Rorriguez, right? Cesar Rodriguez. Cesar Rodriguez. It's not Junior, right?

No, it's not. Okay. And so Cesar, welcome to the podcast today. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. Absolutely. So we want to talk a little bit today about your business. We want to talk a little bit about, you know, what makes you guys a little bit?

different. Every business is a little different, right? Yes. There's a lot of plumbers in San Antonio. A lot. There's no shortage of plumbers, right? But believe it or not, we still come across plumbers and in other businesses as well where the person will say, we'll be there at 12 o'clock and then they don't show up at 12 o'clock. Or, you know, we're going to fix this thing and then they don't fix it. And so what we try to do here is, is form relationships with the right kind of people where if they say they're going to do something, they actually do it, right? That's a big thing. Now, for Francisco, he names his business, Eretegrity, which is a play on the words integrity, but in the air conditioning space, right? Because he takes these kind of things very seriously.

I know you well, you and I are good friends as well from church. And there's one thing I also. also know about you is that you take your business very seriously. You take your, um, taking care of your customers very, very seriously. And you do very high quality work. You've done work for me, myself personally. Um, and I, so I can, I can definitely, um, you know, speak on the quality of, of the service that you guys provide. So, um, we try to form relationships with those type of people working with integrity comfort solutions. Now, can you tell us a little bit about your background? I always like to know how did you get into plumbing? Have you always had your own company? Or did you work for somebody else? And is this something like your dad did it or you had a family

member or did you just discover this on your own? Take me back to the very beginning of how you started with plumbing. Oh my God. In this world. Well, I was, well, let me see. Back on, I was, I was 17 years old when I decided, well, I actually had to work. And my dad, he was an AC guy. But we were like commercial industrial. It was industrial work. So, I mean, I needed a job, so I decided to go and work for my dad. He worked for this big, big, huge, multimillionary company where there was a mechanical,

there was an electrician, and a plumber. So I worked for them for five years. And I was pretty good. that the company was sold to a multi-millionary company from New York. If I'm mistaken, it was called M-Corps Corporation. So the owners, they had to design a contract where they had to split from the city and the master plan on moving to. Well, he actually was a master and a mechanical person that I moved into San Antonio

by the contract said that he needed to move out. And after a year he moved here in San Antonio He called my dad and asked my dad If I wanted to come over here and work for him As an AC guy So that's how I decided to come over here to San Antonio So you actually started as an AC first I was pretty good

And I mean we were Maybe you could Pull them over Oh I mean But the only difference with us It was all shin metal Oh okay We used to cut

That's what that industrial Type of work does And then it was just big units, AC units. I mean, it was huge, huge, huge, schools, I mean, industrial buildings. I mean, like, let's say, like, Amazon thing in the whole day. Like a warehouse? Oh, okay. And so about what time, what year was this that you came here doing that? Like, 2002, was it? Oh, 2002. I mean, sorry. 2000, I'm sorry. 2000. No, I was

when you first come to San Antonio. 2003. 2003. Okay. 2003, yeah, 2002-ish. And then I started working as the AC company, and then now doing commercials well, but it was kind of more restaurant and stuff like that, and it started getting real slow. And that's when I decided to move into plumbing.

Ah. And now I've been doing plumbing for over, what, 20 years? Over 20 years. So you, obviously, you started working with somebody else. Yes. For a while, you were working for another company. How long? How long before you?

I went for that company for 11 years. Oh, okay. I'm doing on not only the service only. Only on the service site. Only on the service side. But, I mean, I was pretty good on reading plans and pretty good on the construction side because of my background of the AEC. Yeah.

So I started pushing the company to getting through commercial plumbing kind of stuff. Okay. I brought that into the company and that's how I learned all the new construction site on plumbing. Wow. Wow. So you learned a lot in that 11 years about plumbing. Yeah. Pretty much you learn residential and commercial.

Both. Both of them. But you kind of have a little bit of a background working more with the commercial side of anything. Yes, because right after that, because I, well, yes. And then I'm moving to this other company that all they do is commercial. And because of my background on service and then kind of commercial, they pushed me through this big, big jazz commercial. Wow. And I had, like, over five.

years experience doing only commercial at all. Wow. So then what was the year that you started Core? 2018. 2018? Mm-hmm. 2018? Okay, so, so yeah, that's fairly recent. So just a couple years before the pandemic and everything. Yeah, it was a year before. I was already kind of going years before that. Side jobs and stuff like that. But I was already licenses. I just wasn't, I was, I was, I was here I was a master plumber, but I wasn't like a full company, name company until the 2018 is when I actually opened my business name, you know. Oh, everything legal, official, official, and everything. And then I started doing work as a corporate. Wow.

And you started off, what, with one truck? Yeah, it was just me. You by yourself and one truck and your dog. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because your logo has a dog on it. Yes, that was my, that was my puppy. That was your... Oh, that was this.

He passed last year. Oh, man, that's your mascot. Yeah, that was him. Oh, man. Yeah, not everybody puts a dog on their logo, so I said, that dog must be important to Caesar. It was 14 years. We had it for 14 years.

Oh, man. It's a lab just in case for the listeners that don't know what that looks like. And labs are very good, loyal dogs, man. Yep. Very good dogs. Well, okay, so you mentioned something. You mentioned that you're a master plumber. Can you talk?

a little bit about what does that take? What is required for a person to become a master plumber? Do you have to have a certain amount of experience? Yes. Or is it just classroom stuff? No, no. You got to have so much of the spirit. You have, to become a urinary plumber, you need to have 8,000 hours of work.

8,000 hours for journeyman? Under, do you have to be under a master plumber? Okay. So that would take you like four, five years-ish. Okay. And then after that, a year after you're a year-in-man, you can go ahead and apply for your master. But for your master, you got to know, there's a lot of more stuff. You got to know about OSHA stuff, about taxes, about law.

And then you got to go all the way to the state of Austin, all the way to the State Board of Plumbing Examinators. Yep. And it is like two days test. Wow. And it is pretty hard. And then they divided on three sections. Now, are you actually, do you have to take class?

classroom classes to do this or you can have a study guide at home or what? You can get your pre-test kind of pre-test curse. Yeah. And it's three days course that I took it. Okay. And I recommend it to everybody because, I mean, pretty much to tell you what is going to come out on the test. Yeah. And they give you an idea.

I mean, what are you going through? And I just going blank and you don't even know what's going to happen. Wow. Wow. So do you think that makes a big difference, Caesar, if there's two different, plumbers and one of them has a master plumber. The other one doesn't. Does that make a difference?

Now, if you have your own plumber operation, you have to be a master plumber to own your own? The only difference between a yearneman and a master, they can do the same thing on the field. The only difference is that a master plumber can have a business and the yearnerman can't. Oh, okay. That's the only difference. You're working for somebody else. Yes. Now, I can be a master plumber and work under somebody else.

Yeah. And I can have my regular master plumber license. But there's another license that I got that is called a responsible master plumber. Yeah. And that's if you want to open a business. And to give the card, all you got to do, you got to prove your insurance. Okay. You got to give it the proof that your insurance.

Yep. And they'll send you the, it's called gold card. Oh, okay. And that's your responsible master's plan. Yeah. And that's just there to give, um, confidence to the consumer to know that if you're going into their house to work on their stuff, that you really know what you're talking about.

You know what you're doing. And it proves that you have a lot of experience under your belt, right? That you've been doing it for a long time. You've seen a lot of these things firsthand. And you've trained under somebody else who also knew what they were doing that trained you. Yes. Right. So there's a high level of knowledge that comes to the table the moment that you're hiring a master plumber.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I mean, you know that person. I mean, it's been through a whole five, six, seven years of experience. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it is. Yeah. Because I think one of the things we see in San Antonio is that a lot of people, they want the work done. They want it done inexpensive. Sometimes they hire the Theo or, you know, or just somebody who has a little knowledge of that kind of stuff, right? But sometimes it ends up coming back to bite them. Yes. Right. Have you ever had to fix? Yes. what the other guy didn't do right?

A lot of times. Yeah. And does it usually end up costing the customer more? Yes. Yeah, because a lot of times it's end up more damage or more, more issues, or because they didn't do it right in the first place. Right. Right.

So I think it's definitely important to, you know, make sure that you have somebody that has all the licenses and all the knowledge under their belt, right? And then even if you're a master primary, we still need to get or continue it every year once a year. Oh, okay. We have to keep it renewal every year. Okay. I'm pretty sure you guys. You have that too, right?

Yeah. Do you have anything like that? Yes, we have to do, I think, eight hours of training every year. Oh, okay. And then we got to submit that and reapply. So that is part of your CE? Yes. But that's a good question because it just reminded me that I haven't received my license from the state.

No, we submitted all our paperwork. but they heard it. Okay, I see. I mean, what do you expect from? Yeah. Just leave it at that. Just leave it at that. Go Texas.

Yeah, just leave it at that. Yeah. No, that's interesting. Again, I think it's important just to make sure that people understand that there's a difference between, you know, the person that you're trying to save a little bit of money on and somebody else who may cost you a little bit more, but they're going to get it done right. They're going to get these things done right. So from the consumer, because a lot of our listeners are homeowners or realtors,

what are some of the things that they should be maintaining in their home on an annual basis or every couple of years? Or what's one of the ways that homeowners or business owners can do to make sure that they don't have any plumbing issues? Yeah, but what I... I need to prevent things from happening. Oh, yeah, no, and then, no, I understand that. What I recommend my customers all the time is why. water pressure.

That's a big one? Yes, it is. And a lot of people, a lot of people is like, oh, I like to take this shower with a lot of pressure coming into my head. But, I mean, it's not good. So you're saying high pressure is bad for your pipes. It's just like a blood pressure, brother. Whoa. I mean, if you have high pressure, I mean, either you get a risk that you get a, I mean,

something's going to burst. Yeah. That's what the stroke is. Yeah. So if you have high pressure. You can have faucets leaking. You can have the shower's leaking. You can burst your water heater.

I mean, you know about that leak. I mean, that's something maybe because of high pressure. So I think that's one of the main things that people should be checking every year. How do you check that, Caesar? I mean, it's pretty easy. I mean, you can go ahead and check it out on the spiket outside house. It shows it on there? Well, I mean, they'll say you have to buy that little pressure.

There's a gauge that they'll sell you on it, but it's cheap. They have it at Walmart. Yeah, it's worth it. And all you got to make sure is below 80 pounds of pressure. It needs to be below 80 pounds. I mean, 60, 50. I mean, I have a two-story home, and my story home, I mean, I'm 50, I believe. And you get used to it.

And you get to a point where you don't need that much pressure. And, I mean, I've been there for over 15 years. I had never a problem. Yeah, yeah. But I think doesn't the city also kind of controlled a little bit, your neighborhood or whatever like that? Well, that's the reason. It fluctuates. Yes, that's the reason why you need to install a regulator, pressure regulator above.

And that will prevent, that will keep your pressure at one pressure at one pressure. Because a city, remember, nights. Yeah. It is more pressure because to stop using it. Everybody's taking shower. So there's a lot of pressure just up and down. So if you have a pressure regulator above, I mean, it will keep your pressure of the same same and that will help that will help all your appliances all your fixtures

anything in the house i mean does that come with the house or you have to put that on it depends on the year of the house the newer houses have it oh yeah by law it has to have it by colds now there are all the houses they don't have it so it is recommended to just add it yeah they're at the supply house we saw some um sensors to close your your to prevent water floods can you tell us a bit more about those or In case you have a water leak, it should shut down this. I mean, there's some of those sensors that you can put it by the water softener. If you have a water savener, if you don't have one, I mean, there's one that goes by the meter. All by your water heater.

And know what it is. But there's some kind of fancy ones. There's some expensive ones. There's some that has a wire that goes into the ground. And if it gets wet, it will shut it off. Automatic, it will shut it off. And there's some that actually, they are Wi-5. And they'll send you a sign into your house.

There's something a normal into your house. What you want me to do? You can actually shut it off on your phone. Yeah. I mean, is it worth it? Maybe it is. I mean, because I've seen houses flooded. I mean, why?

Because there are too much pressure and the lines. Most of the cases happen on the toilet supply line. Oh, okay. The connection is plastic. I mean, you see it plastic, plastic, and that thing just boom-busted. You're not home? imagine just a pipe just throwing water I mean 80 pounds of pressure

just throwing up for hours for hours imagine if it's upstairs you get home and the whole ceiling is I mean it's a mess Have you seen anything like that? Yes, a lot of times A lot of times That's something that we go through

I mean all the time It's just something So it's pretty common By doing maintenance You can prevent that Yes that's why we always sell customers The first thing that you always that make sure you got to make sure that, I mean, sorry, the number one thing that you always have to make sure is, it's good at your house, the water pressure.

The other one is a water heater. Some people, they don't even know the water heater is. What do you water heater? I don't know. It's somewhere in a closet. So how long should a water heater last and how do you get it to last? The water heater, the water heated average life is 9 and 11 years. Between 9 and 11 years.

I mean, I've seen water heater. it has the last over 20 years. And I see water heater, they only like six years. So it's a difference, right? It's a pretty much difference. The only thing is just prevented, just to use some maintenance. What type of maintenance are? Pretty much.

How do you maintain a water heater? You have to drain it, right? Yes, but that's the main thing. Drain it once a year? And that's because all the costumes, all that build up that it gets into the water heaters, you might want to get rid of all that build up that it gets. Even if you have a water sound, you're still going to get some buildup. Does it?

It still gets some? Wow. That's how hard the water is in our area, right? That it gets a lot of that junk in there. It is pretty bad. The other is just making sure all the temperatures and the gas and everything is connected properly. The other thing that you got to shake is your TMP. The TMP is a temperature pressure valve. That's real, real important on a water heater because that little thing right there, it can save your life. And people don't know that. But that's a water. heater, it is a bomb. Yeah. It is a bomb. I mean, if the water heater, let's say the water heater, it has this,

it has a thermostat and the thermostat is not good and it's just start overheating. Right. And instead of going 140, 200, 230, so that's why you have that TMP. The TMP, when it gets into a 250 degrees, yeah. Automatic, it opens up. Ah. Ah. Release, release the pressure and then cold water goes into the tank. Wow. But it's just going to get to a point if it's too old, those things, they won't open. Or they don't even have it if it's too old, right?

Some people, they see it draping and say, oh, look, there's a league. Just cap them. Just put a cap on it. Whoa. What's going to happen? But that thing's going to keep boiling and boiling and boiling. And until now, still boilers going through the roof. I mean, like a rocket ship.

Like a Elon Musk. And then when we get those, when we get those continuaries. it's like eight hours of class. Yeah. It's like three, four hours. It's always about water heaters. Every year the talk is about water heater. Why?

Because it's something that keeps happening and it happens every year. Wow. And people don't. Now, have you ever seen the explosion? No. Okay. I've never seen it. So that sounds like that's, it's kind of rare.

Yeah. Yeah, I've seen them on YouTube. Yeah. I think I'm going to go on YouTube and put water heater. Water heater explosion. Yeah. For those that are listening or watching, they want to search some of that. Yeah.

That's a good reason to make sure you have a good plumber alone. Okay, so we covered leagues, the water heaters. Pressure, we covered pressure. So every year we get the, what do you call, the winter apocalypse here in San Antonio where everybody's posting photos of looking for a husband at Home Depot because if they can fix the water heater, there might be a good catch. But, I mean, people are always calling us during that. that time.

Yeah. I'm like, hey, do you know water heat, uh, plumber? Because everybody that I've called is busy. Yes. So is there any preventative things that they can do? Well, yeah, I mean, like that one that we had, what is it? Three years, two years? Couple years.

It's all a blur to me, but yeah. We call it snow vied or whatever. Well, that was crazy because typical, I mean, usually the pipes inside a wall, I mean, they won't freeze. I mean, whatever is exposed into the air, it does. That's what we always recommend. If you have a speaker out of the house, I mean, that little piece put a cover. Yeah. Or if you have a pipe coming up from the ground that a lot of people does, like on the ranch,

make sure you put a lot of something just to carry it up. But this year, that year, I mean, it was even pipes inside the walls. I mean, I guess it was. Because there was no power. Yeah, and there was no power. So there was no heating in the house. And so everything got cold everywhere. was so cold and the houses here, they're not prepared for that type of cold.

Now, I remember seeing that we had a lot of leaks, attic leaks. Okay. And I guess you have the attic, there's the insulation on the attic and the pizzer go over the insulation. They even, they were insulated, but the roof, the actual roof is not insulated. So there was that, that gap, I mean, it was, it was so cold that it will bust up by now. Wow. Now, on all those leagues that we had, it was. either a BBC

or copper. I didn't see any Pex by Busted. So that's Pex. That's the strongest one. Yeah, I think for now it's like plastic. Plastic pegs.

But it expands a little bit. It has expansion. I mean, that's, and I think now, from now, I mean, we use it a lot. Pexby, we use it. For me, Pax is the best right now. And for now, I mean, it's just

That's the way to go. It's just a way to go. I mean, because copper and PVC at one point they're going to burst. Yeah. Wow. And you're supposed to keep the water running, right? Well, they're saying that you could, yeah, so the water keeps running, the hot side keep running. But there were some customers they actually did that.

I mean, it froze. Still, yeah. I mean, it was so. That was just one of those years where they hopefully wouldn't have it again. Very rare. Yeah. For San Antonio. Very, very rare.

Yeah. But it does happen. Yeah, they were making fun of us because they were saying that there were some pictures of us wearing all these bling blinks and stuff like. I got to a point where I didn't even care about. There was so much people calling and I just wanted to take care of all my customers. There were people with no water. Customer, we watered days without water. And I remember we were driving.

I had some videos and some photos where we were driving through the snow. I mean, it was snowing and we were driving trying to help people because we knew that we know water for two, three days. days and they were on the list. Yeah. And actually for us, because we were working during Snowbit, we didn't really make a lot of money like people would expect because it was mostly like small things that needed to be taped or sealed or repaired. Yeah. But it was like there was a lot of work, but I mean. But it was more for the plumbers.

Yeah, the money was the plumbers. Yeah, yeah, it was. The plumbers were the ones that were all backed up. We were. Yeah, for weeks. Unfortunately, yes. We were. Weeks.

Yeah. Fortunately and fortunate. Unfortunately and fortunately. Yeah. Yeah. Man, what else, what other common things can we discuss about, you know, precautions? Do you all help people get ready for, on an annual basis? Do you all have like a maintenance plan or a membership?

We don't have a membership, but I mean, we always tell customers that, like, are we going to call it? like just to preventable maintenance, right? And we have a schedule like, okay, it's been almost going to be a year that we install this water heater. We need to call this customer

to see everything is fine. What do you all check during the maintenance? Like we just do a walkthrough. Like, for example, if we only did a water heater, we know for sure we're going to go check on the water heater, make sure everything is,

well, first of all we're going to have to flush it because it's been already a year. And then the other one, we're going to shake all that connections that's too, perfect and right and then the gas is going well and then it's kind of like a 15 point inspection or like a 20 point inspect right there's all these little things that you're you have to look at yes and then if if and if the customer gave us the permission to walk into the whole entire house i mean we we

actually walk and check the plumbing underneath the faucets and then number one we shake the water pressure yeah first thing you check that we do the first thing we walk into that's the first thing And if it's over 80 pounds, we let them know that this is, that's a risk. Yeah. And then you can pull it back. Yes. How much something doing the maintenance costs? Not really.

Just doing the maintenance on a water heater. I mean, they're not going to spend more than $200. I mean, it's probably like an hour, an hour labor. I mean, an hour visit in the house. I mean, that's to do the draining of it and everything, right? Just draining it and shaking everything. And now we see something wrong with it. and then we'll give them a price how much it would, like a faucet that we need to be replaced,

and then we give them a price on how much it will be. I think it's worth it. Yeah. I mean, it's better than waiting for snowbit or for... Or for something happens. Yeah. And there's some houses that have the water heaters in the attic. Like, well, I don't even know who we ever thought about that.

Why would you put a water heater? Yeah, well, that was back then. I mean, I know there's... If I'm not mistaken, that Texas... Well, San Antonio won't let do that anymore on the new homes. Yeah. That's the old ones. That's crazy.

I mean, it's just, I've seen water heaters down in the floor. I mean, that, yes. And people in the house, I mean, people that leave in the house. Could have fallen on somebody. Yeah, it's just, it's just crazy. Or the other bad place, they put them underneath the 8th C. I know. Those are so.

And then the people are like, there's no enough airflow. It's like, well, the water heater's taking off. All of the air world, yeah. See, I never thought about it. Do you have that used to, really? Yeah. Well, you're supposed to have a gap underneath it, and you put a water heater. It's going to reduce the amount of air that goes in through the AC and then supply it.

Yeah. So if you want to put like a better filtration for the air, because you have allergies and you want very good filters, once you put that, you've got to get air from somewhere else besides the heat to make up for that air that the heater's taking space of. Yeah, yeah. And so you've had some experience working with. with core plumbing yourself, Francisco? You and your team? You all send business to each other, right? Brian is one of our coworkers and Cesar.

They work together a lot. Yeah, me and Brian, we have passed some work to each other. Yeah. Always, and it's always been a good experience, right? Like I said, he's worked on my own house several times, so I can definitely speak for the high quality of work that these guys do. You have some of your employees at work with him. y'all are in B&I groups together so y'all are always kind of transferring you know leads to each other yeah and what surprises me is that he's the business owner and he's over there leading from the front yeah showing his ex um his co-workers or employees how to do things the right way being a good example yeah and being out there in the field himself so i mean that that that speaks a lot because you know that you're getting somebody that knows what they're doing that has experience that

has the customer's best interest in place. Yeah. And you guys just got a new truck, right? Yeah, we just got a brand new one? Yeah. It's a pretty big one, right? It is nice. It is nice.

Yeah. I didn't get to drive it, but yes. What type of warranties do you all offer with your repairs or? Well, it depends. If it's just a repair, it's like three months warranty. If it's a whole replacement, it's a year. Okay. A year.

That's good. The manufacturer just provides something to? Correct. Yes. If, like, the water heater, uh, depends which one you get. but usually is a six years warranty on water heaters. That's good because sometimes you get the tail light warranty. Have you heard of that one?

Uh-uh. What is that? So there's only a warranty until you can see the taillights of the car and after it'll see it. After it turns, the warranty's gone. After they ride off into the sunset? Yeah. Oh, that's a good idea. Let me read it down.

There are companies that are offering that one for sure. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully you got the license plate because good luck. They'll even tell you that they'll give you a lifetime or they'll give you five years or something. Yeah. And if it's too good to be true, it's probably not going to happen. That's right. That's very right.

Very true. Yeah. And you have a book, right? Yeah. What is a book about? Talk to us a little bit about that. Well, that might be a little biased on why I think the book is a great idea. Tell us with that.

Yeah, I didn't get my book. I mean, I would have brought it. That's okay. But yeah, my book talks about all the questions, just regular customers' questions that have, I mean, like drainage and easy stuff that happens at your residential. Yeah. It just talks about easy fix. Yeah. Kind of like some of what we've been discussing, right, the things to look out for, the preventative maintenance, right?

You know, those. What it talks about? That's it talks about a little bit about me, just a little bit of panace. little bit, but not, it's not, it's not like a biography or anything. But it talks more about who helped me out to do it, Marcus Salinas. Nah, that really. But his name is there. Only one page.

That's all about it. Not but it's a great book. But have you got any feedback from anybody that you give it to? That's a matter of fact. They like it. They appreciate it. As a matter of fact, passage of some referrals for people that like to. Oh, that's a good idea.

Man, dude. What a good friend. Yeah. And we've got one in the works right now for Eertegriety as well. Yeah. There's been a few delays, but it wasn't on my site. No, it wasn't. No, no, because I got it all done, but they just, there's a few little edits that we're waiting on.

Yeah, but his came out really good too, a lot of good content about, you know, air conditioning. And again, both of y'all are in the type of world where doing a little bit of maintenance will make a big difference on how much money you save. Yes. Both of you guys, right? I think yours is a little bit more drastic because it involves water. more common is going to involve water, which is water is just what's going to do the ultimate damage to the house, aside from like fire,

you know, water is going to just do so much damage. So both of your industries, I think it's vitally important to make sure that you're on top of those things, that you're aware of those things so that you can kind of, you know, make sure that y'all are coming out at least once a year, right? At least once a year just to make sure there's nothing too crazy.

Watch the pressure, like you said. kind of like going to the doctor, how's my blood pressure, do we need to lower it? Okay, what do I need to do? The first thing you check is that. You're making sure that there's no other major issues with the water heater or with the pipe. Sometimes the pipes will burst and, you know, and it's a big job, you know. And those things can be very, very, very expensive. Yeah, yeah.

Now that you mentioned that, I remember one day, it's been a couple of years that I remember that night was raining. It was a storm. It was, I mean, lighty. and all that kind. And then I got a call first thing in the morning from this customer that this house, there was a leak in his house. And when I showed up into the house, I opened, we opened, there was nobody in the house. The owners that were in Las Vegas.

And I never, he saw the water coming around in the morning. That was the next day in the morning. I'm like, I mean, it just rained last night. I'm like, maybe it was a roof or something. Well, why are we walking to the house? we actually broke the door to walking to how we go he got permission from the guys from over the phone yeah a whole house was flooded brother a whole house well we started investigating it but i didn't know where the water was coming from so i said you know i go ahead and turn the water on they had already turned

the water off and i saw this spray water well this what happened a lighting hit the roof and it started burned it started i mean a fire a little bit of a fire it started a fire in the attic and it was a fire you see i did all it all the air it all the the investigation before the fire, everybody got there before that. And then well, lucky because all the pecs pipe that is there, yeah.

It just melted. Oh. It melted and the water stopped. The water stopped that, the fire. Wow. What happened? The house flooded the house. So, pick your poison. We were like,

The fire or you want the water? It was in the face. Oh, my gosh. That is crazy. I thought, and I thought you were going to tell me that it was the wet bandits. No, no. You know who that is? You understand?

As we're recording this podcast, we're close to Christmas time, and there's a show that everybody watches Home Alone, and those guys go in there. They always flood the house. So I thought you were going to tell me you got there and it was the wet bandit. So another question for you is, you're a great person. We love you to death. But tell us about your team. What can people expect when they call your office?

Who shows up to their home to do their work? Yeah. Tell us about their personalities or some of the values that they hold. Yeah, well, I mean, we have two for numbers. The main, main number that everybody had, it is my number that now is, if I don't get to the phone, either because I'm busy that I am most of the time. Yeah. It goes and transferring to the office.

Okay. The office phone in there. There's another phone number from the hair that most of the time is Brenda. Okay. Who answers the phones? I mean, you all know Brenda? Yeah, yes. Yeah, we've met you.

And she's great. I mean, she has the best, best customer service. I mean, everybody that I talk to ladies, oh, the lady is so good on the over the phone. I mean, the way she talks to all else that you make you feel that you are comfortable with a customer. Taking care of. Yeah. And I trust me, Brenda, Brenda, Brenda, it's just, it's great on the phone. And the customer service.

And she's the one that does all the. booking, scheduling. The scheduling. Yeah, all the schedule. Now, sending my guys, I mean, but we are, right now, we're over six. Six people? Yeah, six people. Plus you.

Yes. And then my main, main guy, there is Luis, Don. Dan has a lot experience over, you say, over 30 years of plumbing service. Wow. And he's military. He's Air Force, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. And he knows a lot.

Okay, he knows a lot. I think he worked with mine, yeah. He knows a lot. And he knows a lot. And he has a lot of experience. And he always has a helper with him. And then we got to make sure everything gets done and clean. And he knows what to do.

Now, Luis, he doesn't talk too much, but he's the greatest worker. I mean, he can get done. He knows so much about the plumbing. And he's been with me over four years already, Luis. Yeah. And, I mean, that guy, I mean, a lot of people ask, there's some people that ask for Luis only and a lot of people ask for Don only. So it depends what kind of service you want. Yeah, yeah.

It is both. I mean, and then I have Vicente. I have Jason. And they're a great person as well. Yep. Yeah. I've always been impressed with your team, man. You're always really good about hiring the right people.

Yeah. Good, good, hardworking people that come in. You know, these people are coming into your house, man. And, you know, you want people that are there to get the job done and not, you know, you know, make you feel uncomfortable. And both of you guys have always done a great job of making sure that you vet these people, that you have the right guys on your team and gals as well. Yeah.

So, you know, that's a good. I have another lady on the office. Her name is Veronica. And she either brand us on the phone or it's on the meetings, B&I meetings, and all that she will get. She's a backup. Yeah, she's a backup. She has other stuff to do all the office, like paperwork and.

Yeah. tracking and all that stuff. Right. But yeah, I mean, I think we have a great thing right now. That's great. That's great. Okay, one last question before we wrap up. What do you like to do for your free time?

And then I would also like to know, where do I see you in the next five years? Oh, let's do that one first. That's what. What does your next five years look like? Where do you hope to see your business or, you know, everything in the next five years or so? Well, I mean, I see my business growing. I mean, I've been, I think we've been growing. I mean, I say tremendously.

I mean, we can see a difference in years. I mean, big, big, big. Yep. And in five years, I mean, I want to be, I mean, running a big, big company. Double the trucks, maybe, like double the team. Probably double the team in a big warehouse and office. Do you want to be doing more residential, more commercial, or a mixture?

I love that way we're doing it right now. We have a good mix? Yeah. I guess I have, I mean, you know, I'm doing service. We do, oh, that's something that we didn't mention. Yeah. What is your percentage of residential? Probably is 50 and 50.

It is 50-50? It is 50-50. But on the residential, more services. Okay. Commercial is all probably new construction. I see. Remodels and stuff like that.

So commercial residential, I love it. I mean, we've done so many commercial kitchens. restaurants. Yeah. And then I was just, we had experience on doing that, and we're just going to keep doing it. I went down, on the residential, we do a lot of service. Yeah, a lot of service.

That's everyday service, emergency, and something that we didn't mention either. I mean, grains backing up. Oh, yeah. We get those calls like that. The drain is backing out. The toll is backing out. That topic is so disgusting.

Okay, no, we're not going to be. I'm not going to tell you where I put my hand. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on, hold on, hold on. That's what this is for here, the... Oh, there you go. You know what I'm here.

Usually it's for bad words, but on this show, it has to be for those backup. That's the reason I do AC and not plums. There's no way. Yeah, so we do a lot of the draining, clear grain back, you know. We'll just leave it at that. Yeah, that's a busy world, too. Yeah. Yeah, et cetera.

Yeah. And you even did Waterburger, right? We did Waterburger at the airport. We did Starbucks at the airport. Yeah. And we've done most of it, all the Termino A restaurants, all those we've been for us. Wow. Wow.

So you hope to keep it about 50-50 in the next five years? Yeah. You're comfortable with that? I think if I can divide a crew just doing commercial and then another crew, another two crews, three crews doing a restination, another three, three or four crews doing commercial only. And display that work and BPCO, that would be great. And then finally, that's when you'll take a step back. Maybe.

Maybe. And even at that, it's only maybe. I mean, I love to be outside on the field. Man, we keep trying to pull you over to have cigar with us and to go play golf with us and to do all these things. But, yeah, we can't get you away, man. You keep on going to those dirty drains. I know. He has a weird fetish about this dirty drain or something, man.

Yeah, I'm good on it. I'm serious. I'm good on it. If you're good, then you got to go with it, right? I know. Some people, they ask me, say, hey, can you come? help me and they know that when I get it,

I don't know what it is, and magic or whatever, but I'll get it clear. Dang. I know how to use my cable machines. I'm good on it. Okay, now tell us about... Yes, that's it.

Tell us about what you do for fun. For sure, I know I've seen you shooting hogs on the helicopter. Oh, yeah. Because I was real jealous when I saw that one, dude. I had to shut my laptop. Boom! I want to do that, too.

Yeah. You like to go, honey? Right? I love going hunting. I like the outdoors. Anything in the outdoors? Yeah, but fishing is my thing. Fishing is a main.

I love fishing. Are we talking about in the ocean? Or are we talking? Yeah, deep sea. You like doing deep sea, salt water? Sure. I mean, yeah, I love that. Like on a guided tour and those type of things?

I mean, we used to go once a month. Every month we were there fishing and fishing and fishing and fishing. And he got to a point we got so busy. I mean, I've been fishing only once this year. The whole year? The whole year? Wow, man. I know, it's sad, but I mean.

That's a good Christmas gift for your family. I know. Yeah. Yeah, we can't hear you. You're too far. Yeah, see, if your wife listens to this, that would be a good Christmas. There you go. Yeah.

But now that I can, I mean, like golf, I'm not good on golfing, but I loved it this time that we were in golf. Francisco was there. We got to see us each other there. Yeah. And I enjoy so much. It's fun, right? Yeah, it is fun. And you don't have to be great.

No, and it will watch. Why are you doing it for? I mean, you're doing it for something. I mean, you're supporting something. Sure. Yeah. But the thing about golf courses is that they're always set up in a very beautiful place. Correct.

So when you're there, you're surrounded by the beauty, right? And just being in that environment is very relaxing. You know, and it's good exercise, and you can keep the body moving. And, you know, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, you get to talk to a lot of different people. Networking. Networking. Yeah.

And it's about, that's what I was telling everybody. I'm just here just for the beer. There you go. Who used to say that? I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm just here for the whiskey.

I'm just here for the beer. Who said that? You know him. No. That. You know that? Uh, yeah, that from, from Max. What's his name?

Oh. You know? Somebody from our church. Ryer. Yes. Somebody from our church. I'm just not here for the beer. Yeah, because the Knights of Columbus and these guys have a reputation for.

for having some, you know, a little bit of something. Whiskey. Yeah. By the way, did you enjoy your whiskey? We always do pre-whisky here before the podcast to loosen everybody else. So if you want to come on and you want to have a relaxing time. Come on. We'll pour you a little cup and some styrofoam.

Or you can add it to your HTO like I did and loosens up everything a little bit. Yeah. All right. And, of course, you're a family man. You're a church man. You go to retreats. That's where we met. We met as part of the Axe community.

You and I were both on the Axe Corps. And so I've seen you also being very helpful and doing a lot of things at the parish as well, lending a hand, even with music as well, and with your kids, right? Yep. So, yeah, so that's pretty much, if you're not working, you're probably doing some. And you're not fishing, then you're probably hanging out with a family at church. Yes, yeah. Yeah.

I love to help my community. That's awesome. I like to get back. Yeah, that's great. Well, Caesar, thank you very much for joining us today. It's been a lot of fun. It's been great talking with you about you and your business, getting to know you better, and we're very grateful.

I'm sure Francisco would agree, very grateful to have you as one of our trade partners here for Eritory. And we hope to be able to continue working with you for the future. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thank you, Francisco, for the imputation. And let's try to get you out of the work environment, at least a little bit. Yeah, I see you guys go and smoke cigars and all that. I mean, we're waiting for you, man. We're just, we're there waiting for you.

So let us know when you can, when you can join us. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Any final words? I mean, thank you for coming. And I mean, we're excited to see you grow. And where you're going. Yeah, exactly.

All right, guys. Well, I think that's it. That does it for another episode of the Agents Lounge podcast. We'll catch you here next time. You've been listening to the Agents Lounge. Lounge Podcast, brought to you by Ayrtegrity Comfort Solutions. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes, please visit agentsloungepodcast.com.