The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Margo Steinlage, Angela Windett And Weston Wirt Joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Margo Steinlage & Angela Windett of Steinlage Insurance Agency And Weston Wirt of Breezemont Builders joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Charlottesville Opera and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

I'm gonna go this is Michael. We're super excited to have you joining us on a warm morning here in Charlottesville, Virginia. Summer's right around the corner. It's sneaking up. Exactly. It'll be here before you know it. You'll just wake up one morning, walk out of your house, and be like, I can't breathe. It's kind of getting there already. It's like you woke up, I went outside, it's like, oh, it's hot.

I walked into my house, and I'm like, oh, it's already hot this morning. So summer starts early here in Virginia, but that's still an opportunity to grab your cafe ton leche or your iced cafe ton leche. Xavier will highly recommend not the iced version. Get into a nice comfortable spot, maybe with air conditioning,

and watch some Today Maneanas. So that's always- Perfect, sounds like an ideal morning. It's always an ideal morning to watch some Today Maneanas. So we, especially when we have a great trio of guests lined up for everyone this morning, we're gonna be joined shortly in the show by Mardo Steinladi and Angela Windet from the Steinladi Insurance Agency. And then later on in the show, we're

going to be joined by Weston Work, founder of Breezemont Builders. So we've got a great show lined up for everyone this morning. I'm here with Michael, which is always a joy. It's always a joy having you leading the show. I always like this position better than that because I ain't got to do the- You have to do the- Yeah, I got to do it. Then I got to read the sponsor list, who's on the show. Then I'm like, oh, I want to mess the sponsor list who's on the show. Then I'm like, I want to mess up the names. Exactly.

Exactly. No, I can sympathize. I can sympathize with that. Vanessa Pardo already tuning into the show this morning. Thank you Vanessa for watching. Always love our fantastic viewers. We got also Monica Miller, not in Montana, but in Virginia watching the show this morning. We've got Dr. Elizabeth Erpey and Maria Erpey watching the show this morning.

Maria really loves the show, so I can vouch for that. And so we've got some great guests. She's your number one fan out here. She's my new number one fan. She's my new number one fan. So always love that. Be sure to send us any questions, comments, likes, shares. I can read all the great comments on air because there's only ever great comments.

So we love being here on the I Love Civo Network set. Always love our partners, Emergent Financial Services, Mattias, you're on reality, Sharad, it's for opera. Always love you, our audience. And so I don't know about you, I'm excited to jump right on in today. Let's go. Let's do it, let's do it. So we are excited to welcome to the show this morning, Mardo Steinleide and Angela Windet

from the Steinleide Insurance Agency. Mardo, Angela, thanks so much for coming on this morning. Thank you guys. We're glad to be back in the saddle here. Glad to have you back, yes. Was it a year or two ago? When was our last visit with you? Probably a year ago.

Yeah, a little over a year ago. Always decided to have our repeat our repeat guest especially when like the desk was on and I wasn't there that day. Now I get to do the interview with with these guests. For Alex it's a new guest. For me it's a new guest. Well and congrats is in order for you little baby Maria. I mean what beautiful news. It's very exciting. It's just a it's about to slightly puffy eyes. It wasn't because you want to go in the show this morning. You know it wasn't crying like I got to. I love love being on the show. Maria just you know keeps keeps me busy. She loves her father so much she doesn't want to go to sleep. Right. Exactly. Just keep staring. Well I had to propose the question of how are you insuring your much she doesn't want to go to sleep. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Why doesn't she just keep staring into my eyes as she dies?

Well, I had to propose the question of how are you insuring your baby already because, you know, we do health insurance here. So... Margot's pulling you on the spot already. I am lucky I have the easy answer which is my wife works at UVA and I am on health insurance. One day I will have the heart of that question which is like... Yes, we're going to hit Michael up in the fall. Exactly. Exactly. I don't have to go through the board.

Don't ask me those health questions because I'm going to be like my dad. I'm like, I just go, what's the cheapest one? Nobody got me. It does make you think of three things because Nick does a lot of our financial planning and he was the first to kind of, as soon as you start, like you know a child's on the way, you're like, life insurance? Do I have all my other insurances in order, which I do, and then health insurance.

He's like, okay, does I now need to go through this process? And then, particularly, I think for a lot of people, not everyone is already on a spouse's health insurance, so you kind of have to go through that process. And I know, I'm excited to ask you both for viewers that haven't had a chance to meet you yet how you started this because I know one of the top things we get from a lot of clients in the financial industry is, okay yeah I know a gazillion property and casualty insurance people and I don't know a lot of health insurance providers. So how

did you both get into this business and really kind of go down the road of health insurance? Yeah, well, I'm a third generation insurance agent. So my grandfather started the company in the 50s. My dad took it over and then myself and my two brothers, we had a very graceful succession plan and now I own the company. And I joke, I was basically born with a Medicare card. All I know is ACA, Obamacare, Medicare, like if you need somebody in Charlottesville who has your back on health insurance, Team Steinlage is here. And I met Angela, gosh, four years ago ago three and a half years ago at a football game a high school football game and she jumped on board with us she

had some great experience and she's been a rock star and she just took the title is number one insurance agent in Charlotte withesville. This is like breaking news, right? I know. With Reader's Choice, second year in a row. So she is a phenomenal woman, just a powerhouse mom, and also a broker. She goes above and beyond for her clients, for her team. I call her the office mom because she takes care of me when I come in with puffy eyes and sleep deprivation. So if you see my license plate, it says team mom on it.

There you go. Exactly. We're going to have to get some plates that say Steinleggie Insurance on it. Office mom. There you go. Exactly. And that's a big deal because just as ready, it's not like when you're doing the daily progress, the reader's choice, it's not like you're up against like one other health attorney.

Like you're up against like all the 1,000 property casualty, every insurance agent in the area. We were. We were against all the property and casualty. We were the only health insurance company in the running. And not only am I the number one agent for Charlottesville, but Steinleggy Insurance is also the number one agency in Charlottesville. And that's two years in a row as well. Congratulations on that. That's amazing. Yeah. And our clients vote for us.

So it says a lot about our services. And Angela's been really great. She's got a lot of Google reviews online, which has been really cool to see. We help people left and right. And you get the email saying, hey, thanks so much. But then at 8 PM on a Tuesday, you get this random Google notification pop up on your phone. And Betty Jones gives you a five-star review and says how wonderful your team is or your

services are. And it's just another pat on the back that is a confirmation that, hey, you're doing the right thing for people. You're going above and beyond. And people appreciate what we're doing. So it makes us wake up every day, get into the office, and is the motivator and the why behind what we're doing. I agree.

I agree. I think that we both get up so early in the morning. We like to run. Not voluntarily. I have four children who are screaming, mama. But we do our job till 5 o'clock. And when we're tired when we go to bed, it's because we're tired and we know what we've done for our clients.

We've done right by our clients. I think listening to our clients, what they need, not what we want, is how well we're so successful as well, you joked earlier about the humidity and how it's coming and how, embrace yourself. Well, the humidity brings up some anxiety for me because it means we're three months out from the open enrollment, annual enrollment period for Medicare and ACA. So I'm like, oh gosh, the humidity is here. I only have three months. We've got to prepare. Three months to prepare. Time to get our ducks in a row for Medicare AEP

and the November kickoff for ACA. But yeah, the humidity is bittersweet. Yeah, exactly. Full season is here, but I know the work that's coming in the next few weeks. Accountants have their April dread. You guys are the best. Absolutely.

Absolutely. October 15 to December 7 on the Medicare side is the AEP. Accountants have their April dread. You guys are the best. Absolutely. October 15 to December 7 on the Medicare side is the AEP and then November 1 to December 15, which that usually gets extended from some states. So that's the AEP on the under 65 market. So yeah, we're very busy. It's like our tax season for sure. I would imagine.

I'm like Angela, no fun during October and November. My husband hates me during the fall open enrollment. I remember my dad saying, you guys are a family business, so you get it. My dad's always trying to drop little nuggets of advice here and there. Now he's fully retired, so the advice is coming left and right. But he's always like, Margot, stop and smell the roses. Like, you've got to see the leaves change in the fall. And be aware, because we grind and work

so hard during that season. But it's good, though. We kind of calm down. We stay busy year round, because we work with a lot of individuals who are approaching their 65th birthday, you know, they have a birthday in June. So we help them transition or decide if Medicare is actually required. And then also we see, we stay busy with individuals who are maybe

early retirees or having a baby or leaving their job and opening up their own firm. You know, you have your home builder coming on next and he may need health insurance because he's no longer part of a large group. So we do stay busy year round in that capacity, but it's not as intense as the fall open enrollment. Yeah, it's crazy. So what happens during open enrollment that gets you busy? You have all these people trying to get on health insurance? Well, I would say we kind of self-create this busyness because we are really proactive with

our current clients. It's not like a set it and forget it relationship with Steinlagi. And it's funny because our PNC guys never reach out to us and say, hey Margo, your barn insurance and your farm insurance just went up $500 and it had a 25% rate. They don't proactively reach out to me to rate shop that property and casualty insurance. Whereas here at Steinleggie, we reach out to every single client in August. We send out an intake form to collect updated drugs, medications, doctors, what's changed. And then come October, we are proactively reaching out to every single one of

our clients to say, hey, based on your new drug list that you submitted to us and your information and the plan changes for the upcoming year, we're recommending a change so we can save you $400 or $200 or you know you indicated you wanted to go to a supplement we have to underwrite like so we bring that education and we bring the the quality like plan recommendation every year and because we're kind of taking that extra step proactively we're crazy busy for this for really October. And I think the other thing for us is we're licensed in all 50 states. So that's what also keeps us very, very busy as well.

It's not just here locally. That helps us keep busy. And I like to joke with my- We follow you. You can't hide from us. That's an understatement. I like to joke with my clients that if there's a possibility they may move down the road to a retirement location or whatever, I tell them, always have a spare bedroom for me because I'm going to come move with you.

And it's the truth because we do move with our clients. They don't have to go find another Margo or Angela. We can still help them wherever they move to. Unless you're Nick. That's why you won Best Health Interest no matter where they go. All the way to Cabin, Alaska, Angela and Margo will be there. Unless you're Nick over in Italy. And then we're just visiting for the wine. Exactly.

So what's the process like? I mean, on that, so obviously, you're very proactive current clients. What's the process like when you've got someone new that's kind of walking in and saying, OK, I'm starting my own business and I need something, or that open enrollment period's coming and I need some help. What's kind of like the walkthrough for someone who's watching says, all right, I may want to give

Margaret and Angela a call. What can I expect? Yeah, so they can reach out to us. We have a great team of schedulers that will schedule an appointment. We're able to do phone calls. We can do Zooms. We can do in-person and we have the intake form that they would fill out, get that appointment scheduled, have that consultation with us. And then, you know, with Medicare, we're able to help clients, you know, do they need to take Medicare or are they going to delay it? We help make those decisions with them, you know, tell them about their enrollment periods. You know, obviously, when you're 65, that's three months before your 65th birthday,

the month of, and three months after. But if you've delayed Medicare, you're gonna start applying like 90 days prior to your effective date that you want. So we help with that. We cannot enroll people into Medicare, but we can assist them and give them that guidance for sure. And then we talk about the options that they have,

you know, in regards to Medicare. You know, and some of these options are zip code specific like your drug plan or your Medicare Advantage plan. So we are able to see which options the best fit for them. And then we do that annual review with them every year. And because we're attached to them when we help them enroll into their Medicare plans, we can help answer their questions during the year. We help them out if there's a problem. We're really there for the pre-enrollment support, enrollment support when they actually narrow down on a plan and then also the post-enrollment. So it's not like, okay we signed you up, bye, no, we're there. This is why she has 300 Google reviews.

She also shows up at your doorstep and says, sign here, I need your Google review, just type your name here. No, I'm just joking. Angela is wonderful. And I, you know, to recap what she's mentioning is we have a conversation with your clients first or, you know, anyone who comes across Steinleggie, just pick up the phone and call us and we're going to do a needs analysis. Tell us your story, tell us your circumstances, let's find out more about your unique situation and then

we can dole out the advice and kind of board and go from there. But the simplest way to get a hold of us is just call us, you know, or send us an email, which like you all, we're pretty available online. You Google Steinluggy or health insurance brokers. We're not as sassy as you all with the podcast. Yeah, but I heard you had some, you told us before the show you had some podcasts. Yeah, yeah. Well, this is my third podcast, Angela's second, but we do a lot of education webinars. We're up at the center at Belvedere.

We're there two times a month doing education and we really are neutral with what we are explaining to the individual who's approaching their 65th birthday. We give, you know, the total picture. What is a supplement? Also, what is an advantage plan? What are the pros and cons to each decision? Because what a lot of people lose in the education is what's the long-term consequence to my initial decision when I move into a product? Am I locked out of an alternative pathway? What if I get super sick? How will health and question, health and underwriting questions, health questions come into play?

So we're up at the center and I think we're at like our 300th, I'm pulling that out of a hat, but somewhere around there, webinar that we've done with other advisors. So I am really excited. We're going over to Austin for XYPN Association, their big monster conference for all of their advisors. We're heading out to California for education to financial FPAs. And then we also are doing a big conference in October up in New Jersey.

So we're kind of getting a national recognition and it's cool to see that growth and also stay local here in Charlottesville and Angela kind of runs point on all of our local conversations, which again is probably why she won best agent. She's my rock star. Well, I'll be leaving here and going to the center actually today for a seminar. I have one today. So it's always the first Thursday of every month at the center and then the third Wednesday night of every month too. So I give those talks. Which is really key. It's just so nice to have people out there teaching the basics because we'll still get sometimes, you know, like, okay, yeah Medicare is free, right? And it's like, hmm. Yeah. You did it right. Okay, let's just abuse a couple of them. Wait until you hear about Aunt Irma in that high income slap in the face.

Well, you know, I know we were talking about this offline, but we do have Manny, who is also an amazing broker here at Steinleggy, but he is fully fluent in Spanish. He's from El Salvador. He's been with me for five years. He's amazing. I can't say enough great things about Manny. But if there's ever a need, you know, Medicare's confusing, but to learn it in an alternative language, you know, it can be.

And Manny always says, he's like, you know, there's some terms in Medicare that don't have a... Spanish, not just Spanish. Yeah. And he's like, it's the there's some terms in Medicare that don't have a... Spanish, I just meant... Yeah, and he's like, it's the webinar, the education for Spanish speaking. Instead of like 45 minutes, it's an hour and a half because he blends and has to go back and forth. So it's been cool to see his perspective on that bilingual content. But he is available, Zoom, phone calls. We try to get him... He's up in Arlington, but he is available zoom phone calls

We try to get him he's up in Arlington, but we try to get him down once a month And then education is just so important We tell our clients that are becoming eligible for Medicare that they should start the process, you know 12 to 18 months ahead of time. Yeah, so that they're starting to get educated I mean that was what my life previous life used to be I used to be a teacher and I feel like I'm just teaching In a different way. So much of financial industry is education. It's teaching people in addition to helping them finally make a selection. Marilyn Haley is tuning in, watching the show this morning.

Thanks so much, Marilyn. I always appreciate everyone tuning in. So you mentioned obviously you've got open enrollments coming up in October, November. You've got people obviously any time of the year, you could be eligible for Medicaid or Medicare I should say. What are some changes or big upcoming things, anything people should be aware of or things you're talking about with your current and prospective clients? I'll jump in with the ACA changes. I'll let you run with that cap on the drug.

But I would say one of the biggest things we're looking at is what's going to happen to the ACA Obamacare program. And right now, all of the ACA extensions and extension to the subsidy access is set to expire at the end of the year. So anybody who in the last four years received subsidy, maybe they were on like the fritz of, hey, I may get it or I may not, and they actually found out that, hey, I get pretty cheap insurance through Obamacare, through the ACA.

This upcoming year, that may go away, and it's set, the subsidies and the extension are set to expire. So that's something we're watching because we may see a large fall-off on ACA enrollments. You know we had a couple million extra enrollments on Obamacare over the last few years and this massive growth because of the subsidy extension and now if these go away, you know, somebody who's paying $5 or $50 a month for a family plan through the Virginia marketplace, next year that could be $500 or $600 a month, and you may see people drop coverage because, hey, I can't afford this anymore.

So we're watching that. And then also within this big, beautiful bill that Trump has passed is pushing through or trying to get approved, there is a HSA extension where, hey, right now if somebody is turning 65, they're on a large group plan and they sign up for any portion of Medicare, they can't contribute into an HSA and have any part of Medicare, even the free part A. So this big, beautiful bill that Trump's proposed is allowing somebody to maintain large group coverage beyond 65 and enroll in part A and max out their HSA.

Which is, yeah, that would be- With that free Part A benefit. So we see clients fumble through that right now because it's really finicky. Nobody's telling you that. You're listening to your HR leader who is not an insurance broker or a financial advisor. They're kind of just, hey, I think this is right, but verify this with a broker. So we're seeing a lot of people fumble through that HSA and Part A enrollment right now. And I do think there's value in this big, beautiful bill with the HSA component. If we're just looking at that HSA amount, that's amazing.

And then the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed in 2022. Angela, you want to tell them a little bit about what changes happened this year? And then the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed in 2022. Angela, you want to tell them a little bit about what changes happened this year? So because of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2025, they have capped medication costs at $2,000. And of course they have to be medications that are approved and covered by Medicare to have that cap. But yeah, so if you have a bunch of medications

and you reach this $2,000 limit, your medication costs are zero after that. Ozempic. Yeah, you're getting a medical diagnosis for Ozempic. Independent of your out-of-pocket maximums. Correct. If somebody goes, this again, we're kind of isolating the conversation

to somebody who's on Medicare who's 65 and older right yeah this doesn't pertain to ACA and they are on a ton of meds or really expensive expensive inhalers or diabetic you know the fancy meds those Zempik and semi-glutide so if you're on those medications you're in the past without this law, you would have paid six, seven, eight grand for those medications under Medicare, either Medicare Advantage or standalone Part D. And now because of this $2,000 cap, no matter what drug plan you select, whether it's baked in, built into that zero premium Medicare Advantage HMO or PPO plan or the standalone Part D plan

with a supplement, you're seeing that $2,000 cap come into play. And as you're referencing, Alex, it's a $2,000 drug cap. And then if you're on that zero premium Medicare Advantage plan, that has a separate medical out-of-pocket maximum. So again, through the education, that zero premium Medicare Advantage plan looks really attractive, but a downside is, hey, you could have a four, five, $9,300 medical max exposure if you get hit by the bus, God forbid.

And then if you're on five or six medications and oral chemo med, you have two grand of exposure. That's $11,000 in out-of-pocket costs where you could avoid that with $130 supplement policy. So, balancing somebody's financial situation, what they can afford, what they can't, and also providing that long-term just pros and cons to the initial decision is where Angela is fantastic. She's very passionate as we all are about what we do. We get our clients' medicines, the name, the dosage, all that, and we're able to tell

our clients, hey, maybe you're going to hit that cap in June or maybe later in the year or maybe at the first of the year or go check out Mark Cuban cost plus drugs or good RX and you will pay $13 for your medication that runs 500 under Medicare or your group plan or your ACA plan you know these alternatives like good RX or mark Cuban I feel like I should get royalties from Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban, if you're listening, you owe me. You've mentioned twice already. I mention your name five times a day, every day.

So I'm here. You can find me in Charlottesville. But these alternative options that fall totally outside of the Medicare or ACA or group plans are really great ways to keep and contain your medication costs. Like if you guys are on medications or you have friends who are on medications, let them know that GoodRx and Mark Cuban, it's an online site, Cost Plus Drugs, you can type in your meds. It will be not always, but many times you

will see 80% savings compared to what it costs through the Medicare or ACA program or your group plan. It is wild. My husband had, he got bit by a tick like two years ago, so I went to CVS and I was like, hey, I need to fill this 10-day antibiotic little Z-Pak for him. And I had Anthem, it was before we had a group plan for all of my employees at Steinlaki, but I had an Anthem ACA off-exchange plan and we went to CVS, I tried to fill it and

they were like, oh, that's going to be $125 for a 10-day Z-Pak. I'm like, what? Hold on. They made me come inside. I was like, hey, can you run this antibiotic through GoodRx? What's the price? And they came back and they're like, oh, that's going to be $5. Right there.

Just asking a simple question. I mean, the pharmacist was pretty ticked off because they had to go a little extra further, do a little extra work. But they gave me the good RX rate. I didn't have to show a coupon. Just knowing those little pro tips, it can save tremendous... That's once a month now. You're filling a monthly med. This was a one-off experience for me.

Not only are we mentioning just like, hey, this is how you go through Medicare and ACA, but we're giving these little tips throughout the year. And I will say anyone who's going on Medicare, if you're listening and you have not seen your doctor in the last two, three, four years, many doctors are kind of saying hey, we're not taking new Medicare patients. So if you're a current patient of us and you move into Medicare, we'll take you. And I see this more in Northern Virginia than here in Charlotte, so, but many doctors are saying, hey, if you haven't come in and

like seen me in two or three years, you're now labeled a new patient when you walk in with your Medicare card, regardless if it's a Medicare and supplement or a Medicare Advantage package, they're going to say, hey, we can't see you. So doctors are getting pinched by the Medicare reimbursement rates, the Medicare Advantage negotiated rates. Like everybody's trying to do their best here, but if you go and set that relationship up, I say you, like you guys are 65, if you go set that relationship up and just rekindle the relationship with your primary care doctor, you could avoid losing out on, you know, their treatment.

It's almost like treat, if you, okay, because I know sometimes people are like, okay, yeah, I feel healthy, I don't need to do the once a year checkup, but it's almost like treat the once a year checkup not as, all right, even if you don't think you need it for health purposes, do it as a financial incentive. So growing once a year helps you maintain a relationship that you can then move into when you may actually need to go one day. People shouldn't be navigating this process by themselves. That's when we get the phone calls when people have already done stuff and it's like, we'll

be able to maybe help you during the enrollment period or something, but that's when we get the phone calls when people have already done stuff and it's like, you know, we'll be able to maybe help you during the enrollment period or something. But that's when people should, from the get-go, should talk to us from whenever you have, you know, if you have a situation where you can get a plan under 65 during the year, if you lost your job. Does it cost anything for our services? It doesn't cost anything. Is the premium more expensive? No.

We give you the same rate that you can see on a website. So it's like you shouldn't navigate this process by yourself because you don't want to do something that's not in your best interest. We're here, like Margot said, we know those little quirks that maybe you don't know about about your medicines and stuff that just makes us stand out above others. And when it comes to if you have high premiums for Medicare for your B because you have high income, we can help you with your Irma. If you don't know what Irma is, it's income‑related monthly adjusted amount.

These are the things that set us apart from other brokers. For sure. This has been such a pleasure. Always love to end it with a comment. Mary Lynn Haney says these gals are the best. Before we let you both go, where can people find you? So we are here in Charlottesville. We have an office space in the North Fork research part near the airport.

That's where our office is located. And then like I said, we can do phone calls and we can do Zooms as well. Sometimes hot yoga Charlottesville at the noon class. Like I run at the Y. If I'm ever aimlessly walking down the street, I've had too little of sleep and I've completely lost it. So turn the end. Well, it's been a pleasure to have you.

Thanks so much for coming. Always appreciate it. Have a good one. Thank you so much. So as we rotate out here. That was fantastic to hear. Margot and Angela kind of just start going in. You could see where they talk about the teaching,

how they do their webinars. And you know, like at the center and stuff like that. Because suddenly it's like, I felt like I was getting a whole education, right? Exactly, no you really do. I was sitting there, I was like, I was like the speeches, I was like, oh my gosh, I called this new stuff you're learning, I

have no idea. Exactly. Which you know, everything is siloed, right? In other words, when there's congressional bills and things like that, all the financial advisors get all the emails like, hey, this is what's going to happen to Roth IRAs, this is what's going to happen to simple IRAs. All the health insurance people are getting, this is what's going to happen to this, this is what's going to happen to Medicare, right?

But if you're not in that silo, and you're just an average person, you're like, I'm not getting all these, I'm not getting 30 emails saying what's gonna happen in this new bill. And if you try to look it up online, you're gonna be lost in two seconds, right? So it's great to have that kind of experience. I agree.

And speaking of experience too, in which I know this has been a great journey. We're really glad to have him on. We're joined now on the show by Weston Wirt. He is the founder of BreezeMond Builders. Weston, thanks so much for coming on. Thank you guys for having me. It's ‑‑ we've been trying to get him on. He's been too popular, though. We couldn't have him on the show. We've been looking forward to it for a while and we're glad we're able to have you on.

But the funny thing is, we know you well. But for the audience that hasn't met you yet, maybe a little bit about your journey to start BreezeMond Builders. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so I always had a passion for trade work. Since I was in high school, I would do summer jobs. I've worked for a contractor in Roanoke and that's kind of where I started and just really enjoyed it. And so after high school, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted

to do still and ended up getting an electrical job in Buckingham County and spent some time down there, really learned electrical work and that was in 2015. So it's been about ten years of electrical experience. But yeah, so did work for an electrician here in town for a long time. Had a good experience there, but just knew I wanted to start my own thing. And I felt like, yeah, there was just more room for me to grow by starting my own thing. So. What was it like taking that plunge?

Yes. Actually, because I know it's actually a lot of work and it's, there's steps involved. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I would say taking the plunge was a wild experience. We officially started BreezeMond Builders in 2024 at the beginning. Me and my wife and shout out to my wife because she really helped me and gives me lots of good advice. So I turned to her every day and I'm like what do you think about this estimate? What do you think about this? What do you think

about this business idea? So sometimes I think I overload her with ideas. But it's not how it's amazing how many times right we've got the entrepreneur and said husband and wife team and it I would say nine times out of 10 the accounting numbers thing is the wife doing it. The guys that I do the stuff, but my wife is the one that does all the numbers. Yes, yeah. I think Kristen, so we just had our first kid

about a year and a half ago, and we're trying to grow our family, but I think she would definitely be better at the numbers if she was doing it, but right now I'm the numbers guy too. You're the numbers guy. And so I have to keep up with the QuickBooks accounting and everything. She's there to make sure that your numbers are right. What do you think about this?

Does this sound right? Yes, yep. Yeah. So taking the plunge though, yeah, there's a lot to do with having your own business and just getting all the licenses is difficult. I really think the licensing process here in Virginia could be improved upon as far as education and everything. It's a little complicated, but I figured it out, talked with the department, the board

of contractors and took a bunch of tests and here we are. So, yeah. It's amazing. And what's the story behind the name BreezeMob? took a bunch of tests and here we are. And what's the story behind the name? Breezemont. Yeah, so the story behind the name and logo is it's actually our home. So Breezemont Drive is the road we live on. So we like to refer to our home place as Breezemont.

And I think for me it's just a reminder that my work is for my home. You know, it's for my wife, my son, and just keeping that goal in mind of like, hey, this is what it's for. And just like a local scenic beautiful place. One side full circle is you're doing it for your home, but where you're working is other people's homes. Like you're helping them also build a home and improve their home. Absolutely.

Yeah, definitely. And that's exactly what we want to do is really help our clients enjoy their home. Our little motto or tagline is space, order, beauty. And so we're trying to create a beautiful space for our clients, bring order where, hey, something broke, the dog ripped into something, garage door got run into or something. So we're trying to help our clients just make their home a beautiful place. You got the comments, Tom already. Brighton says he gets the job done. A new relation? Lily says BreezeMont builders installed my

AC unit. Hashtag faves. So you're one of her favorites. So what are some of the things that you can do for your clients. Yeah totally. So yeah so BreezeMont Builders we actually don't build homes at this point. From scratch yeah. Technically we're licensed to we could do that. I would have to work with a lot of subcontractors but we hope to do that in the future and you know we'll see when that comes along. But our focus right now is really handyman repairs. So we do small repairs, you know, maybe it's a half day or a full day. You know, so any kind of carpentry repairs. We do some light electrical, light plumbing work.

But we try to keep that to a minimum right now since we're not really licensed in those areas. But yeah, we really focus on just like, hey, do you need a picture hung? Do you need your deck boards repaired? Just trying to keep it small, simple, one to two days max as far as repair time. So it's those kind of projects where you're like, I'm not going to call a major contracting company to put this door in, to do this, but I kinda don't, I don't wanna do it myself,

or I don't know how to do it myself, and it's worth it to get someone who really knows what they're doing. And I think the electrical license is kinda key there, because it's a, yeah, you're not going in and doing a whole refit of the electrical stuff, but a lot of times when you're doing a basic job, you try to DIY it,

you're going to run into something electrical and the last thing you want to do is just is mess that up. Yes, totally. Yeah, yeah. So I have lots of electrical experience. So I currently have my journeyman electrical license and then next year we'll be launching Breezeman Electric officially in March of 2026 and then we'll offer full electrical services. So yeah. So then we'll have to have him back on the show. Yeah, we'll have to have him back. How'd you stop Breeze Mont Electrical?

Yes. So what are the most common needs that you kind of help people? Is that how you're going to be, question Alex? Oh yeah, I was going to ask you that. Yeah, like what are the most common needs that you kind of help people with lately? Yeah, totally. Yeah, I would say, yeah, like what are the most common needs that like you kind of help people with lately? Yeah, totally. Yeah, I would say, yeah, most common things, we've done a lot of door installs, like storm

doors or screen doors or just, you know, new front door, you know, so those kind of things we do like a lot of small like replacing an outlet or a switch, putting a dimmer, maybe hanging a light that already has an existing box or whatever. So yeah, I would say some of those things, you know. Yeah, we, yeah. Some outdoor deck. Carpentry stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Deck boards. Because I imagine summer comes, you know, decks and probably screen doors are probably going to be a big need that people want to start looking at.

So when you're installing a screen door, how does that challenge? Because I'm just kind of thinking, if someone already has a door, they haven't really prepared for a screen door, how do you put that in? Do you have to change anything around the door? Yeah, sometimes we have to add a little bit more wood or cut some wood away and then install the screen door. So usually there's a little modification and I would say that's kind of where we specialize in just those, you know, a lot of these things I feel like a homeowner could install it,

but it helps to have just a little know how and finesse and I would say that's kind of our niche is just being able to get them a good product that's gonna last, and yeah. And being good for them. Yeah, that's the difference, I think, because sometimes when you do a project yourself but without the know-how, right? You're gonna end up with something, right,

that, okay, is it mildly functional? Yes, but you're gonna be able to tell, I stuck this thing in because it doesn't quite fit right. Think about a screen door. If you don't add the wood you need to or shave and make the space, and they'll be like, well, this thing's kind of sticking out a little bit.

Well, and the problem too, like Weston says, when you have someone who knows what they're doing, I know doors. You could suddenly put an extra door, and now maybe not suddenly you're starting to pull the wood, because because now you have too much weight on on something so it's yes. We've seen it firsthand You know so you did it's that extra level of expertise that's the difference between Alright, the door opens and closes versus this door looks like it was always here totally yeah Yeah, and it's and it's part of the you know making... because you also, I mean, we've seen some of your

handiwork, you also have that kind of finesse where, in other words, it's not just going to work. You do woodworking even... we've seen some of your woodworking for decorative purposes. And so it's going to look good as well, which is I think a key element. He remodeled his entire kitchen, it looked like a designer kitchen. It was pretty impressive. I thought I was walking through a food network set or something. It was very, it was excellent. Which is a key element of why you call someone, like Bridgemont Builders, because you want

that extra level of, especially because I see a lot of it, I don't know if you've had this experience where people call you for this, a lot of people even just to add value to your house. We've seen where people are like, all right, I have this room that it has a bathroom, it has a closet, if it only had a door, my house goes from like a three bedroom house to a four bedroom house. Do I need the door? No, but I want it to look good because I want to increase the value of my house. I don't know if you've run into that.

Hey, Weston, if you come do this, my house is a little more valuable. Yeah. I mean, maybe not totally. The primary motivator? Yeah. But yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we're absolutely adding value to people's homes.

That's actually a good point, especially considering that you're starting to enter a little bit of a, summer's usually a big time for buying houses and selling houses. Exactly. That's actually kind of an interesting point you made, Alex. I never thought about that one.

Well, it's why you would call someone with this kind of expertise. Because if you're like, I don't care what it looks like, if I have an ugly screen door, I have an ugly screen door. You might be tempted to just DIY. But if you're like, I want to add a door here. And if I do this, my house becomes more valuable. Then you want the door so that when you eventually

sell your house, the realtor is like, this is a four-bedroom house. Not like, that door is hideous. You can't sell this house like that, right? So it's making it look good, it's taking that extra step, it's making sure that you didn't accidentally mess up the electrical box. I tell you, I put a dimmer in,

and now there's like a fire hazard, because I didn't actually connect everything correctly. So then the home inspector comes and says, well, that doesn't work, that's not gonna fly. That's a big thing you just mentioned, the home inspector. Because if you don't get a professional to do it, you never know what the home inspector does. You don't find.

Yeah, since that's, oh, well, this door is on terrible. Yeah. And if you're calling someone last minute, it's going to cost you an arm and a leg. It's like, yeah, I'm selling my house. And the home inspector says, you need to fix this. So well, that's what it costs to fix this. What's it been like? Because because obviously one of the two things, when you own your own business,

you've got the stuff you actually do. Right. Right. And then you've got like all the other stuff. What's that been like being an entrepreneur as well as moving from just the work itself? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, moving from just the work itself. Yeah, we really tried to focus on creating a good

website and a place where people can find us. And I would say, yeah, being an entrepreneur, trying to create a good brand marketing, it's a whole different ball game that I had not really thought about. But I really do enjoy it a lot of times. And I would say that's something we're trying to make better for our clients is just make ease of scheduling. You can actually book online on our website. So, yeah, we're trying to make it easy and really, you know, we try to communicate well

with our clients. A lot of contractors, you know, they get a call from a client, it's never returned. Our hope is that we're always reaching back out to you. And if we can't do the work, then we can help you find somebody who can. And so, yeah, I have a lot of other subcontractors and people I know.

And so we really try to build a relationship with our clients. And I would say I have multiple returning clients that have been with me for five plus years or whatever. So even before we started Resmon Builders. Exactly, yeah, that's T, is the customer service. Yeah, sometimes I think contracting can get a bad rap. Yes, absolutely. Because You'll always hear, I'll just never return my call, this didn't do that.

So I would imagine, yeah, you guys definitely have to put a lot of work to make sure you have that reputation. Yes, yeah, definitely concerned, yeah, and we want to help our clients with whatever they need. And we love returning clients. So I would say that that's what keeps us going. Yeah. And the nice thing too about what Weston is doing is that I also feel like sometimes the people you talk to and your communication with and then the people come to kind of like do the repairs and stuff like that is not necessarily the same person.

So you're not really build a connection with you are the guy. Yes. You know, you're going to talk to Weston, he's going to come fix it. It's nice to have that personal connection you know who's actually coming to install the door or fix your deck. So that's always nice. Yeah, it's that kind of, it's the boutique thing, right? That you know that the handful of guys you might communicate with, mostly you, right? Is also the guy who's like, you've seen it, you know how it works, you know how to fix it, you're not going to go home and send some random guy

that you've only met twice in your life. Yeah, I met this guy once and now he's going to show up. It's a different experience. Yeah, totally, absolutely. Doing that part, yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense. Any advice for people that are like, okay, I'm thinking of starting, I've been doing something for years, I'm thinking of starting my own business. Because I know you put a lot of thought, having known you, I know you put a lot of thought

that you have talked about this for several years before you actually went through. So any advice for people who are kind of thinking about starting their own business? Yeah, absolutely. I would say definitely take the time to plan it. Definitely find that person you can bounce ideas off of. For me it was easy to have that person already in my home. But yeah, have that person you can bounce ideas off of. And yeah, I would say do the hard work.

Figure out what you need to do. There's a lot to think about as far as licensing and know how. I would say rely on other people in your field. I talked to a lot of other contractors and I was like, hey, how do you get licensed? How does this work? What is this process like? I would say in any field always look to those people who are one step ahead of you and ask them for advice. And hopefully they'll be able to help. Yeah, I think sometimes people are afraid, which I think is not actually the case. But I think there's a fear that all the other people already

in the field are going to look at you like, I don't want to help this guy because he could become a potential competitor. I think in most fields, a lot of people don't want to help this guy because he could become a potential competitor. But I think in most fields, like a lot of people don't actually operate that way. Like you fear that they're going to do that, but most people are like, no, there's plenty of business. I'm not going to. I am going to tell you how this works, how

to become a good contractor like me, good subcontractor like me. I'm not going to gonna treat you badly. Totally, yeah. And I would say here in Charlottesville, I've just found a number of contractors who were just extremely helpful and I think there's so much work right now, especially in Charlottesville,

because it's such a growing area that I think most contractors aren't worried about competition and they're just excited to see other contractors in the field. Exactly, especially just someone that I could call on that if I need something put in, it's like, yeah, I don't have to be like, there's nobody else, I'm the only guy. Totally, yeah. And I would say a number of my jobs come from other contractors because they're like, hey,

we can't do this or this is too small for us and this would fit you. So, you know, that's great when we can help each other out. Yeah, it's a great niche to be in. What's kind of the process like? So you mentioned people booking through the website. What could you walk us through? Okay, someone thinks they may have a job for you.

Like, okay, I need this fixed. I'm going to go to BreezeMobbuilders. Yeah. What's time of, how does it work, the step-by-step? Yeah, totally. Yeah, so I would say most people contact us through text. Okay. And then calls and then using the booking platform.

So texting or calling is great. We, so what we try to do is have the client send us pictures of the work. So if it's a door, light fixture, whatever it is, they'll send us a picture, a little description and then we try to give an estimate beforehand. So that way they're getting a price, they know what it is and they can decide to use this or not. Because we generally try to avoid going out to the job too much just to save time, save time for our client too.

And most of the time we take out too. Yeah, they don't have to stay home a day just for you to come and look to give them an estimate. You're trying to give them an estimate quickly. Yes, totally. Yeah, so that's kind of how we do it. And then if they agree to the estimate, then we'll go out. And maybe the estimate would change a little bit if we see something that might be a little off, or maybe it'll be

a little cheaper, just depending. And so we go out to the job, we execute on the work, and then they pay us afterwards. And then we're done. So it's pretty simple. Pretty simple. So you can do estimate by just text or phone? Yes.

Text a picture and so forth. So best ways to contact anyone works? Like text, phone? Yeah, text is great. You can call us and email through our website too, has all our information. It's got our phone number, email, Facebook page. So, yeah. Awesome.

And what's the website? Yeah, so the website is Breezmont-builders.com. Breezmont-builders.com. And you guys are on, I think you are on Facebook, right, too? Yes, we're on Facebook. Which we'll link there. So if you're watching us on Facebook, I just did it, you type in Breezemont Builders, you don't need the dash on Facebook, it will take you to the right place.

And then you can click the little link that has Breezemont-builders.com, which is awesome. And phone number? Yeah, phone number is 434-218-0526. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah, so that's the way-0526. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

So that's the way to do it. Yes. That's the way to do it. Well, man, this has been really awesome. Pleasure to have you on. Yeah. Great to hear. And we've seen your handiwork.

We've seen the beautiful wood awning that you made for your own wedding. Yes. I'm sure, I believe, has graced other weddings in Charlottesville, which is saying a lot, given the Charlottesville wedding communities, which graced other ones. You've got already the comments coming in of all the great jobs that you've done. Especially, it's good for people to know

that there's someone like you out there. Your choices are not YouTube video, how do I do this? And major contractor who's like, yeah, I mean, I'm not sure this job is big enough for me, right? You have that great niche to be like, I need this done, I need it done beautifully. Tonight, tonight I send you a picture and get an estimate. Which is a great process.

Yeah. That's awesome. It has been a pleasure to have you on, Weston. So glad we'll have you back on in a year for the electrical part. And then we'll have you back on in five years when you're building custom homes. That's always awesome. So be sure to check out Breezmont Builders. It is Breezmont-builders.com.

All righty. This has been a great show. Great show. One little plug in, because I know it's coming up soon, so in two weeks, Charlton Opera's got Carmen. Yes. Carmen, you just went to their festival. I went to the festival on Sunday.

It was fantastic. Yeah. You know, they had all the kidsy activities. I was tempted to get my face painted, but I resisted. You listened to the concert instead. But I did listen to the concert. And yeah, some of the clips that they had, some of the songs from Carmen, obviously they

had the famous one. I will never know the name, but if you know Carmen, you know the song. Yeah. It was fantastic. I can't imagine seeing it on the stage of Paramount. Yeah, that'll be special. And then they also, one of the last finales,

they did one of Les Mis, which was really, really good. You said it was really good, yeah. I was sad to miss it. Yeah, I mean, like Michael Sloan was there, he was conducting, they had a whole chorus, and then they had all these singers. Oh, man. That's pretty awesome.

They had the little orchestra there, yeah, it was really, it was really good. Awesome. You know, so it was kind of like a little preview show. And that's coming up soon, that is on... I think June 20th? I think June 20th. Let me double check it here. 20th, 21st, 22nd.

Because you can go to scharzfeldopera.org. Yep. So, yes indeed. I mean, if you're interested in Pirates of Penzance, if you want to do an operetta, maybe bring in someone for the first time, that is July 11th, 12th, 13th. Carmen is June 20th, June 21st, June 22nd. That one is coming up first. So do not waste any time on that. Charlottesvilleopera.org. You go to, the tickets will be when you purchase them. It will take you to the paramount.net to purchase, but you can, the links are there.

If you go to Charlottesvilleopera.org, season, hit tarmin slash pirates, and you collect any of those dates, it'll take you straight there. So be sure to check that out. That's coming right up. I wouldn't miss it. Yes.

It's going to be pretty neat. So be sure to check that out. Showarchvilleopera.org. A little shout out to our friends at Sombreros, new location. Really? I know they've been on the show before. They are now still York Place, but in the old grit coffee on the mall. So if you want great breakfast, you know, all your good, you know, Mexican breakfast burritos,

breakfast, breakfast food, great breakfast, great coffee, then it's, you don't have to go to the other side right there off the downtown of all York Place. That's great to hear. Old grit coffee location is now Sombrero. So be sure to check that out. Say hi to the Tracy Abernardo for us. So that's always, always love talking about them. So this has been a great show. Yeah, I was happy to have beyond with the Alex. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who commented today. Oh, love all our great viewers. Be sure to send us any other awesome entrepreneurs to have on the show. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple weeks. We're going to have our monthly meetup with Matias. It's coming right up, so do not want to miss that. Love all our

fantastic partners, Charlotte Philopera, Matias Yonrealty, Emerging Financial Services. Thank you all of us for joining us. Thanks to the I Love C-FIL set, Judah Wittcar behind the camera making us all look good. Thanks for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks, but until that time, as we like to close it out on the show, hasta mañana. Thanks for watching!