Ryan Groen and Nick

Speaker 1 0:20

Hey everybody, Ryan Groen here, founder and chairman of Paradigm. Thank you for watching the Paradigm Shift, which is sponsored by 10 Day Doors. They made this amazing 2000 pound table for me recently and today I'm honored to bring on my electrician and I don't think a lot of people that are operators or developers like me that want to highlight their subs and a lot of the guys that are actually doing the work and that's really my goal and I really want to show you guys the relationship in which Nick and I built. He is my electrician, he owns was it.

Speaker 2 0:47

London Bridge Electric Yep.

Speaker 1 0:55

And the backstory is I call this guy when I was having problems with my phase one and my GC. I had originally and I call him were you in Hawaii?

Speaker 2 0:58

I was in the Bahamas on the beach. Yeah, something like that I had one of my contractors call me and says, answer the phone in 10 minutes. And I'm like, okay, you know. And then he goes and 10 minutes. I look at my watch, it was like 1105 and like 1115 on the dot. My phone rings, you know, and then there you are.

Speaker 1 1:16

And I'm like hey, buddy, I'm said, you're referred to me by my call, jose Moran. Jose's a builder here and I say, jose, I need a good electrician. And he goes, I got somebody for you. So he gives me Nick's number. I'm in Hawaii and I'm at the airport, I got my whole family with me and I'm getting I'm supposed to be on vacation. I'm getting nightmare calls from everybody and Dennis is calling me. Hey, man, we're having a problem. And I said look, I'm going to call, I'll poke around. And then Dennis was too, and so I called Nick and I said hey, buddy, I need you to walk on water. Can you do it for me? He's like, I'll be there tomorrow and I'll give you a vid. So you came and you were there, I think, the next day, and I hadn't met you yet.

Speaker 2 1:48

I flew back Wednesday night. I met you Thursday morning at 8.30 in the morning, walked through the other guy was on the other side. You guys came in. I said I'll showed up, had material dropped and you guys showed up. I believe it was like nine o'clock in the morning. We had nine units complete done in four hours and by the end of the day we had 20 units out of the 25 done in a day. Yeah, yeah, you know, and it's like, but that's what we've always like. I built my company on. Is you know like? But I'll get out there myself, just like you. You I'll get out there and I'll get it, get it done you know done.

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah, so but.

Speaker 1 2:26

I love it. Well, dude, you know it was so nice to be able to see that you put your nail bags on, you know? I mean, you're a guy who is hands-on and actually delivers it. I think that's so yeah, there's nothing better, man, it really is, and so you know to add let's talk.

Speaker 2 2:49

I used to be in fiber and we used to travel around the-.

Speaker 2 2:52

Dennis told me that yesterday I didn't know that I got my start in there because when I lived I grew up in California, in Simi Valley I wanted to be an electrician from young, so I tried out there. No one would give me a shot. Nobody gave me a shot, they would not. Yeah, we don't want to hire anybody that doesn't know anything. Okay, fine. So I looked for a different avenue. So I started with a fiber optic company, work for them, did all like camp pendleton, coronado oh wow, you're down there so we did a bunch down there and then we were up in fort white, chuca out there, sierra vista, out there.

Speaker 2 3:22

I come out. I had some really good friends move here, so instead of going back to california I would come here hang out. I met my wife here, so I not shocked at all.

Speaker 1 3:32

No bathing suit and girls in the pool got it.

Speaker 2 3:34

Yeah, yeah, it's super insane, but yeah, I ended up meeting my wife here and so I just like kind of was like well, this place looks kind of cool, it's different, you know, from southern california. So I ended up coming here and I applied for a guy that was doing like the Kings.

Speaker 1 3:47

So you moved here.

Speaker 2 3:47

for love, I moved here for my wife.

Speaker 1 3:49

You moved here for your wife, that's right.

Speaker 2 3:50

I chased my wife, yeah, yeah, yeah, I chased my wife here, so I was like okay, I ended up getting a job with some guy and out here get my foot in the door and then I worked, worked for another company. I ran his shop for about five years. In 2008, the economy hit. It hit us pretty bad down here. So I worked for him for a while, ran his shop for him, got a bunch of knowledge from there, but at most all my knowledge is hands-on, yeah. And then I started reading books and get more into it and right on. So I did that in about 2008 is when you know everything went. And then so he I was the highest paid guy, so obviously I got let go, you know.

Speaker 2 4:32

So I was kind of like I just bought a house, just had my first kid. I was like what do I do?

Speaker 1 4:37

You know so. So your, your, your first, your kid, your child, boy, girl, girl, she's 16 then yeah, my son's age, yeah.

Speaker 2 4:43

My son's age too. So I have I had that. So I'm like, what do I do? So I opened up a handyman business just to kind of get something going. I ran into my buddy that used to own Lenderbridge Electric. He started it in 2007. I said hey, I got a lot of builders that still want me to wire their houses. Do you want to work something out? He's like dude, absolutely, absolutely. So we partnered up on that aspect of it and I started doing residential like new construction and remodels and stuff, whatever it took. I mean, I worked seven days a week, 16 hours a day. I've got a great wife. She held in there. You know most women they'll cave and take off, you know and she stuck with me to now. And so we worked our way up through there.

Speaker 2 5:21

Did you end up buying Lennon Bridge Electric? I bought it out in 2010 because we finished, he was done. He just was tired of it. So we did College Street Brewhouse. We did that project. So he was the commercial aspect of it. I was the residential side, got it. So we got, but he just wanted out. So when we finished College Street Brewhouse together, we parted our ways. I took over the company in 2010, I gave and then about a year later he started another company. So I was like okay, so I gave him all his customers back. Wow, I don't want any of your customers because I, you know people are funny. I don't. I don't want people saying I gave you that, yeah, that's just so. I ended up taking that and I started from the ground up and I took that and I took that. I mean, I took the name and I rolled with it from there, you owned it, and every year, my goal is to do better than I did the year before.

Speaker 2 6:10

Sure, and every year I do that. Yeah, and it's very humbling, yeah, you know at times.

Speaker 2 6:16

But Growing pains, yeah, and then you know, like, so that's basically where I came from, came from, and then 2010. So I've been running it on my own and everything since 2010. So 14 years I've been solid, strong. I built a really, really good name. I mean people can call me my customers, you, anybody that I deal with can call me Friday, saturday, sunday, monday, wherever, if I'm on vacation or whatever. I answer the phone, you know we're there, I have you know I've grown to 14 employees. You know part of it's helped to you guys for giving you know, putting your trust in us and coming out here.

Speaker 1 6:48

So now I'm hiring I remember the first conversation we had. He said if you want to give me more business, I'll go get more people, and you get good quality people too.

Speaker 2 6:55

And I'm not. You know and I'm not afraid to grow, you know that's. The problem too here with other contractors is they're afraid to grow, they're stuck in.

Speaker 1 7:04

You know flip phone era, you know like it you know, right before we started this, you're looking into software.

Speaker 2 7:10

Yeah, so it's, it's. It's crazy that you know. That's why it's never. If you're not growing, you're just stagnant. You know, and you got to grow, or you're just YB, just there, you know.

Building Loyalty Through Transparency in Construction

Speaker 1 7:22

What has Paradigm done for you? Since we've engaged to kind of give you? Has your mind expanded more? How about your business? Like what? What's transpired since we've engaged?

Speaker 2 7:31

So, since I've worked for you guys, like it's took a broader aspect, like just on how it's the work of it, just alone doing the work here, and then how your interaction with you guys has changed my thought process on how I deal with other people. You know like I used to be real edgy, you know, and now like sit back, okay, cause I learned from people.

Speaker 1 7:52

You know I'm not afraid to learn.

Speaker 2 7:54

You know, and you know just that. And then paradigm, I mean just you guys putting your trust in us to come in and just knock some stuff out for you and get it done. And you know, no questions asked, just I need it done and it's done, you know, and I mean that's made substantial, substantial. I can't thank you guys enough for even giving me that much. You know, it's, it's just crazy to be. You know, the forward, the different projects we got coming up, like you know, like it's just it makes me want to keep hiring, yeah.

Speaker 1 8:24

You know I told you you keep hiring, I'll keep giving. Yeah, you know it was cool. I appreciate the kind words you said about me coming on site, you know, and just kind of how the energy shifts when I'm on site because I engage with everybody. Well, it's good, because you don't get that.

Speaker 2 8:36

You know that much, you know you. Just you don't. And quality people come up and just be like, hey man, like thanks for doing a kick-ass job. Yeah, you know it. That little bit right there goes a long way. It makes you, you know that brings loyalty to people you know, and loyalty that's few and far between.

Speaker 1 8:53

We were just. I literally have been telling everybody loyalty is literally the key to a good, healthy business. If you have good key operators inside your company that have that high level of loyalty and belief in the company and they were bought in you can I mean you can grow it to a level you never thought you could.

Speaker 2 9:08

Yeah, and that's like you know, like I look back from 2010,. You know my dad, we sat down and we were having a talk and he's like, well, what's your, what's your goals? I said I want to be the biggest guy in this town, aren't you? I'm damn close, man, I'm damn close. I was going to say, aren't you, because I've been talking to.

Speaker 1 9:24

Aaron. I brought Aaron on for a podcast and I told Aaron I'm like so how much have you grown since? He's like dude, I'm on the map. He's like all the competitors, everyone's hitting me up, everybody knows me through Paradigm. And then I went and started getting a bunch of calls and jobs me. He's like I think. He's like I'm pretty sure Nick's one of the biggest electrical contractors here now you know what and I you know.

Speaker 2 9:47

And then you're so humble and I know you're not going to say that, I know I'm being very modest on it, but you know I mean just as you know, for you know we're more of like a residential based deal.

Speaker 1 10:02

But you it's, it's.

Speaker 2 10:07

we went more focused towards residential, and then it's like but then I got hooked up with you and it just broadened my horizons, you know, and it's like, okay, well, we can do this, Like this stuff it's, it's easy stuff.

Speaker 1 10:17

You know it's consistent and it's.

Speaker 2 10:20

We're here for four to five weeks.

Speaker 1 10:22

We're done, we move on, you know it's so I want to highlight something and what I think the main purpose of me bringing you on is because not a lot of guys like me will talk about the problems that go on with construction, because they don't want their investors to stress. They just and I get all that, but I'm I'm too much of a transparent person. I just don't give a shit. If my investors don't like something, I'm sorry, but this is the way it goes, you know. But I've tried to tell everybody what they're getting themselves into in the beginning. But one of the big things and this is 90% of my conversation is you know which? What administration is going to take it? How's that going to create bottlenecks in construction and material? And the list kind of goes on. Everyone's fearful right now, and they should. One of the things that is such an uncommon conversation for operators to talk to their clients about is switchgear and the issues with switchgear overall.

Speaker 2 11:09

And this is an industry wide problem. No, it's nationwide. It's nationwide with the switchgear situation Like I mean.

Speaker 1 11:16

Just for instance, I had so tell, tell our audience what switchgear is though.

Planning Ahead for Construction Success

Speaker 2 11:26

So switchgear is basically it's our entire, I mean it's our, it's our heart of the building. You know it is what powers the entire building. So like, say for instance, on here on unit c, you know in d we that basically powers all the units, so we have a separate run that goes to each unit for each panel that we have. You know, and you know, just like other guys don't do that, you know you guys do the separate panels. You have your acs, you insulate the walls, which is ridiculous, but you know, but the little things you know. And so that's what switchgear is and it's just been a nationwide issue for since covid. Yeah, you know, they shut down factories, shut down our siemens, I think it was like dude, it was almost 12 months at one.

Speaker 1 12:04

This was a while ago, and there's and that's, even bigger problem. Now, right, how long is that?

Speaker 2 12:09

it's like. But the thing is, is you also got to plan ahead too? You know if you get, you know if you plan ahead which we finally did which we did.

Speaker 2 12:15

So when I was, we were working on, you know, phase three. We were working on phase three, we ordered the gear for, you know, for phase four and phase five. So we have all that gear already. It's just you have to plan. And that's the difference between, you know, people is a lot of people, they don't care, they're like, oh, I don't just get here. When it gets here, you know it's not. But no, like when our, our gear was a little behind on d, you know, I started outsourcing, I started looking and you know, during covid, when we couldn't get gear, I outsourced.

Speaker 1 12:47

So now I have connections in california mean almost every state, but what'd you do to get my building D?

Speaker 2 12:52

done.

Speaker 1 12:53

I had to drive down.

Speaker 2 12:54

I searched and searched and searched for that one panel, that it was the only thing holding that thing up. I found it in a little electrical shop in Canoga Park, california, and I literally packed up, literally found it Friday night.

Speaker 1 13:09

Well, got up at five in the morning, drove there, got it be back here monday to finish the project on time I called dennis, right in all right I was telling him like hey, man, don't make me have to buy a hire a buyer's rep for you because, I.

Speaker 1 13:20

All I care about is is helping get the material if we're having problems. Yeah, I said if nick needs help, let us know, and so he calls me back. He's like I literally got off the phone with nick. He was telling me text message after phone calls and text. He's like I don't think he's ever worked so hard to find switch gear ever.

Speaker 2 13:35

Well, and I, because I'm the type of guy.

Speaker 1 13:37

It's like if we want something, I don't care what it takes, we deliver and he calls me and he goes nick found some stuff. I was like damn, like I know it was an undertaking?

Speaker 2 13:45

yeah, well, that too. And it's like how my brain works, like, if I like, I'm a problem solver.

Speaker 2 13:49

So if I can't, I got, I won't stop, my brain does not stop until I solve that problem, you know, and it's just way I've always been so. But, and I understand, you got deadlines, you got investors that you got to perform for, you know, and so we fall behind, we can't get gear. That puts you aside. And then you have investors they, you know, it basically trickles downhill. So if I can alleviate that problem and maybe take a night of not sleeping, you know, hey, that's what it takes.

Speaker 1 14:17

You're doing it for me, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 14:18

That's what you know. Once again, we go back to loyalty again and respect and helping each other out, you know, and that goes a long way.

Speaker 1 14:26

And that's so big because you know not only that, it's really for the longevity of the company, because when we are as big as we cause, we're in the larger player here, especially with barn caves and what we have. So at the end of the day, I think when you have the right contractors involved, it helps a lot. But I can start providing good quality updates and expectations that are realistic and then knowing the problems that from boots on the ground level stuff like problems with switch gear, and we start getting in front of that. We ordered, like, for example, we just spent $500,000 on all the ACs yeah, all the ACs for the rest of the project with Aaron. He called me. He's like hey, we may have an issue. You want to just do this now.

Speaker 2 15:03

I'm like let's go, that's why I did like they did, like I have everything for D, you know, or E, I have everything for E, everything. We don't have to wait on anything, so that when that, when that project hits, which is not normal.

Speaker 1 15:15

You're like ahead of what normal is normal.

Speaker 2 15:18

You know, that's just the difference. You know, like that's where I have a warehouse. Like you know, I had I bought physically a storage unit back in the day and I had it stuffed full, full of material and I was having other contractors call me hey man, can I get this panel? I'm like no, you know, but that's for me?

Speaker 2 15:34

Yeah, it's for me and it gave me a lot of work, but you know. But it's still the same thing with you, Like if, as long as we're planning ahead which we are, you know, and that's good for your investors, your timelines and everything, else.

Speaker 1 15:45

It's just you can't go wrong, and it really, this is where I think a lot of people are. Just, it's always like I feel like the world is building about me, me, me, what you're doing for me. I think what's happening is, overall, the culture that paradigm's created, because it's everybody has to be bought in. You, right, aaron, everybody else right so I've got to work together, everybody but, and everybody in my back office.

Speaker 1 16:03

What's happening is everybody just cares about the mission and everyone's looking at this as like longevity and what you're realizing is it's actually it's its own economy If everybody does their spot and does their job and is honest and look, there's hurdles in every which direction. We can stomach that. We know it, we signed up for it and that's why the big boys do what they do. Not a lot of people can stomach this side, but anyways, the point is is that you know it's truly an economy and everyone is really implementing their own practices and perfecting and getting better and trying harder, and but again, it's just building. Like you said, you built your roster now supply houses, and so if you ever have a problem, you've built relationships because you started, you know, building them earlier on, right? So I think it's so cool and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to bring you on, because I don't think a lot of people understand how much effort it takes and this is what I tell everyone To go through.

Speaker 2 16:49

Yeah, there's a lot more than just putting the pipe in and doing all that.

Speaker 1 16:53

Was it your guy that was throwing up? Yeah, he got sick, right? Tell that story real quick. This is why I want people to know that I said it on the podcast yesterday the US has been built on tired men's back right and that built on tired men, tired man's back Right and the and that's true, and when it's 120 degrees out here you guys, I mean, you guys are out here, we're still out here working.

Speaker 2 17:14

I mean you know my guys and my guys I mean we have, I mean we're a decent sized company. We're 14 men, you know, and I keep growing as long as I can find the quality guys, we'll keep going. But my guys I have, they're committed, no matter what, like heat, like everything, like you know, you guys sent him home. He was going to stay.

Speaker 1 17:28

We sent it. We sent an email to everybody. I said everyone go home because it's way too hot.

Speaker 2 17:32

But tell that story real quick, yeah, so like my guy was out there is on a scissor lift, you know we're running our pipe doing all our stuff, and you know, and all of a sudden, it was like you know, I mean Takai went up to him and says hey man, like you know, I think you need to go. You know, go home and, like you know, got him water.

Speaker 2 17:54

You know, like most people, don't do that you know like, he went over, got him cold water, sat him down, let him sit. He said he was fine. It's like Takai's like okay, he started emails from everybody. You know, hey, like like, it just shows that you guys care. You know like, hey, you guys, we don't care when you get here, just get out of here by one before it's too hard.

Speaker 1 18:20

You know which?

Speaker 2 18:20

is, you know, like a lot of people don't care, they just want their project done. So for a company to be like hey, like we don't care, if you know it takes us a couple more days, but it's just hot. Let's cut out a little early and get out like that's great.

Speaker 1 18:32

I think you know most of them and honestly, it's so cool because really my clients are good people. I know their story, I know why they're investing, I know what their big purpose, I know all their hardships, their illnesses and what's happened is I've earned so much trust with them that when I call them and say hey, you know it's freaking hot. It's hard to get these guys to work and there's also issues. They, they and they see it and we're giving updates, and then these things are the other things. That's providing, or these types of practices provide that transparency and that's really the most important thing. So you know, unless there's anything else to add, dude, I want to make this quick, sweet and simple.

Speaker 1 19:02

I want everybody to know you're my boy and I really appreciate everything you've done for this company.

Speaker 2 19:06

Cause dude. Honestly, you guys have done a lot more for me. Like I said, like it's just in general, like it's open. You've opened my eyes to bigger and better things. Like I've already started doing other stuff, like we talked about earlier, like to try to grow even more to you know, be able to keep up with you guys.

Speaker 1 19:21

You know, are you, are you ready for this gym and you're ready for this?

Speaker 2 19:25

That gym looks. The renderings look ridiculous. I have a home gym and I honestly, I'll sign up for that thing and get a. I'll have a membership there. I honestly, I'll sign up for that thing and get a. I'll have a membership there. I have a sticky feeling.

Speaker 1 19:34

People are like I'm going to travel to go to this gym. It's going to be so cool. It's going to be one of those things, especially on the weekends when you have some downtime you'll probably be there for a while. It's going to be the best networking place to be. You know, I plan on making it very upper class, more, more polished, your idea you whole community is.

Speaker 2 19:52

It's just like I said was like earlier. It's people are still stuck in that box, man, and you come in and you're like boom, nobody else knows what to think about it.

Speaker 1 20:01

Yeah, you know, it's like is this guy real or not? Just your? Idea of it alone is phenomenal, you know well, you know I'm having you work with the guys for the solar. Yeah, I know, this is in essence a solar field on top of houses that are 40 feet tall, you know know, this is definitely going to be a different game for sure.

Speaker 1 20:18

Did you see that we met with Unisource? Did you see that on my Instagram I met with Trico and Unisource. That was pretty cool because they gave us what they need and kind of where the panels need to be on the houses and all the compliance sides and we're like cool. And so you know Selberg's already working on the architectural setup and kind of where they need all of their stuff and you know where the easements are in front of all that. It's all dialed. We know exactly what they need and what they want.

Speaker 2 20:40

That project is going to be fun, Like I've already started putting out on the internet for you know, hiring commercial electricians, you know, and that can be a big one.

Speaker 1 20:48

Just keep it going, you know Well you know, I was thinking you're probably going to do two three ton units, because they're 10 feet longer than this. So you're going to do two, three ton units and probably two HVs. So what I'm saying is we're going to have a lot of power that needs to pull, and so I personally think that, and the only question I have is how often are people actually going to live there? Is it going to be full timers or not? You can't really gauge that.

Speaker 2 21:10

No, you can't really tell, but I think at first it's going to start in as, like you know, kind of like here it's a kind of like a vacation home. It's going to be a second home for people and then, you know, I think, transitionally, like anything, they're just going to eventually just stay. Oh yeah, you know, I mean cause why would you want to leave? You're going to have that massive pool.

Speaker 1 21:30

You're going to have. You know. I mean, yeah, it's all coming.

Speaker 2 21:33

You got everything. You got the airport right there. So if you want to fly in, you can boom, you're right there Home.

Speaker 1 21:37

Depot, which is like every man's dream to live next to. Home Depot Right or a woman's dream. There's a lot of women that love that stuff too.

Speaker 2 21:51

Yeah, there's a lot of women that do that.

Efficient Construction Progress Update

Speaker 1 21:52

My wife, I think, really is the ones back there doing it. Yeah, I, I'm I'm able to put everybody together, but that's it's not me that's pulling the wire, it's you and your team, and I want I'm hoping your team will see this and I want them to know how much I appreciate them too, and everybody in this company, investors and people that are relying on us to perform, you know they appreciate that.

Speaker 2 22:12

My guys tell me all the time, like how cool it is for you guys, like how easy it is for you guys to come up and just you know, like so it's just, it's nice. So you know, and I'd like to also just thank you for you know, putting your trust in me and my company and coming out and be able to knock it out for you and just keep everybody happy. Right, and it did, you know right.

Speaker 1 22:29

The best part is you got to switch gears. Now we don't have to worry about anything, and and it's cool, because Dennis is like, okay, well, nick's going to start, and I'm like, well, yeah, he'll be done in like three days.

Speaker 2 22:36

You know he's just going to bang this out. I have it for F already too. So, that's already already done and that'll be. It's on its way. We're starting the wall on G speeding up, get you that too, and you get your all your little forks out now, yeah, so now it's done, it's over. Now it's like it's time to move on, start fresh and new and just bang it. No time, no time, baby. Well, thank you very much, thank you all right guys.

Speaker 1 23:02

So once again, thank you for joining us. My electrician, the guy. He actually is getting the job done and delivering faster than we ever expected. So thanks again and on to the next.