It Must Be HAIL Season in Texas... Look at this trailer wrap I just saw!

Just had to take a picture!

Is that thing hooked up to the car?

I would have just left the trailer plain so no one would know! :laugh:

It is all class! Yeah right!

I gotta admit, that trailer is a HUGE step up from anything I had when I first started.

I had one ladder one hand torch one dragon wagon two 100# propane tanks one 40# one 20# and a handful of hand tools. If it didn't fit in my single cab pick-up, it wasn't making it to the job.

I started out with my hand tools. I borrowed the truck and ladder. I got a lot of work off of farmers when I started. They had the equipment I just needed to get to their place. People would drop the ladder at the job I would drive there in my car and do the work. Borrow a truck at the end of the job and clean up the garbage.

Finally had enough for a cheap truck. Had to have cardboard with me at all times. Needed to put it under the engine so I did not put oil spots in their driveway. Every job after that I would buy some tool.

Those were the days throw the shingles in the back of the pickup. Go to the dump and throw the shingles off the back of the pickup.

Today some customers tell my salesmen and workers "you should have seen him when he started", then tell them some of the stories.

I started with me and my lawyer buddies. We did not have a truck, ladder or hammer. But we did have $3 million and we bought a couple of adjusters, and rented one more. We bought an NRCA/ BBB / Master Elite/ Pro Roofer membership.

We signed up with the Mafia/ Coyotes/ Insurance Companies program to import our workforce. I can't tell you how much that cost or they will kill me

We did not have to learn to threaten and cajole Insurance Companies, or figure out supplements. We had already learned that in Law School. Good thing I went to Notre Dame with the presidents of Allstate and State Farm.

Best roofing training I ever had!

Ditto Lefty & Mike.

We had a bright orange F-350 crew cab dually that the engine/carb caught on fire every time you stopped at a stoplight. We had a routine, I'd stop and my brother would jump out, lift the hood and smother the fire with a sweatshirt.

Had an old dumptruck that, if you forgot and tried to enter or exit through the driver side door, the door would fall off and onto the parking lot.

Drove from Dallas to Tampa in a dumptruck pulling a Vecloader 422 using a lawnchair as the driver's seat.

Ya do what ya gotta do.

Roofguy, I have a lot of truck stories. Will never forget where I come from. It is good when I find a guy who is struggling and he will listen to my stories and improve his business. Most just keep doing what they are doing and wonder why they can not make it work. I know you go through this too.

I was tearing this little flat roof off on a July 4. It was a resturant they closed down I had to do it that day. The tempature was 98 degrees. Threw it in the back of my pickup. Went to the dump to throw it off a couple of days later. Would not come out. Here it was coal tar. It molded itself to the bed and became one big lump. It was still there when I got rid of the truck.

Every time I went to the dump, I would get a little out with an axe. LOL

I earned my way through college lettering trucks and ended up owning an advertising and sign company. So when I started in roofing no matter the age of the truck or trailer either it was lettered properly or I left it blank and clean.

Hahah. Lefty: I hear stories about how rough(hardcore, hard working yadda yadda) other things about my old man. His nickname: Hillbilly.

Best one recently: I sold a tearoff and while we were there doing it the 80 year old man said "do you guys want to see my bowling trophies?"

My Dad said "I've seen them"

Old guy: "that's impossible, they've been locked in that shed"

Dad: "You showed me when I roofed this place in '78"

Old Guy: "I think your mistaken, the guy who roofed it showed up on a motorcycle with his tool belt and did the whole job his self"

My Dad just raised his hand and said your right about that.

-We have all kinds of equipment now, so the old man could hardly believe it. That was a 20 year shingle, lasted 30 years somehow!

I'm glad I missed the days of removing the tearoff from the back of the truck at the end of the day!

Lefty, man did you nail it! I tell our newbies: Guys, look, I have already made every possible mistake, 4 times - why don't you just learn from what I know rather than forcing yourself to learn what I already know?

It does no good. I hope I wasn't that darn hard headed 34 years ago. I don't think I was - I knew my dad had done some unique things in the roofing business and I knew right off that I could learn from that. His breadth of knowledge still amazes me - he knows everything from fluid flow engineering a pump system, to insurance matters, law, to the advantages of the Hershey bar wing profile on the older Piper aircraft.

When I went into business for myself, I may have put on 10 roofs. I needed a job so I went into business. I always hired guys with more experience then me. LOL That was not hard to do, since I had very little experience.

Read wrappers and cans, watched carefully while I tore the roof off,{this taught me how to put it back together}, watch the guys I had working and picked up all their tricks.

Somehow if you are quality oriented, you know when someone is doing something wrong, even if you do not know how to do it. It was a very rare occasion to have a callback even when I did not know anything.

Lefty, yep, my dad taught himself to shingle by reading the instructions on the Big Chief shingle wrappers. A few years later he had all the business of 4 of the biggest home builders in Denver.

Quality pays.

We were using some Henry product a few years back. It was an insulation board adhesive. 1st time we used it.

I was preparing myself as best I could. Reading the PDF files. Manufacturer instructions. Getting ready to spread it across the deck for the board, opened the lid....and stuff was damn near solid! Now what????

Answer was right there on the old 5 gallon can.....just spot it and walk on it. B)

Lefty, I think my best "helped a guy" story is about a guy I hired out of high school. He only worked for me two summers. He transfered to a big school, probably Ohio State, as he lives in Columbus now.

He walked up to me at a wedding about 8-10 years ago. We both looked a lot different, but easily recognizeable. He just stuck out his hand and "Mike I just wanted to thank you".

"Hi John, good to see you. What in the world do you have to thank me for?"

"Well, you remember the xyz building we did?"

"Yes"

"Remember how there was that big awning we were under and how it had to be 130 degrees under there?"

"Yes".

"Remember that skylight that we looked down into with those guys in suits sitting at their desks."

"Yes".

"Well I swore right then and there, that would be me someday. Today I own my own investment firm, with (I forget how many brokers) and three attorneys on staff. Without you, it would have never happened."

Wadda ya do? In the wrong frame of mind, or delivered with an air of superiority, it could have been taken as a slam, but he was entirely sincere.

Good for John, if that's what he wants. Sounds like prison to me.

Mike H Said: Lefty, I think my best helped a guy story is about a guy I hired out of high school. He only worked for me two summers. He transfered to a big school, probably Ohio State, as he lives in Columbus now.

He walked up to me at a wedding about 8-10 years ago. We both looked a lot different, but easily recognizeable. He just stuck out his hand and Mike I just wanted to thank you.

Hi John, good to see you. What in the world do you have to thank me for?

Well, you remember the xyz building we did?

Yes

Remember how there was that big awning we were under and how it had to be 130 degrees under there?

Yes.

Remember that skylight that we looked down into with those guys in suits sitting at their desks.

Yes.

Well I swore right then and there, that would be me someday. Today I own my own investment firm, with (I forget how many brokers) and three attorneys on staff. Without you, it would have never happened.

Wadda ya do? In the wrong frame of mind, or delivered with an air of superiority, it could have been taken as a slam, but he was entirely sincere.

Good for John, if thats what he wants. Sounds like prison to me.

Mike, that was a really good compliment.

I've been fortunate to have had quite a few students who went on to be Marines, LEOs, and otherwise successful people, who thank me and give me credit for helping to shape them at my karate school in their formative years.

It is truly humbling to know that they ascribe abilities to me that I never had.

Below is one of my students who credits me with his successfully defending himself against robbers one day (Eli is front/middle, former Marine, LEO, now Air Force reserve). The truth is, the ability was all his all along.

http://www.vachiefs.org/index.php/news/item/2009_valor_awards/