Unknown Speaker 0:03
Before you start your next do it yourself project listen to this, you got this is on the air you got this is hosted by ABT plumbing, electric heat and air owner Andrew Twidwell and Rosalie Brown, with a helpful hand. Here are Andrew and Rosalie
Unknown Speaker 0:18
Hi, it’s Andrew Twidwell, owner of ABT plumbing, electric heat and air. And once again with the show, you got this, the show of DIY do’s and don’ts, and I may kind of mumble a little bit, I have a throat lozenge in my mouth. So hopefully it’s not too loud. Rosalie is here, and she’s already heard me crouching on it. Like many other people in our area, I’m dealing with some respiratory stuff. Lozenges are flying off the shelves right now.
Unknown Speaker 0:57
It harkens back to the day when we couldn’t find toilet paper. So what you’re saying,
Unknown Speaker 1:01
right, right. And I made a comment. I was in Walgreens, and I made a comment. And the guy’s like, oh, yeah, just stalked him today. It’s been, it’s been slim, they’re hard to find, like, Oh, no. I hope you guys excuse my throat Lodge and clicking on my teeth every once awhile or mumbling. Like, it’s been a wild, wild. Last month and this month, because I’m working on. I’m in week three right now. The tail end of week three. I’m not feeling good. So yeah, good times.
Unknown Speaker 1:35
first suggestion. How about seeing a medical professional? Is that
Unknown Speaker 1:39
I’m at that point. No, at first I was thinking it was just, yeah, it was a minor cold. But now, it moved lower to my chest and like, Darn it, I think it might be bronchitis or pneumonia or something like that. I don’t have time for this kind of. Yeah, yeah, I had, like, I had like three or four days where I felt pretty good with her bike ride with for a couple of walks, and then boom, hit me again. But I can’t tell if it’s just the flu. The relapse or not relapse, but, you know, takes a while to get feel better. But I don’t think so. I think it’s I think as a secondary thing going on.
Unknown Speaker 2:16
Okay. I think you you’re in denial. It’s It’s all right.
Unknown Speaker 2:20
So how I live my life. Everybody loves me. And my company’s amazing and my wife’s never mad at me. And yeah, always in denial. My kids love me and love the fact that I raised him. Yeah, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 2:37
Don’t get me started. I got a text. I got a text. Today had me as a parent. Yeah, yeah, I got a texture on today. And I went oh, there it is. There’s that gotcha moment. Yeah. Always bringing you back. It’s like 1919 90 Something all over again. It will. So I was just someone call me out of the blue was doing one of those quick drive bys. How are you what’s new, and all I could think of was I’ve been adulting lately, I bought a couch and I have a doctor appointment. So I and the funny thing is that I just kind of, you know, no filters, you know, and just kind of spewed it out. And it lands right. And they’re like, oh, okay, like that’s what normal human adults do. And it’s not noteworthy. But someone asked me how I’m doing. And I have these these most random, stupid things. And I’m so proud of myself like, see, I’m adulting. Like, yeah, you’re kind of old to be excited about these things. But that’s okay. That’s okay. That’s okay. I’m glad you did it. You know, I
Unknown Speaker 3:42
do that with my wife all the time. Like, I have to give her every minutia. Just to kind of justify the fact that I’ve been doing something right. And not just sitting around twiddling my thumbs and want to make sure this she finds value and having me around sometimes, yeah, yeah. Good.
Unknown Speaker 3:57
Yeah. And I, you know, I’m, like, so excited. Like, you know, the average normal human being goes to the eye doctor probably once every couple years. Right. And, you know,
Unknown Speaker 4:07
it’s been a couple years. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 4:08
you know what I look like you’re looking at me with the glasses I’m wearing on my face. So so the thought people might have is, well, she wears glasses, she must go get regular eye exams. I’m going to tell you something right now. I have a 21 year old. And I believe the last time I got a new prescription. She was a baby. So if that tells you anything, so yeah, so this is coming tomorrow. So I actually was going to squeeze it in this morning. And I thought, What if like, I go in and they’re like, You’re not safe to drive you big. So I was like, Yeah, I probably can’t zoom from the optometrist office. So that’s my big. That’s my big project
Unknown Speaker 4:47
from the morning that happened to my mom. Remember that? Delivery said you can’t drive with this prescription. We need to get you new glasses.
Unknown Speaker 4:54
That’s I’m like,
Unknown Speaker 4:55
they’re gonna like snatch my license or you’re legally blind with with that. Yeah. up to like, 10 years. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 5:01
yeah, they’re gonna be like, I’m sorry, we have to warm like surgery on your eye right now. So I thought, well, that’s gonna throw a kink into my day. So that’s what I’m looking forward to tomorrow. And then at some point, I don’t know because of where people are with the roads and this and that. I’m supposed to get a new couch, you know, everything is shipped. Right? So, um, I love the delivery Windows anywhere from tomorrow to Saturday. So I’m like, oh, okay, well, I’m gonna clear my schedule up when I’m at the doctor’s play when it’s gonna get delivered. And then I got to look forward to assembling said couch. And you’ll recall my last couch assembly was a bit of a thing.
Unknown Speaker 5:42
Are you getting an additional couch? or Yes, getting rid of it?
Unknown Speaker 5:45
No, no, I’m getting an additional couch because I realized that, you know, doing a little self reflection, and I’m like, I’m never in the living room. And I’m like, why is that? Like? Oh, because my couch is so cool. Yeah, my couch is so cute. And it’s so uncomfortable. So it’s cute. So it staying. And it also makes a really great bed. If you have company for the weekend. It pulls out and makes it pretty. It’s odd because as a bed. It’s it’s great. Like I prefer it.
Unknown Speaker 6:13
Because it’s nice and flat for
Unknown Speaker 6:15
Yeah, yeah, but as a couch, it’s just like, it’s just not it doesn’t it doesn’t make me excited. So anyway, so I have a couch now coming and and on top of that I have the Christmas tree. So up, so So, so Hayden says
Unknown Speaker 6:29
recording on the 11th. So yeah, before this, this airs on the on the 13th. Friday the 13th I realize that
Unknown Speaker 6:38
price will be up but let me explain to you my thought process. So you know, as you know, I’ve had to downsize, you know, the last couple years. So I’m downsize into a pretty small space. And so here’s the thing, the way my mind works as I was selecting the couch, and that was a whole several process where I dove down all the reviews and I, you know, looked at people’s photographs of these. So the whole thing, so I finally decide on one, right? And I go out and I’m measuring the space, I’m like, Yeah, this will work. And then I look over and the Christmas tree is still up and I’m like, Okay, so I’m gonna have to move this in with this. But you know what I need to know, I need to know, if I make all these changes in my living room. It’s gonna affect where the Christmas tree goes next December next year, so Oh, I might as well just leave it up. Get it? Oh, I’m not I don’t plan on leaving it for the year. But don’t leave it up until you get the new couch. Yeah. Don’t tempt me. Don’t touch me. I might leave it for 12 months, because now I’m in love with it. That always happens. I put the tree up and then I fall in love with it. And I can’t seem to get it. So anyway. Um, yeah. Now I’m gonna leave the tree up long enough to get my spacing accurate. So when next December comes around, I know exactly what the game plan is about idea. I’m very visual person, but I’m not very good with like numbers. So measurements and whatnot. I get it technically it’s going to fit in what configuring you need to see it? I do. So that’s, that’s my adulting this week and people are looking like, hey, small child patting me on the head. You’re really simple, aren’t you? Yes. Yes, I am. Doesn’t matter of fact, if you know me, you know that’s true.
Unknown Speaker 8:19
There’s a lot involved in adulting. It’s not easy.
Unknown Speaker 8:21
It’s hard. Sometimes it’s tiring.
Unknown Speaker 8:25
Rosalie, producer, Rosalie we’ve, we’ve fulfilled our bantering moments. So now we got to get into the meat and potatoes of our of our show. And we kind of were kind of winging it this week, because she came up with a great one. But then she’s like, I got this backup where I’ll just ask him questions. And I’m like, I like that idea. That’s easy.
Unknown Speaker 8:44
Well, you know, so
Unknown Speaker 8:46
those crazy mornings for me today. So it’s like, let’s go with the easy thing.
Unknown Speaker 8:49
Well, I don’t know if you’re gonna find it easy. But here’s the thing. Um, what I was thinking about this yesterday, and I was like, you know, it’s been a while since we kind of did a bit origin story a bit like, you know, Andrew, you’ve done a little bit of everything, right. So, you know, you’ve got your you grew up with your father in the trades. And if anyone knows you, they know that because that’s part of your it’s, I think it’s probably part of your history, I think. And, you know, I too, had a father in the trades and which in the 70s and 80s meant slave labor, essentially. And, essentially, it was I’m trying to be kind. My dad’s too old for OSHA to go after him at this point. But let’s just say that he was breaking some laws
Unknown Speaker 9:35
by handing us power tools. Right. And so I learned how to use a whole hog when I was like 11 or 12. And I remember him telling me a story about getting pinned on a joist on a ladder, getting his face pinned on it, and the ladder slipping out from underneath him and him jammed up in there with a whole hug slammed up against his face and somebody having to unplug it so you could get off off the ceiling, and he hands it to me
Unknown Speaker 10:01
It’s yeah, I mean, it’s. So it’s origin story, one of those stories where I remember going, wait, what? I was in a similar situation, but it involves an alligator. And they said to me, it’s no big deal. We have this huge PVC pole that we’ve, we’ve soldered, and it’s this big thing. And we’re just going to open up the alligator cage and you’re just going to tap it, tap the top of the cage with this PVC pipe, and just, you know, holler if the alligator comes rushing out. No problem. Trust me, I can holler. And I did and he came out and it was whole thing. But I remember there’s all these moments in my childhood where I was like, you want me to do what? You want me to do what? But that’s how dads were in the 70s and 80s. Right, like, well, if I can do it, and you’re my kid, and I tell you how to do it, just do it. You know, so
Unknown Speaker 11:00
why can’t you lift that I can pick it up? Right?
Unknown Speaker 11:03
I’m 12. Right? Exactly. I know, there’s no no, no understanding of that. So So I decided, like, let’s, let’s get some, you’ve done a whole bunch of DIY. You’ve done a bunch as an actual company owner, so for clients, but also for yourself. And so I think people and sevens you, I think don’t always remember, like how talented you are, when it comes to that stuff. You’re kind of the king of make it work, right? You make it work.
Unknown Speaker 11:31
Um, it’s kind of like, I think about sometimes it’s, you know, I come from blue collar stock that comes from forming. My dad grew up in San Francisco, but would go go out to Nebraska and work on the on one of the families farms. And you just have that mentality of taking care of everything. Like you have to fix everything. And that’s kind of you know, what I was raised on, right, you just, if it’s broke, you fix it. Now, if it’s broke, you take it into the shop. No, you fix it. Yeah. And if you can’t fix it, hopefully you find a friend or family member that can help you fix it, because you don’t have the money to be able to take it into a shop. So yeah, that was my reality. Right? You fix it.
Unknown Speaker 12:12
And so did that. So when you decided to kind of go out on your own and kind of you know, started up your your own company. I know you’re focused on like drains and plumbing and stuff. But can I just ask what made what made it plumbing? Like why that why not construction?
Unknown Speaker 12:27
So yeah, so So Wow, you’re good, even like, we didn’t even rehearse for this. But this is good. So
Unknown Speaker 12:34
yeah, I know, I know your story. I don’t want to I don’t want to my father
Unknown Speaker 12:37
was not a plumber, my father was a was a carpenter. But then he got a job as electrician working for the electrical union. That didn’t last too long. That didn’t even last a year. But it was great. We had health insurance, we went to the doctor and went to the dentist and had actually had food in the cupboards all the time. It was really nice for a very short period of time. And then he told one of the I think it was more than one of the Foreman’s in one of the many larger companies. I think Rosen was the big one that then he was working for, to basically go F himself, and I lost that job, and then could get another job in the union. And my father wasn’t a very good employee. And so we went out on his own again, and I went back working with him again. So I worked with him mainly pulling wire, drilling holes, and pulling wire and setting up circuit helping wire circuit panels and outlets and things like that. And, like, you know, you know, is it hot, I don’t know, touch it. That was kind of, you know, how I was raised. Not not get the lady out and check if it’s see if it’s hot, just, you know, touch it, lick your fingers. And, and then I helped frame stuff. And then he decided, one of my, one of the jobs he also sent me up on he built this office down and Hunters Point I just did the inside of it. And she rocked it and had me for the weekend. And he dropped me off. And I think I was I could have been more than 13 I was probably like 12 or 13 Basically with five gallons of mud, you know, topping compound, a couple drywall knives and some tape and said tape figured out and I figured it out. And actually fortunately the guy one of the guys that was working there kind of gave me a couple pointers that I taped the entire office by myself. That was kind of how my old man taught me how to do a lot of stuff but I was raised doing carpentry electrical, and then doing drywall and he also started a roofing company did roofing for a little while. I was miserable work hated that because he just taught mopping based on that it’s just miserable. Then I had this crazy idea that I was gonna get her out of the trades and but I had a pickup truck so I had a we had a family friend that had painting company, but really wasn’t a painting company with him and came home A car. Cuz Yeah, this is the 70s. And he was kind of into pills and things. So I was like 1617 years old, but the family friend, right, San Francisco, I need somebody to drive them around. So he paid me 12 bucks an hour, I kid you not. And like 80 to cash money to drive them around and help him with prep. So I became a painter. And that was that was kind of cool because I made more money working for him because he actually paid me on like working for my father, which he said he’d pay me but he went to his deathbed still owe me like two grand from when, for the whole summer. They work for him when I was like 13. And I will never forget, because that’s just who I am. Right? Terrible businessman. Decent dad, but not the greatest dad anyway, we can both commiserate over that. Oh, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 15:48
Crack, crack. And
Unknown Speaker 15:53
so I started doing painting thinking that would be a great job. But that was kind of miserable, kind of fun, but kind of miserable at the same time. So then I got a job with a plumbing company. When I was 18, right out of college, and it was amazing. I go to work. And I again, I had to pick up the game. They paid me mileage. They paid me like 15 bucks an hour. And again, this is like, this was 86. So yeah, really good money.
Unknown Speaker 16:20
I was making $3.35 Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 16:23
minimum wage was three or four bucks an hour. So I was doing great. And I was getting mileage on my truck. So it was paying for all my fuel costs and stuff. And I was making way more money than any of my friends. And I had done some plumbing with my dad, he, he did have a guy that was plumbing. And I’d help him out sometimes. So I knew how to solder pipe, I knew how to do lead and Oka and where they needed to cut pipe and cut holes and stuff like that. So when I got hired for the plumber, they you know, they pay me not plumbing wages, but a really good wage for an 18 year old. And I did that for gosh, I worked for three or four different companies over the course of about 10 years. And then I worked for different couple, a couple of different companies. One of the companies that I’ve worked for the who I worked for the longest period of time was was kind of kooky because it was he was a artist that moved from Chicago, and live in the Los early live workspaces that were just started in San Francisco. He was part of that movement in the 70s really esoteric kind of funky stuff. But I was also going to art school. So it’s kind of cool work with these guys. And a couple of them Buddhists guys, one, one of the guys who shaved his head was a monk, but he actually came out of Juilliard and went to school with like, Robin Williams and Chris Reeves. And so it was it was kind of an I was this great heterosexual guy getting married and having children and having a wife that stayed home. So I was kind of like the straight guy, right? Even though for earrings, and I wasn’t, you know, I still like to do art and stuff. But I was the the most straight forward looking guy ever belts had weird relationships going on. And yeah, it was kind of a trip. Yeah, San Francisco in the 80s. And, but one of the days one day, the owner was like, Yeah, I’m just done, I’m gonna make I’m paying myself in two years. I’m just gonna close the shop. And we’ll close the doors. And one of the guys, one of the guys that went to Juilliard, and I had been reading a bunch of books, because I’m kind of a nerd on business. And he got, he actually started teaching us how to this individual, this poor guy, Ted, Ted Hall, he started teaching us how to read a p&l, and a balance sheet. And we started with elbow book management, and we’re reading Jack stacks book on open book management. And all of a sudden, it got me really interested in the business side of it. So that I just started, I started listening to books, start reading books, start going to thrift stores and finding books for free and just cruising through them. And when Mike Lipsy said, you know, I’m done, Ted and I are like, Wait, give us a chance, we can actually turn this thing around. So we did that we actually took that company, he was sort of used to it about half a million with four guys. And we turned it that first year, we increased the revenue to 800,000. And we made it a flat rate shop. So we were actually able to go and tell the customer how much it was going to cost beforehand, not give them this vague idea of it’s going to cost well I don’t know how much it’s going to cost but here’s our hourly rate. People really want to how much things cost? Weird, right? And we’re able to turn that thing around and make a functioning so it gave me it was it was a really great experience because it taught me how to run a business. And and I really think Mike Lipsy for allowing given me an opportunity To learn how to run a company without starting my own, I was working on his dime. But we managed to turn that around. And then Ted and I were like, well, maybe we should just buy this company. Well, we were knuckleheads, because all of a sudden, we started making him a bunch more money. And then we offered to buy it. And he wanted a ridiculous amount of money. Because it was actually, you know, we almost doubled the size, we 30% increase in revenue, right? 40% increase, no, anyway, big jump in revenue. And I can even do the math. So we wanted like, 70 grand for and I’m like, you know, we went to talk to a consultant in the consultant said, you know, if you’ve got $70,000, how much marketing can you do? Can you start this company without having to buy this company like, Yeah, but then my wife and I were debating on whether or not we wanted to move up here, up into the mountains. And that seemed like a good time. So we moved up to the mountains, got a job start working for Mike, Mark Davis, was kind of a culture shock. Kid, you can move from San Francisco, moving the Grass Valley. And working with a very different type of group of people. And very different expectations of what we were to do. It was very top down kind of management. And I didn’t really, you know, marks a great guy. But it was it was a it was tough. It was a tough transition. For me, having worked in such a different type of culture. I had a really hard time there. So I got another job with somebody. And then eventually started working back down to San Francisco, that didn’t go over so well with the family being gone with three days a week, and not actually being home for my two year old or four year old and my wife being up here not knowing anybody and being all by herself. And I made the big mistake. One time we we had cell phones, I was talking to Betty. And I was sitting in a brew pub with my twin sisters just hanging out. She was home with poopy screamy kids all by herself. He was like, you gotta come home. I can’t do this anymore. And yeah, in stunning surprise, she let me do it as long as she did. But yeah, I was working three days a week making more money and services going through this three days, way more money in this three days, and it could make in a full week up here. Came back up, got to got to work for somebody else that didn’t quite work out. He was uh, I won’t name names this time because he was a little crazy. Like through stuff and yelled at me. And I really didn’t like working for him. And actually did give me my w two when I quit. And yeah, it was not not not a pretty place. So but I started my own company. And I started the company out of desperation because I wanted to be able to stay in Nevada County and make a living and being able to read, but he stayed home. We stayed home mom, she was a stay at home mom. And I want to be able to continue that being able to raise our kids with a parent at home. That was kind of important for both of us. And being able to go to to soccer games and things like that. And it worked out. And you know, here we are now. We’ve got you know, it’s been 20 years. We got 30 employees now and two locations and still growing. So it’s been a it’s been a good ride, but that’s kind of like the, the the thumbnail we’re how I got here. I mean, I didn’t get to ask him any questions. I just like rattled on for 15 minutes there. Sorry. No, no,
Unknown Speaker 23:30
no, I mean, my my. I was curious because I knew that. You had a great story. I know your story was great to share your story. So anyway, that’s a show already. It’s hard to believe
Unknown Speaker 23:40
it’s a show. It’s like oh my gosh, sorry. Hope we didn’t bore you guys. But you know now you know, we’re abt comes. Oh and no, where did abt come? My name is Andrew Twidwell. Not very creative. It’s literally just my initials. Yeah, that’s why that’s where abt comes from.
Unknown Speaker 23:53
Alright, so if you want to call ADT for interior plumbing, electric heat and air needs, you can reach abt at 530-230-9092. You can reach us on the web is ebt.com or go to our Facebook page and check us out there. We are running tight on time, so I’m going to close it for now. See you guys next week.
Unknown Speaker 24:15
Thanks. Bye. Thanks, Andrew. Thanks, Rosalie. Now let’s get that project started. You got this. We’ll be back next Friday morning at nine o’clock on Cancio Newstalk 830
Transcribed by https://otter.ai