20250324 - How to Book 30 Residential Court Jobs (with David Hansen)
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David Hansen: [00:00:00] one of the things I say to people, young contractors it's not this job. It's not if you make money on this job. It's at the end of the year, did you make a living?. And in the process of doing that, you've treated people well. You're building something.
I mean, ~uh, ~I haven't marketed at all. I've done zero marketing since the 80s. [00:01:00]
Joe Freudenberg: Welcome guys. We are back. I'm here with my friend, David Hanson. David, what's going on?
David Hansen: Uh, beautiful morning in California, ~looking, ~looking out the window at fairly blue skies and nice weather.
Joe Freudenberg: almost good enough to paint courts.
David Hansen: ~Almost. ~I'm going to try to sneak one in next week. We have two warm days and then we're back to not too good. ~So I got it.~
Joe Freudenberg: We have the, ~uh, ~the classic fake spring, ~uh, ~here in Cincinnati. So we, yeah, we snuck one in last week, but yeah, we're kind of shutting it down for another 10 days or so. Well, cool, David. Well, I'm super excited to have you on today. Cause I know like what, and maybe you can remind [00:02:00] me how we initially got connected.
Do you remember? I don't, I can't remember.
David Hansen: ~Uh, ~I'm sure it's Facebook. ~I, ~I started doing courts ~and, uh, ~in 2020, uh, is a ~COVID ~COVID thing. And, um, I started, I didn't have, I didn't have anyone to learn from. So I was looking for everything. And, ~uh, ~saw you post somewhere, somehow, something, and I said, Huh, I'm going to contact this guy.
Joe Freudenberg: I love it. I'm glad you did because it's been fun kind of connecting every few months with you. Awesome. Okay, so you started in 2020. So tell, I'd love to just like, take some time to hear your story. ~Um, ~so ~we've got a lot of, ~we've got a lot of dads, young dads that are trying to figure out, okay, what does it look like to start a court business potentially for my family?
~Um, and what, ~what does this look like? ~Uh, ~we'll get into, we're going to do another episode about, ~you know, what, ~what does it look like ~to, ~to run a smaller scale business? So 2020 is when you started. ~Uh, ~doing courts, which means you've had a decent chunk of your life pre as a pre court builder. So give [00:03:00] us, I'd love to just hear a little bit of background on you, maybe some of your family.
And then how in the world did you, you know, get into court building?
David Hansen: I was once young. I'm 67 now. ~Um, ~And I got into contracting, ~uh, ~kind of roundaboutly. I was just looking for work and, ~um, ~started working construction, making things go. And a guy I was working for said, you need to be a contractor.
He really took me under his wing and, ~and, uh, ~gave me some vision. ~Um, ~I was just thinking I'd be, I like to work. ~I like, ~I like to go. And, ~uh, ~he says, no, ~you, ~you got, you can do more than this. So I started. Somewhere back in the 80s contracting and, ~uh, I've always been, uh, ~I like new things. So I do, I specialize in something for a while and then I'd say, yeah, but I never do that.
And ~I, and I, ~so~ I,~ as a general contractor, I didn't build houses for 40 years. ~I, ~I did fire damage for a few years, restoration work, and then ~I. ~I discovered I really love setting finish and I did tile almost [00:04:00] exclusively for five or six years. ~Um, and I just kind of, you know, ~I just moved from thing to thing.
~And, um, ~and then in 2005 6, ~um, ~as I was getting a little older, ~uh, ~I had acquired a lot of background and I started doing more foreman work and less tools. And that drove me nuts, by the way. ~I'm, ~I like to work. But, ~uh, ~you just acquire a lot of background and talking to a lot of people and learning stuff and, ~uh, ~just always kept busy,
Joe Freudenberg: So it sounds like ~every, ~every handful of years you kind of like shifted focus just a little bit. ~So yeah,~
David Hansen: yeah,
Joe Freudenberg: that's great.
David Hansen: I've, I was never diagnosed ADHD, but
Joe Freudenberg: Little business ADHD.
David Hansen: yeah, a little business ADHD. I like, ~uh, ~I like new challenges. Right. I see something and I want to do it. ~Um, ~So, ~uh, ~come COVID came up and one of the things I had given up as a young guy, ~uh, ~when we had kids because I was working a lot, ~um, ~creating different things is, ~um, ~I quit [00:05:00] playing sports, but my oldest, ~um, uh, ~when he got into his thirties, he calls me one day and he says, Hey dad, you know, we need an extra on our softball team.
So I started playing softball again and, ~uh, uh, ~the kids were grown and there was time ~and, ~and I found I really loved that. And, ~um, ~so I was out there doing that and then COVID comes along and stops softball.
Joe Freudenberg: down the, the renewed sports career. ~Ah,~
David Hansen: it killed me. And one of the guys I had managed a softball team with said, well, we should play pickleball.
And I said, I've heard of that. ~uh, uh, ~and he's actually at my house when he brings it up. I have a court. It was, it was set up. It was, it was on the house when I bought it. ~Um,~
Joe Freudenberg: Wait, your buddy had a court or you had
David Hansen: No, I had, I, I had a court. I, I almost tore, I almost tore it out when I moved in. I was
Joe Freudenberg: Oh my gosh. That would have been so tragic.
David Hansen: ~Yeah. ~Yeah. But I mean, it was busted up. There were holes. ~There were, you know, it was, ~it was in bad shape.
And it was actually set up for like, it was a youth tennis court.
Joe Freudenberg: ~Oh, okay. Yeah. A little, ~a [00:06:00] little bigger than a pickleball court
David Hansen: little bear in a tennis, ~uh, ~pickleball court. And then it had seven foot poles so you could set them up for volleyball ~and all~
Joe Freudenberg: Oh, nice. ~That's a great, that's a great pad.~
David Hansen: it's a great pad. So I tore it out, fixed the concrete and,
Joe Freudenberg: Cause you can, cause you know how to do it.
David Hansen: I know what I'm, you know, I know how to do that. I've fixed concrete before. ~And, uh, ~then I said, well, I gotta figure out how to paint a court. So my first pickleball court build was at my house.
Joe Freudenberg: Wow.
David Hansen: I had probably been playing pickleball three weeks when I started the
Joe Freudenberg: Oh my gosh.
David Hansen: And
Joe Freudenberg: All in. No one goes all in that fast. That was pretty impressive.
David Hansen: you're talking to that guy. And, ~um, ~and so I, ~uh. ~You know, just started learning. And, you know, ~you call, ~you call for product and no one wants to sell me anything because I don't know anything.
Joe Freudenberg: Right. So that's, we could, we can maybe hit on that real quick. So there, there is, there is a DIY space in court surfacing, but ~not every, like you're saying, ~not every supplier is eager to just give [00:07:00] anybody their product. Cause then if they do a terrible job, then ~it's, ~it's a bad look on them. ~So, okay. So yeah.~
What did you do about that problem as a DIY guy?
David Hansen: Well, you know, uh, I, I am, maybe not as much as you, but I am a go getter, right? So, I mean,
Joe Freudenberg: I think we're, I think we're cut from the same cloth in that way. ~Yeah.~
David Hansen: So, you know, you're on the phone and ~you're, you're calling, ~you're calling, and I found a guy ~in, ~in Utah, ~uh, ~tennis court supply, I think.
And I convinced him to just talk to me. ~You know, ~I said, well Roger, I've built this, I've done that. I've done two part epoxy marine paint. The stuff you paint the steel on oil rigs, right? ~You know, I, ~I can handle your product. And so ~I, ~I talked him into it, you know. ~He goes, well, so, and ~he sold me the pre mixed buckets.
Which is, you know. All you add two gallons of water to a five gallon bucket. I mean, ~it's, ~it's not a difficult mix.
But, um, they gave me a fair price. And, uh, they didn't give me a great price, but they gave me a fair price. ~And,~
Joe Freudenberg: Well, do you remember what brand that was?
David Hansen: uh, [00:08:00] it's, they, I don't know where they get it. They relabel it under their own,
Joe Freudenberg: ~Oh, I see. Okay. Got you. ~Okay. So you get the product
David Hansen: They get the product.
Joe Freudenberg: and ~how was, ~how was the first painting experience? How'd it go? Is he as easy as painting an oil rig?
David Hansen: Well, ~I mean, ~in the end of the day, yeah. But,
~but, so ~one is I'm cheap, you know, I'm spending all this money already and I don't buy a good squeegee. ~I can, I can, ~I have squeegees, but ~you know, ~the wrong type squeegee. So ~I, ~I figured out how to get the material down nicely with a crappy little one inch foam
Joe Freudenberg: ~Yeah. ~Oh my gosh. That sounds like an absolute nightmare. I'm cringing listening to this.
David Hansen: It, it. The resurfacer was a nightmare and then fixing all the ridges, you know, and I just I like i'm like, oh, ~I can't do this. ~I can't do this. I can't do this, but i'm committed
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. Well, who's going to fix it? ~Yeah.~
David Hansen: Yeah, who's gonna fix it? So, ~uh, ~so I made it work. I got it done and ~uh ~Started [00:09:00] inviting people local people over to play. ~Um~
Joe Freudenberg: What kind of colors did you do?
David Hansen: i'm not very creative.
Uh, you know the standard Stuff that people, I would do it all different now,
Joe Freudenberg: Sure. ~Well, ~have you resurfaced your court since you originally did it?
David Hansen: no, I might soon.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: I'm in the mood to, but ~I don't have, ~I haven't had time,
Joe Freudenberg: Fair enough. ~Yeah.~
David Hansen: But,
Joe Freudenberg: Okay. So you start having people over.
David Hansen: yes, they're having people over, and so then, can you do my driveway? ~I just want to.~
Joe Freudenberg: yeah.
David Hansen: And if, well, now there's new questions because you use a different product, ~uh, you're going to, you can't drive, well, you can drive, but it's not, you know, I said, well, let me make sure.~
So now I'm learning more, ~um, ~chasing more information ~and, ~and I get that done, ~um, ~came out beautiful. And, ~um, ~I don't know that first 2020, I probably did a half dozen quarts.
And then ~the, the, ~the local club said, well, we've got to park downtown. Four tennis courts, unusable asphalt, cracked, lifted offset, you know, just a night.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: And, ~uh, ~[00:10:00] by now I'm working with a sport master. ~They, ~they opened up, ~uh, I couldn't get, ~I think they were open when I started, but they were just getting open. But anyway, they were perfectly willing to start working with
Joe Freudenberg: And they're probably the most DIY friendly ~I'd~
David Hansen: most DIY, definitely. And, ~uh, ~I got to know their western regional guy on the phone
brian Raleigh, great guy, been very helpful to me.
And I'm on the phone, hey I got delaminated paint on these quarts. Hey, I've got, they put a jute mesh down on one of the quarts to build up and went over it, And it's delaminated and coming off.
Joe Freudenberg: Oh,
David Hansen: I've ~got, uh, I ~got cracks that are two inches wide ~and, ~and six inches deep. This has been overlaid. It's the whole asphalt lays 12 inches thick,
Joe Freudenberg: Goodness gracious.
David Hansen: ~and, and, ~and of course then you have the ridges, you know, asphalt and, ~uh,~
Joe Freudenberg: So you went from driveway courts to this monstrosity.
David Hansen: This monstrosity
Joe Freudenberg: So what do you, yeah. What do you do about that?
David Hansen: ~oh, it, ~the project.
Joe Freudenberg: [00:11:00] Yeah. Well, how'd that turn out?
David Hansen: Oh, it's beautiful. Now, that's been four years, three and a half
Joe Freudenberg: Did you bring like an asphalt company in to like do another overlay or did you just fix what was there ~or~
David Hansen: I used grinders, don't use grinders on asphalt, but I use grinders to take down the ridge. Rocks, I mean, it's a mess. ~Uh, ~I can't, I have no idea. I didn't keep records. You know, hundreds of gallons of patch binder. ~know. When you have, ~when you have these giant cracks that are inches deep and inches wide doing quarter inch lifts,
Joe Freudenberg: ~Yeah. ~Yes. Take it slow.
David Hansen: take it slow, you know, just a lot of time and, ~uh, ~nurse that thing to health.
And ~it, uh, ~it looked perfect. Now ~there's, ~there's cracks where those giant, you know,
Joe Freudenberg: So you didn't do any of fabric overlays or anything on that. ~You~
David Hansen: I didn't and I noticed in your videos you do fabric overlays
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. In certain situations. Yeah.
David Hansen: Yeah, and I was going to ask about that because I, Sportmaster is not a fan of that. ~They, they, ~they [00:12:00] steered me away from that. ~And, ~and then another local court builder that I got to know while I was doing that, he'd come by.
~Uh, ~he was telling me that the local racket club did overlays ~and, ~and whoever did that probably did a poor job. But I don't have enough background. But he's telling me how bad those overlays were. And then the overlay on the court, the one court on the project I was doing, it come apart. So, ~um, I, ~I said, I don't do overlays, but you know,
Joe Freudenberg: I don't want to be those guys.
David Hansen: I don't want to be those guys.
That doesn't mean the guys don't, it's not good. It's just, I
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah, man. There's ~so many, yeah. ~So many variables with, ~with, uh, ~fabric systems and moisture, especially like you got to make sure that you don't have a, you know, you're not sitting at a high water table and water's just oozing out of that thing.
David Hansen: ~That's yeah. There's, there's, you know, ~there's problem after problem that you learn ~on the, ~on the run. But,
Joe Freudenberg: you're, you're saying we didn't do any fabric overlays. We just filled the cracks, but it looked great. ~Um, ~okay. So now you've got, you said
David Hansen: played there three [00:13:00] hours yesterday.
Joe Freudenberg: Really? Oh my gosh. And ~it's four. ~It's been four years ~since any, but ~since you touched it and no one else has worked on it,
David Hansen: ~No, perfect. It's, ~it's very, very playable.
Joe Freudenberg: what a beast.
~Well done.~
David Hansen: ~and I, ~and they put the city, put a sign up. I probably sent you a picture once. ~Uh, they, ~they say Dave Hanson Pickleball Courts.
Joe Freudenberg: No way. They put your name on the
David Hansen: put my name on the courts. ~It~
Joe Freudenberg: Did you do it for free?
David Hansen: I did it for close to free.
Joe Freudenberg: Wow. ~I, well, then they, then ~you deserve to have your name on the courts.
David Hansen: well, ~it's not, I mean, ~they bought all the material and,
Joe Freudenberg: ~Okay. ~Yeah, ~sure. You're, ~you're just looking at, so it's your community courts. You're looking to invest in the community, bless the community. Yeah. That's really cool that you did that though.
David Hansen: there, there's multiple hundred people play there every day
Joe Freudenberg: That's fantastic. How many, how many courses did you say it was?
David Hansen: it ended up 12 courts. We turned, uh, we turned four tennis courts in the 12
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: permanent
Joe Freudenberg: Okay. So all pickle, all pickle
David Hansen: Yeah, the city's gone in after the fact and fixed the lights. So, I mean, from first thing in the morning until ~night at ~night, those courts are packed with people playing.
Joe Freudenberg: [00:14:00] So cool. Okay. So ~you, you, ~you do these 12 pickleball courts. That's more than I realized. I think you had told me actually that you'd done that many, ~but okay. So since then, so, ~so now you've got, ~you know, ~a few residential things under your belt, you're connected with sport master, you go out and you bless your community, ~you learn, ~you learn lessons, but the good thing about not getting paid a lot is you get to probably go at your own pace and ~you, ~there's a lot of grace for how it turns out because they're getting a deal.
David Hansen: right. And that's, ~that was, that was, that was ~the counting on the grace. But the truth is, ~it looks, ~it looks so
Joe Freudenberg: looked great. You killed it. Yeah. All right. So then, so then you're like, all right, I can do this. ~So, ~so then what happens from there? What, what's the, what have the last three years look like for you?
David Hansen: Well, ~the, the, ~both with, ~uh, ~Sportmaster and then with the local community, they're looking at this and, you know, and I'm, I'm communicating with my supplier and learning as I go ~and, ~and talking ~with the, ~with Brian, ~the, ~their area rep. ~And there's, you know, one of the, I mean, ~I was thinking, you know, I can do five or six of these courts a year here locally and, ~and, you know, ~I didn't know what to charge.
I didn't know anything really. But, ~you know, ~this is fun. I was, you [00:15:00] know, I've learned something new and I'm in my, I'm having fun.
Joe Freudenberg: Yes. This is ~your, ~your latest thing. ~Yeah.~
David Hansen: Yeah, that is my latest thing. ~And, uh, um, uh, ~Deidre, who works in the Bakersfield, ~uh, ~Sportmaster, you know, ~she goes, you know, I, ~she goes, I get called all the time, DIY people. They don't know what to do, ~you know, they, they, ~and so I start taking phone calls for her and ~I'm, ~I'm coaching DIY people and it ends up and I'm not, I mean, I'm teary.
I'm trying to encourage them cause I think they can do it,
Joe Freudenberg: Right. Cause you did it.
David Hansen: I did it, you know, and I'd say I did this. I have these backgrounds, but I now know I can tell you what you need to know. ~But ~three out of four of those turn into jobs.
Joe Freudenberg: Right. Well, there's some, I want to hit on that. Cause, ~um, ~you know, you were just doing, you were just coaching out of kind of out of the kindness of your heart. You're like, I've done this before. I'm not really looking to like make any crazy business out of this. But if, if Deidre is telling me that there's guys that are trying to figure this out, like I'll be a reason it it's when you are running a business for like for profit, [00:16:00] it's really important that you still adopt that.
That mentality, right? Cause like the reason that they probably want to do actually go from them doing it DIY to then hiring you to do it is they're like, Oh my gosh, this guy. I think I might, after listening to this guy, I'm in over my head and this guy seems to actually care about me. He's not actually selling me on, on him doing the job, but man, I like him so much that I, I'm willing to, I see the gap in my ability and I see that this guy cares for me.
So it seems like a no brainer. So for you guys that are just getting started, like if you can start with that mentality, like David's done, like that's, that's amazing, David. Okay, cool. So you start landing these jobs.
David Hansen: I just, yeah, they start coming in. And I do them too. I do the first, I don't know, I don't know how many I did way too cheap. ~It's like, I gotta do this, you know. ~And, ~um, ~and you go out and of course, it's not what you want. You get, you know, every job has its own nuance. There's, you're, you're still learning.
And, ~uh, ~you're going, oh, I just drove two [00:17:00] hours, you know, four days in a row and
Joe Freudenberg: Oof.
David Hansen: You know, a thousand bucks, it's like, yeah, that doesn't work. So, so my pricing was evolving as I was like, Oh, well, we've got to learn this. You got to learn that. You got to do this. You got to cover that. And, ~um, ~but it was really fun.
~Uh, ~I mean, within six months, I'm, you know, well, actually a lot of it started ~local. That was part of that was ~local. One guy did his own court. He filled his expansion joints with Sikaflex. He's a general contractor. You fill expansion joints with Sikaflex. But acrylic paint doesn't bond to Sikaflex.
Joe Freudenberg: ~like that. ~Yeah.
David Hansen: ~Yeah.~
~Doesn't like that. So, uh, ~I'm out there at his house ~and, ~and once again, just to be decent to the guy. I mean, I just drove out there. We talked and I helped him clean it up. And, ~and, uh, ~you know, but he gives, you know, he I charge him nothing. He's referred to me, ~you know, ~half a dozen jobs.
Joe Freudenberg: Right. Which is, that's another, that's another point to hit for our guys. It's like, man, if you take care of [00:18:00] people, then it may, you know, when you're starting out, especially if you don't have a, if you're transitioning from another job, let's say, ~um, ~you know, you feel the pressure to make money.
David Hansen: Right.
Joe Freudenberg: and ~part of, ~part of this, especially at the residential customer level is, you know, really try to resist that in your first few jobs and just serve people.
And, you know, referrals will come your way, ~uh, ~increasingly. Yeah. That seems so organic how you got started. That's really, this is really cool.
David Hansen: I feel like my whole life is, well, you know, we've talked about faith issues and I just feel like my life has always been led. ~I~
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. So good.
David Hansen: ~uh, but, I, ~one of the things I say to people, ~uh, ~you know, young contractors and stuff, ~It's like, ~it's not this job. It's not if you make money on this job. It's at the end of the year, did you make a living?
Joe Freudenberg: Hmm.
David Hansen: gotta get, if you're looking week to week, which of course the bill payers are looking week to week. I mean, bill collectors, you know, they want their money now. But at the end of the year, you've made a living. ~And, ~and in the process of doing that, you've treated [00:19:00] people well. You're building something.
I mean, it just, ~uh, ~I haven't marketed at all. I've done zero marketing since the 80s.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. ~Amazing.~
David Hansen: everything you do for people, ~it, it, it, ~it just all comes back. ~You help, you help my, ~I mean, I've had calls. We want to build an ADU, you~ you know. ~Okay, well, how'd you get my name? Well, ~you ~25 years ago, ~you, know, ~you fixed this plumbing and didn't charge my sister, ~you know.~
~You know, ~you came out and ~you, you know, ~I was go out to do a bid and you see something you go, Oh, you just,
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: just, this was nothing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm out of here. You know, I mean that I've seriously had those calls and those
Joe Freudenberg: That's incredible. Yeah.
David Hansen: So, I mean, I'm a real believer that ~you, ~you give ~and, ~and it all comes back.
Joe Freudenberg: ~That's been ~that's been true for me and that, you know, whenever you try to force things to happen, that's when, ~uh, ~everything seems to get a little heavier. I've definitely ~had ~had moments like that in my business where it's like, I'm going to push, I'm going to, you know, I feel maybe greed [00:20:00] kind of popping up in my, in my heart or my mind and to ~try to, yeah, uh, Regate, just ~try to stifle that and, ~and serve to be like ~serve people.
That's what business is, right? It's providing value. ~Um, ~do it with integrity and things seem to flow a lot better when we have that approach. So, so good. Okay. So ~you're, ~you're serving people. ~You're, ~you're figuring out, you're learning the lessons, you're figuring out your pricing structure. ~Um, you know, what,~
David Hansen: You figure out they don't always tell you the truth when you're bidding, you know long distance and you say send me pictures ~and ~And you don't get enough pictures. You're hiding things from
Joe Freudenberg: That's right. Yeah, that's the, yeah, that's the negative to ~taking, ~taking jobs further away for
David Hansen: Well,
Joe Freudenberg: But you started to get, ~you started to, ~you started like stacking up these calls, ~um, ~and then you, now you're turning it into a real business. Like how long did that process take? ~You, ~you go, you're going from, you know, driveway courts, you fix your community courts, you get a few more residentials, you're learning the lessons.
And then at what point were you like, I think this is my full time thing. [00:21:00] Like, yeah. How did that
David Hansen: I still have
~I still have ~Until a couple weeks ago I had crews going doing building remodels and everything
Joe Freudenberg: ~Yeah. ~For your other business.
David Hansen: my other business, I am in the process of this year of trying to retire from that and then pare down. ~This is honestly what's going on. ~I'm trying to pare down how many, how many courts I do so that I can
Joe Freudenberg: problem.
David Hansen: yeah, it's a great problem.
~You know, ~I would like to do maybe 30 courts and, and if, ~I mean, ~I'm booked. If 30 courts is the goal, I don't have to need any more jobs this year.
Joe Freudenberg: that's incredible. So in terms of months, ~so right now, during the time of this recording, we're, we're mid March it's March 20th right now. ~How far out into the season are you booked right now?
David Hansen: ~Um, ~that, that's a good question.
Joe Freudenberg: Like June,
David Hansen: Oh, June or July, easily,
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like at 30 courts because, and then we should, yeah, sorry. Go ahead.
David Hansen: My wife retires, I think I've said, in May. And actually the goal is that June 1st that she becomes my crew. And the two of [00:22:00] us
Joe Freudenberg: yeah. You did tell me that.
David Hansen: And so if we,
Joe Freudenberg: wife duo. ~Let's go.~
David Hansen: And if we do that, and we work Not full days, you know, then I've got to call everyone and say, and actually I've been pretty honest. I've been honest with everyone.
I'm not sure my schedule. So a lot of these people know it might be August, September
Joe Freudenberg: And that's not scaring them away.
David Hansen: It's not scaring them away. They want a good job. And at this point, ~I've got enough courts, enough, I mean, ~people know I'm going to do right by them. So, ~uh, ~better.
Joe Freudenberg: ~still, ~are you still using sport master pretty exclusively?
David Hansen: I am, they've, they've been so darn good to me. ~Um, uh, ~that I can't imagine, ~um, ~changing. ~Um, I think, ~I can't say they're, you know, then people ask me this, I say, well I can't tell you they're the best company, because I haven't used this company or that
Joe Freudenberg: just know it's working. ~They're being, they're being kind to you. ~It's a good relationship
David Hansen: It's a good relationship and I'm not, I have had problems, but I can't say that any of [00:23:00] the problems I've had are directly related to their product.
It's,
Joe Freudenberg: and it seems to take care of contractors. I always want to call out when we're doing these interviews. Like, who are you using? What's your experience been like? Cause our guys are, you know, you know, we've got a lot of new guys trying to figure out, okay, what, what, look, do I have a sportmaster close to me?
Is accurate? Like, am I, am I in Atlanta? Can I use Acrotech or like Lakehold or California or whatever? ~Um, ~trying to really understand, but you
close, doesn't mean that they're the right fit. ~So~
David Hansen: ~right. I've, ~I've spoken to the owner of the company. ~He's, I had, ~I had a court with a high water table that was problematic. They did have a vapor barrier, but ~they. ~They put sod all the way up against the cork. And so there's no moisture ~on, ~barrier on the sides. ~And, ~and I was having blistering.
~And, um, ~and when I say was having, I'm still having. ~Um, uh, ~it's an ongoing, ~uh, ~thing. But, ~um, ~the homeowner's positive it's a product failure, ~you know.~
Joe Freudenberg: Sure.
David Hansen: We have a great relationship and ~they, ~[00:24:00] they graciously want to blame the product ~and, ~and not, ~uh, anything else, uh, ~me or their contractor that built ~the, ~the slab.~ uh, um, ~so, ~uh, uh, ~to have integrity with them, I said, well, ~I'll, ~I'll contact the company. And I talked to the. Local, you know, the supplier, Deidre, and then I talked to Brian, the area rep, and then I thought, I mean, ~they, ~they reached out to me to, you know, educate me and help me as much as possible.
Joe Freudenberg: That's great. So ~you had, ~you had support even. Yeah. When there's issues, that's
David Hansen: phenomenal, ~uh, ~to me, a phenomenal company. So ~I, I'm, I'm not, ~I'm not going anywhere.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. I wanted to ask you about the concrete slab. Like you mentioned the guy that built the slab. Now ~you ~you've got your general contracting business. You're doing remodels and things like that.
~Are you, how, how has your business set up? ~Are you subbing out the concrete guy a lot of the time, or are you showing up to an existing slab? ~What's~
David Hansen: I think I'm 90 percent showing up to an existing slab. ~Um, ~I'm probably 5 percent subbing out the concrete. ~Uh, and~
Joe Freudenberg: just don't want to take on that liability.
David Hansen: ~Um, ~it's the distance. ~If, ~if a job ~is, is, ~is 2 hours or more away, ~I, I, I, ~I [00:25:00] help them find somebody if they can't. ~And I, or I, uh, ~when you find your concrete guy, have him call me and I'll talk him through.
~Um, Concrete for, uh, a court, uh, and, um, ~but if it's within two hours, ~uh, that ~actually an hour or two, ~two hours, ~I have a guy that will travel and do that without adding extra costs. ~He, you know, ~the guy I've worked with for a long time. And if it's within an hour, I have my guys do it.
Joe Freudenberg: What percentage of your jobs, David, would you say are within an hour? Because you're doing mostly residential, right?
David Hansen: ~Yeah. ~Yeah. ~Um, ~this year only residential. ~Um, ~Okay. ~Um, I, I, ~I did California have the Department of Labor Relations number ~and, ~and prevailing wage and all the paperwork and I've done it, but I'm not doing that anymore. ~It's~
Joe Freudenberg: a, that's a whole nother ballgame. ~Yep.~
David Hansen: a whole nother ballgame. So I'm staying, uh, well, country clubs don't require that.
So I have like a,
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. More
David Hansen: club about an hour away ~that, ~that I'll probably do their courts. ~Uh, that's, that's, ~that'll throw a loophole in my plan. Cause that's. Four or five tennis courts a night, eight or ten. Pickleball courts, and that's not on my 30 count. [00:26:00] Yeah, yeah,
Joe Freudenberg: podcast or listening to this course video, ~um, ~you know, it's like ~they're, ~they're thinking, is this the business for me? What now you, ~you're, ~you're pairing this with your, you said you just are kind of wrapping up your remodeling business.
You're trying ~to, ~to bring that to a close. ~How, ~how would you advise somebody looking at this as ~a, ~a viable business option for their family, ~um, ~in terms of the kind of money you can make in the terms of lifestyle, ~um, yeah. ~What would you say to somebody that's considering starting this as their, especially their main business?
David Hansen: yeah, ~I, that's a, ~if I was in southern California, ~I mean, ~if I was in a big community, a big area, you know,
Joe Freudenberg: And remind everybody of where, what part of California
David Hansen: I'm in the Central Valley. My city has a couple thousand people in it. I'm ~Um, ~five minutes from Modesto, which has whatever, a couple hundred thousand,
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. ~Right.~
David Hansen: ~um, ~to travel to do courts. [00:27:00] I mean, it's, you know, ~I, I, ~I have to travel to do courts.
~Um, ~if I was ~in a, ~in a more populated area, I would tell people to jump on this. ~There's so much, ~there's so much work. The work is so good. It's hard work. Anyone that says it's not hard work is not paying attention. ~Um, ~you gotta run. ~Um, ~but ~if, if, uh, It's, ~it's phenomenally easy while being hard. ~Uh, the, the, it's,~
Joe Freudenberg: You're going to work hard, but man, ~you're, ~we're making art. ~We're making, ~we're making something super fun for people.
David Hansen: We're making, and that's what I tell people. It's Christmas morning every time I've done a job. The people come out and there's the, you know, of course they're usually watching, but when the lines go on and their eyes are big and they're like, oh, wow. And, uh, I mean, they literally can't wait to pay you.
Oftentimes people can, you know, can you, can you stay tomorrow and play, you know, and I've done that. I've stayed an extra day.
Joe Freudenberg: that's the best I I'll, I'll like teach. There's been a couple of times where we've done a quarter and I'll actually come back a couple weeks later and teach them for, I'll throw that into the [00:28:00] deal. Like, you know, we'll, we'll play a few games and I'll give you guys some pointers
David Hansen: I did a, I did a court, ~uh, ~basketball court in St. Helena and Wine Country, beautiful, beautiful place. They actually weren't redoing the court for play, they were doing the court, redoing the court to be a dance floor for their son's wedding.
Joe Freudenberg: Oh, wow. Okay.
David Hansen: and that was a job the last summer and my wife went with me and helped me. And so the two of us were working and the two people there, they actually, we had dinner with them while we were doing the court, they made us a marvelous dinner. ~We had, ~we had their wine from their winery, ~you know, ~they sent me home with a check and a few bottles of their wine.
They sent me pictures of the wedding, ~you know, ~the reception, people dancing. I mean, they're like friends. I mean, you become
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: friends with people. ~And, uh, it's kind, ~it's just really cool.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah. ~So, ~so especially if you're like, and we got a lot of these types of guys that are pretty relational, they're coming from other jobs that, ~you know, ~are pretty like, yeah, very relationally skilled a lot of these guys. [00:29:00] And so that's, yeah, ~that's what this, ~especially at the residential level, ~even, ~even municipalities, like, you know, they're excited to see their community, ~um, you know, ~really benefit from this.
David Hansen: Beg you. I have municipal municipalities calling me saying, you did this job. We want your work. I guess some of the guys that do production like that don't do great work. ~I don't know. I don't, you know, but, uh, ~they're like, please bid. ~Uh, ~that's a nightmare. I don't want to do the paperwork.
I don't want to, you know.
Joe Freudenberg: Yeah.
David Hansen: ~Come on, ~come on, you
Joe Freudenberg: ~out, ~you figured out, and you're going to continue to figure it out with your wife, how to, we're going to do a separate conversation, separate video on what it looks like to run a smaller crew,
~uh, and still, ~and still profit. Well, so, ~um, ~but that's for another video.
David Hansen: This is another
Joe Freudenberg: so much for sharing ~your, ~your story, David is ~so, ~so encouraged.
And, ~um, ~yeah, I love how organic, ~um, ~this happened for you and your family. So, yeah, thanks for sharing your story.
David Hansen: You bet. [00:30:00]
