What does it take to bring the reality of the trade to the big screen? In this episode of PowerGrid alks, host Thomas Williamson sits down with Chad Dubea, an industry veteran whose career spans decades, from his early days with Red Simpson to building multiple successful line companies and helping develop the Hollywood film 'Life on the Line' starring John Travolta.
Chad isn't just a businessman; he is the founder of the Fallen Linemen Organization, a non-profit dedicated to honoring the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice and supporting the families they left behind. We go behind the scenes to explore the raw pressures of owning a contractor company, the changing culture of the trade, and why safety must be rooted in brotherhood rather than just a rulebook.
In this episode, we discuss:
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The Hollywood Journey: Behind the scenes of 'Life on the Line' and the mission to show the world what the trade really takes.
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The Fallen Linemen Organization: The inspiration behind the non-profit and how the industry can better support its own.
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Industry Evolution: From the "wild west" days of Red Simpson to modern contractor culture.
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Leadership & Trust: Why the foundation of every successful crew is built on character and looking out for the person next to you.
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The Mental Toll: Discussing the real pressures of the job and the responsibility that comes with the trade.
Whether you're a journeyman with 30 years in the trade, an apprentice just starting your journey, or an industry executive, this conversation is a tribute to the people who keep the lights on.
(1:42) - Roots With Red Simpson
(4:10) - Mentors And Lessons
(9:08) - Safety Versus Production
(13:45) - Starting T&D
(18:27) - Culture And Caring
(24:44) - Making A Lineman Movie
(29:35) - Travolta And Public Impact
(32:06) - Ice Storm Tragedy
(37:11) - Memorial Vision Begins
(38:49) - High Voltage Rose Story
(42:56) - Safety And Gut Checks
(46:57) - Future Of The Trade
(50:07) - Culture, Mental Health, Drugs
(53:32) - Rapid Fire Round
(1:01:21) - Legacy Unity And Farewell
Support the Cause: Learn more about the Fallen Linemen Organization and how you can help at: https://fallenlinemen.org
Connect with Power Grid Talks:
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Website: https://powergridtalks.com
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Follow us for more stories from the bucket trucks to the boardrooms!
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So what does a lineman, a Hollywood movie, and an organization honoring
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fallen line workers all have in common?
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The answer is Chad Dubea, and in this episode I sit down with Chad, a man
00:00:09
whose journey through this industry spans decades from getting to start
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working with Red Simpson, to building multiple successful companies and helping
00:00:18
develop and fund the Hollywood film life on the line, starring John Travolta.
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Chad has touched this industry in many ways.
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He's also the founder of the Fallen Lineman organization.
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We talk about the real pressures of owning a line company, the
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cultural shifts happening across the industry, why trust and safety have
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to be the foundation of every crew.
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And why Chad felt it was so important to show the world what this job really takes.
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This isn't just a conversation about business.
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It's about the responsibility that comes with the trade and the
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brotherhood behind the power lines.
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Let's talk about it.
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You are listening to power grid talks from the bucket trucks to the boardrooms.
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I'm your host, Tom Williamson, a journeyman lineman with
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over 15 years in the trade.
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Here we bring you real stories and real conversations from the
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field to the executive suites of the electric utility world.
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It's about the people who keep the power flowing and the grid strong.
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Let's get to work.
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All right, so today for this episode of Power Grid Talks.
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We are sitting down with a man whose fingerprints are all over
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the industry, from the field to the offices, and even out in Hollywood.
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It's, uh, Mr. Chad Dubea.
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Hello.
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Nice.
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How we doing today, Chad?
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Great, great.
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Glad to be here.
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Thank you.
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Yeah, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
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Uh, stuff just aligned and it just worked out, right?
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Yes, it did.
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Pretty awesome situation.
00:01:38
Yep.
00:01:39
Perfect time to be at the Lyman Ranch.
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Yeah, for sure, for sure.
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So, um, let, let's talk about, there's so much to dive in into here, but let's talk
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about your start in the industry, right?
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So how, how'd you get to meet.
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Alignment.
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Yeah.
00:01:51
So my dad was actually in the, in contracting world of Red Simpson
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and probably a lot of people know about the Red Simpson Simpson years.
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Oh yeah.
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They were big back in the day.
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Yep, yep, yep.
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Um, and he was a division manager and you know, as so as long as I can
00:02:05
remember, that's was with Red Simpson.
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And uh, in the summers, you know, at 16 he'd throw me out on the cruise and you
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know, go work and he'd tell the foreman, Hey, make sure you work his ass off.
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So he don't want to.
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That's awesome.
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You know, he wants to go to school, make sure you want you work.
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Make him realize work.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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This is work.
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But, uh, that didn't work 'cause I love the work.
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That's cool.
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Backfired on him a little bit.
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That's right.
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It did.
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Yeah.
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I love the work.
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Uh, but so every, every summer going there and he would.
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To send me on transmission cruises and, and this and that.
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But, uh, eventually whenever I got outta high school and had a baby,
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and, you know, at first actually he wouldn't gimme a job, but he, uh,
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he made me go work other places.
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Yeah.
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And then eventually I was like, man, you gotta gimme a break for sure.
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And he, uh, he, he hired me and from there, started back at
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the bottom and worked a way up.
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And, you know, I feel very honored.
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There's a, a guy in the industry and his name, uh, he's actually
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a hall of fame famer as well.
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Clifton Dy.
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Okay.
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And was on Clifton Ty's crew coming up.
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And in our area, the Draughty brothers are like, you know, some
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of the icons, some of the best.
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Yeah, that's cool.
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So, and then John Clark and Rick Cook and those guys like that, so was around those
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guys and you know, and it was always, I guess having my dad as a manager.
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Right.
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I think that helped my career.
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'cause I didn't want to be looked at as some lazy ass kid, boss's kid.
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Yep.
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You know, I wanted people to make want.
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Me on their crew.
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Yeah.
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And so working hard and, and I think, you know, did that and uh, was so, worked
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on a lot of people's crews and got all the, you know, all the different parts
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of the industry, the underground, the overhead, the transmission and all that.
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And um, so really did that and worked our way up and eventually into management
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and then into starting our own company.
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That's cool.
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And a lot of people don't realize.
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Working for your dad is probably harder than working for anyone else.
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He's gonna be harder on you as being his son than he is anybody else
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in the company, I'm sure, right?
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Yes, yes, for sure.
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Yeah, without a doubt.
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But it was, you know, I think you, you definitely look at it
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and sometimes the, the bosses kids are you, you hear them all.
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He ain't worth the crap.
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Yeah, that's, that's just, that was, that was a driving force for me to
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be better actually not be that guy.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, that guy.
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That's cool.
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That's cool.
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So let's talk about some of those early mentors and some of the
00:04:13
tough lessons you've learned.
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So you were, sounds like pretty lucky in the early days to be underneath
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some pretty good dudes, right?
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Right.
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Yep.
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So, um, did they take you underneath their wing or were they.
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Hey, kid, you're never gonna make it type of guys.
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Yeah, no, no.
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They, of course, they took me outta the wing.
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I mean, I'm a pretty outgoing guy.
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I was a worker, so, you know, it's easy to, I was always in there
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getting, you know, wanting to be involved and things like that.
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So yeah, I can remember, you know, a lot of different things.
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Uh, and the first time I put, um, uh, we reproductive our job
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and we had to climb me and John Clark was my foreman at the time.
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He, uh, you know, I'm up there.
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He let me go climbing.
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We're we're.
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From the wire, from the in, from the dolly to the insulator.
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And I'm up there trying to fight, you know, I can't remember the wire
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size, probably 7, 9, 5 or something like that, but bigger than, yeah.
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I couldn't.
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And I was, and he was like, Hey, you know, let me come up there and do it.
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Nope.
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I'm gonna get it.
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I'm, and I just kept fighting with it, and eventually I just
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say, all right, come show me.
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Yep.
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And he climb up there and he showed me how to just roll it over and Right.
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Like it was, man, it was so easy.
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And I was like, all right, I get, and I go to the next one.
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And, you know, it just had to be shown.
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So that was, that's definitely one thing.
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I talked to John still quite a bit, and we laugh about those kind of times and Yeah.
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Um, being with Clifton and, uh, you know, just, just going up through the
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industry, man, it's just been being good and seeing a lot of, a lot of different
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aspects, different ways of doing things.
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Um, and also getting back to, you know, seeing, you know, with, with
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having a, of a dad that was in the management so you could go home.
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You know, I, I'll never forget, I got Jeremy Hazelton, he was
00:05:41
a lineman and he's, he was, um.
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He'd ask me, where's your, where's your dad at?
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You know, well, he is in Mexico and, you know, well, I never, I bought a lot of
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trips to Mexico, but never been to Mexico.
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So I get to hear from the field at an early age, gripes about the company.
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Oh, yeah.
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And then at home I get to hear it from the company that gripes about the people.
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Yeah.
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And so you gotta see both sides.
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I got to see both sides of that's, I think it is, I really
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think it, it helped probably.
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Yeah, for sure.
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Right.
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It was, it was a contributing factor.
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Maybe it was making a difference to you before you even knew it
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was making a difference to you.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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That's pretty awesome.
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I love how those old timers in this trade didn't have to be the
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strongest or the fastest, but they knew how to be efficient.
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Right.
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And they knew how to figure stuff out.
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Yep.
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Yep.
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And hey, we were talking a little bit a while ago though, how the, the change,
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how easy things are today to get done.
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Yeah.
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As you as from back then, but yet you know, that we should be more efficient.
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Yeah.
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And, and because of the tools and, and the equipment that we have today.
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And Yeah.
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Sometimes we were not as, I mean, what we have gained in
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efficiency, I think we've kind of.
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Slacked off on, on the hard work part of it.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Guys back then knew what hard work was and they were not afraid of That's right.
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Yeah.
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Yep.
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It was a lot of pride.
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Yeah, for sure.
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So what point was it in, in the career that you knew,
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Hey, this is gonna be for me.
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I'm, I'm not gonna go to college, like dad was hoping I would,
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I'm, I'm gonna be in this trade.
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Was there like a moment that you could think of?
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I don't think so.
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No, not really.
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Yeah.
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It just happened over time.
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Right.
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I remember just being with Clifton, working on that, on that crew,
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and getting a call from, uh, a guy that was working down South Texas
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to come run some of his crews.
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And I, you know, I didn't want to do it at the time because I was like,
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man, I'm comfortable being a lineman.
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Everything's great.
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Loving it.
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Yeah, loving it.
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Why would I want, why would I wanna go do that?
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And he ended up talking to me into it.
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So boom, my family down to Harlingen and uh, you know, started that management
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into management and, um, you know, that gave me my first really opportunity
00:07:33
with and with a group of people and then taking those guys on storm and,
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you know, it was just, it was just, you became in your blood, right?
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Just like you, man, it gets in your blood.
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And now that's it.
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That's it.
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It, it is cool too.
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Like, you, you don't even realize that it's happening, but it's
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happening right in front of you.
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Like you said, when you're a journeyman lineman, I know a lot of
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journeyman lineman out there that love being a journeyman lineman and
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don't ever want to do anything else.
00:07:57
Right.
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Until you realize that, hey, some of this other stuff is cool too.
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Yeah, right.
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For sure.
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But yeah, being German lineman is probably the best job in the trade.
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It gets, uh, a lot more headaches as you keep climbing that ladder.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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Oh yeah.
00:08:09
You put after the days though, we'd just go home, go to the
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hotel, or whatever it is.
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You don't have to worry about it until the next day.
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Yep.
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Yep.
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Let's talk about some of the projects you've done over the years.
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Right.
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So I, I know you've done a lot of projects and it doesn't even have to be.
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Big, massive projects.
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Right.
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But is there one that sticks out that you're like, man, this,
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this project meant something.
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This project was awesome.
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I'll always remember this project.
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Yeah.
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Is there one of those?
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Well, of course it's the last project I did on a crew.
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Okay.
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You know, that's, it's there in Beaumont and I drive by it all the time.
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We did a road widening work with Clifton, uh, on his crew.
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And, uh, so you, I go by that and the polls are leaning a little bit
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now and that's been, I don't know how 30, 35 years ago, whatever it was.
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And I'm like, so yeah, tho that's probably my biggest price.
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I can remember, of course you go around town in Beaumont where I grew up on
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the Entergy system and stuff, and see polls that we did here and there, but
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the typical time, Hey, I did that.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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The one that really meant was that last one, that, that was the last job
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we did before I moved up, I guess.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That's cool.
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Yeah.
00:09:04
Last time we really putting on those hooks and being in alignment.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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The job itself evolves over time.
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Right.
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So what do you think some of the biggest evolutions are on the safety
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side of it from back when you started?
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To today?
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'cause I know safety's changed a lot since then.
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Right?
00:09:18
What, what's some of the biggest factors that have changed?
00:09:20
Well, I think a lot of the, for sure the, the power companies and
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the car they have, they have driven safety to, to their contractors.
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So they're, we're an extension of their workforce and so that's really helped
00:09:31
the contract inside a lot to Yeah.
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To, you know, get things in line and get safer and more Yep.
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You know, you have your processes and procedures and all that.
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And so I think that was really a, a big turning point in our industry.
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Now I do have to say, uh, that, you know, I feel like, you know,
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I told you before I was outta the industry for about five years.
00:09:51
Yeah.
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After my wife had passed away, and now getting back into it.
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You know, it, seeing it 5, 5, 6 years later, it has changed a
00:09:59
lot in that little small time.
00:10:01
Yeah.
00:10:01
And I do kind of feel like, because there's so much work going on today,
00:10:05
and I, you know, look, I may be out of the step here, but I, I feel
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like we have taken a step back on our safety expectations because
00:10:13
of the work needing to get done.
00:10:14
Yeah.
00:10:14
Which, you know, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing, but I look
00:10:18
back and say, man, some of the stuff we were doing, you know, back with t and
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d and, and, and we're not doing that today, and like, why aren't we, and
00:10:24
now we're in the process of having to rebuild back to where we already were.
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Yeah.
00:10:29
So I think it, it, it's, and I kind of worry about that, honestly.
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Yeah.
00:10:32
Because I feel like we have taken a little step back and we need to refocus that
00:10:36
on, on, you know, and, and it's, it's regime changes if you think about it.
00:10:40
So power company guys that leave, you know, and all the ideas and,
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and things that they required.
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Contractors are doing things, you know, they, those guys are gone now and new
00:10:48
regimes coming up and then they have different ideas and they let, they let
00:10:52
those kind of rules and, and things, you know, get, you know, they go to the side
00:10:58
and now they got their own stuff and Yeah.
00:11:00
And to me it just kind of really feels like we're in this, this, we're
00:11:03
redoing what we've already done.
00:11:04
Yeah.
00:11:04
And you're onto something there.
00:11:05
And I, I have similar mindset about it.
00:11:07
So to me it's a change of the way things were done.
00:11:12
So for years at these power companies, the people that were in charge of them.
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Came from the field.
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Right.
00:11:18
And they did that four years back when you started.
00:11:20
I'm sure the head cheese at that power company down there was a lineman before,
00:11:25
so he knew what it took to be safe and do things safely and that kind
00:11:28
of stuff, but also get things done.
00:11:30
The industry went through a change there where they brought people from colleges.
00:11:34
Who had degrees and not necessarily earned it with blood, sweat, and tears.
00:11:38
And then those guys started trying to tell people how to do things.
00:11:41
Mm-hmm.
00:11:42
And production started getting pushed a little bit more there
00:11:45
for a while in the industry.
00:11:46
And I'm not saying production's a bad thing by any means, but going
00:11:49
too fast and trying to get things done and only focusing on dollars
00:11:52
and cents is a way to find ourselves in a more unsafe environment.
00:11:56
Right.
00:11:57
Without a doubt.
00:11:57
And man, I never even thought about that with the, you know, the guys
00:12:00
that were from the field and now we just got feel from colleges.
00:12:04
Yeah.
00:12:04
That's, there's a lot of that going on.
00:12:06
That's right.
00:12:06
Yeah.
00:12:07
I think that makes a big difference.
00:12:08
It does.
00:12:08
And yeah.
00:12:09
And just if we can you talk about production Without a doubt, man.
00:12:12
Like say the only place you could start cutting.
00:12:15
Anything is in safety.
00:12:16
Yep.
00:12:16
So if you're not planning it, man, I see that so much too.
00:12:19
These days we wait till the next morning until we're planning our job.
00:12:22
Back in the day, I gonna forget, you know, Tim and Cliff, they
00:12:25
would drop us off at the hotel and they would go ride that job out.
00:12:29
Yeah.
00:12:29
While, 'cause they didn't wanna pay us to be riding around looking at
00:12:32
the job, but they would go look at the job and they would get a plan.
00:12:35
The next morning we had a plan Yep.
00:12:37
For the next day.
00:12:38
Yep.
00:12:38
And things were just, and look, you're having fun out there, laughing and joking,
00:12:42
having fun versus being a bump of a log.
00:12:44
You know, all that just really matters.
00:12:46
Yep.
00:12:46
And, and, and with production and, and safety and everything, so Yeah.
00:12:50
The only only air we could cut is safety.
00:12:53
Yeah.
00:12:53
Unfortunately.
00:12:54
Yeah.
00:12:54
And, and those guys that you talk about that were iconic guys for you Right.
00:12:57
They would drop you guys off the hotel and go back out to the job and drive
00:13:00
it out and plan it out and stuff.
00:13:02
You see a lot less general foreman doing that these days, right?
00:13:06
Everybody is the, hey, what's in it for me Mindset instead of, Hey, this is
00:13:10
what I've gotta do for my role for these guys to make sure everything goes right.
00:13:14
And I, I feel like some of that has gotten lost over the years.
00:13:16
State of doubt.
00:13:17
Yeah, a hundred percent.
00:13:18
Yeah.
00:13:18
A hundred percent.
00:13:19
But that's can, the thing that ask myself is, can you bring it back?
00:13:22
And yes, it could be brought back.
00:13:24
You know?
00:13:24
It can be, sure it can.
00:13:25
It's gonna be a slow change.
00:13:26
It's gonna slow back change because it didn't change back like it is overnight.
00:13:29
It took several years now.
00:13:31
So a slow change to get it, you know?
00:13:33
But man, the workloads are just, yeah, unbelievable.
00:13:36
The work out there.
00:13:37
The amount of work that needs to happen on this grid right now.
00:13:41
Is bigger than most people realize.
00:13:42
Right?
00:13:43
Yeah, for sure.
00:13:44
Yep.
00:13:44
So lots of opportunity there.
00:13:45
So you, you talked about you were a lineman and you transitioned
00:13:49
into the management side of it.
00:13:50
So let's talk about what that looked like and, and what company that
00:13:54
was with and that kind of stuff.
00:13:55
Yep.
00:13:55
So that was Red Simpson.
00:13:56
Yep.
00:13:56
And, uh, so I started with them full-time in like 96 and then, uh, about 2002 is
00:14:03
when I went down to, uh, to Harlingen and became, got, got my leadership role.
00:14:08
Okay.
00:14:09
And, um.
00:14:10
Then from there, you know, rich Simpson had gotten bought out by Pike.
00:14:13
Yep.
00:14:14
In 2004 maybe.
00:14:17
Uh, yeah, about 2004.
00:14:18
'cause we stayed there for about a year.
00:14:20
Okay.
00:14:20
And then started t and D Solutions.
00:14:23
Okay.
00:14:23
Left Pike and started, started our own company.
00:14:25
And, um, you know, we're able Got you.
00:14:28
Say that like, it's so nonchalant.
00:14:29
Start our own company, you know, just another day.
00:14:32
That's a big deal.
00:14:32
It it was, it, it really was.
00:14:34
And that, but it, it, and look, starting a company today was different
00:14:37
than that, that time, you know, for today's way more competition.
00:14:41
Yeah.
00:14:41
A lot harder to get into, you know, power companies, things like that.
00:14:45
So It is, it is, it was a different time.
00:14:46
Yeah.
00:14:47
Um, and the things that you don't wanna get into all.
00:14:51
No.
00:14:51
Why I left Pike and all that stuff.
00:14:53
No, that's not important.
00:14:53
That's not important.
00:14:54
We all have phases in our lives.
00:14:56
Right.
00:14:56
And sometimes you just phase out of one spot and go into another.
00:14:59
Right.
00:15:00
And it's just life and how it works.
00:15:02
Yeah.
00:15:02
So, yeah.
00:15:02
That's right.
00:15:03
Yeah.
00:15:03
So these people say every day.
00:15:06
These companies just pop up everywhere.
00:15:07
There's companies all over the place.
00:15:09
I'm telling you right now.
00:15:09
Companies do not just pop up.
00:15:11
It doesn't work like that.
00:15:12
Right, right.
00:15:13
There's a lot that goes into it, especially the ones that are gonna
00:15:15
be here for the longevity of things or are doing things out of passion
00:15:18
instead of chasing that dollar sign.
00:15:21
And, uh, I think companies get a bad reputation for something that,
00:15:23
oh, they're, they're everywhere.
00:15:25
You throw a hat and hit a line company.
00:15:27
That's not the case, especially good line companies.
00:15:29
Right, right.
00:15:30
Yep.
00:15:30
There's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that goes in behind that.
00:15:32
So, um, let's talk about the d and t phase.
00:15:35
So how, how did all that start?
00:15:36
What part of the country were you in?
00:15:38
So, um, with t and d?
00:15:40
Yeah.
00:15:40
Yeah.
00:15:40
So that was, uh, it was Texas, so it was right after Rita, you know, Katrina.
00:15:45
Oh yeah.
00:15:45
So it was a perfect, you know, again, a perfect time
00:15:47
opportunity to start Opportunity.
00:15:47
Yeah.
00:15:48
Opportunity to start.
00:15:48
And we started with, uh, 15 guys that, you know, came to the company and, um, over
00:15:54
the, from two, and that was 2005, October, 2005 from there to, uh, and we, we built
00:16:01
it up organically ourselves to about 450 people, um, in the 10, in the five years.
00:16:07
So in five years you managed to get 450 people to believe in you guys as
00:16:11
a company and the culture that you had and the things you were doing to
00:16:14
basically follow you in the battle.
00:16:15
'cause that's what line work is every day.
00:16:17
Right.
00:16:17
Right.
00:16:17
It's a battle.
00:16:18
Right, right.
00:16:18
That's cool.
00:16:19
And, and if you think some of those guys that I worked for in
00:16:21
Beaumont, you know, buddy Park.
00:16:23
Tim dropped all those guys, they came work with me.
00:16:25
That's, yeah.
00:16:26
So, you know, they, they trusted enough and Yeah.
00:16:28
I mean, I trust Daniel.
00:16:29
Well, they knew.
00:16:29
Yeah.
00:16:29
They knew.
00:16:30
Yeah.
00:16:30
And, and look, we were, we, we had a, a purpose and a mission to do.
00:16:34
And, um, you know, it was so, it just, the stars aligned and,
00:16:38
you know, just, that's awesome.
00:16:39
It was great.
00:16:40
That's awesome.
00:16:40
So, as an owner in the utility industry, what, what's some of the
00:16:43
biggest challenges that come with that?
00:16:45
Back, back then, or even today?
00:16:47
Mm-hmm.
00:16:48
Well, today's a lot different than back then, but back, you know,
00:16:50
it's always cash flow, I guess.
00:16:52
Sure.
00:16:52
Capital is a big problem.
00:16:53
Yeah.
00:16:54
Cash flow.
00:16:55
Cash flow.
00:16:55
Yeah.
00:16:56
Um, and, and can you put more crews on and how much, because your customers,
00:17:01
the power codes, they're not gonna pay you for 60 to 90, 120 days.
00:17:04
Yeah.
00:17:05
You know, so front load in that, that cash flow is a, is the biggest struggle really.
00:17:10
Yeah.
00:17:10
You're paying guys to put food on the table.
00:17:12
Right.
00:17:12
But you're not getting food put on your table for a while.
00:17:14
That's right.
00:17:15
Yeah.
00:17:15
And that is, that's definitely the hardest, hardest thing.
00:17:18
And so making sure that you don't grow too fast.
00:17:21
Um, you know, I, I just recently got back in the industry and, and partnered
00:17:25
with a guy, um, actually two partners, but, uh, one was on a, a non-union
00:17:30
company camp, and, uh, one's with a union company with, uh, Tim, uh, with
00:17:35
Power Line Construction Services and.
00:17:38
Amp was, they, they basically grew too fast and they were in financial trouble,
00:17:43
and so came in and was gonna help.
00:17:46
Yep.
00:17:46
The owner there and things didn't work out with he and I And you
00:17:50
had, he ended up had to leave.
00:17:52
Yep.
00:17:52
Because he was sinking the company more and more.
00:17:54
Yeah.
00:17:54
Just couldn't get it.
00:17:56
Couldn't get it.
00:17:56
He just, he thought that growth was good.
00:17:58
Yeah.
00:17:58
And you can't grow if you're not being able to, if your pricing
00:18:01
doesn't match what you're paying.
00:18:03
Yeah.
00:18:03
Or of course it has to be more than what you're paying your guys, you know?
00:18:06
I think, you know, a lot of guys think, oh, they're only
00:18:07
paying me 55 bucks an hour.
00:18:09
That, that's way more cost than that.
00:18:11
It is.
00:18:12
You know, a lot of times it's double.
00:18:13
Yeah.
00:18:13
Well's, it's like a race.
00:18:14
A sprinter doesn't run a marathon Right.
00:18:16
For a reason.
00:18:17
That's right.
00:18:18
Right, exactly.
00:18:18
So, yeah.
00:18:18
Yeah.
00:18:19
So I think that that's the, those, those two things is
00:18:22
just cash flow is the biggest.
00:18:23
Yeah, of course.
00:18:23
And, and today though, man, today is.
00:18:27
Hiring the right people.
00:18:29
Um, because there's so much work.
00:18:31
There's so many people coming from all over the, you know, these lineman,
00:18:33
college, all this stuff that, you know, and, and there's two different sides too.
00:18:36
So the union side and the non-US side Yeah.
00:18:38
Union side, they have their apprenticeship program and things
00:18:40
have to go to those levels.
00:18:41
Yep.
00:18:41
Non-union side, there's not that.
00:18:43
Yep.
00:18:43
Little less standard.
00:18:44
Little less standard.
00:18:45
Now we, we, there are like TD power skills, which they, which
00:18:48
is a lot of people use for their apprenticeship program.
00:18:50
Yep.
00:18:50
That's what our, we're using for that company.
00:18:52
And, um, but, but, but.
00:18:55
Getting these guys from these lineman colleges that are, you
00:18:57
know, they think they're a linemen when they leave the college man.
00:19:00
That's right.
00:19:00
That's right.
00:19:01
And so that, that's a, that's a struggle right now for, for me
00:19:04
is, is with this getting back into all this is the pride is one.
00:19:08
And just having people that really care about what they're doing.
00:19:11
It, I, I think it more of a, today is more so than not, it's more of just a job Yeah.
00:19:16
Than a career.
00:19:17
Yeah.
00:19:17
You know?
00:19:17
Yeah.
00:19:17
So you're starting all over at building that culture again and getting
00:19:20
people to buy into the mindset of it, because that's really what it takes.
00:19:23
Right.
00:19:24
They've gotta believe in the culture and the mindset to know that when they go out
00:19:27
there and do a dangerous job, you're gonna be there supporting 'em in the right way.
00:19:30
That's right.
00:19:30
And you're not gonna put them in dangerous situation.
00:19:32
Exactly.
00:19:32
Yeah.
00:19:32
Yep.
00:19:33
Complete trust and that, yeah, there is trust.
00:19:35
That's, that's, it's, that's it from those years of, you know, bu building
00:19:39
t and d and, and doing all that.
00:19:40
'cause it's a passion project.
00:19:41
Right?
00:19:41
Right.
00:19:41
Blood, sweat, tears, hours.
00:19:43
I mean, people don't understand as a, as a business owner, you're reading
00:19:47
emails at one o'clock in the morning, you're responding to group messages
00:19:50
at 2:00 AM and people are like, what?
00:19:52
What are you doing?
00:19:52
I'm doing what I have to do to survive.
00:19:54
Right, right.
00:19:55
So in those, in those times, what, what are you most proud of that
00:19:58
you did while you were there?
00:20:00
Well, to do what we did to go from 15 crews to, you know, to four 50
00:20:05
and it was, look, it was not just me.
00:20:07
I had a whole team of eagles.
00:20:08
Yeah, for sure.
00:20:08
Right?
00:20:09
Yeah.
00:20:09
You have, you surround yourself with the right people and, and,
00:20:13
and you get, you can get things done, you know, with relationships.
00:20:15
So then going through, sorry.
00:20:17
No, you're good.
00:20:17
Going through that, going through of the pride of doing what we did to build a
00:20:21
company from nothing with 15 people to and t and D at one time was, was fairly large.
00:20:26
We were kinda you not nationwide, but Yeah.
00:20:30
You know, we had a big, big area.
00:20:31
Yeah.
00:20:32
And, uh, you know, ultimately I get.
00:20:34
Get you sell.
00:20:35
We sold the company in 2010.
00:20:37
Didn't have a plan to sell it.
00:20:38
Yeah.
00:20:39
You know, at the time.
00:20:39
But somebody came, you know, you have everything a house for.
00:20:43
Yeah.
00:20:43
We have, we have everything that's collateral.
00:20:45
Your house, you have all this stuff that It's all leveraged.
00:20:47
Yeah.
00:20:47
Yeah.
00:20:47
So you're like, oh, well, let's, we not, we're not interested in selling, but.
00:20:51
Yeah.
00:20:51
If I could take a side relief for a minute, it might be nice.
00:20:54
Exactly.
00:20:54
Yeah.
00:20:54
Because one incident, you know, one incident, yeah.
00:20:57
From somebody out there doing something they shouldn't do, could destroy
00:21:00
the whole company Here, here's what scares me in today's day and age.
00:21:04
And may, maybe it scares me for no reason, I don't know.
00:21:06
But all it takes is one guy who stayed out drinking too long the night before
00:21:12
and comes in and is still kind of tore up and gets in one of those company
00:21:15
trucks and runs through a stoplight or something, and your company's done.
00:21:20
That's it.
00:21:21
I know.
00:21:21
That's scary.
00:21:22
It is.
00:21:23
That is.
00:21:23
Yeah.
00:21:23
And that's, a lot of these guys don't really, I don't think they grasp it.
00:21:27
They don't really know exact what it, what would and if, and even you can even have,
00:21:31
if you have an incident on this customer, it could affect you on other customers.
00:21:34
Yeah.
00:21:35
Just, I mean, with your osha, you know, incident rates Yep.
00:21:37
And things like that.
00:21:38
Yep.
00:21:38
So, um, all that's tracked anymore.
00:21:41
Yep.
00:21:41
Yeah, that's right.
00:21:42
Yeah.
00:21:42
From running a company as a contractor and being in the industry
00:21:46
and stuff, what, what's something that you wish some of these new
00:21:49
companies that are just starting.
00:21:51
Would, would know what piece of advice would you have for them?
00:21:54
Take care of your people for sure.
00:21:55
Right.
00:21:55
Take care of your people.
00:21:56
Love your people, you know, be willing to do whatever it is for them.
00:22:00
Of course, people may not do that back for you, you know, if 50%
00:22:04
will, 50% won't kind of thing.
00:22:06
But, but love your people, you know?
00:22:08
Provide them a great place to work.
00:22:10
Yeah.
00:22:10
You know, you know, competitive pays and this and that, but you know, there's,
00:22:15
there's differences in, in all that.
00:22:16
But is it really get down to pay a lot of guys?
00:22:19
That's all they care about is what am I getting paid today?
00:22:21
Yeah.
00:22:21
You know, looking more of the futures and things.
00:22:24
Um, but really just caring for your people is being my biggest thing.
00:22:27
And, and making them real people.
00:22:29
Right.
00:22:30
Right.
00:22:30
Uh, so many of these people who are out here going, going through the
00:22:33
fire for you and putting in the sweat, blood and tears and stuff like that,
00:22:36
these companies, they don't want.
00:22:38
The person that's in charge just sit in an office and never come out
00:22:41
and see them and never talk to them.
00:22:42
And when they do, talk to 'em.
00:22:43
Not get outta the truck, just watch 'em from a distance.
00:22:46
You gotta, you gotta be involved in the people, right?
00:22:48
Yes, for sure.
00:22:49
Yeah.
00:22:49
That's, man, I get out there and I love getting out there.
00:22:51
I'll go get a shovel.
00:22:52
They always try to take a shovel from me.
00:22:54
I'm like, Hey, love it.
00:22:55
This is my fun time right here.
00:22:57
Of course, that's right.
00:22:58
I'm gonna turn my phone off.
00:22:59
I'm gonna leave it in the trucks.
00:23:00
I'm gonna go be one of the guys there.
00:23:02
I'm gonna go Exactly.
00:23:02
Exactly.
00:23:03
For sure.
00:23:03
That's awesome.
00:23:04
So let's talk about the, the selling of that, right?
00:23:07
Mm-hmm.
00:23:07
So I'm, I'm sure.
00:23:08
That was something that you thought long and hard about and you were
00:23:11
kinda like, oh man, what do I do?
00:23:12
What am I gonna do next?
00:23:13
That kind of thing.
00:23:13
What was the next step after selling that company?
00:23:16
You know, selling.
00:23:16
So when you're, we were outta capital, you don't have so much capital.
00:23:19
Like we talk about it and so selling opened up capital for it.
00:23:23
Yeah, right.
00:23:23
And we were able to go find another company and, and uh, then rolled them
00:23:27
into t and d and just we were able to, should we doubled in size, you know, in
00:23:32
a year that way, you know, just by being able to take on a financial partner.
00:23:36
So I, I think that's, and so it just depends, capitals, if you
00:23:40
have enough capital and you can keep growing that way, great.
00:23:43
But it, it takes a lot to do that.
00:23:45
It takes a lot of capital.
00:23:46
Yeah.
00:23:46
So I think selling is something that's inevitable, really.
00:23:50
If you want to keep our vision going for the growth of a company,
00:23:53
you have to do it at some point.
00:23:55
Yes.
00:23:55
You have to do it.
00:23:56
Yeah.
00:23:56
So, and I, and I hate to, to talk about it and stuff 'cause I know
00:23:59
they, it's, it's probably a so issue.
00:24:01
'cause a lot of times these companies buy companies.
00:24:03
Yeah.
00:24:04
And they totally change it.
00:24:05
And it goes to crap.
00:24:07
Yeah.
00:24:07
And so that's where the problem is.
00:24:09
That's it.
00:24:09
It is these buyers that, that buy it, keep the culture.
00:24:11
That's, they don't keep the culture.
00:24:13
They think that, you know, these pri private equity guys that have
00:24:16
all this money that, oh, we can put another penny to the bottom line.
00:24:19
Yeah.
00:24:19
All right.
00:24:19
Well, you take that penny to the bottom line where you're taking it from our
00:24:22
people who we care about, and they start seeing that you don't care about 'em.
00:24:25
Yeah.
00:24:26
And then it just, yeah.
00:24:27
Morale goes down and things just start falling apart.
00:24:29
And in some industries, and in some jobs that might work, don't get me wrong.
00:24:33
Right.
00:24:33
But in, in an industry that has as many risk and as many dangers and as
00:24:37
many variables as linework does, right.
00:24:40
It's, it's hard to do that bottom dollar.
00:24:42
Right.
00:24:42
It's hard to run it that way.
00:24:43
Yeah.
00:24:44
Okay.
00:24:44
Earlier, I, I mentioned that you have fingerprints all
00:24:47
over this industry, right.
00:24:48
And we've talked about the field work a little bit.
00:24:51
We've talked about the office side a little bit.
00:24:54
Let's talk about the Hollywood side a little bit.
00:24:57
Right?
00:24:58
That's what, that's what I'm proud of, but embarrassed of the same
00:25:00
time, you know, but it is so cool.
00:25:03
Right?
00:25:03
So, um.
00:25:05
For those of you who don't know, there's a movie out there about Linework
00:25:08
and Chad had a hand in it, right?
00:25:09
Yep.
00:25:10
Yep.
00:25:10
So let's talk about that story.
00:25:11
All right.
00:25:12
So, uh, you know, it was after we sold the second time, you know, because we, the
00:25:16
people that bought us ended up selling us, and, and as we did that, it's like, what
00:25:19
can I do to give back to the industry?
00:25:21
You know?
00:25:22
And letting people know about it doesn't just take us, you know, go
00:25:25
and buy a light switch and take you, turn it on, and things like that.
00:25:28
So, um, I mean, it's, it's kind of a, a really long story, so
00:25:32
I'm gonna have to cut it down.
00:25:33
That's fine.
00:25:33
But the guy that, the guy that, that ended up writing original script.
00:25:37
I met him, uh, he actually did a tattoo of TND solutions on my That's cool.
00:25:42
On my, on my arm.
00:25:43
And while I'm doing that, I'm telling him about the industry
00:25:46
and tell him I want to do a movie.
00:25:47
And he's like, oh, I've done a movie before Primo Brown.
00:25:50
He is like, I've done a movie before, and oh, well cool.
00:25:53
Let's, we're gonna do this movie.
00:25:54
Yeah.
00:25:54
You know, so That's awesome.
00:25:55
I had him, he came and we went around t and d and started talking to a
00:25:58
bunch of people and got ideas for the script and, you know, all this stuff.
00:26:02
And, and he put a, a script together that was fairly decent.
00:26:06
Yeah.
00:26:06
You know, and, um, so we, we started that company and, uh,
00:26:10
we ended up meet, just ended up meeting the right people, you know?
00:26:13
I don't know how it worked.
00:26:14
God, just life, right?
00:26:15
Just Yep, yep.
00:26:16
Fate, whatever it was, but met the right people and, and, uh, was able to.
00:26:20
Do this movie that we talked about getting done.
00:26:22
And um, you know, and after that, then Hollywood of course
00:26:25
gets involved with it Yeah.
00:26:27
And changes things.
00:26:28
And I actually thought I'd be able to sit there with the director and
00:26:30
be like, Hey, that ain't right.
00:26:32
We got, but that wasn't the case.
00:26:33
It was like, you stand over there.
00:26:35
This is in the world now.
00:26:36
Now.
00:26:37
Exactly.
00:26:38
Yeah.
00:26:38
So, but it was, like I said, it was a great experience.
00:26:41
And look, I, there's nobody, anybody more disappointed in, you know, of some
00:26:44
of the parts of it than, than myself.
00:26:47
Of course.
00:26:47
But, but that's, that's any project that you have that much
00:26:49
passion and vision for Right.
00:26:50
You have it in your brain that it's gonna be a certain way.
00:26:53
Yeah.
00:26:53
And we're, we're our own worst critics.
00:26:55
I, I tell my wife that around the house, when we have big projects
00:26:58
around the house, a lot of times I don't do them because I know if I do
00:27:01
them, I'm gonna see every flaw in 'em.
00:27:02
Yeah.
00:27:02
Right.
00:27:02
If I have someone else come and do 'em while I'm out working, then
00:27:06
I don't see the falls they made.
00:27:07
I'm not so critical of them, but I'm real critical of myself.
00:27:10
Right.
00:27:10
So I think that's pretty natural.
00:27:11
The, the movie was awesome, man.
00:27:14
It's hard to translate what we do.
00:27:17
To the screen.
00:27:18
Right.
00:27:19
You're, you're never gonna cap capture the full aspect of it, right?
00:27:22
Yeah.
00:27:22
Yeah.
00:27:22
But it was pretty cool.
00:27:24
And, and that's where, so getting on that, I would fight it every evening that in
00:27:27
the trailers, like we got, and the, the, the guy Marvin appeared to end up helping
00:27:31
me directing the movie and all that.
00:27:33
He or, um, he's like, you should have done a, a documentary.
00:27:37
I'm like, no, people won't watch a documentary.
00:27:39
We gotta do a movie to get them interested in, you know, in the t watch it.
00:27:44
That's right.
00:27:44
I want people to watch it and understand it.
00:27:45
He is like, you should have just done a doc all the time.
00:27:47
Documentary, no, we have to get this movie done for, and there were
00:27:51
several reasons to do the movie.
00:27:53
It was one, to let people that didn't know anything about the industry let
00:27:57
them know that what went into it.
00:27:58
Yeah.
00:27:58
You know, does it do that?
00:27:59
Uh, maybe, maybe it does that a little bit.
00:28:02
The second was, and as, as.
00:28:04
As men, and we're getting more and more women in our industry, which is great.
00:28:07
But as men, we don't typically like to talk a lot.
00:28:10
You know, we get home in the evening, our wife's like, how's your day Go?
00:28:13
It fun.
00:28:13
Yeah.
00:28:13
Everything's good.
00:28:14
It's fun.
00:28:14
Yep.
00:28:14
She'll tell us, you know, she put on her shoes and she
00:28:17
loves to tell us for the day.
00:28:18
Yep.
00:28:19
But for us, we don't talk about it.
00:28:20
So letting the wives see a little glimpse into.
00:28:24
The industry.
00:28:24
Yeah.
00:28:25
You know, and that's why at the first the lay says, you know, no
00:28:27
shortcuts and things like that.
00:28:28
But, um, so, so that was the second.
00:28:30
The third was to show the dangers of it.
00:28:33
And, and, you know, some of this that did get cut out of a working side of
00:28:36
it was because I wanted us lineman to see somebody doing something stupid
00:28:41
and be like, why is he doing that?
00:28:42
But knowing that we've done that or knowing that we take those shortcuts,
00:28:46
so kind of that kind of work side of stuff kind of got pushed away.
00:28:50
And there was a, there was another reason and it was for the union and non-union.
00:28:54
Yeah.
00:28:55
So we actually, in the movie and, and I grew up non-union and just for
00:28:58
what it was, you know, being down in South Texas and location, it's the
00:29:01
location did, but never had any pride.
00:29:03
It doesn't matter to me, we're all the same industry.
00:29:05
But to, so showing that and wanted the industry, the movie
00:29:08
to kind of bring that together.
00:29:10
So in the bar scene, it was so supposed to be actually union, non-union guys
00:29:14
there and these bikers come in and we stand together to go against them.
00:29:18
That's cool.
00:29:18
But that kind of got put out of there.
00:29:20
You don't really notice that movie.
00:29:21
Yeah.
00:29:21
But, but that was gonna be, you know, that aspect.
00:29:24
But really to show that.
00:29:26
We're all brothers really.
00:29:27
You know, and it, it's, we're all family.
00:29:28
You mean in, in the trade?
00:29:29
That's right.
00:29:30
Yeah.
00:29:30
That's cool.
00:29:31
Yeah.
00:29:31
That's cool.
00:29:31
Cool.
00:29:32
Uh, I think we achieved some of, some of the things we set
00:29:34
out to do, some we didn't.
00:29:35
Yeah.
00:29:35
But, you know, it was a, that a to meet John Travolta.
00:29:38
Oh yeah.
00:29:38
That's awesome.
00:29:39
He, he stayed, uh, he actually stayed at my house, uh, in Beaumont.
00:29:42
He came to our training facility.
00:29:44
We had a little training facility in Cos, Texas, and he'd climbed a pole for, you
00:29:47
know, a day or two a little bit and stuff.
00:29:48
So.
00:29:49
That's cool.
00:29:49
Yeah.
00:29:50
But yeah.
00:29:50
But one thing I have to do say about John too, if I could mention on, on that.
00:29:53
We had some of the fallen lineman wise come up to the filming.
00:29:56
Okay.
00:29:56
And, um, you know, he actually handwrote a letter to every
00:30:00
single lady that came up to visit.
00:30:03
I mean, he was just a genuinely caring individual and, you know.
00:30:08
That's so cool.
00:30:09
Yeah.
00:30:09
For someone who really isn't involved in the trade and probably didn't know much
00:30:12
about it until you taught it to him.
00:30:14
Right, right.
00:30:14
For him to recognize the pain that is going on there with those families of
00:30:19
the fall in lineman is pretty cool.
00:30:21
Yep.
00:30:21
Yep.
00:30:21
It sure was.
00:30:22
And I think really even on set, so everybody on set would say, we didn't
00:30:26
know what all it took to get power, you know, just, uh, you know, sharing
00:30:29
stone, talking to her after the thing.
00:30:31
I mean, it was just, it, it really was eyeopening for the
00:30:33
people that were in the Yeah.
00:30:35
Like doing, were doing the movie, acting in the movie and stuff.
00:30:38
'cause nobody really ever, they never thought about it.
00:30:40
So, and, and I, I'm sure it was a cool opportunity for you to be able
00:30:43
to talk and have those conversations.
00:30:45
Right.
00:30:45
Yeah.
00:30:45
Because it is cool to share our trade with other people.
00:30:47
Yeah.
00:30:48
That's pretty awesome.
00:30:49
How do you think the public.
00:30:51
Responded to the movie, you think it went pretty well?
00:30:52
Well, you know, from time to time I look on the, you know,
00:30:55
the, the responses and things.
00:30:57
Yeah.
00:30:57
I think you could tell people in our industry, you could tell which ones Yeah.
00:31:00
Are in our industry.
00:31:01
'cause that of the comments that they make versus the ones that
00:31:04
aren't in our industry that, oh, this is a great movie, this and that.
00:31:07
So industry people are so critical.
00:31:09
That's right.
00:31:10
It is.
00:31:10
We are so critical.
00:31:11
But really, you know, I just hope that I could let them, everybody know that
00:31:15
it was outta my heart to do the movie.
00:31:16
To, to bring it to light.
00:31:18
Yeah.
00:31:18
And I get all the, the negativity about it.
00:31:20
There's nobody more negative than me, you know, well funded it, did all
00:31:24
this stuff and, and it didn't turn out like I wanted, but it is what it is.
00:31:28
If they don't like it, they can go out and make a better one if
00:31:30
that's what they think they can do.
00:31:31
It's not that easy.
00:31:32
Yeah, it's not that easy.
00:31:33
I, I do feel like that.
00:31:35
The message was there, right.
00:31:36
The, the impact the movie had on, on the general public was that it
00:31:40
brought awareness to the trade.
00:31:41
It made people realize that it is dangerous.
00:31:43
We're not just going out and flipping a light switch on.
00:31:45
And I think it made them respect the fact that, hey, it takes a little bit longer
00:31:49
than what you think it should sometimes.
00:31:51
Right?
00:31:51
But that's because we're doing some crazy stuff out there.
00:31:54
Right?
00:31:55
For sure.
00:31:55
Yeah.
00:31:55
Yeah.
00:31:56
Yep.
00:31:56
Yeah.
00:31:56
You mentioned the, the fall in lineman.
00:31:59
Mm-hmm.
00:31:59
Um.
00:32:00
Talk to me about your involvement with that and what you've got going on there.
00:32:03
'cause you've got an organization that supports that, right?
00:32:05
Yes, sir. Okay.
00:32:06
So, and it, this kind of goes back to, I guess around 2002, whenever there's,
00:32:12
there's a big ice storm in Oklahoma and the crew I was on at the time,
00:32:16
we were up there, but I volunteered to stay and my crew, um, had left Ver
00:32:21
Bush and, and, and Roger Spears was the specific guy I'm gonna talk about.
00:32:24
But they left and had to go back home and I volunteered
00:32:27
to, to stay and keep working.
00:32:29
Money was good.
00:32:29
Yeah.
00:32:30
Never forget I bought my first, uh, surround sound system after that 2002.
00:32:33
It was big time.
00:32:34
Yeah.
00:32:34
Yeah.
00:32:34
It was big.
00:32:35
So, um, but when I was up there, Roger Spears, who was, who was on the same
00:32:40
cruise, was, he ends up getting burnt.
00:32:42
And the guy, the operator was booming up and he was putting in a anchor and
00:32:48
so as he was booming up to put, put the anchor, he was, he got it in line.
00:32:52
And so Rod Roger got burnt.
00:32:54
And so as soon as that happened, of course he was buddy of mine.
00:32:56
I flew back to, to Beaumont.
00:32:58
It was in the Beaumont area.
00:32:59
And, um, and sitting in front of his bed the day his parents had to
00:33:04
pull the plug, they had to make a decision and they pulled the plug on.
00:33:07
Roger and I, I'll never forget, just watching him gasping for air.
00:33:11
Like, like, and he ended up surviving.
00:33:14
Um, he was a vegetable and I, to this day, I don't know whatever happened Yeah.
00:33:18
To, to him.
00:33:19
But, um, but watching that, you know, and then whenever, so fast forward from there,
00:33:24
fast forward, you know, all these years later, and we'd sold the company and, and
00:33:28
was, was, had the means to do something.
00:33:31
Um, so it was like.
00:33:33
Is there a foundation to help and, and internally as a company, we would,
00:33:37
you know, if somebody had something go wrong, we would take out, pass the hat.
00:33:39
Yeah, pass the hat.
00:33:40
Exactly.
00:33:40
Pass the hat.
00:33:41
So then it's like, why not do something that everybody could be involved in?
00:33:45
Yeah.
00:33:45
Pass a bigger hat.
00:33:45
Pass a bigger hat, and, and not by, just for our company, for the oil industry.
00:33:49
And, um, so, you know, looked around and, and there was, there was one that
00:33:53
started by the same time was N-S-U-J-L, which is a great foundation as well.
00:33:57
And we kind of both started by the same time and, and you know,
00:34:00
so we were kind of, I guess the, the pioneers of the foundations.
00:34:03
And today there's lots of 'em.
00:34:05
And you know, I think that's great.
00:34:06
The more that we can have out, can't be enough of em.
00:34:08
That's right.
00:34:08
Yeah.
00:34:08
The more we can have help in the families because, and here's the
00:34:11
deal, you know, a lot of times, you know, the guys, they, what, what
00:34:14
hap most of the time is gonna be.
00:34:16
The guy does something he shouldn't have do, done.
00:34:18
He knows better.
00:34:20
Yeah.
00:34:20
And you know, you're gonna have these freak accidents where cars run off the
00:34:23
road and, and kill somebody and stuff.
00:34:24
Yeah.
00:34:24
But, but in a, a work environment, somebody did
00:34:27
something they shouldn't have.
00:34:28
Yeah.
00:34:28
And.
00:34:30
And a lot of times the companies are protected because they signed off saying
00:34:33
they know they shouldn't have done this.
00:34:34
Yeah.
00:34:34
Right.
00:34:34
Yeah.
00:34:35
And then so, but does that help the family?
00:34:37
That does No, it doesn't help the family.
00:34:38
The family still are left to pick up the pieces.
00:34:41
Yeah.
00:34:41
And really, and here's another, another thing is, so Lyman, we, we making all
00:34:46
this money, we love to stay in debt.
00:34:48
Yeah.
00:34:48
Right?
00:34:49
So now we've, as a, as a guy, we've produced all this debt
00:34:52
for our families, and now we do something we shouldn't have done.
00:34:56
We're outta here, we're not here, we're, we pass away, we get killed.
00:35:00
Yeah.
00:35:00
And, and our families are left to pick up all these pieces.
00:35:03
And typically, you know, in our industry, I don't know if it's still
00:35:05
the same, but typically our, the, you know, the ladies don't work.
00:35:09
That's it.
00:35:09
You know, and so they don't have a means.
00:35:11
And so it's really, you know, it, that's what kind of drove the
00:35:14
whole, the whole idea of, so that was the passion behind the project.
00:35:17
That's right.
00:35:18
Yeah.
00:35:19
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:19
Yeah.
00:35:19
And it's a very, it's a very real passion, right.
00:35:22
Our industry takes so many hours.
00:35:25
Of our time, because it's not just a nine to five go in Monday
00:35:29
through Friday and do your job.
00:35:30
It's nights, it's weekends, it's holidays.
00:35:33
And a lot of the spouses that are home with these kids
00:35:36
don't have any other option.
00:35:37
But hey, someone's got to be there.
00:35:39
That's right.
00:35:39
Right.
00:35:39
So they stay at home with the kids and do that kind of stuff.
00:35:42
And lucky enough for us in our industry are our paychecks are big
00:35:47
enough to support that all the times.
00:35:48
That's right.
00:35:48
So we're fortunate in that.
00:35:49
Yep.
00:35:49
Until something happens.
00:35:51
Yep.
00:35:51
Yeah, that's right.
00:35:51
And that's a big deal.
00:35:53
Yep.
00:35:53
And of course we gotta definitely have to have a shout out to the line wives out
00:35:56
there that that do put up with For sure.
00:35:58
With all of that.
00:35:59
And it's hard.
00:36:00
Yeah.
00:36:00
That is.
00:36:00
Yeah.
00:36:01
That side.
00:36:02
That side doesn't get enough recognition and they don't get
00:36:03
enough credit because it is hard.
00:36:05
Linemen are hard to deal with anyhow, but their schedules and their temperaments
00:36:08
and being tired all the time, so.
00:36:11
I, I worked at the utility for 10 years and I answered my phone a lot.
00:36:15
Right.
00:36:15
I liked what I did.
00:36:16
I wanted to be there.
00:36:17
I wanted to help people.
00:36:18
I mean, if we would go to a movie, a lot of times we would drive separate
00:36:21
or I'd have clothes in the trunk of the car and we'd leave a movie
00:36:24
and she'd drop me off at work.
00:36:25
Yeah.
00:36:25
And then go back home.
00:36:26
I mean, it happened a bunch.
00:36:27
Right.
00:36:28
Um, so whenever I left that and went out and worked in California,
00:36:33
I had been working out there for probably three or four months.
00:36:35
And I'd come home every once in a while and, and spend, my wife told me one day,
00:36:39
she's like, I feel like I see you more now than I did when you worked here.
00:36:42
Huh.
00:36:43
And that's crazy to think about.
00:36:44
'cause yeah, I was physically at home.
00:36:47
Right.
00:36:47
But I was tired, I was falling asleep on the couch.
00:36:49
I was angry at something most time.
00:36:51
'cause I was tired.
00:36:52
Yes.
00:36:52
And she, she recognized that she didn't tell it to me in the moment,
00:36:55
but after the fact, she's like.
00:36:57
You're, you're working in California, but I feel like you're here more.
00:37:00
Yeah.
00:37:00
That's wild.
00:37:01
Wow.
00:37:01
Yeah.
00:37:01
That is wild.
00:37:02
Yeah.
00:37:03
Yep.
00:37:03
But that's the kind of stuff they go through, man, that's, yep.
00:37:05
And man, keep, you know, I wouldn't want their job by no means no.
00:37:09
No.
00:37:09
I couldn't do it.
00:37:11
I couldn't do it.
00:37:11
So that created the fallen lineman organization.
00:37:13
Right.
00:37:14
Okay.
00:37:14
So, um, what, what's the, what's the mission behind that?
00:37:20
Um, always helping the families, right?
00:37:22
Yeah.
00:37:23
But beyond, beyond just helping the families, what's, what's
00:37:26
the passion behind that?
00:37:27
Yeah.
00:37:28
So, you know, there's, there's several different aspects of the, of it.
00:37:31
Um, and then we, you know, getting from, from that to the
00:37:34
memorial, which is behind us Yeah.
00:37:36
Is, you know, at at t and d we actually had a, a guy that, that,
00:37:39
um, that died in the line of duty.
00:37:42
And, but he was a younger guy.
00:37:43
He didn't have a family.
00:37:44
I mean, mom and dad, he didn't have a wife or kids, so, okay.
00:37:47
You know, at that point it is like, well, we're not, the foundation
00:37:50
doesn't, you know, it's not gonna.
00:37:52
Yep.
00:37:52
And didn't have anything to do for him.
00:37:53
So what can we do?
00:37:54
And that's where a memorial ideas came from.
00:37:57
Okay.
00:37:57
It was like, okay, we're gonna memorial, get a memorial.
00:37:59
So I looked around if there was a fall line memorial.
00:38:02
There wasn't.
00:38:02
And there wasn't.
00:38:03
And so we, uh, you know, we made Memorial and, and then, you know, his
00:38:07
and Joseph Yoyo was, you know, his name didn't die in vain, you know, I, you
00:38:11
know, with that, um, and I can, there's a whole story really about, so, and
00:38:15
that it happened in Beaumont as well.
00:38:17
It was a a, a train hit, a trailer that was going over a railroad track,
00:38:21
or they thought they were stuck.
00:38:22
They were hung on the track and the two guys were walking the to
00:38:26
uh, make sure they weren't stuck.
00:38:28
Yep.
00:38:28
And they didn't, they didn't see the train coming down the line.
00:38:32
And the train hit the trailer and threw the trailer into to yo-yo and killed him.
00:38:37
Wow.
00:38:37
You know, instantly.
00:38:38
And, uh, so from there it was like we built a little
00:38:40
memorial for, for his family.
00:38:43
Yeah.
00:38:43
And we had his family come out that on a Saturday and we presented the memorial,
00:38:47
you know, to him and things like that.
00:38:49
And, um, you know, getting into, in, tell a little story with that memorial.
00:38:54
Um, I think Mike, you know, Mike was talking about was, um, so
00:38:58
we're, we have this memorial set up that we're gonna do on a Saturday.
00:39:02
We had two guys, uh, Danny and, and God's name Daniel, we call him cornbread,
00:39:06
that were getting the site ready.
00:39:08
And they're like, they, they looked at the memorial.
00:39:11
It wasn't a memorial like this, it was just a guy climbing a pole, of course,
00:39:13
and had his name everything in the years.
00:39:15
And, and, um, uh, but they're like, it looks kind of bland,
00:39:19
bland without anything.
00:39:20
So we're gonna go to this, you know, let's look up, see if there's any, any
00:39:24
flowers or anything that has lineman, industry or power or anything in a plant.
00:39:29
Yep.
00:39:30
And they google that cornbread, Google that, and didn't come up with
00:39:32
anything, but they decided just to, to go the local hardware store to, to go.
00:39:37
Get some plants Yep.
00:39:38
To spice it up.
00:39:40
And, uh, so they, they go there, they'd get some ceramic boots of
00:39:42
course, and they put his hard hat on there, but they get looking out some,
00:39:47
for some plants they couldn't really find anything that they liked there.
00:39:50
Yep.
00:39:51
But as they walked in there, they, they did have some roses and they
00:39:53
even talked, they deer didn talk, tell the stories a lot better than me, but
00:39:56
I'm, so I'm just telling their story.
00:39:59
But they're walking through there, they see all these roses and at first
00:40:02
they're like, nah, we don't want roses.
00:40:03
Kind of feminine or whatever.
00:40:04
But they go and they go look at the, you know, all the other
00:40:07
plants and couldn't find anything.
00:40:09
So they're like, well there's some roses out there there.
00:40:11
And cornbread says there was one that was different color than the other.
00:40:15
So that could be like Yoyo.
00:40:16
He is a unique guy.
00:40:18
And, and you know, roses, they have thorns on, if you get too close
00:40:21
to lineman, you could get stuck.
00:40:23
So they've made it, I, I like the thought process behind it.
00:40:25
Yeah.
00:40:25
They made the thought of Okay.
00:40:27
Making it okay to get a, yeah.
00:40:28
To get a rose.
00:40:29
So they get that rose, they get it.
00:40:31
They're going out there.
00:40:32
Danny is, is digging the hole for the rows.
00:40:35
Cornbread pulls the rose out of the plastic container and
00:40:38
between the, the, the dirt and the plastic container was the tag.
00:40:42
They didn't see the tag, didn't know.
00:40:44
Pull the tag out.
00:40:45
And it was a high voltage rose.
00:40:47
No kidding.
00:40:47
Yep.
00:40:48
That's awesome.
00:40:49
It was a high voltage road.
00:40:50
Look, I get chills on that and dear Dandy, tell that story, he'll cry.
00:40:53
Talk about fate.
00:40:54
That's, yeah.
00:40:54
Like what's the chance of that?
00:40:56
And um, so that's, you know, we've put that on there and now I have high
00:40:59
voltage Roosevelt around my house.
00:41:01
Of course.
00:41:02
That's cool.
00:41:02
Yeah.
00:41:03
Yeah.
00:41:03
I didn't even know there was such a thing.
00:41:05
That's right.
00:41:05
Yeah.
00:41:06
That's cool.
00:41:06
I love that it's.
00:41:08
It's formed outta passion.
00:41:09
Right?
00:41:09
Right.
00:41:09
This isn't just a, a sign on a wall.
00:41:12
This isn't just, uh, something that somebody's talking about in a meeting.
00:41:16
This thing was formed outta passion because those people
00:41:18
meant something to you.
00:41:19
Right.
00:41:20
And they mean something to other people too.
00:41:22
Yep.
00:41:22
Right.
00:41:22
So I love that, that they have a place where they can go and pay
00:41:25
their respects, and that name is always gonna be remembered.
00:41:28
And if you've got somebody out there that's been injured in the line
00:41:32
of duty as, as a lineman, right.
00:41:34
Um.
00:41:35
Reach out to Chad.
00:41:36
Yes.
00:41:36
Let let him know about it.
00:41:37
Maybe he already does, maybe he doesn't, but we can't document all of them because
00:41:41
it happens too often in this industry.
00:41:43
Right, right.
00:41:43
I'm glad you you bring that up because, you know, we we're, we're
00:41:45
here at the Lyman Ranch Yeah.
00:41:47
And we're having a memorial built here.
00:41:49
Um, you know, it just makes sense to have it all together with Yeah.
00:41:52
With Andy Price and the relationship that we've built with, with him and
00:41:55
the museum has been outstanding.
00:41:57
And so it's been, it is been in, in the, in the works for
00:42:00
quite a while in God's timing.
00:42:02
It, it came together.
00:42:03
Yeah.
00:42:04
And, uh, so we are building a, a memorial here and we have some, some
00:42:07
ideas of what we're doing and, and to be able to document all those people.
00:42:10
'cause we don't want to leave anybody out.
00:42:12
Yep.
00:42:12
You know, if you want to recognize, include everybody.
00:42:14
Anybody.
00:42:14
Right, right.
00:42:14
Yeah.
00:42:15
Without a doubt.
00:42:15
And, and that doesn't happen without help.
00:42:17
Right.
00:42:18
So, I mean by, by all means, if, if you guys wanna get involved in that,
00:42:22
uh, we'll put some information up to get ahold of Chad, and, and you can.
00:42:25
You know, get ahold of you.
00:42:26
Make sure that whatever family member you want recognize is recognized
00:42:29
as long as it's part of the trade.
00:42:30
Yep.
00:42:30
And, uh, the vision behind that, Andy was walking me through it earlier.
00:42:34
That's gonna be an amazing setup.
00:42:36
Yeah, yeah.
00:42:37
This whole, this whole facility.
00:42:38
And I can't wait for you to go around.
00:42:39
I guess you got here used to wait straight to work.
00:42:41
We've did a little bit of walking.
00:42:43
Okay, good.
00:42:43
But, um, he talked, he talked to me a little bit about the setup of it and
00:42:46
how it's gonna look and what, what the vibe's gonna be when you walk
00:42:48
into that, that fallen lineman's, uh, memorial and, uh, the hairs on the
00:42:53
back of my neck starts to start up.
00:42:54
Awesome.
00:42:54
It's, it's pretty cool.
00:42:56
So, and look, the main thing with all that is really, 'cause we don't
00:42:59
want that to put more names in here.
00:43:00
That's it.
00:43:01
Right.
00:43:01
Wish ultimately we could stop.
00:43:03
Yeah.
00:43:04
And, and in there on the, on the memorial building, we're gonna start it with,
00:43:07
you know, with the beginning of Lyman, how one and two would, would die and
00:43:10
how it's progressed to get better.
00:43:12
Yep.
00:43:12
But it's still, we're still not there because if we have one die, we're still,
00:43:16
you know, and, uh, so it's still, it is an ongoing mission and it takes all of us.
00:43:21
It does, but it also gets back to that individual person.
00:43:25
What's the worst passable outcome of what I'm doing?
00:43:27
Don't take that shortcut.
00:43:29
Yeah.
00:43:29
You know, don't be safe.
00:43:31
You know the rules.
00:43:32
You know what you're supposed to do.
00:43:33
Don't, yeah.
00:43:34
Just don't take those risks.
00:43:35
Yeah.
00:43:35
It, it doesn't matter if you're exhausted, tired, it's 2:00 AM
00:43:38
and you can get it done faster.
00:43:40
It doesn't matter if you saw someone else do it that way five
00:43:42
times, and it worked for them.
00:43:44
If you've got any kind of inclination or feeling that, man, I shouldn't
00:43:47
be doing this, guess what?
00:43:49
You probably shouldn't be doing it.
00:43:50
That's right.
00:43:51
And if you don't know, stop and ask somebody else.
00:43:53
We work as a crew in this industry for a reason.
00:43:56
Yes.
00:43:56
It's because we all can't recognize everything all the time.
00:43:59
Yep.
00:43:59
So if, if you've got a feeling about it, I'm big on gut feelings and trusting
00:44:03
your gut, and if something's telling you to trust your gut, you need to do it.
00:44:06
Right.
00:44:06
Yeah.
00:44:07
That, I mean, that's a great point.
00:44:08
Like, if you think, should I do this?
00:44:10
Yeah, you should.
00:44:11
Yeah.
00:44:11
If you have a question about shouldn't, should I not do this?
00:44:13
You probably shouldn't.
00:44:14
Yeah, we should talk about it.
00:44:15
Yeah.
00:44:15
Yeah.
00:44:16
All right.
00:44:16
And if I could just kind of go, go into that.
00:44:18
'cause, um, you know, dealing with a loved one, passing, you know, until
00:44:23
you can really understand that.
00:44:24
So us guys that are listening to this podcast, I mean, you, you,
00:44:27
you, you hear about it, you hear about other guys passing the winter
00:44:31
industry, and you may think to yourself, why did he even do that?
00:44:33
Why did he do that?
00:44:34
Yeah.
00:44:34
But think about things that you've done and, and we've all, I feel like
00:44:38
I've been pretty for in my life to not just maybe with work, but other
00:44:42
things that, you know, I'm still here.
00:44:43
Yeah.
00:44:43
So it, it just, it takes that instant and it can happen to any of us, any of us.
00:44:48
And if you think that it couldn't happen to you, I guarantee
00:44:51
you it easily could, right?
00:44:53
Yeah.
00:44:53
And you're gonna leave your wife, your kids, your, if you don't have that,
00:44:56
your mother, your father, anything.
00:44:58
And I mean, and to pick up the pieces, I lost, my wife passed away.
00:45:02
Unexpectedly.
00:45:03
Yeah.
00:45:03
So it wasn't on the job or anything, but it's unexpected so I can understand, you
00:45:07
know, the, what these ladies go through.
00:45:09
Yeah.
00:45:09
Because I mean, you're left just, you don't know what to do it.
00:45:12
I just, after that happened, I just ran.
00:45:14
I didn't know what else to do, you know?
00:45:15
Well, your life in an instant gets flipped upside down and you're, you're
00:45:19
saddled with things that you never even thought you'd be saddled with.
00:45:21
That's right.
00:45:22
The little things that your significant other does for you on
00:45:26
a day in, day out basis that you don't even acknowledge and realize.
00:45:29
'cause we take it for granted and now all of a sudden you're like, oh crap.
00:45:32
That's right.
00:45:32
It, it's, it's been a month and no one's dusted or, you know,
00:45:36
just all that little stuff.
00:45:37
You know, they logged in and paid all the bills for me and I don't
00:45:39
know any of the logins and stuff.
00:45:41
That's just crazy that you don't even realize.
00:45:43
You're so right.
00:45:44
Yeah.
00:45:44
You're exactly right.
00:45:45
And everybody goes and hides in that inside.
00:45:47
I don't, I don't know how you wouldn't.
00:45:48
Right.
00:45:48
You know what I mean?
00:45:49
Yep.
00:45:49
And your brain just can't process.
00:45:51
Yeah.
00:45:51
And that's where, you know, with, with our, the foundation to have the,
00:45:53
the, the ladies and the families.
00:45:55
'cause it's, that's, it's such a hard, I mean, it's, it is
00:45:57
a hard time for, for them.
00:45:59
And we've talked about the reasons of all that.
00:46:01
But yeah, it's, um, and, and you know, we're, we've, I think
00:46:05
we started a foundation in 2013 and, uh, became a five one C3.
00:46:09
And, you know, it's, we we're, I think this memorial building's gonna
00:46:12
help bring more recognition to it.
00:46:14
And, and we're gonna continue to, to get COVID happened.
00:46:17
A lot of things, you know, happen and, and stuff and, and, but we're getting
00:46:20
back on our mission and we're gonna attack it hard and really get this to where
00:46:25
we're gonna help more and more fans.
00:46:26
'cause you know, a foundation is only as good as the donations you get.
00:46:30
Yeah.
00:46:30
And so if you can only, if you only get so much donations, you have.
00:46:33
Like this year is a horrible year, uh, for fatalities, for whatever reason, but
00:46:38
we can't help 'em as much as we want to.
00:46:40
Yeah.
00:46:40
That bandwidth is only so much.
00:46:42
That's right.
00:46:42
Basically, you know, like, like a company, you can only grow so much
00:46:45
capital and even though it's a five one C3, it's, it's a for-profit business.
00:46:50
We just give away the profit.
00:46:51
Yeah.
00:46:51
So we gotta make, you know.
00:46:52
Yeah, that's exactly right.
00:46:53
Yeah.
00:46:54
Yeah.
00:46:54
It, it takes support from everyone for sure.
00:46:57
Yeah.
00:46:57
So when, when we talk about the industry and, and growing in the
00:47:00
industry and stuff, where do you think the industry is headed?
00:47:04
Do, do you think, in, in 10 years from now?
00:47:07
That it's gonna look the same or you think there's gonna be some things that are
00:47:10
gonna be pretty drastically different?
00:47:11
Well, it changed a lot in five years, so I can't It changed a lot, didn't it?
00:47:15
Yeah.
00:47:15
Yeah.
00:47:15
And because I would've been being out and now getting back, but, so I can't
00:47:19
imagine what, five years, you know, you think about robots and smart grids.
00:47:23
Smart grids and all that.
00:47:25
Yeah, I mean, we've worked for some customers that it's amazing.
00:47:27
You just, you know, their, there's their, uh, systems.
00:47:30
You to check in a transformer, you have a QR code, you check
00:47:33
it in and make it so easy.
00:47:34
I mean, just the whole technology aspect of this industry is really blown up, which
00:47:39
I, I think it's great and it's creating more opportunity for, we have more
00:47:42
manufacturers today than we used to, which is you get lower prices and things and
00:47:47
make it more affordable for companies or people to buy tools and things like that.
00:47:51
So I like that aspect of it, as long as they're good quality tools and Yeah.
00:47:55
And things.
00:47:55
And, uh, but as far as the, the work.
00:47:58
I don't ever really seeing that change.
00:48:00
It's, you know, until it's just gonna keep growing.
00:48:02
Yeah.
00:48:03
Until the, until power comes from just in the air, I guess you always need lines.
00:48:08
I don't know how that would ever stop.
00:48:09
I don't think in our lifetime we ever see a, a place where Lyman
00:48:13
aren't needed, that's for sure.
00:48:14
Right.
00:48:15
Um, so what do you think would be one thing that utilities
00:48:18
don't understand about the field?
00:48:21
Right.
00:48:21
And being, being a contract company.
00:48:23
What, what's something you wish utilities would understand a little
00:48:25
bit more about your side of things?
00:48:26
Alright, well that's a great question and, and, uh.
00:48:30
You know, I say in the past, you know, we always would go to customer meetings
00:48:33
and we always thought about, you know, you can never tell the customer you're
00:48:37
creating, you know, you're, you're making a hard on us to make money 'cause you
00:48:41
just, oh yeah, y'all are doing great.
00:48:42
You know, just, yeah, you didn't want to tell them anything.
00:48:45
But, but they do really have to know if you're not willing to tell 'em, you
00:48:48
know, where they're, they're getting inefficiencies for us, you know, then it's
00:48:52
hard for us to make dollars and, and, and so I appreciate that, that, that comment.
00:48:57
Now I don't know what the answer is for that, but, but I do know there is, and
00:49:02
different customers are different for sure, but they do create inefficiencies
00:49:06
sometimes for the contractors.
00:49:07
Um, and, and a lot I think would be, say in one, one customer,
00:49:12
you have three inspectors now.
00:49:14
One inspector wants done this way, another inspector wants done this way, another
00:49:18
one that, but you have a spec book.
00:49:20
But, but this, this is all, well, this is the way I want it done.
00:49:23
Well the problem comes in, a lot of times we see this a lot was, well, that
00:49:27
inspector told me to do it this way.
00:49:28
Well that's not to spec.
00:49:29
Well, then you gotta go redo it.
00:49:31
Yeah.
00:49:31
Right.
00:49:31
And now we're, you're redo work that is on our own time.
00:49:35
Yeah.
00:49:36
You know, that you were told was good at the time.
00:49:37
Whole was good.
00:49:38
That is frustrating.
00:49:39
So in that, I think really just think about real quickly like that is,
00:49:43
that's really one of the struggles that we're having currently right now.
00:49:46
I know.
00:49:46
And yeah.
00:49:47
Of if we could just all, if they could get on the same page in their district Yep.
00:49:51
Of having everything, this is what we're gonna do, that
00:49:52
would, would help out a lot.
00:49:53
I, I think that happens a lot of dentistry.
00:49:55
There's so many moving pieces and the guy that's in charge out in the field
00:49:59
wants it his way, but he's not the guy that's writing the check Right.
00:50:02
In the office.
00:50:03
And that guy wants it a completely different way.
00:50:05
That's exactly right.
00:50:05
Yeah.
00:50:05
That does happen a lot.
00:50:06
Yep.
00:50:07
What's your view on the, the manpower in the industry and we, we've got
00:50:13
a different generation of kids come up now that started with battery
00:50:16
tools and things are a little bit easier on that side of things.
00:50:19
Right.
00:50:20
And not only has that changed for the industry, but the, the
00:50:24
mental health and the brotherhood of the industry is changing.
00:50:26
Right.
00:50:27
So what do you think is going on there?
00:50:29
You think that it's a better culture for linemen to talk about things and, and to,
00:50:35
to tell you, Hey, I am having a bad day.
00:50:36
Because I know when you started it's probably real similar.
00:50:38
When I started, if I came in, I was having a bad day, they
00:50:41
did not want to hear about it.
00:50:42
Right, right, right.
00:50:43
You think that's getting better?
00:50:44
Yeah.
00:50:44
I, I, I do.
00:50:45
And you know, it is, it is kind of, it is crazy with that, there's
00:50:48
more changes on that aspect of the industry with, you know, with li
00:50:52
linemen in their family, they are becoming more family and, you know.
00:50:55
Yeah.
00:50:55
Used to in the day, you know, my wife would take the kids to the, to the doctor.
00:50:59
Well, these days, the guys, the guys are wanting to be a part of
00:51:02
that and be a part of those families and, and their willingness to say,
00:51:05
Hey, I had a bad day, is for sure.
00:51:07
You definitely want guys willing to say, yeah, but, or guys or gals.
00:51:11
I'm sorry.
00:51:11
I can, I think it's more accepted for, for people to tell you, Hey.
00:51:15
I, I had a rough night last night.
00:51:16
My, my wife and I had a disagreement or, or, you know, we're struggling.
00:51:20
My, my kid's sick.
00:51:21
Um, you know, we we're taking 'em to the hospital tomorrow.
00:51:23
My head's not in it.
00:51:24
I think that's a little bit more accepted now.
00:51:27
Yes.
00:51:27
Than it was 20 years ago.
00:51:28
That's right.
00:51:28
And it should be right.
00:51:29
And it should.
00:51:29
That's right.
00:51:30
For sure.
00:51:30
You wanna know if that guy's not has his head in there.
00:51:32
Right?
00:51:32
Yep, for sure.
00:51:34
Mean, I would definitely, you know, being, if I was out on the field again,
00:51:36
I want to know what, what happened to you last night and all that.
00:51:39
And be willing to say and Yep.
00:51:40
And as companies, you know, we have to be willing to, you know,
00:51:43
listen and be willing and not, not look down on that guy for anything.
00:51:48
And here's another, we're kind a little talking about that and, and
00:51:51
we've been talking a lot about, um, substance abuse in our industry.
00:51:55
Yeah.
00:51:56
And I think that's, we have an issue.
00:51:58
It is always kind of been an issue, but, but we're having a more and more,
00:52:01
and, and not just in our industry, it's America, of course, but, and the, you
00:52:04
know, they're working to, to fight, uh, the drug wars and all that, but still in
00:52:08
our industry and really, how can we start.
00:52:11
Changing that because I mean, and, and I'll go, I've been
00:52:15
through a lot of things and Yep.
00:52:16
Done a lot of stuff and, and um, it's mental health along with substance
00:52:22
abuse man is a, a real problem that we wanna start with our foundation,
00:52:25
start looking at and, and how can we start helping our industry?
00:52:28
'cause it's a way out.
00:52:30
You get involved and you get into hard drugs.
00:52:32
There is a way out.
00:52:33
It's possible, you know, and, and I want guys to know that, that it is possible.
00:52:38
And I, I was at a point in my life where I didn't, you know, have to do stuff
00:52:41
just to keep going and, and all that.
00:52:43
But it is possible to get out of that and get clean and, and
00:52:47
get your mind right and get.
00:52:49
You know?
00:52:50
Yeah.
00:52:50
Get off of that stuff and the first step is talking to somebody about it.
00:52:52
Right, right.
00:52:53
Recognizing that, man, this isn't good for me.
00:52:55
I, I don't know how I got here.
00:52:56
It was a lot of, you know, hard days and hard decisions
00:52:59
and one thing led to another.
00:53:01
It happens.
00:53:01
Yes.
00:53:02
People, a lot of times I feel, I feel like people switch to the, the substances just
00:53:07
to get their brain to quit for a minute.
00:53:08
Right.
00:53:09
Because life is kicking their ass in one aspect or another and they can't
00:53:12
get their brain to shut off about it.
00:53:13
So the only way they can relax is to have a little bit of whatever couple
00:53:16
drinks or what, whatever their go-to is.
00:53:18
That's right.
00:53:19
And it just kind of keeps evolving.
00:53:20
And next thing you know, they're like.
00:53:22
Oh shit.
00:53:22
How'd I get here?
00:53:23
Exactly right.
00:53:24
Yep.
00:53:24
And it goes right along with mental health, man.
00:53:26
So I'm glad you brought that up.
00:53:27
Thank you for that.
00:53:28
And I think it's an area we can start addressing for sure.
00:53:31
Yeah.
00:53:31
Yeah.
00:53:31
Good deal.
00:53:32
So a little bit about this, this next section we're gonna, we're
00:53:35
gonna do just some little bit more of like a rapid fire type thing.
00:53:38
Right?
00:53:39
First thing pops in your head.
00:53:40
Okay.
00:53:40
That kind of stuff.
00:53:41
Perfect.
00:53:43
We'll see You fed the cut.
00:53:47
Uh, so what's one of the most dangerous things you've seen
00:53:51
someone do in the industry?
00:53:53
Hmm.
00:53:53
Anything pop into your head there?
00:53:55
Well, I could tell you the first time I got up in a bucket Yeah.
00:53:58
I was with my, a foreman and he is like, and I'm there.
00:54:00
He is like, oh, you can, you know, the, the bucket's insulated.
00:54:03
You can take your glove off.
00:54:04
So he took his glove off, grabbed the line, and put his tongue to it.
00:54:07
Oh man.
00:54:07
You know, so, and I, I fall in suit.
00:54:09
Yeah.
00:54:10
You know, because this is what we do.
00:54:11
This is what we do.
00:54:11
Yep.
00:54:12
So that was probably wouldn't recommend that.
00:54:15
Yep.
00:54:16
Yep.
00:54:16
Not something that we do on the first day.
00:54:18
Right.
00:54:19
All right.
00:54:20
So how about, uh, best piece of advice you've ever been given?
00:54:23
Best piece of advice.
00:54:24
Let's see.
00:54:26
It's up to me.
00:54:27
That's awesome.
00:54:28
Yep.
00:54:29
Yeah, it is.
00:54:30
And it doesn't matter if it's in your work career, if it's in your family
00:54:33
life, whatever, it's up to you.
00:54:35
And I think in these days we look to try to blame a lot of people for a lot of
00:54:39
things, but ultimately it's decisions that we make and the things that we do
00:54:43
on a daily basis that will get us to the next level if we want to continue
00:54:47
to grow in the company or whatever.
00:54:49
It's, it's up to you, man, that that is so awesome on so many levels because.
00:54:53
You can change whatever is going on in your life that you don't like just
00:54:57
by making some different decisions.
00:54:59
I'm not saying they're easy decisions.
00:55:01
I'm not saying it's it's gonna be a cakewalk, but you can do it.
00:55:03
Yep.
00:55:04
Yeah.
00:55:04
And you're right, it's not easy.
00:55:05
It's, it sounds easy.
00:55:06
It's not easy to do, but it is possible.
00:55:09
Yeah.
00:55:09
And that's awesome.
00:55:09
And here's the thing about it.
00:55:10
I think once you get through it, you look back on it and you're like, why
00:55:14
would I even in like even smoking cigarettes, say you smoke cigarettes.
00:55:17
Like, I don't even know why to smoke, used to smoke cigarettes every day.
00:55:19
Smoke a pack of day because everybody else was doing it.
00:55:21
Yeah.
00:55:21
And, and it's like, now I don't want, and so you think while you're smoking
00:55:25
those cigarettes, I never can get off.
00:55:26
Yep.
00:55:26
But once you really, you put your mind, you do get off of 'em and things, and you.
00:55:31
He's like, why did they ever do that?
00:55:32
You know?
00:55:33
Yeah.
00:55:33
And our health, if I could mention this too, our, our health is all we got.
00:55:36
We got one chance of this life.
00:55:38
That's it.
00:55:38
And keeping our bodies and what we put into our bodies is, is so important.
00:55:43
And, and our health and our longevity of life, man, you wanna
00:55:46
live this life as long as you can.
00:55:48
The after life is gonna be great, you know, if you're believers of stuff,
00:55:51
but you want to do as much as you can.
00:55:54
That little dash, they say that dash what's in that dash and yeah.
00:55:57
You want to, nobody wants to spend the last 20 years in such a
00:56:01
bad shape that you can enjoy it.
00:56:02
Right.
00:56:02
Right.
00:56:03
Exactly.
00:56:04
Live the best you can, make the good choices so that your body can hold up so
00:56:08
that you can enjoy what you That's right.
00:56:09
Right.
00:56:09
Yeah.
00:56:10
I love it.
00:56:10
And, and these new, you know, these older line, of course, you know, the
00:56:13
knees are bad and this and that, but now they, they don't have that much
00:56:15
pop, so they'll have the longer, they won't be heart as bad at you.
00:56:18
They're not running pop tools all the time and stuff like that.
00:56:21
Yeah.
00:56:21
So, um, if you're taking one tool up in the bucket with you every time you
00:56:25
go, what's, what's your favorite tool?
00:56:27
Uh, well, I guess a crescent wrench, but now today is not a crescent wrench.
00:56:30
It's like guys are going, hold on.
00:56:31
What?
00:56:31
Huh?
00:56:32
Yep.
00:56:33
Have that.
00:56:34
Yep.
00:56:34
Crescent Wrench was definitely one that we had to have all the time.
00:56:37
Yep.
00:56:38
Yeah, I'm good with that.
00:56:38
It might date you a little bit, but I'm good with that answer.
00:56:40
Well, actually today I go out and, you know, work with guys and the first
00:56:43
thing I grab a crescent like, Hey, we got this battery powered tool.
00:56:46
Okay.
00:56:46
The person just used to grabbing a ranch.
00:56:48
Yep, yep.
00:56:49
Yeah.
00:56:49
It's just, it's just in you at this point.
00:56:51
So, um, what's one thing every apprentice should stop doing?
00:56:55
Stop getting on Facebook and worrying about what everybody else is doing.
00:57:00
That's it.
00:57:00
Worry about you and your next steps and your day life and what you're
00:57:05
gonna do, you know, at your job.
00:57:07
And then with your families.
00:57:08
Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and how they're, you
00:57:11
know, that stuff online is so fake.
00:57:14
Yeah.
00:57:15
And people get so caught up in it.
00:57:17
That it just, it just messes their heads up.
00:57:19
Right?
00:57:19
Yeah, man, I can't tell you.
00:57:21
No.
00:57:21
And it's a distraction that we didn't have, right?
00:57:23
That's it.
00:57:23
Yeah.
00:57:23
Like what else was there to do when, when work?
00:57:25
When whenever work stopped and there was, you know, for
00:57:28
whatever reason, what'd you do?
00:57:30
You cleaned out your truck, you organized your, you squeeze on Yeah.
00:57:33
You know, whatever make up tie wire.
00:57:34
That's right.
00:57:35
You do all that.
00:57:35
But today what happens is work stops.
00:57:38
Oh yeah.
00:57:38
Lemme see what everybody is doing all the time.
00:57:40
Yeah.
00:57:40
And man, it's just, it is.
00:57:42
So you wanna set yourself apart and you wanna continue to grow and you can,
00:57:46
this industry can grow from, from the bottom to as high as you want to get.
00:57:50
And it's just, I love it.
00:57:51
Matter of getting, doing the things that you need to do.
00:57:53
Get off that.
00:57:54
Dang Facebook.
00:57:55
Heck yeah.
00:57:55
Heck yeah.
00:57:56
All right.
00:57:57
So, um, you going up in a bucket or are you climbing?
00:58:00
Well, today.
00:58:02
Bucket.
00:58:03
But I do, we have a train facility and I can do climb with our guys.
00:58:06
Like, I'm going tomorrow.
00:58:07
I'll be back at, and, uh, we have a class going on this week and gonna
00:58:10
get back tonight and go, go at least climb with them to show 'em that,
00:58:13
Hey, you know this, I can still do it.
00:58:15
I don't care what you guys say.
00:58:16
I can still do it.
00:58:17
I love it.
00:58:18
So you're going out celebrating with your friends family?
00:58:21
Um, bourbon or so your favorite.
00:58:23
Lineman saying, 'cause there there's a ton of 'em, right?
00:58:25
Yeah.
00:58:26
Can't see it from my house and all that stuff.
00:58:27
These guys say all the time, what, what's your favorite lineman saying?
00:58:30
Well, that's a, that's a good one there.
00:58:32
And you know, I used to say, say that and hear that, but I wouldn't,
00:58:35
I don't believe in that at all.
00:58:36
Because you can see it from your house.
00:58:38
It's your work on that job.
00:58:40
Yeah.
00:58:40
Yeah.
00:58:41
You know, so make sure it is Paul.
00:58:43
'cause your name is on that.
00:58:44
Exactly.
00:58:45
Um, so that's, that's really a, a good one.
00:58:47
That was, that was said, but another lineman saying, huh?
00:58:52
It's coming hot.
00:58:53
There you go.
00:58:54
Yeah.
00:58:54
That's one we hear a lot.
00:58:55
Right.
00:58:56
Say it a lot.
00:58:57
At least you should say it a lot.
00:58:58
If you're not saying that before you make something hot, you got a problem.
00:59:01
Yeah.
00:59:01
So, um, how about a misconception that Hollywood had about
00:59:05
line work during the film?
00:59:06
What was one main misconception?
00:59:08
Because they don't understand our industry.
00:59:09
Right, right, right.
00:59:10
Misconception.
00:59:11
Um, I would just say that they didn't realize how much went into getting power.
00:59:17
Yeah.
00:59:17
You know, and me being on set and look, I got, I got fired from.
00:59:21
From t and d Yeah.
00:59:22
As we sold it.
00:59:23
And, and, 'cause I was working on the movie started a foundation,
00:59:26
so the people that bought us, they're like, you care too much.
00:59:29
Yeah.
00:59:29
Go get, you know you.
00:59:30
Yeah.
00:59:30
Go all going out, going go do that.
00:59:33
And so, but I think it was, it was perfect.
00:59:35
'cause I always say like, if I couldn't have been up there.
00:59:38
We could have had lineman and leotards, you know, at least I was
00:59:41
fighting for the little thing we did.
00:59:42
Guitar industry.
00:59:43
Yep.
00:59:44
So I, I think them, me being, just being up there and, and being able to,
00:59:47
to talk with the stars and everything and, and give 'em the passion with it.
00:59:50
Yeah.
00:59:50
So they really didn't realize how much went into building power wise.
00:59:53
That's cool.
00:59:54
That's cool.
00:59:54
And the thing is, is anybody can look out there and it looks the same.
00:59:57
Right.
00:59:58
Didn't look like it's that much, but man, there's a lot that
01:00:00
goes into that, that pole Andrs.
01:00:02
Yeah.
01:00:03
I think that's a, a misconception that not only Hollywood
01:00:05
has, but the general public.
01:00:06
Ha.
01:00:06
That's right.
01:00:07
They don't understand that.
01:00:09
Yeah.
01:00:09
It's taken you four hours to get your lights back on.
01:00:11
That's because there's a lot that goes into it.
01:00:13
You should be glad that it's four hours because we've been up
01:00:15
for 18 hours straight on other jobs before we came to this one.
01:00:19
That's correct.
01:00:19
Yeah.
01:00:20
Yep.
01:00:20
And well, one thing I pet peeve, I'm sure it's you to hear 'em
01:00:23
say it's a telephone pole.
01:00:24
Yes.
01:00:25
Damn.
01:00:25
Telephone pole.
01:00:26
Yep.
01:00:26
Yep.
01:00:26
I I say the same thing all the time.
01:00:28
I'm like, what'd you call it?
01:00:29
They're like, uh, yep.
01:00:31
Yep.
01:00:32
I love it.
01:00:32
So, uh, what's one thing that you could change about the industry overnight?
01:00:36
If you could wave a magic wand to change something, what would you change?
01:00:38
Cell phone.
01:00:39
Facebook.
01:00:40
Yeah.
01:00:40
Get, get people to where they would, if nothing's going
01:00:43
on, straighten up your truck.
01:00:44
Have pride in your Yeah.
01:00:46
What you do.
01:00:46
Pride in your work.
01:00:47
I, I wish we could get the guys to drop their phones in a, in a grunt
01:00:51
sack at the beginning of the day and get 'em back at the end of the day.
01:00:53
Kinda like they do it at school.
01:00:54
Right.
01:00:54
Like, I, I wish we could do that.
01:00:56
Unfortunately, as crews, we rely on, it tells us how to get to the job every day.
01:01:00
Right.
01:01:00
I mean, use your GPS for stuff.
01:01:01
I mean, it's, it's probably not practical, but I That's right.
01:01:04
I do agree.
01:01:04
I think they're a problem.
01:01:06
Yeah.
01:01:06
And it, it is not it, it is that, but it's so much of just whenever the work
01:01:09
stops, fight the urge to get on the.
01:01:12
On the Facebook and tiktoks like, go straighten out your truck.
01:01:17
Make it more efficient.
01:01:18
So, you know, you can just build that pride, feed that pride.
01:01:20
Yep, yep.
01:01:21
What do you want your legacy in the trade to be?
01:01:22
What do you want people to remember you for?
01:01:25
Hmm.
01:01:25
I cared.
01:01:26
Yeah.
01:01:26
The passion.
01:01:27
Yep.
01:01:27
Because yeah, that's on the bottom of email because we care.
01:01:30
That's awesome.
01:01:30
You know?
01:01:30
That's awesome.
01:01:31
That's awesome.
01:01:32
What, what keeps you motivated every day to, to fight the battle?
01:01:35
Because the things you're doing are, they're, they're an uphill battle, right?
01:01:38
Right.
01:01:38
Yeah.
01:01:39
So today, you know, is, is building.
01:01:41
So we got involved with the companies and, and bringing, you know, we have two,
01:01:45
a union, non-union now and really try and is it possible to where we'll all
01:01:49
get, I think it is like, why can't it be?
01:01:52
Yeah.
01:01:52
You know, it's, it's just somebody chooses to go work for this company
01:01:55
or this company or go to the union of not, it's, it's really,
01:01:58
it's, uh, we all have choices.
01:01:59
We all have individual choices and who cares what everybody else does.
01:02:04
And uh, so I, I think that's, that's something I'm really, and,
01:02:07
and love to have two companies starting from the ground up Yeah.
01:02:11
To really show, because, you know, we're helping them and they're helping
01:02:14
us, so we are kind of working together.
01:02:16
That's awesome.
01:02:17
And, and people say that would never be able to get done Yeah.
01:02:19
When we can get us to work it together.
01:02:21
Wow.
01:02:21
Like if everything else is changing this century, why can't that Exactly.
01:02:24
Right.
01:02:25
Right.
01:02:25
I mean, if we would, if two people were, you know, from different union
01:02:30
nine and, and, and they were side by side and they didn't know anything
01:02:33
and they were just talking to us, you know, they didn't know that.
01:02:36
They would probably get along, like, you know, brothers for sure.
01:02:39
No problems.
01:02:39
Yep.
01:02:40
And then as far as soon as that, it's just like, why fellas?
01:02:42
Like, it's, it's we're it shows up for no reason.
01:02:44
Yep.
01:02:44
For no reason.
01:02:45
Yep.
01:02:46
I love it.
01:02:46
So if people wanna reach out and they want to, uh, sh share with you a name
01:02:51
for a fallen line, or they want to help for the fallen lineman organization,
01:02:54
so how can they, how can they find you?
01:02:56
So we have a website following lineman.org.
01:02:58
Okay.
01:02:59
Um, and also I put my number on the website.
01:03:03
Perfect.
01:03:03
I can call and contact me, um, through that way, uh, I could put
01:03:07
our, you know, our director, Mike Boyd, his number on there, and,
01:03:11
um, just all any of those ways.
01:03:13
Perfect.
01:03:13
Sure.
01:03:14
Perfect.
01:03:14
And every, everybody's got access to that.
01:03:16
So all you have to do is get on there and search Fall, I'm an
01:03:19
organization and it comes up.
01:03:20
It's, it's pretty simple.
01:03:21
So, um, man, Chad, I wanna thank you not only for taking time for us
01:03:25
today, but for your contributions to the industry, um, for trying
01:03:28
to make a difference and for going against the grain on a lot of things.
01:03:30
I think that's a pretty awesome thing.
01:03:32
Um, for you guys that are listening out here.
01:03:35
Go out and support these guys.
01:03:36
The passion that goes into this fallen lineman's organization is, is definitely
01:03:40
one of the most driven things I've seen.
01:03:43
He doesn't do it because it's paying all of his bills and that kinda stuff.
01:03:47
He does it because he is got a passion for the industry and for what's happening.
01:03:50
And unfortunately, there's too many linemen getting
01:03:52
hurt on this job every day.
01:03:54
So go out there and support him.
01:03:55
It's worth it.
01:03:56
And I tell you Thank you.
01:03:57
'cause I think it is conversations like this and, and even when you get
01:04:00
back to talking about customers, it, it is conversations like this that
01:04:04
we can drive the industry together.
01:04:06
Yeah.
01:04:06
And so I greatly appreciate you taking the time to, to talk to
01:04:09
me and you know, something that.
01:04:11
No, you know, don't do very often.
01:04:13
Yeah.
01:04:13
I don't like get in front of peoples too much, but I really have enjoyed speaking
01:04:16
with you and, and, uh, the openness and things that we could share because
01:04:20
if we can be open then and, and, and really not be offensive and all that,
01:04:25
if we can be open to things, then I think that's our, you know, first step.
01:04:28
So, real conversation.
01:04:28
Great job that, that you're doing, man.
01:04:30
Thank you.
01:04:30
I appreciate it, man.
01:04:31
I appreciate it.
01:04:32
Alright, so with, with that, we appreciate you guys showing up with us today.
01:04:36
Um, and until next time, let's talk about it.
01:04:38
That's it for today's episode of Power Grid Talks From the
01:04:41
bucket trucks to the boardrooms.
01:04:43
I'm your host, Tom Williamson.
01:04:46
I wanna thank you for joining me as we talk to the people behind the
01:04:49
scenes who keep our grid strong.
01:04:51
If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to hit that subscribe button, give
01:04:55
it a share, and leave a review so we can keep bringing more voices from across the
01:04:59
utility world to the conversation table.
01:05:02
You can also find us@powergridtalks.com.
01:05:05
Until next time, stay safe and keep the power flowing.