Why the Trades Desperately Need New Talent with Steve Sendldorfer

Sponsored by Tar Heel Construction Group

In this episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett, sponsored by Tar Heel Construction Group, Rich sits down with Steve Sendldorfer to discuss the urgent need for new talent in the trades, especially in the electrical field. They explore the challenges of finding qualified technicians, the evolving demands on tradespeople due to new technologies like EV chargers, and the importance of on-the-job training and customer relations. Steve emphasizes the value of hard work in the trades and the rewarding opportunities available for those willing to learn and commit.

Sponsor Message:

Today's episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett is proudly sponsored by Tar Heel Construction Group. With a commitment to top-quality roofing, siding, gutters, and solar solutions, Tar Heel Construction Group has been serving Maryland since 2004. Known for their craftsmanship and dedication to customer satisfaction, they’re a trusted name in home improvement across the region. Whether you need a roof replacement or an energy-efficient upgrade, Tar Heel has you covered. Visit tarheelconstructiongroup.com to learn more.

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Transcript

Rich Bennett 0:00
I'm sitting here today. We're going to talk about something very important. And everybody knows that this is a pet peeve of mine treats, because every time I talk to a friend of mine that is in any particular trade, they're always hurting or always having a hard time trying to find people. Luckily. The I believe it's the college local community College has a trade program. I believe some of the high some of the high schools there where it used to be one. And of course, you have your unions that have their 

Steve Sendldorfer 0:35
The. 

Rich Bennett 0:36
trade programs. But I have Steve send a door for on from JP has a electric and big electric company and we're going to talk to him about the trades. Some of the I guess the hard things you guys are going through trying to find electricians. And the easy things. If there is. 

Steve Sendldorfer 1:01
Relative term. 

Rich Bennett 1:02
Yeah. Yeah. So, first of all, how's it going? See? 

Steve Sendldorfer 1:05
Going well, I really. 

Rich Bennett 1:07
You. 

Steve Sendldorfer 1:07
You reaching out and asking for me to come join you on this podcast? Yeah, everything is going well. 

Rich Bennett 1:13
Oh, my pleasure. I mean, I just. I. We talked a little bit before we started recording because a buddy of mine who's in the FAC department at our company always has a hard time finding technicians. I know I told you before. My son is an electrician, but he's union. He's always complained. 

Steve Sendldorfer 1:34
Playing in that. 

Rich Bennett 1:36
There'll be no work. Then all of a sudden there is work. But it could be like the. Far away. But they never had. I mean, it's it's weird. I don't I don't know why. But you guys handle residential and commercial. 

Steve Sendldorfer 1:52
That's correct. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:54
So what? What's the biggest problem you guys are having now? Trying to find Tex and why? 

Steve Sendldorfer 2:00
I think. 

Well, we were looking always looking for, you know, qualified electricians that want to join our team for both sides. Oh, we're always looking. So 

Rich Bennett 2:14
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 2:16
from the commercial 

point of view. 

It's a little bit easier from what I've seen. And now granted, we've interviewed hundreds of people. So that's, you know, this is my experience personally. 

Commercial typically is a little bit easier to find. Qualified electricians to fill those spots. 

Rich Bennett 2:45
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 2:46
We typically have a harder time filling the residential service side of the business. So that means first residential service. Anyone going and troubleshooting issues at someone's home. 

Rich Bennett 3:01
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:02
Typically falls for us. That's our bucket residential service. So for. 

Rich Bennett 3:07
For both for both Florida 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:08
Florida 

Rich Bennett 3:09
and 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:09
and 

Rich Bennett 3:09
Maryland. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:09
Maryland. That's correct. 

Rich Bennett 3:10
Really? Wow. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:11
That's correct. So we are looking for really a specific type of individual, not just an electrician, but someone who is comfortable meeting all kinds of different people, 5 to 7 homeowners a day, usually. So they need to be able to kind of navigate that and, you know, talk to. Clean problems and and find the solutions to those problems and. 

Rich Bennett 3:38
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:39
You know, collect payment, do all those things that are required, uh, multiple times a day. So we have found it. 

Rich Bennett 3:49
I have a customer. Customer relations back. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:51
Correct. 

Rich Bennett 3:52
Well now, not necessarily background, but you have to be comfortable talking. 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:56
You have to be comfortable 

Rich Bennett 3:57
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 3:57
in that space. Yeah. And that and that's where I think it's a lot harder because I think traditionally, you know, us trades guys, you know, we're not typically built that way. 

Rich Bennett 4:08
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:08
Right. Yeah. So trying to find somebody who fits that mold is, in my opinion, more difficult than filling other positions. 

Rich Bennett 4:18
Okay, So with the tree programs, do you know if that's even tight customer 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:23
No, 

Rich Bennett 4:23
relations? 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:24
not as far as I'm aware of, at least here in this county. It's not. 

Rich Bennett 4:28
Really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:28
It's not a it's not a part of the curriculum, which I have been advocating for. 

Rich Bennett 4:35
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:36
I 

Rich Bennett 4:36
You. 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:36
think that, you know, this is, again, just like all other facets of our trade and not just our trade, all the other trades, we're all seeing it. It's it's becoming more difficult to to fill positions across the board. Just. 

Rich Bennett 4:52
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 4:53
We have a lack of skilled tradesmen and that in the industry in particular is, in my opinion, even going to have an even larger gap 

Rich Bennett 5:03
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:05
because we're not really we're not really talking about, you know, what type of environment you're going to be working in when doing that kind of work. 

Rich Bennett 5:14
I would think that teaching customer relations would be one of the first things they do in the beginning of the course, especially here. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:23
Here. 

Rich Bennett 5:24
I don't know how it is in Florida, but. As you know, a lot of the homes 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:28
Homes 

Rich Bennett 5:28
that 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:28
that 

Rich Bennett 5:28
were 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:28
were 

Rich Bennett 5:28
built 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:28
built 

Rich Bennett 5:29
here, 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:29
here. 

Rich Bennett 5:29
I think in the 75 on back have the aluminum wiring. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:32
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 5:33
Well, you go to a 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:34
Customers. 

Rich Bennett 5:34
customer's house and you try to explain to them, Look. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:36
We need to replace all. 

Rich Bennett 5:38
All this 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:39
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 5:39
with copper. If you don't know how to talk to that customer at a price, I think, number one, you're either 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:44
Push 

Rich Bennett 5:44
full of shit 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:44
it. 

Rich Bennett 5:45
or you're you're just trying to get over. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:49
Mm hmm. There's a balance, because there's also, um. You got to be able to get rid of the tech talk when you're talking. 

Rich Bennett 5:57
That's hard. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:58
Right. 

Rich Bennett 5:58
That is 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:59
You 

Rich Bennett 5:59
a. 

Steve Sendldorfer 5:59
have to be able to explain things to someone who isn't an electrician. 

Rich Bennett 6:04
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:06
And you have to be able to explain it in the correct way. 

Rich Bennett 6:09
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:10
So that's a whole nother skill set in my opinion. You know, we teach it in house. 

Rich Bennett 6:17
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:18
You know, we teach architects how to handle going into people's homes and how to minimize the tech talk. And you know, what other things that they could use as tools to give for examples and things like. 

Rich Bennett 6:30
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:31
So you know that ultimately, I think, at least for us, that's the direction we're going. 

Rich Bennett 6:37
That's good. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:38
We're going to create our own residential service technician. 

Rich Bennett 6:43
That is what better model to do it than your own? 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:47
That's it. 

Rich Bennett 6:48
That's great. And I know it's. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:50
We. 

Rich Bennett 6:51
Because I was in the I.T. field. And yeah, you talk tech, talk to a customer. They're looking at you like you got to hit. They're lost. 

Steve Sendldorfer 6:58
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 6:59
You know, and it is hard to try to. Go and talk. I don't even know how you just like. Higgs or talk or whatever you do, explain it to them to where they can understand. 

Steve Sendldorfer 7:14
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 7:15
And you guys are going to be teaching that are teaching. That's 

Steve Sendldorfer 7:18
Yeah, we do it now. It was something that, you know, I had started about two years ago when we have a great group of of individual kids that work for us on all sides of the business. But, you know, we have seasoned technicians on the residential side that are very good at kind of dealing with those situations. But, you know, it's it's one of those things where, as electricians were required to take continuing education, 

Rich Bennett 7:49
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 7:49
to keep our licenses active, the whole deal. Right. We got four years of school. So why not teach this part to 

Rich Bennett 7:57
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 7:58
and continue to practice it and get better at it? Right. Because it's just like anything else. 

Rich Bennett 8:04
Well, codes are always changing, too, right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 8:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:06
So you always got to stay up on top of it. 

Steve Sendldorfer 8:09
And especially in residential, because a lot of the changes we see on those code cycles 

Rich Bennett 8:15
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 8:15
are surrounding residential. You know, I 

Rich Bennett 8:18
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 8:18
think a lot of times it's designed to protect the homeowner, whatever, you know what I mean? So we it's always evolving. And in order to do a really good job and provide the homeowners with topnotch service and the best value, we have to be educated. 

Rich Bennett 8:35
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 8:35
Right. 

Rich Bennett 8:37
The thing is, too, and a lot of people don't realize this with the I mean, more people are getting electric vehicles. You have some states, Maryland hasn't done it yet. I hope they don't. But like New York, I think they're. I don't know if it's a state or a city. New buildings. No more gangsters. So they get rid of all natural gas and going all electric. Which means that's. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:02
It's all going to be. 

Rich Bennett 9:03
Vancouver, which is new. Here 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:06
He 

Rich Bennett 9:06
with the electric vehicles, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you put a 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:09
charges. 

Rich Bennett 9:09
charging station in your house. Is that 220? 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:12
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 9:12
Okay. So that's something that has to be your price. I'm sure you guys are seeing more of that now, aren't you? 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:19
We install anywhere from 5 to 7 a week. Now keep. 

Rich Bennett 9:25
What? 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:26
We don't just cover Harford County, Right. 

Rich Bennett 9:28
Right. But still. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:29
Far, but 5 to 7 a week is typically what we're doing. 

Rich Bennett 9:32
That's a lot of people buying electric cars. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:34
Holy cow. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:35
And that also we do need some new houses. So 

Rich Bennett 9:40
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:40
ground up builds and the code does require us to provide that outlet for those car chargers. Or if 

Rich Bennett 9:48
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:48
the prospective homeowner already has a charger and we need to install it, whatever. Right. Like so there are code like there's code language already in play 

Rich Bennett 9:56
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 9:56
that says if it's a new building or a new home, a new new dwelling unit, that we need to, you know, install the circuitry for it. 

Rich Bennett 10:05
How many houses. All right. Those of you listening. Yeah. We're probably going to start talking tech talk here. But how many houses that are the older houses? Like seventies on back that are getting these electric? And you're putting these charging stations in. How many them do you have to, like change out the electrical box? Not enough power men 

Steve Sendldorfer 10:28
In 

Rich Bennett 10:28
or. 

Steve Sendldorfer 10:28
a large portion. 

Rich Bennett 10:30
Is it really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 10:30
You know, a large portion, especially, uh, in our area. 

Rich Bennett 10:34
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 10:36
A lot of homes don't have gas. 

Rich Bennett 10:38
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 10:39
So, you know, when we're in a home that has a lot of, you know, um, uh, fuel, fire equipment, then, you know, you typically you still have some wiggle room. But most cases up here, especially, it's all electric. So, yeah, you're really looking at having to upgrade the service, as you know, in order to put the car charger in and still be code compliant. 

Rich Bennett 11:04
I don't think a lot of people realize, especially residential, because here in Harford County, you have some parts. Some parts of the county where homes are strictly on. Well, and correct me if I'm wrong, but even some of those. Need a light, right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 11:21
Right? Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 11:23
I don't think people realize how much electrical components they have in their house at times and how much energy it draws. 

Steve Sendldorfer 11:31
Most of the time they don't. You know, and that and when we get brought into someone's home and they're looking at, you know, spouse and hot tub is all the same, it's all the same. Right. Like. And they require a lot of power. And we're we're required to do a service calculation to show that the service can handle. 

Rich Bennett 11:51
Mm hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 11:52
The addition. So you know that we do get into a lot of situations where people have already made the purchase. We see this especially with EV chargers, the sales guy is not going to tell you that, hey, this is going to could potentially be a large cost to you in 

Rich Bennett 12:09
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 12:09
order to get this stage two charger in. Right. They just want to sell the car. 

Rich Bennett 12:12
Exactly. 

Steve Sendldorfer 12:13
So when they sell the car and then people start inquiring about, you know, what is it going to cost to have this charger installed that will actually charge the car in a reasonable amount of time, Then, you know, then we start opening this can of worms. Right. And and, you know, we we try to offer like, you know, pre inspections, like we offer services to come out and do we have an evaluation service that we we charge for that you could pay us to come out and we'll if you're thinking about buying a new car or you're thinking about buying or putting a hot tub in or whatever, you pay us that fee. We come out, we do an analysis on your service and and we'll tell you, you know, if you're looking at additional costs other than above and beyond just putting in the circuitry for that piece of equipment. Um, so I think that's. I'm getting ahead of it and kind of educating your homeowners like, hey, there could be more to this than what maybe you're being told or what you know, you know, because some people just don't know. If I wasn't in the industry, I probably wouldn't know either. So, you know, so it's just trying to educate the people that are thinking about doing these things. And we have services for that. 

Rich Bennett 13:32
Which is a reason they need. Teach customer relations in the trade schools, in the tree programs, because you have to know how to talk to the individual about that. 

Steve Sendldorfer 13:44
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 13:44
Holy cow. Do you guys. Actually. if you don't me maybe a good idea. Work with anybody from like, the fire departments. You know how firefighters will go and they'll do the fire 

Steve Sendldorfer 13:57
For 

Rich Bennett 13:58
safety 

Steve Sendldorfer 13:58
safety 

Rich Bennett 13:58
talks. 

Steve Sendldorfer 13:58
talks. Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 13:59
You guys actually do do that with anybody from the fire department. And the reason I bring that up is it seems like especially in wintertime, you 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:07
You 

Rich Bennett 14:07
see 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:07
see 

Rich Bennett 14:07
a 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:07
a 

Rich Bennett 14:07
lot. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:07
lot of house fires? Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 14:09
A lot of the fires are caused by the old. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:14
Electrical wire. 

Rich Bennett 14:15
Especially the aluminum. Do you guys go out and talk, like with the fire departments or anything like that? 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:21
We we have not done that with the fire department. We've been brought out in different circumstances to, you know, look at certain situations. That was, you know, a fire where, you know, there 

Rich Bennett 14:36
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:36
was a fire and we're like kind of doing the preliminary work after or whatever. So we've been in those situations, but we've never worked hand in hand with the fire department. 

Rich Bennett 14:44
May not be a bad idea. I think you guys would be extremely busy with a lot of houses around here. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:50
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 14:51
And then whole things. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:52
There is a lot of aluminum wiring here. 

Rich Bennett 14:54
Oh, yeah, it's. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:56
It's. 

Rich Bennett 14:57
Scare you. Think about it. 

Steve Sendldorfer 14:58
Florida is even worse. Orlando. 

Rich Bennett 15:00
Really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:01
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:02
I didn't realize. 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:03
Yeah. Yeah, probably. I'm not exactly sure of the of the percentage, but a large portion of our work in Florida is is dealing with aluminum wiring and federal Pacific panels and the combination of both in one place. 

Rich Bennett 15:20
Federal Pacific. 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:21
Yeah. So they're back in the, you know, seven or eight late sixties, seventies. There was, uh, a brand of panel and specifically there was a breaker, a zinc go breaker that was used, um, that wouldn't do its job. 

Rich Bennett 15:39
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:39
Shelly. Right. There was a problem. The breaker would not open, which means stop sending electricity 

Rich Bennett 15:45
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:46
to whatever. And. And then fires were caused and a lot of them. 

Rich Bennett 15:50
Wow. 

Steve Sendldorfer 15:51
So they there is if you look it up online, there's a ton of information out there. I'm kind of like skimming over a lot of it. But if you want to learn more about it, just type in Federal Pacific panels and Google and you can read a ton about the history and and what had happened and why they are not good to have in the home and why a lot of you know, a lot of insurance companies will ask that question when you go to get homeowner's insurance. And so we've been in situations where and again. Mainly Florida is probably. They're very strict on it. They'll say, well, we're not going to you have 30 days to have a licensed electrician come in and and replace it or you're not going to have coverage. Right. So they're they're very and we get it where, you know, guys that are buying apartment buildings have 28 of them or 48 of them, and they got 30 days to replace them all. You know, so we we've run into that a lot. But it's it's definitely a hazard. And, you know, just because it's been in the house for however many years and there hasn't been a problem yet, like that doesn't mean that tomorrow there couldn't be a problem. And once you're aware that, you know, this had a lot of problems, you know, it's kind of like in your best interest. 

Rich Bennett 17:13
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 17:14
Get it out of the home and replace it with a modern panel. So, you know, we run into that, too, a lot. 

Rich Bennett 17:20
Wow. With the train. 

Steve Sendldorfer 17:21
Training programs. 

Rich Bennett 17:24
Besides customer relations. From what you've seen, is there something else that they're missing on teaching people that are going into the electrical field? 

Steve Sendldorfer 17:34
That's a good question. I think a lot of it is not what they're not teaching. I think it's a lot on us as the owners and operators of the businesses. I know for me, I came up. I spent my apprenticeship working for a larger company in this county, and I was always I was the server, I was in the service department, and I had the privilege of working around a couple of master electricians that ran service vans. And I would jump between these guys and. 

Rich Bennett 18:11
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 18:12
They would look at my schoolwork with me on lunch break. They would quiz me on different aspects of the code. They would say, if I ask them a question about a code, they would say, Go get the book and try to find it and start looking. This in this section. 

Rich Bennett 18:34
Right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 18:35
They would. I'd have to get there early and organize the truck, not because, you know, they were being some type of way, but because they wanted me to learn what all the material was 

Rich Bennett 18:45
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 18:45
like. I didn't understand it then, but I understand it now, how it shaped me to become a very good electrician. 

Rich Bennett 18:55
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 18:55
And we have a duty, in my opinion. As you know, members of the of the the trade. 

Rich Bennett 19:04
Mm hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 19:04
General to pass this on to, you know, guys coming in, guys that are in school, 

Rich Bennett 19:10
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 19:10
people that we're mentoring our apprentices like. We have a responsibility to train these guys to be better than we are. Like, I firmly believe 

Rich Bennett 19:21
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 19:21
I want all of my apprentices that work for us. I want them to turn out to be way better electricians than I was ever. 

Rich Bennett 19:28
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 19:29
And that's our duty, in my opinion. You know, so I think a lot of it falls on us. You know, the trades or the schooling. It's like a baseline, right? We go over the theory. We talk about how these things work. We try to get some practical experience in the labs. But realistically, you know, on the day to day, they're coming to work every day. We need to be like not just saying, go get this piece of conduit for us. You know, go carry this here or there. We need to be pulling them up with us and saying we're going to run this piece of conduit and it's got this many bends and whatever, like. 

Rich Bennett 20:10
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 20:11
Figure it out. Like here. Like, here's the math on how to make a band. Try it. Right. And I think a lot of times we get caught in this cycle of like, we got to get it done. 

Rich Bennett 20:22
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 20:23
And we push those guys to the side and we jump in there and we do it and 

Rich Bennett 20:27
They're not. 

Steve Sendldorfer 20:27
they're not learning. 

Rich Bennett 20:28
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 20:29
And that is what I'm seeing after interviewing hundreds of people. I will tell you that guys coming in have journeyman cards and they struggle. They struggle to run trucks. They struggle to, you know, lead, lead a project, you know, because they we've done them a disservice. 

Rich Bennett 20:49
Right. Wow. I see You said you went through the apprenticeship program. 

Steve Sendldorfer 20:55
I did. 

Rich Bennett 20:55
Where? Harvard. Okay. Harvard Community College. Are you seeing more people going through the program now? 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:03
We are. 

Rich Bennett 21:04
That's 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:04
That's 

Rich Bennett 21:04
good. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:04
good. We are? Yeah, they. I believe they they couldn't even bring in all of the applicants that applied for 

Rich Bennett 21:13
Really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:13
this last school year. If I'm not mistaken, that 

Rich Bennett 21:16
Wow. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:16
was that was the case. So. 

Rich Bennett 21:19
That's a good problem. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:20
It is a great is. Have. We're seeing more 

Rich Bennett 21:24
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:24
go in and which is phenomenal. 

Rich Bennett 21:27
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:27
But that doesn't fix the gap we have because for years that wasn't the case. So as guys are retiring and exiting the workforce, we don't have guys to immediately fill what they're doing right. There's this gap and we got to train 

Rich Bennett 21:45
Got 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:45
them. 

Rich Bennett 21:45
to fill that gap in. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:46
Yeah. And I think in my opinion, there's no amount of schooling or it's real world experience. 

Rich Bennett 21:55
On the job. 

Steve Sendldorfer 21:55
It's on the job training. We got to be willing to do it. And it's increasingly getting harder. As you know, we're trying to also run a business. So 

Rich Bennett 22:03
Mm, 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:04
the business needs to be profitable. And when you got, you know, everybody coming at you trying to slash your profits, well, what happens? That means we got to work faster 

Rich Bennett 22:14
mm, mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:15
to try to, you know, make some sort of profit, which means that we don't have a whole lot of time to try to train guys along the way. So this problem that we have will get bigger until we're able to come together collectively and really try to change that. 

Rich Bennett 22:33
Right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:34
And no, no one contractor, one electrical outfit, one each. Nobody's going to do it on their own. Like, we literally have to do this together. 

Rich Bennett 22:43
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:43
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:44
I was going to say, doing it together. What if I don't know if it can be done or not, but if I like the different. 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:52
Companies. 

Rich Bennett 22:54
Would find a low key. 

Steve Sendldorfer 22:55
Haitian. 

Rich Bennett 22:57
Let's say you're out on the job and you're apprentice. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:00
She's having. 

Rich Bennett 23:01
Hard time trying to figure. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:02
Figure this out. 

Rich Bennett 23:03
So then and again, because you got to get the work done. But if you all had a location 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:09
Acacia, 

Rich Bennett 23:10
where 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:10
where 

Rich Bennett 23:10
you. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:10
you can meet all classes afterwards. 

Rich Bennett 23:13
It's 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:13
And so 

Rich Bennett 23:13
a. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:13
this is what we're running 

Rich Bennett 23:14
Running into 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:14
into. 

Rich Bennett 23:15
problems. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:16
Let's work on this. Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 23:18
I mean, something like that would probably work. You think? 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:21
Yeah. I mean, I. 

Rich Bennett 23:21
It's a matter of the businesses wanting to work together, I guess. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:24
Well, there's a lot of factors to 

Rich Bennett 23:26
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:26
it. You know, I think overall, at least from my experience, the other electrical contractors that I know and and and compete against like were we're all banging on the same drum like. You know, and I think trades in general like, 

Rich Bennett 23:43
Mhm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:43
you know, I think overall we do when push comes to shove, we we show up for each other. But, 

Rich Bennett 23:49
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 23:50
you know, I think 

I think that's a great idea. Um, I think there will be other things, you know, like getting the guys to being willing to do that too. Like, that's another thing. But, you know, that kind of comes back to how bad you want it because. 

Rich Bennett 24:04
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 24:04
You know, that's. I don't know. 

It's just like anything else, right? This trade is no different than whatever pick up or fashion doesn't. You gotta put reps under the bar. 

Rich Bennett 24:19
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 24:20
Period. You want to get good at something. You got to keep doing it and keep doing it. And you get better and better over time. And so, like, you know, that's that's the other piece of it is I think it's an inside job, too, for the folks wanting to come into the trade. They got to say that they're willing to put in the work. 

Rich Bennett 24:44
Good point. 

Steve Sendldorfer 24:45
You know, that's the sky's the limit. 

Rich Bennett 24:48
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 24:49
This. You know, I thought back when I. I started in the trade in like 2005, right. And I was getting ready to graduate high school. And, you know, I had buddies going to college and I didn't know really what I wanted to do, 

Rich Bennett 25:06
Right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 25:06
Right. Um, honestly, I just wanted to have a good time. You know, 

Rich Bennett 25:09
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 25:10
That was kind of where it was at, right. But, you know, I ended up, you know, go into the apprenticeship program and they had a list of all the preferred electrical contractors. I called everyone on that list. I set up multiple interviews to try to, you know, get a shot. And then I did get a shot and and I spent the next year, you know, digging ditches and trenches 

Rich Bennett 25:36
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 25:36
for pipe and freezing cold and and, you know, stock in the drugs and all that, um, and the whole year I'm like, did I make the right decision? Right? 

Rich Bennett 25:45
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 25:45
Cause I got my buddies, you know, like, somewhere warm hanging out. College and. But I'll tell you, you know. I lived, you know, in the trades through oh eight, right through. 

Rich Bennett 25:58
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 25:58
Down, still had a job. I had buddies coming back from from college with freakin huge mountains of debt or not being able to find a job. And what they went to school for, a lot of them went into the military. 

Rich Bennett 26:12
Mhm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 26:13
Um, you know, and, and I was, I was making money the whole time 

Rich Bennett 26:18
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 26:19
with no debt, you know, just working on myself, working on my career. And, you know, again, I'm the same like I put in the work, but it's never let me down. It 

Rich Bennett 26:30
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 26:31
took me, you know, I've built businesses. I've sold them. You know, I'm, you know, part of an amazing group of individuals that are on the leadership team that, you know, we're trying to like, do something really good in the trades, you know, 

Rich Bennett 26:44
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 26:44
So so I've been able to do a lot of really cool things while being in the trades. And I think it's being talked about more. 

Rich Bennett 26:55
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 26:55
Yeah, now. But it wasn't it was very unpopular, you know, when I was coming up through the trade and um, 

Rich Bennett 27:02
Um, you 

Steve Sendldorfer 27:02
you 

Rich Bennett 27:02
know. 

Steve Sendldorfer 27:02
know, I'm definitely here to tell you that there's nothing wrong in being in the trades. It's a great path for anyone that wants to do it. And in my opinion, the amount of like if you put in the work, if you are willing to put in the extra reps required to get above everyone else, you will make a lot of money. 

Rich Bennett 27:25
Oh, big time. 

Steve Sendldorfer 27:26
You will do very 

Rich Bennett 27:27
You're 

Steve Sendldorfer 27:27
well. 

Rich Bennett 27:28
early. 

Steve Sendldorfer 27:28
Yeah, absolutely. There's there's no question in my mind, like just seeing what we've the trend on, like how much we're, you know, we were paying to to get a qualified tech in a service truck. Right. Like, uh, you know, the commission structures that are out there for, you know, for certain positions like you could very easily do extremely well very quickly if you're willing to put in the work. 

Rich Bennett 27:53
And doesn't it feel good that 

you're while a lot of your friends were paying on those student loans. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:01
There's still pain on. 

Rich Bennett 28:02
You're paying a mortgage. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:03
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 28:05
I 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:05
I'm. 

Rich Bennett 28:05
mean. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:05
I'm buying assets. 

Rich Bennett 28:06
Yeah. I mean, that's kind of feel so good. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:10
It does now. It didn't then. And that's 

Rich Bennett 28:12
Right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:12
what 

Rich Bennett 28:12
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:12
I'm saying. Like, you know, you got it's just like anything else. You got to stick with it. Like it's not going to happen overnight. You're not going to be some rock star right out of the gate. You might be ahead of some other people. But if you want to get really good and you really want to blow this thing up. 

Rich Bennett 28:29
Hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:29
You got to put in the work. 

Rich Bennett 28:31
And 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:31
The 

Rich Bennett 28:31
the 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:31
thing 

Rich Bennett 28:31
thing is, 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:32
is, 

Rich Bennett 28:32
with the trees, I don't think a lot 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:33
lot 

Rich Bennett 28:34
of 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:34
of 

Rich Bennett 28:34
people 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:34
people. 

Rich Bennett 28:34
realize there are certain trades where. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:39
The. 

Rich Bennett 28:39
They're going to need people all the time, like electricians. Back. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:44
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Like, you know, we mentioned Joel 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:48
Bill 

Rich Bennett 28:48
or 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:48
Irwin. 

Rich Bennett 28:48
earlier, roofers, all that unlike me, you know, my trade was radio. 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:53
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 28:54
Well, when I was back 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:56
I can 

Rich Bennett 28:56
in radio, 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:56
read 

Rich Bennett 28:57
every local station had 

Steve Sendldorfer 28:58
it. 

Rich Bennett 28:59
local radio personalities. Anything like that anymore is a dying breed. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:03
Right. 

Rich Bennett 29:04
You know, and each depending on who you talk to, some people will say that things like Spotify and all that 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:11
That's 

Rich Bennett 29:12
put 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:12
for radio 

Rich Bennett 29:12
radio. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:12
stations and. 

Rich Bennett 29:14
No, it was the. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:15
Company 

Rich Bennett 29:16
That bought the 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:17
produced. 

Rich Bennett 29:17
radio stations that put them out because that's when you started seeing things. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:21
Syndicated. 

Rich Bennett 29:22
You. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:23
They. 

Rich Bennett 29:23
Local jocks and all that. You can't do that with electricians. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:27
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 29:28
You know how you can't have 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:30
And 

Rich Bennett 29:30
an 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:30
the. 

Rich Bennett 29:30
electrician? That's in California. Rewire something here, man. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:35
Marilyn. 

Rich Bennett 29:38
Of. They invent some kind of robot that he 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:41
All right. 

Rich Bennett 29:42
wrote. Yeah, well, yeah, I don't think I would ever have, because. What. What does that robot need? 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:46
Well. 

Rich Bennett 29:46
Electronics to work. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:48
Yeah, I mean, that that's kind of what I would piggyback on. 

Rich Bennett 29:51
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:51
Like, I use technology. 

Rich Bennett 29:54
Mm hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 29:56
We are a technology heavy business, like any type of A.I. that we can adapt into what we're doing. We use it our softwares that we use on the residential side and the commercial side. You know, we try to leverage every piece of technology we can. 

Rich Bennett 30:15
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 30:15
Into the business and train those guys to use it while, you know, operating their day to day. And as we've evolved, we've started to see this ability to capture all the details of these projects and how things are going and all the customer notes and collecting payment and all and all, all the pieces of data that I need to see in order to make a smart decision on marketing campaigns. It's all in my software, you know. 

Rich Bennett 30:46
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 30:47
It's a really important I know that some guys in the trade are like, yeah, you know, have some hesitation. I'm here to tell you I had that hesitation too. And I said, You know what? I'll give it like six months. Let me dive in 

Rich Bennett 31:02
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:02
and see what this is all about. And I fell in love with it because it changes the game. 

Rich Bennett 31:07
That 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:07
I 

Rich Bennett 31:07
was. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:07
was going to say the 

Rich Bennett 31:08
All the new stuff you're learning and the way everything's 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:10
three things 

Rich Bennett 31:11
evolving. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:11
of. 

Rich Bennett 31:12
I mean, you were solar, you know, you have some. 

States now will have like the houses will have the little windmills on them for lunch. I mean, this 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:23
This 

Rich Bennett 31:23
is 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:23
is 

Rich Bennett 31:23
all 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:23
also. 

Rich Bennett 31:23
stuff that. You got. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:26
To do. 

Rich Bennett 31:27
To me, it's exciting. I mean, really, I mean, like if this the podcast and I'm constantly learning stuff, the learning never stops. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:36
No, it. 

Rich Bennett 31:36
You know, it just it's. Wow, I missed my calling. I should. It became an electrician. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:43
We're out here doing it for you. Don't you worry. 

Rich Bennett 31:46
Well, thank God you are. Can't get my son to come over to my house. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:50
Blasted them on live. 

Rich Bennett 31:53
So what? 

Since 2005, you said. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:57
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 31:58
What's the. 

Steve Sendldorfer 31:59
The biggest change. 

Rich Bennett 31:59
Change. In the field since then. 

Steve Sendldorfer 32:05
Uh, very tough. 

Rich Bennett 32:06
Besides electric cars. 

Steve Sendldorfer 32:08
Right. The biggest change. 

I'm trying to think like specifically because I've floated between so many different parts of the industry and, you know, I'll speak on like, you know, part of my background is industrial and specifically like P LC equipment and programming for logic. So like it's a program programmable logic controller. So you're like Amazon, Wayfair, like, 

Rich Bennett 32:40
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 32:40
you know, companies that are in manufacturing, you know, I was aerospace manufacturing is, is part of my 

Rich Bennett 32:48
Oh. 

Steve Sendldorfer 32:48
background. So like. So there's been a lot of changes surrounding like manufacturing the equipment that they are producing to make things and the programmable logic control systems that are in place to be able to sense if this, you know, position is off or be able to like make adjustments or sense faults like the that's part of our trade 

Rich Bennett 33:20
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 33:20
that a lot of people don't know anything about or mess with. And you got a laptop and you're going through your plug in to the piece of equipment and you're troubleshooting the piece of equipment through logic, through, you know, a series of switches that are on a screen that you're looking for the problem. So like we've made huge advancements in my. 

Rich Bennett 33:43
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 33:44
In that area over the last ten years, like it's just night and day from what we used to see, you know. So and that again, is like it's a whole nother avenue. 

Rich Bennett 33:55
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 33:56
To go in the in the trade. A lot of those guys that, you know, were master electricians or journeyman electricians that got the opportunity to start reading some logic and finding problems in an industrial environment in a piece of equipment. And there's tons of specialized training around that type of, you know, our industry. And so that there's been a lot of changes there. 

Rich Bennett 34:20
And then you see you're starting to see I incorporate it as well. 

Steve Sendldorfer 34:25
We're using that like back on, like more of the office side, so. 

Rich Bennett 34:28
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 34:29
You know, to be able to, like, manage our dispatch board. We 

Rich Bennett 34:33
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 34:34
use a piece of a I like to 

Rich Bennett 34:36
Really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 34:36
do a lot of our marketing campaigns, you know, like to to do a lot of our data pools. You know, we use a piece of software to analyze, you know, a lot of our marketing efforts and where they're going. We use it to write our SOPs. 

Rich Bennett 34:53
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 34:55
There's a there's a ton of examples. And in really we're just getting started like. 

Rich Bennett 35:00
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:01
You know, the age back in the plumbing industries that you know a lot I've seen a lot of advancements with some of their stuff and what they're using A.I. for. You know, we operate off of a similar software that is primarily used for HVAC and plumbing on the residential service side. And that's where we're really like trying to incorporate, you know, the. 

Rich Bennett 35:24
Right. And I don't know if it's true or not. There's a buddy of mine told me, like one I don't know if it's Three Mile Island or what, but some big. Company is taking. 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:38
Over, I guess, 

Rich Bennett 35:39
One 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:39
one 

Rich Bennett 35:39
of 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:39
of 

Rich Bennett 35:39
the 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:40
the 

Rich Bennett 35:40
reactors 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:40
reactors. 

Rich Bennett 35:40
to turn it into a almost like a power plant strictly for air. 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:45
Hmm. 

Rich Bennett 35:46
Which means that some electrical companies are going to be busy because you've got to convert all that over, don't you? 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:54
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 35:54
I 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:54
I mean, 

Rich Bennett 35:55
mean. 

Steve Sendldorfer 35:55
I mean, I would imagine there's going to be some electrical work involved. 

Rich Bennett 35:59
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Big time. All right, so JP's, how long you've been with them? 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:04
Since 22. 

Rich Bennett 36:06
22. 

Okay. Now, are you going in the field with them or are you. The managers, right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:13
Among the leadership. 

Rich Bennett 36:15
Okay, maybe. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:17
In 2005. 

Rich Bennett 36:18
Five. So almost 20 years you've been in the field and you're already a in. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:23
In leadership. 

Rich Bennett 36:24
Should there. 

That's pretty damn good. I mean, some places you could be there for 30 years and never get a leadership role. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:33
Again, it kind of goes back to the same thing that I've been talking about. 

Rich Bennett 36:36
You're learning. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:37
Well, you got to be willing to put in the work. 

Rich Bennett 36:38
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:39
While people were out, you know, drinking and hanging. Or whatever. On the weekends I was working while, you know, people were with their families. I was working. 

Rich Bennett 36:49
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:50
You know, I built an electrical business while working at another company and sold it to Japs. So, like. 

Rich Bennett 36:58
What? 

Steve Sendldorfer 36:59
That that's where the residential department came from. I built a residential 

service based company. 

Rich Bennett 37:09
Really? 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:09
Scaled it and sold it to Japs in 22. 

Rich Bennett 37:13
Oh. 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:13
Oh. And so we bolted that on and made jeeps multi stop shop for residential and commercial and industrial. 

Rich Bennett 37:24
Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're very family oriented, too, aren't they? 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:27
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:28
And so I thought. I mean, they they care about. They care about their employees and their families. 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:33
They do. And, you know, because that's you know, that's the core of it. Right. Like James started 13 years ago and it was an owner operator. 

Rich Bennett 37:43
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:43
It was him in a truck. 

Rich Bennett 37:45
Wow. 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:45
You know, so he's worked very hard to build out this business through relationships. 

Rich Bennett 37:51
Mm hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 37:52
Internal and external with our customers like that. That is at the core of what JP's is, you know, is all built on relationships. 

Rich Bennett 38:02
And where besides Florida. Where are you guys located at in. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:05
Darlington. 

Rich Bennett 38:06
Darlington. Okay. Tell everybody the website. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:10
Yeah it's JPC Electrical services dot com. 

Rich Bennett 38:13
That's easy to remember. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:15
Simple. Yeah. Take it wherever you need to go. Multiple pages. Residential, commercial. There's a submission form landing page on every page. 

Rich Bennett 38:23
What's the biggest thing that you. About being an electrician. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:31
I would say. 

Because I'm not really practicing it anymore 

Rich Bennett 38:37
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:37
when I was actively. Operating as 

Rich Bennett 38:41
hmm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 38:41
an electrician. I like the differences of of a day to day like the the the challenges of of finding problems and fixing them and seeing. You know, it's a totally different game if you're in a house downtown that was built in the twenties that has no wiring or you're dealing you're in an industrial facility. Plugged up to a $100 million piece of equipment and you're trying to solve a problem as to why it's not working. Right. Like. 

Rich Bennett 39:06
Right? 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:07
I've gone through all these different phases of the industry to see all these things, and that is what I love the most about it is there's it's two days, could be night and day apart 

Rich Bennett 39:18
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:19
from what you're getting into. 

Rich Bennett 39:21
So besides your own story, because you. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:25
You guys 

Rich Bennett 39:26
Workers 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:26
were. 

Rich Bennett 39:26
apprenticeships. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:28
Mm hmm. Yep. 

Rich Bennett 39:29
Can you share 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:30
A 

Rich Bennett 39:30
a. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:30
feel good story about an apprentice. 

Rich Bennett 39:32
Ownership. That an apprentice. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:35
And. 

Rich Bennett 39:35
An apprentice that you work. And how successful they've become. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:40
What they're doing. 

Rich Bennett 39:40
Now. 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:41
Sure there's a lot of good success 

Rich Bennett 39:43
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 39:44
stories, you know. You know, we have on the residential side, we have a guy that's been with us for. This is his third year and he's in his second year of school. And he has been jumping between all of our leads on the residential side and just 

Rich Bennett 40:05
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:05
picking up pieces from, you know, every guy on. 

Rich Bennett 40:08
He's like a mini you. Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:11
All over the place. Right. 

Rich Bennett 40:12
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:12
And. And he has just such a great attitude about being willing to jump in and help everybody. And now we're starting to transition him into going out and solving problems on his own. You know, this this next phase is what I'm really excited for, to watch him go through. 

Rich Bennett 40:35
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:35
You know, being being, you know, willing and, you know, excited to kind of be put out there, so to speak. 

Rich Bennett 40:42
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:43
To try to solve some of his own, uh, some of, you know, some of the problems that he's going to walk into. So, um, you know, that I don't think would have happened that quickly, eh, if he if his attitude wasn't the way it is. 

Rich Bennett 40:57
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 40:58
Um, you know, he does very good in school. He picks up a lot of the information that you know is or at least it's showing that in his, his scores and all of the leads that he's bounced around have tried to, you know, really share as much as they can with him. And they've all given me the same feedback that they feel like he's ready to go. And so, like, you know, that is a success because it doesn't always end up that way. 

Rich Bennett 41:22
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:23
Um, you know, but. But, yeah, for us like that, that's a win. 

Rich Bennett 41:28
I was going to say, and I'm sure you also seen the downside to where. You know, people are going through the program 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:36
For. 

Rich Bennett 41:36
because they believe that's what they want and then come to find out after a couple of years or a year. 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:43
We've had it a week. 

Rich Bennett 41:45
Wow. Drop it because. 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:47
Yeah. I 

Rich Bennett 41:47
Figure 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:47
figured 

Rich Bennett 41:48
it in. 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:48
this is too much. 

Rich Bennett 41:49
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:49
Yeah. Yeah, we've had. Yeah. Recently 

Rich Bennett 41:52
Why? 

Steve Sendldorfer 41:52
He made it. I don't even think it was a full week. You know, and that's what I'm saying is, like, 

it doesn't make sense to me how you can figure it out that quickly. 

Rich Bennett 42:05
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:06
Right. You know, I think that sometimes, no matter what you're doing. Yeah, I don't know. You might not like it in the beginning. I'll be honest. I didn't like what I was doing as an electrician in the beginning. 

Rich Bennett 42:18
You didn't give up. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:19
I didn't give up. 

Rich Bennett 42:20
There. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:21
You know, I kept pushing through and, you know, I think, you know, a lot of times that is a problem because we live in this world today where everybody wants everything now. 

Rich Bennett 42:33
Exactly. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:34
And, you know, the ones who win are the ones who wait. You know 

Rich Bennett 42:41
Good. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:42
that. 

Rich Bennett 42:42
To lose that weight. 

Steve Sendldorfer 42:43
Delayed gratification, right? You know, I don't know, like, you got to put in the work and then it comes back to the same thing. But but yeah, we've seen, you know, guys. Yeah. Get through two years of school and realize that they, they have a passion in something else. And I'm 

Rich Bennett 43:00
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:00
more understanding about that 

Rich Bennett 43:02
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:02
because they just, they put in a decent amount of time and they're like, I really like this thing and I want to go do it. And I'm a firm believer, like, even we've had great technicians leave. 

Rich Bennett 43:15
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:16
And because they wanted to either try another career path or they wanted to go into a different part of our industry that we don't really mess with whatever. 

Rich Bennett 43:25
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:26
Right. Like, I, I'm pumped because I want them to follow. Yeah. I want them to succeed. That's. 

Rich Bennett 43:34
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:34
When we do what we do. 

Rich Bennett 43:35
It is hard, especially if they're working for you. And I had this happened to me. The one eyed company I was working for, I was the service manager. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:47
My best. 

Rich Bennett 43:47
Technician. Came up and told 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:49
told me. 

Rich Bennett 43:50
me he was going to be leaving. 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:52
And 

Rich Bennett 43:52
And of 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:52
of course. 

Rich Bennett 43:52
course, my first thought was, ah, my first question was what company are you going to? 

Steve Sendldorfer 43:57
He. 

Rich Bennett 43:57
He was going to college up in Ohio to become a minister. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:00
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 44:02
How can you talk somebody else that. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:05
Right. 

Rich Bennett 44:05
And I was happy for 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:07
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 44:07
them. You know, Was I 

hurt? In a way, yeah, because I had to hire, I think, two people to replace just the one he. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:17
He was that good? Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 44:19
But you were. You can't blame somebody that wants to, especially after they've been doing it for a while. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:25
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 44:25
Yeah, but yeah, if you've only been there for a week, you know. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:29
It happens, right? And 

Rich Bennett 44:30
But 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:31
then it's like it's part of it's really it's part of any business. 

Rich Bennett 44:35
yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:35
It's not unique to this industry. Right. Like. 

Rich Bennett 44:39
Got it through the current work. 

Steve Sendldorfer 44:41
You got to be willing. 

Rich Bennett 44:42
Yeah, but yeah, you're right. I mean, nowadays everybody wants something. They want it handed to them. Yeah. How many times do you see people that have never worked somewhere? 

I'm probably yelled at for this to wear the. A lot of these younger people 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:00
People will go 

Rich Bennett 45:01
in 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:01
and they'll 

Rich Bennett 45:01
the work 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:01
work at a place. 

Rich Bennett 45:02
and 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:02
And 

Rich Bennett 45:02
they'll quit because. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:03
the. 

Rich Bennett 45:03
The manager didn't know what they were doing. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:05
Hmm. 

Rich Bennett 45:06
This person doesn't know. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:07
Know how to run a business. 

Rich Bennett 45:08
Business. Really. They've been around for a long time, so I don't think that's the case. It's because you don't want to put in the effort. You don't want to put. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:18
In the war. 

Rich Bennett 45:19
People have a hard time of looking in the mirror and putting blame where the blame should 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:26
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 45:26
be. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:27
Sure. The real deal. I think the bar for excellence is so low. 

Rich Bennett 45:34
You're right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:35
Like show up when you say you're going to show up. Like, do the things you say you're going to do. Like try to put in extra effort when the day's over. Like you're beating 80% of the people. 

Rich Bennett 45:52
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 45:53
Just by doing those things like that is, you know, it's never been so easy to win, right? Today. 

Rich Bennett 46:02
And the thing is, a lot of people. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:04
You don't realize like. 

Rich Bennett 46:06
I'm sure. You have excellent benefits. People don't look at that anymore. Younger people, I should say, really don't look at that. They want it all handed to them. And I think what the downfall of a lot 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:20
A lot 

Rich Bennett 46:20
of 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:20
of 

Rich Bennett 46:20
businesses 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:20
businesses 

Rich Bennett 46:20
businesses 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:21
in 

Rich Bennett 46:21
has. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:21
split. 

Rich Bennett 46:23
I don't think. Trees. I don't think they do this. But you see some businesses now went to the. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:28
That daily pain. 

Rich Bennett 46:30
Where you get paid that day. Every day you go to work. 

Big mistake. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 46:37
Big mistake. And you see some grocery. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:39
Shoe stores are gone. 

Rich Bennett 46:41
Hopefully they got rid of that. But I saw it happen shortly after COVID 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:46
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 46:46
and it's like, why would you do that? You're not going to get people that want to stay there. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:52
And I think it I think it comes back to an education issue. 

Rich Bennett 46:58
Yes. 

Steve Sendldorfer 46:58
Right. We do have, um, quite a bit of our guys that understand and contribute to the 401k. We have an excellent match. Um, and they get it, But I think that they started to understand that because we tried to talk about it. Like, what? Why is it important to do? 

Rich Bennett 47:19
Yeah, 

Steve Sendldorfer 47:20
Like, you know, like all those things. And that's, you know, they don't teach it in school. They don't 

Rich Bennett 47:25
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 47:26
say why you need to save and why you should invest your money into a retirement account or a brokerage account or whatever. Right. Like nobody talks about that. So again, it comes back to like, what are you fostering in your company, you know? 

Rich Bennett 47:41
Mm. 

Steve Sendldorfer 47:42
Are we fostering? Group of people that can't wait until Friday to get paid? Or are we fostering a group of people that are trying to take charge of their lives while they're in their twenties so that they're way ahead of the game when they get to that age where they 

Rich Bennett 47:57
Yeah. 

Steve Sendldorfer 47:57
are making that decision to retire? Right? Like, what are we doing? Um, so yeah, I think, I think it comes back on us to. 

Rich Bennett 48:04
And so with you guys, with the educate and or the continuation 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:08
You know, 

Rich Bennett 48:08
of 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:09
the apprenticeship 

Rich Bennett 48:09
your program, 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:09
program, teaching 

Rich Bennett 48:10
teach The 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:11
the 

Rich Bennett 48:11
Apprentice 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:11
apprentices 

Rich Bennett 48:12
to 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:12
the 

Rich Bennett 48:12
stuff, 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:12
stuff they're 

Rich Bennett 48:12
they're 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:12
not 

Rich Bennett 48:12
not they're 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:13
they're not 

Rich Bennett 48:13
not learning. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:14
learning in school 

Rich Bennett 48:15
Are you doing that 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:16
here 

Rich Bennett 48:16
here in 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:16
in 

Rich Bennett 48:16
Maryland? 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:16
Maryland. 

Rich Bennett 48:17
Plus 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:17
Plus 

Rich Bennett 48:17
the 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:17
the. 

Rich Bennett 48:17
Florida location. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:18
We're primarily focused right now in Maryland 

Rich Bennett 48:21
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:21
on that training. 

Rich Bennett 48:22
Okay. Any plans on doing? 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:24
Yes, we do plan to expand that to Florida. Florida is just a much smaller operation. 

Rich Bennett 48:29
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:30
Current time. 

Rich Bennett 48:31
All 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:31
All 

Rich Bennett 48:31
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:31
right. 

Rich Bennett 48:32
So you guys looking to. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:33
To another place anywhere else? Not any time soon. Yeah, we're niched down and we're focused right now. We got a lot of big plans. 

Rich Bennett 48:40
Well, I have a funny feeling Florida is going to be very busy soon after this hurricane. 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:44
It was after the last one, I'll tell 

Rich Bennett 48:46
Oh, 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:46
you that. 

Rich Bennett 48:46
I bet. I bet. Then those of you listening, if you have ever considered a trade. Ed, just for some reason said no any for me or some. I try to talk 

Steve Sendldorfer 48:59
Talk. 

Rich Bennett 49:00
you out of it. Follow your heart. Follow what? You. 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:03
You want to give. 

Rich Bennett 49:04
Trust me, the trades are. 

Well, like Steve said, number one, you're not going to have that student debt. You're not. It's you're going to you're going to be getting that mortgage before a lot of your friends that are going to come. 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:20
College or 

Rich Bennett 49:22
They're not going to be paying on forever. There's nothing better than on 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:26
on 

Rich Bennett 49:26
the 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:26
the 

Rich Bennett 49:26
job 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:26
job. 

Rich Bennett 49:27
training. You're learning so much. And those of you that want to become an electrician seriously look into it because 

they're going a step beyond and they're. 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:40
Continuing the apprenticeship. 

Rich Bennett 49:42
And teaching you even more. 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:44
More. 

Rich Bennett 49:45
Then what you're learning in school. 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:47
It was. 

Rich Bennett 49:48
What's the website again? 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:49
JP's electrical services. Com. 

Rich Bennett 49:53
Do you have anything on the website about the partnership? 

Steve Sendldorfer 49:56
Well, there is a there is a I believe there is a blog about it, but there's also a form submission where 

Rich Bennett 50:02
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:02
if you're interested in joining the team, you can apply there. And we're also always looking for seasoned electricians 

Rich Bennett 50:10
Right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:10
as well. 

Rich Bennett 50:12
You see, there are 

I guess you do see a lot of them, don't you? Seasonal electricians. They're just 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:21
It depends. You know, we we're very focused right now on building out a specific segment of the business. So we're being very calculated on 

Rich Bennett 50:33
right. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:33
who's coming on the team like primarily with that specific skill set. So. 

Rich Bennett 50:38
Okay. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:39
You know, we. We are. Yeah, that's what we're focused on. 

Rich Bennett 50:42
Okay. Steve, is there 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:43
Or 

Rich Bennett 50:44
any. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:44
anything like that. 

Rich Bennett 50:44
Ed. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:45
That's it. I think we covered it. 

Rich Bennett 50:46
May I? 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:47
We did good. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 50:48
Oh. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:48
I wasn't 

Rich Bennett 50:48
I want to thank you. I think what we have to do. I'll get a hold of Joe to get. We need to do another roundtable discussion about trades. 

Steve Sendldorfer 50:58
sure. 

Rich Bennett 50:59
Good. We'll get you back for the electrical part. We'll get Joe just so you can give everybody a hard time. 

Steve Sendldorfer 51:05
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 51:06
I know I can use my free track. 

Steve Sendldorfer 51:08
Great 

Rich Bennett 51:09
What are we missing? 

Steve Sendldorfer 51:10
plumbing. 

Rich Bennett 51:10
Plumbers, steam fitters, or is that or. 

Steve Sendldorfer 51:14
It's under the same bucket. 

Rich Bennett 51:16
Okay. All right. I'll have 

you talk to Joe. Thanks a lot, Steve.