Brett & Nick sit down with David and Christina Aparicio with Ideal Demo. They are able to get some valuable insight to the demolition industry and how important recycling can be.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Recycled Idaho, where two recycling industry veterans, Brett Eckart, Nick Snyder, explore Idaho businesses and organizations. They're putting in the work to keep Idaho environmentally and economically viable at the same time. Take a listen to how these entrepreneurs, business owners, and operators are making things happen in the great state of Idaho. In this podcast, Nick and I sit down with David and Christina Aparicio, the owners of Ideal Demolition. I really enjoy talking to these two because they remind me so much of how my family used to operate our business when my mom ran the finances and my dad managed the day to day operation. Take a listen.
Brett Ekart (00:44):
All right. Sitting here with David and Christina Aparicio, the owners of Ideal Demolition. Thanks guys for sitting down with us on another episode of Recycled Idaho over here at Emmett, Idaho and close to my house, so it was an easy drive this morning. Why don't you guys just give us a little bit of background on Ideal Demo, and your guys' history, and how you got into the demo business?
David Aparicio (01:10):
Well, realistically, we've been in the demo business since out of high school, since 1985. So that's what, 35 years?
Christina Aparicio (01:19):
Yeah.
Brett Ekart (01:19):
Yeah.
David Aparicio (01:20):
Yeah, about 35 years now.
Brett Ekart (01:21):
Time flies when you're having fun.
David Aparicio (01:26):
Tell me about it. 35 years. We graduated from high school and picked up a job in demolition.
Brett Ekart (01:34):
I like it.
David Aparicio (01:34):
And that's how we started back in those days. Realistically, the company started here in Idaho in 2005. It was started by myself and my wife Christina. We started out of the garage.
Christina Aparicio (01:48):
Yep. Car table with the computers.
David Aparicio (01:51):
It sounds funny, but we had.
Christina Aparicio (01:51):
That's it.
Brett Ekart (01:52):
My favorite stories.
David Aparicio (01:55):
Started out of a garage. It was funny because actually we left California which was Southern California, LA. We moved here. Christina got here 2004, and then I finally got here 2005. We started the business. But before we left there, I sent out some business cards of Ideal Demolition. We had the insurance, and we had our license and all that. I send it out to like 300 contractors throughout the whole state of Idaho. And when I got here, realistically, the second week-
Christina Aparicio (02:36):
Yep, we got our first one.
David Aparicio (02:38):
We got a call from a contractor to demolish a barn in Emmett.
Brett Ekart (02:43):
In your backyard?
David Aparicio (02:44):
In my backyard, exactly. Got the first call. And we took care of that barn. And from there on, Ideal Demolition's history.
Christina Aparicio (02:56):
That's that.
David Aparicio (02:56):
We just grew, and grew, and grew, and grew.
Brett Ekart (02:59):
How far do you guys travel to do demo work? You're based out of Idaho, but how far do you realistically like to go, prefer to go?
Christina Aparicio (03:09):
Pacific Northwest.
Brett Ekart (03:10):
Okay.
David Aparicio (03:11):
We are licensed through the Pacific Northwest.
Christina Aparicio (03:17):
We're trying to get into Utah now.
David Aparicio (03:17):
Yeah.
Brett Ekart (03:17):
Okay.
Christina Aparicio (03:17):
In Utah.
David Aparicio (03:17):
We're license, or had-
Christina Aparicio (03:17):
[crosstalk 00:03:19].
Brett Ekart (03:20):
So is there a special requirement for each state that you'd have to have? I would assume it's licensing and bonding.
Christina Aparicio (03:28):
Licensing, yeah.
Brett Ekart (03:29):
Okay.
David Aparicio (03:29):
Yeah.
Christina Aparicio (03:29):
And experience.
Brett Ekart (03:29):
Sounds good.
David Aparicio (03:29):
Especially we deal with the environmental part of it, we have to be licensed through the states to, which we deal with the hazardous waste, soil remediation, contaminant soil. We deal with the asbestos, the lead, and mercury. There's a lot of mercury involved with light bulbs, the old light bulbs, and we've got to take those out before we demolished the building. So each state is required to be licensed and certified, and all your guys have to be certified to do the work.
Nick Snyder (04:06):
And each state has its own certification then?
David Aparicio (04:08):
Yes and yes.
Nick Snyder (04:09):
So you have to run them through.
David Aparicio (04:10):
Yes.
Christina Aparicio (04:10):
Yes.
Brett Ekart (04:11):
There's no national certification body. It's all individually state by state.
David Aparicio (04:16):
The EPA rules realistically oversees the environmental of it, but when you go into a state, they have their regulations to follow just like a contractor. You've got to get your license and all that.
Nick Snyder (04:32):
Do they have to re-up those certifications, your crew every year-
David Aparicio (04:36):
Yes.
Christina Aparicio (04:36):
Yes.
Nick Snyder (04:36):
Every year, they have to re-up it with another class?
David Aparicio (04:39):
Yeah.
Christina Aparicio (04:39):
Yeah.
Nick Snyder (04:40):
Okay.
David Aparicio (04:40):
It's a refresher. So let's say one of the formats has a supervisor certificate for asbestos. It expires their birthday, I think? I can't-
Christina Aparicio (04:55):
No, it goes by their anniversary date.
David Aparicio (04:55):
Anniversary date?
Christina Aparicio (04:57):
So if it's the first of the year, than it's going to expire the first of the year.
David Aparicio (05:00):
And right before it expires, you've got to make sure that they do a refresher.
Nick Snyder (05:04):
And can they do those refreshers? If they wanted to do the one for Washington, can they do that course here in Idaho or they have to go up to Washington to do it?
David Aparicio (05:13):
Right now, say Oregon. Oregon, we'd have to go into Oregon to do that [crosstalk 00:05:20] to work in Oregon. Yeah.
Christina Aparicio (05:22):
They can do them there.
Nick Snyder (05:25):
They can take the class here. Okay. That's nice.
Brett Ekart (05:28):
You guys bring up the environmental and probably the biggest component of Recycled Idaho and kind of the biggest thing we're trying to help people understand is, recycling is great. Our company is United Metals Recycling. Recycling is in our name. It's obviously important to us, but one of the biggest things we would try to let people get their hands and wrapped around is that recycling is great, but there's an environmental component and an economic component to recycling. Recycling is not free, it costs money and it's the right thing to do, but there's also a lot of alternative things that you can do to help in the recycling process. I think what a lot of people don't understand about the demolition business is how much recycling is involved. When you look at a project and you go quote it, and when you guys look at a job how is the recycling determined? Is it determined by the owners? Is it determined by you guys? Where does the recycling component of a demolition job come into play for Ideal Demo?
David Aparicio (06:34):
Well, realistically that goes back to the experience you have. Okay. If you looked at a house, a residential house and if you look at a commercial buildings, okay. Residential houses don't have much recycling. You can take the two by four off but realistically, how much are you going to get the two by four for if you sell it? It's going to cost you more money in labor to remove that two by four and go sell it for 50 cents. So realistically, the residential side of it, it's not much recycling. If you go into the industrial and the commercial side of it, yes, you do have more recycling in it. But in order to get that project, once again, it goes with the experience. If you get plants on the project, blueprints, great, you know how that building is built, but 90% of these projects don't give you plans.
David Aparicio (07:36):
So you have to go back on the experience. What can you recycle out of that industrial project? Let's say industrial, you know you deal with a lot of tanks, you deal with a lot of pipe, a lot of copper. All that material gets recycled. But in order for a demolition contractor to bid on that project, you really have to take your time and walk the job and say, "Okay, what can I recycle out of this project?" 10% of the value of the contract, it's going to be recycled while we remove that 10% in order for us to get that job because it's very competitive out there in Toronto. Good work.
Brett Ekart (08:18):
Yeah, so could be 10% of the value of the project, but weight wise, volume wise, it could be up to 50% of the actual project by weight is getting recycled, but the value might only be 10% or 5% or whatever that number is depending on the project.
David Aparicio (08:39):
So realistically, recycling, it's a very, very good thing. But it costs money.
Christina Aparicio (08:52):
It depends on what the customer wants.
David Aparicio (08:54):
The labor of it. We'll go to a project with a historic value of it. If the building was build in 1800s, the town or the city or the state you live in, they're going to want to remodel that building. Realistically, when it comes to the hazardous waste, because back in the 1800s, you build that structure with probably 100% of asbestos. Well, now they're removing that asbestos. To remove the asbestos and the lead out of that historic building, it costs more to build that structure than to actually do the work on the hazards.
Nick Snyder (09:40):
Because the historic building, you want to sometimes save the outside [crosstalk 00:09:45] so you're not going to be able to knock it down. Because that would be a lot quicker and a lot of [crosstalk 00:09:50].
Christina Aparicio (09:50):
And again, it's what the customer wants.
Nick Snyder (09:52):
I think when people hear the word dem, the word demolition, they think of a wrecking ball just knocking stuff over when there's so much more to it.
Brett Ekart (10:00):
And there's a whole environmental component, a whole recycling component and there's a whole economic component. If the owner of the building is a municipality then they're going to call out how they'd want that job done. They're going to say, "We want this 80% recycled," or whatever. Then they have to figure in, well if we want 80% of the concrete crushed and rebar taking care of that, that costs money. So it's really the owner who determines how much they want to spend.
Christina Aparicio (10:32):
We can do what the customer needs. It's just what they want to spend on their project.
Nick Snyder (10:38):
Are you able to usually do a walkthrough on a big demo with the owner so you can get those parameters? So you're comparing apples to apples?
Christina Aparicio (10:46):
Right.
David Aparicio (10:46):
Yes. Yeah, definitely. Usually we get to scope the work, written down exactly what they want done.
Brett Ekart (10:53):
So one of the things I heard about you guys is family-owned. I mean I come from a family-owned business, so I understand the fun, the struggles. I know all the components that go with ... I watched my mom and dad do it. I watched my grandma and grandpa do what you guys are doing and it's so ... that to me has a ... there's a lot there that I can appreciate. But what do you guys enjoy the most about the demo industry and kind of building this business? What's the big takeaway? What do you guys-
David Aparicio (11:27):
Well, I'll let my wife answer that one but I'll answer if I have the question.
Brett Ekart (11:30):
There's probably two different opinions. [crosstalk 00:11:32]
David Aparicio (11:38):
To me, the demolition business, it's a very unique business. I mean once again, if you're going to stay in a job that you like and you're never going to retire, you're going to like that. The projects. I mean, how could I say it?
Brett Ekart (11:58):
Well, you have to like it to want to do it, and to keep doing it.
Christina Aparicio (11:59):
And to keep doing it. And to be the owner. There's a difference. There's a difference of-
David Aparicio (12:06):
I'll tell you right now. [crosstalk 00:12:06] project is the same. And doing a demolition project, every structure is built differently.
Nick Snyder (12:14):
That can be fun.
David Aparicio (12:15):
That was fun.
Christina Aparicio (12:17):
Yeah. It's a challenge.
David Aparicio (12:19):
It's a challenge. So I like the challenges of the demolition industry, of it.
Brett Ekart (12:24):
That makes sense.
David Aparicio (12:25):
Yeah. One day you could just get the hammer and remove drywall with a six foot ladder. The next day you're climbing a 168 foot smoking tower with scaffolding, and you're wondering, "What the hell am I doing up here, 200 feet up in the sky? [crosstalk 00:12:44] So yes, every job is different.
Nick Snyder (12:49):
And that's what I love about you two. I can just tell you guys really enjoy it. You can tell when people enjoy the field they're in.
Christina Aparicio (12:58):
Well, it's different. Like you said, we get from a person that's ... has their ... somebody's left them a family home. We'd get the small ones to the large hospitals. So there's so many stories in between of what we get to see in the people we meet and their story on how they got it, what happened here, whether it's an old farm, whether it's a historic school that couldn't be saved or a school that can be saved. So there's-
Brett Ekart (13:27):
Do you guys have a favorite one? One that sticks out to you that you guys liked doing, that you kind of were like, "Yeah, that was a good job. [crosstalk 00:13:35] monetarily-wise, but just, it was a challenge that you were able to kind of figure out?
David Aparicio (13:40):
Here in Idaho?
Brett Ekart (13:41):
Anywhere, yeah.
David Aparicio (13:41):
Well, realistically, throughout my years, I got quite a few of them and we'll talk about Idaho here. Here in Idaho, we actually did the talking about being up in the air 170 feet, we did the old Creamery and Meridian, which involved a smokestack was 170 feet up in the air and that was a five acre site with structures. So that was a challenging project.
Nick Snyder (14:07):
It's a lot of cranes involved on that-
David Aparicio (14:09):
Realistically, we scaffolded that tower. Yeah, we scaffold that around the smokestack all the way to the top.
Brett Ekart (14:17):
Because that's downtown. For people that don't know where the Creamery was. Is was downtown. A city that's probably on the, Portland, Seattle edge [crosstalk 00:14:30]
Christina Aparicio (14:32):
It's huge. [crosstalk 00:14:33] new Meridian City Hall. That's where you can reference it.
Brett Ekart (14:36):
So all eyes, everybody. All eyes on that project.
David Aparicio (14:42):
That project. The other project is actually that ... I'm very, very glad we did and my two boys went to Boise state. They graduated from Boise state, was a new stadium. Sorry, the stadium was there. The renovation of the new Skybox and the elevator and all that they put back seven years ago, wasn't it? Eight?
Nick Snyder (15:05):
It's such a high profile job, it's-
David Aparicio (15:06):
Yeah, that was a high profile there. We actually did all the demolition of the structure itself so they could put the new Skybox in. It doesn't look like there was a lot of demolition to it, but that wasn't very-
Brett Ekart (15:24):
Well you guys probably have the coolest before and after photos.
David Aparicio (15:26):
Yes, we do.
Brett Ekart (15:28):
That's probably one of the cooler things about what you guys do. Here's how it looked when we started. Here's it is today.
David Aparicio (15:32):
One of the jobs that we, I mean I'm very happy to do, but we did a couple of them back in California, which was actually Anaheim and LaHabra in California. Anaheim is actually an 11-story structure that we brought down, which we imploded. And that's a type of job that California, because it's huge.
Brett Ekart (15:59):
Oh yeah, everything's big.
David Aparicio (16:00):
Everything's big. Here in Idaho, I'm hoping here in about 20 more years, I'm hoping I'm still alive, they'll be structured like that.
Brett Ekart (16:09):
I know it's still fairly new, right? There's just the demo part of it is, I mean when you go to-
Christina Aparicio (16:14):
Well, [inaudible 00:16:15] tall. I mean, it's old. So a lot of our stuff is old stuff because it's just an older-
Nick Snyder (16:21):
So a much smaller they're doing with a lot of structures in California.
David Aparicio (16:27):
Oh, Idaho's growing. I mean, it's going to get there.
Brett Ekart (16:28):
Yeah. It's coming. I mean there's no doubt in my mind. Every time you drive down the freeway a highway, there's houses and buildings, and it's starting to get there.
Christina Aparicio (16:38):
Any road now. Any road.
David Aparicio (16:39):
One of the projects that Ideal Demolition is doing right now is the old Mercy Hospital in Napa, Idaho. It's five stories high, the structure, which is made out of concrete, the entire structure, and steel. And the way we're going to bring that down is by using a 95 foot reach excavator.
Brett Ekart (17:01):
Oh wow. High reach?
David Aparicio (17:02):
High reach. Yeah.
Brett Ekart (17:04):
On a job like that where we don't have tall buildings like that traditionally in Idaho. Do you go look for a rental, a high reach on that? There was no reason for you to own a high reach around here.
David Aparicio (17:17):
We'll be renting that machine. It's coming out of state, out of Utah.
Brett Ekart (17:22):
Yeah, which makes sense. I mean if you were in the middle of the city and you did demo, you would probably own your own high reach because you'd be using it all the time. I mean I've looked at those high reaches and just the sticks and the booms on them. I mean they want a pretty penny on if you want to own them.
David Aparicio (17:37):
Oh, it's so [crosstalk 00:17:38] Equipment nowadays is not cheap.
Brett Ekart (17:41):
Is that your biggest, I mean ... we have a question here about your biggest longterm goals. I mean how have you built your business from a car table in a basement or your house to what it is today? Because when you walk around here, I mean you guys did it right and we walked through this building. I mean, it's nice when you go look at your equipment, you guys are doing it the right way and because you're setting yourself up, to me, for the long run, you're not just trying to nickel and dime jobs to make a little bit of money and with some grand exit plan tomorrow.
Nick Snyder (18:15):
When we did that walkthrough at Mercy the other day, those excavators, you own those and then that attachment on one of them, you're breaking up that concrete, get the rebar out, you own those attachments [crosstalk 00:18:26].
Brett Ekart (18:28):
What is your life? What is the longterm goals of ... I mean, do you guys have longterm goals as far as what you want to see down the road?
David Aparicio (18:34):
Oh, yes we do. Well once again, it goes back to, if you like your job, you're going to stick with it until you die and that's what I'm going to do. I mean, I'll be a demolition man for the rest of my life.
Christina Aparicio (18:46):
An old man.
David Aparicio (18:49):
[inaudible 00:18:49] generations, which my sons, my two sons are involved and my daughter's involved in the office and my wife takes care of the entire staff of the office. But going back to the future, once again, if you run a company and if you take care of what you have in the company, that means from a copier to an excavator, that piece of equipment's going to take care of you. If you do the maintenance on it, it should be, it's going to take care of you. Our goal for the company is to keep growing and become one of the biggest and ... the country. Realistically, it's what I want. That's my goal here in Idaho itself, we've got a piece of land in Eastern Idaho that I'm hoping here in the next couple of years, we opened up a satellite office in Eastern Idaho. Eastern Idaho's crying. That's where we're going to go. Going into other states, that's the future that Ideal Demolition's going to be.
Brett Ekart (19:56):
And you have two sons and a daughter, they're going to help make that push with you it sounds like. Which is awesome, because the hardest thing with you want to grow ... I remember when my dad is asking me when we were trying to grow our recycling business, he's like, "That's great, Brett. I want to grow too." He goes, "Where are you going to find the people?" I'm like, "Well, I'll find the people." That's the hardest part about growing is-
Christina Aparicio (20:21):
Is people.
Brett Ekart (20:22):
And so if you have the next generation and they love it as much as you love it, then that's where you can really see, the growth is you have people that you trust that have the same passion for the business and they want to help push it out.
David Aparicio (20:37):
Yeah, once again, it goes back to your kids. We have three of them. Hopefully they stick with us, but the company is not going to grow and it's not going to do good if you don't have the right workforce to do it. And in order to get the right workforce ... The way I run my business is you're not a boss to them. Yes, you go out to the jobs and you say, "Hey, this is what it needs to be done," but before you actually get off your ... before you start saying stuff like that, you got to say, "Good morning," first. Say, "Good morning," and "Hey, how's the family? How's things?" And you're there as a friend, you're not there as a boss. And then you start getting with the scope of work and what's going to be done that day and where are we going to be at. And believe me, that goes a long ways.
Brett Ekart (21:36):
A human element.
David Aparicio (21:37):
It's a human element of having have respect for everybody.
Nick Snyder (21:39):
You got to care about your people.
David Aparicio (21:41):
Exactly.
Christina Aparicio (21:41):
Or whatever the job is-
David Aparicio (21:43):
There's always going to be that guy that's ... is not going to show up to work. You're always going to have guys like that. But the guys that do show up and give you 100%, it's because they want to be here and you're a good boss to them.
Christina Aparicio (21:58):
Or having a job we're going to do. [crosstalk 00:21:59] Whatever that job is, them knowing that he would do the same thing.
Brett Ekart (22:06):
Yeah. And you could-
Christina Aparicio (22:09):
Even if you do it, I would do it also.
Brett Ekart (22:09):
Exactly. And I would never ask you to do something I wouldn't do. You could walk in tomorrow, somebody could walk into Idaho tomorrow with $10 million in their bank account and they could buy all new excavators and all new trucks and go out. But you could have the best equipment in the world. But if you don't have the people to run it, then that equipment isn't worth shit. I mean, I've always said, "Go ahead and buy the best stuff, but if you don't treat your people right and you don't take care of them, then that does you no good." Because A: they won't take care of your equipment. B: They won't take care of your company. You guys understand that. And that's how you grow from a car table in your house to the facility and the business and what you guys have today. I mean-
David Aparicio (22:59):
And it goes back to the way you were treated. Since I've been at the demolition business, like I said, 35 years and I only been through three companies, and I remember how I was treated. And when I told myself, "If I ever get a company started myself, I'm going to make sure how they treated me is not the way I'm going to treat my workers." And that's exactly what I do.
Nick Snyder (23:32):
That's awesome. And you took that and learned from it.
David Aparicio (23:34):
Because it's experience and you've been there and you've done that. And most of my worker, I hate to say, "my workers," it's the staff that I have. They see me out there operating a skid steer or excavator. They see me out there with the room and sweeping the areas that we need to sweep and they look at the boss and say, "Wow, he's doing it, too." So it's not just that, I came out of college or people come out of college and it's, "Oh I have a big degree." It doesn't work that way.
Brett Ekart (24:09):
Yeah. I think you're probably explaining that to your kids. Right? Because when we go back ... you'll go to the job site and we see David, Jr. You see your boy there, and running the crew and doing that. I mean he went to college and graduated from Boise State, but he's still onsite learning, until you put yourself in those people's shoes, it's hard to tell them how to do it, what to do. And for them to have that respect to do-
Christina Aparicio (24:43):
Right, to have that respect for that person, whether he's just the guy that pushes the broom or the guy that runs the excavator, you have respect for them. Because no matter what they do, there's still a value to us. And they need to feel their value, whether they push the room or run the excavator, they're a value to us.
Brett Ekart (25:00):
I remember when my dad said once I graduated college I came in and I started on Monday, two days after I graduated and my dad said, "Beat the guy that opens the gates and be the guy that closed the gates and does everything in between." And he goes, "It's going to take time but they'll respect you because they know that you're there before them. You're there after them. And it took a while, but eventually people are like, "Oh, okay. You're here for the long haul. You're not just here, just to try and get a paycheck."
David Aparicio (25:29):
A paycheck could come and go real fast. [crosstalk 00:25:32].
Brett Ekart (25:33):
Real quick. Especially when you're a kid, man. It was nothing to you. [inaudible 00:25:39]
David Aparicio (25:45):
Exactly. It's very hard. People ask me, "You got the easy work," and my answer to that is, "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it." And I wouldn't get an answer after that. Because they realize it.
Brett Ekart (25:59):
There's just so much to the backend of owning a business. I don't care if it's a demolition business or Burger King, there's a whole backends to it that a lot of people would have a hard time kind of understand. And that's what we were talking about with the recycling is, it's there's a whole backend component of the recycling business that a lot of people don't discuss and that's the cost of recycling. If you demoed a house, you could recycle 80% of it, but it would be really expensive to demo a house. You could pull all the two by fours and try and reuse them and try and resell them.
Brett Ekart (26:36):
But it's going to, what ... 10 times, 20 times the cost to demo. And I think that people have to understand that recycling is great and as the world turns and we get more efficient about doing it, then there's going to be a lot more opportunity and there's going to be a lot more value there. But that takes time as well.
David Aparicio (26:59):
Time is what we have.
Brett Ekart (27:00):
Yeah, for sure. So give me, the both of you, give me one or two people who's been super influential in your guys' career and wanting to start the company or doing what you do today. Personal or professional.
David Aparicio (27:18):
There's two people in my life. Well, really it's three people. I could talk about my dad. My dad was never in the demolition business, but he did push me and say, "Get to work." That's worked.
Brett Ekart (27:37):
[crosstalk 00:27:37] Work ethic. [crosstalk 00:27:35].
David Aparicio (27:37):
Exactly. My dad's there and I love him. But the other person was my wife. Realistically, if you don't have a partner behind you, 100%, it's going to be tough. I'll tell you that right now, it's going to be tough because you cannot do it by yourself. And I think I have the same question to you because I think your mom is involved, right?
Brett Ekart (28:02):
Yeah. My mom and dad are retired but my mom was ... when I look at you two, I look at my mom and dad. You guys are younger, but it's the same thing. My dad was the, he was the boots on the ground, out there. He dealed with the staff, the people. And my mom was the one in the backend making sure that the math made sense.
David Aparicio (28:24):
Exactly. And that's how things are here. And with the company. It's taken two of us, besides all the staff that we have. But realistically, we look at it without myself and my partner here, they won't be an idea with demolition.
Nick Snyder (28:39):
Well, you're only as strong as the person next to you, man. And that goes with your spouse.
David Aparicio (28:47):
But, the other person that I do want to mention is ... I met this person back in 1994 and his name is Robert Hall. And Robert Hall is generations of a demolition contractor. His dad did it, his grandfather did it. So he comes from generations of being a demolition contractor. He actually took over the company that I was working for and he's the one that really taught me the demolition business of it. By learning with Robert Hall on the estimating part of it and treating your people and the equipment and the jobs and overall the business, Robert Hall was a big influence to me.
Brett Ekart (29:35):
Awesome.
David Aparicio (29:36):
He was my mentor or that. The man's still alive. He's a little old now. But I'll tell you what, talking about stories about how to bring it 20-story structures and demolition.
Brett Ekart (29:52):
Did he encourage you to go start your own business or was it kind of when-
David Aparicio (29:58):
No, it's funny. The way I'm running my business right now is that it's more like I'm running. The way he ran the business. Be a friend. Don't be a boss. And I remember him telling me, "If you teach them, teach them how to do the work and teach them how to estimate the project," and the way I'm going to say right now is if somebody comes into my company and I'm teaching them and two years later they left, they're going to leave. I will shake their hand and say, "Thank you very much." I was here to teach you and you learned from me. Now you're going to take that and you're going to take it somewhere else. And that's the way I operate. And that's way he operated too.
David Aparicio (30:51):
When I left California, I actually went to him. I said, "I'm leaving." And he looked at me and said, "Good,
Brett Ekart (31:02):
Because he realized you had got what you needed and you helped build his business. I mean, it's kind of like a mama bird. The bird's ready to fly and then they're like, "Alright, it's time to go."
David Aparicio (31:17):
He did not say, "What the hell?" Or none of that. He said, I'm glad you're leaving and I'm glad you're doing it."
Brett Ekart (31:24):
Because he could probably see that you had the desire and the drive to go do it.
David Aparicio (31:29):
Exactly. Now you're going to see how a real man works. Wake up at three in the morning and...
Christina Aparicio (31:33):
And don't stop.
David Aparicio (31:33):
Now you're going to know how it is.
Brett Ekart (31:33):
Yes, you're about to feel the pain.
David Aparicio (31:42):
Exactly. But no, he was a big influence to me.
Brett Ekart (31:43):
How about you, Christina?
Christina Aparicio (31:45):
Probably David. Yeah. Can't do without each other. That's all I have.
Brett Ekart (31:51):
You guys push each other. I mean I watched my mom push my dad and my dad push my mom. And my dad was more of a risk taker than my mom and-
David Aparicio (32:03):
It's actually the same way here.
Brett Ekart (32:06):
[crosstalk 00:32:06] He was like, "I'm going to buy two trucks." My mom was like, "Let's buy one." He was like, "I'm going to buy two." It was that type of dynamic, that I watched them.
David Aparicio (32:16):
The same influence but it's the same thing we got.
Brett Ekart (32:19):
But you need that check, man. You need ...
Christina Aparicio (32:23):
The checks and balance.
Brett Ekart (32:25):
Because maybe he would get four trucks [crosstalk 00:32:27] That's okay. Two is fine. And I think that's the way we like to operate our business as well. You got to have those checks. We all love getting together and working hard and going at it. But you always have to have someone to kind of keep you in check and make sure you're holding up your end of the bargain.
David Aparicio (32:46):
So now you can buy everything.
Brett Ekart (32:48):
Yeah, no, I have a guy named Brian Ferguson and he keeps me in check. That's why I share an office with the accountant. Just like my dad did. He shared an office with my mom for 20 years. So I know it was smart for me to put myself in the office with the accountant.
David Aparicio (33:10):
It takes a lot but once you get them, that partner that backs you up on it 100%.
Brett Ekart (33:15):
100%. Nick, you've got any closing questions, anything?
Nick Snyder (33:20):
No, I think, I mean everything was great. I mean really the best thing to close with is how do people get ahold of you guys? How does people reach out to you? Is it social media, email or all of the above?
Christina Aparicio (33:32):
All of the above.
David Aparicio (33:33):
Yeah, we belong to a couple of agencies. One of them is HEC, that runs through the state of Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Brett Ekart (33:44):
The association can haul contractors and-
David Aparicio (33:46):
Yes, that's correct. The contractors, that's one of the areas. The other one is social media, of course. Everybody knows Facebook.
Christina Aparicio (33:54):
Yup. Facebook. You face me.
Brett Ekart (33:57):
You guys do LinkedIn?
David Aparicio (33:58):
Yes.
Brett Ekart (33:58):
And what we'll do is we'll post all your contact info, your email address on the bottom [crosstalk 00:34:03].
Christina Aparicio (34:05):
Or plain old phone. (208) 365-1514. [crosstalk 00:34:08].
Nick Snyder (34:07):
It still has its place.
Christina Aparicio (34:10):
That's right. Pick up the phone and call.
David Aparicio (34:13):
Pick up the phone and give us a call. That's the best way.
Brett Ekart (34:16):
But thank you guys are sitting down with us. We appreciate it. It's been great. I said, I feel like I'm-
David Aparicio (34:22):
Oh, no. It's great working with you and United Metals.
Brett Ekart (34:23):
Thank you guys. We appreciate it.
Nick Snyder (34:27):
Yeah, we appreciate it. It's been a pleasure working with you.
Brett Ekart (34:29):
You guys do it the right way.
David Aparicio (34:30):
Well, thank you.
Christina Aparicio (34:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Thank you for listening to another episode of Recycled Idaho. And as we continue the journey across this great state, we look forward to bringing you more stories of people and organizations putting in the work to do the right thing.