[00:00:10] Speaker: All right. Hello, everybody. This is Matt Rine. And I have a guest on that I am very familiar with today. And so this is another episode of All Roads Lead to Real Estate. And I'm just realizing that our fancy camera system is just improved. Check this out, J. That is pretty fancy. Oh, my goodness. That looks nice. Good work over there. I just hope it has one of those beautiful filters on it that makes me look young and fit.

[00:00:33] Speaker: It's going to be nice. So my guest today is my brother, my one and only brother, Jay Ryan. And so I wanted to have him on here because he is a voice in my head oftentimes that I sometimes reiterate when I'm talking to clients. So for those of you that have already worked with me, either on my team or one of my clients, you're probably going to hear a little bit of me today.

[00:00:57] Speaker: and a different body. So some of what I say, I was just commenting, we should have had a whiskey in our hand. This would have been a very different conversations, three whiskeys deep. Yeah, you get me a couple of whiskeys in me. I'd probably tell you some stories maybe that not fit for everybody here. Yeah, it would be a very different episode. But either way, so my brother Jay Ryan is a very successful entrepreneur. And so his story is pretty unique, I feel. And one of the stories I've told a million times to clients and people that

[00:01:26] Speaker: know that we grew up on a dairy farm and know a little bit a little bit about our history and so I think that'll be fascinating from that angle but Jay has a unique perspective on building businesses that are local. He has multiple companies and I'll share some details on that but he's been

[00:01:41] Speaker: He started when he was a teenager on the farm. Honestly, you know, I guess I'll give the prelude to that right now. But so, you know, Jay is eight and a half years older than I am. And so we lost our father back in 96, 95, October 10th, 1995. See, you could tell I was a child of an elementary school. Fifth grader, you were. I was 19.

[00:02:02] Speaker: Yep. And so that's when everything kind of changed because we all had chores and work on the farm. But Jay immediately as a teenager, 18 years old, immediately had to step up and take over the farm operations. And, you know, we had three kids at home. So it was Jay's the oldest. I have a middle sister, Megan.

[00:02:22] Speaker: Megan was 12, you were about 9 or 10 and I just turned 19. Growing up on that farm is a different thing than what it is for probably 99.9% of America because they say today 1% feeds the other 99% in this country. We were milking about 90 cows,

[00:02:44] Speaker: farming our farm which is roughly between 140 150 acres that we owned as a family which by the way May 13th of this year 2023 will be the 100 year anniversary of our family owning that farm. My two boys Jack and Preston are the fifth generation to live in that farmhouse. So that's that's another rare little thing that you can talk about. Yeah and didn't we find a monument in the in the field?

[00:03:10] Speaker: The back corner, it's a cornerstone monument still there. My father-in-law, Lee Preston, is a historian archaeologist. He's put this picture in several of his books. 1776 is chiseled into that marker stone, and that was the year they marked it. That's wild. That is wild. Yeah, I remember seeing that. I couldn't believe it. It's real. It's there. I know right where it is.

[00:03:31] Speaker: Yeah, so so basically getting getting back to how everything ended up changing. So when Jay was 19 and took over the farm operations, my mother, Susan, obviously was able to help. She was the you know, kind of the the lead anchor there. But Jay took over. And so he had to make sure we didn't all starve basically. So yeah, he kept it going. Finished first year of college was getting ready for thinking about what the second year was going to be. I had plans.

[00:03:58] Speaker: and that's when in May we got the diagnosis that our father had stage four straight up terminal lung cancer. They gave him three to six months to live and by October 10th he was gone. Very different treatments I guess then versus today he had chemotherapy radiation both at the same time blasting away

[00:04:18] Speaker: Went from this big strong punchy in the mouth looking kind of dude to a skeleton in a summer. It was crazy, so sad. And then that was it, blink of eye, he was gone. But when you are a dairy farmer and you're milking cows, we milked at five in the morning back then, 3.30 in the afternoon, seven days a week, you don't get a lot of time to think about your problems or take a few weeks off and muddle things over in your mind. No, no, you get about 20 seconds.

[00:04:48] Speaker: and then it's sink or swim. Dad was probably 800 or so thousand in debt when he died. Our mom had been a stay at home mom for all the years we grew up. She helped on the farm, calves, chickens, pigs. Well keeping, that kind of stuff. Well keeping, yeah. But she didn't have an all farm job all those years. So it was 100% the income of the farm. Our father was also an entrepreneur. He had a two milk trucks. He hauled milk at night, had a couple of guys helping with that.

[00:05:15] Speaker: He also had a backhoe business. A guy named Norman Anderson was his partner and they had a company where they put in septic systems, sewer and water line connections, I mean tons, thousands and thousands of townhomes. That was a small side business, just a couple guys. So he had his hands in different things. He knew that just milking cows, just farming alone won't cut it and that's how it is today for most farmers as well.

[00:05:38] Speaker: Well, I just remember it was always kind of a grind and you never really had. I mean, we didn't have health insurance. I mean, it was a grind. No, it was crazy. It was like a big deal to get braces. I didn't get braces till I was a junior in high school. So we like saved up the money to get braces. It was like a big deal. I was like, oh, I'm going to have straight teeth. I like still they're not perfect, but I took it seriously. I was excited to get the darn braces. Yeah. And little things like that. People today just completely take that stuff for granted.

[00:06:02] Speaker: Yeah, I think so. And so much of our area has changed since back then. It was a very different Howard County. And the stories I remember as a kid with dad would talk about how this just the streets would be different route 40 and Ellicott City. Just everything was a different world. Her dad had pictures. I'd love to know where they are. Route 70 was being built when he was a teenager.

[00:06:21] Speaker: And he would go up on Route 70 with our Uncle Gene and these different people he would talk about. And they would line up. There was no cars on Route 70. It was being built. And they would drag race on Route 70. Yeah. So I mean, that's how different it is. Well, he talked about taking the horses and going up and down old Frederick Road where we were from in Howard County. And our mom had a horse, too. That's they used to take horse riding, you know, things through the woods together as teenagers. Well, they would mess with me and say they only fed the horses root beer and all this other stuff right here. So it.

[00:06:51] Speaker: You know, it's fascinating. So it's just like our childhoods were very different after that point. So when you took over that, it's you tried to figure out what to do. We had the it's in land preservation, the farm. Our dad put it in preservation. That was another whole side story because he had that farm sold.

[00:07:07] Speaker: And we were going to move to Charlottesville, Virginia, and we were going to go from milking cows to being in the the beef operation. He wanted to slow down and the farm was sold, going to be developed, going to be, I forget if they said 70 some houses, going to be quite a few houses on our farm. And the day he went to sit down to sign the papers, what's that called? Closing, right? That's your side of the world these days. The developer didn't show up. Literally, you imagine you're sitting at the table, you're ready to do everything. The other party is a no show.

[00:07:37] Speaker: And they're all just standing around the lawyer, the real estate agent, but no dude with the check. Wow. I didn't even hear. I didn't even know that story. Well, it's very true. It's very true. Our father was not really a religious guy. I don't ever remember going to church with him, but he took that as a sign. Maybe I shouldn't develop this land. Maybe I shouldn't be the last one here. So he then decided that's it. I'm putting in land preservation. Wasn't real thrilled with what they were paying per acre for this land preservation back then.

[00:08:07] Speaker: and tried his best to get that up, work with some other neighbors, do what he could and got it to a price point pretty quickly that he said, OK, I can live with this and signed it into that. I don't know that he actually got many of the checks from it before he actually passed away. Yeah, it wasn't one or two. Yeah, it was not much. No, no, but it locked. It did two things for the farm. So by him putting it in preservation, it devalued the land a significant amount. So by his passing, everything going to mom.

[00:08:37] Speaker: It was sort of locked in a lower rate so she could start dribbling it out, you know, and not get hit by the tax man so bad. And it also forced my hand to say, okay, well, you're not going to develop this land. You're not going to become some 20-year-old rich guy. You're a freaking farmer. Get to work.

[00:08:54] Speaker: And so for nine years after he was gone, I milk those cows and I did another beef herd operation. But I quickly learned, you know, I was farming our farm, 11 other farms, 16, 1800 acres somewhere in there. I went from 90 cows milking to 140 cows milking.

[00:09:14] Speaker: Started milking cows at one o'clock in the morning one o'clock in the afternoon trying to get very regimented all these things that I could do to try and push production went to all artificial insemination with the herd got rid of our bull did all the breeding myself all these different things trying so hard to see if I could get the production out make this a Real business that would make real money

[00:09:35] Speaker: But I just beat my head against the wall. And you were 20, 21, 22 years old, still remembering the wreaking cool water cologne in the hallway. You still had your fun. You'd go to the park, the party, the club and you'd go back. I just remember you would go leave the bar to go melt cows. Oh, yeah. I got pulled over one night coming out of a bar in Frederick. I never forget. It's me and my friend Robert in the truck.

[00:09:58] Speaker: and we were driving a Chevy pickup truck with an airbrushed Holstein cow down each side of it. Remember that truck? Oh God, and that truck smelled like cow manure like you wouldn't believe. I don't know how any girl in a nightclub or anything would even talk to me, but you got to get off that farm at some point. And the officer pulls me, I roll down the window, and thank God I wasn't drunk. And he's like, you know, the typical questions, have you been drinking this, that, and the other. And I just looked at him and I said, sir, I've got to go home and melt cows right now.

[00:10:24] Speaker: I said, if you don't believe me, please look at the side of the truck. Look at the inch of cow manure on the floorboard of this truck. It's just me and this other hillbilly. We're good old boys. We got to go back to the farm and the guys like, listen, just take your time. I was like, yes, sir. And literally we drove home, changed our clothes, went to certain mountain cows. Yeah. Oh my God.

[00:10:45] Speaker: So that's basically your childhood. And so then, you know, one of the ways that you've managed to take that operation, I mean, you're not milking cows anymore. So it's a horse operation now. So in the middle, just like our dad did, when he passed, I had to quickly get rid of the the hauling of the milk. Those those were grown men. They didn't want to work for a 19 year old kid.

[00:11:04] Speaker: I also, the operation of the backhoe and doing the septics, that dissolved very quickly. So I very, you know, within days realized why my dad had these other sidelines. That was what was kind of keeping him self subsidized. So within a year or so, I started cutting grass. You know, what does anybody with

[00:11:24] Speaker: Not a ton of money, but a hard worker willing to willing to get out there and work. Landscaping is a very entry level type thing that a lot of young guys, a lot of see a lot of guys with a pickup truck and I'll do two mowers. I was one of those guys, you know, it was that old truck with a cow painted on the side of it.

[00:11:41] Speaker: a little trailer that I bought off my friend, a one lawnmower, one blower, one weed whacker. I was one of your first employees. I made five. Jay Jay started. He would advertise. I still remember the seven fifteen hour starting. And do you remember what I started at? It should have been like two dollars. I think it was five dollars. I told you you weren't worth that. You weren't worth five. But, you know, I was willing to.

[00:12:03] Speaker: I was stuck in the middle of that little truck and your head driver was a mess. You know, he would immediately buy beer on the way home every day. Oh, yeah. I know. I know. They put you through as a teenager was good for you. That's something something. It was interesting. That was a different. I mean, he was he on work release or was that a different guy? That was the same guy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't know if it was at the same time or a different time. But listen, when you're young and you're desperate to hire help, I was literally hiring prisoners.

[00:12:30] Speaker: He did. Hey, they had a great program of work release for inmates out of the Howard Kennedy essential correction system. I hope they still have it. It was great. Twelve hours a day, six days a week. And they were very happy to be there. Oh, yes. Very happy to be there. Good workers. So so I was also cutting grass. I've cut enough grass. I think we did 10 or 15 a day and all summer long. And grass is a numbers business. You are a commodity when you're a grass cutting guy. Right. So time is money. You got to rock and roll.

[00:12:57] Speaker: Right and so you did that in addition to landscaping but when you started landscaping with your company Ryan landscaping was it just mulch just Very interesting even the first mulching job. I got to the guy's house. I was very excited. He kind of knew me and

[00:13:12] Speaker: Gave me a chance to put down mulch I show up with an old international dump truck one of the silage trucks from cutting corn And all I'm thinking is man. I'm happy this guy gave me this job I'm gonna do a really good job for him and he I remember him telling me no don't go skimping the mulch on me young man I'm thinking okay You know I don't know what that means, but I'm gonna put it down like I mean it and then he came home And he's like oh my god. What did you do? I said well I did a nice job He said you put like five inches of mulch in the flower beds what the hell's the matter with you, and I'm like

[00:13:44] Speaker: So I was like, listen, we'll stay here all night if it takes it. What's the proper amount you'd like? He said about an inch and a half. I said, done, done. We'll pick it up. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. It's complete, you know, just jumping right in the frying pan. Oh, yeah. And yeah, the people you hired weren't exactly knowledgeable either.

[00:14:02] Speaker: I would hire kids, I would hire inmates, I would hire 13 year olds. When you're starting a business as a 19, 20 year old kid, you don't get to go and zip recruiter and offer them 401k plans and forget about it. You hire anybody that's willing to put up with you and accept a paycheck.

[00:14:20] Speaker: Well, and so that's how you started. So it's like, let's flash forward and then we'll we'll go back to the middle. But I mean, so at this point, you're one of, if not the biggest around at this point for residential. There's a lot of guys that do pure commercial. I mean, there's national companies, international companies. There's guys that do a hundred times the revenue that we do, but they're on the commercial scale. They're doing whole developments, Walmarts, K-Marts, whatever. Right. We are working one by one for individual homeowners. And I've evolved.

[00:14:50] Speaker: So at one point, I got up to 300 clients cutting grass, realized I was going to work myself to an early grave. I felt like a dairy farmer all over again. Realized that I wanted to do more of the hardscaping, do more of decks, patios, pavers, natural stone. Really, is it simply because the margins are better or better jobs or what's the what's the driving factor to do it? Even on that, the margins aren't amazing. You don't go into my industry thinking, yeah, I'm going to make 30 percent on every job now.

[00:15:20] Speaker: The average is still only like seven to nine percent if you're doing amazing. It's it's it's a still a numbers game, but at least it's seven to nine percent. It's not one percent. All right. Grass. It's of a bigger number. It's of a much bigger number. And then I had a mentor that helped teach me how to do swimming pools.

[00:15:37] Speaker: and I slowly got into building pools and now we've kind of coined the term, the industry has coined the term outdoor living and it's huge in this area. People that have nice homes, nice yards, nice things and the pandemic really kind of put an exclamation point on it of, hey, I want to walk out my back door

[00:16:00] Speaker: be proud of what I see and be able to invite other people over here and they be proud and be excited to be in my backyard. What does that mean to you? Does that mean a patio where you can put a solo stove or does that mean a ginormous beautiful swimming pool with a water slide and a pool house? I mean, it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and I just, you know, I go out and I try and figure out what does that mean to you? How can I help?

[00:16:24] Speaker: and blow that out. We've got a guy named Dan who's a landscape architect, been with me pushing 20 years, Greg, Jackie, Patrick right now, different ones. So I've got like a whole design department, a woman that runs my company. I learned to put a woman in charge if you want things done right. Michelle runs the business.

[00:16:44] Speaker: I am in the sales part and very much like you, I try and be the face of the company. I try and be the first person in the door, try and help be a problem solver. And I'm now currently getting to between between five and eight homes every day in the Howard County area. I personally go to introduce myself, see what these folks need, whether it be planting ten trees, two trees or putting a one point one million dollar backyard in the back.

[00:17:11] Speaker: I'm the first person in. I try and help figure out what it is and get them to where they go. And so what does the average job on a larger scale? What can you expect if you want to go crazy? Like what are people willing to spend these days?

[00:17:24] Speaker: It used to be a very big deal 10 years ago. If somebody said to me, I have a $100,000 budget, we would all be like take a little breath. Wow. $100,000. That's amazing. This person's going to have a fantastic backyard. A swimming pool was $55,000, $65,000, a patio deck, whatever.

[00:17:44] Speaker: Now bigger projects all are over 200. I've seen him go over a million multiple times, but that's not the norm. That's definitely not why I just literally came from a house in Ruxdon. I toured. It's a multi-million dollar home. It's beautiful. But the backyard on the brochure at least was one point two million dollars they spent on the backyard retreat. They called it a retreat.

[00:18:06] Speaker: Well, that's a nice two fireplaces. It reminded me of something you would do it at two huge stone fireplaces. You know, it just it was just gorgeous. It had a massive swimming pool and everything was hardscape. Every inch of the backyard was hardscape. Less grass to cut. There was no grass. And, you know, it's like the only surgeons can afford this. So they're going to be busy anyway.

[00:18:25] Speaker: So, well, yeah, I mean, but that that's wonderful, though. I mean, think about all the entertaining they can do, all the family moments they're going to have. I mean, that's the spot. Everybody in that family is going to know that backyard and want to spend time there. I just I couldn't believe it. I said, maybe this is a half million. I was off by a lot when I when I found out the actual figure. But just reminded me of what's possible and what people are starting to be willing to do. You know,

[00:18:48] Speaker: Just it's a different world. Yeah. And there's something to it. I mean, there's something nice. I mean, I don't I don't have a million dollar backyard, but I have a nice backyard on that farm. Oh, that view and that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got the beautiful outdoor kitchen, the fireplace, the planters, the big patio, the special room. I've got all that stuff going on. And it's just nice to be able to go out there, you know, have your beer, have your bourbon, relax, be amongst yourself. And then when you're ready, just you go inside, you go to bed. Right. You're not.

[00:19:16] Speaker: way off somewhere else doing whatever. You're right there. You're home. At the end of the day, there's no place like home. I think there's value, significant value in people's outdoor living space in general. Now that I've been selling real estate for all these years, it's just you see the difference a properly designed and executed backyard living space has

[00:19:35] Speaker: to the viability and the value of the home. You don't have to be a trained professional when you walk into a backyard and you see a good one, right? And most people can tell the difference between something shoddy. I think having so many conversations with you over the years, I usually comment that like half of your day is spent fixing other people's mistakes. Well, I have to be very careful at most places where I go because

[00:19:57] Speaker: It's like being a car guy that does bodywork and you're probably walking through a parking lot all day, trying to walk in, you're probably picking every car you see apart, be like, oh God, they did a bad job fixing the front end on that car. Who the hell painted that one? Literally now 26 years in this industry, as I walk through people's yards, I see, I do, but I keep my mouth shut for the most part. It's like me, when I tour friends homes or anything, I just, I can't help but like try to turn on light lights as I go and then turn them off as I leave.

[00:20:25] Speaker: I know. Listen, we got screamed at for the light thing at our house. My God. I know. Turn everything off. Oh, my God. We didn't have two pennies. Yeah. So so you've managed to do it. So how large of the is the company today?

[00:20:37] Speaker: Uh, so gross revenues around 15 million mark at 80 ish or so people were in production. Uh, also got a plumbing and electrical company, uh, 25, 30 men in that company that I've got that I spun off. Um, we do a little bit of everything, you know, we make our own top soil, uh, make our own comp pro, uh, do some, some mulch type things. So, I mean, we got our hands into a little bit of every part of, of our industry now that, that,

[00:21:06] Speaker: So basically the way I've heard you describe it, it's a design build company now that can pretty much handle everything at this point. Design build maintenance. So if you're buying a brand new home today and you don't know where to start, a guy like me is the right spot to start. I'll come in, chitchat with you, put a price tag on how many man hours it's going to take to do the design because you need one of those four designers. You need a very good designer. It's the one thing I beg and beg and beg people.

[00:21:35] Speaker: you know maybe you can't afford everything that's okay i get it freaking houses are expensive and you know a lot of people are house poor in the beginning it's fine it's cool don't go out and just slap something on for the sake of slapping something on take your time live in your house a little while hire a trained designer someone that really knows what they're doing see some of their designs know who the company is

[00:21:58] Speaker: Pay some money up front for a design. It is money well spent and then work the plan. You know, figure out what's most important to you. Is it the deck? Is it the pool? Is it the front walkways? The flower beds? I tell a lot of people in these neighborhoods, the first thing you should do is plant trees. Trees take a long time to plant.

[00:22:17] Speaker: I'm sorry. Yeah, they take a long time to grow so get some trees started You know, that's not terribly expensive and if a good designer does it how that's a thing that a family can do together as a team You can have a local nursery supply and drop them off and you guys can plant the darn things as a family if you want

[00:22:31] Speaker: Let's get some of the grain in Baltimore County. So I planted every like 60 trees at our property that we took over because so many were dead and they were very inexpensive, but we have little guys because we know you in a very different way. You know, you worked with a company. It was very unique. It was not a company. What's that call that you did?

[00:22:49] Speaker: It was it's it's a it's an organization actually that that works with the counties and it's only seventy five dollars a tree. Anybody who's listening to this can look it up. But a lot of different counties have it. Baltimore County and Maryland has it as well, where they come and plant the tree and they give a one year guarantee. Most of the trees are about six feet tall, something like this, one inch caliper trees. But they're they're nice. Sometimes it's good to start them small because they'll roof better.

[00:23:16] Speaker: I tell people that all the time. I meet the kind of people that want 16 foot tall trees that give them instant privacy. And that's great. I can provide those with crane them in and set them with a crane. But.

[00:23:26] Speaker: You've got a better chance of them living and rooting in and doing better with a one inch tree versus a ginormous tree. Right. Well, you did it the last time I had you planted a bunch of trees that were much taller. They're like 10 feet tall. And that made a big difference. Well, you needed that instant separation. I wear a much smaller lot. Yeah, I was in Towson and that was pretty tight. Yeah. You know, I have more space now, so it's not quite as urgent. Whoever's in that house now is really enjoying those trees, I bet.

[00:23:50] Speaker: It's sold twice in the last three years, by the way. We did too good a job. It's too good a job. And each time it's 100,000 more than the last time it sold. Wow. Seriously. It's insane. That's our real estate market. That's what it's been. And that's what it feels like it's holding on to for a while. For a little bit. And I mean, have you seen the market? Because once again, all roads do lead back to real estate because you're improving people's real estate.

[00:24:14] Speaker: And, like, have you seen a slowdown or a change now that we're sitting here? It's April of 2023. The number one thing I see is a real hesitance to sell your house. And it's because two things. I meet a lot of people that are like, well, I sell this home today. I've got a one point nine or two point nine percent interest rate on it.

[00:24:37] Speaker: I know I'll get good money for it, but then I got to go buy another house. What's that interest rate going to be? Or is that house going to be expensive too? So it's not like I'm going to go sell this one for X amount and the next one's going to be Y amount and be super cheap unless you have to move or have a big change like that. So that's what's making folks nervous.

[00:25:01] Speaker: And is that affecting? Does it help or does it hurt a guy like you that I need turnover? I need turnover just like you need turnover. Everybody that does what I do, because you can live in your house for a while. And that was before Covid. Everybody would live in their house for a while. And you didn't notice a lot of things. You didn't notice your sidewalk was cracked. You didn't notice you had that dead tree out back.

[00:25:21] Speaker: You're busy, man. You're going to work. Your wife's going to work. You got to get the kids to and from sports or this or that or whatever. A lot of stuff you can let slide. But when they got locked in their house, then all of a sudden that dead tree drove them crazy. And that crack in the sidewalk drove them crazy. Right. And then guys like me, all of a sudden our phones blew up and don't get me started on the pool business. The pool business during the pandemic

[00:25:45] Speaker: Unbelievable. A shooting fish in a barrel. Every human stuck at home with their three kids driving them crazy. Oh, yeah. They're like, we got to get these kids outside. We got to get them outside now. Build me a freaking pool for the worst of it to your company. You have another company called Ryan Pool. So at the worst of the pandemic, what was the backlog of like over two years? So would anyone give cut you a check and say, here's my deposit I'll see in two years. We had people that I would have initial meetings at their home with them. Explain the process.

[00:26:14] Speaker: And they would show up the next day with a deposit check and I hadn't even written a contract yet. I had that happen three times and I'm like, yeah, I didn't know what to do. And they were just like, we want to get on the list. You know, they weren't bringing me over tens of millions of dollars, nothing crazy, bringing me a little bit of money. But they're like, please take this as me being serious. I trust you, J. Ryan. Get me on that list.

[00:26:36] Speaker: It was a wild feeling. Now, if I wanted to pull because I I have clients even today that are asking about pool. So this is very interesting. They still believe it to two year waiting. No, no, no. What's it? News is gone. I'm one of the exceptions. Probably I'm currently selling for next year. This year for me is booked. But I think a lot of the pool only companies, three, four, maybe six months out, they're catching up on their backlog quickly.

[00:27:04] Speaker: And what does a pool cost these days? Oh, my. They're pretty much starting around the 90 to 100 plus. And that's for the pool. That's just a concrete, basic, no hardscape, not fancy art. Listen, that's not counting. Now you got to count a fence. You got to count having pavers or concrete or stone of some kind around that pool drainage system. Everyone wants lights. Everyone wants plants. What about the magazines that say I can get a pool installed for forty five thousand? You see these ads. Oh, yeah. That company went out of business last year.

[00:27:34] Speaker: Well, it's true. It's literally true. I'm not going to name their name, but there is a company, good sized company, been in business a long time. They were the one that always had the front page ad thirty nine thousand twenty nine thousand. Get you a pool.

[00:27:51] Speaker: Yeah, life bit them in the butt hard because I think they were doing a wonderful job selling as well. What hurt a lot of guys, I bought two trucks off of a guy last year, true story. He had been in business, I believe about 40 years. Very good company, did exactly what I did and been doing it longer than me, building complete backyards. He's a designer and a good one, a very good one. And he was selling very far into the future and he was locking in his price.

[00:28:18] Speaker: You want a beautiful backyard? Okay, it's $200,000. Sign the contract, give me the deposit, you're locked in. We're gonna be here 18 months from now. We're gonna bill you this amazing backyard. You know what the cost is, we're gonna do it. Sounds good, right? Sure. Well, what happens during that 18 months if every single bit of supplies that he purchases to build your backyard goes up by 40%, 60%?

[00:28:41] Speaker: That's crazy. He's still showing up. He's still trying. He's still working. He literally worked until the last check bounced. Good God.

[00:28:50] Speaker: That's scary. And I think it happened to more guys than you realize. So your contracts would stipulate that it could adjust based on marketing conditions. I had to put that in there. Yeah. And to be honest with you, we had put it in before the pandemic hit because I was starting to get a little further out, a little further out. And then when the pandemic hit and all that uncertainty, I'm an idiot. I was convinced everything was going to get cheaper.

[00:29:13] Speaker: So I thought to myself, these people are going to be really upset with me when I show up in a year. All right. They're going to shop, you know, they can shop me and realize, hey, it was I know the pool was one hundred thousand that Mr. Ryan sold me, but X, Y and Z company can do it for 78. Jayar, you're breaking me over the coals. So honestly, I put it in there thinking.

[00:29:32] Speaker: Well, you know, it'll go both ways. And if we have, you know, I do a nice thing with a spreadsheet, show what the prices are. If I have to back some of this down, I will. I don't want to lose your job. Right. But little did I know everything just worked out. Well, I like you say I can't get I'm not going to be replaced any time soon by A.I. or one of these robots. Pretty hard to replace his labor. I got to dig a ditch. Oh, yeah. I mean.

[00:29:56] Speaker: It's it's tough to think that there's going to be a machine that shows up and just does it all. I mean, maybe I mean, they've figured out how to put these. What are the lawnmowers? They don't run 24 seven out there cutting grass and they plug into a little thing and they put a little visible line. They cut grass. That's essentially will all be replaced, I suspect. But you have a little bit longer than someone like myself in real estate. I probably have a much shorter time frame to have a career.

[00:30:21] Speaker: Well, realistic. Somebody's going to still have to do work. That's all there is to it. At the end of the day, I suppose. Let's hope so. Someone's got to work. Let's hope so. So getting back to how you managed to have the childhood you did switch into becoming a farmer, taking over a farm as a 20 year old, basically, it's like.

[00:30:40] Speaker: I see so many people that are unsuccessful in the entrepreneurial world. It's like when they go down that path, they think it's fabulous. They're not successful. They fail so many landscapers and construction companies. Seven years is the industry average for people that start my business. So what do you owe? You think the longevity and the success you've been doing this twenty seven years now. Yeah. So and you are one of the most successful out. They have multiple companies like you've done it multiple times. It's like so work ethic has 99 percent to do with it.

[00:31:09] Speaker: um still even with all those people most days four out of five i turn on the lights i turn off the lights first one in first one out there saturday there sunday um in in this business

[00:31:26] Speaker: You have to be willing to put in the work and i'm a working machine and it's that's the dairy farmer in me that's every dairy farmer. All we know is work that's literally bread into us and it's not a bad thing it's not a scary thing to us how we embrace it in days when i don't have a million things to do it actually makes me anxious.

[00:31:48] Speaker: So I love to work. I'm like one of those Jack Russell dogs with a ball. I just want to go. So what happens when you decide to let's say you don't want to work seven days and now you want to work three days. I want to be part time. Is that the day this company would fail you think or how? Well, I think at this point I've put so many good people that I trust.

[00:32:05] Speaker: Many, many days I don't even know where all the crews are. I don't have a clue at what point they are in the jobs. And it doesn't stress me out at all because I have really, really good people on the landscape side, the construction side, the pool side, and especially the woman that's running the company. I mean, 100% faith I have in these people. And it's taken me years and multiple people to get to that level. But I can honestly say that with all sincerity.

[00:32:33] Speaker: That's I mean, that's impressive to hear. And what I think my key and how I would answer the question that I posed to you about why are you successful, I do believe it is work ethic because what we both can agree is neither one of us are all that smart. Can barely spell. Thank God for spell check. I'm the worst speller in the world.

[00:32:51] Speaker: So, we can't owe it to our intelligence, should we say. So, I think that's what I owe my success to. There's two types of intelligence, don't forget. That's true. And I teach this to my two boys, Jack and Preston. There are book smarts and there are street smarts. And I got bucket loads of street smarts. Well, it helps when you're managing adults when you were a teenager. Well, yeah, I'll never forget. I was milking cows in there with Dad.

[00:33:17] Speaker: And we had this good old boy. And I forget if it was he hit a cow or he did he did something that we don't do enough to piss the old man off and piss me off. And then I remember dad saying, well, what would you do about it? What would you you know, what do you think? And I said, I'd fire his ass. He said, I'm glad you said that. That needs to happen. Go in the other room and do it.

[00:33:40] Speaker: How old were you? Probably about 14 or 15. I couldn't drive yet. And this is a full grown man with a family. And our old man's like, go fire. And I'm like, uh, I was a scrawny, you know. Yeah, you were. I was not a huge kid back then. I'm a big boy now, but I wasn't a huge kid back then. And I was like, I was like, all right, I'm going to man up and do it. I remember going in there and he just laughed at me. He's like, yeah, fire. He's like, no, get away from me.

[00:34:09] Speaker: and he walked back in the room and the guy goes, our dad goes, what are you doing in here? He goes, what do you mean what am I doing here? He goes, didn't Jay just tell you what's going to happen? He said, yeah, he just fired me. He goes, yeah, he's your boss and he just fired you. I get the hell out of here.

[00:34:26] Speaker: And I mean it that as a kid that like yeah snaps something in your brain and Ever since then I've never been scared to do that when it's you know, absolutely necessary How many employees do you think over your career you've had in totality? I'm in the thousands thousands. Yeah, that's crazy

[00:34:44] Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that's an adventure in itself. I just I can just tell you having getting when I got my very first employee, I didn't need to know how to behave or act because I wasn't wired that way. Oh, and you think I did. Well, you got to learn early. It's like I had to learn mine 10 years after you did, I think. And it's almost to it's almost harder in a way. Well, that's the other thing, too, that I highly encourage. If you're going to be an entrepreneur and you want to start a business, do it while you're so dumb and so young and so

[00:35:14] Speaker: Free, I feel that you can fail over and over again a few times. It's really, really hard to decide to decide at 30, 40, 50 years old after you already have a wife and you have children and you have a mortgage payment. Hey, that's it. I'm striking out on my own whole man. I've never I've never had to do that. And I've seen people that do it. And it's got to make you go gray really fast. Yeah.

[00:35:39] Speaker: I did it so young that I just didn't even know any better. Well, that's what you told me. I was doing medical sales out of college and I hated it after a few years. I resented every second of it. And you would tell me I was doing real estate at the same time and I loved it a lot more. And I was considering it, but I was part time. And you kept saying, jump, jump now. You don't have kids. You don't. You're not married yet. And I was what, 26 at the time. Do a townhouse payment. That's it. Townhouse, but nothing, nothing. You're just like, do it. Get it over with. And I worst case scenario, you fail.

[00:36:06] Speaker: OK. All right. People fail every day. Don't be scared to fail. You know, I tell that to the boys now. I'm like, take all the risk you want. Just don't risk your life. But take all the risk you want. And if you fail, it's fine. Dust yourself off and try again. Right. And it's literally the same thing with business.

[00:36:22] Speaker: Well, I've attended all these real estate conferences and Gary Keller will get up there and say the only difference between me on this stage and you sitting down there is that I've taken more chances and I failed a hundred times. And he's like the people that are so terrified to even take any risk at all are in the same job that they resent or the same situation and nothing ever changes.

[00:36:41] Speaker: I'd say there's a lot of truth to that. And he's just like, I'm willing to fail more than you. And I had another coach and mentor that told me that he wants his job is to monitor his failures and to shorten the length in which he fails. So like he wanted to fail faster. He's like, how fast can I fail? Because at some point I'm going to figure it out. So he's like, don't make the wrong hire and keep them for three years. Admit you failed in the first three months. If it's not working, hold them accountable and move on.

[00:37:09] Speaker: So he said, you're going to I'm going to make four bad hires in the first year and then I'm going to find someone great because I held standards as opposed to four hires in five years. And I'm holding on to all these people that aren't talent. That was his approach to me and his advice. There's truth to that, too. But there's also truth to the every new person you hire. There's a there's a learning curve and you've got to give people a chance to. So, I mean, I kind of see that both ways. But I'm a big fan of giving somebody a few different chances, trying really hard to bring them up.

[00:37:39] Speaker: Um, and then once, once you realize a, you know, a lot of times they realize it too. And it's not a fit. Well, you have some guys that are there for 15, 20 years. I mean, even just guys in the field, right? It's not just your management. Oh, I've got a whole bunch of my crew bosses, guys that drive the dump truck, that manage the crew, Celso, Mario, Jose, uh, Rafino. These are guys that all been with me over 20 years already. That's insane.

[00:38:06] Speaker: That's crazy. I mean, these guys are my brothers. I mean, I really feel like they're my brothers. That's insane. I mean, every body that runs a crew. And I mean, when when you see those trucks rolling in and rolling out in the mornings, rolling back in the afternoons, I mean, it's a fleet. I have. If anyone lives in the Howard County region, you've seen a Rhine truck. You take the name and put it as large as you can in these dump trucks. It's like a rolling Rhine Fiesta party. Yeah, I mean.

[00:38:28] Speaker: Those trucks are driving around in circles all day long through Howard, Carol, parts of Montgomery. So why not put your name up? There are people maybe see a few times remember. Well, and so I deal with people that are a lot of times new to the area. And so having driven to five to 10 homes every day for 25 plus years. How have you seen our region change? How is it different from how you remembered as a kid? What do you think the Howard County, Montgomery, Carol, like this whole area? What changes would you?

[00:38:56] Speaker: Say I have happened because it's changed in my eyes. I'm curious to see what you how you feel that they have changed. Well, I mean, there's sections of it that are still very much the same parts of Ellicott City, Eldersburg, different areas that I feel very homey and that I feel like it's still very much the same. But at the at the point where like the new homes, the new developments, things like that are coming in.

[00:39:15] Speaker: It's almost like you can't get the homes nice enough. They're doing such a nice job these days with these homes. It's unbelievable how beautiful they are and how big they are and all the amenities that they're packing into these homes. The one part I feel a little bit bad about is, especially because of what I do, they're putting a bigger and bigger house on a smaller and smaller lot.

[00:39:36] Speaker: I want the grass I want the lot I want the ability to build you something big and fancy out back and if you're getting half an acre quarter acre your small parcels and I know that that's that's a thing too because not everybody wants all that grass deal with.

[00:39:49] Speaker: When I first started in business, I felt like every house had three acres and three acres was great to me. I'm like, well, that means time, the house and the driveway are gone and this and that. I still got two full acres of grass to cut. I love that. Let's get the big lawnmowers. Let's get after it. You don't see many three acre lots anymore. That's a that's a rare bird. What is Howard County? Typically, it's an acre, isn't it? An acre for most. But I mean, there's a lot that are under an acre as well. Yeah, sure.

[00:40:14] Speaker: So it's still something, but I see a change because the money has changed. I feel like Howard County and Montgomery that because we're a proxy, we're close proximity to D.C. Yeah, it's always been a pretty wealthy area, but I think it's just I think it's just going crazy. I can't even figure out where all the money comes from sometimes. I mean, and now it's now it's making me mad because the people are younger than me. Oh, yeah. I like to think of myself as young. And I'm like, I pull up and I'm like, oh, no, they're definitely younger than me.

[00:40:41] Speaker: It happened today in that multi-million dollar house. They were in their, uh, in their thirties, but they're all younger than me. And I'm like, this sucks. Like, yeah, I know. He shows up in a hundred thousand dollar sports car. I'm like, Oh no. Hey, good on them. You know, they obviously are doing something great. Well, it's going to happen. We're getting older. So I feel it every day. It's bound. It's bound to happen, but it's funny to take note of it as it's happening. Right.

[00:41:03] Speaker: Um, but yeah, so it's, it's fascinating to see your journey. No, it's, it's all the school's fault. You realize that, right? Howard County and because they're two, it's too good system, too good. The, the teachers, the system, I tease all the time. I'm like, you damn teachers and everything you're doing out here, you're ruining Howard County. You're making it.

[00:41:21] Speaker: too nice, you know, everybody's fist fighting each other to get one of these houses to get one of these amazing schools. I'm like, if you just do, you know, start missing a few days, you know, dumb this down a little bit, you know, back to like when I was getting educated, you know, where these kids can barely read and then we can get these housing prices down.

[00:41:40] Speaker: I'm going to start telling people that. Yeah, there you go. Tell your kids not to show up that often at school. So the rest of the housing valuations go. It does seem to be what people are interested in these days. It seems like people really exact opposite. They really care about education, the PTAs in Howard County. I mean, just oh, my Lord, the parents are involved. I mean, it's good, but some are over the top.

[00:42:00] Speaker: you know, quite involved. Not me. I tell you what buddy, some days I just want to check that. Did you actually go to school today? Preston? Yes, I went. Okay. Cool. End of conversation. Yeah. Um, yeah. And are we allowed to talk about what you've done to the farm recently or is that something you don't chat about? What's at the field? Well, I mean, I've never put anything on social media about that or anything. It's been something that I'm kind of quietly proud about is, but,

[00:42:26] Speaker: Well, I mean, basically, he's made some improvements around the farm. It's pretty special. So it's been you've you've taken your prowess with your companies and all the, you know, things at your disposal. And you've made what was a very modest farm. Can we put it that way? It was a dairy farm. Don't get any more modest than a dairy. I mean, we would fill old bathtubs with a hose to milk the cow to put water in. Old bathtubs at houses. We ran garden hoses to them.

[00:42:55] Speaker: And that's where the cows would drink their water. Sure. Yeah. So, I mean, it was very modest, put it that way, and it is not that way anymore. It is over the top. So you've transformed that place. It's pretty it's pretty wild to see the adult a full size soccer and lacrosse field.

[00:43:11] Speaker: for the boys back in 2019. It's regulation size football field. And I put stadium lights and I built what we call the penalty box, which is a raised pavilion with a roof and a bar in it. It's pretty over the top. Yeah, I mean, a few of the dads like to sit up there and tilt one back while we watch the boys. Jack and Preston are both on two teams. They both play travel soccer and travel across.

[00:43:39] Speaker: And I donate it. It's a donation to their different clubs to have their practices there because you're not allowed to charge, you know, for the field. No, no, no. Would you? But no, I don't want to make it commercial. It's not commercial. It's not open to the public. It's just private. It's just for my boys and their teams. I know a lot of people don't know. It's just it's like the field of dreams back there. It's insane. A little bit. We did have a game.

[00:44:01] Speaker: on Sunday, and I had a Mimosa and Bloody Mary bar going, and this other team showed up, and it was their first time being there, and we're the host field for Jack's Lacrosse team for this particular game, and I'm walking around, I'm not in any of my Ryan gear, none of these people know me, and I'm just stopping and standing in different spots, watching the kids, you know, and the action, the game was going on, and this one lady just looked at her husband, she goes, I just can't get over it.

[00:44:26] Speaker: I feel like I'm in a country club. Oh, my God. We stripped off 18 inches of compacted cow manure and put it in a pile, built the field, got it on grade and then pushed all the

[00:44:43] Speaker: Manure back. Yeah. So you talk about growing grass. Oh, it's Bermuda grass. Don't you have to cut it twice a week with special mowers? And I have a rotary style golf course mower and you cut it every three days. It also has a full irrigation system hooked up to two wells. We put two inches of water on it a week. Yeah, it's crazy. And you have to put sand on it and keep it. Yeah, you're supposed to do a special type of correlation. You

[00:45:09] Speaker: Bring in tractor trailer loads of sand and you spread on it you drag it. There's basically what's the way that's play on right? It's it's a similar Well, I got in contact with somebody there and I found out they have a product like when Joe Flacco hurt his knee They rolled up all that artificial turf and hold that crap out of there because artificial turf your cleats catch when you turn sometimes your joints don't turn right and

[00:45:33] Speaker: Was that the year the Ravens had multiple injuries or was that a different or was it? No, that was I think that's every year, you know, every it's like in the training camp, like half the team goes down. It's like, holy crap. One of these days are just all going to be at the end of the year, like perfect condition. And I think we're going to have to have a huge party, even if we don't win the Super Bowl. Just have a party for that. Yeah. But no, they they ripped off that turf. They they did all their research and they brought out a product called TIFF Tough Turf.

[00:45:57] Speaker: and it was genetically modified Bermuda grass in a lab at a college and my smart ass tracked down where that came from, who makes it, and I bought 16 tractor trailer loads of it and put it all down on the farm. Yeah, it's pretty over the top. I mean, it looks literally like M&T Bank.

[00:46:16] Speaker: I'm trying. It's pretty insane. I thought I make mention of that. I don't think Jack and Preston at this point in their life appreciate that. But maybe someday they'll look back and make their old man was a fun kind of crazy. I guess so. But it's it's great you have the spot to do it. And I think the rest of the.

[00:46:32] Speaker: family members and everybody else are proud of what you've been able to make that pile of mess over there. Yeah. Yeah. We've got the whole farm cleaned up and beautiful pastures and very nice lady named Ashley, who you have helped her and her mom twice by houses.

[00:46:47] Speaker: Ashley runs the whole farming operation now and I forget, she told me the other day it's the most horses she's ever had and she has a waiting list. She has 17 stalls and all the stalls are filled. She does a great job. I think there's 45 or something. I'm probably going to mess that number up. A amount of horses on the farm now. Right. Did a nice outdoor arena for her with lights and she does her thing.

[00:47:08] Speaker: Well, it's it's quite the operation, but it's it's been an interesting transformation you made. And so now, you know, if you're listening to this and you live in the Maryland region specifically, it's really Howard County, Montgomery County, Carroll. You go to Baltimore County. I do get into Baltimore County. My rule of thumb is I got a fleet of international dump trucks and I only want to change the oil in those trucks once per year, which means I got to keep them under eight thousand miles. And that sounds silly, but I like to have a mechanic. I've got to.

[00:47:38] Speaker: But it doesn't mean I want to wear out international dump trucks, Matt. I'm trying to be smart about this. And I looked like a genius when fuel went crazy because some of my competitors will travel an hour each direction to go work on someone's home. Got it. You cannot. I repeat, you cannot provide premium service and manage a job to the nines when you're that far away. If your manager has to go.

[00:47:59] Speaker: 30 miles this direction 30 miles that church I've tried before for people and I have not been able to be as proud of the results right as When we can stay very close and very tight-knit keep all the jobs in a very tight little circle We can get there every single day multiple times a day if we need to multiple managers can check you always end up needing supplies Or this or that it's always something

[00:48:20] Speaker: literally always something. So I try and keep my circle as tight as I can so I can provide a really, really good service. And your home base is Howard County and you've been voted multiple, multiple times best of Howard County for pretty much everything at this point, whether you're a swimming pool builder, landscaping, hardscape, design.

[00:48:39] Speaker: pretty awesome. Yeah. A few people might like me at this point. A few people. So, um, and the ones that don't like you are usually the people that can get you. Well, maybe you can't, can't be everything to everybody. You can try, but it's hard. Yeah. Well, um, so that's basically it. So your website is Ryan landscaping.com, Ryan pools, and I'll have some links on there. So if anyone is interested in having a Jay entertain you with a coffee, I always hear about your sales calls and they serve you drinks and sit down.

[00:49:09] Speaker: Not every, not every person, but I've been working for some of these people so long that I've take care of their house, not take care of their kids house. I'm waiting for when I start taking care of like grandkids houses. I guess I keep it this long enough. I might get that. Yeah, I think so. We don't like, well, I don't know what your next plan would be after this company. I think it's do this forever. I don't, I don't know what's the next stage. I don't know. I mean, I've had offers to go start businesses in different places and I always think about things and not really sure.

[00:49:37] Speaker: but I'm happy, I'm comfortable. And I like- You also have kids still there of age, you need to be around. And you know, the jury's still out on what they're gonna do, what they're gonna be, where they're gonna go, I have no idea. Jack's in eighth grade, Preston's in sixth grade, they're young. And I don't wanna overgrow the business, get it to where I can't keep my hands around it. And right now it's large, but it's a comfortable large.

[00:50:00] Speaker: And you're also active with the Farm Bureau for the state of Maryland. Howard County Farm Bureau, every single county, including Puerto Rico and Hawaii, has a Farm Bureau. And I've served multiple terms on Howard counties.

[00:50:17] Speaker: And I've done the board of director thing for the state as well. Wonderful organization. And even though I'm not milking those cows every single day, my passion is advocating for farmers. Yeah. Well, there's not a whole lot of them left. It feels like in Maryland. So just like the number one industry still is in the state of Maryland. Seriously? Ag.

[00:50:36] Speaker: Well, there's way more farmers than you realize when you're here in this little area. Yes. But there's a lot of agriculture still gets done on the eastern shore. There's a ton. Western Maryland, Baltimore County, even Howard County. There's I think as many horses as there are people. It feels like. Well, yes. Yeah.

[00:50:54] Speaker: In Howard County, yes. And for that price, horses count. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. That's agriculture, my friend. Yeah, expensive agriculture, but it changes, I suppose. Less cows, more horses. Oh, God, they seem so much nicer. Yes, they do. Better to look at it at your house. I'll tell you that.

[00:51:10] Speaker: So that's basically I just want to give an overview of what you did. I appreciate you joining me. My pleasure. It's been fun. Yeah, it's been fun. So that's basically if anyone wants to connect with Jay or get a get an estimate or do anything, his website is right there and I'll put that in there and appreciate you joining me. Thanks, sir. All right.