Put on the spot with real questions about price increases

To be M whose beer is this a yours now we got a beer here I'm going to take a sip all right think I'm ready there you go man what's going on look at your booth look at this look at it it's been it's been like this for two days for you yeah it's been good good yeah is it the balloons what is it I don't know I think it's Cindy definely not me you 100% right so what's been going on Salt Lake man you got here what Monday Monday we got we got in Monday to set up and then you know God set up you know went out do our things you know dinners maybe drinkle to maybe maybe three um and then yeah just got into it and here we are you know just trying to sell our stuff right yeah so how's the crowd been I mean I notic have you noticed that at all the shows it's getting to be a younger and younger crowd and more fence actual installers and fence people yeah and I think to the biggest thing with it two is that it's um it's it's not only is it a young crowd hey what's going on man how are you what's going on what's that hey hey come on come on in guys we got the we're filming you're on Rick now you already hey you already brought yourself in Rick was Master H going by there you can't go more than five minutes without running into somebody yeah that's true that's the one thing that's true yeah it's been like that the whole time I was over here waiting for you you had one customer after another walking in or clients probably are just friends customers clients yeah yeah and and look our community is such a a tight niched community that it's like we are like a family when you look at it we're just like a fancing family you know so yeah it's like all these clients you just get close to them because you build that relationship right yeah yeah so um but no going back to um what you talking about yeah definitely younger's a the which is exciting for me to see that the future of fencing is actually not going to die at some point you know we'll there was a worry that what's next for for the industry so and stuff like you know the trainings that you guys do at FW and and getting more um getting more even fence companies to try new things like Automation and Gates and it's just going to improve our um our industry more and more it's going to give it another yeah I see it I mean I was stopped by one person after another and they're um not just thanking me for you know all the stuff we're doing but Thanking us for how great these shows have become as well because I mean we've a difference and I know it's not because of fwa itself it takes all of us and all of you guys getting involved and continuing to support it by doing the booth and things like that what um what do you think the the vibe is man in the industry right now how do you feel it I mean I you get a good read on it because you deal with so many different people on uh you know on the level I think when you look at the the the scheme of what's happening in America and stuff like the vibe in the industry at the moment I really think is it's exciting yeah I think there's been changes you know thanks to a lot of what you're doing and and in AFA and stuff like that um we're starting to get that flip back to what makes this industry thck and important is the end user end contractor or in fence installer and that's a good shift for our industry to start going hang on a minute well yeah we have these shows we all selling stuff but at the end of the day if if defense people don't come in then what do I do for for a business so the mood itself I don't know what I mean what do you feel like what do you feel like in the I see the energy and I think that um I think definitely it feels like that uh they slow down a little bit from what fencers are saying you know around the country but I think I think we're going to it's going to go up and I don't think it's just going to go up because of actual numbers or any real reason other than we're going to manifest it I think there's a lot of uh confidence in the industry right now um people are excited about the changes maybe in our government and things like that they're unexcited about certain things I mean you go around you see a lot of steel and stuff in your you know in your booth and other booths around here so I'm sure the ter concerns and things like that but I think what's going to happen is regardless of all that you're going to see all of us manifested because we want it we want the industry to Boom we want another boom you know we want a boom like you know back in you know 2019 18 we want all that stuff to come back and have

That boom again so it's just going to happen but speaking of that though give me your these taror I I hear that a lot even I'm walking around oh yeah oh my ohasha one of the ter I'm like when are people going to start talking about me again you know I mean talk about yeah let's just flip that around stop talking about you right now this is Bri everyone don't worry about the taros yeah yeah so when we see that stuff you know even us as fence companies uh you know sometimes it makes like we we like we get almost want to panic buy right we want to start Panic buying and stocking stuff and I I remember I did this during uh 2021 remember when the pricing was fluctuating and then I ended up sitting though as the pricing was going up I ended up sitting on like a truck full of or something like that and then also the pricing drops and now and now even if I sold this material I bought at Cost I can't even you know I can't even do that and be competitive right so you so you just stay the course I think if you look at history and yeah look the world's uncertain right now right but one thing I'm certain about is you always need a fence yep right what I'm certain about is the trucks will smash into Gates y cars will hit things people will break so all I can say yeah the tariffs are here and yeah it's it's an uneasy time but at the end of the day what's so exciting about our industry is that it's not going anywhere yeah it's not like oh in 5 years you're never going to need a fence right we'll always need offense so that's what that's what I tell people about these tariffs are un uneasy I agree with you like you know leadership change some people are happy some people are not at the end of the day you got to stay the court and just know you're in a great industry that is here to stay it's not an industry that is going to be gone in 10 years so that's all you can focus on the rest then is go out there and learn more go out there and make yourself um more not profitable that's part of it too but also hey dude like don't just do chain link or don't just do on like maybe or maybe you have to do it you know so I I'm excited because while the times are on look at Co that is one of the most perf example of our industry boom yeah take a really bad situation but our industry went to another level our country said nope yeah we're we're going to Boom anyway and I love that you said that no matter what they're going to need fencing it really doesn't matter if honestly this iron panel was was $10 or $1,000 H you know the only way nobody's ever going to not need this panel is if we get rid of the criminals dogs and children I don't see any shortage of those anytime soon I always used to say that if for them we'd be out of business there ain't going to be no shortage that's right so I feel like I feel like that's the that's the plan is just like stay the course yes the T and then oh here's another thing make sure you're working with the right vendors yeah like make sure you you know you it's not all about the price right yes at the end of the day we have to have a good price yes to be competitive but try to find those guys cuz they're out there you know go to fwa go go to your site go to those connections go to AF side but try to partner up with good vendors and you will be fine yeah you know well speaking of right vendors have you heard of those guys l in fence a yeah I heard got some Aussie or some I know man about those I I don't know man I don't but yeah mean you could check them out if you want you f i mean give them a shot but you know back to the ter it is you know we've never had so many discussions over tff by the way there's always been tariffs right but we've never had so many discussions over it and we hear 25% tariff so um do you remember when they did that even back during the co stuff and some of this other stuff they had the tariffs and stuff they came in and it was like say 25% tariff but then we see priceing increase by like 80% yeah so how how does uh I mean is is you know since you deal with a lot of that is that because of a markup that you have to do on top of the tariffs and the price goes up he's GNA he always gets me in trouble you need a beer I need a V for his jacket R but so so yeah look tariffs are coming and there's going to be replacement cost and yes that's going to just be the cost of doing future business in America but currently right now you should be working with partners that are not necessarily going to up their prices at

This very moment because it's not about the Tariff I got stuck on the ground yeah so yeah during Co was you have to replace that you're no different say you know Las Vegas fence I have if I had I'm just pick a number $10,000 worth of materials in yard I even though I bought it at a less price I can't sell it um you know for 10,000 if it's going to cost me 15,000 to replace it all I've done was have the same inventory with uh same inventory with you know less money in my bank I just flipped it for you know for the product so you still have to compensate for what it's going to cost you to bring in to replace what you have in you know in your yard so do you think that if uh you know if this 25% increase comes in and all say you see a 50 70 80% increase from your suppliers you should be like hey question it mhm and and ask them so I feel like so for everyone out there that's going to go through this now yeah yes there's an increase there's no two ways about it there's an increase domestically and there's an increase import so it's here it's coming but yeah I would be very I would be very apprehensive at this very moment there's stock on the ground so yeah I would definitely have to ask some questions but in true honesty it's coming right you know so depending on where your stock was when it came you know some of the people have got it right now but I would definitely question it yes no I mean I expect an increase we're already getting notifications people getting notifications from suppliers and that's normal I mean if their prices go up you know your got to go up I mean we got to expect that and I but I think what's different about this opposed to the last time is the Market's different there's uh I've noticed that there's an influx of um Asian European markets coming in and does that affect you think uh before it was kind of like uh our our domestic Market had a grip I mean a grip a really strong grip to where you didn't have that influence coming in from out there do you think the fact that there's more um of that you know you know the foreign markets coming in that that's going to maybe control some of these increases so I feel like we're we're coming into interesting times in our industry and I think they're exciting but also a little daunting because you're right that the overseas Market the Asian market European market the manufacturers are coming in to the stat are taking away that traditional American model right um bit by bit and yes it's it's what's the good and the bad thing so what I tell clients is like look it's good for you but it's also bad CU you need to make sure you vet right these overseas companies as well vet them for what well quality is a big thing too like you know make sure their quality is up to the standards like look there's products out there that maybe don't care about need to hit some certain pointers we're very particular about what we do and we're honest we're importers so we're bringing in our product but we have a standard that we want to make so I feel that that market is look it's it's going to do it it's already done it and it's just going to get more and more it's going to dissolve that American in like that big boy that have had a big grip on our on our industry and you know it's going to shake it it's going to be good it's going to be bad and I I get that you want to bet for quality and stuff but if I remember you know I mean and you know being in Las Vegas it's always been import panels yeah so it's not like the those markets weren't always here yeah good point but was it always just flowing through domestic channels yeah it was always traditionally flowing through domestic supplies so while the product was all import it was going through the big guys and then they would go out to the market with it now the direct sell model is a little bit more prevalent than it's ever been even though it's been you very you got a good point it's always been here so it's always been a lot of the European and Asian panels and and other materials have always been here it's just um now it's more of a direct it's going around some of that so how do you think that affects the fence companies I mean I mean myself I know if I want to go around the distrib I by the way 99% of all the materials that comes into our yard goes through distribution yeah you know into Las Vegas and we still resell that out to smaller fense companies and things like that um so I don't really think that having you know the direct sale stuff come in even a little bit more aggressively is going to change a lot of that because your smaller

Companies they don't have the sometimes they don't even have a yard with a forklift and they don't have the resources to to get a truckload or Buy in a quantity to take advantage of being able to go through the direct sale model so but do you think that's going to change do you think that they're going to set up their own distribution or will they be considered a distributor I mean no but they will I think I think I think they're going to try right they're going to make more of a push to get in distribution um and sell more to everybody um all different levels rather than go through a big a big fence supply company and then let them distribute it so what Mak somebody a distributor because I mean if you think about it I mean I could go back and I remember at some point every distributor had a weaving machine was making their own wire so does that not make it a direct sale model so is it yeah and you you got look I think we've labeled everything for too long because you're exactly right because if you got a weaving machine you're direct selling you're making the product so you're right it's it's a very you're right because there's and I feel like that's a good point too when you put it like that it it's generally all a hybrid model that we're seeing there's not many suppliers in here the biggest suppliers in our country that aren't a hybrid because if they're manufacturing then they're direct selling and then I think that's the issue when everyone has issues with other companies at direct sell but you're like this what you're doing so what I think we're going to find by the uh the Asian and European market coming in here I just feel like again it's creating competition which hey there's nothing wrong with competition because if you were good at what you did then you should be confident that you as a company and and what you sell will be very successful um the issue with that is the way they approach sales right so each country is a little unique right and I feel that's the issue not a much product than them coming cuz we're boring it from them anyway why aren't they just selling through distribution though what would what would make them I mean wouldn't it be easier for like you know say we had a factory in China wouldn't it be easier just to go to um you know Distributors here and sell it through theirs I guess the question then I would be curious and again I'm just curious is why how are they managing to do it you know they don't have I I mean if you talk don't have the sales Channel they don't have distribution channels they don't have all that set up so it's really hard for me to imagine that unless they had the trucks and the distribution Channel set up that they're ever going to be able to replace you know Distributors yeah you know because the average fencer like I said is not uh you know they don't have they're not set up for it the average fencor isn't doesn't have 10 employees it's got one to two and if you got one to two employees you don't have a yard it's really hard where do you where do you put this container how do you unload the container right when you get it so it's going to be interesting to see what happens over the next year or two um and I guess maybe the lines of uh manufacturers Distributors dealers I love I love the whole model I wish we could maintain it but that but I guess everybody along the line has to respect it it can't just be it can't just be defense companies respecting the distributorship models right and and then everybody else above it can do whatever they want and I think that maybe what it feels like for the fence companies right the fence company are supposed to stay in their Lane right and you're supposed to stay in your lane but everybody above you just they want is just doing whatever they want fighting with each other and it feels like they're just driving the're they're the ones driving the price of their own materials down we didn't ask them to yeah and I feel like and I feel like you've hit all these points on the head that we don't disc discuss enough openly because we label everything and we make we give it a very specific label which like that's not the label you know like how we label fence people what is like you know mean you've talked about what is a fence person yeah how do we Define that with defining them by how many trucks they have and what type of non yard that's not a fence person so I feel like that's the same in distribution in our model in our game I think we're doing it to ourselves right because you

Haven't asked from the install side haven't asked for a cheaper price no so what are we doing well I mean I can tell you like Las Vegas alone we just pick say a product a temporary panel or something well for 20 years maybe they were selling for $120 you know $120 they're being purchased from the Distributors and they're being sold to fence companies fence companies are selling them to General Contractors or events uh that are being done whether it's F1 whether it's the Raider Stadium and this is how it's been working for 20 years right yeah so is it really that the the market that the you know Asian uh and the European markets are coming in and destroying it but when why did somebody come in and decide they wanted to sell them for I'm just picking a number these numbers are all I'm pulling them out nothing by no means am I telling people what to sell material for I mean but if they come in and selling them now for $70 when they were already being sold for 120 going through the proper distribution channels why would they do that you know what I mean and then and then what would happen to they say the local companies that are now going okay well that's what I used to pay for him I'm just picking these numbers again out of here so if I used to pay $70 for a temporary panel and you know and sell them for whatever my markup was on top of that to the contractors and the events and buy them from the Distributors and if the Distributors come in and decide or they're going to sell them for $70 but why would they do that they were going to get the same amount anyway why not just go through the normal channels and sell them to the fence companies so I guess I don't understand did we really drive the cost down or did they drive it down on themselves no they drive it down themselves the only this is this is my opinion from a distribution um they drive it down themselves because for some reason we forgot what this is all about right like to me fencing I'm a simple fencing guy right right so it's really basic Brian needs a fence I sell fence Brian needs it in 2 weeks I can deliver in two weeks oh guess what Brian I've got it on the ground even better I've got all this to go with it and let's go do it oh and by the way here's the price yeah but what we're doing is Brian here's the price you come to me and then you go sash r i don't have it so it's we sort of we 100% doing it to ourselves because we're not doing but if don't have it then and by the way you're bidding it to the people I'm bidding it to in general for the same price that you sell it to me for then what would what would a fence company I'm saying me as a fence company what would you do I have no choice or the fence company has no choice now to go and search out these people that are selling it directly where you can buy it these numbers I'm just picking them up maybe they're selling them for $50 same people that sold it to you uh I now have to go and try to find that which I was happy at selling it buying it from you and selling it so now I have to go around you and then it feels like that you're mad I I'm saying but once I go and figure out I can buy them for $50 or $40 or $30 why would I ever come back and buy them from you so did you not push that customer away I feel like that's why I agree with you I feel like we've done that as Distributing as a distributors in our industry we've done that because it doesn't benefit Bri it's it makes no sense to me you've got a customer you're selling to the let's just say general contractor right why am I going to go and take that business away from you when we can have that business forever yeah and you can sell to them I selling me just turning everything around you know sorry it's interesting it's going to be inter to see what happens I and I'm hoping that um we get back to respecting the the model to be honest the model worked it worked for a long time and um not that I think that a dealer should stay in the dealer Lane and a distributor has to stay as a distributor I think a dealer has you know if he's a fence installer has a right to decide I don't want to build fence no more I want to sell materials and I think a guy that's selling materials says I don't want to I don't want to just be the middle guy I want to be a manufacturer everybody should have have the right to you know to have their business grow and

Uh I'm I'm excited to see what what happens I appreciate you taking the time I know I know I drilled you with some questions just for everyone out there that's watching I'm now going to never be able to lay out back at the show no no no no no no by anything I'm saying it doesn't it's not specific to anybody in general it's just nice to get an you know as I walk around I mean these questions I'm asking are are you know they're being asked you know people are asking me about it the the members and people fense companies and then when I'm walking and talking to exhibitors everybody else they're all talking about and look they're important they're important to discuss right because to get this industry you know like such a great industry to keep it making it great we've got to discuss so I think we're doing that damage to ourselves but I see growth in these shows I mean this this show is bigger but it it looks like it grew in uh in some of the foreign market the foreign suppliers are coming in so if that's the case it makes us all want to question uh why weren't they here 10 years ago yep you know what I mean they've always been around and why are they here why are they not selling through distribution so maybe that's something we need to look into a little bit more figure out what did we do wrong that caused this to happen right where was The Gap where was the disconnecting and why why are they here why do we need them if we if we had a good system that works and where is it broken and maybe we can fix that and get it backed out it's supposed to be fense companies buying from Distributors and Distributors uh you know buying from the manufacturers because it's a good system if we can get it to work right% everybody respects it all the way up all the way up and it keeps everything even you know I know your thanks thanks for taking the time to talk I appreciate it you guys if you're over here in Salt Lake get over here to fence Tech because they this is prob I don't know it's probably the biggest fence Tech I've been to yeah yeah right and there's just people coming and going education still going on I think even till after 5 so there's still time to get down here so it's going to be open tomorrow yep all right man