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I‘ll be the first to admit I’m not the best speller or eloquent speaker, but here goes...
I Hired a CEO to Remodel my House for $15 Bucks Per Hour — Here is What I Learned
I once worked with a man named Brock.
Brock was a relatively healthy 55 (or so) year old. He was an very intelligent and relatively humble man. A high achiever. He made a lot of money working as a CEO and engineer among other things. He could build anything and was a perfectionist so of course he built most of his own home — a home that was on the lake and worth over $1M. He wore the typical tattered handyman clothing and drove an old scuffed up mini van. Other than his Canadian accent you would never know his story from the looks of him.
I met Brock not long after I bought my first home. I was proud of that home even though it was a bit of a fixer upper. Hey, I was in my 20s and had a home paid for - great. Of course as a now somewhat broke 20-something, I was scraping the barrel a bit to get anything done to it. Well that and I was a tad cheap because I had this grand idea of retiring by 35.
After having what seemed like 20 handymen do somewhat shoddy work, I was once again on the prowl for a handyman that could take care of the centerpiece in my plan to build an empire.
Then I saw the add! It said something about how he ENJOYED doing modifications and repairs to homes...and that he would even help TEACH you how to do things yourself! Tell me more please. It also had a long list of things he was able to do — anything from unclogging a toilet to planning and building an addition. This guy was a retired CEO of an engineering company after all. And he was here to work on my $50,000 home.
Day 1 meeting Brock was sort of an interview that turned into an all out work day.
See, I had this opening between the living room and kitchen but I wanted to make sure there was a header in place and everything was secure. I had already asked online because I really know nothing about home repairs. This was the first thing I showed Brock in my $50,000 demo zone that I had already torn the paneling and carpet out of. My first home had been a complete mess for 6 months by this point. Certainly nothing you’d want to show off...at from the inside. Brock quickly sized up the situation and compiled a materials list for us to go get— I guess we were getting started. We head to Lowe’s in his van (did I mention he smoked a lot!) and within an three hours the framing is done. And of course everything looks very precise and perfectly fitted as you would expect from a CEO of an engineering company. And trust me, Brock wasn’t one to play up his title or anything. I don’t even think he told about the CEO part — I found it on a Google search of his name.
It’s near 5pm and Brock says he’s going to go, but he can come back tomorrow if I want him. I say yeah that fine and he replies — is 7am ok? I think wow that early, but quickly say ok. As he’s putting up his tools I sorta mumble “you did good how much for today” — he kinda hesitated and with a Canadian accent said “I don’t know forty”. Without even thinking I say “Oh ok, I thought it would be more”. Doh! As I hand Brock the $40 and he says see ya tomorrow and drives away.
Well the next day and every day afterward, Brock would show up at 7am. Even in the dead of winter. He would WORK around 7-8 hours (with me there helping hold stuff), take 3-4 smoke breaks, and say at least 5 or 6 curse words as he worked. Brock didn’t just aspire to get a task completed. He was there working on my house as if it was his own. He paid way more attention to detail than I thought necessary sometimes. There were several times he would correct me somewhat sternly - like the time I tried to tape a drywall seam but you could obviously see wasn’t quite perfect. Upon walking in. Rock took one look and said - this has got to go. Little did he know, it was some of my best work. At the end of the day he’d collect his $120 and head out.
One time I decided to put a towel closet in my hallway — after assessing the situation Brock said he could build the cabinet and shelves at his house and that I could help. So about 1pm the next day I show up to this beautifully crafted custom home on the lake. The nicest house I had ever been in. It was perfect. Huge windows that looked out over the lake...huge solid wood doors, in law suite, etc — it had it all. But sure enough we had that solid wood cabinet built that day.
Brock the handyman ended up lasting for about 8 months - he completely remodeled my home.
He was a CEO/engineer that was never late and did quality work for $15/hr.
Brock was a free man - he was doing work he enjoyed doing regardless of the pay. He would’ve been working on something at his home if he wasn’t at mine.
I think he just wanted a little cigarette money his wife wouldn’t know about.
He seemed like someone who wanted an honest days work just to have an honest days work.
You know what I learned though — me and Brock weren’t much different other than him obviously having a million dollar home and me being about 25 years. Our day to day lives weren’t much different. We both thought about a lot of the same stuff. We talked politics. He’d tell me little things about his wife’s job or that his daughter was graduating from med school. He would say something about his dog which he had to let out by 5:30. His dad was having health problems. Occasionally I’d hear about some far away place he and his wife traveled to. The usual stuff people talk about.
No matter how much money separated us we were both just a couple guys working on a house.
And no matter how much money I could accumulate myself — I knew I’d always be a Brock.
And no matter how much whatever else "separates" people, when the great equalizer comes, we are all the same.
Naked we come into this world, naked we leave it.
PS I do not envy the guy. Imagine, trying to explain to your wife where the heck you've been for 6 months after hours.
Material possessions end with death, so there's not much glory there. How one controls his/her time is better, but not if controlling the time leads to nothing beneficial beyond that person. A person could sit in a room and control their time as playing video games all day, and be "successful" at that, but is that really desirable?
I'd just focus on making the most of everyday, looking for signs of giving back and improving matters and life around us. No clock-watching or time management rubbish needed.
I think, OP implies that CEO of a company used his time for mundane enjoyment. Not really to control time. No one can control time.
I dig it. I work in health care, am called doctor all the time ( I am not) but my biggest enjoyment is heavy physical labor in the property. I get off this way.
Material possessions end with death, so there's not much glory there. How one controls his/her time is better, but not if controlling the time leads to nothing beneficial beyond that person. A person could sit in a room and control their time as playing video games all day, and be "successful" at that, but is that really desirable?
I'd just focus on making the most of everyday, looking for signs of giving back and improving matters and life around us. No clock-watching or time management rubbish needed.
I think, OP implies that CEO of a company used his time for mundane enjoyment. Not really to control time. No one can control time.
I dig it. I work in health care, am called doctor all the time ( I am not) but my biggest enjoyment is heavy physical labor in the property. I get off this way.
Bingo.
The CEO enjoyed working with hands and improving homes for people simply because he liked it.
We are all humans, after all. We all have something that is close to our heart, not just to stomach.
Unfortunately, for some, stomach and eyes are 99.9999% of their life interest. What, philosophically speaking, is absolute waste of time and effort as, when the great equalizer comes, all that is totally meaningless. but what you built with your hands - is not.
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