0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast

0:02

, the place where local businesses

0:04

and neighbors come together . Here's

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your host , Jeremy Wolf .

0:12

Hello everyone and welcome back

0:14

to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast . I'm your

0:16

host , Jeremy Wolf . You know I say

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this often Sometimes the universe

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tries to tell you something and I

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think our meeting today or our guest today

0:25

can be serendipitous

0:27

, if you will . We have

0:29

Raul Tristini with Superior

0:31

Fence and Rail , and he was on

0:34

the calendar to come do the interview . And the

0:36

other day I got a letter from my association saying

0:39

that I needed to replace some rotted

0:41

pieces of my fence . And I said to

0:43

myself who do I know that does fencing ? And here we go , sitting

0:46

here with a fencing company . Raul , thanks for

0:48

joining us today .

0:49

Thank you for the invitation , Jeremy .

0:51

Of course , of course , and thanks to our listeners

0:53

for tuning in to learn more about our great

0:56

community and the businesses that serve us . So let's

0:59

get into this . Tell everyone a little bit

1:01

about Superior Fence

1:03

and Rail .

1:05

Well , superior Fence and Rail . Well , superior Fence and

1:07

Rail . It's a franchise , the first successful

1:10

fence franchise in the United States . Many

1:14

tried before , many are trying now , but Superior Fence and Rail started

1:16

franchising well , actually started as

1:19

a brand in 2000

1:21

, I think six

1:24

or one by an entrepreneur

1:26

lawyer that bought a

1:28

fence company in Orlando . He

1:30

started as a licensing agreement

1:32

, expanding and got eight or

1:34

nine brands open in Florida

1:37

. Then , in 2016

1:39

, he partnered up with one of these

1:42

licensee holders , zach Payton , which is

1:44

currently a franchise president

1:47

. Because of the model , he had to turn

1:49

into a franchise . That was back in 2016

1:52

. They

1:54

franchised it . It's been great . We

1:56

actually were the fourth franchise

1:58

to buy the fourth

2:01

territory . They sold Broward

2:03

County . We covered all Broward County in

2:06

2018 . And

2:09

they have expanded since then . We have more than

2:11

100 physical locations . Right now . We cover

2:13

everything from California

2:15

, seattle to New York , florida

2:18

, michigan , utah . We

2:21

have more than 300 territories

2:23

, 100 physical locations

2:25

Utah

2:31

.

2:31

We have more than 300 territories , 100 physical locations , millions and millions

2:33

of foot of fence installed every year . So you guys , since 2016

2:36

, Superior Friends of Rail has reached

2:39

over 100 locations in

2:41

that period .

2:43

Correct . Let me just put an important

2:45

note there 100 successful locations

2:47

. Right

2:50

, because that's a tricky point . Right when

2:53

franchising in construction . There's a

2:55

reason why fences has been there

2:57

way before you and I were born

2:59

, but nobody was able to

3:02

successfully franchise it at that level . There's

3:04

a lot of big companies for sure that cover

3:06

extensive territory .

3:07

Why do you think that is ? What is it specifically

3:09

or what is it unique about the fencing industry

3:11

, fencing business that makes it difficult to

3:14

scale up and franchise a business like that

3:16

?

3:17

Because most of the fence

3:19

companies are run by great fencers

3:22

, great fence installers , right

3:25

, and they're great at what they do . They build fences

3:27

beautiful , but they're capped

3:29

at what they can do , right

3:32

. What Superior Fence and Rail

3:34

did is they put a business . This

3:36

is a business , it's a corporation , it's a

3:38

multimillion-dollar business with a significant amount

3:40

of employees and it's run like that

3:42

. So the process

3:45

to run a fence business is like , probably

3:47

similar to many

3:49

other industries , right , and then

3:51

you have people in your team that are specialized

3:54

in building the fence , that are trained and

3:56

guided to be experts when it

3:58

comes to building fence . But I think that's the difference

4:01

process to be followed , and

4:04

every market is a little different , right , we'll

4:06

get to that through your questions . But our market

4:08

down here is a little different because of what you said in the introduction

4:10

. Your HOA demands you to

4:12

fix some things , even if you want

4:14

it or not .

4:18

I love when the HOA they send out a notice to fix

4:20

something and then you have questions about

4:22

the notice and you can't reach them . They don't answer . It's

4:24

like what's wrong .

4:26

Well we do all of that and that's what

4:29

would separate Superior , especially here in

4:31

South Florida , to most

4:33

of the defense contractors

4:35

is that we do that right . We get

4:37

a lot of calls . People like you

4:40

, jeremy , that are busy , got a letter

4:42

, say hey , figured it out . So

4:44

we go there and we take off all

4:46

the pressure . We like to tell our team

4:48

to always refer to

4:50

the process as headache-free . We are a service

4:52

business , all right . So

4:55

when we talk about our business it's

4:57

not offensive . So when people ask me what I do

5:00

, I don't say I insult offenses

5:02

. That's not what I say , because that's not what I do . We

5:06

are in the service industry . We service

5:08

people that require Home

5:10

improvement and the industry

5:12

of fencing and we do that , but it's

5:14

more . The time we probably

5:17

take . An average will be 60

5:19

days . Every account is open for

5:21

about 60 days on

5:23

average , someone

5:25

so longer , some months are shorter . And

5:29

when we do the service then we go one day and install . So

5:31

the installation is not the

5:34

bulk of the process .

5:36

Are a lot of the jobs requiring permitting

5:38

to do fencing , replacements or no , it's

5:40

just All

5:43

of them . Did you hear me ? Okay , we're connections are a little

5:45

spotty . So , like every job requires a permit

5:47

, every fencing project .

5:49

All of them in South Florida , broward and

5:52

Miami . It's

5:54

where we are , it's

5:56

Broward . We

5:59

have a lot of HOAs too , so they have

6:01

their own rules and then the city have their own rules

6:03

, right . But

6:05

that's the tricky thing with the

6:08

cities right and the

6:10

market , especially new homeowners they

6:14

haven't gone through the city process , they've

6:16

never replaced a roof , they've never put in new

6:19

windows or fencing , so

6:21

they think it's easy , it's just a front , just

6:23

come replace it and be done in three days

6:25

. Like well , we cannot

6:27

do it , unfortunately . You know , uh

6:29

, there's a process we got to go , we have

6:31

to have a license , we have to be insured . Um

6:34

, I would say most

6:37

of the of the fence contractors

6:39

, uh , should have

6:41

a license . Most of them do I do

6:43

. Um , we have

6:45

to have a license , we have to be insured . Because , to

6:48

be honest , when we started five years ago

6:50

, what we realized is

6:52

that in the past , many , many years ago

6:54

, the reason why there are a few companies that has been

6:56

over 40 , 50 years is because a lot

6:58

of the other ones were . They

7:02

weren't set up to honor

7:05

their agreement . They started , so they sold a

7:07

lot of fences , but then they couldn't honor it . So

7:09

that's why the city started . Okay , we need to have

7:12

a license . We need to regulate this a little bit . So

7:14

in the fencing industry there's

7:17

a lot of conversation around the united states

7:19

if there should be regulations for

7:21

every state . Most of the business owners

7:24

do not want regulation right um

7:26

, but in south flor we need a permit .

7:29

So what license is are you talking about ? Like

7:31

a GC license , or is there a specific

7:33

license under the GC umbrella for

7:35

fencing or for that type of construction

7:38

?

7:39

Right , it's not a GC

7:41

, it's called Certificate

7:43

of Competency . It's kind of a special

7:46

trade license .

7:47

Yeah , that makes sense . Okay , so

7:49

2018 , you got

7:51

involved with this franchise . How

7:53

did that happen ? Tell us a little bit about

7:55

your journey leading up to that , what you did before

7:57

and then how you transitioned and ultimately made

7:59

the decision to kind of buy into

8:01

this concept , this franchise with Superior Fence

8:03

and Rail .

8:05

Well , my family we were at

8:08

that point , we were living in Panama . My

8:12

parents were looking to invest into something different

8:14

. My dad has been all his life in construction

8:17

. He used to do construction

8:20

projects for private

8:22

and public projects in

8:25

South America . So when

8:28

they decided to move to the us and look for an investment

8:30

opportunity we're still looking at options and

8:32

somebody , uh

8:34

that we knew refers to say , hey

8:36

, there's a this new business that are they're starting

8:38

to franchise . A few months ago . It

8:41

looks interesting when , when we

8:43

met with , uh that time time , chris Johnson

8:45

and Zach Payton , who were the franchise

8:47

source , my

8:49

dad just said this is the business we're going to

8:51

do , this is what we're going to do . And at

8:54

that time there were obviously only Florida

8:56

, because the

8:59

headquarters of the franchise are in Oviedo and

9:01

Jacksonville , so we were only Florida . The

9:04

options were a little small and

9:06

, due to our uh latin america background

9:08

, my uh , my dad

9:10

decided that south america will be will

9:13

be easier due to a lot of , uh hispanic

9:15

culture than here south florida would be easy

9:17

.

9:17

Yeah , right , so so

9:20

you , your whole family , up until

9:22

the point when you came over here with this business , were

9:24

we're all living down in panama . Were you already

9:26

up here , or was all of you down there ?

9:28

well , well , I was actually personally

9:30

I . I was studying uh college

9:32

in spain , uh , at that time , uh

9:35

, you said when they came it was a nice

9:37

did you say oh

9:40

nice , yes

9:43

, barcelona , spain . It was it great , a

9:45

great time of my life . But

9:49

when they opened up , when they decided to start

9:51

this business , we saw it as

9:53

a great opportunity and I moved

9:55

back here and I

9:57

started running the business for them

10:00

. It was great . It was a great experience

10:02

. It was a great experience . I've

10:04

always had the mentorship from

10:06

the franchise , solo especially

10:09

, and he walks us through the process

10:11

, and

10:16

we managed to

10:18

sell over a million dollars in the

10:20

first 12 months . So it's been a long journey

10:22

. We're

10:25

probably , at this point , installing about 500

10:27

to 600 projects every year and we're only

10:29

doing residential . We were only doing residential up to last year . We're starting

10:31

doing some commercial job to

10:33

, but our focus is residential

10:36

properties .

10:40

Right on . So always

10:42

nice to get a look under the hood from local

10:45

business owners . And when it's a family run business

10:47

and you have the whole family putting their heart into

10:49

it with a story like that , you really can't go wrong

10:51

. So it's your father , I think you mentioned your

10:53

brother Thomas yourself . Anyone

10:56

else ? In the family involved in the business and

10:58

my other brother , alex .

10:59

he runs our installation department and

11:06

my parents function more

11:08

in a CEO perspective . They

11:11

also run my mom runs

11:13

the accounting part of the

11:15

business and my brother

11:18

, tom , is more involved in what the sales

11:20

process would be . But

11:23

it's as any other small business it's

11:26

all hands on deck , right , you got to be doing

11:28

Vegas . It's a small business at

11:31

the end of the day .

11:33

Yeah , no , that's impressive Anytime you have a

11:35

family that's able to operate a

11:38

business like that and not get down

11:40

each other's throats all the time . I know if I took my family and tried

11:42

to put a business together , I don't know if it would be very successful

11:44

, so my hat's off to you guys for creating

11:46

a successful business with your

11:48

family . I mean , obviously it means a lot to you guys

11:50

and the passion shows in speaking with you

11:53

. So , raul

11:55

, what do you like to do for fun when

11:57

you're not working , brother ?

11:59

When we're not working , I like to play soccer

12:01

. Soccer is my hobby

12:03

. Choosing like going to

12:05

the stadium , especially now , of

12:08

course . In Miami Although we don't

12:10

win , but yes , in Miami .

12:12

So you must have been excited when Messi came over

12:14

here . I was just talking to somebody

12:17

the other day . I was at a poker game and soccer game

12:19

up and I talked about how the

12:22

transition that's going to occur over the

12:24

next five years , 10 years in this

12:26

country because Messi came here

12:28

. I mean , in the past

12:30

soccer has always been kind

12:33

of a second rate sport in the U S right

12:35

, it's , it's the most popular sport everywhere else . But

12:37

now , with Messi's presence here , the

12:39

youth are just going to take it and run with

12:41

it and it's going to become such

12:44

an unbelievable presence in the US .

12:46

It is great . I think there's with

12:49

all the international tournaments

12:52

coming right . The World Cup is coming , the Cup

12:54

of America is coming . I

12:57

think the US will be one

13:00

of the most important countries

13:02

for soccer related in the next probably

13:04

10 years . They'll

13:08

get their spot . They want it and they'll get it .

13:12

Yeah , couldn't agree more . So , sitting

13:15

here today , looking back through

13:17

your journey , is there something

13:19

that comes to mind , a life hardship , a

13:21

challenge , something that you struggled with along the way ? Maybe

13:24

it's a defining moment , something that you drew

13:26

a valuable life lesson from , something

13:29

along those lines , what do you got ?

13:35

As a challenge in this business transparency

13:40

. Transparency

13:42

, it's something hard , uh

13:44

, because and and I understand

13:47

when a lot of , a lot of small business

13:50

owners struggle because they want

13:52

to do things the right way and

13:54

um and and

13:56

and at the same time , they want to earn the job

13:59

right . So it's been , it's

14:01

been a challenge for us to train our people

14:03

to always be honest and transparent

14:05

, regardless of what's out

14:07

there right um . Give

14:10

you an example that we've come to

14:12

, uh to situation . Let's say , you

14:14

and me call the office and and the guys

14:16

go and , and then you say , well , but you know

14:18

, you're the third company that comes and you're the only

14:20

one that asked me for a permit . So I'm not going with

14:22

you guys because you want to , you want to , you know , you

14:25

want to get me for my money . I'm like so

14:28

it's been a conversation with all our staff

14:30

. It's a it's a constant conversation

14:32

and and has been a human , human

14:35

resource hardship

14:37

to find people that understand and they

14:39

want to do the right thing , because the end

14:41

it's like uh , you know , mr wolf , unfortunately

14:43

those are the kind of regulations . We do require

14:45

permit , we have a license , we do everything

14:48

for you , but you gotta be willing to , uh

14:50

, to do the things proper way , um

14:52

, so I think that's a hardship . What

14:55

we've challenged mostly is

14:57

is educating the market , um

14:59

, letting them know that we're not

15:01

saying that they're not people out there that are great

15:03

. There are good companies out there that do

15:05

good things , but

15:11

you got to follow the process , you got to follow the rules

15:13

. You know we're here

15:15

to help , we're here to do it for you and

15:21

in that note human

15:23

resources . It's the most valuable

15:25

asset of

15:28

our company . We've been very

15:30

lucky and blessed to have great

15:32

teammates , great people in

15:34

the office , even the people that are not

15:36

longer with us in the company it has packed

15:38

through . The business in the last

15:40

five years has been great , and

15:43

I think that's the most important for any

15:45

business , regardless of their size , right , having good people

15:47

in it .

15:48

Absolutely so for anybody

15:51

out there right well , like myself , that

15:53

maybe they just received a letter from the

15:55

association . Maybe they've been staring at their fence

15:57

for the last five , 10 years and they've been

15:59

thinking to themselves subconsciously I

16:01

need to change this thing . They just haven't done anything , but they are listening to this now and

16:04

they want to go do something . How could they reach you

16:06

guys ? Let us know how we could find you and how we could

16:08

learn more .

16:11

Sure , you can just give us a

16:13

call , 954-280-0407

16:16

, or look us up online

16:18

Website . I love

16:20

our customers going through our website , superiorfenceandrailcom

16:26

, because they'll be able to see everything that we offer

16:28

. They're going to be able to see pictures , they're going to have information

16:31

. There's a lot of education

16:33

resources there to know about the fencing

16:36

process , right , and they'll also

16:38

look at our financing options , which

16:41

sometimes a lot of people say like , oh , I can't

16:43

do it right now because I got a budget for it , but

16:46

I want to know a price , and that that's great . Right

16:48

, that's , that's smart . Um , but

16:50

at the same time , we we are telling look

16:52

, if what you want is do

16:54

it in small steps , we , we can offer

16:56

you a zero percent zero percent even

16:58

in this crazy market for 12 months . So

17:01

the same as cash . You

17:03

know . So , you know , so you know you're going to be paying what

17:05

? 200 bucks a month , depending

17:08

on the fence . You got right Two

17:11

, three , 400 , whatever

17:13

it is . But look us up online . We do have some

17:15

social media , we're

17:19

improving our social media and

17:22

you can look us up in the Good Neighbor podcast too .

17:23

Right , absolutely . And we will , of course , us up in the Good Neighbor

17:25

podcast too right , absolutely . And we will , of course , link in the description to all of your contact

17:27

information to get the word out into the community

17:29

, because I know there's quite a few people out there like

17:31

me that are going to need to do these projects and it's good

17:33

to have a resource available . So , raul

17:36

, thanks for joining us today , thank

17:39

you , jeremy . No , it's our pleasure

17:41

, and thanks to our listeners for tuning in , and

17:44

we will catch you all next time . Everyone , take care , have

17:46

a wonderful day . Bye

17:49

.

17:49

Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast

17:51

, cooper City . To

18:09

nominate

18:11

your favorite local business to be featured on the show , go to GNPCooperCitycom . That's

18:13

gnp coopercitycom , or call 954-231-3170

18:17

.