Hardscape Hacker
For Army veteran Mark Dudek owning and running a business is as fun and rewarding as it is challenging. After years working in other trades Mark stumbled upon a unique hardscape process that has allowed him to create his dream job and also create some amazing hardscapes that are pretty much pieces of art! From walls, tree trunk fire pits, to rocks and swimming pools Mark and his crew can probably do anything! Mark discusses his journey and the unique challenges of running a trade business and how he has had to adapt over the years to continue to grow and dominate!
Battle Buddy Podcast Guest Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-dudek-23108218/
https://m.facebook.com/HardscsapeHacker?_rdr
Battle Buddy Podcast Links:
Transcript from Episode 63 with Mark Dudek:
Keith McKeever 0:01
Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever. Hey welcome back to another episode of the battle buddy podcast. I got a great guest with me today. I'm Mark Dudek, the hardscape hacker. This guy does things with concrete and other materials that will just make your jaw hit the floor. It's absolutely insane. So I'm gonna bring him up here in a second before I do don't forget to hit like, subscribe follow the the link in the show notes. Scott has everything for finding the merchandise and and where you can be a guest and all those different things. So without further ado, Mark, welcome to the show.
Mark Dudek 0:35
Thank you, brother. Thanks for having me honor.
Keith McKeever 0:37
Yeah, it's great to finally have a have a conversation with you about what you do because I mean, I I mean it maybe I nerd out being a realtor. But when I see the pictures that you post it's absolutely insane. I don't see stuff like that in houses every day it's it's ridiculous. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you engineer all that stuff. But you you do some crazy stuff from from the fire pits to the concrete that make it look like stone. It's insane. But for getting into that catch us up a little bit on who was Mark and and what did you do? Obviously, we can tell you your army. But what you do in the army catches up to today.
Mark Dudek 1:22
Um, well my army story is kind of kind of interesting. I was actually in three separate times I didn't learn the first thing I guess. Obviously. I'm I've been filled artillery the whole time I started out in 89, right out of high school. Got the option to pick my duty station. So I was lucky enough to go spend a few years in Germany on my first tour after after training. left after that went back home, couldn't really get anything going on. So you know, having spent four years of ROTC in high school and it was kind of out of my comfort zone, I guess you could play. It's what I knew. So I decided to go back in that station and Oklahoma changed jobs but still within the field artillery family met my wife there where I was stationed and got married shortly after, it was fairly quick. spent three years there got out again, and try to get back home back in Southern California another try. But same thing couldn't couldn't really. I had jobs here and there. But you know, it wasn't.
Keith McKeever 2:38
It was anything that stuck. Right, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Mark Dudek 2:42
So you know, not having learned the first few times I went back in the third time. Actually, I take that back. Let me backtrack a little bit. We had after we had left California because things weren't going the way we planned it. We ended up moving to Daytona Beach, Florida. Had a great time with their loved it absolutely nothing. It was like home. But cost wise it was a lot cheaper. So we moved their event or at first to be with my wife's parents, my in laws. They were living there and they absolutely loved it. So we decided to build the family for a little while. I was actually in the process of going back in when 911 happened. I was originally supposed to leave about the 17th of October of that year of 2001. Then 911 happened and I knew right away as soon as I saw it that my recruiter is going to call me so about 15 minutes after we first started watching it. My recruiter called me and asked me if I wanted to go and I said let's do it. So we ended up going to Texas, and I got stationed in Fort Hood in Texas with with first calf. We had orders to go after a couple of months of being there. And they got put on hold because the other major unit out there on post was fourth ID. And from what I was told this is just what I was told the unit commander for fourth Id had a m&e, the commander for first cab had an argument with the base commander with fourth ID saying that first of all, he's got to go everywhere first because they're, you know, one of the most famous units in the military. So forth, Id got permission to go first. They went first and of course, anybody that ever watched the news at that time knows fourth it was the unit that actually ended up finding Saddam the big trunk full of money and all that. So in one aspect, I was kind of upset because that could have been us, but we ended up going later on. Got extended twice in the same tour so it was originally supposed to be a 10 month tour, turned into a 12 month tour and then turned into a 14 month tour. Which at the time sucked. Because, you know, we were in the middle of downtown Baghdad.
Keith McKeever 5:06
The army was pretty good at that. And yeah, I know, when my first deployment I think the guys are almost up to 18 months at that point in time. Guys, it's like madness suck. We, we pretty much did our six, six months it was gone.
Mark Dudek 5:19
Yeah, we met up with a lot of a lot of Air Force guys, and maybe guys while we were, you know, at our post, and they would sit there and have their stories about oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm gonna be here, you know, sit five, six months. And we just looked at him like, really, really? But anyway, I digress. So yeah, we ended up when I got back home. From that tour. I knew I was gonna get out again. The army had changed so much from when I first went in. It became more political, you know less about how well and how, how well you do and know your job and more about who you surround yourself with. And it's just not it's not the environment I wanted. So I ended up getting out of it for the third time. Been out ever since I got out no five, so there wasn't a fourth time. So when I got out, we went back to daytona beach, because that was my home record at the time. And we were living in an apartment. Right, literally right across the street from the beach in Daytona. So, when we first got there, you know, we enjoyed probably a month or so where we were doing nothing but walking across the street beach every day and just hanging out. Sounds wonderful. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was it was awesome when I first got there. But then after a while, you know, funds starting to get low and bills are kept coming. And we were like, Okay, now it's time to bring some money. So there luckily, there was a construction project going on, kind of kitty corner from our apartment. We're big 21 storey high rise they were putting up so I walked across street one day, and I was like, Look, I said, I'm, I found the project superintendent. And I said, Look, you know, I just got out of the military about a month ago. I need some money coming in, basically, what have you got? What can I do? And he was like, what kind of experience he got? And I was like, Well, I can blow stuff up from 10 miles away. He's like, Well, it's not really a qualification we need not exactly a transferable skill. Right? Right. So he, they put me on with the with the concrete guys at first and it's, it's, this is going to lead in into
Keith McKeever 7:27
what I was actually going to ask you how you kind of got into our escape stuff. So you're just kind of walking right into it
Mark Dudek 7:32
that well that's a story in and of itself. So I worked with those guys for a little while just as a laborer, you know, making minimum money but at least it was money coming in. One of one of my favorite parts of that job was the one time they had me hanging on a single man swing on the outside of the building. And anybody who's ever seen high rises. No, you know, with this, like a window cleaner swings the big long platforms. Yeah, this was a seat big enough for just me. I was hanging off the side of this thing.
Keith McKeever 8:01
That's a bunch of note for this guy. Yeah, if I wasn't,
Mark Dudek 8:06
it's not that I'm scared of heights. It's that I'm worried about falling from heights.
Keith McKeever 8:12
But I'm fine as long as I've got a nice solid base below me. Right You know, that's there's no but you know,
Mark Dudek 8:18
what I'm just I was I was hanging on the swing about, oh, the 18th 19th floor of this 21 storey high rise with a kind of minute it's a chipping hammer. But it's in a sense, it's a mini jackhammer, like a handheld version, chipping out corners on these concrete windows are they important, because the walls were all solid concrete and they you know, they had cutouts for the windows. So I did that. And when they were done with their portion of the project, I moved over to the brick masons. They were doing some brick work and I was I was a helper for them. Luckily, they kept me so I was still right across street from a house which was nice. So I was I was mixing up their cement that they use to for the brick work, did that for a little while. And then when they were done, then nobody else had anything. So I was kind of back at square one out of a job again. So I went on Craigslist, indeed all these other job finding services and was looking for work and putting applications everywhere the first the first place to call me was actually a small electrical contractor there in town. So I ended up going to work for them because they because they were the first ones to call me and offered me a check. So I did that and stayed with the electrical trade. We ended up moving to Tennessee because my in laws had moved and my wife wanted to be close to her parents so we ended up moving to Tennessee I'm still doing electrical work. Got the opportunity while there to go down and spend a calendar year down in Houma, Louisiana doing marine electrical you know, tugboats and barges and things like that which was fun. That's that's unique experience. It was it was a I had a blast, because it was something new, you know. And after that year, we came back to Tennessee, and a couple months later got the opportunity to go down to South Texas to do pretty much same thing. So we were there a little over a year, and this was while my wife was still back in Tennessee. And you know, it's hard to be separated that long, when I was in Louisiana, I would bring her down like every other weekend or so. And, you know, spend the weekend with me, because we were working 712 hour days, you know, it was just non stop money was great. And my wife enjoyed every bit of the money. She had, she was rubbish. But when we were down to Texas, I knew we were going to be there for a while. So I went back to Tennessee, we sold our house and moved down to Texas. So we were there total of about four and a half, almost five years. And I was I was getting burned out on the environment, basically. So we were gonna go back to Tennessee, where my animals were, and we were there about a month I had a decent job and then nothing great just income coming in, basically. And I don't want to say I didn't want to be there, but it just did something didn't feel right. So we ended up moving to North Carolina living bought a house in North Carolina there for four and a half years or so. And around the second year there I was kind of I had been doing electrical work for about 1213 years at that point, I became a foreman and a superintendent on different jobs. So I was running projects. But I was just getting I was getting burned out on it because it was it got to the point where it was the same thing every day, you know, go to work. I was always I pride myself on being the first one there. And the last one. So I was always there, I was there before the superintendent, the project superintendent on most jobs. So, you know, it was 1214, sometimes even 16 hour days. And you know, all that time being on the road before traveling and being away from my family. It just, it took its toll on me. And I was getting burnt out on the electrical trade altogether. So I decided I started looking for something else. So I was this is where we get to where I got into hardscaping I was actually looking on Craigslist looking for another job. And I came across a post that said veterans wanted. And I was like, Okay, I'll click on it. I clicked on your interest. Yeah, right. And it was good. And so I clicked on it, I was looking through it. And it was actually the opportunity to learn how to have a deeper homescapes. So I contacted the guy and found out later on doing my research that this was a guy who had gone through the same training. And they had an incentive program that you know, anybody that had gone through the training, it was a referral program, you know, they get somebody else in and they get whatever. So at the time, they were giving out the firepit molds, if you've ever seen the tree stump fire pit that we do, there, they have a mold for that.
Mark Dudek 13:17
So anybody that got anybody else into the program, they would get a mold for those. So in doing my research, I actually contacted the company that was doing the training, and talk to a guy there. And he actually got me signed up and everything. And I told him I kind of felt bad because after you know, having to learn that this guy was just trying, he was starting out and trying to kind of help his business grow. And so the guy that worked for the parent company told me, so don't worry about it, I'll take care, I'll make sure he gets it. I was like alright, cool. So I got set up to go to the training. They were actually using my GI Bill, they were gonna fly me from North Carolina down to Ocala, Florida, put me up in a hotel for a week and a half feed me, put me through all this training, and then flying back. And I was like, that's great. You know, I'm not utilizing our GI bill for anything else at the time. Anyway, Mazal use it might as well use it up so so I got signed up to go. I was supposed to go in in February of 2017. And about three weeks before that I started a new job. So I had to call them back and say look, you know, I just started this new job. I told I told the company owner that I had every intention of going to this training, but I wanted to give them a little bit before I came to the Training because I didn't know what I was going to do it. So I said let me extend it a month. And I ended up going coming down in March. So I came down in March I went through the training and had a blast. I mean it was it was absolutely amazing. The stuff that I learned that we're able to do with with this product and instantly fell in love with it. I think mainly twofold because one because I found out what we could do with it and which is virtually anything. And two, because it was something different, you know, it was new isn't it was exciting kind of the shiny object deal. So when I got back, I, I came up with the company name came up with a bunch of advertising and the logo and all that and started to put it out there. And I heard crickets for the longest time, but I was in a fortunate position that I had an electrical job to go to. So I was doing that full time while trying to get the business going. So I didn't have that income to fall back on, luckily. But trying to work a full time job and get a business going. It's hard. And I know a lot of people do it. And I thought long and hard for a long time about just letting go of the steady paycheck, and put all my eggs in one basket to try to get the business going. But after I saw, you know what kind of what it was, what it was doing or not doing, I guess you could say there in North Carolina. I figured a big part of it was one area I was living in. There wasn't a lot of high dollar homes in that area. It was I guess, middle class. It was certainly wasn't the, you know, the projects, but it wasn't, you know, huge high dollar homes. So I factor that, or I took that as a factor. The fact that it snows, you know, three or four months out of the year there. It's kind of hard to get concrete in the wintertime, when we know, six inches of snow on the ground. You have really important there. Yeah. So you know, I knew we had an amazing system that we were using. And I knew we could we could have put out amazing products, but I figured it was time for a new location, you know, somewhere where I knew we could do this year round. And really have the area to get it going. So we decided, well, you know, we lived in Daytona before we kind of were looking in that area. I had some friends that lived in Tampa. And we were actually really considering going down there and I looked and starting out with basically nothing no job no nothing. The cost of living was kind of high there. So I had other friends you know Calif and they said, construction is booming out here. Everything's grow and people are spending money like crazy
Mark Dudek 17:34
with what we do, and we're not the cheapest people around, you know, because we were able to do the things that we can do. i It's hard I can't compete with Joe Schmo who does hardscaping down the road that uses pavers and blocks because he can get his stuff cheaper, his products cheaper, but he is limited to what he can do. We're literally unlimited to what we can do. I can show you pictures of the owner of the company to train me He's a real good friend of mine super amazing guy. But he's he's created things because he's been doing it for almost 30 years now. That will just absolutely blow your mind. And I'm working on winning most of that. I learn new stuff every every time he posts get I get new ideas, things like that. But so anyway, we became ended up locating relocating down to Ocala, which is kind of full circle in a sense, because this is where I was trained at. So so we move back down here and started getting things going. And we're still growing, you know, we've done we've got a few projects, I'm still working on business thing, because I mean, when I started, I knew absolutely nothing about business. I was real fortunate with Facebook, because I was able to get into a lot of other veteran owned business groups. So you know, I was able to ask questions about starting the business, how to run the business, how to grow the business, things like that. And I have a ton of support there that I'm constantly learning from. And it's nice, because now I've actually gotten to the point where new people are coming into these groups, and they're actually asking me questions. So, you know, that makes me feel great that I'm able to pass some of that knowledge on. But I'm constantly you know, I'm not the smartest business person around. But I am I am proof for the old cliche that if I can do it, anybody can. Because like I said, when I started, I knew nothing about business.
Keith McKeever 19:35
So it was all of us. Were kind of all in that boat, you know, what you don't know. Right? Exactly. Just kind of fumble on through until you you know, until some knowledge just soaks into your head slaps you across the face, whatever, you know, they weren't in this window, same Facebook groups and there's a lot of there's a lot of great collaboration and information flowing back and forth in there.
Mark Dudek 19:58
Absolutely and There's a scene that I absolutely despise. But I think it's kind of applicable and I tried not to do it that much, but it's fake until you make it, you know, you you have to put on that when you're starting a business, you have to, you have to put on that facade, that you've been doing this for, you know, 20 years that you know everything about everything about what you're doing. And because that helps give the potential clients confidence that, you know, you can provide what you're telling him to provide. So I've certainly had to do that. But I know at the same time that I have the knowledge and experience of all these veteran business owner groups, as well as other local business owners that I've gotten to know, as well as the knowledge and support of the gentleman that owns the company, that train, I know, at the drop of the dime, if I absolutely need to, I can call him say, hey, I need help with this project, he'll grab his team, and bring them with and it cost me Of course, you know, I've always got that support, you know, I can take, I can get a huge client here that wants, you know, one of everything that we do, you know, water feature, outdoor kitchen, fire pit, patio, seating area, retaining wall, and you know, everything that we can possibly do. And I can call him up and say, Hey, I've got this huge project, I need to go. So we'll be there. And we can have all that knocked out for four days, you know, who else can say they can do that?
Keith McKeever 21:31
That's pretty awesome that you can get some of those projects done in that amount of time. You know, and you kind of alluded to something that I think it's really important for, for business owners to think about is who's working on your business and in your business? You know, so you know, you get the day to day, the hands on stuff, but then you got all the behind the scenes stuff that you have to do the accounting, the social media, the content creation, like, right? That's the one thing nobody ever thinks about them. At first. Yeah, I was I was guilty of that, too. Like, I didn't look at that for a couple of years. And, you know, it's like shooting yourself in the foot sometimes. Yeah, if you don't think about it right up front. Like, that's just as important as the other stuff.
Mark Dudek 22:11
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's hard. You know, I'm always been a hands on type of guy. So you know, when, when I get projects, again, the first one on the job site, in the last one, I'm out there actually doing the project I'm out there working in and I'm, uh, you know, I'm carving the walls, I'm stacking the concrete, making the panels that we use to build our water features with. So I'm out there doing the hands on stuff, spending 1012 hours out there, and then I got to come home, and do the behind the scenes stuff. I gotta make social media posts. You know, I gotta, I gotta do more budget planning, I gotta, I gotta, you know, all the accounting stuff. So I gotta, I take all that on myself right now. Because since we're in a new location, and still growing, I'm not in a position to, to sub that out yet. Hopefully, we get there soon, because it really wears on you. Anybody that runs their own business, you can kind of test it, you know, it takes its toll
Keith McKeever 23:07
that it can and you know, so So the business that you're in is hardscapes. And we should have maybe, maybe I should ask this question earlier for some people who might be sitting here thinking for the last 20 minutes, like, what is the hardscape? I'm in real estate, I get it. So what is the difference between a hard scape and landscaping and maybe paint that picture?
Mark Dudek 23:30
I get asked that more times than you could possibly Yeah, I can imagine. I get I get people that don't know the difference. They're getting confused. So I get calls for, you know, sod installs, and I have to tell them, Look, I'm sorry, I don't do signings. I'm not a landscaper. So the the basic definitions are landscapes or anything, anything that can physically be moved. You can move grass, you can move signs, you can move those rules, you can move sprinkler lines, you can anything like that, that can be moved, falls under landscaping, anything that cannot be moved, once it's installed, falls under hardscapes. That's your retaining walls, your your patios and seating areas, your fire pits, concrete clarity, it's not about the people, it's about your water features, the kind that we do, you know, anything, that once it's there, it's there, it's not going anywhere. That's the
Keith McKeever 24:25
first step. The first step is the hardscape and a new landscape around it make it look all pretty. Right, you know, putting put my site Bob Ross, he's got to put them out in there first, I think right? Then he puts that
Mark Dudek 24:37
in an ideal situation. Yes. And now I've done plenty of projects where you know, the hardscaping or the landscaping, I'm sorry, it was already done. And we have to come in and do our part afterwards. So you know, I know I've gotten to know plenty of landscapers in the area. As much as I hate to say this area is way oversaturated with landscapers and a majority of that He's just people with a zero turn mower and a couple of meters to go out to cut yards every week. So because because the, the process here is so lenient, that you know just about anybody with a with a lot more than one year can do it. So, but I've gotten to know several that are very reputable and do outstanding jobs. Because that was all part of that, you know, building that referral network, you know, so when I do get calls, and I always do, you know, hey, I need, you know, a couple pallets of sod installed in my yard I've got, I've got a guy that can do that. Most of the time, I'll just send the contact info every once in a while, I'll send that out and put my little markup on it. Because everybody's got to make money.
Keith McKeever 25:47
You are a business owner.
Mark Dudek 25:48
That's right. But a majority of the time, I'll just say, hey, you know, I'll call him up, hey, I got this. This person wants some sod install, you want to you want to take care of it. And we're like, yeah, and I'll send the contact info, they'll make their money. Everybody has a good day. So
Keith McKeever 26:00
sometimes it's just easier. I'm assuming like, maybe it's a small job or something like, Hey, look, you got a 15 by 15 spot. Right? You're not gonna make much money on it, just pass it on to the other guy and let him go make his money. And yeah, I totally get that. So I've done that was something sometimes where it's like, look, you're better off just hire an attorney, just just pay an attorney a couple 100 bucks to do this for you. You know, versus other things. Sometimes it's just best avenue for everybody. So some of the stuff you're doing hearts. So you're maybe paint pictures. So you're doing the retaining walls and all these features. And you're building some sort of framework, obviously, there's a structural component to some of them to hold back the earth. But they're kind of covered them in concrete and other materials and doing all kinds of creative stuff with it. Pretty good.
Mark Dudek 26:51
Absolutely not. Okay. No, and this is this is what helps us stand out and makes us different, everybody, let's I'll use an outdoor kitchen, because it's the most basic example,
Keith McKeever 27:01
I love one of those, you should come up
Mark Dudek 27:05
with something, anybody that any other contractor that comes in to build an outdoor kitchen, this is this is going to be their process, they're going to come in and take their measurements, they're going to come in about a week later, and they're going to start building a frame, they're going to build a frame for this thing out of either two by fours or metal studs. Then once they get the frame built, they're going to put cement board on it much like they put you know, in showers and things like that, they're gonna they're gonna wrap it in cement board, and then they're gonna come in with their, their stone overlays or their stone veneer. And they're gonna, they're gonna use the tile mud basically, is what they use, they'll put some on the back up, but someone was sitting on the board, slap them up there, and they'll stack it and it'll look real nice. And then in about two and three years, these things will start popping off because the grout behind them starts giving way because they're outside. They're not built for that. Right. And it's all porous material. Right? Exactly, yeah. So So these things will start popping off. So that that process alone takes two, three weeks to get all that done. And then you got to worry about countertops you got you got to pay for, if you're gonna go to high end, you're gonna pay for granite, quartz, you know, things like that. On the low end, you're gonna go with indoor kitchen countertops, the particleboard stuff, and it's going to fall apart after a couple of months, a couple of months, yeah. Plus the appliances, right, you got to you've always got to add the appliances. So out of that you might have an outdoor kitchen that's usable in about a month. Whereas with the panel system that we use, we use the GFRC panel system, which is glass fiber reinforced concrete, it's basically fiberglass inside the the fibers are inside the mix the reuse. So So right off the top, the structural durability is 100 times better. They're more meant for outdoors, so they're going to last a lot longer. Being that we use the paneling system, we don't have to come in and build a frame. We basically take our we make our panels, cut them size and build a box basically, is the easiest way to describe it will take the panels and screw them to each other using decking screws. And we'll fill in the corners with the same type of mix. So we're basically building a big hollow box, whether it be just a straight application, an L shaped application or a new shape, or what you know whether we decide to get creative with 100 stuff, but that's for another show. So we screw these panels together, fill in the corners, and that becomes one piece. Like you can hit that thing with a sledgehammer you're not going to put a hole and I didn't believe it at first until I tried to. Like I beat on these things with a 10 pound sledge hammer. And it it took me a while to even put Denton. So these things are a lot more structurally sound. And they're a lot more durable. Then we get into the appliances, we leave cutouts for any appliances, whether it be, you know, set access doors, or set of drawers that go on it. And then we get into our own countertops, we do our own countertops, we use the same type of mix, we add coloring to it, you know, several different colors to choose from. And we'll do we can do pretty much any pattern, we can emulate quartz, we can emulate granite, we can make it look like wood, if you want to. Wow. So we can make it look like basically anything. And the best part about it is, is if you get like a standard L shaped app or kitchen, something that you're not going to be able to use for a month once they start with any other contractor. You'll be able to use ours in about four days.
Keith McKeever 30:52
Wow, that's impressive.
Mark Dudek 30:54
That's the difference maker.
Keith McKeever 30:56
Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, I never really thought about some of the materials too, because I've wanted an outdoor kitchen for a long time. Man I can I can see where the wooden frame or metal frame both have their own their own problems. Right. You know, wood rots, metal rusts. You know, do you want rusty? It's coming out from underneath of it on your concrete. Right? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we're things popping off. Well, keep that in mind for whatever I sometime down the road get my outdoor kitchen. So that also so I'm assuming it's kind of same thing for like the retaining walls and stuff, you just put the panels you just line it up.
Mark Dudek 31:35
For for the retaining walls. The panel systems that we use, we use this that mixture for either outdoor kitchens or water features. Most water features now we can do a poured solid concrete water future, and it'll look great. But the panels we use mine mainly for those to the retaining walls, patios, fire pits, seating areas, things like that, we use a poured solid in place concrete. Okay, what we'll do is like with our retaining walls, we'll dig out a footer, we'll go 12 inches deep, staking rebar every 12 inches. And then we'll pour over that now the mixture that we use is not like standard concrete. And to get technical, but not get technical. If you use the standard concrete that that companies use for like sidewalks, driveways, things like that, those are they have the you know, the rocks and the pressure on those the strength comes out at about 3500 psi when they're fully cured after 28 to 32 days. With a mixture that we use, it's more of a grout mix in the sense that we don't have the rocks in it. It's just basically sand and cement. But there's an additive we put into it once it gets on site. That basically what it does, it draws moisture out of the air continuously to to continuously harden the concrete. So after 2832 days with our mix, it comes out around 5000 psi. So it's a lot stronger than than standard concrete. But without the rock in it, it allows that's what allows us to carve into it and make it look like stone. Or
Keith McKeever 33:21
yeah, that makes sense. I mean, as I say, I mean, I know enough about concrete to know that there's a handful of different types and mixes and stuff. So right because that's what I think the last the last picture I saw is you kind of had a curved retaining wall with some steps built in and it's just like, yes, incredible.
Mark Dudek 33:39
Believe it or not that one was was done over two days.
Keith McKeever 33:43
Wow, that's that's something else. Wow. The second that definitely gives it a lot of advantages, strength, cost time, all that stuff. So absolutely. So how can veterans who are looking to get into this industry get into it? Or what are some of those challenges for getting equipment, because one of the things I thought of like you know, you get into this you need a certain amount of equipment and stuff like that do some jobs, there's got to be some challenges to people.
Mark Dudek 34:14
You can you can get started for I don't want to say next to nothing. But as far as equipment goes, there's really no heavy equipment I have, I basically do everything out of out of my pickup truck. Whether it be you know, transporting I have a small trailer but you know nothing major. It's a small flatbed trailer and I just recently got that but you know transporting the molds that we use to make our panels that you don't have to transport the concrete obviously because you call the local concrete company get it you know, get your mixture to them. And they deliver it and then other than that it is basically handles no shovels, concrete trolls, or
Keith McKeever 34:55
did you write a piece of acquit small piece of equipment if you needed it? Yeah, absolutely. Like skid steer or something like that.
Mark Dudek 35:00
If I do need anything, I rent it, if I have a couple of local concrete pump companies that I use every now and again, you know, in case, it's somewhere that I can't get a concrete truck to, and I use a pump service, and they pump it to where I need it. So really, there's, there's not a whole lot of equipment involved.
Keith McKeever 35:19
That's awesome, because that's what I was thinking. I'm like, man, you know, what kind of equipment is in there? And, you know, how can veterans get out because, you know, not everybody wants to just go get a nine to five job, some people just want to start something, they just love being outside, but hey, cutting grass, you know, this could be a better alternative, like, Hey, let me do something and kind of creative, you know,
Mark Dudek 35:41
absolutely the, and that's one of the things that makes me love it so much as a creativity because I can do, I can do, you know, the most basic to outdoor kitchens, you know, one in two separate properties. And no matter how I do it, there's still not going to be the same. You know, it's not, it's not a big box, here's all the pieces put together the same exact way every time. You know, it's, that's why I stressed that everything that we do is custom, you know, I can do a tree stump fire pit in one person's yard, or right next door and do another tree stump firepit, there'll be similar, but they're not going to be exactly the same. Everything that we do is completely gone. Now, if any, if anybody is not just veterans, I mean, anybody if anybody's looking to get into doing something like this, I mean, it's complete game changer. It's easy to get into. It's easy. Physically, there's, there's a lot of hard work. I mean, you're shoveling concrete around, you know, and, but there's a there's a lot of design aspect, you know, it's creativity. I've never, never told anybody that I'm creative. You know, before I got into this, I had trouble drawing stick figures.
Keith McKeever 36:51
Because I'm the kind of that guy, I'm like a stick figure drawing kind of guy, I consider myself creative. And that's what I appreciate. When I see work like that. It's like, man, that's awesome. I don't know, if I'd ever have the vision to do that.
Mark Dudek 37:02
It's, believe it or not, my process, when I do it is I stand back, you know, I'll, when I'm doing a retaining wall, for example, I'll carve some, I'll cut some lines through I will carve you, but I'll cut some lines into it. And then I'll step back and look at it. And I'll say, Now does that look like somebody took a bunch of big rocks and stack them to make a wall, you know, and the good thing about it is, if I see a line out of place I don't like all I got to do is take my trial smooth and back up and then cut in the line. You know, it's that easy. And then once you've got your lines, and I think you get the picture of Okay, now it's it's, it looks like a bunch of rocks, then you can go through and start carving your your lines deeper and, and giving your different textures take a little bit more out of this rock, add a little bit to this rock, you know, to get that. So it stands out, you know, different different positions on the wall, then it makes it look more authentic. And then the staining process that we use, once we've got everything hard. The the process we use after everything stains to give it that warm look. So it doesn't look brand new, like brand new concrete rocks, it looks like it's been there for 20 years, you know, there's an aging process there that we do it step by step, it's all easy. I mean, like, literally, if I can do it, anybody can. I hate to keep going back to that, but it's absolutely true. You know, I'm not a creative person, by nature at all. You know, like I said, I'm gonna get in there and get my hands dirty, and just have somebody behind me yelling in my ear, Do this, do that do that. But now I've had to step into that role. And every time I do it, I get more creative. I learn a little more I, you know, I see a little bit differently. So I'm getting that point. But if anybody wants to get into it, all you got to do is get a hold of me. They have the company the training, they have kind of the same system now but they revolve. So they're still kind of that referral deal going. But their process of getting into it as a lot a lot better and actually a lot cheaper. When when I first got into it and using my GI Bill had I not had that would cost me about $20,000 Just to go through the training. Now
Keith McKeever 39:15
they're still using allowing people to use a GI bill for that training. As far as I know.
Mark Dudek 39:19
I don't believe so. I know the the the friend of mine that owns the company, they apparently he had something, something going on with the VA at the time. I guess they had stopped. They got tighter restrictions as to horrors what they'll cover. So he's not doing that anymore, but because he's not doing that anymore. And he's, he's very veteran friendly. He has 1000s of veterans that have gone through the program before and he wants to keep that going because we wholeheartedly believes in supporting veterans. He's never been in the military, but he really appreciates you know what we've gone through. So he's made it a lot easier for Veterans to get in and anybody for that matter. So it's a lot, it's a lot more cost effective and a lot easier to get into now.
Keith McKeever 40:08
That's awesome. Because I know, I mean, it's it's a shame that, you know, they won't be able to use the GI Bill, but I do know that they've changed some things. So yeah, you know, it's cool, though, if you can use it in creative ways. So it's awesome that you were able to use it, rather than just having to disappear on Yeah,
Mark Dudek 40:26
yeah. Yeah, no doubt. And it was, I was actually, over my limit my time limited for using it, but they, they, I guess they were able to update it to the post 911 GI Bill, because I got my GI bill when I first went in back in 89. So they were able to transition that to, to the post 911 GI Bill. And I was able to use it that way. So So yeah, that really
Keith McKeever 40:50
That's awesome. Yeah, I use my Montgomery a couple years ago, got my bachelor's degree time that I was in, there was like this extra 12 months of post 911. And I've had people ask me, like, you can go back to school or do something with it? Probably not, at least I used like three quarters of it. So got the degree.
Mark Dudek 41:11
I actually started doing that. I tried that several times, you know, doing the online schooling thing and burn up a little of my GI Bill doing it. And it's, I don't know if school is not for me, because again, I'm the hands on type. But I'm not good at sitting in front of a laptop, you know, trying to learn stuff from from a college, I've always been the get out there and show me how it's done. And let me get my hands into it. And I learned better that way. I always have been. So that's, that was really the key with this is when we flew out of the out of the 10 days, we were there, we had like three days of actual, you know, sitting in a room learning learning stuff, and you're watching slides and videos and things like that. But the rest of the time it was all hands on, you know, we were actually out there, building the training goals, we built an application, we built a water feature, every element of what we do, we were able to tap into the hands on, you know, while we were learning so that that was to me the best part.
Keith McKeever 42:09
That's awesome. And I couldn't agree more. I'm the same way. I'm a very hands on person. So college was had its ups and it was I was not the kind of person to crack the book open and read every single page. Yeah, it was, what do I need to? What's the important stuff on this page, I did learn that if it's highlighted, if it's highlighted bolded or italicized. That's a good place to start reading. Just just read that you get the basics, if at
Mark Dudek 42:36
the very least, that's the way I was all throughout school. You know, what do I need to learn to be able to pass the next test? Basically, the way I went to school?
Keith McKeever 42:47
Yeah, there's, there's a lot of fluff in some of those textbooks. And that was never, never a great student. I did all right, going through college, but it sucks as an adult. But, you know, especially with a family and all that stuff. So you know how that is, you know, with jobs and all that time that you were, you're away. So I was gonna ask some some kind of some follow up questions, because it was it was I had kind of written down. But you know, how, how important it wasn't your relationship with your wife, when you were doing all that electrician stuff? You know, how important is it to have her by you know, by your side is supportive now,
Mark Dudek 43:22
crucial? crucial? I don't think I could have done it could have done it either. Otherwise, we've had, it was difficult being away that time. You know, we certainly had some arguments over the phone.
Keith McKeever 43:36
There's a lot of stress, and you're that far away.
Mark Dudek 43:38
Exactly. I unknowingly put a lot of stress on her because I left the household to her, you know, we had still had our daughter, she was young enough at that time. And I was just off kind of basically doing my work thing. You know, looking back on it now, I I left a lot on my wife's shoulders. And you know, I give her all the credit in the world she had like a boss and let me know about her a lot of times and really made me step back and realize what I was doing and not doing. So yeah, it was she was crucial to me being gone when I was especially during my deployment when I was traveling on the road, doing electrical work, and even even you know, working on the business she she's, she's like man, you know, never never own the business didn't go to college still to get a business degree. But at the same time, she's more creative than I am. She gets a lot more ideas than I do. So yeah, I mean, not not just in business, but personally too. She was she's been a godsend.
Keith McKeever 44:46
Awesome, so I kind of figured you're gonna say that. I kind of pick up those pieces in there and I think it's important for people to remember that. If you're the veteran and you're out there grinding working, whether it's your own job or somebody else's Keep that in mind that if you've got a spouse anyway, that you've got that spouse or better half, whatever, that's back there holding down the fort. And sometimes it's easy to keep your eyes focused on what you're doing for your job and forget what they're doing back there, but they're all on the board. Yep. So, and then the last thing I got for you is, is, what advice do you have for it for the people that are getting out now that might want to, you know, kind of start their own business, you know, because that's what this whole conversation about is, you know, starting your own business and doing your own thing and, and growing that way.
Mark Dudek 45:37
Right. Um, I know a lot of people you know, there's, there's people that are comfortable with both, there's people that want to get out and start their own business with people that want to get out and, and either go to college or getting more college than they did while they were in in. And, to me, entrepreneurship is something that's I don't want to say it's fallen by the wayside. But but less and less. Veterans, especially are starting their own businesses, I think there was, there's a group called bunker labs. And they're one of the one of the anchor points for me, and you know, it's one of the first groups I got into when I got when I decided to start my own business. And they have, they do research all the time, you know, and the last last time I went to a meeting, they said that there's only like, three and a half percent, I believe it was all veterans down there to actually start doing business. Whereas, you know, back in World War Two days, it was almost 75%, we're getting started in business. So that's, that's their focus is to try and bring that number back up. So there's, there's a huge, a huge amount of resources with them. But yeah, definitely I would, I would suggest anybody that's getting out, especially if you have if you had a job in the military that you can use in the civilian world, then absolutely, look into starting a business focused around that. Or if you have any, any particular talents, you know, that, you know, I'm not saying go be one of these YouTube or tick tock people that, that, you know, hey, I can do this. And this is what you make. And there are people that actually are actually successful doing that, you know, people do people videos, take themselves or video themselves out, doing something simple, like somebody out fishing, like, I know, several YouTube fishing channels, and they make big money doing it because they get sponsors. But don't let that be your only thing. You can use that as a, I guess, a side hustle, I guess you
Keith McKeever 47:54
could say or at least to build your brand to build up? You are. Right, exactly. Step four.
Mark Dudek 48:02
That's actually what I'm working on now is putting some video together to build my YouTube channel. And believe it or not, one thing I actually did, and I don't want to take too much time, but I'll tell you a funny story. A while back, my wife got me a purple stuffed monkey, you know, the one with the long arms with the Velcro.
Keith McKeever 48:23
It's like I got got kids. So that's where my mind
Mark Dudek 48:26
went, got me one of those for Christmas one one year, and it just kind of sat there. And then I was sitting in my office one day after we moved here. And I was like, I saw it, like sticking out of a box after we had just moved, like the arms were sticking out. That's all I saw. And I was like, You know what? I felt bad. And my first thought wasn't anything about business. My first thought was, I want to hang this up because I felt bad because she bought it for me. And I've never had hanging up. And I probably had the same story for years. Never had to hang it up anywhere. So I said, Well, let me hang it up. So I hung it up on the light fixture in the center of my office, right? It was just hanging there. And she walked in and saw it hanging in there. And she was like, Whoa, you know, I can't believe you hung it up. And it was she was she was thankful that I hung this thing up. And I was actually using it and I was and I was like I sat there looking at it. And I was like, You know what, let me try something. And I made the stupid Facebook post and I had this thing. I had it on the side of my head with the arms wrapped around my head like his arm going under my nose, right? Like it was just given me a big hug. And you know, I make my eyes all big and and I said I said it was something to the effect of welcome welcome the monkey to the you know, as the newest member of the family. And I had so many people in these business Facebook groups and people have become friends with their business owners. message me on the side and tell me use that. If something different. You don't see anybody else running around with a purple stuffed monkey use that So I really started thinking and he actually kind of became like a company mascot. You know, everybody knows that, that I'm the hardscape hacker, everybody that everybody that knows me knows that my wife is, we all have our own hashtag, she's hashtag mama hacker. So now, this thing has become the hardscape monkey. And believe it or not, I started to build his brand. He's got he's got his own YouTube channel, he's got his own Facebook profile, he's got his own tick tock channel, and starting to develop a following. You know, I put him on every job I'm, I'm on. And I'll set him up somewhere and just take random pictures of him. Like the last one, he was hanging on to a piece of rebar. And then, and then I had a friend of mine who's a photographer here in town, doing some photo shoots on the last project I was on. So I had him hanging on this rebar, and I was standing behind him, like given them the knife hand, you know, anybody that it's been in any branch or service really knows what the knife hand is. So I was giving them a knife and looking like I was yelling at him, and I posted that, and all our people went nuts over. So building his brand has actually helped build my brand. Because now now people are associating the tools together. Because every time I post something, I post something on his pages, so we're building together. So it's that that's part of that. And it took me a long time to learn this. And it was one of those aha moments, after a bunch of people told me I finally had the aha moment. But use something different. If you have a skill that that you do better than anybody else, you know, if you have an element in your surrounding niche that nobody else has, there's something some something to give you an edge, use it no matter how little you think it is, you know, it can be something is is is trivial is every time I go on a, you know, somewhere, I've got whatever with me, you know, I've got this, this certain keychain I take with me everywhere I go, I use that. Every time you post about something when you're starting your business, use that because people are going to associate that with your brand, and it's gonna make you stand out. So any little thing like that? Absolutely. Even if you think it's silly, if you think it's stupid, people are gonna latch on to it, believe it or not, they will. Because it's different, because everybody has the same thing. And if you if you look at like a lot of these YouTube channels where they got, you know, millions of followers, the Tick Tock channels, they got millions of followers, they're doing something nobody else is doing. And that's why they have those followers. That's great advice, especially now, and because if you notice, and I don't want to go on a rant, but if you notice how many reality TV shows we have nowadays, everybody on those shows is doing something different. This shows different from that show, whichever way we are, it's so diverse that everybody is latching on to them because it's something different than what they're used to. So that's what you have to keep in mind, you have to be different, you have to set yourself apart from everybody else.
Keith McKeever 53:10
Yeah, well, I think that's a great piece of advice. Because no matter what industry you get into, or you're in, look at what your competitors are doing. And you'll see trends that they're all doing like the same thing. Absolutely. And then think about, okay, if they're all doing this, what aren't they doing? Right?
Mark Dudek 53:29
that do that. That's the key. And that's what makes it so easy for me is because, like here where I live, there's two other than I know about major hardscape contractors in the area that both have been here for years, and I'm the new guy starting out, you know, small fish in a big pond. But they're both of those companies are doing the exact same thing. They're building walls with the signal, the cement blocks, they're building walkways, and driveways with pavers, that everybody else has. Everything I do is is different. And I put that out there as much as I can. I'm not doing what these guys are doing, if that's what you want and call them I can't help you
Keith McKeever 54:12
know, if you're doing the same thing as everybody else, even if you're doing it just by doing something different with the monkey on different was branding is huge, because there's I'm not endorsing them. But there's a company here in my area called the roof Tiger, right. And he also owns a company called solar Panther. So all these companies have like a big cat name and um, the branding is totally different. The trucks are wrapped like a tiger skin. You see it driving down a road, you know exactly who it is. Right. Yeah. And he's a roofer. I'm sure there's not that much the differentiates him between what other roofers provide and materials and you know, there may be some differences, but, you know, everybody knows who he is.
Mark Dudek 54:51
It's not what you're doing. It's how you're doing it. Yeah, it's
Keith McKeever 54:54
standing out in some way, shape or form. And a little, you know, a little purple monkey I mean, It definitely stands out a little bit.
Mark Dudek 55:02
I'd have I'd have him here, but he's hanging up in my truck. Okay, well,
Keith McKeever 55:06
I guess you could always expand the monkey family.
Mark Dudek 55:08
Oh, yeah. Eventually he's got to find somebody.
Keith McKeever 55:12
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So Mark, I appreciate just being on the show and telling us what hardscaping is what you do, and dropping some knowledge for those that are into business or looking to get into business, whether that's hardscaping, or landscaping or selling insurance or whatever, anywhere in between. I think there's some good nuggets of information there. And I appreciate that.
Mark Dudek 55:35
I appreciate you having me on.
Keith McKeever 55:37
So anybody who's listening, watching, all of Mark's links will be in the show notes. So have no fear. As always, it's always in the show notes. So if you're watching listening, whenever it's all there, if you need to get a hold of them, you can get on there. I have a headshot or photo of Mark and be able to website if you need to connect with him his his LinkedIn or social profile being there. So plenty of ways to get a hold on my guests. So once again, Mark, I appreciate you stopping by.
Mark Dudek 56:04
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Keith McKeever 56:06
Yep. All right. There you go, folks. Thanks for tuning in today. Remember, you can check out my website for all kinds of information and resources. I was trying to update that. So if you see something that should be on there, please let me know. And the National Suicide Hotline that number is actually just recently changed. I just changed this today. 988 press one or you can text 838255 There's the new suicide hotline numbers if you are struggling and you need a little bit of help.
