Biz Talk (Aired 08-15-25) Keeping Businesses Powered: Backup Solutions with Andrew McCain

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is where smart business conversations meet real world experience. Where strategies are shared, lessons are learned, and ideas come to life. I'm Emily Galindo and you're watching Biz Talk, your destination for real insight from the mind shaping tomorrow's business world only on NOW Media Television. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Welcome to Biz Talk, where we uncover practical strategies to keep your business moving forward. I'm your host, Emily Galindo and today's guest knows what it takes to keep operations running no matter the weather. Andrew McCain is the founder and CEO of McCain Power Systems, a Texas based company specializing in generator rentals, logistics and full service engine Solutions. After launching NPS in 2020 and building on years of experience at Mustang Cat, Andrew now leads one of the fastest growing power support firms in the region. So today we're diving into major concerns for businesses and business leaders. Unexpected outages that shut down operations and put your bottom line at risk. Andrew, I am so excited that you're here. It's actually storming right now outside it is. And we are in Houston and we lose power all the time. And so I think a lot of our viewers are going to want to know what can you do and why is that important to my business and my bottom line? [00:01:18] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. So we provide power solutions specifically on the power generation side for small businesses and for homeowners on the residential side, but commercial industrial generators and power generation backup systems to keep you online. And then we also have a rental division and a service division as well. So if there's contingency plans, if you have redundancy, if you're a hospital or a like a 24 hour location that provides, you know, healthcare services, a lot of times they want a generator backup to their generator. So we can provide all of that. We also have services, so we have a full field service team that can take care of all your services and needs for maintenance and, and keeping your generators up and going when they're not needed. [00:02:07] Speaker D: Right. [00:02:08] Speaker C: So that when they are needed, they kick on and then do the right thing. [00:02:12] Speaker E: Right. [00:02:12] Speaker B: Because technology is great when it works. [00:02:14] Speaker C: That's right. [00:02:15] Speaker B: And so if it doesn't, we expect it to work and it doesn't kick on. That's a big deal. [00:02:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:19] Speaker B: Obviously in like the healthcare space, we need 24 hour power to operate machinery and keep people alive. In some of those other industries where it's maybe not as dire. Right. But why does it matter to me if we lose power for six hours or 10 hours? [00:02:35] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, it just depends on the application. Right. So, you know, a Lot of places that might have, you know, backup power to supply like a power like a water treatment plant. [00:02:46] Speaker E: Okay. [00:02:47] Speaker D: Right. [00:02:47] Speaker C: We don't ever think about that. But they have backup power generators so that when you use lose utility, those kick on and provide power. Everything we use from our technology, from every single tower that has cell services. [00:03:02] Speaker D: Right. [00:03:03] Speaker C: You're going to have a backup power generator to provide backup. So a lot of things are going. When you said technology to battery backup, so they have some sort of like UPS system. It's called an uninterrupted power supply ups. And then the generator will kick on after that so that there's zero interruption. There's. You lose power, the battery takes and takes that load and then that backup power generator kicks on and then it takes over from there. So a lot of, a lot of people will, from water treatment plants to cell tower services to, you know, LNG plants, CNG plants, all of those things will interrupt your daily life, whether you know it or not. And the only time you really know is when you don't have that. [00:03:49] Speaker B: When you're not. [00:03:49] Speaker C: When you don't have that. [00:03:51] Speaker B: When it's. We only care when it's not happening. [00:03:53] Speaker D: Right. [00:03:53] Speaker B: We really enjoy having all of the things that you just explained until gone. So I think all of our viewers are probably very excited that you exist to ensure that we have, especially here in Houston, we've had a lot with our electrical grid conversations and not having that opportunity. [00:04:09] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:04:09] Speaker B: For whether it be storming or it's freezing in Houston. [00:04:14] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:04:15] Speaker B: So it's definitely necessary. So how can a business of one of these that you just explained or anybody who's watching, how can a business set themselves up or how can they assess whether or not they are at risk of losing a lot of money or time or customers? [00:04:28] Speaker C: Yeah. With business it's just an opportunity cost. Right. So your, your downtime versus what that costs you versus you know, having a plan in place that that limits that downtime. So if it is, you cannot be without power. [00:04:43] Speaker D: Right. [00:04:43] Speaker C: You're running a crypto mining operation and it's 247 and you're using the extra stuff for AI and you have data center customers that if they lose power, they lose people's software. You have to have backup, you have to have redundancy for that. And so it just depends on if you're going to lose, how much are you going to gain. So there's different ways to do it in terms of long term planning. Putting in a permanent power backup power system, generator and automatic transfer Switch. And then there's, there's also, you know, short term fixes where you can do contingency plans. Have a rental contract during hurricane season and then having conversations with our rental team or anybody in the power space to say, hey, how long will it take if, if we lose power to get back online quickly? And you know, is that two hours? Is it six hours? Is it eight? So just having a plan around that situation I think is the most important thing as a small, medium or large size business. [00:05:44] Speaker E: Okay. [00:05:44] Speaker B: And even if I don't know anything about technology, right. And so if I were to consult with you, your team would come out and assess everything and put that plan together for me. [00:05:54] Speaker E: Absolutely. Okay. [00:05:54] Speaker B: So and then the rental agreement you had mentioned that basically establishes that I get to pick, I'm in line, right. Like, so when the power goes out, one of those generators is contractually obligated to me and so I don't have to like the day power goes out call and you're like, sorry, we're out. [00:06:11] Speaker C: Yeah. So let's just use an example like a Kroger or an Heb, right. They have in place contracts with companies such like us to have backup power generation that they are paying a small fee for that unit to be for this store. And it sits on a different yard. And then when they lose power, if they lose power, they're up and going. So their freezers, all their food, they don't lose all that stuff. Then they do have power, backup power, but that one is then sent out or dispatched from a yard such as ours or somebody else's to provide, make sure that now they're on backup power generation. What if that goes down? What if they run out of fuel? Well, they need something else and they need another backup source. So you know, that's just one specific example on, on how they can pay for it to be on your yard as a standby rate. And then once it gets dispatched, it's running 247 or they can say, hey, what about getting this thing online and hooked up at our property as a backup power generator that maybe is on, you know, a trailer man, that not a permanent install. And then that way it's out there, when they lose power, it's going to kick on. So there's different rates, there's different ways to do it. It's just again, consultations talking. It's figuring out what works best for the customer. [00:07:30] Speaker B: It's really about, I mean from the business standpoint, it really is about understanding how much money you are generating every Every hour or every minute. [00:07:37] Speaker E: Right. [00:07:37] Speaker B: Because if I'm down for 30 minutes it's gonna cost me X. And then knowing what that balance is for having this system that you've created for us. Okay, do you have any amazing stories about life saving things that you've done? I don't know how it's life or life or financial savings that you are aware of. [00:07:55] Speaker C: Yeah, actually we're part of a group. So with new power generation there's a new thing with ERCOT and the utility power that we are starting to push and we're putting in, we're trying to replace. It does a couple things. If you have a backup power generation generator at your small business, medium business, large business and you replace it with a natural gas unit, you are actually, we can put you in a. It's, it's just part of a group where you're connected to ERCOT and you are putting your generator as you're coming off the grid at certain times. So instead of, there's things called peak shaving where you actually run your power generator, they do it at like Buc EE's and HEB. They actually have contracts that they will produce power and sell it back to the grid. This is opposite. You take your off the grid during peak demand times and you are producing power and you actually get paid by utility every single year. So we're trying to put money back in companies pockets, you know for it could be up to 40, 60 thousand dollars a year and you could, you could put in if you have an old diesel generator and you want to replace it with a natural gas generator and be a part of this ERCOT group, you can actually come offline and you'll get paid for. Even if you don't run, if you have zero downtime, you never come offline. Just being a part of the group, you, you get paid every single year. Wow. [00:09:25] Speaker B: Yeah, so I had no idea that that was, I mean I've heard of the, we've got a lot of solar guys coming around selling and then you can sell it back to the grid, sell the electricity and all of that. But that's a really phenomenal way for business owners to make a little extra. [00:09:39] Speaker C: For sure. It's not a, it's not a cheap thing to do is put a backup generator on your property. But when you can actually get some return on investment for that in every single year that thing is going online and, or coming offline and going to be providing power to your, to your building, it can, it can actually start. I mean think about that five, 10 years, it's going to pay for itself. [00:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that everybody's always looking for more ways to save on overhead, create a bigger ROI and whatever they invest in and also maybe try to now, I don't know, save the earth. [00:10:17] Speaker C: That's it. Yeah. It's a little bit cleaner fuel than diesel as well. So. [00:10:22] Speaker B: Perfect. Well, if people wanted to talk to you more about that opportunity, how could they get a hold of you? [00:10:27] Speaker C: Yeah. So just go online, type in McCain Power or go to our website, mccainpower.com and all of our information is there. You can get in touch with our team, our sales team, myself, I'm still involved in the day to day, so that's the best way to contact us. [00:10:44] Speaker B: Perfect. Well, I want to keep you for a few more minutes and we're going to go to a commercial break. But when we get back, I want to help our viewers understand. So maybe people weren't listening just now and were like, I already have something and I've had something for forever and it works great. We're going to talk about what happens if your equipment's gotten too old or if you even know how old it is and what did we do to fix it and what do we do when it fails. So be right back after this. [00:11:09] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward. [00:11:32] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz talk. Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of Biz Talk on any of your favorite NOW Media TV shows, live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to all of our full lineup of bilingual programming in both English and Spanish. If you prefer to listen on the go, catch the podcast version of this show right on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and breaking news to lifestyle, culture and everything in between, now media TV is streaming 24. 7 ready whenever you are. And then we are back with Andrew McCain, CEO of McCain Power Systems. Beyond rentals and installations, Andrew's team works daily with businesses whose equipment has quietly aged into a liability. This segment looks in at an often overlooked threat, aging power systems that fall under pressure and especially in this Houston South Texas weather that is, can be a potential dangerous situation. Yes, absolutely. And so what is it really? A ticking time bomb. Like if I've got a. How long does the generator last? [00:12:47] Speaker C: Just depends. It's, it's kind of like old refrigerators. They don't make them like they used to. [00:12:51] Speaker D: Right. [00:12:52] Speaker E: Okay. [00:12:52] Speaker C: The newer ones are worse than the older ones, but usually 20 to 30 years is typically for a standby application is what you know, they, they tend to cycle out at that point. [00:13:03] Speaker E: Okay. [00:13:04] Speaker B: And if I, if one of our viewers has got a unit right now they bought 15 years ago or what, where is that window of going? I might need to have this looked at or serviced. [00:13:14] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you should have it on an annual, annual maintenance contract. So just keeping somebody out there, whether it's us, there's so many people here in the Houston market that can take good care of your generator. So having, you know, typically two to three times a year, having it serviced, looked at, making sure that it's up and running, making sure that it's cycled. Generators are, you know, believe it or not, they're for backup, but they're meant to be run and they're meant to be run it at full load. So if you are lightly loading or, or not running your generator, it's actually worse for it. It needs to be starting, running hard under load. And a lot of times during the maintenance cycle, you know, two times we'll go out, check everything, making sure levels are good, batteries are charged, just the, the normal things that anybody would look at on your car. And then we'll go out there and then typically one, there's a, there's a major, where you're doing, you know, oil change, filter change, coolant flush, and then you're actually doing a load test. So you're put, putting it, you're taking it off your, your, your building load and you're putting an artificial load on there to that generator at full load, making sure that it's 100% capable of running everything in your building, putting it back online and then doing a building transfer test. Once all that's done, you can have peace of mind that one that was done, it was done correctly and that it should come on. There's mechanical, electrical issues always that could happen, but you're giving yourself the best chance to make it run. So a 15 year old unit, it should run just fine. If you have a maintenance contract, if you're not paying attention to it, you're redheaded stepchild, you're putting it away it's probably not going to start and run. [00:14:55] Speaker E: Right. [00:14:55] Speaker B: I was just going to. I mean, I'm. It's a machine just like any other. Right. And so just like old cars, you got to go out and start them and take them for a spin every once in a while. Although I do think I watch Formula one racing. And so they are finely tuned machines that are maintained and put together with like extreme precision. And even on race day, the button doesn't work. And I'm like, what is. Like, that's just. Is that just the life of being in mechanics? [00:15:21] Speaker C: That's it. That's it. You could do everything. Right. I mean, we've had units where, you know our guys. Nobody's perfect. [00:15:30] Speaker D: Right. [00:15:30] Speaker C: So, you know, we'll have things that we service test run. It gets out to site, doesn't start starts and isn't producing load. Stuff happens when it's rolling down the street. [00:15:41] Speaker D: Right. [00:15:42] Speaker C: If it's on a trailer, sure. But even, you know, you could have year and a half old batteries and you know, the battery charger somehow just is 10 years old that goes out now those batteries are online. [00:15:55] Speaker D: Right. [00:15:56] Speaker C: That are. That are, you know, because you constantly have power going to that. That piece of equipment, even though it's not running right. So that when you lose utility power, that generator will come on. So those batteries may have died because the battery charger died three days after you left and did your service on it. And it was working at that period of time. [00:16:15] Speaker E: Right. [00:16:16] Speaker C: So things happen, stuff happens. It's just, you know, can you pick up the pieces? Can you take care of that customer once it doesn't kick on? And how fast can you get on the phone and get over there? [00:16:25] Speaker E: Right. Okay. [00:16:25] Speaker B: Which you guys obviously are willing to do. And your company's great at all the. I mean, there are some. Everybody varies differently. But I've heard and we know that you have a great company that does that. And so what is the. The best pay. So I'm hearing you say, like, obviously the maintenance contract. If I haven't had my thing maintenance, like I'm. I'm. I don't have a generator for my business, but I do have a house that has a generator and it's just sitting in the garage. Not. I don't know when the last time we touched it kind of. Is that a common situation? Not just in my home, but like business owners. Is that what they do? [00:16:58] Speaker C: So if there's a. Especially being here in Houston, Right. We get lots of hurricanes, big storms, will get calls the week ahead. Of a storm coming. And that is the worst time because everybody's calling during that time. So I think having a plan as an individual or a business and just saying, even if it's once a year, right. Taking it out, running it at a proposed time, let's say you spend $500, right? It's just once a year, pull it out, get somebody to come. You know, it takes two hours, three hours of their time plus travel to get there. But they're starting it, they're running it, they're checking the carburetor. You know, if you're having one in your garage, it's one of those pull starts, probably, or they let I know. [00:17:36] Speaker B: That we had to put it outside the garage. [00:17:38] Speaker C: Yes, yes. It's probably like a gasoline generator. You typically don't need a maintenance contract for that. Y' all can do all that yourself. But even some training, right? So if you don't know how to do it, you can. I mean, you can call companies like ours or, hey, can we pay two, three hours of your time to come teach us how to do this and how to do it properly? Because you're still producing power. You're still producing things that if you have kids around or pets or anything that can kill you. So you have to be safe when. [00:18:03] Speaker D: You do it right. [00:18:03] Speaker C: You make sure that it's grounded properly. If it's outside during a storm, it's raining, you know, you're producing electricity. Electricity and water do not work. [00:18:12] Speaker B: That's right. I do know that. And I've heard. I heard like, you know, my. The people in the house talking about, like, the grounding and making sure you undo this for the house. And I'm like, I don't. I thought you just plugged in. Plugged it in and yeah, we got to use the electricity. [00:18:23] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:18:24] Speaker B: How magical. [00:18:25] Speaker C: Yeah. No, I think one A maintenance contract is huge for businesses, even for households if you have a permanent install. But for that kind of scenario where you have one in your garage and a lot of people have those, right? They're 5,000 watt, 8,000 watts that you can hook up. I think just getting in touch with a company that can come out and say, hey, during not busy time, whenever, whenever you can come out and have one of your electrical. We call them E techs. Come out there and do some training with us. And my husband and I or whoever can know how to use this responsibly and correctly. So that one, if you hook it up to the panel and you're back feeding to the grid, that's no bueno. The guy's working on the power lines. That's how those guys die, is people plug in their generators and they're back feeding into the grid. While, while those guys are working on power lines. It's not good. So making sure that breakers and all that stuff are operational. So there's protection on both sides of it. So there's protection for your household items, there's protection down on the utility side and there's protection for you. [00:19:33] Speaker D: Right. [00:19:33] Speaker C: You and the people operating it. So I think some good maintenance contract, but also training. [00:19:39] Speaker D: Right. [00:19:39] Speaker C: For businesses or if you have an on site maintenance guy that has no idea about power generation, it can be dangerous. [00:19:47] Speaker D: Right. [00:19:47] Speaker C: I even like, I'm, I'm the owner. I walk out and I'm like, y' all go ahead and close that breaker. Like I'm, you know, guys that do it every day. Like I don't do it every day. [00:19:57] Speaker D: Right. [00:19:58] Speaker C: So I want, I want guys that are experienced and know how to do that to operate those. And then if I was going to have that, I'd have somebody come out and teach me how to do it and to do it. Right. [00:20:07] Speaker E: Okay. [00:20:08] Speaker B: And so if we got the maintenance, when do you think? I mean, because we, especially here we've got lots of, as we've mentioned, hurricanes and such. I'm assuming so off hurricane season is when we should be doing all of these things. [00:20:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. When we set up our maintenance contracts, it's usually two to three times a year. Right. That we go out and visit and it depends on, you know, some people want quarterly. [00:20:30] Speaker D: Right. [00:20:30] Speaker C: If it's, if it's, life safety and that's, that's super important for like a hospital or something. It's going to be quarterly going out there, making sure that we're, we're checking those things, checking all the systems quarterly. But most people typically April, May, before hurricane season kicks off, and then typically Q3 into Q3, Q4 before the, the cold season starts. So that way you're checking it ahead of time and you can take care of any issues then if there are, and it just has the best, you're creating the best success for that person or for that company for that unit to come on and save them revenue or time or AC or whatever it is heat. So it could be kind of life and death situations in some of those, Some of those instances. [00:21:15] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, we've seen that 115 degrees all the way down to freezing temperatures. We just aren't prepared either direction. What Is. So let's say somebody's doing all this, They've turned on their, their generators and they've tried to test them and all of that. What is a clear telltale sign that I need to call you to maybe come out and set up a maintenance. Maintenance opportunity? [00:21:35] Speaker C: It doesn't kick on. [00:21:36] Speaker B: Okay, well, I guess that one works. [00:21:38] Speaker C: Thing most, most of the time. All right, it's simple, right? You ran it out of fuel or the batteries are dead. That is like the most maintenance things calls that we get. And it's the simplest things, it's the easy thing. So like I said, the battery charger is dead and it's not charging the battery. So therefore the batteries got sucked dry. And, and you know, you ran it out. Or if it's a diesel generator, you ran it out of fuel. I had a guy call me, he was leaving, he had it on a site, he bought a generator from me and it was like six months later. He's like, hey, middle of the night, this thing cut off. I'm like, he's driving away from the site. I said, okay, did you check if it has fuel in it? He goes, no, let me turn around. He turned around, ran it out of fuel. I'm like, there's your problem. [00:22:19] Speaker B: There it is. [00:22:20] Speaker C: Don't run it out of fuel. So typically, yeah, just jump ahead of it, right? Make a plan. It's one of those things that nobody wants to deal with. I kind of call it like an insurance policy. Yeah, nobody wants to sign up for insurance. They don't want to spend time to change insurance policies. But if you don't have that insurance, when something bad happens, then you're paying out of pocket. [00:22:39] Speaker D: Right. [00:22:39] Speaker C: And it's usually a lot more. So if you think about it like that, it's still important. Make a plan for it. Call somebody, get somebody out and let somebody come that you can trust and that can get out there and help you maybe create a long term plan. [00:22:56] Speaker B: Okay, thank you so much. I mean, like that just taking care of things and being proactive is really the advice here. I mean, because it's not that we aren't ever gonna lose power again. Cause that's not the thing that's gonna happen no matter what. And so you are here to help us with that. So I'm gonna keep you around for a little bit. Because if it doesn't kick on and it's not the battery and it's not the fuel, then maybe it's time to upgrade and talk about what we do with our old equipment and how we can upgr that we are never in a situation without power and losing lots of money in business. We'll be right back after this. [00:23:29] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around. And we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz TALK only on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward. [00:23:52] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz talk. If you're just now joining us, I'm your host Emily Glindo. And we have a guest today who's Andrew McCain, founder of McCain Power Systems. And we've been talking about what they do to help us keep the lights on so that we can keep doing business and keep making money. And aside from helping us keep the lights on, MPS, which is McCain Power Systems also helps businesses buy and install equipment or upgrade their equipment and get the most return on that investment as they help us replace and upgrade those systems. And so in this segment, we're looking at a common challenge of how to sell or upgrade older power systems without taking a huge loss or getting stuck with an unsellable piece of equipment. So, Andrew, thanks for sticking with us. And is it hard to upgrade or to sell a used piece of equipment or are they once I've used the life out of it, is it just garbage now? What happens to our equipment? [00:24:48] Speaker C: So a big part of what we do is we actually give value back on that. Sometimes there isn't value to give. It kind of depends on the brand, the age, the hours, how many hours that unit has on it. And that way what's the resellability back into the marketplace? So a big part of what we do is we give value back on used equipment and we'll buy it back, put it in our inventory and then go to our market, which we have kind of end user customers for. [00:25:13] Speaker D: Right. [00:25:14] Speaker C: So we can actually put money back in people's pockets based off of that. And then if they want to upgrade, then they can upgrade on the back end. So it actually, let's just say it's $100,000 piece of equipment and you get $20,000 back. You're only paying $80,000 right. At the end of the day for a more expensive piece of equipment because you can't value in that. [00:25:35] Speaker E: Okay. [00:25:36] Speaker B: And does everything have I mean, you said it will give you value if it doesn't. But during the break, you Were explaining about a piece of equipment that had like rusted tank that, that you wouldn't give any. Is can we not parse it out. [00:25:47] Speaker C: Or you can, yeah. So for instance, that, that piece of equipment, we would just take it out of the enclosure, scrap the tank, scrap the enclosure and then just keep the generator piece of it. So depending on how it's built. Yeah. There's different levels and you kind of just don't know that until you go to the market. So you asked, the first question you asked was is it hard to resell it? No, but that's what we do. [00:26:11] Speaker D: Right. [00:26:11] Speaker C: If you were trying to, as a business owner go and sell this thing on, on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, you're probably not going to get a good offer or you're not going to get what the market holds for that. So different ways we can do it, different ways we've done in the past. We'll give a value of what we will inventory it for. Obviously that's less than what retail pricing is for it, but we'll give an offer for, hey, we're going to buy this from you, pay in cash, get that, that money back. Then we'll fix it, upgrade it, paint it, remarket it. [00:26:41] Speaker D: Right. [00:26:42] Speaker C: Or we can sell it on consignment. You're like, hey, we're not, we don't need this piece, but we want to get our top dollar for it. So we'll work out a deal with the, with the owner to sell it, sell it on consignment. We'll make a piece of the pie and get the most value back in that, in that, at that point, customer's pocket. [00:27:00] Speaker E: Right. [00:27:00] Speaker B: And for you, I mean, obviously all of your customers are the same size, scale, need version of how much electricity they need. So really you have the market cap or have access to the market that I can resell that piece to. Like you said, Facebook is. There's H E B CEO is not on Facebook. [00:27:18] Speaker C: Everybody's generating. Will you take $400, right. [00:27:21] Speaker B: For $100,000 generator? Yeah. No, thank you. [00:27:24] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:27:25] Speaker B: Okay. So how should businesses evaluate whether to refurbish, resell, upgrade? How do they make that assessment? [00:27:36] Speaker C: You know, those decisions are made, I think on a capex basis. They're making decisions on, hey, where do we want to allocate these funds this year? And if that is something that has come up on the annual maintenance cycles, I think that that makes sense for, you know, for that company to make that decision. It's a case by case basis. If that's been a constant, you know, thorn in the side right there. It makes it a little bit easier to say, hey, we need to allocate some funds here. Do we need to fix it? Do we need to sell it? Do we need to get rid of it? A lot of times what we see is they're selling, right? They're selling the building or they're moving. And that piece of equipment, the new owners is like, well, we don't have the same data center in here, or we don't have the same needs. We don't need life safety, you know, to, you know, maybe we have only the life safety, but we don't need all the lights and all this other stuff to be. To be, you know, backup powered. So we need a smaller generator. So they don't need a 500kW, they need 250kW. And so a lot of times we'll see them getting rid of that, that older, bigger piece and then coming in and putting in a new one. So it's case by case basis. [00:28:44] Speaker B: Okay, and what factors really, like, if. If reselling is the thing, as we were talking about that, what are some factors that really help us increase the value? Like maybe I'm trying to make that decision about maybe in five years we'll resell it. But if I sold it right now, I would probably get more money out of it. Right, because you said hours was one of them. What are some other things that increase the value of the equipment? [00:29:06] Speaker C: Yes, the brand, you know, older stuff. Typically people right now are taking it out early 2000s to 2010. [00:29:16] Speaker D: Right. [00:29:16] Speaker C: So we're seeing some. Some turnover there that's 25 years old now. You know, 15 to 25 years old. I mean, we. We bought stuff that's, you know, was installed in 2015, and CBRO or another person that's operating that building is selling it. They're selling the unit with it and. Or massmutual. Like a data center is selling, selling off their site. They don't need the same voltage. They don't need the same. So they'll sell off the site. But to answer your question specifically, yes, hours matter. Does it have maintenance? That's a lot. That's what we ask. Hey, this has a thousand hours on it. [00:29:52] Speaker B: Proof of maintenance. [00:29:53] Speaker E: Okay. [00:29:53] Speaker C: You know, you know, dealing with the site specific, you know, do you have logs who did the maintenance on it? And then calling those people and getting actually that information. It's pretty important to resell it. If I don't know what happened. And it's you know, I don't know if it runs, if it produces, you know, who knows? I mean, we're buying one right now out of Atlanta that hasn't ran in five years. So we're actually going to send one of our guys out, you know, pull, pull oil, take new batteries, you know, get some. Make sure it's all lubed up, start it up. Because it. If it's spraying oil everywhere, we're not going to pay much money for it. [00:30:29] Speaker E: Right. [00:30:29] Speaker C: So. And if you can't get on site, sometimes you got to say, hey, my offer is here. [00:30:33] Speaker D: Right. [00:30:34] Speaker C: We're going to offer you this much because you cannot provide maintenance hours, pictures, any data tags, anything to help me identify the year, make, model hours, condition of what I'm buying. It's like buying a used car, right? If you're buying a used car and you have no idea what has happened, you know, hey, I'm going to offer you $500. But if you know that that thing is in mint pristine condition, it's been taken care of, it runs, no issues. Yeah, you might pay $10,000. That could be a huge spread. [00:31:04] Speaker B: Right, right. Which helps us. I mean, you had said earlier about getting maintenance contracts in place when. That now we look at it not just as to make sure that we don't lose power, but also that we get to have resale value in the piece of equipment later on in the future. So it's a twofold maintenance situation. What is an example of where proper equipment and positioning helped you make a lot of money for that? Maybe not you made a lot of money, but like, helped you make a lot of money for somebody in reselling there. Is there an example of something that wasn't happening that you consulted on and said, we got to do this, and then in the few years they were able to recoup on that money or get more than in the example that you just said. 500 to 10,000 is a big difference. How can we make that happen? [00:31:54] Speaker C: Off the top of my head, can't think of. I'll use a different approach. There was a guy that was trying to resell people piece of equipment in the marketplace. Kept going to everybody. This is very early on in my, in my business. And he was trying to resell it to everybody. Well, everybody was putting their markup on it and could not resell that piece of equipment. He calls me up, he's like, hey, I can't sell this. I made one phone call. I just have, you know, I have an outlet of people that we Deal with on a daily basis. So I picked up the phone, called him and I said, hey, so and so has this piece of equipment. This is what it is. This is what my cost is. Here's a win win, right? Put a little bit on it. Not much. It was a phone call, right? [00:32:31] Speaker E: Right. [00:32:32] Speaker C: I don't need to make, you know, 25, 15% profit margin on a phone call. Made a phone call, made it a win win. [00:32:38] Speaker D: Right. [00:32:38] Speaker C: Made it a win for the buyer, made it win for the seller. So yeah, we can create value in just one, our network. And putting money back in, put money in the account of the, of the seller there. And also the buyer, next time he's needing a piece of equipment, who's he going to call? Somebody that you trust. [00:32:54] Speaker D: Right? [00:32:54] Speaker C: Because it's like, I'm not trying to pull one over on you. Every single person was trying to put their markup on that piece of equipment and get the most, most bang for the buck. So specific example, there was a downtown customer here. Now it's kicking into my brain. We actually were doing it full decommissioning of their data center. And so they had a 1500 kilowatts big, big Cummins unit coming out and we needed to give value back. So we made them an offer. We also did the decommissioning of it. So they had to kind of pay us some money because we were taking out all their infrastructure, pulling cable, all that. Well, then they needed another generator on where they were moving down the road. And so we sold them that $0 out of their pocket. We actually wrote them a check for $8,500 at the end of it all. [00:33:40] Speaker B: Wow. [00:33:41] Speaker C: So that was a. We literally bought their generator. We did the decommissioning on that site. They moved buildings, like high rise buildings, the city center. Then we sold them a new generator and then we ended up paying them at the end of it because there was a credit back on it. So specific example. [00:33:55] Speaker B: I love that specific example because, I mean, I think it shows way more about who you guys are as a business and the type of business that you're doing. Because it really is about how do we create situations where everybody can get what they need and want. And if everybody did business that way, we all might be in a brokerage. [00:34:11] Speaker C: Takers are the worst kind of customers and the worst kind of vendors. So we're not takers where we want everybody to be a win win. Bunts and singles, they all produce runs. Right. So yeah, you know, we don't have to hit a grand slam every single time. We want return business, we want return customers, we want guys. You want raving fans, you want people that are out there saying, man, hey, oh, you need a generator, call McCain. [00:34:33] Speaker D: Right. [00:34:33] Speaker C: And that's, that's kind of what we've built our business on. [00:34:36] Speaker B: I think that's full of integrity and we appreciate that. [00:34:39] Speaker C: Thanks. [00:34:39] Speaker B: All right. We'll stick around one more, one more time. We're going to go to commercial break and when we get back, we're going to we're going to finish with Andrew talking about how aligning your power strategy with your business growth plan. Those two need to be in line. Otherwise you will be without business and without power. So we'll be right back. [00:34:58] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around. And we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching BIZ TALK only on NOW Media Television. And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward. [00:35:21] Speaker B: And we are back. Thank you for joining us on BizTalk. I am your host Emily Galindo. And if you are just now joining us for our final segment with Andrew McCain. He is a power systems entrepreneur helping businesses think beyond short term fixes. This time we're talking strategy. So not and how power infrastructure can align with long term business growth. Instead of reacting to emergencies. Right. As part of being a leader and growing a business and strategizing about where you're headed, you do need to think big term. And, and where is this going to look and how are we going to empower it and where is that power coming from? Aren't always for every business owner a top of mind but for lots in a growing metropolis of growing cities. And you definitely need to be concerned about where your power comes from and whether or not you have some to operate your business. And so with that, Andrew, thanks for sticking with us. [00:36:14] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me, Emily. [00:36:15] Speaker B: You bet. Is the generator or power? When I say generator, I think businesses think that that is separate from business. But when I say operate your business with power, I think they think that it's an essential part. And so how can what can you tell our viewers today that's going to help them understand that having a backup of a backup of a like and not losing power is actually part of your business strategy? [00:36:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I think for any business. Right. You're, you're in business to make money Right. To be profitable and without power, you really can't be profitable. We can't watch tv, we can't produce podcasts, we can't produce TV shows, we can't go to the grocery store. [00:36:57] Speaker B: Can't swipe my credit card. [00:36:58] Speaker C: That's it. Yeah. [00:36:59] Speaker B: Your customer cannot swipe their credit card and pay you. [00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:37:03] Speaker B: Back in the day we had those. [00:37:04] Speaker C: Thingies you're writing down. So yeah, I think that having a plan, right, for any outage that you have, but having a plan of how can I be most profitable and just putting that in there to say, do we have a plan if we lose power? Do we have. Even if we don't have a permanent infrastructure, maybe you're only paying rent at a high rise on the seventh floor. They're going to have a backup generator. But have you talked to that, that tenant or you're the tenant? Have you talked to the land landlord of like, hey, what does this power? Does this power everything in our facility? Are we going to have WI fi, Are we going to have, you know, these different things or is it just life safety? [00:37:47] Speaker D: Right. [00:37:47] Speaker C: It's just doing the elevator and the lights and emergency lights. Oh, that's it. So if we lose power, how long am I out of. Out of my job? [00:37:55] Speaker D: Right. [00:37:57] Speaker C: So, you know, I think it's just how profitable and how much time and energy and effort do you want to put towards to a plan so that you stay profitable? Because a week, two weeks, you know, sometimes, you know, for, you know, hurricanes like Barrel last year, people were out without power for two to three weeks. That can be devastating for cash flow. [00:38:16] Speaker D: Right. [00:38:17] Speaker C: If you're, if you're on a month to month and you're trying to hit payroll and you're trying to do all these things and you did not have a plan, yes. Maybe that makes it tighter for the, for the short term, but was it more beneficial in the long run to spend that money? [00:38:31] Speaker D: Right. [00:38:31] Speaker C: We talked about opportunity across earlier. Spend it now and save it later. Because if you don't save it later, you're gonna be without way more than what you would have spent if there was an actual plan. [00:38:43] Speaker E: Right. [00:38:44] Speaker B: And so how should. I mean, we have a lot of. I'm with you. That was a great tip in terms of like if you were a tenant asking those questions, questions to your property manager and whether you're in a strip center or like, you have to have an answer to that question. I don't think anybody realizes it until the lights are off and I'm not doing business and the property manager's not answering my call for that question at that time. [00:39:07] Speaker E: Right. [00:39:08] Speaker B: But we've got a lot of people moving into Houston here, big companies relocating and we see a lot of growth in terms of the commercial developments. [00:39:17] Speaker E: Right. [00:39:18] Speaker B: That maybe we get a temporary location until our actual location is built. And so how do we factor in the power generation into that strategic scaling plan of temporary spot. We still need to have power and then we got to move to a bigger location. How would you advise some of those folks? [00:39:35] Speaker C: Yeah, case by case basis. Like, you know, if there's something, I think you could, you could always look at it from what's the most economical for my business to what's the extreme Right. Extreme would be at a, at a temporary spot, put in a permanent generator. That's gonna be expensive. You're going to have to put underground wiring, all that kind of stuff. Well, if, if it's not necessary and you have a maybe a two to six hour window to get power up and then you're fine, you can run operationally, you can be profitable. [00:40:01] Speaker D: Great. [00:40:02] Speaker C: Maybe you deal with a company like ours that have, has a whole rental fleet of generators that we can say, hey, let's just put one, we'll keep one on our yard for, for emergencies, right? It'll be in your name or you'll have first right to it during a call. We need, you know, once you call us, within two to six hours, depending on how close we are to your business, you know, we can get this thing out to you. Well, it's staying on our yard. We're not going to, you know, charge you an arm and a leg for it. And so that's the most economical. Next up would be, let's put something at your site hooked up to your business, your company. So if you lose, there's an automatic transfer switch there, switches you on power, and those are all. And then down the line to, to getting you permanently installed once you, hey, here's a plan for, we have six months. Once we're there, we want a permanent generator. Well, let's get that installed. Let's put that as part of your budget, right? So that you're one, you're buying that asset, you get to depreciate that asset and then you're putting it on, you know, you're basically putting it on the books and it's going to be installed before you even move into that permanent spot. So you're kind of planning, hey, if I lose power now, I got temporary power, right? But then there's A permanent solution there down the line. [00:41:12] Speaker B: Then you just stole my tip for my next question, which was what was a, like a forward thinking thing that you can do? And that was a really great tip of purchasing it now, getting on the books, depreciating it, get the tax write off all of those things before it's even installed. [00:41:26] Speaker E: Right. [00:41:27] Speaker C: I think, for lack of a better word, just having a power consultant, right? Having somebody like when I first named my company it was McCain Power Systems Consulting LLC. We've kind of dropped that and it's just kind of McCain powered encompasses everything we do. But having somebody that you can call and just ask these questions to and then you create a. We'll come out, we'll look at your, your building size loads. You know, we're not electrical contractors, so we will, we partner with guys here locally in the Houston area and we'll get them to come out with us crane operators, basically anything to make this a turnkey easy solution. Because it's not easy. Nobody, nobody really knows about power unless you're in that space. You can know enough to be that, oh yeah, but what, what's the voltage out here, right? It may be 243 phase, you know, delta in, in a. You know what I mean? I don't know exactly. So, but most people are going to be, oh yes, we got three phase power. Well, okay, is it 480, is it two? There's so many questions there to ask. And you just get experts to come in like we're good at what we do. We partner with other like minded people so we can come in, provide an easy turnkey solution for the customer. And you know, you do it with trusted partners and you build that trust based off of just a phone call. It's not going to cost you anything. Just basically hire a consultant. You don't even have to hire them, just call them and if they're wanting to charge you $500 to come out and see your place, probably not the good partner, right? Most people that are doing this right, and there's some other good guys out there, we're not the only ones in town at all. But we will advise and give good consulting for, hey, here's a plan. If you know nothing about it, just call and we'll just talk to you. Hey, what are your long term goals? How long are you going to be in this building? Like is this something that you want to. And then we can get budgetary quotes. I mean there's so many things there that we can help provide and consult on to be forward thinking, to answer your question. [00:43:20] Speaker E: Okay. [00:43:20] Speaker C: I'd say just pick up the phone call. [00:43:22] Speaker B: I love that. Just because I mean that. I don't think enough people do that. I don't know if enough people feel that companies. Because there's not. I think that for a while there in the business world we were so used to. [00:43:34] Speaker E: Right. [00:43:35] Speaker B: We're not going to give it away for free and that's going to charge you something. And I'm finding in the business world the more people I talk to, the more like you that are just. It'd be. It's just easier to just answer your questions and then figure out and give you some information. [00:43:47] Speaker C: Yeah, we're not, we're not a, we're not a lawyer. Right. You're not going to charge it. Hey, here's a $600 an hour, you know, expert advice. [00:43:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I. What, what size company? What size? Or is it more about like the size of the building? Is it the type of industry like that really needs to be listening to this and taking this advice seriously? [00:44:08] Speaker C: I don't know if it's size. It's really scope. And what do you do? Right, right. You. Are you. I mean, are you a 24,7er clinic? [00:44:21] Speaker D: Right. [00:44:21] Speaker C: You better have a backup generator. I think actually it's required by. [00:44:24] Speaker B: I'm sure that it is. [00:44:24] Speaker D: Right? [00:44:25] Speaker C: Yeah, but we do, we do a lot, we do a lot of service contracts with ERs and different stuff like that. And we still provide backup generators because those ones will fail on site. [00:44:33] Speaker D: Right. [00:44:34] Speaker C: So is it life safety? You know, again, how much money are you going to lose if you lose power? [00:44:41] Speaker D: Right. [00:44:42] Speaker C: Do you have, I mean, even small guys, like if you're in a strip center and you have deep freezers that Maybe you have $500,000 worth of frozen goods, right. Maybe it's a million. Maybe it's. [00:44:55] Speaker B: Maybe you're like a seafood, like a seafood restaurant in a strip center. [00:44:58] Speaker C: That's it. [00:44:59] Speaker B: That's like just flown in all of their fresh seafood. [00:45:01] Speaker C: And now you lost all that because you don't have anything to produce power to be on there. Those are the decisions that you need. It doesn't matter if you're small, medium big. You need to have a plan, right. And whether, whether or not you buy a little pull start generator that powers just that important piece of equipment. We have a company that is a restaurant, really nice restaurant. [00:45:27] Speaker D: Right. [00:45:28] Speaker C: They're out in Fulshear. Not going to name drop them, but they're really, really, really good. They just bought a generator from us. And they say on a, on a weekend day they will lose 20, $30,000 a day. Yeah. And if they're, if they're without power and they lose power quite a bit actually. So you know, that's a, that's a, you gotta do. I spend this much money to gain this much money if I lose power. [00:45:54] Speaker E: Right. [00:45:54] Speaker C: I mean, what is my risk reward? And yeah, we can help kind of strategize. Hey, what's your budget? What are you trying to. Look, you could even first trip center and stuff. You can buy a used generator, put it in. You don't have to put in new. [00:46:09] Speaker D: Right. [00:46:09] Speaker C: As long as it meets net and it can be installed. For backup power generation, you can put in a standby generator that's even 20 years old that still works and gives you another 15, 20 years if it's the proper maintenance has been done to it. [00:46:22] Speaker E: Right. [00:46:22] Speaker B: And we just found out from you that you already verified that the maintenance has been done on it. You've already checked it and you've already bought it from somebody else and reset it. [00:46:30] Speaker C: Prime example. My parents, I put a pack up generator at their house. They live in a lake in Georgia out in the boonies. They lose power all the time. I put a 20 year old generator out there that we went through, service, tested, did everything and it's, it's out there. It runs on propane. They're in the middle of nowhere and they lose power. [00:46:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't realize the generators ran. [00:46:51] Speaker C: Natural gas or propane. [00:46:52] Speaker E: Yeah, okay. [00:46:53] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So like if you're, I guess when. [00:46:55] Speaker B: You said natural gas earlier, I didn't even think that propane was the option. [00:46:58] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. So let's just say you're out and you don't have a natural gas line. You'll have to put a propane tank, 500 gallon, thousand gallon tank. Then you'll have somebody come out there and you know, put. But it'll just run. It's just a different orifice that goes in. Typically those same size generators will run off either natural gas or propane. It's just the little settings. You got to put in a little, little intake valve. Yeah, that's it. [00:47:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I got one. Right. Okay. So you've spent so much time with us and educated us so much today. I hope that especially with the rain and the storms that are happening, that people will reach out to McCain Power Services to be a consultant, ask those questions because we do not want to be without power. So thank you very much for being here with us. Today. [00:47:40] Speaker C: Thanks for having me, Emily. [00:47:40] Speaker B: You bet. And if people wanted to reach out to you, how can they find you? [00:47:43] Speaker C: Yeah, just come to McCainPower.com Google McCain Power. Yeah, give us a call. So any of the numbers on there, whether or not it's service, rental logistics or sales, we'll take care of you. Guy called me this morning. He's like, is this Trent? I'm like, no, Trent's my sales manager. But here's his number. So I'll answer the phone even if it's just me. [00:48:05] Speaker B: Love that we've got to have power. So make sure you reach out to these guys if you have any questions regarding that. And thank you so much power your business today, you guys, it's been a great time with you. And we are thankful that you are invested in wanting to grow your business and wanting it to be the best, the best business it can possibly be. So thank you very much for joining us today. You've given our viewers a lot of clear, a clear roadmap to maintaining that power and maintaining their business so that they are never without it. So to our viewers, if your power strategy is based on hope rather than planning, it's time to change that. Reach out to experts like Andrew before the lights go out. I'm Emily Galindo, and this has been Biz talk. Thanks for watching. See you next time.