Anyone else sick of COVID?
I’m pretty sure everyone reading this responded with a resounding “YES!”
Then why are we still talking about it?
Because it is still greatly affecting every one of us, every single day.
Master Halco is cognizant of the impact the past year has had on the fencing industry. But how can we know for sure what you – our customers – are feeling unless we ASK? That is the purpose of this FenceView article. We wanted to get an inside perspective from one of our very own Master Halco customers, Elijah Stiner, owner of OKC Fence. We also wanted to hear from the manager of Elijah’s local Master Halco branch, John Flowers, Oklahoma City.
First, let’s hear what Elijah had to say…
MH: As the owner of a professional fencing company, how would you say COVID has impacted the fence industry as a whole?
Elijah: I think the number one impact has been drastic price increases. At least in our area. And obviously in the beginning stages of COVID when people were locked down, that affected a lot of people. But I think the biggest effect has been the price increases on materials.
MH: How has it affected your business directly? Have you seen an increase in demand?
Elijah: So here I would say that we have seen a pretty steady increase in business. Business has been good as far as growth. We experienced pretty good growth last year and expect to this year. The demand has been very high but when you couple that with price increases we’ve found a lot of people are kind of taken aback by current prices so it’s been a little bit harder to quote some of our residential jobs.
Some homeowners may be turning to more DIY because they’re scared off by the high quotes?
Elijah: Yeah, I think that’s fair to say.
MH: How has this changed (if any) your relationship with the Master Halco OKC branch?
Elijah: I think that we have – gosh that’s a tough question – just over the past year or so we’ve probably used them more, they’ve been a little bit more steady than a couple of other suppliers that we’ve used in the past. So that’s been positive for us. They’ve stayed open, the manager here is very responsive, so I think our relationship has grown over the past year for sure in a positive way.
MH: What changes (if any) have you made in the way your business operates in reaction to COVID and the struggles of the past year?
Elijah: Probably the biggest thing for us was we anticipated a dip in the residential market and so we put more focus on commercial fencing projects mainly because commercial construction seems to be still going strong, so we really put a lot more emphasis on commercial construction this year than we have residential.
MH: How have you and your business adapted to these challenges?
Elijah: I think we’ve had to be a little more transparent with our customers. With the fluctuation in prices that we didn’t really have a lot of control over – First thing, we’ve tried to buy a little bit more in bulk to offset some of those pending price increases. We have just been really upfront with our customers, saying hey, our quotes used to be good for 30 days, then we dropped it down to 14, then for residentials we’ve just said this quote is just good for right now, y’know, there’s really no guarantee. That has changed a lot. Those would probably be the biggest things. We’ve also had a lot of people’s kids up here during the week for probably 7 or 8 months… More people working from home throughout this…
MH: What changes do you think will continue after we see quarantining, social distancing, etc. subside?
Elijah: I think it’s hard to say… Dealing with residential customers we see a little bit more standoffishness, so I could see less in-person estimating, more online… I could see a little bit more cautiousness by contractors who have made it through this regarding their pricing – making sure that they’re paying attention more to their cost of materials. I know that’s something that some contractors haven’t paid as much attention to in the past, and they’ll probably pay more attention to it going forward. And probably put more emphasis on that to their customers and bring more awareness of the market to the customer than they had previously just because they’re hearing it from everyone that prices are going up. I think inflation is going to be a big topic over the next year or so as we come out of this. We’re seeing prices skyrocket and I think we’re going to have to see labor rates adjust to that. I think there will be a lot of change coming out of this.
MH: How has the Master Halco OKC branch worked to support you and your business through these turbulent times?
Elijah: We’ve really had a good relationship with them for several years, but this year, over the last year, we’ve grown quite a bit. We’re getting emails from them sometimes 5:30 in the morning to 7:00 at night sometimes. So, we’ve really seen that increase in excellent customer service and doing their best to get the materials to us on time and keeping us updated and in-tune with where we’re at in the process. We’ve had to order a lot of big orders; we’ve had some needs where they’ve brought on different suppliers so that they could be a vendor for us. So that’s been a big deal. They've really stepped up their service over the past year.
After hearing Elijah’s informative and enlightening perspective, we dove right into John’s view of the past year.
MH: As a branch manager, how would you say COVID has impacted the fence industry as a whole?
John: It hasn’t really for Master Halco and my customers here in OKC. We haven’t skipped a beat. The only impact that we’re looking at that’s maybe a negative impact is that the customers can’t come into the office and communicate with us in here. That’s the only complaint I get. Which, I’m going to be honest with you, since we shut our office door, we’ve been more efficient by taking phone calls and taking orders through the phone, because, let’s be honest, when our customers come in here, they like to chit chat, they’re not talking about materials getting ordered and this and that. As far as an impact as an industry, we’ve had a great year and all branches have had a great year even with COVID. We’ve been runnin’ strong!
MH: In your opinion, how has it affected Master Halco as a company?
John: It’s been fairly positive I think, that’s my personal opinion, especially here in OKC. Because of stimulus checks, homeowners have wanted to make improvements to their property. Even for the first few months of this year, with the stimulus checks people have gotten recently, we’re having another tremendous month for April, I’m going to set another record this month!
MH: Nice! Congrats! Well, what’s interesting is, I asked Elijah pretty similar questions to what I’m asking you, and he said because of the price increases he’s had to quote higher on his residential jobs and that’s scared away a few homeowners. So he’s been able to grow his commercial business a lot more this year because of that.
John: Very much so, he’s done a lot of commercial projects and special accounts with us this year. The problem is, is if he’s quoting a job, say 2 months ago, and the GC decided to go with the job and then MH/the industry has a 20% increase, he has to bite that and eat it. He can’t go back on the GC and say I gotta raise another 20% increase on you. So, I’m sure that’s affected him quite a bit, too. But, as a learning curve here, he’s realizing that he can only quote these jobs out a week or 2 now – sometimes even just 3 days – that’s all he can do.
MH: Yep. That’s exactly what Elijah touched on.
MH: How has it affected your branch directly? Any changes in day-to-day operations?
John: A lot more cleaning with Clorox wipes. Honestly, it hasn’t changed much, just social distancing, staying away from people, keeping our distance. OKC has had more trouble with allergies than we have COVID! I’m thankful to say that we only had 1 person affected by COVID. We were very fortunate to just have 1. Other than that, we’re making sure we’re keeping the areas clean and whatnot. We’ve always kept our branch clean, but we’ve taken it up a notch. We’re aware of what we’re touching and our distance from people.
MH: So, not just COVID, but what about the challenges we’ve faced because of COVID like inventory shortages, and price increases.
John: Thankfully, I haven’t had any problems with shortages. I understand the increase in pricing is what it is, but as far as shortages, I’ve been fortunate because I’ve forecasted well and the materials have come in at the perfect time, so I’ve been happy with that. Now, I know there have been other branches that have been affected, they haven’t been able to get their materials, and this and that. But I have fortunately been on top of my game. I may reach out to another branch and they’re willing to help me out and vice versa.
MH: How has it affected the branch's relationship with your customers?
John: No change, I’m happy to say! Just rolling with the punches and continuing to grow!
MH: How have you seen contractors adapting to the pandemic?
John: Prices. Price increases. I’ve seen a little frustration because, we’ve had the price increase notifications sent to us from HQ within 24 hours and we have to warn our customers and they get a little upset because they may have a bunch of quotes out there – so our quoting went from 30 days to 3 days. So our quoting structure and price increases have been a little frustrating for them. But that’s not just MH that’s all over the industry so.
MH: So they have an understanding that MH is not the bad guy here.
John: Right, they understand that. All they have to do is Google it and they’ll understand where the industry is at. We do get the increase notifications from our VP if there is one, and we communicate that with our customers, we try to warn them. I’m hoping things will go flat for a while and we don’t have another increase, but no guarantees, right? Once we get the intel information, we shoot out about 100 emails and we’re on the phone with our contractors talking to them about it. It’s so much better than keeping them in the dark. For example, if they order something from another vendor or supplier who hasn’t been communicating with them, then they see the increase later, and were told nothing about it, that’s not the way you want to operate. So at least we keep our customers aware.
MH: What changes do you think we will continue to see after quarantining, social distancing, etc. subside?
John: With us having a closed sales office policy, like I mentioned, it’s been effective, and it’s worked a lot better that way lately. We have actually sped up the process of getting the customers taken care of and getting them out of our yard so they can get to their next job. We might continue that policy – keeping a closed door. Because now we have the customers trained where – hey guys, call in advance before you show up. Let’s get the order written up before you get here. It’s more efficient that way. So that’s something that we may implement going forward because, really, we don’t want to open our door right now because this has been working for us. But we do miss that in-person interaction and relationship, even though we are going outside and talking to them, giving them their paperwork and whatnot, but we do have a showroom too. So I have other products we’d like to show them, but we can’t do that right now. And that just adds to the bottom line, margins, dollars, all that good stuff.
MH: How has Master Halco (more so your branch specifically) worked to support our customers through these turbulent times?
John: It’s our daily routine, what we do every day, I don’t think anything has changed there. We’ve always supported our customers prior to COVID and through COVID, and that’s going to continue. I think we do an awesome job here in OKC by doing that.
There you have it, folks! A great look inside the view of a professional fencing contractor and encouraging words from a Master Halco branch manager. Despite the challenges, we all want to continue to grow, support each other, and rock another great fencing season!