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The Fame Game with Heidi & Spencer
Rebuilding the Palisades: Chuck Hart’s Frontline and Comeback Story After the Fires
01:03:40
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- [00:02]
A
This episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is when a great movie hits the screen, you show up. You stay glued, invested, part of the story. And without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to fandango.com to get tickets, stream or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Quick Break One useful thing to share. I thought TikTok was just dances. Turns out it's where I learned how to save money, fix stuff and get real tips. Short videos, real people. Download TikTok now. Oh no, that's all good.
- [01:03]
B
Welcome back to the Fame Game here in the Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. A lot of people forget Palisades is part of la. So I fight for LA every day. But today we have a Palisades legend, Chuck Hart Hart built construction. How I I've learned about Chuck was at the fourth of July because my ears were bleeding for about a month after his custom built truck with the most legitimate horn in all of America. The kids love it during the parade bus elders are still traumatized from it. But then not too long after the second time Chuck came into my life was my close friend who's been on the podcast Mike gtv. Mike Geller was sending me videos from Chuck driving around the Palisades on obviously was there January 7th but also January 8th. He was one of the only people still in the Palisades getting information back to people wanting to know what was happening with their house. And I'll never forget the video he sent to Mike something like sorry bro, your house is gone. And he was driving by Mike Geller's house and Jamie's as it was burning down. But he's now helping the Gellers rebuild and that is why I wanted to have him on to start at January 7th from what he witnessed to now all the way 14 plus months later as he's one of the main builders building not only my preschool that I went to and my kids preschool back, but many houses and commercial buildings and the process of permitting and red tape and bureaucracy that he's dealt with and anything that's good and progress. So thank you for being here Chuck and we're very grateful to get your knowledge.
- [03:01]
A
Thank you Spencer. Yeah, it's been quite the journey from Just an average morning with, you know, cruise guys rolled out on different job sites around town. And specifically, we were down in. In the canyon, Rustic Canyon. Just trying to finish a place up down there to, you know, phone call from my mom and a buddy of mine, local electrician, this guy, Ryan Minham. Hey, there's a fire up on the hill again. I was like, oh, wow. All right, I'm gonna shoot up there right now. Stop by my place. I'll meet you up there. And then just everything from that point to now, it's like, you know, who would have thunk, right? So it's been. It's been lifechanging, and it's been super. It's been some highs and lows, right? A lot of stuff has gone on just in. In general life stuff. But, like, on top of all that, with the. The fire and the devastation here and all the additional things that come along with a town burning down, it kind of. It can just. It just adds to it, you know, I feel like through suffering that people really get a chance to understand what's important and what could be done, like, differently or what could be done better.
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B
And
- [04:27]
A
it's easy. When everything's going right, you know, and people kind of rest on their laurels, so to speak. You know, institutions, people, you know, specifically in general businesses, whatever. It's easy to kind of get into a mode of, like, a cruise control and lose sight of what's really important. It's weird. The more you're on that cruise control, the easier things are running, the easier it is to forget how grateful we are for simple things like, you know, being able to go into town, get some groceries, your friends being around in a close proximity, you know, not driving down, looking like a war zone, just all sorts of stuff. And so I think I made this little video, like, the day after. So on the 8th this. I ran into this guy from the Washington Post who was kind of following my guys around. And I. When we were going around trying to help people out and get stuff, kind of just trying to get some things under control. And he was. He was really fast. He was covered in, like, the. The retardant from the airplanes. And he hadn't showered for a few days. Like, I kept seeing him. I'm like, dude, you can take a shower. You can take a shower. And there's really, like, there's nowhere to go. And so I had him come to my place. Super nice guy. He got cleaned up, and then he has. Going in and out. But he had been here for days on End. And. And I remember I made this little video, and it was kind of like a reflection of what I wanted people to understand, like, about what's really important. And so I think that's one thing that's been very positive that's come out of this. And it's like, you know, I'm religious, but more, you know, more than just that. I have a spiritual kind of discipline that I do and a belief in God, and I don't think there's any mistakes, and I don't think God had anything to do with starting this fire. But I certainly think God has a big part to do with us getting through this and rebuilding and coming to a new understanding about. And it's weird about how to live and about how to organize and about how to govern and how to, you know, how to run a city and how to, you know, run a fire department and run just as individual citizens and our own, you know, civic duty as members of the Palisades. Right. Like, I think it's a good idea for. For people to have, like, a first aid kit and a fire hose and a chainsaw and some gas and make sure that their car has fuel in it and they have some dried food that they can leave sitting for a long time, and it'll be okay if they need to get at it later in a year or two, that they have extra water, a water filter, just provisions and things that, like, because things. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes there's big earthquakes sometimes. So it kind of heightened our awareness to that. And I think it's through some suffering, and I think it's through, you know, this big fire and through all this damage that's occurred that we've come together, number one, and that we've been forced to come up with solutions and we've been forced to work together to kind of get through all this and stuff that I actually really enjoy and I feel like I'm interested in and want to do. And it's kind of like I built my business around it. It allows me to do things that I like. It allows me to be prepared for situations that don't normally happen, but still use those other products for that good as well. So a lot of the things in my own life have kind of allowed me to step up to, like, hey, I don't know how many people in the Palisades own dump trucks that are in the Palisades, like excavators and all this stuff that, like, we could just roll out in the street, start moving down power lines and moving Trees that have fallen down and start clearing the way and like keying water off, it's leaking everywhere, running around, putting fires out, you know, stuff like that. So I like that.
- [08:31]
B
And just your personal truck alone, I feel like is could get through any situation that could. I mean, that's why I feel like during the Palisades fire, you were driving around, that thing could go through anything.
- [08:45]
A
Like we're. You just. That's the thing. See, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. You know what I mean? Like, I have 2,000 gallons of diesel at my house. I have tons of water and a filtration system to get more water ready. I have tons of food. So all these guys that were just that work for me, that stayed behind, we were literally staying at my place on jujitsu bats, on my zebra mats, and then all the beds, couches, you know, whatever. I got extra blankets. There's 36 of us staying in my place. Everyone's got food to eat, water to drink, supplies, fuel, gear, you know, grease for the joints on the excavators, everything, you know, I mean, gasoline for the chainsaws. Everything's ready to roll. You know, we don't have to go anywhere. We don't have to wait for anybody. You know, fire hoses that are rolled ready to go out, you know, everything's ready to deploy. And like, we just kind of stay that way for. Not just for fighting a fire, like, because there's been a few of them in my mom's house, but also so that we can go out and do our job daily. Right? So I think it's unrealistic that everyone's ready for these type of situations. But I think it's really important that there are enough people that are ready to do just the basic stuff that things don't get so far out of control as they did.
- [09:54]
B
You know, I will say it a million times. 3 weeks ish before the Malibu fire and the. And the community brigade in Malibu. All my friends were in and I told my wife, we gotta get a fire hose. We gotta get our own fire truck. Like, you know, not a truck, but a truck designed with hoses. And I just didn't do it. And then the day of the fire was too late and I had been talking about it and I truly think that if I had stayed, I could have saved this house. Now that I've talked to, you know, the volleyball player up that saved that whole block with just a bucket and, you know, I do need a. A pool. So even though I'm not going to have a house. I think we're going to put a use our SBA loan to put a pool. That way I have water for fires, because that's a key thing that everyone should have is the generators for their pool with the hoses. And even if they don't want to stay and do it themselves with the sprinkler systems connected to the pool that should have been across the Palisades. You know, can you imagine just if everyone in the palaces with a swimming pool had. Had that system, which is probably a few grand, right?
- [11:04]
A
It's a little pray. So, so check this out. Like, I've. I've kind of worked through some of the kinks of that type of system. So one, you want to be able to turn it on and off, because if you turn it on and leave, you might deploy all the water from the pool before it's time to do that. So that's not going to help. So there has to be a control system which is not that difficult to put together. But basically you just get on your phone and you can use the same control system that turns your lights on and off and that, you know, allows you to do your motor shades or turn your music on and off or whatever. There's a way to make an app that can control the pump turning on and then it's already in the water. You just set it up so it's ready to go. Or you could even hook it up to a pool pump that will drain your entire pool through this sprinkler system. So there's a way to set all this stuff up that's not that difficult, but it is a little expensive. And then the whole idea with the pool is so great, is if you have water that's stored but it's not moving or circulating, it gets really nasty stagnant water. So the pool's really great because one, you can enjoy the pool. Two, the water is always staying fresh cause it's being treated and so it's not going to clog the pump up or whatever. Because like, some people are like, oh, I have this tank of water that sits there all the time. And yeah, I'm like, when's the last time you opened that tank of water? Like, it just gets nasty, dude. Like, you really want to circulate water and stuff. So anyways, how much would you say
- [12:16]
B
approximately is that costing?
- [12:18]
A
So to set this whole thing up with the sprinklers in the right place, with a control system that'll turn it on and off? And then you need to also have the, the pump or the thing that's generating the power for the pump also to be able to be switched on and off remotely. So I'm not a big fan of the like natural gas setups because natural gas gets shut off and then now you don't have a generator anymore. And then I'm not a big fan of the pool pumps that run on regular gasoline because our gasoline here is full of ethanol. And if you leave that sitting in anything, whether it be like a pressure washer, a chainsaw, anything that runs on gas, a guard, like any of the gardening tools or whatever that ethanol eats up and gunks up the inside of that carburetor and thing just literally won't start. So you're like, oh, I spent all this money and I got all this gear and everything. And then you're sitting there in your phone or you're there on site, you're trying to pull start this thing or you didn't put a trickle charger on the battery for the electric start to this. So there's all these little fail safe points you need to kind of like think through and then test the system like monthly. It takes like five minutes. Just make sure it's working. So again, if you're on regular gasoline, you're in big trouble because that, that's not going to be, it's not going to be a win. The gas sits in there for a month or two and it's been sitting in the carburetor thing. It won't want to start. It literally will not start. So diesel with some fuel treatment or AV gas. So the same stuff you'd run in an airplane. So it's called aviation gas 100 low lead. That stuff has no ethanol in it, number one. And then it has special additives that keep that gasoline good for up to seven years. And like, you know, because if it's in a plane, a plane's been sitting, you want to get in fire plane, you can't be in a plane. And then like all of a sudden like it's like gunked up and not running right, because you're going to crash, right? So the avgas, they've designed that fuel to be able to sit for a very long time in the motor, in the carburetor, in the fuel system, in a tank and it still work perfectly. So there's some stuff to kind of figure out and then you get back to like cost about okay, I'm going to sprinkler the whole roof. I'M going to sprinkler under the eaves. I'm going to make sure my gardener or myself or whoever's in charge of the landscaping is cutting everything back away from the house. Another thing I'm going to do, like in the construction of the home, if your house burnt down, is a sealed envelope. So rather than ventilating air either through your roof, if you have vaulted ceilings, or through your attic space. So high vents, low vents that draws hot embers and they make up, there's like 20 companies, 30 companies that prevent sparks from going through those vents. They can still get through. And, you know, if fire's burning right outside, fire can come through. It gets hot enough, light something up. If you've ever been up in your attic space, it's dry and hot all the time, right? Because the sun's shining and heat rises. And so anyone's attic you ever go up to, like up into, you know, it's always like dusty, hot and super dry. Well, that's the perfect place for a fire to start, right? So if you have a sealed envelope, which, you know a lot of houses now, just to get that extra volume, you'll have vaulted ceilings inside. If you don't vent the roof. Or this is the other thing that the trick that kind of prevents it. You ever been inside someone's house and the ceilings are sweating, or there's like water that's like almost percolating off the roof like a can of soda, when it gets like you bring it right out of the refrigerator, set it down the counter, like a lot of people that have vaulted ceilings in our house used to be the case, like it was really bad. People just didn't understand why that was happening. Well, the same, you have a temperature change inside and outside, hot to cold, and then you get moisture accumulating up on the ceiling. So in order to prevent that and to keep your sealed envelope and not have to have vaulted ceilings, but the roof ventilation. So either between the layers so that you can keep that air space between those two things. So, you know, ceilings don't sweat, you just shoot closed cell foam. When you're building the house now, you can entirely close the attic space, any of the vaulted ceilings, everything. There's no way for hot sparks or fire or whatever to get into the building now because it's all sealed up and you won't have any issues with condensation up on the ceilings either. So you get your sprinklers inside, your sprinklers outside, and the main ones are the outside to Keep the fire off the building. But if fire is close enough to the building and your windows blow out, because if they get hot enough, they will even with tempered glass, like. Like a high fire zones. I'll have you temper one piece of glass on the exterior building so you can do double tempered glass to give you a little bit longer range. But the main thing is keeping stuff that's flammable, that can catch fire. Like trees, brushes, bushes, patio wood piles, patio furniture. Like, yeah, you got plastic grass that's melting and catching on fire.
- [16:55]
B
That is. That was not good.
- [16:57]
A
Not cool at all. Hey, we're save some water. But, like, guess what? It burns.
- [17:02]
B
Don't they want to do the whole Palisades baseball field in that?
- [17:04]
A
Man, I hope not. I hope not. That was the one thing when I rushed up to my mom's house because hot embers and stuff were falling. It was lighting the grass on fire, and it was literally burning up to the house and then catching other stuff on fire. Yeah. It's crazy. And I have a little video I can send it to you where I'm like, well, this obviously isn't a good idea, you know, because it literally, it's catching on fire because hot embers are landing on it. It's super flammable. And then it just burns right over to the edge of the home and lights the house on fire versus regular grass, which won't ever light on fire.
- [17:35]
C
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A
Right.
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B
What percentage of these, you know, drive around to me I'm throwing out, you may be a better number. It looks like 300 or 400 homes are in the process of actually being rebuilt.
- [18:16]
A
Yeah.
- [18:17]
B
What percentage of those houses you think are doing what you're talking about right now with the. You think all these houses are doing these sprinklers ideas? No, no, that's crazy. It should be.
- [18:30]
A
So they all have interior sprinklers at
- [18:33]
B
all the houses are doing that, but nobody's doing out.
- [18:35]
A
But the interior sprinklers only stop a fire from inside the house or inside the garage from catching the structure outside.
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B
It doesn't matter.
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A
Right. The structure's on fire from the outside. It's not addressing that.
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B
That's mind boggling.
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A
Yeah.
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B
What's the so rough cost Maybe that's
- [18:51]
A
why I think for like a fully automated system, like what I'm talking about, you're going to be in for like I don't want to blow you out of the water here, dude. But like realistically like 80 to 100 grand by the time you have like a diesel power generator with electric pumps that are properly and here's why I like the electric pumps is because they don't rely upon the gas. And then getting the gas starting system to fire up is different than electric pumps. Like high volume electric pumps, 220 that go off of a diesel generator. The diesel generator is very easy to activate and it automatically provides power to those. So you can fire those up and then control the switch that controls the pumps a lot easier than it is for me. And maybe somebody has this figured out with the gasoline side. But you'd have again you'd have to run AV gas, which means going down to the local airport, you know, Santa Monica, Van Nuys or whatever and then having the ability to purchase aviation fuel, which you can't just like roll up and buy that. So it's a little bit of a pain in the ass. It is doable. The diesel generator part with the electric controls and the electric pumps is very easy to control. Like that's already like super simple. Like I've already got all that figured out. But a diesel generator is more expensive. But they also are made to run like non stop. So like a lot of people. And again, listen, this is just my opinion but like I don't like Generac. Like they're made to run only for a short period of time. Like everyone that has them, they're convenient and everyone sells them.
- [20:18]
B
Those are the ones, the big generators that connect to your house?
- [20:20]
A
Well yeah. Generac's a company that has like, you know, like a big market share with marketing for their systems. Well that works really well for like a three hour to six hour blackout. But like when the power's out and it's not coming back on, they're not designed to run, they're not industrial generators. They're just short term. They turn on, they have to turn off. They cannot run continuously. And the ones that run on natural gas all shut off when the natural gas shuts off. So if you have a diesel generator, most of them, like I have a whisper watt at my place, multi quit basin, amazing generators. And again this Isn't like a plug for. I. I don't have any interest. This is not. I'm not.
- [21:05]
B
You bought it full price, like straight up?
- [21:07]
A
Yeah, yeah, straight up. And I've bought many of them and I placed them at different businesses and different places because they just work, you know, they got a crazy warranty. They work and they are designed to run and they are near silent. That's why people in the movie business use them. They mount on the back of the truck. You can barely hear the thing running. Makes super steady, super even power. And when you hook it up the right way with the right transfer switch and all those things, it's seamless, dude. It's totally seamless. They have a 40, 50 gallon tank, which is enough to run for days on end without refueling. And so it's like when you add all that stuff together, to me, that's the. That's the easier, softer way. It's a little more expensive. But it's tried and true. And they like always work that 80,000.
- [21:51]
B
Save you, though, from the level of insurance. Wouldn't the insurance companies give you a way bigger break if you're like, I have. You're like, outside sprinklers, indoor spring. So it may be a big front load hit, but I feel like how much I'm hearing it's costing now to be in a fire zone because what's mind boggling, people don't talk about. People are sending me their insurance from places that are now considered fire zones that are not next to state parks.
- [22:19]
A
It's become like rampant, dude. Yes, it's. It's a problem.
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B
Like, yeah, fire zone is.
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A
I think if you're like, you're anywhere near anything combustible. Yeah.
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B
You're gonna get hit with a fee. I'll have to look into that. But I bet 80 grand in front.
- [22:35]
A
When you. When you take into consideration, you explain the insurance company like, I have usaa, for example. And again, I pay full price for the insurance. I'm just saying, this is just. I have usaa, all right. So I also explained to them, I'm like, hey, I have this type of backup generator system. It controls these pumps. I have these sprinklers. There's a sensor here. So whether I'm home or not, when these sensors activate that there's a fire burning outside or inside my perimeter, it automatically activates these sprinklers, which empty these vessels of water onto the situation until the cavalry gets here or until I get there or until whatever. But that's automatic right there. Like you don't have to even be home. You don't even have to know there's a fire. You're traveling. Let's say you're in this pre January Mexico and it's already there. It just ups and runs.
- [23:23]
B
You already had that pre fire.
- [23:25]
A
Oh, no, no, no. I actually fought the fire at my house. But I'm saying yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [23:30]
B
Okay. I was gonna say wow, because there's a guy, I went to lunch at his house for a meeting in the Palisades that goes right next to Will Rogers State Park. I said, how is your house here? And he said, because I had outdoor sprinklers connected to my pool. And he said, once it. I saw it on the hill, I, you know, hit the system and wow, voila. So, I mean, it works. The guy was next to the literal mother flames.
- [24:02]
A
Yeah.
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B
And so. So when you told so you either
- [24:05]
A
got to be there, which I'm a much bigger proponent and fan of be there, like with the gear. And if you got some guys to help you, that really helps.
- [24:13]
B
So you. How did you have water on January 7th?
- [24:16]
A
So on January 7th, I have a hydrant off the main 30 inch that feeds the reservoir.
- [24:21]
B
So before it went out, when did the water go out? They said there was no water, so.
- [24:25]
A
So there's no water up in my mom's neighborhood after like 6pm January 7th. Right. That all got shut off. But off the band 30, we still had probably, I don't know, three quarter, like pressure. So instead of like 300 psi, we were like maybe like 240 psi. And then it quickly started dropping so into the night, into the following day. Maybe we had like half pressure. And then after that figure, like on the. The ensuing dates, well, then, dude, some guy hit the fire hydrant in front of my place, busted the fire hydrant off. So then I was completely out on that one. They keyed that off. And then we went up on.
- [25:06]
B
On El Medio trying to evacuate.
- [25:08]
A
Well, yeah, and they hit the. They hit the fire, Hyde.
- [25:11]
B
Oh my.
- [25:12]
A
So that got keyed off. But then we were pulling the water up off of El Medio right above, which also comes straight off of that 30 inch. So we had water like it was. I'll show you some videos. Like, we were up at Presbyterian trying to put out the preschool, and it was just like. So then you're down to like, you know, 60 psi. This is like, not great.
- [25:30]
B
So from your firsthand driving around, do you feel like once the fire department felt like there wasn't enough water they just said, okay, it's a wrap, or.
- [25:40]
A
Dude, it was so weird. I was like, I'm driving. My guys and I were, like, flying everywhere, and there's, like, you know, 10 of us pulling hoses up and down the hills. I'm looking around. I'm like, where the hell's the fire department?
- [25:53]
B
This is seventh or eighth.
- [25:54]
A
This is on the seventh. And I was like, at what time? We saw, like, some really big planes cruising. I'm like, oh, they're gonna be dumping water. We're gonna be fine. We'll get this hammered out. But my mom's backyard was on fire, so we're still doing what we're doing because there's no fire department there yet.
- [26:09]
B
You just have your own conspiracy.
- [26:11]
A
Yes. It's just my guys.
- [26:12]
B
Incredible.
- [26:13]
A
And I'm like, they're gonna be here at some point, right? Well, like an hour and a half later, they rolled up. It was two guys in a truck. And I'm like, where is everybody? They're like, everyone's so spread out because this thing's moving everywhere. And I was like, geez, okay, what do you guys need? They're like, well, we're gonna go. We're going to go back up over this side. Okay. So it's just like, divide and conquer. You know, everyone's doing the best they could, and then they're like, oh, we're going to roll up. I'm like, well, dude, the fires ain't out yet. We got to keep going, you know? And they're like, all right. Well, I broke a couple of my guys off because they needed to go up the hill or wherever they needed to go next. And we stayed there for, I don't know, like, five and a half hours. And then when everything was, like, calmed down, I could see it was burning really bad elsewhere. And so I left a few guys up there, shot down to my place because my guys that were at my house were screaming at me to get down there because the canyon's on fire. The house above us is on, like, over towards the church. That's. The hillside's on fire. The apartment building's about to catch right now. Like, get over here. And I'm like, okay, cool. So I pulled most of my guys off, rolled all those hoses up, threw those on the back of my truck, shot down the hill. Well, I got there, dude, and it was real, bro. The pine trees right below my place were just, like, exploding with flames. So I went down and then got on that hydrant. And when you have a Full power, like, fire hose, dude. You can get a lot done, like, really quick. So we were able to get all that down before the apartment building, like, was really under fire, like, on fire. And so then we. Surrounding the building. No fire department. Like, there's no fire department. And I was like, this is so weird. I would see him driving by, but I think it was like, when you think. When you take into consideration the wind and then how many places were on fire at once? They were just. And again, I'm. I. I'm not sure exactly what was going on. Maybe they're trying to get people out. Maybe they're dealing with all the stuff going on at the bottom of the Highlands. Because think about it, like, all these messes that were on, like, Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive and everything else. Like, I'm not there. I'm up in Marquez Hills dealing just with one area, right? And then I'm being called down that hill to go on Sunset and go just, like, near Temescal Canyon Park. So my. My situational awareness of the entire thing, I just. I didn't have any. I don't know, but I know that there was, like, very, very little fire support where we were other than us, you know?
- [28:29]
B
And then on the 8th, I feel like when the videos of you driving around, for instance, the Highlands, there's nobody. No, that. That's when it gets weird to me.
- [28:37]
A
Well, because that night, they were just parked, like, I have a video. I'll show you.
- [28:40]
B
Seen that. Just everyone at Will Rogers, dude, they're.
- [28:42]
A
They're parked in Ralph's parking lot. I'm like, hey, Ralph's is catching fire right now. They're like, what do you want us to do? I was like, get a can. I swear. Yeah, get a hose out, you know? And, like, they're like, yeah, no. And then all the. So the. The properties where DWP is going to park there for a little while. But my church owns those properties where my signs were up, like, right. Where, like, Monument shoots off a sunset. So, like, you're coming down between Cary Monument, La Cruz, right there. Okay, so all the. They're all on fire. And I'm on a bicycle now. Like, I just got it under wraps at my house. And then suing my neighbors, places, like. And I'm like, guys, stay here. I gotta go see what's going on around us. Because everywhere I'm looking, like, Rimmer Lane is all on fire. The whole, like, Via De La Paz area, it's all on fire. The building, that big brick Building, the apartment's right behind it. Everything's on fire. And we're just getting the fires, like out around us. And the wind, dude, I mean, it's like an Emmett shower of sparks, bro, just blowing sideways. You get it all put out and then, dude, like, you're over there now you're over there and it's literally back on fire. Right back where it was on fire before. And you already like doused it. So it was crazy. And I think what. What may have happened and again, I don't know is the fire department just kind of was like, I don't know what you want us to do because everything's on fire and we don't have enough support. That. That may have been what. That may have been what gone on. Because when I came in and I was screaming at the guys in the parking lot, you know, they just kind of looked at me like, like, what do you want?
- [30:08]
B
It's over.
- [30:09]
A
It's over. Like, what do you want us to do? This thing's gonna burn. This one guy, he's gonna. It's gonna burn down to the ocean.
- [30:14]
B
That's what. I'll never forget this. My buddy Matt McCroskey said right by station 69, his dad's house burned down. He said at like 12 o' clock during the day, he saw a firefighter in his normal outfit. He's like, oh, what's going on? He's like, oh, it's blowing out. So it's gonna burn to the ocean. It was already just established. Established, which I watch videos that I have of the Alphabet streets on January 7th, like, you know, seven, eight o' clock at night. Not a single fire department. The wind is not crazy and it's just little because it was alter.
- [30:51]
A
It was going up and down. It wasn't like it was 80 miles an hour the entire time with like footballs of like fire blowing everywhere.
- [30:58]
B
Techno is never above 40. That's what 40 actual weather stations will say. But, you know, I've talked to firefighters. Everybody has their different opinions. But the Alphabet streets should have been the last Alamo where we're. We're gonna. Yeah, we're gonna stand out here, line up. And back in the. The Mandeville fire from the 70s. Sunset Boulevard was there. Al.
- [31:23]
A
That's our hole.
- [31:24]
B
Yes. So I. The idea that it got everyone went down to Will Rogers. I'll never understand going down or that
- [31:30]
A
it jumped PCH and like.
- [31:33]
B
So, you know, I talked to the head of the US Forest Service, Bobby Garcia, and he said, what went wrong? Is that the initial fire? He said the point of firefight, like firefighting, is you want to keep the fire skinny. And they didn't keep the fire skinny. You want the head just to punch out into one area. You control it from the sides. So what happened is the whole fire became a head, and it just did the whole town. But from the jump, they didn't maintain it becoming skinny. And it would have just punched through and maybe gone out to the ocean, but it would have been just that part up at Lachman. So that's, you know, that's what the expert guy told me, because that's where
- [32:13]
A
I started was right there on Via Floresta. Right there. And were you aware of the.
- [32:19]
B
The New Year's Eve fire when that happened? Because that didn't even really hit my radar.
- [32:25]
A
I wasn't aware of it until after, like, three weeks after the big fire.
- [32:28]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [32:29]
A
Yeah.
- [32:30]
B
Because I feel like that should have been way more talked about leading into a wind event. The whole Palisades should have been like, hey, we just had a fire here. Should we all go check up there? You know, it, like you said, it goes back to, and it changed my life. Or where. We all need to do so much more as just citizens. We can't just be like, okay, everything's
- [32:51]
A
handled, dude, the government was never designed to solve all of our problems. This is the biggest, like, misconception. It's just craziness to me. That's not how America was built. It was actually, like, we want to reduce the size of the government and keep it smaller and put, like. And charge people with the responsibility and the ability to, like, take care of themselves. Like, that's. That's what I prefer to live in. Like, I don't need somebody micromanaging me, and I don't need a bunch of false promises about what's going to happen. Why I need to pay more money all the time. Like, I already know what. Like, dude, I make and produce way more than I cost as a human being living in Los Angeles, guaranteed. Dude, I am a. A producer. Bottom line, I cost the city nothing. Dude, I pay crazy taxes. I pay crazy. What do you call, sales tax. Like, my kids went to private school. Like, I take care of all my own stuff. You know what I mean? Like, I don't. I. I don't need anybody to do anything for me. How can I serve you right? And, like, hey, let me chip in. Let me help out. I like, like, nice roads to drive on. So much for that, but they're better than nothing. Like, dude, we have the gnarliest streets in la. It's just like, boom. Like, you got to have a truck around. It's crazy, dude. Like, the 405, you're, like, off roading like, any normal car. Like, even on my motorcycle, like, they
- [34:09]
B
haven't paved a street in over a year. I think that's, like, an actual statistic.
- [34:14]
A
And again, I'm just like, I drive. Because if you go to, like, Orange county, like, dude, the roads are, like, clean, manicured, groomed. Like, whoever's in charge of doing the asphalt there, somebody's inspecting that. I feel like the guys that do the asphalt work here in la, like, no one's looking or so. Or no one cares or I don't know what it is. Like, I care. Like, when I'm driving around, Like, I have this right here was Via Floresta and then literally was burned into my mom's backyard within, like, five minutes for this.
- [34:40]
B
It's so cool. You saved both your house
- [34:45]
A
good.
- [34:45]
C
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- [35:08]
A
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- [35:24]
B
hunters, Haja Boy's breakfast meal and Hunt Trick's meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans.
- [35:31]
A
What do you say to that, Rumi? It's not a battle. So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day. It is an honor to share. No, it's our honor. It is our larger honor.
- [35:43]
B
No, really, stop. You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side.
- [35:52]
A
Participate in McDonald's while supplies last. So then this right here. So these trees or whatever on her back hill are on fire. We got fire that, like, tree relit itself, like, 10 times ultra.
- [36:04]
B
That was a fire hose.
- [36:05]
A
That's a fire hose? Yeah.
- [36:06]
B
You just had those?
- [36:06]
A
Yeah, dude. I have a thousand feet of fire hose.
- [36:10]
B
Because of why?
- [36:11]
A
Because I can use that fire hose.
- [36:12]
B
I mean, I. Obviously, I know why, but how did you. When did you get those?
- [36:16]
A
Oh, I've had them for years.
- [36:18]
B
Just years and years are just ready
- [36:20]
A
to go in the truck. They're ready to go. So I keep some on my trucks. Wow. So you weren't.
- [36:24]
B
You weren't pretty ready then?
- [36:25]
A
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, everything. No, no, no, no.
- [36:29]
B
So we're just breathing smoke for two days?
- [36:31]
A
Oh, yeah. It was gnarly. So this is across the street now and then. So my mom's house is over here, and that's that tree that we were putting out over there. This is Via Floresta up behind all that. Now this is 11:29. At this point right now, it's already super out of control. Like, there's like. I'm like, I don't know how they're gonna reel all this in. So it's like me and all my guys, this whole strip right here and then down Turquesa, which is that area. And I'll show you over here as
- [37:03]
B
we get, like, how many houses you guys saved?
- [37:05]
A
Dude. So the fire department finally shows up at, like, 11:30. So it's an hour and a half
- [37:09]
B
later with hoses, though. And they started.
- [37:11]
A
They. They were already pulled off of here. They took mine. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Dude, don't take my hoses off. I got a splitter. Hold on. So then I threw a splitter over there. Oh, my God.
- [37:23]
B
That is.
- [37:24]
A
Dude, this is everybody's backyards all the way up and down the street. We're just kicking. We're kicking gates open and going through people's houses. It's a kid. Could have been burned down.
- [37:33]
B
And then.
- [37:34]
A
How much these neighbors love you, dude, it's so weird. I haven't heard from one of them.
- [37:38]
B
What? Like. What do you mean?
- [37:40]
A
Like, like, nothing.
- [37:41]
B
No cookies or anything?
- [37:43]
A
No cookies.
- [37:44]
B
Do they know you did this?
- [37:45]
A
I don't know. You know, the neighbors across the street did, but I haven't heard from them in quite a while. And I think everyone's just so busy dealing with their own nightmares. This one right here, this was good. So this right here, it's hard to film while you're fighting fire, but this whole. This thing was, like, 30ft in the air. And then I got, like, regular garden hoses, two fire hoses. And all my guys on this section is your crew. Dude, this thing was burning up this whole canyon. We stopped it all the way across this whole rim. Dude, when you look down here, you'll see nothing.
- [38:19]
B
You'll see nothing but your guys around. Is it just because you're the only Palisades embedded builder or the other. Do you know of any other, like, construction crews that are on this? Like, this is movie scene type stuff that you guys.
- [38:33]
A
Well, yeah.
- [38:34]
B
So guys were the community brigade.
- [38:36]
A
Like, literally. So, okay, so like this rim right here. So you're looking from Vista Grande over to Charmel and then down Turquesa. You'll see everywhere you look, heart built construction shirts all the way down, seven houses deep, hoses on, rolled out on all. On all properties. And these are big, dude. These are big flames. These are gnarly. And we have no gear. So this is a guy from. He showed up from another fire department. He jumped in with us. But like, dude, this whole area was on fire. And then these guys, like, they, they came. But like, dude, that's. That's no joke. Like, if you're within 20ft of that, it's like singeing your face. So, like, this is. Yeah, this is a good one here. So these are all our hoses and these are all my guys. And then now we're. Now we're side by side. The fire department. There's like two more guys that showed up with us. They're like, who the are you guys?
- [39:30]
B
So moving forward, are you gonna have your guys go through, like, fire training? And like, obviously they're trained up now, but for the future, is this something you want to have these guys go through, like, any types of certificate or. They're now like, we're ready, like, planning now.
- [39:46]
A
So this is the thing.
- [39:47]
B
Where's the plan for the next? Because the dead brush of Round palace is. That hasn't been growing. The regular brush is growing.
- [39:54]
A
This is going to be back in three, four years.
- [39:56]
B
Less.
- [39:56]
A
Like, probably less.
- [39:57]
B
But I'm saying Mandeville. Yeah, Mandeville is totally not burnt.
- [40:01]
A
Totally.
- [40:02]
B
So what's your like, I feel like you almost need us a separate business, like, private firefighter.
- [40:09]
A
Well, so this is the thing. Everybody should know how to access water on their property when they need it. And there should be like a block captain. This is just, in my opinion, someone who has some fire hoses who knows how to hang on to one. Because, dude, if you. If you let go of a fire hose and that thing's whipping around, you kill it. Kill somebody. Like, it's no joke. Have you ever held one? No. Oh, yeah. So it's you do you have to
- [40:32]
B
be as big as you to hoe one?
- [40:33]
A
You think you don't have to be that big, but two people help, you know, like. Like so like my guys, you'll see. Like. So there's different size hoses, like an inch and a half hose. You can, you can hang on to that. But like I put them over my shoulder and hang on to it like this. So I got my body weight on
- [40:48]
B
it and you ever held it before that day with water coming?
- [40:52]
A
Oh yeah, many, many times.
- [40:54]
B
Where?
- [40:54]
A
Oh, up in my mom's neighborhood just two years before. Like I have video from just two years before vistagrani was on fire. My guys and I were up there like in three seconds.
- [41:04]
B
So. Exactly. This whole idea, that's like unprecedented. Like this.
- [41:08]
A
No, no, no, no, no. That's happened many times. And then in 78. So I was like 2 years old back in 78. It burned all the way down the hill where Bienvenida is and burnt St. Matthew's Church. Like it's been. These are like. These fires are nothing new. This one is just like, you know, unprecedented as far as the damage it caused because of, you know, extra fuel, not enough guys fighting it, no water. Like all the, all the Coleman, the wind's blowing stuff. That's. That's why this one was so bad.
- [41:38]
B
Did you know the reservoirs were both empty?
- [41:40]
A
No clue.
- [41:41]
B
That's.
- [41:42]
A
And I'm pretty sure it's still empty.
- [41:44]
B
Oh, this one's empty. And that they just drained that other one.
- [41:46]
A
Yeah, like no brains. I'm. I'm sorry but like, wait, what's going on? And I. They've been pulling a ton of debris or like dirt or something out of the one up in the highlands. Cuz I watch every morning they got transfer trucks up there, so they have to have heavy equipment and they're doing
- [42:03]
B
something supposedly like re having to redo the whole thing.
- [42:06]
A
I don't know what they're doing. I'm not sure, but I just know there's tons of material coming out of there.
- [42:10]
B
So now we fast forward to you help with the Army Corps. You're very hands on in helping people get the. You know, the thing with the Army Corps there was like. My guys were great, but it was so many independent.
- [42:26]
A
I have no affiliation with the army. No, I know, but you helped come
- [42:28]
B
in and fix ones that fail people.
- [42:31]
A
Oh, totally.
- [42:32]
B
So that's what I was gonna say.
- [42:32]
A
Well, that. And then we came and we were clearing lots too. Like you could do it privately or you could do it with them.
- [42:37]
B
So yeah. What happened is if you didn't have money or Whatever. The army Corps would come in, and for a lot of people like myself, it was great. For another other people, they would bury stuff and do real horrible jobs.
- [42:53]
A
So I was down at west lapd, and for a totally unrelated reason, but I was making a police report, and there was three people standing there, all from the Palisades, and it was all from the same contractor. This guy from out of town had come in and promised to do, like, the incredible. He was going to demo their lot, haul their stuff off, do their fire clearance, this and that, blah, blah, blah. Miracle prices, $20,000. Clear the whole property and everything be done. Whatever. He had no Hasla certificate, no license, no insurance, and was taking the garbage and burying it on people's properties. So then it's like, dude, so you just shelled out your 20 grand or 30 grand or whatever he was charging. Nothing was done properly, and it was done illegally, and he didn't haul the trash where it was supposed to. So now you're stuck with. You don't have any of the slips from the dump site saying that your trash was handled correctly. And you're sitting there, you spent $30,000 and then you got to unearth all this garbage you just buried on your job site. It was a nightmare. So people were filling out police reports to report this guy, and then another person came in to clean up some of them, and then he ended up getting buried on the jobs because you're coming in after somebody else. People are already upset. Their house just burned down, and they got burned again by some shady fly by night, you know, guy that's like, you know, just doing people dirty. There's been a bunch of, like, stories like that weirdos that come in, they're like vultures, you know.
- [44:10]
B
No, it's horrible. People message me all the time thinking, I have a solution with like, we got taken. This guy said he was a contractor. He didn't actually have the permit. We already gave him 90,000. You know, just evil scammers. It's crazy. So which is.
- [44:25]
A
Which is super, like, criminal.
- [44:26]
B
Oh, no.
- [44:26]
A
And those guys are gonna get. They're gonna get theirs. It's like, especially in areas like this, when people come in and prey on, like, victims of a fire or an earthquake or a flood or something like that, like, the government will actually, like, take corrective action. Yeah. Whereas, like, typically, it's like, oh, a civil thing lasts for years. You never get anything back, and it's just a huge nightmare. Prevention is everything. So your due diligence, do your homework. Is this guy Licensed with the state of California to do what he's supposed to be doing for you. Like, is he. I mean, let's find out. Are there any complaints filed against him? Has he been sued? Has he gone bankrupt? What's his license number? Is it like 1 million 300? Is it like the newest possible license number because he rolled up the other ones because he got sued or because something happened with those other businesses and now he's just like, no, I'm Mr. Contractor. You know, that's the best thing. All these guys that were hitting me up for work and stuff, they're like, oh, Yeah, I have 25 years experience. I'm like, that's so weird. Your license is, like, less than a year old. Oh, that was from another company. I'm like, great, send me the license from the other company, and then I'll see if we're going to do business. Right? Like, I don't just. I don't need any headaches. I don't need my clients to have any headaches. I don't, you know, I just want to do it the right way. You know what I mean?
- [45:37]
B
And then from your experience doing the. The lot cleanup, wasn't the city giving you a hard time for trying to actually do it privately? Because they.
- [45:47]
A
It was almost impossible the city would
- [45:50]
B
get a cut of about. Like, how. What was that scam with the insurance?
- [45:55]
A
Forget the lot cleaning, okay? How about just helping clean the streets? Like, just. How about this? Like, can I please be able to leave the neighborhood so that my guys can get regular food to eat? So we're not eating. Like. Like, have your MREs meal ready to eat.
- [46:09]
B
Yeah.
- [46:10]
A
Yeah. Okay. They're disgusting.
- [46:11]
B
Okay?
- [46:11]
A
I mean, they're. It's calories, but it's not good. And there's no reason why, like, we're doing this work for the community that we shouldn't be able to leave. And I'm like, you know, I called some really, like, good friends of mine, had a connection to somebody who had a connection to Gavam Newsome's wife. And I was talking on the phone with Jennifer, and she was like, yeah, we're going to get you a pass so you can come in and out. Like, never happened. And like, oh, we're going to do this to help you out. Never happened.
- [46:40]
B
So you were stuck in here.
- [46:41]
A
I'm stuck in here. And by the way, this is pre
- [46:43]
B
where they made the passes.
- [46:44]
A
There were no passes. There was no way to get in and out. And so, like, I got 36 guys staying in My place. There's nobody up here cleaning the streets either, other than us. There was nobody up here. It was like Cal fire was driving around. But like, you try to go up into like the Bienvenida area, you couldn't get up there until we pass through, right? And it's not like someone wouldn't have come initially or like, or eventually, I should say. But like, nobody else was doing it. And like, hey, I'm licensed. I have a bond. I'm insured, I'm a resident. I have everything. Like, the fire department knows who I am. Like, I'm cool with like, SoCal gas. I'm cool DWP. I'm cool with, you know, Tom's Kitty hotter here. Like, at 69, like, people know that I'm here. And like, other like, people in the community that are like community leaders at the time were making phone calls on my behalf to like the watch commander, which, by the way, that guy was so super good guy Glenn. Really helpful as far as being able to come in like once or twice. But then I would get stuck outside. I couldn't get back in. And then like, this is what really chat me dude is. So we're doing all this work and we're trying to really get stuff opened up so other guys could drive. We're getting thumbs up from everybody driving by. Like, that's city services and fire and Cal fire and everything. You know, they're allowing us to work, but like, we can't get in and out because of the barricades. And then Mayor Bass comes on and somebody sent this to me because I. I don't watch tv. There's no time. I'm like, I'm literally just like answering people's requests to go over to their house to check on something for them or go do this. Can you go there? Whatever. Like, I don't. I'm not watching tv, but somebody sent me a clip to my thing. She's. She goes on and she's like, we single handedly have cleaned the streets of Pacific Palisades. And I was getting threats coming from the mayor's office saying that I needed to stop doing what I was doing or that I would be arrested. That's what I was being told. And then like, the people that were like, helping me come in and out were like, listen, we're getting a lot of pressure. We're not supposed to let anybody in. I'm like, well, anybody or people that are actually here, like, I'm not, like, I'm not making a problem for anybody. I'M actually trying to be like a part of the solution. And I'm also not asking you guys to pay for anything. Like, the people of the Palisades that could see what was going on, my wife and ex wife and kids had started a GoFundMe. Thank you. They set up a GoFundMe to help because, dude, I blew through like 150 grand, like in like no time, in like a few days.
- [49:05]
B
It was like 36 guys. It's really.
- [49:07]
A
Dude, it goes quick, you know. And like, by the way, we're depleting all the resources. Everything I have changed for, like, it's all gone. Like, I need more stuff, right? Because we're cutting up tree after tree after tree. Like, everything's getting run through, like food and everything else. So when they set up that GoFundMe, that's what allowed me to keep going. And the people of the Palisades and elsewhere, wherever it was, like all over the country, apparently were like, chipping in, you know, a little bit of money here and there. They ended up raising like, I think like $200,000. I can't remember. We had a huge accounting put everything on there. Like when the mayor said, we single handedly have cleared the streets of the Palisades, it really pissed me off because it was like, it was like, like I was here and I didn't see any city trucks or anyone doing anything like that except for us. And then we did it with the money from the people that were donating to this thing. Not like, we didn't ask the city for any of their money to do any of that. And it was like we were being like, kind of worked against. So it was like I was, I was bummed on that. And again, it's kind of like one of those things, like, hey, we just got to keep moving. But that, that stuck with me. And then never heard anything from, you know, anyone on that end of it. And I think it was because they were just dealing with their own messes and stuff that was going on inside their offices and not wanting to, like, look a certain way or whatever it was that prevented them just from a simple, like, hey, good job. Like, thanks. Now, you and I were at an awards ceremony that. For the Pacific Palace Chamber of Commerce and County Council.
- [50:37]
B
Well, that's whatever she was supposed to.
- [50:39]
A
Oh, okay.
- [50:39]
B
Yeah, yeah. So again, severe.
- [50:42]
A
Like, our local government saw us, you know, our local government and the people that were here, you know, and then ultimately other, other phases of like, I got some, like a cool letter and I Don't do any of this stuff for rewards or recognition or whatever, but it's just nice when somebody like, you know, stops everything they're doing and then like, throws everything they have at it and like, hey, nice work. I'll just. Just a pat on the back, whatever, 100%, you know.
- [51:05]
B
So then the permitting. So now we're trying to rebuild the. My biggest takeaway I want to get from today, obviously, because people ask me now, well, what are you going to do differently? If you right now have the power to fix the bureaucracy of LA city building permitting, pre fire, what you used to deal with post fire, if there's a difference, and how to improve what you experience with the. Just the building process, from permitting to everything, what would you do?
- [51:35]
A
Well, and we were involved, like myself and a bunch of other builders and I think community people or whatever in these early kind of conversations about, like, how this would roll out. And there was a lot of, like, groups trying to form. And I'm not, I'm not against any of that. I think that's super great that everybody wants to be putting their best foot forward. Some of them felt kind of like, I don't know, like. And then other ones seem to be really, like, active, positive, engaged, and on the right track. My whole thing is everyone should do what they think is in their best interest. And if I can be helpful, let me know how. So one of the ways it was deemed for me to be helpful was like, well, what. What would you recommend? I'm like, really nice if we had a building and safety center right here in the Palisades. Be really nice if we had like a concrete plant that was close, that we had like some ability, so just some design features of putting together an entire, like, small city back together. Most of those things have been heard. And there is a building and safety center right over here, Marquez, which is
- [52:37]
B
like really a month old now, right? Yeah, but. But never.
- [52:41]
A
But it's here.
- [52:42]
B
What about the concrete?
- [52:44]
A
That's not happening yet. And
- [52:48]
B
they just do that at Will Rogers on the.
- [52:50]
A
Dude, there's. There's mobile mixing centers that literally, like, you can have like, the same way they bring in like a house on wheels. This thing's around the same size, like, world of concrete. They demo them there. You know, I use builders ready mix. They have. They have one of these mobile concrete mixing plants.
- [53:06]
B
It's like, no brainer.
- [53:07]
A
Yeah, it's. You could bring two or three of those in if you wanted to. And then it's just a matter of like, transfer Trucks bringing in the materials and then, you know, the cement dust and, and so mixing right on site. And like, because right now, you know, hey, it's an hour and three quarters old. We want that concrete place within two hours. So it's like traffic on the 405, there's an accident over here.
- [53:26]
B
Not a gas money alone now too.
- [53:28]
A
Yeah, all that stuff, it just kind of, it, it works against you a little bit. Whereas if it was like local, like there's a place in Santa Monica, but that's a limited mixed batch plant. They can't do that much volume. So once everything's up and running, then it will require a, you know, a step up in infrastructure to make that
- [53:46]
B
stuff and then permits where. What's, what's been your experience with the permitting process with the city?
- [53:53]
A
Like, I'm. So we just submitted two weeks ago on a ground up for a project over in the Huntington Palisades. So like, I will cue you in on that step by step. So right now if you go over to the Palisades Recovery Coalition Center, I can't remember what it's called. Something over right on the cruise next to Garden Cafe, there's something over there where they have like a, an office and basically like building safety came in. I went there one day and they kind of had like a seven day process to start you on the right steps to getting your permits approved. Now, to my understanding and an architect who's working on my behalf right now to push this plant through. Like, we're sort of on pace with getting to the part where it hits a planner's desk. It still has to hit fire. It has to hit, you know, Title 24. There's all these like parameters that you have to go through, like Bureau of Engineering or whatever, sewer and da, da, da, da. But everybody weighs in. It should be a two month process. We're going to find out. I'll get back to you on that.
- [54:56]
B
Has this been your first you've had. This is.
- [54:58]
A
Oh, we're doing a bunch of projects. But I didn't have to personally take them through these steps. I referred people to architects and engineers. Engineers. I help them find those agents and then they work through those processes. So over on Haverford, because it's big caissons, great beams, structural decks, like, there's a lot of stuff going on. It took longer to get through that process than it would for, say, the house I'm doing on Via La Paz. It was literally like for like plus 10%. And that guy pushed it through in like A month. So I don't, Whatever. I'll just say the architect at one location, he was through the entire process in one month. The guy started. My clients called me on Haverford. They're like, we want to be the first ones building. I'm like, I'm on it. Call this guy. He's going to take care of your architecture, engineering, your civil. He'll get everything submitted. Boom. He did that. Like, maybe. I think he had everything submitted initially, like maybe a month and a half after the fire. And it took until, I think it was like seven months to get pushed all the way through. That's crazy. Seven months is way too long. A month is abnormally like low amount of time for a full submittal and like a full approval and then pre fire.
- [56:14]
B
Just being a builder in Los Angeles, what's your experience in that process?
- [56:19]
A
Building saving is tough, you know, like, I, I, I don't, I don't like going there. I don't like having to interface with them.
- [56:28]
B
Somebody sent me a video and there was only three people working in the office. Is that, is that even possible?
- [56:33]
A
Sometimes, yeah. It depends which office. If you go to downtown, like on Figueroa, that place is stacked. It's very, very busy. You go to Van Nuys stacked, super, super busy. But if you go to their, some of their smaller satellite offices, like, it's kind of like some changing rules. It depends who you talk to one time versus talk to some other times. There's no like uniformity per se. And I mean, that happened in my own house. Over like right off at Sebastical was we did a full workup of the property before I acquired the place. Then the person who did the approvals moved to another location in the inside of Building and Safety. Now all of a sudden, I had to like, convert my driveway into a private street. Took like six months to do all that stuff. It's like this ever changing landscape inside of the architecture of Building and Safety, where you, you can't get a yes every time for the same thing. So that is very frustrating. Like, one person says it's okay, another person says it's not like that is tough now on the, like out in the field, I've developed relationships with inspectors that can help make this process much smoother because you kind of get, you just have a relationship with them, right? You get a vibe going and then they know you do quality work. You're not trying to cut any corners. You just want to do it the right way. What would you like us to do? Okay, great. And then repeat, you know, and then even then like, oh, you can self certify.
- [57:53]
B
Great.
- [57:53]
A
So we're doing all our RNRs and then having a soils engineer come in. They do a compaction report. We self certified. Then. Well, then all of a sudden, like we were up at Mikey's and they're like, no, you can't self certify. I'm like, what are you talking about? I've done four other properties that are under construction and rolling right now. And that's what we did. But then a different inspector showed up. He's like, no, no, you're fine. Just do this. So it was a new guy who went into a meeting. And then they were trying to tighten some things up and change some stuff around. And it was like a new inspector on the field. And then I ended up getting the other guy to come back out. It all got worked out, but sometimes it gives you these little mini heart attacks. And I think it's. There's no one manual that works for every build, right? And so then you have the office trying to shake this stuff out and trying to do it in a way that's fair for everybody that is as like or similar for each property as possible. There's just differences and stuff happens. So it requires some subjectivity and that creates problems. Like when you're building and you want to try to be like on the, the clean, clear track on the easier lots. But like, like your place right here, you know, we're on a hillside. Like, what's going to be allowable? You're gonna do a slope band analysis. You're going to calculate total number feed. Like, you know, we're gonna find out. I can't tell you. Hey, Spencer, we're going to do this. We're going to do this. This is the time frame. Because I don't know, like, I need a ready to issue set of plans in order to tell you what you're going to be able to do here. And even then in the process of doing that, like, oh, you have over 5ft of vert right there. Okay. So now soils engineer is going to have to come in and weigh in on that. Which soils engineer. Because one guy may be super cool and he may like what he sees here, another guy, he may not like what he sees at all. And now all of a sudden we're doing some crazy maneuvers. Like we're slot cutting and we're gonna. It's gonna slow everything down, cost more money, and like, you know, or okay, now, you know what we're Gonna soldier pile this wall, and then we're gonna do a suspended deck and all. It was like, whoa, dude. Like, get your pocketbook ready. You know?
- [59:48]
B
Should I call Mike at the end of this podcast and make sure he's putting the outside sprinklers on? Did he greenlight that yet?
- [59:54]
A
Yeah, he's not. We don't have an outside sprinkler.
- [59:57]
B
Wow. I'm gonna call after this. I'm gonna say, listen to this podcast, Mike. Yeah, Mike T. Tv. Better get those outside sprinklers. Well, before we end, I also want to thank you because I know you weren't a social media guy, but after the fires, you had somebody just cut little vlogs together, and they were really. I feel like you've lost some momentum on them. You got to bring them back. But they were great because it. They inspired hope. Like, you just always kept a frequency of, like, we're going to get through this. We can build. And it was just a nice light in so much darkness. So bring those back.
- [60:32]
A
I will.
- [60:33]
B
And everyone can find you at heart built.
- [60:36]
A
Yeah. Heartbuiltconstruction.com and then the Instagram, and. Oh, it's at Pacific Palisades Recovery. You got to spell it all out, because there's, like, 20 offshoots that sound similar to that now, but it's at Pacific Palisades Recovery. And that kind of take you through the whole journey. Journey of, like, burning fires to, like, right here.
- [60:59]
B
Thank you so much. I look forward to one day being the mayor and giving you an award for cleaning the streets up that Mayor Bass took credit for. So stay tuned. You're gonna get a nice little plaque. It's gonna be back dated. But I can't wait for you to one day build my. My dream house back. But we gotta win the lawsuit first, which we will be winning. So thank you so much. Appreciate you.
- [61:24]
A
Absolutely. I look forward to being called upon.
- [61:26]
B
Oh, good.
- [61:27]
A
And we'll get some service going.
- [61:29]
B
Yeah. At least we're gonna put a nice new fence in, so that's probably, you know, we're gonna get a feds. I'm excited. Yeah.
- [61:37]
A
Good man. Thanks for having me on.
- [61:38]
B
Thank you so much.