The 50% Copper Tariff: What It Means for Low Voltage Contractors

We tackle the proposed 50% copper tariff and its potential impact on low voltage contractors, bringing insights from both manufacturing circles and distribution expertise.

• Copper tariffs could affect numerous products including cable, patch cords, bus bars, connectors, and grounding materials
• Current price increases stem from panic buying and supply/demand dynamics, not from tariffs that haven't yet been implemented
• Contractors should avoid stockpiling inventory that ties up cash flow and instead purchase for confirmed upcoming projects
• Project-based pricing is available from regional distributors even for relatively modest projects ($5,000-$10,000)
• Add clauses to contracts that account for copper price fluctuations to protect margins on future projects
• Avoid Copper Clad Aluminum (CCA) as it isn't code compliant, has conductivity issues, and lacks durability
• Build relationships with regional distributors who provide better service than large "ship-to-door" companies
• Distribution partners serve as logistics partners who can protect contractors and provide manufacturer connections

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Copper Tariffs
• 3:12 Distribution Insights with Kelly
• 9:45 Understanding the Proposed 50% Tariff
• 17:12 Don't Panic: Market Volatility Advice
• 21:34 Project-Based Pricing for Contractors
• 28:05 Working with Distribution Partners
• 31:19 Future Industry Outlook and Expansion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey Wiremonkeys, welcome to another episode of let's Talk Cabling. This episode we're talking about tariffs.

Speaker 2: 0:07

Welcome to let's Talk Cabling your gateway to the world of ICT Get ready to dive deep into knowledge and power.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by installers, technicians, project managers, estimators, it personnel, even customers. We're connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world, even customers. We're connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world. If you're watching this show on YouTube, would you mind hitting the subscribe button and that bell button to be notified when new content is being produced? If you're listening to us on one of the audio podcast platforms, would you mind leaving us a five-star rating? Those simple little steps help us take on the algorithm so we can educate, encourage and enrich the lives of people in the ICT industry.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Wednesday night, 6 pm, eastern Standard Time. What are you doing? You know I do a live stream on TikTok, instagram, linkedin, youtube, everywhere. You get to ask your favorite RCDD and you know that's me Questions about installation, design, certification. I even do career path questions, but I can hear you now. But, chuck, I'm driving my truck at 6 pm, so what's the answer? I don't know. I don't want to get into an accident. Relax, I record them and you can watch them at your convenience. And finally, while this show is free and will always remain free, and you find value in this content. When you click on that QR code right there, you can buy me a cup of coffee. You can even schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me, after hours, of course.

Speaker 1: 1:52

So tariffs this is not something I would normally tackle with my podcast I would kind of shy away from it. But they're talking about a 50% copper tariff, and a lot of our products are made out of copper Not just cable, but patch cords, bus bars. Copper goes in the circuit boards for connectors and patch panels. It's going to have an impact. So this is not going to be a financial show. I'm not going to drill down into the nitty gritty, dollars and cents, but how's it going to impact you as a small business owner? How's it going to impact you as a project manager?

Speaker 1: 2:28

Now, I could wax poetic, because I do have a degree in business management and go down that road, but I don't want to have an episode that only three people watch, right? So that's why I actually invited on an expert, not in financials, necessarily, but somebody who actually has the ears of the manufacturers and has the ears of the people buying the stuff. Who would that be? It would be distribution, so I had to bring on Advantage from Atlanta, one of the premier distribution outlets. Atlanta is a huge market. If you didn't know this, it's kind of almost I put almost with it up there with like California for as far as there's like a ton, ton of Louisville contractors. So, kelly, welcome to the show. How are you doing?

Speaker 3: 3:11

I'm doing great. Thank you so much, chuck, for having me on, and I appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Not a problem. If you don't mind, just give us a 30 second. Who are you and who is Advantage Cable? I always get your name wrong. Advantage Cable Wire.

Speaker 3: 3:26

It's Advantage Electronics Wire and Cable. Yeah, I co-own Advantage Electronics Wire and Cable. We are based out of Marietta, georgia. We are a low voltage distributor. We deliver all throughout the Southeast. We're based in Atlanta but, like I said, we meet Nexus in like eight states, so we're shipping all across the Southeast and we sell everything low voltage from your fire alarm systems, your fiber optics, structured cabling, cctv, access control, so anything low voltage. We're similar to the big guys, but we're a small family owned business with a huge outreach and, like you said, we are talking to a lot of our manufacturing partners and so our ear is close to the ground and we can help answer some of these questions we have today.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Yeah, I appreciate that and I've even been a customer there because I went to your. I didn't go to this recent open house one because I was at conflict with my training schedule, but I went to the previous one and while I was there, I bought some Velcro for the podcast, do you?

Speaker 3: 4:24

So I'm a customer. Well, we appreciated that. That's awesome. Yeah, we do love those events and so we're happy to have you, and hopefully you can make it to the next one. So it's a yearly thing for us and we love the community outreach.

Speaker 1: 4:34

Yeah, it was a good. The one event I went to was really good because you had, like I don't know, it seemed like 30, 40 manufacturers there and you had a food truck there and it was a great atmosphere. If you ever see them advertise that event, I highly suggest you go, because it's actually a great idea. So let's get on to this whole thing. The proposed 50% tariffs right, yeah, Give us a basic overview on that tariff and any related issues that you think might come out of this.

Speaker 3: 5:05

Yeah, so I first heard about this tariff pretty much like everybody else. It was on all the major news outlets. July 8th, essentially, trump was in a cabinet meeting with a lot of press and they said that they would be imposing a 50% tariff across all copper imports, which you know that could be a huge impact on our industry, considering you know, a lot of our cabling is made of copper, like you said, pieces for pack panels, patch cords, all the things that we use daily, basic commodity items. So you know it's created a lot of panic and so you know, just want to sit and talk through that and kind of discuss you know where we stand as a distributor and how we can help you prepare for the future.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Yeah, you know a lot of people. That's what I said. With tariffs people tend to kind of gloss over and not really pay attention. But when, even the rumblings of tariffs, what that's going to do is for a customer, end user when I say customer, I don't mean a low voltage contract, I'm talking about an end user. Somebody's thinking about doing a project. They're going to maybe not pull the trigger as fast because they don't know what you know, or they may pull quicker, you know. It just kind of really depends on the company, right, because all the added costs due to the project, but tariffs are really only going to impact international products, stuff being brought in from outside. If it's copper mined in the US and manufactured in the US, it's going to be exempt from this 50% tariff. Now you, being a distributor, like you said, you're after all those lines. How much copper-based products are you currently sourcing that are international?

Speaker 3: 6:48

Well, according to many of my manufacturers, they buy the copper rods, not copper cathodes, so it's already refined and created by the time that they get it to make it for the wire, then smaller gauges. So just the US market alone alone, last year about $17 billion worth of copper was imported, which is accounts for almost half of it. Most of the copper that we import is imported from South America, but you know we do produce quite a bit here in the US, in states like Arizona leading the way. So you know, as far as like what percentage of that, as far as our wire copper rods that are being made into cabling, it's really hard to say. I spoke to a couple of manufacturers just last week and he couldn't really give me a good answer on how much and what percentage and what that increase will look like. So at this point it's a lot of speculation.

Speaker 3: 7:38

I think, really, how this has affected our industry to this point is that people are panicked and as a distributor, I never want to encourage my customers to panic and this is where I think it becomes really important to you know, know your distribution, to know your manufacturerships and to have these hard conversations Because, yes, things are changing, they are going to change. That's just a part of it. Power is a huge commodity that we use not just for our industry, but industries across the whole US as a whole. So it will affect us and prices will increase, but I don't think at this point it's not to make us panic.

Speaker 1: 8:12

Yeah, you know, it's the biggest problem I see of it is the unknown part of it. You know people don't know how it's going to affect and because I run in a lot of manufacturing circles and I hear that, I hear a lot of you know table talk, you know about the tariffs, you know how's it going to affect us and what's going to do this and it's just creating a lot of stress.

Speaker 3: 8:35

And, as a matter of fact, you know the tariffs really haven't even been. There's no clear line or plan for the tariffs at this point. It was rumblings at a cabinet meeting that we have told is going to be implemented August 1st and how that's going to take place and if it's going to be a rollout or if it's going to be all at once. I mean we know that. You know other commodity items such as aluminum have been, you know, raised in tariffs and they have been implemented raw commodities. So it's no surprise that copper is going to fall into that line as well. But as far as us, you know panicking over it, bulk buying, supply and demand.

Speaker 3: 9:11

We all know that copper has increased tremendously. I mean, it's at the highest rate that it's been since the 60s at this point, and a lot of that has to do with the way that we have reacted towards it and just the panic buying. And so, if you can hold off, I would say, you know, get ready for the next couple of months worth of jobs. But other than that, don't, don't panic. Just you know it's going to affect the industry as a whole and I would hate to say that it's going to halt construction or anything like that, because I just don't see that happening. So my biggest advice to everyone is just don't panic. So my biggest advice to everyone is just don't panic.

Speaker 2: 9:44

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Speaker 1: 10:41

Yeah, one of the biggest that most low-voltage technicians can understand, the biggest example I can give of, because you mentioned copper as a commodity and low-voltage technicians know this but they may not necessarily know that they know this because one of the biggest things I used to be a technician, you know, used to be an installer and I remember we would always save the scrap copper cable and we would take it to the junkyard and we would scrap it and that was kind of like our pizza money or or chrome money for the Harley, whatever the case may be. And you know one, you can take one truckload, let's say in like January and it's, let's say, 600 pounds and you might get you know 50 dollars for it. You can take that same truckload 600 pounds two months later and you would get you know $50 for it. You can take that same truckload 600 pounds two months later and you would get you know $140 for it. And that's exactly what we're talking about here.

Speaker 1: 11:30

It's a commodity. The price goes up, the price goes down. You just kind of never really know what's going on. Now you mentioned a couple of the products that are going to be affected. Obviously it would be copper cabling and connectors and patch panels. What other types of low-voltage products do you think may be affected by this?

Speaker 3: 11:48

A lot of the grounding material will be affected by this. And so you know, the biggest cross-increase that I see in variance is the solid wire. So you have to think your fire alarm industry, live safety industry, and you know just the way that it is fire alarm is required by code. That's never going to change, so it's necessary, it's going to be there. I mean, I can remember when I first started in this industry selling 14-2, you know, for less than $150. 14-2 FPLP is not $150 anymore and it's only going to continue to rise. And so you know the solid copper, not necessarily the category cable, but that's where you're going to see the biggest jumps right off the bat.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Yeah, so, like I said, you're connected to both of the manufacturers, have their ears, but you also have the ears of the installers and the low-voltage contractors in the Southeast.

Speaker 3: 12:44

What are you hearing the contractors say, okay, Well, the biggest thing that I can't if you are writing contracts that you know have already been put in place, there's really not a lot some of these guys can do because they can't really change their pricing, that they put in place. So they are buying ahead and they are wanting to get ahead of their job because they know I'm coming down the pipe. If you can, in your contracts in the future, put a clause in there that allows for the pricing per pound of copper at today's rate, that will, you know, give you some sort of protection. So if you can do that, just think to write that into your future contracts. You know today copper is trading at $5 and something a pound. So if you can say that in your contract and be like if this changes, the price of copper products will increase, just you know, protect yourself and your small business and make sure that you're being smart with your contract.

Speaker 3: 13:35

Yeah, the volatility of commodity items like copper I mean it is crazy price increase and I mean we were talking about a 50% price increase too. I think people, you know, right off the bat, just say, oh, 50%. But there's way more that goes into that. Like I said, you know when these manufacturers are building their wire, they're buying the copper cathodes, which is, you know, the product, but that's not the final product. They're buying the copper rods which has been manufactured. So it's not necessarily, you know, a 50 percent increase. You have to look and see, well, are all of the copper rods coming from imported goods, or is it coming from Arizona? And so I mean, I don't think it's going to be at 50% across the board either. So that number gets thrown around a lot, but really we don't know what we're talking about, because each manufacturer is, you know, getting it from different sources. It's different specifics, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out as a whole.

Speaker 1: 14:37

And hopefully this will go the way of several other the tariffs that were proposed and talked about, because it seemed to me and maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong it seemed to me that not not industry related tariffs, but some of the other tariffs, you know, they talk about implementing them and then they implement them. Then usually within like a week, an agreement's made and the tariffs kind of went away.

Speaker 3: 14:51

It's really hard to say. Like I said, there's nothing in paper. I haven't seen anything come across my line other than you know. We have seen the price increases just from panic buying and the sheer fact of supply and demand and inflation, but not because of the tariffs. The price increase that you're feeling right now is mostly from people panic buying and supply and demand. It is not from tariffs, because none of this has been implemented whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 15:14

I was talking to somebody else in another distribution role not too long ago and they were telling me that they had a large cable contractor and when I say large, if I mentioned a name you would probably recognize it because they have a nationwide presence and they were so worried about price increases that they reached an agreement with that distribution over the next 12 months they would buy a million feet of cable if they would guarantee the price, no matter what happened to that price. So they basically got that distribution to almost buy and then warehouse that material for them over that year. And that's totally unheard of, because that's money you're taking out of the bank putting into product in a warehouse that's taking up space. They could be using other products and could be making money other places. I don't know if I necessarily would recommend that to somebody, but that's that's what I mean.

Speaker 3: 16:11

That's that's how much fear this is causing and it's just and as somebody in distribution, um, if your distribution partner is telling you to go out and buy a lot, um, I would maybe consider, you know, getting secondary, because you know, if I were to go to my customers and in strike fear and then that's, that's not my job, that's not what we're here to do. We're here to give you the facts. We're here to help you make wise decisions for your business, Because this inflation has caused an increase in the spike right now. But what happens if these tariffs don't go into place and things?

Speaker 1: 16:44

go back down.

Speaker 3: 16:44

I'm not saying that it's going to happen because I have no idea. I don't have a crystal ball. I wish I did. It could send me a lot of heartache. But I mean, if that's the case, then I would hate to tell anybody to panic. Buy, just like I said. You know you have a couple of jobs coming down the pipeline within the next couple of months. Maybe look at buying for those. But other than that, I don't think I would, you know, buy.

Speaker 1: 17:08

I wouldn't buy anything extra, except for maybe a contract that I was 98% sure that I was going to be awarded the project and I knew it was going to happen. If it was still in the bidding stage and it's being bid to 14 other low voltage contractors, I wouldn't buy that In this business, as you know all too well.

Speaker 3: 17:33

So if you can wait, wait, wait it out, it can affect everybody across the board. So my biggest advice is to find a distribution partner. This is where us regionals really thrive, I feel like, because you have that relationship and you can give myself or Mike or Spartak or somebody in our office a call and you know we'll tell you like it is. I actually had, you know, one of my integrators make and send me a text this week and asked me hey, should I be placing a big order for fire alarm cable? And I simply told him no, please don't buy what you can, you know, for the next couple of jobs that you already have.

Speaker 3: 18:04

But there's no sense in panicking because it's going to affect everybody, so it's really not worth tying up cashflow, putting yourself in financial trouble later down the road. Um, just because of fear that people have is distracting and the unknown.

Speaker 1: 18:19

The worst thing you could do is tie up all your money in a bunch of copper cable in a warehouse and then not be able to make payroll. That is like one of the worst things you can do. Don't do that.

Speaker 3: 18:28

And, uh, your, your vendors will appreciate you not doing that Um cause, then it'll cause cash flows down the road with them. So it's just never a good thing to buy off of the air.

Speaker 2: 18:46

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Speaker 1: 19:42

And you know business related, business 101, you know you're looking for steady growth, right, and the last thing you want is a big spike in August because of a tariff. And then you, you know September and October or nothing because everybody bought all the stuff and and then the tariff kind of went away. And then you know, now you cause you always business, financial is something that good businesses are always following and and the and I looked at I've seen a lot of tool lists and I've never seen crystal ball listed in the tool list for a project manager or foreman.

Speaker 3: 20:15

So yeah, but you know, it just doesn't work like that. And that brings a really good point too. Um, you know people are asking me supply and demand, or do we think there's any going to be any supply chain issues? Um, and at this point, you know, I haven't seen it. The only thing that somewhat is a bit of a supply chain issue, maybe some of the prefab patch cords. But if y'all got good technicians, y'all should be able to make your own patch cords too if you get into big buying. But at this time that is the only commodity that I'm seeing that may have a little bit of a lead type due to this.

Speaker 1: 20:49

That's interesting. I wonder why the impact on patch cords as far as that's weird. I'll have to do some research on that.

Speaker 3: 20:56

From other countries, essentially the pre-pack.

Speaker 1: 20:59

Oh, okay, okay.

Speaker 3: 21:01

So that's really the only thing that I'm seeing. That's a little bit backordered at this time. As far as viral on wire, no problem. We personally use a manufacturer here in the US for that and they have. I spoke to them. They feel confident. You know that their supply chain isn't going to be affected by this. Prices may change and that may be more volatile, but the actual supply probably not to be affected.

Speaker 1: 21:24

So you address the other issues such as lead times and stuff like that. Beyond the actual cost of the copper, are contractors looking at? Maybe re-specifying their project? Maybe looking at maybe going with the fiber option, or God help them going with a fiber option. Or or God help them go with the CCA option?

Speaker 3: 21:43

Um well, you know, fiber optics is always a good solution for some things. Um so, if you can, absolutely Uh, but you can't completely get away from copper cable. And as far as copper clad aluminum, I just want to. This is a soapbox that I will stand upon all day. Just don't, just don't, just don't, yes. And if you have a distribution partner that tells you that they can get you that cable for much cheaper and it is copper clad aluminum, maybe find another distribution partner, because that is not a good product the way that it. You know the conductivity of it, the way it overheats, the durability, it's just not a good product comparatively to traditional categories.

Speaker 1: 22:22

And it's not code compliant.

Speaker 3: 22:24

No, it is not.

Speaker 1: 22:25

It's not code compliant and typically the people I see screaming the most about CCA are the people who just started their own low voltage business and they're trying to buy the cables cheap as they can. So they're going to the world's famous distribution company that everybody buys stuff off of that you probably would know if I mentioned the name that has data centers all across the place. Yeah, Don't buy Copperclad Illumina, it's going to be. That's one of the worst things you can. You can do.

Speaker 3: 22:56

Yeah, I have. I come up against it all the time Surprisingly, Um, I have contractors calling me all the time and integrators saying, hey, but I thought, quoted this price for it. And then when they go back and they look and they see it's CCA. I'm like you can buy that all day for that price, but it's, it's just not worth the risk. Um, so I would highly advise steering away from CCA.

Speaker 1: 23:19

That's great. You and I will both stand on that soapbox together. Absolutely, absolutely. Do you see a different impact for smaller, low-voltage contractors as compared to impact to a medium or large contractor?

Speaker 3: 23:32

Well, you know, like you said, some of these larger guys are going out and placing bulk orders. So, as far as the effect goes, they're tying up their cash flow more. But you know it's going to affect everybody across the board because everybody's buying, cabling the same from distribution partners. So do I really think it's going to affect smaller guys even more and make them unable to see? Absolutely not. If you have the right distribution partner, that's, you know, buying it at a reasonable price, selling it, and you know a lot of us distribution partners, we do do project-based pricing anyways. So if you have a large enough project or something that we can help you with, come to us or your local, regional distributor and we can a lot of times help you, you know, be more competitive in this space.

Speaker 2: 24:16

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Speaker 1: 25:00

So this is actually not one of our prearranged questions, but I know you can answer it easily. I know what you're talking about when you said project-based pricing, but to somebody who's got a brand new low voltage company they may not know what that is. So explain the difference between over-counter pricing and project pricing.

Speaker 3: 25:19

Yeah. So if you send your technician into our roll call location and you just, you know, want to pick up like a couple of boxes of Cat6 Planner, obviously your price is going to be a little bit different than if you come to me and say, hey, kelly, you know, I have, you know, this school system that I'm doing a project for and I want to get some great pricing on it. I'm bringing you this job. I'll give you a perfect example. I have a small guy here in town that is doing a small career field school here in Marietta and he came to me and he said could I get project pricing for this? And you know they bring the job to me and sure, so I speak with the manufacturer, I get special project pricing for this particular job, for this particular contractor. It kind of protects him against some of the outside bidders, since he is the one that generated the business and did the lead generation, and so I want to protect that business and, you know, protect that pipeline, since he's doing all the legwork for us.

Speaker 1: 26:10

Right. So let me ask you this Is there a threshold? I mean, is there a project that's too small to do? Project pricing?

Speaker 3: 26:17

You know, if it's like a couple of boxes here and there, then you know probably can't do your project pricing. But if it's a large enough project say you know five, 10 grand of cabling then absolutely let's have a conversation and see if we can help you.

Speaker 1: 26:31

That's a great tip because you know a lot of people who are just starting the low voltage contracting businesses. They're used to being a technician going into the will call and say I just need two boxes of CAT 6A platinum and they're not paying for it. The company's paying for it, not even thinking about it, but now they got their own business. You got to worry about where every penny goes and now that you know that you can get better pricing just because you can get attached under project pricing, that's a great tip.

Speaker 3: 27:01

I think it's really important to to find a distribution partner that you trust. You know there are so many great independent regional distributors out there that will pass along registration savings to you and you know I'm not sure how everyone does it, but I have known some of the big box guys to not necessarily pass along those registrations. So find somebody that you can trust and you can have an open dialogue about these projects and, you know, be involved with the manufacturer, be involved with your distributor and create those partnerships that are symbiotic to help each other. That's the best tip I can give to any integrator out there.

Speaker 1: 27:35

Oh, absolutely, and I've had other distributors on the show in the past. I'm agnostic. I invite everybody on the show because I represent the industry, not just one small facet of the industry. And and I even said on those conversations, you know that that that big delivery, your doorstep company that everybody buys from, now they want to buy the cable from. Delivered to your doorstep company that everybody buys from, now they want to buy their cable from. Try calling them up for project pricing. Try calling them up if they sent you the wrong stuff or you have an issue with the cable that's not certified. Try calling them up. See how much they're going to help you Distribution they're going to help you. They're going to help you walk through and be your point of contact for the manufacturer. And they've probably already gone through it maybe once or twice or three times and know how to handle that kind of stuff. There's always a huge advantage to buying from distribution that a lot of people just I don't know why they don't get it.

Speaker 3: 28:30

There is a huge advantage there. See what I did there.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Yeah, I did.

Speaker 3: 28:35

Oh, definitely that was cool. That was cool. Utilize the channel. The channel is there to help you. Right Distribution knows what they're doing. They are your logistics partner. They are your person to make sure that you're getting what you need in a timely manner. The pricing is great and they will protect you. So make sure that you are. You know, having those dialogues and those conversations.

Speaker 1: 28:56

Right, so is Advantage doing anything because of this? Are we maybe expanding your inventory or adjusting your pricing structures?

Speaker 3: 29:03

Well, we are expanding, not necessarily because of the tariffs.

Speaker 3: 29:07

We have, you know, bought the suite next door, as most people know, and we will plan on expanding into a new sharm, and so we're increasing our inventory, just as a natural state of expansion and growth for our business, which is a great thing.

Speaker 3: 29:20

But as far as the tariffs go, I would say no, we really haven't done too much. You know I have close conversations with Vertical Cable, Advanced Digital Cable, wadenet, fearnet, all the cabling manufacturers that we currently stock here in Marietta, and so you know, as soon as they hear something, I will hear something, and most of the time I have get enough partnerships and relationships with these guys that they do give us full warning whenever we are going to have an increase. So when that time comes, I will notify my customer base, the integrators that I work with on a regular basis, and I will let them know in a timely manner. But at this time I'm not panic firing. I would encourage all of you watching not to panic buy either, because that doesn't help anybody, it doesn't help cash flow and it doesn't help the industry as a whole, and so there's no sense in it. So, if you can, just you know, keep business as normal and take it a day at a time and when we know, I guess we'll all know and figure out what's going on.

Speaker 1: 30:14

There are some people out there that they are what I call overthinkers. My wife's one of them. She overanalyzes so much stuff and I can tell you right now, if she was a logistics person for a low-volume company, she'd be trying to find all the different kinds of resources she can find about this tariff. So, other than waiting for you to call the low-volume contracts hey look, there's going to be a price increase. There's not going to be a price increase. What other methods do you propose to liberal arts contractors that they can do to stay up on this tariff situation?

Speaker 3: 30:47

Well, definitely watch the news and kind of watch and see what this administration does, use basic common sense, and just kind of watch that. If you see that the tariffs are going to come through and they're reporting it on all the major news outlets, yeah, maybe it's time to place a larger bulk order. But at this time that's not happened yet. So I would just, you know, keep your ears open, close to the ground, have those relationships, people that you can trust, and go from there.

Speaker 1: 31:13

Excellent, great, great subject. I appreciate you coming on today, kelly.

Speaker 3: 31:17

Well, thank you so much for having me. This was fun.

Speaker 1: 31:20

See, I told you it wouldn't be that hard. I told you it's just like a Zoom call, it's just a little different. I need to bring you on because I want to do a show on a couple shows on myth busting. I see a lot of. I'm all over social media, as you know, and I'm in all of the platforms, all of the groups and and and I. I get tired of hearing the same arguments all the time. Right, like one of one of them. I'll just give you a hint, maybe. Maybe you and I can, can. Are you? You and me advantage can talk. Come on, do another show. Talk about this. Cat six a's double the price of cat six.

Speaker 3: 31:56

No, it's not no, it's not double. It's not double, it's not double.

Speaker 1: 32:01

But here's the problem, because I haven't. I'm not an estimator anymore, so I don't have. You know, I don't. I'm not pricing this stuff, so I don't have the most current pricing, but you guys sell it.

Speaker 3: 32:10

So definitely help you with that. So let's get back together, let's get some topics that people questions to you. So anything that we can help with I'd love to come back on sometime.

Speaker 1: 32:21

I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Lee told me that you guys were expanding out there, that you were taking over the spot next door Because he said he went to that open house that you guys had Actually I owe him a phone call but he said you guys were expanding. I was like that's good, I'm glad to hear that.

Speaker 3: 32:40

Because when I was there, you guys were. You, you do it. So many people there. It's a good problem to have, and we also uh, I'm speaking prematurely, but we are planning on opening an office in Texas, so, um, where?

Speaker 1: 32:48

in Texas where?

Speaker 3: 32:49

uh, we're looking at the Dallas Fort Worth method.

Speaker 1: 32:53

So that's another huge market.

Speaker 3: 32:55

It is so. I've been spending a lot of time in Texas. I was actually just there last week. So if you are a Texas integrator, hit me up, so we will be in that market very, very soon.

Speaker 1: 33:07

Yeah, I used to live in Plano, so I'm familiar with that market too.

Speaker 3: 33:10

Nice, let's cable with pride.

Speaker 2: 33:19

In the world of ICT. Let's ride this tide. Thank you for joining us on let's Talk Cable and stay tuned for more episodes filled with innovation. Keep connecting, keep achieving. Until next time.