CCCT with Matt Ludwig from Matrix New World Engineering Video

CCCT with Matt Ludwig, Director of Federal Services from Matrix New World Engineering, that is a growing business with project experience throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. A company of engineering and science experts who focus on some of the nation’s most pressing long-term challenges, Matrix addresses the issues of climate change, water supply, disaster response, and urban revitalization. Applying expertise to areas where these challenges are becoming particularly acute, Matrix continues to further focus its services and expertise on these and other emerging National Strategic Issues, where solving environmental challenges through careful planning and engineering is becoming an indispensable measure of success. Matrix headquarters is located in Florham Park, NJ. Regional offices are located in: New York, NY • Eatontown, NJ • Phoenix, AZ • Prescott, AZ • Baton Rouge, LA • New Orleans, LA • Essex, CT

https://mnwe.com #engineering #federalcontracting #environmentalengineering #water #planning #revitalizing

Transcription

Hey there, Commercial Construction Coffee Talk fans. Thanks for chiming in. My name’s David Korsen, and I’m your host. I’m also the publisher and editor of Commercial Construction and Renovation magazine. This is what it used to look like; we’re digital now, but I’m breaking the archives out. This is July and August 2014. Got Mr. Cal Patel, president of Crestron Crest Point companies. Actually, hoteliers, another good-looking issue. You know, it’s always nice to have it in hand. So let me see what I was doing. I was actually, uh, at one of the NCAA Division One games. I’m not sure this was the year they lost to Duke in 1312. I think the following year we won it, won the big First National Championship and brought it up west of the Mississippi. So, oh, but always good to hold the magazine and see what was going on. Actually, I had a little more hair back then, but, you know, every year I get less and less, it seems like, but I still got a little left up here, so that’s good. I hope everybody’s had a great Labor Day weekend. It’s, uh, we’re going into another weekend. Coming up, Hurricane Irma, looking outside, and it’s hot and humid in the ATL and in Hotlanta. But, uh, all in all, I can’t complain because it rained for a couple of weeks. It’s been nice, and, you know, the hurricane that came through Florida and South Georgia just kind of missed Atlanta, so we’re lucky about that. I feel for all the people down there that are cleaning up still, and, you know, storms come in and then people forget about it. It’s kind of like, you know, the fires in Maui, you know, they happen and people just forget about that stuff. And it’s just, um, you know, such a shame that, uh, you know, Mother Nature does all that stuff. But, uh, yeah, that storm that came through last week, it ripped through the panhandle of Florida and went through Southern Georgia and Valdosta and South Carolina. And, uh, we were, you know, we were lucky here in Atlanta because, normally when those storms come in, we’ll get the tail, we’ll get the bottom side of the storm, and the wind and the rain and it just wreaks havoc. So, uh, but I feel for all the people out there. Keep the faith, you will rebuild, you’ll come back, and, you know, you’re gonna live another day, so, uh, just hang in there and stay positive. So, and, uh, you know, we’re all rooting for you. The same with, you know, Maui out in the Pacific. But, uh, all in all, uh, listen, it’s college football started last weekend. Unbelievable, some really good games.

Deion Sanders won, for, you know, the Buffs. I mean, way to go. Everybody was rooting against him, and, uh, he proved them all wrong. He got pro football starting up this weekend. I know all the flags are gonna be running, and, uh, I got the PLL championship in professional lacrosse. And before you know it, the ice hockey boys are gonna be on the frozen pond in the next month, and the season, the NHL is gonna start, and the b-ball guys, hardwoods, and it’s just gonna be, you know, an amazing, I keep saying it, I can’t believe it’s already September. I just thought it was January when I was running in the new year, and here I am, boom, time flies. I mean, I have fun, so time flies when you’re having fun, but it’s just, this year is going so quick. I can’t believe, you know, you’re looking, you got Halloween coming up, and then you got Thanksgiving, and then you’re gonna roll right into the Christmas holidays, you know, you know, you know, Hanukkah or, you know, Festivus, whatever, and then, boom, you’re gonna close this year out, and then, boom, we’re gonna be in 2024 before you know it, and it’s gonna go like that. But, uh, I know a lot of the, a lot, listen, all your retailers out there, I know you’re trying to get your stores done before Thanksgiving, so I know you’re all busy out there, jamming, so trying to stay on time with projects. So with that said, today, I’ve got a gentleman from the great state of New.

Jersey up, actually in North Jersey in Florham Park. His name is Matt Ludwig, and he’s the director of federal services for Matrix Engineering. Now, the reason why I had Matt on today is, you know, with all the shortages in labor and products and everything else that’s been hindering construction over the last couple of years, he’s in, you know, getting things done with construction flow. And he’s also an advocate for getting kids involved in skilled trades and so forth. And we all know that we need people to, number one, replace the people that are retiring, but also there’s so many jobs out there that aren’t being filled. And without labor, we can’t build anything. And that’s just the reality of it. So, Matt, say hi from Florham Park up in New Jersey to our listeners out there. Hey, good morning, David, and tell everybody out there we’re not in Hotlanta or in, you know, hot New Jersey right now. We’re peeking in around 95 degrees. But thanks for having me on the show today. Yeah, yeah, you know, I was watching the Weather Channel last night, and they were showing the United States, and I guess they have a little cold spell up in the Upper Midwest and the Plains. In Minneapolis, it’s gonna be, I think, 73, and it was like a fall Christmas day. But it was 98 last week. But then they were showing the Northeast, and my sister lives up in Long Island, up out in Huntington. And she says it’s been so hot up north. I mean, it’s just been really, really hot. And it’s going to be hot over the next week or so. So I was looking at the temps and stuff, and it’s still the dog days of summer, even though it’s, you know, and you still got some heat left, you know. So, you know, hot New Jersey, yeah, yeah, it doesn’t ring as well as hot Hotlanta, but it’s still hot here. We loaded the kids up on the bus and set them off to the school to start. But you’re right, summer is still here, construction season is still upon us. Yeah, you know, we start school here, you know, I grew up outside of Philly, so Labor Day was basically, you know, you go back to school after Labor Day weekend.

Here in the South, they go to school like the first week in August. So we’ve been in school now for over a month. And, you know, the school buses are on, the traffic’s back. And, you know, they get out probably the middle of May. But, you know, I knew that a lot of my buds and stuff, they’re like, “Oh yeah, I gotta get the kids, you know, the school buses are starting to say, you know, you’re back into the routine.” And but it’s good to see, you know, that, you know, that you say the construction’s, you know, busy because most of the people that I talk to, they are all busy. I mean, they’ve had a lot of, you know, over the last couple of years, you think things were doom and gloom, but, you know, the construction sector, it’s just boom. Some people had the best years that they’ve had over the last couple of years. And I’ve had clients say, “Look, if I had more supers or PMs, I’d probably be able to bite off more of the apple.” But I don’t want to do that because you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. But it’s an issue. And the reason, you know, when your publicist sent me your bio and I saw that you were an advocate for, you know, skilled trades and, you know, getting people involved, I am totally. I mean, I had shop class. I remember, you know, when I was in junior high, outside of, you know, they had us running around and we were gonna, we were an engine or they, you were the piston and you were this. Or we had to do wood shop. I built a toolbox for my father and it was made out of wood. And, you know, we varnished it and, you know, we used the saw and then back then you used, you know, slide rules and stuff. You didn’t, you know, you didn’t do all that stuff. And my son, he went to, he went to a mechanic school. So he works, he works for Boeing. And he learned welding, sheet metal, you know, avionics on anything that has a jet engine.

And it’s just, and now he’s working on 350-million-dollar airplanes. And, you know, when they get the lit for delivery as well as anything that comes back that gets needed to be tweaked. He could be in the cockpit, he could be in the wheel well. I mean, it’s just, it’s just unbelievable, you know, to see what he, you know, you can do with your hands. And I always tell people, look, if you can go into, you know, if you’re out there and you’re, you know, you’re in construction or you’re a plumber or you’re electrician or any of the schools when they have career day, you know, a lot of police officers, you know, firemen go in there and to pitch it because if there’s 30 kids in that class and we can get one or two of them to think about it, you know, before they’re in high school and they get this thing, oh, I’ve got to go to Harvard or whatever when you can, when you can go into the trades and build yourself a nice business whether you want to work for someone or be an entrepreneur, we need all these people. I mean, just in the airline industry alone, there’s 600,000 technicians that are going to retire, you know, over the next couple of years and you can’t leave an airplane on the tarmac and just sit there for years. It’s got to be maintained and um, so I’m all for the trades and and really that’s really what really what I wanted to talk to you about, you know, where your passion came from and so forth so the way we’re going to do this is I do I do the interview in three parts. You’ll tell your story where you grew up where you went to school and how you ended up there at Matrix uh, then we’ll talk about, you know, lessons learned over the last couple years and we’ll talk about your passion for, you know, the skilled trades and then you’ll leave one positive thought or phrase with our listener nursing your contact info and then we’ll close it out so with that said Matt tell us your story and uh, I’m sure everybody out there commercial construction Coffee Talk will enjoy it the floor is yours.

Alright so my story is uh, I’ve had pretty much a I’ll call it a roller coaster as a career you know I started out and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself um so I ended up you know I I did well in math so I decided to go to the local engineering school so I went to New Jersey Institute of Technology oh, nit yeah in in Newark New Jersey and uh started out as a chemical engineer and then really found myself that I enjoyed the civil engineering aspect of it um and so became a civil engineer came to actually work for the company Matrix a new world that I’m working for right now um and I too had a lot more hair back in the day um and it’s amazing how it disappears on you um but you know my career started out with them um and was doing a lot of I’ll call it a little bit more of the design work in the office and then I was given the opportunity to go out on a construction project site to oversee and Implement part of the design that I had worked on and at that point it was a real big transitional period for me because seeing what I had designed and and you know the ironworker told me right away he’s like I don’t know what engineer designed this but it’s wrong and and really learning from the Tradesmen and pointing out and helping me to kind of modify my design to so that he could actually implement it was it was a great moment in life so I spent uh quite a few years with Matrix and then I got an opportunity to go work for the Army Corps of Engineers on a large hazardous waste site um.

And to be actually on the job managing the job site and that was a great great four years um managing this project getting it executed large hazardous waste cleanup very technically difficult um and then you know out of nowhere I had a former colleague of mine call me off and he said hey I’m in Germany wanted to come to Germany I got a job for you so packed up my bags moved to Germany um told my parents you know I’ll probably only be there for a year or two um my mom was upset my dad was actually stationed in Germany during his military career, and she said, “I’m not sure if you’ll ever come back because it’s really nice there and you’ll have a great time,” and I said, “Ah, it’ll be just a year.” Well, seven years passed. I ended up staying. I was ended up when I departed, I was the head of all of their military programs from the Army Corps, so I got that, you know, manage different projects all over Europe, um, Africa, and it just gets to really see different construction projects going on, um, dealing with different materials that you see in different countries and different code requirements. They’re just a really unique experience for myself, and then, you know, after the seven years, it was about time to come home, and I heard about a very interesting, uh, large construction project that was going to be happening at West Point, New York, and so I put my name into the hat to see if I could be the, uh, the project, uh, resident engineer on the job and was offered the position, so I got to come back and build this really alcoholic historic Monumental project and just a fabulous project. Um, got to, you know, it was a design-build, so I got to use a bit of my engineering and then also overseeing, you know, the construction activities and really the total integration of this really fabulous facility at West Point.

So that was a great four years, and then became the chief of construction for the New York District, um, after applying for a job and got to manage a real diverse portfolio of projects and Civil Works and environmental and Military vertical construction projects and great experience and ran into my old boss back at Matrix, uh, during that time period, and he said, “Hey, love to have you come back,” and really just kind of went full circle, um, and moved back to actually my the house that I grew up in. I ended up buying the house for my parents. Oh, that’s awesome, yeah, back in New Jersey. They, you know, I own a farm, um, so I, you know, things are always breaking, so I’m always getting to, you know, work on tractors and getting to, you know, kind of still get my hands dirty on the farm, but now I’m running our federal program, so it’s been a great a great career so far. I still love, I’m very passionate about what I do and I love to see things get built. I mean, that to me, at the end of the day, that’s why I love my job and I love to see something get built and repair and fixed or you know, um, you know the whole process being implemented.

Family History
Yeah, you know, my family, we’ve been in, uh, uh, demolition construction since 1888, and, uh, it’s like sixth generation. My grandfather, he was underneath Patton in World War II, he was a combat engineer, and he rebuilt all of the bridges that the Allies took out, you know, during the war and then was involved in um, the, uh, you know, the rebuilding of Europe, uh, but we have these old Super Eight movies of, uh, all the tanks and the Jeeps coming back, uh, and, you know, they were, you know, we were recycling using sustainability for before sustainability was even a word, but you know, we were junk guys, you know, it was another man’s gold. So, but we have, you know, tanks and jeeps, you know, that they were, you know, settling torches in the scrap yard, and, you know, as a grandson, well, I had no choice, when we got our license at 16, time to go in the scrap yard and work for Uncle Frank, who was the Superman. If you weren’t there at 7:00 a.m., and you were in big trouble, man, my Uncle Frank rest in peace, you were one tough son of gum, but I learned a ton of stuff from you and I shovel this past this, I laid railroad tracks, I mean, I did all sorts of stuff, and, uh, but you know, I had, you know, that was the way it was, I was brought, you know, but you know, I was brought up military, I got up early in.

the morning and put the flag up and at night I took it down, you know, we, and uh, you know, thanks to your, your parent, your dad, you know, who was in the military, we appreciate that service as well as you know, you know, you’re doing some military stuff, so, uh, you know, I’m sure that there were some, you know, Air Force bases in there and all sorts of stuff that you did all over, you know, there, so, uh, you know, and it’s amazing that, uh, uh, you know, my wife and I, we have a federal contracting company, so we, you know, we’ve been on little stuff. I’m not doing what you were doing, you know, I go up and I want to do a little pavement work or take some air filters off the top of the roof, but, uh, it, you know, working for the government is the biggest contractor in the world. They’ve been building for over 200 years and you got to do it just the way that they want and, uh, it’s been really interesting to see, uh, you know, some of the projects that, you know, that, you know, we’ve done. You know, we did a prison and we changed some security doors out, uh, we did a boat ramp up in Vermont, I did some hardware for, uh, uh, I think it was the, uh, I think it was the DNR in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Anyway, the bottom line is there’s so many jobs out there and, uh, you know, we need the, we need more Federal contractors but you really need to know.

West Point
How to, how the system works, you know, it’s different than just, you know, building something but doing a job on West Point I mean for those who have never seen West Point it is it is the most beautiful place especially in the fall because all the trees are colorful it’s on the water, uh, and uh, there’s so much Heritage, uh, you know Patton was there and you know there were some of the greatest Generals in military personnel, you know walked out of West Point and uh, you know the Black Knights, there’s so much pride there, you know, in their Athletics that uh, I would have loved to have had the opportunity like you had to do something on there and put your footprint as all our future officers go there and you know you can say yeah I built that, you know that that must be the greatest feeling in the world am I right, yeah, and that’s what really brought me back from you know I loved my time in Europe was not you know looking to to the park but understanding and hearing about this project was what inspired me to okay it’s time to go home to do something that uh, yeah kind of put your your stamp on history and you know I’ve done you know smaller commercial things when I first started out and I think my first project I ever built has actually had been torn down and rebuilt and I know building something like what I built up there it’s going to be there yeah it’s going to be there forever you know they’ll maintain it it’s not going anywhere you know it’s not become another brand or whatever it’s there it’s a it’s a unique thing so uh oh that that’s that’s great well you know since you’ve been a world you know World traveler and you’ve seen you know construction materials from different sites and and and so forth um let’s talk about the last three years though uh you know uh Mar in 2020 in the beginning there’s cranes all over the place low unemployment everybody’s booming and uh then you know we you know boom we get hit by a two by four with Rusty Nails no one really knows what’s going on here we are three and a half years later we’re still kind of talking about it but we’re you know we’re out of the tunnel um there there’s some labor shortages there’s some product shortages and uh but you know and all in all uh you know we’re out of the woods in my opinion and um so talk how you know your firm and uh weather the storm and uh and then we’ll talk about uh you know the vocational schools and so forth yeah so you know I I was still with the army we’re actually uh you know.

Three years ago and this all happened and uh was appointed because of The alternate care facilities that needed to get built in the New York area so they you know don’t need the uh the Bazaar and and basically told me to put together a team and start a building so did you build that did you build the uh the one in Javits and uh Central Park you did Central Park yeah no we didn’t do Central Park I did uh Javits Westchester um and a couple out on Long Island so we did four uh in total but we looked at a bunch of different ones so that was an interesting time period um to try to you know nobody knew what was going on you know the industry as a whole scene that kind of I’ll say kind of cinch back and then at the same time while this was going on we needed to Surge and start preparing for what you know what might come and so the the construction industry reacted so quickly it was okay we need to build you know 10 000 square feet of bed space and and people were coming out of the woodwork um it was it was so impressive to see um of the the intensity and and the work. I mean at one point or on the one facility I think we had over 200 people working on 12 hour shifts and they were just come and they did their job they were proud of what they’re doing they were trying you know who knew what was going to happen um and they worked and they and they didn’t really there was no it was just they got the job done and the construction industry to me was at that point I was so impressed with the Tradesmen though just getting it done um and you know and so we had a little bit of a law you know there was that and then we started that and then for me it took about six weeks and then we were back to work you know it was important that we were still repairing roads and we were you know building buildings that were half constructed so the construction industry really stepped up and and did their part to to kind of keep pushing the industry forward a lot of contractors struggle during that time you know all of a sudden on the manufacturing basis they seemed to be that’s where the it seemed to really impact us it was I didn’t see the labor shortage as much but more on trying to get you know that switch either or you know project that was going to be there in eight weeks now all of a sudden you know 16 weeks and oh by the way it costs maybe twice as much of the materials they were bought them somewhere else so that was the biggest impact that I saw um and yet the construction industry just pushed on through it and it’s you know it kind of made me you know it’s one of those moments where you’re like hey I’m proud I’m an American how we just kept kept on going and getting things done you know yeah people listen the First Responders listen you know.

The Contractors
Anybody you know police firemen you know paramedics you know all those guys they were you know they they had to go to work you know just like if there’s a blizzard you got to get you got to get yourself there but a lot of the contractors that I knew you know they put their masks on they got on the plane and they you know you know if they if their project was made was made essential they had to get out there they had to figure out how to make their you know their their site safe whatever you know rules and regulations depending on what state you were in really determined on you know how your projects was going to go but the bottom line is the contractors they were they were like uh you know the Cavalry to be honest with you because they just kind of you know put the you know I’m getting on the plane I’m gonna go do my thing you know like it’s just a normal everyday because who else is going to get it done and uh people don’t realize that you know it’s just like you know the guys that are driving the trucks to bring food to the stores all those people that you that you take for granted that you don’t know.

You don’t know how things get done. All of those guys really didn’t have a choice. They had to go do, you know, listen whether it was uh, you know, whatever precautions that were put into place, it was that okay, I’m dusting myself off. I don’t know what it is but I’m putting my boots on. I’m gonna go to work today. I’m gonna get it done, you know, whatever I need to do, I’m gonna get it done. So I’m right there with you, you know. I mean, it was amazing to talk to someone, you know, I’m like, yeah, you know, I didn’t really miss a beat. The only thing I had to do was wear a mask on the plane and then I had to make my site. But we know, we still had to get things done and they just went and did it. And it was, uh, so I can totally see where you’re coming from with that. Uh, uh, you know, that pride and, uh, yeah, yes, the American way. You need the tin knocker to be on site to actually hang, hang the ductwork. It’s not gonna, you’re not gonna do it from the comfort of your home. Um, and so it was, yeah, it was a real impressive time for the industry. And I, I sometimes feel like most people didn’t, they didn’t realize it. They didn’t see it. Um, it was behind the scenes, you didn’t, they didn’t see it, you know, yeah, you know, when, uh, during that time, we, uh, I was, uh, we were, my put my house up for sale and we took it off and we had to do the basement. And, uh, talking about product shortages, uh, those little, uh, gang boxes, you know, they’re like, you know, 50, 60 cents, you know, they went up to a dollar fifty or a dollar twenty-five. Uh, we were, you know, I probably put in about 2,200 square feet in the house downstairs and, um, you know, just, uh, you know, 12-2, 14-2 gauge wire, you couldn’t find anything, you couldn’t find primer, you know, because, you know, you can’t paint without primer. And there were all these things and it, and if you found the electrical wire, you know, it used to be about sixty dollars and it was 120, you know, and, uh, I remember one night, I, I had the painter coming over and, uh, uh, I couldn’t find any primer and I called Lowe’s, Home Depot, and I finally found it. So I ran over there and I got like the last, you know, four or five-gallon, you know, 20-gallon jugs, whatever they were, and, uh, like I’m gonna get this done because I got the guys coming over here, I don’t have to reschedule because if I lose them, I’m going to lose them on another project, you know, and, uh, so, uh, I

I told now listen, my budget’s nothing like yours, but, but you just don’t realize how many, how that, that product shortage, if you’re on a deadline and a tight schedule and whatever you got coming and those little, little items that you need can just hold up everything, your cycle and, uh, and, uh, it was, it was, it was shocking sometimes when I go in there and looking for stuff, uh, that you know, it wasn’t there or it wasn’t in the amounts that I needed and, uh, and little by little, I mean the first thing I did, I redid my deck, uh, you know, right in March of 2020. I told my son I’m like, hey, we’re ripping that, we’re ripping these planks out, we’re gonna redo the deck and we’re gonna stain it and, uh, he was laughing, dad, why aren’t you a contractor? I’m like, I am, I one, I, I did all that stuff I just haven’t done it in a while, you know, he’s like, you should be, you should go back and do this, I’m like, and I still have my Erector Set, I’ve built plenty of stuff with that, you know, but, uh, anyway, uh, but he was, you know, he was like, oh wow, you know, and and then he went to, when he went to school, he learned woodworking so now he comes like, oh you know, but he would come home and he said hey, I took this lead block and I made it into a hydraulic hose. I was so proud to see all that stuff all the little things that he was, he was, you know, doing and, uh, uh, but, uh, yeah, I, I get the, the labor thing I, I mean, uh, I was amazed our project, uh, you know, probably took a little longer than I probably wanted to do a basement but, uh, uh, it was, uh, it was an interesting time just to see that you know and and um luckily my wife she’s an interior design residential contractor so she has a nice crew but she takes care of them like gold she was feeding them pays them well treats them like gold because she didn’t want anybody else grabbing her Subs you know for her job so because there were.

Other people, you know, competing for their work and, uh, their services. So, um, talk about your, uh, your passion for the vocation or the skilled trades, you know, how did you get into that? Yeah, so I mean, my, my, it kind of came out of just, on a being on construction projects, I, I noticed that, you know, the, the age and the entry point, it seemed like a lot of people just, you know, hey, you graduate high school, you go off to college, you see a lot of the vocational schools going away. I always felt like it was a bit of astigmatism towards going to a vocational school. But then when I, you know, you know, I’ve gotten a little bit older, a little bit more mature, less hair, um, and you know, some of the most successful people I know are friends of mine that have become general contract lawyers, um, that decided to kind of go that alternate route and decided to do trade or and they’ve done it extremely well for themselves on a financial basis. They’ve also done well on, you know, I, I feel like the quality of life, you know, it is hard work, don’t, don’t get me wrong, but they’re, they’re getting to be outside, they’re getting to, you know, see the, the results of their work. And, you know, looking at that and then just being in the industry, just seeing the, the population, you know, of, you know, Tradesmen getting older and not seeing a lot of people coming in, really kind of an alarm went off on me because you need to really train the Next Generation and if they don’t have that, that tool, that you’re training, then that skill set starts, you know, disappearing. Um, and you know, the last time I checked, we’re still building every day. Um, and you know, things are getting, you know, all the bridges here in the, in the Northeast, you know, they’re kind of ending their, their maturity, um, in lifespan and, uh, you know, and I feel like the industry has a piece for everybody.

There’s so much going on right now as far as in the technology side so even from a computer science there’s been a lot of scheduling the jobs we do are very complex now and so you can even, you know, you can be a computer science person and still get into construction industry, um, and and then understand how things are being built and then get up, we do need people to put things together of course, um, at the end of the day, I mean, it’s so, so important. Um, you know, I recently, I rented a pretty large, uh, excavator for my property, um, and my nephew, 14 years old, said, hey, I don’t know how to run this thing but I’d love to learn and I, yeah, I was like, you know what? And he said, I watched YouTube last night so I have a pretty basic understanding of how to run it. So let me jump up in there and I, like, brought him out and I said, well, I’m digging out a foundation for something on my property, give it a go, you know, what can happen? It was pretty wide open and I’ll tell you by the end of the week of him being in it I think he now will suck that is his he’s going in that direction, um, and I think it’s just a little Hands-On um, and understanding and enjoying it, um, and you know, at the end of the week when I had to return it he’s like rent it for like another week so that I can continue and I was like well, I actually do have another project so I you know I put them to work and you know at the end of the two weeks the, the young man can really run the machine and and that, that also kind of helps inspire me to like this is this has got to happen more and more without.

Matt’s Story
You, you know, my son, he, he always was working with his hands and, uh, he was taken apart engines and he flipped some bikes and cars and, uh, they had, they had. They had a trade school at the high school actually. He was going to go to um uh Riverside Military Academy, which is north up here on Gainesville, and I got him in and and uh I lived away at boarding school for four years. I loved it. I was like well can you get me right across the lake, you know, and you’re in the hotel company you were going to be a lacrosse player that was called a hotel company and I said look they’re all waiting for you you’re gonna be the Big Man on Campus because they all want to get off campus on the weekend we got plenty of room at the house you could bring the house team over and hang you’re gonna be built that Brotherhood but he didn’t want to do it and he went back to the high school and uh they had a trade school but he didn’t have the mathematics uh grades you know to get in so I had a big meeting with the principal and uh and uh the consultant whatever they’re called and I said look if there’s one kid in this there’s 3 500 kids at this high school you know big Athletics you know if you’re an athlete 4-0 you kind of get lost and I said look if there’s one kid that you want to put in this class he’s not interested in history he’s not interested in English he wants to work with his hands you know that’s what he was into so I said if there’s one person that you want to get in into this class this Automotive gig it’s him all right so they did you know they wouldn’t put him in there so I yanked him out his senior year and he did online and he worked in the local garage he was a waiter he you know he worked and then and then he wouldn’t become an auto mechanic I said well you need your own shop if you can make money or else you’re just gonna be you know you’re not gonna make the big bucks then you want to be a motorcycle mechanic and um I said well if you’re gonna do that you gotta live you got to do it where they’re gonna ride bikes all year you know because you want to be working on them all year uh and uh and then we took the tour of this thing called aim Aviation Institute of Maintenance and they’ve got about 20 schools around the country

And they teach you become an FAA certified amp uh airframe and powertrain and um uh anyway uh he got into the school to your program but like I said and I I tried to push myself you know what if we’re going to do something let’s go find a guy has no kids and he’s a plumber because everybody’s got to use water okay you got to cook with it you gotta wash with it you gotta wear your gray everything everything revolves around water 96 of your body’s water or it’s got some sort of water in it so you know being a plumber and he goes oh the the plumber jokes you know and I’m like listen when you’re making millions of dollars you don’t care about the jokes okay you can all right you’re gonna you’re gonna write your ticket you know and uh so uh but he went the fa and uh and uh now he can he can work on anything that has a jet engine and uh and he also has all the other uh and let me tell you I looked at some of the curriculum that were in his books I mean he was at you know you know eight you know Lyft physics all of that stuff I mean it was it was serious stuff and um you know to get your A P license after you graduate school it takes you about a year to take the five tests three are written and then two are hands on and um uh it was grueling but now he’s got it and uh um you know he’s he’s he’s doing stuff with his hand he’s proud of what he does and uh uh you know he’s in Charleston but I wish I I keep telling him I’m like look you really should start going into the schools I’m sure you know Boeing would like you to do this and go in on career day and say Hey you know I was just like you guys you know a couple years ago I’m not much older than you but I went this route and you know I could stay at Boeing or I could go or whatever he’s actually you know uh he’s getting his pilot’s license too so he’s actually gonna you know be worth more he’s got his amp Annie he could be a pilot mechanic you know on site so uh you know and he’s only 24 you know and but it was so cool to see him uh just go for something that he loved and you know I remember yanking him out when he said you know getting him up trying to get him out you know getting them to school by seven o’clock and he you know now if he has to be there man I don’t.

Have to do that stuff it was like a complete 180 you know when he did something he loved, right, being passionate about what you’ve been doing or we’ll get you out of bed if you’ve been having you get there, do it and and to me you know I I feel like there’s a lot of Alternatives but you know kids don’t know about all these other alternative um things that they can you know pursue and and you know your son’s a perfect example I I think you should send them back and you know and talk to you know his former shop teacher in the students and he’s you know there’s a lot of offerings um yeah the shop clubs was pretty cool because you went uh you went to the high school for a couple of hours and then they bust you over to the to the tech center and then you worked uh you know went to school for I don’t know two or three hours and then you know the high school gets out about 2 2 15 or whatever so you know it wasn’t like he was at you know it was a good program they just he just didn’t have the grace I was like look you know uh I remember when my you know I went and uh when I was younger my father he was a pilot and he took me to catch 22. for those who don’t know it was an old war movie but anyway it was a classic one anyway uh and I think it was R-rated and I was I was a little young little kid and uh the the lady that was selling she goes hey you can’t bring that kid in there and he goes doesn’t have airplanes in there and she goes oh yeah he goes don’t worry about he’ll love it and we got in you know so that was my mentality of just like you said you had the Bobcat A14 get in there you’re 14 years old time to learn how to run the Bobcat that you know that’s an awesome story right there you know yeah and yeah there’s a lot of like I said there’s a lot of ways out it’s kind of learn um you know there’s the Hands-On it’s not everybody will get that opportunity to get behind the excavator you know I don’t I don’t remember when I was in in high school that you know they showed up with a you know a large cat and said go out and drive it around you know but you know it was one of those things you had the opportunity and and I think that’s kind of changed in any direction yeah I’ve got I’ve got a poison ivy uh uh uh poison ivy job that I’m bidding on down here my my uh sister’s uh partner he’s uh he’s been doing Poison Ivy and bamboo removal for years.

I mean he’s like an expert anyway he’s since just since we’re registered in the state you know as a federal he’s like look you uh if anybody I get any leads in Atlanta you go handle these things so I went out a couple days ago and did the site visit on Tuesday I did it and uh this whole backyard was just overgrown and and you know they had another company come out oh they were going to spray and I was like look ma’am the listen it’s the spray worked everybody would be doing themselves okay but you got so much stuff here I got to get a bobcat to come in here she goes are you gonna drive it I said I probably could but I’m gonna hire I’m gonna I’m gonna get the bobcat and I’m gonna find someone that’s an expert because you got some trees and I don’t want to get you know I don’t want to mark up any of the trees and so forth but if we get the bobcat in here I can clear this thing out in about three hours you know and get it all done for you and uh and then do everything else that you know that needs to be done but you’re gonna have to do the maintenance to maintain it and um but uh if I didn’t if I didn’t have that that the way I was brought up you know just to go do stuff uh I you know I probably wouldn’t want to go and listen doing poison ivy removal it’s not it’s not it’s not the fan of heart for people okay we wear Tyvek suits goggles gloves you know it’s it’s it’s 100 degrees it you’re it’s hot the only good thing here is a lot of chorizo it’ll be in the shade but you know um it’s uh it’s really hard work people go what do you make fifty dollars an hour I’m like you take your car to the dealer right what do you pay 120 150.

Uh, that’s where we make, you know, we’re going, we’re doing some. I feel like Mike Rowe Junior, you know, when, like, I’m like, “This is dirt, this is a dirty job.” Okay, not many people want to do this stuff, you know, but my, you know, my brother-in-law used to do it and he’s an expert, you know, so I take videos, “What do I need to do here?” He’s like, “Go through it and get it done.” So, like, okay, I’ll go do it. So, uh, if, um, if someone wanted to touch base with you, you know, about, uh, you know, what you’re doing, uh, you know, at, uh, Matrix and bump some, you know, ideas or, or anything that comes, how would someone reach out to you? I mean, you can email me directly at Tammy Ludwig at mnwd.com or you can look on our webpage at Matrix New World engineering, um, and you can find us, find out what we’re working on. And I mean, like, if you have any specific questions for me, for, and, well, there you go. So if you have any questions you want to talk civil engineering or Air Force bases or how to lay a Runway or any, because this gentleman, he’s been all over the world doing this stuff and, uh, or, or talk about historical Federal, uh, projects, uh, because he’s, you know, did the West Point gig, uh, you know, uh, give, uh, get this gentleman a call and he will help you. If someone wants to get in touch with me and get me a David C at CCR hyphen mag.com. And, uh, listen, the publicist reached out to me once again, I know you hate me saying this, but, uh, the, you know, Matt got on here because his publicist sent me the note and then I, like, the vocational aspect of what was in the press release and I was like, yeah, let’s, you know, I want to get him on here and, uh, so, uh, this is how you get on and listen, we, we get a couple million people a month that, uh, hit our site. They’re not coming there because it looks cool. They’re, they’re, they’re, they’re looking for stuff, construction, design, build, maintained, all that kind of stuff. So if you have something, could be an anniversary for your company, it could be new Personnel, it could be a charity event that you did, what have you, send it to me. Very tough to get in the magazine, but we have all these other media social media platforms where we post every day and, uh, you know, my turnaround time, my tat is probably, you know, a couple of days, but we’ll come back here, my digital specialist Kim well, and we’ll come back to you, we’ll post it, we send the URL, you share it, it’s a win-win for SEO, which is search engine optimization, and, uh, let us be the judge.

I don’t always say it’s like playing the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket you can’t win, okay, and the lottery here in Georgia, they, they help the education, so it’s worth my couple bucks my donation every week to do it and if I win, I’d still be working because I’m not going to be able to sit back and hit golf balls or fish in The Lakes behind, uh, you know, Matt’s background there or get some bass. I got to be busy. I got to do something working, you know, till the end and, um, uh, so, but send us stuff and, uh, you know, we’d love to hear from you and, uh, you know, like I said, we look at everything. So Matt before we finish up, uh, any final thoughts or a positive thought that you’d like to leave with all our listeners out there on commercial construction coffee talk? Yeah, I, you know, my son plays lacrosse in soccer so I’m going to kind of go with, uh, you know, my, my, uh, hero with Pele, Love Soccer. I really got into it on with all my time living in Europe. It’s, uh, yeah, it’s definitely the sport over there but deck, I think his, and I may butcher his, he said that success is no accident. It’s, uh, based on hard work perseverance, um, learn and loving what you do and, and that’s what that’s how we define success and I think that’s what success is, loving what you do. You know, the, the industry needs people love them what they’re doing and, uh, you know, if you’re interested learn more.

just send me an email. You know, I, I totally like that comment because I always tell people, “Look, if you don’t like what you’re doing and you’re not happy, you’re not going to do it good anyway so you might as well make the change and get because life is short and you don’t want to waste your time.” But if you don’t like what you’re doing, uh, like every month I’m still, I’m basically a construction guy. I build this magazine. I used to do with ink paper and all that stuff and, and I can say I built that every month. Now I do it digitally but I’m still a builder and, um, I build things every month and I’m proud of everything that I do and I learn and listen, I make mistakes, you learn from them, and, you know, just like lacrosse, you play wall ball, you get better, 95% is catching your throne, if you, we can teach you how to run and all that other stuff that’s all boring, you know, but, uh, you know, you gotta love what you’re gonna do and, uh, I have a little business page, you know, I’m launching my digital agency too but I’ve become a digital guy over taking I think classes over the last year. Anyway, I just posted this thing. It just said it was, uh, it was a Nike slogan, said, “Just do it. Do it again,” you know, and repetition is what make you know prac, you will play as you practice so repetition is key and, uh, you know, the more mistakes you do that you do the more the better you’re gonna be in the long run and, uh, uh, kudos to your, you know, your kids playing lacrosse. It’s the fastest sport on two feet and some of the best athletes in the world play lacrosse and, um, I’m, uh, very fond of, uh, I mean I coach my kid all through there and I played. I didn’t play Daddy ball. I was rough on them and, uh, it was fun. I had my son on my podcast about four months ago and, uh, uh, he used to call me Sergeant Carter, you know who he was, right? Sergeant Carter, Gomer Pyle, people you youngsters out there don’t know but I’m that’s what he used to call me so I still, I always used to tell them, I’m like, “Look, 20 years from now you’re gonna look back even though I’m Harding you right now, you’re gonna look back because I did it for a reason. My job as a father is to make sure you have thick skin because when you get out in the real world, you know, being, you know, being on the athletic field is it can be rough but when you get out in the real world it’s brutal, okay, it’s a battle and you gotta think skin to do it and on the pocket you hate that, you know, I want you know man if you weren’t as hard you and Mom weren’t as hard on me I wouldn’t have been able to get hired at Boeing and because I had that mentality and beating out a lot of these guys that had tenure to be going be on the flight one of the flight line Specialists and, um, uh, it made me feel awesome, you know, because I.

I was hard on but I but I but I but I did it for a reason and it was just it you know I didn’t think it was going to happen that quickly but he just came out and said it you know on the podcast and I was like wow you know what an honor you know to you know Sergeant Carter I got it done you know so it was a it was a great thing so just remember out there just do it and do it again so a couple things before we finish up here listen hit that like button we want we want the YouTube algorithm so we can get Matt’s story out there you know so uh you know all over the web so make sure you hit that like button we’d really really appreciate that number two if you’re uh out on the uh construction site you want to be safe okay work hard be safe and once you get home see your family and kids and so forth and be able to get up and do it again and like Matt said it’s still hot out there so make sure you stay hydrated on the construction site okay dehydration get headaches that’s what mistakes happen so make sure that you’re you know look man I got my little electrolytes in my bottle I just put it up in the morning you know so you know there there see we’re kids we’re we’re in the same gig you know it’s an athlete thing but stay hydrated okay and uh it’ll make it’ll make your day go so much better and uh uh with that said uh pleasure media you know you know on Zoom I I listen uh I I love to meet you in person you know fist pumps and uh if it’s on during lacrosse season I’d love to go out you know if your kids are still playing I like to you know come watch a game what what high school.

Are they going to in North Jersey so they’re going to Newton High School. Oh, Newton High School, okay. We’ve played them all. I mean, when I was back in the 80s, you know, Harrison Central, Montclair, I go down the list, you know, Livingston, you know, we were just a little Prep School. People used to beat up on us, you know, depending on what year it was. But, uh, some of the best lacrosse is in either Long Island or New Jersey as far as I mean, and Nit had a great program too. So, uh, so, uh, Matt, say goodbye from North Jersey to our listeners out there on Commercial Construction Coffee Talk. Hey, goodbye everybody. David, thank you so much. An honor to be on with you today and telling my story and I look forward to when you come up and work, we have to see, uh, Billy and we’ll definitely get together. Sounds good. And I’m going to sign off from Lake Lanier just below the Beaufort Dam, about 30 miles out of downtown and, uh, I don’t know, it could be a boat day here later. I don’t know. We’ll walk to see. So, uh, so with that said, listen, everybody, weekend’s coming up. Remember the weekend, time to recharge your mindset, get rid of the negativity, positive thoughts, relax, recharge yourself because you gotta go do it all again next week. And, uh, we’re going into Q4, gotta get the stores built and get things rolling so you can keep that momentum and finish the year off strong. So with that said, uh, I’m gonna sign off. Matt, pleasure. I look forward to meeting you down the road and we will see you next time on another episode of Commercial Construction Coffee Talk. Matt, that was an awesome story. Thank you. Thank you. See you. Ciao, everybody.