Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very
Speaker 1: very very special guest Eddie oh Such from Neo and
Speaker 1: Associate's architectural firm. Yes, yes, did I say it right?
Speaker 1: That was close enough. This is a special tree for
Speaker 1: me because Eddie and I are I would say friends
Speaker 1: slash acquaintances. More on the acquaintance aside. Eddie and I
Speaker 1: worked together previously, and everyone from probably do get questions
Speaker 1: about these Neo cups. This is what happens when you
Speaker 1: get a random phone call, like I know you designed
Speaker 1: these amazing beautiful buildings in Los Angeles. You designed these
Speaker 1: beautiful homes, and I know you don't really know me,
Speaker 1: but I have this idea for a podcast called Eating
Speaker 1: Wild Broke. I don't even know why you didn't hang
Speaker 1: up on me. And we need a table. Have you
Speaker 1: ever considered drawing a table or like not drawing creating
Speaker 1: a table for us, even though you designed these massive,
Speaker 1: beautiful pieces of work, And not only are you gonna
Speaker 1: do this table, but yeah, it's it's probably gonna have
Speaker 1: to be on the house. And Eddie was kind enough
Speaker 1: not to hang up or laugh at me. He actually
Speaker 1: took the call very serious. You did, and he like,
Speaker 1: I mean it was like, what do you what do
Speaker 1: they call those when you present the drawings and they're
Speaker 1: like three D and.
Speaker 2: Oh we had it fully rendered for you. We had
Speaker 2: it fully We had a full three D presentation of
Speaker 2: it for you.
Speaker 1: It was like I paid for it. It was real professional.
Speaker 1: There was teams involved, and I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 1: So the table that a lot of people don't get
Speaker 1: to take full advantage of that we cook on every
Speaker 1: day was designed by Eddie, who again designs some really
Speaker 1: beautiful buildings so easily could have hung up. And so
Speaker 1: we always pay tribute to Eddie on every episode with
Speaker 1: the cups so and and and then. It took me
Speaker 1: almost three seasons to get you on the show, not
Speaker 1: because of Eddie, of course, because he's a supporter, but
Speaker 1: because of me. I wanted to make sure that we
Speaker 1: honored you at a at a certain peak of the show,
Speaker 1: not just in the beginning when everything goes wrong. But
Speaker 1: it is a pleasure to have you. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to get into your journey as an architect and someone
Speaker 1: that founded and has a successful firm here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you for your support, and thank
Speaker 1: you for going above and beyond. Is the first architect
Speaker 1: to probably ever jump in front of the camera.
Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you very much. I'm not sure where
Speaker 2: to look.
Speaker 1: But okay, now that you are officially in the eating
Speaker 1: while broke kitchen, I gotta ask, what will you be
Speaker 1: having me eat today?
Speaker 2: Well, today we're gonna be having mabo tofu. And this
Speaker 2: is a dish when my wife and I when we
Speaker 2: didn't have much, We didn't have anything really, and we
Speaker 2: had to find a way to get by. And it
Speaker 2: was a difficult time. We didn't have Like I said,
Speaker 2: we didn't have much. We didn't we couldn't go out,
Speaker 2: we couldn't enjoy, you know, just the normal day to
Speaker 2: day life. So we needed to find something to sustain us.
Speaker 1: So wow, and even though you haven't started cooking yet,
Speaker 1: this room literally smells good.
Speaker 2: Oh good. I can only screw it up so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this looks like a lot of moving parts
Speaker 1: for you, said, Moba tofu mob my bow, sofu. Okay,
Speaker 1: So what are the ingredients for this dish?
Speaker 2: Well, the the the bass ingredients. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: across the table here, we've cut up some tofu. That's
Speaker 2: the bass underneath, and we have ground pork that we
Speaker 2: had as well. And beyond that, it's a bunch of spices.
Speaker 2: I mean there's the the shallats, the ginger, and the garlic.
Speaker 2: I mean that these are all my pieces for that.
Speaker 1: There's more more things.
Speaker 2: I have the green shallot well, and the green onions.
Speaker 2: I have green onions, green onions, garlic, ginger, shallats, And
Speaker 2: this is my mix of all those things to throw
Speaker 2: in with the.
Speaker 1: Be okay okay, And then what are all these other
Speaker 1: sauces and stuff?
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's the all the stuff that you would
Speaker 2: cut up and put together. And then on this side
Speaker 2: is we have our chicken broth and actually there's a
Speaker 2: pre mix here for you for everyone at home. And
Speaker 2: then we have some sea salt, some some white pepper
Speaker 2: corn starch, and then we come down with you know,
Speaker 2: the normal oil, oyster sauce uh uh soy sauce, and
Speaker 2: then sesame oil.
Speaker 1: And what's the clear the clear bottle.
Speaker 2: The clear bottle. Oh, that's the rice wine.
Speaker 1: Sorry, rice wine. Yes, okay, this I absolutely hate tofu,
Speaker 1: but I feel like this is gonna be the best
Speaker 1: tofu we've ever had, and I would have said it
Speaker 1: would have been the best vegan dish. But I am
Speaker 1: saved by the grace of ground port today. Right, Yes,
Speaker 1: oh you have ground port, so go ahead start cooking. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's hope the stove is plugged in. Yes, let's see.
Speaker 2: Okay, which one did you have? Okay?
Speaker 1: Did it light? Did you see a little light?
Speaker 2: Go on? Oh yeah, I got it perfect.
Speaker 1: All right. We have no insurance here. It's usually pretty fake,
Speaker 1: so try not to burn yourself on our stove. Okay,
Speaker 1: But take me back to what was going on between
Speaker 1: you and your wife and this. I'm guessing this was
Speaker 1: a daily meal.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, Well, when I completed college, I had nothing.
Speaker 2: It was ninety four and there was the economy was horrible.
Speaker 2: There was nothing for architects, and my wife just kept
Speaker 2: sending out resumes hoping.
Speaker 1: Now, were you guys married in college or no?
Speaker 2: I we got married after.
Speaker 1: Okay, So she like, she was like, oh, you broke
Speaker 1: but you got a plan, so I'm gonna help you.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and she took one for the team and
Speaker 1: married you anywhere.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I was definitely the diamond and the rough.
Speaker 2: I'm adding some oil here just to get get this
Speaker 2: going for the dish. And yeah, she really took the
Speaker 2: leap of faith on me. H, really leap of faith
Speaker 2: I had. I had nothing. I had two you know
Speaker 2: that didn't have the pot to pee in.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's beautiful. I like that. And you guys are
Speaker 1: still together? Oh how many years later is this now?
Speaker 2: Oh oh, this is a tough question since.
Speaker 1: Oh see, this is where he's gonna mess up the interview.
Speaker 1: We say, how long have you been married to your wife?
Speaker 2: I how long have I been married?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm gonna call your kids of twenty nine?
Speaker 1: Twenty nine years? Okay there, yeah, don't worry. We're gonna
Speaker 1: try to edit this episode so you don't get in
Speaker 1: the doghouse.
Speaker 2: I put in like twenty eight and twenty seven or
Speaker 2: thirty one or thirty, and then you can cut in
Speaker 2: which one works.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, no, twenty nine years shoutowtns to twenty
Speaker 1: nine years of marriage started from the bottom, now we hear. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you leave college. Your wife is submitting resumes so
Speaker 1: you can get a job. Yeah wow, and now you
Speaker 1: own your own firm. This is amazing. Okay, So what
Speaker 1: happened you got a job? Did she did she actually
Speaker 1: get help you get one?
Speaker 2: Yes, she did. She actually I had to go off
Speaker 2: for a trip back to my family, and she decided
Speaker 2: while I was gone that she actually sent out one
Speaker 2: hundred and one hundred and twenty resumes. And this is
Speaker 2: back when you actually had to type them all up,
Speaker 2: all individual I only got.
Speaker 1: Oh you mean she wasn't like making copies. No, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, she wasn't just like editing the names in
Speaker 1: the first sentence. No, oh my gosh, this is you
Speaker 1: know what I low Keithaw only like people in the
Speaker 1: hood kind of did this, Like why can't men do resumes?
Speaker 1: But now you are proving that it's just a male.
Speaker 1: Maybe a lot of males don't do resumes. Resumes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the next week is we're gonna throw this in. No,
Speaker 2: she she sent them all out, and I finally I
Speaker 2: got like three interviews out of it. So in here
Speaker 2: is my garlic.
Speaker 1: You canna touch it. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: freak out.
Speaker 2: Okay, just be careful with the pork.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, I got gloves for that for you.
Speaker 1: All right, So you're you're saw tanging the garlic in
Speaker 1: the in the different vegetables for seasoning, like the onions
Speaker 1: and all that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, So so she sends out the resumes while you're
Speaker 1: out of town.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I came back and I had I
Speaker 2: had three interviews and out of one hundred and one
Speaker 2: hundred she'll correct me later, it's like one hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty resumes that she sent out. We got three people responded,
Speaker 2: and out of those, I got one job offered.
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, So it was tough for architects for real.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really bad. Okay, So I think I'm
Speaker 2: supposed to add now, I'm supposed.
Speaker 1: To go ahead, and I just want to just share
Speaker 1: with you guys a little behind the scenes. This just
Speaker 1: a testament to his wife and his family. Two of
Speaker 1: your children showed up here. Your wife had labeled this,
Speaker 1: this is how how, this is the type of woman
Speaker 1: you guys want. Right here, she was like, look, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make sure you don't feed Coleen a terrible meal.
Speaker 1: So she like added all these post its so you
Speaker 1: don't mess it up. I love it all right, So
Speaker 1: you get the job. Then what happened? You can just
Speaker 1: put it right here for.
Speaker 2: Now okay, okay, here's a napkin, thank you, and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: so I get the job, and uh, it still wasn't
Speaker 2: paying that much. I was still barely getting by, but
Speaker 2: you know, it was enough for us to get out
Speaker 2: and get into a small apartment. And and then she
Speaker 2: she always had the better job at the beginning.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so she was so she had a job
Speaker 1: while she was doing the resumes or was it was
Speaker 1: she she got a job right after you got a job.
Speaker 2: No, actually she had she already had a job.
Speaker 1: Okay, your wife is looking like a superhero right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you'd go home and some flowers for her today. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: so you get the job. What's the experience looking like?
Speaker 1: How did you like working this job?
Speaker 2: Oh? It was the very first one. It was the
Speaker 2: best part actually was coming home to my wife. And
Speaker 2: then uh but it worked, and uh it was still
Speaker 2: wasn't getting paid that much. I was still we were
Speaker 2: still this struggling you know, you know, you know in
Speaker 2: the relationship, you know, when you're starting out, you don't
Speaker 2: really have anything, and things like for what was it
Speaker 2: for one year?
Speaker 1: He was one of those wooden ones.
Speaker 2: You're struggling yeah, just a little too hard. Jesus, you
Speaker 2: want to you could pull that out and just yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe we need to take.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we're only cooking for two, So go on, just.
Speaker 2: Let me break I'm almost okay, I just sive it,
Speaker 2: coordinate myself here, ah, there we go. She left that
Speaker 2: in the refrigerator last night. But okay, so we were
Speaker 2: for for romantic gifts. I still remember one year, instead
Speaker 2: of for for Valentine's Day, we bought each other major appliances.
Speaker 2: It's like, I really love you. Here's a refrigerator. And
Speaker 2: because we couldn't go out and eat anywhere, we had to,
Speaker 2: you know, we had to stay at home. And it's
Speaker 2: just so everything had to eventually come out of the fridge.
Speaker 2: And my wife, of course, became a more and more
Speaker 2: pronounced chef or cook and then once in a while
Speaker 2: she had enough faith to let me cook, but wasn't
Speaker 2: too often.
Speaker 1: Do you now, Do you cook at home now more
Speaker 1: regularly since those times?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we eat at home almost two thirds of
Speaker 2: the time, even more. Okay, we actually really enjoy eating
Speaker 2: at home. The quality is better. We trust it, we
Speaker 2: know what we're getting. Yeah, watch, we just kill myself
Speaker 2: on this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see, I see it. Kids behind the camera
Speaker 1: like like.
Speaker 2: Laughing, hyster.
Speaker 1: Do you have that fire? Ups? Is that high?
Speaker 2: Is it about?
Speaker 1: You have it really high too?
Speaker 2: I just moved it higher.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, okay, So you guys are going through this
Speaker 1: face you have the day job, like, let's inch closer
Speaker 1: to Neo and associates.
Speaker 2: Well, actually, there's one last story. Can I get in
Speaker 2: that We we were at a point before I got
Speaker 2: to Neo. We you had said bring in those emotional point.
Speaker 2: It's like, I remember we we were still struggling and
Speaker 2: we barely had anything. We thought, oh this runaway to
Speaker 2: have a lunch or something at Santa Barbara, right, And
Speaker 2: I remember to this day we wanted to take money
Speaker 2: out to pay for dinner and I couldn't take it
Speaker 2: out because we only had eighteen dollars in our time.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And at that time, at that moment, that was
Speaker 2: the magical moment where we kind of looked at each
Speaker 2: other and it was said, we are never going to
Speaker 2: be in this situation ever again. We're not going to
Speaker 2: run from everything and imagine everything will be fine. We're
Speaker 2: going to face our fears and build for the future. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was from that moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the pivotal moment.
Speaker 1: So wait, did you, like, did you look into bankcount
Speaker 1: before you pull up to the restaurant? You pulled up
Speaker 1: to the restaurant and realized this is really reality?
Speaker 2: Like right before we got to the restaurant, there was
Speaker 2: like an ATM there. I was like, oh, pull out
Speaker 2: some cash and pay, and yeah, I was just I
Speaker 2: can't take any money out. There's no money there. So
Speaker 2: that was hard.
Speaker 1: And then how did that make you feel? I hate
Speaker 1: to do this, but how did it make you feel
Speaker 1: as a man?
Speaker 2: At that moment, I felt like I was working for nothing.
Speaker 2: I was just spinning my wheels. Here's I couldn't have
Speaker 2: a family. I you know, I couldn't even pay for dinner,
Speaker 2: which is actually when I first met my wife, she
Speaker 2: actually paid for my dinner.
Speaker 1: But oh wow, yeah, oh okay, yeah she liked you,
Speaker 1: she loved you, yes, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I remember though, when we were there and
Speaker 2: on our drive back, we had a lot of time
Speaker 2: to think from from Santa Barbara like this is horrible.
Speaker 2: You know, this is not where we want to be,
Speaker 2: and we got to take better care of you. You
Speaker 2: know each other in our future. So yeah, it was yeah,
Speaker 2: that kind of And as a guy, you know, trying
Speaker 2: to provide and you have a job, you think you
Speaker 2: have it all together and you don't. You know, you
Speaker 2: get reminded that you don't have anything.
Speaker 1: So now that you guys have a game plan on, like, look,
Speaker 1: we're no longer going to live this fantasy that things
Speaker 1: are just going to turn out great. What was that
Speaker 1: next step after that?
Speaker 2: Uh? We I look, I found this guy that was
Speaker 2: dealing and uh it seems it didn't it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: right now, but he would show you how to get
Speaker 2: a house, like no money down, that kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and and I I was really trying to figure out
Speaker 2: how to get a house, you know, how do you
Speaker 2: get a house?
Speaker 1: Like I'm broke, but let's let's go and super the stars.
Speaker 2: Okay, So no, we came back and it was just like, honey,
Speaker 2: we you know, well, actually she gave me the ultimatum.
Speaker 2: She said, I said I want a family, and she
Speaker 2: said we don't have a house. And I'm like, okay, well,
Speaker 2: well she's given me the path forward here, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I need a little bit.
Speaker 2: This is actually starting to cook. Now, this is good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a good thing.
Speaker 2: You need just a little pinch of salt, okay, and
Speaker 2: then a little bit of white pepper. Number one.
Speaker 1: I've never seen white pepper before. Is there a reason
Speaker 1: why white pepper is used instead of black?
Speaker 2: It has a totally different flavor?
Speaker 1: Really, can I see it? Oh gosh, white peppers should
Speaker 1: not be slept on. It's like it almost says like
Speaker 1: garlic pepper, salt, garlic powder and salt almost mixed together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. That's a good it's.
Speaker 1: It's by far. I'm gonna start looking at white pepper
Speaker 1: definitely in the future. So okay, shout outs to white pepper.
Speaker 1: All right, so you you're on mission. I want a family,
Speaker 1: She says, that's okay, we just need to not have
Speaker 1: them in a tent, got it?
Speaker 2: Yes, all right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you start going on the hunt for homes and
Speaker 1: you bump into someone that says you can get a house.
Speaker 2: You can, you know, here's all these different ways to
Speaker 2: find this. And then I ended up finding a duplex okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: and I still live in it today.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh so I was like, well, I can't afford
Speaker 2: it to pay for it. I need someone else to
Speaker 2: help you.
Speaker 1: Watch out you Mike right there. Oh okay, it's okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: so you can't. So you got a duplex, you got
Speaker 1: an investment property and this was in California. Yeah, shout
Speaker 1: outs to you. Okay, yeah, so you get the duplex
Speaker 1: with no money down or.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's kind of we we we big borrowed
Speaker 2: and steal Okay, well, uh, you know, we uh asked
Speaker 2: some relatives. They helped us out. There's different financing available.
Speaker 2: We you know, scrounged what little savings we had, and
Speaker 2: we had enough enough to get in and then you know,
Speaker 2: fortunately the the rents on the place were due like
Speaker 2: right away, and then we also got an additional loan
Speaker 2: for some you know, fixing it up and stuff a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 1: Oh you guys didn't move into it right away.
Speaker 2: We did, We actually lived. And that comes to the
Speaker 2: next I guess down down the tough spot is I
Speaker 2: remember when we were still now we had a house,
Speaker 2: but we still had nothing. We literally sat on boxes
Speaker 2: that was it, and we've you know, then again that's
Speaker 2: what that's where we found out that the refrigerator is
Speaker 2: the most important room of the house. And yeah, we
Speaker 2: would literally sit on box as well. The place was
Speaker 2: getting you know, while we were trying to fix the
Speaker 2: place up. It was. It was bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you did have a tenant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had a tenant for the other unit, but
Speaker 2: the one we were in was fairly you know. Okay,
Speaker 2: So I think the next thing I'm supposed to do is,
Speaker 2: let me see I need a little bit, a little
Speaker 2: bit of wine in this number one.
Speaker 1: I love, I love, I love, I love the level
Speaker 1: of commitment. So so you guys are in the house.
Speaker 1: You're still work in a day job, now you are?
Speaker 1: You like, all right, day one, let's pop out some babies.
Speaker 1: So you guys got She's like, well you got to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know the sinks work and everything
Speaker 1: is functioning in the house. Yes, okay. And then now
Speaker 1: was the architects and you like looking at it like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is the best project I've ever
Speaker 1: given myself.
Speaker 2: No, I was just like, oh, this is just barely
Speaker 2: sustaining me, and I need to We're adding some more
Speaker 2: oyster sauce to still a little bit. She warned me
Speaker 2: about this. It's really pretty thick. A little bit more.
Speaker 2: Then there we go. Okay, So no, we ended up waiting. Overall,
Speaker 2: from the time we were married until kids was a little
Speaker 2: over five years.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, So those five years you guys were grinding.
Speaker 2: Just yeah, it was. Yeah. Those those are tough. Yeah,
Speaker 2: especially you see, you know, for friends and family around
Speaker 2: you succeeding, You're just like, oh, is it ever going
Speaker 2: to change for us?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, then we had the kids, and
Speaker 2: then uh the next time when we didn't have anything,
Speaker 2: my my wife got laid off when we had when
Speaker 2: we had our first child. So yeah, we were back
Speaker 2: to struggle. Yeah, back to Okay, so I think I'm
Speaker 2: just about cooked here. So the next thing I gotta
Speaker 2: do is this bowl after we get it all ready here.
Speaker 1: So after your first child, she is is at this point,
Speaker 1: is she gonna stay a stay at home parent.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We decided at that point we're gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: bootstrap ourselves and struggle through it and make it happen.
Speaker 2: And uh yeah we we. The first thing that happened was, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, no more coffee out, no more. Yeah, the
Speaker 2: coffee was a killer, right, and then uh, no more
Speaker 2: eating out? Is this all at home? And a lot
Speaker 2: of focus on the you know, on my my daughter
Speaker 2: and then eventually my son because I guess we got
Speaker 2: used to it. Well that and my daughter requested a brother,
Speaker 2: so telling her nose and not a good idea. So
Speaker 2: uh yeah, then we had our family and it was
Speaker 2: it was good to have one of us home the
Speaker 2: whole time.
Speaker 1: But then the pressure is really on you then.
Speaker 2: Right oh yeah, and then yeah I was yeah, that
Speaker 2: wasn't good for my health.
Speaker 1: So so but you're still working that day job. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: as a as an architect.
Speaker 2: As an architect, I was moving up through the ranks.
Speaker 2: I was, you know, joining different places, you know, getting
Speaker 2: paid a little bit more each time, you know, and
Speaker 2: just keep but I had now I had to support
Speaker 2: everybody off of my lesser income. So yeah, that was
Speaker 2: that was tough too. And then the best part was
Speaker 2: I mean then the next one. See there's always something.
Speaker 2: Life never just gives you the easy way out all
Speaker 2: the way through. Okay, So now I'm going to go
Speaker 2: into the tofu part. Okay, okay, so yes, your favorite. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so we've put the pork on the side. We're going
Speaker 2: to bring that back in later, okay. And so the
Speaker 2: very first thing we're going to do is we got
Speaker 2: this is still on. Need some more oil?
Speaker 1: All right, guys, Just to help Eddie out a little bit.
Speaker 1: I was, you know, his kids were in the They
Speaker 1: were terrified that I was gonna eat, Like I don't
Speaker 1: think they had much faith in Eddie. So we called
Speaker 1: Eddie's son Logan, to come save the day because he
Speaker 1: was like, Dad, you missed up. You gotta do it
Speaker 1: this way in that way. So we're gonna let the
Speaker 1: architect be an architect, and we're gonna let chef Logan
Speaker 1: feed us today. Thank you for saving us both. Yea, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, thank you Logan. All right, all right, Eddie,
Speaker 1: So now you are a man of the house. The
Speaker 1: superhero wife is at home taking kiddies too, babies. The
Speaker 1: pressure is on you. What's going on? What's the next play?
Speaker 2: Well? Actually we yeah, for those next few years when
Speaker 2: they were growing up, it was she was taking them
Speaker 2: everywhere and taking care of them, and I was doing
Speaker 2: very long hours, and I was working at places that
Speaker 2: I think didn't really appreciate me, and I was actually
Speaker 2: kind of missing out on home life, life and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. And actually the next big stage actually happened
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight. When I got laid off.
Speaker 2: And now my wife says, Okay, I'll go out and
Speaker 2: get a job. You stay with the kids, but I
Speaker 2: want you and then well she said, I want you
Speaker 2: to kind of chase your dream and be happy again.
Speaker 2: And that's when I started Neil. Okay, yeah, And it
Speaker 2: was a big, big leap of faith again. But she
Speaker 2: really believed in me.
Speaker 1: And how old are the kids at the time when
Speaker 1: you become an entrepreneur stay at home dad. Now he
Speaker 1: sounds and looks like a chef. Okay, chef, chef, all right,
Speaker 1: I got this, Yeah he got it. Look how confident
Speaker 1: he's moving right now, chef.
Speaker 2: This is going to get done. Okay.
Speaker 1: And is also he's aspiring or did you just complete
Speaker 1: college for becoming an architect? I am still in college
Speaker 1: in my junior year okay, and he's he's going to
Speaker 1: school for architectural too. So the shout outs to the
Speaker 1: family growing Yes, okay, so now you're stay at home entrepreneur. Yes,
Speaker 1: And how old are the kiddies at the time.
Speaker 2: But my daughter was nine and my son was five?
Speaker 1: Okay, So this is like manageable entrepreneur stay at home
Speaker 1: that like these kids are like kind of self sufficient
Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, okay, so now the pressure is on,
Speaker 1: like yeah, so now you start to believe in yourself.
Speaker 1: You take the reins and what's the next milestone?
Speaker 2: Well, right at that point, I took my last exams
Speaker 2: finally to become you know, a licensed you know, registered
Speaker 2: are architect, So you know you have to go through
Speaker 2: this last you know, set of qualifications. And then I
Speaker 2: start trying to feed the business, you know, and get
Speaker 2: new clients and get new projects. And we landed our
Speaker 2: biggest commission. It's over on Ventura. It's a giant medical office,
Speaker 2: and the ball starts rolling and it was really exciting.
Speaker 1: Now talk about the entrepreneurship. So you're out going so
Speaker 1: to land this first big deal, this is your first
Speaker 1: big fish. How many phone calls, how many networking? How
Speaker 1: much pleading did you have to do to get this
Speaker 1: first big big And this is the clients coming on
Speaker 1: as their first right yeah, and they know it. So
Speaker 1: you had to do some real big I believe in
Speaker 1: myself pants, right, Yes.
Speaker 2: It was really you know, I like to believe in
Speaker 2: myself pants. Yeah. I had to go in thing thinking
Speaker 2: we were the best solution for this client and we
Speaker 2: were the best option and they had they also had
Speaker 2: to take that leap of faith in us too, But uh,
Speaker 2: it was it was a lot of self belief. We
Speaker 2: really had to go out there and say, you know,
Speaker 2: we can do this, you know we can take care
Speaker 2: of you, we can do this project for you.
Speaker 1: So how did it feel going from architects? From what
Speaker 1: I would imagine the architect is more of an introvert, right,
Speaker 1: They're not. They're not in there teaching you sales selling skills. Right,
Speaker 1: So now you're picking up the phone, you're cold calling, right?
Speaker 1: And now have you watched other salespeople do do these
Speaker 1: pitches before?
Speaker 2: I know? Actually I didn't. I'm still trying to learn today. Wow.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I didn't really have like a direct person
Speaker 2: that I saw as as you know, architectural sales or
Speaker 2: anything like that. I just kind of started reaching out
Speaker 2: to the networks and putting feelers out there or wherever
Speaker 2: I could, and a lot of playing it by year.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like highlighting that because I think that there's
Speaker 1: an assumption with entrepreneurship that, uh, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: an architect, that's the only hat you're gonna wear in
Speaker 1: your business. But it's it's not right because you're an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur and an architect. You own Neo and Associates. You're
Speaker 1: the founder and creator of this company, and it's been
Speaker 1: around for how many years now?
Speaker 2: I've had it for Uh I'm at eleven years with Neo.
Speaker 1: Wow, eleven years. Shout outs to you. And now can
Speaker 1: you say with confidence you believe in yourself? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: now you're like my works. Look at that portfolio. Go
Speaker 1: to Neo and Associates website. Beautiful work, by the way,
Speaker 1: Oh thank you. I My dream I always tell Eddie
Speaker 1: is like one day I'm gonna have enough money to
Speaker 1: call him and be like, yo, come build me something beautiful.
Speaker 1: I want like an all glass house, perfect, super modern,
Speaker 1: super sleek, super sexy. And I know you can do
Speaker 1: it because I've seen some of your work. I've seen
Speaker 1: some pieces on there that are like I could just
Speaker 1: can I just buy that picture? Does that work? Do
Speaker 1: people just go on your site and be like I
Speaker 1: want that what you design there?
Speaker 2: People say, Well, people look at the site and they
Speaker 2: like certain things that they've seen, and they they say, yeah,
Speaker 2: go down that path, Yeah, go that way.
Speaker 1: Are they ever allowed to see a design and say
Speaker 1: that exact thing that allowed. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: rules are an architectural design like that.
Speaker 2: Every time it becomes a unique because every site is unique,
Speaker 2: every location, so everything has to change a little bit
Speaker 2: so it can go in that spirit or inspiration and that's,
Speaker 2: you know, really the route we go.
Speaker 1: So as an architect, for all of us that don't know,
Speaker 1: like myself, when I think architect, I think you like
Speaker 1: I think as a child, you were like sitting there
Speaker 1: with chopstick schooling them together, or you were like the
Speaker 1: best lego builder of all time and everyone was like, dang,
Speaker 1: he could build some really awesome buildings. But I'd imagine
Speaker 1: it's a lot more complicated. Where did the initial bug
Speaker 1: to become an architect come from?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, you know, growing up, I liked going to
Speaker 2: the you know, to Disneyland and u Fcot Center and
Speaker 2: Walt Disney World, and I just loved the you know,
Speaker 2: the architecture of the parks, and I wanted to originally
Speaker 2: to be an imagineer. I wanted to go and design
Speaker 2: rides and stuff like that for Disney.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that was a what's that called
Speaker 1: the imagining?
Speaker 2: An imagineer I.
Speaker 1: Didn't even know that was a I don't even know why.
Speaker 1: Did you see there's a carnival building being built in
Speaker 1: the parking lot. That's when you were like, like, hey,
Speaker 1: I could build a cool ride.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I was originally.
Speaker 1: That's called an imagineer for that's okay, Okay, I didn't
Speaker 1: even for social reason. I didn't even know that was
Speaker 1: a career. But yeah, they have to come from somewhere, right.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I mean Disney has a whole in
Speaker 2: house team and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you were really inspired by Disney World.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah, I was just like, oh, I really
Speaker 2: want to do that, and that's why I wanted to
Speaker 2: go to architecture school and I really and then when
Speaker 2: I got there, uh, I love I found out that,
Speaker 2: you know, I love putting stuff to you know, there's
Speaker 2: the usual love doing legos as a kid, loved building
Speaker 2: all the time and all those things. But I think
Speaker 2: for me, it was a little more unique with imagine
Speaker 2: what's going on? Logan? Is it me? Are you laughing
Speaker 2: at me? Go a little too much that you got to
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 1: Let Logan be the chef, Let him be the chef. Eddykay, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna stay out of it. We're going to stand Logan's.
Speaker 1: We're going to stay at a Logan's kitchen. So at
Speaker 1: what point do you go from imagineer to architect, Like,
Speaker 1: when do you make the decision that you're not going
Speaker 1: to be imagineer.
Speaker 2: Uh? Actually I worked for a little bit at Disney,
Speaker 2: and it's it's a long road between imagining something and
Speaker 2: getting it built. So I guess at the time I
Speaker 2: was just really impatient. I wanted a lot more control
Speaker 2: over the final product.
Speaker 1: So as imagineaire, you literally have to imagine it and
Speaker 1: then kind of build it, and then it's got to
Speaker 1: not kill people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, got it? Yeah. Oh, and there's always this, you know,
Speaker 2: they work at the story could you.
Speaker 1: Imagine imagineer that builds right, and the people are like stuck.
Speaker 2: You're like, no, you didn't figure it all out. You
Speaker 2: forgot about safety. Now I did it for a little bit,
Speaker 2: and uh, I wanted to take the reins more. You
Speaker 2: had said take the reins, And I found that I'm
Speaker 2: happiest when when I'm calling the shots. You know, even
Speaker 2: with a client that has specific needs and stuff, they're
Speaker 2: still coming to me for you know my inspira and
Speaker 2: uh my you know design skill.
Speaker 1: So but with the Imagineaire, did do you not? Is
Speaker 1: that just the nature of that that industry that you
Speaker 1: don't get to call the shots. Is it like the
Speaker 1: the what is it like the Disney parks or the
Speaker 1: six flags that say this is what we're looking for?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, there's a lot more hierarchy, there's a
Speaker 2: lot more planning involved. Uh, you know, and you have
Speaker 2: to work on staying there a lot longer before you
Speaker 2: have a lot more say, there's so many more cooks
Speaker 2: in the kitchen when you're there as opposed to a
Speaker 2: smaller firm where for instance, we have a building that
Speaker 2: looks like the visor from from Cyclops and I flat
Speaker 2: out to the class I want a giant building that
Speaker 2: wraps the corner, looks like a visor, And he was okay,
Speaker 2: And then we went ahead and it's built and I
Speaker 2: didn't have to go through committee.
Speaker 1: That was awesome. Yeah, okay. So going back to you
Speaker 1: as an architects slash entrepreneur, you're on this path. You
Speaker 1: have this successful first client. Do this client start snowballing
Speaker 1: in or is it still a struggle?
Speaker 2: Oh, it's still a struggle. It's not something that people
Speaker 2: instantly look for always. You know, it pops up somewhere
Speaker 2: and they go, you know, oh, I think I'll look
Speaker 2: for an architect today. You really have to be in
Speaker 2: the certain circles. And I'm always trying to be in
Speaker 2: the right room, in the right place, and you never
Speaker 2: know where that is. So yeah, it's still grind.
Speaker 1: Now, do architects mainly get most of their business from
Speaker 1: commercial or is it from resident Is it a good
Speaker 1: balance between residential and commercial?
Speaker 2: With NEO, we're a good balance. We love our you know,
Speaker 2: commercial clients because they're repeat clients, and but we also
Speaker 2: love the er that the individual clients bring, I mean yeah,
Speaker 2: and their attachment to their dream home.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I look at the I would say rendering
Speaker 1: slash for me pictures and I love them. So if
Speaker 1: you're a client and you have a land, is the
Speaker 1: first person to go to the architect traditionally and then
Speaker 1: the builders or like can you paint that picture for
Speaker 1: us that don't know, like when do you contact the
Speaker 1: architect and what the architect actually does?
Speaker 2: Actually it's sometimes even before you get the land. It's
Speaker 2: good to reach out to an architect. Because they'll tell
Speaker 2: you what you can put on it, and you don't
Speaker 2: want to buy a piece of land and then find out, Oh, I,
Speaker 2: you know, I can only put a you know, a
Speaker 2: fifteen hundred square foot mini house on it. You want
Speaker 2: to be able to have an idea beforehand. Oh I
Speaker 2: can put my twenty five hundred, you know, or I
Speaker 2: can put a you know, a shop or a retail store.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: And when an architect looks at land, what are you
Speaker 1: looking for to determine that.
Speaker 2: We do our due diligence. We see how what the
Speaker 2: code is, what the zoning is, what the maximum height,
Speaker 2: and you know the size of the constraints. This is
Speaker 2: what we're looking for. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, So you're not looking for like plumbing on the
Speaker 1: ground or anything. I'm literally like, I want to know
Speaker 1: because there's people out there that are like, I want
Speaker 1: to buy a piece of land. No, it's good to
Speaker 1: know that you contact the architect first, because you know,
Speaker 1: you would not know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you wouldn't know. And then actually you mentioned plumbing.
Speaker 2: When I have clients that have something that's more remote,
Speaker 2: that's one of the first things I asked said, do
Speaker 2: you have utilities? Do you have water, do you have
Speaker 2: drainage for sewage? Do you have power? And then and
Speaker 2: then after that we can start to have a conversation
Speaker 2: of okay, what are we going to put on it?
Speaker 1: So would you say it's easier or best for a
Speaker 1: client to buy land or buy a built like maybe
Speaker 1: like terrible house on some land.
Speaker 2: Both have Well, the good thing about the terrible house
Speaker 2: is you do have the utilities. The utilities are there.
Speaker 2: You know that, there's all the hookups, you know. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: usually the terrible house is still more money than the land.
Speaker 2: So but the terrible house has a lot going for it.
Speaker 2: So I like that a lot going with the terrible house.
Speaker 2: But also I've had clients with the blank land, and
Speaker 2: the blank land works really well as well. I mean,
Speaker 2: so I it.
Speaker 1: Does it balance itself in costs though, Like if you
Speaker 1: buy land and has no plumbing.
Speaker 2: It does kind of balance out a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, okay, because the other houses costs more. But
Speaker 1: you still got to kanda.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, you got to get all them.
Speaker 1: Now we're in California, and California I think just passed
Speaker 1: some regulations where people could sell their yards. Is that correct? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna know right, you would know?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, yeah, right, Now it's it all. It kind
Speaker 2: of all started with the whole adu laws. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, allowing people to do ad us, which are
Speaker 2: basically another house on your lot. Right, so this is
Speaker 2: to say you built an extra house on your back lot. Well,
Speaker 2: a new law just came into fact that said, okay,
Speaker 2: now you built a house and your back lot, you
Speaker 2: can section off that land and sell it separately.
Speaker 1: Oh but now can they? But they can't just say
Speaker 1: I have a huge backyard, I just want to sell
Speaker 1: half of it without the house.
Speaker 2: Uh No, you can do it without the house as well.
Speaker 2: You can. Yeah, that's another that's a different law. That's
Speaker 2: a like an SB nine law where you can do
Speaker 2: a lot split.
Speaker 1: A lot split. Now have you have you worked on
Speaker 1: a lot split before?
Speaker 2: We haven't worked on one yet. We've had a couple
Speaker 2: where we started, and then some kind of complication came through.
Speaker 2: Some of these laws are kind of new and the
Speaker 2: cities are still figuring it out.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay. And then what's the difference between an adu
Speaker 1: and a jdu.
Speaker 2: At adu is a full accessory dwelling. A jdu is
Speaker 2: cut out of your existing house.
Speaker 1: Okay, so if you have like an extra room and
Speaker 1: you want to throw a back door on it type.
Speaker 2: Of yeah, exactly, you throw a back door and you
Speaker 2: throw a little kitchenette. You're good.
Speaker 1: And then what's up, chef Logan? Yeah, you're done, beat us. Well,
Speaker 1: you can feed your dad first. This looks good. It
Speaker 1: smells good. Shout outs to Logan, Thank you, Logan. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure Jared you can join in. They made enough
Speaker 1: to feed the whole family here, and do you know
Speaker 1: what out of I just want to say something else
Speaker 1: that's really special about this episode. Usually on the show,
Speaker 1: we get the ingredients and we try to guess to
Speaker 1: what's going on. Eddie went above and beyond and brought
Speaker 1: in all the ingredients and really, you know, rolled out
Speaker 1: the red carpet. So that was really special for us too.
Speaker 1: I did no shopping today. It's awesome. Okay, so we
Speaker 1: got rice and then uh, you want that little that
Speaker 1: black one? Yeah you go? Is it supposed to look soupy?
Speaker 1: I'm trying to mess with your head. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: mess with your head. I thought, Logan, feel like you
Speaker 1: messed up Eddie.
Speaker 2: Remember at the very end you're supposed to sprinkle some
Speaker 2: of this on the very top.
Speaker 1: It looks it looks great. We eat hot dogs on
Speaker 1: this show. Okay, peanut butter and jelly. Okay, this is
Speaker 1: a gourmet dish at this point. So the a d
Speaker 1: u and the j du. The jdu is attached. Now
Speaker 1: do people typically call architects for j dus?
Speaker 2: Yes, and you still need to have it would help.
Speaker 2: It definitely helps out to have. The thing is, the
Speaker 2: homeowner can do a lot of these things, but the
Speaker 2: city it makes, they make it pretty difficult for client
Speaker 2: to get it through.
Speaker 1: Switch's around there.
Speaker 2: Present, it looks good.
Speaker 1: I love he wished they would have put very little
Speaker 1: tofu on this, but we're gonna see it. So is
Speaker 1: this it's really the texture of tofu. Growing up, my
Speaker 1: mom would have there was two ingredients and my mom
Speaker 1: would cook that we just knew was the kiss of
Speaker 1: death as children, and it was okra and tofu, okra
Speaker 1: and tofu. And so anytime, like you know, parents, they
Speaker 1: eat the you know, you eat the foo foo in
Speaker 1: the freezing and stuff starts coming to the front. Anytime
Speaker 1: the oprah and the tofu landed in the front, it
Speaker 1: was like yo chuck that all the way in the back.
Speaker 1: That's how much we as a collective unit of siblings
Speaker 1: hated those dishes.
Speaker 2: Oh I love O.
Speaker 1: I've even tried it fried. I just can't get past
Speaker 1: the sliminess.
Speaker 2: Well, we chose a more stiff, you know type.
Speaker 1: Of it looks good. We're only tasting it, Logan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Logan for coming through.
Speaker 2: Yay.
Speaker 1: Do you want to make yourself well, oh, we don't
Speaker 1: have place, but afterwards, Logan, we'll you know, thank you. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's try this beautiful dish. Shout out to your son,
Speaker 1: chef Logan. I saw you trying to question him and
Speaker 1: put him under pressure.
Speaker 2: Oh he was just talking about how the sauce got saucy.
Speaker 1: You know, so is Logan. Do you know if Logan's
Speaker 1: gonna join the firm, you don't have to recruit him.
Speaker 2: I have to recruit him. I have to convince.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, I have a little bit of tofo
Speaker 1: on here, guys, some pork. Here we go. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: messing with the tofo Wait, let me let me give
Speaker 1: it a try.
Speaker 2: It's the texture.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, though, this dish is really good.
Speaker 1: Really good dish. I would have it. I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to see if I would have it again with the tofo.
Speaker 2: Covers it up a lot.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I think I would do it
Speaker 1: with the tofo. Yeah, Logan did a Really, I'm not
Speaker 1: giving you no, I can't do it. Logan came in
Speaker 1: Save the Day. I saw him come in here. He
Speaker 1: was like, Dad, you god this, you gotta do this first.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, this is so good, I gotta take
Speaker 1: another bike.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: It is good. And look at that on the end. Ah,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna front like Tofu's still little. The texture
Speaker 1: is weird, but it works with this dish because you
Speaker 1: have the balance of the pork and this dish is
Speaker 1: really good.
Speaker 2: Oh great, I.
Speaker 1: Will give this dish a ten.
Speaker 2: Good job.
Speaker 1: So being broke eating this ain't that bad. This is
Speaker 1: like restaurant style.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm very fortunate that my wife happened to be
Speaker 2: a chef.
Speaker 1: So she wasn't really a chef.
Speaker 2: No, she wasn't really, she's just home taught.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is honestly really delicious.
Speaker 2: Yeah and all. But uh yeah, but if you look
Speaker 2: the ingredients aren't really expensive, then you know the pork is,
Speaker 2: you know, three ninety nine.
Speaker 1: I think, if anything, it looked like you guys did
Speaker 1: a lot of flavoring, and the flavoring is amazing. This
Speaker 1: dish is really good. I can't wait to take this
Speaker 1: dish home. How much like you can eat it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take some of this. We don't eat this for dinner,
Speaker 1: you know. Sometimes me and my daughter we eat while broke.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of dishes on this show that I
Speaker 1: go home and pretend like I came up with them
Speaker 1: because they're so good. This dish I would do the same,
Speaker 1: But the problem is, you guys have so many ingredients
Speaker 1: that I can't fake it. I just got to take
Speaker 1: it home. Great good, great job, Logan and Eddie. I'll
Speaker 1: will finish this. So, as an architect, your job is
Speaker 1: more than just designing the building. It sounds like you're
Speaker 1: pulling the permits. Can you tell me a little bit
Speaker 1: more of what an architect actually does? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, starting from the beginning, we really listened to
Speaker 2: the client what they're looking for. That's the you know,
Speaker 2: that's the first thing we do is listen, uh, and
Speaker 2: we realize what what the end goal is. We are firm.
Speaker 2: We work back and forth with the client and honing
Speaker 2: that vision to the final you know what do I
Speaker 2: say presentation or you know what everybody agrees upon that
Speaker 2: we're going to do, and then we take that to
Speaker 2: the building department and every city has one. You got
Speaker 2: to show up and show them what you're going to do.
Speaker 2: And a lot of times there's planning, you know, which
Speaker 2: is approving what you do, like how big and what color?
Speaker 2: And then there's building and safety. It's like, you know,
Speaker 2: how are you going to bild? Is it going to
Speaker 2: be a safe building to be in?
Speaker 1: But we take contractors to do that part. As an architect,
Speaker 1: you can handle.
Speaker 2: All that money. No, we handle all of that. We
Speaker 2: get it. We get the building all the way to
Speaker 2: that magical moment ready to issue. Uh So we we
Speaker 2: go back and forth, we get approvals from all these
Speaker 2: different apartments and then finally it's ready to issue, at
Speaker 2: which point the contractor can pull the permit and you know,
Speaker 2: they can start construction.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, so when you gave us this table, it
Speaker 1: was cool because we literally just took what you gave instead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, it was.
Speaker 1: It was pretty awesome. I'm like, oh, okay, that's different. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you just I mean, I hate to use the table
Speaker 1: as an example, but remember we don't we don't know,
Speaker 1: we don't know. Okay.
Speaker 2: Now, even with the table, what we did is we
Speaker 2: built the whole thing in three D. We showed you
Speaker 2: and you actually came back with some comments. I can
Speaker 2: recall it. It needs to be more eating well broke,
Speaker 2: it needs to be more of the logo. Can you
Speaker 2: bring in, you know, some more items. And then when
Speaker 2: we were doing it, division came to do all the
Speaker 2: you know, all the all the forks.
Speaker 1: Yeah sorts, which by the way, we're like hand put on,
Speaker 1: and we had to like all the little bottoms of
Speaker 1: the forks. And I have pictures of people in my
Speaker 1: garage adding each fork because I had got the table
Speaker 1: and I was like, you're missing the forks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can't have the forks. It's not a it's
Speaker 2: not an eating table without the forks.
Speaker 1: So it did an incredible job. Yeah, and you're right.
Speaker 1: I did go a little back and forth for someone
Speaker 1: that wasn't paying. Were you guys like oh my.
Speaker 2: Gosh, no, you know when you when you came to
Speaker 2: me with this whole idea for this show, Colleine. I.
Speaker 2: I was just like, this is a great opportunity for
Speaker 2: Neil to be a part of this.
Speaker 1: Oh you're serious, yes, Oh, I just remember you being
Speaker 1: really nice, like, okay, No, it was.
Speaker 2: A great opportunity and you had this clear vision of
Speaker 2: where you wanted it to go, and it was easy
Speaker 2: to believe in you. So thank you. Uh, and it
Speaker 2: was something exciting for us. It's like, oh, we get
Speaker 2: something that people will see and enjoy.
Speaker 1: And the best part of this story is I mean,
Speaker 1: it sounds great that you believed in me, but at
Speaker 1: the time it was just an idea. This is before
Speaker 1: I got my deal with the Black Effect and got
Speaker 1: distribution like national distribution. So if you would have built
Speaker 1: the table and it would have been stuck in my garage,
Speaker 1: would you been mad or disappointed? I'm genuinely curious. Would
Speaker 1: you have been like, ah, never again? Will I believe
Speaker 1: in her? Like, what would it have felt like if
Speaker 1: it didn't work out and you put a network?
Speaker 2: I was never an option?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, good, because why I saw that?
Speaker 2: To be honest, you're trying to leave me down the
Speaker 2: path of something I never thought. It was never something
Speaker 2: that occurred to me. I always knew it would go somewhere.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much. So going back to
Speaker 1: being I love real estate, I love it. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I'm not a real estate agent because I'm
Speaker 1: one of those creepers that love to like, oh there's
Speaker 1: an open house. I know, my ass is broken. Can't
Speaker 1: afford one point two million dollar houses in West Hills.
Speaker 1: But let's walk and imagine what life would be like here.
Speaker 1: Do or like in my neighborhood, we have all these
Speaker 1: lots that are like two acre lots in North Hills.
Speaker 1: They have really massive lots and it's actually zoned agriculture,
Speaker 1: so you'll see like pigs and goats in people's backyards,
Speaker 1: horses and a lot of of the you know, I
Speaker 1: guess there was a new ADU initiative. So a lot
Speaker 1: of the people that own these huge lots built beautiful
Speaker 1: homes on the back right. But one of these neighbors,
Speaker 1: they ain't do nothing. And I'm about to door knock
Speaker 1: and be like, sell me that backyard. But some you know,
Speaker 1: some people have theories that if you buy, like say
Speaker 1: someone's yard or what have you, it needs to have
Speaker 1: another entrance in Like do you know the rules in
Speaker 1: regards to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with the uh, when you subdivide a lot like that,
Speaker 2: with however you decide to go through, you do have
Speaker 2: to have some front access. There has to be some
Speaker 2: kind of easement in order to get the you know,
Speaker 2: your car in and out, and so that is part
Speaker 2: of it. So essentially you end up looking it looks
Speaker 2: like a little flag. Yeah, you always have the flagpole
Speaker 2: that goes out to the street.
Speaker 1: That always happens, so like on our on the properties
Speaker 1: that we have. And I was telling my girlfriend because
Speaker 1: I've been trying to convince my friends, and you got
Speaker 1: a yard, you want to sell it to me? They'd
Speaker 1: be like, girl, we thought about it. I'm like, what's
Speaker 1: holding you back? You know the white people they use credit.
Speaker 1: Black people be like, we got to save up all
Speaker 1: this money. I'm like, white people don't save up all that.
Speaker 1: They use a balance of credit.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's always credit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's other people's money. I was telling that, and
Speaker 1: then she was like, well, I don't know about my credit.
Speaker 1: I said, girl, don't worry. I got like a nine hundred.
Speaker 1: I'll bless you with some of my credit. Say, you know,
Speaker 1: I love financial literacy because I've learned all the tricks,
Speaker 1: and I like talk to my homies exactly like this. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, what's holding back your credit? I
Speaker 1: burned through, maxed out my credit cards. Don't worry. I
Speaker 1: could boost you one hundred fifty. I'll put you on
Speaker 1: one of these twenty thirty thousand dollars credit cards and
Speaker 1: shoot it right up. I believe in blessing people with credit. Oh,
Speaker 1: I think that you should do that. I think that's
Speaker 1: one of the responsibilities you have to look out for.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, I bless a lot of people. Let's
Speaker 1: just say in my home, I have like seven or
Speaker 1: eight different people's credit cards. I never give them the
Speaker 1: credit card.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I just I.
Speaker 1: Signed them on to my I add them just so
Speaker 1: you guys know. A real cool cheat hack to building
Speaker 1: your credit. I'm not talking about. If you are a
Speaker 1: person that does not pay your credit card bills or
Speaker 1: your bills, you know, there's nothing I can do to
Speaker 1: help you there. But if say, you know you've maxed
Speaker 1: out your credit cards, that does affect your debt to
Speaker 1: income ratio, that does affect your score. So in those cases,
Speaker 1: you can go to someone that does have high credit
Speaker 1: and say, look, do you have a high limit card
Speaker 1: that you don't abuse, which most people that have good
Speaker 1: credit don't abuse their cards, and you just ask if
Speaker 1: they'll add you. They can hold onto the card and
Speaker 1: your credit score will go up and there is no
Speaker 1: risk on the cardholder because you're not gonna destroy my credit.
Speaker 1: So yes, if you go at home into my house,
Speaker 1: there's like nine of my homies, and I offer it
Speaker 1: to anybody, But of course you gotta go through a
Speaker 1: whole lecture on financial literacy and why the heck you
Speaker 1: was buying, you know, coffee at Starbucks or whatever, a
Speaker 1: nice fit on that credit card that you couldn't afford.
Speaker 1: I will let you you to you don't want my
Speaker 1: help anymore, but we go to get to the problem,
Speaker 1: the bottom of it. But yes, I have been thinking
Speaker 1: about purchasing properties, and I always wonder, like, what's the
Speaker 1: first step. I know when I was on the phone
Speaker 1: with my account and I don't know if you guys
Speaker 1: ever ended up working together, but he was looking for
Speaker 1: properties and he wanted to hire you to come and
Speaker 1: look at the properties.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, now I briefly remember, yeah, yeah, he came
Speaker 2: to me. He wasn't really going forward, and we started
Speaker 2: looking at the property and started seeing there was possibilities
Speaker 2: to add more units or to you know, adu JD
Speaker 2: you know, just add a lot of income to the property.
Speaker 2: So but I guess he hadn't moved forward on it.
Speaker 1: So okay, But but that is the proper protocol. When
Speaker 1: you go the first person is the architect, not the contractor.
Speaker 2: Now, the contractor they know what they can build. They say,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, And you know if you come to him
Speaker 2: and say, how am I going to improve this? Well,
Speaker 2: I need you know, the next thing they're going to
Speaker 2: see is I need to see a set of plans.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: And then even when with us, if we get it
Speaker 2: to a certain level, the next thing they say, oh,
Speaker 2: we need to see the structural plans. You know, they
Speaker 2: want to be at a certain point where they can
Speaker 2: start to bid and put something together.
Speaker 1: Okay, But as an architect, you handle all the permits,
Speaker 1: so they're literally it's almost like grown up ikea because
Speaker 1: the plans you hand them is just bulletproof. Correct. Has
Speaker 1: a contractor ever called you and said, y'all and you
Speaker 1: better answer this question like you a pr rep for
Speaker 1: NEO and association, y y your daughter back. They're like,
Speaker 1: oh god, let's see. But now, has any contractor ever
Speaker 1: called you and said, this plan just quite for whatever
Speaker 1: reason isn't working. Has that ever happened?
Speaker 2: Uh, Well, there's always conditions in the field that happen.
Speaker 2: And when we do get that call, we do respond
Speaker 2: to it and we'll make a modification and make sure,
Speaker 2: you know, we'll give them a new drawing of what
Speaker 2: will work. And that's part of actually having the architect
Speaker 2: on board, because a lot of these people that I
Speaker 2: run into, they think that not hiring an architect to
Speaker 2: do something. They get so far in the drawing process,
Speaker 2: somehow they get the permit and then they get out
Speaker 2: in the field and then they start building something illegally.
Speaker 2: The next thing you know, they're red tagged.
Speaker 1: And what happens when you red tag.
Speaker 2: Was that they they start experience. They start getting heavy
Speaker 2: fines and the building department, you know, will insist that
Speaker 2: whatever part it does not meet it, it has to
Speaker 2: be demolished or removed. So I've had clients go all
Speaker 2: the way down that road and it's it's very difficult.
Speaker 1: Okay, And now do you at Neil and Associates do
Speaker 1: you guys study what the new rulings are that come out,
Speaker 1: And do you guys also partner with like maybe lenders,
Speaker 1: because I've seen realtors do that. They'll like be buddies
Speaker 1: with lenders and they'll know like different loans and stuff.
Speaker 1: Do you guys do that or do you guys just
Speaker 1: primarily just focus on the permitting and net or do
Speaker 1: you guys stay up to date on what the rules are?
Speaker 2: Well, we do stay up to date on what the
Speaker 2: rules are as far as codes and as far as
Speaker 2: like every few years, we have a new building code
Speaker 2: that we have to abide by, So we abide, you know,
Speaker 2: we follow that, we use that. And then as the
Speaker 2: next part where you say about the lenders, I mean
Speaker 2: that's a new avenue for us. We've never really teamed
Speaker 2: up with lenders before. It's usually it seems like a
Speaker 2: lot of the time what happens is a client needs
Speaker 2: drawings first, and then they go to the lender.
Speaker 1: Oh, oh they don't. Oh I didn't know that. I
Speaker 1: thought you buy the land, like say I buy someone's yard,
Speaker 1: want someone going to do it? Someone's gonna do it,
Speaker 1: So I buy the land, I pick you up. I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: DDI I did it. First of all. My second question
Speaker 1: is going to be like, I like this picture on
Speaker 1: your website, how much do you tell me, like, how
Speaker 1: much with the contractor's fees the building's probably gonna cost me?
Speaker 1: Or do you say, well, this is how much the
Speaker 1: renderings are gonna cost you.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you how much of the design is
Speaker 2: to put together drawings to submit and get through the process.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that. I can give you a range
Speaker 2: of construction prices, but they really the last few years
Speaker 2: have been really tumultuous on everybody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because construct before COVID, you could get your floors
Speaker 1: done for a couple dollars a square foot. After COVID,
Speaker 1: I think before COVID or during COVID, my floors were
Speaker 1: like in the beginning of COVID, I think they were
Speaker 1: like five grand to get them redone.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Now they like ten twelve grand. I'm like, oh, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna have to deal with these ugly
Speaker 1: as floors.
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything went up significantly.
Speaker 1: Yeah in construction right, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean as far as there's some pliers finding the
Speaker 2: workforce to do it. I mean they've they've been hitting
Speaker 2: on all sides. So when they come back with their
Speaker 2: pricing on projects, I'm just shaking my head. You know
Speaker 2: a lot of times it's like, wow, that got really expensive.
Speaker 1: So when when you see real estate, I love I
Speaker 1: love talking about real estate. So this is this is great.
Speaker 1: I get to ask all the questions when you see
Speaker 1: real estate for sale and you see like it'll be
Speaker 1: like a piece of land. I mean, this land looks terrible.
Speaker 1: You know in California, it'd be like here's the side
Speaker 1: of a mountain. And then they'll have like in the
Speaker 1: in the picture, they'll have renderings and they'll be like
Speaker 1: this is this. I don't know if they're saying this
Speaker 1: comes with the mountain or what have you. But sometimes
Speaker 1: they'll have the land and they'll have like a rendering
Speaker 1: of like what it could be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen those.
Speaker 1: Uh tell us the scoop is for gazes? What is it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's not h if you see that out there,
Speaker 2: make sure. Sometimes the rendering comes with drawings. Any place
Speaker 2: can produce a pretty picture, so to speak, but to
Speaker 2: actually have drawings that have a permit ready to issue
Speaker 2: that has value. That means that someone has gone into
Speaker 2: the building department. They figured it all out. They have
Speaker 2: all the structure, they have this sixty seventy pages worth
Speaker 2: of drawings and it's all been approved by the city.
Speaker 2: It's all good. So if you buy that land, you
Speaker 2: go get a contractor you can be building within you know.
Speaker 1: But do you think it's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: red flag because if you got that, if I saw
Speaker 1: someone that got that far, I'm like, well, why didn't
Speaker 1: you build it yourself?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That is? You know, they got to that point
Speaker 2: where a lot of places like to take it up
Speaker 2: to entitlements where it's ready to go, and then they're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I don't want to commit to the whole finding several
Speaker 2: million dollars or whatever to build it. They don't want
Speaker 2: to do that. They just want to sell and get out.
Speaker 1: Okay, Oh so that there is a lane for that, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: all right? Is there anything that I could have asked
Speaker 1: you that a lot of people don't know about the
Speaker 1: architectural business or the nature of the beast of real
Speaker 1: estate on the residential front.
Speaker 2: On the residential front, I mean, I think you hit
Speaker 2: a lot of it about what we do. But I
Speaker 2: like to think of our firm, and I say our
Speaker 2: because there's more than me.
Speaker 1: Now Neo and Associates ink ink. But by the way,
Speaker 1: when we first were doing a test run, I was
Speaker 1: like Eddie, oh, sus with Neo and he didn't correct
Speaker 1: me at all. It's Neo and Associates, inc. All right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But we pride ourselves and being the stewards and
Speaker 2: taking people through the process and making sure that they
Speaker 2: get to that I like to say champagne moment of
Speaker 2: the ready to issue. They're ready to start construction. And
Speaker 2: we really pride ourselves on that. And that's what I mean.
Speaker 2: People don't know that. They just think architects that we
Speaker 2: all have rimmed glasses and turtlenecks.
Speaker 1: And the and the magnifying glasses something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're over a drawing board, but actually we're much
Speaker 2: more involved in that, and we're reaching out to the city,
Speaker 2: we're reaching out to the community, and we're way more
Speaker 2: integrated than Hollywood like to you know, portray us.
Speaker 1: Yes, And then does it work like how a lawyer works,
Speaker 1: where you guys just say here's a retainer fee, or
Speaker 1: is it like this, someone comes to you and say,
Speaker 1: here's the land. Come look, take picture and this is
Speaker 1: the picture on your website that I want to go in.
Speaker 1: And then you you tell them like, oh, it's gonna
Speaker 1: cost I have no idea. I'm guessing architects charge. My
Speaker 1: assumption is architects charge a lot of money. And that
Speaker 1: could be kind of ignorant too, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It the architect, Okay, the architect. Does we do cost money?
Speaker 2: You know, you're talking a band of professionals that went
Speaker 2: to school and I've really embraced it. So it does
Speaker 2: cost money, but even more way more money is not
Speaker 2: hiring an architect.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was going to say, it's probably more savings
Speaker 1: in hiring an architect than not hiring.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it's one.
Speaker 1: Hundred worth it. It's probably it's you're going to see
Speaker 1: the savings at the back end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and even sometimes during and through because now you
Speaker 2: have a consultant. You have somebody on board that's been
Speaker 2: through the process and can advise you what to expect next.
Speaker 2: So there is a big value there. And when you
Speaker 2: said before, like you know, it really depends on different projects.
Speaker 2: You know, if you come to me and say Eddie,
Speaker 2: I need to need to you here, I can usually
Speaker 2: get within a ballpark number with you pretty quick, you know,
Speaker 2: whereas I have a piece of blank land, I'm like,
Speaker 2: well this evaluated, let's do a feasibility. That's see what
Speaker 2: really can be done, and let's do that first, and
Speaker 2: you know, and that'll it would be like on a
Speaker 2: retainer or something like that.
Speaker 1: Now, has anyone ever asked you to random question? Has
Speaker 1: anyone ever asked you to design like a backyard? Do
Speaker 1: architects do that? Like you ever see those backyards where
Speaker 1: it's like like almost like like hotel standard do you guys?
Speaker 1: Have you guys ever gotten that? Or is that the
Speaker 1: right thing architects do too?
Speaker 2: No, I think it's great to hire an architect to
Speaker 2: do that. Actually, if you go to the website and
Speaker 2: under the home park the residential and go to one
Speaker 2: called California ADU and on there, you'll see it's a backyard.
Speaker 2: We did the pool, we did the giant surrounding deck,
Speaker 2: and then it all attaches to the adu, so it's
Speaker 2: this grand vision. So yeah, it it does help to
Speaker 2: have an architect to put all that together.
Speaker 1: Oh with the backyard, yeah.
Speaker 2: And just do the whole thing. Wow. Actually, that particular client,
Speaker 2: he was talking to someone during COVID and he was
Speaker 2: on FaceTime and his brother said, dude, you're supposed to
Speaker 2: be on lockdown. You can't go anywhere. And he's like,
Speaker 2: what resort are you at? And he's like, I'm in
Speaker 2: my backyard. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe it. I've seen your work. I believe
Speaker 1: anything that you guys design is absolutely fabulous.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Even the commercial buildings. You you know, you would be surprised,
Speaker 1: you know, because you think about dental offices or what
Speaker 1: you know, these commercial buildings, but even a commercial building.
Speaker 1: Your commercial buildings look great. Oh, thank you on the
Speaker 1: outside and the inside, yes, outside and inside. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for feeding me on another episode
Speaker 1: of Eating Wild. Bro Guys, if you have any questions
Speaker 1: on real estate architectural please feel free to reach out
Speaker 1: to Neil and associates. Eddie is very sweet and kind,
Speaker 1: and I can honestly imagine that if the leader of
Speaker 1: the team is like this, then I'm pretty sure there
Speaker 1: is no question or no you know, discrimination on whether
Speaker 1: you're new or don't have money or do have money.
Speaker 1: Where it's not an open place where they're they're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to find that answer for you and solution
Speaker 1: for you. Oh yeah, you could tell they built a
Speaker 1: table for us. Okay, They're definitely open minded, so definitely
Speaker 1: reach out to Neo and Associates, Inc.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, should I just say the ww Yeah, and
Speaker 2: you can.
Speaker 1: Tell us where to follow you and keep up with
Speaker 1: you on Instagram and all your socials. Oh, thank you,
Speaker 1: ell and say it into that cam camera.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, you can find You can find me and
Speaker 2: my team at www. Neo Dash Inc. It's n e
Speaker 2: O Dash I n C dot com. And you can
Speaker 2: also find us on Instagram at Neo Inc. Ne EO
Speaker 2: I n C. And I'm on LinkedIn under Edward Oh
Speaker 2: such and all those should be linking together.
Speaker 1: Yes, and this dish is amazing. We will contact the
Speaker 1: super mom to get the actual recipe and maybe we
Speaker 1: could post it at the end of the video.
Speaker 2: Fantastic.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys, peace out. Thanks for more eating while
Speaker 1: broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.