Fence Games 2026: The Full Breakdown

🎙️ Fence Games 2026: The Full Breakdown (with a Surprise Guest)

This week on The Gate-Keepers Podcast, we’re diving into one of the most talked-about events in the fence industry—Fence Games 2026… and I’ve got a surprise guest joining me who was right there in the mix 👀

From the energy of Day 1 ⚡ to the execution on Day 2 🔥, this event brought together some of the best owner-operators and installers from across the country. Real builds. Real pressure. No shortcuts.

In this episode, we break down:
👊 The atmosphere and competition from both days
🤝 Connecting with fence fam from all over the country
🧠 What separates good installers from GREAT ones
🏆 And the teams that rose to the top

Winners:
🪵 WOOD – J&M Fencing with Owen King 🥇
⛓️ CHAIN LINK – Mike Moore | Moore Fence & Deck 🥇
🏗️ ALUMINUM – Aaron & Stoney | Boundary Fencing NC 🥇
🏠 VINYL – Owen & Landon | Superior Fence & Rail 🥇

But this episode goes deeper than the scoreboard…

💯 We’re talking about the PROUD INSTALLER mindset.

Some of the best performances all weekend came from guys who don’t own the company—but take full ownership in their work. Pride. Precision. Professionalism. That’s what this industry is built on.

If you’re in the field, on a crew, or leading from the front—this one’s for you 👊

🙏 Huge shoutout to the sponsors who make this show possible:
🔧 Mr Fence Academy
🏗️ National Metal Industries
🎨 J.C. Gury Signs & Decals
🚪 Orlando Hinge Company

Your support of the trades, education, and this community keeps everything moving forward—thank you 👏

📲 CALL TO ACTION:
If you got value from this episode:
👉 Hit SUBSCRIBE on your favorite podcast platform
👉 Leave a review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
👉 Share this with someone in the trades

Let’s keep growing the fence industry together 🌎

#fenceindustry #fencecontractor #fencelife #fencefam #bluecollar #skilledtrades #contractorlife #fencegames #fencing #hardwork #takepride #tradesmen

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Today's T5 Mr. Fence Academy, National Metal Industries 3, and Orlando Fence Company. If you're looking to hit the next level in your fence company, check out Mr. Fence Academy. Real Fensters, real job sites, real training equals real results. And now live from the Mr. Fence Academy studios, here's your host, Billy Grove.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

What is going on, Fence Fam? How's everybody doing on this fabulous Tuesday evening? Got a great show lined up for you guys. I got two surprise guests on tonight. Not just one, I got uh Mike Moore of Moore Fence and Deck out of Tallahassee, my boy Mike Moore, I got him on, and I also have Sean Bahinsky of uh CMM where Fence Games was held. He'll be hopping on. He's not on quite yet, uh, but uh he'll be hopping on uh with us here shortly. With that said, if you did not read the episode description, uh we are going to be doing a breakdown of the first Fence Games of 2026, doing a recap of uh day one, day two, uh the good, the bad, the ugly, the great, uh, the awesome, the not so great, uh, we're gonna be doing all of that. Um, first and foremost, though, we do have to give a real quick shout out to our sponsors who make this show happen every single week. Um uh I already said first and foremost, so I'm just gonna say it again. First and foremost, we got Mr. Fence Academy. Um, if you are looking to up the level of your fence business, um, not just the installation side, but the business side as well, uh, go check out Mr. Fence Academy at www.mr.fenceacademy.com. Next up, we got National Metal Industries. Um, if you're looking for privacy slots for Chainlink, uh, some pretty cool chain link tools, vinyl, ornamental aluminum. Uh, they just dropped also a new handrail kit, uh, three foot tall, it comes in six foot wide and eight foot wide sections. Go check them out over at www.nmifense.com. Next up, we got jcuri. If you guys are still looking for for um a place to get fence signs, look no further. www.jcurry.com. All these fence signs come with Mylar laminations, that way they're looking good 10 years down the road. And then last but not least, we have Orlando Hinge Company, aka the Swan Hinge. Um, if you're tired, tired of struggling with uphill swing double drive gates where it's gotta go there and one leaf swings uphill, tired of making those nasty cuts or leaving ugly gaps at the bottom. Do yourself a favor, go check out the swan hinge at www.swanhenge.com. I love them. They're awesome. Um, it's it's a great product. I can't say more about it. Hold on, let me answer a text message from Sean Bahinski uh real fast. But uh yeah, man, with that said, I got through the sponsors and um it's gonna be a great show with uh Mike Moore and Mr. Sean Bahinski on uh live right now, buddy. Join whenever. Sweet. All right. One of the pluses of having an Apple computer is I can answer my text messages right on my computer. I freaking love it. Um, so getting back in my train of thought. Um, we got Mike Moore on the show. I'm gonna go ahead and bring him on stage, and uh, we're just gonna get right to it. And whenever Sean jumps in, I will throw him up on the screen as well. What's going on, brother?

SPEAKER_03 4:15

How's it going, Billy?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Good, man. You?

SPEAKER_03 4:18

Well, I'm good, man.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Good long day at work. Yeah, yeah. I had a uh fairly easy day today, uh, but uh getting back in the swing of things, my feet hurt from walking up and down all them hills all weekend, though. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Yeah, man. My back was killing me for the past three days. Today was the first day I felt normal.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, man. I I know you were talking about going to a uh massage therapist after you got back. Did you get that done yet? No.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

No, no, unfortunately not.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Maybe tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

There we go. There we go. Maybe tomorrow. All right. Well, um, so man, let's just dive right into it. So uh we're going to um kind of run through a couple things that I've talked with uh Sean King about, um, some of the good, the bad, the ugly, what we plan on changing next year. Um, so we'll get into that in uh to one of our uh other segments. But first and foremost, let's get into uh before day one, getting there, setting up. What did it look like?

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Man, it was uh insane, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

I can't I can't believe CMM let us do that to that place, man. It was detrimental, to say the least. Getting there was tough. Um Sean King probably got there in 20 seconds because he goes 5,000 miles an hour all the time, but I just got done watching his little fence games update. So uh he was a little underprepared to say the least.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I think we all I think we all uh very vastly underestimated um how quickly everybody would be done uh and not just that, but uh the transportation of the materials back and forth as well. I think we vastly underestimated that.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Yeah, I think that was about 80% of uh a lot of people's entire time there was moving material.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. So um, so we're gonna get into uh day one, gates open. You and I had already been there since 7 a.m. Um you had been there uh well no, that was day one. You were a little bit um later than me. Uh but uh so we walk in, man, and you could just feel the energy there. Uh no fence was being built yet, uh, but everybody was excited.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Yeah, it was insane. At uh what was it, 7:30? There was like 180 something people or something already.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yes, yeah, 730 in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

Before I got there, I think there was like 130 people.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, and it was a beautiful day on day one.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Um day one was nice, super nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Uh, so um, you know, once we got everything rolling and uh we started getting this the um like skid steers going and getting the materials dropped off. Um, I actually think that was beneficial on the very first event because it kind of gave people some time to actually go to the vendors um and kind of look around and see what they had to offer, see who was there if they were already all set up. Um I know there was a lot of talk about uh the placement of the actual competition uh that it took away from the vendors. So I do feel like the delay on the first day was kind of beneficial to them.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Yeah, 100%. That was actually um I'm sure it was inconvenient to Sean, but it was probably for the best.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Um he what was it supposed to get started at eight or nine for the first it was supposed to get started at eight, and we were two and a half hours late.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

So it didn't get didn't the first post didn't get started um like being drove until 10 30.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Yeah, and the second day kind of washed a lot of that out. So thankful that it was delayed um the first day morning because uh I think everybody was so wrapped up with the actual installation of and the competition that uh yeah. If you didn't have to walk right by the vendors, I think they I think they would have been um left out a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah, yeah. So um one of the uh thoughts for next year is uh putting like couches and um like TVs in the vendor spots and making where the vendors' booths are gonna be the but the best place to watch the actual competition. So VIP area, yeah, yeah. So um like that'll be good. It's gonna be simulcasted, so it's gonna be live uh locally and on uh Facebook and all that stuff. So it each vendor is gonna have um like a TV set up so that way you know, VIP for whatever vendor booth you're going to, uh you can sit on a couch and watch the fence games right there. So that's a plan for next year.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

I might not compete if that's the case.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Get you a little VIP pass and pop up in a uh tent and easy manufacturing booth, stealing hooks all day. Yeah, there we go. There we go, man. You know what I did? I forgot the freaking hooks that you gave me.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Where they at?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Uh Sean's truck.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Oh, well, I got a bunch more.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

All right, cool. Cool. But um, so so uh let's uh kind of roll back onto on track. So day one, you know, we had that little delay, but I think it was for the best. Um because people got to, you know, rub shoulders with their vendors if they were there, meet new people. Um post started being drove at uh right around 10:30, and man was it a uh spectacle. Um it was uh very loud. I really underestimated how loud it was gonna be with all those drivers going. Uh, but it was cool to see all the different techniques. Um, again, there was uh fence companies from all over the country there, uh, especially the first day. The uh second day with the crazy windstorm, it really kind of hindered people getting there. But uh there was a lot of people there showed up, and uh man, uh I just love all the different techniques that people were putting out on display.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Man, as soon as he said go, uh I don't think I I could hear anything until we left to go to the baseball game. I mean, it was one 100% on the gas. Everybody was hitting post.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

It was nuts.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, man, it was uh cool. There was a lot of um there's a lot of different styles going on of uh layout and uh post-driving as well. Uh there were a bunch of different techniques for running donuts. I saw people sighting them in by eye. I saw a couple teams using string lines. Um so it it was it was cool to see all the different techniques that everybody fights about online, and they were pretty much neck and neck at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

I mean, for the it was it was crazy how fast everybody was and how close everybody was to being done at the same time on the vinyl and the aluminum.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah, man, and it and they all were using different techniques that everybody fights about is the fastest and the best, and it just goes to show you that if you know your technique, lots of them work. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Uh unfortunately, complete though. I think it was um they had never driven a vinyl fence before. Yes. And they got the absolute most insane difficulty of vinyl fence that you could do. And I think I asked Sean, I said, nobody's doing any uh lattice top or spindle top. And Sean was no, and I look over and there they go. And I was like, Oh, they're in for a tree, and they're in for a tree. And they were driving uh I think it was one and five or one in seven, I can't I can't tell.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

One in five, and they were using uh five?

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Yeah, they were using donuts they were using, but they had three because I guess with that three rail spindle top, I guess it's beneficial to have three, but their post actually went all the way up too, so I don't I don't know uh we have to we have to get that tested. I'd like to see the the results on on that style.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

I was uh so after I think you were sitting there with me when we were talking to the guy, and uh he was like, Yeah, man, that was my resi crew. Um they've never driven vinyl, and uh so like they didn't even know what they were getting into. That was all completely new for them.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

And uh that would have been me if I was competing in vinyl too, because all that all that um I drive vinyl, I've I've never done it. I've uh been a part of it a couple times, but as far as hands-on by myself, that that would have been me, and I would have got absolutely smoked on a standard two-rail six-foot vinyl.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Yeah, I mean, time-wise they got smoked, but after it was all said and done, it looked very nice.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Oh yeah, it looked it looked great. It looked great. I will say that uh Carter's fence, which I've I've never seen that style of fence before. That one actually looked real good too. He got it done pretty quick, but he's never uh never installed that either, and I can't remember the manufacturer on that one, but that was uh country estates. That was a that was like a premier country estates line, though, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah, it was like the top tier of everything rails, pickets, u-channels, color, all of it, color. Um Carter had never used uh, I guess either that brand or that tier. One or the other, I can't really remember. And so he wasn't used to the uh tightness of the U-channels and just how stiff they were. So that was giving him trouble as I was watching him.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah, we were both watching him kind of giggling to ourselves, saying uh we can't tell if he's sunburnt or frustrated.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

He was definitely not sunburnt right there because once he calmed down, he we he he got back to normal. I was messing with him too. I was like, boy, he was about as red as a fire truck earlier.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

He did he did say I wasn't that mad, I was just I was just sunburnt. So I'm gonna leave it up to Carter to tell the world if he was really upset or not.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Right. So um, so we're moving through vinyl. Um, and uh I was amazed at um how fast all of the posts went into the ground. I think um besides complete fence who had never done that style, everybody was done driving within the 12 minute mark, I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Yeah, yeah. It was uh and there was there was points where some people had 60% of their post done and some only had three or four. But in the end, I mean what were they all aside from the complete uh three row spindletop, I think everybody was within like twelve minutes, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen minutes of of completion time.

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

But I mean there was a big difference in the beginning. You you didn't really had a good idea of who was in the lead. Excuse me. And then at the towards the middle and the end, I mean it was neck and neck.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah, I mean, it really was like once it all started um like coming together, it just it just blew my mind that like you could see the different people's strengths on like yeah, this guy's super fast at driving posts, but he's not super fast at building, or vice versa. So like you could see all of that happening and then in um like real time. Um, I was really intrigued with a lot of the team's choices to install the top rail first on the vinyl.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Yeah, we talked about that, and uh I can't remember who that was, but I I definitely think that hurt them a good bit. Was that JBR?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

So JBR did that, Boundry did that. Um, I swear there was one other team who did that as well. It might have been Fence Masters, but I was really blown away to see the amount of people that do that. Um, and I guess the brand that that we run just does not allow us to just lightly pop and take those tabs out because you actually have to use the Mr. Fence tools like remover to get them out.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Um they were locking both ends in. Yeah. I mean I've seen I've seen a lot of people lock one end in and uh run a couple pickets and kind of let it float off of some, and some of them run it off the top of the post, which I don't I don't like to do either. Um I build I build with the bottom rail and then uh the pickets and then I slap top rail on uh after, but uh they were actually locking in bottom rail and top rail and then uh I think I saw coming back and doing 95% of the pickets, taking it out and sliding it back in. And uh whoever it was that was like neck and neck with you know the top two.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

I I think that might have been the reason they were I think it was JBR, because I think they got hung up on the last couple sections and couldn't get the top rail back out.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Speaking of JBR, man, they were probably the most well, I'll say this, and vinyl, they were the most impressive crew to me based on their lack of experience and not being super well uh accustomed to building vinyl like most of us in this industry are. You know, we've been doing it for five, ten, fifteen years, and I think accumulably they were maybe two years with three people. But they were fine, dude. They were they were doing real well, which speaks to speaks to the um the training uh and the um style of installation with drive and boats. Yep and uh adapters and the donuts and all that stuff and the tools that are out there.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I mean, they were flying for how and also really um I don't want to dive too deep into this because this is gonna be the last main segment. Uh they were all they not just their lack of experience was impressive, but the way that they gelled together and how proud they were as oh yeah, employees of the company who was competing, right? That was the that was extremely, extremely um like impressive.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Yeah, yeah. They um they they all seemed like brothers. I think one was the son, but he wasn't even the foreman.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Um and I mean they they were having fun out there, they they were ready to compete, they were ready to win, and they did it, they did an outstanding job.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Absolutely did. All right, Sean Bahinsky. Sean Bahinsky just jumped in, so I'm gonna throw him up on the screen too, as well. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Man, I've been waiting to tell him thank you.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

What is going on, Sean? How are you?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Good, how are you guys?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Good, man. Good, man. Back to back to regular normal life. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Same, same. I I feel like yesterday was uh recovery day still. Yeah. But you out there planting seed in the yard, playing new fun. We're getting there. We uh I think Easy G had their stuff picked up today, and that was the last of everything. So I feel like everyone moved out now. So we're like officially back to normal. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Well, I tried to help them out and take their fence off, but somebody wouldn't let me. So I'm sorry. Right? Matt wouldn't let you do it. No, Matt was cool with it. It was somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Oh man, that's funny. So um, Sean, we were just in the middle of uh uh recapping day one. Um we're at uh I think we're in the middle of the vinyl section of day one. Um uh what did you did? You have the open house going on at day one?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Uh yeah, yep. So that was day one, uh right after the vinyl. Okay. So the vinyl was uh the vinyl was an awesome uh competition, man. I I know you guys were talking about JBR. I met Jason and his team last year, they're impressive. And my dude Braden, I love that dude. He he's got the same name as my kids. So they're at the baseball game. Like, what's up, Braden? Hey, what's up, Braden?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, yeah, man, I love it. And uh actually that's where I met Jason too, was at uh your place last year.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Last year, yeah. So we had our open house at three, and then um what happened after that was what the wood?

SPEAKER_01 20:47

No, chain link, yeah, chain link. Yeah, so um we did lunch, and then uh um the people who uh were not competing in the chain link all went inside. Um I did not get a chance to go inside this year. I was moving material around. Uh so how was the uh turnout inside this year?

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Open house is good, man. Um we I feel like most people got a tour last year and um the the ones that didn't uh were able to get one this year. So I mean overall it went really good.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Awesome, awesome, man.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

I was fortunate enough to do kind of a quick tour uh what was that, Thursday afternoon. So yeah, at least I got to walk through and and uh I got some guidance and uh set up, man.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Yeah, man. Y'all run a really, really cool operation up there, I must say. It's uh it's uh very awesome what you guys do.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Anytime, anytime. Um so after uh like the C and M um open house, uh It was actually quite perfect because we were pretty much ready for the chain link competition after that got over with. Um, and uh that kicked off. Um, I was not planning on competing. I even told Sean, I told Mike, I told everybody before. Um, and like 20 minutes before, Sean was like, I think I'm gonna compete in chain link. I was like, Oh, yeah, you can do it solo. He's like, I don't know. You want to do it with me? And I was like, not really. He's like, Man, you wanna make me do it alone? Nope. Yeah, got him. He got me. He got me. So um, I had to switch gears real fast, go get my tape measure out of the truck and all that stuff, and uh man, we kicked off. Um let's see, it was uh Sean and I, Mike. There was two teams from Complete Fence, uh, two teams from JLH and Aloha Fence did uh the chain link. All of it was different styles, um, which I've heard was also a complaint. So uh next year it will be a solid six plus one around the board. Um, so that is a good thing. So it will be a fair, fairly judged competition. Um, that also goes with all of the rest of the styles um as far as uh different tiers or different styles of the material. Like it's gonna be six foot, eight foot long um like sections of white privacy, uh vinyl, so on and so forth with aluminum and wood. So that way it's a more fairly based judged competition.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Um, I thought we were gonna do that from the start. Um, I thought that was what to discuss, and then I think Sean had a wild, wild hair and uh switched it up right at the end and tried to let the vendors kind of showcase some different stuff. Uh I'm glad that everybody ran with it uh without too much complaint. Yeah, there was some nice stuff there, to be honest with you, but uh, I know if I was competing and got some you know vinyl that I've never installed before, I wouldn't be super ecstatic about that. But uh that eight foot uh aluminum and that those two different styles of vinyl. I mean that was that was really neat to see go in and it went in pretty fast uh with all things given. Yeah, man, I was uh everything we need to change it.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

I was uh again super impressed uh with JBR's guys, uh never installed uh commercial aluminum and they did it like they do it every single day. It's not like there's too much difference to it, but um, you know, it was it was still pretty impressive uh that they had never even touched that stuff and they just slapped it right up and put it right together.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Um Titan, they were using battery-powered Titans to drive two and a half inch I-beams.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah, man. I was um uh super impressed that only a couple guys were using either gas drivers or the bull for the I-beam. Um most all the guys who were doing the aluminum were were using the battery-powered Titans.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

And I got to use it today, man. I drove some two and three eights with it today. I was uh I I was fairly impressed.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah, there's soil up there. I I was not expecting it to be like that. It's pretty good for a battery-powered uh driver. I mean, uh I'd say it's it's like our soil in Florida, but a little bit a little bit more compact. But I mean it it did its job. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Absolutely, absolutely. So um we get to run it in the chain link competition, and Mike, Mike over here is the only guy solo, which was extremely impressive, you guys. Extremely impressive. You did uh six plus one, right?

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Commercial, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Commercial, and you had nine gauge fabric, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

The bad thing is uh my my pose were too short for how soft that ground was, man, so I almost hurt myself because I drove them to depth to adequate depth, which didn't leave me any room for barbed wire. Yeah, um but I was I was scared that uh stretching the fabric was gonna was gonna pull my pose together, so I drove them pulled up in the uh complete guys such a nice guy, but they all welded me up to the sleeve and I dropped them right at the end as I got done, and I said thank you. So that was nice of them. But yeah, man, uh solo on uh six plus one commercial is it's not what I typically do. I wouldn't do it all the time, but you know, I committed.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah. Definitely did a good job, man. Definitely did a good job. I was impressed with um uh with Jordan Hunt's idea since uh they did a full radius as well to drive all the posts leaning on the outside of the circle so that way whenever they pulled it all tight, it just went back straight. That was cool.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

I didn't get to see that because they were uh they were on the very end for me, so we were opposite, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Yeah. Yeah, I didn't get to see I that's that's unfortunate that I competed because I didn't get to see all the other teams building chain link, and you know that's that's my specialty, and that's what I like to do. So maybe next year I won't compete.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

There we go. There we go. Um, so uh after the chain link was done, man, it was uh pretty much time to clean up. And man, we went to a baseball game uh that uh CMM was awesome enough to get us box tickets to, and that was a great time, man. Uh fireworks, food, uh, and uh Ken Throckermorton throwing out the first pitch. That was cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Oh, we missed the first pitch. Oh, yeah, you did. He he one-hopped it. He he cricket styled it into the home plate. He said we can't share the video, but I think someone has it.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Did he get it in the glove?

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Huh? Did he get it in the glove? He got it in the glove, but it like one-hopped it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

So I'm gonna be honest, I I missed it, but I saw uh a uh like picture and I zoomed in and I was like, that's Ken Thalker Morton. All right, got it. Yeah, but yeah, man, it was a um like it was a uh great time, and uh shout out to the girl in the box office that uh gave Mr. Mike Moore, who didn't listen to if you want your tickets, get them now.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Yeah, my my my bad to both you guys. We like I think I like probably got a little snippy at the end there at that, but we had 200 seats, and I was like going around, like, hey, does anyone need tickets? Like, I got my last call for tickets, you know, and then I went to the stadium and everything. Then I'm getting text messages, and they're like, Hey dude, I didn't get my ticket from you. I'm like, Oh god, that was me, but but it's okay. No, it's all good, man. We ended up we filled all 200 seats. I mean, that thing was so much fun. Free food, free drinks. I mean, we had a blast. Yeah, fireworks show was awesome. Luckily, they let me in for free. Yeah, didn't even choose that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yeah, the girl at the uh like box office was like, I can take care of you, and she just handed me the ticket, and I was like, How much does he owe you? She's like, Oh, nothing, it's free.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

I was like, Oh Mike! I was like Billy negotiated that free ticket for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Nice, yeah. So uh yeah, man, that was a great time. Um, and then uh boom, that was about it of um like day one. I I was worn out, I think everybody was worn out, and uh and uh so day two started uh with a little bit of a hiccup. We had some really, really rough weather overnight. Um I heard some people were stuck in their Airbnbs because trees went down and couldn't get to the games on time. Um, so that was kind of unfortunate. We had a little bit less of a show on uh day two. Um, but it was still a good day, man. It was cold, but it warmed up around midday.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Oh, it was freezing, man. We had what 40 40 mile an hour winds and then 40 degree temps after a 77 and sunny day, you know? And it was wet, yeah. It's wet.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

Yeah, wet, cold.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Yeah, man, it was cold. I got that um like picture from Jordan of me all bundled up walking in the middle of the line. I was like, you're gonna have to send that to me, bud. Yeah, man. I just remember last year, uh, because last year it was cold. It was not 77 degrees like it was on the first day. Last year I came unprepared and just brought a hoodie. And so this year I was like, I'm coming prepared. I'm bringing my face mask, I'm bringing a big jacket, all of it, just just in case. And I'm glad I did, man, because it was super man.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Billy was out there in a winter coat, he was ready to roll.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

I was, man. I was in a winter coat, I had a full face mask on, too. I was like, dude, I'm freezing, man.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

This little jealous too, because I was freezing.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Yeah. You kept saying that you wish you would have brought your face mask too.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

At one point I was in two shirts and two two hoodies. I don't even think I could fit in the in the last hoodie, but I put it on. Well, I was still cold.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Carter was grateful enough to let me um like borrow an extra pair of his boots that he just magically happened to have in the back of his truck because I forgot my boots, so all I had was was um like running shoes and day two. I was like, I can't do this, man. This didn't squish, squish, squish, squish, squish. So I asked around and Carter was like, Yeah, they're a size 10 and a half. And I'm like, all right, cool, that's fine. I'll put some paper towels in there because I have a little small foot. But uh man, I was super grateful for that. Yeah, dude, I did. I did because I put them on at first and they were like wobbling around on my foot as I walked, and I was like, I don't like that. So I went and grabbed some paper towels, put them in the toe.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

I could have given you an extra pair of socks, but oh man, it's all good, dude.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

We made it work. We we made it work. Um but yeah, man, Chainlink got over. Boom. We're in uh day two. Um, day two kicked off uh with aluminum, and um, I think that it blew everybody's minds on how fast it went.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Oh my gosh. So, you know, our machines can do aluminum, but like I don't see you guys use it, you know. And uh I literally like went to the bathroom and came out, and the fence was done. I'm like, what just happened? They're like, we're done. I'm like, how is that possible? I mean, it was like 20 minutes, bam, everyone was done.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yeah, so uh the King Boys they finished with the fastest time, I think at like 26 minutes, 28 minutes, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Um, 25, 26, something. I think it was like a 30-second difference between Owen and Aaron.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yeah, and then um Aaron. No, Aaron was one of like number four or five to finish, but they still won. Uh I think Carter was next on finishing, but uh man, that was uh that was another one of those just like the vinyl. I thought that some teams were gonna be super way behind, and then whenever it all came together, it was they were all neck and neck.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

It was just uh it was just impressive to uh like see that. And what was weird for me, I don't know if you noticed this, Mike. Um, is uh how low Aaron drove all of his posts.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Yeah, it was like what was it, 20 inches maybe?

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Yeah, I I I was like, hey, do you do that on all of your jobs? He's like, Yeah, man, I do it on every single one. I was like, Oh, okay. I was like, I just was wondering if it was like because you were in a soft spot or something. He's like, nah, man, we do all the jobs. And I was like, Man, you go a foot past what everybody else does, and you still finished right around the same time as everybody else.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

Yeah, I didn't even think about that. He there was one other one other team that drove him significantly lower than everybody else, but Aaron was by far the lowest, but I didn't even think about that. The extra time on what 17 posts or something that he drove? Yeah, um and he had to blend some panels. I think he blended three panels, but uh yeah, I mean that that ground was I thought it was I thought it was gonna be way more difficult than it was, but I mean it was close to butter. It's like frozen butter. Yeah. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Yeah, man, because whenever I went to go um like stick the tension bars in the dirt next to the terminal post, I didn't even have to push. I just kind of just like dropped it in and just went like went down into the mud. I was like, oh wow, super soft.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Yeah, yeah. I had one of those I was uh I don't know if anybody saw, but I was trying to tiptoe my line post, and they were nine feet with my driver, and I could uh barely reach it. So I was able to push it in the ground about an inch and a half or two inches with my hands, and then I could actually reach. So I was like, oh thank you for that. Well once you got once you got down like what about a foot and a half? I mean, it was it was pretty pretty thick clay-ish, but it was I mean y'all's ground was saturated.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, it was. And uh talking to some of the locals around at like the gas stations and stuff, apparently y'all had been like flooded for a little bit of amount of time.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

It's raining, it's raining right now. We've seriously had like three straight weeks of rain.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, see, that's what they were saying. They were like, Well, it's been flooded for like the past two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

I'm like, Oh, yeah, it seriously rained like 21 days in a row. I think that Friday of our event was the only day it hasn't rained the last three weeks. That's and it was gorgeous, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Yes, it was, it really was. It was absolutely beautiful outside. Um so uh the aluminum man, that went by just like that. Like it was done. Um, it was great. And then we got into the wood, and uh, we had a couple teams not be able to make it because of the weather and getting stuck into their Airbnbs. So we had a lot of teams not be able to make it. Um, so we ended up only having four teams go for the wood, uh, which was Evan and Kevin. Um let's see, we had Nico's boys out there. Uh, we had Aloha, and then we had John, big John out there as well. Um, so that was the competition of wood. Uh, let's see, we had three King Plus, two of those King Plus were regular stockade privacy. One of them was horizontal, which John always builds beautiful, beautiful horizontal wooden fence. Um, and the other was a uh postmaster with the top cap on it. Um, and even though Evan was 22 minutes behind everybody on getting started due to some equipment things, man, I was I was super impressed with how fast they got done. And not just how fast they got done, but to be honest, that fence looked freaking amazing.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

Like I I had I had Kevin and Evan 1A. Yeah, it was one B.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I I personally thought that uh they had the best out of all the categories in my head. Um and you know, I'm not a postmaster guy, I don't even care what kind of post it is at the end of the day, and because you can't really see them. Uh, but I thought their the the way that it turned out after it was done was was beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yeah, I think that top cap was the kicker, to be honest with you, from a postwap.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah, it was. And uh just the way that like I've seen Evan's videos and stuff on how he drives these postmasters by himself and all of this stuff, but to actually watch it, man, like in person, that was that was that was really cool, man. He's really got his system dialed into a T. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:27

And and he was Gimp, man. He had a bad leg, bad leg. Oh man, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Yes, man. Like I Friday, I was like, Evan, are you seriously gonna compete? He's like, Yeah, I'm still gonna compete, man. Um I got it. I was like, You sure about that? But uh he did.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

Props to Evan Gardner, man.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Like, wow, yeah. Super, super, super props for that. Um, yeah, yeah. So after the wood was done, uh we played around a little bit. Uh we bent a we bent a post, we bent another post. Um, and uh party trick now. Yeah, that's Big John. Yeah, I mean, that's the party trick, but um they proved their engineering um with the fully built fence, they did not bend whatsoever. Um, Big John could not get it to bend at all. Uh so the engineering proves out behind it. You gotta give it to them. I mean, they really did. Um, but man, that was it. And then we found out the winners. And uh I'm gonna go through the the winners real quick, like, but uh Billy, let me let me break in real quick because I forgot to say something.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

But uh speaking of speaking of super impressive crews, man, Nico's guys, same thing with the uh JBR guys, man. Their accumulative experience was like 18 months, and and and they showed out in the wood, man. They did real real well. And also uh shout out to Josh Rand, man. I think he was he the only one that competed in all four categories.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

All four.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Yeah, shout out to Josh Rand.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

And a 60-hour drive. 60 hour drive fully loaded truck and trailer.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Dude, did you see that trailer when they left?

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Yeah, yeah, it was like 13 and a half foot tall. He was like hauling around a fifth wheel.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Bro, I was like, how many times are they gonna have to stop on the way back and restrap that?

SPEAKER_03 40:27

He was going 50 the whole way, I guarantee you. We we should we should inquire about that, because that was a trek, man, all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah. What is that? Is that straight across 80 though? All the way?

SPEAKER_01 40:37

I'm not sure, bro. You know the roads around this country better than I do. I think so.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Yeah, yeah, it's a windy territory too, man. But yeah, shout out to uh Nico's boys, they did great. Uh shout out to Josh Rand, shout out to the uh JBR crew uh crew too. I think those were the uh the two most impressive uh crews there, and you know, to compete in all four categories is just massive in my opinion. I I I only did one, so I can't speak on anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Especially when he rarely does two of the styles that he competed in.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Which is um like Chain Link and Wood. Like he almost never does those. So uh that was uh that was uh really cool to see someone who competed, but it's not their strong point, you know. Because a lot of guys only competed in their strong suits.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

If you're gonna drive 60 hours, you might as well make a make it worth it, you know what I mean? I feel like he definitely did. And he walked away with a patriot.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Yes, he did. Walked away with a patriot.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Uh made it worth it.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Oh yeah. But uh, we're gonna run through uh the winners of each category real fast, um, and uh then we're gonna get on to our uh final segment. Uh but uh Wood uh was gonna is was J M fencing and uh shout out to Owen King for jumping in and helping them with that one. Uh Chainlink was yours truly, Mike Moore, sitting um right here and me for the Chainlink competition. Oh, also Wood was sponsored by Sequoia Fence products. So you guys out there beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Hey, that guy is awesome, man. That was the first time I ever met Jeff. He is a really cool dude. Super cool guy a lot, super cool guy, man.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

It's some nice stuff, some super nice stuff. So, guys, if cedar and redwood is your market, I would strongly advise you to go check out what Sequoia Forest products has to offer because man, that was some nice, some nice lumber, I'll tell you that much.

SPEAKER_03 42:40

Um, seven and a half inch pickets too, make sure make sure they go by quicker.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yes, it does. Yes, it does, and they were absolutely beautiful. Good lord. Um, and then uh next up we got uh Steven's Pipe and Steel sponsored the Chainlink competition. Big shout out to them and uh man, I I've been told this dude's name like a thousand times. What was what was the Ramon Ray, Ray, yeah, Ray. So big shout out to Ray. Um, he was a cool dude. We talked quite a bit um uh during the whole two days. So huge shout out to Steven's Pipe and Steel, guys. If you're looking for um a manufacturer or um a supplier that has a lot of different stuff, go check out SPS for sure. Um next up we have aluminum, uh, which was won by Boundary Fencing, and that's gonna be Aaron Greer and Stony, my man Stoney. Uh that was sponsored by Digger Specialties uh for that team. Um uh next up we got vinyl. Uh the winner of that was Owen King and Landon with Superior Fence and Rail, and they were sponsored by Vecca Outdoor Living Products. And uh man, that is a nice vinyl system if you have never installed it. Super nice stuff. But boom. So uh those were our winners. Um I Could not find the list of the top three winners of each category. So sorry about that, guys. Huge shout out to everybody who competed. Also, a bigger shout out to all of those who took first place or second or first, second, and third place. Um, you guys worked your butts off for that, man. And great job, um, like for that.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

Um, hey, Billy and Sean actually got first on the chain. Like, don't let me not say that.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

It's all right, it's all right. It's all right. Uh, but um, so here is the segment that I am most excited to talk about. And uh, bro, that is the proud installer part, man. Um, if you were out there and you were watching these guys, I know everybody saw it. Um, lots of these guys who were out there competing were not owner operators, they were employees of these companies, but you could seriously almost not even tell. Um the just the pride that they had behind the work, the pride that they had behind the company that they worked with. Um, it was really amazing. And I really want to start pushing for more of that in our industry. Um, like you go and you look at a lot of different industries, and like someone says, Hey man, I'm an electrician, and you're like, Oh, hell yeah. And like a lot of those guys have like they're super prideful about it, right? Um, I'm seeing, and tell me what you guys think. I I'm seeing a lack of pride from the younger generation that is moving in, and I feel like it's not trickling down yet. But those guys this past weekend completely completely blew me away and changed my stance on that.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Yeah, a hundred percent agree.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Um, and um, I think it's something that honestly, I think that uh that like myself and some of the other podcasters, I think we should really start spotlighting that. I really think that I mean I already have um like an interview booked uh um like with some installers that I met. Um, but I really think that we should start spotlighting that and uh getting getting the pride just rolling with some of these younger installers uh who have no plans on being owners.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

Yeah, yeah. I I I'm a testament to that because I think there was uh about 95% of the guys out there that were way more prideful in building fence than I am. So props to them. And uh I'd say that they're better than me at what they do too. So that's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

Yeah, man, and and and it really it really hit home for me. I thought it was super cool. Uh um, and not just that, but like something that we were just talking about. Uh, just the amount of time that these guys have had in the industry. A lot of these guys were, you know, a year or less. Um now, I mean, granted, we can't talk about the um like union boys, them boys are lifers. Uh they're a whole different breed. Cool guys, though, knew exactly what they were doing when it came to two albums like Chainlink. Uh, but uh obviously they're prideful union workers are always prideful.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Dude, those were the most prideful guys. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Oh man, that that one older guy, I forget his name, he was probably like 50-ish, but he was like talking smack the whole time. Yes, he was like, This is your typical Chicago union guy. Yeah, like you are the guy.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Yeah, man. They were cracking me and Mike up during the um like chain link competition. I mean, they just did not stop. It was just the whole time.

SPEAKER_03 47:38

Yeah, I don't think me and Billy said me, Billy, and Sean, I don't think we said more than three sentences between the two lines, but we we both were just looking over, laughing the whole time at them. They were getting it, man.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah, yeah, man. It was funny. I got uh I think one of the most question or people asked me, like, right after we got down there, like, man, you guys didn't even talk. Do you guys like build all together or like build together all the time? I was like, uh no. Um we might have built four fences together in the five years I've known him. I was just like, I just I know what he expects, I know what to do, so just go do it.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

So uh yeah, I'm gonna tie, you're gonna hog ring.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Yeah, yeah. But um, that was something that I talked about in the Monday morning meeting uh this morning, Tuesday morning, but we don't work uh like Mondays. Uh but I was telling the guys out there, you know, uh, and you guys can be a testament to this, uh the the fastest guys out there didn't speak words to each other at all.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

No, yeah, I didn't hear Aaron and Sony talk that much either.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

No, and obviously obviously Lannon and Owen, you know, Lannon's a a a very quiet person, but I didn't hear them talk either. So you're you're 100% right. A lot of the times when when you're a two or three-man crew and you're moving, you're not even really communicating because you just know what the next person needs, and the person below you knows what you need, and then you circle back around. And the top guy knows what the bottom guy needs, and then you know, everybody's just a well in the scene.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

Yep, yep. Well, um alright guys, that's about all I got for the show tonight. Um I'm gonna start uh with some uh Mike Mike, you got any closing thoughts?

SPEAKER_03 49:28

The uh Nico's guys, Josh Rand, and thank you for uh Sean and the CMM team, and uh also Sean with the uh MFA guys, man. That was uh I think by far the funnest fans of that that I've ever been to. By far. I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully we do it at somebody else's place because if we do it at CMM again, you will not have a building to operate with because we're just gonna destroy everything around us. Or or just completely pave your entire property.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

No, it's it's already in the works. I think it's gonna be at Sean's place in Evansville.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

So yeah, man, so it's gonna be at uh the new Mr. Fence Tools location. Um uh so that way uh we'll have uh skid steers on hand, fork trucks on hand, uh so that way we won't be relying on guys bringing their skid steers and all of that stuff because that just adds fuel mileage, adds danger to the trip, all that stuff, right? Like if they don't need to bring a skid steer, they don't have to. Um so that's been one of the things that's been brought up. Um real quick, I don't want to get into all of them, uh, but uh one of the big things uh was uh competition fee. It's gonna be non-refundable, non-questionable next year. Um, and that is only because, guys, we can't put all this work into this, expect you to show up and then you not show up. Like it's just like either say you're gonna do it and do it, or just don't do it, right? And that's fine if you don't do it. Come and watch. But uh, we really expect you if you pay that fee, which I think is gonna be$500 next year, it's non-refundable. You show up, you build, whether it's raining or it's sunny, right? Um, so I think that's gonna help. Another key fact that I thought was extremely cool. Judging, there will be no judges next year. It's going to be an app. You pay your entry fee, you get access to the app. Once that category is done, you have one vote and one vote only for the the best fence that you think is built. Speed is getting taken out of the um like equation, all of that stuff is getting taken out of the um like equation because we don't want uh what's the word? We don't want people judging different categories uh just through their eyes, right? So we want uh to just pick one fence that you like the best, and that's how it's gonna be done. Um so there's gonna be a lot of changes next year. I'm looking forward to it. Uh huge shout out to Sean uh King, Sean uh like Pahensky for putting this huge thing on. Um appreciate you guys. Um like CMMM, CMM as well for letting us tear up uh their beautiful grass in that field.

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Yeah, no, can I just give a quick we we had a meeting today over like the pros and cons of the event and the pros, man? I mean, attendance. We had over 250 people, the exposure was through the roof, the energy was through the roof. We had 37 vendors, we advanced the industry, everyone learned. It was a great time together, it was fairly well organized, you know, given some of the circumstances we had. The food was off the chain, the Southman Cubs was awesome. I mean, it was I like I'm hearing so many people say it was a 10 out of 10. Yeah, and like I'm serious, it was probably one of the best shows I've ever been to, as far as like tabletop goes, right? I mean, fence tech is always hard to beat, you know. Like, we're not gonna beat Fence Tech, but like it was a badass show. Yeah, I mean, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

I had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

I appreciate you guys for coming up. Like, we had like you guys from Florida, we had guys from 17 states, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah. I mean, you can go on and on. It was like, man, where do you get 17 states, 250 people building fence and coming together? Like, it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Yeah, super cool, man.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

Building fence for free, too, by the way. Yeah, no joke.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

I know, right? And uh uh also huge shout out to each and every one of the sponsors that made this event happen. There are so many that I would be here for the next 10 minutes reading them off. I was going to read them off until I actually saw the list.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

Um 37, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Yeah, yeah. I saw the list and I was like, I might not be reading that off because it's not going to be fair. So huge thank you to all of the sponsors that made this event possible. Um, I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we all did. Um, I can't wait to do it again next year. Um, and boom, man, that's all I got for you guys. You guys got anything else before we say goodbye?

SPEAKER_03 54:32

I had a blast. I had a blast.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

All right, guys. Well, hey, man, thank you both for texting me and asking me to to um like hop in uh because I was gonna solo this thing and just kind of just run through it. But I'm glad that uh both of you guys texted me and I was like, hell yeah, let's do this.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Um, appreciate you having us.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

You said yes, man, because I was gonna go lose money at the casino.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

I know you were, I know you were. That's what you said. I was like, yep, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Don't go to the casino. But uh man, y'all have a wonderful rest of your night, guys. Thank you for taking some time out of your night to come on the show and uh recap fence games. Looking forward to it next year. Um, and yeah, man, y'all have a wonderful night.

SPEAKER_02 55:13

You too.

SPEAKER_01 55:14

All right, thank you, guys.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

All right, guys. Awesome show, awesome, awesome, awesome event. Uh, if you didn't make it, make it out there next year, guys. It's gonna be bigger, better, louder, and even more fun. Um, we got a great show lined up for you next week. I got a Mr. Roger of thefencecompany.com coming on to tell me about his venture into the fence world from the software world. It's gonna be a great show. Um, come check it out next Tuesday, same place, same time. Y'all have a wonderful rest of your week. Go kick some ass, collect some chefs, some checks, and be safe overall. Later, guys, I'm gonna go to the house.