I had my struggles with addiction and wasn't around for the family.
One side I got my life together and found that opportunity.
“I had known about the roofing sales industry and the roofing industry and how lucrative it could be.”
When I got the opportunity, I said, "All right, Jess, you're going to quit your job. I'm going to go and hustle and make this thing work. I moved up in that company pretty rapidly into a management role and eventually a regional manager. I had five branches across two states." Jessica and Robert Schultse are faith-driven, family-centered,
purpose-led business owners in the owners of Burrish Builders Greenville, known for delivering trusted roofing and restoration services with integrity, quality, and genuine care for the families they serve. We come across wild, jerry-rigged, crazy stuff all the time. You'd be surprised what you get on a roof and see how some things are put together.
And it's unfortunate, it's the way things are.
But ultimately, we just try to get up there and help people that's the goal.
How is it like working as a couple and bringing work homes, separating work life and personal life? I think we work really well together. I mean, obviously, like everybody else, we do butt heads, you know, occasionally. But I don't know, there's a balance.
It's just part of life. It just blends, you know what I mean? Like it's the same values we bring in our family and raising our children. And we incorporate that into our business and how we treat our people. The business is another child.
That's fabulous.
I say that all the time that is my baby.
Hello, welcome everyone back to another episode of Living Your Legacy Podcasts. I'm your host again, Jay Slangin. And we are halfway through the quarter finals of the world cup here at the studios of Miami Beach, Florida. And we got two special guests today, not one for the couple's empire show. And yeah, introduce yourselves.
Put the names where you from and what's your business? I'm Jessica Shows and I'm from Greenville, South Carolina. And we run Birch Builder's Greenville. It's a reefing business. Yeah, I'm Robert Shows, Jessica's less than better half.
And yeah, we live in Residing Greenville, South Carolina. We started a roofing into construction business almost two years ago, and happy to be here. Thanks for having us. So who gets on the roof here? I do.
Yeah.
“And so, all right, when I think of roofing, I think of tall ladders, high up and danger, right?”
So yeah, how high are you getting on roofs? Yeah, it can be a little sketchy sometimes. I grew up in the construction industry. So I've been climbing ladders and crawling through crawl spaces and addicts since I was 12 years old. So for me, there's no fear of heights, but you know, we get up there pretty high.
I've climbed on some churches, some big commercial buildings, you know, in the 50-75 hundred foot range. Yeah, the sketchy thing is-- So 50-75, a hundred foot, a hundred foot, how many floors is that? Just to get out.
Two or three. Two or three. All right. Depending on the building. Okay. You guys doing commercial or homes are both mostly residential
reverbs, but we do get into the commercial space as well.
“Okay. And yeah, so when you get up there on the ladder, what are the safety things?”
You know, because you're climbing, you've got a harness, you've got cracks, you know? You've got-- you've got your last, you know, a carabiner, that's like kind of your safety. But you're on a roof, you get up there, like, you don't have no place to clip in or anything. So what-- what are you doing for safety? Right. That's a good question. There's all kinds of special safety equipment for
walking roofs, navigating roofs. They make these specific to roofing shoes, boots and shoes that have a certain pad on the bottom. Yeah, yeah. The grip the roof, it's almost like a foam pad. Okay. Like get like Gecko feet. Exactly. Exactly. It's pretty wild. I can walk the roofs are graded in pitches.
So the higher the pitch, it starts at a one or a zero and goes all the way up past the 12. So the higher you go is steeper you are. And with those shoes, I can walk at 10, which is pretty steep pretty comfortable. Yeah, yeah. So we had a roofing guy here from Texas, and he was talking about drone technology.
Mm-hmm.
We do. I'm more of a-- put my hands on it, type of guys.
“Yeah. So I've got a lot of guys that have that fear of heights or, you know, no roof is worth”
somebody's life or health. So I always say if it's too sketchy or you're not comfortable,
either call me or someone in a management role and we'll walk it or let's fly the drone. Yeah. I just don't-- there's all that thermal stuff out there. I haven't really dabbled into that, but, you know, just your basic DJI drone. It gets good photos, but in my opinion, there's nothing better than being up there personally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And a couple of years back, I did watch. There was like, I don't know.
I didn't know how the algorithm picked me up on roofing, you know. Yeah. But, you know, some guy that would-- I guess his channel was like, you know, going to roofs and then just checking out the jobs of previous roofers, you know. And then he'd be like,
“they cut corners here. Like, oh my god, I would never do this. It was like a lot of the corners”
that were sloppy with, I don't know what you call those kind of like flat-- they look like flattened paper. They're like thick like roofing tiles, but they're not tiles. They're kind of like floppy. They look like sandpaper, kind of shingles. Shingles. Yeah. Yeah, you go. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like round in the corners. And yeah. So when you get up to the roofs, do you see a lot of like past work that was like cutting corners and kind of some shady work
because the construction industry. And I've had a few guys here talking about it this past week, actually, how the construction industry is kind of shady for people kind of cutting corners, taking advantage, charging stuff that you guys only see. And they would have known almost like they kind of compared it to a mechanic, right? You don't know what's going on there. You got to call cousin Rob, to check up on your mechanic, to see if you're getting the right pricing. You know,
what's your guys take on that? Yeah. I mean, it's unfortunate. There's a lot of shady people. Really in any industry, we don't cut corners. Like I was raised in the construction industry. We built my dad and grandfather were both electrical contractors in a very high end resort community, Hilton and Island South Carolina. So there was no room for error in those people's houses. You know. But yeah, we come across wild, jerry rigged, crazy stuff all the time. You'd be surprised
what you get on a roof and see how some things are put together. And it's unfortunate. It's the
way things are. But ultimately, we just try to get up there and help people. That's the goal.
“All right. So this is a couple's empire, right? What are your guys different rules?”
In the company? Yeah. So I run the back end of the operation. So he's the field guy. I'm the one that's collecting the money, invoicing, you know, just keeping the business operating on a day-to-day basis. Yeah. We do a lot of inch work with insurance. So I'm following up with insurance. That's it. Anything in-house that's me. Yeah. I don't I will go out in the field. But I'm the person that's holding the ladder on the ground. I'm not climbing the roof.
Right. So when if if you get a her call, you got to pick up and say, what's going on? You know. Yeah. So I'm very much in the house all the time. Yeah. So you're also talking to the customers a lot. Yeah. So I'm invoicing them to get the money or if they have any issues or questions about what we're doing they'll call me. Okay. Walk them through that. Yeah. And you guys started the company together? Yeah. So I got into the roofing space. June was four years,
just entry level with another company. Very grateful for that opportunity and that start that that helped me to get into it. Jessica worked in health care for a long time and, you know, I had my struggles with addiction and wasn't around for the family wasn't around for her or our daughter at the time. And once I got my life together and found that opportunity, I had known about the roofing sales industry and the roofing industry and how lucrative it could be.
It's not very past restrictive, meaning criminal records stuff like that and which which I was overcoming those things as well. And when I got the opportunity, I said, all right, Jess, you're you're going to quit your job. I'm going to go on hustle and make this thing work and I moved up in the in that company pretty rapidly into a management role and eventually a
regional manager, I had five branches across two states and I never thought I was going to leave
that company. They treated me well. I was, you know, in a really good spot and then Matthew Burrish, who's my business partner where the name comes from Burrish Builders. Him and I went to rehab almost 13 years ago and he got so the whole rehab. Yep, out of the home drugs. Yeah,
We are in Rick.
took me 10 years to get there. But yeah, yeah. Okay. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. Must be I have quit smoking and vaping
in the big two years, right? But yeah, I know that addiction, right? So yeah, congrats on that. Yeah. And flipping the script on everything. And yeah. So couples empire, right? And how is it like working as a couple? And, you know, bringing work homes, separating work life and personal life
“is it a struggle or you guys kind of what's the key? Um, I think we work really well together.”
I mean, obviously like everybody else, we do butt heads, you know, occasionally. But I don't know, there's a balance. Like, yeah, we talk about work a lot because that's, that's all we do. I feel like. But we also know that like, if we need a minute, we just take a minute. Like, if something, we bump heads on something, we just pause and take a break and then come back and figure it out later. But I mean, we don't harp on just talking about work all the time. It's like, what's the next
adventure? Like, what are we going to do? Like, we try to incorporate fun into it. So me personally, like, I don't feel like we work. Like, we talk about it a lot, but I truly don't work. Yeah. I enjoy
what I do. I never, I don't have, I didn't have any ripping background when we started this.
“Like, he said, I was in healthcare. So I learned it all fresh. And I don't know. There's just”
a balance. Like, we just have fun. It's fun. So you don't mind. You don't mind. At the end of the day, it's been a time talking a little bit about what's going on and where it gets firming you guys. Yeah. Like, I just, I don't know. I could see where there could be struggle with it. But it's not for us. We just, it's just part of life. Yeah. Just blends. You know what I mean? Like, it's the same values we bring in our family and raising our children. We, we incorporate that
into our business and how we treat our people. And what's having, the business is another child. I say that all the time that is my baby. Yeah. You've watched it grow. Yeah. You watch it grow. You wish the best for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And one day, you want to exit and let them out the door,
“right? Yeah. And then have them take care of you as you return. Yeah. That's right. So,”
really interesting. Like, it's, it's, it's a, it's morning here in the studios. They got their coffee. I got my coffee. They're like, "Hey, can we bring this in the studio?" Right? But we all left our coffees. But, you know, it was like, where did you guys come from? They're like, "Oh, we were a fish in last night till two in the morning." Right? So, yeah. Tell, that's part of the couple's empire, right? The way to keep the couple together. Tell us a medium about fishing at 2 a.m.
When we leave that one, yeah. So, it's, it's, uh, I've kind of transferred one addiction addiction to another. Yeah. I'm, I'm a 110% guy. I don't ever do anything, half effort. So, we, the I grew up fishing. It's something that my twin brother and I did together a lot. And he is no longer with us. We lost him to a fentanyl overdose two and a half years ago. So, I kind of lost touch with that passion throughout addiction and stuff. And even when I got sober, I wasn't really into it.
And then after Scott, my brother passed away, um, I inherited all his fishing gear. Well, and, um, I just got back into it. And it's like full force. And it's just, it's one, it's my connection with God. It's my connection with my brother. And now my wife has gotten passionate about it. And we just,
we're just trying to live life, man. You know, people always ask me, "Deep, I'm always
posting pictures, fish and pictures, traveling pictures." And they're like, "I'll get a message on Instagram. Do you even work?" And I said, "You know, I, I, I, I kind of joke, but you know, I lived in a traphouse for the past 10 years of my life." Like, "I'm not going to waste this second, third, fourth, fifth chance that God's given me and my family to enjoy this life." Yeah. So, what kind of fishing? All kinds, man. All away from the drop streams of North Carolina,
I've gone to Belize, Permit, and Bonefish, Fish, and last night we were catching tarping under the bridges in Alamurada. Um, we'll go in October. We're going to Cabos and Lucas to fish a big Marlin tournament. Uh, you name it. If it pulls drag off the reel, how many to it? We're into it. Yeah. I thought I had a very specific childhood memory of fishing. Hey, but my, our dad taken us. And yeah, it's some local pond, right? And we're fishing. And I think
I'm real in it in, right?
really anymore, right? And then my dad comes and looks at what you've got. He's like, "Oh,
“right, the, the line was stuck on a tree." Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, "Oh, man,”
you know, so maybe that ruined my whole fishing experience." But out of that memory, really stuck with that, you know. Um, but yeah, I also had a neighbor that was just really into
making the, uh, the lures, right? Like, uh, just tying them himself, right? I mean, he also was
stacked with Sega Genesis. Oh, like, I go knock on this door. Hey, you can, you know, I, forgetting his name. David could David play, right? And, uh, yeah, he'd be like, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm making these things." And, and yeah, he'd have the whole time alive. Yeah, man, just, oh, crazy. Like, he just really, really into the north. Oh, it really is. I haven't gotten
“into that, uh, rabbit hole yet. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was asking. You know, there's all kinds”
of, uh, all kinds of fish. And out here, it's, it's huge, you know, um, uh, out on the pears, right, uh, just, yeah, you go to some viewpoints and you just see dudes, um, and girls, just fishing. Yeah. But fun. It's got that therapeutic, you know? Yeah. I guess you leave your phone out, you're in the river or the, or the stream or by the pier and you're out in nature. And you just
“see what's out there, right? Yeah, because if you like pay attention, you'd never know what you can say.”
What you will see. Like, we were in QS two weeks ago, and we went off shore and the dolphins
came up and swam with the boat. I'd never seen that before. Yeah. So I just thought that was so cool.
Exactly. Yes. Did you see, you know, it's crazy what you can see out there. Yeah. You just got to get out there, huh? Yeah. Right on. Well, we are going to get out there too, back into the studio room and film their episode, but I'm looking to get into it and learn more about them. And if you guys are in deficient into roofing into couples empire, you're going to have to tune into their episode to learn more about it. But thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming down to
the studio. You guys ready for some more coffee and get into it. Let's do it. Yeah. All right. All right. Thank you guys again. And we'll see you next time. Cheers, everyone. you
