#149 - THE ONLY SPRINKLER FITTING YOU WILL EVER NEED

[00:00:00] I wanted to make something universal and I needed basically something for a 3 quarter inch sprinkler head and a half inch sprinkler head. And I kind of thought, you know, I was going to need

[00:00:13] to provide like a kit for, you know, the different sprinkler heads. So I was taking measurements because you know, I was wanting to create this cup to where it could fit everything. And I screwed a half inch sprinkler head onto a fitting completely tight.

[00:00:31] And went to take measurements and I realized you only use approximately half the threads on that fitting. And for some reason, I just had this idea that I wonder if I could fit that half inch threaded

[00:00:46] portion into a three quarter inch sprinkler head and see if that worked. If you are an irrigation professional, old or new, who designs, installs, or maintains high-end residential commercial or municipal properties and you want to use technology to improve your

[00:01:10] business to get a leg up on your competition, even if you're an old school irrigator from the days of hydraulic systems. This show is for you. Hello, my friends. This is Andy Humphrey. Welcome

[00:01:24] to episode 149 of The Sprinklin' Urge Show where it is my job to speak with world-class water and technology entrepreneurs, innovators from all walks of life so that it may inspire you and your business. My special guest today is Chris Sinsil. Chris is the, not only the inventor,

[00:01:48] but he's also the founder and he is launching and running the business efficient fittings with an incredibly innovative product that I kind of have a soft spot for. I have a soft spot for innovation, new products, new ways of thinking, ways to take something that maybe looked

[00:02:06] old and make it new again. So with that, I'd like to welcome Chris to the show. Welcome, Chris. Thank you for having me, Andy. Appreciate it. So I think that likely a lot of our listeners are not familiar with efficient fittings

[00:02:24] and your invention and your device. And so I think that it would probably be the best place to start is just to explain what it is that you've invented. Yeah, happy to do that. So

[00:02:40] approximately four or five years ago, I developed, it's basically a elbow that connects the sprinkler head to the sprinkler pipe and kind of the difference between what's already out there and what I did with mine is that it fits everything. It fits the half inch sprinkler head,

[00:03:04] fits the three quarter inch sprinkler head. It fits a funny pipe, half inch pipe and dripline pipe. So it's pretty much just one fitting for all your needs, four fittings in one compared to

[00:03:19] what's on the market. And I think it'll save a lot of time and a lot of money over the installation and just being able to fix for the people to go out there and fix whatever they might be doing.

[00:03:38] And so go ahead. And what's interesting is that, so let me back up for a second. For those of you listening that understand sprinkler parts and the terminology and such, these fittings are

[00:03:53] often referred to as a swing barbed elbow. I don't remember which manufacturer actually kind of coined that term, but it's kind of used universally. Rainbird uses the part SBE for swing barbed elbow,

[00:04:08] and it's the elbow that connects the sprinkler to the service pipe or the funny pipe or the swing pipe. And generally a pop up spray head sprinkler has a half inch inlet and a pop up rotor

[00:04:24] head has a three quarter inch inlet. And for sprays and rotors, you use either a swing barbed elbow or a swing barbed fitting of some sort or a swing elbow swing joint. And with that, you have to make

[00:04:40] sure you have your half inches for your pop ups and you have your three quarter for your rotors. And then you can kind of use either side to connect to the lateral lines depending on the setup.

[00:04:49] So I just wanted to kind of make the comparison to, you know, what Chris was describing to sort of the terminology that we use in the field. And I think Chris, could you, I don't believe you have a deep background in irrigation, which I also think

[00:05:07] is pretty amazing because sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees. And so I think you, perhaps you were able to actually see the forest because you weren't, you know, in the middle. So why don't you tell us a little bit about how you came to this,

[00:05:21] you know, invention? Well, in the past, I have, you know, installed a few systems and then, you know, home repairs. And the thing is, you know, I think with a lot of people, you end up spending more time running back and forth to the hardware store to get,

[00:05:39] you know, the correct parts than it actually does to fix the problem. So let's see about four or five years ago, I was going to school for drafting, which is, you know, basically working in AutoCAD and other type of software. And I had a

[00:06:01] SolidWorks class, which is a 3D, you know, design software. And we had a project of basically designing something in 3D and then using the 3D printer to make that part.

[00:06:18] So I basically couldn't come up with anything. I was on my way home and I noticed one of the sprinklers in my front yard, you know, was tilted and kind of spring up in the air,

[00:06:29] whether, you know, I ran over it, you know, with the wheel of the lawnmower that made it do that or just over time they kind of lean. And so I had this idea that basically

[00:06:42] you would design this cup that you would bury with the sprinkler head and then it would kind of stabilize it. And then in the end, you'd never have to dig up that sprinkler head

[00:06:54] again. You could basically open up this cup and then, you know, replace the sprinkler head as needed. So in the process of that, I knew I was going to need, you know, I wanted to make something universal and I needed basically something for a three-quarter inch sprinkler head

[00:07:17] and a half inch sprinkler head. And I kind of thought, you know, I was going to need to provide like a kit for, you know, the different sprinkler heads. And so I was taking measurements because,

[00:07:31] you know, I was wanting to create this cup to where it could fit everything. And I screwed a half inch sprinkler head onto a fitting completely tight and went to take measurements. And I realized you only use approximately half the threads on that fitting.

[00:07:51] And for some reason, I just had this idea that I wonder if I could fit that half inch threaded portion into a three-quarter inch sprinkler head and basically see if that worked. And so I designed

[00:08:08] something on the computer and 3D printed it, and sure enough, it fit. And from there, I was like, I think I might have something here. So it was off to the races. Witton saw a patent lawyer

[00:08:25] and that whole process started. And I think the patent ended up taking close to a year, which I'm not going to lie, getting a patent is a bit of a nightmare. It can be pretty expensive.

[00:08:38] And basically once I got that patent, I decided, you know, what I was wanting to do since I was still in school and didn't really have the funds was I wanted to go ahead and try and license

[00:08:52] that product. But right as that happened, you know, that's when COVID hit and a lot of companies, you know, were working from home and, you know, they weren't going to be looking for any new

[00:09:04] products, you know, there was so much uncertainty during that time. So no one was really looking at licensing at that time. And I had worked so hard on that patent, I'm like, you know what?

[00:09:19] I'm going to get this manufactured myself. I'm not going to sit around and just wait. So start looking for manufacturers, found some people down in Sandy, Utah, which were just great people to work with and worked on worked on the design, which was awesome because during that time,

[00:09:41] they were able to send me files back and forth so I could adjust that design. And I could 3D print those parts and make adjustments on that part, and then go ahead, send them the drawing, the measurements back. They would update that drawing, they would send me

[00:09:59] back a file to print out on my 3D printer and then until it was perfect. Then, you know, I gave the okay and then it took about a year to make that mold just because I think one of their

[00:10:13] machines had broken down and they were waiting on parts. And then obviously a lot of people were affected by the supply chain issues. So it just took a lot longer than expected. But the crazy thing

[00:10:27] is I had been waiting for some parts and it just taken forever. And then a box showed up on my door step one day. And sure enough, it was these samples and the crazy thing, it was on my 40th birthday.

[00:10:46] So it was just it was crazy how it worked out and basically kind of got those sample parts and been off to the races ever since, you know, got the website up and running and

[00:11:00] attended the irrigation show down in San Antonio a couple weeks ago. And that was an absolute success. Yeah, wow. Well, I applaud you for where you are. And what I think is interesting is that I believe that the Lana landscape industry is just very entrepreneurial.

[00:11:20] You know, you can really you can get into business, you know, just tomorrow you say, I'm going to get into business and start cutting grass. And you can just go from there.

[00:11:29] And so with that in mind, I also feel like a lot of the professionals in the industry have lots of ideas, you know, they see a better way of doing something. Or if we did it this other

[00:11:39] way, we could we could do it like this. And a lot of times when people have those thoughts and ideas, they don't do anything with them. They talk about them for 20 years over beers with their

[00:11:52] friends until one day somebody else does something. And then they just simply say, yeah, I had that idea back in 1995. And I want to kind of ask you or learn a little bit

[00:12:02] or get inside your head about, I mean, I do realize you were in school. But what made you decide to take it from this concept and this school project and go to the next level with it?

[00:12:18] Well, I think like a lot of people, you know, like you said, you have these ideas, but you never actually pursue them. And it was just perfect timing because I was in school and

[00:12:32] in the past, I've had a lot of a lot of ideas as well. But, you know, I didn't have the means to pursue them. And, you know, with the technology these days, especially the 3D printing, I was able

[00:12:46] to take that idea and make it a reality, which I never had that capability before. So it was just, you know, I think it was just kind of a perfect storm where I was in school.

[00:13:02] I had and I had that capability finally to do because I've had so many other ideas over the years and just never pursued them. And I think, you know, like a lot of people kind of,

[00:13:13] like you said, they have these ideas, but they never, you know, they never pursue them. And I think in everyday life, you know, anybody can be an inventor. There's so many things,

[00:13:26] you know, at your job and you're just like, man, it would be so much easier if we did it this way or if I had that, but then you don't actually think, you know, I should pursue that. Let's

[00:13:38] see if that's out there. So I finally did that. And yeah, was this the first time you've done something like this or had you started up a business, a project, a product in the past? This was actually

[00:13:54] the first thing, you know, that I've ever pursued as getting a patent. And this is my first business. I always wanted to be a business owner. So, you know, this is just, it's been a dream,

[00:14:07] you know, it's just this amazing feeling to have this idea and to be able to make it a reality. And, you know, I did, I actually went to the school that I went to and graduated from.

[00:14:22] And during their SOLIDWORKS class, I did, you know, I went in there and I talked, you know, I talked to all the students and I gave her presentation and kind of talked to them about the patent process and the overall design process. So that was,

[00:14:37] that was a pretty cool experience as well to try and, you know, just go talk to those students and, you know, gave them my information if they ever had any questions to feel free to

[00:14:49] reach out to me because this was an amazing experience. And for anybody else who, you know, wants to invent something, you know, I would love to help them out whether, you know, it's just advice on the patent process or just kind of the design because I have

[00:15:10] so many different variations of this project product, you know, through that design process. And you never go with the very first one. And I know you don't have video, but I'll

[00:15:22] kind of, I'll show you this was, this was the very first prototype for the cup. And it's basically a cup made out of paper. And from there it just, you know, obviously it went to a sprinkler fitting.

[00:15:39] And kind of the reason that I decided to try and patent the sprinkler fitting instead of this cup was, you know, the sprinkler fitting is a necessity. You know, every system you're going to have to

[00:15:55] hook up a sprinkler head to the sprinkler pipe, you know, to make that system work where this cup would have been an accessory. And you would basically had to convince people to spend an

[00:16:09] extra, you know, five to $20 to add this to every sprinkler head in their system. And that's a tough sell. So that is a great piece of advice for somebody looking that maybe has

[00:16:24] an invention. Is this going to be a necessity or an accessory? Exactly. I remember telling the kids and, you know, kids in class and they were probably thinking, you know, I'm like, I'll pursue

[00:16:38] in this and they're like a sprinkler fitting seriously. And I'm like, you have no idea. You look at every single sprinkler head, you know, system as you're driving to school, all these

[00:16:50] sprinklers going, they all have one of these. So to make a better one, you know, that was my goal because, you know, I have been out there digging in the mud, fixing sprinklers.

[00:17:04] And it's hard work. And for those people that are out there every day doing that, if I can make their life easier, then you know, that's a great feeling because it is a hard job. And those, you know, everybody out there, they're hard workers making money. So...

[00:17:22] And if you think about how many of these sprinkler fittings have been installed over the course of time, how many people put one of these in their hands, screwed it into the sprinkler and

[00:17:33] never had the thought that you had about only half these fittings or actually these threads are actually going into the sprinkler. I bet I could put a half inch and a three quarter inch threads on one fitting. There's been millions and millions and millions and perhaps people have

[00:17:51] had this thought. Let's just assume maybe they have, but no one ever did anything is actually really, really incredible when you think about the sheer number of units that people have put in their

[00:18:02] hands over time. It is mind boggling. And even, you know, every single year you kind of look probably how many, you know, all the companies make and install. But yeah, if you're looking over the lifetime, it's just... Hundreds of millions. Easy hundreds of millions.

[00:18:24] Yeah. So it sounds like you were maybe a non-traditional student at the time, meaning you weren't 18 in school. What were you, what was your reason for going to school at that

[00:18:34] point in your life? Well, you know, I think like a lot of people you get out of high school and you have no idea what you're wanting to do. You know, my brother, he's a firefighter. As soon as

[00:18:48] he graduated high school, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and those people are very lucky. And for me, I did many different jobs and I did go back to school in my late 20s and I was

[00:19:04] going for engineering and I kind of had some health issues and kind of had to work my way through that. And my cousin, she knew I was a very artistic person always having these ideas. She's like,

[00:19:20] you know, you should go to the... Through this drafting program because she had done it, you know, I don't know, five or 10 years before that and it has worked out very well

[00:19:31] for her. And honestly, it was the best decision of my life. It's been amazing to get into the career that I have and then be able to pursue this idea. It's just been a dream come true.

[00:19:47] I mean, you know, I wish I could go back and do this program a lot sooner, but you know, if I did it back then maybe I would have not have come across this part. And so

[00:19:58] it's just, it's been a really cool process. Yeah, that's awesome. I have your patent up in front of me. And for those of you guys listening to it don't, and maybe you know, you can do a Google patent

[00:20:13] search by name or the design type, et cetera, or you can go to the USPTO and look stuff up. I feel like patents are actually easier to search on Google. Trademarks are kind

[00:20:23] of better to search on USPTO, just burn me personally. And I can see that it was filed September, originally filed September 12, 2019. When was the sort of the date of invention, you know, what your class I guess, you know, how long before filing did you come up with this

[00:20:44] idea? Let's see. It was probably, I want to say a year before it was, I think the second semester of the first year. And that's kind of when I, you know, came up with that cup idea. And

[00:21:05] it was over Christmas break when I actually came up with the sprinkler fitting idea. So then, you know, my third semester or what was it? Yeah, I think my third semester was when I ended

[00:21:19] up kind of going in there pursuing that. It was in the spring and that's, you know, I went and saw my first patent lawyer, he did a patent search and he thought it was the coolest idea ever. But

[00:21:32] then he found some stuff out there that he thought was similar and he was like, you probably shouldn't have pursued this, you know. And I'm like, I've looked through this, everything that you showed me is nothing of what I did. And so I was like, you know what?

[00:21:50] I'm going to find a different patent lawyer. Good for you. Congrats. That is good for you because one person's advice doesn't mean it's the entire world's advice. So that's usually my recommendation for anyone is just because one person says something,

[00:22:04] go ask another person. Yeah, he gave me all these different patents during his patent search that, you know, I was supposed to be like, okay, I shouldn't pursue it because of this. But I went through all of them and I'm like, this isn't like mine at all.

[00:22:24] Why did he tell me not to pursue this? And so yeah, that's why I went to the next patent law. Yeah. So patent question for you. Did you file a provisional patent to just hold your date

[00:22:39] in place in line or did you go straight to a full filing? I did a full filing. So it was a utility patent. And, you know, as soon as you file, you're considered patent pending. And you have a year,

[00:22:53] I believe that it's covered. And basically I think it was about three or four months, then I got a response. And it was kind of the same thing, the patent office is like,

[00:23:05] it's too close to this, which is very common. So, you know, after that, then I had to go through all those patents that they referenced in that paperwork they sent back. And initially I kind

[00:23:20] of was trying to patent those spiral barbs as well, that's on there. Yep. And that was my question. I'm thinking, you know what? There's really nothing, well, shouldn't say that there's less new about the spiral barbed. It's the thread. It's the half inch and three quarter inch combination

[00:23:37] thread to me that's really innovative. So that was my next question to you is, is that where you focused your patent? Yep. That was the initial focus because when I was doing the barbs initially, you know, it was just a single barb on there, you know, which

[00:23:55] can't be patent and kind of a cool story as I was reading, you know, reading through all these patents, that dual barb system, that patent was 100 years ago. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So to look at

[00:24:10] that patent to see the drawings and everything, that was just, you know, that was really cool to see. And patent will last for like 20 years. And after that it's fair game for everybody.

[00:24:22] Then when I was looking up your patent, I first came across a couple other similar patents. One was by William Savelle, which I think is weathermatic basically or Telsco Industries and just has a

[00:24:38] standard swing barbed elbow, but it has like a hex plastic part on the back end. So you could take a tool, you know, to help and get it into the swing pipe because sometimes it's a bit stiff.

[00:24:49] And I've never seen it in the wild, but looks like they filed patent for it. Yeah. And I actually remember that one. That was a really cool patent. And I saw a lot of cool

[00:25:00] stuff through that whole process of looking through things. And you know, when I was designing the end product of this, you know, I wanted to make sure that every part of this fitting,

[00:25:12] you know, had there was a reason for it. And like one of the last things that was designed on there was the flat portion on both sides because I've had times where, you know, you're using

[00:25:26] pliers, you're, you know, you're working in the mud. So the fitting, you know, is slippery. It's wet. And so I made that flat portion so you could actually grab it, you know, with a wrench

[00:25:40] and it just gives you a better grip on the part. So yeah, I was just looking to see if I had another, you know, competitors swing barbed elbow in front of me, but I don't. So I can't recall if they have

[00:25:51] a flat piece or not where you could get some channel locks or pliers on it. Exactly. And one of the great. Yeah. One of the cool things that wasn't part of the design, but it was

[00:26:02] basically after I got, you know, my first, my first order was being able to use a second fitting and kind of put it in the threaded portion and you can actually use it as a wrench.

[00:26:18] So as you're spinning it on, you know, it's a lot easier on the hands. It gives you more leverage and it's, yeah, that wasn't intended, but it just gives you more leverage as you go to spin

[00:26:33] that fitting on. Wow. Cool. That's, uh, yeah, that's really nice. And I'm going to make a just short little demonstration video. At least that's my intent. And because I'm saying it now

[00:26:46] in this podcast is going to be out there, I guess I better do it is make a little explainer video and kind of show, uh, how the, how the fitting goes on to the, the swing pipe and onto the sprinkler.

[00:26:58] What was I going to ask you? So when you started, when you did your patent process, you know, that kind of, you know, going down that road opens a bit of a flood gate because now

[00:27:06] you're spending money. And if you're going to be spending money, you're going to want to get it back. And so how much, you don't have to tell us the figures, but how much did you think

[00:27:16] you were going to spend to where you are today and how much did you spend to where you are today? You know, just more or less type of numbers, not exact numbers.

[00:27:25] So when I went to get a mold, my uncle actually, he has a patent. So he was kind of telling me the price of the mold that he got. And it was like $10,000. And I'm like, wow, that was more

[00:27:41] than I kind of expected. And so as I was looking and was getting quotes from different mold, mold manufacturers, it was quite a bit more than that. And I'm like, wow, yeah, I wish it was

[00:27:57] 10,000. But I think, uh, yeah, the biggest investment on these parts is the mold. And right now I have a four part mold, which kind of keeps the price of the fitting to manufacture

[00:28:15] a little bit higher. And I definitely have to sell a lot of these parts to make that money back for what I currently have. But I'm in talks with my manufacturer about making an eight part

[00:28:29] mold. And that is definitely going to be a big investment. But kind of the biggest selling point that I hear from everybody from whether it's a supplier or it's, you know, the actual user of it

[00:28:44] is the price. You know, right now I have a high quantity of like 1000 fittings is like 28 cents of fitting. And you know, a lot of these landscape companies, you know, from the supply stores,

[00:28:58] they're getting it, you know, for almost less than 20 cents. So convincing people to switch over, even though, you know, this is four fittings in one, you know, the biggest part is the price.

[00:29:12] And so that's my main focus this year is investing in a bigger mold so I can bring the price down and, you know, show these companies, whether it's a supplier or the,

[00:29:25] you know, the end user that, Hey, I can compete with them. And this is just a better product overall. This is going to save you time in the end. And maybe it's a couple more cents per fitting,

[00:29:38] but it's not going to be a big enough difference to really, you know, make you, yeah, to quote a job. It's like, Oh, it's an extra $50 you're quoting to the job.

[00:29:50] It's not a big deal. So, and I think that fittings in general are kind of a commodity part at this point. You know, what you've made is certainly not a commodity. It could be considered in the

[00:30:03] commodity category. And that's likely why the prices drive down because there's little differentiation sometimes between these existing items in the marketplace. And they just, the price goes down and down and down over time that combined with volume going up.

[00:30:21] But I also think that, and this leads into the next question I want to ask you, I think that oftentimes irrigation contractors are very particular about the things that they like, whether it's because they actually like the device or perhaps they like the brand or

[00:30:38] perhaps they like the salesperson that works for said distributor or manufacturer, regardless of what it is, they oftentimes get particular. I only want to use Rainbird swing barbed elbows. And the other guy says, no, no, I only want to use Hunter swing barbed elbows. And so what I

[00:30:56] would love to hear from you is and also knowing that contractors, I guess 50 50 some, some contractors don't like new things and they poo poo it and they think of everything wrong about a new device. And then there's others that just grasp new innovation and go give

[00:31:12] it a try. And are there early adopters? What type of feedback good, bad and ugly have you received so far? Well, you know, I think the hardest part is those people who have been in the industry for 30,

[00:31:29] 40 years, you know, they've been using the same part for so long. They're just like, you know what this the price difference is enough for me to basically stick with what I already have. And some people, yeah, they've been using the Rainbird, the Hunter, whatever for so long.

[00:31:47] They're not really looking at something new. And overall, the feedback I've had has been amazing. People love the part and it all comes down to price. And I think the biggest thing,

[00:32:03] you know, I get online, you know, I have a Facebook page on there where everybody goes to and I've, you know, people will criticize it a lot like, Oh, it's this and this. And I'm like,

[00:32:17] well, you know, I'm not going to fight with this person online. So I'm like, you know what? You know, I'm looking for feedback good or bad. And you know, what I want is go to my website,

[00:32:30] request the sample, and I'm happy to send you one. And usually after that, or if I explain exactly what my fitting does online to them, they're like, Oh really? That's really cool.

[00:32:43] And so I send them a sample and you know, I get great feedback from them. And that's the only yeah, I mean, the only thing that I'm looking at right now is people are critical

[00:32:55] of the price. And I don't think someone should criticize unless they have used it themselves. They could because if they haven't used it, then they're just, you know, theorizing or assuming something isn't what it is or is the way that it is. And until they actually try it,

[00:33:17] you really can't speak to something yet. I think particularly online, it's just so easy to, you know, poo poo something and have a negative approach. And I think what you just said about,

[00:33:30] you know, just giving them the opportunity to have a sample and say try it for yourself is the way to go. And it reminds me of I don't know exactly where this expression came from,

[00:33:42] but it could be that the guys that have been doing this for a very long time, this might be more like a vitamin versus a drug, meaning it's nice and it could have benefits.

[00:33:56] But there isn't enough pain necessarily because they've been doing it, you know, so long that there isn't enough pain to, you know, to require the vitamin. But if there was enough pain,

[00:34:09] then this could be the drug that cures the pain for the professionals. Now on the flip side, if a DIYer of any sort is replacing a sprinkler, they don't often know the difference between a

[00:34:26] half inch thread and a three quarter inch thread. You know, they're going to have to get out a ruler and literally measure it. And we get a lot of these calls that if something like this were just became the default fitting on every hardware store, box store shelf,

[00:34:43] it's the only fitting that you would need to fix a sprinkler. And I think at that point, the pain is actually quite high and it's not about the price because you're buying one versus

[00:34:55] a professional that's going to be buying, I don't know, 10,000 in a year. And it's just interesting to kind of have that thought process. And we deal with that a lot online at Sprinkler Supply Store because it can be difficult to explain to somebody over the phone

[00:35:12] what they're going to need and what this size is and what that size is. And this would just make it so easy. Absolutely. And I remember I was looking at a review on Amazon and it was

[00:35:24] just have a Rainbird fitting. And, you know, Rainbird had it posted as like a half inch barb, which in reality, you know, it's closer to like a three eighths inch. It's, you know, the funny pipe.

[00:35:38] So they got it, you know, they tried putting it in their half inch line and they're just like, wow, this is like way too small. And even with the clamps, you know, it's still leaking because

[00:35:51] you're putting in too small of a fitting into that bigger pipe. Now, you know, the swing pipe or funny pipe, you know, that's pretty much the standard of what you're seeing these days.

[00:36:05] But in older systems, you know, this is how it was in my yard. And it was an older system. And it was using close, you know, a half inch pipe, you know, which just has a bigger diameter

[00:36:18] on the inside of it. So I have a box of fittings in the garage from, you know, basically getting the wrong ones at the store. And usually don't take them back just because they're

[00:36:31] like, oh, that was like a dollar. And so you end up with a box full of stuff you're not using. So being able to use, you know, have one part going into the hardware store,

[00:36:43] someone not know what they're doing and being able to buy one part, you know, that is huge. And, you know, I know the professionals who are going out there, you know, like you said, buying 10,000 fittings, they know exactly what they need. But for those, yeah,

[00:37:00] do it yourself first. This is perfect for them. Yeah. And I think just staying on the topic of feedback. My first thought or my first question I asked myself when I saw it online before learning everything was, man, I wonder how,

[00:37:19] because the half inches on the top and the three quarter inches on the bottom, I wonder if that interferes with the check valve that's on the bottom of a lot of the rotors. Because my thought was, man, that looks too deep. Are you supposed to cut it off?

[00:37:36] And then the more I learned about it, the more I realized that probably doesn't. And then you're actually putting it in my hand at the irrigation show. And then speaking with you,

[00:37:46] it just really kind of blew my mind that only half the threads on a three quarter inch, you know, swing barbed elbow are used. And when you insert it in the bottom of the rotor, it just blows my mind that it doesn't poke further up than it does.

[00:38:05] Yeah. The outside diameter of the fitting of kind of the half inch portion and the lip inside a three quarter inch, you know, fitting or sprinkler head, it doesn't go past. It almost this fitting will seal in two points.

[00:38:21] You screwed all the way in and it goes all the way up against this part inside the three quarter sprinkler head. So it's sealing there along with the actual three quarter inch threads.

[00:38:35] And then, yeah, the check valve, a lot of people have been worried about that, but I'm like, you know, we've tested it with all the major brands and it doesn't interfere. You know,

[00:38:46] doesn't matter how hard you try to screw this fitting on. It's not going to go up in that sprinkler. It stopped by that lip. Right, right. Because the check valve seals against the lip.

[00:38:58] I'm just looking at a canister right now. The check valve, which is just a rubber gasket, is all a check valve is. It still kills me how much more price is added to a sprinkler for

[00:39:10] a check valve and it's just a rubber disc sits against the bottom of the canister. And then your fitting on the rotor doesn't go up past that lip. And so it doesn't interfere with

[00:39:21] the check valve at all. And I've put this in a couple different canisters and it all seems to be the same from brand to brand. And I guess that was my, when I saw it online, that was my first

[00:39:33] instinct was, I wonder how that interferes with the check valve, but it doesn't. Yeah. And that's the question, you know, I get online all the time. So that's where I'm like,

[00:39:46] let me send you some samples. I want you to look for yourself. I mean, the pictures that I have, it makes it really difficult to see inside that sprinkler or to explain to them, you know,

[00:39:57] I explain it with words on the website, but until you actually see it in person, like you said, get your hands on it and really use it, then you're like, oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. I see

[00:40:10] what you mean. And yeah, that doesn't interfere whatsoever. I'm going to have to find a way to cut the canister in half just to show that it doesn't do it. It's pretty amazing.

[00:40:25] And that's what I brought from Irrigation Show. I cut a bunch of sprinklers in half so you could actually see inside of it. But I think, you know, trying to take pictures, it still makes it

[00:40:37] kind of difficult to see. I need to kind of work on that, see if I can get some good pictures so I can get those online just to show people that, hey, this doesn't interfere. Yeah. So let's see,

[00:40:50] I would like to ask you, you know, we know where you're at right now. You've got a patent, you're manufacturing them, you have thousands of them, you're giving free samples away on your website. So I guess if somebody's listening and they would like to have a free

[00:41:03] sample, can they get that from your website right now? Yep. If you just go to efficient-fittings.com, you leave your contact information and just request the sample. I'll send you a free five pack and I pay for shipping. You know, I'll send it out. Everything's free because

[00:41:25] I want you to try it out. You know, I don't want you to buy these fittings without knowing how they work first and that was really big for me. I've had people be like, oh, I want to put

[00:41:35] an order in, you know, and I'm like, you know, I love that but I also want you to believe in the product first. So if you're interested, I'm happy to send you that five pack first

[00:41:47] and usually after I do that then a lot of people will come back and they will do an order. Yeah, excellent. Okay. You know, we have a few minutes left here but I would love to know in

[00:41:58] your mind what's next for you? What are you thinking about next? Well, if you're looking at the spiral barbs, I've had a lot of people ask me, you know, are you coming out with any new products? And I think the new one would be just a,

[00:42:14] you know, a pipe coupling which would basically be those spiral barbs on both sides. It wouldn't be the threaded portion. And, you know, a lot of people if you go to the store, there's no reducers

[00:42:27] when it comes to, you know, if you're going from a funny pipe to a drip line, that's not out there. And I've had to do that in my yard as well. And I ended up buying two or three different

[00:42:38] fittings to where then I could finally get it to reduce down to, you know, the funny pipe. And so getting that out there, I think that's going to be my next product.

[00:42:51] And then I do have a couple other products that I'm looking at maybe getting a patent on. But I have to pursue this and make the money and, you know, then I'll go, then I'll go

[00:43:05] looking at it. That's what I was going to say. You don't, don't fall into the entrepreneur's trap of shiny object, new shiny object when your first shiny object, it looks so amazing. Go get as much revenue sales off your first shiny object and let the profits

[00:43:22] off of this one fund your next one. Exactly. And I knew that the elbow, that was going to be the biggest seller because, you know, pretty much those are used on almost

[00:43:32] every single sprinkler head. So once, yeah, once I get that going, then I can pursue those other things. Yeah, cool. I have one last question. If, if you were what, what advice would you give to

[00:43:50] someone in the landscape industry who, you know, has an idea for something and wants to start? What kind of advice would you give them? Well, first thing is, you know, do that patent

[00:44:00] search. You can do the Google patent search just see if it's out there first. When I first did a patent search, I paid a lawyer to do it and that was like $750. And save yourself money.

[00:44:15] You can do it yourself. You can go to the patent office website. You just search through there. It's going to take you time, but you know exactly the idea that you have in your head.

[00:44:28] And if that's not in there, persistence. Don't give up. You know, if you believe in an idea, find a way and it might take longer than you expect because this whole process is definitely

[00:44:43] taken longer than I thought it was going to, but you know, patience, perseverance and just, you know, don't give up. If you have that idea and you believe in it, go for it.

[00:44:57] Love it. That's so great. Did you have anybody, did you have any mentors helping you through that process at the beginning? Well, my uncle, he had gotten a patent. So,

[00:45:07] you know, he, he gave me a little bit of advice regarding that. And then a lot of YouTube videos, you know, I got ordered some books about how to patent it yourself, but then you start

[00:45:19] looking at the lingo that you have to use and I'm like, yeah, I have to get a lawyer because my writing skills aren't like that. Yeah. And you know, I also, through the process,

[00:45:33] you know, especially after I got a patent pending, I, you know, I have some friends who are in the landscape industry. So I went ahead and I showed them and I'm like, what do you

[00:45:44] think? And you know, even from them looking at it, they're like, oh, I think it might break here. You know, this something might be wrong with this. So, you know, it just got me thinking and

[00:45:56] you know, kind of updating the design to make sure it was going to work for them. That's great. Thank you, Chris, so much for sharing. I applaud you for your courage to

[00:46:09] go from idea to sample to production because it is not easy and probably less than one in 100 actually does it. So congratulations on getting to where you are right now. It's pretty awesome. Thank you very much and I appreciate you having me on your show.

[00:46:29] Yeah, absolutely. Look forward to seeing the a fishing green. You got to come up with a, got to come up with a name for this green on a local distributor shelf near you. It's actually the color is Kawasaki green.

[00:46:45] Oh, badass Kawasaki green. And the main reason I actually picked that color was because you know, when you're digging up sprinkler heads, it's nice to have that bright color in there you can find. And then some of the feedback that I've gotten from some of the people is,

[00:47:03] you know, you have so many black feed fittings and stuff in your truck that when you go and look in your truck for supplies, then you have this bright fitting and you can find it right away

[00:47:15] and you're not shuffling through everything. So yeah, cool. Well, thank you so much again and look forward to following your journey. All right, I appreciate it.