labor up 50% + and that’s their profit on labor, plus the markup on materials. I understand they have overhead, but the salesman’s com- mission is higher than the labor payout; that’s a messed up system. Phil Green , P.G.C. Construction, Gilberts, Ill. – ANYONE here remember the Revell Visible V-8 model? It SHOWED us how things worked... Mark Heinlein, NTCA – I also had the “Wankel.” I built a lot of car models. Phil Green , P.G.C. Construction, Gilberts, Ill. – This should be on the next gen NTCA shirts..... or this.... Mark Heinlein, NTCA – I learned from my father, Melvin, that I could excel at anything I tried. He was a log- ger and did nearly everything for himself. He instilled in me deter- mination and work ethic. From the ages of 9-18, I worked with him felling trees and repairing trucks and equipment. He involved me in planning and constructing log- ging roads and cruising logging sales and bidding Forest Service contracts to buy stumpage and selling timber to mills and order- ing rail cars to haul it, and driving logging trucks, etc. With him, I gained business perspective, mechanical aptitude and curiosity for how anything works. A person can do many things with logs for levers and rocks for fulcrums. I’m still REALLY good at cutting trees down. I learned self-sufficiency and how to work long hours, outdoors in all seasons in a harsh environment. I hired my own first employee when I was 12. I quasi-affectionately refer to the result of this training pro- gram as “The curse of Melvin.” What this did for me was teach me to explore opportunities and get some education, do intrigu- ing things and be self sufficient. I decided to branch out from logging because I had inter- ests that demanded exploration. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– HOT TOPICS TileLetter | October 2017 73