Nick Surrette, Equipment Manager at Union League Golf Club at Torresdale in Philadelphia, PA was introduced to the turf industry by his golf coach that just so happened to know Mike Elliott. Nick started a Pine Valley working for Mike as an assistant technician. Then he made his way to the Union League to run his own shop as the equipment manager. He is off to a great start and has learned so much from Mike and his high school shop teacher. He likes to work on his Subaru WRX in his spare time.
Transcript
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 74. Today, we’re talking to Nick Surette. Equipment manager at the union league golf club at Thursday. Thursday is an 18 hole facility. With a par three course scheduled to start construction in 2023. Nick is the loan technician and a shop until Mike Elliott stops by to lend a hand. Nick has a mixture of John Deere and Toro equipment and some Cushman holler carts. Let’s talk to Nick. Welcome Nick to the Real Turf Text podcast. How you doing today?
Nick Surrette: 1:00
Not too bad. Not too bad. How are you?
Trent Manning: 1:02
I’m great. Thank you for being here.
Nick Surrette: 1:04
No problem.
Trent Manning: 1:05
Tell your story on how you got into the turf.
Nick Surrette: 1:08
So, I was a junior in high school. I went to a, uh, vocational high school. I went there for automotive technology. and I was on a high school golf team and my now boss, Mike Elliot, he was good friends with my golf coach. And he contacted him and said, Hey, do you have anybody on the golf team that wants to be a mechanic? And believe it or not, I was the only one.
Trent Manning: 1:30
Well, no, I can believe that for sure. not, not a lot of people say, Hey, I wanna be a mechanic. Can I please be a mechanic?
Nick Surrette: 1:36
so I got in contact with Mike, went for an interview, February, 2020, right before the, uh, pandemic and right, right when the pandemic started. They weren’t allowed to hire anybody new over at Pine Valley. So, I waited a couple months and this, he offered me the job and I actually turned it down the first time because I, uh, I worked at a landscaping company. at the time, and I just got a, got a raise there and I was kind of worried that I was gonna stir up some feelings if I left.
Trent Manning: 2:04
Mm.
Nick Surrette: 2:04
you know, just the normal stuff that goes through your head. And, uh, then comes July, 2020. And, uh, comes around and we’re talking and I’m like, Why, why did I turn down that job? That was a, that was not a great idea. So I. He got back in touch with him and it was, uh, the rest is history. Now I’m here. So, yeah.
Trent Manning: 2:25
and you ended up.
Nick Surrette: 2:27
So now I worked at Pine Valley for about a year and a half. about a year in, Mike went to the, uh, Union League of Philadelphia. I worked with, uh, Tommy Richie for about five months. and then at October, first October, 2021, I started at Union League Tour.
Trent Manning: 2:43
Okay, Sweet. Awesome.
Nick Surrette: 2:45
Yeah,
Trent Manning: 2:46
So how’s your experience been? So,
Nick Surrette: 2:49
pretty good. I’ve definitely taken on a lot more responsibility, so I am technically the equipment manager there.
Trent Manning: 2:54
Mm.
Nick Surrette: 2:55
Mike oversees all three Union League properties. So he kind of leaves me alone, lets me do what I, think is right just kind of lets me figure it out on my own, and I really appreciate him giving me that opportunity to do that. So, yeah, it’s just, it’s been like, it’s been a, you know, not everything comes natural at first, so it’s kind of it, at first it’s a little bit stressful and I kind of realized going through it, the last nine, 10 months is, just pace yourself and, just kind of get a grasp of what you have going on instead of just going for
Trent Manning: 3:26
Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, that was awesome. Do you relieve grind?
Nick Surrette: 3:30
not right now. I actually never really done it before. they, we had a relief grinding machine at Pine Valley, but kind of the circumstances, that were in place at the time, they, we had newer greens mowers and they just replaced the reels and the ferry mowers, the last year before I was there. so I never really got the chance to do it. And now at Tours sale, I have basically, All new cutting units. So except for, except for the, 10 that aren’t. so I haven’t really got a chance to do it yet, but I would like to learn how to do it
Trent Manning: 4:00
Gotcha. Have you noticed any benefits on the reels that are new that do have relief on them?
Nick Surrette: 4:09
I, for the most part, I haven’t really seen a big difference, in the way, I guess the way I set them up, in the way I do
Trent Manning: 4:17
Mm-hmm.
Nick Surrette: 4:18
just whenever I don’t usually back lap or anything like that. I’ve never back LA before. so I just kind of, all I do is grind. So there is a tiny bit of relief that you get from the, Burnhard Express stools that I have.
Trent Manning: 4:31
Mm-hmm.
Nick Surrette: 4:31
so for the most part, I haven’t really seen too much of a difference.
Trent Manning: 4:35
Gotcha. Tell us something you fabricated lately.
Nick Surrette: 4:38
I haven’t done anything too extreme lately. last year I built a metal table for the, hydraulic press we had at Pine Valley. that was the main thing, the, the first thing I ever really fabricated. I actually just purchased a new welder for the shop, couple weeks ago, so definitely gonna get into building some stuff in the near.
Trent Manning: 4:57
What kinda welder did you get?
Nick Surrette: 4:59
It’s a, it’s Amatic two 11,
Trent Manning: 5:02
Okay.
Nick Surrette: 5:03
it’s not, it’s not nothing, you know, it’s no, not nothing crazy, but it’ll definitely get the job done for what we do,
Trent Manning: 5:08
Well, with that you can definitely pile wire up
Nick Surrette: 5:11
Oh, yeah.
Trent Manning: 5:11
because I, I, that’s what I do with midg welder. I just pile a bunch of wire
Nick Surrette: 5:15
Yep, Yep.
Trent Manning: 5:17
What’s your favorite tool and why?
Nick Surrette: 5:19
my go-to is, Electric, three eight’s impact. us young guys are, at least, especially me, I’m pretty impatient with some things, you know, just like to get it done quick and efficient. sometimes that’s bit me, definitely learned, how to set back on some things and, you know, learn how to be more agile with that tool. definitely stripped a couple bolts. Definitely, broke some bolts, but. You learn after a while how to, how to get around those things and be more efficient. But that’s definitely my favorite tool.
Trent Manning: 5:51
Sweet. Do you have a cordless ratchet?
Nick Surrette: 5:56
I don’t, I have one at, my house for personal use, but I don’t have one at work. I definitely thought about getting one at some point. It’s definitely, it definitely helps.
Trent Manning: 6:07
I absolutely love the quarter inch drive. Milwaukee, Cordless ratchet, and taking off, betting off pivot bolts. It’s awesome. On Toro cutting units. On DPAs, just buzzing them in and out and there’s nothing like it. It’s a lifesaver.
Nick Surrette: 6:27
Yeah. Yeah, I can, I can imagine. I just use a regular wrench for that. At the moment, I only have. two, uh, Toro fairway units that have, 10 basically just 10 Toro cutting units. I learned on basically all John Deere. That’s what I’m used to. there’s definitely, a lot of different ways that you can set up both of those cutting units. it’s definitely something to get used to with the Toro units.
Trent Manning: 6:49
Oh, yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s a little learning curve there.
Nick Surrette: 6:51
yeah. Yep, for sure. For.
Trent Manning: 6:54
What have you noticed being the biggest difference
Nick Surrette: 6:56
I definitely noticed that on the to units that bed bars like to flex, depending on how tight those, big jam nuts are on the ends of the, bed bar bolts. in the beginning I kind of, I wasn’t really setting ’em upright and I, was really fiddling with those bed bar bolts all the time. And then I finally read the service manual and, you’re supposed to torque the bolts down to 30 foot pounds and. Just tighten up the, uh, jam nut just enough to where that, you know, the last wa that, uh, flat washer just spins a tiny bit. so once I got that figured out, I usually just never touch those now, um, other than here and there if I wanna tighten ’em up a little bit to get the center, the, the reel to cut a little bit better. But that’s about it.
Trent Manning: 7:35
Right back in my. Toro days and traveling the road, I went to a customer’s shop and he was having trouble. It was on a fairway unit and the reels would only cut in the middle, not cut on the ends. So I asked, I said, How tight are you tightening these jam nuts? Oh, I take a half inch impact. Run ’em in there as tight as, okay, So I said, Okay, let’s, uh, back those off and, and see what.
Nick Surrette: 8:02
putting the, when I f first started putting those together, I definitely. I definitely had some trouble. I’m like, Oh, why is this not cutting right? And, you know, I’m, I’m messing with it, messing with, and I, you know, I eventually get it, but it just, it took me so much longer. I was so much more frustrated with the Touro units than I was with the John Deere because, you know, John Deere’s what I learned on. So that’s kind of, it was kind of just second nature to me to zip, zip, zip, put it together. Flat plate it put on the mower good to go. And this one’s a bit, you know, with the, to units you don’t have to really flat plate as much cuz there’s not as much, adjustment on those rollers. You know, you just have the shins instead of s and stuff like that.
Trent Manning: 8:36
what kind of flat plate are you using?
Nick Surrette: 8:39
what is it? I think it’s a ACU products flat
Trent Manning: 8:41
Okay. Yeah.
Nick Surrette: 8:42
and at Pine Valley we had a granite block that we used. We would parallel the both rollers together. front rear rollers together, or? Yeah. So this one’s a bit, a bit different, but it’s, it’s basically, you know,
Trent Manning: 8:55
Yeah, same concept. Yep. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Nick Surrette: 9:02
if I find myself getting frustrated with something, it’s either I’ll, you know, take a step back, uh, take a ride out in the course for 15 minutes, you know, check some stuff, you know, no one, no one’s gonna, no one’s gonna blame you for going out in the course and looking at some stuff. or just start making a list start prioritizing of what I need to actually get done versus what I think needs to get done. I find. a struggle of mine, I kind of get caught up in my head. I’m like, Oh, I need to do this, this, this, this, and this. And then once you step back you’re like, Oh, it’s really not that bad. And when you think, when you really think about it, it’s like, Okay, I need to do this today. I can do this, can wait till tomorrow. This can wait till next week.
Trent Manning: 9:42
Right. Right, right. It’s not as overwhelming, I guess, at
Nick Surrette: 9:45
Right. Exactly.
Trent Manning: 9:46
Yeah, I think that is a pretty good tip
Nick Surrette: 9:49
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 9:50
for the listeners. So what do you do outside of work to relax?
Nick Surrette: 9:56
I rent out a little, uh, a barn with a friend of mine, a little garage, car. Working on cars is my hobby, so I have, I have, I got two. I got two Subarus that I like to tinker with here and there. that’s one of the main things I do and. That’s really about it. I don’t, too many hobbies outside of that. I used to play golf a lot, back in my, my high school days, two years ago. so I used, I used to play, I was a lot better than I was, than I am now, but, that’s definitely another thing I like to do. So,
Trent Manning: 10:24
yeah. no, that’s cool. Uh, wx, what kind of Subaru are we talking about?
Nick Surrette: 10:28
I have a 96, super Impreza coop and I have a 2017 wx.
Trent Manning: 10:33
Okay. And both of those are hobby cars.
Nick Surrette: 10:37
Yeah, for the most part, the, the newer ones, my daily driver that I kind of, I started modifying it and then once you start doing that, you can’t stop. So it’s, Yeah, it’s just kinda a never ending, uh, cycle
Trent Manning: 10:48
Well, I, it was funny. I went to, uh, I, far as I know, it was the first ever sponsored by Low Rider Magazine car show here in Atlanta. I DT know, it’s been two, three weeks ago now, and I’m not, you know, I’m not really a low rider guy.
Nick Surrette: 11:06
Mm-hmm.
Trent Manning: 11:08
I could appreciate all the work that went into these vehicles. I mean, and it was amazing and I wish I could show you some pictures or share pictures on the, the podcast, but the amount of work that went into some of these cars and all the like gold leaf, silver leaf on frame rails, you know what I mean? Not like just in the paint. And then some of the most incredible paint jobs you’ve ever seen. custom hand done pin strapping. But anyway, I’m, I’m looking at one of the cars with one of the guys that I’d went with, and he says, When did they look at this and say, I think that’s enough. know, I mean, they already put thousands and thousands of dollars in this. Yeah, it’s never enough. That’s the answer. It’s never enough. You can always do one more little. Well, tell us what the strangest thing is you’ve seen at work.
Nick Surrette: 12:06
one of the stranger things I’ve ran into is actually an electrical issue. I had, back I think in March, it was a 5,800 g sprayer, and it wa had an intermittent no start issue that I was trying to diagnose. Every now and again, you’d turn the key wouldn’t. The info center would come up, but it would kind of blink here and there, and it would only show six volts coming from the battery on the info center. How it show the battery voltage shows up right when you turn the key on. And I was like, Hmm, that’s weird. Like it’s not, like there’s not as enough voltage going to literally everything, so tracing stuff back, can’t find anything. And then I get to the main power relay and I test. And it seems good. but I go and I basically jump the relay and everything works every time. And, you know, replace the relay and everything’s fine. But the relay tests good. So it’s, it’s one of those weird things that you run into. It’s like, well, it fixed it, so haven’t had an issue since. So we’ll just, we’ll just leave that alone for now.
Trent Manning: 13:09
No. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I would imagine if you would’ve done a voltage drop test on that positive side, you know, going from the battery to wherever the other side of the relays going, it would’ve probably shown up there,
Nick Surrette: 13:23
yeah. If there was a load on that relay, it probably would’ve tested bad. You know, just te just bench testing it, it probably, you know, it wasn’t bad enough for it to, you know, it was only intermittent issues, so.
Trent Manning: 13:34
right?
Nick Surrette: 13:36
It wasn’t, completely failed yet, but that was just kind of like a huh moment.
Trent Manning: 13:40
Yeah, yeah, Yeah. No, that was a good one. I like it. You got any other strange things you wanna.
Nick Surrette: 13:45
I’ve seen, every now and again, you see just certain situations that people get themselves into, like running, running carts into stuff, or running sand pros into ponds and stuff like that. You’re like, How did that happen? just getting people unstuck from, weird situations and you’re just like, How, how did that happen, How, how did, how did we get to where we are?
Trent Manning: 14:07
that’s, uh, something I’ve tried to hand off over the last few years and say, I’m not the tow truck or wreck guy.
Nick Surrette: 14:16
Right.
Trent Manning: 14:16
You know, you know you got it stuck on the assistance can help you get it out. I got, better things to do and I kind of hate being that way. But we’re so busy in the shop and we have so much stuff to get done. I don’t have time to spend 30 minutes pulling a guy. Out of a ditch or wherever he’s high centered on a 3,100 around a bunker that he’s mowed, you know, 1400 times.
Nick Surrette: 14:41
Yeah, I’ve seen, I’ve seen one side winder, cutting it inside a bunker and the other one out, you know,
Trent Manning: 14:47
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah,
Nick Surrette: 14:48
all chewed up like, Oh, Uhoh,
Trent Manning: 14:51
Happens all the time. What’s one of your pet peeves around the shop?
Nick Surrette: 14:57
since we did move into a new maintenance facility back in March, I have, we have a fresh freshly epoxy coated floor, in my shop, which is really nice. sometimes it’s hard to find stuff that you drop, but, for the most part, yeah, pretty much. for the most part, it’s pretty, it’s really, really good. But every now and again, there’s drainage grates out in front of, the bay doors and there’s a lot of water that get, built up there. And every once in a while there’d be someone that dries into the shop, for not really any good reason, but just creates a mud track across my floor. I’m like, Oh man, why didn’t you just do that? You know, if something’s broken, then you bring it in. That’s a different story. If you’re just driving in to say, What’s up? I’m like, Just stay. Just stay out. Just stay out.
Trent Manning: 15:41
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Why don’t, I mean, that leads me to one of my pet peeves, and that’s parking right in front of the door. I can’t stand it drives me nuts,
Nick Surrette: 15:50
yep.
Trent Manning: 15:50
So, yeah, definitely don’t, I thought park in front of the door was bad, but pulling into the shop, that’s really bad.
Nick Surrette: 15:57
Yeah. There’s only, there’s only a couple guys that do it, and they just do it to. tease me because they know I don’t like it. But, um, we all, we all like to, We like that. I have fun,
Trent Manning: 16:06
Yeah, that’s okay. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Nick Surrette: 16:12
Yeah. My, my biggest mentor is my boss, Mike. he’s taught me everything on the turf side of, mechanics that I know.
Trent Manning: 16:20
Did he pay you to say any of this?
Nick Surrette: 16:23
No,
Trent Manning: 16:23
I’m joking. I Mike’s a great.
Nick Surrette: 16:27
yeah, so I had a shop teacher in high school. he was one of the, also the smartest guys I ever met. he, uh, he definitely taught me the, all the basics that I really needed to know, getting into this job. And then Mike kind of just elaborated on top of that even more so I, I spent a lot more time with Mike than I did my shop teacher because, my senior year of high school in the midst of Covid. since I went to a vocational high school, my senior year was, all online and I got to do a, our school to work program. so I was at work all day. I I went to school, maybe I went to school maybe five days outta the year, my senior year. Like I was physically at school five of those days. So I definitely got a head start, for sure in that time. So,
Trent Manning: 17:09
That’s awesome and I’m so glad you’re in the industry with us. This is great. You know, I love seeing a, a young face in the industry, and it sounds like you’re doing really well.
Nick Surrette: 17:20
yeah, yeah. Fake it till you make it, you Right.
Trent Manning: 17:23
That’s right. That’s right. What’s, uh, one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned from Mike?
Nick Surrette: 17:29
he always tells me, I always try to make everything as perfect, as perfect can be. And he, he’ll come up to me and, you know, I spent, especially when I first started, I spent so much time, you know, on the flat plate or doing, doing what have you, especially dealing with, um, thousands of an inch and just trying to get it as perfect. You know, just zero. And he comes over, he’s like, he’s like, Listen, you’re trying to perfect an imperfect.
Trent Manning: 17:55
Mm-hmm.
Nick Surrette: 17:56
he’s, he’s like, you, you can try to be perfect and sometimes you can get it there without even trying. But if you, if you’re sitting there for too long and you know you’re one, two thousands off, just leave it. He’s like, you know, it’s, you know, you will never, ever, ever notice that anywhere. the only one who will know about it is you.
Trent Manning: 18:13
right.
Nick Surrette: 18:14
that’s definitely saved me a lot of time in the long run. just getting stuff set up, especially. Being new in this business and not having a ton of experience, it’s, you know, you’re just like, I need to get this perfect. And it, you know, that’s, that’s kind of all you have to, that’s all I think about and that definitely thinking about that has definitely helped me a lot.
Trent Manning: 18:33
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s, that’s a really, really good. And that’s something I’ve been working on and I’ve been kind of lying to myself and lying to everybody else that I’m, uh, recovering perfectionist. Um, but, you know, I, I’m trying to recover but not been very successful. So, something that my boss bosses started saying lately, when he sees me trying to be a perfectionist, he says, Done is better than perfect.
Nick Surrette: 19:06
Yeah, no,
Trent Manning: 19:07
and yeah. So that, that really hit home with me and sometimes you just gotta get it done and you don’t have to get it perfect
Nick Surrette: 19:15
Yeah. Especially when there’s there’s something that goes down and, you know, they have two holes left to use a certain piece of machinery and you know, it’s something like, you could fix it the right way or you could, kind of bubble gum and duct tape it for those last two holes. But you could, you also need to remember to go back and fix it right later.
Trent Manning: 19:32
Uh, well, yeah, yeah, of course. And I, I do think I’ve been okay at that. Where I get hung up is like, shop organization and I want to do, you know, a million things and we need to start here to get this done. And sometimes it’s better just to do one thing here, One thing there, no, it’s not perfect system, but it helps.
Nick Surrette: 19:58
Yep.
Trent Manning: 19:59
That’s where I guess I really struggle.
Nick Surrette: 20:01
Yeah, no, I, I could, uh, I could relate to that.
Trent Manning: 20:04
What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Nick Surrette: 20:07
my dream. Probably be to oversee multiple shops at at once, you know, kind of like what my boss does. that would be definitely one of my, uh, my, one of my goals for sure.
Trent Manning: 20:18
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s very achievable.
Nick Surrette: 20:24
Yeah, Yeah, that’s, Yeah, no, I I’m, that’s what I’m striving for. Yeah. That’s what I’m striving for. So
Trent Manning: 20:30
I mean, you look at Mike, Clint McKee at Big Cedar. He’s over five different courses, but when he was hired in there, he was just working at one shop and they seen his ability and now he’s over five shops and killing it. And he’s a, a great leader in our industry too. And one thing, and I think it was in Mike Rollin’s video that I remember hearing is a leader and a boss are two different people or can be two different. You know, anybody can boss people around say, Do this, do that, but to really lead ’em, that’s something special.
Nick Surrette: 21:10
Yeah. Yep. That takes, That takes something different. You’re right.
Trent Manning: 21:13
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome stuff. What technician would you like to work with for a day?
Nick Surrette: 21:18
So there’s a, there’s this awesome guy I know his name is Ed Bosky. he’s been everywhere. he’s been in this business for a super long time. he was the equip manager at Lookaway, uh, in Pennsylvania for a long time. he kind of, now he’s the, he’s the head mechanic at, uh, Marion Cricket Club. but he know. In my opinion, he knows everything about everything. You know, I’ll, I’ll call him one random Tuesday and I’ll blur out some random issue I have, and he just comes back with a direct fix. And I’m just like, How do you, how did you know that? How did
Trent Manning: 21:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Very
Nick Surrette: 21:51
he’s just, he’s just one of those guys, you know, He doesn’t, he doesn’t brag about it too much, but he definitely, he definitely knows what he’s talking about.
Trent Manning: 21:58
Where did you meet him?
Nick Surrette: 22:00
he’s good friends with Mike. I met him at the. Uh, NJ Turf Show in Atlantic City last year. we hung out, for most of the, uh, show and got to know him a lot. And then, yeah, and then I got his phone number and I talked to him pretty frequently.
Trent Manning: 22:15
Okay. That’s awesome.
Nick Surrette: 22:17
yeah,
Trent Manning: 22:18
And he probably really likes helping you out, doesn’t he?
Nick Surrette: 22:21
that’s what he says. He might just say that to make me feel better, but,
Trent Manning: 22:24
I don’t. You know, I don’t know him person. But I’ve talked to a lot of technicians, not just doing the podcast, but over my career talking to different people. And I think we all like to help, and it don’t matter. Older, younger, I mean, none of that matters. We just like to help people and if we can help somebody out, that’s what we want to do. But I would think, I mean, my perspective being, and I’m not old yet, but I am older than you. I think helping a younger person would even mean a little bit more,
Nick Surrette: 22:58
right.
Trent Manning: 22:58
you know, Because you’re the future of this industry,
Nick Surrette: 23:01
Yep.
Trent Manning: 23:02
what do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
Nick Surrette: 23:05
there’s one, there’s one big thing is that not everything will come natural. I definitely grabbed onto certain, strategies and methods really quickly, and other ones I just, you. one of my Achilles heels is pool courts, believe it or not. And I, for the life of me for a long time, I couldn’t, I couldn’t string a pool court. And it was just one of those things. It’s, you know, some, some things don’t come natural and you just kind of have to go with it and, just keep going at it and eventually you’ll get it. Now, now I can do it without really even thinking about it, but before I’m just, um, it was just some rocket science to me. But, you know, I could rebuild an engine, but I couldn’t string a pool cord. It’s just the, it’s, it’s one of those things,
Trent Manning: 23:46
No, that’s really good though. And I think it’s good that you have that awareness that that’s what was going on. And yeah, you can figure it out. You might struggle with it for a while, but you can’t over.
Nick Surrette: 23:58
Yep.
Trent Manning: 23:59
and then like my mom always told me, When you get frustrated, just put it down and walk away.
Nick Surrette: 24:04
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 24:04
You know, I had trouble doing that as a kid, but that’s what she always told
Nick Surrette: 24:08
with that and I usually end up messing up more than I already did, and then I gotta go back and fix it. But I’ve definitely ran into a couple of those situations where you just walk away, 10 minutes later, you come back and it’s just
Trent Manning: 24:19
Mm-hmm. .Yeah.
Nick Surrette: 24:20
like, Oh, why was I so upset about that? I have no idea.
Trent Manning: 24:24
and I’m thinking the whole time, Mom, you don’t know what you’re talking about. And then I walk back, I come over like, wow, she is a genius. As an equipment tech one of the most tedious jobs is keeping your parts inventory straight But that job just got a whole lot easier With using AASB task trackers parts scanning Technology I can scan or see parts into the inventory And as I use them I can scan them into a work order If you hadn’t had a chance to check out the technician side of ASB task tracker I highly recommend you reach out to them At ASB task tracker.com To schedule a demo There’s a really great software And I use it on a daily basis Using task tracker has made my life so much easier I love being able to pick up The scanner and scan parts and inventory Let’s get back to the episode What kind of tips and tricks you wanna share with us?
Nick Surrette: 25:32
one of my, one of my main tips is, just like I said before, one of my big problems is being ultra stressed out over so many things and it’s just kind of always prioritize your. just keep, keep a level head. That’s what I, uh, that’s kind of what I try to go by is, you know, there’s, there’s plenty of people shouting this way, shouting this way. It’s like, Oh, this needs to get done, this needs to get done. And then, as an equipment manager, you need to kind of, you know, you obviously have to take in all those things, but you also need to, be the, be the rational voice in your head. It’s kind of like, okay, when does this really need to get done? And how does it need to get.
Trent Manning: 26:07
Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, that’s.
Nick Surrette: 26:10
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 26:11
is the, your superintendent or any of those people, do they help, help you kind of make some of those decisions?
Nick Surrette: 26:18
Yeah. My, uh, my superintendent Andrew Dooley, he’s a very super smart guy. He’s very attention to detail oriented, just like I am. So he definitely gets, um, understands my certain struggles and he, yeah, he does help me here and there. Um, trying to, trying to navigate my way through, certain obstacles. So
Trent Manning: 26:38
Yeah. And how valuable is that to you?
Nick Surrette: 26:42
that is very valuable to me. Definitely. I try to always go out to, different people for advice. when I find myself stuck in certain situations, it’s, there’s always someone I know I can call to help me out with something. So, that’s, I, I do that very frequently, so.
Trent Manning: 26:59
Yeah, the resources are really endless. If once you get your network going
Nick Surrette: 27:04
Right. Yeah. And that’s, yeah, that’s one of my main thing, one of the main things my dad always told me was, look people in the eye, shake their hand with a firm handshake and, just build your network because you don’t know, You don’t know what those people could help you with in the long run.
Trent Manning: 27:18
yeah, who know? It might be your future boss, it might be your future employee. It might be a coworker you don’t
Nick Surrette: 27:26
Especially in this industry, it’s very tight knit and you know, you talk to someone and you’re like, Oh. They’re like, Oh, I know that guy. I know this guy. And you’re like, Oh, well, now we know everyone. Look at
Trent Manning: 27:35
Right.
Nick Surrette: 27:35
Yeah. In a roundabout way, we know everyone
Trent Manning: 27:39
it’s amazing how, uh, how tight-knit this industry is, and I do think it makes it really special being a part of it. Well, let’s talk about this new shop that was built in March.
Nick Surrette: 27:51
Yeah. So it was originally, right off the edge of our property. There was a, uh, an old car dealership that the Union League bought out. There were three buildings on the property. two were torn down and the one that we are using right now was retrofitted to our needs. So it was from the looks of it, it was the, probably the maintenance shop side of the dealership it looks like, cuz it’s a, Probably 6, 7, 8 bay bays wide. there’s, seven or eight, eight to 10 garage doors. it so, The first two bays are my shop, and then the rest is equipment storage. So, the only part that you know, I really worry about is my side, and then I kind of, Mike and I in the beginning, organize the equipment area and then we have storage racking, against, two inside walls of that equipment area for hand tools and stuff like that.
Trent Manning: 28:47
Mm.
Nick Surrette: 28:47
And like I said before, one of my big things is keeping the shop clean. especially right now when there’s a lot of members coming through. Since it’s a brand new facility, there’s a lot of members that want to come through and see it, different board members. the Head pro comes in a lot and it just, it just makes you look more professional, you know? Me being, me being a younger equip manager, there’s, I don’t have a whole lot of experience going for me per se. so I kind of use those certain aspects of my work as, my advantage to make me look professional or kind of, uh, display my professionalism. So,
Trent Manning: 29:25
Yeah, I think that’s a great way to display professionalism and. You don’t have to be the most knowledgeable person to keep a place clean and organized, and I don’t remember, I heard somebody tell me this, that it doesn’t cost you anything to keep it clean and organized.
Nick Surrette: 29:46
Yep. Yeah. So what I, what my main routine is I’ll either I use a little backpack blower or, Or no, not a little back, a little handheld blower or sweep it. Pretty much once a day, once or twice a day. And then, three times a week there’s, a gentleman and his wife, the gentleman, he works on the grounds crew and his wife. They come in, after hours and his wife cleans the break room and the assistance offices. And, the other guy, he comes down to my shop and we have a, a floor scrubber that we use to scrub the floor. So I just make sure. the floors swept. I usually clean from the top down, so I do the benches, maybe the top of the grinders, different things like that. and he just worries about the floor so when I come in the next morning, everything’s clean. So that’s it. The floor scrubbers definitely a great asset to have, especially if you have a floor, poxy coat of floor, like. It definitely helps cuz you know, there’s certain stains that this, you know, when you use a broom it just won’t pick up. Just, you know, those, muddy tire tracks, stuff like that. You can get all the mud up, but those tracks are still showing and that floor scrubber kind of takes all that away. So it definitely is the cherry on top for keeping the shop clean.
Trent Manning: 30:58
Do you have any idea of what kind floor scrub scrubber this is?
Nick Surrette: 31:02
I don’t have the model right off the top of my head, but it’s just a, a walk behind. it has a, a squeegee and a brush, rotating brush on the front and, you put your detergent, diluted detergent in there and, it basically does everything for you. You just walk it.
Trent Manning: 31:17
Yeah. Yeah. So
Nick Surrette: 31:17
yep.
Trent Manning: 31:18
set up, Right? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. I bought one. Uh, I don’t, it’s been several years ago and I don’t remember what kind it was, and it was cheap and I got what I paid for. It was, uh, you know, not, not the. purchase we ever made. So I’m definitely thinking about that. I know JR Wilson at noac, he, he’s got one and he said it’s been great. So I would definitely recommend that if it’s in your budget or if you can fit it in your budget or talk to whoever you gotta talk to, to get something like that, because it makes the job so much easier. Yeah, we can all mop. But who wants to do that? If you can get a floor scrubber, cuz it’s gonna do a better job, be quicker, more efficient, all that stuff.
Nick Surrette: 32:04
Yep. When I got behind that thing for the first time, I’m like, Man, this is way better than a amount, which is so much better.
Trent Manning: 32:10
for sure. Did you have much input on the design of the maintenance facility?
Nick Surrette: 32:16
for the most part it was all, it was almost done by the time I got there. there was a couple finishing touches that I implemented. We have, uh, lost in assorted bins and things like that. I kind of, helped decide where certain things would go, you know, just toolbox, benches, stuff like that. I, helped out with the layout of it. Mike came to me and he’s like, This is your shop, so I want, you to have a lot of input on where these things go, because you’re gonna be in it 99% of the time. So, so that, that was nice for him to, fill me in on it. yeah, that for the most part, other than that, it was all basically ready to go.
Trent Manning: 32:52
Mm-hmm. Awesome. What else happened there? What’s your favorite part of that shop?
Nick Surrette: 32:58
My favorite part of the shop. It’s either, like I said, I can’t think of the name of the lift table that I got, but it’s a, it’s a, it’s a green lift table that. Can lift over 6,000 pounds. so, it’s a H Electric over hydraulic. it’s really nice to have for, you wanna rebuild the front end on a golf cart. different things like that. I use it for, we have, southco HP 11 threes, that I roll up on there when I, tighten the chains or service them.
Trent Manning: 33:26
Okay. Is it, does it have the metal flat plate in it that comes out? Okay. That’s, uh, I’m pretty sure it made by golf lift And I
Nick Surrette: 33:37
have a, a golf lift, a two post golf lift.
Trent Manning: 33:40
Okay, I got, I got the same table and I love that thing. And one thing I love about it is how high it goes cuz it goes to like 48 inches. So depending on what you’re working on, you can jack it up there. And I’m not a super tall person. I’m six foot tall, but it’s nice. And then the other nice thing is, uh, Francisco that works with me in the shop, he’s five three. So if he’s working on something, he can lower it.
Nick Surrette: 34:08
Right
Trent Manning: 34:09
to where it’s comfortable for him to work on. So, And my director of agronomy, he says one time, he’s like, I never see y’all raise and lower that thing. I’m like, You just ain’t looking close enough. Because we’re constantly tweaking it, you know? And maybe it’s only six inches or 10 inches or whatever it is, but we’re always up and down and obviously when we’re putting big stuff on there, yeah, we let it all the way down. We raise.
Nick Surrette: 34:34
Yeah, I, uh, it’s nice, especially we, I have a vent track and a Steiner. it’s nice to put the vent track or the Steiner up there when I have the, uh, contour deck on there so I don’t have to crawl on the ground and, you know, zip the blades off it. It’s nice for that. there’s certain things, when you put on there to. A little bit sketchy, but there, for the most part, it’s very safe. I definitely, it’s definitely a pretty robust table.
Trent Manning: 34:57
Well, you’re talking about the HP 11 three. I got one of those, and I don’t know if you’ve had to do this, but I modified the trailer because the trailer tongue was very inadequate, so I reinforced the whole thing. I made side skirts that you know how the tires stick out wider than the trailer. Uh, I’ve basically just done a triangle from the front of the tongue back to the rear tire, and left it open at the tire so you can still get the tire on and off, but that makes a nice step for the operators to get on into the trailer, onto the roller. So that worked out good and it reinforced that tongue, and I don’t, the tongue had been bent like three or four times. And so this is crazy that, you know, this keeps happening. So since I’ve made this modification, it has not been bent. They’re gonna break something else before, Uh, I u yeah, I use three sixteenths, uh, whatever, like inch and a half tubing. I mean, I went all out on this thing and I say, I, Carter, that works for me. He’s the welder and he’s been going to welding. To, and he’s certified now in several different, you know, uphill, downhill, you know, all this different stuff he got certified in and I let him do all the welding. He loves welding. Like, get in there and do it, man. Yeah. Works out great.
Nick Surrette: 36:25
You do. You man,
Trent Manning: 36:26
Yeah, that’s right. One for the listeners too, manage into the strengths of the employees. So Carter’s a good welder. Fabricator let him do it and he enjoys doing it. He much rather be doing that. Grounding a reel or setting up a cutting unit or something like that, so it get keeps him happy.
Nick Surrette: 36:47
Yeah. Yeah. I definitely, The one thing I noticed with those trailers is you have to have them parked on a very level surface. especially if it’s a dewey morning. I’ve seen probably about five times the operator getting, you know, halfway up on the trailer and it’s sliding halfway.
Trent Manning: 37:03
Mm-hmm.
Nick Surrette: 37:04
I’ve ran it out a couple times and one time it was so bad I got caught on the, I guess the, one of the back pieces there and it ripped, it broke a hydraulic fitting off the steering motor. So that was, that was a fun time. I had to, what I had to do was, cuz it would barely move. With it not running and hydraulic pressure flowing through it. I had to, what I did was I ratt strapped a, uh, a drain pan underneath the, uh, the steering box where the broken fitting was, and I just drove it on the trailer as quick as I could, drove it back
Trent Manning: 37:36
Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Problem solver. I
Nick Surrette: 37:38
And I, I was like, well, I mean, this looks kind of stupid, but I mean, it’s gonna work. So, And
Trent Manning: 37:44
Well, right, It worked. Yeah, that’s a really good one. Yeah, we, we have to be innovative and no telling what, While we might have to come up with, But I think that’s part of the fun of the job too.
Nick Surrette: 37:57
for sure. Yep.
Trent Manning: 37:58
Yeah. What else you got, you wanna share with us? Anything else you wanna talk about?
Nick Surrette: 38:02
I think on my end. I think that’s it. let’s see. Yeah, I think that’s it.
Trent Manning: 38:09
Let’s do some rapid fire questions. And I always like doing rapid fire questions with somebody a lot younger than me. Because I really don’t know what the answer is gonna be. What’s your favorite movie?
Nick Surrette: 38:23
Talladega Knights.
Trent Manning: 38:24
Oh, okay. I, I know that one Awesome. Very good. What would be your last meal?
Nick Surrette: 38:32
Probably a, a cheese steak.
Trent Manning: 38:34
Okay, so where is the best cheese steak
Nick Surrette: 38:38
I’m not, I, I, wouldn’t say I don’t go in the city all that much. I live in South Jersey area. I have a good commute to work. I don’t usually go around, looking for the best cheese steak. I kind of just go with my, uh, local pizza, pizza shops and stuff like that.
Trent Manning: 38:54
Okay. And they all got
Nick Surrette: 38:56
have my favorites, but, for the most part, I don’t have like a, super go.
Trent Manning: 39:00
when I was up there visiting Tommy. And also I, I met Mike while I was up there too, back this march. And anyway, I was talking to Tommy. I was like, Where’d I go get the best Philly cheese steak? And he says, Well, first of all, you’re in Philly, so it’s not a Philly cheese steak, it’s just a cheese steak. And somebody’s gonna tell you that real quick. so don’t, we asked it for a Philly cheese steak. I said, Okay. I got that part. And uh, honestly, I don’t remember where he told me to go, but, and I don’t even remember where I went, but it was a really good cheese.
Nick Surrette: 39:32
Yeah. Yeah. There, there for the most part, you really, you can’t go wrong, for the, in this area. You really can’t go wrong
Trent Manning: 39:39
Hmm. So while we’re on cheese steak, what kind of cheese do you get on there?
Nick Surrette: 39:46
American
Trent Manning: 39:47
American
Nick Surrette: 39:47
Yeah. I. I’m a, I’m a plain Jane. I’m a pretty plain eater, so I kind of just go with the basics. Basic kind of
Trent Manning: 39:53
But in some of ’em you do Swiss or
Nick Surrette: 39:57
no. I just like, like I said, just stick, usually just stick what I’m used to.
Trent Manning: 40:01
All right. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong. What are you most proud?
Nick Surrette: 40:05
probably how far I’ve gotten in my career this quickly. I was talking with Mike back at the end of July and I was like, Hey, you know, it’s, My two year anniversary, you’re being in the turf business and he is like, Oh man, congratulations. And I’m like, you know, remember, remember when you said when I first started, you could get me an equipment manager job in five years? And he is like, Yeah, we kinda sped that up a little bit, didn’t we?
Trent Manning: 40:27
Yeah. Yeah, for
Nick Surrette: 40:28
So it’s definitely, definitely one of my, uh that’s definitely what I’m most proud of, for sure.
Trent Manning: 40:33
That’s awesome and you should be. That is really incredible. And there’s a lot of people that’s been in the industry a lot longer than that, and they hadn’t made it there for whatever reason and nothing, not nothing against them, but.
Nick Surrette: 40:46
yeah, I’m very, very fortunate of these, opportunities coming come about for sure. just, uh, kind of just rate timing decisions. And then here I am. So
Trent Manning: 40:56
Yeah. Yeah. When you even said no to Pine Valley. And then, Yeah. The first time,
Nick Surrette: 41:03
Yeah, I was, I was worried that he wasn’t gonna text me back when I, I think it was a random Friday night. I texted him at like eight o’clock. I’m like, Hey, you still have a opening? He’s like, Ah, I knew you come around at some point.
Trent Manning: 41:15
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s awesome.
Nick Surrette: 41:16
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 41:17
So do you have any ideas on how we can get more people like yourself in the industry?
Nick Surrette: 41:25
I think one of the big things that, notice when I was getting into this was I didn’t really have a good idea of what, we did. in my head, when my golf coach approached me about being a mechanic at a golf course, I’m like, Oh, man, what am I gonna work on? E whackers on lawnmowers? You know, it was kind of just like a oh p. That’s easy. cuz I was on my, a path to go, work in a car dealership or something like that. And I was like, Oh, I could, I’ll go work on cars. I’m gonna do, go do this. And then I went for an interview with Mike. I’m like, Oh, this is, this is a lot different than what I thought it would be. Um, there’s definitely, we work on everything under the sun. Anything from a pickup truck to a tractor to a wee whacker, it, to a turf fan. It, you know, it’s, Variates a bunch of different ways and if we, I feel like if it was displayed, all the different varieties of things that we work on on a daily basis, if that was displayed, I guess more loudly, I guess, I think more people will be appealed or intrigued to get into.
Trent Manning: 42:31
No, I think that’s an excellent point. and I was at a shop the other day and the director of agronomy had came into the shop and he was talking to the equipment manager and he walked out and somebody said, You know, what’s going on? Problem with equipment, You know, something like that. And he said, Sub air, sub air system. That’s the only time that the director would come in and talk to the mechanic or the equipment managers when there’s something wrong with the Suba system. I mean, not that that’s the only time they talk, but that’s, In the job title too. And I don’t remember if it was, uh, I saw a picture somewhere the other day and it was equipment manager and a sub air vault. And I know JR up at noac, he’s making his own sub air systems and installing ’em, and I say making his own all the way down to the fiberglass mold. So he made a mold and he’s doing fiberglass to set him in the ground. And doing the lids. I mean, it’s incredible what,
Nick Surrette: 43:33
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 43:33
What he’s doing up there.
Nick Surrette: 43:35
Yeah. And you know, two weeks ago I was working on an ice machine. you, you just never know. It’s, Yeah. You get, you get a call, Hey, could you look at this? I’m like, Well, I could try. I mean, you know, I could give a good crack at it. Not gonna say I’d never done it before, but it’s just kind of like a sure why not. so it’s definitely, The variety, in this business definitely is one of the things that keeps me going for sure. So,
Trent Manning: 43:59
when I used to ask that question, What’s your favorite part of the job? And 99, 90 8%, everybody said variety.
Nick Surrette: 44:10
Yep.
Trent Manning: 44:11
So that’s why I took the question out cuz everybody has the same answer, but it’s true. It’s very, very true.
Nick Surrette: 44:17
You definitely get caught in a rhythm of, especially in the summertime, you go, crew goes out, you go out, check mowers, do some odds and ends before mowers come back, check ’em in, park ’em, fuel ’em up, whatever. but in the wintertime, it, when you get really down and dirty, it’s definitely you’re working on something different every day.
Trent Manning: 44:34
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. It’s awesome.
Nick Surrette: 44:37
Yep.
Trent Manning: 44:38
Any plans on getting you an assistant in the shop?
Nick Surrette: 44:41
that is in the works right now. some point, hopefully this fall, hopefully by the wintertime I’ll have an assistant,
Trent Manning: 44:48
That’ll
Nick Surrette: 44:48
with me in the shop. That I think that’s definitely one of the better times to get someone in, because that’s when, we’re really tearing stuff down. And getting down and dirty into things. And it’s definitely a good time for someone to, someone fresh to come in and learn about, these different pieces of equipment that we work on.
Trent Manning: 45:05
Yeah, because you’re not in the heat of the battle, if you will, in the middle of the summertime, and you got more time to, to teach and help somebody.
Nick Surrette: 45:15
Yep.
Trent Manning: 45:16
then you do when it’s, wide open in the summertime.
Nick Surrette: 45:21
Yeah, we wanted, we wanted to wait a little bit to get someone in the shop with me, cuz I’m still trying to figure out how I wanna do my job. So, it was kind of just the conversation where, you just need to figure out what you need to, what you have to do before you try to teach somebody else how to do it. And I’m like, you’re exactly right. I’m not ready for that So it’s kinda, I’m definitely reaching the point now to where it’s starting to, it’s starting to level. kind of got everything dialed in the way I want it to be. hopefully the season will get someone else in the shop.
Trent Manning: 45:50
Awesome. Well, tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you.
Nick Surrette: 45:54
the only really social media work, work related social media I have is my Twitter.
Trent Manning: 45:58
Mm.
Nick Surrette: 45:59
It’s, uh, Nicholas Ette, so it’s my name and then one, uh, so
Trent Manning: 46:06
Necklace,
Nick Surrette: 46:06
that’s, so I, uh, that’s basically, I only have one post on there right now, but I’m definitely thinking about putting some, a lot more in depth stuff in there at some point, kind of showing what I do on a daily basis.
Trent Manning: 46:20
Well, I think that’s one of the good things about Twitter is you can do with it what you want, if you want to. Cuz I know a lot of people get on there and they just steal ideas and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Nick Surrette: 46:33
Yeah, there’s definitely, when I first got on there, it’s like, wow, there’s so many ways to do one thing. It’s crazy. and what I like about that is where you can, you know, you can. 10 methods and take bits and pieces of what you like from each method and make it your own.
Trent Manning: 46:50
Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah,
Nick Surrette: 46:52
I find myself doing that every now and again, with certain things and it definitely helps me a lot.
Trent Manning: 46:58
Yeah, I’m definitely guilty of that. I don’t know how many ideas I’ve stole over the years, but I usually try to at least. Make one thing that makes it work better for me.
Nick Surrette: 47:09
right? Yep.
Trent Manning: 47:10
So
Nick Surrette: 47:11
Yep. I.
Trent Manning: 47:12
thank you so much for being on. Um, It’s been a pleasure.
Nick Surrette: 47:16
yeah, me, same here. I, uh, was really looking forward to this, so it’s definitely, uh, definitely was a lot of fun,
Trent Manning: 47:24
You Yeah, a lot of fun. Hope you enjoyed hearing from Nick. I hope that young man inspired you. He inspired me. And it kind of gives me a renewed I just love talking to young people in the industry. Couple things I want to highlight. Have you set your goals for this year? It’s not too late. It might be October, but it’s not too You can do it now. It’s never too late to set a goal. And. We’re here to help you crush that goal. If you need help, just reach out. We’ve got a great community here. Are you trying to make an imperfect system? Perfect. Probably not going to be very successful at that. I’ve struggled my whole life with being a perfectionist. And I’ve struggled with it today. It’s so hard, even like editing this podcast. Uh, want to make it perfect. And it’s going to be in perfect. Sometimes you got to say that’s good enough. And I know that, especially for me, that’s easier said than done. How do we get more younger people in the industry? Million dollar question. But I think it starts with us. I think we need to reach out to our local hospitals, especially if they have a vocational program. And get some of these young people that are interested in turning a wrench. I’m really fortunate. I found a young guy. The work in the shot with me. And he doesn’t have a big mechanical background. But he’s got a car and he’s interested on working on his car. So I think that’s perfect building blocks to build a really good foundation and whether he sticks with the turf stuff or not, doesn’t matter. He’s going to be a better person. In life because he has some of the technical skills that we all learn working at a golf And I’m so thankful to have those skills. And that I grew up with those skills. It’s definitely saved me a lot of money. I’ll definitely got a lot more busted knuckles because of it. But all in all, a lot, working Whether it be my stuff or somebody else’s stuff or the golf course stuff. I hope you’re winding down a good season. I know I We got to oversee down. And now it’s going to be smooth sailing, getting all these PMs done all winter long while we’re still mowing Or rag grass every Until next time. See you. Bye. thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.