Real American English Conversation About Building And Construction
Improve your English listening skill and fluency with this real conversation about remodeling Airstream Trailers!
Try Fluent For Life Now!
Real American English Conversation About Building And Construction: In this sample Master English Conversation video, Kyle and I talk about his work as an apprentice carpenter and remodeler of Airstream Travel Trailers. Learn some useful phrases and download the FREE vocabulary guide below to prepare yourself for the conversation’s vocabulary!
Transcript Below:
Drew: Well, hello and welcome to this month’s Master Class video lesson. I’m excited because we’re doing something a little bit different. Since I’m on vacation, I was, uh, lucky enough to get, uh, I guess I kind of may have pushed my way in a little bit. I apologize, but I’m always so excited when I get, uh, to interview interesting people doing interesting things. So, this is Kyle.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Uh, a new friend of mine. Actually, he happened to stay with my mom for quite a while.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: So, he has an interesting job, and I’ll let him introduce himself, and then we can learn more about what he does.
Kyle: My name’s Kyle, and, uh, just moved here to Bend from Boulder, Colorado.
Drew: Yep.
Kyle: About, uh, eight months ago, and just found this job on Craigslist, which it was really easy, uh, came for an interview, met the guy, saw the two shops, and I was like, “All right. Let’s give this a try and see how it goes.”
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: Um, and it’s worked out really well. Um, so I, ya know, from the beginning, it, the whole allure for me was all the different things that I could learn.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Um, because there’s just so many trades, uh, that go into working on a trailer.
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: It’s kind of, like, working on a house. You have plumbing, electrical, insulation, ya know.
Drew: Yeah. It’s like a mini house
Kyle: Yeah, exactly. So, everything that you have to do on a house, you do on a trailer. And, um, I’ve since, you know, beginning, gotten more specialized than just doing cabinetry…
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: Um, building them, installing them, um, everything. Especially with the Airstreams, they’re circular and so, it’s really difficult. You got to do a lot of scribing, um…
Drew: What’s that? What’s scribing?
Kyle: Scribing is, like, where you start with a rough piece of material and then you start getting it kind of closer to the actual curvature of the wall.
Drew: Oh, okay, huh.
Kyle: Um, because you can’t…
Drew: Because it’s… There are so many curved edges on a, on an Airstream trailer.
Kyle: Yeah, exactly.
Drew: Ah, okay.
Kyle: Yep. So, you wanna get it as tight of a close fit to the actual curvature as you possibly can, and we call that scribing.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Um…
Drew: And that’s something you didn’t know before you started either.
Kyle: Right.
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: Yep. That was something I learned just on the job. Um, and we’ve developed some different techniques that work for different situations. So, um, that’s a really fun part of it, but…
Drew: Have you been instrumental in that at all, like developing any, any new kinds of techniques or anything?
Kyle: Yeah. Yep, a little bit, yeah. Um, when we first started, we would use a system that, um, used hot glue guns.
Drew: Oh. Huh.
Kyle: And the… And, like, sticks that kind of give you points of reference. But since then, uh, we found some, um, oh, other products that are more specific for that, that actually bend to the curvature…
Drew: Oh. That’s interesting.
Kyle: And you can tighten them down.
Drew: Oh, that’s interesting.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: So, it makes the job a lot easier and faster.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s just every day, it’s something new. It’s, um, always changing. You never really know what kind of, um, headaches you’re going to hit, what, what’s going to be most difficult, ya know. You…
Drew: Sure. What, what’s, what’s the latest headache or snag that you have encountered?
Kyle: So, right now, I’m working on the doors. Um, we have these pocket sliding doors and…
Drew: Oh. That’s on the inside of the trailer or the outside of it?
Kyle: On the inside of the trailer.
Drew: Oh, really? Huh.
Kyle: Yep. So, between the bedroom and bathroom, we have one sliding door and that one went in perfect. It was pretty, pretty much easy, no headache. But now, the one between the bathroom and the kitchen is proving to be a lot more difficult.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: Um, the one wall is kind of bowing, so it’s…
Drew: Oh.
Kyle: … not staying straight like…
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: … we wanted it to.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: So, when you have a sliding door that creates uh, uh, friction and scratches the door and you’ve really got to…
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: … try and engineer around that, um…
Drew: Do you, you buff it down or sand it or something, or…?
Kyle: Right. Yeah, it’s kind of a com… Right now, I’m, I’m doing a combination of, um, uh, giving the, the door more space from the trim, but also, um, sanding down the trim so that it can accommodate the space that we want, ya know.
Drew: Huh. Well, you sound like a professional already. Huh, you’ve only been here a few months, right…
Kyle: Right, yeah.
Drew: … working on this? And before this, you were, you were working as a, like, a landscaper, like, kind of doing maintenance things like that.
Kyle: Yep. Yeah, I did, I did facilities management for University of Colorado, um, but none of, none of the level of woodworking that we’re doing here…
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: … or even plumbing. I mean, we did some irrigation.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Um, but just completely different, uh, caliber.
Drew: Is the whole ball game, like whole new, whole new ball of wax or whatever…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … for this, I imagine.
Kyle: Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
Drew: So, this is, this is the woodshed, or the, well, I guess you can’t call it a shed, but, like, the woodshop. Uh…
Kyle: Yeah, this is where all the, the woodworking’s done. We got the table saw over here…
Drew: Yep.
Kyle: Chop saw, uh, drill press, um, yeah. And then, uh, he’s, uh, we also have this trailer in here that we’re getting ready to paint. Um, the, uh, there’s different jobs that come up, um, that he takes bids on and, um, so, sometimes they’re just small jobs that are in one weekend and out the next weekend and…
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Yep. So, quick turnover, but then there’s other jobs, like, the Airstreams, uh…
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: … that just take months and months.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: Yep. This one that we’re working on now, it’s been at least, um, 13 months that we’ve had it.
Drew: Oh.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Huh. Yeah, so, we’ll, we’ll go in and, and take a look at that in a minute, but I figured it’s nice, uh, like, I used to work construction.
Kyle: Uh-huh.
Drew: Uh, like, I was, uh, working as a contractor’s apprentice.
Kyle: Oh, cool.
Drew: So, I, I miss, like, the smell of wood…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … and sawdust and all that.
Kyle: Yes.
Drew: And I’d, like, still, you know, burn my hands and…
Kyle: Uh-huh.
Drew: … done a couple of things. You been injured so far, doing anything or…?
Kyle: Well, it’s funny you mentioned that. Um, I haven’t had any serious injuries. Uh, there was one time that I was clearing, um, some, like, debris away from the, the blade of a band saw…
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: … and just did it too quick, and it got just the tip of my finger. And that was pretty early on, and it just made me realize, yep, got to really slow down…
Drew: Yep. Yep.
Kyle: … take your time. Um, it’s easy to, to feel rushed, but around this type of machinery, you don’t wanna, don’t wanna push yourself or…
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: … do anything risky.
Drew: Well, your boss sounds like a nice guy…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … and, uh, he’s, like, let’s-make-sure-we-get-the-job-done-correctly kind of person, or…
Kyle: Yep, very much, yeah.
Drew: Oh, okay.
Kyle: Lots of times, you know, he’ll, he’ll, he’ll do the quality analysis, um, and be, like, “Yeah, it’s just not up to, to par. It’s not up to snuff. We’ve got to send it back. Let’s redo it.” Um, so, there’s a lot of that, which is always a little heartbreaking.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: You, you install something…
Drew: Yep.
Kyle: … and he’ll, like, “No. Rip it out. Redo it.” It’s just, like, “Ugh.”
Drew: But you feel good when you do a good job.
Kyle: Yeah, exactly.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Once it’s, once it’s done right, you’re, like, “All right, solid.”
Drew: Yep. Yep. Yeah, well, I, I mean that’s great. What, what other things had you looked into? So, since you’re just moving here, and you didn’t have, like, you didn’t have…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … any leads on jobs or anything, and you applied to this and other things as well?
Kyle: Right. Yeah, there was another cabinetry job, um…
Drew: Oh, so, you were, you were, you were, like, thinking about doing some kind of woodworking or you wanted…
Kyle: I was.
Drew: … to get in that field.
Kyle: Yeah. I mean, initially, when my wife and I moved to Bend, we had this idea of buying a house that we would renovate, so kind of flip, um, gut and, and redo. But the market just didn’t, didn’t, um, provide us that opportunity.
Drew: Oh. Huh.
Kyle: Um, really, like, what you were paying for a house that you have to flip is essentially what you could get a house that’s already in fairly good condition.
Drew: Oh.
Kyle: So, it didn’t… It felt like more risk than…
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: … it really was worth. So, this was a good, um, second best, you know, getting all the same, um, experience. But in, in general, yeah, I just knew I wanted to do something more, um, construction related, woodworking, um…
Drew: Hands-on, kind of.
Kyle: Hands-on, yeah.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Something more applicable and, um, just practical for the rest of my life to have skills and knowledge that will stick with me.
Drew: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I remember, like, the same thing, uh, ya know, working as a contractor’s apprentice and getting to go into people’s houses and do stuff. I, I didn’t really know anything about it.
Kyle: Right.
Drew: I mean, I just like trying to build things and paint and do…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … stuff like that. Uh, but yeah, I can imagine you get out here, and you, I mean, you must be enjoying yourself. You look happy and…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kyle: Yep. No, I am. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s, uh, it’s very much just kind of a, a, an apprenticeship and, uh, learning opportunity. It’s, like, I know friends who go back to school for a certain trade or whatever, and I’m like…
Drew: Ah, sure, sure.
Kyle: … kind of comparing it to that, that it’s just schooling for me.
Drew: How’ve you found that you’ve talked to other friends of yours have gone back to maybe some kind of trade school and you, you think this is preferable for, at least for your situation?
Kyle: Yeah. I would say, for my situation, yeah, it’s preferable. Um, tuition rates are really high and student loans and…
Drew: Ah, sure. Well, you get paid on the job, ya know.
Kyle: Yeah, exactly. So, I don’t make a lot of money, but, uh, make enough to, to where, you know, it’s, it’s probably as good as getting a grad stipend.
Drew: Ah, sure, sure.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: I spose, if you didn’t have a house, you could sleep in the woodshed, you know…
Kyle: Right.
Drew: … like, get, get, get a place in the garage or something.
Kyle: Yeah, or get my own trailer to, to fix up and sleep in.
Drew: Ah, yep, yep. Yeah, I guess you could. You could bring over if you need to maybe build something. Does he let you use the tools if you need to make something or…?
Kyle: Yeah. Yep. He’ll let me stay after hours and, um, build things for myself and, and for the house.
Drew: Sure. Have you made anything yet?
Kyle: Huh, uh, not yet. I haven’t, haven’t needed to use the table saw or anything.
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: I’ve got, um, basically, all the other equipment at my house, so I can…
Drew: Oh, so, you have your own, you have, like a, like a garage or something. You’ve got a space to work.
Kyle: Yep. Yeah, I’ve got a garage. I haven’t built it, um, to be a good woodworking space yet. Um, there’s still a bunch of recreational gear and whatnot in there.
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: But, I at least have all, all the equipment that I need, um, and machinery to, uh, to do a lot of the woodworking that I wanna do.
Drew: Huh. Yeah, it’s, it’s all fascinating to me, especially now because everything I do is digital.
Kyle: I know. Yeah.
Drew: And so, I miss… Like, I, I don’t even have, uh, personal students that I teach anymore. So, everybody, you watching out there, this is how I get to connect, uh, with all of my students, but it’s, it’s really fun to just come and, I mean, even just to volunteer, to try to help out, to do some kind of building project…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … or landscaping, uh, that kind of thing. Have you had, uh, like a favorite part of the job, like, the woodworking specifically, or, or maybe like electrical or plumbing or something?
Kyle: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, woodworking, I definitely enjoy the most.
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: It’s, um, it’s the most fun. But I guess, you know, the finishing work, so…
Drew: Oh, sure.
Kyle: I mean…
Drew: Do you want to explain a little bit more about that, like…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … the different, like, the stages of that?
Kyle: Right, so, well, that’s a good point. Yeah, the stages, um, if you really wanna start from the beginning, uh, clients find a really old trailer and they ship it to us. Um, lots of times, they’ll work with an architect firm that, uh, they draw up plans and designs and they ship those to us as well. But, once we get the trailer, we just start on the demo, the demolition phase of ripping everything out, uh, getting it down to just its skin and bones. And then, um, restart, start from scratch.
So, we’ll, we’ll do the electrical and the plumbing and the insulation and then put the skins, inside skins back up. Then we do all the cabinetry, the… Well, the flooring and then the cabinetry, then we install lights and appliances.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Um, but then the finish work. So, that’s what I was getting at is, um, really just everything cosmetic that, um, you can see with the naked eye and just really honing in on those details. Um, the, you know, the nitty-gritty of, um, oh, there’s a speck of sawdust over here…
Drew: Uh-huh.
Kyle: And there’s a smudge on this wall and…
Drew: Uh-huh.
Kyle: Ya know, so it’s tedious, but it, like, just makes everything pop at the end and just…
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: … makes it look show…
Drew: Yep.
Kyle: … worthy, ya know, showroom quality.
Drew: And your, your boss has a good reputation or the company or whatever.
Kyle: Yeah, he does, yeah. Um, his wife, actually, um, started the Finished Trailer Association of Oregon.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: That’s a, that’s, that’s a good… If you can start a trade organization, you must be doing pretty well.
Kyle: Yep. And I’d, I’d be remiss if I didn’t, uh, put it in, in there for the, uh, Vintage Trailer Masters. That’s the, uh…
Drew: Sure. So, that’s, that’s… Yeah.
Kyle: … the company that I work for.
Drew: That’s… If, if you out there have a, uh, vintage trailer or, I mean, but you guys are pretty, pretty focused on Airstream trailers.
Kyle: We’re pretty focused, yeah. I mean, there’s just, uh, there’s enough demand in the market, um, that we haven’t… We have, like, three sitting outside just waiting to be…
Drew: I know, yeah. It’s actually, it’s amazing to look, especially the difference. Uh, yeah, maybe we could try to shoot that too. I wanna make sure we can get some good, uh, audio on that as well.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: But, so this one behind us is not an Airstream.
Kyle: It’s not an Airstream. It’s a, it’s a vintage. It’s, um, I, I don’t think it’s quite a Shasta, um, but it’s the same period, same type of a trailer, yep.
Drew: And so, have you, have you thought about, uh, or I guess, maybe the better question is if… Do you know enough that if you could, like, build your own trailer from the beginning and you, like, maybe if you got some parts…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … if you, like, you know how to do the electrical wiring and…
Kyle: Right. Yeah. I mean, at this point, be, before I started the job, I wouldn’t have said that I’d be able to do that, but at this point, I would feel comfortable…
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: … getting something old and, uh, and doing the renovations on it myself.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: It would definitely take more time than what we can accomplish here.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Um, and the man hours, but, yeah.
Drew: Could you fix a car? Do you know anything about automobiles or…?
Kyle: No. No, I don’t know anything about engines, don’t know anything about, um, cars, really. Yep. Um, but yeah, the trailers, they don’t have engines and…
Drew: Sure. Yeah, that’s a nice… I mean, I guess you just need a… Well, how, how does it work for the electricity? When you power it, you connect it to the car battery or something?
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Or, does it have you… There’s, like, uh, like, like the camping…
Kyle: Right.
Drew: … parks or something?
Kyle: Yeah. So, most of them are, are designed to, to connect to the grid. So, like an RV park will have water and electric sources…
Drew: Oh, okay.
Kyle: … for you to plug into. So, that’s mainly what we design them for, but they always have, um, deep marines, um, uh, batteries. So, like, um, you could probably run the electricity as far as the, uh, the lights, you could run those for, I don’t know, like, two days probably.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: But the ref, the refrigerator definitely eats up a lot. The, uh, AC, air conditioner, heater eats up a lot of electricity, so that would drain your batteries very quickly. But if you weren’t using those, um, then you could go a long time just relying on a battery. Some, some, um, refrigerators will actually be propane too.
Drew: Oh.
Kyle: So, you can get…
Drew: Oh, that’s interesting.
Kyle: … get them to run off of propane.
Drew: So, you, you would have a, and the, the client just tells you what style they like, or maybe…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … they wanna convert one to the other or something like that?
Kyle: Yeah, yep. They’ll, um, usually specify what they want, but also, sometimes, you can have both options and just have a power converter, um…
Drew: Oh.
Kyle: … and switch between which one you want, all three of those options.
Drew: Really?
Kyle: Battery, puh, um, propane and just plug in.
Drew: Huh. Now, do you have your own trailer at all? Do you have any…?
Kyle: I don’t, no. I…
Drew: Yeah, but this has made you want one more. You want to get a, get a trailer or…?
Kyle: Yeah. I definitely want to get a trailer. Before, when we were in Boulder, we had a campervan.
Drew: Oh, you did.
Kyle: And I liked having a campervan, except that anytime you wanted to use it, you had to drive it.
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: So, the, the thing about having a trailer it’s, like, I can drive it up, drop it somewhere, drive off, you know, do the thing in town, go back to the campsite and the camper’s still there.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: With a campervan, you can’t save a spot because…
Drew: Ah, yep, yep, yep.
Kyle: … you’re always, wherever you go…
Drew: It’s connected to the, to the car and…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Ah, I see.
Kyle: So, it’s, yeah, it, it’s made me, uh, wanna, wanna get a trailer, really.
Drew: Yeah. And, and your wife, what does she think about that? Is she, is she saying…?
Kyle: She’s in.
Drew: Yeah, she, yeah, she likes it.
Kyle: She’s game. Uh, the…
Drew: Yeah.
Kyle: … only thing is right now, we both have just four-cylinder cars, so we can’t. I mean, you could pull, like, a Teardrop camper, but nothing, uh, nothing big, really.
Drew: Sure. Very cool.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: I, I’d love to, like… We, we’re gonna have to transport over to the other… Do you think James will let us in there…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … and we can, we can look around?
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: All right. Well, I wanna give you a bit more of a kind of an inside look and see how this is, so we will switch it off, and we’ll be back in just a moment.
Kyle: Yeah. See you then.
Drew: All right. So, we are back here inside, and we are actually gonna take, uh, a bit more of a tour over here. So, this is the, the big Airstream that they’re working on. Do you wanna tell me a bit more about this? We could kind of take a tour through here.
Kyle: Sure. Yeah, so this Airstream, um, we got, like I said, about 13 months ago.
Drew: Uh-huh.
Kyle: Um, we’ve redone a lot of the windows. Any window that you see installed, we completely removed, um, and then re… cleaned it and, uh, put it back together.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Polishing. This is, you can see it’s obviously getting polished. Um…
Drew: Yeah. It looks really nice.
Kyle: … getting nice and shiny. This is probably our seventh, eighth time, um, polishing the entire trailer. So, it takes a long, a lot of time. It’s kind of like sandpaper and wood in a sense that you’ve got to start aggressive, and then you, you get lighter and lighter until, you know, your last sanding job or polishing job.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: It looks really light. But these are the cabinets. You can see they’re, um, still gilt… getting built. Um, it’s definitely a step… Or, yeah, it’s always a process. Here, you can see the kind of the curvature that you have to get, um, when you’re trying to get it as exact as possible. Um, these corners are just… That’s the, what you call scribing.
Drew: Ah, okay.
Kyle: It’s really getting it into there. Um…
Drew: So, what tool do you use to get these corners and this edge? What are you using on that?
Kyle: Um, it’s a band saw, table saw combination.
Drew: Oh, okay.
Kyle: Yep. And then, um, there’s the ducting that goes through. We have the furnace over there and the power center.
Drew: Oh, so that’s this down here.
Kyle: Yep. So, that’s the hot water heater and the, um, furnace.
Drew: Oh, okay. So, when you plug in at a, at a campground or whatever, then, like, that’s actually powering your water or…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … heating your water, I should say.
Kyle: Yeah, exactly. And then these are, uh, we’ve got all these walls and again, you’re scribing to the, um, the curvature of it. This is where the, the sink and stovetop will be. This will be the bathroom. Um, they’ll have a shower, rainfall shower right there and then a toilet right here.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Um, this foam’s gonna come out, but it’s a, uh, a drop-down shower pan, so that the whole bathroom will drain down to one source. And then, here’s the bedroom. Um, they’ll have two side tables and a queen-sized bed that pops up and you can have storage underneath.
Drew: Will it flip up like a Murphy bed or a something, or it’s just gonna be like this the whole time?
Kyle: Not quite like a Murphy. Kind of like on a pickup truck, you know, that when they…
Drew: Ah.
Kyle: … have the flat topper on the back, it kind of just raises up maybe three or four feet. And, uh, yeah, but this is the one sliding door that worked perfect. It wasn’t a, a problem at all.
Drew: Oh, very cool.
Kyle: Yeah. But this other one there, that one’s giving us a little more of a headache than…
Drew: So, is this, is this going to be kind of a hallway here? Like, you walk through this and the bathroom, like…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … the toilet is here and the shower and so, it’s kind of a…
Kyle: Yeah. It’ll just be a, a walkthrough. I think it’s just how the client wanted to have some protection or privacy for their own bedroom…
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: … in the back, um, because this area upfront will be able to sleep four other people.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Um, so I think they’re gonna want their, their space to get away to.
Drew: So, after you guys finish all this, like, this is kind of the, the second layer of, you know, the, the, the wood and all that.
Kyle: Uh huh.
Drew: Do you also do the upholstery here, or do you outsource that as well?
Kyle: Uh, the upholstery we outsource.
Drew: Oh, okay.
Kyle: The cushions themselves, um, and the, the coverings that they get is, is outsourced. Um, but we do everything up and, up until that point. And, even all of this that you see it’s gonna get sanded, filled, uh, and painted. So, this is all paint grade cabinet, uh, material.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: And then, all the countertops actually are gonna be a diff… I think they’re gonna be Corian, a different type of material.
Drew: Oh, okay.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: So, no marble in here or anything like that.
Kyle: Yeah, not…
Drew: Is there, is there certain, um, I guess, maybe for, uh, like Airstream style, is there, is there, like, a typical maybe of certain color schemes or something like that that people get…
Kyle: Right.
Drew: … that’s traditional or…?
Kyle: Yeah, I think the vintage trailers themselves have a, a specific, um, kind of color scheme or style, style to them that’s a little more specific, but not, not this Airstream. This is, you know, for a client who’s paying top dollar, and, uh, they get it how they want it. So…
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Yeah, this is amazing.
Kyle: Yeah. We can show you, over here is our screen and window department where we do all the window renovations.
Drew: It’s so shiny.
Kyle: Yeah. Yeah, the actual polishing job, it, when it’s done is, is nice. But these are kind of some of the older windows. The frames, we, we got them all the way down to, to that and then…
Drew: Oh, really? So, you have to take these…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … and clean them and buff them and whatever and then…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … put the… So, what, what are you using for windows? Do you get new windows, or do you use tinted glass or…?
Kyle: We do. Often times, we get new glass. If, if it comes with glass, we’ll try to reuse it, um, but, you know, sometimes it’s too old or it’s broken, um, and so, we just pay to, to get new glass. These were all tinted. So, we took them in and had them professionally tinted.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Um, yep. And we’ll be installing those later, but here’s another buffing area where we do a lot of the, the buffing.
Drew: Oh, so you take these pieces of metal or whatever…
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: … and run them through this.
Kyle: We run them on this machine right here that spins really fast and you’ve got to hold on tight.
Drew: Sure, sure. Yeah, I guess you’ve got… What, what’s the most, uh, dangerous tool that you work with, do you think?
Kyle: Ah, that’s tough. Probably a grinder.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: Um, a handheld disc grinder…
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: … that cuts metal.
Drew: Oh, really?
Kyle: And, uh, sometimes you’re in a tight spot that you really don’t want to lose any kind of control, or else, it could really, uh, eat your lunch.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Yeah, look at all this stuff. This is great. So, what, what is… Like, let’s say I wanted to come in here and, uh, and redo my own trailer. What is that, what is that going to run me to do something like this? Do you know anything about…
Kyle: Whoo.
Drew: … the pricing for this stuff?
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Are you learning about that?
Kyle: Um, you know, it, it can range anywhere from, um, $60,000 to $160,000.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Yeah. It’s, uh, it just really depends on how much work you, you needed to go into it…
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: … and what kind of finished product you’re looking for.
Drew: Yeah, it looks beautiful.
Kyle: And the components. I mean, you know, this one’s…
Drew: Ah. Sure, sure.
Kyle: … got two, two… I don’t know. Those are probably $1,200 air conditions.
Drew: Oh, the ones up on the top there?
Kyle: Yeah, yep.
Drew: Huh. And so, you also said you, you raised this one six inches, this kind of, like, bottom, the bottom section here.
Kyle: Uh huh, yeah. So, this is hidden. It’s, um, actually, over here, you can get a better look at it, but here is where the old body stopped and then this is the old… Well, we replaced the subfloor, but this is the C channel of aluminum that we added, uh, so that the body could sit down six inches higher than it used to.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Yeah. So, that’s definitely a specialty. I think we were the only second shop that’s ever done that.
Drew: Wow.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: Well, you guys are pioneering some, some new techniques then.
Kyle: Uh-huh.
Drew: Very cool.
Kyle: Yep. And we could take a look at the ones outside too before we, uh…
Drew: Yeah, sure.
Kyle: … let them go. Those are kind of at a different level of, uh, the phase. You know, they’re, they’re going through the demolition. But this one here, you can see we got all the windows out, um, all the inside skins have been ripped out, and all the old insulation has been ripped out. That’s gonna get new spray foam insulation, and we’ll put the skins back up and clean and paint those. And then, when the windows are done, we’ll reinstall those, and you could kind of see, see how it progresses.
Drew: Yeah, that’s very cool.
Kyle: And then one thing we built before the summer came were these, um, all these apparatuses to, um, be able to support the weight of lifting the body up off of the trailer chassis.
Drew: Sure. Sure.
Kyle: And that’s how we did this one. We replaced the subfloor by getting the whole body up off and then, um…
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: … redid that trailer chassis.
Drew: Yeah. This is just amazing, amazing stuff over here.
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew And so, this is a, this is also an Airstream, but a smaller version.
Kyle: Yeah. This one is just a, a cute little, like, 15 foot. Then there’s, I think this one’s like a 20 foot, and that one’s, I don’t know 25. The one inside I think is 30. So, they make all sizes.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Oh, the door’s open if you wanna peek in.
Drew: Oh, yeah, yeah. Let’s take a look.
Kyle: This one, we just got, so it’s definitely getting a, still in the demolition phase.
Drew: Oh, yeah. You can see all the old, uh, insulation in here.
Kyle: Uh huh, yep.
Drew: So, do these things get hot, or does the, because it’s so shiny, reflects the sun?
Kyle: Right. Um, yeah, I think it would get hot if it wasn’t insulated. Uh, as you can feel in there, you know, it’s pretty warm.
Drew: It’s pretty, it’s pretty warm.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: And it’s hot out in Bend. I guess it’s, uh, it, it’s…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … baking out here in the summertime.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Very cool. Well, why don’t we, uh, let’s head back into the, the original…
Kyle: Okay.
Drew: … spot, or we could either, either one of these…
Kyle: Yeah. Head down there.
Drew: But this is great. I mean, you, you feel pretty lucky that you, you found this job and…?
Kyle: Yeah, I do, yeah.
Drew: Have something cool.
Kyle: Yep, it’s a really fun, uh, fun job, definitely learning stuff new every day and, uh, getting good experience, yep.
Drew: So, you think you’ll, uh, maybe take this and maybe open up your own business with it somehow, do something interesting like that, or…?
Kyle: Right. Yeah, I don’t know exactly yet. I’m still trying to work out the, uh, the kinks of what my next step would be.
Drew: Huh.
Kyle: Um, but it does feel like a good step in the right direction.
Drew: Sure.
Kyle: Yep.
Drew: Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I love the shop. You’ve got the basketball court in here too.
Kyle: Uh huh.
Drew: Anyway. Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but yeah, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much…
Kyle: Yeah.
Drew: … for, for letting us come in and, and see what, what you get to do over here. It looks like fascinating work.
Kyle: Yeah. No, it’s my pleasure. I’m glad you guys could come.
Drew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Well, anyway, we will come back, uh, in just a moment for the Special Mission Homework Assignment for this month and we will say bye bye to Kyle.
Kyle: Yep. Bye.
Drew: Bye bye.
Well, that’s it for this month’s lesson set. I hope you have enjoyed it. Did you enjoy seeing the inside of those trailers and just really getting a nice, more interesting background than what I have right here?
Again, it’s typical for, uh, really to have kind of a recording studio and having maybe some kind of interesting background. Unfortunately, I don’t, but hopefully, this keeps the focus on the words that you’re reading and my mouth and other things like that. So, even if you don’t enjoy the background very much, I hope you are enjoying my, my beautiful face.
Uh, anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this lesson set, and it really was a lot of fun for me to get out and shoot this one, especially since we can walk around and do more things like that. Uh, if you would like to see more things where we’re going out and shooting more physical things and you see what they look like, do send us a mail and let us know. We love getting feedback from learners and especially other things, other topics you’d like to learn more about. So, really, you decide what happens in these lessons.
We want to make things that help you improve, and so, if you were interested in learning more about whatever, some particular kind of thing, and typically we like to make things that are helpful for everyone, so lots of people are maybe interested in learning how to build something or to create something. And so, these kinds of things, uh, even if you don’t physically repair trailers or something, a lot of the phrasal verbs and the vocabulary is applicable. You can apply that to other things as well. So, I do hope you, uh, go out and use these. And then, again, send us an email at [email protected] if you’d like to learn more about other things. You just tell us what you’d like to know more about, and we can make more lessons about those things.
Well, your mission for this month. What I would like you to do, actually, I want to give you two different things. The first one is that practice hack that I shared with you in the Fluency Corner lesson. So, what I’d like you to do this month is really practice mirroring what other people are saying. And you don’t have to do that for everything that they say. You don’t have to repeat everything in exactly the same way they do it because that can get annoying, but what you should do is, especially when they’re saying something, like, if they ask you a question, like, “What did you do today?” you can even, like, kind of ask yourself that question yourself. You can say, “Oh, what did I do today? Oh, I went to…” something like that. And this is a perfect way of kind of sneakily, sneakily, trickily kind of, kind of, uh, finding a way to practice your words. Again, in that conversation where you’re taking something that a native speaker says or somebody else, and you’re repeating it back to them.
Even if you don’t directly say that same thing back to them. There are really lots of great ways to do this, but again, just look for ways where you can repeat something back. Like, if they ask you a question or if they say something and you say, “Oh, I also, like, you know, playing…” Like, “Do you like playing baseball?” I say, “Yeah, I like playing baseball,” instead of just saying something like, “Yes.” So, again, you might be able to just answer that, and a native speaker would just say, “Yes,” but your job is to improve your speaking and use all these small opportunities to do that, and that’s what’s going to help you become a faster speaker of, uh, more fluent English. Anyway, so that’s job one.
The second one is more related to this topic specifically, and that is I’d like you to find some kind of project you can build. And if you’re around native speakers, hopefully, you can find something, maybe a class you can take. It doesn’t really matter what that happens to be, uh, but it could be, you know, like, even if I’m living in Japan, I could do ikebana, which is, like, flower arranging or, or anything else where I’m doing some kind of physical thing. Again, not just talking. I want you to do.
It’s kind of like going on a first date with someone. I don’t recommend people just go to a movie or just have dinner. You should do something physical where you can walk around, and, uh, it’s a bit more relaxed and easier for people to speak. So, if you’re just sitting across from each other at a table, it can be a bit more, maybe you’re feeling a bit more nervous about that, or you don’t quite know how to express yourself.
Anyway, take the same idea and if you can’t do it physically where you are, try to find some kind of project. You find lots of them on YouTube or other websites, whether it’s a blog or a video site, that can teach you how to make something. Then comment down below. Try to use some of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and go deeper with the topic that you’re learning this month. There is so much to learn about this and just find some part of it that you’re interested in specifically. Whether it could be making something, like, a physical thing, like a, a truck or a trailer or fixing an engine, or it could be like a craft thing, where you can even make something out of paper, like, origami, here in Japan. This is just folding pieces of paper and then making interesting shapes.
But, whatever that thing is, I want you to do that. That’s your homework for this month. So, go out, find some particular thing. If you’re in a physical area where you can do that, fantastic. If not, then try to find something online, and do that as well, and be sure to comment with people.
That’s it. I hope you have enjoyed it. Do go back and review everything as usual and I look forward to seeing you next month where we’ve got more surprises and more interesting things coming then. Have a fantastic day, and I’ll see you then. Bye bye.
Related English Language Learning Articles
Advanced English Listening Practice – Conversational American English
