[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: Welcome to around the house with Eric G and Caroline B your source for everything in your home every single week. Thanks for joining us. Hello, Caroline, how are you doing?

[00:00:09] Caroline Blazovsky: Hello everybody. How's everybody doing today?

[00:00:14] Eric Goranson: Ah, excellent. Excellent. This is gonna be a fun interview because this is, these are brands that I love and you might know 'em as the, the LEL group, but we're talking.

[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: American standard DXV grower. And we have Lisa Martinez here from all three. Thanks for joining us today.

[00:00:34] Lacy Martinez: Thanks for having me. I really am very excited to be here

[00:00:37] Eric Goranson: today. So, ah, this is gonna be fun. Let's talk about the brands here because you guys cover just in these three brands here just about every home in the us and Canada, as far as how that goes in north America.

[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: This is. You could put a piece of this will fit into just about every home that you see out there.

[00:00:57] Lacy Martinez: Yes, absolutely. A little backstory to [00:01:00] that. So LEL as a whole is actually a global company. It's an old company, I mean, started back in like the 1920s or so. And it's been early two thousands where you saw these three brands come together.

[00:01:13] Lacy Martinez: But speaking of touching those lives, we do, and that that's one of our. Purposes is to make better homes, a reality for everyone everywhere. And that is really on a global perspective, LEL as a whole touches over a billion people globally. And we have like 80 different factors around the world and several different brands, but the three in the, so what we call the Americas, we.

[00:01:38] Lacy Martinez: All of north America. So Canada, Mexico, and United States here. Cool. That's big. Cool. Yeah. And that's a big industry.

[00:01:46] Eric Goranson: That's a huge group. Yes. Yeah. That's a huge group. And I think, I don't think there's a, a brand that has more public awareness as far as just somebody goes, oh yeah. I've heard of that as American standard.

[00:01:59] Lacy Martinez: Mm-hmm yes. [00:02:00] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you think about it though, from an American perspective, American standard. Was started back in the 1850s. I mean, the brand has been around a really, really long time. And they were really the first one to venture, into putting indoor plumbing in. There are other brands that have been around for quite a while, too.

[00:02:19] Lacy Martinez: But they were the first ones to actually bring that plumbing. Inside the that's what I was gonna ask you. So it's been

[00:02:25] Caroline Blazovsky: Lacy. I was just gonna say, what was American standard originally founded for? How did they become, the big brand that they are? And so it was indoor plumbing. They created the idea of indoor

[00:02:34] Lacy Martinez: plumbing.

[00:02:34] Lacy Martinez: It was indoor plumbing. Fascinating. Yeah, absolutely. Yes.

[00:02:38] Eric Goranson: Yes. Isn't that fascinating? You had to think about that. It's like, wow, all the stuff we have today. And. They were founded going, Hey, we should get this out of the, shut out back and bring it inside.

[00:02:48] Lacy Martinez: No more walking. That's pretty much what happened in, in in original homes.

[00:02:55] Lacy Martinez: The way that started was they actually turned those front pars. Into [00:03:00] the bathroom. So they, it was actually retrofitted into homes when they started bringing in, in the pipes. And then of course the first thing that was brought in was the bathtub, right? Yep. Around the cast iron and the Umer cast, and then that turned to the toilets and then finally the sink.

[00:03:17] Lacy Martinez: But that is what originally happened and how they brought those products in.

[00:03:21] Eric Goranson: So, one of the ones I think is probably the, the least known, which, which I have this in my house, but DXV, which is a fine luxury brand, as far as I'm concerned out there. I mean, I've got it in my house.

[00:03:35] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, it's a great brand.

[00:03:36] Lacy Martinez: I mean, and DXV stands for decade 15. So it goes back to those American standard roots of 150 years of quality that craftsmanship and what they did was kind of tape some of those design movements and categorize it into four different ones. So they have the classic era, the golden era, the modern in contemporary.

[00:03:57] Lacy Martinez: So all of the products in DXV [00:04:00] fit into one of these eras and, you say it's, it, it is less or known, but it's because it's really geared for that very specific discerning customer. Right. They're really looking to hone in on some, it's a very curated collection. Mm-hmm all of the products in, in DXV are meant to go together as a.

[00:04:22] Lacy Martinez: So it is very curious. It has

[00:04:23] Caroline Blazovsky: that in his home and it doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

[00:04:27] Lacy Martinez: Yes .

[00:04:30] Eric Goranson: Oh, okay. Well, 30 years as an interior designer, I have my eye on stuff. And if it's gonna come into my house, I wanted to look how I want it to look. And it's just, when I was out toilet shopping, I mean, I, in full disclosure, I was a Toto person for the last 15 years.

[00:04:48] Eric Goranson: Do I have fair enough. Do I have a Toto in my house? No, I've got the one piece contemporary styled co is it Kosso co SSU that Kosso COSU yeah, Uhhuh. I've got that at my house. I love it. It's a [00:05:00] great toilet.

[00:05:02] Lacy Martinez: So you like the more modern design clean I've

[00:05:05] Eric Goranson: got a 1970s kind of Northwest contemporary house and I've got one of the bday toilet seats on it, jealous, and it is, it is quite the deal.

[00:05:15] Eric Goranson: I love it. It's beautiful. And probably the easiest toilet I've ever installed on top of it.

[00:05:21] Lacy Martinez: Oh, that's nice. I mean, that makes a big difference. And , and I say that in total truth, because again, being in this industry so long, No product lasts very long in my house. It has about a three year LPA before it gets, ripped out to put something else new in there.

[00:05:36] Lacy Martinez: And I fully understand and appreciate any product, especially a heavy toilet that is easy to install

[00:05:44] Eric Goranson: well, when you get a one piece, fairly high back designer, elongated toilet, those are not known for easy to install cause you're oh, I Don. You think at first, the first time you do it is you go, oh, this is gonna be great.

[00:05:55] Eric Goranson: I don't have to put the tank onto the bowl, all that stuff. But so [00:06:00] many of the brands out there that I've played with that are this style, trying to get your hands in, to put where the bolts are on that flat sided. I have normal sized hands. I couldn't imagine if I was a, a plumber with larger hands. I, I don't know how I'd get the bolts on some of those.

[00:06:16] Eric Goranson: And this was easy to do. And I was very shocked because when, when I first unboxed it, I. Oh, this could be fun. And then it was quite shockingly easy and I was like, whew, dodged a bullet there. And, and that's a compliment to the, to the thought that went into everything from style to function with that toilet.

[00:06:38] Lacy Martinez: The engineers will be thrilled to hear that. One of our internal jokes is we overengineer everything here. But honestly what we are training our customers and we're giving them the idea of like what's behind a design. And I don't just mean the way it looks. I mean, on the function side of things, installation is actually taking in, taken into a [00:07:00] really heavy consideration.

[00:07:01] Lacy Martinez: And that is one of the reasons you will see where all of the backs of those one pieces don't fit, flush all the way on the wall. They are purposely built for that reason. And they really do try to keep that in mind with everybody who is doing installs well,

[00:07:16] Eric Goranson: and then you've, you've done things like you've taken out a little material in the back behind where the bowl would be, because that way you've got some flexibility with all of that.

[00:07:25] Eric Goranson: And there's just a lot of thought that goes into that and little details that I wouldn't catch off the spec sheet, but when you install it, you go, oh, that's cool. They thought of that. Oh, that's cool. They thought of that. Impressive. I, I do like that. And you can tell that that is not just marketed as a, a high end luxury piece.

[00:07:46] Eric Goranson: It is designed that way, which is very cool. So hats off to you guys.

[00:07:51] Lacy Martinez: I will, I will let them know that. So that is that's good to hear but,

[00:07:54] Eric Goranson: but in, as the designer in me too, you guys have so many different styles that, [00:08:00] most people are more of the, when you're talking, toilets and tubs are most homes across the us fit a little bit better into the American standard brands of, into that standard, great American toilet and sync and faucet and all that.

[00:08:14] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's one advantage a, of the three brands, but you know, when you speak of American standard and. The way this, this brand has grown just in the last 10 years is astounding. So they went out from being kind of that traditional market piece to really be able, being able to hit all types of different homes and with the breadth of the product line, where you can choose the sinks, the toilets, the vanities, the faucets, you can actually.

[00:08:44] Lacy Martinez: And match so many of the lines now just because the, the goal is to make it transitional enough to where you can kind of pull together and make it your own collection. And they've tried really hard to do that. One of the things that we're doing across three [00:09:00] brands that we launched in 2020 is a universal valve platform.

[00:09:05] Lacy Martinez: You can put one universal valve in the wall at this point, and then actually choose between American standard DXV or grower on your trims. You can actually combine them if you want to. That's nice. And in the near future, there will be some finish options across the universal brands as well. So we're trying to keep them very separate for the customers.

[00:09:27] Lacy Martinez: But do it as an ease of install and an ease of selection as well, if you want to

[00:09:33] Eric Goranson: buy, oh my gosh. If I could say, as a designer, the biggest challenges have always been in plumbing parts. I, I have no problem with everything else, but it's that? Okay. I need my 42 pieces for my shower system. yeah. And oh, this trim takes this valve.

[00:09:51] Eric Goranson: This valve takes this trim and oh, no, it's not just that trim. It's the four other boxes of pieces that go with that. and if the plumber doesn't [00:10:00] call you on installation day on the first installation day, which is when they're rough setting the valves. You are almost guaranteed for them to be calling you on trim out day, because you're like, Hey, I need this discussion ring when it piles

[00:10:12] Lacy Martinez: up.

[00:10:12] Lacy Martinez: Right. yeah.

[00:10:16] Eric Goranson: oh, your phone had ring and you'd look down and go, oh, the plumber's calling. I know which stair is where it comes.

[00:10:22] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, here it comes. I've been in the, in showroom and actually the luxury plumbing industry almost 18 years now. and do you, do you remember when custom showering first came out? You had a thermostatic valve, you had a separate volume control over every component you put in a shower.

[00:10:42] Lacy Martinez: And if that was a two person shower with just heads and body sprays, I mean, that thing was, like air force, one, like where are all the controls?

[00:10:51] Eric Goranson: hundred percent. Yeah. It looked like the inside of a cockpit of a 7 47, know, it was so it's crazy. Well, Caroline is our, is a [00:11:00] healthy home expert.

[00:11:00] Eric Goranson: She talks about this stuff and you guys have a lot of things that you guys tackle on the healthy front as well, which is kind of

[00:11:07] Lacy Martinez: cool. Yes. And that's something I'm actually really passionate about personally as well. So it's nice to be able to tie it into work, but LEL does a wonderful job of not only sustainability, but getting back to the communities and looking into like global hygiene and sanitation and.

[00:11:32] Lacy Martinez: One of the things that they did back in 2013 was launch one of the brands Sato. And that is the safe toilet. And that is pretty much it's like this blue plastic pan that is done directly over like a pit. And it automatically has a trap door to keep out bugs and odors. And this is done in places that have no running wire.

[00:11:53] Lacy Martinez: There are still to this day with all this amazing technology that we have. It blows my mind that there's still 3 [00:12:00] billion people without running water. It just is shocking to me sometimes. But that was started back in Bangladesh in 2013, and we've helped over 25 million people in 40 different countries with that.

[00:12:13] Lacy Martinez: And then during C, they actually came out with the Sado tap, which is like a hand washing machine. And it's all made out of plastic parks. It can hang on a tree, it can sit on a piece of concrete, wherever it needs to go. And it gives out the perfect amount of water to actually really wash your hands and get rid of germs.

[00:12:31] Lacy Martinez: But you know, that was kind of on that global perspective of things, but, if they've they've reached in, especially on the grower brand there's a lot of technology around that health and hygiene there as well. We talk about the day toilets, right? Yeah. That is a luxury. And I'm not, saying, not everybody is blessed to be able to have one of those, but it is ultimately so much more hygienic.

[00:12:53] Lacy Martinez: One of the, the scenarios I try to paint a picture is you paint to people is you don't go out in your garden. Right. [00:13:00] And you're digging all around in the dirt and you're getting your hands all dirty and you're planting. And then you come in and get a dry paper towel, wipe your hands off. Right. so true.

[00:13:08] Lacy Martinez: Why in the world, are you doing that in the bathroom? What's what's

[00:13:12] Caroline Blazovsky: interesting. Mac is that we're seeing. So now that, I mean, I hate to bring up COVID again, but now that we're in this viral era where we are very conscious that there are viruses. Yeah. And now we hear monkey pops. We hear all this other stuff coming, but flus, colds, everything.

[00:13:28] Caroline Blazovsky: I'm seeing this great need for automatic toilet tops that close for you. And there's a lot of reasons. I like that. Right. When you flush a toilet, It disturbs everything in that bowl and like launches it up into your air. You always hear about the toothbrush. Like, don't keep your toothbrush near your toilet bowl.

[00:13:43] Caroline Blazovsky: There's a reason, but this need to keep that stuff in the bowl. Absolutely. So automatic. And then we like to see mm-hmm with your hands, like from a cleansing standpoint where you can do an automatic wash and rinse, you don't have to go up and hit a lever anymore and have it, basically come out.

[00:13:58] Caroline Blazovsky: It's all sensor done. So [00:14:00] are what are you seeing with that in like future, as far as healthy homes

[00:14:03] Lacy Martinez: and healthy building?

[00:14:07] Lacy Martinez: I mean, I, I think I'm not gonna be the only one who's gonna tell you that you're gonna see that 1000 fold on new products that are coming out. I think O T technology was already there, but it's really going to be there and it's really gonna tie into the hygienic side of things. Again, talking about like luxury products where the self-closing seats or the automatic faucets, I think you'll see that technology being pushed down into every game products that the everyday consumer can afford to have these basic hygienes.

[00:14:39] Lacy Martinez: Yes. And we need it. Right.

[00:14:40] Caroline Blazovsky: I mean, it's not something, even though we consider it a luxury, I think it's something that is just essential to how we. Use toiletries and use the bathroom and things like that because of sanitary reasons. Right? Yeah.

[00:14:51] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. And, and that, that, that mind we had to have that mind shift.

[00:14:55] Lacy Martinez: Right. Mm-hmm to where we had to take it from, it was only a luxury product [00:15:00] to targeting again and into a necessity for the em, everyday home that they, that everybody needs to have access to these types of products. Yeah.

[00:15:08] Eric Goranson: And you guys even have that if I remember at that cadet touchless, Toilet. So do you have a sensor on the wall that you can put your hand in front of?

[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: That's correct. And it'll flush the toilet for you? Yes, absolutely.

[00:15:19] Lacy Martinez: So, yes, yes. So that, that came out right in the height of COVID that was actually coming beforehand. I mean, the timing just kind of worked out and, and actually we we were, just because of supply chain, trying to get everything back on track had that ready to go.

[00:15:35] Lacy Martinez: And that has been one of our number one sellers. We cannot keep that product on the. And it works really well to get the cadet itself is one of, is our number one selling toilet. And to be able to put that technology in there has really helped a lot. What does the sensor do? It's interesting. You,

[00:15:52] Caroline Blazovsky: how, how does the sensor work?

[00:15:54] Eric Goranson: Oh, oh, that's just just to flush the toilet basically. I mean, that's the cool thing is you just putting your hand in front [00:16:00] of it and it's, it's flushing the toilet for you. So it's really cool. Lacey. I wanted to go back on that water thing that you were just talking about for a second. When, how lucky we are in north America to have running water in our homes.

[00:16:12] Eric Goranson: About 15 years ago, I traveled down the company. I work for the cabinet company. I work for sponsored villages in El Salvador. So I got to spend about two months in El Salvador, getting water, going wow into people's villages. And before we went in there, people, the women and children would wake up at three o'clock in the morning, walk about three miles and carry firewood and water from the stream.

[00:16:36] Eric Goranson: And then over two weeks we would drill a wa a well, put water, get water running, and we put PVC pipe out into these places. So they could have, water outta this. Well, but what's interesting was, is we filled up that we had a big tank to store water, so they didn't have to run the, the well all the time cuz they didn't have power either.

[00:16:56] Eric Goranson: So they had a generator that they ran. We were like, we got a huge [00:17:00] leak. We have water is not filling up the tank. We didn't realize that even though we had communicated to the villagers that you were gonna have running water, they couldn't understand that cuz they'd never had it. So they were filling up every container off their little SP in front of each one of their little houses because they were trying to hoard it because it was gonna save them walking tomorrow.

[00:17:23] Eric Goranson: And so it's just absolutely amazing to go from that. And I had a hard time. The first time I came back from that, I came back and I had a design. Like 10 hours later after landing. And I'm like, I just spent in another world and it was really wild. And I won't even talk about it's a horror movie. What the toilet situation was, they were pits were meal worms, and we'll just leave it at that.

[00:17:48] Eric Goranson: It was like a horror movie when you'd go in there and you guys have done so much to, to help alleviate that with that product. So that's super.

[00:17:57] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, it's, it's great. We're, we're actually [00:18:00] launching a product here in north America as well. We're starting a particular project in Alabama to help those less fortunate here in the Americas.

[00:18:09] Lacy Martinez: Mm-hmm that need help with hygiene and water. So that is something that we have just started working on maybe the last six or eight. And that's a project coming soon as well. Yeah,

[00:18:19] Eric Goranson: that's great. And to twist that back into what we were talking about before I interrupted you about the cadet touchless ger high toilet, first off, I think all toilets, cuz I've got bad knees should be higher toilets.

[00:18:32] Eric Goranson: I I do too. first off that, not every

[00:18:36] Lacy Martinez: my degrees

[00:18:37] Eric Goranson: on that though. I know. And I know it, I do not like that. 1970s, almost sitting on the floor toilet, I'm sorry. I don't, it's just, I'm six foot and I got, I've had six knee surgeries, but getting into that, that anything that you can do to help not touch that toilet, I mean, a B day is great for that.

[00:18:55] Eric Goranson: That touchless flush is great for that. That is all. Back [00:19:00] down to personal hygiene, cuz you have technically less to wash off your hands when you're done.

[00:19:05] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if, and if you really designed a bathroom around a, a touchless technology, you could have it where the lights came on. When you walked in, right.

[00:19:14] Lacy Martinez: You can have the automatic seat pop up. You can have a seat. You can have the B day do everything it needs to do. It can flush automatically for you. You can run your hands underneath the faucet without touching anything and essentially leave that bathroom, right. Without touching anything with your hands.

[00:19:33] Lacy Martinez: And that's really where that technology is, is going.

[00:19:36] Eric Goranson: My mom would've hated that when I was a kid, cuz I, I would've walked in there and she'd gone. You wash your hands. I go, didn't touch anything. yeah,

[00:19:48] Lacy Martinez: yeah. And it's kind of back to that cadet thing. That's one of our affordable toilets. So that is one of those things where you can have that kind of hygienic capability. [00:20:00] But make it where it is affordable to the masses where they can install those. We have non-electric bday seats that go on these toilets.

[00:20:08] Lacy Martinez: They literally plum right into your water line. It TA it took me 10 minutes to install one. And that is just easy, simple to use. There's no power with that. It's manually operated. I live in North Carolina. And I will tell you, it's maybe a little chilly in February, I'm on the coast. But other than that, I mean, though, it's the water temperature that is coming in your home, it's affordable, it's clean.

[00:20:34] Lacy Martinez: And then, from that luxury standpoint, you, you can upgrade from there. So you can start with that base model and then go all the way up to that. Like that 8,200 mm-hmm I'm gonna

[00:20:44] Eric Goranson: grow up. Absolutely amazing.

[00:20:45] Caroline Blazovsky: A A little tip out there. So as an indoor air quality professional, and been testing homes for 25 years, I'm gonna tell our listening audience.

[00:20:51] Caroline Blazovsky: They may say, well, I don't need this. I don't need something that doesn't prevent. Me, I'm clean. When I go into the bathroom, it's a luxury. When we test [00:21:00] surfaces, the number one contaminant is fecal matter and E coli. And this ends up in your restaurants, on your foods, on your plates, all over your home.

[00:21:07] Caroline Blazovsky: And when you think that you're as clean as you could possibly be. We're talking billions of these bacteria on your surfaces. So anything you can do in the bathroom to prevent this from happening, cuz this is the major role of transmission. Somebody works in a restaurant, they go in, they utilize the services in the bathroom.

[00:21:24] Caroline Blazovsky: They come out, they touch your plates and cups at a restaurant and boom, you've got E coli or, and Taraba or any one of these funky salmonella that grows in these spaces. So it's so important to have bathrooms be like this. This is the future. Not, it's not a luxury. It really is important for all of us.

[00:21:39] Caroline Blazovsky: For safety.

[00:21:42] Lacy Martinez: Absolutely, on that 8,200 and, and American standard has one also on the, their, their B day as well. They have a, it's a technology called the plasma cluster technology. And it is essentially like this blue UV ion light that comes on. Once that seat goes [00:22:00] down. and it truly sanitizes the bowl.

[00:22:03] Lacy Martinez: It actually kills the germs that are in that bowl. Once the particles are kind of up in the air from the

[00:22:09] Eric Goranson: flush. Nice. See, now I'm now I'm feeling like I need to upgrade.

[00:22:13] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. See do you have to replace that light or is it it, it actually, it, it actually now it actually, because of the technology and L E D that's in there, it does have lifetime.

[00:22:25] Lacy Martinez: I don't wanna say warranty. Like it's built to last the lifetime of the mail in there. Amazing.

[00:22:30] Eric Goranson: Yeah. See? Yes, yes, yes. Now I'm feeling like I got upgrade for my at 100 bday so seat that I have, cuz that's I still have you on the list. I know yeah. I know, I know. I'm just joking, but that thing it's so funny.

[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: So that was, my first real bday toilet seat that I had at house at the house and. That I've had at my house just because I was moving between houses. We were, it was not a house that we were gonna stay in. So I'm like, I'm not gonna do what I wanna do until I got there. I put that in and I tell you what [00:23:00] my wife, Julie is, was not a big fan of the seat when it first came in.

[00:23:04] Eric Goranson: She's like, oh, we don't need that. That's excessive. And all of a sudden we had power out one day and she goes to sit down on the toilet seat and. This toilet sheet's cold. I don't like that. I'm like, see, there you go. So it's, I've been sneaking it up on her, but now she sees the value of that thing, but it's talk about something that's been well thought out again, there are some, you can jump on Amazon and buy a, a $40, really, really plastic.

[00:23:30] Eric Goranson: Put together toilet seat that says it's a be day toilet seat. It's much more like a garden hose, but, and then you get up to that, it's I tell you what, after that, it's, it's hard to step back into anything last, just because it's kinda like having that nice heated seat in the car. You don't want to have it after you've had it.

[00:23:51] Lacy Martinez: Absolutely. Or air condition where I live. Yeah. I didn't know. That was a thing until a couple years ago, this air condition seat mm-hmm thing. Amazing me. , it gets really hot here, but that [00:24:00] is, those are the things that we try to touch on. It's not just a beautiful product. It's the thought and the engineering that goes in behind all of those product.

[00:24:09] Lacy Martinez: We were talking about touchless faucets while ago and American standard. What they actually do is, that one is completely touchless. So you can put your hand in front of it to turn it off or to turn it on, but it has a switch on the window, so you can actually turn that off. So if grandma's coming over and she doesn't want anything to do with that, you can just turn that little window off and then she can go right back and use the product.

[00:24:31] Lacy Martinez: Just like, it was an old school kitchen Ft. So, It's thinking about how everybody is going to utilize a particular product and trying to blend that all in and bring it all together. Is lead

[00:24:43] Caroline Blazovsky: still an issue with products? We've talked a lot about sinks and faucets and going lead free was a big issue.

[00:24:48] Caroline Blazovsky: I'd say 10 years ago, right. That was, is that still a concern or not so much

[00:24:53] Lacy Martinez: anymore? It's pretty. Yeah, no. I mean the, the big focus now, I mean, that's pretty much all gone. The big focus [00:25:00] now is just trying. To come together nationally on water regulations. Right? So, there are certain places and states that dictate what we do all across the country.

[00:25:12] Lacy Martinez: And it's incredibly different difficult, to have double skews, right. Of products. That's 1.75, or, 2.5. So it's more around water conservation now than, than let we

[00:25:25] Caroline Blazovsky: we see it cuz I test a lot of water. So the big issue now we're seeing is PFAS, right? PFAS and P F OAS and P F OSS are ending up.

[00:25:33] Caroline Blazovsky: And these are chemicals that get into the environment and stay there. And we're trying to really address the issues that we're seeing across the country with them being so prevalent. And I would think filtration because we know we have to filter a lot of these. Systems in, in residential homes in particular, is that something that you'll get into that faucets will become more of an all in one solution or at least the filtration will be improved versus someone having to install a reverse osmosis or something underneath the, the countertop or the counter?

[00:25:59] Lacy Martinez: [00:26:00] Yeah, I, I definitely I think you'll most likely see, we'll probably start with one, probably with grow it in something like that, and then kind of push it over. But, I mean, you, you are so right. I mean, that is something that I personally think, in, in new construction, all of these things that we're adding to homes that RO systems or some type of filtration system should just be built automatically in, in new homes.

[00:26:26] Lacy Martinez: So it would be nice to

[00:26:27] Eric Goranson: see that forward speak of filtered water. Can we talk about the grower blue right now? That thing is so cool. Yeah. Have you seen this? Oh, I'm excited.

[00:26:36] Lacy Martinez: What is.

[00:26:38] Eric Goranson: Okay. this is their . This is their sparkling filtered water out and chilled out the

[00:26:46] Lacy Martinez: tap. Nice. Yes. Yep. So it's, it's a grower product.

[00:26:52] Lacy Martinez: It is the size of about a kitchen faucet now. It has two waterways, so Caroline, to your point. So one is just regular [00:27:00] water and then there's a separate waterway for the filtered water. So you can have cold, still filtering water. You can have it as medium sparkling water, or you can have it as full sparkling water.

[00:27:12] Lacy Martinez: Wow. And then if you're just rinsing dishes or something, you can just have your regular water come right up the tap in separate line. So it does really keep. The filtered water and the standard tap wire. How amazing, completely different. I've gotta, I've gotta

[00:27:26] Caroline Blazovsky: give her one of these Eric. I have to give her.

[00:27:36] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. Nice.

[00:27:38] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Lacey sent me one of those to play with at the at design and construction week when I was up on the home tech stage, cuz that was one of those things that the builders and designers and remodelers out there were. that will do what, how big is it's ING for them. So it's you,

[00:27:53] Lacy Martinez: do you have to have a

[00:27:53] Caroline Blazovsky: lot of

[00:27:54] Lacy Martinez: room underneath your it's the size of a, like a regular kit?

[00:27:57] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. It's size about a regular kitchen [00:28:00] faucet. And then the space underneath would take up it's a little bit bigger than like a, a garbage disposal. I mean, it's because it's a different shape. Yeah. Almost

[00:28:08] Eric Goranson: like a computer. Like what? You'd put a computer tower down there, you know what I mean? It's a great way to say it.

[00:28:13] Eric Goranson: It's like your computer tower going in there. And then there's, a couple little filters and, and stuff. It's super cool. Easy to hook up. I first looked at the box and again, you're like, oh wow, what is this? And then I started looking into it and it's super simple, how it hooks up. It's you guys made that again?

[00:28:30] Eric Goranson: Another easy installation.

[00:28:32] Lacy Martinez: Yeah. Several different filters. There's actually the, the there's a good, better, best, and the best has the magnesium put back into the water. We always talk about, how deficient everybody is at magnesium. So it does put the magnesium back in the water for you. It does have wifi and Bluetooth capability.

[00:28:49] Lacy Martinez: You can measure out water. So if you want five cups of filtered water, you can tell it on the app, but it'll give you your five cups of filtered water. Amazing. It'll tell you when you need to change the filters. It's pretty cool. Pretty [00:29:00] cool faucet. So

[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: another one of those cool innovations that it's like, wow,

[00:29:04] Lacy Martinez: I like that.

[00:29:05] Lacy Martinez: My

[00:29:05] Caroline Blazovsky: clients didn't know I needed

[00:29:06] Lacy Martinez: it

[00:29:07] Caroline Blazovsky: until I saw it's one of my favorites. My clients are constantly, we te so much water. I mean, it's so funny in the last week, I probably. I don't know, seven houses and everybody's just like, water has just become like the big thing. Everybody wants to test their water, know what's in their water and then they want solutions for that.

[00:29:22] Caroline Blazovsky: So that's wonderful that you have that.

[00:29:24] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, it it's, it's, it's a big thing. In my personal life, I I Aqua culture of corals. That's something I've done for a while on some water. What is, that is huge for me. It has to. So I've always wanted a salt water tank. And then once COVID started, I decided to take the plunge and go in and it started with a 50 gallon reef.

[00:29:46] Lacy Martinez: I now have 130 gallon reef, but through that I learned I only have like free fish. But I have corals and I have learned how to aquaculture them. So now I grow them for sustainability and to be able to [00:30:00] flag them back out to people. Because we are losing so many corals around the world due to like climate change.

[00:30:06] Lacy Martinez: And from, and harvesting and farming out there. So it's something I, I do on side, but your point to it just it's pure water. I have to use pure filtration, water, absolute 100 RO D water. It's gonna be deionized. It's gonna read zero on the TDS meter. And to your point, it still will show a range of like phosphates and stuff in there sometimes.

[00:30:30] Lacy Martinez: So it's, it's very interesting.

[00:30:32] Eric Goranson: The fun. That's cool. It's very cool.

[00:30:34] Lacy Martinez: That is very cool. I like it. A touch water personally. And there you go. And get away from it. There

[00:30:42] Eric Goranson: you go. So, Lacey, where do you see plumbing, Ghana going right now? Because they've. Of course, there's all these different finishes out there, but I, water conver you know, conservation is huge, especially if we get down into the, the desert Southwest now with droughts that we have in places.

[00:30:58] Eric Goranson: And we see that now, [00:31:00] but where do you see the, this going? Because it seems that man, there are so many different directions that plumbing has gone over. Even the last 20.

[00:31:09] Lacy Martinez: Absolutely. I mean, it has this, this industry has grown tremendously the last 20 years. I remember when, you're you, you had Chrome and then Woohoo, you had some brush nickel and then oil bronze made its way in.

[00:31:22] Lacy Martinez: And now there are so many different finishes and so many different manufacturers, right? It used to be like a top. Two or three, and now you can get products from all kinds of different manufacturers. I do. I am starting to hear rumblings of it's overwhelming with all the different options and choices.

[00:31:42] Lacy Martinez: And I think you'll start to see a more. Streamlined approach to focus collections mm-hmm so maybe it's not quantity, but it's more quality and it's a way to kind of bring it together to make it your own. But universalize it and streamline it just a little bit. [00:32:00] I

[00:32:00] Eric Goranson: could see that I could see that, cuz I like that.

[00:32:02] Eric Goranson: The colors out there. Yeah. The colors that you get out there just in finishes. It's amazing what you see out there. And then, then you mix in, okay, well I like that finished color, but now do I want a, two-tone finish color with that and I can totally see where for even design teams out there that it could be somewhat overwhelming.

[00:32:21] Eric Goranson: Let alone, your traditional home.

[00:32:24] Lacy Martinez: What, 20 15, 20 years ago, we had the Chrome brass. Toone right. Mm-hmm . And that was the rage for, for years and years and years. So now we're on the sat brass and the matte black. Toone but I do think it's a trend. Yep. I think it'll be here for a couple years.

[00:32:39] Lacy Martinez: But I do think it will trend out I do think some of the finishes will stay. I think satin brass bras tones will stay probably another five years or so. But I do think it all comes back around those. You'll see Chrome kind of makes that big approach. You're starting to see it now where it's just kind of keeping things clean and, and simple.

[00:32:59] Lacy Martinez: But I do think [00:33:00] some of those finishes, like the satin bra will always be around. And I do still think custom showering will be there. Again, considering water conservation. How do we bring these luxury products into these spaces yet? Be conscious of the world around us. And I think you'll see a lot heavier focus on that moving forward.

[00:33:19] Lacy Martinez: It's interesting. I

[00:33:19] Eric Goranson: think so

[00:33:20] Caroline Blazovsky: go ahead, Carolyn. And when I redid my shower, so I wanted to do, I did my bathroom. It was a remodel. The house was originally like 1960s. So I wanted to do a, all green remodel in the bathroom. And I did exactly what you did not consciously. Right. I went with a very streamlined approach.

[00:33:36] Caroline Blazovsky: Mm-hmm and I wanted to get the green, the conscious, the healthy, I wanted everything to be sort of cleanable. And so it kind of. I call it almost a little too sterile, I guess, if you would like, Eric's got the more creative bathroom going on and mine's like the healthier concepts where, you don't, you can wash your hands without touching things, but it did go in that way just because of what I, the goal I was trying to accomplish of being, having it be a healthier environment.

[00:33:59] Caroline Blazovsky: So I think what you're [00:34:00] saying is, is right on the money. I mean, cuz I've experienced it myself,

[00:34:06] Eric Goranson: but I also think that there's out there as well. There's the people like me out there that are like, oh, I wanna be healthy and sustainable. Of course I want in my shower, what I want in my shower,

[00:34:14] Lacy Martinez: he likes the luxury air,

[00:34:16] Caroline Blazovsky: reflect all about the steam shower and the luxury.

[00:34:19] Caroline Blazovsky: And I'm like, get in and I'm like, I don't wanna like touch any poop or

[00:34:33] Lacy Martinez: that's actually an interesting merger. Between you both, of, of, of pulling, pulling both of those together. Yeah. Yeah, and I, I do, I talking about living in this, this viral world at this point, I don't think that's really going to change the next five or 10 years. We're just gonna be more conscious around it.

[00:34:52] Lacy Martinez: So it is still trying to build out these bathrooms or your home, not just your bathroom, your entire home to where you can [00:35:00] really retreat. Mm. I don't think that trend is going anywhere. I think you're gonna see that expand. Huge. I mean, I think that's gonna be a really big thing and same thing. So I do like think simple and clean in my showers too, but I want them to perform really well.

[00:35:16] Lacy Martinez: Our, our, the so grow up, I told you that's the one I have their shower heads are amazing. And the smart connect, shower, head, Rain head, but you can push the button to change the sprays. It works on 1.7, five gallons, and it feels like you're just getting a, a delusion and then you can just turn on the center.

[00:35:33] Lacy Martinez: So for people where like me, I need to wash all of my hair and I need all the stuff to come out, especially I use like, no sulfates or anything like that. Sometimes it's harder to get that out. So it's nice to have products where you can, it's still function, but it's, I have the same system you

[00:35:47] Caroline Blazovsky: have.

[00:35:48] Caroline Blazovsky: That's funny that we put in the same and really you can't see us, ladies and gentlemen, but we have long hair and you need this. I need the pressure to get all the shampoo and stuff outta my hair. Yes. You need the pressure. So I went with the same [00:36:00] system. She did

[00:36:00] Eric Goranson: Yeah, see, that's awesome. That's awesome.

[00:36:03] Eric Goranson: Well, and, and the funny thing is too, is, is that that's not a crazy expensive system that you put in there with that shower head. That's not some wild luxury piece that is just something that, makes you function your day. You're actually using probably less water. Because you've got the pressure there.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: You're not sitting there with a low pressure shower head. I mean, I can't tell you every time I travel, I get into that hotel room and I'm like, oh no, it's that shower head. I'm gonna be in here for an hour, trying to get clean.

[00:36:31] Lacy Martinez: you? And

[00:36:31] Caroline Blazovsky: Eric's got a lot of hair too, but

[00:36:36] Eric Goranson: imagine us. Exactly. So it's, it's, it's that thing it's like, I'm not gonna save any water today with that shower head, just because it's gonna take yeah.

[00:36:43] Eric Goranson: Four times longer. Just to save a, a point something gallons of water. So it's, the function is key to me. Function is key.

[00:36:51] Lacy Martinez: Function is key at the end of the day. That's what you need it to do, right. It can be beautiful, but if it doesn't work. Then you know what, what's, [00:37:00] what's the point. It's very disappointing to, to have that.

[00:37:02] Lacy Martinez: And and you're talking about hotel rooms and I travel pretty frequently for work. And that's one of the first things I look at when I get into the hotels, pop the head in the shower and I won't name anything, but I can look at a shower head and tell you like, yeah, I got a good one. No, I didn't.

[00:37:17] Lacy Martinez: yeah.

[00:37:19] Eric Goranson: Guilty as charged. Walk in and look, okay, we got a fridge. We got that. Or there's those times that I'm like, yes,

[00:37:29] Lacy Martinez: yes.

[00:37:29] Eric Goranson: Gonna be good. That'll be good. Well, it's funny, water regulations have been interesting because, we really, the us government really messed that up in the nineties with the 1.6 gallon flush because we needed to have.

[00:37:44] Eric Goranson: Something less than a 3.2 or a 3.5 gallon flush. But to be honest, the toilet manufacturers had not caught up with the technology when they said everybody's going to 1.6 gallons. And so for the first five to seven years, it seemed [00:38:00] everybody was flushing that toilet two or three times and using way more water than the 3.2 gallon they were trying to use.

[00:38:08] Eric Goranson: And. I was, I was early in my design career, but there was a black market for old toilets at that point

[00:38:16] Lacy Martinez: there absolutely was. And I was still consulting with customers when that, when that was all happening and. I mean, people would come in with a chip on their shoulder. I don't want that toilet. I mean, they, yes, there was a black market looking for those toilet.

[00:38:31] Lacy Martinez: you guys are killing me. yeah, I bet we had our.

[00:38:38] Eric Goranson: Oh, oh seriously. They was, yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:40] Lacy Martinez: I mean, they were used. Yes. And they were like blue and they were green and people would do remodels and they would, and they would take their toilets with them. And I am not exaggerating.

[00:38:51] Eric Goranson: it was funny. I mean, people would walk in and, it was funny.

[00:38:55] Eric Goranson: It was mostly the husbands that I got the most grief out of. [00:39:00] But I'd have the absolutely doing the bathroom design. Okay. We got it all. Great. You're not putting that in my bathroom. and it was just like, it's like we were tearing the garage off the side of the house. It was just like . Wow. I didn't expect a semi violent response out of that.

[00:39:17] Lacy Martinez: Yes, that that would bring up very heated debates in, in the showrooms with, with customers. To the point where sometimes it was a little awkward, you just had to kinda like walk away and let the couple kinda happen out and come back a few minutes later. So yeah, more

[00:39:32] Eric Goranson: than once I go, oh, I got a call guys.

[00:39:34] Eric Goranson: Why don't you discuss it? I'll be back. Let me get this phone call real quick. It seems important in home

[00:39:37] Lacy Martinez: improvement, we

[00:39:38] Caroline Blazovsky: deal a lot with that. It's like making sure couples don't separate at the same time, we're helping them. Do home improvement. It's really scary.

[00:39:48] Lacy Martinez: Only once. It'd be interesting to see what the statistics are on that actually,

[00:39:53] Eric Goranson: only once that I have to threaten to call the police and that was very awkward.

[00:39:56] Eric Goranson: But other than that, it was, I , [00:40:00] well, it's interesting because one thing that I'd love for our listeners to understand out there, and I wanted to talk about this real quick before we wrap up today. So many people walk into the home center and go, oh, I'll take the $99 toilet and expect it to function as well as maybe a 2, 3, 4, 5 or $600 toilet.

[00:40:26] Eric Goranson: It's my belief that you really get what you pay for with toilets. What's your opinion on that lace.

[00:40:33] Lacy Martinez: So it's my belief that you actually get what you pay for on the majority of products. But I will tell, speaking of toilets in particular there's a reason that there are different channels.

[00:40:44] Lacy Martinez: There's a reason there's retail and, and trade mm-hmm and, wholesale, because they are made differently. They are made with different components. They are made in different factories and, and they are done for those particular [00:41:00] reasons. They're trying to. A mass economies of scale to some point, and then the other side of it is these, these other people are willing to pay for the engineering, right?

[00:41:08] Lacy Martinez: Mm-hmm, , they're willing to pay for the peace of mind that comes from those products. There's absolutely a difference in, in the way those products are manufactured, what the products are actually made of, and it extends beyond toilets. Faucets are the same way. Shower heads are another, another one.

[00:41:25] Lacy Martinez: Huge. There's a really big difference between what you're getting as far as a brass head versus like, plastic components, or sometimes it's not even plastic. It maybe could just be rubber. So that is really done for very specific reasons. And that is why they're there. The guy who's building the 400 house subdivision and they're, hundred thousand dollars homes.

[00:41:46] Lacy Martinez: And I'm not saying anything to that, but he's buy, he's doing that for a certain particular. Point, right. Mm-hmm versus the customer who is, working with the designer in the architect and they're building what they want. Right. It's very specific [00:42:00] to what they want. And so they're looking for that design, that style, but also that function in that form.

[00:42:06] Lacy Martinez: And that is where you have to be able to blend the two, but they're, they're completely different audiences and they're totally different products. Lacey, if someone

[00:42:14] Caroline Blazovsky: is on a budget, And they, they recognize, right. Mm-hmm and they see the necessity to get something that is better built. I mean, what are ways that they can look for to save money?

[00:42:25] Caroline Blazovsky: Right? So, so they know they're on a budget, but they really do want a higher end product or a better product. I mean, we know these products are built with better quality and that's important. These rubberized products, when my clients come to me, I, I don't want them purchasing a lot of these cuz they're in direct contact with the body.

[00:42:39] Caroline Blazovsky: Your body's your largest. Bodily organ. And it absorbs into your skin in 26 seconds or less with water, and when you take a shower, you're absorbing a lot of these chemicals. So the better products actually are made with more inert and better are healthier products. So how do they go about that?

[00:42:54] Caroline Blazovsky: If they're on a budget, do you recommend there's places they can go? Is there a way to find discounts on some products? [00:43:00] When they're maybe a year old or something like that, that can help someone.

[00:43:06] Lacy Martinez: Yeah, so, absolutely. So I mean, the, the first thing I would say is figure out what is most important to you. If you're building or you're doing a remodel kind of in, in your own mind, what are the products that are important, where you do wanna put, that extra funding in there visit your showrooms.

[00:43:24] Lacy Martinez: This is a big. Portion piece of going back to that brick and mortar location, right? Most of these places do not charge for these consultation services. Go to them, get their knowledge. That's what they are there for. They're hell they're they, they are consultants. They're there to consult with you and, and you, and that was the, and I did that for years.

[00:43:46] Lacy Martinez: People came in with all kinds of different budgets and objectives and you sit down with them. You consult with them, you find out what's most important to them and then figure out where you can cut the dollars and where you need to invest more of those [00:44:00] dollars. I think that's a really big thing to think about.

[00:44:03] Eric Goranson: Great point, great point. That's It's such a debate out there. You know what I mean? It's just such a debate that you see out there between people before we wrap up Lacey, is there stuff that we haven't talked? Do you have some new products and stuff that are getting ready to come out for the summer or anything

[00:44:18] Lacy Martinez: exciting?

[00:44:20] Lacy Martinez: We do. We do. So actually in grow, we just started to launch our bro a spa. So you will see over the next year several different spa products. That'll come out again. Here we talk. You can piece these things individually, or you can build that total spas. We have these new retractable body sprays that work on water pressure and are still working on that less than one gallon per minute, but they're completely flushed with the wall.

[00:44:45] Lacy Martinez: American standard. We just did a huge launch in a new matte black expansion, which you're gonna see a entire new collection come very soon on that one, but that's all I can give away on that one. Cool. DXV we just launched [00:45:00] a new kitchen collection that just came out in may. So it is brand new.

[00:45:04] Lacy Martinez: And that is the Etro collection. So that is fireplace sinks and an entire new faucet collection. Which for DXC, we have not had quite a while and that one's in the matte black and in the satin brass, and those mixed tones that you talked about. So, kind of right on trend with that. So that is what we have out immediately, but the we actually already have a three to five year roadmap plan, some other things coming, but you'll see a lot around univers.

[00:45:31] Lacy Martinez: Applications and kind of that sustainability as well.

[00:45:35] Eric Goranson: One thing I like about DXV is I do love your apron front sinks in there. Those are really cool. And there's some cool designs in there with the, with the front face of that, that I think is innovative and different. So if you're out looking for that country look or even contemporary look, apron, front sink, there's some cool ones out there.

[00:45:57] Lacy Martinez: That etra actually is a lot more contemporary [00:46:00] than the current hillside that we have. It's very clean. It's very angular. It's still fire play, but it is, it has more of a modern twist to it. Yeah.

[00:46:08] Eric Goranson: Super cool for that contemporary application or even transitional, you can put that in a lot of different styles out there.

[00:46:16] Eric Goranson: So is there anything else? Yeah, absolutely. Anything else Lacey? We haven't talked about today.

[00:46:21] Lacy Martinez: I mean, I could sit on here for hours. I know we it's big groups talking to you guys. I, I think the other thing, we were just talking about, showers and so with grow up that smart control, we were just talking about the control tower mm-hmm kind of thing.

[00:46:34] Lacy Martinez: Or, the airplane that is it's one valve and one trim, but it is a thermostatic valve with three different volume controls. Yes, it is clean. It's simple. It's square or it's round. You can use it. Any of our brands, you can actually use it with another brand if you need, if you want a different shower, head or something, but it is just one single valve that goes in the wall and it is three separate volume controls all built into one.

[00:46:59] Lacy Martinez: So you could [00:47:00] run three different products. Off of this one valve and you can actually just install a secondary vine control one and run six products off of one thermostatic valve. Nice.

[00:47:10] Eric Goranson: I'm gonna give you some applause

[00:47:17] Eric Goranson: for that one. because pretty, I mean, that's a pretty cool crowd. Well, here's, what's cool about that. Is that from the, from Caroline, from the healthy side of that is that is only one hole through the side of that shower membrane that. So that is one less place. You are taking all these different controls that have a tendency to leak around the trims because the installer, maybe didn't put it in there, or the homeowner didn't follow up with the caulking procedures a year or two down the road.

[00:47:39] Eric Goranson: And anytime you can reduce those penetrations through that waterproof membrane in the shower, better off you are. Absolutely. All right, Lacy. Thanks for coming on today. Of course, everybody knows how to find. Thanks for having me. You guys, you guys are all over the internet. Pretty easy to find all three companies and we'll have 'em on the podcast show notes as well as over on around the [00:48:00] house, online.com.

[00:48:01] Eric Goranson: Thanks for coming on.

[00:48:02] Lacy Martinez: Thanks Lacy. Thanks, bye guys. It's great to see you.

[00:48:05] Eric Goranson: You too. Hi, I'm Eric

[00:48:06] Lacy Martinez: G and I'm

[00:48:07] Caroline Blazovsky: Caroline B.

[00:48:15] Eric Goranson: And you've been listening to around,house.