There’s a Cross in My Logo

I recently came across a video of someone talking about building science, HVAC, vapor drive, and swelling floors.

The information was not necessarily wrong, but it damn sure was not right either.

It was incomplete, lacked context, and clearly showed that this person did not have a basic fundamental understanding of what he was talking about, at least not from a professional perspective.

He knew enough of the terminology to sound like he understood it. But knowing a few building science terms and understanding how moisture, pressure, heat, materials, and mechanical systems all interact are two completely different things.

So I responded: “Bruh.” With a side-eye emoji.

That was it.

Apparently, that was enough for him to go through my posts, determine that I must have something wrong with me, call me negative and derogatory, and then question my Christian faith.

He finished with: “There’s a damn cross in your logo, and you are by far the furthest from Christ of anyone I’ve met on this journey.”

Well, he got one thing right.

There is a cross in my logo. It is there for a reason.

I am a Christian. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. My faith is not something I separate from my business or the work I do. It is a huge part of why I do this work in the first place.

I truly believe I have been called to help change this industry.

That does not mean everyone is going to like how I do it. It does not mean I am required to smile, nod, and agree with everyone to prove that I am a Christian. And it damn sure does not mean I have to sit quietly while people present themselves as authorities on subjects they do not fundamentally understand.

I am not sure where people got the idea that following Christ means never confronting anyone.

Jesus was loving. He was compassionate. He helped the sick, protected the vulnerable, and served people everyone else had turned their backs on.

But He also confronted people. He called out hypocrisy. He challenged the religious leaders.

And when He walked into the temple and saw everything that was wrong, He did not politely ask everyone to reconsider what they were doing. He flipped the damn tables.

Now, I am not comparing myself to Jesus. I am also not saying every Facebook video requires a temple moment.

But I am saying that following Christ does not require me to be passive. It does not require me to ignore what is wrong just so everyone can feel good and get along.

Sometimes standing up for people requires confrontation.

That is where my faith and my work come together.

A home is supposed to protect the people living in it. Instead, I walk into homes all the time where the house is making people sick, costing them a fortune, and completely turning their lives upside down.

Most of the time, someone caused it.

A builder did not understand moisture. An HVAC contractor guessed instead of designing. A remodeler opened one assembly to another without understanding the consequences.

Someone installed a product because a salesperson said it would fix the problem. Someone watched a video, learned a few new terms, and suddenly became a building science expert.

Then the homeowner is left holding the bag.

That is the problem with videos like this one. The information may not be completely false. In fact, it usually has just enough truth in it to sound convincing.

But a homeowner does not know what is missing.

They do not understand vapor drive, dew point, air leakage, pressure relationships, moisture storage, or how the HVAC system interacts with the building enclosure. They should not have to. That is why they hire professionals.

They see someone speaking confidently into a camera. He knows the terminology. He sounds like he understands the problem. So they trust him.

Then they hire him to come out and put together some type of scope of work.

But if he does not fundamentally understand the problem, how in the hell is he going to design a scope that actually fixes it?

He might blame vapor drive when the bigger issue is air movement. He might blame the flooring when the crawlspace is the real moisture source. He might recommend a dehumidifier without addressing the uncontrolled outdoor-air infiltration.

He might seal one area and force the moisture somewhere else. He might replace materials without correcting the conditions that caused them to fail.

The homeowner spends thousands of dollars, the original problem is still there, and in some cases the work makes it worse.

I see this all the time.

I meet families who have already paid two, three, or four different contractors to solve the same problem. Every one of them sounded confident. Every one of them had a solution. Every one of them got paid.

Yet somehow, the family is still sick and the house is still failing.

This is not just people sitting around debating building science on the internet. There are real consequences when someone’s confidence exceeds their competence.

People lose money. Homes are damaged. Families stay sick. And the person who gave the bad advice usually moves on to the next job without ever seeing what happened afterward.

So yes, I responded with “Bruh” and a side-eye.

That does not mean I hate the guy. It does not mean I wished anything bad on him. It does not mean I attacked his family, his character, his mental health, or his relationship with God.

He chose to take it there.

Could I have written five paragraphs explaining the technical problems with his video? Sure.

But I do not owe everyone on Facebook a free building science class every time they post something questionable.

Sometimes “Bruh” is all I have the time or energy for.

And if those two words are enough for someone to decide that I am the furthest thing from Christ, that probably says more about what they were looking for than it does about me.

The cross in my logo does not mean I will never be blunt.

It does not mean I am going to tolerate ignorance presented as expertise. It does not mean I have to stay quiet while people give homeowners information that could lead them straight into another failed repair.

The cross represents who I serve.

It represents why I care so much about the people being hurt by this industry.

It represents why I keep crawling through nasty attics, opening contaminated HVAC systems, studying these failures, and fighting to give families real answers.

It represents my purpose.

And part of that purpose is flipping some tables.

The table where confidence is mistaken for competence. The table where a certification is mistaken for experience. The table where knowing a few terms is mistaken for fundamentally understanding how a house works.

The table where contractors keep getting paid to guess with someone else’s home, health, and money. The table where everyone protects each other’s feelings while homeowners continue to suffer.

Those tables need to be flipped.

I know I am not always going to be the nicest person in the room while doing it. I am direct. I am passionate. I get pissed off because I see the damage this industry causes every single day.

But do not mistake directness for a lack of compassion.

The homeowners and families being harmed are exactly why I refuse to shut up.

So yes, there is a cross in my logo. It belongs there.

I believe Jesus Christ called me to serve people, protect people, tell the truth, and help change this industry.

That does not require me to make everyone comfortable.

Sometimes it requires me to walk into the middle of what is wrong and start flipping tables.