Busy Bee

Spray Foam Magazine – Winter 2022 – Aurora, Nebraska is a small city with a population just shy of 5,000 residents. This tight-knit community, located in Hamilton County, is where a single father of six lives. Working side by side with his employees, this owner/operator puts in the hard labor to support his children, encourage his staff, and build a business that provides opportunity for everyone working there. Spray Foam Magazine is proud to announce Eric Joseph, owner of Midwest Spray Foam & Custom Insulation, LLC Spray Foam Magazine’s 2022 Runner-Up Contractor.

Early in the morning, the Spray Foam Magazine Team (SFMT) called Eric, who was completing an attic job. Dedicated as he is, Eric finished up on the job and then sat down with us to discuss his spray foam history. Nebraskan born and bred, Eric knows the area well and has no issue traveling all over the state for spray foam jobs. Raised and working for years on his family’s farm, Eric realized this industry was suffering when prices fell drastically. Eric was also a seed dealer and experienced first-hand the hardship in the farming community. The poor income and trying to support his children as a single father, became a suffocating issue. Eric decided that he must look for an additional revenue source to help provide for his children. He then heard of a man living not far from him who was running a part time insulation business. This man was looking to sell his spray foam rig. Eric got in contact with him, and they chatted several times until Eric made an offer on the man’s business, eventually buying him out. Shortly after starting Midwest Spray Foam & Custom Insulation, it became obvious that the business was becoming a great success. Taking up all his work time, he had to decide on his future.

Eric chose to make spray foam his full-time job and walked away from the farming industry. His brother took over the family farm, so Eric knew it was in good hands. Ever since Eric started his spray foam business, he has been able to take his children on vacation. Eric emphasizes this by stating, “Last year was the first time I had ever seen the ocean. I took my family to Clearwater, Florida. Going on vacation before I started my spray foam business was too expensive. It was amazing to be able to do that for us all.” 

Eric has three full time workers and one part time, “My employees are like family, and we always help each other out any way we can. Some of our services include spray foam insulation, foam roofs, coatings, blow in cellulose/fiberglass, wall spray cellulose, fiberglass batt installation, concrete lifting, epoxy and polyaspartic floors, and concrete overlays. We are very diversified and stay very busy and do our best to provide our customers with high quality work. We just completed our new 9,000 sq ft shop in Aurora, that we operate out of,” proudly states Eric.

Eric and his crew start their day at 6:30 AM and depending on how far they are traveling for a job, they can start even earlier. Before every job, Eric reminds his crew of their number one rule, “Leave the place tidier than how we found it.” According to Eric, that rule has got them a lot of work with clients being impressed with the good spray foam application and the crew’s attention to detail and tidy work habits. Eric owns two spray foam rigs which have a Graco H25, an E30, and an 830 for coatings. In addition, he has a Titan 40900 sprayer and two smaller Graco sprayers.  

Midwest Spray Foam & Custom Insulation, LLC, has sprayed numerous projects but one of Eric’s favorites is a huge barn that was sprayed in several stages. The client transported the barn, which was once a lumber store back in the 1800s, from out of state to Nebraska. Eric’s client wanted it transformed into part horse marina, living quarters and a wedding venue. Eric and his crew spray foamed the walls and the ceiling to the entire barn. The client was extremely happy with the result, so he had the crew stay on and paint the barn too.

Working long hours and taking care of the children doesn’t give Eric much spare time. However, soon he hopes to get back to building Hot Rods, which has been a fun hobby in the past. Eric also recently invested in all the equipment he needs to start bee keeping, so his family can have their own honey.

He’s also crafty, making a Christmas tree display out of 55-gallon spray foam drum barrels (seen on page 8 of this issue) and a spray foam gun epoxy table out of old SPF guns and parts.

Looking to the future, Eric would like to expand his crew and therefore help free some time to be with his children. The biggest challenge Eric finds is juggling the manual labor with the actual running of the business and taking on more people will enable him that extra time to tackle the administrative side of the business, including estimates and the initial quotes.

A single father, Eric has full custody of six of his children and shared custody of his seventh child with a previous partner. With six girls and one boy, and a successful company, he is a very busy man. At the age of 19, Eric’s eldest daughter, Caley is in her first year of college, his twins, Kirstin and Brice are sophomores, Kenley, an 8th grader, Paisley, a 6th grader, Emma a 4th grader and a one year old named Ellie.

Juggling his work along with the children’s activities is a challenge for Eric, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Working hard, but always making sure he has time for all the kids is most important to him. Eric gives one crucial piece of advice to his children, “Always give people respect, and be nice to everyone. Even if you don’t like that person, show kindness and that will take you a long way in life.” This attitude is a recurring theme in Eric’s life, and one gets the sense that his positivity seeps straight into his business.

Eric loves working in the spray foam industry because it’s helping provide a great life for him and his family, “We have branched out into concrete lifting and foam roofs. There are so many different applications for SPF if you know what you are doing, and you do it right. All these options help my business grow,” states Eric.

The spray foam industry is a great place to make a good living if the golden rules are applied. Eric and his crew work hard, respect their clients and love what they do. Finding a work/life balance can be tough but as we all know, good things happen through perseverance, ambition and surrounding yourself with a loyal team. Congratulations Eric Joseph on being Spray Foam Magazine’s 2022 Runner Up. By making a career change, great things are happening for you and your family.

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