but i knew inside there was something very special. and i think potential is limitless. jennifer: thank you. i think so, too. ♪ im mcgraw: haulin' junk. pavin' roads.... -smell's great. -...diggin' ditches. it's all in a day's work... when you're a millionaire. -(theme music playing) -mcgraw: these folks invest in hedge trimmers, not hedge funds. they turn diy into roi. and thanks to hard work, incredible passion, and a whole lot of mud, sweat and tears, they turned their dirty jobs into filthy riches. -time to go make some money! -(honks horn) -mcgraw: tonight, meet a carpenter whose amazing hidden doors hold the secret to his success. -(car horn honking) -(laughing) -mcgraw: a fun-loving landscaper who's using fake grass to bank some real green.

-america! -mcgraw: and a disaster repair specialist whose profits are proof that honesty pays. they're all coming up on "blue collar millionaires." on an ordinary street, there sits an ordinary house. and in that house... an ordinary piano. at least it looks ordinary. because what happens when you play it is anything but. so what's hidden behind this wall? -(static) -that's not important right now. what's important is that the owner of the house doesn't just have a secret door, he builds 'em for a living. and that's made him a blue collar millionaire. -you found me! i really am the best in the world at making secret doors. ohh... that's pretty good. that's pretty darn near perfect. my name is steven humble, and i'm the president

of creative home engineering, an engineering company that designs and builds secret doors. just like the ones in the movies, but for real people. we do a wide range of secret door styles. we have secret doors that look like full-length mirrors, brick walls, walls of stone, rotating fireplaces. right now we're working on one that looks like a phone booth, like "get smart." you name it, we have made a secret door that looks like that. we could talk about what the ideal camouflage method is gonna be. clients get secret doors for a number of reasons. a lot of them want a safe place to store valuables, or a safe place to go in case of a home invasion. if you're using it more for a panic room application, then you just want something that's really, really quick, so you might want just a secret button. there are so many disciplines tied in to making a secret door. you have to be an expert woodworker, and then there's also welding and cutting and structural engineering. you really have to be somewhat of an expert in all of these different fields to make a secret door

that is really amazing. -mcgraw: even more amazing, steve's been dreaming of this career ever since he was a kid. -when i was young, i saw the movies, and i saw that there were secret passageways, and i was enthralled by that concept. in college, i studied mechanical engineering, and when i graduated, i went to work for a medical device company. i did that job for just one year, and i sat in my cubicle thinking, i have designed this product that made my boss a ton of money, and i feel like i am just stuck in this cubicle, and my life does not have the kind of excitement that i had planned on it having. and then i thought, surely there must be somebody out there that has seen the same movies that i've seen, and has thought to themselves, i want a secret passageway just like the one i just saw in that movie. who can make it for me? that's it! that's what we wanna see.

i can do that. i'm a mechanical engineer. i have that skill set. and so, that's when the idea was born. it was slow at first. there were occasional calls. i was, you know, working out of my bedroom, essentially, so... i would-- i would get calls from people, and they would ask for little projects, and little by little, we grew to the point where the garage wasn't big enough, and i had to go rent a space. my portfolio got bigger, my word of mouth increased, and, uh, here we are. -mcgraw: and what's behind steve's enormous success? his incredible attention to detail. well, that and the fact that there aren't a whole lot of other secret door makers out there. but mostly, it's his attention to detail. -in my world, a gap of a sixteenth of an inch is bad. my clients, because of the work that they do, they've received death threats or whatever. and so, there's a chance that somebody's life could depend on my secret door being perfect. and so i have to deliver that.

we make between 50 and 75 secret doors per year, on average. and they range in price from $2,500 on the low end, to $100,000 for the most expensive secret doors we make. and since the first year that i did this, the company's been growing steadily. last year, we did... and we try to make about 20 percent on every project that we do. to date, we have built between 500 and 600 secret passageways that are spaced all throughout the world. now that the company is really successful, it's a lot more fun. it's fun to be able to still make amazing products for clients, but also, to have some success doin' it. -mcgraw: some success? please. steve is the best in the biz, and thanks to his accomplishments, he finally has a secret door of his very own. of course i have a secret door in my house. -mcgraw: okay, now you can see what's behind the door. -my secret door leads to what i like to call

my "zombie apocalypse" room. which is just a place where i store my guns and ammunition, and some food and water, in case... stuff goes sideways. -mcgraw: uhhhm... okay. but, if steve decides to flee the zombies instead, at least he can get away in style. -as a mechanical engineer, i cannot help but be somewhat of a car guy. i really appreciate the engineering that goes into a sweet car, and i usually buy myself a new sweet car every year. i currently have the latest corvette. 460 horse power, crazy acceleration, zero to 60 in 3.9, and it looks hot, too. -mcgraw: and while steve gets plenty of joy from his sports cars, his true passion is steering his business. money really isn't the driving force in this business for me. i'm driven by making the best product that i can make.

it's that satisfaction, the pride that i take when i look at a secret door once it's been installed in somebody's house. it is amazing. that's what drives me, and i make sure that i achieve it on every project. all right, guys. steel for the next door is here. -mcgraw: coming up, when it comes to artificial grass in arizona, this guy truly is the top gun. -this is what it's like to be a blue collar millionaire, yee-hoo!

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he's one wild dude. he spends his free time trainin' with army rangers and navy seals. he tools around in a kickass custom ride. he entertains the ladies in his million-dollar desert hideaway. and he doesn't just fire guns from helicopters, he makes the guns that he then fires from helicopters. how does he fund this fantasy of a life? he installs... lawns? -sweet, man. -mcgraw: yep, and not even real ones. -let's get rockin', we'll shovel this out, man. -let's get cranking. -mcgraw: meet charlie ferer. -it's not a cush job. you're pounding water and not even pissing, all day. perfect. yeah, yeah. i'm charlier ferer. i'm living the american dream, layin' all this green! i own paradise greens and turf company. we are an artificial grass company. -three! -we do huge jobs to small jobs. -go!

sweetness. lawns, putting greens, sport fields. pretty much you name it with grass, we'll do it. -mcgraw: and what makes charlie's turf a must-have for homeowners? -our biggest selling point is zero, i mean, literally zero maintenance. people are like, "do i have to water it?" and we're like, "that's the whole point, you don't have to water your grass." -mcgraw: and while the maintenance is hassle free, the installation... definitely isn't. -it's an arduous installations process, especially during the summers out here, when it's 110 degrees, and you're workin' from 6:00 am until 5:00 pm outside, it's brutal. -mcgraw: but it wasn't just hard work that helped charlie succeed. -in my family, nothing came for free, so if you wanted it, we had to work for it. at 12 years of age, i started delivering newspapers. that's when i started becoming an entrepreneur and not even realizing it. so i graduated asu and got into a consulting job. and i was making $180,000 a year, but i had zero life. -mcgraw: so charlie started to wonder if the grass might be greener

doin' somethin' different. -one of my friends had an artificial grass company, and i was extremely intrigued by it because, i thought that's a no-brainer for arizona. and i have always loved bein' outside. so i quit the corporate world, and straight up said, hey, i'm interested in starting my own company, and as a mentor, he actually was the one that helped me start my business. hey, this is charlie. i was the marketing person, i was doing all the books. i had to... do all the sales, do all the free estimates, and then i'd also be doing the installs. -mcgraw: but it wasn't just hard work that helped charlie succeed. he took a risk by using pricier materials than his competitors. a risk that would really pay off. -all of our products are made in the good old u.s. of a. our products in particular are proven for the southwest environment. we don't deal with any other countries that put fillers in, and last half of our lifetime. i mean, we had... big competitors of-- of ours that were around longer than us, that folded because they went to a cheaper product

and had warranty issues and-- and they had to close shop. so by staying with a top-quality product, even though we weren't makin' as much, that's what put us where we are today because of that. -mcgraw: charlie sells the best fake grass money can buy. and while it took a little while for his business to ramp up, today, he's makin' some real green. -the first two years for paradise greens, i invested over $160,000, and we re-invested all of the money that we had coming in, so we didn't make anything. last year we brought in $2 million in gross revenue. -there we go. -and we average about 10 percent growth a year. -mcgraw: those impressive numbers have given charlie the ammo to pursue his real passion-- turning regular joes into jason bourne-style killing machines. seriously. -i've been extremely successful and fortunate and blessed with paradise greens, and we came up with another company, armageddon tactical solutions. we train regular civilians on close quarters combat,

to designated defensive marksman, precision rifles... pretty much the full gamut. and help those people get ramped up and be appropriately trained to handle weapon platforms, so we're able to take a regular civilian, and take him to that level of becoming a badass. what i wanna get you guys since we had great sales on the chassis... would be to do some more cadex chassis. because of the success of armageddon tactical solutions, we are out actually now making guns as well. this is one of our weapon platforms that we offer. this is actually at scottsdale gun club. you could order this today for $24,000. we did not get into manufacturing or making guns for the money. with the training that we do, we actually had a need for precision rifles, and the people that we train, we gave them weapons to use, and they actually loved 'em. and we've had great success manufacturing our own weapons now. you name it, we will build it. -mcgraw: and with two successful businesses,

you'd think charlie would really be livin' it up. and you would be right. -i am truly blessed to be living in this house in one of the nicest neighborhoods in paradise valley. it's definitely an entertainer's dream. it goes from a bar to a living room area, sonos equipment, theater, beautiful pool with a jacuzzi, lawn area. i couldn't ask for more. -mcgraw: and when charlie gets tired of kicking back at his awesome house, he can always tear it up in his kickass truck. -this is what it's like to be a blue collar millionaire, yee-hoo! everything that i have possessions-wise, it pretty much deals with my adrenaline kick. i am not gonna drive a regular truck, i'm gonna drive a baja truck that's balls out and i could go anywhere i want. if it doesn't scare me, i'm not gonna wanna drive it. (laughing) i'm definitely proud of myself. was i expecting to be where i am today? absolutely not. thanks for everybody being here. i'm blessed to have you guys as great friends. but at the same time, i made it happen. that is what makes me rich in my eyes.

thanks for lettin' me do all your yards as well. -(laughter) -adding to the success of paradise greens. love you guys. -all: cheers! -love you guys, too. -(woman laughs) -mcgraw: coming up, find out how one property restorer has done great by focusing on doing good. -there's not a single catastrophic event that we can't handle, or we wouldn't respond to in a time of need.

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a roof-snapping gust of wind. the damage can be unspeakable. but, if god forbid, you find yourself in the path of disaster, you need this man by your side. because he knows a thing or two about picking up the pieces of a shattered life. and now, he's helpin' others do the same. -we gotta get on these losses quickly. -mcgraw: meet brian whiteway. -i don't just restore people's homes, i restore their lives. looks like we had a substantial amount of water. -yes. exactly. -okay. all right. my name is brian whiteway, and i'm the president and ceo of dallaswhite corporation. grab a meter so we can check these walls out, 'cause this is soaked. dallaswhite is a construction company that specializes in property restoration for people in catastrophic situations. what caused the leak, the toilet? -the toilet. -in the master bath? -yes. -okay. biggest difference between us and a general construction company is that we know how to deal with disasters. whether it's water, fire or floods, and we operate around the clock,

anywhere, anytime, nighttime, holidays, weekends. our technicians have a certain skill set in mitigation of water intrusion, smoke, fire, odors, biohazard cleanup. often we get calls for floods. they could be something small as a toilet leak, they could be catastrophic as a sprinkler system going off in a large commercial building. whatever the call is, we have certified technicians on call, 24-7. -mcgraw: and when you're working 24-7, you're earning 24-7. last year, dallaswhite pulled in... and with a net margin of 30 percent, brian brought home a cool three mil. -brian, there's a hailstorm in san antonio. the insurance company's on line three. -thank you. dallaswhite is one of the top property restoration companies in the country. there's not a single catastrophic event that we can't handle or we wouldn't respond to in a time of need. i can meet you in san antonio tomorrow. -mcgraw: and stepping up in a time of need is nothing new for brian.

he's been dealing with disaster his whole life. -a week before i graduated from high school, there was a tragic accident where my father drowned. it was absolutely devastating. it knocked the wind outta my sails. i had two young sisters. they'd looked up to me, and, at that point in time, i-- i-- i grew up quickly. and that's where i really got serious and focused about being an entrepreneur, knowing that i might have to take care of my sisters through college. i started my first company when i was 20. was actually a home remodeling business. over a period of 20 years, i built the company up to be a very successful business, and i had a very comfortable, comfortable lifestyle. -mcgraw: what started out as a way to put his sisters through college was finally giving brian a taste of the good life. but, in yet another blow, it wouldn't last. -the economy crashed, and-- and... lost it all. lost millions. that left me literally countin' pennies out of a jar. it was an incredibly humbling experience. -mcgraw: beaten down and dead broke, brian once again found himself tryin' to rebuild.

-shortly after i lost everything, i was introduced to an individual who had a thriving restoration company and asked me to come on board as a consultant. this guy was not a very ethical individual, from doin' minimal work, to removing things that are not damaged, to try to escalate their billing, to stealing personal items, it was horrific. you're dealing with people that their lives are already a disaster. i said to myself, i will never do this to a customer, and there's gotta be a better way to do it. -mcgraw: so, brian started his own company. one rooted in the kind of integrity that quickly set him apart. -honesty is everything. client retention is so important in our industry. insurance companies refer a tremendous amount of work to us because they know that our estimates are accurate. we always deliver high-quality work, and we're gonna take care of their clients. -mcgraw: and it's that dedication to his clients that's fueled brian's rapid rise to success. -i started with a laptop, a pickup truck, and an office manager.

we had revenues of $27,000. today, my company has successfully grown to... 100 to 200 rotating employees, a fleet of... a tremendous amount of equipment. and now our revenue is... -mcgraw: and doin' all that good has allowed brian to do somethin' a little bad. live it up in sin city. -we'll take the bentley tonight. -all right. -let's do it. -i'm a bachelor, and there's no better place to be than in las vegas. there is not a single night that something is not happening or hopping. there's nothin' better than rolling down the strip on a beautiful saturday night in one of my gorgeous cars from my phantom drophead to my supercharged... to my four-door sedan... to the amg... -mcgraw: and when he's not hittin' the town, he's hittin' the fairway. at one of las vegas' premier county clubs. -i'm a member of southern highlands, amazing, private, exclusive course, in a gated community, and it's a just a piece of paradise.

and if you wanted to get a membership there, you're lookin' to spend at least... -mcgraw: sure, fancy cars and country clubs are nice, but nice stuff isn't what drives brian to succeed. -this big rain came and so the-- the-- the ceiling almost came down. -wanna take a look at, uh, the roof damage? -yes. -in this business, you never know what type of situation you're walkin' into. but, the bottom line is, is that when i go in there and i meet with people, it's my passion, my integrity, my name that's on that. and to be able to cross that finish line with them is just incredibly rewarding to me, and is-- is why i do what i do every single day. -better than new. -you're the man... (both laughing) -thank you very much, thank you. -all right. -mcgraw: coming up, while others value profits, they value this, and it's made them millions. find out what it is next.

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-mcgraw: some entrepreneurs think that to make big money, you need to cut corners. but charlie, steve and brian are proof that's not the case. they've built their reputations on quality. and while they might not have the highest margins in their industries, they're still making millions. -all of our products are usa-manufactured goods, so, you have a 15-year warranty. even though we weren't making as much, we didn't deviate from staying with a top-quality product. we didn't go to a dollar less a product and start importing china turf. that's what put us where we are today, and made us extremely successful. -tell me a little about what we have for damage here. one of the biggest things that sets me apart from my competitors is the quality of service that we deliver. i learned people were easily taken advantage of.

i decided that i was gonna build a construction company that would deliver the quality and the integrity that they were deserving of to put their lives back together. and it drives me to do the right thing every day. -how's the secret door doing? have you been using it much? -yeah, oh, every time the grandkids come over, that's their favorite place to go. -obviously, it's great to make money. but i'm driven by making the very best secret passageways that can be made. i have enough money. when these amazing customers tell me, "wow, that exceeded my expectations, it's incredible," that's what keeps me goin'. -mcgraw: these millionaires are makin' a little less money than they otherwise would. but what they lose in profit, they more than make up for in satisfied customers. and that's something you can't put a price on. -thanks very much. -yeah. thank you. -okay. -appreciate it.

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