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Hey everyone, I'm Lou Perez, your host of The Builder
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Upper Show, a podcast where we talk about everything in
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construction and trades. Now let's get into it. I would
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like to welcome our guest, Craig Foulcher, President and CEO
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of DwC Construction.
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Hey, Craig, how you doing today?
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Good? Thanks for having me on the show today.
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My pleasure.
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I appreciate you setting everything up with me and we're
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excited to have you on the show and tell everybody
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about what you do and what you're part of and
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all the history of DwC Construction. We had an initial
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conversation and after hearing some of the history of DwC,
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I was like, man, we got to get you on
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the show to talk about everything that you have gone
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through there and learned and what you guys are doing
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over there at DwC. So thank you again for being
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on the show. Just to get us started. Would you
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mind telling me how did you get into construction?
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Yeah? I started. Actually, I came a different route than
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most people did. I started off for working for an
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internet company and I was also flipping houses on the side,
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and I was in sales and marketing and at the
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end of the day, I was just looking at my
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desk and I'm just like, what have I done all day?
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You know, what is my contribution to society? But I
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really enjoyed flipping houses because it was great to kind
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of see something ugly become something really great. And so
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when the time came, I made the switch and started
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off as an assistant, I took a big bay cut
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went to become an assistant project manager. And that was
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probably in two thousand and one, so it's been almost
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twenty five years now.
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Oh wow, Okay, so flipping houses. I guess what would
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be your favorite part of flipping the house? Did you
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do a lot of the hard work, you know, making
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the changes yourself?
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Yeah, it was a lot of fun because, you know,
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we would buy a really ugly house and my wife
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and I would move into it and then living it
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for two years, fixed it up, and then we sell it.
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We did that several times. But then when you have
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small children and you're up underneath the sink trying to
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put the fawcet in and your child is sitting jumping
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up and down to your stomach, it just gets to
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be more difficult. And so eventually I was just like
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I just need to do this full time because I
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really enjoy it. Oh got into that and I've enjoyed
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it ever since.
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Amazing.
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So the DwC give me a you know, why don't
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you give the listeners a highlight?
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Who is DwC Construction.
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Well, I am actually the fifth CEO of the company
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and it started in nineteen forty seven as the Drywall Company,
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and it was the first drivewall contractor in the Southeast
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and DwC stands for the Drivewall Company. And then over
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the years, drivewall became a commodity, and so the leaders
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decided that they needed to branch out. And what they
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were finding was the bigger companies building the buildings wanted
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to build buildings. They didn't want to build out the
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office space. And so our companies started doing that and
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after a while that became our sole business was renovating buildings,
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building that offices, doing industrial work, anything commercial. And then
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over time it continued to develop and we had really
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good systems and processes and so we got known for
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doing high end spaces and so we did a lot
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of corporate facilities, a lot of law firms, and then
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as the years progressed, we branched out where we're building
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buildings and we do a lot of industrial and just
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do a whole lot more than we first started out.
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So it's really evolved over the years for sure.
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And you guys are staying busy.
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What would you say was you know sets DwC apart
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from your competitors.
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Well, you know, when you go to the Donald's and
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their fries are really good, why do you like the
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fries that are there? Not just because they're salty and tasty,
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but it's because you're getting a consistent experience every time.
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And it doesn't matter what super When you have good
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systems and processes, it doesn't matter what project manager, what superintendent,
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your client is going to get a consistent experience. And
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so it just becomes a safer option. And our goal
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is we don't want to be the cheapest ga out there,
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but we want to be worth pain a little bit
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more for because they're not going to have the headaches
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of delays and change orders and things, because it's going
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to be thoroughly planned down the beginning, scheduled properly, and
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closed out properly. So that's really the big differentiator with
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us is trying to make create a better client experience.
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Oh man, I really like the analogy.
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That was fun.
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Uh do you know every day as a CEO, I'm
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guessing you see new things as you walk through the
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door every single day. Is there a thrill or something
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that just keeps you going that excites you to go
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in and get business done?
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Yeah? I think it's two things. Really. This might be
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because I have a sales background, but I love winning.
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I love it when we're working on a job and
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sometimes we know we're not low, but when a client
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just says, hey, you know, can you tighten your number
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up a little bit and you'll get the job, Because
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to me, that says that our reputation out there is
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we're the easy button and we're and that's what's really satisfying.
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And then it's like when you see somebody's dream, whether
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it's there, you know they planned all their life or
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a lot of their life to build a coffee shop
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and they see it come to reality. Or you see
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something that was really ugly and now it's class a
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office space or the building looks beautiful now. That's really
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very satisfying and rewarding to see somebody's happiness over that
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mm hmm.
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Being a CEO not an easy job. You know, the
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buck usually stops at you. You're making all the decisions.
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You know, you have to have some confidence behind the
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tone of when you're telling people what to do. How
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you know what inspires you to make the decisions you
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do to I guess guide the ship in the right direction.
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Well, I was followed by some really great predecessors, and
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I learned a tremendous lot, this tremendous amount from some
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of my predecessors. And one of the things that made
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us great partners was I was really good with strategy
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and I was really good at seeing opportunity, and so
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I felt like that strength would really help me be
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a good leader. And a lot of the processes from
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the past have are even put in place. It was
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just how can we make it better and take it
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to the next level. And I got to a point
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where I was like, do I want to go out
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of my own or do I want to take over
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an established, bolder company, which meant that I would have
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to wait an extended period of time. And you know,
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when you had a great company that you've been working
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for for a long time, and you put your heart
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and soul into it for me. It was just worth
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staying and building on what my predecessor said, the foundation
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that they had laid.
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Having you know, the background, or even knowing that you
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want to be a CEO of a company. Let's say
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there's a student in school and they just say, you
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know what, one day, I want to be a CEO
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of a construction company. You know what kind of background
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did you have to get you to where you're at today.
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I really it's realized. It was not easy, and I
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just worked harder. But what really helped me was I
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looked around and I didn't do my job. I did
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my job. Plus I looked to see what would mean,
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what would make me where the company couldn't live without me.
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And so it was a matter of looking around and saying,
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I don't own this company, but this is my company,
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and I'm going to treat it like mine, and I'm
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going to become when I see a problem, I'm going
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to insert myself into it to try to help. And
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when you do that, you know everybody thinks, oh, when
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I get at this point, they're going to give me ownership. Well,
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you've got to start acting like an owner way before
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you get it, because when you become an owner and
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you're not acting like one. That's a very bad decision
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for a leader to make, because you're paying, you're rewarding
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somebody for a behavior that's not being exhibited. And so
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if you want to get to a point to be
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on top, make it to where everybody else says all
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your coworkers like, yeah, well that makes sense. That's because
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I sure want to lose them, because you know, we'd
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be in trouble. And that's happened to some of my
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current partners. It's just like they've worked really hard and
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I'm just like, you know, it's like technology is not
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their job, but they insert themselves in it. And then
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you're just like, I's just guys everywhere, girl, you know,
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And it's just that's really what I would say to
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somebody younger, is like, don't do your job. Look around
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you and see do your job and see how you
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can help out.
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Did you have a schooling background yourself.
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I graduated from Auburn and I had a business finance degree,
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So I had no construction knowledge, no engineering knowledge, and
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I had a lot to learn. And the funny thing
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is when I first started becoming a project manager with
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my background, I was really good at selling work and
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not as good at doing the work until I learned so.
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But at the time, there was this and I think
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this is common in a lot of construction companies where
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you know, you have your project managers and then you
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have your superintendent. There's a lot of headbutting that goes
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on and a lot of finger pointing. And what I
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did to compensate for my deficiencies was I was taking
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my superintendents have to lunch and I'm like, hey, what
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am I missing? You know what am I doing? And
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they were just like more than willing to help. And
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then when they screwed up and they made a mistake,
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I never you know, threw them on the bus and
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I covered for them, and they covered for my lack
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of you know, construction knowledge, and I was able to
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learn without you know, burying myself.
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That's amazing.
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You know, some people don't realize how much people are
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willing to help if you just ask, you know what
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I mean, learning and figuring out how to fill that gap.
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I mean, you put yourself in the position to self
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educate and learn directly from the source. So I think
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that that definitely helped build that trust that's that's a
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great tactic that you took, you know, through all these years,
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do you feel like you know there's maybe something that
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when you started, there's something that you wish you knew
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now that you didn't know back then.
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Yeah, for me, and one of the disadvantages I had
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of being in sales and business development and marketing was
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the fact that your geared towards pleasing people. And so
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it's very hard in construction when there's so many things
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that you can't control. And I used to really stress
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having to deliver somebody bad news that even when I
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had most of the time it had nothing to do
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with anything we could control. And so that kept me
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up a lot at night. And so really just trying
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not to sweat the small stuff and just understand that construction.
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You know, I tell people construction is like controlling a
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train wreck. You know, it's going to go off the
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rails at some point, so you've got to have a
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plan B and a plan see so that when it does,
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how are you going to minimize the damage and keep
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this thing going and getting done on time? And so sometimes,
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you know, and the hardest is when a client makes
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a lot of changes and then you've got to go
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back to them and say, well, we're going to extend
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the project week and it's they're like, well that's unacceptable.
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It's like, well, you've added a lot of scope to
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work and here's how it's going to tie. And you
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just dread having that conversation. But you know, it's from
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the ot of your doing.
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Do you work hard on building those strong relationships, you know,
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with the connections that you have to your workforce.
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Get to the workforce. Absolutely, it's it's very important. And
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you know, and my clever when I was early in
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my career, my clever superintendents would schedule job site meetings
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with them at ten thirty so that then they knew
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that I would feel obligated by them lunch. And when
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you take the lunch and get to know them and
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get to know their family, it really starts to establishing
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a really big value of trust. And that's something that
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really was a big thing for me, was how do
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I make the guys in the field feel connected and
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to make them feel that they're important because there's a
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lot of hierarchy in construction. But the truth is, if
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you don't have superintendent, it's the project managers aren't going
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to do anything. If you don't have labors, your jobs
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aren't getting finished. Everybody is just as important as everybody else.
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And one of the things that we do to convey
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that message is we have an employee wall where we
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have their picture and the year they started. And I
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am CEO, but there's a guy up there who's been
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here longer than me, and his pictures ahead of me,
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and he's a superintendent. And so what it does is
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when you see a labor close to the top and
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you see a new project manager at the very bottom
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because they just started, it sends a message to the guys,
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you know, because there's no titles on this at all,
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and so it sends the message to them that everybody's important.
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And then the other thing I do now is now
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that i'm superintendent, I'm CEO. We do annual reviews and
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we have fifty employees, and typically I would be doing
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the annual reviews of the leaders and some of the
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higher ups, but I sit in every one of the interviews,
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every one of the reviews, I'm there, and that's a
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lot of time. It's fifty interviews. Now. The office people
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are usually an hour and the superintendents of thirty and
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the laborers are fifteen. But every year I write down,
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you know, what are your dreams, what's your life goal?
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What are you like? You know? And then I refer
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back to it. And so what that does is is
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that sends a message to those guys that I'm part
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of something and I'm important, and they know that they
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can stop my office and I know, you know, because
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I know that their family, I know the struggles they're
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going through. I know a lot of personal situations that
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they're dealing with, so I can check in on them.
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And a lot of people will shake their head and say,
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I don't have time for that. But what does retention?
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What does it cost you to lose people? And you know,
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last year in our Carpenter's Laborers superintendents, we lost three
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people out of probably thirty eight people, and that's a
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very low turnover rate. And they're offered more, you know,
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they get offered more per hour often, but they feel
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like they have a voice and it makes for them,
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It makes them feel like they're part of something, not
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just often a silo or just not a tool to
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make money on.
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How do you how do you find people and hire
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these people, are you open shop, like, do you put
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it out there?
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Like, I guess what's your hiring process?
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Well, for the office, it's a lot more extensive because
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the pain of having somebody having the wrong hire is
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extremely painful. In the office, I mean in the field,
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we look more towards what are your skills? And you know,
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one of the things that's important to us is our
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core values. And you know we we have our core
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values posted on every job site. They're on our website,
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they're on the back of our business cards. Nice everybody
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knows when they walk on our job sites what are
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our values, and we hire people that fit those core values.
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And but for the office, we have a very extensive
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hiring process. And because if you hire a bad project manager,
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it's six to eight months before you realize you have
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a problem, and then it's another six to eight months
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to try to fix the problem, and then you've lost
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two years by the time you get rid of that person,
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and then you're starting over. And the most important thing
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here is I mean, it's important what you know, but
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it's really two things. It's are you humble, Because if
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you're humble, you're coachable and you want to learn and
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if you're humble, you want to help the people around
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you because it's not beneath you. And if you're hungry,
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you're going to be able to go get her and
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you're going to be aggressive. And you can't teach somebody
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to be humble, and you cannot teach somebody to be hungry.
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And so several times I really needed, you know, one time,
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I really needed two project managers. And I had two
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people this like ten years ago, and I had two
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people that were very skilled and very knowledgeable, but they
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were not a good fit for our culture, and it
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really corroded the culture completely. And they stuck around for
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two years before we could get rid of both of them.
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And it was a three year pain and suffering situation.
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And so now if I need somebody immediately, it takes
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me six months, I will suffer for six months trying
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to figure out how to get done, because it's not
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worth the two years of pain and suffering when you've
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hired somebody who can fill the seat do the stuff,
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but then they run around griping about everything and then
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sowing the seeds of negativity, and or they're just not
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motivated to really work that hard. But it can be
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really toxic, and that's a big thing for me. People
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ask me what's the most important thing.
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You do, and I say, Hi, Yeah, I would think
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protect the culture is so important. You've got to like
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keep that close to your heart through every conversation that
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you have, That to everybody that puts an application into
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work for you. Yeah, just making sure that everybody's gonna
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appreciate the people that you're bringing in through the door.
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And I really like that you put the core values everywhere.
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It's like you can't you can't miss it. Yeah, that's awesome.
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The systems that you have in place, I can imagine.
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I mean, you guys have been in business for you know,
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so many decades. What kind of systems do you guys
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use or have in place that keep you your operation,
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you know, at its highest level.
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Yeah. Well, and the key thing about that is, Yeah,
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we've been in business for a long time. The greatest
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thing about our company is we're well known in the
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industry and we're seventy you know something of year old company.
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The worst thing about our company is that we're seventy
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seven year old company. And what happened is you get
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people who've been at it a while and everybody gets
355
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in their ruts. But guess what everything around you is changing.
356
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The workforce is changing. The quality of labor from your
357
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subcontractors is not what it was ten years ago. And
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so our systems and processes are constantly being changed and
359
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constantly being adapted. And I mentioned, you know, I'm an
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Auburn guy. But one of the things that I admire
361
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about Nick Saban the best is that it's not that
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he doesn't beat you because he's a genius. He beats
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you because he looks at every single thing you do
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and no matter how small is, he does it just
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a little bit better. And when you add up all
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of those advantages and he puts his product on the field,
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often they're going to be better because he does how
368
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they run their practice, how they do their coaching, sending
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out recruiting letters a little faster than everybody else. And
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so and it's especially a problem with us because we've
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been well, we've been doing that a long time and
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it's always worked. It's like, yes, but what if we
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do it this way? What can we do to make
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it just a little better? And so part of that
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is really having clearly defined roles and because you know,
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and that's one of the things we our hiring. I
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would almost rather hire somebody who hadn't been into business
378
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.039
for twenty five years, because if they have, I have
379
00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:37.000
to detrain them. Because you can hire a project manager
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that grew up in a culture where they just bid
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low and change order somebody to death, or you could
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00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:46.000
get a you know, thing where they exploit the customer
383
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.119
and they put too much markup on the changed orders.
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And if you want to be McDonald's French Fries where
385
00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:53.799
it's always consistent, you can't. You've got to be fair
386
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to people and you know, and be consistent. So it's
387
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having clearly defined roles because the biggest problem is if
388
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:06.400
you have a superintendent and a project manager trying to
389
00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.559
do the same task. That's great until they start assuming
390
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.160
that the other guys or girl is doing one of
391
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those tasks. Then it doesn't get done. So, you know,
392
00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.960
we break it down to where the superintendent is in
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charge of getting the job done on time. The project
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manager's job is to get the superintendent what they need
395
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to be successful and to manage the client experience. And
396
00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.279
then that means that when you get a job, the
397
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.000
first thing you do is this and the first thing
398
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.799
you do it you don't just start sending subcontracts and
399
00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:42.759
you send them out quicker. You start doing everything a
400
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.279
little bit quicker, and how do you get the job
401
00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:49.319
started faster so that you buy more time on the
402
00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.480
back end of the project. And so everything is very
403
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.000
clearly just defined down to how we do our biz,
404
00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.000
how we send our bills, and that way we can
405
00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:02.279
just be a little bit sharper because at the end
406
00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:05.119
of the day, you know, if we're just easier to
407
00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:11.680
deal with, they're gonna be like, you know, just it's
408
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.359
worth paying a little bit more, you know, because we're
409
00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:16.079
not gonna get changed order, We're not going to get
410
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a bunch of junk. And so that's really the key
411
00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:23.559
thing for us is looking at every little thing and
412
00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:26.680
that doesn't stop. It's like it's constant. You know.
413
00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:31.640
The mentality I can tell is already different from others
414
00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:35.799
that other companies that are as old as yours. The
415
00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:42.279
thought on technology and innovation never stopping. Basically, I mean,
416
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.720
is technology at your forefront for scaling and just doing
417
00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:51.240
overall business every day? Like how do you look at technology?
418
00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:54.680
Yeah, we look at technology. Where so back to in
419
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twenty twenty three. You know, we had a huge growth
420
00:23:58.359 --> 00:24:03.440
and I was just like, this is a mess because
421
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.160
we've got too many things that are you know, you
422
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:08.319
get too much baggage that's hanging around and we're still
423
00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:13.519
doing some things. And it was really kind of just
424
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:15.839
going through and looking at everything. And technology was a
425
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.799
big piece of that because you know, and I'm sure
426
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.480
a lot of companies are better at this, but we
427
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:25.640
used to be We get a job done and it
428
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.559
was like the end of the year, you get a
429
00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:33.039
report card, but nowhere along your schooling did you get
430
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.839
quiz grades. You didn't get you know, report cards. You
431
00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:39.319
just got a report card. Then and you finished the job,
432
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.240
you close out the money. You're like, how the heck
433
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:46.519
did I lose money on this? And you know, or wow,
434
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.559
hey this is great. You know, it's one or the other.
435
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.000
And it's like then you get and the end it's like, wow,
436
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:54.319
we went way over on labor. What happened? It's like, well,
437
00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:56.960
we did this and this, and so now we're like, okay,
438
00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.359
so how do we find that out faster? And how
439
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.680
can we make how can we use technology to create
440
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:08.440
processes where we're tracking costs and we know if we're over.
441
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.599
If we're starting to run up on labor, labor three
442
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:14.039
months into the project, you know, how do we how
443
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.240
do we get those decisions fast so we can make
444
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.079
a shift, you know, And sometimes we found that there
445
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:23.559
was too much labor on the job and it's like
446
00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:26.440
we go ask and we're like, well, the building wanted
447
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:28.599
us to, you know, do this, and it's like, well,
448
00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:30.880
before we agree to that, let's talk to them and
449
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.119
see if they want to pay for that. And so
450
00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:35.279
we're a going to shift and pull people off a
451
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:40.160
job because there's nothing Our director of operations loves hearing there. Hey,
452
00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:42.680
we've got two weeks on the job and you've got
453
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.119
to pull everybody off because we're over on labor, and
454
00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:47.680
he's like, well, how how I finished this job? We're
455
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.319
in the crunch time. So it's really about getting information faster,
456
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:57.240
and so we've created a we've used technology to start
457
00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:00.759
tracking everything from the bids that we have going out
458
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.559
to our win loss ratios. You know, how are we
459
00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:06.920
on track on materials on a job or we on
460
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.880
track on labor? And the most important is what's our schedule?
461
00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:14.880
How many days over or under are we on our schedule?
462
00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:19.039
And so then we're monitoring that really closely. And now
463
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.240
the superintendent's looking at that and they say, okay, well
464
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.079
maybe I don't maybe I can do that myself instead
465
00:26:24.119 --> 00:26:25.759
of calling the laborer out here for two days? Can
466
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:29.480
I have anything else to do? And so it allows
467
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.279
us to maximize our return. And then we've created a
468
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:40.359
custom master dashboard where basically it is live when it
469
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.920
hits our accounting software. It's going live into this thing
470
00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:46.079
and I can pull up a job and it tells
471
00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:49.160
me the type of job, tells me the superintendent, the
472
00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:51.799
project mayors, the labor tells me, you know, how much
473
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.559
labor budget, tells me all the key indicators. And then
474
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.440
what that tells me is later I can start seeing, okay,
475
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.200
every job, just a lot of jobs go south, and
476
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:08.359
that there's no good reason why it just happened. But
477
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:12.039
when you start seeing trends for a project manager, is
478
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.519
it's like, okay, is that an opportunity for coaching to
479
00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:17.079
help somebody they're not putting up money in the job,
480
00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:21.759
or why is the superintendent constantly making you know, going
481
00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:24.359
over on labor, you know, what's what are they doing?
482
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:28.880
And in that way and then doing an after actual
483
00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:31.440
what went right, what went wrong? What did we learn?
484
00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:34.200
You know, because a lot of times we just get
485
00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:38.119
on the next job and we're not stockpiling that database
486
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:41.960
of what did we learn and let's not repeat it.
487
00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.839
M You know, Artificial intelligence AI is the hot topic
488
00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:52.160
word or words.
489
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.960
That are going on right now in the industry.
490
00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:58.319
Do you feel like AI is part of your tech
491
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:02.279
stack that has helped helping bring in these numbers that
492
00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:03.240
you were talking about.
493
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:04.960
Are you guys using AI that way?
494
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:08.960
Yeah, we're starting to. Yeah, we're using AI for a
495
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.000
lot of things. I've been digging in into it for
496
00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:15.359
the last twelve months and really how much it's progressed
497
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:18.559
in the last four months is really shocking and surprising,
498
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:23.799
and it's really and so trying to find It's a
499
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.039
great source of information for a lot of stuff. It's
500
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:32.119
fantastic at analyzing data that would take you a lot
501
00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:36.039
of time to do. And you know, and my goal
502
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:38.400
one day is, and I'm very close to this, is
503
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:41.000
having a dashboard where I can look at our company
504
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.519
and I can see what our margin fade is across
505
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:51.319
all our jobs, and what is our material usage on
506
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:54.880
all those jobs, and what is our average day over
507
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:00.079
or under our projected original schedule and then showing us
508
00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:02.680
trends and that can quickly grab a lot of data
509
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.279
for us, and then it's really helpful for just other stuff.
510
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.519
We do a lot of you know, we have our
511
00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:13.119
guys in once a month for superintendent meetings and we
512
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:15.519
get all of our superintendents in one room together. We
513
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.599
just have a brainstorming session and we talk about, Okay, guys,
514
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.839
every job, you've got to do this, this is unacceptable,
515
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.400
You've got to have this. And then they talk about
516
00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:27.920
we're having probable the fire marshals because they're they're new.
517
00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:30.359
And then we so it's a great way to get
518
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:34.400
everybody in the room together and share information. And you know,
519
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:37.359
a lot of times we'll have a PowerPoint slide and
520
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:40.559
I use AI to generate the slides because I want
521
00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:45.119
those meetings to be entertaining and educational. I don't want
522
00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:46.640
to have them come in there and this is a
523
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.000
blah blah blah blah and they walk up and going, oh,
524
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.359
these are painful. I want them laughing and cutting up.
525
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.839
And so, you know, we do a lot of stuff
526
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:00.160
with AI. You know, we've taken people and put them
527
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.359
into roles as fire marshals and just makes it a
528
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:05.599
lot of fun because the truth of the matter is
529
00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.880
what we do is very stressful, and so if you
530
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.839
can make it fun, it makes it a lot more enjoyable.
531
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:16.000
I really like that you're gonna have to share one
532
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:17.960
of those power points with me. I would love to
533
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.759
check those out sometimes. You know, actually you even mentioned stressful.
534
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:26.440
I'm guessing you, guys, I'm guessing you probably have some
535
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.720
safety experts that work for you and everything like that.
536
00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:32.400
You know, what's your guys' outlook on safety?
537
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.519
Well, I think safety is I mean, that's one of
538
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:39.079
those things that technology is never going to change and
539
00:30:39.160 --> 00:30:41.920
it's always going to be important. But it does help
540
00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:45.400
the safety discussions to be a little bit more. You
541
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.200
can make them a little bit more entertaining, because hopefullly,
542
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.480
I don't want them dreading coming to that meeting. And
543
00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:53.079
it's the same way we have a project manager roundtable
544
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.480
meetings where we just have an open forum where nothing
545
00:30:56.519 --> 00:31:00.000
that you say is going to be used against you
546
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.640
or you know, negative, but it's a way to brainstorm
547
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:05.839
ideas or like hey, this subcontractor is really doing well,
548
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:09.519
or this one's overloaded. You know. I found by using
549
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:12.680
this person, I have a better advantage, and you know,
550
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:17.079
try to make those meetings fun as well, because the
551
00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:20.480
more the more connection you can make between the superintendents
552
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:23.640
and each other. It's really important because they do feel
553
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:26.200
like they're part of a community, and a lot of
554
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.319
times we just send them out their job and they
555
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.039
work in a silo. The project manager's in a silo
556
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:36.000
and nobody's sharing information and nobody's there's not a connection.
557
00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.200
So then when somebody comes by and flashes a dollar
558
00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:42.279
or two an hour, they're like, well, I might as well,
559
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:45.319
you know, I have no connection here. But if they
560
00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:49.000
leave what they feel like is a community, then it
561
00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:51.599
makes it a lot harder. It's a bigger decision because
562
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.240
a lot of our guys can can a lot of
563
00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:58.039
our guys can go make more money somewhere else. But
564
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:00.839
they know that, you know, people are really important to us,
565
00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.200
and they know that they're not just going to get
566
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:05.039
laid off if we get slow. You know, because I
567
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.160
often say people are like, well, tell me about DwC.
568
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:11.000
I'm like, well, we are a people development business that
569
00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:14.720
does construction, and they know that they're going to be
570
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.640
any way. We can help them grow and develop in
571
00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:21.480
their career. You know, we're all in on that. And
572
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:23.519
we even i mean we even have a book club.
573
00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:28.039
We pay people if they read certain books. Oh okay,
574
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:32.519
we found is It's amazing how I've seen people who
575
00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:34.559
really got into it because they read a book and
576
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.240
we give them a hundred dollars you know, like you know,
577
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:42.319
self help book like no Excuses or extreme ownership or
578
00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:45.440
make your brand legendary, and then they get one or
579
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.640
two things out of that and you've made your hundred
580
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:48.200
bucks back.
581
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:50.480
That is so smart.
582
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.200
I mean, that's even those are going to teach them
583
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:55.440
skills that they can take on for the rest of
584
00:32:55.480 --> 00:33:00.119
their lives. Take them with them.
585
00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:01.279
As skill because if it helps me at home or
586
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:05.319
if it helps it you know, I mean, if they
587
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:07.240
can help do something that's going to make their home
588
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.599
life better, you know, then we want to encourage that.
589
00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:14.480
And you know, and if we've got a guy that's struggling,
590
00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:20.880
whether it's a you know, health diagnosis or a personal issue,
591
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:23.559
we try to walk alongside them. We even have a
592
00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:27.000
chaplain program where basically we have a guy that you
593
00:33:27.079 --> 00:33:30.480
can talk to and it's not you know, pushing religion
594
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.279
on your throat. It is religious base, but it's just
595
00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:37.799
more I can't talk to my peers about their construct workers. Man,
596
00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:39.519
They're not really going to share their feelings a lot
597
00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:41.720
of times, you know, but this is kind of a
598
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:45.880
safe way that we never find out about that if
599
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:48.519
they're dealing with a big issue, they can go talk
600
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:51.359
to somebody about it and it's a near to listen to.
601
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:55.000
And I really we started this in January. I really
602
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:57.720
didn't know if we'd ever think it was successful, but
603
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:00.759
we've had a lot of people all ready tell us
604
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.960
how helpful it was. Of course, it's always phrase like
605
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.839
I think this is really helpful to a lot of guys.
606
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:09.559
Not myself, but you know, it's always a lot of
607
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.320
people have been really benefited by this.
608
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.880
So this is this is a new one. This is amazing.
609
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.800
I really like that you implemented something like this, having
610
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:22.480
a chaplain on staff kind of talking to the guys.
611
00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:26.679
I know there's a few companies out by me that
612
00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.880
do that, but they're not in construction, And you would
613
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.719
think that construction would be like the perfect situation to
614
00:34:31.800 --> 00:34:35.800
have somebody like that kind of intervening and having side
615
00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:38.679
conversations to do like temperature checks and whatnot.
616
00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:42.800
Yeah, And honestly, if I've got a teammate that I
617
00:34:42.840 --> 00:34:47.039
feel like is really it's just it's something wrong, I'll say, hey,
618
00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:49.800
reach out to this kind of check on home, and
619
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:51.440
you know, they don't report back to me, but I
620
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.519
just and I don't know if it works or not.
621
00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:56.719
The other thing that we do that's really fun too
622
00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:01.119
is we like to have team activities. We do an
623
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.280
office quarterly team fun event where groups of three pick
624
00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:08.960
the event and then the it's their event, everybody goes
625
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:11.239
to it. And then we do stuff for the office
626
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:14.840
where we'll do like a chili cook off or cooking
627
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:18.199
burgers at the office and it is the office cooking
628
00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:24.239
serving the field. So the project manment, superintendent's labor as partners,
629
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:28.119
they all come and it's the office serving them and
630
00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:31.159
it's a good message to send to them. Once again,
631
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:35.280
you're just as important as everybody else, and that really
632
00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:39.639
resonates with a lot of people that they're more than
633
00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:41.639
just a body.
634
00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:45.599
And you guys are in where exactly are you guys located?
635
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:50.119
We're in Nashville, Tennessee, and really our range is about
636
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:53.079
two hundred miles around Nashville. We do work in Huntsville,
637
00:35:53.159 --> 00:35:57.159
some in Kentucky, but kind of in that range.
638
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.679
I can't imagine how good the chili is. How by
639
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:05.079
you guys, do you have some pretty good cooks over there?
640
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.159
We do. Actually, it's uh, you know, we usually have
641
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:11.280
about seventeen bots posita chili, and all the superintendents and
642
00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:14.960
carpters they take samples of all of them. They make
643
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.719
their votes on which one is the winner.
644
00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:20.960
Oh, let me know in the summertime, when you guys
645
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.440
have that next chili cookoff, I'd love to come out
646
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:23.679
for that.
647
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.719
Yeah, it's usually in October as the weather it's getting cooler.
648
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:27.239
Yeah.
649
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.280
We do a lot of like we'll do a Labor
650
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:32.519
Day event where we have a catered we do a
651
00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:36.079
Memorial Day, and we'll also do like a random like
652
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:38.800
last week we cooked burgers because it was a nice day.
653
00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:40.559
This is great.
654
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:43.639
I mean, you offer a lot of like ways for
655
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:48.280
the team to feel good unwind, you know, be proud
656
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:51.840
of where they work for you. As a CEO, you know,
657
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:55.159
what is your outlet, like, what is your hobby, what
658
00:36:55.159 --> 00:36:58.719
what is your go to? When your inspiration when you're
659
00:36:59.079 --> 00:36:59.920
outside the work.
660
00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:05.280
I really enjoy either working in my house or building furniture.
661
00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:07.599
I find that to be a really good stress release,
662
00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:11.760
and so I really enjoy that.
663
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:14.880
Oh you're just a natural carpenter, then.
664
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:18.119
I enjoy that. It's just it's just something about seeing
665
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:22.760
things come together and you're not dealing with there are
666
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:26.239
problems that can be easily six fixed, not you know,
667
00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:28.880
more complicated people issues.
668
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.239
What's like the most interesting piece that you built.
669
00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:38.480
As far as project, yeah.
670
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:41.159
Or yourself liked it? Was it a chair? Was it,
671
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:42.320
you know, furniture?
672
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.440
It was a baby bed for my daughter? Oh?
673
00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:48.159
No, way, okay, I like that.
674
00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:50.400
My wife gave me a picture of one, and I
675
00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:53.800
was just like, because she had really good taste and
676
00:37:53.880 --> 00:37:55.800
so but I was able to make it and it
677
00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.400
was and I look forward to give it to my
678
00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:00.000
daughters when they when they're at that point.
679
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:02.599
Oh that's amazing. How many kids do you have.
680
00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:06.000
I have two daughters, which is why my hair is white.
681
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:11.880
This happened when they turned thirteen, and now they're twenty four,
682
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:14.760
I mean in twenty four and twenty one.
683
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:18.039
So oh that's awesome. Well bless them.
684
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:21.320
I have a three year old daughter, and I can
685
00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:23.559
only imagine ten more years from now.
686
00:38:23.639 --> 00:38:26.119
My hair mates started changing colors too.
687
00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:31.320
Yes, it is a daughters are amazing, And I'll never
688
00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:33.960
forget I had a client that just somehow. When I
689
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:35.599
was a project manator, I always knew when I was
690
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:38.199
pulled on my driveway because they would call and they
691
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.800
would complain about the most ridiculous things. And I walked
692
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:44.840
in the house and I grabbed the beards, went and
693
00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:48.119
sat on the porch and my daughter came out. She said,
694
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:51.519
what's wrong, dad? Say my daddy. I said, well, there
695
00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:53.920
are mean people to me at work. And she's like, well,
696
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:55.599
I want to go to your office And I said why.
697
00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:57.679
I say, well, I want to put the mean people
698
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:01.360
in time out. So better than dollars. But it does
699
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:03.599
get a little bit more complex when they turned thirteen,
700
00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:06.719
but they come back. So just remember that. Oh I
701
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:08.840
love that duration.
702
00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:12.559
Keep hanging on for hope. No, I appreciate that. That's good.
703
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:17.599
So DwC is amazing. It sounds like the way that
704
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:22.039
you've laid everything out is so incredible. Where do people
705
00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:24.599
find your business that if they they're interested in being
706
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.960
business like? If a customer was why a potential customer
707
00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:30.519
was watching this today, where would you say the goal
708
00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:33.920
and reach out to you guys to start the conversation.
709
00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:40.079
Well for starters. Really, the idea of cultured or company
710
00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:46.400
was really laid out way before employee retention became a
711
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.960
big thing, and that was by our my predecessor, John Arn't.
712
00:39:50.119 --> 00:39:53.840
He really saw the need for culture and he went
713
00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:57.320
all in on it, and after seeing it work so well,
714
00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.960
I have it is my number one priority to continue
715
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:04.039
his efforts as well. Yeah, you can reach us on
716
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:07.440
the web at dw C Builds dot com, or reach
717
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:11.960
out to me on LinkedIn or you know. I love
718
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:14.360
talking to other companies because one of the things that
719
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:18.360
I've learned is I'm a book big book reader, because
720
00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:20.199
I feel like I've got a lot to learn, and
721
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:23.360
the more I learn, the more I realize what I
722
00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:28.800
don't know. So I love connecting with other companies trading ideas.
723
00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:33.360
So I love talking to potential customers. But anybody out
724
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.599
there who wants to talk, I'm always looking to make
725
00:40:35.639 --> 00:40:39.920
new connections. But you can reach us on the web
726
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:43.679
or reach out to me at LinkedIn, and I'd love
727
00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:44.239
to talk to you.
728
00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:46.239
Yeah, I can imagine.
729
00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:49.159
Are you part of any peer groups or associations or
730
00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:50.880
anything like that yourself.
731
00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:54.400
Yeah, I'm actually involved in a company called EO which
732
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:57.400
connects me with a lot of entrepreneurs and they're all
733
00:40:57.400 --> 00:41:01.880
in different businesses, but in our business, the problem is
734
00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:05.960
always the same as people. And so that's been really
735
00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:09.079
beneficial for me and talking to other companies and sharing
736
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:12.760
ideas because what we do would be a piece of
737
00:41:12.840 --> 00:41:16.360
cake if it wasn't for people. And so that's I'm
738
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:17.920
always looking to learn.
739
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:24.360
And then as far as everything that DwC has to offer,
740
00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:28.360
what would you say you guys specialize in the most.
741
00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:33.480
Mostly what we specialize in is just make a smooth
742
00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:38.079
process for construction because we communicate really well. We are
743
00:41:39.960 --> 00:41:44.320
we really try to understand what the client's needs are
744
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:48.119
and we over communicate that way, when our clients can
745
00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:52.360
ask questions, they have the answers and if the job
746
00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:54.480
needs to get done on time and on budget without
747
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:57.440
a lot of surprises. And that's what we're really good at.
748
00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:02.079
And we're not a lot more expensive, but we're usually
749
00:42:02.079 --> 00:42:04.360
pretty much right there or just a little bit higher.
750
00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:08.599
I like that, okay, And then before we wrap up,
751
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:14.760
do you have any advice for new construction owners, CEOs
752
00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:18.119
or even somebody that's coming into the construction industry.
753
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:20.440
That you would like to share with our listeners.
754
00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:27.800
Yeah. Number one, get a good mentor, don't learn from
755
00:42:27.880 --> 00:42:30.599
somebody else's mistakes and don't just go into this making
756
00:42:30.639 --> 00:42:34.440
your own. And it's so key even if they're not
757
00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:38.119
in the industry, because like I said, it's people really
758
00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:45.639
And the second thing was keep learning, keep reading books,
759
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:48.360
try to because there's so many great business books out
760
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:51.400
there that can eliminate a lot of problems that you
761
00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:55.679
could have. And just always be learning because the more
762
00:42:55.719 --> 00:42:57.719
I learn, the more I like I said, the more
763
00:42:57.760 --> 00:42:58.840
I realize what I don't know.
764
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:04.920
Would you offer up yourself, Like, let's say, I'm sure
765
00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:09.400
you're a mentor to people within DwC, but if somebody
766
00:43:09.519 --> 00:43:11.960
was watching this was like, man, I want Craig to
767
00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:14.960
mentor me or at least share some books and stuff
768
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:17.239
like that. Is that something that you're open to for
769
00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:18.639
communicating with others.
770
00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:21.599
Yeah, I love doing that. Like I said, there's a
771
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:23.400
lot of things I don't know, but there's a lot
772
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:26.119
of lessons we've learned, and I've watched a lot of
773
00:43:26.199 --> 00:43:29.960
very smart people here, and I would I always enjoy
774
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:34.119
doing that because I think as business owners, it's it's
775
00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:37.199
not so much how much money you have in the
776
00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:40.559
bank when you're done, it's how many people have you
777
00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:44.320
helped grow and develop along the way, And that's your legacy.
778
00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:47.400
And so I think it's really important to do that.
779
00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:50.440
And if I can help anybody in any way, you know,
780
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:54.079
reach out to me. And I enjoy doing that because
781
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:56.960
I was blessed with a lot of people helping me.
782
00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:58.679
Oh wonderful.
783
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:03.079
Well, thank you Craig for being a guest on our show,
784
00:44:03.480 --> 00:44:08.039
and please everyone like, subscribe, comment and share the builder
785
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:11.400
up a show with anyone in the construction industry and
786
00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:13.079
we will see you next time.
787
00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:13.800
Thank you, Craig.
788
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:27.760
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
789
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.039
as a guest on our podcast, write us an email.
790
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:33.280
It's Lou at lumberfine dot com.
1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.160
Hey everyone, I'm Lou Perez, your host of The Builder
2
00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:06.080
Upper Show, a podcast where we talk about everything in
3
00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:15.199
construction and trades. Now let's get into it. I would
4
00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:20.120
like to welcome our guest, Craig Foulcher, President and CEO
5
00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:22.239
of DwC Construction.
6
00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:23.600
Hey, Craig, how you doing today?
7
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.600
Good? Thanks for having me on the show today.
8
00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:26.960
My pleasure.
9
00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:30.079
I appreciate you setting everything up with me and we're
10
00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:33.399
excited to have you on the show and tell everybody
11
00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:35.799
about what you do and what you're part of and
12
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.280
all the history of DwC Construction. We had an initial
13
00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:45.520
conversation and after hearing some of the history of DwC,
14
00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.359
I was like, man, we got to get you on
15
00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.200
the show to talk about everything that you have gone
16
00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.560
through there and learned and what you guys are doing
17
00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.520
over there at DwC. So thank you again for being
18
00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:01.439
on the show. Just to get us started. Would you
19
00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:04.319
mind telling me how did you get into construction?
20
00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:08.000
Yeah? I started. Actually, I came a different route than
21
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.079
most people did. I started off for working for an
22
00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:15.719
internet company and I was also flipping houses on the side,
23
00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:18.319
and I was in sales and marketing and at the
24
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end of the day, I was just looking at my
25
00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:22.280
desk and I'm just like, what have I done all day?
26
00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.239
You know, what is my contribution to society? But I
27
00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:28.799
really enjoyed flipping houses because it was great to kind
28
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of see something ugly become something really great. And so
29
00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:37.120
when the time came, I made the switch and started
30
00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.519
off as an assistant, I took a big bay cut
31
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went to become an assistant project manager. And that was
32
00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:46.200
probably in two thousand and one, so it's been almost
33
00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:47.640
twenty five years now.
34
00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.319
Oh wow, Okay, so flipping houses. I guess what would
35
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be your favorite part of flipping the house? Did you
36
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do a lot of the hard work, you know, making
37
00:01:58.159 --> 00:01:59.200
the changes yourself?
38
00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:01.879
Yeah, it was a lot of fun because, you know,
39
00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:03.959
we would buy a really ugly house and my wife
40
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.400
and I would move into it and then living it
41
00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:09.439
for two years, fixed it up, and then we sell it.
42
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:11.840
We did that several times. But then when you have
43
00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:14.360
small children and you're up underneath the sink trying to
44
00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.479
put the fawcet in and your child is sitting jumping
45
00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:19.599
up and down to your stomach, it just gets to
46
00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:22.400
be more difficult. And so eventually I was just like
47
00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:24.120
I just need to do this full time because I
48
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really enjoy it. Oh got into that and I've enjoyed
49
00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:30.120
it ever since.
50
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:31.680
Amazing.
51
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.520
So the DwC give me a you know, why don't
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00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.479
you give the listeners a highlight?
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00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:39.360
Who is DwC Construction.
54
00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.240
Well, I am actually the fifth CEO of the company
55
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:47.120
and it started in nineteen forty seven as the Drywall Company,
56
00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:50.240
and it was the first drivewall contractor in the Southeast
57
00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:54.960
and DwC stands for the Drivewall Company. And then over
58
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.280
the years, drivewall became a commodity, and so the leaders
59
00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:01.520
decided that they needed to branch out. And what they
60
00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:05.879
were finding was the bigger companies building the buildings wanted
61
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.719
to build buildings. They didn't want to build out the
62
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:11.599
office space. And so our companies started doing that and
63
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after a while that became our sole business was renovating buildings,
64
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.159
building that offices, doing industrial work, anything commercial. And then
65
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over time it continued to develop and we had really
66
00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:27.400
good systems and processes and so we got known for
67
00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:31.199
doing high end spaces and so we did a lot
68
00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:35.840
of corporate facilities, a lot of law firms, and then
69
00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:38.919
as the years progressed, we branched out where we're building
70
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.960
buildings and we do a lot of industrial and just
71
00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.159
do a whole lot more than we first started out.
72
00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:48.680
So it's really evolved over the years for sure.
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00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:51.879
And you guys are staying busy.
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00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.759
What would you say was you know sets DwC apart
75
00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.400
from your competitors.
76
00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.159
Well, you know, when you go to the Donald's and
77
00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.400
their fries are really good, why do you like the
78
00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.680
fries that are there? Not just because they're salty and tasty,
79
00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:12.199
but it's because you're getting a consistent experience every time.
80
00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.759
And it doesn't matter what super When you have good
81
00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:21.720
systems and processes, it doesn't matter what project manager, what superintendent,
82
00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:25.199
your client is going to get a consistent experience. And
83
00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:28.680
so it just becomes a safer option. And our goal
84
00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:31.279
is we don't want to be the cheapest ga out there,
85
00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:33.920
but we want to be worth pain a little bit
86
00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:37.519
more for because they're not going to have the headaches
87
00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:42.480
of delays and change orders and things, because it's going
88
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:47.560
to be thoroughly planned down the beginning, scheduled properly, and
89
00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:51.519
closed out properly. So that's really the big differentiator with
90
00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:55.040
us is trying to make create a better client experience.
91
00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.480
Oh man, I really like the analogy.
92
00:04:59.000 --> 00:04:59.680
That was fun.
93
00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.439
Uh do you know every day as a CEO, I'm
94
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.639
guessing you see new things as you walk through the
95
00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:11.600
door every single day. Is there a thrill or something
96
00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:14.720
that just keeps you going that excites you to go
97
00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:16.519
in and get business done?
98
00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.959
Yeah? I think it's two things. Really. This might be
99
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:23.600
because I have a sales background, but I love winning.
100
00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:27.079
I love it when we're working on a job and
101
00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.759
sometimes we know we're not low, but when a client
102
00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:35.480
just says, hey, you know, can you tighten your number
103
00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.120
up a little bit and you'll get the job, Because
104
00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.639
to me, that says that our reputation out there is
105
00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:47.759
we're the easy button and we're and that's what's really satisfying.
106
00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:50.000
And then it's like when you see somebody's dream, whether
107
00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:52.399
it's there, you know they planned all their life or
108
00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:54.160
a lot of their life to build a coffee shop
109
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and they see it come to reality. Or you see
110
00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.519
something that was really ugly and now it's class a
111
00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:04.720
office space or the building looks beautiful now. That's really
112
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:10.000
very satisfying and rewarding to see somebody's happiness over that
113
00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:11.160
mm hmm.
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Being a CEO not an easy job. You know, the
115
00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:19.720
buck usually stops at you. You're making all the decisions.
116
00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:23.920
You know, you have to have some confidence behind the
117
00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:26.839
tone of when you're telling people what to do. How
118
00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:29.160
you know what inspires you to make the decisions you
119
00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.160
do to I guess guide the ship in the right direction.
120
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.800
Well, I was followed by some really great predecessors, and
121
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I learned a tremendous lot, this tremendous amount from some
122
00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:44.000
of my predecessors. And one of the things that made
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00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:47.160
us great partners was I was really good with strategy
124
00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.720
and I was really good at seeing opportunity, and so
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00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.480
I felt like that strength would really help me be
126
00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:58.439
a good leader. And a lot of the processes from
127
00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:00.839
the past have are even put in place. It was
128
00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.319
just how can we make it better and take it
129
00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.240
to the next level. And I got to a point
130
00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.560
where I was like, do I want to go out
131
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.480
of my own or do I want to take over
132
00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:13.879
an established, bolder company, which meant that I would have
133
00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.519
to wait an extended period of time. And you know,
134
00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:20.279
when you had a great company that you've been working
135
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:22.120
for for a long time, and you put your heart
136
00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:25.120
and soul into it for me. It was just worth
137
00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:28.560
staying and building on what my predecessor said, the foundation
138
00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:29.720
that they had laid.
139
00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:35.680
Having you know, the background, or even knowing that you
140
00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.360
want to be a CEO of a company. Let's say
141
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.439
there's a student in school and they just say, you
142
00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.160
know what, one day, I want to be a CEO
143
00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:46.759
of a construction company. You know what kind of background
144
00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:49.759
did you have to get you to where you're at today.
145
00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.519
I really it's realized. It was not easy, and I
146
00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:00.839
just worked harder. But what really helped me was I
147
00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:05.000
looked around and I didn't do my job. I did
148
00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:09.000
my job. Plus I looked to see what would mean,
149
00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.199
what would make me where the company couldn't live without me.
150
00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.680
And so it was a matter of looking around and saying,
151
00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:18.959
I don't own this company, but this is my company,
152
00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.199
and I'm going to treat it like mine, and I'm
153
00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.839
going to become when I see a problem, I'm going
154
00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.399
to insert myself into it to try to help. And
155
00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.720
when you do that, you know everybody thinks, oh, when
156
00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.639
I get at this point, they're going to give me ownership. Well,
157
00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.440
you've got to start acting like an owner way before
158
00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:39.840
you get it, because when you become an owner and
159
00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.000
you're not acting like one. That's a very bad decision
160
00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:47.840
for a leader to make, because you're paying, you're rewarding
161
00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.200
somebody for a behavior that's not being exhibited. And so
162
00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:53.240
if you want to get to a point to be
163
00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:57.120
on top, make it to where everybody else says all
164
00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:00.399
your coworkers like, yeah, well that makes sense. That's because
165
00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.480
I sure want to lose them, because you know, we'd
166
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:06.000
be in trouble. And that's happened to some of my
167
00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.440
current partners. It's just like they've worked really hard and
168
00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:12.399
I'm just like, you know, it's like technology is not
169
00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.600
their job, but they insert themselves in it. And then
170
00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:18.679
you're just like, I's just guys everywhere, girl, you know,
171
00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.679
And it's just that's really what I would say to
172
00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:25.879
somebody younger, is like, don't do your job. Look around
173
00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:28.840
you and see do your job and see how you
174
00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.399
can help out.
175
00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.639
Did you have a schooling background yourself.
176
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:40.080
I graduated from Auburn and I had a business finance degree,
177
00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:43.840
So I had no construction knowledge, no engineering knowledge, and
178
00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.360
I had a lot to learn. And the funny thing
179
00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.320
is when I first started becoming a project manager with
180
00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:53.799
my background, I was really good at selling work and
181
00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:57.480
not as good at doing the work until I learned so.
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But at the time, there was this and I think
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this is common in a lot of construction companies where
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you know, you have your project managers and then you
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have your superintendent. There's a lot of headbutting that goes
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on and a lot of finger pointing. And what I
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did to compensate for my deficiencies was I was taking
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my superintendents have to lunch and I'm like, hey, what
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am I missing? You know what am I doing? And
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they were just like more than willing to help. And
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then when they screwed up and they made a mistake,
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I never you know, threw them on the bus and
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I covered for them, and they covered for my lack
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of you know, construction knowledge, and I was able to
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learn without you know, burying myself.
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That's amazing.
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You know, some people don't realize how much people are
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willing to help if you just ask, you know what
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I mean, learning and figuring out how to fill that gap.
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I mean, you put yourself in the position to self
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educate and learn directly from the source. So I think
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that that definitely helped build that trust that's that's a
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great tactic that you took, you know, through all these years,
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do you feel like you know there's maybe something that
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when you started, there's something that you wish you knew
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now that you didn't know back then.
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Yeah, for me, and one of the disadvantages I had
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of being in sales and business development and marketing was
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the fact that your geared towards pleasing people. And so
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it's very hard in construction when there's so many things
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that you can't control. And I used to really stress
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having to deliver somebody bad news that even when I
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had most of the time it had nothing to do
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with anything we could control. And so that kept me
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up a lot at night. And so really just trying
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not to sweat the small stuff and just understand that construction.
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You know, I tell people construction is like controlling a
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train wreck. You know, it's going to go off the
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rails at some point, so you've got to have a
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plan B and a plan see so that when it does,
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how are you going to minimize the damage and keep
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this thing going and getting done on time? And so sometimes,
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you know, and the hardest is when a client makes
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a lot of changes and then you've got to go
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back to them and say, well, we're going to extend
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the project week and it's they're like, well that's unacceptable.
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It's like, well, you've added a lot of scope to
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work and here's how it's going to tie. And you
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just dread having that conversation. But you know, it's from
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the ot of your doing.
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Do you work hard on building those strong relationships, you know,
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with the connections that you have to your workforce.
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Get to the workforce. Absolutely, it's it's very important. And
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you know, and my clever when I was early in
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my career, my clever superintendents would schedule job site meetings
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with them at ten thirty so that then they knew
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that I would feel obligated by them lunch. And when
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you take the lunch and get to know them and
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get to know their family, it really starts to establishing
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a really big value of trust. And that's something that
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really was a big thing for me, was how do
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I make the guys in the field feel connected and
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to make them feel that they're important because there's a
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lot of hierarchy in construction. But the truth is, if
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you don't have superintendent, it's the project managers aren't going
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to do anything. If you don't have labors, your jobs
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aren't getting finished. Everybody is just as important as everybody else.
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And one of the things that we do to convey
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that message is we have an employee wall where we
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have their picture and the year they started. And I
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am CEO, but there's a guy up there who's been
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here longer than me, and his pictures ahead of me,
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and he's a superintendent. And so what it does is
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when you see a labor close to the top and
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you see a new project manager at the very bottom
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because they just started, it sends a message to the guys,
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you know, because there's no titles on this at all,
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and so it sends the message to them that everybody's important.
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And then the other thing I do now is now
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that i'm superintendent, I'm CEO. We do annual reviews and
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we have fifty employees, and typically I would be doing
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the annual reviews of the leaders and some of the
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higher ups, but I sit in every one of the interviews,
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every one of the reviews, I'm there, and that's a
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lot of time. It's fifty interviews. Now. The office people
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are usually an hour and the superintendents of thirty and
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the laborers are fifteen. But every year I write down,
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you know, what are your dreams, what's your life goal?
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What are you like? You know? And then I refer
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back to it. And so what that does is is
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that sends a message to those guys that I'm part
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of something and I'm important, and they know that they
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can stop my office and I know, you know, because
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I know that their family, I know the struggles they're
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going through. I know a lot of personal situations that
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they're dealing with, so I can check in on them.
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And a lot of people will shake their head and say,
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I don't have time for that. But what does retention?
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What does it cost you to lose people? And you know,
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last year in our Carpenter's Laborers superintendents, we lost three
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people out of probably thirty eight people, and that's a
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very low turnover rate. And they're offered more, you know,
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they get offered more per hour often, but they feel
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like they have a voice and it makes for them,
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It makes them feel like they're part of something, not
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just often a silo or just not a tool to
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make money on.
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How do you how do you find people and hire
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these people, are you open shop, like, do you put
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it out there?
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Like, I guess what's your hiring process?
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Well, for the office, it's a lot more extensive because
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the pain of having somebody having the wrong hire is
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extremely painful. In the office, I mean in the field,
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we look more towards what are your skills? And you know,
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one of the things that's important to us is our
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core values. And you know we we have our core
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values posted on every job site. They're on our website,
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they're on the back of our business cards. Nice everybody
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knows when they walk on our job sites what are
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our values, and we hire people that fit those core values.
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And but for the office, we have a very extensive
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hiring process. And because if you hire a bad project manager,
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it's six to eight months before you realize you have
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a problem, and then it's another six to eight months
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to try to fix the problem, and then you've lost
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two years by the time you get rid of that person,
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and then you're starting over. And the most important thing
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here is I mean, it's important what you know, but
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it's really two things. It's are you humble, Because if
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you're humble, you're coachable and you want to learn and
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if you're humble, you want to help the people around
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you because it's not beneath you. And if you're hungry,
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you're going to be able to go get her and
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you're going to be aggressive. And you can't teach somebody
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to be humble, and you cannot teach somebody to be hungry.
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And so several times I really needed, you know, one time,
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I really needed two project managers. And I had two
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people this like ten years ago, and I had two
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people that were very skilled and very knowledgeable, but they
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were not a good fit for our culture, and it
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really corroded the culture completely. And they stuck around for
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two years before we could get rid of both of them.
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And it was a three year pain and suffering situation.
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And so now if I need somebody immediately, it takes
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me six months, I will suffer for six months trying
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to figure out how to get done, because it's not
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worth the two years of pain and suffering when you've
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hired somebody who can fill the seat do the stuff,
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but then they run around griping about everything and then
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sowing the seeds of negativity, and or they're just not
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motivated to really work that hard. But it can be
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really toxic, and that's a big thing for me. People
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ask me what's the most important thing.
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You do, and I say, Hi, Yeah, I would think
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protect the culture is so important. You've got to like
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keep that close to your heart through every conversation that
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you have, That to everybody that puts an application into
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work for you. Yeah, just making sure that everybody's gonna
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appreciate the people that you're bringing in through the door.
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And I really like that you put the core values everywhere.
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It's like you can't you can't miss it. Yeah, that's awesome.
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The systems that you have in place, I can imagine.
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I mean, you guys have been in business for you know,
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so many decades. What kind of systems do you guys
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use or have in place that keep you your operation,
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you know, at its highest level.
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Yeah. Well, and the key thing about that is, Yeah,
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we've been in business for a long time. The greatest
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thing about our company is we're well known in the
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industry and we're seventy you know something of year old company.
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The worst thing about our company is that we're seventy
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seven year old company. And what happened is you get
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people who've been at it a while and everybody gets
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in their ruts. But guess what everything around you is changing.
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The workforce is changing. The quality of labor from your
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subcontractors is not what it was ten years ago. And
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so our systems and processes are constantly being changed and
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constantly being adapted. And I mentioned, you know, I'm an
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Auburn guy. But one of the things that I admire
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about Nick Saban the best is that it's not that
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he doesn't beat you because he's a genius. He beats
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you because he looks at every single thing you do
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and no matter how small is, he does it just
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a little bit better. And when you add up all
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of those advantages and he puts his product on the field,
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often they're going to be better because he does how
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they run their practice, how they do their coaching, sending
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out recruiting letters a little faster than everybody else. And
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so and it's especially a problem with us because we've
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been well, we've been doing that a long time and
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it's always worked. It's like, yes, but what if we
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do it this way? What can we do to make
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it just a little better? And so part of that
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is really having clearly defined roles and because you know,
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and that's one of the things we our hiring. I
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would almost rather hire somebody who hadn't been into business
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for twenty five years, because if they have, I have
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to detrain them. Because you can hire a project manager
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that grew up in a culture where they just bid
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low and change order somebody to death, or you could
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get a you know, thing where they exploit the customer
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and they put too much markup on the changed orders.
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And if you want to be McDonald's French Fries where
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it's always consistent, you can't. You've got to be fair
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to people and you know, and be consistent. So it's
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having clearly defined roles because the biggest problem is if
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you have a superintendent and a project manager trying to
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do the same task. That's great until they start assuming
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that the other guys or girl is doing one of
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those tasks. Then it doesn't get done. So, you know,
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we break it down to where the superintendent is in
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charge of getting the job done on time. The project
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manager's job is to get the superintendent what they need
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to be successful and to manage the client experience. And
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then that means that when you get a job, the
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first thing you do is this and the first thing
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you do it you don't just start sending subcontracts and
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you send them out quicker. You start doing everything a
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little bit quicker, and how do you get the job
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started faster so that you buy more time on the
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back end of the project. And so everything is very
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clearly just defined down to how we do our biz,
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how we send our bills, and that way we can
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just be a little bit sharper because at the end
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of the day, you know, if we're just easier to
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deal with, they're gonna be like, you know, just it's
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worth paying a little bit more, you know, because we're
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not gonna get changed order, We're not going to get
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a bunch of junk. And so that's really the key
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thing for us is looking at every little thing and
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that doesn't stop. It's like it's constant. You know.
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The mentality I can tell is already different from others
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that other companies that are as old as yours. The
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thought on technology and innovation never stopping. Basically, I mean,
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is technology at your forefront for scaling and just doing
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overall business every day? Like how do you look at technology?
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Yeah, we look at technology. Where so back to in
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twenty twenty three. You know, we had a huge growth
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and I was just like, this is a mess because
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we've got too many things that are you know, you
422
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:08.319
get too much baggage that's hanging around and we're still
423
00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:13.519
doing some things. And it was really kind of just
424
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:15.839
going through and looking at everything. And technology was a
425
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.799
big piece of that because you know, and I'm sure
426
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.480
a lot of companies are better at this, but we
427
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:25.640
used to be We get a job done and it
428
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.559
was like the end of the year, you get a
429
00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:33.039
report card, but nowhere along your schooling did you get
430
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.839
quiz grades. You didn't get you know, report cards. You
431
00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:39.319
just got a report card. Then and you finished the job,
432
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.240
you close out the money. You're like, how the heck
433
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:46.519
did I lose money on this? And you know, or wow,
434
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.559
hey this is great. You know, it's one or the other.
435
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.000
And it's like then you get and the end it's like, wow,
436
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:54.319
we went way over on labor. What happened? It's like, well,
437
00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:56.960
we did this and this, and so now we're like, okay,
438
00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.359
so how do we find that out faster? And how
439
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.680
can we make how can we use technology to create
440
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:08.440
processes where we're tracking costs and we know if we're over.
441
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.599
If we're starting to run up on labor, labor three
442
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:14.039
months into the project, you know, how do we how
443
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.240
do we get those decisions fast so we can make
444
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.079
a shift, you know, And sometimes we found that there
445
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:23.559
was too much labor on the job and it's like
446
00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:26.440
we go ask and we're like, well, the building wanted
447
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:28.599
us to, you know, do this, and it's like, well,
448
00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:30.880
before we agree to that, let's talk to them and
449
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.119
see if they want to pay for that. And so
450
00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:35.279
we're a going to shift and pull people off a
451
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:40.160
job because there's nothing Our director of operations loves hearing there. Hey,
452
00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:42.680
we've got two weeks on the job and you've got
453
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.119
to pull everybody off because we're over on labor, and
454
00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:47.680
he's like, well, how how I finished this job? We're
455
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.319
in the crunch time. So it's really about getting information faster,
456
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:57.240
and so we've created a we've used technology to start
457
00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:00.759
tracking everything from the bids that we have going out
458
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.559
to our win loss ratios. You know, how are we
459
00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:06.920
on track on materials on a job or we on
460
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.880
track on labor? And the most important is what's our schedule?
461
00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:14.880
How many days over or under are we on our schedule?
462
00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:19.039
And so then we're monitoring that really closely. And now
463
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.240
the superintendent's looking at that and they say, okay, well
464
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.079
maybe I don't maybe I can do that myself instead
465
00:26:24.119 --> 00:26:25.759
of calling the laborer out here for two days? Can
466
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:29.480
I have anything else to do? And so it allows
467
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.279
us to maximize our return. And then we've created a
468
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:40.359
custom master dashboard where basically it is live when it
469
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.920
hits our accounting software. It's going live into this thing
470
00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:46.079
and I can pull up a job and it tells
471
00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:49.160
me the type of job, tells me the superintendent, the
472
00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:51.799
project mayors, the labor tells me, you know, how much
473
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.559
labor budget, tells me all the key indicators. And then
474
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.440
what that tells me is later I can start seeing, okay,
475
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.200
every job, just a lot of jobs go south, and
476
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:08.359
that there's no good reason why it just happened. But
477
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:12.039
when you start seeing trends for a project manager, is
478
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.519
it's like, okay, is that an opportunity for coaching to
479
00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:17.079
help somebody they're not putting up money in the job,
480
00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:21.759
or why is the superintendent constantly making you know, going
481
00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:24.359
over on labor, you know, what's what are they doing?
482
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:28.880
And in that way and then doing an after actual
483
00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:31.440
what went right, what went wrong? What did we learn?
484
00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:34.200
You know, because a lot of times we just get
485
00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:38.119
on the next job and we're not stockpiling that database
486
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:41.960
of what did we learn and let's not repeat it.
487
00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:48.839
M You know, Artificial intelligence AI is the hot topic
488
00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:52.160
word or words.
489
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.960
That are going on right now in the industry.
490
00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:58.319
Do you feel like AI is part of your tech
491
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:02.279
stack that has helped helping bring in these numbers that
492
00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:03.240
you were talking about.
493
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:04.960
Are you guys using AI that way?
494
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:08.960
Yeah, we're starting to. Yeah, we're using AI for a
495
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.000
lot of things. I've been digging in into it for
496
00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:15.359
the last twelve months and really how much it's progressed
497
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:18.559
in the last four months is really shocking and surprising,
498
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:23.799
and it's really and so trying to find It's a
499
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.039
great source of information for a lot of stuff. It's
500
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:32.119
fantastic at analyzing data that would take you a lot
501
00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:36.039
of time to do. And you know, and my goal
502
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:38.400
one day is, and I'm very close to this, is
503
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:41.000
having a dashboard where I can look at our company
504
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:45.519
and I can see what our margin fade is across
505
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:51.319
all our jobs, and what is our material usage on
506
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:54.880
all those jobs, and what is our average day over
507
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:00.079
or under our projected original schedule and then showing us
508
00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:02.680
trends and that can quickly grab a lot of data
509
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.279
for us, and then it's really helpful for just other stuff.
510
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.519
We do a lot of you know, we have our
511
00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:13.119
guys in once a month for superintendent meetings and we
512
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:15.519
get all of our superintendents in one room together. We
513
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.599
just have a brainstorming session and we talk about, Okay, guys,
514
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.839
every job, you've got to do this, this is unacceptable,
515
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.400
You've got to have this. And then they talk about
516
00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:27.920
we're having probable the fire marshals because they're they're new.
517
00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:30.359
And then we so it's a great way to get
518
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:34.400
everybody in the room together and share information. And you know,
519
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:37.359
a lot of times we'll have a PowerPoint slide and
520
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:40.559
I use AI to generate the slides because I want
521
00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:45.119
those meetings to be entertaining and educational. I don't want
522
00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:46.640
to have them come in there and this is a
523
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.000
blah blah blah blah and they walk up and going, oh,
524
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.359
these are painful. I want them laughing and cutting up.
525
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.839
And so, you know, we do a lot of stuff
526
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:00.160
with AI. You know, we've taken people and put them
527
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.359
into roles as fire marshals and just makes it a
528
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:05.599
lot of fun because the truth of the matter is
529
00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.880
what we do is very stressful, and so if you
530
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.839
can make it fun, it makes it a lot more enjoyable.
531
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:16.000
I really like that you're gonna have to share one
532
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:17.960
of those power points with me. I would love to
533
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.759
check those out sometimes. You know, actually you even mentioned stressful.
534
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:26.440
I'm guessing you, guys, I'm guessing you probably have some
535
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.720
safety experts that work for you and everything like that.
536
00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:32.400
You know, what's your guys' outlook on safety?
537
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.519
Well, I think safety is I mean, that's one of
538
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:39.079
those things that technology is never going to change and
539
00:30:39.160 --> 00:30:41.920
it's always going to be important. But it does help
540
00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:45.400
the safety discussions to be a little bit more. You
541
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.200
can make them a little bit more entertaining, because hopefullly,
542
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.480
I don't want them dreading coming to that meeting. And
543
00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:53.079
it's the same way we have a project manager roundtable
544
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.480
meetings where we just have an open forum where nothing
545
00:30:56.519 --> 00:31:00.000
that you say is going to be used against you
546
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.640
or you know, negative, but it's a way to brainstorm
547
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:05.839
ideas or like hey, this subcontractor is really doing well,
548
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:09.519
or this one's overloaded. You know. I found by using
549
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:12.680
this person, I have a better advantage, and you know,
550
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:17.079
try to make those meetings fun as well, because the
551
00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:20.480
more the more connection you can make between the superintendents
552
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:23.640
and each other. It's really important because they do feel
553
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:26.200
like they're part of a community, and a lot of
554
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.319
times we just send them out their job and they
555
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.039
work in a silo. The project manager's in a silo
556
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:36.000
and nobody's sharing information and nobody's there's not a connection.
557
00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.200
So then when somebody comes by and flashes a dollar
558
00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:42.279
or two an hour, they're like, well, I might as well,
559
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:45.319
you know, I have no connection here. But if they
560
00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:49.000
leave what they feel like is a community, then it
561
00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:51.599
makes it a lot harder. It's a bigger decision because
562
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.240
a lot of our guys can can a lot of
563
00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:58.039
our guys can go make more money somewhere else. But
564
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:00.839
they know that, you know, people are really important to us,
565
00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.200
and they know that they're not just going to get
566
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:05.039
laid off if we get slow. You know, because I
567
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.160
often say people are like, well, tell me about DwC.
568
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:11.000
I'm like, well, we are a people development business that
569
00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:14.720
does construction, and they know that they're going to be
570
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.640
any way. We can help them grow and develop in
571
00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:21.480
their career. You know, we're all in on that. And
572
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:23.519
we even i mean we even have a book club.
573
00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:28.039
We pay people if they read certain books. Oh okay,
574
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:32.519
we found is It's amazing how I've seen people who
575
00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:34.559
really got into it because they read a book and
576
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.240
we give them a hundred dollars you know, like you know,
577
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:42.319
self help book like no Excuses or extreme ownership or
578
00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:45.440
make your brand legendary, and then they get one or
579
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.640
two things out of that and you've made your hundred
580
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:48.200
bucks back.
581
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:50.480
That is so smart.
582
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.200
I mean, that's even those are going to teach them
583
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:55.440
skills that they can take on for the rest of
584
00:32:55.480 --> 00:33:00.119
their lives. Take them with them.
585
00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:01.279
As skill because if it helps me at home or
586
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:05.319
if it helps it you know, I mean, if they
587
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:07.240
can help do something that's going to make their home
588
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.599
life better, you know, then we want to encourage that.
589
00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:14.480
And you know, and if we've got a guy that's struggling,
590
00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:20.880
whether it's a you know, health diagnosis or a personal issue,
591
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:23.559
we try to walk alongside them. We even have a
592
00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:27.000
chaplain program where basically we have a guy that you
593
00:33:27.079 --> 00:33:30.480
can talk to and it's not you know, pushing religion
594
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.279
on your throat. It is religious base, but it's just
595
00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:37.799
more I can't talk to my peers about their construct workers. Man,
596
00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:39.519
They're not really going to share their feelings a lot
597
00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:41.720
of times, you know, but this is kind of a
598
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:45.880
safe way that we never find out about that if
599
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:48.519
they're dealing with a big issue, they can go talk
600
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:51.359
to somebody about it and it's a near to listen to.
601
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:55.000
And I really we started this in January. I really
602
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:57.720
didn't know if we'd ever think it was successful, but
603
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:00.759
we've had a lot of people all ready tell us
604
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.960
how helpful it was. Of course, it's always phrase like
605
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.839
I think this is really helpful to a lot of guys.
606
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:09.559
Not myself, but you know, it's always a lot of
607
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.320
people have been really benefited by this.
608
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.880
So this is this is a new one. This is amazing.
609
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:19.800
I really like that you implemented something like this, having
610
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:22.480
a chaplain on staff kind of talking to the guys.
611
00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:26.679
I know there's a few companies out by me that
612
00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.880
do that, but they're not in construction, And you would
613
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.719
think that construction would be like the perfect situation to
614
00:34:31.800 --> 00:34:35.800
have somebody like that kind of intervening and having side
615
00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:38.679
conversations to do like temperature checks and whatnot.
616
00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:42.800
Yeah, And honestly, if I've got a teammate that I
617
00:34:42.840 --> 00:34:47.039
feel like is really it's just it's something wrong, I'll say, hey,
618
00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:49.800
reach out to this kind of check on home, and
619
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:51.440
you know, they don't report back to me, but I
620
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.519
just and I don't know if it works or not.
621
00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:56.719
The other thing that we do that's really fun too
622
00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:01.119
is we like to have team activities. We do an
623
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.280
office quarterly team fun event where groups of three pick
624
00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:08.960
the event and then the it's their event, everybody goes
625
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:11.239
to it. And then we do stuff for the office
626
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:14.840
where we'll do like a chili cook off or cooking
627
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:18.199
burgers at the office and it is the office cooking
628
00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:24.239
serving the field. So the project manment, superintendent's labor as partners,
629
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:28.119
they all come and it's the office serving them and
630
00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:31.159
it's a good message to send to them. Once again,
631
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:35.280
you're just as important as everybody else, and that really
632
00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:39.639
resonates with a lot of people that they're more than
633
00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:41.639
just a body.
634
00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:45.599
And you guys are in where exactly are you guys located?
635
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:50.119
We're in Nashville, Tennessee, and really our range is about
636
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:53.079
two hundred miles around Nashville. We do work in Huntsville,
637
00:35:53.159 --> 00:35:57.159
some in Kentucky, but kind of in that range.
638
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.679
I can't imagine how good the chili is. How by
639
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:05.079
you guys, do you have some pretty good cooks over there?
640
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.159
We do. Actually, it's uh, you know, we usually have
641
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:11.280
about seventeen bots posita chili, and all the superintendents and
642
00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:14.960
carpters they take samples of all of them. They make
643
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.719
their votes on which one is the winner.
644
00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:20.960
Oh, let me know in the summertime, when you guys
645
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.440
have that next chili cookoff, I'd love to come out
646
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:23.679
for that.
647
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.719
Yeah, it's usually in October as the weather it's getting cooler.
648
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:27.239
Yeah.
649
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.280
We do a lot of like we'll do a Labor
650
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:32.519
Day event where we have a catered we do a
651
00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:36.079
Memorial Day, and we'll also do like a random like
652
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:38.800
last week we cooked burgers because it was a nice day.
653
00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:40.559
This is great.
654
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:43.639
I mean, you offer a lot of like ways for
655
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:48.280
the team to feel good unwind, you know, be proud
656
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:51.840
of where they work for you. As a CEO, you know,
657
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:55.159
what is your outlet, like, what is your hobby, what
658
00:36:55.159 --> 00:36:58.719
what is your go to? When your inspiration when you're
659
00:36:59.079 --> 00:36:59.920
outside the work.
660
00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:05.280
I really enjoy either working in my house or building furniture.
661
00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:07.599
I find that to be a really good stress release,
662
00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:11.760
and so I really enjoy that.
663
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:14.880
Oh you're just a natural carpenter, then.
664
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:18.119
I enjoy that. It's just it's just something about seeing
665
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:22.760
things come together and you're not dealing with there are
666
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:26.239
problems that can be easily six fixed, not you know,
667
00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:28.880
more complicated people issues.
668
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.239
What's like the most interesting piece that you built.
669
00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:38.480
As far as project, yeah.
670
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:41.159
Or yourself liked it? Was it a chair? Was it,
671
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:42.320
you know, furniture?
672
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.440
It was a baby bed for my daughter? Oh?
673
00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:48.159
No, way, okay, I like that.
674
00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:50.400
My wife gave me a picture of one, and I
675
00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:53.800
was just like, because she had really good taste and
676
00:37:53.880 --> 00:37:55.800
so but I was able to make it and it
677
00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.400
was and I look forward to give it to my
678
00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:00.000
daughters when they when they're at that point.
679
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:02.599
Oh that's amazing. How many kids do you have.
680
00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:06.000
I have two daughters, which is why my hair is white.
681
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:11.880
This happened when they turned thirteen, and now they're twenty four,
682
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:14.760
I mean in twenty four and twenty one.
683
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:18.039
So oh that's awesome. Well bless them.
684
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:21.320
I have a three year old daughter, and I can
685
00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:23.559
only imagine ten more years from now.
686
00:38:23.639 --> 00:38:26.119
My hair mates started changing colors too.
687
00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:31.320
Yes, it is a daughters are amazing, And I'll never
688
00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:33.960
forget I had a client that just somehow. When I
689
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:35.599
was a project manator, I always knew when I was
690
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:38.199
pulled on my driveway because they would call and they
691
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.800
would complain about the most ridiculous things. And I walked
692
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:44.840
in the house and I grabbed the beards, went and
693
00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:48.119
sat on the porch and my daughter came out. She said,
694
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:51.519
what's wrong, dad? Say my daddy. I said, well, there
695
00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:53.920
are mean people to me at work. And she's like, well,
696
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:55.599
I want to go to your office And I said why.
697
00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:57.679
I say, well, I want to put the mean people
698
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:01.360
in time out. So better than dollars. But it does
699
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:03.599
get a little bit more complex when they turned thirteen,
700
00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:06.719
but they come back. So just remember that. Oh I
701
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:08.840
love that duration.
702
00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:12.559
Keep hanging on for hope. No, I appreciate that. That's good.
703
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:17.599
So DwC is amazing. It sounds like the way that
704
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:22.039
you've laid everything out is so incredible. Where do people
705
00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:24.599
find your business that if they they're interested in being
706
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.960
business like? If a customer was why a potential customer
707
00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:30.519
was watching this today, where would you say the goal
708
00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:33.920
and reach out to you guys to start the conversation.
709
00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:40.079
Well for starters. Really, the idea of cultured or company
710
00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:46.400
was really laid out way before employee retention became a
711
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.960
big thing, and that was by our my predecessor, John Arn't.
712
00:39:50.119 --> 00:39:53.840
He really saw the need for culture and he went
713
00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:57.320
all in on it, and after seeing it work so well,
714
00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.960
I have it is my number one priority to continue
715
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:04.039
his efforts as well. Yeah, you can reach us on
716
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:07.440
the web at dw C Builds dot com, or reach
717
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:11.960
out to me on LinkedIn or you know. I love
718
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:14.360
talking to other companies because one of the things that
719
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:18.360
I've learned is I'm a book big book reader, because
720
00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:20.199
I feel like I've got a lot to learn, and
721
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:23.360
the more I learn, the more I realize what I
722
00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:28.800
don't know. So I love connecting with other companies trading ideas.
723
00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:33.360
So I love talking to potential customers. But anybody out
724
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.599
there who wants to talk, I'm always looking to make
725
00:40:35.639 --> 00:40:39.920
new connections. But you can reach us on the web
726
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:43.679
or reach out to me at LinkedIn, and I'd love
727
00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:44.239
to talk to you.
728
00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:46.239
Yeah, I can imagine.
729
00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:49.159
Are you part of any peer groups or associations or
730
00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:50.880
anything like that yourself.
731
00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:54.400
Yeah, I'm actually involved in a company called EO which
732
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:57.400
connects me with a lot of entrepreneurs and they're all
733
00:40:57.400 --> 00:41:01.880
in different businesses, but in our business, the problem is
734
00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:05.960
always the same as people. And so that's been really
735
00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:09.079
beneficial for me and talking to other companies and sharing
736
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:12.760
ideas because what we do would be a piece of
737
00:41:12.840 --> 00:41:16.360
cake if it wasn't for people. And so that's I'm
738
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:17.920
always looking to learn.
739
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:24.360
And then as far as everything that DwC has to offer,
740
00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:28.360
what would you say you guys specialize in the most.
741
00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:33.480
Mostly what we specialize in is just make a smooth
742
00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:38.079
process for construction because we communicate really well. We are
743
00:41:39.960 --> 00:41:44.320
we really try to understand what the client's needs are
744
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:48.119
and we over communicate that way, when our clients can
745
00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:52.360
ask questions, they have the answers and if the job
746
00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:54.480
needs to get done on time and on budget without
747
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:57.440
a lot of surprises. And that's what we're really good at.
748
00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:02.079
And we're not a lot more expensive, but we're usually
749
00:42:02.079 --> 00:42:04.360
pretty much right there or just a little bit higher.
750
00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:08.599
I like that, okay, And then before we wrap up,
751
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:14.760
do you have any advice for new construction owners, CEOs
752
00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:18.119
or even somebody that's coming into the construction industry.
753
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:20.440
That you would like to share with our listeners.
754
00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:27.800
Yeah. Number one, get a good mentor, don't learn from
755
00:42:27.880 --> 00:42:30.599
somebody else's mistakes and don't just go into this making
756
00:42:30.639 --> 00:42:34.440
your own. And it's so key even if they're not
757
00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:38.119
in the industry, because like I said, it's people really
758
00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:45.639
And the second thing was keep learning, keep reading books,
759
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:48.360
try to because there's so many great business books out
760
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:51.400
there that can eliminate a lot of problems that you
761
00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:55.679
could have. And just always be learning because the more
762
00:42:55.719 --> 00:42:57.719
I learn, the more I like I said, the more
763
00:42:57.760 --> 00:42:58.840
I realize what I don't know.
764
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:04.920
Would you offer up yourself, Like, let's say, I'm sure
765
00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:09.400
you're a mentor to people within DwC, but if somebody
766
00:43:09.519 --> 00:43:11.960
was watching this was like, man, I want Craig to
767
00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:14.960
mentor me or at least share some books and stuff
768
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:17.239
like that. Is that something that you're open to for
769
00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:18.639
communicating with others.
770
00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:21.599
Yeah, I love doing that. Like I said, there's a
771
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:23.400
lot of things I don't know, but there's a lot
772
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:26.119
of lessons we've learned, and I've watched a lot of
773
00:43:26.199 --> 00:43:29.960
very smart people here, and I would I always enjoy
774
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:34.119
doing that because I think as business owners, it's it's
775
00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:37.199
not so much how much money you have in the
776
00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:40.559
bank when you're done, it's how many people have you
777
00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:44.320
helped grow and develop along the way, And that's your legacy.
778
00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:47.400
And so I think it's really important to do that.
779
00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:50.440
And if I can help anybody in any way, you know,
780
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:54.079
reach out to me. And I enjoy doing that because
781
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:56.960
I was blessed with a lot of people helping me.
782
00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:58.679
Oh wonderful.
783
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:03.079
Well, thank you Craig for being a guest on our show,
784
00:44:03.480 --> 00:44:08.039
and please everyone like, subscribe, comment and share the builder
785
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:11.400
up a show with anyone in the construction industry and
786
00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:13.079
we will see you next time.
787
00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:13.800
Thank you, Craig.
788
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:27.760
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
789
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.039
as a guest on our podcast, write us an email.
790
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:33.280
It's Lou at lumberfine dot com.