How A Contractor Collective Grew Fast With Low Overhead And Smart Networking with Calvin Denny

Think running your own business means total freedom? Carpenter and home inspector turned contractor, Calvin Denny, brings a grounded view of what it really takes to build a thriving trades business—without bloat, without fluff, and with results clients can feel every day on their decks and porches. We dig into how Atlas Mountain Contractors grew from a one-man shop into a tight collective of independent pros serving the greater Asheville area, specializing in decks, exterior framing, and functional outdoor spaces.

Calvin breaks down the decision that changed everything: adding the right people early to expand capability and quality. He shares why operating as a collective of insured independents keeps overhead low, pricing competitive, and accountability high. We unpack common myths about entrepreneurship—the workday doesn’t end at five, clients are your real bosses, and you don’t always need big startup capital if your model is lean. From quoting at night to respecting house rules on-site, this is the unvarnished playbook for owners who want consistency and referrals.

Networking sits at the center of the growth story. Calvin explains how BNI (Business Network International) delivered a reliable referral pipeline for both home inspections and carpentry, why the dues pay for themselves, and how word-of-mouth compounds when craftsmanship is consistent. We also get practical about balance: scheduling vacations months ahead, building buffers, delegating two-person projects aligned to strengths, and protecting weekends when possible. For hiring, it’s reliability first, then complementary skills—think paint and drywall to round out framing and finish work—supported by a culture where lunch breaks, music, and trust turn hard labor into flow.

Looking forward, Calvin outlines a clear next chapter: flipping houses while continuing client projects. The team’s low-overhead structure and hands-on expertise make full renovations a natural step, pairing market value with the outdoor living features buyers love. If you’re a small business owner or trades professional, you’ll find sharp, actionable tactics on pricing, planning, networking, and culture that you can put to work today.

If this conversation helped you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review with your favorite takeaway—we read every one.

Guest contact info:

inspectionsbyatlas@gmail.com

https://atlasinspectionservices.com/

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review,  and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

All right, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McCray filling in for Bill Gillilan with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I'm excited to have Calvin Denny with Atlas Mountain Contractors. That's the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Calvin, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company, but what primary products or services you offer the community?

Services And Specialties

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Hey Cliff. Well, thank you for having me on. I'm a big fan of the podcast. Yeah, so my business is Atlas Mountain Contractors, and we are a collective of independent contractors that offer a wide range of services in the greater Asheville area. We service all the way through Hendersonville and then Yanceu County the other way. We typically, the majority of our work is decks, deck repair, uh light exterior framing, and some interior work, LVP flooring installations, tile, things like that. But as I kind of mentioned, you know, our bread and butter is really we we want to do decks and deck remodels and screen and port things like that. So if it's X outside framing, particularly in uh you know spaces that'll be you know utilized on a pretty day, that's that's what we like to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Okay, perfect, perfect. So if you had to start your business from square one, would you do anything differently?

Early Lessons And Team Growth

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Um I probably so I would. It took me quite a while to add a couple members to the team. Initially, it was just me doing you know light construction and handyman repairs. And it really, really took off when I added a couple more people to the crew. You know, it just really increased the types of jobs that we could complete and the quality of the work with our diverse backgrounds and knowledge bases, we were really able to take on a lot bigger projects. So that's what really kicked things off, and I wish I would have done that immediately.

The Reality Of Small Business Time

SPEAKER_00 2:35

I like that. I love it, love it. So, what have your biggest learnings been as an owner since you started your business?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Um, well, so I was already running a home inspection business, so I had my foot in the game a little bit in terms of uh what to expect, but but this this business has been a lot busier and more consistent. And what I didn't expect is just I mean, it's obviously it's a lot of work, but I mean the work doesn't stop when the workday stops. You get home and you have to write quotes and make contact with clients. Um it it it's just you know, when you're running your own small business, it's fairly all-encompassing. So I think just the actual uh amount of time it takes to work one eight-hour day is uh is something that was surprising to me.

Misconceptions About Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Okay, perfect. Perfect. So that probably goes into the next into the next question then. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business? And then you kind of talked about you know that your your work day ends at five o'clock and that never happened. So do you think that's a common misconception as well?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, I mean I mean, um, on that kind of same point, you know, you think when you're running your own business, like, oh, I'm gonna be my own boss, make my own rules, take vacations whenever whenever I want. But really, it's not that you don't have a boss, it's that you have a lot of bosses. You know, every client that you work for, you know, you're working in their home and have to respect you know the way they expect their property treated and their and your time management and things like that. So it's really you have to be very flexible and uh make a lot of compromises. And even though you might be the one calling the shots, um, there are a lot of people that control what you're able to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Okay, okay. Any other common misconceptions about running a business you can think of?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Um, well, I this may be specific to the type of work that we're completing, um, but it has not been difficult for us to generate uh a good client base and get consistent work. So I think a misconception is like, oh, I need like a lot of money to start a business and it's gonna take so long just to get it off the ground. And I'm sure that that, of course, that's the case in in a lot of businesses, but not always. Uh the way that we've structured things, it's really taken off pretty quick. We didn't have like a huge amount of money getting started. Um, so so really it can start with an idea, and if you're willing to go for it, um, there's a lot of potential for starting your own business. It's not as daunting as uh as it seems.

Planning Vacations And Delegation

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Okay, okay. So, how do you handle taking vacations while running your business?

SPEAKER_01 5:20

So I've learned that I have to I have to plan them out pretty far in advance because even if I say, hey, I'm gonna take a vacation next month, okay. Well, I get a couple days behind on this project, and that pushes the next one behind. And now I'm into my vacation. So I I have to really plan it out months in advance and then give myself a little buffer beforehand, you know, that I can finish up any projects that are kind of residual and that we're still buttoning up before before I go. So way more planning than I would like, but that's what it takes to uh actually get out and enjoy myself.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Okay, okay. And I know you said you had some employees as well. Are you big on delegating delegating certain things to them while you're on vacation?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and they really aren't employees, so that's kind of what makes us interesting is they are independent contractors, so they carry their own insurance, um, and they have their own, you know, LLCs and sole proprietorships and things like that. And uh, but uh but we do everything together. So basically I find all of the work and I do all of the networking, and then we all complete the projects together and and I pay them as subcontractors. Um, but I do delegate, I do delegate tasks um while I'm gone. I try to find projects that are really appropriate uh for their skill set and for a two-man crew and keep them busy while while I'm on vacation.

Growth Engines: BNI And Referrals

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Okay, okay. So, what have you attributed to your growth so far?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Um well, certainly a big thing is that we are part of a B and I group that I was part of before, and that's Business Networking International. Um, and I'm a member there, and that that was huge for starting my home inspection business. So I stayed in as a carpenter, and they sent us a lot of work that got us started, and then you know, you do a good job, and your client tells their friends, and then their friends tell their friends, and it's kind of a snowball effect from there.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Now, how do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business?

SPEAKER_01 7:26

That's been that's really been a challenge for me, and uh it's sort of a you know New Year's resolution this year, and I've been doing pretty good so far, though it's only been you know a week and a half.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

But uh pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

But it's tough. It's really, really tough. You just um, and it kind of can goes back to scheduling, you know. Uh the type of work that we do can be unpredictable. Uh, you know, I give an estimation for the amount of time that it'll take. Sometimes it takes more time, sometimes that means later days, extra trips to the store. Um, so it can be hard to make time for personal time, and it really comes down to uh you know finding that fine line between providing the service that you agreed upon and also um you know balancing your own self-care. So like for me, the the minimum thing is like, okay, I'm not gonna work on the weekends, you know. And I I have broken that rule occasionally, of course, but I try to at least take weekends off. Um I'll I'll I'll try to take one day off during the week if I if I can, if we're on a bigger job and things are smooth and I can like take like a day off in the middle of the week, then I'll do that. Um, but it that's certainly it's been very challenging for me, and I think that uh that that is a challenge that anybody starting their own business is going to face.

Hiring For Grit And Complementary Skills

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Okay. So what qualities do you look for in in potential employees or independent contractors that you're looking to work with? Anything in particular?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, I mean, the well, the most important thing to me is that they work hard and that they're going to show up. You know, we're we're such a small collective of contractors that there are three of us, so everybody is really like a third of the effort. So it's important that everybody's there, that everybody's at 100% and ready to get the job done. And of but and possibly equally important to that is just the the skill set. Um so I have a kind of a wide skill set, and so of so do both of the guys that work with me. And we all have areas where we're stronger. So I think that if I were to bring another person on the team, I would try to find somebody that that knew a lot about something that maybe we didn't have a lot of proficiency around. Um, so that we can you know learn from each other and also have someone who's the best at everything because we all need to be you know proficient framers and we all need to know how to work safely and use all the tools and everything like that. But like, for example, I would love to have someone who came from a just a background in paint and drywall because that's not what we do. We'll we'll we'll do a little bit in conjunction with uh bigger jobs and things like that. But um, you know, any kind of specialized skill like that is so helpful to the whole team. Um, so yeah, I I like kind of uh having our knowledge spread out a little bit. There are things that we're all the best at.

Culture: Fun, Trust, And Flow

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Okay. Okay. So how do you go about fostering a positive and productive work environment?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Well, so the the guys that I work with, we know each other really well. We go get lunch together. Um we we have fun, it really is a fun job. When it's appropriate, if we're outside, you know, we'll listen to music and and talk and and stuff. And it it just doesn't really feel like work to me. I I can't speak for the other guys. I mean it is work, so it probably does, but I'm I'm one of those sick individuals that like I work for fun. Like on the weekends, I'm working on projects around the house and I restore old motorcycles and things like that. I always work with my hands. So as long as with I'm as long as I'm with people that I enjoy their company, um, you know, it doesn't really feel like a job. It's more like just this is the task, and then on to the next one. Um, but yeah, we we we have a good time. We have a good time with it. We really do.

Quick Fire: Education, Planning, Inspiration, Commitment

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yeah, it sounds like you kind of keep it like more, you know, kind of like a brothers or you know, kind of like a family thing, good friends or whatever, right? Rather than co-workers. Correct. Yeah. All right, perfect. So yeah, now we're gonna head into the quick fire round. And basically what I'm gonna do here is I'm going to say, I'm going to say one word, and you kind of just give me the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about running your business in regards to that word.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

First word is education.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Um, experience. I think in this particular line of work, experience is the best education. You know, I I have a a bachelor's degree in something um unaffiliated. I'm a licensed home inspector, but the the most knowledge that that I carry for this particular job is uh just the hours that I've worked doing remodeling and construction over the years, including um buying a foreclosed home and renovating it from the ground up, which is kind of where I gained my skill set. But you you just you just have to um put the hammer to the nail. It's all about experience uh for us planning. Planning. Um I keep an old school paper calendar, like it's like the 1980s or something, and that's just how I do it, and that's what works for me. I I go through you know a notebook a month. I write down, I do all my bids and calculations on paper and keep everything organized like that. Not very efficient, and so that's um something that I'm that I'm uh looking into improving in 2026.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Inspiration.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Um I'm very inspired by everyone I've just known growing up who ran their own business, just independent contractors and people that run you know that that run the automotive shop and have their own store or anything like that. I've always been um just extremely drawn towards um being your own boss. So people who uh exhibit that have always been a big inspiration for me. Commitment um I would say for commitment, you have to be a hundred percent committed to to your work. Um and and that comes along with a lot of sacrifices. So for commitment, um I think you have to be willing to sacrifice certain areas. You're not gonna have as much free time for your hobbies. You're not going to necessarily make just a ton of money uh you know, right out of the gate. Even if you're working really, really hard, you have to be committed to taking your business to the next level at all times and just seeing it through to make it successful. That's why so many businesses fail, I think, is um people get really discouraged because it's so hard to get started and they don't really make it to the plateau.

Networking Advice And ROI Of BNI

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Okay, perfect, perfect. Yeah, so that's the end of the quick fire round. So what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Um, if you are a new business, uh get involved with local networking, whether that be a BI group, which you do have to pay that is a paid group, so ever all the members have to pay to be there. But there are also free networking events, the Chamber of Commerce and etc. So do a little research, find other people that you think would be good referral partners, and go out and meet them. So network, network, network.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Okay. And you said the BNI is paid. We would you say what you pay is worth it for people that are looking to grow?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Oh, absolutely. That's why I've been there for I think it I think I've been in the group for four years. Um yeah, like it very, very quickly pays for itself. It's it's not like an exorbitant amount of money compared to uh what you get out of it. So yeah, that's a that's been a huge positive investment for me.

Low Overhead As A Competitive Edge

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Okay, okay. Now, what makes you different than your competitors?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, so it's what we talked about a little bit. The fact that we are independent contractors, so we do not work under a general contractor. Um, we do not have a fleet of vehicles. So it doesn't necessarily cost me very much just to get to the job site. You know, I hear a lot of um people in construction talk about like the cost that it takes just for them to start the truck in the morning and get somewhere. And for us, we don't really have that. Um all of well, the two guys that work with me and myself, we're all responsible for our own tools. We have our own work vehicles, we carry our own insurance. So because of that, we can be compensated fairly and still provide a really competitive price for the work that we complete because there isn't somebody um, you know, in an office somewhere also getting paid for the work, if if that makes sense. It's it's just us. So because of that, um, we have a really low overhead.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Okay, perfect. And what's the next big thing for Atlas Mountain contractors?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

So it absolutely. And in the next two years, what I really want to shift focus to is I I want to start flipping houses, and that's been a dream of mine for a long time, and now I have a good crew to do it. So we're that's kind of what we're building up to. Um, and we'll still, you know, do work in the community, but split our time between um, you know, full renovations on houses that we own and doing uh continued carpentry in the uh in the Asheville area. So that's hopefully in the next couple of years, that's what I would like to be doing.

unknown 17:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

And lastly, what's the best way for someone to find you or or get in touch with you if they're interested?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

The best way is just to shoot me a text um or give me a call and leave me a voicemail. And my phone number is 828-284-1925.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Perfect. Any social media?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

We do have a Facebook, and that's uh if you just look on Facebook, it's Atlas Mountain Contractors LLC. And that's where we showcase um a lot of our finished work. Uh we'll we we don't post a bunch of uh gibberish on there. It's it's only pictures of projects we posted. So um, if you want to kind of see what we're capable of or the types of things that we like to do, that's a great place to just poke around and and see our work.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

All right. Well, fantastic. Yeah, thank you so much for being a part of this community and for all that you're doing. You know, we certainly could wish you continued success in all that you do. Really appreciate it, Calvin.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And again, I I really enjoy the podcast. I've listened to a bunch of them.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for coming on.