Scaling a General Contracting Business Across Six States | Legacy Construction & Development

This episode of American Builders features Paul Nilsen and Craig Wodehouse, co-owners of Legacy Construction & Development.

We discuss:

• How they merged two successful construction companies into one
• Building and scaling a multi-state general contracting business
• Winning national franchise construction projects
• Growing through strong subcontractor relationships
• What contractors need to do to become a GC's first call
• The future of commercial and residential construction

Learn more about Legacy Construction: https://legacyconstruction.com/

Presented by TradeGuard: https://tradeguardins.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to American Builders presented by TradeGuard. Today I am here with Paul and Craig of Legacy Construction and Development. Gentlemen, thanks for coming on today.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

So we'll start with uh a background on you guys. You are you kind of had two separate backgrounds. You came together to join this company. Craig, we'll start with you. Give me an idea of where you came from and then how you got introduced to Paul and how this business came to be.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Uh so I went to a private high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. And then I was not very good at school. I always struggled to just make C's. So I made my way to a community college, and the uh academic requirements were so low that I basically transferred uh to LSU with like a 3.8 from Baton Ridge Community College because the school was fairly easy. And then um I was pursuing a business administration degree, and with 24 hours left, I changed to mechanical engineering because I did not want to be in a large pool of people with basically no direction. Um, my goal was to uh buy a house for my mom and my brother and let them just enjoy life and have not to worry about anything financially. And then my college career got cut short. My brother uh ended up passing away in January of 2017, so I had moved home. I did not finish either degree and then just jumped into the workforce and then fast forward to 2024. 24? Yeah, 2024. Um, I was building two doubles in New Orleans, new construction projects, and I had gotten wind about Paul, and then he does exceptional finish work and has a good crew, so I had called him to give me some pricing on those projects. And it was like when we first met, um almost like a long-lost family member kind of vibe, you know. Um we spoke for we were probably met for what an hour. If that, and then we went on our way, Paul had agreed to do that work, and then I'd say like two weeks later or a month later. I forget how long it was between it was within a month or two, I'd say, you know. So about a month later or so, Paul had called me if I wanted to team up with him to remodel the Dunkin' Donuts, and everybody knows how popular that brand is. And from where we are, there's only like two or three, and one of them is in a very um relevant place, and it gets lots of traffic and things like that. So I was like, you know, which one are you talking about? And he said the one in Metary, which gets, I think, like 250,000 cars a day that pass it, something crazy. Um, so I was like, absolutely, and then we started that project. We had 14 days to do it, never working together whatsoever, don't know each other's work ethic, our you know, our processes or anything, and we built it out in 12 days. So uh a facility that's open 24-7. Every hour they're closed, they're losing thousands of dollars, and we were able to turn it over to them 48 hours before um their actual, you know, the due date. So we turn it over early.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

That's incredible. Okay, so you guys find this project. Paul, give me give me that story from your perspective. Kind of where were you at in your career when that happened? Um, and just kind of give me your side of that story.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Um, I started uh doing what I was doing for quality in 2015, I believe. Um and from there, so when I met Craig, I guess I was about nine years in. Early on, I started out as a paint company. I think what what happened was I worked for a painting. I I got so one part about me is I got sober in 2014. So it was sort of a pinnacle moment in my life because prior to that I was just doing um, I wasn't doing a whole lot of good. Okay, so um sobriety happens, um, and I'm going down this new journey. And I'll go, I kind of hopscotch through a couple jobs. I always did construction. I started when I was young, I started with my father when I was 14, and then I wound up working for my uncle after Katrina when I was 18, and that's when I started really like really getting my hands on things. And I did that for I worked for his company for about five years, the company he worked for. Um, so I got a lot from him, but you know, and in between there, I was just doing all my own chaotic stuff. So get to I wanted by a restaurant and I wanted to work for this guy who's doing construction, and we kind of have a fallen out. I go work for another contractor who's a painting company, and I don't know why. I think I remember hearing talk about a job or money or something, and I was like, dude, what? Like you're making that kind of money doing this at the time, it was a lot for me, you know. So he got slow during Christmas, and I went back to work for this other fellow who which was a bad move, but it's funny how bad moves turn into such great things, you know. And that's kind of, you know, my story looks a lot like that. A lot of, you know, in the moment, horror, horrible, and it turned into something beautiful in the end, you know. Um, so I went to work back for this guy, we had this fallen out in the process. I was partnered up with him, not legally, um, but I was doing uh one specific job I remember. We did two in a row, one where I worked for a month demoing concrete by hand with jackhammers in the back of somebody's house, and um, and I made $300 that month. And I have a new baby on the way, okay? And I'm freaking out financially. I'm freaking out. I'm like kind of on my own for the first time of my life. I'm in my mid-20s. And um anyway, so um that I I hit up a friend of mine's husband, my my my cousin's husband, who's a general contractor, and I sent him some tickets of this job I was doing, and he's like, dude, I'm like, how do you how do you structure finances when you're a partner and you're doing the work? And he kind of gave me a breakdown. I'm like, that's not at all what's happening here. I'm getting uh the the the the raw end of this deal. So he's like, hey man, you need to go do your own thing. Well, also very loyal, you know. So, like, even though I'm kind of getting, you know, not not in the bad, the best spot financially, I I won't let go of this guy. Like, I'm trying to help him out because he's going through something now, too. And um, he wound up pulling the whole thing down around everybody. He wound up back in the jail, he's actually deceased now. But it led me into I got to this point where I had no job, we had a fallen out. Um, I needed to do something. I went to my cousin's husband, and I'm like, dude, what should I do here? And he's like, You need to do your own thing. Like you, your quality's there, like you have to I think you just gotta do your own thing. So I started that, and that was in 2015, which is the reason why when we got together, when me and Craig got together, he showed me this those house plans that he was building those two houses in Louisiana when Louisiana in this Spain Street in New Orleans. Those were uh like very similar model house to the ones that my cousin's husband built. Similar, like, and I told him I was like, those look like two car houses. He's like, These are ducar houses, I just changed some things up better for insurance, you know. I was like, that's because it was just weird, you know, like it's all these things kind of came together like that. Um, but I grew pro quality for about nine years, and it really wasn't like a I didn't ramp up the business into things. I was sort of a grunt, you know, in the field. I was a construction worker, worked for itself, you know. Toward the end there, before I met Craig, I started to kind of want to expand. I think I started to have more ambition about my business growth. So I was taking on, I evolved into remodels because that's really what I was, even though I started a bank of a painting company. I started doing residential work, you know, and I was getting to that point of like I was ready for new stuff, like new construction. So I do I did a lot of his whole home stuff for people. That's where I was when I met him. So like branching in the commercial wasn't my forte. I was doing some commercial. Um, in fact, that's how I got on that Duncan was through a company I was doing all the finishing work doing the commercial I had wing stops. Same company wanted to do this duncan. They didn't like the GC that they were working with, so they offered it to me because they liked my work ethic. So I brought it to Craig because he had the commercial license. Ironically, too, my cousin's husband had that license, and I didn't know that. That's why I brought it to Craig. I could have brought it to him, and this would have been a totally different thing. I would have done a one-off job and we wrote, but instead, we had this now together. It's just kind of how things go, you know, like to me, when you pay attention to uh, you know, when what else he got there? But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Absolutely. Yeah, it's it's cool to see that story looking back. And it you mentioned you guys, it was like long-lost brothers. And I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here, but it seems like you both kind of come from a hard spot in life and you're both kind of in that hard spot at the same time. What was the bond that that kind of brought you guys together at that point? Just the similarities and and kind of backgrounds, or or what was it that made you guys connect so quickly?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

We have questions. I mean, I'd say that we're we have two different types of like taste, but we have, I don't know, like the same character, maybe would be the way to put it. Like very it's determination. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

We've both been, we both hit a rock bottom place, and it changes your work ethic that really someone who hasn't, they can't comprehend that and they can't, you know, practice that because it's it's a unique, it's it's an unfortunate way to find out, but that's like ultimately the only way to find that out.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

And then it's like it's the other side where we both I think like for instance, our business and the people that work here, like um, you know, yeah, we do this because we have families and we need to make money, you know, like that's base value stuff. But I think we do this, I think, more for the people around us too. You know, like there's a I think that I'm recognizing Craig's something that is a huge part of my life with trying to help people, you know. Like what I do with my recovery, and I see that when with no need for this, he still is that character-driven person, somebody who cares about his fellow, you know what I'm saying? Like, I see that part of him, and I think that's where we bond heavily. That's beautiful. Not a lot of people like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

So tell me about the business today. Well, then we'll get into the specifics. Where is Legacy at right now? What are kind of the core services you offer, sort of the size, employee count, types of jobs you're doing? Just give us an overview of the business today.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Uh well, considering in about a month, actually, a month, a month today, a month from now, today, uh, we'll make two years. And we we opened the books uh basically June 1st. We uh we started the company May 8th of 24. We opened the books June 1st of 24. So we had about six months left of 24 to do something, and in that six months we produced about uh four and a half million in revenue, and then last year we produced about 14 and a half million in revenue. So we're licensed in six six states working on a few. Yeah. Um we specialize in QSR, which is quick service restaurants and franchise-esque, like uh you know, um projects. It doesn't have to necessarily be QSR. Um, and we are currently working on our largest project to date in Pas Christian, Mississippi. It's about a nine million dollar project, uh, building two 10plex condo towers with some retail spaces behind it, and they're raised 25 feet off the ground on Highway 90. So they're a pretty large structure, um, especially considering you know, we're so new.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

You know, absolutely over on schedule though, you know, and yeah, I think that when you want to pinpoint like what we do, like what what our our model is, is QSRs we've become really good at. We've come really good at all the different ordinances, different things that go into them because restaurants tend to be a more difficult task. Yeah, well, cookie cutter and in in as far as like turnaround time, but dealing with fire marshals, dealing with breach traps, there's a lot that goes into it dealing with hood systems. There's they're more than just going and um, I don't know, building out like a Home Depot would be, for instance. You know, there's security that goes in there, there's there's sprinklers and all the stuff, but um, those have a few more layers to them, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And we've gotten good at doing those fast. And we realize like this is just a this is just a rinse and repeat type model. So we do that, but what comes alongside that is scheduling, because we've become so good at scheduling, we're able to take on bigger tasks and implement well there too. So we brought on specific people that are in the commercial game but aren't in the QSR style version. So now with that, like for instance, we have project managers and superintendents that are phenomenal at that, that that those 20 condos that we're building out there. So we're branching into that area. And then we've recently brought on an estimator to go after public stuff. And so, like those kind of that team right there, our estimator and that those two P the PMs in that field and then superintendents will be going in one direction, and we'll have some of the other superintendents and PMs going uh QSR directions. And then I still do maintain some form of like residential work here, only because we know a lot of people and we tend to just work for people that we know. And there's a level of we like I personally like design, like design office and whatnot. So, like there's a hobby there for me too, and I like working with people and sort of doing that aspect. So it's more of that is not as much for the business as it is for me, although the business is business, you know what I mean? So we don't put emphasis there.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

And it so it sounds like the the bread and butter and kind of the main focus going forward is going to be on this QSR, which makes total sense. You've mastered the model, you've got the timelines down, you're almost, you know, you're experts in that field. The residential, you take it as it comes on, but the focus um in terms of kind of what you're focused on selling and growing is on the commercial side, specifically that QSR. Is that a good summary?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah, I think so, but we're also trying to open up like with the public stuff and then that's yeah, we're trying to go after that that branch too. That branch is just newer to us, I think is what it is.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

QSR covers all of our overhead. Yeah. So everything after that is just, I mean, you could almost look at it as for fun, you know, and for extra growth, put the money back into the business and just make it make it keep going, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, we've turned over, I think, over 24 QSR since uh inception now. Um, and so you know, but and and we keep move, that's that train is running, but it also becomes easier the more you do it. So it's like it's weird because we we feel like we're not busy right now, but we have yeah, we have a bunch of stuff home, but we're like, oh, not that busy.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

We got a call yesterday. They have what 18 to do this this year, yeah. Into like to drag into next year, 18 more whatever it is.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

We just finished a five guys. We want another five guys with one wing stop right now, and we have a wing stop fixed at a start. And for us, that's like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

We do dentist offices and clinics like that. Um, we have another farm, we have a pharmacy that we're doing uh in New Orleans financial institution type situation, whatever you call it. Yeah, I don't know what to call it. And there's like a massive like pharmacy super center that's coming to Mettery. Um, and we'll be bitten on that. There's not much competition on the own, so that'll be nice. It's like a 20,000 square foot pharmacy that's good.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Let's uh let's dive into the QSR, the details of that. So you guys met with this Duncan project. Um, my question on this is like, what is the best way to get your foot in the door in this in that specific niche? You know, I've got a guy who's been on this podcast who's in the epoxy game, and he has a similar focus. He loves the franchises, they're burn and turn. You get one good contact, that one good contact can bring you multiple deals. Um, and almost you know creates that recurring revenue, if you will. Walk me through, you know, how you got that first project. Who are the contacts in the space that you have to know to get into this vertical?

SPEAKER_03 17:11

Dude, the best thing I could say is just be friends with a GC who's got the workflow. Um, because these these QSRs are not gonna hire you so into like by themselves to do one task unless they're like super penny pinchers and they're trying to like not use a GC, but at the end of the day, they are gonna legally have to because of code requirements and things like that and permitting. Um just making friends with a a GC and a GC that's open to working with different people and doesn't look at everybody as a form of competition, you know, because that's I think what sets Paul and I apart is you know, we've met our fair share of people that they don't want to open their book because they hold it tight to the chest, and you know, which I understand why, but I've also seen the positive side of when you do open your book, you know, I mean nobody's you know, sure, is there somebody better than legacy and Paul and Craig? Sure, but they don't have the personalities we have, the characteristics we have, and you know, the relationships we have too.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

So I will say this though. Um, one of the franchise partners that we work for, because it's that's what you're so what you're you're target, you're targeting from our perspective, you're going after construction managers, you're going after the guy right underneath the guy who owns everything ultimately. Finding that guy, can't tell you how we do it, you know? No. Um, no, a real though, it's kind of hard, dude. Like we just do like heavy, heavy loads of research, you know, like we're always on our computers, like finding, sifting through a lot of things that lead to another thing that lead to another thing. It's like a stepping stone type process, you know. But with the first one we got was from the Dunkin', which was an was another out-of-state contact that we made. And that has led to, you know, for us, uh quite a few, probably close to at least a third of the ones that we've done so far. It's been like you said, it's just you get one good contact and you keep they keep them coming. And but they're a restaurant group, so they have a few different franchises. They do wing stops, they do five, they do uh uh stone kittens, they do a new one for our area of Hawaiian Bros. So that's one good contact. Through that, we found another good contact, and that's kind of how we've been trying to hopscotch and find, do, like I said, heavy payloads of research, heavy marketing. And we also have so you're there's levels of like, for instance, the first Bob guys we did. The guy who we did it for was an out of state contractor, right? He was licensed here, but he was an out of state contractor. So he didn't want to come down here because he was kind of far, and he had never handed a whole job off the way he did to us. But upon meeting him, explaining to him like our knowledge base, he felt comfortable there. He still put a super on the job who halfway through the job is like, I really shouldn't have wasted the money on super, you know, which I understood because you don't know what you're getting until you get it. But since then, it's been us on all the jobs that we do with him, you know. So we we have a repertoire, we have uh um, you know, we have references, but we also have like, you can go look, we have a pamphlet made specifically for QSR franchise partners and whatnot that show showcase what we've done already and what we what we what we know about them, you know. That's important.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, I think one thing that, you know, and give me your thoughts on this, but when you've got you look at the guys like you who are crushing it, who are growing fast, and then you've got the old guy who's been doing it for 30 years, he you know, sticks to a certain radius, never really grows too much. And like you said, Paul, at the beginning, you know, you you created a job for yourself. What I've found in all these conversations is the difference there is the willingness to network and and really treat it like a sales job, where you know what if you're an insurance, finance, whatever, the sales networking, being on LinkedIn, grabbing coffees with people, like that's key in any industry. And it's especially key here where, like you've talked about, one good connection opens the door to 15 more.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

It's hard, dude, because I don't uh to think of myself as a salesman is really, really difficult. Totally. But what I've really, but it's but you're not wrong. I've realized I have no reason it's like, well, that's all we really me and Craig are just salesmen at this point, but we're selling a product that we stand by, so it's easy. I'm not really selling you something that you don't need, and I'm not trying to get over on anybody. I'm giving you a service that's gonna benefit your life. And when I look at it like that, it makes it easy because that's how I've always looked at it, which is why I never thought I was doing sales, you know.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

We look at it like yeah, yeah, you can go and get the same cut and dry work done by anybody, but you don't get Paul and Craig.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, you don't get the dream team, which is how one of our QSR, one of our bigger yeah, Wingstop QSR um Wingstop Port gave us the nickname the Dream Team because we save so much time and

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Projects. They give they give their franchise 12 weeks to do a project. We turn it over to them in nine.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

That is a good reputation to have. You got to get that on the website, the dream team.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

That's what it is, though. When you focus heavy on your scheduling, you know, and I again like I you see this in the industry all the time, but there's people that step on their subs left and right. One thing that we don't do is that we cater to our subs heavily so that we can maintain schedules. So when we when we work with people regularly and we have good relationships with those people as well, the people that work underneath us, but on our jobs, it keeps the schedule tight. You know, when they're on only our jobs 90% of the time, they go to our jobs when they need to be there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Which has been pretty cool to see. They're adjusting and growing with us, which is we like them.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Let's focus on the scheduling a little bit more because I think the what's so important there is the customer satisfaction and the reputation you get when you set the expectation of what's going to happen and what you guys exactly did. You didn't just meet the expectation, you exceeded it. What are some of the tips? You've mentioned a few there, but how do you get that scheduling dialed in? Um, you know, what are the two or three things that you have to have right to make sure project deadlines are met? And then, you know, if you can touch on the value that that has with the customer experience.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

You have to have realistic expectations. So you have to know what you're doing first, like first and foremost.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

First job you run through, I wouldn't do tight schedules unless it's something that you've done already. It's just a different format. But then from there, you have to know to meet permitting processes, local ordinances, which you're gonna run into along the way because some of them are different than other ones. Those are always time crushers, and then making sure that you're maintaining your subs time too. So, like for us, like I said, a big thing that we have is we know where our subs generally are, what they might be overloaded with. So we don't pick people that are gonna be jammed up on something else, or we don't do conflict scheduling. So that's something that we always monitor as well. Um, and that is just due diligence. Like our superintendents are on top of everything on orders on the front end of everything. We build out schedules immediately upon day one. We review plans before we start jobs with the project estimator in house two. So, like making sure you understand the job thoroughly before you start it, making sure you understand the schedule thoroughly before you start it, making sure all your subs do too, and making sure you know what your um estimate, your um, your permitted process is gonna be throughout the project, what requirements you're gonna have from state fire marshal or local fire marshal, depending on where you're at. Those are the things that will keep you moving at a tight time.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

And permitting, like you said, it's one of those things where you have to do it in order to understand it, I'm guessing. Like you're not gonna understand the timeline of ordinances and working with governments unless you've had that rep. So I like what you said there about you know, if this is your first time doing a job like this, leave a little wiggle room for you to make mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yeah. But if you get on the front end of it, you can ask questions too. So we've realized that you speak to your permitting office, to your local, wherever you're pulling the permits from, you ask them what they're processing. What are your process for the hood? What are you processing for this, that? What are your rules that might be different than other places? That way you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

And sometimes you'll get a municipality that they don't even know. Yeah, like New Orleans, yeah. They don't even know.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Oh, you do you set realistic expectations if you work in the city of New Orleans, you just you just don't even, you're just not gonna, you're not gonna, you're just not gonna get there. You know, just know that ahead of time. Just say sorry right when you start.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Talk to that a little bit. I mean, what's the what is it like working in New Orleans? Clearly a little bit chaotic.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

It's an absolute nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Yeah, and uh really it's yeah, it's worse.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Interesting, interesting. Okay, we'll we'll move on from that. Uh let's talk technology a little bit. I mean, I mean, I'm sure, like what kind of stuff have you guys implemented? Scheduling, planning everything out. Um, do you have any experience with this? Is this something you guys have played around with? There's obviously all sorts of new AI and and all sorts of stuff coming out.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

I would just say the biggest thing we've started to implement is um a clawbot. Tell me more.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Tell me more.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

That's been pretty fun. Um, we're basically just building it out to create this one interface that our company can use to have like the one-stop shop for everything that they need and get rid of the white noise and stuff like that that they have to handle, you know. Try to make their lives better.

unknown 26:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Yeah, we're working on that now. We've we we we we use the the standards up to this point as far as like Pro Core goes, but that's just that's just for organization of a job, you know. And then there's we use, you know, same like for finances, we use the standard.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

We have um we're Apple integrated, so everybody here has Macs and you know, iPhones and stuff like that. And they everything's all integrated like that with calendars and iCloud files and things like that, makes it seamless and less of a headache. You know, people don't have to go looking for stuff because it's all on the cloud. Uh, we have Pro Core and we have PlanHub and we have a few things, AIA, contract software.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Um, we got a lot of stuff. Yeah, and that's what we realized. Like what we're trying to do with AI right now is that we have all these different softwares that we use, and we're like, how can we put them in one? You know, like how can we group these things together? I mean, technically, some of them kind of do versions of that already. Like Pro Core can kind of do some of that financial stuff, but it's kind of clung to it. And if you don't have a lot of experience with it, like we're hiring superintendents and project managers, we're not hiring software technicians, you know. So it's like if you don't have years of experience on the job using Procore, you're gonna not be the greatest at it on day one. And we have a younger team here. So we're looking at uh implementing AI to create our own software that sort of integrates ProCore, you know, QuickBooks, all of the different things that we use, AIA contracts, DocuSign, all that stuff into one login on your phone, one app on your phone that you go into, job files that has everything in it. Your own bot sends if you if you're in the operations team, you just test it a question, it'll give you an answer based on what's in the plans you don't already know, or send an RFI out automatically through Protocol. Still documents everything in Procore. So that we still maintain the industry standards, but we have a more seamless operation internally. That's what we're targeting.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah, I've got a one of my clients who's do he's in the roofing industry and he's he's building something similar. Um, and I think in general, what you that pain point you guys mentioned there of having multiple different tech stacks and bouncing from one product to another. I mean, that's a pain point every business experiences. And I think with AI as it's advancing, there's gonna be more and more of an ability to have one central, like you mentioned, one bot that taps into all those data sources, and then you're each employee has basically their agent that can pull from those different data sources and make it so you're not jumping in to multiple different things. So could have a whole conversation on that. But you mentioned the younger team. You guys are obviously young guys.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

What is the we do have an old car, you know? We got one really old volatile, yeah. Just turn it down. Yeah, well, you gotta have one, yeah. You gotta have one. They balance it out because he's so old, you embrace a whole bottom up. You were averaged in the 20s now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

So tell me about do you I mean, talk about in general? You think there's an advantage, a disadvantage? I think there's an advantage to being to being younger. You have the ability to implement these new technologies, but what has your guys' experience been um being on the younger side, where you know, some people might be talking to an 80-year-old GC versus you all. How's your experience been? Advantage, disadvantaged? Talk to that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

It's pretty adaptable. Uh, you're it's you're more readily adaptable. Um running a younger crew, too, they're easy to mold and train them in the way that you know we feel is the proper way. Um you know, we have a couple of older individuals, but they're not super stuck on one method, you know, like one of them in particular. Um, he's wanted to try new things and has brought that to the table for other companies, and they've just pretty much told him no. And we gave him a director seat here to build out that vision for us, you know, because we welcome new ideas, you know. We don't just shoot them down every time we hear them, we sit down, we listen to them, we critique them, you know, why it would make sense, why it wouldn't make sense, things like that. So we're open, you know, like anybody on our team can come to talk to us about work, about family, about any struggles that they have in or out of the office. You know, Paul and I are here for them. And I think that that's what makes a big difference too with running a crew of a younger generation, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yeah, we may not have, we may not always have the years of experience in doing certain projects, but that's why we have brought certain people in too. You know, like one thing that Craig and I always do, we we also maintain is that we don't know everything, like no ego drive here at all. And so that leaves us very open to new knowledge regularly and also filling gaps. So we brought people in our business to help us with our business. We brought people into our to the field to help us with the field that have more experience than we do in those areas. And then from there, because we have a youthful team, they get there quicker. They have somebody to kind of coach them through these parts that they might need to jump on fast. Like that big project, we're training one of our other, our younger superintendents right now on a big job so he can learn that whole process from start to finish, you know, and like that's how we looked at it. It's like, you know, these guys' strength is an experience, and our strength is an adaptability and evolution, you know, like and so let's merge them, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Talk to me a little bit about the team growth. When when did you guys make your first hire? What was that hire? And then how has that kind of expanded from now? What are the different roles? Um, and then if there's one role that's that sticks out, is like this was a very key hire that made a big difference for us. If you could pinpoint that as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Well, when we started, I was joking. When we started, I had a few people already just guys in the field. Again, I was a residential, so I had a few guys like that. I think our first real hire was Logan, huh? Is it not Aaron? Aaron's still a sub for a long time. So yeah, I guess it was first time in the track. And then I yeah. And then I thought I said key high, you think on Joe? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

We we brought in um our uh VP of the business operations, who actually is my sister, but um she left a long career as a PE teacher, uh, a career she loved, and was she was doing that for what 13 years? A long time, yeah, yeah. And uh she she wanted to come work with us. We we were, you know, yeah, flattered by that because she was given up so she had business degrees and stuff too, so she was qualified for the job. She's given up a 13-year, you know, career that she's built, and she came here and she's been phenomenal, like absolutely phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Yeah, we um we felt along the way that we were running everything ourselves, Craig and I, and we were ripping our hair out, and I was stressed out, and I was up late, and I was up early, and I was dealing with 50 million phone calls, so and he was too. We were both in the same boat, and we're like, dude, like it's not sustainable. You know, it really that that hard push that we you know that we did for months got us, it was really good for us, but then at some point it's like this isn't maintainable. We brought a business coach in. When that happened, we went and started doing this coaching class, whatever, and there it was, it was you know, the leadership team. I brought her to the table just because of how frugal she is, and so I wanted her on our books. And she wound up really like, you know, like wow, like I, you know, I the things that we stood for as a business, which are our our um core value, is she just they stood out to her heavily, which are willingness and relentless relentlessness, positivity, growth mindset, and being humble. And she just is like, I think I could see myself just doing this instead. And so we did it like that and we worked out, and she came in and just started out this great systems. And then I kind of offloaded onto a sub two, a subcontractor. He came to work for us. He he gave up his business to be a part of ours and he became the VP of project operations because Craig has always been on the business end of things, you know, like the the the um the licenses and running the office stuff and doing the books and whatnot, and I've been in the field. So that's kind of how we've delegated ourselves, and there's a lot of crossover too, which was always hard to there's a lot of we stepped on each other's toes earlier on. Bringing those people in, taking some of the load off, and then creating systems with us helped us to further ourselves better and become more organized.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

I've heard this time and time again, though. I mean, from guys who are doing $50 million a year in revenue, you know, their advice on on when do you make that hire is exactly the experience you both had, which is hey, do it until you can't anymore and your life sucks. And at that point, you know it's time to offload it. Um, and then I think you guys already touched on this, but finding the people that are good at what you're either not good at or at what you don't enjoy, um, those are kind of the first places to look. So this was this has been great. We'll finish it off with just kind of where where the future is for you guys. Um, what's kind of the ultimate goal here and and where can people find you?

SPEAKER_03 35:55

I'd say our goal is 100 million by 2031 or 2030. 30. I don't know, 31 million. I don't know. 30 or 31. So we have a lot of work to do. Yeah, and you can find us in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, soon to be Florida.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Yeah, and because of Texas, I'll need a GC license there as well. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

100 million by 2031. Cheers to it. Annually, annually. Yep. All righty, thank you, boys. Appreciate you coming on.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Yes, sir. Thank you.