Collaborating for the Client: Vendor Partnerships in Luxury Design with SAV Digital Environments

Welcome back to Couture & Construction! In today’s episode, host Andrew Denny explores the importance of collaboration in the luxury design space with the team at SAV Digital Environments, a leader in home technology and smart solutions for luxury residences. 

Andrew and our guests discuss how vendors from different trades can collaborate to elevate the client experience in high-end residential projects. The guests share their insights on overcoming challenges, fostering relationships, and evolving expectations in the industry, particularly with the influence of younger, tech-savvy builders. 

This episode highlights the benefits of teamwork and shared knowledge in delivering cohesive and innovative design solutions.

Episode Timestamps 

00:22 Meet the SAV Team

00:53 Exploring the Power of Collaboration

05:30 The Importance of Relationships

08:06 Collaboration Through Industry Groups

14:50 Lessons from Other Trades

22:33 The Value of Authentic Empathy

24:37 Community and Competition in Construction

30:19 Adapting to New Market Trends

34:06 The Importance of Communication

34:51 Building Relationships Through Collaboration

37:29 Embracing Technology in Construction

46:46 Advice for Breaking Barriers

47:27 Rapid Fire Q&A

Learn more about SAV Digital Environments

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About Couture & Construction: Hosted by Andrew Denny of Textures Nashville, Couture & Construction is an uplifting podcast dedicated to the many different aspects of the luxury building industry. Through thoughtful conversations with makers and business owners, Couture & Construction is a weekly podcast that breaks down the luxury side of the construction industry. Join us as we share the stories and introduce you to the people behind beautiful spaces. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrew: Welcome back to Couture and Construction. I'm your host, Andrew Denny, and today we're exploring the power of collaboration in the luxury design space. Our guests today are from the SAV team. We have Stephanie, Mike, and Robert. Together they make up. SAV Digital Environments, Premier Systems based out of Chicago and Naples, and a joint venture Premier SAV based in Montana and Florida.

You guys work all over the country, all over the Western Hemisphere with offices from the Caribbean up to the Northern Rockies. They specialize in bringing cutting edge technology to homes, creating seamless and Integrated environments. But today we're going to focus on something bigger, how vendors across different luxury trades can work together to serve a common client in the high end residential market, where multiple vendors are involved in a project, successful collaboration is key to delivering a cohesive and elevated client experience.

So let's dive into how. Unrelated vendors from home tech to flooring and beyond can form partnerships that benefit both their businesses and their clients. Welcome everybody. Thank you so much for being here. Just want everybody to introduce themselves. So we've got two folks from textures, including myself and three from the SAV and premier teams.

Mike, why don't I start with you? Just a little bit about you. Who's Mike?

[00:01:37] Mike: Mike Rossmuller, a partner in VP Operations for SAV and also for Premier SAV, the joint venture that you were, you were mentioning. I'm a native Montanan, spent a little bit of time outside of Montana in a younger life, but ended up moving down to Bozeman and started this little journey. With Studio AV and into the technology world somewhere 21 years ago, and then jumped into a partnership and with Corey Riefstead and SAV outside of working that full life, uh, enjoy fishing and sports and journey to see every baseball stadium.

[00:02:09] Andrew: Oh, sweet. Love that. Scott, multiple time guest and VP for textures. Scott Moore. Tell us a little bit about you. 

[00:02:17] Scott: Thank you. Glad to be back on the podcast again, been with textures for a while now, and just continuing to help us kind of feed off of the success that we've had. And one of the next things that we're doing is coming here to Charleston.

So we're excited about that and laying some of the groundwork of being able to have our second showroom here in the Holy city. So, 

[00:02:36] Andrew: yeah. Nice. Nice. Stephanie Gilboy. Welcome. I've known you longer than anybody else in this room. So it's kind of how this all came together. So tell us a little bit about Stephanie.

[00:02:47] Stephanie: I have spent my life in different places, but from the inception of our relationship was when I was in Nashville for 30 years and was in the construction and design. Field loved that and did it for a long time and yet somehow the mountains called and the humidity got to be too much. I Ended up relocating to Bozeman, Montana five years ago and really again kind of as this Podcast is I think it illuminate it was it's all about relationships and one of my relationships from Nashville Was you know knew our?

President Cory Riestad and introduced me so that I could meet the other construction and design teams in town. And that never happened. And I ended up shifting gears and, um, becoming a part of this amazing team. And my focus is I bring the design and the construction kind of knowledge base and over the last five years have really dug into the technology element and specifically our kind of our venture into the world of lighting.

Yeah. 

[00:03:53] Stephanie: And, um, that's a natural language for me. So it's been really exciting to watch that, all the lighting systems moving into, into our world. So that's what I, that's it. And, oh, and outside of, uh, work, cause that's right. We do have outside of work. Um, anything outdoors, anything and everything outdoors.

And Bozeman is obviously the place for that. And, uh, and of course, family. So. There you go. 

[00:04:19] Andrew: Robert, welcome up from Naples. Tell us who's 

[00:04:22] Robert: Robert. Robert Anderson, uh, born and raised in Naples, Florida. Partnered principal of premier systems and premier SAV. Kind of who I am, uh, backgrounds, electrical contracting.

I've been doing that since probably 17 years old was my first electrical job. Did that for a solid 15 years, met a great gentleman who's now passed away, but it was a lighting designer out of new England. So, uh, kind of mentored with him on lighting design. So I really found. I liked lighting design more and getting more into fixtures.

I think that was about 2006 and then kind of moved into lighting and lighting control and started that whole world and kept doing electrical along the way. But [00:05:00] around 2012, I met Premier on a, on a project down in Naples and we kind of aligned on a lot of different fronts and kind of helped them open up in Naples.

It's been a crazy journey since then. Outside of work, work is my life, but spent a lot of time in my free time fishing with my daughter and a lot of hunting. Anything outdoors used to do a lot of motocross, but injuries and odor, I get not, not as much as I used to 

[00:05:24] Andrew: gravity.

So Stephanie, I'm going to just start back with you. You know, you and I met probably sometime in the middle of 2002 work together for almost two decades. And you actually being in Bozeman, you. You've been up there for five years out of the blue earlier this year, you connected me with a design firm that was doing a project in middle Tennessee that you thought I'd be a good fit for, and we were able to reconnect.

So to me, that's very powerful. And that's really what today's conversation is going to be about. Is first of all, just taking care of relationships, but working with good people. I mean, it's really a Testament here. We are sitting all in a different market than any of us have anything to do with. Decide to meet and just kind of compare notes.

Like it's remarkable to me that that started with a relationship 20 years ago and totally unrelated industries, but just being friends and doing the right thing. Just kind of lead you to the next step. So how does that happen? I mean, how do people practice that you guys have a joint venture? We're longtime friends.

Scott and I have worked together. Scott and I worked together. He went through two jobs before he joined textures. We just stayed in touch. So really that's, I want to talk about that today and tell me just a little bit of feedback on that. 

[00:06:48] Stephanie: I think, I mean, my take on it is that, you know, one of the, the The main reasons I have always loved what I've done is because of the relationships I've been able to cultivate.

And that went from clients, to, you know, other trades people and to vendors that I worked with. And I think that when you have passion for what you do and you want to be the best at what you do and you recognize that without others, you won't get there. 

Yeah. 

[00:07:16] Stephanie: Right. So I think that you bring your passion, you bring the humbleness and you bring authenticity and That gets you a pretty, pretty magic sauce there.

And I think that those, those relationships you cultivate are long term. They're not, you know, they're meant to, to stand the test of time. And so knowing that if, you know, we had a relationship and I knew that whoever you were going to treat Everybody, the same way you treated me, right? It wasn't about, oh, I'm a VIP client and I get the best service and everybody else doesn't get anything.

It was just the way you are, right? And I think that goes a long way, and I think that's, SAV carries that same kind of focus and that we really want to be the best at what we do and we recognize that you can't do it alone. And that's, Okay, 

[00:08:06] Andrew: yeah, so it's that whole birds of a feather thing that we've heard our entire life iron sharpens iron so Mike and Robert there's industry groups where you can work with peers, right?

And you guys met through the guild which is a professional organization That led to a joint venture, walk us through what that collaboration look like. I know it's, it's, you guys are in a related field, but I think that's really fascinating because it's a great example of the right people coming together for, for a common purpose within this industry.

[00:08:39] Robert: Yeah, the guild was how we met. I mean, I would, there's, I've met so many people through the guild throughout the country. Um, even vendors outside of this, the companies that are inside of it, I think premier early on, if. Corey's not here, but big personality, like just a great guy, easy to talk to. From our standpoint, we kind of gravitated to him.

Uh, we did a couple internships with them where we sent people to their facility. They did a sales summit with us where we got to know them. They, from a, a culture standpoint and core values almost in line with us a hundred percent. So it was, it was really simple. When the opportunity came up to do a joint venture down in Wyoming inside Jackson, it was there was nobody else that really wanted to do it with.

We didn't want to do it alone. We didn't want to do it with just anybody. It's been great. That's very cool. 

[00:09:30] Mike: Yeah, I'd have to agree with Robert on that. It's within the guild. The biggest thing that happens is people leave their ego out the door and you try to try to raise You know, you raise the tide and you want to elevate the industry by little bits at a time.

And we hope that we do that and be humble doing it. So when you leave the ego out the door on the joint venture coming together, it was, we didn't want to, we didn't want to do it alone either. We so very much share the same optics that we wouldn't want to do it with anybody else since we've met. And [00:10:00] everything, even through the guild, it's just wildly weird that all of the core values, the more that we meet and authentic and everything else, and the more that we do stuff together is like the more aligned instead of eventually we all thought like, there'll be something, there'll be a roadblock somewhere, we'll get through it.

But so far it's been pretty, pretty good sailing. In the relationships there with the guild, along with everything else through, through what we do is the way we've been able to, you know, To succeed and just be humble and approach, uh, and also be able to take some, no matter what you do, you know that someone else has probably done it or done it better.

Mm-Hmm. And, and then also you've, you know that you're not alone when you share problems. How do 

[00:10:41] Andrew: you Yeah. How, how amazing is that, right? Yeah. I mean, 'cause we're all in small business too, so to have that backup is fantastic. Scott, I wanna kick it to you. You, you visited this team up in Bozeman and Big Sky.

And when you came back to Nashville, you had just a lot of very cool things to share about, like, Hey, I saw this really high functioning group. You were excited. And, and it was like, how do we, how do we integrate some of that into our business? Like you were, you were inspired by what you saw. 

[00:11:17] Scott: Yeah, because it's, you know, as you and I have spent many time, I want to touch on something you said earlier about, you know, we're talking about relationships and when you and I had first met one things that I've found in, especially in the interiors market with what, what we all do is that Andrew and I were basically in the same field with my previous company and his, we had never crossed paths once we had gotten together and we started, you know, talking and stayed in touch and we, you know, came on board, we What we found out is it's a small world as far as all the people we knew, but we had never crossed paths before.

We'd both been doing business in the same city for, you know, 10, 15 years. And just his core and my core had, they just never crossed. And then once we got together, we saw that the value of. Connections that I had and connections. He has all those pieces start going together and being able to come out and meet with you guys.

It was that same thing. It's a connection Andrew had from years ago and was able to come out and you guys were very gracious with your time. And the inspiring thing to me is we're always striving. One of the things we, you know, I'm sure our, uh, our staff is kind of sick of us talking about, but it's like, there's never, there's never a plateau, like we're always striving.

To kind of keep going, there's never going to be a point where we get, yeah, we're not going to get there and go, Oh, all right, guys figured that out. Um, so, you know, in our heads, when we think about it and we're dreaming big and we're like, what is the optimal thing? It's like, man, if we can do really cool projects, be able to do them at scale, have a great team and being able to go out and see what you guys have put together and see, you know, be in big sky, be in Bozeman and see the team that you guys have assembled.

How everyone interacted, very positive environment of just all the different, you know, I, I think I told you when I got back, I'm like, man, like. Cephe took me ever. I think I met probably 40 people today. I don't know if I'll remember more than four names, but for us and where we're at in our journey of trying to, you Do something really cool and grow it.

Uh, it was super inspiring to me to see the amount of moving parts, because especially in the field that you guys do and the coordination and the amount of technology that is in it, you really have to have a lot of coordination. And just from a business perspective and being an entrepreneur, seeing. The parts and pieces and how all these different positions and groups can work together to, you know, basically formulate one finished task.

It's that was super impressive for me to see. 

[00:13:46] Andrew: I think you made several great points there. And I think that, you know, with relationships, there's maybe multiple reasons why you would, why you would pursue relationship and in business, I think it's foundationally to learn something. Or to just be in a network, we're in unrelated industries, but seeing how having some visibility and understanding what it takes to pull off your job has made us smarter and how we're able to approach our clients, like understanding really even understanding, like, The cost of what you do, the timing of when that happens, how it starts at, at the design phase, when you guys are coming in, pulling wire, like it broadens your perspective.

You're a much more educated vendor. If you can start piecing together how. A project becomes complete and lives out the dream. Do any of you all work with other vendors that, that have helped you kind of have a different perspective on, on how [00:15:00] the flow goes or, or what challenges they, they go up against, for example, I know a challenge you all go up against is if you're not brought in at the front end of a design, if you're brought in, you halfway through and like during MEP.

Like it's a much different and more challenging ordeal. Have you guys learned a lesson like that from any other, any other trades in the building process that have helped you in your business? 

[00:15:28] Robert: I've learned a lot from a pretty good friend who's an architect being in early, like you said, is huge for what we do as a business.

We touch so many different aspects of the home and we're in the home for such a long period of time. He's taught me that it's not always the, Priority of from a construction standpoint to bring somebody like us in the lighting sides, a little different lighting is always pretty, pretty important on the upfront because it touches so much of the textures of the home.

I mean, it's so part of the architecture TVs and phones and what not has. He's always reminding me that, you know, it's not that important sometimes. And it's usually, we are kind of forgotten about. So a lot of my DSA, we do a lot of DSA contracts, design services. AV is literally the last thing that I get to every single time.

It's always lighting control. Lighting design is always number one. We have such an important job in a house for a homeowner, but also part of what we do is kind of unimportant to something. It's just, it's weird. It's 

[00:16:29] Andrew: I actually love what you're sharing right now, because I think we can all, you know, I think ego is part of all of us.

So, you know, to me, the most important part of the home by far is the floors.

So I think, like, that's a 

[00:16:47] Robert: it doesn't look good at night, 

[00:16:48] Andrew: but I think that's such a great example of now understanding perspective. So now, instead of you being frustrated, At that very thing, you can serve your client better because you have a slightly different perspective. Uh, so that's really, really powerful.

Mike or Stephanie, anything you all have learned? 

[00:17:13] Stephanie: I, well, I think I learn all the time. And I think that's something that at every opportunity, whether it's a interaction with A, a builder, a trade, another subcontractor, a designer. Part of what I felt like was one of my kind of strong suits in the world in construction and design was over the years, my ability to speak the different languages.

I could speak client, I could speak builder, I could speak trade. And so I would help kind of translate, you know, and make sure that that information kind of like what Robert's saying. Like, if it's not important. to the people. It's not because it's not important. It's because they don't quite understand. 

[00:17:54] Andrew: I don't 

[00:17:54] Stephanie: understand what even what it is and 

[00:17:56] Andrew: something more important, right?

That's good. They don't have the bandwidth. 

[00:18:00] Stephanie: They're in a bandwidth. They don't have somebody who's helping them kind of translate it or bring it to the table in a way where it is It's easy to approach, easy to understand, and, and knows how to fill in the gaps. And I think that's this kind of intuitiveness that we gain with the more we learn on the job site.

And that is, you know, that you are not the only player on the team, but understanding where you can serve the other players to help the overall process. That's where the people who matter set themselves apart, right? And that's how you get loyalty. within your, between your, in your teams, your partners, 

I 

[00:18:35] Stephanie: mean, the partners, your, the build teams want to use, you know, the, you look at the mechanical or the, or the plumbing or the electrician, those are the hardest trades for them.

Those trades are in and they're gone at the end. Our trade is not, we are the one, and this is the, we're a relationship company. We're there until the, you know, I'm with the homeowners. throughout their experience, their problems, their next renovations. Um, so it's really important to us, but sometimes, you know, like I said, there's something else that's more important.

Or more urgent. It's not urgent. It's not important. I think 

[00:19:08] Andrew: urgent is the thing. And I think that's what happens. They get distracted. 

[00:19:12] Stephanie: And so I think our job is just glean those, that information, those relationships, figure out how to, you know, help other people get problems solved so that you can then come to the table.

[00:19:23] Andrew: Yeah, Scott, what lessons have you learned from somebody outside of the trades? I mean, Scott, Scott's background is a maker, so you have a lot of different perspectives, but, uh, obviously with textures, I mean, there's a process to everything. So what have you learned that's helped you? 

[00:19:38] Scott: I think that as, as time has gone along, I think what's interesting is for a lot of the, there's different levels to everything.

As you, what I've seen that is common across a lot of the different people that we have met and that we kind of collaborate with is as you strive to have a higher level of product, a [00:20:00] higher level of service, you also find other businesses, no matter what trader vendor that they are, they're That if they're trying to do those same things, you start seeing yourselves on the same projects and even in different markets.

So, uh, I think, you know, Mike was saying earlier, it's kind of that, that rising tide raises all ships. Well, one thing that I've really picked up on is with what we're doing. It really is a service industry. And I know Andrew, you talk about this a lot. It's, it's like having that willingness to serve because that's what we're doing.

It's it, we're, we're meeting expectations. We're trying to set expectations and meet those expectations. And what that requires is when you have, so we're all different parts of a whole. And so when you have all these different things, you've got to, I mean, I love what you said, Stephanie. It's like, you do have to learn different languages.

And be that interpreter, it's like, okay, so is this timeline accurate? Or am I really getting pushed? Because there's two people behind me that need to get stuck. You know, how do I translate that to the client without, you know, letting know that that's the motivation and what you're trying to do is you're just navigating and trying to take all of that away so that when we engage with our clients, it's always like, If you work with us, that's one thing that we're going to take off your plate, have confidence in us, that we're going to take care of this scope that you're entrusting us with because these people and clients and trust us with a lot of money and a lot of, uh, things that are integral to what their end goal is.

So when you kind of make that agreement, you have to back it up. And I think the biggest thing that I've learned is in order for that to successfully happen, it is these collaborations and it is that communication loop that has to be concise because. The ideal victory is all this stuff happens in the background and the client or whoever it is, if it's through the designer, the architect, whoever's driving, as long as we're meeting what we said that we were going to do, they really don't care how the sausage is made.

And so I think the less feedback that we get that, that to me tells me the story of the better job that we're doing, because if they don't have to think about it and they don't have to call and check on that's 

[00:22:04] Andrew: value. 

[00:22:04] Scott: That's right. That's the value that we're selling is. Yeah. Hey, we're going to take it off your plate.

You can, you know, go give the landscaping guy some help. Cause there's never money left for him. So go, you know, Mike, what about 

[00:22:17] Mike: you? What have you learned over the years? I think the biggest thing that I've, that I've learned is very similar to what you guys are talking about is when I first started in the industry, it was like, you, as I can.

I gotta find out where this phone goes. I gotta find out where this goes. This is most important to me. It's, it's the actual authentic empathy. If I had one thing to, to say to anybody that's in the industry was authentic empathy will get you from a, from a vendor and a partner side, also from a client side.

Mm-Hmm. And like you had said, again, the client side and being able to be a client at one time or else e even part of that process, you're able to put yourself in there. You don't care how the sausage is made. Mm-Hmm. . And, but you want to know that someone's got you. You, there is a, no matter how good any, anybody in the industry, whatever trade you are, there's going to be something that comes up and how you react to that.

Will set the tone for, for everything. And one thing that we've, I've always, uh, been taught or mentored even from Corey from an early, early on was we got you, it was, if something happens, we got you in the, the other thought on that is how infant this technology inside our homes and residences.

Actually really, really is in from a, from, you know, five to 10 years ago, where, where shades, even 10 years old shades were, or were a big thing. And you hardly ever got shades, you know, but now they're becoming a, an appliance. 

[00:23:39] Andrew: Yeah. 

[00:23:39] Mike: And so like, um, what I'm super excited about what Stephanie was mentioning is too, is like lighting, we weren't going to change.

I don't think we were going to change the industry, the industry let, changed it for us by letting us into lighting design. And wellness and everything else. So now when you're talking about lighting fixtures and lighting design, and we're at the table, we can lead with the other things earlier. One of our biggest hurdles is getting in early and then also having enough time on the backend to install it and, and, and pressure test it.

So the first button that a client hits. Actually works, you know, so if you can do that with whether it's a GC or the electrician, and you can be authentic with it to say, I care about your success because it does help me. And you, you help with schedules, you adapt, you, uh, empathize with what's going on and what the GC is going through.

I just think you're going to be in a whole lot better spot. And then the relationships just foster. 

[00:24:34] Andrew: Yeah, very, very cool. Great answer. I want to talk about more of an opinion based topic because one of the issues and one of the reasons we formed couture and construction is about community. But in our industry, construction as a whole, it feels like a lot of firms.

I mentioned earlier, we're all small businesses can feel very insular. Okay. And you know, you may view [00:25:00] Everybody is competition. It's insular. Why do you think that is like, do you have any, any, and again, opinion, Robert, I'll start with you. 

[00:25:08] Robert: This is a hard one for me because I've never, I guess, naturally I'm not that person, even before the guild, I would always help out other companies if they needed something during COVID there was a problem with getting stuff.

And sometimes we had stuff, so I would sell stuff to competition so they could complete a job for one of our trade partners that we just didn't get the job for. So that, that's a struggle for me. I've always been very open and wanting to help, you know, the better the competition around me, it's better for me.

We strive to be the best. Like that's, that's our number one goal. It's, you're never going to achieve it, but you always want to be the best. And to, to get there, you have to have the best around you to keep pushing you. I think everybody's. You know, stealing from the cookie jar. You know, everybody thinks the pie is so, is only so big and it's finite.

It's fine. Yeah, 

[00:25:59] Andrew: and it's and it's not. And there's some truth to that. 

[00:26:02] Robert: But you know, there's plenty of work for everybody and having good relationships in your market, even. with competition. It's a great thing. Like it's it's what everybody needs. 

[00:26:13] Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, we have a high end hardwood provider across the hall from us and at the National Design Collective, Francois and Company.

Beautiful product. Beautiful showroom. I love that they're across the hall like that helps our consumer a have options and seeing different styles, but it helps normalize what we do and brings awareness to the market. The more homes with beautiful hardwood, the better the industry. So, Stephanie, do you have any theories or agree?

Disagree or disagree? 

[00:26:51] Stephanie: No, I think that's, I agree. There's a couple different things in there. I think that understanding that competition is healthy, right? I mean, without it, we're not maybe as, I don't know, encouraged to grow all the time. I think you learn from your competition. And I also think that's why they make, you know, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, because sometimes you're just not the right flavor, which is okay.

And I think sometimes it's a way to approach things. And we want everybody, you know, the whole Guild Alliance is about bringing awareness and elevating an industry across, you know, the country. And some of those, you know, we could have overlap for. But we don't need that. You know what I mean? It's better to help grow and, and educate what our, what our industry does.

And then, you know, the other part on, you know, as Mike was saying, you really want the other people on your jobs to be successful. They may not be your competition, but they are competing for scheduling. Or, you know, kind of priority or say an electrician who thinks that maybe there's overlap in scope and they get real defensive that they're losing, you know, market share.

And we need to be really diligent about making sure that our partners understand that our intention is not for that. The pie is getting bigger. Not less slices. You know what I mean? And so that is on us, I think, to both provide the education, to grow our, our teams, you know, are more educated. Our teams understand the value of, of the relationship of the sub that's next to them.

That's driving them crazy. You know what? Instead of getting angry or being petty, you go help them, right? You got to take the high road and you do that enough times. And every, you know, then, then you kind of start to see this, that the cards kind of lay flat, not everybody's carrying them so close, you know what I mean, and worried about their, their, you teach that and you practice it and that's a hard thing to do.

[00:28:53] Scott: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well said, well said, and I think some of that just comes from maturation, you know, one of Andrew and I's fun pastimes is you, you look back and you're like, man, I remember when, you know, 12, 000 deposit check was, uh, you know, you're coming for three weeks now, you know, well, thank God, you know, and so.

When you're there, you know, but that's the beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur in small businesses is the successful ones have been at all those stages. And so I think when you're talking about that being insular, I think that that I think that is kind of a stage too, because as you do good work and you get to the point where you can afford to say no to a job, like we've all walked on and said, like, You know, we're the ones that are saying we're not the right fit for, we're not letting the client decide we're looking at the snare and just say, either it's man, to be honest, this is, this is beyond our capacity, or we don't have enough bandwidth to take it on, but it's, it takes a lot of work to get to that point.

And I think that. I think that being able to, to get there and find that it's just maturity and maturity of the business, I [00:30:00] would say, you know, it's just time. And having kind of been through different waves of that, we kind of talk about sometimes we're not spring chickens as far as, you know, having fire in the belly and wanting to do something.

I hope that there's a 25 year old that was just like me when I was 25 that wanted to take over the world and I'm going to figure out how to do this. We need those guys that push us. Uh, one thing that we've definitely noticed is, uh, the general contractors that we have seen on projects are getting younger and younger and they're having success.

And the reason is, is because they're changing their model and how they address their client and how people are giving them opportunities because they're bringing something different to the market. So that's encouraging to me when we see that across trades and you see guys that are really. Bringing a different viewpoint, whatever.

And we can look at that and say, all right, they're having success. What, what are they offering or what are they gearing towards that is helping them get traction? And how is that something that we can utilize and, you know, help to push us forward, you got to have footsteps in my mind, and that's just, you got to have footsteps behind you because there's.

Complacency is not someplace that I want to be just in that, that may be personality trait or whatever, but I think for business to continue to be successful and to keep that value proposition for their clients and what they do, they've got to be conscious of what's around them. So I think it's just a natural part of businesses growing that you have that kind of feedback.

Yeah. 

[00:31:20] Andrew: Yeah. I 

[00:31:21] Mike: agree with everything you 

[00:31:22] Andrew: said. 

[00:31:24] Mike: Yeah, I, I agree with that, that, uh, again, sharing and elevating the Because you, you can't afford in any industry or any, any, uh, contractor or sub, whether it's electrical, whether it's technology or it's flooring. If the avenue of what everybody's hearing and seeing is like, you know, You don't want hardwoods in there because no one knows how to treat them or, or dry them because they all buckled in your technology.

Technology doesn't work. Yeah. It's amazing where we get kind of a, uh, siloed and we think, okay, we're going to put lighting systems in and stuff like that. But then when someone goes, well, I'm not, I'm not touching that stuff I've had, I've had unsuccessful. I've, I've used three guys, four guys, nothing you can tell me is going to change that.

And so elevating that industry is to make sure that those other guys success is going to help. Everybody so we can get through. And again, everything has his infancy of, of working or not working. And I think we're just on a pinnacle of, of, uh, breaking through and getting a little bit more mature in that technology era.

And also with your, I agree with you on the, on the younger builders and, And even, even the seasoned builders are saying, okay, I might not have liked this, but we've got to do this, you know, that sort of thing. And so helping them, helping them in any avenue you can, and then also providing value and recognizing the different flavors because we don't, we don't fit everybody and then there's, but there's also to say, Hey, we, we might not be the right price point, but this is our value.

But if we agree that we want to work together or we don't want to work together. But also if, if we're not right, then say, Hey, I got somebody else for you because I think this person's going to really fit your model. And I think they'll treat you good. Yeah. So again, sharing that and being really open to that instead of, instead of saying, Hey, we're not right.

Uh, screw you. I don't care what happens with you. That sort of stuff is contagious in a negative manner and will, and will hurt not only your industry, but everybody's. 

[00:33:14] Andrew: Yeah, just 

[00:33:15] Mike: steering that. 

[00:33:16] Andrew: Yeah, I totally agree, especially with what you shared about just kind of knowing who you are like that. That becomes very powerful.

Everybody kind of echoed that. So with that said, we're all pretty seasoned. At what we do, we all have teams. We all have knock on wood, successful businesses. As of today, what are we doing to help our teams understand this? Obviously we're modeling collaboration, Stephanie, you kind of hit on it a little bit earlier with, instead of hearing the complaining redirecting and saying, Hey, how can you be part of the solution?

But what are we doing to maybe kind of push that forward a little bit faster to where it doesn't have to be a series of wounds to get to, Hey, let's, let's, let's work together. Any ideas on that? 

[00:34:06] Robert: I think very clear and being transparent across all teams of your organization, not being closed book on any, anything would.

It's probably the quickest way to get there. Eve us, you know, fairly large company when it comes to AV in the industry, we have communication issues. I mean, we're still struggling with it today. Um, it's something we're aware of and constantly working on and always driving to be better at that. You know, letting your teams experience stuff outside of what they do on a daily basis, allow them to work with other teams, um, allow them to be part of the decision making on certain stuff.

I think is, you know, very key. To help their growth quicker. That's a great question though. It's, it's, it's, uh, something we're working on all the time. 

[00:34:49] Andrew: Well, I love what you all have done too. So your, your relationship basically started with in, in like the restaurant or food industry would be like a stage where you sent [00:35:00] your teams to work with an, with another team across country, different market.

What was it like? Like, what did you hear as a result of that collaboration? When your teams returned, Mike, what'd you hear? 

[00:35:13] Mike: It was pretty amazing. Cause you hear, you hear great things that other teams are doing and like, Hey, they kind of have this solved or, Hey, this is what they did. This is their approach.

The biggest validation on the also is, uh, and I believe this goes both ways, whether you're sending someone or there's coming to you is like, You're, you're not alone. We'll, we'll do not only how powerful, yeah. We'd only do externships where we send people. We do a project management summit every so often.

And every so years where we bring everybody together and you go through it. The biggest takeaway was like, Oh. I, we, our problems are, is their problems too. Mm-Hmm. , you know, and how do we, and how do we solve? And, and, uh, then they're figuring out how to do that. So that, the biggest thing was probably just figuring out you're not alone, and then creating those relationships.

It doesn't, it isn't figuring out how that, how they put the back box in and, you know, in 

Yeah. In 15 

[00:36:05] Mike: minutes less than the other person. It's actually like, I got a guy to call because we're going to run into 

something. 

[00:36:10] Mike: So it all builds again on, on relationship. And there's friendships that have been born.

What we ideally wanted to do was not only take our, our relationships, we'll be able to saturate that down. And so they can feel that relationship because we're, like you guys said, we're not getting younger and I'm hoping that by not the wounds that we learned long time ago. It's like, they're just, they're skipping those, you know, and what their new wounds or new ways of learning, or maybe a little bit less bloody.

Yeah. 

[00:36:40] Robert: Something that we've done is, um, we have a group Slack. So both companies have Slack, uh, Premier and Premier SAV. A lot of people are in both of those Slack groups. We also have a Guild Slack. For my team, it's, it's great for like, You can reach out to for tech support. You can reach out what's happening.

It's having, you know, 14 companies now throughout the U S being able to communicate all the way down to the, the, the most junior technician has this ability to reach out to a much higher position or somebody with a lot more knowledge to ask advice to, 

[00:37:13] Andrew: wow, that is so cool. Man, y'all have a very progressive industry, or maybe we do too, and I'm just out of the loop.

No, yeah, no, we have a chance. You haven't been invited to 

[00:37:23] Scott: this. I don't 

[00:37:25] Andrew: think 

[00:37:26] Scott: he would like the context. So, 

[00:37:29] Andrew: uh, So, Scott, I want to toss this back to you, and we're getting close to wrapping up, and we'll get to rapid fire, but I think the last, uh, Discussion topic, you brought up a really cool point about the younger GC.

We, we met with a guy here in Charleston this morning, building spectacular home. We're seeing it. And the expectation is different. The way we were taught this business, there wasn't a whole lot of empathy in it. And, and I'm not saying that this, this new generation is, but I would say, I would say it's fair to characterize their, they are more progressive, not ideologically, but.

Like they maybe understand today's customer a little bit differently, not better or worse than, than the previous generation. What do you think their expectation is going to be for a team? Because I think that's something that would be An interesting thing for us to all understand as we move forward.

And as we try to help our teams understand that, 

[00:38:37] Scott: well, even if you just look at, if you look at us as textures, I think all of this is symptomatic of just, especially in your guys industry. It's just the speed at which innovation is coming and product is coming. And so, you know, dating myself, you know, basically last analog generation, right?

So these guys that grew up as GCs, you know, I still remember, you know, three channels and you click it and VHS that is so far past where the speed of technology and growth has come. So when you see these younger guys coming up, they're just basically reacting to their environment where it has been more concise, more clear.

The communication is through the, I mean. Think about 15 years ago, I guarantee you, there wasn't a flooring company that had three different proprietary, like, you know, software platforms that we're interacting with and transferring information. It's like, that's, it's just a result as the 600 yard view of as technology gets more embraced, it's being not only integrated into homes more, but it's also.

But how people communicate and their expectations of how information, you know, look at things like builder's trend, like that was like groundbreaking. It's like, Oh, I actually have something where I can document and see the progress of my build. No, it used to be a hop in the, you know, you hop in your car, you show up and you're like, yeah, you're like, where, where, where is everybody?

Oh, well, you know, we had a ladder bus and, uh, you know, and [00:40:00] so very quickly people adapt. And they get used to that. And, you know, I even see it with my own kids. It's just like, as you have these certain levels that become normalized, people adapt to that very quickly. So I think what we're seeing with this younger generation coming up is in order for them to service their client, they have to show that adaptation.

It's like, I understand how you want to communicate. This is, you know, and then that opens up a whole nother market. Now there's all sorts of different apps and platforms specifically for the construction industry for status updating and communication directly with the client. And so now you have. Almost, you know, basically private slack channel type setups between different vendors and the clients all trying to organize this project where again, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, it was a pickup truck and a cell phone.

I think that where those younger guys are kind of coming from is they're having to one, it's more normalized for them, and they're also trying to adapt to a client that is much more educated. And. The honesty is, is we've all kind of experienced been blessed with the market that we're serving, that is looking for kind of the level that we provide in our different industries, that market is only getting bigger and larger and more people are being fond of some of the things that we provide in that process.

So I think it's just really a reaction to a couple of those different things. 

[00:41:20] Andrew: Very cool. 

[00:41:21] Robert: I would say the gentleman we met today, he's reminds me of a good friend. That's a builder in my market reacting at a different speed. The younger generation is used to reacting immediately because they have technology at their fingertips, where the older builders are, you know, good or bad, maybe set in their ways on.

They've done stuff a certain way for so long. Why change where the younger generation who are now the up and comers a much more Open to new ideas and seeing stuff and they have to be much more from a technology side, a lot more educated on what, what is out there and what the possibilities are. I've noticed that tremendously in my, my core market.

It's a lot different now. 

[00:42:03] Andrew: It's interesting because the expectation for communication in younger adults is they're used to it hitting them from like four, five, six, ten different angles, whether it's instagram and tiktok and probably not email, text, you know, certainly not phone calls, but like, okay.

They're used to it. They are reacting at a different speed. And that I think inherently creates a different expectation. 

[00:42:31] Mike: I'd agree with that as I could, I had an all Oha moment about a year and a half ago where a guy told me we're talking about project was starting to get off time. And I was talking about going through some stuff with him.

And, and he goes, Hey, just to be honest with you. Project management's changed a lot since you did it.

And I, and I first saw like, what the hell? And that was on a Friday afternoon. I sat and I stood on that for like three days. Like, what's he talking about? You know, and I was thinking about all the different, uh, disciplines and everything else that you have to deal with. And finally on Monday, I go, Hey, I've had a long time to think about this.

You're right. I go. As long as you get it back on. Yeah, here's your, here's your stuff, but I said, okay, get it back on track and, and, and show me how you're going to get it. And I, and I, and I, I let off there a little bit and the guy, and the guy just ran with it. And, and it was, uh, it was kind of a, okay, Yeah.

Things have changed. And then when you open that up a little bit on, on, cause I'm, I'm still a paper guy. 

I still like 

[00:43:35] Mike: the, I mean, I print stuff out still. And I come to the meetings and let the ruffling on the paper and the guy has got his phone and he's got everything on his phone. I was like, what are you doing?

You know? So. Just, uh, just prepared and the ability and what, who we met today and what they're doing for a, for a build. And I think there are different expectations that you said, showing up in a pickup truck with three sets of plans because you have a, you have a sticky note on the outside of the date.

So you can 

[00:44:03] Mike: grab the one that you have the crayon on that's got the most recent stuff. And then you run through your electrician and stuff. And one guy's got a real time, you know, uh, iPad that's got edits from it this morning that someone else did across country. So it's excited. Scared a little bit, you know, because of, of what that, what that means for expectations and stuff, but it's also opening up opportunities to where you can place lighting fixtures and you can help save big, not big mistakes, but maybe big hurdles of, of being able to look at reflective ceiling plans and in real time and, and be able to bring that value proposition, not only for us, but for, for other trades like flooring and all that, you know, what, what does that going to mean when you can do something in a 3d model rendering?

And. almost real time, you know, so excited, but glad I'm not doing a lot of it. Stephanie, 

[00:44:54] Andrew: do you have anything to share? 

[00:44:55] Stephanie: Yeah. I mean, so I, I think all that's really true. I also feel like it off [00:45:00] it that with the expectation of, you know, kind of the new up and coming GCs and some of it is kind of the handing off of the baton from often we see from one generation kind of to the next generation, sometimes even, you know, same, same families.

Right. And the younger generation is. It's exposed and aware of this kind of, you know, very, very fast paced information, which means they have a lot of expectations that they are supposed to be experts in a lot of things. And the reality is you can't. We all know that the only way you're an expert is putting the time in.

And so I think what it offers us is the opportunity to assist. And that's beyond our, obviously we're always about training our teams, but it's, it allows us kind of the. Um, it's not the excuse, but it's the reason to say, Hey, GC person, let's talk about what we do. Let's talk about how we can help you look best.

You be an expert in a subject that you don't have to go now be an expert in. We're the experts. So let's, let's, how do we work together and, and develop those relationships? And I think, you know, with, with the changes and with, Specifically with the electrical contractors, which we can't, you know, we can't live without them.

We need to work side by side. And those are those relationships that now we just have much more of an opportunity and a reason to help them. And that's where you start to remove the friction and kind of start to align and realize, Oh, let's lean on each other because then we're more successful. Both of us and result is more successful.

The GC looks better. The clients are happier. And so it, I think it's an opportunity. 

[00:46:39] Andrew: Yeah, very cool. I think that's spot on. Great, great feedback nearing the end. Just a real quick round robin, a piece of advice from your past that may help break barriers. Robert, I'll share with you break barriers in, in making friends open up.

Love that easy. 

[00:47:00] Stephanie: Uh, yeah, don't make assumptions. 

[00:47:02] Andrew: Hmm. Another good 

[00:47:03] Scott: one. The good old, uh, never burn a bridge. You never know when you'll see somebody down the road. Alright. 

[00:47:09] Mike: Yep. Be 

[00:47:10] Andrew: present. Oh, that's a great one. That's a great one. Yeah. And I would say be authentic. Be you. Okay. Well, that was a fantastic conversation.

Thank you all. Really, really appreciate that. And I think our audience will love it. Going to move in just to a quick rapid fire Q and a Mike, I'm going to actually start with you. We'll go around. Everybody will answer spring or fall. Spring, spring, fall, Stephanie, fall, fall, fall. Okay. I'm going to start with you, Robert.

If you could collaborate with any artist or anyone in the industry, who would it be? 

[00:47:50] Robert: That's tough. Any, anybody, anybody. I'd love to do a project with any country music store. 

[00:47:56] Andrew: Oh, cool. Wow. Yeah. Well, Hey, we should, uh, we, I'll brag to you at dinner.

We got, we got lots and lots. Stephanie, if you could collaborate with any artist or anyone in the industry, who would it be? 

[00:48:14] Stephanie: By artist, you mean it could be an architect, an artist in general. I'm trying to think I don't have like a specific architect crush.

Um, I, you know, I would, like to collaborate with any kind of really creative driven team that recognizes the value of a of collaboration up front, which is, you don't often get that when you put a lot of artists in the room. 

No, no, no. 

[00:48:47] Stephanie: But that would be kind of that's, you know, really, anytime I could have a dream team, which is really just recognizing what people's strengths are and allowing people to, to participate and, and help.

Build things better, not, not try to overlap or take away credit. Love it. 

[00:49:04] Scott: Scott? Uh, I would invent a time machine and, uh, Frank Lloyd Wright. Oh, that's a good one. 

[00:49:09] Stephanie: Yeah. 

[00:49:10] Scott: Mike Johnny Cash. 

[00:49:11] Andrew: Oh, there you go. Look at that. 

[00:49:13] Scott: You'll 

[00:49:13] Andrew: also need it. Let's go. Okay, Mike, back to you. Morning routine must have 

[00:49:23] Mike: uh, 20 minutes of quiet time.

Oh, 

[00:49:25] Scott: nice. Uh, mine is rocking chairs on the front porch, uh, with my wife and a cup of coffee. 

[00:49:31] Andrew: Nice. Stephanie 

[00:49:33] Stephanie: coffee, quiet time, 

[00:49:35] Andrew: coffee and 

[00:49:36] Robert: silence. 

[00:49:36] Andrew: Yeah, there you go. Okay. Well, y'all have been fantastic. I've really enjoyed that. Stephanie, Mike, Scott, and Robert. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your insights on the importance of vendor collaboration and luxury design.

It's clear that working together across trades not only benefits the client, but elevates the entire project to new heights. [00:50:00] Listeners, we hope you found today's episode helpful, especially if you're involved in or interested in the luxury design industry, be sure to check out the show notes for more information about SAV digital environments, Premier SAV.

And Premier Systems based out of Chicago and Naples. We'll be back next week with another exciting guest. So stay tuned and follow us on Instagram at Kotour and Construction for updates. If you left today's episode, please share it with your friends or write a review on your preferred podcast platform.

Kotour and Construction is proudly presented by Textures Nashville, where creativity and craftsmanship converge. Produced by Knuckle Dragger Studios and Chelsea Ran. This episode was recorded in Charleston, South Carolina. Until next time, keep cultivating creativity.