Episode 76 - Lake Country Builders: Blending Custom Design and Practical Construction
Episode #76 | Peter and Patrick Jacobson | Blending Custom Design and Practical Construction
In this episode of The Curious Builder, Peter and Patrick Jacobson from Lake Country Builders join host Mark Williams to chat about everything from the importance of trust and refined design processes to handling the unique challenges of aging in place projects. They dive into the value of in-house architects, balancing relationships with external designers, and the Lake Country Academy's impact on developing skilled carpenters. Plus, there's a hearty discussion on fostering passion in employees and the usability of cool new building tech!
Listen to the full episode:
About Patrick and Peter Jacobson
As the current President, I oversee various aspects of our business operations. This includes selling design-build projects, managing the sales department, and making crucial day-to-day decisions to ensure smooth operations. Additionally, I am responsible for guiding the company's strategic direction and handling financial and human resource matters. As I anticipate the future, I am dedicated to maintaining the values of loyalty and commitment that define Lake Country Builders. This commitment extends to our employees, vendors, and clients.
Founded by Pete and Sue Jacobson in 1976, Lake Country Builders leveraged Pete’s love for carpentry and Sue’s expertise in retail and customer service. Equipped with a tool-filled van, a will to succeed and a passion for helping customers realize their dreams, the company was built job by job, home by home and year by year. The strong values and ethics that defined Lake Country Builders at its birth were cultivated as the company grew.
Resources:
-
Mark Williams:
Today on the podcast, we had Peter and Patrick Jacobson on from Lake Country builders, and really a great father son duo. Was really fun to hear Peter talk about the origin of the company and how they've transitioned and really how they've prioritized their clients and really built their company based on relationships. We talk a lot about in towards the middle end of the podcast, about their Lake Country academy training up carpenters, which is really a passion for Peter, to really train the next generation of in house carpenters and give them really a whole holistic attitude and a holistic skill set around building a home. And then towards the end, we talk a little bit about aging in place and really the design that goes into those remodels. So without further ado, here's Pete and Patrick Jacobson.
Unknown Speaker 0:48
Welcome to the curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host today, I'm joined with Pete and Patrick Jacobson from Lake Country builders who happen to be across the street from me in Excelsior, Minnesota. Welcome guys. Thanks a lot. Mark. Nice to be here. You know what this is? In some ways, this interview is actually sort of really fun for me, because, well, I've met Patrick probably just a few times. I have, in some ways I feel like I've been a bad neighbor because you guys been across the street for over a decade. And I can't say that. I know you guys really well. I spend so much time, you know, talking to builders across the country and whatnot, but it's we can all be reminded to spend a little more time with people, even our backyard. So I've been really excited to have you on and hear your story. So why don't we start there? Tell us a little bit. Why don't we start with you, Pete, you're the elder statesman in the room. Tell us a little bit about the origins of Lake Country, and then, you know, we'll talk about Patrick joining. And I always like to have a father son on and talk a little bit about transitions, and you know what the future holds. And I think you guys have a really amazing story. So why don't we start there? Thank you, Mark. Appreciate that. And I guess we all it all started back around 1976 and it actually was, I was a union journey MC carpenter for a company called Ecklund sweat and built a lot of homes in western suburbs. People out here would recognize that name.
Unknown Speaker 2:06
But during a tough time, the recessions came, and they eventually went out of business, which means all of us had no jobs. So I was on unemployment. So basically, I started my company on unemployment. I was I was there with my wife, and, you know, of course, doing that, but I always wanted to start a business, and it gave me the opening to do that by
Unknown Speaker 2:32
putting a little four by four ad in the mound paper that said, let the sun shine in. I'd love to build a deck for you. Oh, that's
Unknown Speaker 2:41
so if people out there want to know how to start a business, it just, you just have to go for it and do it and see what happens, which is basically what I did. It's amazing, isn't it amazing, how often a business platform starts because, you know, there's an opportunity, because you got laid off, because there's, like a slowness. I mean, even for myself, you know, we've expanded to maybe six or seven different platforms with a curious builder. But the last year for me personally, has been sort of slow. But I wonder, like a couple years from now, if I'll look back and be like, well, it's only because you had that year slow down that allowed you that extra capacity to sort of launch a new business. But it seems like you had a similar experience there, although yours is better because you're like, I got laid off, so I got laid off, so I decided to start a business. Makes total sense.
Unknown Speaker 3:25
And you know, one thing I could say about that, and I've been thinking about this and actually talking about it, is I compare what happened to me in that time frame, the same as the big recession we went through because, and it's a part of what we'll talk about carpenter training. Because what happened is that everybody didn't have a job. Every there was no work, and all the carpenters went on unemployment. And I believe what happened there was that, was that those carpenters, like Iowa, that was talented, knew what they were doing, started businesses. Are those on? Yeah, maybe when I turn those off, because I can hear the high pitched frequency, yeah, it I compare it back to the recession, because the same thing basically happened. Everybody got laid off, yeah, and there was all these good carpenters, like I was, that didn't have a job. So what they do? They all started businesses. I mean, a lot of them, which to me, when you look at the industry now, there's an influx of all these builders that is good for them, is good for building, but just just a lot more builders, I think, because of that, which leads to the shortness of carpenters in our industry, because a lot of the good, qualified journeymen started their businesses. So it took them out of the labor force itself, put them into business, which helped create the shortfall. That's my view of interesting. I think you I mean, I think you're always going to have ups and downs in any business, but let's take building specifically. I mean, I think I remember at the time, you know, you'd have a bunch of new builders would come into play in the early 2000
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Right? Because things were just rocking. And then, you know, obviously, 910, 1112, even really well established businesses. I mean, it was, you know, it was a side through a wheat field. I mean, it really cut down a lot, and then the people that were standing had a lot more market share, right, right? So, it seems like, you know, when things are good, people get into it. I think right now, in the last couple of years, you've seen a lot, to your point. Pete, we've seen a lot of, you know, carpenters, trimmers, people that are like, you know, what? Maybe I'm going to be a builder, you know. And so they get into it. And I'm not saying that's right or wrong. It's just more of just, they see opportunity and good for them. They go for it. And then when things slow down, you know, are they established enough to, you know, make it through, let's say, a downturn, or do they go back to, you know, some of the things that I knew before? And yeah, and thus says, I think the core of actual business learning and business understanding and business acumen, because if you learn that while you're doing it you were, you might be able to weather the storm. But if you're not astute in those things, you're not going to, you know. So it's all part of just, you know, growing up and learning and and taking risk. I almost think there's more learning to be had in the lean times. You know, we've had other builders on that, you know, they're part of a family, you know, dynasty, if you will. And they really started in in 2000 I think, eight or nine. And in some ways, it's starting your career in the middle of a recession. What sounds crazy, it teaches you some really impressive lessons, like, I'm actually considering doing my first spec home for this development we have up in ornamental called Honey hill. But I haven't done a spec home in
Unknown Speaker 6:35
like, 12 or 13 years, because I still the last spec home I did was in 2008
Unknown Speaker 6:41
and so, you know, so I have a, like, a very long memory on, you know, you know, it not being a great turnout, right? And so maybe to my own detriment, you know, it's taken me, you know, quite a while to unforget that. But I guess my point is, we learn these lessons, and I think they can be good, but sometimes they can handcuff us. And so for me personally, it's like, you know, my memory is So, you know, accurate for the 2008 nine and 10 era that I'm like, you know, you don't want to repeat that. So anyway, yeah, I understand that. Well. How about you, Patrick, when did you join the business
Unknown Speaker 7:13
after college? Oh 506, time just started in the office. Started doing estimating. I worked in the field as carpenter of various levels before that and summers. And then, like I said, started with estimating. I then ran our small projects division, both the sales and management of those.
Unknown Speaker 7:35
And yeah, fast forward to today. Learned all different aspects of the business, service, warranty, sales, estimating at different times, carpentry, how things go together before that. And yeah, now we just have a great team
Unknown Speaker 7:52
to today.
Unknown Speaker 7:55
How would you say, What's your favorite part of the business now that you've been there for a while, and it seems like you've kind of run the gambit of all the different things? Yeah, I think with how I am, just all the different parts and pieces. So maybe it's add mind and just really enjoying, you know, changing gears, day in, day out, helping people, you know, in their homes. I guess overall is, I think, the most rewarding thing. And then also just working with our team, you know, we have 12 office staff, and I think 11 carpenters currently. And so just really great team of people who like to, you know, show up and do good work for good people and have fun. So, I mean, I've argued many times on the podcast of, just like, I'm not sure you could be a business owner without some form of ADD. And so it's like, I mean, you've got it, especially in building, it's like you're starting and stopping so many things throughout the day. I actually just saw something recently on Amazon. I bought it, and it's called a focus clock. And you know, if you're done it, where you're you know, you're answering emails, then your phone being lights up. And it's like, I don't know we're being pulled in so many directions. So I'm trying to be more intentional. I do a lot of time blocking in terms of scheduling, but I have this little clock where it's like, five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes. It's like, I'll turn off my phone and everything else, and I'll just, I'm just, I'm only a week into it. So anyway, speaking to, you know, constantly starting and stopping, I'm super impressed at that. That's, I mean, that's,
Unknown Speaker 9:21
that's a very good thing to do. I think because I focus, you know, add folks like myself, also,
Unknown Speaker 9:28
we tend to be hyper focused. Where, when you get on something, you can't do any, I mean, you're just so zoomed in, you can't even hear people. I'm sure you know that, and, you know, you just get drawn into that. But so having a break like that to make you stop. That's a really good idea. I like that, Yeah, mine's almost inverse. I need to stay focused on it. I'll tend to like go off. Yeah. Yours is, yeah, that's interesting. Do you find Yeah? Well, we'll talk a little bit about team management in a minute. So do what do you do? Only remodeling. Do you do some new home?
Unknown Speaker 10:00
I mean, I kind of know you from all the advertising I see that you guys are remodeling extraordinaires. Is that true that you do? Yeah, that's an interesting I think that's a good question. And there's a short story behind that, because when I started
Unknown Speaker 10:15
one of the things that I made a commitment in my mind for and learned that remodeling would be a good business to get into, because people always remodel, and sometimes in downtimes, they remodel. And so we made a commitment a long time ago. I used to subcontract when we first started out. It used to be a carpenter and just do labor and subcontracting for for other builders. But that grew into our own jobs, of course, which then flowed into remodeling because there wasn't a big home builder or anything. So we basically focused on that and kept building that ended of our business, and made a commitment to that end of our business. And early on, we were one of the real early on people, along with people like Greg placken Paul,
Unknown Speaker 11:00
to have design build in house there wasn't back then. People didn't have their own builders. Didn't have their own architect on staff, most of them, most of them, were just architects outside, and you were builder here. Well, we, back then, made the commitment to be a design builder, which really influenced the growth of our company, and had designers on staff, which we do now. But
Unknown Speaker 11:23
that was a big point, and kept us in that mode. Which transition now into do we build homes? Yes, we build a lot of homes on lakes here in Wisconsin, up north, northern Minnesota. So it just kind of grew into that. And I would say right now, Patrick, we're probably 75% remodeling, 25% new homes. Yeah, that's, I mean, you're right. That's good balancing. I think you're 100% right. Pete, I mean, I've noticed I always like to keep, I think I didn't get into remodeling till about 2008 actually, that spec home I had mentioned was a home that was in foreclosure before that was in vogue. Remodeled it, and then that was my, you know, spec home. But I've always felt like there's a healthy balance. There's, like you said, there's always people that want to, you know, remodel I've seen, even right now for new home construction has definitely slowed down with interest rates and the election cycle, but remodeling interest is much higher. So anyway, it's always kind of ebbing and flowing. I think that's true across the country too. What would you say, you know, you guys, you know, we bought some land up north, up by kauna, which is a couple hours northwest of here. But, I mean, I feel like every time I go up to, like, Duluth, if we're running grandma's marathon, or if I'm doing a trail race up there, it's like, I see Lake Country. Not only do I see your magazine ads, which, you know, you guys do some stuff in Wisconsin, you do stuff up north. How do you I mean, you're right across the street from me, so I know, like, where your headquarters is. And so I'm like, Man, how do you guys because I've been asked before to, like, go up north. And I'm like, you know, I'm only as good as my people. And so it's like, how do you know, I don't think my local people are going to drive two, three hours north, or if they do, you know the cost associated with that, you know, for travel hotel, it could be done. How have you guys managed that? And at what point did you start expanding into Wisconsin and northern Minnesota? And what are the pros and cons of that?
Unknown Speaker 13:07
Yeah, well, I'd say we, yeah, this could be a long we were up in Brainerd lakes, you know, 2030, years ago when there was a lot of development going out there. You know, Gull Lake, Brainard Lake chain. And kind of figured it out. It seemed like figured it out at that time that forging those close relationships with local vendors and using local trades people and carpenters was the way to that's that I think would be the first answer, and forming those close relationships with the trades people that you can keep busy and and then also just, you know, a different approach. You know, for instance, fast forward to today. It took us about 10 to 15 years to really get a really solid vendor groups in Wisconsin and various areas that help us implement the projects, as well as just taking a different approach to managing them, visiting them once. You know, a week or bi weekly is also important by your PMS, and then also relying on the lead carpenters that we hire there to help manage the vendor relations. So that seemed to work well
Unknown Speaker 14:18
in those kind of satellite implementations. So that was my main question, because you're right. I mean, you could eventually, over time, vet, local plumbers, framers, you know different people, and eventually find your people, especially if you can do it long term. A one off is obviously a lot harder, but if you do it long term, I've always that was my question is, how do you project manage it effectively? How do you represent Lake country's brand? And I guess. How do you do that? So is it, are you using local project manager, or do you have a few roving project managers that maybe live up north and just kind of like, stay up north? Or how do you manage that? Yeah, I'd say over different time in different areas. We've had boots on the ground a couple different times. At one point in Brainerd, we had an office and a.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
Manager up there that was local Wisconsin that hasn't really played out. We did try it once, and may get there again. It did help a lot with that. But today, and for instance, in Wisconsin, it's just our local PMS that are managing it, along with our chief operating officer, and then we're just teaming up as a leadership team to visit the site. Like I said, you know, once a week, bi weekly, to keep eyes on it. We also do hire the lead carpenters to help kind of site supervise some of that as well. So out of curiosity, let's say you're doing a just I'm really intrigued by this, mainly because I'm gonna have to build my cabin up. Yeah, myself. It's a little self serving. It we'll help. Yeah, exactly perfect. So let's say you have, let's just say you're building out of your normal market. Well, let me go back for a second. What percentage of your work is within a 50 mile radius right now?
Unknown Speaker 15:57
While I can say a couple years ago or within the last couple years, Wisconsin and greater Minnesota projects were 20 to 25% of our our total work and sales.
Unknown Speaker 16:11
Recently, that's gone down a little bit for no specific reason. It seems to just like you said, and everything ebb and flow, naturally and organically. So I would say anywhere from, you know, 20, you know, 15 to 20% year in, year out, is probably those type of projects, and then the remainder is mostly around the metro area. Okay, that actually helps me understand it a lot better. So it's not like it's 5050, or that you're spending because I was mainly wondering, like, if you are getting a dedicated project manager, it sounds like a little bit for these satellite ones. You know, do you have one project manager that will run that project beginning to end, and that's the person that goes up there? Or do you distribute those responsibilities throughout the staff? Yeah, I would say managing the project, yes, the prior. But I think what's worked well is just with the different leadership team. You know, if the COO can't go there, or the pm can't go there, I'll go there, or maybe if I have sales meetings, it'll work out, so I'll stop by the site. So it's kind of a team. You could kind of spin it both ways. I sort of like that from a client's point of view, because they get to see a number of different people from the company, especially us as owners. You know, the homeowners can never get enough of the owners, you know, even if you have the best pm in the world, right, they want to talk to the owners. And even if you explain to them that, you know, hey, my Pm is, you know, at least for me, anyway, I'll say, hey, you know, I don't have the carpentry background like you do, where I'm like, trust me, I usually joke with my homeowners. If you see me working on the job site, like, call the PM. I'm ruining your house,
Unknown Speaker 17:41
you know. But yeah, I have, I have personal experience also on this matter, you know, like Patrick said,
Unknown Speaker 17:49
you know, we, we found out long along the lines that having people from our staff there biweekly, whatever is critical. And the reason for that, when you get outside the general cities areas and what I call into the woods, because that's where you're going,
Unknown Speaker 18:08
it's different. And all your business practices and your communication expectations, your financial expectations, your receipt of bids and invoice expectations, which right now you think are normal, and you don't even think about because you just get them in the mail. Sometimes you don't even get an invoice, and then you get a call wondering where their money is. It's just a different it's a different way that they they work. They're more it seems like they're they're more concerned about happiness and what they're doing in their area and their life and their families, than their business, and not saying that's bad, that's good. Oh, I think it's actually, honestly, from a balance standpoint, right? That's good, but, but we're, we're looking at it. I'm a strictly business perspective understood. So all of a sudden you get wrapped up in that. And recently, I've experienced because I'm built, I built a garage on a master suite up north at my place, and I have these, these guys I work with. And when you start talking with these guys personally, I mean, you just get the program, which simply, it simply means over management, over communication, more time. Moreover, it just takes more, a lot more effort to be successful, because if you don't do those things, stuff won't get done. I mean, it's, it's just kind of the way it is. I mean, we're, we're working, and I think if you're planted in those areas, like builders are, and you're from that areas, it might be a little different. But you know, to be honest, we're coming from here of there. Do you do? How do you sell that? So let's say, you know. Let's say, you know. Let's say we'll just pick it. I don't even know what good city, but let's just pick Brainerd, yeah, or whatever. And you're like, let's say there's a local builder there, and then there's you, and I'm guessing, correct me if I'm wrong, they're like, Well, we really like what we're seeing in your ads. We.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
They like your style. Really think that's great. How what is the value proposition? Because I imagine that if someone's up there building like, Well, hey, we sort of like that. This local builder can be there a lot more than you. How do you combat that?
Unknown Speaker 20:15
Go ahead. Well, I would say it really starts with the beginning of the process, which is design and planning. And the process we've refined over the 4047, years of doing business and and then, so it's really worked well, you know, design planning here, implementing there, you know, they they see the fancy pictures and then the nice structures. And if you go to those locations, a lot of times they're relying on plans that are produced by a lumber yard or more basic design structures. So it seems like, with our client tell that comes to us, they really want something unique and creative, and usually in partnering with those people that we do both are in house and out of house. It's really worked well in creating and planning and budgeting for those, you know, with our team and then implementing, I mean, another important piece that I just found out, because I had a meeting a couple weeks ago, they were actually on my lake, and they wanted me to it was a tear down. But another, another issue is, when we're talking to them, is that you know the amount, and you know this as a builder, the amount of planning it takes to build, well, anything but like a house, especially on a lake, especially up north, where there's all these different counties and different,
Unknown Speaker 21:37
you know, legal rules for, you know, land and zoning and all that,
Unknown Speaker 21:42
we're able to partner and sell the customer the amount of commitments we have at the front end of that, to get them through that period, to see if they can build, what they can build, and everything. Now I'm saying that because that's a bulk of work that a knowledgeable person in construction can have with the city and the planners. And that's a flow. And you get involved, you could flow that and into construction and design.
Unknown Speaker 22:12
The smaller builders, let's say, up there where you're if you're competing it, well, they have this other builder that's going to charge whatever. Though those types of builders typically don't get involved with that. They'll build for you. You know, when it's ready, we'll build for you, and it's a different program. And so I think there's a lot of value in what we do and why we get work like that. But some customers, you know, want to go a different way. Maybe it'll be a little cheaper. And then, I mean, I think you're, you've hit a few one of it, I think what you're talking to Pete is organization, yeah. I mean, if you have a really well run organization, you're like, Okay, this, it takes your blood pressure down. Like, okay, I don't have to worry about this. Like, I can kind of return key. I was thinking, while you're talking to Patrick, that I imagine a lot of your clients actually live in the cities or live down here. So for convenience, actually, I have to imagine it's a lot easier to drive to Excelsior. You know, talk with you, design with you. They're a lot closer here than they are their cabin. The cabin is their escape. The cabin is their refuge. The cabin is the place that they want to go to. They probably don't live up there is that scene that was all right, that was the I might speak to that. That was when we started this long time. That was the original main kind of thrust, if you will, or focus on, how could we make this easier for the client, which does make a lot of sense, and it's more user friendly for them, and convenient. And so that's that's totally true. How have you found so you do architecture in house? Does that become, ever a conflict of interest where, let's say local architects or local designers, either a won't refer work to you, obviously, or if a client has contracted with an architect firm, will you? Are they? Are you going to be in the running to look at it, to bid it, with the client, or not, do they Is there a conflict of interest there? Because you do in house architecture or not,
Unknown Speaker 24:07
I have found, you know, because when we were developing this, I had to think through all that. And
Unknown Speaker 24:16
for example, during the recession, the main the big recession, when we had to lay off virtually everyone and including four of my architects, two of my CAD draftsmen, and all that went out the window. Okay, what was I going to do? You sat there going, what am I going to do? Well, well, it's like you had to build it back up, right? How you going to build it back up? I don't have no money to hire architects. You hire partners, and that's a critical thing, because you're hiring them as a partner, as a team member, once you develop that relationship, and we did that, once you transition back into, let's say, having architects on the staff, you already have them fundamental relationships. You're giving them work. And if I can speak till today, for example, we have one inside architect that's not enough to do all of our work. So they.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
Still know they're good. They're going to get a bulk of our work while we're having a lot of control, which it is when you have in house architects. So we have a lot of control and commitment on the in house architect that we do have, but they're still getting workouts from us. So I think that's actually a really nice model I can imagine, like we were on a remodel recently here in Deephaven, and it's a very it's a whole house, but it's more, I told the homeowner, I think it's like a 20% remodel and a 70% or 80% refresh, right? And so it's not, you know, they were concerned with one of the partners that was that was coming in on the interior design side that, you know, they're sitting like, well, do we need an architect partner? And I kind of explained to them what I said, you know, on a scale from one to 10, it was all interior, no addition, and this particular remodel was to me, I said, on a scale of complexity, this is, like a one out of 10, right? So I said, I'm not, yeah, I'm not overly concerned about, you know, this, because the design partner, the interior design partner, was going to do most of it, yeah, take care of it. But I could see, like, if I was, you know, a design build builder, you know, that is something that, like, oh, man, I would, I would draw that in a heartbeat, and it's super it makes it really easy for the client, too. It's a tough, you know, but it kind of is a balance. I like what your balance is, because you've, you know, you never want to have so much overhead that then you're looking for it. So it seems like you're a little under, you know, you've got some extra capacity, or your company needs more work. And so like, hey, we'll keep this guy busy. That allows us to, you know, get 30, 40% of our other stuff, and it keeps you distilled relationship and and, you know, business development with other builder, other architects and designers and things like that. Yeah. But, you know, on a customer side, there's a little, there's a little thing that happens too, because although we believe that design build is a really good thing for us and the client, because you're controlling everything and focused on the budget and a lot more control there when you're going outside, to get a little less control of that with our professional architects, because there's two different models there, but I honor both, and I explained this to the customer. But some customers, you know, it's hard for them to go with one custom company like design build, because they think they have no control over cost and everything, which is an honorable thought. So you have to build that trust. It may basically, it's trust and but on the same token, if they're in a position where they say, Well, you know, we want hire an outside architect, you can still be a part of that. You can still be one of two builders or one of three, or transition into partnering with the architect and the owner with no one else. So there's a dance that's played there. And I like the fact that your company is dynamic enough to kind of modify to all of those things, yeah. How did you guys have interior design in house then too? We had, we had two back before the recession. We had, we had to eliminate that too back then. And now we have one selection coordinator. We do, we do have Olivia, and she's doing great, yeah, she's doing what it's nice to have that we do a lot of with remodeling, a lot of refinishes. So, you know, keeping track of all the selections finishes. So she also does a selection coordination, which is important piece, making sure that all the things are, you know, ordered and ready to go in when we need them to go in. So that's been really critical as well. It's funny, it's, it's a bigger role than you would think. I mean, that project coordination. I mean, you know, I'd like my project manager to sort of be, you know, we were a pretty lean ship here. And so it's like, you know, in years past, we had a dedicated project coordinator, which I really appreciated and liked. And, you know, they were partnered with our project managers, and they could kind of, you know, just make it, just, it makes everyone's jobs easier, kind of like, I think in design world, they call it expediters too, right? They have people that just basically, but it's something that's getting that, that's that design and selections and tracking and product delivery and all that has gotten 10 times harder than it ever was. And why do you think that is Pete? I think it's product availability number one. When you're going to get it, it's very hard to pin people down on delivery times. For example, I just went through that with tile before. It didn't seem to be that much. But I think with covid and everything else, that has kind of been a little block to get a little squishy the second part, it's part of my mantra lately, is, and I experienced this in Florida and other places, is that I believe a lot of the times that people were working with in all regard, and it doesn't necessarily have to be building the level of folks you're working with, you know, on an important basis.
Unknown Speaker 29:43
It doesn't seem like the person on the other end
Unknown Speaker 29:47
gets it too much.
Unknown Speaker 29:50
I mean, it just like the level of service and the level of completeness and accuracy has has dropped where before it seemed like.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Things flowed pretty good. That's much more difficult now. So so having, like, a selection coordinator in two years, nine or something, to track that and to to make sure that is critical, because it just happened on my job. I didn't have that on my own job up north. And what happened? All the tile that I paid extra for to deliver and then went up there and then open the box. The tile was wrong, right?
Unknown Speaker 30:24
How do you, do you make the or do you have all the selections done before you start a remodel? Typically not. We do like to be there before we especially, you know,
Unknown Speaker 30:39
behind, you know, the last couple years has really shown us that having all that done and pre ordered, I like to say, figuratively, in the garage, ready to be put in, is is an asset to getting the project, you know, produced efficiently. The reason I asked that is, I just made that switch probably a year and a half ago. It's, you know, it takes a while when you make a company philosophy decision, or a cultural change, you know, or operational change like this, it takes a little while to change your practices. I'd say it took me about two years, and we're there now. But a lot of it starts with us when we meet with the client, right? You know, if you tell the client on the front end, you know, remodel is going to take six months, and in your mind, you think, maybe I can do this in four or five, but I'm going to tell them a little longer so that there's not disappointment versus the old. You know, most owners and most salespeople are optimists, right? And I tell them, four months and it takes me six. And I really thought, no, I thought things were cheaper. I thought things were faster. But Darn it, I've been doing this for 20 years, and I keep saying the same things. But anyway, where I going with this is like we just had one where the this homeowner, the one I was just mentioning, what they're interviewing several other builders. And one builder said, you know, I can start, you know, in a week or two. And I so I, when I was meeting with this client yesterday, I said, you know, I have the capacity to do the work, you know, in the next week or two. But I said, we will not be doing the week the work in the next week or two. You're going to be about 60 to 90 days before we can start. And here's why, you've got to design it, you've got to select it, you've got to go in for permitting, and then we have to price it, unless you're willing to basically just give me a blank check, and, and, but I said, here's the thing, it's still not a good process, because we at the end of the day, it'll be cheaper, it'll be faster. I think the net time will actually be less, but you've got to take the time on the front end to really get your ducks in a row. And I think if it really started with myself being the owner, really owning that story with the homeowner on the front end, yeah? And I have found that, and they're like, oh, okay, because, you know, I don't know if we should forget this, but we are. We have done this before.
Unknown Speaker 32:37
This is not our first rodeo, you know. We don't need the practice, yeah. And so, you know, and so, and if it, if it waits a couple more weeks, and it's frustrating, because the homeowner has finally decided, You know what, we're gonna go with, Lake Country. Okay, let's go. And then the first thing you tell them is like, Okay, now we got to wait a little while. And, like, Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We're ready to go. Now, what we bought? No. And so anyway, I feel like, as owners of businesses, we need to do a better job just explaining these types of things to the homeowners, and I think then the client is happier. I mean, for instance, how do you guys handle what percentage of your homeowners will live in the home while you remodel versus move out?
Unknown Speaker 33:16
I'd say probably 75% of that would say that, no, stay in the house. We've done we I remember wearing a dino. We did. I love that, that family. They they had two they had three kids, small kids, a dog and a cat, husband and wife in the middle of Country Club. And we remodeled their whole house, and they lived in it. You just move them around, room to room, or what. Well, what I, what I, what I said after that experience. And I tell people this. I says, It's not me, it's you. It's what you can handle. Now them, they ate dust and they liked it, and they knew it was coming other because I told them it was gonna go other people, if they if they see some dust on their desk up on the second floor, they freak. And so it's kind of like, how, how can you handle this? And you have to have that discussion, because a lot of people say, Wow, we'd really like to stay here. We don't want to rent a house. I'm going, Well, how do you like dust? Right?
Unknown Speaker 34:18
No, I mean, I we try to do everything we can to move them out of the house, unless it's just a clean break. I don't know if we walked away from a job. I usually say so we happen to and I'm a hypocrite, because we had a covid baby, and we remodeled our home while we were doing it, and we lived there while my wife was pregnant, right? So all the things you shouldn't do, but then I that's like, probably been the best sales tool I've had. You're able to move out. I'm like, tell me, yeah, I did this. I'm telling you you don't want to do it. And so maybe, by speaking in first person, you know, maybe they finally believe me versus the other one. But I found that, you know, contrasting new home clientele and remodelers, the clientele I do.
Unknown Speaker 35:00
I think, I think it's easier to please a remodel client than it is a new home client. Do you think that's true?
Unknown Speaker 35:09
Oh, boy, that's a big question. I think, I think in either way, it takes the same amount of effort. I mean, because, well, here's what I would say, and here's what I've learned in 50 years.
Unknown Speaker 35:22
I mean, it's the client, it's not us. I mean, now, now, here's why I say that. You know, we provide, we deliver the same thing all the time, or we try to, and we're very successful most of the time, and most of the time, people write and tell us how good we are most of the time and not all the time, but you know, for the there's amount of people out there that it doesn't matter what we do, it's just not going to be smooth and easy. And that's what I've come to learn. So what I mentor and teach is, before you even take the job, get to know the customer, find out what they do for a living, which that's a whole nother story. I've learned different people operate differently, and find out all that information to get inside the person and know if it's your client, because sometimes you'll be sitting there selling a job like I've done, and I know it's not a bad client. I know we're going to get in problem, and we did get in a problem, and it was my fault, but I took the job because we needed it, right?
Unknown Speaker 36:24
I mean, I think you're right. I mean, I never thought about in this term before, but it just came to me. The variable is the client. The variable isn't your staff. The variable isn't construction. We know how to do that. So the variable is the client. I think you're 100% right. Beat where I was going to go with this, and this is just my perception. Is that remodelers tend or remodel clients, in my experience, tend to be a little bit more laid back, a little bit more comfortable. They're sort of, they've either lived there for a while, or they're we do a lot of work where they're buying it, and then we remodel it, and so but I find that there, it's not that their expectations are lower. Their expectations just aren't as high, if that makes sense, and it's like I often joke with my clients, is maybe not the best sales line, but it's like, even a bad remodel job is better than what's here already. So like, the like, the level of expectations, like, this is gonna be great, yeah? I mean, they don't. But like, sometimes when you do a new home, like, they've it's such a bigger purchase in terms of dollars. And so, like, I've often equated a new home to getting married. You know, you know, the bride and the husband, they're very excited, and they spent, you know, maybe they're, you know, stereotypically, it's, you know, the missus has spent, you know, a large part of her mental time thinking about what the wedding day is going to be like, all the costs that go into it, and then it all hinges on this one reveal. And it either is great or it's bad, like, can there not be an average wedding? Can there not be, like, a middle and I feel like sometimes new home psychology can be like that, like it's their dream home, it's gonna be perfect. It's all these aspirations. You're like, whoa. This is a we're not climbing Everest with a heavy pack, and it's getting pretty heavy. And so I have found that when I meet with my new home clients, I often will talk about, like, anytime I hear the word perfection, that's like an immediate stop sign for me. And I'll stop them, usually humorously, and just say, You know what? We're building this outside in the elements. It's raining, it's snowing, it's hailing, humidity. You know, it's amazing. We get as much right as we do. And I look for their reactions, and you can kind of see if they're laugh and kind of agree with you, like, okay, they get it. But sometimes you'll see where, like, no, they don't get it, like they expect perfect. And to me, that's a walk away. That's, you know, and you know, there's certain red flags, because I think what you're talking about, Pete, is identifying your ideal client, yeah. And we've all made the mistake of taking clients. The only reason you understand that is you've taken clients you shouldn't have. You want, you want all your clients to be your ideal clients. But that, of course, doesn't happen. So you know, in history proves you're going to take jobs not your ideal client or hard clients. That's going to happen naturally. So the key there is to understand your client and then talk to staff and mentor them on how to take care of that client, because every client's different, and they all have different needs. If you don't understand that or focus on that, then you're delivering the same thing to each client just by delivering the same thing to each client. And sometimes that don't work. Sometimes different people need different things, right? What? What tools have you found helpful for conflict resolution over the years,
Unknown Speaker 39:28
meeting with people in person and talking with them, I think that's really the biggest one, because you can be by phone emails. You know, it's easy to be a keyboard warrior, and keyboard warrior in some respects. Sometimes the 1am when you get the email at 1am you're like, What are you doing? You should be sleeping.
Unknown Speaker 39:50
But I think usually, you know, I think what we all both said in different ways, if you have a good person, that's your client, that's pre qualified to a certain.
Unknown Speaker 40:00
Respect. Usually you're on some type of wavelength that's similar. And I think good, practical people can resolve things, even if it goes a mess in some way. I think you're wise on that, Patrick, I think in person is you're 100% right. I just think that people, especially Minnesota, too. I think in general, you know, it's hard for people, and I think it's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's hard for people feel uncomfortable. People don't want animosity, unless you're a rare person. Most people want there to be peace, and they're just frustrated. A lot of times, they just need to be heard, you know, say or sorry, you know, whatever it is. I've often, I've said it many times in the podcast, but I keep saying it because I think it's one of the most powerful tools. But it's, you know, A soft answer, turneth away wrath. And I often will think that to myself in my truck before I go into a client's house, and just think, okay, you know, there's a tendency in humans, right, to like, you know, tighten up that the fight or flight thing, right? And you're like combat, but if you can go on with a little softness, and most people just want to be listened to. I'm not saying it's easy. Sometimes it's really, really hard. And I think, you know, I was talking about, we had Stephen Yock, my lawyer, on recently, and he's hilarious, really awesome, listen and but he had just said, you know, as businesses, we are actually held to a much higher standard than a homeowner, right? And so we see a homeowner getting really emotional, and that the human side of us wants to respond to that emotion with emotion. But we actually, as the professionals, have to, sort of, you know, de escalate the situation, which is hard, because ultimately, there's always this, this balance. If you do get caught in a cycle where a client is, you know, you know, highly flammable, if you will, that it, you know, you're constantly bringing water and it just, it gets exhausting. It's, I think the one word you use was listen, and another word meant, I mentor. It's just like, you have to listen to the client. It's, that's always been, actually, to be honest, it's always been pretty hard for me. I'm a very emotional guy, and I think I know what I know, and I'm good at what I do, and so when you get in those situations,
Unknown Speaker 42:05
when you're actually right, and you know you're right, but you're not going to win the argument, it's hard to lose the argument. For people like yourself, you're using logic right, and we're using our experience exactly. And I've run into I'll compare that to people I've run into in business myself and or subcontract, for example,
Unknown Speaker 42:26
like I'm having some work done up north. You know, sometimes you could just experience the opposite of that coming from them. And you walk around, you go, yikes. The guy's not even listening. The guy doesn't even know what we're talking about. All he wants to do is tell me he's right, you know. So there's a diff, a big difference there, and it's really hard to for me to just calm down. Listen, Patrick's much, much more good at that than I am, like you have to have so, yeah. So at the end of the day, what I've learned, and especially the staff I'm looking at now, in our company,
Unknown Speaker 42:59
you have to have the right person addressing that big problem, the person that listens, that can negotiate, that can come to conclusion. That's hard for me.
Unknown Speaker 43:09
I don't know who said it, but I like seek to understand before you're understood, right? So I think that was Zig. I think that was
Unknown Speaker 43:16
Zig. Ziglar. Oh, yeah, well, I'm right. I think it's really just at the core, just, you know, list, like you said, listening, understanding. And I think in the end of the day, that's most important, because you can say and do a lot of different things, but until you can understand where the client's coming from, what they're and I think it's also setting the expectation up front, things are going to happen, right? Just saying that itself, you know, I think at least hopefully, they can remember that and know that with even the best you know, producer, builder, things are going to come up. It's a complex process, and I think especially people who haven't gone through it before,
Unknown Speaker 43:59
you know, may be surprised by how you know, all the parts and pieces and elements that come together to create the beautiful space, I tell them. I tell them, you know, the construction business is the easy part. Construction Business is actually problem solving. It's not construction. I mean, you're going to put the wall together the same way, regardless, and you're gonna put the sheathing on and the trim up the same way regardless. That all going to go up one way or another period. But as the problems. So I tell them, I tell the customer, I'm saying, you know, there's a lot of there's going to be problems in building your house, and they look at you. I'm going, you're not going to hear about mostly all of them, some of them you will, but mostly all of them are taken care of. But that's the type of business it is. I like that. That's a great. That's a great. I like that a lot. We're problem solvers. Yeah, we actually are. I mean, you open up a can of beans, they make the can of beans you open up. It's not same thing here.
Unknown Speaker 44:53
Everything different. Just because I want to respect the time too. I want to talk a little bit about, you know, there's two.
Unknown Speaker 45:00
Things, and maybe they go but I want to talk about the Lake Country Academy and some of the training you're doing. And then I want to talk about your aging and place focus before we run out of time. So let's move to this the next topic here about tell us a little bit about your Lake Country Academy.
Unknown Speaker 45:16
I'm actually heading that up. I've been asked to head that up because I have a lot more time now on it. It's on the company.
Unknown Speaker 45:25
So Bruce and I has been with me 30 years, been asked to being that we have carpenters, and being that Bruce and I were carpenters, it's critical to us, and we've been we were enjoying putting it together. But the main thing is to right now is to make sure our carpenters are getting trained, because in this environment we have today, everything is specific. You have cider siding. Have Roofers Roofing, you have window companies putting windows in. The carpenters aren't getting trained. I got trained in every aspect of everything. I used to roof, I used to side. It's not like that. So these people are not getting trained in those things at all. And plus, when you look at a project and you have to get it done, you have to make money, you have to get the labor to come in on time, you know, and all that stuff. Who's Who's going to take the time to train people in my day? People took the time to train me in this day. That doesn't happen too much unless you have the right people. So we found that, hey, if we're going to keep our staff, enhance our people, give them opportunity, lift them up, well then let's and we've we've done similar things before, not to the extent we're going to have a carpentry training academy where we're just laying it out right now, we're developing our booklet for them to check off on with the lead people. We're going to follow through with it. We're going to have
Unknown Speaker 46:52
toolbox meetings at our office. We're going to train and bring in associates to train certain things. So it's all about making people, journeyman carpenter, men and women. I mean, I think that's incredible, and I think I applaud you for doing that. They I think you're 1,000% right as someone who's not a handy person on top of it, you know, I know I can't do the training. I mean, if I was gonna, if we don't do, we don't really self perform any work. So it's kind of a viewpoint for me, but even so, I can see the value in, you know, the training I I've learned to my own detriment. You know, I tend to try to hire a plus talent because I don't want to train them, so I just want to hire them. But that sometimes doesn't work out either, either your overhead gets, you know, pretty high because you're bringing in, you know, Star talents. But, you know, you look at professional sports, you know, there's a balance between bringing in a veteran, but honestly, in order to balance your payroll with the salary caps you're you're better off, you know, drafting right a good rookie and training them through your system, and you know, then you keep them and you reward them. And I think that's something that I know I need to do better, even even if it's not training them for carpentry, even training your people just to do the job right and whatever it might be, yeah, it's also what's going to happen too. It's also going to weed those people out. Not that you want to, that's the right term, but your stars and your people like Bruce and I were long time ago, who want to be that guy are going to excel, they're going to just move up the ladder, and then there's going to be some people who don't, and there's a difference, because those people aren't going to move too much. You know, it's so funny. Do you guys find this as owners of your company? So like, you know, I do just with the podcast and just social media in general. So like, I'm a voracious reader. I constantly, just when I exercise, I'm listening to books, I'm listening to podcasts. So I love listening. And for a number of years, I've tried to get people in my team, just trying to get them caught up. Like, hey, you should read this book. Or, you know, let's do a book together. And I've never had anyone on my team want to do that. Ever,
Unknown Speaker 48:57
like, never. Like, zero. I am like zero for 100 with this idea. And I'm like, in my mind, you don't want to be judgmental. They're just not into it. They're just not passionate about it. And I won't want to be so narrow minded to think that only owners can do that, because that's not right. But like Diaz, like, I think to your point, P is, like people that are passionate, people that want to self improve, people that want to grow like they're curious, they want to learn more.
Unknown Speaker 49:20
I've had to temper. I know one builder that he just says, I'm reading this, and if you'd like a copy, I'll buy you one. And then his team is bigger than mine. And then every once in a while, there'll be somebody that says, Yeah, I'd be interested in that, and he'll buy it for that one person he stopped a long time ago, just forcing it down people's throats, because that also doesn't work either. No. And anyway, you, I think you kind of spoke to it like there are certain carpenters that want to be trained. They want to get better. And obviously, as entrepreneurs and owners like that really excites us, because we're like, okay, now I can, yeah, it's just really good to see. I had, this is a funny, quick one. I had a girl find me out that graduated from University of Minnesota, come to my.
Unknown Speaker 50:00
My office because she wanted to find more about residential construction, blah, blah, blah. So she said, my office. And she so I look at her, I said, so, so tell me, so you just graduated? And she said, Yeah, I just graduated. Used her in Minnesota. I said, So in what? She goes, Well, architecture. I'm saying so when I become an architect, I went to school for architecture. I said, So, what do you want to do? And she says, Oh, well, architecture. I said, Well, is that your passion? I mean, you really love that, or you like building bikes. What do you do? What do you really love doing? And so I had a conversation like that with her, which kind of stopped her, but the end result was talking about passion of which, like I had in my carpentry, it was never worked to me. In my whole life, I can I've never worked, quote, unquote, because I just love it. And if you get people who work for you like that, you have what I call stars, you don't got to worry about them folks, and you know who they are, because it's a passion. It's not work. But for those people that it's just work, it's the hourly rate, and it's, you know, it's like that. I
Unknown Speaker 51:02
mean, I 100% agree with you. My brother in law is quite a bit younger than me. He just graduated college, and he moved down to Arizona. He wants to work on spaceships, and so he interviewed with SpaceX, but he's at Honeywell right now, working on turbine engines and whatnot. And he has a young boss who's just really got it going on, and he really wants to impress her. And he goes, I try. I'm going to have her out with coffee. And I said, you know, what would really impress her is if you already started, you know, whatever you're going to ask her, like, already do it? Like, if you're, if you're, if you want to do something, like, Are you already studying it? Are you already actively engaged? Because usually, to an owner, if someone is, if someone comes to you and says, Hey, Pete, I'd really like to, you know, be a lead trimmer. Or, I guess we'll use your example, the lady, and she's young, so I'm not faulting. That's just an example here. But, like, architecture, you know, if she had said, Yeah, you know, on my side, I build some homes. Or, you know, like, you can tell, like, what the real passion is, because they do it offline, too, to your point, your passion. And so anyway, I was just giving my brother in law some advice to, like, you know, if you want to impress this lady, you know, already, start doing, you know, researching it, and, you know, maybe working out on the side. And you know, there's lots of people that have their hobbies, you know, working on cars or whatever it is that they doesn't, you know, for us, you know, for me, anyway, it's, you know, athletics, and it's, you know, I'm always asking people about their lifestyle, questions about, you know, what they eat and how they exercise and things like that. And, you know, I know Patrick, we talked a little bit beforehand, you know, you do fasting and so that always like triggers. I'm like, Oh, tell me more, because I'm just interested about it. I shouldn't have told you I had a blueberry
Unknown Speaker 52:28
muffin. You might get hungry. Well, that's super helpful. Let's talk a little bit about aging in place. You guys had mentioned that a little bit. Maybe, Patrick, you can pick that up. Tell us a little bit about how the clients have resonated with that, and how that's been maybe either a focus or kind of a passion of Lake Country to sort of really, you know, service that need for clients.
Unknown Speaker 52:48
Yeah, well, I think it all started with my mom and dad
Unknown Speaker 52:52
getting into it and seeing the need for universally designed spaces for so everyone can use them for a lot of different reasons, and also just a need for our market, with our aging population, and also our local housing stock, a lot of two story split level houses that maybe don't fit directly within those constraints. So we've saw a need for that 1015, years ago, they got cap certified, which is one certification to understand all those details and how to you know what to promote what is important to keep people in their homes. And so we started a division called stay at home, and since have focused on doing some one level living houses in this area. So we hope to be breaking ground soon. He's spoke of doing this back. What's involved, after not having done one in a long time, we're right there with you. Are you going to be doing like, kind of like the villa concept, or what are you doing? It was one level living. One level living. You have, it's about 2700 square feet, three bedrooms, two baths, with an optional basement elevator, elevator, space for an elevator. But, yeah, just It's all designed, yeah, so we're really excited about that. We've also done a lot of projects in that stay at home division to remodel people's houses. You know, the the main level owners, you know, the main level, primary suite has been a big one. You know, just adding on those suites so people can live on one level, if it's a two story house, for instance, we've done put in elevators,
Unknown Speaker 54:30
and also simple things, you know, widening doorways, you know, lever handles instead of circular ones. You know, backing, right? Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's not very sexy, but, man, you try to put in an ADA handrail without backing it, just so that's a good example of something we in our specs. For instance, all of our projects we put in backing in the in the bathrooms, we started doing that. Well, yeah, aging
Unknown Speaker 54:55
universal design should be designed. It shouldn't be specific to aging in place or any.
Unknown Speaker 55:00
Thing because they're all features, like wider hallways and handles instead of knobs and stuff, which people don't see as weird. It goes with the house. It's just designed that way. And I'll segue back to how it started. Actually, it was because Sue's mother and father, when we moved them up here, we lived through their last stage with them, and I saw my father in law, you know, in his roller that was having a hard time rolling on the shag carpeting, and my grandmother getting off the stool and all that other stuff. And so that's what prompted my wife to really start thinking about it. And so that's how it started with my wife. And we got certified aging and place specialist back then to develop that division. But what I found in all this is I got involved with groups and everything, and the initial thing I found was that, you know, everybody needed a new toilet paper holder or a new door widened, and you can't make money doing that. I mean, you want to help people, but that's you're going to spend more money than anything. So we realize that what we really want to do with that is number one work for people who want to create a different space in their home, to stay in their home and change it, which is a bigger job with profit and you're helping them. And also now we transition into Aging in Place one level living home. And not that this was the instigator for that, but one of my customers, we did a big remodel for here. I'm talking mark one day, and he he goes, Yeah. He says, I'm buying this house, and you're putting in all this money to this house because it's one level. I'm saying, Yeah, I know. He says, there's no Ramblers around Lake Minnetonka. I'm going, what? He goes, go, Look, they're all two stories. And I'm going, really. And so he says, Those folks like that that are 60 up and everything. They don't want a two story house. They want. They want 2700 square foot one level. I'm living in one
Unknown Speaker 57:02
so that's kind of how it our spec home developed, and which we focus on not big one level living. If they need a more space in their lower level, put an elevator in, and then you have a more economically efficient house, if you will, which still costs a lot of money nowadays, and but it's designed for them. So, yeah, I mean, that's, I think that's, I mean, I haven't heard too many builders that have that sort of knowledge base or focus like you have. I think that's really neat. Yeah, maybe in the end here, just because I always love to ask this question with father and son and just family owned businesses, how do you how do you anticipate, and maybe already there, but you know, when you
Unknown Speaker 57:42
how do you transition from one generation to the next? What does that? What does that look like? You know? I mean, I assume the the young in this case, the young buck wants probably to make some changes. You've done it this way, like, and I know it is very independent on relationships. But you know, where are you guys at in sort of transferring things, and are there other siblings involved, or is it just Patrick or walk me through a little bit how a family owned business sort of navigates the handing of the baton. We're in the Olympics right now, right? You know, you've got a we've got the four by 100 here, or whatever race we're running, and you've got to hand off the baton. How does that work? That's
Unknown Speaker 58:18
number one you have. Here's what I would tell people, why don't you plan on two years of work to begin with? Plan on two years of work that I did because I was, I was the one that was pushing it, if you will. Someone needs to, because there's so much work involved in understanding finances and legalities and all that stuff, which I knew nothing about, to be honest, that's two years of work with them, people, back and forth, back and then you have the family, and you have your kids who grew up in a business which lived my life of being consumed with my business, but they still love me. I mean, it's kind of like, hey, they always work for my business. How am I going to honor them? And so that's one thought. And then you think about other people that work for you, like, how are we going to do this? I have to replace myself. I have to replace Sue. I mean, Patrick's there, but what about the work I do? You know, then you get caught up in this whole bigness of, oh my God, how Who am I going to find? Well, luckily, that unfolded in a very good way. And Renee is one of the owners now, who's been with me almost 30 years. Her husband, Rob architect, background, is our other owner. He's been with me about us about six years. But then there's we on a personal level.
Unknown Speaker 59:29
So when I organized a way to honor our other children with it, one of which is going to have a larger part of the business at some point in time, but we ended up kind of working through all those little details to find out who's interested in the business, who's not. How will it work? How can we do this to make people happy? And I'll tell you, it's very emotional. It's a lot of work. And one thing I learned is that, and one of my best friends told me, he says, Whenever you.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:00
It to an issue. Whenever you get to an issue, anything, you go to the agreement, you don't need to talk about it. You don't need to lose sleep on it. Whenever you get an issue, go to the agreement, because that's why you spend two years on and spend all that money on and then you read the agreement, so you know when things get to that place. So that's what I've learned about that, not that I've had that issue, but that's an important thing to learn, and so two years honor your family and be lucky enough to have people within your company that have the wherewithal to be part owners. And we were lucky enough to fill up the void with Sue and myself and with Patrick Rob and Renee and Nolan in the background, we have that group of people that fill those voids, which I think, to me, was the absolute most important part, because if you just sell it, move away. You know, who are the who you leaving it to? And do you care or not? Well, in our case, it's been our life. We do care. If you just want to take the money and run because you had a business, that's a whole different story. You know, you take the money and go and you don't really care. So it's been a like, yeah, it's been from your from your side. I mean, that's a great answer. I think that's really, you know, I love the idea that of the time that it takes, and there's a lot of family owned businesses, specifically, seems like around and in construction, I've always wondered, you know, I was lucky or not lucky. You know, I had zero interest in being a builder. I'm dad was a builder. My mom was an interior designer. They retired in 2001 and I started in 2004 or five. And so, like that, we never really had to deal with that. And so I've, you know, I'm a little older, so our kids, I'm like, I've often joked in years past that I don't want my kids to be in building, because, I mean that I'd have to work, you know, in my 70s. And I have so many hobbies that I, you know, I hope to be doing all those hobbies. But now I've sort of changed my tune, because, you know, my daughter, she's eight, but, man, she's with it. She'd be a phenomenal owner. She is really, she got her mom's brain and my, you know, outgoing personality. So she'd be, uh, she'd be a force to reckon with, a bit smarter. I'd probably be a little further along too. But anyway, there's my sales person, there's my salesperson and owner, but, and I just think we need more women in construction, so I'm really excited about, you know that, but honestly, I just care if my kids are passionate about it, I'll figure out a way to stay in it. But right now, you know, I've talked about this a lot. We don't have enough time to talk about now, but you know, I essentially have a job. I don't have a business because I have it's only been the last couple years that I've realized the difference between working on your business and working in your business. And there was just never, if you don't know the concept, then, then you're in it, you're not on it. And so it's only now that I'm sort of thinking about long term of like, oh, okay, I've got 20 years now, you know, God willing, and health that, you know, okay, now I can actually at least formulate what would a business look like that could attract a sale?
Unknown Speaker 1:02:51
I still think, look, listening to your guys's story on how you're selling, especially when you empower people within your company. To me, that's the really, the only way that I would even have a shot at doing something like that, because, you know, if you can't bring people in from inside your team and create some equity ownership there, and plus, it sounds exciting, I I've been quoting this a lot lately, and I like it, which is, if you want to go far, sorry, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Yeah. And I feel like that, what you guys are sort of, you know, the epitome of that, that you're going to go far because you're going in a group, yeah, and they and they, and I realized this through everything that you know, Patrick, you know, had a thought of growing the company. He would say things about maybe building houses more, and stuff, you know, just kind of nuanced. And so I thought, but, you know, moving on, I got to a place where I did a certain amount of business and, you know, I I had enough. I mean, being through everything we I was never this hugely growth orientated. I want to be the biggest builder in the world. What I always wanted to do is give everybody a good job for fair price. That's, that was my mantra, give every give me. And so that's, that's how I built the business. And now they are going to start building aging in place, homes and stuff, so they have a different future. Patrick, you know, maybe, as we wrap up here, what are some things that you're excited about, you know, the future as you, you know, now an owner and you know, what are some things that you would see changing three years, five years, or, I guess, what excites you about the future now?
Unknown Speaker 1:04:18
It's a very good question. You know, I think, you know, on the kind of tail end of transition, we've done a lot of work to get here.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:27
We have given the age of our company, you know, kind of updated a lot of our processes technology. We're using technology a lot more with our software and stuff to manage our business that we were never doing before. So that really excites me, maybe having the opportunity to do more with less. You know, our team, I think we have the best team with our field team and the Office team that we've ever had. Lot of good people that you know, really like we are all just talking about, do more, have opportunities. And so that's really exciting. You know, I think just.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:00
In general, with with where the industry is going. You know, with aging and play stuff, we're also into sustainable building principles and things like that,
Unknown Speaker 1:05:10
and just continuing to do fun projects. I mean, I think that's most, most why we're here. And I think the most thing we get the joy out of, you know, 70% of our business comes from referrals and past clients, so keeping that going and creating relationships like that's, that's what, that's what it's all about. So I don't know. I mean, I think the we definitely could grow maybe, but I think just where we've been in the last two or three years, it's kind of, and we're kind of at the tail end of that feels like, like, I think our year, for our word for this year, was just stabilized, you know, really, just with our new leadership team and some of the new aspects, you know, the design department and everything, get that all rocking and rolling and, you know, then we'll kind of figure out where we can go. And I think that, you know, with the aging place also it's, I think, a big need demand for that, and we hope to do more of those. So that's awesome. Well, thank you very much for your time and coming on the podcast today, and we'll have all your Instagram handles and websites in the show notes. And if people want to reach out you, to you directly, is LinkedIn The best place is the website. The best place if they want to connect with you. That's a good question. Yeah, website, yeah, probably the website or email is our call. I mean, Instagram, I'm one of those. I don't want every I'm good on Facebook.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:35
That's awesome. Well, thanks again, gents, appreciate your time, and we'll see you around. Appreciate a lot of fun and
Unknown Speaker 1:06:43
good luck to you too. All right, thank you. All.
This episode is sponsored by:
