Q & A Episode 7 - Building Community in the Construction Industry
Episode #7 | Q&A with Mark D. Williams | Building Community in the Construction Industry
Mark D. Williams' shares insights on attracting the next generation to the construction industry. He also talks about the importance of collaboration and community building with, designers, and architects.
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About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Posdast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. WIlliams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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hey everyone I wanted to talk to you today about cbusa the industry's leading group purchasing organization they make it possible for home builders like me and probably many of you to get better pricing and grow your bottom line I'll be joining the new local chapter here in Minneapolis and I look forward to working with the other top builders in the area to drive down material costs cbusa has chapters all over the US and they're continuing to spand every year you can learn more about the benefits
00:00:24 and apply for membership by going to CB usa. uslearn that's cbusa . uslearn additionally if you want to hear my interview with Ryan lipek from cbusa that's episode number [Music] 26 welcome to Fier brother podcast I'm Mark Williams your host today is Thursday and we have another Q&A session these questions have been submitted and so I'll seek to spend about 20 minutes answering two separate questions the first question is if you could change one thing about the building industry what would it be it's a good question it
00:01:03 seems like it's been asked a lot and it seems like it's focused mostly around attracting young talent and that's kind of where my mind has been the last year or two just seeing I'm about the middle of my career and you look around you see a lot of people retiring especially with the baby boom generation that owns a lot of the country's wealth a lot of the businesses um you hear some pretty amazing stats that for I think it's like every seven plumbers that are retiring one are taking their place um you see
00:01:34 the same sort of attrition rate in electrical as well as HVAC and I think if I could change something about the industry it would just really celebrate what a great career and what a great lifestyle and what owning a business can be like and there's very few industries that have such low entry you know to being an owner as the construction world and there's pros and cons with that but I think you know for a big part of it I don't know when this happened because I wasn't born then but you know somewhere
00:02:08 around the 60s and 70s it seemed like as an education policy it was very much driven to drive people to college and there's nothing wrong with that I went to college not sure what I actually learned during college but it allowed me to mature a little bit and you know I think you know if you're going to be a doctor a lawyer an engineer I mean there's so many careers where you do need that higher level education and again I'm not knocking it at all but if that's the only thing you can do there's so much left on the table for um
00:02:37 for others that don't want to do that they either don't like schooling or they want to own a business you know most of the things that I've learned as being a business owner almost all of them have nothing to do with education or school and most of them seem to be common sense most of them seem to be just asking questions I I've mentioned many times that one of the things that I appreciate the most about people when you hire them is the figured out Factor and you know we've all met really really
00:03:03 intelligent people that don't have a lick of Common Sense and sometimes you have people that have just have so much world life experience and no education but man are they the people you want on our team they know so much and I feel like really in in where we're at today I actually am am pretty encouraged I feel like this message is being very well broadcast I heard recently I think it was in the Wall Street Journal or an article I came across where it was talking about people that rather than going into the financial debt or going
00:03:36 into like Manhattan and the financial services that they were buying you know um baby boomers businesses and that essentially these were cash running machines I think one of my regrets just because I didn't as a 23-year-old I had no idea that this was something you could do was buying a business I don't know why that seemed like right now does not seem that novel of a concept but when you're 23 I mean I I thought you just had to start your own business you just had to make your own business I didn't realize that there were business
00:04:03 brokers out there that you could actually you know go and buy a business um and so that could just be my own blind spot but I think that would be something I'd be very much encouraging young people to do that if you are looking at you know buying a business um there is a lot of businesses out there that are looking to sell I just heard about one today where they approached an investor friend of mine and you know they have a I think It's a 65 70y Old owner and his sons and do not want to take over the business so they're now
00:04:36 showing that hey this is a a very cash positive business um absolutely a great business to buy and to own and they're looking for people to buy it and own it and operate and for the person selling it it's a good deal too because you know they can make some money and if you especially if you've designed a great business that has repeatable customers um it's a great lifestyle and I think especially in building because we have a huge absence of people or a huge just amount of people leaving the trades and
00:05:06 leaving the industry a lot of a lot of knowledge is is leaving as well there's going to be massive amounts of opportunity I mean I don't know the actual um years on this but I mean you're G to have a decade maybe two of opportunity and so if you are a young person thinking about you know buying a business starting a business you know maybe being Apprentice for a few years I mean there is serious opportunity out there for people that want to get into the trades so the thing that I would like to be to change the most about the
00:05:37 industry is just the awareness of what a good lifestyle it is and I think it really does help if you like to get up early because it seems like a lot of the job sites a lot of the things that they're early starters but you know it's you know it's kind of like early to start early to end you know I know lots of one of my trimmers for a long time uh he used to like to get the job site at like 4:30 but he was gone at like 2 or 3 because he would coach his daughter's Trap Team team um he would like to spend
00:06:02 time pick up his kids from school and it seems like the flexibility of construction allows you to have a pretty Balanced Life I think we have you have to I've spoken a lot about it on the podcast but I think we have to make sure that we're putting you know safe cards in our lives so that we're not working nights and weekends and things like that because when you do own a business especially early on you really can fall into that trap of just I've got to make it work and I'm going to do anything
00:06:27 possible and I'm not saying you don't but I think just real realizing that there's a balance to it and I think once you look around and you maybe follow other people that have a great balance in their life I think that's where mentorship is really helpful I I think you know something else I'd like to change about our industry is is sort of Breaking Down the Walls um I know we're actively trying to do that actually um you know I love the fact that it seems like now more often than not you hear collaboration over competition it's
00:06:54 something that very much resonates with me I mean it's why I started the Curious Builder podcast and it's why we have the Curious Collective not only for you know Builders but we now have started the Curious Collective for interior designers and we just launched the interior uh sorry the Curious Collective for Architects and really just getting small focused groups where you get 20 to 30 Builders 20 to 30 designers 20 to 30 Architects and just have them sit in a room in small groups and just share
00:07:21 their experience talk about business you know I I think the days where everyone sort of created something oneof in their own lab only to emerge and realize that 10 other people have been doing the same thing in their lab it just seems like a really silly way to go through life and it just seems like so much more can be accomplished when we work together when we collaborate and and honestly owning a business can be kind of lonely you know if you are a you know if you're a a oneman band and you do all the work I
00:07:51 mean you're a really busy but you know you're you don't have a lot of time for networking and I I and and a lot of time for talking to other you know Builders or people in your in your indust and so I think as you start to scale your business a little bit and you start to hire people I think it becomes much easier to start looking outward for inspiration and to start sharing some of what you've learned and I think you I know lots of Architects that are kind of their Lone Wolf Architects our home
00:08:17 designers or interior designers and it seems like the ones that I've talked to especially the interior designer groups they really crave community and they get it with the builders they get it with their Partners but you know how often do you know 10 20 designers sit down and talk about accounts receivable about hiring and fighing maybe they do I don't think from what I've heard they don't and um Architects I don't know what kind of platforms are out there for them I I know Builders we have the Builder 20 and
00:08:44 we have different trade organizations but I think it's only going to get better and better and so I actually am very encouraged at where I see the industry going and I do think this is the positive side of social media this is the positive side of a smaller world you know I there's a builder uh down in Atlanta uh who's not even my Builder 20 group Brad Robinson I had him on the podcast we kind of hit it off and he and I probably text or talk once a week you know could be a three minute phone call about whatever and I
00:09:15 think the world is getting so small and we connect with other people and sometimes people feel more comfortable talking with someone in Atlanta or someone in California or someone in Texas well that's great you can reach out to them it seems like people are more and more open to you know connecting um but you can there's so many people in your local market I mean there's many many builders in my Minneapolis Market that I speak to regularly um we we before we even started the Curious Builder uh Collective we had something which we
00:09:43 call the S7 it still exists and you know there's nine builders that are in it and we get together a couple times a year four times a year and we just talk about whatever we're dealing with it's less structured and less formal but it's still really helpful it's nice to have people that you can talk to and so I I think that one thing that I would change about the industry I think it's changing and I think it's changing quickly and I'm really really really excited for that change Lake Society magazine is
00:10:09 minneapolis's Premier target market Boutique lifestyle and design publication it embodies the unique Lifestyles and design of the Minneapolis City Lakes neighborhoods from Lake of the Isles to Lake Harriet it showcases the best in local design projects by both Premier Builders Architects and interior designers in this area Lake Society magazine has the look and feel of a national publication with glossy covers high-end finishes it's mailed directly to Upper bracket single family homeowners in the city Lakes area and
00:10:37 it's the perfect local coffee tabletop publication subscriptions can also be available through the website Lakes Society magazine.com additionally publisher and founder Karen stle has over 27 years in the local magazine publishing industry and has a passion for high-end photography and quality Graphics her commitment to Quality visual Simplicity and Beauty are strongly reflected in her beautiful Lake Society magazine the second question um was what is the one thing that you would have done differently as an
00:11:10 entrepreneur that's a good question I think it's kind of ongoing I think I'm always thinking about things I can do different as an entrepreneur I think the I think I already addressed it a little bit in the previous question was I didn't know you could buy a business I thought you know you could only start a business and especially at 23 it's like I didn't have any money so who who would ever I I couldn't go buy a business I have any money I never even thought that I could go find a business that I really
00:11:34 liked and that you know I wasn't this smart to think this way and think like hey this person's probably 55 or 60 you know if I could if I really excited about this trade or this business I could work with them for you know a couple of years and maybe do some sort of equity you know buy into the business I mean had no concept of that and so that would have been something that I wish education systems would have taught us that would have been a really cool concept to understand in high school about how that even works
00:12:02 so that you were even aware of it um I also think that as an entrepreneur I I was always about creating something I still am but now at you know 43 years old versus 23 um I'm thinking about selling it you know I think the Curious Builder brand is something that is sellable I mean I think we have seven business platforms now because of it and so I'm really excited you know I'll keep it for you know a couple decades but I'm excited for the education the community building and different platforms that it
00:12:32 can have and therefore it's going to be a sellable business I didn't have any of those thoughts when I was 23 starting Mark D Williams Custom Homes I've mentioned it many times on the podcast I wish I wouldn't have named my company after my own name um and lots of successful Builders have so it's not that it's just and I don't know how much more sellable my business would be you know if it was called you know Aspen Builders or you know timberframe homes or something like that you still have to have a uh you know business that can
00:13:00 cash flow that has clients and things like that I just think it's it's hard to sell a building company uh especially a custom home company like mine without lots of assets and things like that and so I think to any entrepreneur you know think I think what's that old saying think about the end or no I'm blanking on that begin with the end in mind and I think had I ever thought that someday you know you would spend who knows how many hours of your life how many years of your life you know let's say you buil
00:13:28 you know let's say you created a a business for 40 years you know the idea that you wouldn't be able to sell it at the end is actually kind of sad and I if I had thought about that at 23 I either would have structured my company very differently I would have scaled it who knows maybe I never would have gotten into building I don't know and so I would just anyone out there considering starting a business not only do you have to make sure it's viable and you can start it um which is difficult enough in
00:13:55 itself but can you do you do you envision this being a sellable asset someday and you know I look around at people that you know they build something and I'm really impressed with people that you know they can build a company in a short order and then they turn around and sell it you know uh recently um a shout out to Matt calano from adaptive you know they've got a new AI tech company and I'm really excited for what they're doing and they're rapidly growing and they're building a business but this wasn't his first
00:14:23 business you know just in passing we were talking about another company and he said oh I was part of you know helping that that company go public and I was just blown away I'm like that's amazing I mean he's so young and he's already had multiple businesses that have you know succeeded on a whole another level than I could even imagine and so it's really inspiring to hear entrepreneurs create something and then sell it and some people just have a gift I mean it's like they're they're business Builders they they can build a
00:14:51 business in a short amount of time that's what they really are excited about and then they sell it and they turn it over and then they do it again um talk about a glutton for punishment to do it once is hard enough to do it multiple times and being known for that I mean that's an incredible talent but obviously they have a skill set and they have an organization to their thought they have an organization to you know the skill and the craft and the end in mind and I would imagine that once you've done it a few times you probably
00:15:17 get better at it I mean I would love to bring on a Serial entrepreneur that has not only started a number of businesses because I think there's a lot of built people I know that have been on the podcast that have started them I'd be very curious to have someone on the podcast that has started a business sold it and started a completely different business um so if anyone out there knows somebody like this please recommended them to the show I would love to interview them that sounds sort of fascinating so I I would
00:15:42 say that that those are a few things that um I would have done differently as an entrepreneur starting out I also think I would have done peer groups much earlier it's only really been the last three four years where I feel like my network has just exploded and you know really that was a big shout out to the contractor coalition they have their next one coming up in Boston here shortly and there's going to be you know two every year and it's just amazing at what that can do for your career specifically around construction but
00:16:10 regardless of what field you're in there are peer groups there are networking groups or create them you know I don't sometimes if we don't see the thing that we want we need to create it um you know I I kind of felt like with the cures collectives it was something that you know we have the Builder 20s but they're you know they're pretty formal they meet twice a year there's proba pretty big cost associated with him a lot of travel um is super valuable I'm a part of it I fully believe it I think there's things
00:16:36 like the contractor Coalition it's three days of intensive uh learning and then I wanted something different than all of those but somehow a combination of all of them so I think sometimes if you don't see something out there this goes back to being an entrepreneur create it and um and and and it'll help you with whatever your whatever your career choice is you know if they if you're an HVAC or a plumber and there doesn't seem to be a lot of plumbers getting together start your own group you know start
00:17:01 reaching out to other plumbers and asking them hey let's get five plumbers and let's meet for coffee you know four times a year just to talk about what's happening and maybe there's groups out there like that I'm just not aware of them but I just feel like sometimes we wait for something to hit us over the head but I think if we're curious and we try to explore and ask around I think that's where the real magic starts to happen it's kind of this community involvement um that's another thing I definitely wish I would have done
00:17:26 earlier on in my career I'd say for the last five or six years um I've been involved with some local high schools I Mentor two different groups one in the spring one in the fall and they'll um basically you you talk to a local school and you you know for me it's a business program and you know I'll Mentor you know seven kids actually when I when I launched the cous Builder platform we had a group of seven that sort of helped me launch the business which I imagine was probably as fun for them as it was
00:17:53 for me I hope one of some some of them is still listening I hope they're listening to this episode right now and so it's it's kind of fun to involve in the community it could be a charity you know we're doing our first charity uh coming up before this episode will Air actually on August 1 with the joy collaborative and if you've been following the show you've heard me talk about it you've seen our social feeds but I you know I think just being involved in the York Community is something that we hear a lot and it's
00:18:20 not that I didn't value it I just never felt like I had the time and I do have a young family which makes it challenging as well but it doesn't have to be a big Grand gesture either it could be something you know quite small and um your community could even be the people on your job site you know it could be as the owner you know you show up on a hot day with a couple boxes of popsicles you know I don't care if you're a little kid or an adult but on a hot day uh you know popsicles and ice cream sandwiches taste
00:18:46 pretty good or cold drinks and I think just some form of community involvement in giving back is really important and I think it sort of broadens not only your network and your mind but it allows you to sort of give back I I've mentioned a few times that there's these three phases of business life and it's earn learn and return and I don't know if other entrepreneurs that have been out there for a couple decades start feeling the way I am because it's like maybe as a 23 year old you can't think like this
00:19:12 I don't know um I'd love to think that there are some really young Progressive Minds out there that are thinking about this you know decades before I did because um it's really needed in our industry so anyway that's my answer to the two questions have a great week and uh we'll see you Monday on next Thursday work excited to announce that we've opened up another curious Collective for the last year we've had the Curious Builder Collective we now have the Curious Builder Collective for designers
00:19:38 the first ones will be happening in September all the details are going to be on our website we have 30 spots available half of them have already filled We additionally have eight spots left in the Builder Collective if you're interested in getting together in small groups of nine with local miniapolis based Builders and designers in separate groups and talking about your business talking about your brands asking those questions that you wish you could ask another business owner then this is the
00:20:03 place for you details can be found at the curiousb builder podcast.com thanks for listening to the cous Builder podcast if you like what you listen to please give us a five-star rating and write us a review it really means a lot it's a great way for us to just understand what you like about the podcast and what we can keep doing so like and review and please share with your friends and family find out more at curious Builder podcast.com [Music]
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