Episode 137 - Recession, Failure, & $12,000 Mistakes: Inside the Grit of L.A. Build Corp
#137 | Ami Harari | L.A. Build Corp | Recession, Failure, & $12,000 Mistakes
In this episode of The Curious Builder Podcast, Mark sits down with Ami Harari from L.A. Build Corp and gets real about what it’s like to build homes (and a business) in Los Angeles. Ami shares his journey from the Israeli military to moving trucks to leading a top-notch construction company—and all the wild twists along the way. They swap stories about hustling through hard times, learning from mistakes, building great teams, and keeping clients happy. Plus, a few laughs about dirt biking and life in LA! If you want some honest insight and good energy, this one's a fun listen.
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About Ami Harari
Ami Harari is the President and founder of L.A. Build Corp, a boutique construction firm redefining high-end residential building in Los Angeles. With over 20 years of hands-on experience and a background as a serial entrepreneur, Ami brings a rare combination of vision, discipline, and precision to every project.
His trained eye in foundation and framing ensures that beauty is always matched by structural integrity, while his military-shaped discipline anchors his leadership style. On site, he sets the tone through clear communication, aligned expectations, and unwavering accountability.
Trusted by top architects and designers, Ami is known not only for his craftsmanship but for his clarity: every project begins with alignment and ends with uncompromised results. Under his guidance, LABC has become a rare player in the luxury space — a builder who speaks the language of design while executing with rigor and care.
For Ami, building isn’t just about structures — it’s about trust. His philosophy is simple: homes should be enduring, precise, and worthy of the legacies they hold.
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Ami Harari 00:05
The fact that you are not sitting in the office and drinking coffee and having your team kind of handle all the problems, you actually jump into the trenches and you're there. Give yourself this kind of a tap on the shoulder. It's not only that you made the right thing. It's like you were there at a point in time as a business owner, and that's a major thing.
Mark D. Williams 00:31
Today on the podcast, we had AMI Harari Ian from LA build Corp, and we had a great conversation. I love Amis background and really the organization, but really comes out in the interview is just his passion and really his work ethic, and you can see it through his company, as well as the homes that he builds. Without further ado, here's the LA build company. Welcome to curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host today, I'm joined from the west coast, from Southern California. I've got AMI Harari from LA build Corp. Welcome, ami, hi. Thank you for having me soon. Yeah, we met just what, seven, eight months ago at the International builder show. I think I was wandering around at the Cambria booth, talking to them and Eric Tendler, who we had on the podcast, oh, maybe an hour a year ago. Hey, you got to meet Ami. And as I was doing some research on you, you are very close ties to Cambria in general. But more than that, you guys are both from Israel, and you're both in the military. I was curious, were you guys in the military together at all?
Ami Harari 01:25
No, Eric is a little older than me. Okay, there is a, there is an age difference between us. But, you know, like everyone in Israel, we had to go and serve, and we wanted to go and serve, and then kind of a meet your Israelis. Always get together in kind of a fight common ground, wherever you're gonna from. I mean, we're just gonna, you know, fight, find friendship. So I know we met here. We actually, we met through riding dirt bikes. We didn't even like, we like our introduction to each other was racing each other in Southern California, you know, dirt runs.
Mark D. Williams 02:01
So that's, was it like open track, you guys were open, like, open dirt bike racing, or was it just more,
Ami Harari 02:07
kind of, more of like, you know, when, when we did it over here, it was in, you know, older age, so it wasn't like the early 20s. But no, we were mostly riding for, you know, for fun, rather than, like a true competition, where we're too old for that's funny.
Mark D. Williams 02:23
I have a buddy of mine who is from Minnesota, actually from Wisconsin. He's lived in LA now for over a decade. And is it deus ex machina? Not. That's a, there's a mispronounce it, but it's like, custom motorcycles, and he does all their photography. And I'm constantly seeing these really cool retro dirt bikes as they're racing around LA and I'm like, where are they going? How far out of the city do you have to go to, you know, to basically do these races
Ami Harari 02:46
well above an hour. I mean, actually, you know, we load it on the truck, and then we go, and then it's more of, like, kind of after a really tough week, you know, pushing as much as you can push, usually either Saturday or Sunday, we go and relax, you know, a little bit of nature, little bit of speed, little bit of different type of an adventure. So,
Mark D. Williams 03:06
Okay, excellent. Well, let's focus on the entrepreneurship side. Back to building. Who could talk about dirt biking? Because I don't know that much about it. We could talk about that forever. But how long have you had? How long have you I guess I'd be curious to know when we when we met in LA I was just or sorry at IBS. I was mainly just interested, like, you know, I loved your presence, kind of your energy. We talked a little bit about building, but I didn't dive into it deep. I think that's probably what I like about the podcast the most, is I get to meet my fellow builders around the country and kind of hear their story. What made you start a construction company, and why LA? Because it seems like LA would not be the easiest place to build high end Custom Homes, just given all the regulation, we had a architect on. I was at Marco Santos. I don't know if you've ever worked with him at all before, but just kind of, he was walking us through the complexities of building, you know, in LA County. And just, you know, the permit process is always just so crazy to us on the Midwest. You know, it takes us, you know, four or five weeks to get a permit, and your multi years to get permits. It seems like,
Ami Harari 04:02
Yeah, I mean, look, first of all, I don't know any better. So I started my construction career in LA. So as far as what I'm concerned, waiting for a permit six months. It's a blessing. I mean, it's great. It can take longer, but by the way, it really depends where. So when you're close to the coast, you have Coastal Commission and you have other regulations. So it's a little bit more complicated. And you have all those small cities in Los Angeles area, which is like, you know, the beach cities and Beverly Hills, and each city have their own regulations, but usually, I mean, you kind of, you grow into it and you understand what needs to be done. And, yeah, we're, we don't even know what is it, four or five weeks getting a permit. So it was never an issue. And for me, actually, you know, I actually started my way in Chicago. So when I came to the US, I was in Chicago, and obviously, you know, coming from Israel, and it wasn't, it wasn't my type of weather. So eventually. Ian down here, and then I think that I would say that one of the driving forces in finding your profession is your environment, is you know, your friends and the people that you meet. So unless you're really educated and you're you know, you went to either law school or you know, or you're a doctor or something, then your path is pretty much card for you already. But in this particular case, I mean, half of the Israelis in Los Angeles are in some way in the construction industry. Whether it's it's like, you know, Eric that is in Cambria, so it's don't supply, but it's still kind of a, you know, part of the industry. And, you know, all of a sudden you find yourself building houses, in a way. So it wasn't something that at the beginning I was, I was planning on,
Mark D. Williams 05:55
did when, what was your What was your background? So you immigrated here, probably in what your mid 20s, or how old were you when you came to Chicago? Mid 20s.
Ami Harari 06:02
Yeah, mid 20s. And then I started, in the beginning, I worked as a mover, obviously, you know, you kind of are trying to find your way in. And then I was a truck driver for several years. So I did, like, I don't know, half a million mile in the US. I've been everywhere. I loved it, yeah, I drove like, you know, based, I started in Chicago, and then I moved to LA but, you know, I kind of like, Put your finger on the map, I was probably there, and then at a certain point I got back to Los Angeles to kind of settle down, after you were a few years of driving. And it was, it was kind of funny, because I was really bad at the moving industry. I couldn't really everything I touched. It just, I mean, I had several trucks. One got into an accident with the driver in one, the engine just blew up. And, you know, it was up in Wyoming, and according to the fire department report, it was like 20 minutes, because the wind was really strong. So in 20 minutes, everything was gone. And I like, you know, this is signed from God, something doesn't really work here. And then I kind of started to look at, you know, what else can I do? So back then, you're talking about kind of early, mid, 2000 most of the Israelis that I knew and most of my friends here in LA were either in construction or in the moving industry. So, and I figured it's sort of the right industry for me. Was a movie too many moving parts, too far away, you know, very stressful operation as well. You know, move people's goods and kind of from here in New York, and there's always something on the way, and you're always late, and there's always something, and it's just it wasn't my type of environment.
Mark D. Williams 07:44
Yeah, because, yeah, because construction is so linear, there's no problems in construction.
Ami Harari 07:49
No. But construction, the leverage on, or the way to kind of put off the fires is, is it's close to you. So if there is a problem right now, so you forget the call right now. I'm either this is La so I'm going to hit the traffic. I'm an hour away, an hour and a half away from going there and actually fixing the problem, whether, when you're into, you know, like transportation and moving. I mean, I have a problem New York. What I'm going to do, I'm going to take a flight. By the time I'll get there, it's probably gone, and am I going to be able to take care of it? So it's different dynamics probably didn't really work that well with my personality. So, you know, at a certain point, I kind of started transitioning to the industry, and I went and started working in a company that was they were managing projects, and the issue with this is, I think that the company that I kind of introduced to and I started my career there, they were not really that good with managing projects, so they were doing a lousy job, and most of the sales guys were, like, really frustrated. So a good friend of mine was actually leaving California, and he had a construct, small construction company, and he had, like, few employees, really great. So I figured, you know what, it might be a good idea to kind of take over these employees, and then to manage the jobs, and then to manage the crew. And I didn't know enough about construction, so at a certain point, I started doing that, and and all of a sudden, all the sales guys were like, coming to me, like, Hey, can you take care of my jobs? Because you're the only one the company that you actually deliver. So I did this for a little while, and then, and then I went and started to work with a family friend, Maureen, too. And I was really, by the way, when I was doing it, I really felt connected to, you know, the rough work, the foundation and the framing. And I felt really good with me giving instructions and, you know, getting down into the trenches and working with the guys and learning the business. But I felt like I didn't have the right knowledge yet, and I need a little bit more. So I started to work with a family friend that was really kind of took me under swinging away. And he was, you know, pretty big contractor that was doing mostly foundation framing, but he was a general contractor, so I started working with him, and, you know, kind of learn the business. And what I saw is that, I mean, since I left the Israeli military, which I was a sergeant in the military, I didn't, didn't really test my leadership, leadership skills. So, you know, I kind of did things that didn't really require. And I feel like, also, you're starting kind of a down the ladder, and you're kind of climbing up. So it takes a little while to really get to a point that you can test how good you are when it comes to leadership. And all of a sudden, I was really able to kind of push and see results. And at a certain point he took me to like, like, you know, it was kind of a fun conversation, and you took me, and he said, I mean, listen, you you're pretty much extended your duties with me. You need to open, but that's it. You're ready for you. He was saying you're ready for the NFL. So just go out there and you need to open. You know, your company and everything else is history.
Mark D. Williams 11:21
How did when you first started, do you have, did you have a client? Did you do a spec home? Did you do a remodel? What were those first couple years like? I mean it you obviously were not afraid of taking risks or trying new things. What are those first couple years look like?
Ami Harari 11:37
It was really tough. And one of the reason why it was tough because eventually my timing was not that great. I mean, I opened the company in 2006 and then I did some advertising, and I went out there and, you know, I did additions, and I kind of contacted other companies that needed rough work and even finish. And I also have, I have a concrete license because that was my specialty, was foundation and friend. So, you know, I did, like, all of a sudden, it's, you know, the rumor spreads really fast, especially in LA sees, it's a huge city, it's a huge channel, but everyone knows each other, especially in the industry. I mean, usually when I beat a job, even today, I'll get a call for myself. And, like, you know, this guy, and this guy is also beating it, and we all know who's who's our competition. So, so, in a way, I was, I started to kind of get leads, and then go and meet clients and and, you know, do the work and subcontractors that I work with, and people that I know are really supportive. I feel that one of the things you know, in LA and generally in America, once you are around this ecosystem of the industry, and you're kind of a people are really doing everything they can help you and that you will succeed. So I mean, it was I got an amazing support from everyone that I worked with. By the way, it's still the same thing. Still, once you know the type of jobs and type of clients that you want to work with, and you're really trying your best to do the best job you can and be honest and and kind of be a good leader and follow when you need people will kind of spread the word. And so, I mean, kind of going two years towards 2008 and 2009 we had the, you know, the big recession, and that's when it started to become tough. So I was able to do a very big project that was taking me from me 2008 all the way to the end of 2009 that was a really big project that I did with my kind of with my own crew. I had like 15 guys back then, and we were actually building the house from the foundation, like the whole thing. So we sucked few things out, like, you know, air conditioning and plumbing and all those specialties. But that actually was, it was a good project up until 2000
Mark D. Williams 14:11
and I remember those, those early years. I mean, or not early years, well, the early years for you. But you know, now it's 20 years ago. 2019 years ago is crazy, but how do you remember some of those, you know, coming out of that recession? You know, so many businesses went out of business, and you were a young company. I was the same age. I started at 25 or 2005 I'm sorry, when I started my company, and I kind of reflected that maybe it was an advantage being a small company, from the standpoint that I didn't have a lot so I also didn't have a lot to lose. And that was only in retrospect I remember for me about there's like, like, four or five years where, like, it was a struggle. I won't go about it now, I did a podcast a couple of weeks ago. I was so I had no money. I was so poor, I was renting out my own bed in my own home to some college kids just to make a couple a couple more bucks. Bucks, because it was like I had a, I had finished a spec home right at the finish of 2008 and it's like, you do anything and everything you possibly can to just make it one more day, one more week, and one more mortgage payment, you know, I was doing a spec home, you know. And I learned so many lessons about being scrappy and just kind of, you know, getting rid of fear, like fear of failure. Do you remember kind of what that was like, and how often do you think about it now? You know, you build these amazing homes now. And obviously we all know that business is a lot harder than it looks. And yes, we all build, you know, beautiful homes, but it and while, yes, there's a glamor in it, we love it. Business is really hard, and it's like it's only our own detriment, if we ever forget how hard it is, because it's only a matter of time before we all go through I mean, this industry is so up and down, I guess. How often do you reflect on those four or five years, even now, as we see kind of, at least in the Midwest, we see definitely a softening in the market over the last year and a half. I don't know what you're experiencing in LA, I guess. How often do you use the lessons that you learned again, even now,
Ami Harari 16:03
every day and every minute? I think that it becomes part of you. So, I mean, again, everyone has his own, has its own kind of, you know, treating personality that that can overcome, you know, the really hard times. And I remember, and I still say it every time I kind of speak, and I talk to young guys that just open their companies and say, hey, the hardest thing you know, when you're putting a company is sleeping at night. If you pass that just, you know, be as relentless as you can go out there put 110% 100% is not enough. You got to put 100 to 10% and eventually, I mean, just also try to do it in kind of a smart way. Like, you know, don't bang your head against the wall. If something doesn't really work, then try to analyze, why not? But I feel that, you know, those years were like, I don't know. I don't think that I ever read most of the friends, most of my friends that have businesses you don't, you can't learn from success. Okay, you learn from failure. And it's actually even more complicated than that. It's like you learn from more failures than you can really take on, and that will make you so resilient that at a certain point you're going to face those challenges, when the business grows and you have those different challenges, then you will say, okay, you know, been there, done that. Okay, let's, let's, let's look at it in a kind of a different perspective. And what do I need to do in order to kind of handle it differently? And do I need to take a hit? Do I need to, you know, fight for, like, push and push and push it? Do I need to kind of a laid back and let things settle and then kind of a jumping so you have all these stuff with different lessons all the time that I think that those, I will say three to four years from 2009 to 2013 almost probably the hardest in in my life. I mean, I had two kids. I was in tremendous debt. Couldn't really see the light at the end of the town. Nobody knew, like right now, looking at it, we didn't know when we're going to come out of this recession. Nobody knew. We thought that it's going to last forever. And it was, it was tough, but I think that at a certain point you're kind of putting yourself on an autopilot, and you're saying, you know, I'm going to wake up in the morning, I'm going to go and do what I can. I'll try to learn every day to do it better and better. I think that one of the great lessons that I learned also was just go out there and meet as many people as you can, go and try and be close to successful people, and try to get this energy and invite from them, and just, you know, there is no other way. There's no way back. So that's the way that I felt, and this is what I did. But I'm using it every day, all day. It's it becomes part of it. Became proud of me.
Mark D. Williams 19:12
We're doing a series right now on Thursdays called losers are winners, and that's the whole premise. Is, I don't want to hear anyone's success stories. I don't want to hear how you how you nailed it. I want all the failures. Because just like what you just said, we learned so much more by losing, and we learned so much more through the struggle. For those that have been listening to curious builder podcast, you know how much I love the contractor coalition Summit. It's been the single biggest force multiplier in my business over 21 years. We're excited to announce again that we're coming back to Chicago November 7 through the 10th. All the details can be found at the contractor coalition summit.com and under the promo code for a $2,500 discount type in curious builder we'll see in Chicago. So this episode is brought to you by adaptive. If you're still chasing checks and juggling spreadsheets, it's time to upgrade. Adaptive is revolutionizing how builders get paid with AI powered bill pay, automated draws, one click payments and built in Lean waivers, Faster Payments, fewer headaches and total visibility. Adaptive takes care of the back end chaos so you can focus on what you do best, building. We've used adaptive for two and a half years, and trust them to keep our projects moving and payments flowing. Learn more at Adaptive dot build and simplify the Pay Process today. For more information, you can also listen to episode 10 and episode 15. My kids are fairly young. I was just thinking about, you know, as a dad, like, you know, you try to teach your kids stuff, but you're like, at the same time, they sort of have to learn some of it. So it's like, you know, it's, I don't know, I struggle with it. They're nine, seven and five, and it's like, how much do you let them sort of fall down and skin their knees, if you will? Because that's how you learn, versus, like, coaching. And I don't know any parent really knows the answer. I think you to sort of do the best you can through it. But I think business is a lot like that too, you know, even like when you hire new people, I've made the mistake sometimes of, you know, giving too long of a leash to some of my employees, because, you know, hey, they were young. I knew they had to grow, kind of let them make mistakes. But, you know, if they're not learning the mistakes I Nick shipper has been, you know, as mentioned this many times, from modern craftsmen, that basically, if you can hire somebody that can do your job to 60% of your ability, hire them now, they can't stay at 60% they have to get better. And so I think the goal is like, you know, if you if you hire for temperament, if you hire for culture, you know, if you hire if you see kind of the hunger in the eye, you know, they're going to keep coming up. I just framed the question in this way, like, how have you so you have a pretty big team now, I think it was counting what you have, like, nine or 10 people now, 14. So how, as you hire people, what are traits that you look for? Because I feel like you've done a really especially on your website, you know, you've done such a great job of really shaping and getting really clear on expectations for your clients. I think actually the thing that stood out the most is really your leadership. And, you know, I was that's, you know, obviously, when I found out you're in the military, it sort of seemed to be that seemed to make a lot of sense, a lot of your wording, and a lot of the way you structured things, it was very clear, like, Hey, if you build in our process, here's our three steps. This is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to do it. And you're just, you're basically taking a very complex process and trying to make it as simple as possible. And it's, we know it's not simple, but you can make, you can make it simple for the client, for what they need to understand, what they need to do, and if they feel like they can trust you, that's really all we need. That's all any business owner can do is say, Do you trust me? Yes or no. And if you do, then let us help you along this journey. Anyway, I'm just curious, how have you sort of hired people that sort of fit into that vision, and what are some examples of hires that didn't work out, and did you get let them go in a quick enough time? Or were you like me? Were you let them stay on the tree a little too long, and, you know? And then it sort of, it can affect the culture of the company too
Ami Harari 23:03
well. First of all, to begin with, I think that is business owners, okay. I mean, we get knowledge about our craft every day and every day. And, you know, I always say my best project is my next project. I always learn something. However, if there is something that I can really say that I become really, really good at, and I'm still getting better and better, is with hiring people at the beginning of the business have its own identity, and you have your identity, and at a certain point they you combine them. And for me, took, I would say, probably, like around 10 years to really understand how my identity and what I feel is important, how I can transfer it to the business and kind of spearhead the leadership on it. But, you know, in synergy, and I think it takes a little while to come up with it. However. I mean, it starts with you. One of the things, one of the sentences that I keep reminding myself all the time is that you know what? Obviously, you know you lead by example. Okay. The second thing is that I'm going to outwork each and every one of my employees by a huge margin. If there is a problem, and they get to a point that, you know, it's hard to fix it, bring it. I always, I'll always back them up. I'll always make sure that they understand that whatever happens, I'm here to support them and to kind of work with, work with them, on on, you know, solving issues, whether it fits with subcontractors or clients or suppliers, or just, you know, you woke up in the morning if you have a bad day and you can't really do your job. So just say, give me a call. I'll come over. Let's do it together. So, so, in a way, the leadership is, is like, you know, you're the leader in the front, but you really want to make sure. Sure that your team is standing now behind you, right next to you, and they feel that you're you're that you help them push things you know, in a way that they won't feel alone. It's very, very important. One of the things that I feel today, that I'm doing is when I'm hiring new people, before I hire them. I actually I send them over to one of the job sites to meet the supervisors and to talk to them when I'm not there. So I thought, Okay, here's an address go. I call the supervisors or superintendents or project managers, whoever is at the job site in LA. I'm sending someone over do a walk through. We didn't talk to them. And this is obviously after I did the interview and and I kind of vet them on their either experience or personality, which, in my opinion, by the way, personality is way more important than experience. I can teach you almost everything that I know, but if you're not coachable, I'm just wasting my time. So I mean, if you have the personality then, and you have the leadership skills in you, you're going to learn the craft, and you're going to learn the business very fast. If you don't have the leadership, this is not the industry for you. So, so I feel that at a certain point, you know, after you, as we said, you went all those ups and down, and you went all these sleepless nights with this cold sweat that you wake up in the middle of the night. And I think even today, I can probably draw the ceiling above my bed in my older house at night exactly how it looks, just from the you know, those sleepless nights that you're kind of, you're stuck to a corner, and you don't know what you're going to do. And eventually you come up with with those, you know, solutions. And every time you come up with a solution, it makes it better and better, and you become stronger and more resilient. So I think today, the way that I see it is, I feel like when I'm having an interview, I get it so much better than I used to get it when I was younger. I can pretty much read the person in front of me much better, and I know that He's my type of, you know, team member or not. And the same thing I can say to a client. I mean, this is also something is that is really important. Sometimes you go and you meet a client and you're saying, You know what, just not gonna work. I mean, we're with it's there's not going to be any synergy. So sometimes it's better to say, You know what, you probably need someone better than me that can really treat this project in a different way. I think that my culture is not gonna, you know, I won't be able to accommodate you the way that I want to, and you have to say no, but with you know what you mentioned before that you're keeping employees for longer than what you should. I think that it was, it was a book that I read by, I think, Tony Robbins that said, you know when, when is the right time to fire an employee? Unfortunately, the first time you thought about it so and I know we're not doing it, by the way, I will fight for each and every one of my employees. I will do whatever I can, you know, to make it better. However, sometimes I just, you know, don't have the ability to do it, and we have to let go, and it's always a hard thing to do.
Mark D. Williams 28:22
I've sort of changed my approach the last year, year and a half, and we've had really amazing employees, and a couple of them were just, you know, poor fits. And I think what dawned on me is, what makes me a good remodel, or being an optimist or good at sales, makes me sometimes a poor, not a poor judge of character, but basically, like, I'm an optimist. I think they can change. I think they can get better. And so, like, I mean, I think that's obviously, I'd rather go through life and business that way anyway. But I've sort of told my team that my team has, we made a hire maybe four or five months ago, and it's been an amazing hire, but my team is the one that identified it, brought it in, interviewed, and it's like, my team all wanted it. So of course, I'm going to say yes. And so my goal for the next, you know, 20 years, or however long I end up building for, is, my goal is to never hire another person and have my team and let my culture sort of hire it. And then my ultimate fail safe is, if it doesn't work out, I'm like guys, this isn't on me. You guys hired them. If you don't like them, it's up to you.
Ami Harari 29:19
You know what? It's all right, I think that most of my last hires were vetted by my team, whether if it's an office or field guy always sending me guys. What do you think and and I think that, you know, I get so much of this really insight, because when you're not there and someone is kind of a doing a walkthrough with a superintendent, and, you know, it's less frightening, in a way, it's less stressful of a situation. And you know, they ask different questions than what they will ask when they ask when they were with me on an interview, and it's less formal, and then you really get the inside information. But I also feel that, you know, for us as business owners, the best environment is like when, when you know, I. Really want my team to be better than me. You know, when I go and we're doing a walkthrough and I'm getting into some type of a discussion with my, you know, with my supervisors, and I'm wrong and they're right, I'm in heaven. I mean, I always, always, always want to be wrong when it comes to, you know, to my team members. I mean, when they know the business better than me. I mean, I can expect, I can accept more than that. I mean, it's the best that you can get.
Mark D. Williams 30:28
You mentioned something earlier, and I've seen it before, in an article that someone wrote about you was you. You know, you openly say that my best project is my next next project. Why? Do you believe that
Ami Harari 30:41
every project, you learn how to treat your clients better, you learn how to manage the job better. You learn how to manage your team better. With this really great design professionals that we're working, you know, with here in LA, you get so much, you know, new and, you know, like, the newest things that are coming. This is La, it comes here. So you learn so many like every project, I learned so much. It's not a little bit, it's it's a lot. And every time I come and I open a new project, I have so much more knowledge. And I'm kind of a, you know, ready to test the next project and to see how much more knowledge I get from that. I'm very field oriented guy. I'm not an office guy. I have really good shoes right now. Luckily, you guys can see it, and I just came from the side before we started it. So it's 11 here. I started really, you know, kind of early. I came here exactly 10 minutes before the podcast, and, you know, and I was already at several job sites, so in a way, just to go out there and to see superintendents that are doing so much better than what they did before. And, you know, having this different conversation, because the conversations we had, you know, before the previous project, we're not having them. They already, they already own it. It's, you see it every day, and I love it. You
Mark D. Williams 32:15
know, you said, I agree with your statement. By the way, 100% you know, I look back at, I mean, honestly, even life, you look back at when you were a younger builder or a younger business owner, and regardless if you're doing well or if it was difficult, you just think of how much those years taught you, and to your point of, I mean, every project, we just had a project recently that we operationally did something. It wasn't wrong, but the way we did it with the client is exposed sort of operational loophole, and it caused kind of a billing issue. And the client, you know, had a lot of they didn't agree. We basically, at the end of the day, I had to make a marketing decision as to how I justified it to myself. And so, you know, we've all had to spend money on marketing. In this case, I want to keep the client really happy. And I, you know, I had to, it's sometimes hard as a business owner, because there's what's right and wrong, but sometimes are black and white, but a lot of times you and I have to make a decision that you might be right. It's actually, it's like arguing with your wife, you know, you might be right, but you're still going to lose so like, do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy? And like, in this particular situation, I was like, You know what? I think it's better off if I take this on the chin. I learned something operationally that we won't do again, and two, that client is going to appreciate the way we handled it and tell their friends about it. Now, could I have held my ground and maybe made 510, 1000 more? Well, sure, but honestly, a good reputation is worth way more than that. But it's not always easy. I mean, even though, like, if you tell me that story, I would applaud you and say, ami, yeah, you did the right thing. But you know, every time we're conscientious of our clients dollars too. I mean, 510 $1,000 it's a lot of money to me and and, you know, you remember those times when, man, $500 was a lot, and you see how everything has just exploded in cost. You know, I had a client come in today, and we were talking about pricing, and they're like, I just can't wrap my head around what things cost. And I said, don't feel bad. I said, I do this every day, and I have a hard time grappling with the costs. And in it's, I don't know, all the way through it, other than you just kind of it. Just kind of have to find acceptance in it. But anyway, I guess my point we're going back to the earlier part about your next project being your best project, is just simply how much we do learn on each one, and if we're not, we probably don't have our eyes open enough.
Ami Harari 34:30
And I think that this is really important, because you really got to be sensitive and open to the fact that you don't know enough. This is the construction industry, and you'll never know enough. And many times in staff meetings that I have, you have here in the office with the superintendents and, you know, in some of our team members and them guys, the only reason why I'm sitting in, you know, in front of you and lecturing you about things that you take all the mistakes that you guys made together. Mine, and it's probably not even half of what I did. This is the reason why I'm here and you're there, is that I made so many mistakes, I learned from them. And you know what, you have to take a lot of hits on the chains. I mean, there's nothing you can do about it. And I mean, every project, there is this opportunity to to do it. So, you know, you kind of mentioned it, and I have numerous examples. But what happened is that when, when you take it on the chain, and you kind of either way lose money, two things happen. First of all, your client really understands and comes to realize that he can trust you, that you're going to take a loss in order to be true and make sure that the project will be done the way it was meant to be. And you're not just going to take a shortcut because it's going to cost you less money. But I think more importantly, your team will see it, and your team will say, You know what, we made a mistake on on ordering this window that is $12,000 and giving you an example, and the owner was actually, in my case, was able to, he was nice enough to say, You know what, I'm going to put a transom on top, and it's going to look and say, Okay, no problem. And then I went and I ordered, you know, a new window. And he called me, and he said, I mean, did you order the transom? And I said, No. And he said, Okay, well, I want you to order it, and I just want to make sure that I'm not willing to pay for it. And I said, No, I didn't order the transom. I ordered a whole new door, and there was, like, you know, quite quiet on the other side. It's like, I mean, but it's like, $12,000 I don't my mistake, my problem. I mean, it is what it is. I have to take care of it. It will never look the same. A year after you're going to move to the house, you're going to look at it, and you pretty much hate me, until today, we'll see your life. So I'm just not going to do that. And we bought it, and the rumor spread all over. I mean, everyone knew what we did, and it's, you know, so my team saw how dedicated I am to the client, to the project. The client was like, Wow. He was, he was ready to throw, like, $12,000 Ian. I guess I can trust him more than what I thought and and I think that at the end, it creates this ripple effect that you know, is one of the blocks that you build, your building, that you build your business with. I mean, it shows your integrity. It teaches your team, it teaches your clients. I mean, sometimes I wait for these opportunities.
Mark D. Williams 37:32
Unfortunately, yeah, I mean, I think that was very well said. It's funny. I was smiling because you nailed it. So this just happened yesterday to me, and we're with the client. And we were doing our close out. We had our PM, we had the architect. The architect had left for this part of the conversation because the homeowner didn't want them there for this part of it, because I think they were trying to, they were coming in with their gloves up a little bit. And my office manager, when we're all done, when I told them that, you know, we I saw how much it was costing them emotionally, I said, You know what? We'll take care of it. And you know, you could see her visibly, you know, relax. And you know, that was obviously the outcome they were hoping for, but they didn't know if they were going to get it. And but the my office manager basically told the homeowners right in front of me. He said, This is why I came to work for Mark. Is because the other builder that I work for would never have done this. And he goes, that's why, that's why I like working on these homes, and I like working with this team. And it was, it was, I didn't do it for that reason, obviously. But to your point, you know, the actions that we have have a ripple effect, not only on the client and on their, you know, their friends and their family and all the people they tell but our team, you're right, I often don't think of the impact that that has on the culture of your own team. And so you nailed it perfectly. And it literally just happened to
Ami Harari 38:49
me yesterday. There was one very crucial point which you know you really got to give yourself and understand what happened is that, first of all, it started at the point that you were there at that meeting, which is already something that is a business owner, and you have so many things that you need to do, but you're able to be there on that meeting. And the second thing is that your sensitivity, you are very sensitive, and you understood what the situation and you took this action, and this is our job, you know, and the fact that you are not sitting in the office and drinking coffee and having your team kind of hand along the problems, you actually jump into the trenches and you're there and you're making sure that whatever the problem was, you're going to fix it. And and this is something that every time that I get out of this type of meetings, I feel that, you know what, I did my job. I lost money. I did lose money. It doesn't really matter. At the end, I listened to my clients. I was sensitive enough. I had the right timing, because I'm going to the job site and I'm listening to my clients, I'm listening to my team, I'm listening to my subcontractors, and I'm trying to do the. Best I can for the project, and then you were there making this decision, you know, you have to give yourself this kind of a tap on the shoulder, like, you know, you were, it's not only that you made the right thing. It's like you were there at a point in time as a business owner, and that's a major thing. And I
Mark D. Williams 40:18
think, I think, as we all, you know, all business owners get a sense of a feeling. It's the intangible. It's the unknown. Like, you can kind of understand the temperament, both in the sales cycle, the build cycle and the close cycle. Like if a client kind of doesn't stops communicating, like, you know, something's up, like if they break their normal pattern of whatever that is, you know, calling or emailing or texting or whatever they communicate, you kind of get a sense emotionally of where they're at. And you read body language, I always try, you know, to meet in person, because emails, you know, emails, it's like your grandma's yelling at you. Like, stop yelling, you know. It's like, why? I don't know, my grandma doesn't yell at me, so I don't know, I use that as an example, but it's like, big text. It's like, it's so, it's so black and white. You don't get to read the body language. And you know, you're right, you know we you know, I actually went into that meeting thinking that I was going to hold my ground, and I felt like it was the right thing to do. I felt like I had already given them a concession, verbally, what I was going to do, but they wanted more, but I could just see it, how much it cost them, and like you can see the body language. You can't see that in an email. You can't see it. You can hear it sometimes in a phone call, but man, when you are in person, what I always think that if your client will agree, especially in a difficult situation, even a legal situation, if you can all things, if you can, just because I think if you can identify as people to people, I'm not a business owner, you're not a homeowner. Board is two human beings. If you can get down to the emotional level and they're still willing to work with you, I know there's a path forward, and it is easier when you like them. I told my clients. I said, I like you, I like your family, I like the way you. It's way easier for me to do this for you because of how you've treated my people. And I said, you know, they love my PM, Mike. They're like, we love Mike. He's amazing. I said, Honestly, I'm letting you know that that matters to me. I said, maybe, as a business owner, this doesn't matter, but it matters to me, and the reason I'm doing this is because of how, you know you're kind and how you treat my people, where like you and I've been in situations where, you know, it's kind of like going, I just speak in data analogies all the time, because I'm in like a dad world, but it's like, you know, if someone picks on AMI, you can handle it, but if someone picks on one of your kids or one of your employees, like you will fight for Your employees. Like if someone came after one of my my people and was like aggressive, like I would, I would not tolerate that. This
Mark D. Williams 42:34
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Ami Harari 43:29
but it really also depends on the personality. And I feel like sometimes we're is, you know, general contractors, sometimes you're right there in the middle trying to, in a way, protect the client from a greedy sub, or sometimes to protect the sub from a greedy client, okay, and, you know, and you're kind of a writer in the middle, and you really need to steer this shape right in, you know, like this really, really narrow, I will call it this optimal waters, that you really need to make sure that everyone understands. But it comes to, my opinion, with the leadership when, when you are starting a meeting and you have your agenda, and you know, you have your personality, and you go in and you listen, you don't talk. I mean, you got to listen more than than, usually than once you talk, especially in those meetings and and then you, as you said, you hear the body language, and we have this amazing portfolio of houses that we build in LA, really beautiful. We always exceeded, you know, what the task that was given to us? But what really, really makes me proud is if I'm going to make a phone call right now to 95% of my clients. And, hey, remember this really expensive meal, coffee machine that I installed with your kitchen? Turn it on. I'm in the neighborhood. I'm coming for coffee, and I know that the otherwise, hey, you know I haven't seen you alone. Yeah, come on. I want to see you. And this is, I mean, houses. Yes, I love it. I love construction. I don't see myself in. I'm doing like anything else. I mean, this is pretty much my duty in life, you know, to build houses and to do it with my team and to expand my team, and always, to get better better projects. But if I'm really proud of, you know, things that I achieve is the relationship with my clients. I have clients right now that I'm building her fifth home. Wow. So, yeah, I mean, and it's just every time I think about it, and I'm like, You know what? This is the greatest achievement. And I will have clients that will call me 345, years later. Hey, you know there's something here and there. I don't have a warranty on the house, they will call me. I'll send someone. I'll fix it. Hey, I'll stop by for coffee. We will talk about and many times I won't even charge you. I kind of feel that there is this, really, I don't know, kind of a like white glove type of treatment that you give your clients, and that's why they refer us to their friends and families. And every time I list my client is references. I mean, you know, whoever looked for references called me back and say, you know, my your clients are raving fans of yours. I mean, to get to that, I mean, this is amazing, and, you know, it makes you feel so good that you saying I'm probably doing it right. I just need to do it better. But this is the direction that I'm taking. The companies like the clients, are there for us for life. We're going to keep them close to us. We're going to do whatever is. If one of my clients will call someone else to repair something, I would see it as a thing, you
Mark D. Williams 46:41
know, what's funny about referrals? I don't know if you've experienced this before. I can't remember the last time anyone I work with asked for a referral, and when they do, I sort of joke, like, if you don't want to build with me, you really shouldn't talk to my past clients, because they're like, raving fans. And it is also sort of funny because it's like, you're not gonna, you're not going to give somebody your you know, like you said, 95% so you're not going to give them the 5% you're going to give them 95 which is obviously the lion's share of them. But I wonder if people have gotten that hint. Because do people ask for referrals? I can't remember the last time a client has ever asked me for a referral, or if I give it, have they ever actually called them? Or do you think that's cultural? Do you think like, I mean, like I mean, like, cultural to Minneapolis, like that maybe just doesn't happen here. But does it happen like in LA do they actually
Ami Harari 47:27
talk to your past clients? I have a few right now that called it, and I got a call right after that from a client said, you know, I spoke with this guy and that, and he sounds really nice and, you know, and I had before that, clients called me and said, I mean, I mean, I just spoke to this guy. I'm not sure if he's your type of client, you know. So it kind of goes both ways, in a way, sometimes the clients will call you like this guy. I mean, you pay attention to this, and you kind of get an inside information from completely different perspective. And I kind of
Mark D. Williams 47:56
love it. That's cool. I like, I like that,
Ami Harari 47:58
but yeah, I mean, it's look at the end. I feel that one of the things that I tell my team is is, like most of the people that we build houses for, it's their biggest investment in life that we can't really like. They cannot afford a failure. It's a lot of responsibility. It's going to be it can go only one way, which is a successful project. And I really feel that, in a way, you got to give the other side this kind of opportunity to do all the research they can. I mean, most of my clients will come and see jobs and will sometimes I will even bring it when we have, I don't know, like, like, the weekly meetings with the owners and already talk to the owners at the end. You want to be as transparent as possible. You want to make sure that you know, once you've been chosen as a contractor, they kind of cleared that they know that you're the one for them. In my opinion, it's really, really important.
Mark D. Williams 48:57
No, I like that. Yeah. I just thought of a funny thing. You know, we were talking about, or I was talking about my team interviewing people. How fun would it be to have your past clients interview your like employees? But really funny would be What if you pick your five best clients and say you've chosen, you know, la build Corp, for your construction company, but before we can accept you as a client, you actually have to go out to dinner with three of our past clients, and they have to sign off that, that they're a good fit. I mean, I don't think you would do that, but it just, How funny would it be if you were in such demand that your past clients would have to approve your future clients? It just be sort of this funny, funny situation.
Ami Harari 49:32
Yeah, no, I do. I do believe, though, is that, you know, after you do it for a little while, you pretty much, you understand who's your client. You also understand, you know, also based on the market. Sometimes, you know, I'll get calls from developers and hey, you know, we get, you know this, and that would you be? And you know you're going to look at the project, and I will just come back and say, Guys, I mean, you don't have room for a general contractor in your project if you want. Sell this. So why should we even waste each other's time? You need to do what, you know, I'll try to give them as much. In a way, it's an information, especially beginners, that we want a general contractor, yeah. But you know, at the end, when you're looking at what the market gives you right now, you don't have room for it. Try to do it by yourself. And, I mean, you know, save the trouble. So sometimes you also understand based on the market and based on the personality is who's your client. But once you found out that he's your client, that's it. You're all in. I mean, you need to outwork yourself. You need to outwork your team. You got to make sure that this client, when he goes to sleep, he knows that, you know, I have la Bitcoin, Ian his team are taking care of it and and, you know, trying to either way. Is that the stress that comes with, you know, building ups?
Mark D. Williams 50:55
Yeah, no, for sure. How you know Ian LA with, you know, the Olympics coming up with the palisade fires. Give us some local talk. Like, what's going on with the palisade areas? Do you build in that area? Do you have any clients that you're going to be building in there? Like, what's what's happening there right now? Because it's been, it's been a year since the fighters happened. How long ago did that happen?
Ami Harari 51:16
Yeah, at the beginning of the year. So it's, I think it happened in, like, January. I know it because the fire started a day after I renewed my homeowner's insurance on my house. And I also like this extreme fire zone, so I don't know what will happen this year, and it's usually in January. Hopefully the insurance company will renew, but, but going to, yeah, we're actually starting to projects right now in the Palisades. The ones that were started are what they call like to like. So I have several programs. I mean, they're really trying to help people that are, you know, really trying to kind of get their house back. So this is something that, it seems right now, after the dust settled, they're doing a fair job. Again. You know, you're talking about California. We're talking about Los Angeles, talking about big city, with a lot of rules and regulations. So I think that we're taking this under consideration. It seems like they've been doing a good job. I mean, they're waiving many of the fees when the houses are closer to the ocean. Then, in a way, if you're doing like for like. And you're not really all of a sudden, instead of 3000 square feet home, you're putting the 6000 square feet home. So they're waiving the cost of commission, which can take two to three years, you know, to get approval by them. So I think that they're doing a lot of these things. And you see, in my opinion, driving through Pacific policies, you see, in my opinion, a healthy rebuild. One of the points that we were as general contractors, we were kind of scared, is that everyone will start building at the same time, which will put a lot of stress in the supply chain and the labor market. And it seems that the market can actually sustain without getting too crazy. So my subs are busy enough, but not too busy. I think that it was, you know, completely crazy. I mean, I would say you're here into covid. Everyone was building, so it was really hard to get. A supply chain was choked, and subcontractors were hard to get. No, we're in a very healthy, steady rebuild, in my opinion. But again, I'm not sure exactly it
Mark D. Williams 53:23
will stay like that. What I was curious. So, any idea how many homes was it 1000 homes, 500 homes?
Ami Harari 53:30
How many talking about in about 3000 homes? Yeah, but I'm not sure how many of them are like, you know, apartment buildings with with
Mark D. Williams 53:42
50 homes. My My question is, because I was kind of curious. This was, this is, I'll lay out what my stereotype thought process of what would happen, not knowing, la markets, and you tell me where I'm wrong, because I'm sure I'm wrong. So my thought was, you have 3000 homes that burned down, and I correct me if I'm wrong. But that part of California was, you know, it was, I mean, affordable is relative term, but it wasn't like Malibu or some crazy so a lot of people that had lived there for a long time had homes that they could afford. So let's just say the home is, what, 700,000 million dollars. I'm sure there's a range, but an average home there would be, what, 2 million. Okay, so the home is 2 million. Should Okay, so it already was okay. So that changes my my thought process. So my thought was, is, like, it's 2 million they burn down. How many can even afford the rebuild, and then they just sell the land. So the people that, because I was curious, like, how many people of those 3000 homes, roughly, would stay, versus how much they're, like, I'm not going through this. I could sell my home to, you know, whoever, and they could come build a new home. Because, you know what, I just want out of here for either two reasons. One, I don't want to go through a rebuild. Or, number two, you know, the insurance company is going to, I don't know if they would replace all the way to 2 million, and let's say, to rebuild that house today might be what, 4 million, 3 million. Could you afford the jump up of what it costs? I mean, that was my I was just curious if that, yeah, even if that was being considered or my way, I think
Ami Harari 55:09
there's several layers to it. So first of all, you know, you kind of, you got to look at it from like, what really happened? I mean, it's not like few homes were that safe. You're talking about banks, you're talking about a school, you're talking about, you know, commercial center. So, I mean, the rebuild is not only for for the home, it's actually rebuilt the entire city, in a way, this part of the city, in the community. So, so I feel that, you know, maybe many of the, I mean, my son goes to school in an area that they have a lot of new students from Malibu and Pacific Palisades, because the school was actually burned. So, I mean, you know, it's kind of a it affected the entire area. So I feel like some people were underinsured, so maybe they want to send the land. Some people were, you know, they had the appropriate insurance. I think that they were rebuilding it and insurances in California, I guess, give you an incentive. Once it's part of the policy, you get an incentive if you rebuild. So the settlement for taking the money and selling the property versus taking the money and rebuilding. Usually you get more with, you know, the major companies. I'm not sure exactly with which one what, but this is part of, you know, part of the policies. But I think that you know some people, as you said, they lived in, you know, the neighborhood for 2030, years, and they lived in neighborhood when, you know the average cost of the house was, as you said, 700 you know, 600 800 and right now the houses are two and two and a half. So will they have the money to rebuild? I think it's a case by case. I think that mostly, most people, it's an amazing neighborhood. You know, you get this amazing ocean breeze. I mean, it's and when it will build, it will actually build better. So I think that we will see. I don't think anyone can, can really know where it's going to go. And I think the dust is completely settled when it comes to all the insurances and all the programs. But few of the people that I know, they want to stay there, they want to rebuild. Yeah,
Mark D. Williams 57:23
that's and that's good to hear. I'm glad that my guesses were sort of wrong on that. Maybe the last question before we wrap it up is, you know, the Olympics are coming in, what just two years? What is it? Was it 2028, or 28 what is, do you see a lot of infrastructure changes, or what are you seeing? Does that affect? I mean, does it really affect you as a resident or a builder in the city? Or what does that look like?
Ami Harari 57:48
Not yet. We don't say. I think that when it comes to sports, LA is, in my opinion, one of the best cities in the world. You have so many stadiums, and I mean everything. I mean, we have two football teams, so there's so much infrastructure here, so I'm not really sure where they're going to start and rebuild. You don't really see something that is out of the ordinary right now. And I would say that this is probably more the infrastructure commercial, you know, layer of the industry. So usually for us as custom home builders. If there's anything that we're going to see is, we're going to see the price of concrete is still go up, right? Yeah. But, but yeah. I mean, you're talking about a huge city, it's going to be hard to really see it, yeah. So,
Mark D. Williams 58:32
yeah, I heard something. I'll have to figure out what the where I read this. It was about year ago. I was reading, or maybe I was listening to about the Olympics, but I had heard that the 72 Olympics, I think, was in, LA, it was the only Olympics that made money. Most Olympics is lose a lot of money because they have to spend the winning city has to put too much infrastructure changes. And they had just talked about how, you know, LA, their history of how they had been successful in 72 number one, and 82 I'm sorry, 84 that's the one I mentioned. Oh, it was two, 872, and 8472 but okay, 84 I must have my numbers mixed up, so 84 but anyway, the point of it was, is they, you know, you already have such massive infrastructure that there's a lot of stuff that they just maybe have to, you know, update or add a few amenities to. But you just, obviously, the city is so big and there's so many teams there that, you know, they have a lot of stadiums,
Ami Harari 59:25
they can start culture. It's a matter of culture. Because actually, I saw, maybe we saw the same thing, but I saw about the Olympics in Athens, and, you know, in many cities in Europe, that actually, yeah, it was, it was a huge loss. I feel that here in the United States, I mean, the culture around sports is so robust. I mean, it's so like, you know, it's really imprinted in the fabric of society in a way that every time you're going to have, you know, you're going to build an infrastructure some. Will come and fulfill it. And I think that in the US, you can't go wrong when you go to sports. I mean, it's just people, it's, it's really part of the culture. I think it's just going to do good. I mean, by the way, look at Park City Utah, in Salt Lake City when there was the Winter Olympics. I mean, it became from Winter Olympics to be, I don't know, kind of a capital of ski in America. So I don't see an issue in LA with Canada not finding the right, you know, solution and purpose to whatever you're going to be, yeah.
Mark D. Williams 1:00:34
I mean, that's, that's the article I read was sort of along those lines as well. Well, I want to respect your time in the audience as well. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I assume you'll be at the builder show in Orlando.
Ami Harari 1:00:44
Yeah, actually, I'm not sure yet, yeah, okay, I'm going to be at the next builder Show in Las Vegas, for sure, because it's three hours drive. You have to have to look at
Mark D. Williams 1:00:53
it. We'll have everything in the show notes. And if anyone wants to reach out to you, follow your company. You've got some beautiful work. Thank you. You know where to go. Thanks again for coming on the curious River podcast. Paper podcast. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Today on the podcast, we had AMI Harari Ian from LA build Corp, and we had a great conversation. I love Amy's background and really the organization, but really comes out in the interview is just his passion and really his work ethic, and you can see it through his company, as well as the homes that he builds without further ado, here's the LA build company.
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