Episode 4 - David Zweber of David Charlez Designs
Episode #4 | David Zweber | Behind the Scenes of Starting a Design Firm
Expanding on the nuances of architecture paths: Architects, Designers, Draftsmen, and more. David details the differences between the disciplines in drawing and designing a home. We also dive into the explosion of the "Mountain Modern" style that was behind the rapid rise of David's success and the expansion to design out of state.
Listen to the full episode:
About David Zweber
David Zweber is the Founder of David Charlez Designs. He understands that custom homes are deeply personal ventures, and he relishes walking with clients through their finished homes, experiencing spaces that grew from imagination to reality and how that reality impacts his client's lives.
As a child, Tinker toys, erector sets, and Legos served as the means to construct his imagination's creative visions. After graduating David cut his teeth in the industry helping grow a local contractor into the largest privately held builder in Minnesota. David founded DCD with a passion for client-oriented residential design. He views every project as an opportunity to realize his clients' dream home through authentic dialog and elegance in design.
His work has been celebrated by countless awards and accolades. David's projects are often featured as "Dream Homes" in the local home tours, and you can find DCD's photos gracing the pages of home and garden magazines and featured projects in various housing publications. His award-winning designs can be found throughout the Midwest.
Resources
-
00:00
This episode is brought to you by Pella windows and doors. You can find them on Instagram at Pella underscore Northland or on their website, Pella northland.com.
00:18
As a GC, you're out there in front, you're hiring all these individuals that really represent your brand. And if you're not able to effectively communicate your expectations to each one of those people that are touching the job, there's going to be a breakdown somewhere in that process.
00:37
Today's show we have David's Weaver with David Charles design, but a great person to have on he really kind of walked us through the differences of Home Designer architecture draftsman. And we also talked a little bit about a style that was really prevalent early on in his career that really launched his brand in the Twin Cities, and now nationwide. So without further ado, let's talk with David on the curious builder podcast. Welcome to the curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host, I'm joined today with David's Weaver from David Charles design. Welcome, Dave,
01:12
thank you so much for having me, Mark. Well, we
01:14
met a couple years ago, because you're an architect in the Minneapolis area, and I've seen your stuff around I you probably have blown up a lot longer than I've been following you. But I would say the last five years, I feel like you've kind of been on a meteoric rise. You're everywhere you're on social media, you're on websites, I swear, every single builder I know has either built the house with you or, or has been so you're very well known in our area. And anyway, I want to have you on and chat a little bit about kind of your rise to stardom. And kind of just check in with you and see how things are going in the architecture field.
01:47
Yeah, fantastic. No, it's, it's been a great run here over the last few years, my company is only 10 years old. So we were in our 10th year this year started in 2012. Right, coming out of the backside of the recession. Soon as I saw a little glimmer of light in the homebuilding industry, after the long silence during the slowdown in the recession, I wanted to jump back in get back into that industry and thought, you know, starting my own company would be a good way to do it.
02:17
Interesting. So did you work at a firm prior to this? Or what was your background that you know, you were kind of laying in the weight and then said, hey, I want to start a firm?
02:24
Yeah, yeah, I kind of cut my teeth in the industry with a large regional builder. So not a national builder, like some of the more well known national builders out there, but someone that was doing production numbers, so building hundreds of homes a year, but just in this market. So I started with them right out of college and work there for over 10 years, and really wore every hat there is to wear in the in the industry. So anything from architecture, to sales, to marketing to estimating and a little bit of everything in a small company, you tend to wear a lot of hats. And it really gave me kind of a well rounded look at the entire industry and what makes a building company really, really tick.
03:08
Interesting. And the reason why you didn't become a builder,
03:12
no as a builder is great job as well. I always really liked the design side of it the best. And that's really where my passions were. So I kind of followed those. And there was times during the rise of my company that I considered becoming a builder. But you know what, I'm gonna leave that to the pros like yourself, and stick to the design side. There's plenty of work out there just for the design.
03:37
It's interesting Come to think of it. I mean, I've worked with a number of architects and home designers and draftsman over the years, I actually I'm sure there's more than one I only know of one company that builds and does their own architecture. It's the same person, by the way, and they've you know, I think there's plenty of firms that are designed built, if you will, but then hire an architect or hire Home Designer as part of their team. Yeah, but to really be an architect builder. That's pretty unique. It doesn't seem like it should be why why any ideas why that is so rare.
04:06
You know what I think it's it's two completely separate disciplines, even though there's a ton of overlap between the to what a builder does and what an architect or designer does, are, are very, very different. And I think there's different attributes about each of them that someone that's creative may not be great at telling a subcontractor to get your butt to the job site and do it so there's, there's different strengths that you need to pull upon. And I always say if you've got a strength in a certain area, follow that and follow your passion.
04:39
I think that's good advice. It's I mean, for myself, I've always admired all arts really, I just took a tour of Hennepin made to do you know, handmade glass and you know, or my sister in law's you know, professional ceramic. You know, creator and I have such a affinity for these cool artistic ventures and I'm very untalented in that realm. And so I could never be an architect act I other than an armchair architect, yeah, you know, I love to look over your shoulder and say, Hey, what about this, you know, I got a great, I don't have to humor, your opinions as well as the clients. And so I mean, anyway have a great appreciation for the nuances of architecture. And I think one of the things that's been successful for myself in kind of capturing the spirit and the energy with the client is I mean, I get as excited about their home, probably more so sometimes in the client does. And I, I think when a client interviews us as a builder, you know, as you know, we just sat down with you recently, where we brought in one of our prospects, you know, to sit down interview with you hoping to work together on that project. And, you know, I think they see how energetic I get, they see how you and I would relate to each other. And they're like, hey, because my job really is a GC is to build a team. Yeah, you know, and is everyone on this team going to be, you know, you know, simpatico, if you will, and kind of be in lockstep and work well and reassure the client that not only are they going to get a great build, is it going to be aligned with their value statement, but they're going to feel really good about the journey as well. Absolutely. Wonderful. One of my questions for you. So you started a firm in 2012 2012 is the first year and when you launched off to start your firm, I mean, a lot of people that are gonna be listening to this podcast are either going to be business owners, or own a small business. And so it was interesting to see that kind of the origin story. Walk us through, like how that happened. And how big was your firm? Where did you choose to start? Give us a little, some of the details there.
06:26
Yeah, kind of a fun story. So during the recession, I had taken a break. After my run with this, this local builder that I was working for, I went to work during the recession. When homebuilding in this market from about 2008. Through 2010, was few and far between, as far as the number of opportunities out there, there was a handful of custom homes still being built in this market, there was some remodeling going on. But for that period, during the recession, for those of us that are old enough to remember, there wasn't much going on in the area. So I had went to work for a product manufacturer that does both commercial and residential installations. That produces a product that is still used in homes today. And they're a major player, and I was working for them. And I was Moonlighting, some architectural design jobs, just for fun just to keep my creative passions rolling. In, what ended up happening was, I started getting so busy with my moonlighting that interest in the day job kind of became the secondary, which is never a position you want to be in, it's not fair to your employer, and it's not fair to yourself. So when it got to that point where I decided, You know what, I've got more work here that I can do during a moonlighting period, I need to jump out on my own. So I did that, in 2012. And I worked for about six months with just myself, and got so busy that I couldn't keep up with the number of opportunities that were coming in.
08:00
And that's amazing. Where were these leads coming from? Like, Are they friends, family business colleagues that you were designing residential homes? Yeah, yep. And were these, like the plans that you designed? Now? I mean, were these being built? And by a GC? I mean, how far were you going with these? With these plans,
08:15
I would say when it first started, it was quite a few remodeling opportunities. That's really where the market showed the most gain early coming out of the recession was remodeling opportunities. But remodeling opportunities led to new construction opportunities. And it just took off like wildfire. And I think, you know, that's one big change that happened post recession, because if I look at many of the major players in our market, prior to the recession, they had all in house design, and, and architecture. So just about every major player in town had an architect on staff, really, and those were one of the first positions that were eliminated in the downturn is you know, they tried to get as lean as possible cut down their staff. So architects went first and then the estimating guys went and then pretty soon it was just the builder there by himself. And when it came back, more architecture firms really popped up in this market a lot of the guys that were doing commercial before kind of made the transition over to residential started up some residential firms. But I would say that created a huge opportunity for me because now every builder is a prospect because it's not a design build firm anymore. It's just a GC are building contractor and they were looking to outsource those services. So great opportunity for somebody like myself to I had the connections from being in the industry which really helped you know, you get a couple of jobs and your name gets around a little bit and just kind of snowballs after that
09:48
and I know you're in prior like now is that where you first started or were you out of your home? I would imagine those first six months,
09:53
started out of my home for the first three, four months and then decided hey, this isn't this isn't for me where Seeing from home I know a lot of people really love it wasn't for me at all. So opened an office in Eagan worked there for three, four years and then signed a lease down in Lakeville. And I've continued my firm in Lakeville ever since. Not a lot of my work is in that Lakeville area, it's really, I see a lot more work on the west side of town, the east side of town. And I do a little bit in my local market, but it's a good launching point for both sides of the Twin Cities.
10:27
So you're you said after about six months, you hired somebody walked me through a little bit of the when you knew it was the right time to hire. And maybe as we go through this a little bit, you know, hiring and firing is always something that every you know, or someone transitions, oddly enough, in 18 years of building, I've actually never fired anybody. I've had about four transitions, but they've always either been in retirement, or they've relocated. Sure. And I just think any business owner has to do these things. And so writers to get some of your insight on, you know, when you hired and when you felt like it was the right time. And as you start, you know, of course, dealing with overhead versus kind of your, your monthly outlay, you know, raucous a little bit through that process in those early years. And even through to now.
11:08
Yeah, you know, they always say that it's best to hire before you need the help. But rarely does that ever happen. Agreed. Normally, it's I at least in my firm, we're hiring when when we're feel like our nose is just about underwater. And you just need to fill a position. And that's where I was at, I had more opportunities on my plate than I could get done in a very long workday. So went out in search of somebody that had some experience in the industry that I could put to work right away. So I hired a single individual at that time, and worked out great, he was fantastic employee, he would still be on my staff today. However, there was a geographic distance from where he lived to where my office is. And over time, he just decided he was going to work from home and, and we since moved on. But that's worked out really well for me, because I was able to reconnect with a lot of the folks that I had had relationships from with the builder that I was with, originally. And I was able to hire them on. So three of my staff members were people that I had worked with since the early 2000s, with the builder that I was at previously. And I had hired on somebody with a strong drafting background. And I had also hired on somebody that has a great, great relationship building communication, back office staff background, and is able to handle a lot of the things that me during my given day don't have time to do the things that I don't prefer to do. I would rather be working on designs, meeting with new clients, and connecting with my builders and leave a lot of those things that can be done by other folks to my staff.
12:55
Now, I assume you're referring to Lisa, I am She's amazing. Yes, I speak for myself, you know, one of the questions I was going to ask you that kind of leads into this is, you know, in your words, you know, as I've mentioned, kind of to the audience, you know, to me anyway, you kind of came on my radar about four or five years ago, just seeing you everywhere on Instagram, and just your designs are pretty iconic and different. And they've just really capture I think you've done an amazing job with like, kind of your 3d modeling and your flyby stuff. Now having worked with you, I get kind of a front row seat to how that's gone. But I can say that, you know, we can work with a lot of people communication, you in particular are phenomenal communicator, but so is Lisa. Yeah. And I can tell you as someone that recommends, you know, you and your team to our prospective clients communication, because a it's important to me, but frankly, I just think it's important to anyone in business, if you can't communicate effectively, it's a problem. Yeah. And, but then also just, it sounds crazy, but like, why do you choose to work with someone like they're likable? They're, they're enjoyable to be around the right wasn't it sounds like really generic things. But if anyone's looking to start a business, it, it's surprisingly, the bar sometimes is actually pretty low. It's kind of like when your parents hopefully taught you of just how to behave as a human being like, open the door. Like I say, Please, and thank you. It's like a lot of business, a lot of stuff. It's not rocket science, right? A lot of it is just being really trying to be a good human being, would you? How do you what would you say?
14:12
I think you've absolutely nailed it. Yeah, I mean, that's what it's all about communicating, setting expectations on the front ends of things and then living up to those expectations. And, you know, it sounds simple to do, it's harder to deliver than it is to say, but, you know, there's, there's folks in this industry, they do really well. And if I was to look at one key attribute of what separates the good from the bad or the good from the just getting by, it's their ability to communicate. Clients are, you know, when they're building a house, this is probably their single largest investment that they're going to make in their lives. They're extremely passionate about it. And when they're when they're doing that, and they're laying off that kind of money to build something special. They want to be really treated well. They want all of their ideas to be heard. And when they've got an issue they want it to be dealt with quickly and professionally. That's what we love working with with you mark is that you've got the ability to communicate at a different level than what we typically see out there. And when you get to the end of the process, you know that building a custom home is one of the most difficult thing to there is to do. You know, people will say, it's not rocket scientist, yet. I mean, it's not. But at the same time, there are so many different things that can go wrong in that process, just because there's so many different folks involved in the process, from start to finish, you're putting your reputation on the line, when you're, as a GC, you're out there in front, you're hiring all these individuals that really represent your brand. And if you're not able to effectively communicate your expectations, to each one of those people that are touching the job, there's gonna be a breakdown somewhere in that process. And the ability to do that all the way through the process. And in most cases, it's a year plus long process that you're, that you're relying on them, plus an additional 10 years of warranty time afterwards. There's a whole lot that can go wrong during that. But if you set the expectation, right, you've got a great relationship with your subcontractors throughout the process. They know what your level of, of expectation is, it just makes the whole thing go smooth. And if the clients are happy at the end, it reflects on everybody that's involved in that process.
16:27
I agree with that last statement a lot. You're right, I think, you know, saving a little bit of energy, but just knowing that the end, I mean, even the best clients after a couple of years, I mean, we just recently completed a home together. And probably one of my favorite clients that I've built for just an amazing couple huge fan of ours, I'm a huge fan of theirs. But even at the end, you know, they're just like, kind of get fatigued. I mean, it's two years, you know, of building and designing, and you just kind of want to live in their home and not that we want to be done. I mean, we do want to be done. But it's like, and we've enjoyed the process. But sometimes you just know, it's been four months. And now you get to the point where it's kind of like you sort of missed that client, you sort of missed that interaction, right? Those first couple of months are kind of like, it feels good. It feels certainly feel very accomplished, to be done. But you're right. It's a huge process. But making sure at the end, you're right, as they go back this particular client as a thank you had kind of a dinner party and had a food truck. And it's really neat for them to kind of throw us a party as a way of saying thank you. And so they invited a number of key people that were on the project. And I think your daughter had a volleyball tournament that night. Right. And it's really neat that a client puts that kind of value on it. And you know, we still stay in touch. But I just found this out. We had a commercial developer on recently, you know, that residential, I actually was a lawyer. That residential law, you mentioned the 10 years that we have to warranty house sure that we actually are held to a higher standard, the commercial buildings. Okay, that was surprised at the commercials, commercials only like four or five years. Sure. But the residential lobby group, I mean, we have a Minnesota in particular has a very strong homeownership wing and anyone and we certainly celebrate that we want people to be you know, they call it the American dream on their home and, you know, kind of celebrate that we're definitely on the forefront on that. Yeah, one of my questions just because I think I mean, I certainly have worked with a number of different designers over the years in terms of building a house, I it'd be kind of curious to kind of do like a Jimmy Kimmel thing where you walk down the street and be like, what does an architect do? Yeah, and ask like, 10 people, because I bet you'd get 10 different answers. Yeah. And maybe, as you probably rightly so too. Yeah. I mean, I've worked with draftsman, I've worked with home designers. I've worked with architects, you know, walk the people listening through, like, what are some of the differences, and pros and cons are of those different industries, because they'll have a very valuable point I've built to be very clear, I've built beautiful homes with each one. Sure. They're just different. You speak a little bit to those different avenues of let's call it home design home architecture.
18:52
Sure, sure. So you know, the hierarchy that you're speaking of, kind of at the top of that rung would would typically be fully licensed architect, somebody that's gone to school for six plus years for architecture, that has studied the profession inside and out. In most cases, the college programs that are set up for an architect are really geared more to the commercial side of things than they are to the residential side. Most of the people that you see in residential architect, architecture started at a commercial firm, but their passions really lie more in the residential side of things. So you know, their background is in commercial, their studies are in commercial, but they've got a passion for residential design, and they've made the transition over so that's what I found when I when I looked through the industry because when you're when you're in school, they're not teaching you how to design a house per se. They're telling they're teaching you about different methods of putting walls together and masonry properties and the strength of steel and all Have these things that are certainly components of architecture. But the design of a house is really more of an art form than it is a science. It's all about balance and massing and proportions, and all of those inker, intricate details that really make a home special. So you've got, you've got an architect, you've got architectural designers, which I would put myself in that category, someone that has got the background in architecture, isn't a licensed architect, but has got, you know, schooling in architecture, it's got the background, and it just has never really gone through the process of wanting to become an architect, which traditionally would put you down that path of commercial architecture. But his got, you know, an eye for those details that I had talked about. And then you've got, you've got drafters that have maybe went to two year school, that have got a background in how to do the mechanical drawings of a of a home design, and are really more on the putting together the details, but they're not quite designers, per se. So there's a spot for each one of those different disciplines in the industry. An architect, you know, the the advantage of working with an architect is obviously they do have that, that schooling, that background and a full understanding of all of the things that go into architecture. But there's going to be a cost involved in doing that, you know, typically architecture firms in in our area are two to three times the cost of what you'd get out of an architectural designer and could be five to 10 times what you'd see from a
21:42
drafter. Interesting would that do you think it's analogous to, let's say, a doctor and a nurse? I mean, is that parallel somewhat, I mean, a doctor, let's say goes to school for church eight years, depending on their specialty, right?
21:54
I would say a doctor, maybe to a nurse practitioner, I say yeah, yep. So I mean, there's still a level of schooling, yes, to go there. But grafter may be more of the nurse and the architect would be the doctor.
22:06
I always like analogies. I like yeah, that's another way of kind of referencing it. I'd like to take a minute to thank our sponsors, and then we'll be right back to the curious builder podcast. Today's episode is brought to buy Alpine hardwood flooring. These are amazing craftsmen. You can find them at Alpine hardwood mn.com or Alpine hardwood mn on Instagram. This episode is brought to you by Pella windows and doors. They've just been an amazing partner over my entire career. I've been building for 18 years and I've pretty much built every single home with Pella being installed in in my homes. And whether you're doing a small remodel, whether you're doing commercial or high end architecture, they have a product and a service that can fit any one of your needs. And on a personal level. And Peter over and management have just been incredible mentors to me, both as a person and as a business owner. It's been a very special relationship and their team, their general manager, their sales department and their service. I mean, you call them they're there. They backup what they say. And they're the only window company that has a lifetime warranty on their windows. So when it's time to do a remodel or build a new home, Pal is the brand that we trust and we support, please reach out to them at Pella northland.com or on their Instagram at Pella Northam give them a follow, give them a like Be sure to follow what they're doing. And be sure to tell your Pella rep that you heard about them from the curious builder. All of our episodes and video are available at curious builder podcast.com. And now back to our guest
23:45
worked with all forms of of that architecture shirt. And it's interesting to hear you speak about it in terms of even kind of the pricing model. Right. Certainly, as we interview with our clients, part of it is understanding what their expectations are sure, you know, certainly as the build side, I love design. I also love to be able to build the house. Right. And so you know, you can design something really pretty on paper, as you'll often hear as a, you know, I have this one framer, I saw one time where it was, you know, they were essentially disrespecting an architect, because you're like, you know, we still have to build it right. And sometimes there's a disconnect, because, you know, and I think it's a little bit like a stereotype, like any stereotype is not always true, but they're seeds of it, where you know, you'll design like arches are really hard, right? Oops, or circles, you know. And so how do you actually do that? Or back when it was a hand sketch, just because someone could draw on a piece of paper doesn't mean you could actually build that in the field. What's really amazing about, you know, your your guys's ability to do details and to do elevations. And if we have a question, we can call you and say, hey, you know, how do how do we actually accomplish this and you're like, if you can't explain it, or if it's not a drawing, you can actually create a drawing that we can then hand to somebody in our field and say, Hey, here's the detail of how the stone is intersecting with the fireplace in the mantel in a way that looks good. And so I you know, I think I have a great appreciation for that. that level of detail, especially when it's thought through on the front end sometimes, even though I've been in Israel long time, I'm certainly not a No at all. And we'll get to, let's say, the end of a project. And it'll be like this aha moment, you're like, ah, that's why the architect drew it this way. And it only, you know, they thought that way, all the way through to get to that end conclusion. And to me, it's a, you know, a hats off, and a clapping moment like that was that's pretty impressive. The opposite is also true. If you get to the end, and you're like, Well, how in the world does this come together, and you know, then you have to come up with a solution. But life isn't perfect. I mean, I often will tell people that, you know, you're building a one of a kind house, outside in the elements, you know, it's raining, it's snowing, it's hot, it's humid, you've got 1000s of, you know, man, and people hours into these homes. It's amazing, we get as much right as we do. And, you know, I really try to explain to people that this is art, this is not science. And yes, there's science involved in the house with thermodynamics. And some of these are things that we have to do, especially in our climate, Minnesota, but it's artistic, it's, it's very subjective on what you like, I mean, you and I know this something that you and I may really appreciate, a client might not even see. And so balancing, you know, what you and I like, as craftsmen and designers with what a client wants and appreciates, is there's some nuance to that.
26:18
Yeah, yeah. And I think that kind of leads me into my next thought, which is, you know, in selecting the difference between a draftsman architectural designer or actual architect, it's not a not really what their degree is, that is the reason why why you should select one of these individuals, you really need to look at their past work. And look, if you identify with the art, the art style, that you see, because your your degree from school isn't going to teach you to design to a certain proportion or style, they'll give you the background in that. But it's up to your own artistic abilities to really pull that off and to perform a craft that is individualized to each client. So each client feels that their needs and their their wants and wishes and desires are being reflected by the architecture that is created.
27:11
So I have a question that leads into this or a discussion that will lead in pretty well, how? So on your website, and on the work that you do. I mean, you do. You've told me in the lobby, right? Modern, to traditional, I mean, you can do everything. But I would say and correct me if I'm wrong. This is my perception. I would say you when I look at your portfolio, I see I don't even know what you'd call it mountain modern for lack of a better description, I see a lot of the the flat angle, you know, 510 610 pitch bluffs, especially more in a market? Is that something that you gravitated towards? Is that just what clients liked? Because they they liked that it was different? I know you do all the home that you did with us was very traditional. Sure. And I've seen you do modern homes, and I've seen on your portfolio, but as a percentage, it seems like the homes that I see that when I think about David Charles designed not as a specific style, because you guys do everything. But it seems that do people tend to go towards that style? And what do you even call that style? Is there a word transitional? I mean, people throw out these words. And yeah, I mean,
28:08
mountain modern is probably the the big catch all term that people are using to describe the architectural style that you've just described here. I would say that's probably the style we're we're most known for in this market. And it's definitely a trend that is is growing. In our market, there was about a 1520 year run with this craftsman he style heavy architectural details, big brackets, you know, wide window trim, intricate detailing, and that had a great run in this market. And it's still popular today in certain segments. And I think it's a great look. But we had an opportunity, I would say 2015 ish to design, mountain modern style in it. You've got a couple of different opportunities throughout your career when things just will explode and things will take off. And we had an opportunity to do a mountain modern style, and it was featured on one of the local home tours. And people really gravitated to that style because it was so radically different than anything that was being done in this market. It launched us into a whole new category. And then you obviously you get a following of people that are looking for that style. So as a percentage of all the homes that we've done, it's probably you know, I would say definitely a third of what we've done out there is this mountain modern style. And we never want to get to pigeonholed in any one particular style. We love the mountain modern style, we think it's great, but we're always looking for the next best thing. We're always looking to expand our portfolio show that we've got the ability to really create just about any style that is really what the clients asking for. And it's all about, you know, listening to what those desires and wants and needs are and trying to come up with something unique and individualized to that client.
29:59
That's it. So I'm glad to know that it wasn't just my own perception or bias that that's verified. I assume, correct me if I'm wrong. So the builder and the client that designed that first home that kind of, let's say, launched this wave, I assume it was client driven. And you responded to that clients? 100% Yeah, yeah, yes, I found that it's interesting. So just recently, I've been building for 18 years, most of our stuff has been pretty traditional. And I would say the last six, seven years, we've kind of taken a quantum leap up in, in really, our clients have taken us, we've always been really good quality. It's not like somebody can come to me and say, Hey, Mark, I want to pay less money do I do I do a crappier job, right, I'm just always going to do a good job. It just depends on how big the home gets, and you know how intricate it gets. But it was interesting to me that if I look back on my old portfolio, that's no longer on our website, because they always say, post the work that you want to get. Yeah, and, you know, also show the work that you have done, Minnesotans in particular, tend to be fairly conservative. Personally, for myself, I would love to do a modern home, my wife has no interest in doing a modern home. So you will never see Mark, when we share this, it seems like you know, that's not gonna happen. So you might as well you know, get over it, right. But you know, as someone who's very passionate about the industry, like, I just love homestyles, I just love design. Yeah. And I tell people, like, if you want me to design you a really cool sauna, or a $10 million house, like, I can get equally excited about both because it's just unique. I'm very excited about design in the build of it, right. And what I'm really, we're actually relaunching our website and right now and what's been nice over the last couple of years, you mentioned kind of opportunity met at a right point in the market for you to kind of explore this mountain modern. To your years ago, we finished this extremely Jackson Hole, Montana, very rustic beam home, not a lot of those homes around in Minnesota, we just finished about six months ago, this uber modern home all metal glass square you and your team got to tour it, sir. And then we did it all. And then we did the home with you, this very traditional home. So on our website, now we're gonna have three, all actually all of them are almost exactly 4 million. So we're gonna have four homes at the same price point radically different, I'm extremely excited to kind of show that into the market. Because not that I don't want to build, you know, whatever my clients want the traditional home, it's just really nice to show the breadth of range of what you can, so that people are like, ah, because a lot of times, and maybe this is not what I've chosen for my career, but there are architects and there are are builders, that they say, Hey, this is my style, I'm going to own this style, the only style I'm going to do, I do see some pros and cons to that. Yeah, hey, if anyone that, like, I wouldn't refrain from using their name, but there's an architect. And if you saw that home, everyone say it's that architect, it's not even a question of who it is. And there is some, there's some benefit to that. I
32:32
think, certainly,
32:33
I think my personality is to add to stay on one thing like that, why would you want a breadth of range as well as it as more of a personality reflection of yourself or just you don't want to ever pigeonhole yourself to a particular style,
32:47
I mean, there's a couple of different advantages. Number one, and you hit on this is, I get a kick out of personally creating something new every time. You know, if you're doing the same style, time and time again, you might become, you know, extremely good at doing that style. But to me, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't scratch that creative itch that I have, it feels like it's just a different version of the same thing, I just get an absolute kick out of doing a new style and going, Wow, I created that. And that really worked out well. And the benefit of that is is that your portfolio grows, the clients out there that have these different styles will relate to and in normally a client's not going to come to you. On occasion it does and it did with with this mountain modern opportunity that I had way back in my career. But normally, they're gonna come to you because you've shown some sort of expertise in a particular style. So the wider your portfolio could be, the more chance or more opportunity you have of securing a client. And if you show expertise in each one of the styles that are popular that are out there, your chances of securing more and more work or that much greater,
33:56
and you know, this, everyone has to be the first you know, right, it's, you know, it's like I was thinking about like open heart surgery, I don't think any patient is gonna want to know that they're the first time that you know, that surgeon has operated on the heart, right, it's your life. That's probably not your lead in right. Yeah. Right. Um, I think I'm, you know, grateful for clients that have given us the opportunity to do an amazing, absolutely job on something and really, you know, we demonstrated to them somehow, some way or they believed in us early on in my career, you'd get, you know, we work with a lot of business owners, and I think you know, myself being younger, I'm 42 now but young are old, I guess just kind of middle of the road at this point. But the point is, is that people will look at you and they say you know, here's a young person that is very energetic seems really, you know, whatever the value statement isn't like we want to give them a chance to do this home. Yes, they haven't done this style before. But we believe in them and looking back now it's it's a pretty humbling experience now to look back and like Wow, I'm impressed that they I mean, I II everyone has faith in themselves. But yeah, you know, for someone else to put that faith in you To execute on that is a powerful mission statement and now than to go forth in the public and say, hey, you know, now I can now I can I can do this. Here's the work I've done. I, I guess what I'm why I'm bringing it up is that everyone has champions in their lives, you know, and hopefully several in their careers that help them kind of move up in this different strata, whether it's a mentor, whether it's a family figure, whether you're part of an entrepreneurial family, I mean, one of my questions for you is is, you know, do you have any? How, where did you get the entrepreneurial spirit with something? Some said this recently that you're either forced to be an entrepreneur, or you learn to do one? Because, you know, because you had some role models around you? Which Which path was yours? Yeah,
35:40
certainly looking back. And in my family history, there, there was a long history of entrepreneurs going back to my grandfather's generation and before, not particularly in the architectural realm. But in the housing industry, real estate development background is is where I came from. My grandfather is an entrepreneur, my father is an entrepreneur, and really on both sides of my family, you see that? So I guess it was maybe destiny that it hit me as well. If you would have asked me in high school, do you think I would be owning my own business? No, because growing up in an entrepreneurial family, you see both the advantages and the disadvantages as owning your own business. When you when you own your own business, it's great, but you have got to be on 100% of the time, all the time, yeah, that you can never just turn the light off and walk away from it. It's always, it's always out there. And you have to make a commitment to it. And if you love what you're doing, then it's not as much work is what you would think it would be. But you have to be committed to it, you have to put in the hard work, especially when you're first starting out and getting your company established. There's not a day off, you're them and you're working every day, and you're trying to meet client expectations. And if you do that, then it gets a little easier as you move on. But you definitely can never let your foot off the battle.
37:04
Yeah, that's interesting. I remember as a kid, my dad was builders, uncles were builders. I mean, I had it on both sides. And I had my own business and High School on college, lawn mowing service. And but I knew early on, I did not want to be a builder. Part of my story is kind of funny when I tell people like how'd you become a builder by knowing I did not want to be a builder. And I remember, you know, way before cell phones, internet, I remember, you know, the phone ringing at 2am. In the morning when it was raining, and thinking like, Why in the world? Would anyone choose a business? Or they can wake you up in the morning? Because the roof is leaking? A you can't do anything about it. Yeah. You know, thanks for letting me know, I'll send someone over as soon as I can. I mean, it's just part of the gig of what you have to do, right? Sure. And then as you get older, and you kind of understand, you know, people often see the benefits, right? There's time off this person gets to travel when they want. But you and I know this that, you know, we have way more, quote, air quote bosses here than a normal person, because every one of our clients is our boss, like we are beholden to our clients.
38:01
That's exactly the way I describe it to my kids, you know, they say, Do you love being your own boss? I'm like, oh, no, I'm kind of my own boss. First.
38:08
I've responded, Mom, your mom is my boss. Let's get that straight. Right.
38:11
But yeah, every one of your clients are your boss. And that's, that's a lot different than just having a boss agreed. You know,
38:18
speaking of family, I mean, have your kids expressed an interest in architecture? And you know, some of the people I've had on our multigenerational, I'm curious, you know, my kids are younger than yours. I'm curious how as a dad, and as a business owner, how have you approached teaching your kids about, about business? And is there an opportunity for them to come work with you? And what does that what would that look like?
38:37
Yeah, I mean, I would love for that to work out someday, I think that would be ideal. Do I think it will happen, it's a little hard to say it's early. My kids are teenagers right now. And I really want them to explore whatever they would love to do. I am such a big proponent of if you I don't care what your passions in my son's into video games right now. I'm like, great, you're into video games. make a career out of it. What can you do that's different in that industry than what everybody else is doing out there right now. And if you love what you're doing, you're going to be successful at it. And you just have to find your own little niche. My daughter's expressed a little bit of interest, maybe more from an interior design side for them from an architecture side. But as they as they get older, and they continue to explore the opportunities that are out there. If it ends up working out. I would love it. I think it would be fantastic.
39:29
I would I mean my kids are far too young. I mean, the minor six, four and two, but I I hope they actually don't want to be in the business because I hope to be retired by the time they're ready. Yeah, but I also I guess I would echo what you're saying. I think thinking about now as a dad, like if you're passionate about something and you want it like whatever that is like right do that because there's the world is so open to people that want to create a business. I feel like when in history, and that's called the last 20 years, has it been easier to start a business saying business is easy? Yeah. But I'm saying like if you have an idea, and if you have, you know, like we said earlier on in the podcast, like the bar is quite low to actually follow through on I'm, again, not saying the business is easy, but I'm saying like the idea and like if you want to do it, and you're willing to put in the time and the effort, and frankly, you do need a little luck, you know, I mean, time and chance happens to us all. I mean, you need to be for myself, I started in 2005, I was, frankly, too little and too young without I didn't have any assets to lose in 2008. So a lot of builders that were very successful went out of business. But if you don't have much to lose, you know, I had one best time to start. I mean, I literally in so coming out of that. Now, all of a sudden, you look at kind of this big rise for myself anyway. And I think, Well, I happen to be at the right time at the right place. And at this point, you know, people also look at, hey, well, you survived the recession, you must be doing something right. And anyway, that's a whole nother podcast for another time. But
40:54
I think it leads into something that, you know, you had mentioned the bar, the bar is pretty low to get into business, I would say at no time in history is the bar ever been lower? I mean, with the advent of technology, all of those things that would have made it difficult in the past, from an accounting standpoint, from a communications from an advertising standpoint, there's so many tools available to us now, because of technology that allow you to start a company and you with a couple of clicks, you've got your accounting system set up, you've got your payroll setup, you've got your ability to advertise to a wide market through free forms of advertising, like social media. No other time in history have we had the tools that we have today. And if you have a passion, and you've figured out a way to build a better mousetrap, go after it doesn't matter what industry or what, what your angle is, as long as you can do something slightly better, or even do it as well as someone else. And just communicate like we had talked about, communicate with your customers set proper expectations and deliver on what you say you're going to do. You're going to be successful, no matter what you what you want to do. And that's the beauty of our country is nobody's telling you, you can it right, you're the only thing standing between you and going out and starting a business. I would agree.
42:13
And I think really, you know, actually just going and doing it, it's okay to fail. No, I think one of the most important things that was ever told to me was in like 2009, terrible Thai badass spec home or did a huge remodel spec in 2008, right before the stock market dropped by 10,000 points. Right. Great, awesome time, right? What a great what great luck I had. And so I remember going to, in this case, was my dad and saying, Hey, can you help me out in this situation, you know, I need to cover my net, I think at the time was like $30,000. And I remember probably the best, I hope someday that I can have this parental wisdom to say this. He said no. And I remember being relieved. Because, you know, you don't want to ask your dad of all people to help you out. You just be just nowhere else to go. And his comment to me was if you can't figure it out how to fix the ship from sinking, you know, $30,000 is not going to solve your problem, it's going to delay it. And if you can't figure out how to solve it, you're gonna go it's just throwing good money after bad. And I remember feeling very relieved, kind of like a wise man I had, he basically gave me permission to fail. Yeah. And I remember thinking about it. I was single at the time I was, what 20 years old. And now in hindsight is laughable. I had a friend of mine who sold life insurance or disability insurance. And he asked me why I didn't want any. I'm like, Well, I'm single. If I get disabled, I'm going to move home have Huckleberry pancakes, and you know, live rent free. I said, you know, I can only hope to be disabled. And he goes, I have no combat for that argument. And but anyway, I think sometimes understanding that it's okay to fail. Yeah, I think it's super helpful. I think even now, thinking like, you know, if nobody wants to do that,
43:44
well, the whole idea of failure is your motivation every day as a as a business owner is nobody wants to feel so you're going to try everything in your power to make that from not happening, right. So it's your motivation. It's the reason you get up in the morning every day, and it's your drive. And even when you are successful, you always have that failure in the back of your mind and keeps you going.
44:10
Well, it's the word business. I always think busy getting busy, are busy being busy, but you're busy. And I think I'm a big runner. And so there was a book Born to Run. And one of the authors said that basically likening unto why humans are born to run and his deal was is if you're a lion or a gazelle, it doesn't matter. When the sun comes up in the Serengeti, you better be running like that is you're either gonna eat or be eaten,
44:30
right? And you don't need to be the fastest you just have to be faster than slower.
44:33
Yeah, exactly. That's like a classic shark swimming joke. Right. So going back on topic here for just back to your company, what percentage of your work is directly to the client, and how much of it is coming through builders like ourselves that are bringing you clients that you interview with and go forward with?
44:52
Sure. I would say a vast majority of the work that I currently have, has come through the relationships that I've been Built with the builders in our market, you know, I try to maintain a strong relationship with the builders and deliver so that the builders look good. And in doing that they bring opportunities to me, which is is great because I don't have to go out and seek new business. Now, as my company is begun to mature over time, I'm getting more opportunities of clients coming directly to us, which are great. And I can I consider those the bonus opportunities that come to us directly. But I know in the back of my head that that relationship that I have built with the builder community will continue to sustain. And it's just, it's the ability to keep a wider net cast out there. I can only reach so many people individually. If I've got builders out there that have their relationships, and their nets are wide as well. It's just, it's better for everyone involved.
45:57
Now, I'd be curious to know how this goes. I think it's a common story with builders and with architects that relationship of like, who brings the client to who Yeah, and so let's use like, obviously, recently, I brought in a client that I thought was a good fit. And so, you know, I have relationships with several architects. And for me, I can only speak for myself. So I basically make a value statement based on what the client is telling me a is that does their budget, or does their value align with said architect or Home Designer? That's number one. Number two, do I think that person's personality would be a good fit for said, architect and designer and then I don't want to give them five, that's ridiculous. I usually to two is enough. And the reason I do two is just to show some breadth and some some some range, both for the client choosing us as the GC. And sometimes it's one, I mean, a lot of my remodel stuff, I'll just say, you know, this is the architect we're using, they've got their bandwidth there ready to go. And that's the end of it. They're taking our recommendation, when you get one that comes in directly to you. Do you do a similar proposition? But how do architects, you know, you hear sometimes, this will lead into maybe a different question at a later time of like, you know, if I was to go and ask an architect and say, hey, you know, XYZ architect, you know, my name is Mark Williams, you know, I'm gonna build an area, I'd love to, you know, work with you. Do you have any projects I could bid on? Is that an acceptable thing to do? How often does that happen? And how often is that needed? Yeah.
47:21
And I would say, this goes for both the architect and the builder community, as well as a number of other industries. It's all about matching personalities. That's really though, how you have to really divide out those opportunities by matching the the two personality types that you think are going to work best together. Anytime you give a referral. It's an extension of your brand. So you want to make sure whoever whoever you're referring out has got the ability to make your brand look good as well. So that's definitely how I do it. You know, did they perform on their last opportunity that you gave them? Were the clients at the end of that process? happy with what they did? Was the the process smooth and working through it? And did was there a lot of hiccups? And did you have to teach them their job going through that process? Or Did everything go smoothly, I had a happy customer at the end of the day, and it was really easy to hand them off. You know, that's what I look for in these opportunities when I don't have a builder already connected to him. Because the builder community, at least in this market has a strong lock on the available lots in the market. That really gives the builder a leg up on the architecture community here. As far as securing that client on the front end. A lot of the shows in town, the artists and building tour, the Parade of Homes, the the clients are naturally directed at the builder community. So I would say a higher percentage, at least in this market, of clients that are out there are going to connect with a builder before they connect with an architect not always in the obvious again, I think it's great when when they come to us directly, but chances are they're going to land at a builder before they land with us.
49:07
It's interesting you say that because I would agree with that. I mean, I think they just celebrated their 50th or 60th year of having home tours. We had the big big night just a week ago. You know they have the build of the year they have different categories and you know you were there. And you know our market Minnesota Minnesota Housing First does an amazing job of not only advocating for builders in the home tours, but just really for builders and homeownership in the state of Minnesota. Yeah, and I talked to other builders outside of our state and they don't have some states don't even have prayed homes now and you'd actually
49:38
started in this market it Did you know you see it in in a lot of markets across the country nowadays but it started in the Twin which is
49:45
pretty cool. So now, I know the artisan Home Tour, it's just come on the committee, you know they have tried to branch out to Florida Kansas City and you know that board has tried to expand and try to take that business model, you know, maybe to other cities because it is it is amazing. But the reason I asked it we had a designer on For a number of podcasts ago, and she was from Texas, and she had just mentioned that down in Texas, a lot of P builders or people clients would come to the interior designers. And then the interior designer would recommend the architect and our builder. Sure. And you know, in different parts of the country, it's architect first. And this was interesting. I think that's very geographically and maybe more specific, even the cities and the kind of the region's, I think it's just different. And just, we're so used to I'm so used to Minnesota that I kind of have just always thought that this was the way it was. But as you network outside, you're like, Oh, this is not really the norm. It's just the norm for us,
50:32
right right now, and there's certain firms that advertise quite quite a bit to try to connect directly to homeowners, we run one advertisement a year. And that's our marketing budget. Outside of that, it's things like social media. And our connections with the builders is where we're getting our clients. If the market were to change, and the opportunities become fewer and further between, we would certainly change our model as far as that goes. But right now, there's so many opportunities that are coming at us that we don't need to advertise a lot, which we feel very fortunate about, we can stay lean, we can keep our prices down. Because we're not spending an exorbitant amount of money on advertising and marketing. That was
51:12
one of my questions was what you do for marketing and sounds like one at a year, I'm gonna have to rethink how I do mine. Social media talk us I mean, that's obviously how I first became aware of you. It is kind of amazing it just how prevalent it is, in our society today, I kind of have a love hate relationship with how much you're on it from a business and remarketing standpoint, I want it to be everywhere, right personal user standpoint, I really I've set things kind of in motion, you know, to kind of limit that just because it's, it's everywhere all the time. And you do, you know, maybe towards the end the podcast, we'll talk about, you know, kind of unwinding, but for myself, you know, I need to I need to put certain parameters on it. You know, especially as a business owner, as you mentioned, you're never off. So you kind of need to you still need to be refreshed. I mean, it doesn't do you any good. If you're short with a client or you're fresh out of ideas, you need to be inspired as well. But right on the marketing front, walk us through. I mean, I know you're big on Instagram, you know, are you do you have a big place in LinkedIn or Tiktok? Or like, what is it that you do? Exactly. That's been successful for you regarding social media? Yeah,
52:10
yeah. I mean, social media is allowed us to connect to people that we would have never had an opportunity to connect with before. Started out my social media account when we first started the company, way back, and it grew organically quite rapidly. And, you know, housing is one of those industries that, you know, everybody lives somewhere, whether they rent it or own it, or stay in a buddy's basement, and everybody has a place to stay. So everybody is at least mildly interested in taking a look at at different ways that people live. So I think there's a gravitation on social media to photographs of homes, and it's one of the most popular areas. If you look at the statistics of Instagram and Pinterest and things like that. Home Home Decor, exteriors interiors, it's one of the most popular things that are out there, people love to look at it, they love to talk about it, when you go to a party. It's just something that fortunately for us, everybody wants to take a look at. So anytime we do a project, we make sure we spend a lot of money and get really good photographs of the project. So you can see what it is that we created. It's really fun on on remodeling opportunities. And when you look at the before and afters of you know, it looked like this today, and this is what it looked like after we touched out. So very, very fun. And we just put that out there don't do any advertising attached to that and just let it organically grow. And, you know, over time, our audience has expanded from, you know, friends and family locally to a nationwide and even a global reach and a big following. We had something happened to us here about six months ago, where we had had a fairly large organic growth in our social media campaign and our account was hacked. And we went from from having this big platform that was built out to starting over again. So
54:08
I'm glad you brought that up. I was gonna actually bring it up. And I want to talk about that because you hear about it a lot. And I'd love to hear some specifics. Because if anyone's listening and your account gets hacked, like what do you do like was was you hear about it was were you offered a ransom to get out of it?
54:22
No, no, no, it was a account was hacked. I had went on a public Wi Fi when I was out of town I had on an opportunity and somehow was account and the account. both Facebook and Instagram were shut down by the platform because of what the hackers did when they went in the ability to reach out to anyone at the meta who owns both Facebook and Instagram there. They don't have that backend built into their system. There is essentially nobody to reach. So I essentially called every expert in the field, people that have strong it backgrounds and they said yeah, you're Have a look, there's there's no one to reach out to when this happens. Wow. So our 10,000 plus followers went by the wayside. And we're trying to connect with each of those, those people that we had had from before. And we're slowly building our following back up again. And at first, I was really, really upset about it because we get a fair amount of opportunities outside of our local market that only could reach us through these social media platforms. But I've since looked at it as a new opportunity to rebuild the brand tried to do it a little bit better than we did it before and reconnect with a new audience. And have just looked at it as an opportunity. And we're having fun rebuilding the platform's back up again,
55:42
I remember because I called you because we are home that we worked on together, finished, and I was trying to take you. Yeah, and I take you on previous photos. And I when I went to go take you, I couldn't take you. I'm like, What in the world because I knew he had a big following. I'm like, How can I not take him? Am I doing something wrong to do do a name to longer existed? It's like, yeah, no, not exist. Not open for business. That's yeah, that's amazing. Wow, that's, yeah. Now I'm glad that you kind of took a relook at it said, Hey, we're taking it as an opportunity. Have you noticed how much harder it is to gain followers in today's market than it was when he first started?
56:13
That? Yeah, it is, it is, I mean, those those social media platforms when they were brand new, everybody was on them. And everybody was, you know, excited to connect and follow. And it's much tougher now than it was 510 years ago.
56:27
I mean, really, probably been, we've been very active. We post, you know, Monday through Friday, who usually don't post on Saturday and Sunday. And, you know, we do a lot of reels, and we get a lot, you know, people always tell you, you need engagement, and we have a really high engagement, which, you know, these marketing people tell you is great. Yeah. And they say like, well, numbers are important, it tends to be a little bit of a vanity metric. Sure, and so but you know, you look at some of you know, sometimes everyone is guilty of it, you'll look at, you know, mentioned home decor, you know, you'll look at a designer that sells faces, and they have like 500,000 followers, you know, like, how in the world does this person have 500,000? I mean, I have 6500, you know, I mean, it takes so long to get to that amount. And so I know early on the growth was just, you know, incredible. And so sometimes it is discouraging as a business owner. And so I guess, for those listening, I would just say post consistently, and post often and, and just engage with the people and keep it small, keep it you know, it's okay to be micro, as long as people are interacting with you, you have something worth sharing. And, you know, I don't necessarily think you need to have a large following to be an important person in your market or whatever 100 100
57:31
qualified leads are better than 100,000 people that mildly follow you. And so you have to look at those numbers, because I think a lot of times, they're, they're somewhat misleading. They're either opportunities that were bought, or through some non organic method had become following. You did touch on something that I'd have a question on, you said, you don't you don't post on weekends is your reason for that?
57:55
Yeah, we saw I'd mentioned earlier, you know, just from a framework, you know, personally, you know, we have young kids, we have dinner every night at 530. And so, you know, actually my phone shuts down at five, okay, and so I don't take calls nights and weekends. I mean, if it's an emergency, of course, or something, but you know, I let my clients know about that ahead of time. And if anything, I think they respect you for it, most of our clientele is older, and they've raised kids, they kind of understand that process. And, you know, I had one client, that mazing home, they did not have children, and I think it was hard for them to relate to that. And I told them, I said, you know, I might not be the right fit for you. I feel like the fact that I told them that I think they really respected that they did choose us, and we had a great build. And, you know, and they want to see pictures of the kids. And it wasn't just about that. But I also need time to have this kind of energy to have your commitment. And you know, and have like a three day weekend or have a way to really be re energized, you need that downtime, you can't be on or I can't be on 24/7 You know, for a certain thing. I mean, you need ways to recharge. And so for the weekends for me, you know, it's exercising, it's you know, I play tennis, and I run and do whatever other sports chasing the kids around and doing things like that. And so I just feel like I need that downtime. And I could conceive of maybe dropping a day during the week because I feel like weekends are probably your most valuable time on Instagram. Meaning like, although it would take us be a quick post, and there's probably more user time. So that's something that was the reason I asked is yeah, that's my experience. And you know, the question I have for you is do you manage your own account? Or do you have people in your office that kind of manage that? Or how do you manage the voice of your Instagram? Because I always hear that's really important. Yeah,
59:31
yeah, I do manage it all myself, and with help of our staff, so we're not using a third party for any of that. And I post what I like to see myself yeah, so yeah, if I like it, I hope that our following likes it. And that's really the only parameter or metric that I
59:49
have one that is more of a non de plume that I'm not supposed to mention, and it may or may not rhyme with knife, and, you know, other sort of things that I would love have to post that. Don't make it past the sensor, sir. And so you know, whether it's reels or funding, you know, it's always a balance between you want to be professional. But you also want to express your personality. Yeah, I probably tend to be a little bit more on the Jim Carrey side of humor. And I realized that not everyone appreciates that, although, you know, he was a very successful actor. So you know. And so we actually have one that had been trying for months to get published. You remember the one word he sliding the door, back and forth. He says, you know, reproductor didn't died, he was tossed off this window. And it was at your house, actually, yeah, it was I had the leaded glass window, I had another designer, it's an amazing real, right, people are gonna love it. And I cannot get up by the SEC. Oh, no kidding, to publish it, because it's gonna be great. But anyway, you were with, you know, you guys have a very professional feed, you know, it's mostly home architecture, sort of balance what people seem to like, which is what I like, you know, reels, a little bit of humor. You know, I also like, I like people. And so I find that if there's a person in a post, it's more likely not that people don't like architecture. But if I can have both, it's amazing. It's something silly, like if you have a video of a person, and then it transitions into a home, you'll get more likes and follows and more reposts without just simply just a house, it could be the most beautiful home you've ever built. If people want people Yeah. And so I learned that a while ago, if I can try to, you know, mix in a story. I mean, people just like stories, right? So great.
1:01:20
I mean, you you're unique builder in the fact that you've got a great ability to connect with people and you've got a presence about you. You know, your social media feed is one of the most fun that I follow. Because it's not just looking at houses, our hours might be a little stale. Really. When you when you look at it. I enjoy the humor side of it. I enjoy that it's a little bit different than you've
1:01:41
ever seen. I'd have to stick together. That's right. Yeah.
1:01:44
I think actually keep doing what you're doing. I think it really works. All right. Well,
1:01:48
thank you. I'll tell that to the to the FCC. They, you know, it's because it's funny you say that because I get a lot of people. I mean, just the other night at the big night, someone came up to me and said, hey, oh, you're the you know, whether it's the funny guy or whatever. It's not like, I'm not funny. It's just you're just trying to basically be making enjoyable. So that yeah, having fun, right back to earlier comment, like, if you enjoyed I mean, this is not real, or it's real. It's not a put on? I mean, it's just if I enjoy it, I mean, frankly, that's my personal filter. Do I laugh? Yes. Do I like it? Okay, that'd be good enough for me. Because, like you said, you post the photos that you like, of your own of your own work? Yeah. Right. So
1:02:23
there's another builder in town, I think he does a great job, too. He takes a little bit different angle. It's not about being necessarily creative or funny. But he takes more of the I'm, I'm, I'm going to teach you how a house is built. Yes. Which I think is very, very valuable as well. And for those people that are serious about building a house, you know, you might not have a huge following for that. But the folks that are really taking a look at that, I think is very, very valuable. They're looking to this person, and he becomes the expert at doing
1:02:53
I think there's a certain thing we've been actually it's funny, you mentioned that Nick from NS builders out in Boston, he teaches this group that I'm a part of, and a lot of his he has a podcast called The modern craftsman as well, it's very well known and but a lot of his videos are very instructional. And I mean, it's a passion of mine. I mean, certainly I need to know how to build a home. But really, my main expertise is still building the team communicating. And even though I'm not technically classically trained as a designer, I mean, really my skill set, my mom was an interior designer, my dad was a builder. I mean, I am kind of the we're
1:03:24
better pedigree.
1:03:25
I'm kind of the weaver. Good dog. And so, you know, that's really what I'm interested in as well. But I do appreciate those kind of tutorials. And we do try to do them. I think I probably know more than I think I do. And so I'll constantly be taking videos and reels of just job site stuff, because people really interact. It's everything. I always used to think that you just post a video of a finished product. People love to watch how the soup is made. And you know what goes into this. And so plus, it also gives you a chance to showcase your incredible craftsman. So well. We're on time. Thank you very much for coming on today. Where can our listeners find you?
1:04:03
You know, my website is probably the best place to take a look at what we've done. David Charles designs.com and that's Charles with a Z. On the end, David Charles designs.com Really enjoyed the opportunity. Very fun. The hour went by and in no time at all, and we'd love to do it again. Sounds good.
1:04:20
We'll have you on for round two. And for anyone listening you can see all everything transcribed in the notes as well as we'll have all the websites and tags and handles for Dave and his talented team. Thanks again Dave.
1:04:32
Thank you so much Mark.
1:04:35
Thank you for joining us today on the curious builder podcast. I'm your host Mark Williams signing off. Check out all our show notes and other videos on our website at curious builder podcast.com. If you enjoyed what you listened to please leave us a five star rating and share it with your friends.
This episode is sponsored by:
