Episode 84 - Leading by Example: Successful Strategies from Industry Experts

Episode #84 | Build Buzz | Successful Strategies from Industry Experts 

In this episode of "The Curious Builder," Mark Williams and guests Brad Leavitt, Morgan Molitor, Tyler Grace, and Nick Schiffer dive into innovative building practices, the importance of air quality, and balancing work-life dynamics. They also share humorous moments, explore company culture, and highlight the significance of setting boundaries. Discover how sustainability, tech-savvy tools, and personal well-being are shaping the future of construction.

Listen to the full episode:

About Build Buzz

An intimate four-day summit ( with pre-party activities starting the day prior) hosted by AFT Construction from Scottsdale, NS Builders out of Boston, and construction2style from Minneapolis - this conference is geared towards General Contractors.

Nick, Brad, and Morgan come from different segments of the construction industry, ranging from high-end luxury builders to interior residential remodelers, designers, and media companies. This diversity suggests that attendees can expect a well-rounded perspective on various aspects of the business.

They have spent a combined 40+ years in this industry investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to get their brand and companies where they are at today. They will leave nothing off of the table at this intimate summit and are confident that you will get your value within the first hour.

Wondering how to address contracting systems, create organizational charts, billing, scaling, creating AIA docs, contracts, subcontracts, cost-plus percentages, scheduling, expansion on sales beyond the construction business, how to produce multiple streams of revenue through the construction industry, secure brand partnerships, or simply how to run a profitable construction business? We got you.

Resources:

• Visit the Contractor Coalition Summit Website

• Transcript

  Mark Williams 0:00 Welcome to curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host. We're in Boston, for those that are listening and not in the room. We're at the contractor coalition. So I am going to introduce each one of you, and I'll let you guys give a brief intro to those that are not in the room. Obviously, everyone here knows everyone pretty well, so this is for those that are listening across the country. So I'm Morgan Molitor, why don't you go kick us off and let us know who you are. Okay. Morgan Molitor 0:21 I am Morgan Molitor, my husband. I run construction of style, which is a design build out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. We also run a media company called neon line media, a non profit called resilience to reform. And then we host two different conferences, one contractor coalition Summit, where we're at right now with these lovely gentlemen, and then also build her. That's a national conference once you're in Costa Rica for female builders. This Tyler Grace 0:47 is super nice. I have to just read this. Mark Williams 0:52 I did give this. I actually introduced you that way live at build buzz. But I Tyler Grace 0:56 believe you should do it again. Yeah. So I'm Tyler grace, owner of PRG home concepts, co host of modern craftsman podcast, I'm a small remodeling contractor out of New Jersey, smaller renovations. I'm the opposite of Mark. Nick Schiffer 1:16 Nick Sheffer, owner of Ns Builders here in Boston, Massachusetts, also a partner in a media company, a millwork company, monocrats podcast, the summit, and a couple things going on. And as you wrote here, I have a manic obsession with quality. Mark Williams 1:34 You are kind of obsessed with perfection. Is a good word Nick Schiffer 1:37 to describe it, because I've realized recently that I I'm waking up in the middle of the night a lot more than I used to. So Ooh Brad Leavitt 1:45 and I'm Brad Levitt, owner and founder of a of t construction base in Scottsdale, Arizona, commercial residential builder. I host a brad Levitt podcast I've had for five years now, and one of the founders with Morgan and Nick and now Tyler of the contractor coalition Summit, Mark has on here on the master of scaling, I guess so. I think when Mark and I met, I had 19 employees. We're at 30 now. So is it climbing Tyler Grace 2:14 or growing? Brad Leavitt 2:17 What he said? Scaling, yeah. Scaling, yes. Mark Williams 2:20 Is when we first met, you were like 21 and now you're at 31 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Brad Leavitt 2:24 we, I mean, we have an incredible team. I mean, I couldn't do what I do without them. So very fortunate for all those back at home. Mark Williams 2:30 I mean, that's actually the first question I have is, you know, this whole topic, we could talk about anything for days on end, but we all need to eat, sleep and other things in life too. So this one is really going to be more about innovation, how to future proof your business. And then towards the end, we're going to talk a little bit about AI, which is a little bit of a recap of what Morgan I presented earlier this week at cbusa, for anyone that was there. But Brad, let's start with you. I think you have by far the largest company of the four builders up here. How have you when you started your company, did you begin with the end in mind? And I say that by you very well, could sell your company today. You could sell it whenever you choose to. Most builders would feel can't because they haven't either thought about it, or they never realized it, or they get too far down the road. You're like, wow, I don't have the systems in place to even do that. So can you speak a little bit to your journey of how you really were intentional in thinking about building your company so that you know you could sell it? Yeah, I Brad Leavitt 3:28 mean, it's interesting. I don't know if I envisioned to where I'm at today specifically, but one thing I will say, and it's no no shot against anyone, how they name their company, but I was very adamant to not name the company after myself. Like that was very intentional. I knew at some point, somewhere down the road that I would like to eventually sell aft. I mean, maybe I don't. I mean, who knows what then the end will be, but for sure throughout the journey. I mean, fortunately, before I started aft, I did work, and Jeff and I were talking about this at lunch a little bit. Is it? You know, I was fortunate to work for a large company before I started mine, and so worked on some pretty unique projects. And because of that, I don't want to say intimidated. I just never was about growing like a bigger company and developing people. Anyone that knows me. I'm really obsessed with business. I become more obsessed with business, and so the entrepreneurship arm systems like bettering our organization every day has always been a big focus, and I've seen how that's led to like, growth of the people that work for me as they've stepped into additional roles. How that's worked for, you know, personal freedom for me with the company, and along those lines, we actually just made a change, because for a long time, people thought of aft as myself, the face of the brand. And I sat down with my media guy end of last year, and I told Jesse, I'm like, Hey, moving forward, I actually don't want to do any YouTube anymore. So none of the falls are you my YouTube channel. They only see me on my personal house that I'm building outside of that it's my team. And the whole point is to kind of separate from the brand a little bit, so that at some point the face of aft is. A lot of my people and a lot of people that follow aft, you'll see that everyone that works for me, they have their own aft handle, they engage, they have their own audience, they have their own following, and they're very active. And so the whole point is that it builds the overall brand, but they each have their own unique personalities in it, and it just has allowed us to scale and people to have more pride in the company itself and what we're doing. And so that part's been enjoyable. I've seen now for sure. That's led into like, other plans that we have in the years to come. Mark Williams 5:27 I mean, Nick, any thoughts on what the future? I mean, I know your mission statement is to build really cool homes for really cool people. And he really says, Yeah, well, he can say in his own words, and thank you, Brad, you're gonna have to wait your turn, sir. But you know what are, what would be some of your long term goals being able to sell NS builders. I mean, you seem very deliberate in how you've identified, like a Nick schifr brand. I mean, I see, you know, we just got done listening to Morgan speak a little bit about branding, and each one of you has sort of, I've seen your companies evolve even the last two years with intentionality, especially Brad, you know, like he just was demonstrating, like, being very thoughtful about, you know, Nick schifr as a brand spokesman. But also ns, I mean, you have these ultimate, all these, all these companies, they all tie back to you. How are you thinking about that in terms of selling it in the future? Or what is kind of your master plan, as you consider this, because you, you've come from, you know, working as a superintendent to put on the bags, as you say to now, you know, you're leading kind of this cool empire. Nick Schiffer 6:29 I don't, I haven't given it much thought in terms of, like, actually selling my company. That's not, it's not something that's on my roadmap. I guess for me, is my roadmap, and the way I think about the future is all around what we leave behind and in terms of our product, you know, walking, you know, I walked you through white oak, and, you know, I hope I made it clear my obsession with what I'm trying to do there, and the uncompromised effort to get that is, you know, a testament to what I would like to continue to do, but continue to prove that there is a market for that. So for me, it is. It's about building cool shit with cool people. I like working with a cool team. I like working really hard. I like working with people that want to, you know, that give a shit, but also just want to, want to put their head down and try to figure it out. And I try to balance that is, you know, I'm a dad of four, you know, I got a family and, you know, forever growing up prior to kids, it would be like work around the clock, and now it's, you know, I try to be more intentional with that, where it's when I'm home, it's I'm family, but I want, but when I'm at work, I want it to be, like, work, like, hard, like, you know, stressful, and in some weird, like, kind of, you know, self deprecating way, Mark Williams 8:02 you love the Extreme Ownership, and we've talked about this before, right? Yeah, that's ties into that, right? Yeah, and Nick Schiffer 8:07 it's, like, for me, but also for for my team, right? Like, I, you know, I'm a huge proponent of, don't, don't come to me with an issue, talk to me about, you know, like, how are we doing this? What's, what is the, what is the solution to a problem? What is the solution to, you know, getting, getting what we're we're trying to accomplish, done, and thinking outside the box. You know, for me, you know, my role in the company has changed, as you said, and I think about, you know, I am, I try to be there for my team, in the sense of, when they are stuck, I can come on the job site and walk them through how to accomplish what they're trying to do. I will make an absolute mess doing it, but I will get from A to Z and then, and then, you know, in more words or less words, I basically say, now do that, but do it better. And I think that's where, you know, my strength has been in my company and growing team, is that I can help guide and give direction, but what I'm not going to, what I'm not good at, is the actual execution, because my brain is somewhere else. And I think that, you know, early in my career. I've been in business for 10 years now. You know, early it was, that's something I ignored. I was bags on, and then I was trying to run a business at night, and it was a mess. And, you know, and when I when I lose sight of what my my strength is, and my company, it's when stuff unravels. Mark Williams 9:40 I feel like we share is not quite as the mania part we share very much similar, but you're obsession with, you know, quality and self improvement, because you can actually do a lot of the things I can't do. I've struggled with people on my team where, and maybe this is a ownership issue, where, you know, we want self improvement. All of us are very you know, whether you're reading books or. Seen a podcast or you want to improve, and sometimes it's difficult when people on your team don't have that same hunger, and you don't know what to do with that. Could you speak a little to that? Because I feel like last year, when we talked you had just talked about how, you know, you've talked about two things. One is that you would bring people on your team, and if they could do your job within 60% you got to hire them, because you have to allow but they have to get better. And then the second part of that question really is, um, how long of a fee, how long do you let them, sort of, how do you rationalize, as an owner, that they're not, they don't have the owner mindset, and that's okay, yeah, but how do you balance that within yourself? Because I feel like a lot of owners struggle with that. I Nick Schiffer 10:36 didn't struggle with it. And, you know, I had a long talk speaking of Extreme Ownership, which is kind of the Jocko mentality, I was a big opponent of it. And and Ken, who's my partner in the millwork company, you know, would always fight me on it when I pushed him towards it, where it's like you're talking about a bunch of Navy SEALs. Those are the the top human beings in the world. Dude, like working together. And I had the opportunity to talk to late, late Tyler Grace 11:03 with Ruby Ranger, right? He just gave me a dirty look, Nick Schiffer 11:10 one of the top and but, but I remember being with, I had the opportunity to be with late and Jocko, and I had asked that question, I was like, hey, you know, is everyone an A player? And he looked at me and he laughed. He was absolutely not. We got some C's. We got some D's. Everyone has a place, though, and it's the, you know, right? It's, it's making sure that they're in the right seat. So, you know, there's some times where they're, you know, they're on the wrong bus, but oftentimes they're just in the wrong seat. And for me, it's, you know, understanding like, Hey, I don't care if you want to come in punch in at nine, work till three, but like when you're here, your fear and you know, and you got to get your job done if, if you can, you can come in and run three jobs, and they're all on time, on budget, of the quality that we need. And you work two to two hours a day, like, I'll pay you whatever you want, because that's crazy, but that's, that's what it's about. It's, you know, come in and deliver on what the expectation is, and if you don't want to continue to improve, and that's where you're at, like, just know that. That's, that's where you're at. You know, there isn't this, you know, kind of rewarding growth of a career behind that, because that's ultimately their decision to be where they are. Well, it's Brad Leavitt 12:30 interesting. I mean, to Nick's point, there's a lot of value as you grow to understand that they're in the right seat, right? And that's something that took me some time. In fact, truth be told, it was until a couple years ago that actually Nick and four other builders came and audited my organization, and the feedback was that I had a lot of the right people, but they're in the wrong seat. And so in the last 18 months, I mean, really last 20 months, we spent consider amount of time updating roles and responsibilities and putting people like changing actual positions, you know, from field to Office, Office to field. And it's amazing the difference that it made, because now you put them in a position where it's very clear the definition of what the role is, and so the competition between them, or the desire to not let teammates down being in the right seat, they're excelling on what their skill set is, and then creating that competitive environment in a way. They they come to the table innovative with other ideas and how to better the system. And so we're at a point now, 20 months later, after that audit from my team, that people are in the right seat, and, you know, I'm sitting in meetings and they're bringing up stuff they're doing or changes they're making. I'm like, That's awesome. No idea, right? Because they're automatically like being innovative with stuff in the field that you know, just betters the brands. Well, I Mark Williams 13:46 love that you've empowered your people. You told me yesterday that you really love building people. You love building companies. And, you know, I think it was yesterday, while we're sitting at dinner, are you like, hey, we just hired somebody. Like, you didn't even know who it was. And like, that's, I know. I can't relate to that necessarily, because I run a small company of four. Company of four, but I actually have made a decision because I'm such an optimist, I feel like I operate where optimism and delusion meet, and so that makes me a pretty bad to hire people, because I'm just too optimistic. Makes me a good remodel it, I guess. But the point is, I've told my team now moving forward, that they are responsible for hiring everyone in our company, because then the culture stays in the same cycle. And I have a little bit of distance to like, you also hired these people. Like, I suppose it's going to come down to me to obviously give the final stamp, also maybe to fire someone. But well, I think Brad Leavitt 14:30 in the last 12 people we've hired, I interviewed zero of them, and I didn't meet them till after their first day of starting with the company. Like, I wasn't even involved until they started. I'm like, welcome to aft the last 12. The funny thing about this one is this is the first one that I didn't even know we're hiring. I didn't know we were like, opening to hire. And then Spencer said, Welcome to the team, this new super and I was like, Oh, I guess we're hiring. We need to need a fit, but that's the level of trust I have in Spencer to look at our bottom line and the roles we need to fill. And. So he the other 12, he had asked me, Hey, we're looking at this position, and this one he just hired. I'm like, Oh, I guess we hired a super yesterday, and here I'm in Boston, so that's awesome. I Mark Williams 15:07 think this is meant to be encouraging, not discouraging. But like, so I've been building for 20 years, and I went to my first contractor coalition two years ago. And you know, by by, my point is that years of service does not equate, like, how far you are in your journey. And, you know, I think Brett 11 years, yeah, and you're light years ahead of where I am, and ever will be, or frankly, want to be. But that's not the point. The point is is I've looked at people the wrong way. I used to always think of people, not in a negative way, but like, you know, more people, more problems, you know. And just like, you know, scaling and but every time I've hired someone, my stress level has gone down. I mean, when I used to project, manage everything myself, and now, as soon as I said, Why didn't I do that a long time ago? And now I don't really want to scale massively. I want to scale to a point that I'm not so involved in the day and day, and the only way to do that through people is and every time I hire someone that I like, I'm like, Why did I not do this earlier? And it took me a long time in my career to figure that out. And so, Tyler, for yourself, you have zero employees. Is Tyler Grace 16:09 that right? Or just yourself one part time in subcontractors? Mark Williams 16:13 Yeah, have you thought of me? I hear you even talking a little bit about brand deals and some in the modern crafts, and I know you dedicate specific amount of time to that. How are you looking at your future now? Is it any different, or is that something you're pretty much going to stay locked in at and how you operate? No, at least Tyler Grace 16:27 not for the next two years with everything that I have going on. But everything switched a couple of years ago, and like business transitioned to where it is now. And volume went down, but margins went up, and with my market and my customer base, it's tough to offset the amount of work I'd have to put in place to make marginally more money. So diversifying the business understand, I think that like as I transition to my model that I have now diversifying some and understanding that, like, I wasn't as hungry for work to be in the machine, and that, like the machine was slightly broken as is, I realized I was able to analyze, engage in inventory my business, and really hone in on who I am, what I do, who my client is, and differentiating myself to hone in on my ideal client, and I have a pretty good situation with where I am, the amount of work that I have to do, and all my other ventures that I have going on, that it's a very comfortable spot To be in financially and also, from an emotional standpoint, with, like, everything in my life, struggles, that I have, anxiety, that I have family wise, like this is the healthiest that I've been physically, financially, also, so I'm good Unknown Speaker 17:57 there. Yeah, that's Mark Williams 17:59 pretty cool. I mean, it's funny how, as our personal health, and maybe this is not go off script here, but, you know, just talking about wellness, because, I mean, so much of it, you know, if I'm a big proponent, like, if you love it, do it, or if you're passionate about it, find a way through it, right? And, you know, speak a little bit to, I mean, you've had an interesting couple of years as you sort of honed in on that for yourself. And you know, Tyler talks about all the time in the modern craftsman as well. But what has kind of been your journey, both with empowering your team, because we're kind of on this team focus right now in your business, but also balancing, like how you feel rejuvenated, because I feel I just gave you a compliment earlier. You know, I've seen you speak a lot. This was the calmest you've always known the information, so it's never been about that, but it's like you are a calmer person. You are more assured, as your friends, 100% agreed, and that was like, I've sat on a number of panels with you, and it was just, it's interesting as your friend and someone who cares about you, both professionally and personally, it's like, it's really neat to see the people around us develop, and especially as we, you know, you know, we have all, all of us have podcasts. Essentially, you're on enough podcasts that you basically, at this point, have your own podcast. But like, the point is, is, like, as you I think what makes it real is people are authentic, and people share with the struggle and share what they're going through. And so then everyone can relate to it, because ownership and being in a business can be very lonely. It's like this island. Yeah. Anyway, back to the question, how have you if you were to self reflect a little bit on your journey over the last two years, what have been some key things from empowering your team to even just recognizing what you need? Morgan Molitor 19:38 Yeah? Well, I would say I just got to read in the book The Subtle Art of not giving a plea. No, I yeah, I would just say, No, I don't Mark Williams 19:50 know. I mean, my mom's not here to wash him out with Unknown Speaker 19:53 a soap this time. Unknown Speaker 19:54 No, he Mark Williams 19:58 answered it for me. Oh, she can fly. You're fast? Yeah, Morgan Molitor 20:02 no, I'd say yeah. A couple years ago, I just had a moment where I was just like, this industry is a lot, and it's stressful. And yeah, I won't get into the details. You can listen to another podcast where I shared it on his but after that, I was like, I just have to change. And I think it was kind of cool to see how different people, whether it was the team or people in the industry or friends, right like, all these guys right here, just like, stepped up. Oh my gosh, I can't cry. Yeah? So Brad Leavitt 20:32 it's a big life changing thing. It's a good thing. Like, yeah, Tyler Grace 20:35 I don't think not everyone talks about it, but I don't feel that this is the business to promote a healthy lifestyle. And I think that things do need to change there. And I think that oftentimes we put ourselves last and make sure that everyone else is taken care of, our customers are taken care of, and whatever's feeding that, whether it's it's ego, determination, drive, I don't think it promotes and creates the healthiest lifestyle. So I think that when people do figure that out and find a balance between everything that we're discussing and living a healthy, enjoyable lifestyle, it's really important and really impressive. Yeah, I Brad Leavitt 21:15 mean, just to echo that, what's interesting? I mean, I don't know if this is factually backed up, but they say, like, the suicide rate's really high at construction, right? I think I can speak to even, you know, a lot of us stand up here, yeah. I mean, the reality is, like, as much as I, you know, I've worked on building our business, there's times where I'm sure, like many of us, you want to give up and be like, why am I doing this? Like, it's so stressful and so difficult. And you think about the healthy side, like Tyler's saying, just for fun, our production meeting, we have these icebreakers that will do, like, what's your favorite place to go on vacation? So this last one we had last week, Spencer said, What do you eat for lunch? Like, what's your normal lunch? After we went through 30 employees, I'm like, we need, like, a nutritionist in my office, because, like, 90% of them are like, I have an energy drink and, like a bag of Skittles or something. I'm like, How are you alive? I mean, honestly, and I'm going around thinking how stressful, you know, the day to day is for them to manage clients. Our clients are really tough to manage subcontractors and trade partners and suppliers and all the issues that go and run a job, and yet they're just having an energy drink for lunch. I'm like, you know, a heart attack. So Mark Williams 22:19 it's interesting. I don't expect everyone to do everything that you do, but ultimately, if you're very open, you show it. I mean, I'm very much into health and wellness, just because I'm sort of fascinated by it, but it's also a passion to your point. Like, you see people in your office, when I buy lunch, I'm I usually pay for everyone. So I order what I want to eat, and, you know, eat it. And it's like to your point, I haven't actually considered, like, if I just left them order their own thing, what would they order? But it probably won't be what I'm ordering. Not that what I'm ordering is perfect. But to your point, I've talked to other builders too that are very they want to support their people where they're at. And I think when we if we're going to take time off for our mental health, or when I say that, like, I've talked a lot about this on the podcast, like, at five o'clock, like, I'm done, like, I'm home every day at five, it's a it's important to my family, it's important to my wife. I couldn't be here if 505 everyone, yeah, 505 there's a little grace period. 506 like, you know, bring the deity, but So, but anyway, the point is, I've actually embraced that, and it's helped me. I know I'll have a longer career, because I've set some of those things. And so it's funny how sometimes people might perceive a limitation, it's actually an extender. Because if we, if we do campers that prevent ourselves from burning out, whether we're getting our energy from people, from whatever we're doing, but also, you see it in your employees. And, you know, sometimes I poke a little bit on my, you know, a couple year reviews, and I'll be like, Hey, Mike, you know what motivates you? What are you interested in? Sometimes it's like pulling teeth. And they're not probably as open as some of us, and so it's hard to kind of figure out, like, what makes their motor Brad Leavitt 23:48 Well, I mean, Tyler's been open about his health thing. Morgan hers out of stroke last year, Father's Day weekend. Whether that's all related, there's an element to the amount of stress. Nick just drinks cold brew. And I don't know it's really gross, but like, he somehow doesn't anyone Mark Williams 24:02 listening to this, this podcast across the country, ns builders and the Course Builder looking for cold brews. I'm right there with you, buddy. Brad Leavitt 24:10 He loves that thing, but he doesn't get sick, so he's fine. So, but the rest of us have been stressed out. Yeah, Morgan Molitor 24:14 but okay, I'm not gonna cry now, so I can answer that question, but I would say with that. So I made a shift a year and a half ago, and it's like, now I have done boundaries, right? And that was one thing, and I think especially in this industry, that I let a lot of people, even clients, all that cross. And I would say too, just with my personality, Jamie, I talk about this all the time. We're a team, but like, when there was problems or fires, like these clients or people or teammates, they would come to me because they know that I would just be like, I don't want to say a pushover, but I'd just be like, Sure, yes, because I love people, right? And then, whereas you know someone else on our team, or Jamie, would be like, Absolutely not, or this or that. So I think there was a lot of like, taken advantage of. And so then anyway, with the shift and. Whatnot. It's like, now every morning, ever routine, and I'm like, if I don't start it that way, and that's like getting up in the morning. I put a podcast in my ear, an audiobook the second I wake up at the same time, and that's kind of what sets my intention for the day. And I get up, I get moving, I get stretching, and just like, kind of a slow morning, but get into my rhythm and my time. And like, for me that's like, my you time, like my me time that I that I need. And if I don't have that, then it's Yeah. So I started doing that with boundaries and all that. And of course, have a supportive husband, because a lot of people online too will be like, I could never do that. I'm like, you can. You just have to do it. Brad Leavitt 25:35 Well, Mark Williams 25:37 I think my favorite quote this last year, I've said it a lot, is boundaries create freedom. And so in you had mentioned previously that used to say yes to everything, and you're like, your New Year's resolution a year ago was like, to say no to everything. Yeah, we exchanged Nick Schiffer 25:50 a conversation like, what last week about that? It's like, you know what? I think no is gonna mean, Morgan Molitor 25:57 I know, which is really hard for me, but it's good. It's like, it's never been more refreshing. And just like, because Mark Williams 26:02 one business owner can't relate to canceled meeting in the stress level go down because you just get, you just gain some time. Yeah. The thing that's interesting, going back to you Nick a little bit about how I think you sort of operate really well, stressed and you sort of need deadlines, if I had to guess, is that you get too much free time, and then you fill it with either dumb stuff or you're not as productive, because now all of a sudden, you're so used to sort of working under this intense schedule. It's a little bit like, maybe we're like airplanes. We overbook all the time, no wonder people are unhappy. And so it's like, but then when we, you know, when we free up some capacity, we either fill it up with something that's not important, or we waste it, yeah, Morgan Molitor 26:36 yeah. And something too, like, Oh, what Nick Schiffer 26:38 am I gonna do till 6pm I'll clean my inbox. Yeah. So my mail? Mark Williams 26:44 Yeah, I'll start a new business. Great idea. Welcome AI tool and Morgan Molitor 26:50 learn how to use that. Yeah, which is a good thing. That's not a bad thing, but a couple like tools, so I'd say that too, like I have the right tools in place to and the right people to lean on and to go to advice for or whatnot when I have to, like, overcome something, but my best one is like, no is a complete sentence, and you don't have to give an explanation. You don't have to say anything. It's just a no. And then also, like, you don't have to answer everything. And I think for me, I always thought I have to answer it, or I have to help, or I have to guide, and it's like, no, you don't have to do that. Like, if someone texts you, you don't have to reply. Like, I've been practicing that more and more, and I'm like, oh, that's actually free. Like, I don't need, I don't owe them a response, not you. I've Tyler Grace 27:30 looked at like, a lot of perspective has changed, where I've gaged how my customers make a living, and our industry is like, so fierce and so competitive and driven by efficiency and productivity. And then I'll spend a day at home, and my wife works for a company, and I'm like, you have so much free time. And then I'm like, my client, yeah, I'm like Michael, and she knows it, but like, my clients are everybody, every other industry. It's not it's not like my customers expect everyone who's on the job to not take a break, to not check their phone, to not go to the bathroom, be accessible. We'll talk about that this amount of money. But then they go to work and they can go get paid to take a lunch. They can go walk down and talk to somebody in the office that and I'm like every other industry is, is built different than ours. And I'm like, How can we translate and transfer that into our industry? And it's not to that extent, but like, there needs to be some of that buffer and that burden built into our business where, like, somebody's inefficient, somebody makes a mistake, we're not paying for that. And I think that that, like trying to find a model that fits that and a client that understands that, has been huge for me to create some of that freedom and lack of anxiety, where it's like my stomach's in my throat because you made a mistake, you're 10 minutes behind schedule, you're not gonna be able to make a meeting, or you're a day behind you're a day late on something. It's probably not the industry to be in if you like caffeine and have anxiety, which we Mark Williams 29:11 either put this train back on the rails, and this one's for you more because, because I feel like you have more tools. You know, we just had our conference earlier this week with, you know, you're really at the forefront of a lot of the AI technologies, but how do you balance with implementing tools that helps the team? Yeah, without overwhelming them and speaking as someone who's like, every time I go to a conference, I come back and, you know, I've got 800 ideas, 57 things I want to implement, and my team is just like dreading our Monday morning ops meeting because, and I've actually gotten much better, I now like lay it all out, and I say you choose the ones you want to work with anyway. That's how I've handled it. How do you how do you handle it with your team, so that they either have ownership or so that you don't overwhelm them just burn them out? Morgan Molitor 29:53 Gosh, that's a hard one, especially because Ethan's standing here, and we just hired him a few weeks ago, and he was like, how many tools? Like, where. Do these live? How do I, like, wrap my head around I was like, oh gosh, my hero's thinking we didn't have a lot. But I'd say I for our team, one we want to encourage them, or for me, I'm always I'm always thinking about our exit strategy, and I'm always trying to replace myself. And I'm also trying to tell our team, you guys should be working on replacing yourself too. And I want our entire team to live and breathe like this company is their own. I don't want them to quit. I don't want them to go anywhere. I want them I want construction style to be able to support their life goals. And I think too, with all the people on our team, different things mean, you know, some it's finances. Others, it's not. They just want to live. You know, they have different goals that they're trying to hit. So for me, it's like defining the people on our team what they want and how construction of style can help support them to reach their goals. And with that, like tools in place, I'm just a huge component of of course, too, being like for thinkers, that's one of our big visions and goals of our company, and I want them to be exploring tools. And so when I learn new tools, I'm like, Hey, this is what I learned. Like, check it out. If it works for you. Great. And I always do a loom video, which I'll talk about tomorrow, but I'll just do, like, one quick video, and then it lives in the library. So then, too, they don't have to, like, continuously go through it. Or I'm not sitting there showing all the different people on a team. Yeah, resource your team, because Kayla implements it. Like, make sure, right, that everyone's doing that. But I'll just say too. Like, when I'm doing this, I'll be like, This is why phone is successful. This is how much time is taking off my plate. Because truly, I want the people on our team to be able to have their freedom too. But also we got to get the job done and be successful. And we all want to make money. So Mark Williams 31:40 is it accurate to say that you're essentially researching it, you're modeling it, if it works for you, you're making it available to the team to support them. They're watching you. They see the benefit that it has for you. And then you leave the decision whether they adopt it to them. Morgan Molitor 31:54 I would say there's some tools, for example, on like our scheduling tool, like they have to use those and ones that cost us, obviously, a lot of money. I'm like, this is, if it is something that is a process for client work, like, you have to use that tool, and we have to follow this process. And there's but also with that, Jamie and I want from our entire team, like, we want them all to be bought in it's not up to us in the decisions we make. So even when we just hired Ethan, like, we had our entire team sit down with him, take him to lunch, get to know him, because we wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with it. They knew that they're going to work with him. So we do the same thing with tools too. It's we all have to be on the same page. We all have to be bought into the tool. And then for those tools, everyone has to be on the same page. Also, this is on the neon line side. And I actually should start this on the c2, s1, but every Friday I have it on my calendar. Whatever I learned that week, I send them a loom video. It usually has to do with tools or something that just rolled out with social media, or maybe it was something I learned about leadership or with a client. So I'll just send a quick, like five minute loom video to be like, Hey, I just learned this this week. I wanted to share it with you guys. Not everyone watches that, but at least you know they know that this is what I learned, and I encourage them to, like, if you guys learned anything this week, share it with the team. I don't require that. But we also are all remote, so we don't have an office that we work at. So that's just kind of my like, touch point too, to keep one another, like, on the same page. And we all use Slack too. So it's like we're constantly in there chatting about the tools we use and different things. Mark Williams 33:24 I feel your pain, but yes, it sounds like you got a lot of I hope you're a clown, because you need to juggle a lot. Buddy Brad, how you implemented this with your team? I mean, you You seem to have, obviously, I see what, you know, everyone sees on, you know, YouTube or social media where you've got your SOP. I mean, I feel like that's the end result, but I realize there's got to be a lot of killing in the kitchen before it gets to there. I mean, like your satchel, and some of these things that are, I want to say, gimmicky, because they come from a real place, and they're really valuable. How can you develop some of these systems and ideas throughout the team, and how much are you even involved in that anymore, from where you were at beginning? Yeah, still Brad Leavitt 33:59 pretty involved. I mean, the reality is, I was probably similar to you Mark, where I'd come back from conferences, because I go to continue education in these events quite often. You know, we have our builder 22 that we come back with ideas, and Alison, notorious for coming back. And just like Tasmanian devil, like we're doing this, we're doing this, like, and my team's just trying to, like, keep up with all this new information I'm just downloading. And so I'm going back to the SWAT analysis we had last January. The council that was given to me was put to the put together leadership team. You know, my team's big enough, and doesn't I mean, if you're five employees or 30 employees, doesn't matter, you still have a leadership council, leadership team. And so now we balance these ideas together with these core people, these departments. So that way we're implementing one at a time or maybe five at a time, but either way, it's unanimous with all the members of my leadership team, and then that way we can integrate it properly. We can track it, make sure it's working, you know, before we move it, maybe across the whole company. But that's been revolutionary, because now they have input, and they're part of the. Implementation. And it's not just my idea, like they're involved with it too. And then they they have ideas too that they'll bring and then now we can figure out what works. Mark Williams 35:07 I mean, you have to, you know, I do believe that if you're not innovating and changing, like you're dying, right? I mean, you were like a bunch of sharks, you got to move, in my opinion. And so I just feel like, you know, when people are curious about their business, about life and learning new stuff like that, even if they weren't thinking about it, they they innately will keep applying it to their business, and therefore they stay relevant. We obviously live in, you know, a very dynamic world, and it's getting faster and faster Nick from your point of view. You know, what are some systems and places that you have sort of thought about, you know, future proofreading your business? You know, you didn't talk about necessarily selling it. But, you know, you obviously have an eye on the future of what you want to do. How are you taking steps to, you know, whether it's platforms or systems, to get you to where you want to go, to build the kind of level of homes that you're doing? I know white oak is kind of at the centerpiece of that whole thing, but my heart, yeah, oh, we got that. Nick Schiffer 36:00 I think it's taking the monotonous tasks off everyone's plate and getting through, you know, creating systems and, like, creating the structure around something, and committing to it, but knowing that it can change. You know, job descriptions was something that I struggled with forever, and I just simply couldn't, anytime I put it together, I just it was overly detailed, not detailed enough. And or it was, you know, people would have a ton of questions as to like, well, is that my job? Because it's his job. And so, you know, I know we'll get to AI, but that was something like, I was an early adopter of chat up t and I was like, I'm gonna sit down in my office for an entire day, and I'm gonna build every single job description and a career path that walks someone through. If you start as an apprentice carpenter and you follow this path, this is how much you will make at each step, and this is how you become like second in command and and I remember doing it, and I and, of course, like, I mean, it literally took me all day to, like, I was having a conversation with this computer, and I put it together in a document, and I shared it with my team. I think, like, holy shit. This is, this is amazing. And, you know? And then we started when we were in hiring process, we would share it with the perspective employee. And they were like, I've never, like, no one's ever shared something like this. This is like, I want to work for you. And it was that first time where it's like, this is where I take advantage of tech and realize that I can create structure and we can commit to it, and when it changes, that's fine, but we don't, like, stop not having a baseline. So that has been really my focus, in terms of, like, when I'm working on the business, it's I'm setting a structure, like, like, this is how we're doing it. And then someone's like, well, what if, yeah, that's fine, change it. But like, We right now, everyone has no idea what the basis is, and we're in, we're not like, we're losing efficiency, just plainly, because we don't know. So you know when to answer your question like, that's where all my attention is, in terms of future proofing. Is creating the baseline, the operation, the SOPs, the structure around, you know, all of the things that go into the business, so I can focus on the more important tasks, you know, to kind of go off on a little bit of a tangent with that. Like, I think of sales, I talk about the speed between, hey, I want to build a house and building a house. And that time period is really long. But I think from our side. You know, market system in earlier that I resonate with a lot. It's like, when the client's talking to like, you always frame it as, hey, I don't want to waste your time, when you really mean, I don't want to waste my time, but I'm also don't want to waste your time. And so for, for, for a long time, you know, the the lead generation, like how a lead would come in, is this intake form on my website, and it had some good information that it would give me, like a basis of what they were doing, but not everyone filled out. Or I would call and it would be this back and forth conversation. And I stumbled across this company a couple years ago that had this conditional questioning form on their website, and it would it was like having a conversation with someone who's like, what's your name? Like, what's your name? Nick? Oh, hey, Nick, what are you looking to do? I'm looking to build okay. And depending on how you answer the question, you would get you different responses. And about a month ago, I started building ours out, and we have our first version one out, and it gets you, it basically gets you to a point where you're starting to self qualify, and I'm continuing to build it where you know, in six months time it will basically so you'll get to the end and know whether or not, like we're a good fit. When Mark Williams 39:52 you say, build it out. Is this through AI where you'll type form, Typeform. Typeform Nick Schiffer 39:56 is a lead contact intake form. So. So essentially, like, there's, you know, right now, one automation would be, you know, when someone says they're renovating, the next question is, do you plan to move out? And if they say yes, we move on. If they say no, then it goes to a different question as and, and Mark Williams 40:14 so do you have to make your whole tree, though? I mean, do you have to, you're building this, you're but you're building the tree, yeah, Nick Schiffer 40:19 section, it's literally drag and drop. Like, it's quite simple. And it took me, that was another day project, but I had sat, you know, in my office on the whiteboard, and I drew it out because it was like, All right, if we get here, like, because I, what I did is I thought about the conversations I have on the phone, because we had the same conversation over and over and over and over. So I'm just like, all right, when someone answers it this way, what is my response? And I would, I kept drawing it out and realizing that I can do this and, you know, not necessarily lose the personal touch, because they're gonna get to the end, like, right to the point where, going back to the company I found a couple years ago, like, it would get to the end and say, Hey, based on the information you filled out. You're probably in between 608 $100,000 for this project. If that sounds like it's in your budget, let's schedule an appointment. Mark Williams 41:07 Out of curiosity, how many calls would you I'm just curious, how many people you've disqualified, and I'm sure every business owner thinks a little bit about this, because no, no, well, at least at this point, AI and even this type form can't be as reactive as we can be as seasoned veterans, but as you're trying to replace yourself and make your sales funnel smaller so it's more accurate, you're identifying your ideal client. How are you people? Love people. So it's very personal, and you end up going over some of those same questions again, but you've just obviously identified that. What I guess I'm getting at is, how many people do you how many calls were you getting before you started this? And how many calls are you getting now? On security? Just curious what the attrition Nick Schiffer 41:44 rate is. I truthfully don't know that answer, but where I thought you were going with that is, how like am I concerned with mistakenly disqualifying someone? And I I'm not, because ultimately, well, ultimately, I don't think if I disqualify someone in that process. If they want to work with me, they're just gonna ignore that and call me. Or they're gonna say, I wanna, like, there's still, like, an option to schedule time where it's like, if they get to the end and like, Oh, I'm totally disqualified, you know, if I'm leaving them with that much of, like, a, you know, do not talk to me, then at that point, like, it's probably not a good fit. But I think, you know, the reality is, people just want to know, like, they need an answer so, like, we can go around and around and it's like, well, I don't know, you know, I think going through a process like that, there is some legitimacy to, you know, providing them like, hey, based on the information you told me, is probably within this range. And it's not so much me saying it on the phone. It's just like, I input the calculation and it spit out a number. And now, if that works for me, I should talk to Nick. Mark Williams 42:53 I think maybe on April 1 you can put, like, a you win thing, like you just want a video game. And like, you know, did your cell phone gets distributed. Tyler, this one just kind of piggybacking on, you know, Nick's and Morgan's idea on on platforms and tech and things that they're implementing in their team. What are you seeing in the industry, building at large, in terms of sort of innovating for buildings future? And I guess I'm thinking a little bit about prefab and things that you're more tied in than I am about, like, specific products because you're there. They impact your daily they allow you to gain more margin because you're faster at, you know, actually doing the work. What are you seeing that you think that the construction industry is on the path to sort of future proofing itself? I mean, we have to build no matter what, but how are we making it better, especially as we're having a massive drop in the number of people that can do it, Tyler Grace 43:42 yeah. I mean, obviously technology AI all that stuff on the back end. But then even working with, we did a video with Anderson and Cape Cod panel, and they're like a very rudimentary fabrication, doing it like the way they are, and then bringing it to site, basically all built on paper and modeled and then transported the site and stick filled at that point, all the panels prefab. But there's companies that are really advanced with that technology, and I think that that creates job opportunities for people who don't feel like killing themselves, who can work all year round in a conditioned environment, in a safe environment, in a comfortable environment. It makes the work a little bit more enjoyable. I think that it also increases accuracy. There's less mistakes. It's more profitable again, Cape Cod lumber, or Cape Cod panel that we went and saw they're like in the beginning stages of it, and they don't have the money in the processes invested at this point. But still, even the little things that they're doing to increase efficiency is impressive. And then I know that his whole house they essentially built off site, brought to the site, and it's a very complicated. The frame and put that up. And what did you say? How close was it within spec far? Mark Williams 45:05 This was white oak. It was pre, pre assembled. Tyler Grace 45:09 All the wall panelized. Yeah, Nick Schiffer 45:10 all the walls are penalized. And the whole roof was pre cut. Tyler Grace 45:14 You know, there's people who are, who are you can hire to frame a roof and deliver the roof package to your framers that they're not cutting that on site, which is really impressive. And I think that moving in that direction is definitely going to with the lack of knowledge, the lack of experience, the lack of people in the trades, is going to give us an opportunity to build some stuff that we otherwise wouldn't be able to 100% agree. I Mark Williams 45:41 think it's gonna be like think it's gonna be like covid. I think covid is gonna force us to innovate and do something, and I think the lack of people is gonna force us to innovate. Because I think correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that a common custom home builder would just be like, Well, my home more complicated. Well, after touring 45 white oak your home is more than complicated, then you need to come out to Boston and check it out. Just Tyler Grace 46:01 the way that they stick build on site, when you again, Cape Cod panel is not super advanced, but like the little crap that they do where I'm like, that's way better. And that's like the beginning stages of this. You see people in the way that you stick build on site. And it's like, it doesn't really make that much sense at all. And there's so much waste. How Mark Williams 46:24 come the Nationals haven't done you think they would execute it better? I mean, that you're referring your brow, that they already do do it. Brad Leavitt 46:31 They do it. Yeah, nationals do on everything. Mark Williams 46:33 I mean, I see apartment buildings. I see apartment buildings all the time, and they're just, you know, Tyler Grace 46:38 no, but these you can take trust roofs and stuff. They're not, like, stick framing roofs it, yeah, I think it comes down to cost. Yeah, Nick Schiffer 46:48 the audience is chimed in. Tyler Grace 46:52 I don't it's not even being able to do the production work in that manner, being able to do the custom work in that manner, that I think is, like, pretty impressive. Nick Schiffer 47:02 I'd like to add to that, because Mark, who modeled the entire home in 3d is some like he was a roof cut, yep, like he was a master framer that knew roofs. And now, if we, you know, more or less stands behind a giant monitor modeling these things, indie that that produces, you know, a cut list that then is on, you know, semi automatic saw. And they're reducing the amount of waste, waste and bodies that it takes to assemble it and to figure it out. And, you know, I've been a huge proponent of just the the consideration of thinking a build all the way through before we start. And you know the fact that white oak was built and steel fit within an eighth of an inch, like literally had two RFIs in the whole project, when in that framing, like it was just boom, boom, boom, went up and everything. What was the speed they had that house framed in three weeks Mark Williams 48:04 for the audience. That's not here. We toured this home out in Boston, and it was 7000 square foot, extremely complicated home. You can follow it on 45 white oak Instagram everything and US builders, but it's it's a very complicated home, so for it to be put out in three weeks is remarkable. Tyler Grace 48:22 I couldn't move that lumber from one side of the site to the other three weeks Mark Williams 48:28 from a remodeling aspect. Tyler, what sort of innovations do you think we'll see in remodeling? Tyler Grace 48:35 Obviously, everything's moving in, like the air sealing and building, science direction, I think overall health and comfort is going to be huge. I think it's going to be interesting to see what they're doing with the energy code and how that's going to affect a lot of new builds and renovations, exterior insulation, all of that stuff. Affordability. I think there's going to have to be some ingenuity and some value engineering. And I mean, you even forwarded me an article as far as the insulation standards and what they're looking to change in my jurisdictions and people coming up with different framing techniques to try and address them. So I think that there's going to be a fair amount of innovation as the energy code increases to be able to still build at a reasonable cost for people who just need stuff done and can't afford to build a net zero house. Mark Williams 49:28 I mean, speaking of net zero, we have one of the country's foremost experts in net zero home building. I mean, Brad, you've done some pretty incredible projects, and now you're getting projects you spoke yesterday about, after you did the credible home for Mark that essentially three other homes came off of it. And I think a lot of us, I'll just speak for myself, but a lot of builders think, oh, man, think about all the time and the energy I have to devote to really figure that out. But it's a very narrow, sided thought process, because what a lot of us haven't thought about is the doors that will open that aren't open. Open to us now, to a clientele that we would like to work with that isn't open to us now because they don't think we can do it. Can you speak a little bit to you know what? How doing Mark's house specifically, but just in general, it seems like a lot of the homes that you're doing are essentially future proofing because of the way you're constructing it and the way your clients are responding Brad Leavitt 50:19 to it. Yeah, I think early on, we were fortunate to do an ICF house with SIPPs trusts, and that kind of led the way to me, Mark through some other channels, and Matt Reisinger, who a lot of you know that made that introduction, and of which, you know, there definitely was a lot of complication doing Mark's house, right? He's in the industry. There was a lot of sponsorships. You're working with vendors and material being donated, and you're working with a trade base that, especially in Phoenix, wasn't accustomed to doing some of the details we're doing, and so that was, there's no question that there was an investment of time and understanding to execute the final design and vision. But at the core of it, I mean, if you're working with the proper architect, engineer, designer that understands this, the plans are there. I mean, it's just building to spec now, so there is an element of having that information there already and then just making sure it's executed, which definitely takes some additional oversight, but, but at the core to answer your question mark, I mean, it wasn't something that intimidated me, because I saw the opportunity in front I didn't realize it would lead to what we're doing. Now, you know, Matt had come out. We did some videos with Matt. And you know, everyone knows that Matt has a pretty big audience on his YouTube channel, and because of the video he did specifically, I mean, we had three clients reach out and said, Hey, we didn't know a building, or Phoenix is building to this like level. And we have one right now, showing some of you at dinner last night. You know, $12 million build that's going to start here in two months that was in direct lead from that project. So, you know, clients are watching the innovation. They're watching sustainability. A lot of them are very passionate about it. And so a lot of us can level up by marketing to that and just understanding itself. I mean, there's a lot of education. I know everyone up here has been involved, whether they built it, or at least understand that, you know, the certain elements. And again, you're looking for ways to separate yourself, tell the companies. And Net Zero is definitely a way to do that. Mark Williams 52:10 You think, you know, obviously you build, you know, on a very high end spectrum. Let's say, you know, for builders out there that are interested in it, but are not, you know, getting clients of that level. Because a common statement is like, oh, yeah, that's good for, you know, the extremely wealthy or whatnot. What are some, what are some early adopting things that we can do, even at a lower level price tier, that, you know, maybe the home isn't completely net zero, but it's a lot better than it otherwise. What are just some simple things that you've seen that you're like, oh, that's like, a no brainer. Now, there's not that big of a cost ticket for the return on that investment. Brad Leavitt 52:45 So good question. I mean, there are elements, even if maybe a step away from net zero for just a minute. But if you're looking at, like, healthy right? If you're looking at ways to monitor voc content, right? So through the mechanical design, which isn't overly expensive, but you know, looking at water filtration in the home, certain things that are really important to people, so important to people since the pandemic. Those are ways that can kind of elevate the brand, specifically to energy efficiency. You know, early on, we were looking at like advanced framing, which is something you can do fairly easy with a good, you know, changing, you know, spacing on, you know, from 16 on center 24, inch on center, by using, like, closed cell foam and using some other structural things. You know, the way you do the corners to not have so much lumber, essentially, that's losing thermal right? You know, triple pane windows is another option. You know, we insulate the slab, which isn't super complicated. You can do it either with rigid foam, or you can, you know, spray closed cell as well. That's pretty easy. So, I mean, there's little things you can do just from sips trusses is a good one. We were just talking about penalization. So in Phoenix, we don't stick frame trusses or roofs like it. Just everything's from a truss plant penalized. Sips trusses isn't that much different. I mean, you're just bringing out a trusses, and that's already insulated. So I mean, there's just things you can do that the cost isn't huge, but like those, are elements that can at least get you on the right Mark Williams 54:07 path. Interesting. We I had someone on the podcast a couple weeks ago, and he brought up they do an air filtration for commercial buildings. But he said a stat that shocked me, 90% of our lives are spent indoors. I was blown away at that number. Now, obviously, my mind, of course, went to like, Well, what about other people in Africa? And that was not part of his stat. I think it was, I think it was more of, you know, the Western civilization, but that's just where my brain goes. I'm like, liar. That's not true, but anyway. But the point of it was is like, we don't spend enough time talking about air quality and what we breathe. We know what thing about you in your car. No, no, no. I agree with the stat now, yeah. But my point in this thing, you're Brad Leavitt 54:49 in Minnesota, no one wants to Morgan Molitor 54:50 go outside in the winter. Unknown Speaker 54:52 Yeah, 90% Mark Williams 54:55 but my point was, is like, Okay, we Nutrition has become a huge thing that a lot of people, you can't go. Anywhere not talk about nutrition. I mean, it's good for, you know? I mean, you know, whether you have kids or not, like, the stuff that we eat at school lunches compared to what we ate as kids is like, so different, you know, you talked, you know, beforehand, of like, what people eat in the office and like, you should hire Nutritionals. But like, it's much more like, people are more prone to talk about their lifestyle. We talked a little bit early on about health and wellness and anxiety and things like that. And a lot of it has to do with diet, but we're talking about that. It all starts with talking in education, where I'm going with this is like, we spend all this time about what we eat and what and stress and all this stuff, but we don't. Very few people talk about what you breathe, and if nothing else, I'm left with, like, an amazement of, like, what our lungs can filtrate. And so going to that, I'm curious how often you have clients that are that are talking about, like, what's the air quality? I mean, we know we have ERVs or HRVs, and we're doing that. But how often do you have clients specifically ask about, yeah, Brad Leavitt 55:47 I mean, 10 years ago, like, none. I mean, I remember having a client like, nine years ago talking about off gassing with the paint that we'd use and stuff like that. And I was like, listen, new to me. I mean, they're really obsessed about it, but that's, like, regular now, right? And it's, it's, it's a common thing. I mean, yeah, at least for my I think Nick Schiffer 56:02 you know what we'll see, and we're starting to see, but is air quality monitoring. And if you have an air quality monitor in your home, like, you're gonna obsess over it's like, when you walk by a thermostat, how warm is it in here? You know, like, you check we don't have, like, there's nothing telling us how good the air quality is. But if there's a little monitor that it, you know, it turns red, like, you're gonna be like, what's going on? It was air quality so poor in my house. And it's, it's gonna make us think about it and react to it. And, yeah, I think that we've kind of went the other way, where it's, like, we, rather than first monitoring it, it's we've immediately went to, like, the ERV and HRV route, and we're constantly filtering it because, like, that's what it sounds like we need to do. But then you take that a step further and realize, oh, like, now I'm seeing it and, like, I can visually understand when air quality is better or worse, and I have equipment in my home that can help counteract Mark Williams 57:03 that. I think data is going to be really important, the more we can explain simply to a client, like the pay either the payback or the information they're going to absorb. I mean, we're essentially the professional, Nick Schiffer 57:15 and like these watches that tell you how you sleep, like, I don't wear one. That's great. They wear one. I don't and my wife, like, I had this conversation with my wife, and she was, she'd wake up and she'd be like, got a shitty name to sleep. And I'm like, you've just programmed your whole day around the fact that you've been told that. Mark Williams 57:35 I would argue that though, to tell me that Nick Schiffer 57:37 I don't even like, Mark Williams 57:40 well, I It's funny, because it's very I've worn one for six years, and so I'm like, this morning was a 26% recovery. It said rest I went for a five mile run because so to me, it's kind of like, you take the data, but I agree with you, because it can sort of inform your lifestyle. But then I'm also kind of like, Yeah, forget it. But that's Nick Schiffer 57:56 a personality. My point, my point there is, like, you know that, you know, while I don't wear it, because I don't want to be pre programmed on, like, how to react to my day, like, I'm gonna, like, I'm starting my day, right? But what, what happens there is, like, with a lot of a lot of people, they're wearing it, and they're realizing, oh, you know, when I have three drink, like glasses of one, I don't sleep well, so I'll just have two. So it's the same thing with like in the home. It's like, you start seeing like, Man every time I cook with the gas on, the air quality goes down. So I'm gonna switch through an electric 100% agree with that, and that's where they like Brad Leavitt 58:37 that. Speaking of health and personality, why do you have six Red Bulls behind you? Well, Mark Williams 58:41 that's really just a humorous thing for for Tyler. So Tyler famously, famously, after the first time we ever met at a Build conference, he was in the car on the way to the airport with Brad, and he goes, I think I just met my polar opposite. That guy markets like he had someone give him six cans of Red Bull and a line of coke. And so I actually made him a shirt with six Red Bulls and a line of coke. Looked like a white submarine. And then I sent it to him, and I tried to pitch Red Bull to be a sponsor. So Red Bull, if you're looking I'm just saying that Red Bull looked really good. Yeah, Unknown Speaker 59:16 he's like, I'll get him. We haven't found Mark Williams 59:18 it. We haven't found a coke sponsor. So yes, maybe what better luck with that? I am watching Breaking Bad. Morgan Molitor 59:27 Oh my gosh, Mark Williams 59:30 I'm old fashioned now. I still read the news paper. I'm a little behind whatever. Well, this, clearly, this has gone for real. Why we were going to talk about AI, but there's no way we're going to put all this stuff. So if you want to listen to AI, listen to the CBSA episode that Morgan I recorded with John Walker and Katie, and I'm Morgan Molitor 59:49 going to share a little well, I guess not the podcast I was going to say. I'm going to share a little bit tomorrow too here. Oh, perfect. Mark Williams 59:56 It's a lot of information. I want to, you know, do a disser. Us to that topic. It's pretty big. I think at this point, why don't we open up for Q and A? We've got exactly 10 minutes. Ask anything you want. Everyone up here is super open. So it could be anything we talked about or anything we haven't talked about, and then I'll just repeat the question for the audience that is not here. Stop. Yeah. Now. Mike is quiet, yes. Ryan, Speaker 1 1:00:22 most important things you've done with your staff in order to create the culture you whiten. Mark Williams 1:00:28 What is the most important thing you've done to your staff to create, okay? What is the most important thing you've done to your staff to kind of increase the culture so that your team is cohesive and is shaping up the way you want it. Morgan Molitor 1:00:45 I could go first. I would say we don't have like. It's your schedule. You run your schedule. We treat our team as adults, if they need to take vacation, if they need to take mental health day, if they need to put their kids or family first, whatever that comes first. And honestly, sometimes I think it's done a disservice, because, like, Kayla works around the clock and never shuts it off. And I'm like, Dude, you can, like, take a break, like, go on vacation, actually take vacation, and she doesn't. But also I'm like, You're amazing, and thank you for everything. And then we have quarterly C 2s fund days. We call them and we go and do something super fun with our team and their families, whether it's like going golfing, and we'll do it during the work day or whatever, or go to a brewery or go whatever. And then as much as we can, like, on these conferences or like, Hey biz and IBS, we try to take our whole team and have that within, like, our goals and budget and everything, we have colleagues that are like, oh, it just seems like waste of money. But for me, I'm like, it's about the camaraderie, and we show up different. And I would say we're a pretty open and vulnerable team too. So there's with us. We're like, you know, again, some colleagues are like, you know, your team is your team, not your friends, whatever. And I'm like, Nope, we just go right in. So I think just getting to that level too, like with your team, they just show up differently for you. Mark Williams 1:02:09 Few things I do, I think for just the last year and a half around Christmas, I mean, everyone's always busy around Christmas. I've deliberately not made any meetings the month of December. So I always leave December completely open, because everyone gets so stressed out. So like, now December is, like, one of my favorite months, because I will not have a single meeting, and I, like, even for the podcast, I'll batch record ahead of time so that I am just more free. But then that way I can be present for the for the team if they need to take some time off, and then we shut down, you know, a couple days before Christmas till the first no one does any work, you know that needs to be done, you know. Or if you respond, at least in office, you know, our team, you know, if they choose to be, you know, a lot of our subcontractors, roofers, things are happening, obviously that post week, so they need to be available, you know, because if you're asking someone else to work, it's kind of this, you know, at least I'll answer the phone to answer your question. And then the week of July 4, we shut down for that whole week. I actually interviewed. Shout out to Jackson Schwartz from Hennepin made he did that. And I was like, That is a great idea. So that's kind of like our midweek break so and then, honestly, anytime my clients, or anytime my team asks for a day off, I'm like, Yeah, I don't even need to know why. Yep, see, you have a great time. Come back, you know, come back whenever, because if they're not present, if they're not recharged, and you also have to live it. I think if you for a long time, you know, you know, if you're guilty of, you know, answering these late night emails or texts, but really living what you say, the rest of the culture will sort of take care of itself. In my opinion. Brad Leavitt 1:03:34 Anyone else, otherwise who got on the back? Okay, Speaker 2 1:03:39 for each of you managing a busy, successful business, Speaker 3 1:03:44 I'm interested in how we find the time to balance your family the pound out. Mark Williams 1:03:55 All right, the question was is, how, as business owners, do we manage to balance your business with your family and personal time. Nick Schiffer 1:04:04 I'm gonna answer this, even though I am terrible, because I think it's probably pretty relatable. I Well, generally speaking, it's all communication. So for me, like my personal stuff, like, I want to go to the gym. I wake up earlier. I want to get extra hours in. I'm waking up earlier, and my wife is, you know, hey, I need you home at six o'clock. And that is like, that is a non negotiable. You know, about a year ago, I relocated our office to two blocks away from my house, which gains me additional work time. But also, you know, when I when the kids need to be picked up, or there's a there's something that needs to happen, I can scoot out of work and get back to work. And it's not this half hour thing, you know, ultimately I it, it's communication. And when, when there's failure. In, you know, on my part, and not communicating what my intent is, or what my schedule is, or what I need to do, or, you know, it's because I didn't properly communicate it. But you know, I do, and I've gotten a lot of flack for this, especially sharing it on social media, primarily my wife's friends will tell her, like, you see what Nick said, but I, but I, but I talked about it a lot, because, you know, when, in order of priorities, my priority is me, my family and then my business. And you know, and what I mean by that is like, if there's no me, there's no my family and there's no my bit. There's no business, so, you know, and I, and I stand by that, you know, though, like, I think, in different roles, especially like, you know, a mother versus a father, like, at least in my relationship, like that doesn't always feel like an equal. Like my wife doesn't necessarily feel as though she can prioritize herself and I and here I am saying all I do is prioritize myself, but it's my like, that's my commitment to how I need to show up for my family and how I need to show up for my business. But ultimately, you know, I learn a lot from my mistakes in business and my my marriage and my, you know, being a dad, and it's, you know, it all centers around communicate, communication and being transparent with what you know I'm trying to accomplish. Tyler Grace 1:06:30 I think it's about prioritizing and being realistic with your priorities. I think that you make time for whatever's important for you in life. And you know, for years business, I always said I was supporting my family. This is for my family, but at the end of the day, like it was for me, it was for my ego. What drove me to do what I was doing, like my family could have less. There's plenty of things that you could do if you need to spend more time with your family, whether it's conceding to a different lifestyle, you just have to be realistic with yourself, like, if you want to spend more time with your family, there's a million ways that you can do that, and it may not have to be with growing your business and building your business more like that's a price, and there's nothing wrong with that, but being real with yourself and honest with yourself that like this is what drives me more so than potentially spending time with the family. I think that once you understand that and realize that like this is okay, this is what makes me tick, this is who I am, you realize that, like you make time for whatever you want to make time for in your life. Morgan Molitor 1:07:38 Yeah, and I would add to that too. Like, I love working, so it really does. I would probably rather work than take a vacation. Honestly, there's something probably wrong with me, but I think it took me a while to accept that that was okay, yeah. Like, that can be a priority, and I think there's many times I share this on social media, like Jamie and I have missed birthdays. We've missed a lot of things with our kids. I've had summits over my kids' birthdays, and, like, accepting that that's okay, and then also leaning right, like I said with these guys in my situation that happened, it's like leaning on your people and being okay with that too, like there's other people that can help you and show up for things that need to so, like Tyler was just saying, too. Like our priority each week changes, each month changes, and sometimes works priority, sometimes families priority. And we just try to find that balance of when we say no to things that on our personal side too, because honestly, I would rather be working, or maybe it is on the family or work or whatever, and just making sure I'm going Tyler Grace 1:08:39 to go out on limb, but say that it's probably more difficult to deal with those feelings. As a mother, yes, 100% like, I have a ton of respect my wife works. She would love to spend every single second with our kids me, not necessarily, like a little bit of time good, but like, I know the challenge that she faced and the guilt that she faced that she does also want to pursue a career in raising children, Morgan Molitor 1:09:06 which, unfortunately, that's because of society, and I think we need to break that barrier. Mark Williams 1:09:13 Yeah, I mean, for me to answer that question, I think I've probably been more successful taking steps away. But I think my business has stuff like, I probably I make less now than I did five years ago, but I'm much happier than I was five years I mean, that's a lot. I'm always pretty happy. I'm more satisfied and like and part of it is, is, I mean, I've talked about all the time, so I won't go a nauseam about it, but for me, it's early mornings. You know, for I think, honestly, going back, I just keep re saying it, it's boundaries create freedom. So for me, it's like, I have to be home every morning at 7am because that's when my kids get up, that's when I take them to school. That's kind of my role and responsibility, that bedtime and everything else. And so it's like, so morning is like, you know, I'm from 5am Am to seven, like, that's me time, you know, running, working out, whatever I that I need to get off all that energy to get more energy. It's kind of a weird thing. I'm not sure why that happens. And then, you know, from so it's like that parameter. And then, as I already mentioned previous, I'm home every day at five to 505, and, and that, really, I can't believe, but what a benefit that has been and, and honestly, I've actually won a job because of it. And I've told this story before, but I'll just be brief about it. I had a couple that was they never had children, and they were both doctors, and they loved work, and he never wanted to not work, and and he said, I want to meet you nights and weekends. And Brad, actually, our story was another builder like Brad here in Minnesota market, had told me he took a Saturday job for two years at 11am and he said he missed two years of his daughter's life, and it was because of that story, because of podcasts, because of people sharing, that I told this client. I said, No, I said, I'm done at five o'clock. We don't do text, we don't meet on the weekends. And perhaps I am not the right builder for you, and that's okay, and I wouldn't have been able to say that earlier in my career, because this was a, this was the nicest home I'd ever built. You guys toured. It was the metal house, yeah, and it was incredible home wood from Africa. It was just, it was my dream job, and the client respected me so much for setting that boundary that he picked me over the other builder, and I was able to pair him with an architect that didn't his children were all in college and beyond. So he had that capacity to fit that client's need. But it was really because of that boundary that allowed me to do that. And so I don't think anyone can say they do it perfectly. It's like one moment of time you feel good. It's like running a marathon. Not every mile is going to feel great. It's like maybe mile two feels good. Mile 12 stinks. Mile 20, oh, man, get me over then. 21 you're feeling good. I think that's a little bit like running a business. It's like you it's like you're constantly checking in as long as you're communicating with your family and yourself and your team. I feel like as soon as you got it, you figured out, you fall down. And so it's like it's all Morgan Molitor 1:11:53 a season. I tell myself that every single day, oh, I'm in a new season. Today. It's just a season. It'll pass. Brad, Mark Williams 1:12:00 you got anything or, Yes, I Brad Leavitt 1:12:01 mean, not a whole lot tougher. But I mean, the reality is, you only have so many buckets, and you just have to monitor which one's full and empty. And so for me, it's just really being aware of, you know, having six kids, five daughters, like I have a few daughters that are a lot older now, like in college. And so I'm very aware as they need. And I restructured things, you know, being married, same thing, travel in there. And so there's, it is definitely a daily thing that I'm monitoring, whether it's business or family. And you know how it picks, yeah, and I mean, in full disclosure, I Mark Williams 1:12:31 mean, Brad knows about this. I got an email on Monday during seed USA from my wife, and she's like, we need to have a talk. You know, your work schedule is getting a little out of hand. I'm like, and I responded, I said, you know, let's sit down. I have this, you know, massive schedule for the 25 I'm like, I'd be happy to sit down over dinner and talk over next year's calendar. Yeah, and so, like, I haven't heard back from my wife, so we'll see if she but like, she Yeah, at 10 o'clock at work, and she never emails me at work. And bro, I would have been on a plane home. I was in many I was in Minnesota. I was in Nick Schiffer 1:13:06 Minneapolis, doctor. Unknown Speaker 1:13:09 She is a doctor. Yeah, I would just walk right into the operating Nick Schiffer 1:13:12 room of my arm. Unknown Speaker 1:13:16 Okay, that's an interesting Unknown Speaker 1:13:18 tactic, right there. Hmm, Mark Williams 1:13:24 that's the way. No, no, no, I did. She never responded to the email. I saw her for dinner that night. She didn't bring it up. I responded, I'm ready and open to talk about it. You never addressed it at dinner. No, she doesn't at dinner. It's like mission critical. Nick Schiffer 1:13:41 So there's just an elephant sitting dining room. I Mark Williams 1:13:43 told her, I'm ready anytime she wants to talk about it. Clearly, we've gone off the rails. Being a marriage therapist, a psychologist, a nutritionist, to this podcast. I've Nick Schiffer 1:13:53 gotten one. I've gotten a text like that once, and I just, I just drove home. She was, what are you doing? Which is true. I'm like, I'm like, I mean, your text is, like, literally, a novel, and there's an issue here. Oh my gosh, come home. I'm like, Well, I can't work. Mark Williams 1:14:09 That's fair. So what does she do? She's Nick Schiffer 1:14:11 like, we're fine. Morgan Molitor 1:14:16 Oh, well, Mark Williams 1:14:17 that is our mic drop for this episode. I'm not sure how else we can really do anything. Thanks for joining the curious. Builder Podcast coming to you Monday and Thursdays and contractor coalition has been a blast, and we'll see you next Unknown Speaker 1:14:30 week. Thanks. Mark. All right. Bye.

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