Latest / Business Roundtable / Building a High-Performing Construction Team

Transcript

Building a High-Performing Construction Team · Business Roundtable

0:31
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome back to the to the Business
0:35
Speaker 1: round Table podcast. Uh, you're catching me on a cold day.
0:39
Speaker 1: I'm getting over it. But I wanted to bring another
0:41
Speaker 1: episode of you guys this week, and I'm so glad
0:43
Speaker 1: to have a brand new guest, Cameron Meta Meta Meredith.
0:47
Speaker 1: See if I'll get through this, everybody bear with me.
0:51
Speaker 1: But Cameron has come on and he's a part of
0:54
Speaker 1: ADU West Coast, which we're going to talk a little
0:58
Speaker 1: bit about today on the podcast about how to you
1:00
Speaker 1: scale smart, how do you build a thriving business. In
1:03
Speaker 1: this case, Cameron's been working on ADUs, particularly here in
1:06
Speaker 1: southern California, and we're going to talk about the challenges
1:10
Speaker 1: of growing a construction business right and all the things
1:14
Speaker 1: that come with it. So welcome to the podcast. Cameron.
1:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me.
1:18
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you have worked with homeowners and folks that maybe
1:25
Speaker 1: not be that are project managers, knowing how to navigate
1:29
Speaker 1: through these processes from business systems, because we're going to
1:33
Speaker 1: talk about a little bit about systems that you use,
1:35
Speaker 1: how you've been a leadership in growing them, your your team.
1:40
Speaker 1: We were just talking right before we recorded this kind
1:41
Speaker 1: of the future of ADU Development And for those of
1:44
Speaker 1: you that are haven't been around or haven't been paying
1:47
Speaker 1: attention here in South California with a massive fires here
1:50
Speaker 1: over the last month month or so month and a half.
1:53
Speaker 1: We're in March, he're recording this episode of twenty twenty five.
1:56
Speaker 1: But you know, I as I met Cameron and we
1:59
Speaker 1: were talking a shared passion on business growth, leadership, operational efficiency.
2:04
Speaker 1: That's some of the things I look at as steward
2:05
Speaker 1: your business. All that I don't do with ad I
2:08
Speaker 1: don't do with ADUs. I deal with people. But for
2:11
Speaker 1: those that are just getting to know you, Cameron, sure
2:13
Speaker 1: a little bit of background about how you got into
2:16
Speaker 1: ADU West Coast and what led you to starting this company.
2:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, first off, thanks again and I'm happy to
2:23
Speaker 2: be here to share kind of my experience. And I
2:25
Speaker 2: guess what I've gone through is an entrepreneur. But I
2:29
Speaker 2: am from Huntington Beach, California, so born and raised in
2:32
Speaker 2: southern California. I went to college in the Midwest, came back,
2:35
Speaker 2: and I had a couple different jobs. You know, I
2:37
Speaker 2: was one of those people I really did not know
2:39
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do even after college. So it
2:42
Speaker 2: was always sales, so I was always really good at sales.
2:46
Speaker 2: I had some sales jobs that I absolutely hated, but
2:49
Speaker 2: one thing that I did take into consideration. They were
2:52
Speaker 2: all pretty large, either corporations or businesses, so I took
2:58
Speaker 2: those same systems they had sales, right or management because
3:01
Speaker 2: of my other jobs was management, and I applied that
3:04
Speaker 2: to real estate when I started doing real estate. So
3:07
Speaker 2: really my background is once I found out kind of
3:09
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do, I was a residential realtor.
3:12
Speaker 2: As you know, that's pretty much self performing everything. I mean,
3:15
Speaker 2: you can have coaches and this and that, but it's
3:17
Speaker 2: really how hard you work and how many leads you
3:20
Speaker 2: get in From there, I was doing a couple investment stuff.
3:25
Speaker 2: I met some construction guys who are actually my partners now.
3:29
Speaker 2: One does architectural design. His brother's a structural engineer in GC,
3:33
Speaker 2: so I formed a group with him in twenty twenty.
3:37
Speaker 2: We'd been doing flips and stuff like that before then,
3:40
Speaker 2: but really in twenty twenties when the law changed for
3:43
Speaker 2: eight US, so we took our same concept as far
3:46
Speaker 2: as design build for construction and doing the design and house,
3:50
Speaker 2: and we just did that same concept with ADUs and
3:54
Speaker 2: now you know, we've grown pretty large. We're just la
3:57
Speaker 2: Orange County, but we do aner from twenty to thirty
3:59
Speaker 2: projects of years, so a little bit pretty good volume
4:02
Speaker 2: as far as locally here.
4:04
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean that's a number of projects you're
4:08
Speaker 1: you're covering this area. And we talked a little bit
4:12
Speaker 1: about processes and project management and how you maintain efficiency.
4:19
Speaker 1: You want to expand a little bit as you're growing
4:20
Speaker 1: the business, bringing different people in. Talk a little bit
4:24
Speaker 1: about how you've been expanding the business be able to
4:26
Speaker 1: take on that many projects.
4:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think it's number one. Is really important
4:30
Speaker 2: to have a really good team that knows what they're doing.
4:32
Speaker 2: And I think delegation is huge. One of the things
4:35
Speaker 2: I've learned is definitely defining roles right and you know,
4:39
Speaker 2: really honing in on who does what, what their roles are,
4:44
Speaker 2: what their roles are not, you know, so we can
4:46
Speaker 2: keep people in their lane. That's been really important. And
4:49
Speaker 2: then also I know last time we talked, I think
4:52
Speaker 2: having a good software, whether it's CRM for for sales
4:57
Speaker 2: or having a good project management software. I know we
5:00
Speaker 2: use a construction specific software called Builder Trend. I have
5:04
Speaker 2: nothing but great things to say. I was actually just
5:06
Speaker 2: in the at the Builder convention in Vegas last week
5:10
Speaker 2: and I met some of the guys there. We're going
5:12
Speaker 2: to do a podcast actually on Friday. So but to
5:16
Speaker 2: that point, you know, they've integrated everything from invoicing to
5:21
Speaker 2: budgeting all the way to project management, pictures to do.
5:25
Speaker 2: So we've really systemized everything that we do within that system,
5:30
Speaker 2: and I think a big part of that is training
5:32
Speaker 2: those people on how to use the system right.
5:35
Speaker 1: Right.
5:36
Speaker 2: A system can be as great as it can be
5:38
Speaker 2: only if the people are actually trained on using it
5:41
Speaker 2: and using it properly. So that's one thing I've been
5:45
Speaker 2: doing is training people and really getting them involved, both
5:48
Speaker 2: our employees and our clients, because for us, one of
5:51
Speaker 2: the big things was like, hey, I don't want text
5:53
Speaker 2: messages at you know, eight at nine on a Saturday
5:56
Speaker 2: or Sunday.
5:57
Speaker 1: Nobody.
5:58
Speaker 2: So we do everything through the system. The clients have
6:01
Speaker 2: a capability on an app or desktop they can send
6:04
Speaker 2: everything through there, but that way everything is categorized, filed,
6:07
Speaker 2: and we know how to you know, react and respond
6:11
Speaker 2: to them in that way. So I think training has
6:13
Speaker 2: been huge, and then obviously finding us something that works
6:16
Speaker 2: for you as for our software.
6:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well some you know, I think you've hit
6:22
Speaker 1: on a couple of different things there. I mean, so
6:24
Speaker 1: what I hear is able to you able to scale
6:26
Speaker 1: this camera and you looked at a business owner, you
6:29
Speaker 1: looked at systems outside of like we rather than creating
6:32
Speaker 1: it ourselves. Right, you could try and create it yourself,
6:35
Speaker 1: but obviously it takes a lot of time and it's
6:37
Speaker 1: and there's resources outside of you that you can focus on.
6:40
Speaker 1: What you guys do best is actually building the ADUs themselves,
6:44
Speaker 1: not developing a whole system to try and track all of.
6:46
Speaker 2: That hundred percent, you know. And for me, my my
6:50
Speaker 2: goal has been growth and expanding and you know, one
6:53
Speaker 2: day I want to expand and sell ad Us, whether
6:57
Speaker 2: it's plans or prefabricated a use out you know, all
7:00
Speaker 2: over the country. That's kind of my end goal. So
7:02
Speaker 2: only way to do that is set up systems and
7:04
Speaker 2: have some processes in place. That way, you know, it's
7:08
Speaker 2: the same model no matter where you go.
7:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's I think it's so wise. I
7:13
Speaker 1: want the reason I have people like you on the
7:15
Speaker 1: on the podcast Cameron here, so that people can hear
7:18
Speaker 1: learn what's working and what's not working and if you're
7:21
Speaker 1: not implementing a system and a process is like that
7:24
Speaker 1: what you found here that works well in your specific industry,
7:27
Speaker 1: You're you're you're limiting yourself and I think you're you're
7:31
Speaker 1: able to scale much quickly. I mean, we're here in
7:33
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, you started in twenty twenty and you're
7:35
Speaker 1: and it sounds to me like you've had continual growth
7:37
Speaker 1: over those years by applying you know, lessons learned.
7:42
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Yeah, and I think another big portion
7:46
Speaker 2: of this especially I'm just talking for my industry, but
7:49
Speaker 2: it relates to any industry. I think setting expectations is
7:52
Speaker 2: huge with a client, especially with construction, right, and the
7:57
Speaker 2: way we do that is again we do everything through
7:59
Speaker 2: the software. That way, everything's in writing, Hey, look this
8:01
Speaker 2: is we went over this this day. We went over
8:03
Speaker 2: this contract. Here's what it says, and as well as
8:07
Speaker 2: updating the client. So our software has daily logs. So
8:11
Speaker 2: we go in and we say, hey, we had this
8:13
Speaker 2: inspection today. We didn't pass inspection because of X y Z.
8:16
Speaker 2: Here's some pictures of that. So that way, you know,
8:18
Speaker 2: they don't feel out of the loop even though they Yeah,
8:21
Speaker 2: but there's so much behind the scenes that goes on
8:24
Speaker 2: with construction. You know, we could not be working for
8:26
Speaker 2: four days, but we could be going to the city
8:28
Speaker 2: getting stuff approved or whatnot right, And if we don't
8:30
Speaker 2: have that communication, that's when these you know, relationships kind
8:34
Speaker 2: of go south when there's not a lot of communication,
8:36
Speaker 2: especially with something as construction, where a lot of people
8:39
Speaker 2: really don't understand the full capability of what we're doing.
8:43
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you know, and how how much I've been
8:47
Speaker 1: you know not I've worked in other industries too, camera,
8:50
Speaker 1: Like you're saying, communication is really key. You're leveraging a
8:53
Speaker 1: system here, but you're also training your people because I
8:56
Speaker 1: know that I've worked with other folks where it's like
8:58
Speaker 1: radio silence. You don't know anything good are bad, It's
9:00
Speaker 1: just I don't know. I'm in the dark. So you're
9:03
Speaker 1: leveraging your system when I hear you saying, and you're
9:05
Speaker 1: training your people to make sure they're inputting the right
9:07
Speaker 1: information following up accordingly with your clients.
9:12
Speaker 2: Hundred yeah. And you know, I will say it hasn't
9:14
Speaker 2: been easy to train, especially a lot of these construction guys,
9:18
Speaker 2: I mean, some of them doing it aren't even great
9:19
Speaker 2: with phones. Yeah, but again it's sitting down with them
9:22
Speaker 2: and saying, hey, this is how we do it. It's
9:23
Speaker 2: going to be way easier for you once you find out.
9:26
Speaker 2: But I think now they've kind of gotten the hold
9:29
Speaker 2: of everything and that they even realize, hey, this is
9:32
Speaker 2: the best way to do this.
9:33
Speaker 1: Mm hmm yeah, so treat So to your point, Cameron,
9:37
Speaker 1: I think it's an when you have different people different
9:40
Speaker 1: I think you know, they say generations certainly adapt to
9:43
Speaker 1: different technologies, but I think it's it's not always the case,
9:46
Speaker 1: not only generations. I think that there's certain people just
9:49
Speaker 1: resistant to technologies or something. So what would you say
9:52
Speaker 1: to a business owner saying, Okay, it's one thing to
9:54
Speaker 1: have the system, like you said, find a pretty good,
9:58
Speaker 1: well tested system. But like you said, the other part
10:00
Speaker 1: I heard you say was you've got to train your
10:02
Speaker 1: people to use the systems to leverage the system. So
10:06
Speaker 1: what's that What has been in your experience in training
10:08
Speaker 1: and getting those people up to speed. You kind of
10:10
Speaker 1: talked a little bit about it, but go a little
10:12
Speaker 1: bit more and to what does that look like? Because
10:14
Speaker 1: a business owner sometimes I think they feel like I
10:15
Speaker 1: got a system and it should just work out of
10:18
Speaker 1: the box and like everything works one hundred percent and
10:21
Speaker 1: it just doesn't my experience, that's not reality. It takes
10:25
Speaker 1: a while.
10:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're exactly right. It takes a long time.
10:28
Speaker 1: You know.
10:29
Speaker 2: One thing build or Trend has is some really informal
10:32
Speaker 2: videos and their customer support is in Nebraska, so they're
10:35
Speaker 2: very quick to answer the phone. But I do weekly meetings,
10:39
Speaker 2: you know, beginning of the week and the end of
10:41
Speaker 2: the week to kind of figure out what people's tasks
10:44
Speaker 2: are and then do we complete those tasks. And it's
10:47
Speaker 2: not micromanaging, it's just figuring out where we're at with
10:50
Speaker 2: these projects. You can imagine I have twenty to thirty projects.
10:53
Speaker 2: I need to know what's going on pretty much throughout
10:56
Speaker 2: every year. Yeah, so that's the only way. And I
10:59
Speaker 2: will say it really has been just getting my people
11:04
Speaker 2: out of the habit of texting, right, And I say
11:07
Speaker 2: it in Builder Trend, put it in the software, and
11:10
Speaker 2: really it's just been constant harping and harping and I
11:12
Speaker 2: really bought into it, which which is the thing. And
11:15
Speaker 2: you know, one thing I realized, and I've talked to
11:17
Speaker 2: Builder Trend a lot because they deal with a lot
11:19
Speaker 2: of contractors, they say it's own. The software is only
11:22
Speaker 2: as good as you make it, right, yep, yep. You know,
11:25
Speaker 2: for any new owner, i'd number one, find out a
11:28
Speaker 2: great system that works for you. Number two, you got
11:31
Speaker 2: to buy in, and you gotta have everybody buy in.
11:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well that that that leads to kind of this
11:36
Speaker 1: next part of the conversation of like, okay, so you know,
11:41
Speaker 1: is that continued leadership and team development on top of
11:44
Speaker 1: the system you know you're working with. You know, we
11:46
Speaker 1: talked a little bit about those, but like different personalities
11:50
Speaker 1: and then you know, and you're adding new people into
11:52
Speaker 1: different parts of the business, I'm sure over time, and
11:56
Speaker 1: so how do you create So training is one of
11:59
Speaker 1: them on the system, but how do you create that
12:02
Speaker 1: cohesive high performance team everybody kind of working together on
12:05
Speaker 1: the mission. We've got lots going on, you know, and
12:08
Speaker 1: and so that people aren't you know, you know, you know,
12:12
Speaker 1: cre creating more maybe drama or challenges than there needs
12:15
Speaker 1: to be. How do we reduce that and really create
12:18
Speaker 1: a positive environment with your team?
12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. So I you know, with construction, we
12:23
Speaker 2: do use a lot of subs. So these are individual
12:25
Speaker 2: business owners, right that were hiring out as a subcontractor,
12:28
Speaker 2: so they don't they don't owe me anything, and you know,
12:32
Speaker 2: vice versa red I can use any other sub But
12:35
Speaker 2: as I tell all my subs, I see this as
12:37
Speaker 2: a team, right. And just the other day it's like,
12:40
Speaker 2: you know, I told some guy because I didn't want
12:43
Speaker 2: to go back and forth with a bunch of subs.
12:44
Speaker 2: I've used him a couple of times, and I'm like, look,
12:46
Speaker 2: I don't want to go bid it out with a
12:47
Speaker 2: bunch of people. I trust you, I like you. Here's
12:49
Speaker 2: our budget. Can you do for our budget? And it
12:51
Speaker 2: was kint and dry, there was no drama. I didn't
12:53
Speaker 2: have to bid it out, and it was a little
12:55
Speaker 2: higher than what we wanted to pay. But I said, hey,
12:57
Speaker 2: look that's cool. Let's go ahead and do this. Maybe
13:00
Speaker 2: on the next one you can help me out. So
13:02
Speaker 2: I think it's just having the open line of communication
13:05
Speaker 2: and not seeing this sub or worker is just you know,
13:08
Speaker 2: getting one job done. I'm looking for guys that we
13:12
Speaker 2: can grow with. I really don't care if I spend
13:14
Speaker 2: more money. You know, money is not really the bottom
13:18
Speaker 2: line for me. I think it's more of can this
13:20
Speaker 2: person do the job? Do they have an insurance. Am
13:22
Speaker 2: I going to come back and have to do work
13:24
Speaker 2: especially for me because it's my license. So for me,
13:28
Speaker 2: I've built relationships a lot of my guys that work
13:31
Speaker 2: for me. They've had long term relationships with some of
13:33
Speaker 2: these guys, and really it's just creating that cohesive team
13:37
Speaker 2: with the same vision. And you know, I always like
13:40
Speaker 2: people that I like to be around, you know, yea guys,
13:44
Speaker 2: But there's some people I'm like, hey, I just you know,
13:46
Speaker 2: we don't work well together. And in fact, that goes
13:48
Speaker 2: the same way for potential clients. And luckily we're in
13:53
Speaker 2: a spot right now where we can kind of turn
13:55
Speaker 2: jobs down. Just the other day, make a long story short,
13:59
Speaker 2: I had to respect turn it turn a job down
14:01
Speaker 2: just because I saw some signs and I knew that
14:03
Speaker 2: it probably wouldn't be the best working relationship. And I
14:06
Speaker 2: very respectfully said, hey, man, you know, no worries. I
14:08
Speaker 2: just think you'd be better off, like, you know, if
14:11
Speaker 2: you maybe found someone else for the job. And it
14:13
Speaker 2: was totally fine. But I think that's a powerful thing
14:16
Speaker 2: as well, because my job, you know, you're you're in
14:18
Speaker 2: a year plus relationship. Yeah, and if that goes south
14:22
Speaker 2: from the beginning and you end up with someone that's
14:24
Speaker 2: just arguing the whole way, it could really take up
14:26
Speaker 2: all your time. So that's really important as walking away
14:30
Speaker 2: from the right people, whether it's a sub or an
14:33
Speaker 2: employee or you know, a potential client.
14:36
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah, you brought up some really good points there.
14:40
Speaker 1: I work with companies that both have subcontractors and employees
14:46
Speaker 1: and they're they're just they're they're really at the bottom
14:49
Speaker 1: at the at the end of the day, there's still
14:51
Speaker 1: all relationships. What I hear you say, Cameron, you're developing relationships.
14:54
Speaker 1: You want to work with those people that you know,
14:56
Speaker 1: you like, that you trust, right, and so it's it's
14:59
Speaker 1: how do you manage to them? How do you take
15:01
Speaker 1: care of them? And I think you're what I heard
15:02
Speaker 1: you say, Cameron has come from this long term perspective.
15:05
Speaker 1: This isn't a one time transactional experience. But we wanted
15:08
Speaker 1: to work together over but well we'll go further together
15:12
Speaker 1: if we can, you know, look at it that way
15:14
Speaker 1: and not make it a one off, you know, trying
15:17
Speaker 1: to maximize your dollars on the one you know project right,
15:21
Speaker 1: you're looking at this, uh, and that's sounds to me,
15:24
Speaker 1: like that's helped you grow and to build a group
15:28
Speaker 1: of contractors in this case that you can rely on
15:32
Speaker 1: and and and they'll maybe prioritize your work over potentially
15:36
Speaker 1: somebody else because they know the relationship they have with
15:38
Speaker 1: you exactly.
15:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we can count on them. And it's funny.
15:42
Speaker 2: We've actually had a couple of clients in the last
15:44
Speaker 2: so i'd say two years who went with some other
15:47
Speaker 2: contractors maybe went the cheaper route, right, and that being
15:51
Speaker 2: a huge, huge deal for them, and we had to
15:53
Speaker 2: go fix some stuff. So also on the client side, right,
15:57
Speaker 2: because these are big multi family investors, a bunch of pperties.
16:01
Speaker 2: You know, it's true for a client too to look
16:04
Speaker 2: at me and say, hey, I trust this guy. You know,
16:06
Speaker 2: he might be a little bit more than other bids,
16:08
Speaker 2: but hey, do I really want to take that risk?
16:12
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean it's I think to me, you know,
16:16
Speaker 1: as looking at that, like your clients like said, putting
16:19
Speaker 1: him in the place of like, look, I've got the team,
16:21
Speaker 1: I've got the systems in place, the people that you
16:23
Speaker 1: can rely on. Unfortunately, I've heard some horror stories or
16:26
Speaker 1: I've seen some horror stories, particularly here in California with
16:28
Speaker 1: a lot of people that have ADUs that are darkly built,
16:31
Speaker 1: never finished. Contractors are gone, nobody communication. It's it and
16:36
Speaker 1: fortunately looks bad for the industry, you know. And like
16:39
Speaker 1: you said, people like didn't really that a little bit
16:43
Speaker 1: more the team that they could be working with, ye.
16:47
Speaker 2: You know, and yeah that's fun. Yeah, it's interesting you
16:49
Speaker 2: said that there was two companies last year, one of
16:52
Speaker 2: them I forgot the names, but one of them Northern California.
16:55
Speaker 2: They sowed over one hundred and fifty million dollars from
16:57
Speaker 2: from homeowners.
16:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean people put all their savings into these.
17:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is horrible. I could imagine that.
17:06
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah. So yeah, so I mean you've got you know,
17:12
Speaker 1: you've you're dealing with the homeowners and investors as clients here,
17:17
Speaker 1: and yeah, talk a little bit more. Is there any
17:19
Speaker 1: other challenges like you should you know, as a business owner,
17:22
Speaker 1: you should be considering when you're mentioned about one potential
17:25
Speaker 1: like red flag maybe with a potential client, but as
17:28
Speaker 1: a business owner looking at that because sometimes people are driven,
17:32
Speaker 1: like because I just got to make that sale. And
17:35
Speaker 1: sometimes when you're in a sales mentality just sales sales.
17:37
Speaker 1: But then you're realizing what comes with that sale, you know.
17:41
Speaker 1: So can you speak a little bit more about again,
17:43
Speaker 1: how you've been able to bring on kind of about
17:45
Speaker 1: your ideal clients, those people you really like helping and
17:48
Speaker 1: kind of move those folks that you know I'm not
17:50
Speaker 1: the best fit for you, sure homeowner.
17:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so you know, like I mentioned, I was
17:57
Speaker 2: actually my one of my first jobs was selling solar
17:59
Speaker 2: to Solar which is now Tesla Solar. They got a
18:02
Speaker 2: bunch of money. It was a big corporate structure as
18:04
Speaker 2: far as the sales goes. So I took all my
18:06
Speaker 2: sales I guess training from them, which was pretty good.
18:11
Speaker 2: So I I do kind of a very similar process.
18:14
Speaker 2: Number one. I start with a phone call. I have
18:17
Speaker 2: about fifteen lists of questions. I'll pull up the property
18:20
Speaker 2: on them on the Google map, you know, figure out
18:23
Speaker 2: their why, which I think is huge no matter what business,
18:26
Speaker 2: what is their reason for purchasing or product or surface. Yeah,
18:30
Speaker 2: and then for us, number two is budget right because
18:32
Speaker 2: you know, I talk to people all the time. It's like, Hey,
18:34
Speaker 2: I want a twelve hundred square foot aid U two
18:36
Speaker 2: story and it's like that's great, I'd love to build
18:39
Speaker 2: it for you, but what is the budget right? One
18:41
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty K It's impossible. So those are the
18:45
Speaker 2: main two points. Other than that, I'm getting some other
18:47
Speaker 2: discovery information. Now, you know, I've been doing sales such
18:51
Speaker 2: a long time, I can kind of gauge on that
18:53
Speaker 2: call whether they'd be a good fit or not, just
18:56
Speaker 2: kind of by the way they react. And not everyone
18:59
Speaker 2: has a capability to do that, and trust me, there's
19:01
Speaker 2: a few that have slid by. But yeah, but you know,
19:06
Speaker 2: the bottom line is I do a very thorough initial
19:08
Speaker 2: phone call. From that point, we actually the next step
19:12
Speaker 2: would be doing a side inspection. We actually charge for
19:15
Speaker 2: the side inspection, so when we do that, it's not
19:18
Speaker 2: just a proposal. We actually give a visual aid inspection report,
19:22
Speaker 2: very similar like a home inspection. We also include a
19:25
Speaker 2: plot map with a preliminary design on a satellite picture,
19:28
Speaker 2: so we're giving them a lot of value. What that does, though,
19:32
Speaker 2: really weeds out the people who are serious or not,
19:35
Speaker 2: because if they're gonna pay three hundred dollars for us
19:37
Speaker 2: to come out and do that inspection, you know they're
19:40
Speaker 2: ready to go and they're dead serious, right, and we
19:43
Speaker 2: do credit that back if they move forward with us,
19:45
Speaker 2: but it's just like, hey, put some skin in the
19:47
Speaker 2: game if you're really serious about this. And I think
19:50
Speaker 2: that really kind of weeds a lot of people out.
19:52
Speaker 2: And then, you know, the third line of defense is
19:54
Speaker 2: if I'm at the house and that this is what
19:57
Speaker 2: happened the other day, I just didn't feel like this
19:59
Speaker 2: meeting was going to great. The guy was arguing about
20:01
Speaker 2: the three hundred dollars, which I already told him about,
20:03
Speaker 2: and I'm like, hey, look, I just told my Hey,
20:05
Speaker 2: don't worry about the three hundred. Here's the inspection report.
20:08
Speaker 2: But I just, you know, regretfully, regretfully think that we'd
20:11
Speaker 2: you know, be better off just not working with each other.
20:14
Speaker 2: So more of like you know, three lines of defenses.
20:17
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, by then, I've probably talked
20:21
Speaker 2: to them over a few hours and really kind of
20:24
Speaker 2: understand this person. And so I think that way that
20:28
Speaker 2: we the way we do it, we really do a
20:30
Speaker 2: lot of discovery and figure out the person both over
20:33
Speaker 2: the phone and in person, and like I said, if
20:35
Speaker 2: in person, if they get to the third stage, I
20:37
Speaker 2: figure out, hey, I just don't think it's a good fit.
20:39
Speaker 2: That's okay, you know, they're not forced to work with me,
20:42
Speaker 2: I'm not forced to work with them as well.
20:44
Speaker 1: Such such good, such good advice, Dereic Cameron to kind
20:47
Speaker 1: of consider, you know, I like those kind of line
20:51
Speaker 1: of defenses to think about those things. Because kind of
20:53
Speaker 1: a follow up question I had here for you was like,
20:56
Speaker 1: how do you balance what you're doing at this high
20:59
Speaker 1: level kind of a business strategy for the company and
21:02
Speaker 1: then just on the ground construction work. I mean, this
21:05
Speaker 1: has got to be challenging for you. So I'm like,
21:06
Speaker 1: you've been building it, it's been working, but just kind
21:09
Speaker 1: of staying in that place of I'm looking at this
21:11
Speaker 1: overall strategy you talked about at the beginning of the
21:14
Speaker 1: podcast with on the ground, you know, work that needs
21:17
Speaker 1: to get done, But how do you find that? How
21:19
Speaker 1: do you find that balance? Yeah?
21:22
Speaker 2: So I delegate, right, So I don't even I mean
21:25
Speaker 2: I go to the construction sites obviously, but I have
21:28
Speaker 2: a designated superintendent and project manager that handles certain areas.
21:33
Speaker 2: So that way kind of like we talked about earlier.
21:36
Speaker 2: So your best when you have your guys specializing in
21:39
Speaker 2: whatever they do or grows whatever they do. Right, So
21:42
Speaker 2: if I have one person who's a superintendent they're going
21:44
Speaker 2: to be at the site inspections all the time. Which
21:47
Speaker 2: funny I mentioned you today one of our guys is out,
21:49
Speaker 2: which is where I have to go. Yeah. Usually usually
21:52
Speaker 2: the guys available, they're there. And like I said, I
21:56
Speaker 2: do it by area. So we have about three different
22:00
Speaker 2: project managers with different crews, all the same crews that
22:03
Speaker 2: we use, but those are different areas where they schedule.
22:05
Speaker 2: So we get a job, you know, Long Beach lake Wood,
22:08
Speaker 2: we have a crew there. If we do a job
22:10
Speaker 2: in like Orange County, South Orange County, we have another
22:13
Speaker 2: crew do that same thing for a little bit more
22:15
Speaker 2: as far as Inland Dela. But they're as I've worked with,
22:19
Speaker 2: you know, a long time, all trustworthy people. And again
22:22
Speaker 2: it's the same sub same people we're using.
22:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you built those relationships, You've nurtured those relationships.
22:28
Speaker 1: People want to stay and work with you. I think
22:30
Speaker 1: that's super important, Cameron. I know we're getting close to
22:33
Speaker 1: the end of the episode of the podcast, so you
22:35
Speaker 1: know what you mentioned briefly, but I want to give
22:37
Speaker 1: you an opportunity. What does it look like? What's kind
22:40
Speaker 1: of the future of a ADU development in California and
22:43
Speaker 1: beyond as you're kind of looking forward, you know, and yeah,
22:47
Speaker 1: what's your take in the coming years here.
22:49
Speaker 2: So a couple of things. I just think the industry
22:52
Speaker 2: in general. I was just at the Builder Convention in Vegas,
22:54
Speaker 2: and it's the biggest in the world, and you know,
22:57
Speaker 2: I like going to those things to figure out number
23:00
Speaker 2: one of the new products, right, fire resistant stuff was big.
23:04
Speaker 2: Modular stuff is also big. I think the future of
23:06
Speaker 2: building is going to be different types of modular structures
23:10
Speaker 2: that you can connect or put together. I think we're
23:13
Speaker 2: you know, we still have some great products there, but
23:15
Speaker 2: I just think it's going to get more advanced, more advanced,
23:18
Speaker 2: and the cost is going to drive down, and I
23:20
Speaker 2: think we're gonna see a lot more modular stuff. As
23:23
Speaker 2: far as adu's one thing and one trend I've been seeing.
23:28
Speaker 2: You know, it's very big in California. I know you're
23:31
Speaker 2: in California. It's big in Washington, it's big in Oregon,
23:35
Speaker 2: it's big in Texas. You're starting to see every major city,
23:39
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter if it's a you know, very little
23:41
Speaker 2: populated state, like for example, I went to college in Nebraska,
23:45
Speaker 2: even in Lincoln, Nebraska and Omaha, Nebraska, there are starting
23:49
Speaker 2: to implement ad rules and no matter where you're at
23:52
Speaker 2: is it's if it's a downtown or a city, you're
23:55
Speaker 2: gonna have density problems. And really the only way to
23:59
Speaker 2: provide more housing without you know, rezoning and tearing stuff
24:02
Speaker 2: down is building a to us either in the backyard
24:05
Speaker 2: or out of garages. So the trend just continues to roll.
24:10
Speaker 2: I think, you know, California or Oregon, Washington, Texas are
24:13
Speaker 2: on top of it as far as the regulation goes.
24:16
Speaker 2: But I just think, you know, you're gonna see all
24:18
Speaker 2: this stuff pretty much streamlined throughout every major city in California,
24:23
Speaker 2: and for us just to not take too much time
24:26
Speaker 2: what I find really rewarding of it. You know, I'm
24:28
Speaker 2: from California, so I take pride in helping and building
24:31
Speaker 2: you know, housing for the state. One thing. I also
24:35
Speaker 2: like it because we do investors and homeowners. As far
24:37
Speaker 2: as buildouts, I think I would say about eighty percent
24:42
Speaker 2: of the homeowner ones that we do for single family homes,
24:45
Speaker 2: that is all family members. So rewarding for me to
24:50
Speaker 2: have a grandma move back or a young adult because
24:53
Speaker 2: I mean even right now, I mean if you're to
24:55
Speaker 2: go buy a single family home just to see how
24:57
Speaker 2: ridiculous it is. It's it's pretty pricey. Probably the best
25:01
Speaker 2: part for me is just find it rewarding to move
25:03
Speaker 2: families together.
25:04
Speaker 1: Man, you've covered a lot just in a short period
25:06
Speaker 1: of time here, Cameron, because I think you know talking
25:08
Speaker 1: about we have to adjust. There's innovations that are coming.
25:11
Speaker 1: Like you said, that's any business. You don't you've got
25:15
Speaker 1: to if you only stick with the old ways and
25:17
Speaker 1: you don't see the new things, like you said, going,
25:19
Speaker 1: you're gonna become irrelevant. You're like if you're just like, well,
25:21
Speaker 1: we'll always build them this way, it's like there's module
25:23
Speaker 1: there's new things coming in. There's new ways of like
25:26
Speaker 1: you talked about using systems, uh to document your what
25:30
Speaker 1: the work you're doing. And still at the end of
25:34
Speaker 1: the day, we still have people. You know, we're using
25:35
Speaker 1: computer systems, but it's it's your subcontractors, that's your employees,
25:38
Speaker 1: just your team that allows you to actually scale the business.
25:42
Speaker 1: And so what I've heard you say what a key
25:44
Speaker 1: takeaways is you've taken things that you've learned and then
25:46
Speaker 1: you've brought in other insights from you know, conferences from
25:51
Speaker 1: you know, from your building software and others, and you're
25:57
Speaker 1: infusing all those together to grow your company. Yep, yeah,
26:06
Speaker 1: I mean this is this is this is really cool
26:08
Speaker 1: to hear, Camen. I hope everyone that's listening to this
26:10
Speaker 1: understands that. And if you're looking for somebody like Cameron
26:14
Speaker 1: that can help you in this case with ad US,
26:18
Speaker 1: it's a type of project that needs help and you're
26:20
Speaker 1: somebody like who do I talk to? How do I
26:22
Speaker 1: know that he's been able to do this successfully? You
26:24
Speaker 1: just have heard him walk you through how to do
26:27
Speaker 1: that as a as a business owner, apply these principles
26:31
Speaker 1: so that you can actually grow your business in a
26:33
Speaker 1: similar fashion. Cameron. I'm going to put your contact information
26:38
Speaker 1: in the show notes, but just real quickly, how is
26:39
Speaker 1: the best How's the best way for folks to follow
26:41
Speaker 1: up with you? They've got questions I need to use?
26:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think Instagram is the best. I have
26:47
Speaker 2: access to the ADU West Coast Instagram account, so you
26:50
Speaker 2: guys will follow us there, feel free and I'll be
26:53
Speaker 2: able to get a contact with you. And then also
26:56
Speaker 2: you have my punt my cell phone David.
26:59
Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, all that. We'll put all that in there. Cameron.
27:04
Speaker 1: Thank you, so much for being here. It's been great having.
27:07
Speaker 2: You well, I appreciate it. We'll be in touch to you, okay.
27:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks everybody. Appreciate you guys all joining us on
27:12
Speaker 1: the Business round Table podcast. Until next time, take care everybody,
27:15
Speaker 1: thanks for listening.