Speaker 1 (00:00): Here we go again General Contractors Baton Rouge… stand by!
All right. This is the K-Cup episode 13, if you can believe it. You got any problems with calling it episode, episode 13? You ain’t in all that weird, worried about the number of stuff, right? No. Okay. Good. Me neither.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Episode 13. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna call it
Speaker 1 (00:16):
The number 13 too, so <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah. I mean, I probably wouldn’t be in favor of episode 6, 6, 6, but <laugh>, you know, I’m okay with, I’m not gonna get too outta line with all this. The
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Mark of the episode, <laugh>, the mark of the YouTube
Speaker 2 (00:30):
<Laugh>,
Speaker 1 (00:32):
The dark mark of the YouTube. All right, so here we go. We’re gonna talk all, we’re gonna go for episode 13 of the K-Cup. Take one. Action. Hey, welcome back to the K-Cup, episode 13 coming at you. And today we’re here again with John Kelly, the CEO, and founder of the Kelly Construct. I screwed up
Speaker 2 (01:03): You didn’t screw up any worse than General Contractors Baton Rouge lol.
The Kelly
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Construction. He hates it when I say the, so we’re gonna start over. <Laugh>. Okay, here we go. So, episode 13 of the K-Cup, take two. Action. Welcome back to the K-Cup. This is Joe nor Tripp, your host. And I am here with founder and CEO John Kelly. And this week we’re gonna be discussing the challenges and the requirements of becoming a general contractor in the commercial construction space. Today we’re gonna talk about four specific areas. Of course, we could talk about this for hours and hours, ’cause it’s a lot. But he’s gonna touch on, you know, four key areas that he thought would be great to share with y’all. He’s gonna be talking about licensing and requirements for that managing liability and risk, because we know this is an industry that, that has a lot of risk associated with it. And kind of in that same vein, but point number three is going to talk about insurance a little bit, and he is gonna drill in specifically on what we call bonding for a project.
Speaker 1 (02:09): Let’s get into this a little deeper General Contractors Baton Rouge.
And then we’re gonna wrap that up with, you know, once you overcome these opportunities, or, I mean, these <laugh>, these requirements, but we screwed that up, didn’t I? <Laugh>, once you, once you overcome all these challenges you know, and meet these requirements to become a general contractor, then how do you go about, you know, realizing some opportunities for all that effort. So let’s go ahead and get started. John, what do you say? Let’s do it. How we doing, man? 13. Woo. Good. Good. All right. I’m excited. This this thing just keeps rolling on, so we just, we’re gonna roll with it. Definitely. So, talking about challenges and requirements of becoming a general contractor, that first point, licensing and and requirements around licensing. That part just to me as a outsider, you know, not a licensed general contractor, you know, know on outside looking in, that seems like that could be daunting a little bit. So tell us about, you know, your experience with that and then what, you know, a person would be faced with today wanting to, you know, cross that great divide and become a general contractor(s) Baton Rouge. <laugh>, right?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah. So I mean, just thinking about, you know, one, the title of the show, we were kind of calling it Obstacles requirements challenges. Yeah. I think you know, I think we kind of ended up on this title based on, you know, the audience that we’re talking to. There’s, there’s gonna be different perspective, and I think that just, you know, hearing it called a requirement or a challenge is, is, is gonna really kind of point to which audience that we’re talking to. Yeah. Obviously, you know, thinking about, you know, licensing, licensing and the legal aspects of it in the sense of becoming a general contractor, that’s when it becomes a challenge or, or an obstacle, if you will. And generally speaking, you know, as I talk about it now, it don’t seem like it’s that big a deal, but yeah, I remember early on starting 17, 18 years ago, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That, going through that whole, let me go get license, let me go do all the testing. You know, there’s certain financial requirements that have to be met in order to even, you know, to be able to be considered for a test. Mm. You have to have, you know, specific insurance requirements met that a lot of things that when you’re young and you’re just getting started, seem like, you know, very difficult things to, to kind of pull together. Yeah. so that is quite an obstacle and it can take some time. I mean, typically you would, you know, you would need to be working with an accountant which the first time I ever approached an accountant about this, they literally sent me home like, look like you got a lot of work to do with before. We ain’t
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Got nothing to do with account here, <laugh>.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, that’s right. Like, you got a lot of, you got like a lot, you have to go really build your financial stability. You gotta go do a lot of things before you can actually sit be, you know, before this license or sit to get a license. Yeah. so it actually was a little discouraging at the time, but it also lit a fire. Like, you know what? I don’t think it’s gonna be near as long as you’re thinking <laugh>. So anyway, that, that would be like some of the challenges, you know, get your accounting in place, then you gotta find some time to prepare for these tests. You know, hopefully you in the field and you have a general understanding of, of how construction works. But there is some time and prep that goes into preparing for tests and then scheduling testing, and then there’s a waiting period, which, which now this is a lot faster turnaround than it was 17 years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:34): Stay tuned now General Contractors Baton Rouge this information is for you!
I mean, you can take a test and get a license a lot quicker in today’s world. Yeah. so, you know, as far as somebody looking to become a contractor or, or a young guy wanting to start a company, this would be some of the obstacles or the challenges that you may face. But now looking at it from a different perspective, you know, from, you know, maybe one of our watchers that are watchers, really <laugh> maybe one of our viewers. Yeah. that’s looking to hire a contractor. You know, this would actually be a, this would be a requirement that you would want, you wanna make sure that you find somebody that has done the due diligence that is licensed correctly, that, that is insured correctly, that has been through this. And then obviously you do want somebody with financial stability. Yeah. So
Speaker 1 (06:24):
How do they verify that someone has a license? Just real quick.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah. So it’s pretty easy to do. I mean, like in Louisiana, we, you know, state Board of contractors has a website you can pop on there real quick. You can search for whatever company you you’re working with. It clearly shows you what, what areas they’re licensed in. Gotcha. And, and that’s another thing too is like, as that client, you, you wanna make sure that they do carry the correct license because there, there’s different types of license that you have. Someone might, might sell their self as a licensed contractor, and they, they may be, but they just may not be a licensed builder or a licensed, you know what I mean? Yeah. So all that information can be, can be profound on, on, on the board of contractors. Okay. So that’d be the easiest way. So I think that, you know, number one, that’s, that’s the two areas that, that becomes an obstacle or requirement right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (07:12): Listen to these points about risk management General Contractors Baton Rouge.
And then, you know, moving into the I believe managing risk was, was the second one that you mentioned. And I mean, managing risk to me largely comes down to, to the insurance portion of it. So the state automatically says, look, just in order to do any kinda construction work, you have to have this bare minimum insurance. Yeah. So, you know, as a guy looking to get into the business, that that’s not oftentimes that hard of a requirement to make. I mean, you, you need to have a little bit of money to go get some insurance, but if you’re, if you’re, you know, looking at starting a construction business, I’m assuming that you have some money and you’ve
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Be gearing up for
Speaker 2 (07:52):
That. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. So, so it’s not a, not a really big obstacle but, but certainly a requirement, but where it becomes more of an obstacle and more of a requirement as, as your company grows and as you’re look into move into bigger projects or, you know, maybe you’re moving into, you know, the industrial world or some other big companies, you know, the interim requirements can, can really be raised and, and really get to a, a part you know, a a position where now they’re not just looking for just minimum general liability, but they’re wanting, you know, general liability. They want umbrella policies, they want all these different things for job specific policies like builders risk and that kind of thing. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. All those things can become a challenge because it just gets more and more expensive.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah. So, back, can I back you up for just one second? Yeah, absolutely. So, so when you were just talking about if someone’s looking to hire a general contractor, you said that they could go on the, the, what is it, the board of contractors? Yeah. The Louisiana State Board of Contractors and verify that their license is, is, does that also verify that they’re insured? Like, could someone have a license and potentially not be insured or not be carrying the right insurance at the same time?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I mean, I, I guess there’s, there’s, there’s a chance that, you know, there could be a lapse in coverage or whatever. Maybe the board of contractors don’t know that mm-hmm <affirmative>. But as soon as they get information as soon as they get wind of that information, I’m sure that they’re going to flag that account and, and do whatever. Yeah. You know, again, technology’s way better now than it was when we first started. Yeah. I mean, I could see when I first started that had insurance lap, the board of contractors probably wouldn’t have been notified for a long time. And there could have certainly been a chance where somebody could have hired us based off of seeing us on the website and thinking that we’d meet all the boxes. Yeah. And we not, I I would assume now that there’s probably a check and balance that’s probably tighter than what it was then. Yeah. Just with, I’m sure that as soon as insurances lapsed, probably the board of contractors is notified by insurance company. Yeah. Not positive on that. I really don’t know. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
But could be automated.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But either way, I mean, you know, from, from that perspective, if an owner’s looking to hire a contractor Yeah. Once they verify that they are licensed, they’re gonna wanna do a little more due diligence, they’re one gonna ask for that certificate of insurance. Yeah. And, and then they could actually verify with the carrier or the insurance company that they still do indeed have that. There you go. That contractor covered.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah. So that’s the process.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah. So that, that would really be the correct process without having to make too many assumptions or any assumptions, I
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Guess. Gotcha. Yeah. So, so getting back to the, to the insurance thing and managing risk and everything you had mentioned in the list of different types of policies, they may want you to have you, I think you sort of mentioned bonding. So could you kind of explain like when bonding is needed and what that really entails? Like how, how does the amount of bond relate to the project? Things like that. Just the basic nuts and bolts. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So, so, so bonding is, is, is just like the other things. It, it can be you know, a challenge or an obstacle, but then for the owner, it can actually be a requirement and a tool that, that makes them feel comfortable with the situation. Yeah. And bonding is you know, bonding is, is similar to insurance than the fact that it you know, for the owner, it gives them protection. If the builder isn’t paying their bills or if they’re not doing things according to contract, then they’ve required the builder to provide them with a bond, which says there’s another company out here that’s backing the builder up that says, look, we have confidence that our builder’s gonna do this, this, and this, but if he’s not, we’ll back him up. Yeah. Now, obviously the challenge for the owner in that aspect is it comes with a cost.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah. And, and, you know, typically bonds aren’t that cheap. But you really see ’em used often in large projects where there’s a lot of money, you know, to, to be put out at risk <laugh>. And, and those bonds are expensive, but when you’re talking about a ton of money, it just really puts ’em in a lot comfortable spot, a lot more comfortable spot. I mean, a lot of times you’ll see banks require this type stuff, or Yeah. You know, organizations that do a lot of development, they’ll have their own in-house requirements and they’ll require these kind of bonds. Yeah. But where that gets where that gets difficult for, you know, a builder, specifically a newer builder without a big history of, of a lot of big projects mm-hmm <affirmative>. Or without a big financial history. Yeah. Then they’re only gonna give you so much room to work Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Before you have to go prove yourself and go show that, hey, we can do this and we’re gonna be financially sound or whatever. Yeah. And so that’s the obstacle one, just getting the initial bond, because much, like, much like the the accountant early on, I was, I was pretty much laughed out of a bonding office too, the first time I ever went to talk to a bonding guy. <Laugh> you know, in the private world, there’s not, there’s, I don’t wanna say there’s not that much the, the private world, there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to bonding, but in the public world, bonds are like al almost always required. Mm. So if you’re looking to get into that public world and you have to be bonded right off, and Yeah. That’s kind of what, that’s kind of the avenue that we took.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah. We, we kind of started off, well, we started off doing private work, but then we moved to the, to the, to the public side, just based on the fact that I could see there was a lot of work on the public side. Yeah. So once I went for that initial bond, I, I really understood and started to realize what it took to, to be bonded. Yeah. much at my expense <laugh> to to, you know, but there was a challenge there because I, I couldn’t meet the need to, to be bonded. Yeah. so it took a number of years to be able to work through that process to get it figured out. But at that point, obviously a bond was an obstacle for me. Yeah. But for the owner in, in this case, most public entities, it was an insurance policy essentially. Yeah. It, it, it made them, they were allowed to, to, to move forward based on a company that maybe they didn’t know or didn’t have any experience, but somebody was saying, look, we’ll bind ’em, we’ll do this. Yeah. So it opened up doors for me in that sense. So it’s an obstacle to hear it’s a requirement for them.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It’s an interesting point because we’ve, we’ve talked in other episodes about, you know, we’ve gone over like, bid days, different types of contracts, and of course, both of those episodes brought up the subject of public work. And, you know, we talked about public work having its, its benefits. One is that there’s a lot of it generally speaking. Yeah. At least in this area, there seems to be. So that provides a new contractor with a lot of opportunity, but, but probably something we didn’t, you know, dial in on or drill in on as much regarding all that opportunity as the need for a bond. Yeah. Like the public sector, like you’re saying, bonds are, are more common than in the private sector. Private sector. So is there a threshold or something, or, or like if with a new general contractor starting out that’s gonna want to do public good, just because of the opportunity level there. Yeah. What kind of threshold do they kind of have to meet to get their foot in the door with, with public work?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well, honestly, it really, it really are you talking about when the bond is required?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Or just like how much, how much like what size of project, for example, could they get on a, on a bond? Yeah. That would be what you would consider reasonable for them to afford to get started. Well, the
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Way it works start now, the way it works is the, the bond is actually dependent upon the job. The bond has to be a certain percentage of the total value of the job. Yeah. Typically 5%. So well, the bid bond is typically 5% of the, of the job performance and payment bond, you have to do it a hundred percent. But the way it works basically, is the bonding company wants to see so many, so many dollars per however much you’re trying to bond in the bank. Hmm. And then they also wanna see a work history showing that, you know, you can, you can actually go perform this work even, even though you’re financially strong and you have plenty of money. Yeah. Where’s the history to show that you can do it? Yeah. So once you kind of meet those two blocks, really the, the avid the doors are open, but what it looks like for most companies, and what it look like for us, is you start off small.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah. You go in and, and you do $200,000 job that requires bonding. Yeah. And you do two or three of those, and you make money on ’em. And, you know, the bonding company has confidence. Okay. They, they can do this. So then you move up to a $1 million job and you do a few of those, you make money, you do whatever. Yeah. The whole time you’re building your cash, you’re building your reputation with the bond company, you’re building your your, you know, your resume, your experience and you just gradually kind of grow. So
Speaker 1 (16:42):
It’s a process of, of several steps.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah. So it’s, it’s just a little bit, it’s a little bit time consuming and like anything, money has a huge part in it. I mean Sure. You know, the stronger you are financially, the, the more money you have in the bank, the more apt they they’re gonna be to, to get to, you know, get on board with you. Yeah. So, okay. And that’s kind of how that, that the bonding part of the words.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Cool. So, so let’s talk about you know, you, you’ve just laid out some of the requirements and, and challenges. And again, you know you, you came at it from both, you know, someone wanting to become a general contractor, their challenges, but also you kind of mentioned how, you know, if someone’s hiring a general contractor, you wanna make sure that that general contractor’s jumped through these hoops and meets all those Right. You know, requirements. But say you’ve done all that, now you’re a general contractor, say you can do some minimal bonding. How do you go about, you know, really getting the reward for all that effort? Where, where are the opportunities coming from and all that?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah. So that’s part of the challenge, right? For the for the, the builder or for the general contractors Yeah. Is like, how do we go find opportunities? How do we go do this stuff? Yeah. and, and obviously, you know, public bid is, is is somewhere you can start because there’s lots of opportunities. They’re posted everywhere. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. There, as long as you meet all the requirements that we’ve been talking about today, you can bid on ’em. Yeah. So that’s one place to start. And that’s, that’s the, that’s an easy or easier path to an obstacle of finding a project. Yeah. You know, however, there, there are tons of companies looking at those opportunities. Yeah. so you’re gonna spend a lot of time bidding to, to, to not reap a lot of rewards in a sense. Yeah. so the obstacle is how do, how do I make that work now?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Like, okay, I got a bunch of opportunities, but how do I go be the cheapest and still be able to make money? Yeah. So one obstacle kind of leads to another obstacle, if you will. Yeah. and, and along that public bid market, I mean, you can find a path, and we have, I mean, we’ve, we’ve been very successful, you know, doing some public bid work for a number of years. But it, it continues to be an obstacle to figure out how to get the job. How do I go, you know, beat these other guys or be more competitive and Yeah. And could still continue to make money. You know, the other, the other part of it is, is how, how do I, how do I find private opportunities? How do I find individuals or companies that are looking to build and approach ’em, but then also if they don’t know who I am, like, how do you build a reputation and be able to be recognized so that when you, that opportunity does come up? Yeah. And, and that’s something that we continue to still work on, obviously day in and day out. Yeah. You’re getting, you’re getting
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Onto something that I was gonna pick your brain about there.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah. So it’s like, I remember early on, you know, I, I was already doing some public work and I wanted to be able to to do some shopping center build outs or an actual shopping center or whatever. Yeah. And so I started approaching you know, commercial real estate agents and other entities, but I really just didn’t have a lot to bring. I didn’t have a big resume. I only had a couple little jobs and Yeah. So it ended up being a real obstacle to kind of move in that direction and get started. Yeah. Un until I, until really, I just basically had five or six years of just kind of public work or, you know, we’ve talked about some of our different avenues. I mean, we do a ton of work at LSU and other places that, that are still public work, but it’s a little different scenario to get the job.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah. So once we had that five or six years of experience and had a few decent jobs, I mean, obviously this other side started to open up a little bit for us, and, and we had built some relationships with Yeah. Architects and different people. Yeah. But but it was a real obstacle to, to, you know, find those opportunities and, and to make good on them or, or find those opportunities that we could make good on and we could convert. And then just like the other, you know, conversations we had early the perspective from, you know, maybe an individual looking to, to hire a contractor, you know, the requirement in this situation, it’s I’m losing my train of thought.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Well, let me help you out. ’cause I, I, I got a burning question I wanted to <laugh> I wanted to ask you. So it’ll give you plenty to talk about. So today we see a, about a real shift in how people are doing business, business, and even in a, a traditional business like this general contracting mm-hmm <affirmative>. It’s been, you know, operating a certain way for a long time. You, you, you know, you, you would say it’s ensconced, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s it know a, a rock, I guess, or a pillar of business in, in the community in a certain way. But we can see how there’s a lot of emphasis on what people and I, and you know, I think this word’s overused, but it, but it still applies a lot of emphasis today on building a brand and building a presence, you know, as a, as a company of any kind.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Mm-Hmm. Really doesn’t really matter what business you’re in. Like when would you recommend a new general contractor who may only be able to tap into that public work initially? How soon do you think they should start developing their own brand? You know, in, in the way that we do it today in the digital economy, we do it through a different media, you know, through different means than, than the traditional way that we used to. You know, it’s, it’s just the way the, the economies are, are, you know, evolving. Yeah. How soon would you say they need to get started on something like that? And really establishing themselves as a force in the, in that industry? In the local market.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah. Before the first job, <laugh>, <laugh>, they need to be working on that needs to be something they’ve been dreaming up and thinking about and working towards before they’ve even started any kinda work. Yeah. but certainly be building that constantly and, and thinking about that as, as much as you’re thinking about the next job and what you’re going to get, be thinking about building that brand and what does that look like, and what’s your message and, you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, that needs to be going really before the company, but for sure, you need to be spending as much time focusing on that is actually productivity and getting the job done and all that. Yeah. It goes hand in hand. And to get those other opportunities, you’re gonna need that. Yeah. because this one opportunity could lead to another job, but this brand and this visibility could lead to a multitude of jobs. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
It’s crazy with the, you know, e there’s, there’s even a lot of CEOs today that do a lot of business on their handheld device. Yeah. You know, so if you’re not, if you don’t have a presence, a digital presence Yeah. That, that can show up on a handheld device Yeah. Or on a, a tablet, you know? Right. You may never even get heard of or found out about. Right.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah. Yeah. So, jumping back, I remember what I was wanting to talk about on that on that last point. We were making sure we were talking about the opportunity standpoint point from, you know, from a, an end user and owner, somebody looking to hire a contractor. Yeah. So this particular person has an opportunity, but how do you find the correct contractor to present that opportunity to? Yes. You know, that’s a
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Good question.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
So
Speaker 1 (24:21):
We just kind of answered it. Yeah. Right. In a way, <laugh>. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Exactly. Yeah. So the, some of the requirements would be all the stuff that we’ve talked about today. You wanna make sure that, that you have people that check those boxes. Yeah. But in the same, in the same breath. You know, you gotta consider the type of project you have and, and what you’re willing to pay on it. And, you know, I think that you can go get a very high, a high end, very experienced contractor built to last type company that does millions and millions and millions. They’re probably not gonna be your best path forward. Yeah. On a small build out. Yeah. Small, but you also don’t want to go find a guy that’s working in the back of this truck that don’t meet any of these other boxes. Yeah. Trying to save some dollars. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
So the one man show, one man band type of deal. So
Speaker 2 (25:14):
For people who are just starting to build and for builders who are new in the industry, but have these requirements mm-hmm <affirmative>. That’s a great time for these guys to connect and be able to kind of grow together, specifically if this person is looking to do multiple offices or multiple developments or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that, you know, for that person with those opportunities, that’s, that’s kind of what you, you weigh this project, like how much experience does the contractor need Yeah. To be able to really go do this job, you know, based on your feeling. Because I mean, if you’re not a contractor, you don’t really know exactly. But I mean, you, you know, how difficult or how easy of a project it should Yeah. Be,
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Even if a contractor’s generally new in the game, and, and of course even a new contractor may have years of experience before they make that move. Yes. You know what I mean? So it doesn’t mean because they’re new to general contracting that they’re new to construction. Right. So what would that contractor have to offer that individual that you’re talking about, that potential client that would put them at ease? What, what what’d you imagine would, would you know, make that seem palatable to them?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah. I mean, I think you just gotta check all the boxes that we talked about today. I think that’s the first thing you do to put everybody’s mind at ease. You show ’em that you were, you show ’em that you meet in all the state and local requirements. Yeah. You know, you show ’em that you can, you can manage or you can protect them from some of the risks, you know, with your insurance requirements. Yeah. But from the, from there, it becomes a personal experience. Yeah. You know, you, you have to you have to click well with that person. Yeah. You have to, you know, you have to, you know, in our case, I wanna show ’em that, that we’re very honest, that we’re we’re gonna be very straightforward. We wanna work together as a team. Yeah. and, and really, I mean, you hate to, you know, you don’t wanna call it selling, but you, you want to, you wanna build that relationship and, and also share your experience and show what you’re capable of through resume. Like, you know, maybe if it’s a dental clinic, maybe look, we’ve done three of these and they’re very successful and Yeah. You know, maybe you, maybe you connect them with a past client that, that you’ve done the work for or something. Yeah. But
Speaker 1 (27:30):
That’s kind of what I was thinking of. If, if, if a contractor is in it for the right reasons and in it for the long haul, they’re not just a fly by night looking to make some quick money and, you know, and, and move on down the road, they’re gonna be willing to spend some time with you. Yeah. And, and really answer all your questions as a potential client you know, put all their cards on the table and and in that, you know, exchange, I think that’s where the real confidence is built. That’s where, you know, like you said, it, it really requires like, you know, relationship building and, and like, if it’s the right kind of client, it could be an opportunity that could help build their business for years to come. Like you were saying, you know, that’s a great time for like maybe a, a beginning investor that may be investing on a small scale, but you know, like you said, it wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t serve them well to go out and get some contractor that’s doing 80 million a year.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Right. You know, ’cause they’re gonna, you’d probably charge ’em way more than what their small project really. Right. You know, should have to spend to get the, the project done. And yet they may be able to, you know, form some sort of you know, relationship with this ceiling contractor, right. Or new contractor mm-hmm <affirmative>. That you know, they would serve ’em both well for years to come. Right. So, but you gotta be thinking like that. You have to have that mindset. Exactly. That’s really the bi that’s the business side of being a builder. Right. You know, you’re just, you’re not just putting on bags and going out and, you know, you know, getting dirty all day. Yeah. This is really a, this is really a business. It’s a, it’s a profession, right. That requires a business acumen to really do it well. Yeah. And you know, you’re actually mostly, maybe in the very beginning, you might be doing some of the work yourself, which I know I’ve heard stories, you know, from when you first started out, you, you really did have to, you know, do perform some of the work yourself to make things work. Right. But but by and large, you’re gonna move past that as soon as possible, and man, go into managing subcontractors and, and, you know, taking on those, right. Those projects and really getting good at managing all that. So,
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, I mean, I think truthfully, you know, once you get through those early hurdles, there’s lots of companies that are, that are qualified that, that check all the, the simple boxes that we’ve talked about today. Yeah. And after that, it just comes down to, to relationships and, and how you can, you know, how you can make somebody feel good about choosing your company.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah. For sure. Cool. All right. I, I think that was pretty good. Pretty good coverage of those four points. I think you kind of looked at ’em from different facets, different angles and hopefully that answers some questions for, if anyone’s watching this that has been considering throwing your hat in the ring, becoming a general contractor. Yes, there are some challenges there. There are some hills to climb, but it’s clearly not undoable because there’s, there’s plenty of competition in that space. So don’t let that you know, overwhelm you. It’s like anything you just, you know, you eat an elephant one bite at a time, so you just, you just move through the steps and gotta have patience. But more pointedly, and you’ve expressed it multiple times when you first started talking about the different challenges that you face. You gotta have determination <laugh>, right? Yeah. So you gotta have that no quit attitude. So yeah,
Speaker 2 (31:00):
That, that goes way beyond just the beginning phases of this business. I mean, much. Yeah. There’s lots of times you have to have a lot of determination.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That’s right. Yeah. The I guess the you know, all the glory comes later, you know, <laugh>, yes. If there is any <laugh>, it comes away later <laugh>. But anyways. All right. Appreciate your insight today, Mr. John. I’m just gonna wrap it up for episode 13. If you have any questions about anything we talk about today, hit us up in the comments. We’d love to get feedback from y’all. And we don’t mind responding to any comments, any questions that you might have. And you know, share the podcast with a friend if you found any value in that. So come back next week and we’ll have another show ready for you. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Let’s go. Let’s do
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It. Let’s go. All right. We’ll see you later. Thanks.