Over the last few weeks, I’ve stumbled onto a product line I wasn’t originally planning to build around: pergolas. What caught my attention wasn’t the product itself. It was the economics. I can purchase a finished system from an established manufacturer, sell it with a meaningful margin, and deliver something that is relatively straightforward to
This morning I did something incredibly boring. I connected my personal Amazon Prime membership to a new Amazon Business account. That’s it. Not exactly the kind of announcement that gets people excited about entrepreneurship. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this small decision represents something much bigger I’m trying to
Yesterday, a gentleman called CLB Builds and asked to speak with me. Once the call was transferred, he got directly to the point: “How do I get added to your vendor list?” It was a good question, and if I’m being honest, I didn’t have a good answer. I do have vendors — subcontractors, suppliers,
Yesterday, I came close to firing a subcontractor. They had made a commitment to me on Friday, missed the deadline, and then failed to communicate that the work had not been completed or explain why. Missing a deadline creates a problem. Missing it without saying anything creates a much larger one because it removes my
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a general contractor is that customers don’t distinguish between your employees, your subcontractors, your suppliers, or your vendors. To them, they’re all your company. That lesson came into sharp focus recently when I got a call from one of our customers. A neighboring tenant in the shopping
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is, ‘Slow down, we’re in a hurry.’ It sounds backwards until you experience the cost of rushing. On our Covington project, trying to save a little time on a permit ended up costing us nearly a week. That experience reminded me that speed isn’t about
As I write this, I’m putting the finishing touches on a construction budget for a project that will take roughly three months to complete and carries a price tag of about $1.2 million. No matter how many estimates I’ve prepared over the years, there’s always a moment before I hit “send” where I slow down
One of the biggest lessons from our Covington project had nothing to do with construction. It had to do with timing. As we approached the finish line, the owners decided to make several upgrades to the project. We added higher-end finishes, bullet-resistant glass, and a few other improvements. One of those changes included installing a
A subcontractor recently left a Google review for CLB Builds that meant more to me than a normal review. It came from ASG Dirtworx, owned by Cujo, a contractor with more than 30 years in the trades. He has worked with good contractors, bad contractors, organized contractors, chaotic contractors, fair contractors, and contractors who make
Every commercial project starts with the same two promises: on time and on budget. Clients hear them on every bid. The difference between the teams that deliver and the teams that make excuses usually has very little to do with luck, and almost everything to do with the work that happens before the first wall
