It's Personal: An Entrepreneurs Podcast.
A lot of people like to throw around the phrase "its business, it's not personal". But to any entrepreneur out there whether you're just starting out, or already successful will tell you it is in FACT VERY PERSONAL! Every entrepreneur has a personal story of failures and successes, a story of personal sacrifice, a personal belief system, and a personal definition of success both in business and in life. This podcast will interview and dive into the mind of entrepreneurs and what makes business personal to them! And We talk Real estate!
It's Personal: An Entrepreneurs Podcast.
Journeys in Contracting: Contracting Success
Imagine stepping into the shoes of a seasoned contractor who built everything from scratch, literally and figuratively - that's the story of Michael McKelvie. He paints a vivid picture of his life's journey, from South Georgia to the Florida Panhandle, and how he took a leap into the contracting world. He talks about his journey from a newbie to owning his mentor's business, making every brick signify a piece of his life.
Our journey doesn't just stop here; we also stroll into the world of home building with his son, Andrew Mckelvie. From a chance encounter at a football tailgate to overseeing project management in the Cayman Islands, his tale is certainly personal. He shares the evolution of the home building industry and the staggering rise in home prices. Get ready to be awed by the magnificent portfolio of McKelvie Homes.
This episode is not just about stories; it's also about the practicalities of the contracting and house flipping industry. We dive into the world of managing labor and subcontractors, and how technology has revolutionized communication. We also have a riveting discussion with Mike, a successful founder of a digital marketing agency. He shares his journey, the challenges he overcame, and the lessons he learned along the way. So, buckle up for this thrilling ride through the personal, the professional, and everything in between.
Welcome to the second episode of it's Personal an Entrepreneurs Podcast.
Speaker 1:We know that oftentimes people say that it is not personal it's just business, but we know that's not true here and that every entrepreneur has a personal story of sacrifice, wins, losses, failures, and that's what this podcast is all about. So today, let's get right into it. We got myself, kurt, andrew McKelvie and Mike also known as Crazy Mike back to host, and we have our special guest with us here today, which is our in-house contractor, michael McKelvie of Michael McKelvie Homes, also known as Andrew's father, and we're going to get right into it from there.
Speaker 3:He's known for a lot more than just being my father. I said also known.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think you know. Thanks for being with us, number one, we're really happy to have you here in the office and be on the podcast. I guess I would just really start by saying walk us through a little bit about how you even started doing contracting, your path leading up to that, some other things in your history and just your path to contracting in general and when you started.
Speaker 4:Great. Thank you, kurt, glad to be here. It is a journey Started 20-some odd years ago. I was on a different school education path, different vocational career path and you know you get to the point where you're, you know you believe you're a grown man and make your own decisions. I felt like the previous decision was more of my mother's dream for my life than my dream for my life and I, with that previous dream, I was on a different, you know, path of study and a you know undergraduate degree and even a graduate degree and I kind of stumbled into or well, I stumbled into, I planned my way into contracting Some 20 years ago, me and my family Andrew being president in the room, was a part of this journey.
Speaker 4:We were in Southwest Georgia and I came to a point where I had an opportunity really kind of when you're young and you find your way in. I became a superintendent for a home builder in South Georgia and he was developing a neighborhood similar to what we may do in the future building houses and selling those houses. And, you know, a few years later I had an opportunity to transition to South Florida or, I'm sorry, not South Florida, no, it's Florida, here in the Panhandle went to work for an Atlanta builder managing projects.
Speaker 1:And that was kind of in the watercolor area, correct.
Speaker 4:Yeah, 38,.
Speaker 1:You know, before it was really like a big, a big thing, like it is now.
Speaker 4:Gosh, back in the day we were building phase one, phase one watercolor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's a big town center phase one watercolor.
Speaker 4:I mean, it's a huge conglomerate now.
Speaker 1:When you first got into contracting back like being a superintendent, did you think it was going to be something that you were going to do forever at that point in time? Yes, yeah I did.
Speaker 4:You knew that it was what you wanted to do. You know I had quite a few years with Monty in 38 watercolor area and Monty, you know much like you know at least the other three young men in this room you know you have families and kids. Monty had a very tragic occurrence in his life where his young baby daughter got sick unexpectedly and actually passed away. And Monty and again talking about personal, I mean that's the personal journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Monty's primary business was in Atlanta. He backed out of this area, this area, and he gave me the opportunity. He said, michael, you can have, you can have it, you can take it over. And Monty was a really a great mentor and a visionary and that's why I branded my company with my name, yep, michael McKelvie Holmes.
Speaker 1:And talk about personal yeah, you can hide something a lot of people might not realize is when we were trying to come up with the name for the podcast. This exact story was something that we were talking to you about and passing when you're passing the room, and it kind of helped formulate how we even came up with the name for the podcast, because when you were naming your company, you felt like it was personal and you talked about your name on it, we talked about that, and that was really the precipice for us to even coming up with the name of the podcast.
Speaker 4:So and so when I took over, you know that was the beginning of Michael McKelvie Holmes and you know that's been, you know, a part of my life for a long time. You know, here in the panhandle we had, you know, bp oil spill years ago. You know, in the market, oh nine, crash, crashed and went away.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, no, nine, you know, I mean the timing of that situation. Even with Monty's daughter's situation, like you said, it showed that it was really personal. Even his wife said you know, don't want to be a part of that anymore, so they moved out of Florida. Well, the memories were here, the memories.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's not necessarily the business. Yeah, it wasn't the business side of it.
Speaker 3:It was the personal memories that going back to that neighborhood which led to that opportunity, but it shows that it all ties in. Whether it's the professional side of your life or the personal side of your life. The personal decisions and the things that happen in your personal life definitely have an effect on what you're doing in business. Absolutely. You can try to separate the two, but there is emotional overlap between the two, no matter what.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you try to build something, no matter how it comes about, it becomes kind of like a part of you Both through, like a time commitment and a financial commitment and other parts. So you have to be able to separate the two things in execution. But it's like we were talking about this morning. You have to plan those two things out and they have to coincide in a way at the same time. So it really is a business to me is you know, it is all personal. It's about how you can mesh your life with your professional journey and make it something that's your own, that that allows you to focus on both areas of life.
Speaker 2:I think a key element of that whole story in life in general is opportunities arise out of tragedy and they help define us as a person and really help define our story in business and in life.
Speaker 1:And although I would say in the moment almost impossible to see it the best, it's kind of like you know, the story of the Phoenix, truly like the best things come out of the worst things. And I'll, I'll even like reflect. You know, when Andrew and I were running the franchise restaurant, like that was one of the hardest times of my life, stress wise, even financially. But I can tell you like what I learned through that process about like digital marketing, people management myself, even how to manage risk, what I do want to spend time on, what I don't, I mean I really can't. I couldn't have taken any course or class or degree to figure out those things right. So the hardest things, the worst things, the lowest points, often leads to the greatest pastures, in my opinion, even though it's very hard to see in the moment. Yeah, easier said than done.
Speaker 4:The journeys of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, and it's all intermingled. So getting back to you and Michael McKelvie Holmes, you know, as a contractor, I think we all in this room have a pretty good understanding of what that job looks like and what it entails. But I think sometimes maybe, like the general public or the general populace doesn't know exactly what exactly that entails and they have kind of like a realtor. People don't really know what realtors do day to day. They just think we show up and make a 6% commission, which is far from the truth. But so why don't you kind of talk to us a little bit about for the general, the layman, you will? That doesn't deal with the types of things we deal with. You know, what is it that you do day to day as a contractor and what is it about that that you enjoy?
Speaker 4:Well, the best thing I enjoy about what I do is building for clients, building for homeowners, whether the homeowners are a part of the project at the very beginning. But we're building homes. Sometimes the occupants, the homeowners, you know, come into an existing project, maybe even a finished project, sure, but you know, my vision is always a family and home.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 4:You know, and then you know their life experience that are going to be in the you know homes that that I build you sell. You know we all you know conduct business over it's personal, it's their life as well.
Speaker 1:There's just something about creating a product that you know people are going to create memories in life long, yeah, and also it may be the most expensive asset these people ever buy. So there's like a pride in making sure you know it's built well and it's a space that people can enjoy, because, the truth is, a home is the most expensive asset a lot of people will purchase and they're going to spend a bulkhead of their time with their family in that space.
Speaker 4:To yeah, you know when a pre construction contract? You know, wouldn't you know when I would build for a client in the very beginning. You know, as you approach the phases of construction, when you get the house dry down you start doing interior finishes, there's a press from the family to always get a commitment for completion around a holiday. Yeah, you know might be for summer vacation, whatever Before the July might be Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3:It might be the first.
Speaker 4:Christmas in their new house.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, they always wanted to be 4th of July when they really know that the deadline probably should be Labor Day. But they want, they want to push that extra 30 or 45 days faster. That makes sense they want Memorial Day, when it probably should be 4th of July, and that's where, when you're working with that client.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but then it's really going to be Labor Day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, but don't we all just want our dreams to be realized sooner earlier faster than expected. You know, I think it's human.
Speaker 3:Well, that's expectation setting and, just, you know, staying, and that's the part of its personal. That's the part of naming it, michael McKelvie Holmes. You know we won't have to get into particular builders and stuff, but you know us here, at least in my opinion. You know Hurricane Michael 2018.
Speaker 3:Hundreds of contractors flooded our area, but none of them had a business that was named after them or that you could track back.
Speaker 3:You know they all started these LLC shell companies and they hid behind them for 18 months and did a bunch of really really bad work and really affected families more than they benefited them.
Speaker 3:I mean even my wife's family. They spent three and a half years dealing with insurance and four different contractors and lawsuits back and forth. And you know, here we are, five, almost six years later and they basically just now, getting things settled in, are going to get their kitchen redone, and we're talking about something that was five and a half years ago and they've been dealing with it ever since, because they initially hired a contractor who was hiding behind a shell name and did really lousy work and they ended up having to do all the same work three times in a row to get it done, and so that's what I believe is important about it being personal and it being labeled right here. I mean my last name is McKelvie. I mean I may not be Michael, but my last name is McKelvie, so in my opinion, my representation and my reputation is on that shirt as well. So delivering a quality product that a family can enjoy and enjoy the product, not fix the product as soon as they move into it and I think honestly, that's a pretty common thing.
Speaker 1:Just in general. I think you could say this almost about any profession, but contracting especially, there's like two ends of the spectrum. There's people who just shouldn't be doing it and people who should, and there's just really no in between on that.
Speaker 1:There's no OK contracting work. It's just bad or good and unfortunately, I think there's more bad ones than good ones. And you know, I fortunately I think people experience that a lot, especially after the storm here locally and in situations like that. So when you do have a good contractor and somebody that knows what they're doing and has had the experience built luxury, built non luxury, different climates, places in the country, that's very valuable. Yeah, I mean, that's just. It just goes without saying. So, like, let's talk a little bit to you were in the Cayman Islands for a while building homes. Talk to us a little bit about that, what kind of stuff you were building and what. You know what that looked like. What were the values of these homes, how big were they? What kind of finish work were you doing?
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, I had a transition, you know, in my personal journey and career where I did have an opportunity to go to the Cayman Islands in 2013. Ok, I believe it was and it was. You know, it was real odd occurrence the way it happened, even that opportunity developed. That's someone here in Florida. Yeah, at a tailgate in Tallahassee at an FSU football game 13 and 0, undisputed national champions.
Speaker 4:Don't care what the college football is right now say it's a hot topic right now and I met this guy that was hosting the tailgate, huge FSU tailgate. We got acquainted throughout the day and he was a project manager in the Cayman Islands.
Speaker 1:I mean honestly, I feel like that's how you find most opportunities or gigs. It's like when you're not looking for even like even a girlfriend or marriage, a job whatever. It's just when you you're at the tailgate, the bar they get together.
Speaker 4:Yeah that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And had an opportunity to join a contracting firm, home building firm down there, you know, and it's was not all together different from what I built out on 38. Okay, luxury homes, you know, in this area they're just surrounded by water, where you know we have the water on one side, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Again some some beautiful, substantial homes. You know two, three story homes, all about getting the view and the elevation.
Speaker 1:What was like the value of these homes? You think, what were they, what were, what were these homes costing Gosh five?
Speaker 3:six, seven million dollars? What about that fosters family, one that I remember when I came and visited? You were working on the the foster. I think that was their name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I may have even seen that on the video. Yeah, it was like you're showing us like the round entryway or something like three separate buildings on one parcel.
Speaker 4:A grocer in the Cayman Islands, the predominant they're the Winn-Dixie of the Cayman Islands.
Speaker 1:Sure Grish is a real cheap on an island or a big end.
Speaker 4:They have their name on the company as fosters food. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and they're huge in the island. Yeah, this is wise, and and very well, how big was that house, you think? Well, there were three houses, there was no, main house Like a compound.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was a compound, you know, right on, right on the Caribbean Ocean Crevancy, there was one main house, four bedrooms, big living space. Then we had a separate cottage built for their mother. Their father, david Foster, has had passed away but in the second generation was taking on the business but the mother was still active. Gotcha, we had a cottage for the mother.
Speaker 4:That was most completely separate the left side, the family house was in the middle, the other was on the left and then on the right hand side there was a you know thousand square foot outdoor kitchen with full open, you know pandas, doors around all the sides.
Speaker 3:I just remember there was like one table that was big enough to hold. Why it was like some ridiculous numbers like 20 people. Oh you could. Yeah, there's like one shotgun. Table down this line of this.
Speaker 4:Well, they had three generations of family that we're going to gather. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've got Cayman Islands building compounds, five, six million dollar homes. What were the homes and watercolor at the time going for that you were building and how big were those?
Speaker 4:Oh, and phase one back in the day. I mean you all know the real estate. Real estate is is multiplied, yeah, by a lot, yeah, a lot. I mean these were.
Speaker 1:So because this was in 2013.
Speaker 3:No, no, the watercolor all started. What 2003 is? When you started working down?
Speaker 1:here. Okay. So yeah, like in 2003, when you first started phase one, what were those homes selling for?
Speaker 4:Oh gosh, oh, 2 million, 3 million.
Speaker 1:I mean they're always, yeah, always. I mean they're probably.
Speaker 4:They're probably double that. They're probably yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah Now. Oh yeah, those phase one homes up there close to the beach club now, yeah, there's a Just to give perspective.
Speaker 1:Now it's 2023. They're probably eight, nine, ten, they're probably yeah, yeah, the comps and those now Six, seven, eight nine, ten?
Speaker 3:I mean just depends on the finishes and the size. Do they have a carriage house on the back of them?
Speaker 2:You know there was a few different options, but yeah a little shameless plug, I guess you would say, but I've been impressed by your portfolio, your range of work. Where can somebody go out and find, you know, some pictorials or ideas of your work and your history?
Speaker 4:Well, I mean, we all have social media and they can find my website at mckelveyhomescom. Okay, and I and I'll pause for just a moment to you know, describe the transition from Michael McKelvie Homes and that is still, you know, share, the proper name for my company, but my website I dropped the Michael and we've you know, our site is mckelviehomescom because now you know, the business involves more than just Michael share, namely Andrew.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 4:And you know I want him. You know you are involved in some amazing things and he's got the ownership in my company as well. Yep as it would go.
Speaker 1:And I think you know as far as like our current rehabbing business and flipping business, you know also I guess I'll steal this from Mike Shameless Bug here but Andrew is extremely organized and on top of the ball and gets those projects done very quickly with little to no, no help from anyone else. And we didn't, we didn't, he didn't have someone telling him, hey, this is what you need to do, we just figured it out you know, because he watched it and.
Speaker 4:but I was going to say it's.
Speaker 1:It's apparent because you know Mike and I know some Mike more than me. I'm not a work with my hands type of guy. Everybody knows that. But you know, if you point tell me to pick that up, I can do it, I'm not afraid to work, but I don't think you want me building anything. But the truth is is that it's apparent how high his knowledge level is from working with you growing up, and he's very well versed in what he does, so you know. Testament to that, he walked. He walked my jobs.
Speaker 3:It's like punch tape. Tag along you know coming, coming soon. Punch tape for a job site near you. Yeah, it's, it's. You've never punched out a job before until you've punched out a job with Michael McKelvie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've punched out a job with you and I know that there was a lot of stuff that I wouldn't have taped, but oh, we should blue tape blue tape.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you can stick your stick.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing is you know, it's so irritating to tape, tear the blue tape and all that stuff and then you only have one color. What I'm saying, what I'm proposing, is we make different colors and they're pre little, pre size, little stickers with a non sticky corner, and we sell it as punch tape. So people can punch out, you know, but anyway yeah yellow and green, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Perforated.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Must be fixed. Yeah, perforated already.
Speaker 4:Oh, but they all have to be fixed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:You know the intention is the punch is all punched in for the clients.
Speaker 4:Yeah, into the house, but I always do a follow up there after they get in the house one year whatever it's a follow up. They've used all the appliances, they've opened all the doors, they've opened all the cabinets.
Speaker 4:They know what's rubbing and scrubbing and generally there would be a 30 a day list after they've moved. Yeah, not a warranty list, they would have a warranty for a year, you know, on the structure and the components of their house, but just the fit and finish. Yeah, yeah, we would do initial punch list before they moved in and a final punch list at 30 days.
Speaker 1:So you've been contracting for how many years now? Would you say roughly 20 years. How would you say from, like you know, the last 20 years, what has changed about the industry the most in your opinion?
Speaker 4:Well, the sticks and bricks and the finishes of a house have not changed a lot. You know our hurricane, the unseen requirements and construction and the progressions of the code. Building code, yes, but most of that's, you know, unseen.
Speaker 1:The owners never feel like a lot of how things work. I guess I would say this too, like how has technology changed, crown tracking and the way it gets done, because there's been a lot of changes in, like you know, computer software and even how people contact a contractor. How has that changed?
Speaker 4:Very much like every other phase of our life. Yeah, we're driven by our smartphone and our you know Wi-Fi, and so the communication is constant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, just like you guys.
Speaker 4:You know you're taking calls you know all the time and again when it's personal, you're not working at office hours.
Speaker 3:No Eight to five.
Speaker 4:Yeah, somebody calls at eight o'clock at night and they're in one of our houses and they have a problem. You can answer the phone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's that one of those things that like for anyone who's considering working for themselves. I would just say, like you just need to make peace with living on your phone. It's not always you can have boundaries, but, like, unfortunately in this day and age we're instantly accessible and that's what a client expects, so you got to draw some boundary. But that was one of the biggest realizations for me because at least at corporate, there were times when I could like take my work phone and put it on a drawer, right, and I was like, well, if they call, I'm not working.
Speaker 1:But, that's not how working for yourself works right, Because if you guys don't get it done, if we don't get it done, who gets it done? There is no one. So there's a lot of great things about being an entrepreneur too, but time sacrifice, especially in the early phases, that's probably the biggest one.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, again, these homes are occupied by families just like yours and mine, and things happen at all hours of the night and needs to be addressed yeah absolutely yeah, sorry, there's a fly in my
Speaker 3:face. He wanted to join the podcast. Yeah, come over here, yeah. So, what about labor?
Speaker 3:Yeah, labor, let's talk about that I feel like that's a big part of contracting and him asking what's changed over the last 20 years. That's kind of what popped in my head. Obviously, I haven't been on job sites for 20 years. Well, I have been, but not at an old enough age to know what was going on. But I could probably generally assume, based off of what's happened in every other industry in the world right now, how do you manage subs? How do you make progress on a property? How do you get it done in a timely manner? I mean, is that that seems like that would be, and at least in my experience on a flip level and a renovation level? That's one of the biggest hurdles that I have to deal with on the daily basis is getting these guys in and getting it done in order in a timely manner.
Speaker 1:And I would say this like in any business, people in the absence of people, like, it's pretty easy to run a business right Like people are what makes business hard. But having managed a lot of people on a lot of businesses before, I will say that managing one construction construction, it was a total. Did it done? I mean you literally, I mean construction, it's so congressional.
Speaker 2:It's construction.
Speaker 3:One, two, three, you can see the progress and you can't get to step six without steps one through five being done.
Speaker 1:And I'm just going to go out and say it. The industry in general and a lot of the people that work in it are fickle and fly by night and it's hard labor. It's not easy stuff, so that was a huge learning curve for me. Like managing people at a job site is completely different than really any other thing. What's your, what's your take on that?
Speaker 4:Well, you have to manage the expectations from the beginning. In the beginning, yeah, and then with, with, with our clients, with our homeowners, but also our trade partners, and that's, you know, a term I like to use versus subcontractors.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Because they're a partner in what we're doing. Yeah, it's true, you know we can't that fly likes you over there. We can't get this house finished without them, without them, yeah, and so you choose your trade partners wisely, carefully, or as wisely as you can Miss, you know, trade partners that don't over promise. That's got me, because when you over promise, it's hard to deliver.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely Real expectations.
Speaker 4:Real expectations Tangible real expectations. And some of those expectations are based on a calendar as well, because we have owners that want to move in.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this how do you we'll call them trade partners how do you structure payment for trade partners to keep them motivated but also not giving them so much they don't show up to the job? Because I think this is a fine line that a lot of people that do any kind of renovation or construction work struggle with.
Speaker 4:There are specific payment milestones in the contract from the very beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you have to have. You have it on paper from the get go, yeah, you got to and that's we've learned that the hard way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely You've got to, especially if it's a job that has phases, you know, if you're giving them a scope of work that has two or three different phases of work.
Speaker 1:Because we've done that, I mean, we've been those guys, the human nature in you wants to say like you know, everyone's trustworthy. Like I am, everyone holds himself accountable. Like I do, everyone cares. And the truth of the matter is that's probably not true a lot of the time.
Speaker 4:We're subconsciously, not true. Some of it is not about trust. It might be about experience.
Speaker 1:True.
Speaker 4:True, you know, in being able to get through a project from Start.
Speaker 1:yeah, they on the other end to punch out. The trade partners have to have Belief that we know what we're doing as well too.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's part of it.
Speaker 1:So when you're first starting out, I mean there is a level of like do these guys know what the hell they're doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely Just like any relationship, the key element is communication. Yeah, yeah, you build that trust, you have that mutual respect and you go back to the same set trade partners you know that have proven themselves in the past and that's who you reward with your, with your business, the opportunities. There's only two ways to motivate another human being. That I've learned through my experience is pleasure and pain. The pain of losing a job and not being able to work with you in the future, that hurts. The pleasure of having some consistent work and Income for you and your staff is Extremely pleasurable, yeah and Mike, you, you, you've spent some time working on jobs too.
Speaker 1:What, what, what did? What is it that you all did on on jobs in the construction arena?
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean I have a background in basis in stick framing, so custom homes and the slopes of Vale Colorado from the swamps of New Orleans.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a song.
Speaker 2:I built homes in a small subdivision Family on subdivision in Virginia. But you know I've done a little bit of everything renovation work and Mostly mostly framing and you manage some framing crews too.
Speaker 1:So I mean, yeah, how did how do you manage Expectations of people showing up to jobs?
Speaker 2:Well, communication, you know is and pay, pay on a regular basis because I can tell you if the the pay's not there, the crew walks off the job.
Speaker 3:I mean you gotta know how to line it up, because if you get it's a fine line. Well, yeah, because if I get my Electrician in there first and my electrician runs wires, you know, horizontally through my studs.
Speaker 3:To get the plumber needs to do and then my plumber comes in and realizes I've got to put event through the event stack through this wall and his wiring's in my way. Yeah, so to your point, it's not just double downs of well shit, now I got to call my plumber back or my electrician back and pay him again to come out because I, as the project manager, didn't get things done in the one.
Speaker 1:It's a respect thing too, like it's not just about hey, we said this is the schedule and we'll pay you on the schedule, but it's knowing that you're not wasting your plumber's time by him showing up in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah situation, which goes back to what you were saying about experience and knowing how to get from the beginning of the job to the end In a way that they have a respect for you, because you're respecting their time to Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've learned and from my experience, you know If you're doing new construction or a full-gut renovation.
Speaker 3:Get your HVAC in there, get all your duck work ran, get your unit where it's gonna go and then get your plumber in there and let him do all of his plumbing stuff and get him where he needs to go, and then your electrician to come in last, because your electrician can pull wires around anything. Yeah, plumbers have to go where plumbers have to go and HVAC has to go where they have to go.
Speaker 1:And your trade partners are gonna want to show up to a job where they know when they get there, everything's good and they can work. Just where they have to call you and say, hey, this was done, this was done. I can't do because that's a waste of their time is literally some of it's on you providing a job site, that's ready that is ready, yeah that's true.
Speaker 3:Time is money for for trade partners 100% 100%. They don't want to have to come in and do your demo work or finish framing a wall because your framer didn't put this or that there.
Speaker 1:I mean that kind of you want to come in, do their trade and go to the next one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. I mean that's that's what they want to do, which which, if you manage it right, that's what everybody needs to want them to do.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's always things there's.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, of course well, now, as you go from from new construction startup to, you know, rough end to finish, I mean there's phases where things overlap, yeah, but there's still Orders of the chaos. I mean, you know, and I think that's where the contractor is. Just, you don't understand the scheduling behind the sheetrock. Guys got to be here before the electrical guy, the. You know this has to be done before that and that's where a lot of people Wood Valley, the house that we're renovating right now I mean the guy had an awesome vision.
Speaker 3:He had the plans the guy had everything that he needed. He couldn't do it, he couldn't execute it.
Speaker 1:He could handle that yeah he was so overwhelmed that the gap between vision and execution with construction is a very fine, I mean that's, and it comes down to a lot of stuff in the middle and a lot of Organization in the middle that just isn't very fun and entertaining to get to that end result that's fun to look at and a product that's fun to look at and sell. It's a lot of monotony and a lot of management. So let me ask you this we're very excited to have you back in the office. Obviously, we have some pretty big plans for doing some specs and things along those lines, but outside of that, you have a ton of experience as a custom home builder. We have a lot of clients that have even inquired you know, about building a home on a lot. Somebody wants to build a home. What do they do to contact you? What does that process look like? Give us the plug.
Speaker 4:Well, generally, when they have a vision, you know, the first thing is to design a product. You know, either from existing set of plans that we have available or Sometimes a custom drone set of plans. First to put that vision on paper. Then we all agree on the, the homeowner and the contractor oh, I want a Extra bathroom here, I want another bedroom, I want this, I want the master in the front or the master in the back. You have to work through those design decisions and and that it's a process because the owners, you know it's a personal thing.
Speaker 1:It's getting that vision on the paper and then you executing it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, just execute it and then you may go through different changes and that's on a custom job. You know that usually involves a design partner, yeah, and architect that that does all that first phase with the client. But, having experience so many years in the area, sometimes the clients come to me first and you help and I can direct them to a trade partner. That's right. Good tech Make sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can connect the dots to those pieces that it might be difficult for them to put together on the outset of building a home.
Speaker 4:Yeah, even if they, even if we have a spec home that we've built and you know we will have some in the new year, you know the the family may walk through a dozen and a half homes that are different before they find the one that feels right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, correct. Well, we can start at all at what Mckelviehomescom.
Speaker 4:Yep mckelviehomescom. Other social media. Facebook Facebook 850-740-9113.
Speaker 3:Correct direct phone number. You know, we can start those all right here 2303 West 19th Street.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so listen, they've got the connections People looking to build a home. They're looking for a lot to buy. We can help them with that. You're looking for some architecture partners and a general contractor partner. He can help with that and we're also gonna. We're very, very excited that we're in the works of starting to build some spec homes and some inventory of some what we would call houses priced right for this area Very nice, very well built houses that are priced affordable for the area so that families can have an ice home to live in. And that's something that we're, you know, even with our flips, we're pretty passionate about buying properties right, not over finishing, so we can give people an affordable product.
Speaker 3:Affordable home that you can make yours. But your mechanicals are gonna be in order. Your sticks are gonna be framed properly. Your roof is gonna be square, your walls are gonna be flush and you can come and do all of the cosmetic decorations that you envision for yourself, but you're gonna be under a roof that is protected and stable for you and your family.
Speaker 4:Quality is not dependent on cost Correct.
Speaker 1:And that's. I think that's a huge statement right there. That's exactly what we try to go for in all our businesses and we can vouch that we know that is 100% true for you and your business. So again, mckelveyhomescom, social media, reach out to one of us, but if you're looking to build a home we know somebody looking to build a home you got your guy right here in Bay County. We're more excited to have you with us. Great, thank you.
Speaker 1:So let's take a really quick minute to talk about a couple things in real estate right now how we end every episode, because, of course, no matter what facet we're talking about wholesaling, retail building it is the real estate industry. So a couple things that we have going on that are hot topics. Obviously we have interest rates, we have the NAR lawsuit, there's a lot of things shaking up and changing, and then the market is down 40% nationally. I would just make one overbearing statement to all of us, without getting into details of those things. You have a lot of things changing in the industry, a lot of forces at work with the general economy. What are you doing to stay optimistic and stay motivated and how do you stay realistic and honest with your clients at the same time.
Speaker 1:I would say, for me it's just about being transparent and not pretending the market isn't something. It's not when people I don't wanna go on social media or having conversations with people in person and say, hey, this is a great time to buy because XXX, it's a great time to sell because XXX. I try to base everything on an individual basis of where you're at. There's solutions that we can provide, there's things that we can do, but I wanna make sure I'm consulting people honestly, because we all know the market is tough right now and it's that belief for me that I know things are get better.
Speaker 1:Always it's roller coaster rides and it's how to stay resilient in the down times. And, to be honest, I've had to look introspectively and really challenge myself on how we do things and operate things and I've become better. And I'm becoming better not where it need to be, but we're becoming better real estate professionals, no matter which thing we're doing, because we're willing to stick it out through the tough time and figure it out till the roller coaster goes up again. So I'm almost finding myself kind of appreciative of it, because a pause and a fine tuning is appropriate sometimes, even if it's difficult to go through. What about you guys?
Speaker 2:I mean, I would say just through my whole career, but especially now is setting those expectations. People always have a vision, a dream, a hope, a wish, a desire that their property might be worth this. But you have to be brutally honest, in a sensitive, caring way, to explain to people that's not the reality of where we are right now. You can dream all you want and it's great to have dreams, but you also have to be rooted and grounded in what's real, what's tangible, and this segment of real estate I deal with. People are in difficult choices, circumstances, and they have to make those difficult choices, whether it's a medical issue, a family dynamic, a financial issue. But the great thing about us is we offer solutions. We are truly here helping people get out of these difficult situations in it with a sensitive, caring approach which has been successful in this resonating. But it is a difficult time to make difficult choices, but we offer solutions and I pride myself in that every single day.
Speaker 3:Consistency and the communication. Like you said, it's a tough market. There's no way to get around that and there's no way to beat that bush. You can try it, you can hype it up and make it what it's not, but real estate is one of those things where, if the motivation's there and you truly understand your clients, why and what their goals are, you can find a solution for them. Some people have to move up market, down market, good market, bad market. Some people's jobs move them.
Speaker 1:To smaller percentage of people, but it's there.
Speaker 3:Some people are having twins. They didn't think it was gonna be twins and it's twins, or whatever that situation is.
Speaker 1:Got a mother in law moving in with them.
Speaker 3:They've got family moving in, they've got sick parents that they gotta take care of. I mean, those things happen and if you can truly find those people, have that real conversation with them and help them understand the options on the table. Real estate is still happening, but maybe it's not happening like it was two years ago, where people are just writing a contract from California and never seeing the property. That was fun while it lasted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not reality.
Speaker 3:That's not reality. That was two years of reality and I think that people who got into the industry and partially me included I was in a different industry in 2018, but I think this is more of what real estate really is. Yeah, this is a normalized market. I mean, obviously, rates aren't great, but 8% historically is I mean it's not crazy. It's not great, but it's not as bad as it's been before, and we got to those markets as well.
Speaker 1:You know, the reality is is there's less deals. But, like even our business coach, what does he always tell us? There are deals happening, though. Yeah, why aren't you doing them? It's not that there's no deals. If there was no deals and you were sitting here complaining, that's one thing, right. But there are deals happening, so there's less deals happening. How do you find ways to get in front of those people and be competitive? The old ways you can't pay for leads right now. That doesn't work. You can't just send out a mail or do general marketing. I would challenge people. Are you on the phones?
Speaker 3:Consistency in the grass root conversations. Are you door knocking, are you?
Speaker 2:doing the very simple things.
Speaker 1:Are you still spending some money on awareness marketing? But you can't just sit back and sell houses that fall out of a tree, like someone calls you show house and says that's not it. So you have to find a way to put yourself in a position to find those deals that are happening, as difficult as it may be and I would challenge even you know if you don't feel like making cold calls. I mean two of the listings we have right now, three actually. Even our commercial listing came from a cold call. If you don't want to get on the phones and you don't want a cold call, it's probably not the industry for you 90% of the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and the good news to a degree is that you know I was reading an article last week and they were talking about how home sales are generally down and the market's down and even though prices sold on new homes are down like the actual purchase price is down, it's about 17% higher year over year. People purchasing new homes because, with interest rates so high and builders actually being able to offer incentives and a much nicer home for a more reasonable price, people are being pushed into new builds versus resales, which is actually a great news for the spec house If you can build it affordable and get your numbers right. You know that. You know people buying them is going to take place in a relatively quick time because people still need homes but they might need that builder incentive. They might need something that's more reliable that they know they can live in for a long time if they're going to be paying an 8% rate. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:So anyway, that's appreciate you being here with us. We're really happy to have you in the office looking forward to see, like the stuff that you have going on new build wise, even outside of us and getting some projects going. And that's episode two of it's Personal, an Entrepreneurs' Podcast with Kurt Andrew. Mike, we appreciate you being here with us, and our next episode we're going to be interviewing Alan Branch, who I like to refer to as the Bruce Wayne of Panama City and also a latter mayoral candidate, so we'll be having him on here.
Speaker 1:You definitely want to tune in for that one. That's going to be a really good one. Appreciate you being here again. That's it for episode two. Thank you, kurt. Thanks, michael.
