Culture in construction: How to avoid burnout and retain quality employees

Zach Wojtowicz:

Hey, everybody. Welcome to “The Building Code,” Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle:

Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

There we go. Enunciating well today.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, one of these days, I would like to switch up.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, you want to go first?

Charley Burtwistle:

No, I just want to say Zach Wojtowicz.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You want to say Zach Wojtowicz and Charley Burtwistle? There’s no way we get that right. I would screw it up.

Charley Burtwistle:

If you’re listening to this one, make sure to listen to the next episode, because we will be trying that.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Watch the episode for the intro, everybody.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, as you should. No, no, no, no. Not today at least, because we have two very, very exciting guests. People that I’m excited to meet, but Zach, you’ve actually been working with for a while. So, maybe give our listeners a quick overview of who we’ve got on today.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, so today, we’ve got two esteem members of Sidar Builders, Jimmy and David. So, I met them through one of our account executives. They have a very tight relationship with Ben Gantz, and one day, they reached out, “We’re looking for someone else to talk to in customer success.” I was like, “Yeah, let’s sit down and chat.” So I meet with them pretty regularly. We talk about things that we’re working on. They give me a lot of ideas, stuff we want to try, and it’s been a really great relationship and partnership, and I just threw out there one of the things we can do is have you come on the podcast.

When you hear these guys talk about their business and their beliefs and the way they do things, you just can’t help but feel this amazing warmth is how I would describe it. It’s just passion, and it’s just incredible. See, best part of the podcast, we’ve talked about this a lot.

Charley Burtwistle:

Absolutely.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Meeting great people, doing a great service for their communities, and really having this purpose. So, yeah, buckle up, buddy.

Charley Burtwistle:

Okay. Well, I’m excited.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, you too, people of the Buildertrend Nation.

Charley Burtwistle:

All right. Zach, let’s get them in here.

Zach Wojtowicz:

All right. Jimmy and David, welcome to “The Building Code.” Thank you so much for being here today.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, man. What’s up? What’s going on? Happy to be here.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Long time no, see. How have you been? Sorry. I moved our meeting this week. We’re doing a little interviewing internally and had 43 interviews I had to conduct. We meet on a semiregular basis, Charley.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So, yeah, it was a deadbeat to him, so thank you for being flexible, you two. Always the best.

Jimmy Reed:

That is our life is actually to be flexible.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, good. Noted.

Jimmy Reed:

In the construction world, working with flexible schedules, you have to be malleable. So, it actually worked out really well for us. So, Tuesdays are normally David and I’s executive meeting day, so we get to spend a little extra time together.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Love it.

Jimmy Reed:

It was really, really good.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Awesome.

Jimmy Reed:

But man, we missed talking to you and hanging out with you. For sure, man.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, Zach has told me about you guys before, and I know we recently did a case study with you as well, so I’m familiar. But for our listeners out there, this is your first time on the podcast. So, could you both maybe tell us just a little bit about yourselves and the classic question of how did you get started in construction?

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, man. Go ahead, David.

David Socia:

Yeah, man. So, yeah, I’m married, have three kids, doing the typical life thing. Yeah, if I’m rewinding and going backwards, I knew at an early age that I liked to do things with my hands. I love the sense of accomplishment. I wanted to see things go from nothing to something and know that I had something to do with that, right? As most men probably do, but I remember having a high school buddy and his dad was a framer and a general contractor. So, he built the whole home, but he actually framed his own homes. I remember begging that guy, “Can I have a job?” He would say, “No, man, I don’t think so. You’re too young.” I was in high school at the time. Anyway, fast forward a little bit. I bugged him enough that he finally said, “Yeah, come to work. Do you have a hammer?”

I said, “Man, yeah, I’ve got a hammer.” So, I went home and he said, “Bring it tomorrow.” But I went home, and I dug around in my mom’s kitchen drawer and I found a kitchen hammer. I actually took that to the job site the next day and the guys are looking at me like, “Dude, that’s not going to work.” So, fortunately, that guy, he poured into me, and he gave me a tool bag and he gave me a hammer. I started framing right out of high school really. I framed all through college, got a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in marketing and management. By the time I got done with school, I had applied to just about every production home builder in the State of Texas, because I wanted to build homes. I just didn’t want to do it with my hands anymore. I wanted to do it with my head.

So, I was fortunate enough to get a job here in Tyler with a production home builder and actually got a job as a warranty manager. For those of you guys who don’t know what a warranty manager is, you’re literally going in after the house is complete and dealing with problems. Man, what a great way to learn, because I knew about putting sticks and bricks together, but I didn’t really know about all the things that happened really after the home was complete and done. So, I had homeowners that would literally just berate me and go, “Why would you build a house this way?” I’m going, “I didn’t but I know that I’m not going to do it that way whenever I do have the opportunity.” So, fortunately, I was able to do that right up until the real estate crash or the housing bubble in 2009 for us here.

Shortly thereafter, I went to work for another company, but on the side started building duplexes in the medical district here in Tyler. So, Jimmy and I’s paths crossed there, but we eventually went from multi-family to single family to full scale development and then building multiple homes a year on our own lots. So, that catches you up to date in terms of where we are now, but Jimmy?

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah. So, I grew up in a small town just about an hour south of Dallas. Corsicana, Texas is where I’m originally from. I knew that man, I didn’t want to stay in Corsicana. I wanted to go and be somewhere else. I actually met my wife there and both of us moved to Tyler around 2004, 2005, and went to UT Tyler. I got an industrial management degree there. Really, how my story with construction started was I knew that my last year of college, I needed to have a job. So, I started looking for a job because my family had always been entrepreneurs. So, I grew up in rural Central Texas, and I worked out on our family’s ranch. I knew that I didn’t want to do that even though it’s beautiful out there, and I loved the outdoors.

It was a lot of hard work, and I knew that I wanted to do something with my hands. So, my dad told me that I needed to find a niche. I needed to find something that was different about me and something that was sustainable that was within my God-given skills and abilities to do. So, I’d watch my dad run a business, I’d watch my grandfather run a business, and he told me that there was new licensing requirements for electricians. So, they went from going from getting municipal licenses to actually getting state licenses. Then that was actually reducing the amount of skilled trades people that were like David and I’s age. So, I said, “I’m going to go do that.”

So, I did, and I started out digging a ditch. I ended up working for this old hippie electrician, long-haired, smoking, cussing hippie electrician guy. What I ended up finding out is that guy showed me everything, and he gave me everything that was within him and taught me the electrical trade. So, I grew in my abilities and eventually surpassed him doing commercial electrical work and did some project management work for industrial and large school and hospital and that commercial electrical work and became a journeyman and then master electrician through that process. I knew that eventually, I was going to become a business owner of an electrical contracting company. But I think luckily enough, I didn’t do that.

Ashley and I bought our first house in 2007, and we actually started a rental business from the home right across the street from us. That continued from 2007 through about 2018, we were acquiring more properties around the hospitals, and we were renting them all out to nurses and medical professionals there. So, David had some friends that were interested in one of my rentals. Man, we met, and we hit it off. Actually, just after that, I saw David again, probably maybe a month or two after that. I was still thinking I’m going to continue to do rentals, but I just started following David around.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You recognized greatness. You’re like, “This guy. He’s going to lead me to success.”

Jimmy Reed:

I had the commercial experience but didn’t understand really the residential experience except for the rentals and the rehabs. So, yeah, started watching him and build homes in 2012. Then Ashley and I started our first spec house as well around 2013. So, I am married as well. I’ve been married for 16 years and got two kiddos that are six and seven. We’re in the throes of soccer and tee-ball and all the stuff going on. So, yeah, that’s me.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Love it. Well, why don’t you guys tell us a little bit about your company, what you do today?

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah. So, again, we started in 2012. We’re around year 11, and you might notice the name Sidar Builders is not your typical name. It’s actually an acronym. So, we never wanted to really lose focus of where we started. So, it’s an acronym of our name. So, S is Socia. I is Idel. Idle is the street where David and I met. Dawson is another street that’s the D in Sidar. That’s where David got his start. Airline is where I got my start and then R is Reed. So, we put a lot of thought into the name. Sometimes it’s a little hard to spell or a little hard to understand, but we embrace those things, and we are Sidar Builders. Man, like David said, we primarily have done infield development projects.

So, if anybody doesn’t know what that is, there’s a piece of land that has been overlooked in a community for a period of time. So, a developer would come in, develop 70%, and then for whatever reason, the remaining 30%, they wouldn’t develop or whatever would happen. Then 50 years would go by and then somebody would say, “I’m going to do something with this property.” It’s developed all around it. So, we started that process, that niche process with just buying single lots and either building a house on it or building a duplex or a multi-family project.

Then now, we do new full scale developments with civil work, building the roads and the water and the sewer and the storm. Then we do production homes or build communities, what we say. Then we sell the home or the product afterwards. So, right now, we build, depending on the scale of the project, between 40 to 50 houses a year or so. David, did I miss anything in there?

David Socia:

No, man. That catches us up. Yeah, I think you hit it.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, one of the things that I’m super curious to dive into, and I think this is going to be the title of the episode, is company culture. Hearing you guys talk about how you met each other and the name and your values, again, I already tell you hold really, really close to the heart and remembering all that. So, that’s something I think is often overlooked in many industries, but maybe especially constructions and something that I’ve heard from Zach, just like who he’s been talking to you a lot. Something that you guys really, really emphasize. So, could you maybe give me a quick overview of just the culture at Sidar Homes and some of the things that you guys really emphasize to build that close-knit team and community?

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, man. Well, probably one of the biggest things is you got to know what you do and what you don’t do. Then within that, you have to have core values. So, core values would be a testing question about whether you’re going to seek an opportunity or whether you’re not going to seek an opportunity. So, our core values that we really test really every decision that we make against and then it also becomes part of our normal vernacular. So, part of what we say every day is we serve first. That’s really what we do. It’s our mission. Then we build intentionally. That’s the how. That’s really how our processes come together.

That’s really where the intentionality of Buildertrend has propelled our business beyond what we could even think that it could do. Then we impact community and that’s the why, because we love our people. We love the people that work for us and around us. We also love our buyers. The impacting of community becomes the culture. So, we serve first, build intentionally, and impact community, and it just becomes the same that serves first. That’s why we’re doing X, Y, Z.

David Socia:

Yeah, man. Just to add to that, man, I think when you don’t have core values, then people come up with values of their own. What we want to do is we want to be unified in our business, whether that’s our partnership. Jimmy and I, our employees or even our trade partners, we want to be unified. The only way that we’re going to be unified is if we tell everybody, “Here are the core values. Do you agree or do you not?” Because what winds up happening is people will come up with their own values. Before you know it, you’re spider webbing out and you’re going a million different directions and you’re not really getting anything accomplished as a team. Everybody’s searching and seeking out their own values.

So, we want to drive those core values deep within our culture. We do that not only by saying those things, because they are a saying and they are cliche at times, but man, looking for very specific and intentional ways to live those out. Again, not just Jimmy and I living them out, but our employees and then also our trade partners.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, man. It spills into our families, and it spills into the remainder of our community as well. The things that we’re saying and the things that we’re doing, they’re really not even ours. I mean, it is what have become our core values. Then some of the other things that we’re going to talk about today as well, I mean it’s a reflection of our raising. It’s an influence from mentors that David and I have had. There’s a group called Betenbough Companies out in West Texas, and they’ve been extremely influential in our business. Then books that we’ve read, the E-Myth, people, influential leaders in our sphere of influence, and then our studies of people like Craig Groeschel and Patrick Lencioni and all of those other leadership gurus and guides that we’ve really taken to heart.

It’s not just something that, again, what David’s saying, it’s not cliche, it’s not a buzzword. It becomes entrenched in just about everything that we do and then we just continue to build on that more and more and more. Then as we do it, we’re seeing the reciprocity of that from our trade partners and our employees as well. So, the culture almost becomes tribal. I mean, there’s really no other good description of it other than you know it when you see it. When you experience it, man, it’s really, really good. But it takes a lot of hard work to build a good culture within an organization, and it is a daily grind. Man, it’s hard work, but it’s worth it.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s interesting. We’ve talked about this quite a bit in our conversations. It’s amazing what really good culture can do to overcome a lot of the other problems that a business can face. I had a teacher once tell me, “You ever noticed when you go to a stadium, you have this diversity of thousands of people, but they’re all wearing the same color, and they’re all cheering for the same team. It creates this unity and this excitement and this force of we’ll put our differences aside because we all believe in the mission.” In this case, your team winning.

It’s a cheesy acronym or analogy I should say for that, but that’s what I think of with great culture, great teams, it smooths over so many of the differences and actually finds commonality that you work toward a greater purpose than just yourself. So, I love hearing you guys talk about it because I can feel it. I just remember the first time we met, and I was just like, man, these guys, they really believe in their culture, and I want to come work for you guys. I just want to be a part of the team because I can just feel it whenever I talk to you. It’s amazing.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, we had a Sunday school teacher that said that it’s unit cohesion. It’s not military go and do what I say and stay alive. It is actually everyone sticking together, and it’s just like you’re talking about, Zach. It’s wearing the same color. David and I had thought and almost rejected branding for a period of time early in our career, and we’re like, man, we don’t need to do anything like that. Or uniforms. We don’t need to do anything about uniforms or anything or at least I know that I did.

David’s more of the visionary in our organization, but now, that is a sense of pride like it is right here, and it’s on our hats. That propels unit cohesion. Just like you were talking about, Zach, you see a sea of red or blue or whatever that’s out there in the stadium and you can put aside anything and everything else because those folks are wearing your same colors.

Charley Burtwistle:

I think hearing Zach talk about being able to overcome adversity and overcome problems because of that culture actually segues really, really nicely into another thing that I want to talk to you guys about that we’ve had a few guests on to talk about, because it is such a large issue in the construction industry and that’s just burnout. Top talent is really, really hard to find. Once you find it, it’s really, really important to keep. So, I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts on just what are some things that could be done to personally avoid burnout, but then also help your team and the people that you work with avoid that burnout risk as well.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah. David, why don’t you take that one, man?

David Socia:

Yeah, sure. So, Jimmy and I actually were just talking about this before we came on. When you know your purpose and you are genuinely living that out, then burnout is not very common. If it is, it’s a very momentary thing. So, I’m not saying that everything is peachy over here and that there aren’t momentary lapse of going, “Gosh, I’m just over it,” but at the same time, because we do genuinely believe that we are doing what we’ve been called to do, burnout really isn’t a thing. So, for those people listening, man, if you’re getting burn out, you may or may not be doing the right thing. But either way, knowing and understanding that core value, if you don’t have a core value, if you don’t really believe in what you’re doing, then I can see how you could get burnout real quick.

So, I might suggest first and foremost, create some core values. What’s important to you? What do you genuinely believe in, not from your head, but from your heart? What do you genuinely believe in because you’ll follow that to the grave and you never get tired of searching out or seeking out things that you genuinely believe in if you really believe in them? So that burnout really doesn’t happen. But one of the things that we do on a regular basis for our culture, so Jimmy and I have employees that we oversee direct reports, we would call them, but members of the team. We have weekly one-on-ones and it’s their meeting. It’s an opportunity. We sit down for an hour, sometimes more, and we’re just checking in.

We let them set the agenda and we talk about work a little bit. We talk about personal a little bit, and it achieved a lot of things. Number one, for the guys in the field, I take them out of the field. We go to a coffee shop. I let them decide, where do you want to go today? They’ll say, “Man, I want to go to Corner Baker,” or whatever it is. All of a sudden, their head clears up a little bit, because they’re getting out of the field. They’re not bombarded with the day in and day out monotony of what’s going on. Then they have their leader intentionally investing and pouring into them going, “Tell me what’s going on.” Well, it does a couple of things. Number one, now I know what’s going on with them, not just in work, but also in their personal life.

For them, it shows them that I care and that they can take a little bit of a break without having to feel like I’ve got my thumb on them and things like that. But I had a guy not too long ago that we were sitting down, and he was going, “Man, I’m just not content.” I’m going, “You know what, man? That is okay for a season to not be content, but let’s get down to the root issue. What’s going on?” So, we discussed all that, but the reality is, had I not had that one-on-one with that guy, he may have gone and searched out other opportunities to go do other things because the job market is hot. We understand and know that man, people will chase the dollar, and they’ll run away, and they’ll go do different things because they’re just over it.

But because we do those weekly one-on-ones, because we’re checking in, going, “Hey, what’s going on? Tell me what’s going on with you,” we are encouraging and reminding of them of their core values and taking on some of the things that may be a burden to them would be really good. So, I think that helps with burnout as far as the field goes, especially with our employees. Now, with our trade partners, we see them probably getting burnout, too. A lot of times it’s behavioral. You can usually pick up on it ahead of time. Behavior will usually proceed being productive or performing. If someone’s performing bad, there is usually a behavior indicator previously.

So, I walk every job of every house every day, not because I have to because we’ve got two guys in the field that are doing that on the reg, but because I want to. Number one, it gives me an opportunity to put my eyes on what we’re actually building, but number two, it gives me an opportunity to talk to those trade partners of ours who maybe they’ve got bad attitudes. I’m going, “Hey, what’s going on, man? Talk to me. What’s the deal?” Oh, man, he just rescheduled me for the third time. I’m going, “Oh, man, tell me more about that.” So, being intentional with those guys lets them know that I care enough for them to want to stay around a little bit longer.

Jimmy and I say, “Love is something that is freely given,” but I mean, I have to earn your trust. The only way to really earn your trust is to spend time with guys like that.” So, to know where they are and understand what they’re going through, I’ve got to spend some time with them, and I’ve got to ask some questions. A lot of times, they’re not really mad at me. They’re mad at the situation, and so I have to spend time going, “Talk to me a little bit about that.” Then burnout usually works its way out of there. Jimmy?

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, so David’s really talking about holistically, “How do we create this unit cohesion?” It’s to know and understand what each individual has been made and created for and to do. Then say, “I see you not just as your job that you perform every single day, but as a person. I want to get to know you.” If we had any suggestions for anybody that was out there that was thinking about doing that thing, man, don’t try to be everything to everybody. Do have maybe a maximum of three or four people that would be your direct reports, that you would do those one-on-ones on and with and walk through life with. So, we didn’t really talk about our employees, but I do want to say we have David and me.

So, David really oversees really all of our external operations and then I really oversee our internal operations. I would do administrative stuff and David would do directional leadership, that thing. So, David has two builders, and we call them builders. The typical term might be like a superintendent, but really, they are the builders. Then I oversee a systems controller, which she is the one that actually interacts probably as far as office operations with Buildertrend the most. Then we have our sales professional as well who sits in the model home and builds relationships with buyers as well and gets them to where they are overcoming whatever hurdle it is in their home buying process. So, David’s got two that he does one-on-ones with.

Then also, I have the other two, and we do similar things. I typically go to them because the field guys are constantly inundated with someone saying, “Hey, I have an issue. I need something from you.” So, getting them out of the element really helps. For me, with utilization of computers and technology, really, we can just go to another room, or I can come to them, and we do our one-on-ones. So, yeah, circle back to that being how we can really identify what’s going on with our people. That’s huge. Now, within David and I, in our conversations, we really strive to dig deeper into, “What does it look like for us to do what we’ve been created to do?” So, there’s a couple sayings that we have in all, and I’ll go through them. One is we know what we do and we know what we don’t do. That’s big.

So, keeping steadily on method, on purpose, building intentionally. We know what we do. We know what we don’t do. Then also from the E-Myth, we talk about eliminating, automating and delegating. Before Buildertrend, we had these things called blue folders. So, a blue folder was really … I mean it was the bible for the job. So, you could open it, and you could see anything and everything in there. So, it was the plans and specifications, it was the budget, it was all the invoices, it was the permit, it was everything. But the minute that you printed it, the minute that you gave it to the builder, it was obsolete. Then you gave that out, but what did you need to do for the guy that was in the office? That’s how it becomes obsolete.

So, we got to the point where we were almost doing things in triplicate. So, we needed to eliminate the paper aspect of our business. We needed to automate it, and that’s where Buildertrend really came in. So, Buildertrend, above anything and everything else, is our communication hub. It is how we communicate with anybody and everybody from prospective buyers to current buyers and homeowners to our internal communication, all of our file storage, and then also with our trade partners. So, it is the communication hub and we use it exclusively. We probably couldn’t move on without it. Zach and Charley, you all are stuck with David and I for the long haul for sure. So, that was automate and then we delegate.

So, what delegating does is it affords us time to where we can do our one-on-ones. So, when you’re doing all of those things together, you end up finding this margin. So, what do you do with your margin? You do annual meetings, someplace nice. You go somewhere. So, David and I are talking about our annual meeting this year, and it is not going to be in the office. It’s going to be somewhere nice.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m waiting for Charley to try and sneak an invite. He has a hobby of trying to get invited places.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, it would be cool. We could do a live episode in person.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jimmy Reed:

Business expense.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, they probably do give Charley a company card. Not me though, but yeah.

Jimmy Reed:

They probably do. Charley, you’re holding out on this, man.

Charley Burtwistle:

You guys, you’ve talked to Zach before and I don’t know what sort of lies he’s put in your mind, but Zach basically runs the company here. I’m just, like I said, the guy in the closet that looks at data all day. Gosh, I’m just Mr. Segway in this episode.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sometimes you’re the wingman. That’s how it goes.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, the Robin to your Batman. Now that you’ve nicely interrupted my segway, I’ll get back to the town hall and annual conference.

Zach Wojtowicz:

They’ve been too good lately.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m looking at some of the notes that you guys have here that we were working on before. You have a few different really, really cool things I’m looking at here. You have family outings, the quarterly town halls, the grading system and holiday and time off and things like that. Some really, really cool things that I mean Buildertrend should do. So, I’d love to hear maybe a little bit more about how you show appreciation for your employees and that team building and all the different events that Zach and I can try to come out to.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, so all companies have a benefits package, and that’s what we would put … Some of those things, they come from our employee packet and they say, “This is what we’re providing.” Man, it’s just like the one-on-ones. Knowing and understanding your people’s individual needs shows the highest level of appreciation. However, man, when you meet someone exactly where they’re at, man, it just takes time. It just takes time to really meet folks exactly where they’re at and love and care for them. David and I talk about our hearts break for our people. That is so we continue to feel humble about our position here, that really we’re here to serve our builders. We’re really here to serve our systems controller and serve our buyers. Serve first – it’s the first part of our core values.

David Socia:

I just to add to that, man, truly understanding and meeting people where they are. So, that’s another thing that we do. We want to meet people where they are. We come up with a standard set of benefits that may apply to the masses, but man, the reality is we’re all individuals, and we all have very specific wants, needs, and desires. Whatever I do for Charley, Zach may find it worthless. So, why would I give that to him? We wouldn’t, right? But the only way I know for sure what Zach needs is to spend some time with him and go, “Oh, okay, you need some modified work hours. Let me see if we can work that out to where it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Man, that sounds like that is a way to avoid burnout to me or maybe someone needs something else. Maybe someone’s struggling and they just need a new tool. They’re going, “Man, no matter how hard I’m working, I’m feeling like I just can’t get this done.” I’m going, “Oh, man, we have a tool for that. I didn’t tell you about that. Let me give you this tool.” So, it’s important for us to meet people where they are. Then the other stuff is just icing on the cake. “Hey, we know and understand that you have a life outside of Sidar Builders that includes family. Man, we want to know them, too.” So, we’re not saying, “Hey, come to Sidar Builders and check your stuff in at the door because we don’t want to know about that.”

We’re saying, “No, no, no, bring it all in, because we know and understand what you do in your private life ultimately affects your business life.” So, we get a chance to meet people’s kids and we get a chance to do these corporate outings. We intentionally take time to do town hall meetings where we’re going, “Hey, this is where we’re at and where we’re going from a leadership perspective. What are you guys thinking as a family? Let’s bring the Sidar family in together and let’s be open and candid about it.” It’s an opportunity.

In the first couple of minutes, maybe, that you’re there and nobody wants to speak up, but then they do. Then communication is the key to all relationships. When we’re talking, man, it’s beautiful. We say anything that is mentionable is manageable. Man, if you see it, say it. Don’t wait, let’s talk about it, because when we talk about it, now we can manage what somebody needs and wants and desires.

Jimmy Reed:

That’s right. Yeah. To add to that, when we’re showing appreciation on an individual level, we can also offer constant coaching culture on an individual level, too. So, when it’s that intimate, we talk about, David and I, what we call one degree corrections. So, two people are going down the road and you’re one degree off. Well, the reality is if you keep going one degree, eventually, they’re way over here and they didn’t even know they got over there. So, we have a constant coaching culture. So, we don’t do yearly performance reviews, but David and I are constantly talking about our people’s growth and then their compensation is based upon achievable goals and benchmarks of those particular things.

So, that’s something else when you’re showing appreciation, it’s not that you’re waiting for your yearly performance review, that we see how much you’ve grown over the last six months or over the last year, over the last year and a half. Because you have taken correction and because we have these achievable goals and these benchmarks and standards that you’ve achieved, it’s time to increase your compensation. Something else that David and I also say is that money is a temporary motivator. So, people will work for a what, but they will give their life for a why.

So, we want to understand the why behind the what and understand that compensation, while that’s how people feed their families, man, we want them to love their job and be receptive of coaching and know and understand they’re being taken care of and seen by us and creating great value here. So, man, it takes time. It takes a lot of time, but luckily, Dave and I have been awarded a little bit more time. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like enough. Dave and I were talking this week, you just barely show up on time for the meeting and you’ve been doing that all week, striving just as hard as you can. But man, when you’re able to go into a one-on-one and be intentional and feel like that you’re making a difference and you’re seeing the person and you’re loving them where they are, man, David said today, if we never built another house, man, that’s good enough.

David Socia:

There are no shortcuts. I think that’s the big deal, man. If you’re looking for a magic key or something, man, it, there’s just no shortcuts, man. Love is spelled T-I-M-E, and we love our people, but it just takes time and intentionality. If you’re not interested in that, then probably it’s not going to last very long. Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, guys, I have to say, I can always judge how good an interview is by how many notes I take.

Zach Wojtowicz:

He was scribbling this whole time.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’ve got seven lines.

Zach Wojtowicz:

How many t-shirt ideas.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, that was where I was going to go. Well, I’m noticing David’s hat he’s wearing is one of the coolest hat I’ve ever seen. So, if you guys are in the merch game.

David Socia:

Hey, that’s legit.

Charley Burtwistle:

I have a whole list of quotes I would love to toss on t-shirts. I think anything mentionable is manageable might be number one up there. I’m learning a ton and I’m really, really thankful that you guys were able to make the time to come on here. We are running out of time, so we’re going to have to wrap it up here. But I mean we could talk to you guys for maybe not even hours but days. Yeah, I get why Zach …

Jimmy Reed:

Part two. Let’s do it, man. Hey, come on.

Charley Burtwistle:

Zach, I think we can make that happen.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You have the pull. See, he does have the company credit card.

Jimmy Reed:

He said he knows a guy.

Charley Burtwistle:

He’s sitting right here beside me, but no, thank you guys so much. I get why Zach talks about you guys. It’s an honor to meet you, and I love what you guys are doing.

Jimmy Reed:

Yeah, thanks.

David Socia:

Well, man, it’s been a real pleasure to meet you guys and been fans of “The Building Code” Podcast for a while now. It’s been an absolute pleasure from us. Man, we just love sharing our story. So, any opportunity that we have to share our story or talk about where we’ve been and where we’re going, more than willing to do that.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Thanks, guys. Well, Charley, what’d you think?

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that was a great episode. If you need proof, you can look at my notes here.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Put it on the camera that you’re listening. A lot of t-shirts ideas.

Charley Burtwistle:

A lot of t-shirts idea. Yeah, anything mentionable is manageable, 1% corrections, work for a what but give your life for a why.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I knew immediately. I was like, “He’s writing that one down.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that one was really good. But no, it’s funny, the more and more of these that we do, I feel like it’s not really that much about construction. We’re a construction company and construction tech company. We have construction builders on the podcast, but it’s not like we talk about how to hang a two by four.

Zach Wojtowicz:

What’s the best way to swing a hammer?

Charley Burtwistle:

So, everyone that we have on here is just so passionate about their careers and their company and their employees and their customers. Everything they say just resonates with me about what we’re trying to do here. So, it’s a very fulfilling part of my job. People like Jimmy and David are very, very fantastic people to listen to. So, yes, they lived up the hype, and I think they got to be on the short list for the two-episode club, which is elite. Yeah, elite.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s big time. Yeah, I totally agree. I tell people outside Buildertrend, if you know my story, I didn’t come to tech. I wasn’t really looking. I was really in transition of what to do with my life, and that always resonates in construction. A lot of people ended up in construction in the same way, but I came for the opportunity, but I stay for our customers. I really do. I love them. They’re just special. They’re great people. I’m always so honored to get to talk to such amazing folks that do amazing things and put houses over people or build houses for people. It’s pretty special. So, thank you guys for coming on. Really, it means a lot. I’ll see you at our next meeting. It’s going to be a lot of fun to talk about how it went. Charley, anything else for the people out there?

Charley Burtwistle:

No, other than I hope they send me one of those Sidar hats because that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’ll try and see what I can. They’re coming out to BTU in August.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow. If you guys haven’t signed up for BTU, are there still tickets available?

Zach Wojtowicz:

I believe so, yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Okay. Go out to buildertrend.com.

Zach Wojtowicz:

events.buildertrend.com. Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

They could probably get to it from … Okay, we got to wrap this one up. As always, I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle:

We’ll see you next time.