Building bonds: Why it’s important to choose community over competition

Zach Wojtowicz:

What’s up, everybody? Welcome to “The Building Code.” Zach Wojtowicz here.

Charley Burtwistle:

And I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Charles, how are you doing?

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m doing fantastic. We have an in-person interview today. Zach and I are sitting right beside each other which is a really nice treat.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right, if you’re checking us out on YouTube. Sometimes, you know it’s a good episode when we’re shoulder-to-shoulder.

Charley Burtwistle:

Exactly.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Something is up.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s when we mean business, for sure.

Zach Wojtowicz:

What if we just changed the format? We just started being like …

Charley Burtwistle:

Oh, and it’s just you and I in here?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, and we’re just sitting.

Charley Burtwistle:

I wouldn’t like that at all. That would be a little too much Zach Wojtowicz time for me. But, the 30 minutes that we have today is the perfect amount. We have a very exciting guest. TwiLea Fletcher is here, in the office. Welcome to “The Building Code.”

TwiLea Fletcher:

Thank you.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Hey, how are you?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I am doing great.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Good.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, a little spoiler. We met already at the Builderbond event that Charley was not in attendance at.

Charley Burtwistle:

I was not there, no, but no surprise.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s how it goes here on “The Building Code.” I get to do all the customer facing things, and Charley …

Charley Burtwistle:

I read the ad for the Builderbond.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, maybe you heard the ad, that’s why you decided to show up.

TwiLea Fletcher:

No.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yes. We’ll edit that out, where she said yes there.

TwiLea Fletcher:

I think I got a direct email.

Charley Burtwistle:

Oh, there you go.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, there. Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

There you go.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Special invite, yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s a big deal.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, we’re here to talk about that event today.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Perfect.

Zach Wojtowicz:

But we can get into other things before we go too far down there. We always like to ask our customers a little about your background in construction.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Okay.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We have found in our interviews that everybody has a different story and it’s fun to hear. Let’s start there. How did you start in construction?

TwiLea Fletcher:

When I was probably eight years old.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Really?

TwiLea Fletcher:

But, that’s only because I was helping my dad build things outside. He had a small construction business, so that gave me a little bit of background. But, nothing in terms of professionalism.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, for sure.

TwiLea Fletcher:

No, I worked for a class A railroad for several years. Moved on from there to implement a couple of CRMs with different companies. And then, three-and-a-half years ago, came to Stonebrook for business development and ended up implementing their CRM.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, I had just enough, I guess, background in construction or knowledge of that type of industry that really gave me a big, big leg up to get CRM implemented.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that’s awesome to hear. I feel like that’s such a transferrable skill across different industries. We talk about that all the time. A lot of the same problems our customers are trying to solve are the same problems that we’re trying to solve, and they’re the same problems that someone in the railroad industry is trying to solve.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Right.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, being able to figure out, “Okay, here’s how things should work,” regardless of what you’re trying to do. And, “Here’s how we can help make it happen,” is really cool to see yourself.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, absolutely. It’s taken that real world on-hands experience, and then being able to transfer it into a CRM and go, “This is what I think they need to see. This is the type of information we’re trying to pull out.” So, having that background in construction, in railroading, in logistics just really helped.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. And then, we were talking before we started recording. Your office here in Omaha is just right up the street. Could you tell us a little bit more about Stonebrook specifically?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah. Stonebrook was started in 2003 by a couple of friends, Steve Kunkel and Jason Reinke. Started it as a roofing company, there in Lincoln, Nebraska. And about five or six years later, they expanded that. They bought a metal wall system business. Started going into metal wall systems, siding. Expanded that into a masonry division. So, now, we are Stonebrook Exterior instead of Stonebrook Roofing.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

2011, I think, is when we came into Omaha and established a good presence here. A few years later, we went to Denver. We have now Stonebrook Exterior in Denver.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow.

TwiLea Fletcher:

And then, this past year we purchased a roofing company in Florida.

Charley Burtwistle:

There we go.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, we are just slowly making our way around, but finding those nice little niches that fit not only Stonebrook as a company as a whole but being able to move our expertise to other areas of the country.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s really interesting.

TwiLea Fletcher:

That is a very, very short answer. My version of our company.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, there’s a lot we could dive into there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, it’s not easy to summarize your 20-year history.

TwiLea Fletcher:

No, no.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s a really incredible story. Is Reinke a construction company as well? That last name sounds familiar.

TwiLea Fletcher:

I don’t know.

Zach Wojtowicz:

In Omaha. I could be just …

Charley Burtwistle:

I don’t know, Zach.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Maybe I know a Reinke in construction.

TwiLea Fletcher:

They’re local boys from Hebron? Hebron.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Hebron? Oh, cool.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Hebron, there we go. Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Look at that. Shout-out! Little town.

TwiLea Fletcher:

If they listen to me on this one, they’ll be like, “Why don’t you know where we’re from?”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Charley’s from O’Neill.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m from O’Neill, Nebraska.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Another little smaller town out there in the Great Plains.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

I’m from Ainsworth.

Charley Burtwistle:

There you go.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Awesome.

Charley Burtwistle:

Go, Bulldogs!

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

There you go. God’s country.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I just went … I don’t know if I told you, I went to O’Neill. I went to the Merritt Reservoir, and I drove through Ainsworth and O’Neill.

Charley Burtwistle:

There you go.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That was the first time I’d ever been there.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Those are my stomping grounds. Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It was awesome. Highly recommend.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. Very beautiful out there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right. All those people out there that want to go to the exotic plains of Nebraska, check out the Merritt Reservoir. Shout-out.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes. And the Niobrara River, which everybody has been down. But if you go on an off-season, just the beauty of it without four times as many people is just outstanding. It’s so gorgeous up there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. We had a great time.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Good.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So, I want to start there, with your company and how you guys have evolved. But I am curious, are you implementing your CRM for all those businesses and locations?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes, all locations. We’re housed under one little … What would you call it?

Zach Wojtowicz:

A parent company?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But the only thing I’m not doing is the residential side, the private sector side. I’m strictly on the commercial side of things. So, I implemented the CRM for the commercial side.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Got it. That’s awesome.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But that is for all locations.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So, when it comes down to the way you guys are using Buildertrend, is that your primary CRM for today?

TwiLea Fletcher:

For my set of work, yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

For your team?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Ah, that’s awesome. That’s one of those things that, when it comes to finding a construction CRM, there’s not a lot out there in the market.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So, this is not an area of the program that we’ve talked a lot on Buildertrend … Or, on the podcast, as far as using the sales side. So, overall, what has been your experience with using the Buildertrend CRM?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Overall, coming from our CRM when I came on board about three-and-a-half years ago, and that was an Excel spreadsheet.

Charley Burtwistle:

Sounds familiar.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Basically, taking all of those, the general contractors, and getting them into a system where we could see what jobs are we bidding with them, what scopes of work are we bidding with them, how much are we bidding with them. Being able to just have that in one spot. And then the bid calendar, being able to transfer those lead opportunities into the bid calendar for the estimators, that right there was just the huge, big check off the box right there.

As far as being a subcontractor with Buildertrend, to your point, it’s not quite geared for subcontractors. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement there, and a lot of avenues that Buildertrend could go down. But I can see how, definitely, with a smaller general contractor, or your smaller companies that do this type of work, it works great.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I feel like we need to have you come, while you’re onboarding all these different companies in how to use it, you should just host a little webinar here at Buildertrend. Because we don’t talk about it a whole lot, but when you use it the right way and when implemented the right way with someone with your type of experience, it can be a really, really powerful feature.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, absolutely.

Charley Burtwistle:

And workflow.

TwiLea Fletcher:

There are so many little things, I wouldn’t call them a nuance, but I’m like, “Oh, if it could do this.” But I also realize that I’m an outlier as a subcontractor, so it’s not going to be high on the priority list, but it’s still out there. So, I think getting more subcontractors involved in the Buildertrend, showing them, “Hey, this is what it could do for you,” would be just a huge step, and a huge shift toward getting a lot of those little things fixed that are geared toward subcontractors.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I think it’s interesting because I’ve worked with contractors of all types, subcontractors, GCs, and a lot of times, it’s the person implementing on their creative side to get the most out of what you’re using. So, no matter what system, you’re going to run into limitations.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So, it’s how do you game plan around those limitations. You and I have worked on projects like that.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Where we know we’re at the limit, how do we step around it in order to make it really work for us. It’s kind of fun, because there’s a … Even for our core users, you always have people who come up with things that I would have never thought of to get there.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s fun to see what people are able to do within the …

TwiLea Fletcher:

Or you might just miss something.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

You might go, “Oh, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know you could do that. That would work for what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, there’s just so many different things that you can use, but sometimes if you just don’t have the right direction, or the right know-with-how to go, “Oh, let’s just try this and see if it works. Let’s get creative.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s my favorite. You’re just like, “You know what? We’re going to try it. Let’s just see how it goes.”

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, what I think is so beneficial in that area is just talking … Well, Zach and I are really fortunate, we get to talk to the best people in the industry on the podcast here. But, talking to other people in your network and understanding, “Okay, what are you trying to do, how are you doing it. Oh, I never thought of that idea,” and started connecting the dots. Which is why Buildertrend is really starting to lean into becoming that community and connecting different people.

One great example of that is the Builderbond.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes.

Charley Burtwistle:

Which you two were fortunate to attend, not that long ago. But for myself and other people listening, could you give us a brief overview of what that event was and what you thought of it?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah. I honestly just really didn’t know, aside from, “Hey, let’s get a bunch of our clientele together, let’s get them in a room, let’s get them talking to each other, meet each other.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

To me, that’s typically what I expect when I get an invitation that says, “Hey, we’re going to have a big event for our customers. Do you want to come?”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But honestly, when you go in and see all these people, it can be daunting if you’re not an extrovert. It can be daunting if you are. But, just being able to get out there, and once you introduce yourself, and just get over that hump. And honestly, a glass of wine or a cocktail helps. But you just start talking to people. They might have the same fears you have, but the minute you start talking you’re like, “Okay. So how do you use it? What do you use Buildertrend for? Or, what’s your obstacles? Or why aren’t you using Buildertrend?” Maybe some of them aren’t even using it because they might be in a different division within their company so they’re like, “I don’t know. Somebody else couldn’t go, so here I am.” But I think, just right there …

And then, being able to meet some of the staff. Even though you may not interact with them all the time, or ever again, just knowing, “Okay, they’re here. I can talk to them. I can at least maybe find out who I need to speak with within the company.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Fortunately, Zach just came up and started to me, or me to him, I don’t know. I’m like, “Oh, you’re the guy I need to talk to.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m tall, so it’s hard for me to hide.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You know, you make eye contact. Well, that’s a lot of what’s really great about it, is a lot of it wasn’t even about the software at first. It comes up. But it was a lot of, “What are you experiencing in your business right now? How is the interest rates affecting you?” Or, “Is that slowing down your backlog from COVID? Are you able to get around the contracts that have been sitting there for a while?”

Which is what’s really interesting about the construction industry, is they aren’t all that connected. They don’t see a lot of … Builder 20s, NAHBs, those all exist, but they aren’t prevalent. Only the certain type of builder really finds value in it. So, it was really cool to see, because we had people that were not customers there, customers who are not … They’re subcontractors, they’re GCs.

Were there any tangible benefits that you go after the event, of people you met or talked with?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I would say yes. I did meet one of your coworkers, I can’t remember her name. Her last name is Henne.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Taylor Henne?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Taylor Henne, yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Buildertrend legend.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, her father, I believe it is, own a Meco-Henne, which is a new GC for us that we’ve been getting some bid invites with. I’m like, “Oh, well there we go.” Now I’ve met Taylor, “Hey, Taylor, how do I get introduced to Junior? Let’s start building that relationship.” Or finding out, “Hey, can Stonebrook provide some of the work that you guys are looking for?”

Because a lot of times, you’ll find that even though we might be a subcontractor doing the same scopes of work that Meco-Henne is trying to hire a subcontractor for, it might not be the right fit because it might not be the right size, it might not be the right time. The location may not work out. But, at least getting that introduction.

So, as far as a tangible takeaway from that event, that would be one right there. Just going, “Okay, now I’ve met somebody that knows one of the GCs that I’m trying to work with.”

Charley Burtwistle:

So, you got to learn …

TwiLea Fletcher:

Now I just gave a shout-out to Meco-Henne so they better call me.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Free plug.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely. Free plug.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’ll make sure that we get the word out.

TwiLea Fletcher:

That’s right.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, so you got to learn about Buildertrend stuff. You got to network and connect about future jobs and working relationships. And, you got an invite on “The Building Code” podcast. That’s three for three about the Builderbond.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, I didn’t mention that, did I?

Charley Burtwistle:

Obviously, the biggest benefit there. No, that’s so cool to hear. I think, and huge shout-out to some people in the booth that are listening right now, that were pushing that event and created it. That was exactly what we were trying to facilitate and hope that people would get out of it, so that’s really cool to hear.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yeah. It was a great event.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I think we have plans to want to do another one in the near future. Internally, that’s one of those things that I’m always a fan of. I always joke, we could be the railroad to the builders. I think I’ve said it on the podcast before.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We can connect them together, give people more opportunities. So, if any of our listeners out there that want to reach out, ever want to talk to builders, at the very least, more than happy to try and connect people because I think it is something that is craved for in construction …

TwiLea Fletcher:

I agree.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Because there’s not that much opportunity for it.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes. And there’s a thought I want to throw in there, especially with CRMs. One thing that I’ve found since, I think I started doing this in 2015, is you’re never going to find a CRM that fits every single thing you want it to do. That doesn’t exist. So, you have to be able to find the right people to talk to in that same industry and go, “What have you used? What have you used in the past?” Or, excuse me. “What have you used and what are you looking at using?”

Because a lot of times it’s like, “Well, it works about 85% of what we want it to do.” That 85% may be just enough because you’re not going to find 100%. I don’t have 100% with Buildertrend. I’m not going to have 100%, I’m not going to plug them, the other three that we looked at. But again, you just have to find that right fit for your company. But being able to find your same industry and talk to those people, and get that feedback, and that one-on-one discussion, that can help so much.

Zach Wojtowicz:

100%. And I think I’ve observed that builders really trust other builders, so giving them that opportunity to actually have that honest conversation.

I had a great example. I was at another Buildertrend event in Austin, and had a customer who was not a Buildertrend user. She was on the fence. I was like, “You know what? I just want you to go talk to other people here and let them talk to you about their experience. And you come back to me, and then we can make a decision about what you want to do.” And, that was the thing that convinced her. It was people in her peer group, people that she trusted who build a similar way. She came back, she signed a complete annual. She went all in, just based off that. And all it took with just someone helping her understand it does benefit, if you’re able to commit to it. What you get on the other side is totally worth the processes that you’re going to go under, even though it’s not perfect.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, absolutely. I think another really good event that happened, right after I signed for a three-month free trial I believe it was, or 90-days, you had an event in Denver. I happened to be going to Denver for work.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, did you come to Buildertrend on the Road, too?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I did.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Wow!

TwiLea Fletcher:

It worked out perfectly. I’m like, “Let’s get in there and start talking to people. Let’s actually see how they’re working the system.” That was a big kicker for me.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Did you meet other subcontractors there?

TwiLea Fletcher:

There were not a lot of subcontractors there. Denver’s really full on GCs, really heavy on GCs. I think your subs, they are there as well. It’s a very high competitive area.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Right.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But I didn’t see a lot of the subs that we directly compete with. Now, I wasn’t searching them out because it was still … You get there and there was people everywhere.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, it was a big event.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, to zone in and go, “Okay, who am I looking for?” I was just like, “I just want to see how Buildertrend works.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. That’s honestly … Funny enough, we talk about BTU a lot on the podcast. You’d come into the office, even when you were signing up. But, one of the things we get in surveys quite a bit from BTU is, “It’s great to learn the content, it’s great to meet the Buildertrend staff.” But low key, “The best part of Buildertrend University is getting to talk to other builders outside your region.” Because there is this fear that someone locally is your competition.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

They’re going to take business from you.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, “I’m not giving you my secrets.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I think that’s starting to change.

TwiLea Fletcher:

It is.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m starting to see that go away. Have you experienced that, that builders are now opening up, even locally more?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I would say yes. I’ve never really experienced it. But the whole mindset, at least what I have witnessed is, hey, we may be competing against you, or we may be putting out a bid to four or five general contractors within Omaha, but the mindset is you can’t build everything.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

You can’t win every job. So, if you don’t start working together, pretty soon this person might jump ship and move over here. Well, guess where your secrets are going?

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, they’re already out there. The more I see GCs helping each other … If a GC loses a bid, and I call them like, “Yeah, we didn’t win it.” If I ask them who won, they’re more than willing to say, “Oh, it’s so-and-so.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Interesting.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Then I can call them and give that GC my number. But I’m starting to see a lot of them open up more because, I think, a lot of people are looking at, “Hey, well you know what, it might be better on this side of the fence.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But that does happen. So, your secrets aren’t always safe. It’s better to open up. But if you’re within your company, make sure you’re doing it right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Because that’s where you’re going to get the most benefit.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s a great point. That’s really interesting. I love thinking about the connectivity of the construction industry. GCs are sharing which subs they like to work with. Subs are talking to other subs about which GCs are paying you on time.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

And are running good schedules, and making sure all the logistics are taken care of.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Even in my five years, I think I said this a few episodes ago, so it’s my last five years working, when I started at Buildertrend, I feel like the industry is really taken a step forward.

Charley Burtwistle:

Oh, yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Compared to even my early days. That snowball effect, it’s really exciting because it feels like we’re really starting to see more and more of that in all of these markets, more than ever.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, yeah. Buildertrend’s even starting to dip their toe into the supplier side as well, too. So, how do we facilitate that relationship? How do we help our builders get better deals and more rebates? How do we help suppliers get more people buying from them and increase their sales, and things like that. But the ecosystem as a whole, and even just hearing you talk, that’s not just needed but wanted. People are craving for that sort of connectivity.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Oh, absolutely. Especially with everything that’s gone on the past three years, since the pandemic. You’ve got prices all over the place.

Charley Burtwistle:

What a whirlwind.

TwiLea Fletcher:

We went from giving proposals saying, “Good for 90 days,” to “Good for 30 days,” to 14 days.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s insane.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Because you couldn’t predict what was going to happen. Now, it’s finally, obviously, starting to level out a little bit to where we can hold our proposals and our prices for 60, 90 days if needed. But again, yeah, it just … That whole graph of, “We don’t know when it’s going to change.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

This is a little bit of an unrelated topic, but you mentioned you were mostly on the commercial side. Are you seeing any differences from the commercial side of the business for the residential? Do you have any insight on if residential is going through a slowdown and commercial’s being maintained?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I don’t.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You don’t know?

TwiLea Fletcher:

I don’t. I can make up something.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sure.

TwiLea Fletcher:

It’s not going to do me any favors.

Zach Wojtowicz:

No, no worries. I was just curious.

TwiLea Fletcher:

The business itself within Stonebrook being divided as it is, where you’re just focused in on your specialty. Is it a good thing, is it a bad thing? It really depends. But the minute you start to crossover, then guess what? People are going to start coming to you for things that probably don’t fall within your wheelhouse. So, it’s better to go, “Oh, that’s not me, pivot to this person,” and just throw it to that side of the court. Because for me to try and stay on top of both sides of that, residential, private, commercial, I wouldn’t be sitting right here. I’d still be back at the office.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. It makes total sense. It was just a thought.

TwiLea Fletcher:

I knew what you were asking. I think I probably should know that answer, from a top-level perspective.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, I think that being intentional about your markets and who you’re serving, what you’re trying to do is so important. We talk to people all the time. But hearing, I think, an expert like you, especially given the track record that you laid out in the beginning of how you’ve been able to scale and go to the different markets, that wouldn’t happen if you were trying to do everything.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Right.

Charley Burtwistle:

You would still be in Lincoln, trying to serve the entire area. It’s just as much work, but in an absolute scatter pot of different areas.

TwiLea Fletcher:

You start to get into the weeds. You’re just like, “Wait a minute. Who am I supposed to see today?” You’re not concentrating on the GCs, which are my customers.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right. Yeah, that’s awesome to hear and something Buildertrend can probably take a page out of that playbook as well, too.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Well, it’s tough, too. Because everybody, if you have good work ethic, you want to help everybody.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. Right.

TwiLea Fletcher:

You want to make sure, “Are we doing what we can for you? You’re my customer. You may not be my customer, but I might still be able to help you.” Well, then you start getting so bogged down that you really lose sight of why am I here. My goal is 25 million in business, so if I start doing all of that, I’m not going to make my goal.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Great point.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I don’t know, this may be a really, really high-level question. But just hearing you talk, I’m so impressed with how intentional you are about learning stuff, reaching out to the right people at the right time. What advice would you give someone listening, especially newer businesses … I feel like this could be really overwhelming because of established businesses have their processes ironed out. But the fact that, if you lose a bid, you actually call them up and talk to them. What advice would you give someone listening to this on how to learn more about their network, how to learn more from the people that they work with? Is it just diving in and calling? Or, how do you …

TwiLea Fletcher:

Are you talking from a perspective of a subcontractor or a subcontractor trying to gain new business from a GC?

Charley Burtwistle:

Gosh, is it bad if I say both?

TwiLea Fletcher:

No. If you are a new subcontractor, and you’re trying to get your name out there, A, bid everything. It may be the smallest, most ridiculous project but if you’re trying to create a name for yourself, bid everything you can. Second of all, make sure you follow up.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

A lot of times, you may find that you are so out of the ballpark, and you didn’t even know it. If you don’t follow up and find out, “Wow, my margins are really low,” or they are really way too high … Because a lot of times, if they’re too low, the GC might go, “What did they miss?”

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

So, you really want to follow up and get that feedback from the GC that you’re bidding with.

Charley Burtwistle:

And you said that they’re open to giving that feedback?

TwiLea Fletcher:

Most of them are. I can’t say all of them, some of them can be pretty vague. Some of them aren’t allowed to, it might be one of their company policies where they’re like, “We’re not allowed to give out numbers.” Some of them will be able to give you a spread, “Okay, you were 20% to 30% high.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Well, it’s better than nothing. And the other thing is, once you do bid everything, you might find as a new subcontractor, a niche that you never knew you had.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Because there’s a lot of different things here in Omaha, Lincoln, surrounding areas where you are short on a certain type of subcontractor within a certain scope of work. So, just bid everything that you can, that you know your company can do, and follow up. And don’t expect to win everything because we don’t win everything.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

But I do like that feedback when I get it from the GC.

Charley Burtwistle:

I love that.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s really cool.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Now, from the other point, from the GC either getting a new sub, or I’m bidding, and I’m constantly bidding with them, feedback. Any feedback you can give us is great. Or if you can meet with me, coffee, I’ll buy you lunch, quick beer, don’t care, meet with me. That one-on-one interaction is so great. It just helps immensely. 15 minutes, an hour at lunch, don’t care.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Love it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, I think hopefully Buildertrend will continue to lean in to help facilitate some of these. I know we have Buildertrend Universities almost monthly now.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sometimes twice a month.

Charley Burtwistle:

Sometimes twice a month.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Two times in October.

TwiLea Fletcher:

I actually got a call for that today.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, see? We’re doing a buy one, get one.

TwiLea Fletcher:

She goes, “Do you want to do this?” I’m like, “What?” I’m all trying to prep for the podcast. I’m like, “No, I’m not interested in, what, classes?”

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, classes.

TwiLea Fletcher:

“Shoot me an email. I’ve got a podcast in an hour.”

Charley Burtwistle:

“I’m talking to the Zach Wojtowicz directly.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right.

TwiLea Fletcher:

“Do you know who you called?”

Zach Wojtowicz:

You’re always welcome. You just roll up whenever you want.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, honestly.

TwiLea Fletcher:

All right.

Charley Burtwistle:

That would be sweet, if we just had people come in the office every day.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, that would be a … It is an open invitation. If you live locally, you are more than welcome to come to our office and meet with us. I used to do it, back in the day. It was fun.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. Well I’d say, yeah, if you’re a current customer and you’re listening, reach out to your coach, check out our dot com, we’ll have events coming up. If you’re not a current customer, we’re going to continue to do events like Builderbond to not pitch you, not try to sell you, but really just facilitate that connectivity and that network because it helps everybody.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Yes. Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, TwiLea, we are just about out of time, but it was great having you on “The Building Code” today.

TwiLea Fletcher:

This was great. This was great.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Please do stop by anytime. And we’ll catch you next time, everybody.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Sounds good.

Charley Burtwistle:

Thank you very much.

TwiLea Fletcher:

Thank you, guys.

Charley Burtwistle:

As always, make sure to like, review, subscribe. I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

And I’m Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle: We’ll see you.