IBS builder talks: A Finer Touch Construction – High-end drinking fountains in Arizona

Show Notes

Brad Leavitt, president of A Finer Touch Construction (Scottsdale, Arizona), joins us on The Building Code podcast at the International Builders’ Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada, to share his experience with moving his company from Excel to Buidertrend, building high-end drinking fountains, and creating a strong Instagram presence.

Two years ago, Brad and his team at A Finer Touch Construction ditched their antiquated Excel spreadsheets for Buildertrend construction project management software; for them, making this change was a no-brainer. First, they added their residential projects to Buildertrend, then they moved commercial projects to the program.

A Finer Touch Construction has strong “high-end drinking fountain” game. In Arizona – where the dry heat is present year-round – having cool water easily available is a must. Per Brad, “Think about it. It’s Arizona, where it’s hot. The kids can run in, get a drink out of the drinking fountain, and they don’t need a glass.” Well done, A Finer Touch Construction. Well done.

While Brad is not new to the world of construction, there are a few things that have really changed for him in the last two years. Not only has he attended IBS for the last two years, but Instagram has recently been a game changer for his business. In 2019 alone, out of their numerous projects across residential and commercial, four custom builds came from Instagram leads. There’s only one way to describe that – “wild.”

A Finer Touch Construction is a residential builder and commercial contractor, with a team of 13 employees. For their team, project and business management are all about being diverse, and that means managing many types of projects and business processes within Buildertrend.

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Transcript

Tom Houghton:

You’re listening to “The Building Code.” I’m Tom Houghton.

Paul Wurth:

I’m Paul Wurth.

Tom Houghton:

Thanks for joining us today. We are back at the International Builders’ Show for this podcast. This is a part of our International Builders’ Show series. We have four podcasts. This is podcast two of four, doing some simple math.

Paul Wurth:

We’re halfway there.

Tom Houghton:

Halfway there.

Paul Wurth:

This was a great one.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. We’ve got Brad from A Finer Touch Construction joining us. And we had a great conversation with Brad about Buildertrend, about what he’s building out in Arizona, which includes, but not limited to, drinking fountains.

Paul Wurth:

Oh, that was a good one.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

I got very excited about that. It’s happening.

Tom Houghton:

We both did.

Paul Wurth:

It’s happening for us.

Tom Houghton:

It did.

Paul Wurth:

You guys will love this.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. And then we talked about commercial use of Buildertrend because they also do some commercial work. So, stay tuned. That’s towards the end of the episode. So, stay tuned for that because it’s a great discussion about seeing somebody use our product a little bit outside of the normal use.

Paul Wurth:

Well, that’s what people think. But I think what would surprise a lot of people is some of our stats of the actual usage of Buildertrend. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of commercial starts a year because much like with Brad, many construction companies will do some light commercial, some tenant improvement stuff as well as residential remodeling, renovations and new homes.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. And we talk about that diversifying your business, especially in this podcast so …

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. And one of the cool things he says is how he started his business that made him think right away about diversifying. Can’t have all your eggs in one basket.

Tom Houghton:

Definitely. Let’s listen now to our conversation with Brad from A Finer Touch. Brad is joining us. Brad Leavitt, pronouncing that correct?

Brad Leavitt:

Yep. Pronounced it perfect.

Tom Houghton:

Perfect. From A Finer Touch Construction, you might’ve seen them on Instagram @aft_construction. They’ve got quite a following there.

Paul Wurth:

You probably have.

Tom Houghton:

We’re looking at these photos.

Paul Wurth:

With their following.

Tom Houghton:

I’m looking at them right now, and these are some great photos.

Paul Wurth:

We like them.

Brad Leavitt:

Thank you.

Paul Wurth:

Scottsdale.

Tom Houghton:

I’m double tapping these.

Brad Leavitt:

Scottsdale.

Paul Wurth:

I was just in Scottsdale.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s a good place.

Paul Wurth:

I was expecting it not to be 45 degrees when I was there.

Brad Leavitt:

Well, I was expecting it to be warmer as well as Vegas. I was not prepared for this.

Tom Houghton:

Right, yeah. I don’t think anybody was.

Paul Wurth:

The snow last night was cool though.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

It was weird to see.

Brad Leavitt:

Very unique.

Tom Houghton:

Right. We can say we’ve been to Vegas when it’s been snowing. What are the odds, right?

Brad Leavitt:

And there are not many times that happens.

Tom Houghton:

No.

Paul Wurth:

What are the odds, I like that.

Tom Houghton:

Seeing the odds.

Paul Wurth:

The whole Vegas thing.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, I like it. I like it.

Tom Houghton:

Luck be a lady.

Brad Leavitt:

A very nice roulette spin to that.

Tom Houghton:

Brad, thanks for joining us on the show. We want to talk about your business first just to get an idea for our listeners in case they don’t know about A Finer Touch. Tell us about your company. Obviously, you’re based in Scottsdale.

Brad Leavitt:

Absolutely. Thank you. So, we are a custom residential builder and a commercial contractor. So, on the residential side, we’re typically doing new custom homes ground up throughout North Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia. And we’ll also do some remodels on bigger scale. Most of our remodels are large reconfigurations rebuilding the home, DeTuscanize it as some of our clients are doing now with that Tuscan look, right?

Paul Wurth:

Sure. Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Brad Leavitt:

Trying to get maybe a more modern style. And on the commercial side, it’s ground up construction as well as bigger, we call them TIs, tenant improvements. So, we just finished a couple of restaurants and breweries in Phoenix and Scottsdale. And so, that’s our wheelhouse.

Paul Wurth:

Cool.

Tom Houghton:

Nice.

Paul Wurth:

How many people internally?

Brad Leavitt:

So, we have 13 of us in the company from office, clerical accounting, project coordinators and then our field staff and our superintendents and project managers.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. I think I just said that we were in Scottsdale two weeks ago. Me and my wife saw some cool projects going up.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s amazing. Scottsdale is a happening place. Arizona, as we were talking about weather, it’s just a great place. It’s a little colder right now, but for the most part it’s consistent, a lot of people want to warm up. And so, we have a lot of Midwesterners that relocate to Phoenix. A lot of people from California for second homes or tax purposes and so, business is booming.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, I was going to ask that. So, you have a lot of clients that may not be in Scottsdale while you’re doing their projects, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. Actually, it’s pretty unique that we’re actually doing a primary residence. A lot of our custom homes are doing their second homes, their vacation homes, snowbirds or people that vacation there and want to be there in the nice times of the year in Phoenix.

Paul Wurth:

Tom, you have a vacation home, right?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

A couple of them.

Tom Houghton:

Just a few.

Paul Wurth:

Hollywood Tom.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

No, that’s cool though. That’s a perfect situation for our product, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

That client portal, being able to log in, see what’s going on.

Brad Leavitt:

You alluded to that. So, the client portal is perfect for us. So, clients that are out of town, busy, they have access where they can come in, and they can see the updates. They can see the daily logs from our team. That’s been a big resource for us. They can follow the budget, certain things that they have access to so that that way they can see how their home or project’s progressing.

Paul Wurth:

Do you talk about that in the pre-sale process when you’re talking to leads?

Brad Leavitt:

We do. Yeah. That’s a big part of what we do, just say, hey, what sets us apart is our staff. They’re very thorough. They’re out there documenting the project. We’re keeping track of what subs are there when, what delays we have if any. And then they’ll have access, they’ll have that information because it’s all about communication to be successful.

Paul Wurth:

Exactly, yeah.

Tom Houghton:

That’s what sets people apart.

Paul Wurth:

Well, I think it’s crazy that you were looking to build a couple years ago.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, I was.

Paul Wurth:

And then you bought a home but was it nuts, just the process they had? People didn’t get back to you, number one. That’s just step number one.

Tom Houghton:

Which is crazy.

Paul Wurth:

One in five contractors …

Brad Leavitt:

Bizarre.

Tom Houghton:

We’d call people, and they just wouldn’t even call us back.

Brad Leavitt:

I know.

Paul Wurth:

Basics.

Tom Houghton:

It’s like, I’m trying to give you a lot of money here…

Paul Wurth:

A large sum of money.

Tom Houghton:

A large sum of money and no response.

Paul Wurth:

But then even when they do, the archaicness of their sales process …

Tom Houghton:

Right.

Paul Wurth:

Did you get a written quote? Some people give people pieces of paper, some don’t even do that. So, I don’t think it makes sense to people, right? Most people you deal with are probably business people, right?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

So, they come from being able to check their bank accounts and everything online, literally every part of their life. And then when they go to try to get a large sum of money to somebody it’s black. We’re in the dark the whole time. Doesn’t make sense to people.

Tom Houghton:

It’s a mystery.

Brad Leavitt:

Well, and for whatever reason, although we’ve evolved in construction, there’s a lot of technology, not everyone’s using that. For whatever reason our industry at times is behind everyone else. And so, for those contractors that can take advantage of some of the apps like Buildertrend and others that are out there. It just gives you an advantage to be current and be in front of your customer.

Tom Houghton:

Well, let’s talk more about technology. Obviously, again, we talked a little about Instagram. You have quite a following on Instagram. If we can just take a quick detour there.

Brad Leavitt:

Sure.

Tom Houghton:

I’m just curious. So, I noticed on there, it said a hundred percent … Or the photos are all yours, unless you note them otherwise which it looks like …

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. 99% of them are.

Tom Houghton:

99, exactly. That’s what I was going to say.

Brad Leavitt:

Unless we’re doing a shout out for a special friend or a client or something.

Tom Houghton:

Sure. Yeah. And so, I guess, do you have somebody managing that?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, it’s myself.

Tom Houghton:

If we can just peer behind the curtain … Oh, it’s you.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s a lot, yeah. So, we started it, it’s really grown.

Paul Wurth:

How long ago?

Brad Leavitt:

Three years ago. So, three years ago, and we’re really avid on social media, or we’re really active I should say. So, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Houzz. We’re on all the platforms, and it’s a big part of our business. And it’s really allowed us to portray who we are, put our resume out there, if you will. And then show the customers this is our brand, this is the quality we do. This is the professionalism you get when you hire AFT. And show a little bit behind the scenes, our processes, our staff, we’re active on our stories. So, you get to know the personality of myself and the company and our staff. It’s huge.

Tom Houghton:

Sure, that’s great.

Paul Wurth:

A lot of people talk about doing a project with a contractor like getting into a relationship, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Yep, yeah.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Because that’s what it is, and you got to like the person.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s a marriage.

Paul Wurth:

It’s a marriage. You got to like that person.

Tom Houghton:

It totally is, yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Marriages have ups and downs.

Tom Houghton:

They do.

Paul Wurth:

But at the end you got to …

Brad Leavitt:

And construction has ups and downs too.

Paul Wurth:

They have a lot of ups and downs.

Tom Houghton:

There’s a lot of parallels there.

Paul Wurth:

I think Instagram … We were just talking to another client a couple episodes ago. I think everybody wants to do it. They see it. Every construction professional, they have no idea how to start. So, how did you start? How did that go?

Brad Leavitt:

So, I think one of the big advantages is for me, I started, and it was a little raw in the beginning until I really learned. I started following some big accounts to see how they do it because the one thing about any of these platforms, you want to have a nice clean look, right? Same filter, same photography. And so, if you look at these real successful accounts, the reason they’re successful is because it’s consistent. And that’s what we started to do and started to change our brand a little bit, as far as how we were posting our information and projects.

Paul Wurth:

So, as far as like leads go, are you seeing …

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, a lot.

Paul Wurth:

What percentage of your leads come through organic Instagram?

Brad Leavitt:

Organic Instagram, well, here’s what I can tell you. So, we have four custom homes this year that were all through Instagram.

Paul Wurth:

That’s wild.

Brad Leavitt:

Which is pretty amazing.

Paul Wurth:

That’s wild because that’s not free.

Brad Leavitt:

A combination of LinkedIn and Instagram.

Paul Wurth:

And that’s not free, but you aren’t paying for it.

Brad Leavitt:

Right.

Paul Wurth:

It’s your time.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s not free as far as monetary goes, but you mentioned it. For you to be successful on social media, you’ve got to be committed. It’s a constant thing, three, four hours a day, seven days a week. It can be scattered throughout the day, of course. But you have to be on there and you have to spend that time, but it pays back.

Paul Wurth:

And that’s what people don’t get, I don’t think. So, do you have a schedule for yourself?

Brad Leavitt:

I do.

Paul Wurth:

Monday, Instagram. Tuesday, Twitter.

Brad Leavitt:

I don’t really have a schedule. With construction, it’s pretty busy running a company, working with our staff, doing social media. Everything’s kind of all there. So, as I find time throughout the day, and I do have time that I set aside to do posts, to comment back, to respond to questions and inquiries. But you have to do it. You can’t just put it out there and think it’ll take itself.

Paul Wurth:

And hope.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s like anything you have to put in time. You have to nurture it just like you would anything else.

Tom Houghton:

But the results are there.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, they work.

Paul Wurth:

A few of our clients. And the one thing that was surprising, the last person we spoke to, there’s a community of builders. It’s like a networking thing.

Brad Leavitt:

It is. It’s pretty amazing.

Paul Wurth:

Did you expect that?

Brad Leavitt:

Well, when I first started, I didn’t, and it’s amazing how that’s grown. Here we are at the Builders’ Show, meeting with some of our vendors and companies. But at the same time, it’s a big networking thing. There’s an Instagram family, if you will, of contractors and other companies around the country that we’ve grown relationships with and friendships, and we share information and building knowledge. And here we are at these meetups, and it’s friends that you’ve had forever. It’s pretty unique.

Paul Wurth:

That’s wild. That’s really cool.

Brad Leavitt:

Little fraternity of Instagram constructions.

Paul Wurth:

I bet you guys have no fun.

Brad Leavitt:

No, no, not at all. Maybe that’s why we don’t have a voice, right?

Tom Houghton:

Exactly.

Paul Wurth:

Same.

Tom Houghton:

So, we were talking before your process with Buildertrend getting started. You’ve been using Buildertrend for about two years, I think?

Brad Leavitt:

About two years. Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

What were you doing before Buildertrend?

Brad Leavitt:

So, honestly before Buildertrend, we were using an antiquated Excel system, right? We had Excel punch lists. We had tracking customers. And when we met Buildertrend and started having those conversations and going through tutorials, we realized there’s a huge advantage here because now instead of trying to use Microsoft Project for our scheduling, trying to use Excel, a combination of all the above. Now, we could put everything in one place. We have the owner portal, we have daily logs, which is a huge part because as we’ve had maybe questions with subs, or I want to go back and reference something. Or maybe do a time-lapse or social media, I can go back four months ago, see the photos that my PM or superintendent took on the project, it’s there. And scheduling, it’s just so much more convenient. We tie our trades into it and then now they can be informed as the schedule’s changing, which it does for certain reasons.

Paul Wurth:

The client portal is huge. Do you want a stat, Tom?

Tom Houghton:

I do want it, yeah.

Paul Wurth:

I just pulled it for a presentation.

Tom Houghton:

You did.

Paul Wurth:

Since we started, we’ve created 1.3 million client portals.

Tom Houghton:

Isn’t that crazy?

Brad Leavitt:

That’s amazing.

Paul Wurth:

1.3 million homeowners that have been able to have access to their job.

Brad Leavitt:

And we’re only 20 of them.

Paul Wurth:

Right. Exactly. That’s pretty wild. Yeah. I’m a big stat guy.

Tom Houghton:

You are a big stat guy.

Paul Wurth:

Not really. Not a numbers guy.

Brad Leavitt:

Must be a baseball guy.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. Fledgling my career.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly. Let’s talk about your project managers. I think you said you have two of them?

Brad Leavitt:

Two project managers. We have three superintendents, two project coordinators and then our office staff.

Tom Houghton:

Okay. And the role of your project manager, are they in the program daily?

Brad Leavitt:

They are. So, all of our staff, they have access. They’re involved. The PMs who are here with me at the show, they have a couple of projects they run, but more of anything they’re overseeing everything. So, they’re making sure the supers are updating Buildertrend and updating their daily logs. And then they’re checking on them to make sure that things are happening, that schedules being kept, budgets in line, all that stuff.

Tom Houghton:

Sure, yeah.

Paul Wurth:

How many jobs, it probably flows a lot, but how many at one time typically?

Brad Leavitt:

So, yeah. It flows throughout the year. But typically, we have anywhere from eight to 12 at any given time.

Paul Wurth:

That’s a lot.

Brad Leavitt:

Running from commercial and residential.

Paul Wurth:

That’s a lot. So, project manager might have three of those and then superintendents …

Brad Leavitt:

Exactly. And the supers, yeah. So, we have a couple of supers that’ll have maybe one or two of their own, and then PM’s will have a couple of their own, and then oversee all of them.

Paul Wurth:

Where are your touch points? Or if there are any with homeowners, do you check in with them as an owner of the business every week?

Brad Leavitt:

I do. So, a big thing I tell our staff, always make sure you’re in front of the customer. Just be in front, communicate. Even if it’s bad news, if you know something’s being delayed, get in front so that they’re not calling you saying, hey, why didn’t so-and-so show up today? But let them know why. We had rain, the mason’s going to be there. And there’s ways to do that through Buildertrend, right? We can use that app.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. That’s the number one thing people don’t realize. They’re scared.

Brad Leavitt:

They’re scared.

Paul Wurth:

They’re scared of delays and things. But if you just tell the client what’s going on …

Brad Leavitt:

It’s easy.

Paul Wurth:

Everybody’s rational.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. If you call a client and say, hey, because of rain and these guys are backed up, they’re going to be pushed out three days, but we’ll make it up later or at this phase. Then they’re kind of laid off. They know you’re on top of it. Instead of them feeling like they have to manage you to run their job.

Paul Wurth:

Well, they feel like they’re being duped, or you’re trying to hide something.

Brad Leavitt:

Exactly.

Paul Wurth:

And you said earlier, communication’s key.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Just better communication with your customers, which everybody wants. We want that as customers ourselves. So, it’s like, why not just pass that along? Let’s talk about the International Builders’ Show.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, what do you think so far?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, do you come here often? Is this your first show?

Brad Leavitt:

No, this is our second show. We went to Orlando last year. This one, this one’s been amazing. It’s been a great trip for us.

Tom Houghton:

Good, good.

Paul Wurth:

Do you come here often? That’s what you said.

Tom Houghton:

I did.

Paul Wurth:

That’s quite the line, Tom.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, exactly.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, you come here often? So, anything cool you’ve seen? Any game-changers at all? Besides the obvious RV.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, one thing besides the obvious RV and Buildertrend spot of course, right?

Tom Houghton:

Sure, sure.

Brad Leavitt:

Actually, yeah. Yesterday we were … In some of our high-end custom homes, we’re doing water fountains, drinking fountains. Very common, our clients like that access.

Paul Wurth:

Wait, drinking fountains?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, in the house. Yeah, high-end drinking fountains.

Paul Wurth:

Never heard of that. Never heard of it.

Brad Leavitt:

Think about it. In Arizona where it’s hot, the kids can run in, get a drink out of the drinking fountain, and they don’t need …

Tom Houghton:

They don’t have any glass.

Brad Leavitt:

That way Mom doesn’t have to wash 40 cups all throughout the day.

Paul Wurth:

Like the ones where you put your bottle up there and it just hits?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

I’m into it. I’m into it.

Brad Leavitt:

So, Elkay has it now. They do our drinking fountains, but now they have a wall mount that’s flush. So, it’s in the wall cavity. It’s a bottle dispenser so if the kids are going to school, they can fill up their water bottle. And you don’t have that tacky drinking fountain anymore. So, that’s something we’ll be optimizing and using in our custom homes.

Paul Wurth:

That is wild. I have never heard of that before.

Tom Houghton:

Neither have I. It makes sense, though.

Brad Leavitt:

What, you don’t drink water in Nebraska?

Paul Wurth:

I guess we’re just buried in snow. We’re just buried in snow.

Tom Houghton:

Apparently. Yeah, we just eat the snow.

Brad Leavitt:

Well, think about it. It’s funny, you think about Arizona, it’s a dry climate.

Paul Wurth:

It makes 100% sense.

Brad Leavitt:

And part of the year, six months a year it’s very warm. And so, like my kids, when they’re going to school, they’re filling up their water bottle in the morning. And all the kids at school have bottles of water.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. I literally never thought of it, and it just makes the most sense of all time.

Tom Houghton:

It does.

Brad Leavitt:

So, it’s super convenient. Now they have a wall mount one that’s flush, it’s clean, it’s professional. It looks like a iPad almost but it’s in your wall.

Paul Wurth:

Tom, let’s start a business.

Tom Houghton:

Okay.

Paul Wurth:

Because Nebraska doesn’t know about it.

Tom Houghton:

It’s true.

Paul Wurth:

It’s all new, all new to us.

Tom Houghton:

All new, water. Oh yeah. Let’s talk tech on that a little bit. What’s the kind of maintenance?

Paul Wurth:

Tech talk with Tom.

Brad Leavitt:

Not much.

Tom Houghton:

No?

Brad Leavitt:

You have your water line coming in, maybe a drain and electricity and that’s it. It’s pretty no-brainer.

Paul Wurth:

So, it’s in between the two-by-fours and you just …

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. So, in between the two-by-fours, you put the fountain, and then you just put the backing. Then you have the trim on and it’s clean. It’s just a clean wall mount.

Paul Wurth:

And where typically are they putting that, front door, back door, kitchen?

Brad Leavitt:

So, they’ll put it off the kitchen around. So, you don’t see it in your main kitchen great room. But typically, a lot of our homes they’ll have a teen room or …

Paul Wurth:

A teen room?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. A teen room they call it, right?

Paul Wurth:

Another concept I’m not okay with.

Brad Leavitt:

Another concept. Welcome to Arizona.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly.

Paul Wurth:

We had teen hotlines.

Brad Leavitt:

So, now it’s changed from teen lines to teen rooms where you sit there and just text each other as you’re looking at each other.

Tom Houghton:

Right, exactly.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. What happens … I don’t want to know what happens in a teen room actually. Nevermind. Nevermind.

Brad Leavitt:

We have areas around the home we’ll tuck it around. It’s indoor outdoor living. So, we put in the big multi sliders, right?

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, love those.

Brad Leavitt:

Big, covered patios. So, sometimes you’ll have it right on the exterior, and it’s refrigerated, and you’ll have it under the covered patio. So, that’s a great place to put that.

Paul Wurth:

I want one of those in my house yesterday.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly. My mind is blown.

Paul Wurth:

I’m seriously mind blown. It’s one of those things you’re like, oh yeah. Yep.

Tom Houghton:

Yep. Definitely need that. Interesting.

Paul Wurth:

At one point it’ll be like in 10 years, you’ll have retro ones. The old …

Tom Houghton:

So, I guess too then, in the kitchen they’re not doing a traditional refrigerator with the actual filler there?

Brad Leavitt:

No, because they don’t want that tacky filler in there, right?

Tom Houghton:

Right. So, it’s flush, clean lines.

Brad Leavitt:

So, it’s a flush, clean stainless or a cabinet panel.

Paul Wurth:

Are people doing glass because I’ve always wanted to do that? You got to keep your fridge tidy.

Brad Leavitt:

It looks cool, but here’s the problem. If your kitchen’s not perfectly organized and clean, it just looks bad.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. Not a good look.

Brad Leavitt:

It looks great in the showroom where you just have some bottles, but real life it doesn’t work.

Paul Wurth:

But real life, we’re all messy.

Brad Leavitt:

But some of the real high-end refrigerators that we do, they’re inside. So, they’re never on the exterior, but as you open them, they’re in the door on the inside water dispenser or ice. So, that’s where they’ll do that because in the homes we’re doing, it’s going to be a nice clean front, whether it’s stainless or cabinetry.

Paul Wurth:

Who’s the manufacturer you said that does that?

Brad Leavitt:

Elkay.

Tom Houghton:

Elkay.

Brad Leavitt:

E-L-K-A-Y, yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Shownotes.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Check out the show notes for that.

Paul Wurth:

We’ll get the plug, it’s cool.

Tom Houghton:

Or just walk by your local …

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. We met with them the first day.

Tom Houghton:

Drinking fountain.

Paul Wurth:

Or just leave Nebraska, and you probably already know about it.

Brad Leavitt:

They’re the biggest manufacturer of drinking fountains.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. They’re everywhere.

Brad Leavitt:

They do sinks.

Paul Wurth:

You’re acting like you know this.

Tom Houghton:

Of course, I know this.

Brad Leavitt:

He’s a pro. Tom does his research.

Paul Wurth:

Of course he knows this.

Tom Houghton:

I hydrate. You got to stay hydrated.

Brad Leavitt:

He’s not memorizing baseball stats all day.

Paul Wurth:

I guess that’s what you were doing.

Tom Houghton:

I was hydrating. Okay. You blew our minds with the drinking fountain. There’s got to be someone else too. What else are you hiding from us?

Brad Leavitt:

Well, we were just actually at the Phase app around the corner. So, Phase, we use them to document too, which is kind of nice. And nowc, they have a configuration hookup to our drone. We do a lot of drone footage.

Tom Houghton:

Nice.

Brad Leavitt:

To take a time-lapse of the project.

Paul Wurth:

Tom’s a big drone guy.

Tom Houghton:

Big drone guy.

Brad Leavitt:

So, drones, time-lapse and …

Paul Wurth:

You did that in Arizona?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Which company was that? What client was that?

Tom Houghton:

Camelot Homes.

Paul Wurth:

Camelot Homes.

Brad Leavitt:

Oh yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Do you know them?

Brad Leavitt:

I do.

Paul Wurth:

You did some drone work.

Tom Houghton:

We did some drone work out there with them. Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Big drone guy.

Brad Leavitt:

That’s awesome. It’s a beautiful area.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, we love our drones. They’re great content. Honestly, when you pull up …

Brad Leavitt:

And people love that, the customers. That’s another thing for social media we’ll use, and it really takes off. People love to see that view from up above.

Paul Wurth:

Absolutely.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. It beats the view for Nebraska, too. There’s actually mountains …

Brad Leavitt:

And hillsides, and cacti and …

Paul Wurth:

We’re being a little hard on Nebraska right now.

Tom Houghton:

Well, you know.

Paul Wurth:

There’s good things.

Tom Houghton:

It’s because it’s winter. Tune back in into our summer podcast where we’re raving about Nebraska.

Paul Wurth:

Winter came, and it’s not great.

Tom Houghton:

It’s not.

Paul Wurth:

We’re mid-polar vortex, and we’re not happy about it.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, polar vortex. I did go on a golf trip this summer to Mullen, Nebraska.

Paul Wurth:

You did?

Tom Houghton:

What?

Brad Leavitt:

I did. Yeah. And almost hit some cattle as we’re trying to get to the golf course, get all the cattle that are sitting in the middle of the road. So, welcome to Mullen, Nebraska.

Tom Houghton:

There you go.

Paul Wurth:

You just confirmed every single stereotype of Nebraska unfortunately.

Tom Houghton:

It’s true. Yep.

Paul Wurth:

What course was that?

Brad Leavitt:

It’s Dismal River.

Paul Wurth:

Dismal River, sure.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. Private course. A buddy of mine, he’s a big golfer, and he wanted a golf trip there. So, it was great.

Paul Wurth:

Oh yeah. We’re familiar. It’s great.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s an amazing course.

Tom Houghton:

Let’s talk about … So, we talked about tech.

Paul Wurth:

Tech talk with Tom is done.

Tom Houghton:

That wraps up our segment on tech talk with Tom. We talked about the Builders’ Show. So, this is really interesting. You’re a different niche of user of Buildertrend. You’re doing residential and commercial all inside the platform.

Brad Leavitt:

We are.

Tom Houghton:

Let’s talk about that decision, I guess how you use it, what the benefit is. Obviously, you’re keeping everything in one place still.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. So, we started out with residential. And it was just a great system for us as we’re, as I mentioned, that we’re tracking our scheduling, and our daily logs and information and communication with our trades, punch lists, taking pictures, highlighting things, send it to them and realized it’s perfect for our commercial. So, it hasn’t given us any pushback.

Paul Wurth:

Same thing.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. It’s no different on any of our commercial projects, and my superintendents that are running the brewery or the restaurant, or we’re going to be doing a big facelift on a commercial development, and then doing some ground-up development here in April. And we’ll be using that same system for scheduling and even can create an owner portal for our clients on the commercial side.

Paul Wurth:

Right. And we’ve layered on an RFI feature, which is big in the commercial world.

Brad Leavitt:

Yep, absolutely. A lot of RFIs in commercial.

Paul Wurth:

Dan Houghton, co-founder of Buildertrend just jumped in.

Dan Houghton:

I got to ask this question. Talk to us about the differences between a customer on a commercial job versus a residential job.

Brad Leavitt:

That’s a great question. And I’m often asked by a lot of my peers, do you like residential more or commercial? And it’s so different. On the custom side, you’re dealing with a client that’s very passionate, right? They’re spending a lot of money.

Paul Wurth:

It’s personal.

Brad Leavitt:

It’s personal. They’re taking a lot more decision time when they’re picking their tile, and grout, and paint colors, so that’s a very emotional decision for them. And it’s just a little bit more hands on approach. Whereas commercial, even our clients, were doing higher end commercial. So, it is important to them the quality and detail, which we perform, but for them it’s a dollar thing, right? They have a certain amount that they want to spend on their business or a project, and we have to hit that. And even more importantly, the timeframe. So, the client’s not as emotional.

Paul Wurth:

It’s more transactional.

Brad Leavitt:

And not in a bad way. I don’t use the term emotional in a bad way. It’s just they’re more concerned about the big picture and getting what we need to be done in that price range at a certain time, so that they can have their business open and running. And so, you just have to understand our communication, our style is a lot different with each of those forums because it’s a very different approach.

Dan Houghton:

And how many commercial projects are you doing?

Brad Leavitt:

So, we just finished two, and we’re going to be starting two big ones. One’s going to be, as I mentioned, a commercial facelift. So, it’s a shopping center. It’s a Southwest adobe style that we’re going to be converting into very modern, sleek exterior. And it’s changing the entire facade on all these retail shops, the grocery store, the gym. Everything’s going to change in the entire development. And then we’re going to be doing raw acres, eight acres of raw dirt that we’re going to be doing the horizontals and vertical building, retail space, restaurants. And so, it’s going to be a corner development at a busy intersection in Chandler, Arizona.

Paul Wurth:

Did you make a decision to go after commercial projects at one point in your career or is this always just been what AFT does?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. So, quick background. I grew up in San Diego. I grew up as an electrician in the trades, went to school, graduated construction management, and then moved to Phoenix. And I worked for a builder, and we did commercial and residential. So, we had that experience and had worked on medical. We had done some ambulatory centers. We had built a $300 million hotel and resort there in Phoenix and worked on the custom homes. And so, we were able to get a vast array of experience. So, when I started our company at the end of 2011, we had lived through the recession. So, I wanted to make sure that we were diversified commercial, residential, that way … The economy ebbs and flows, so we have to target that and always be prepared for what’s next.

Paul Wurth:

Common thing from our very, very good clients. They diversify.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, you got it.

Paul Wurth:

Because you’re not locked into one thing and one economy because if that tanks …

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. That ship has sailed, too. Everything’s fluctuating all the time.

Paul Wurth:

But you made it seem really simple because it’s the same process, right? We need processes. We need accountability. We need to track it. But I bet many contractors are intimidated to get into the commercial world.

Brad Leavitt:

For sure. Well, there’s a different technical side of it. We have different trades that work in both, different companies. It’s a different set of building standards and specs, and you’re doing a restaurant you’re doing with the health inspector now, not just a city inspector, you have that, too. But you’re dealing with the fire chief because now the fire chief … And you’re dealing with …

Paul Wurth:

Occupancy.

Brad Leavitt:

Occupancy and fire alarms. And so, there’s a lot of things that you’re going to deal with on the commercial side, you would not deal with on the residential. So, you do have to have a little bit of that understanding and experience, and then have the contacts and resources to schedule and purchase and do all the things to go into it.

Paul Wurth:

So, we just said that it’s important for a company to diversify, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

So, what would your advice be to somebody who goes, yeah, that makes sense to me. I’m doing residential right now. How would I even take my first step as a business into commercial world?

Brad Leavitt:

Well, I think whether it be continuing education or …

Paul Wurth:

Probably start there.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. Start there. If you have any peers that are building commercial, maybe shadow them, learn from them, ask them, consult them. Maybe do a joint venture with them where you’re working together. And so, there’s a few different ways and it really depends your appetite and how you want to direct your business.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. What’s the climate like in Phoenix as relates to your companies sharing knowledge with each other? Is it very competitive like, we don’t want to do that? Or is it a little bit more communal?

Brad Leavitt:

I found that in the old school network we’ll say, they are very close. They will not share information. But this new school of social media where we relate … Some of the old school companies there in Phoenix, they’re closed book, but the Instagram guys, we’ll network and talk and share stuff. Because even though, there’s enough work for everybody, right? And then nationally, even more so because we’re not even competitors. So, I have found that if you’re on social media, and you make those connections, you’ll have a lot more bandwidth for that consultation, for that communication to understand how to better your business and not feel threatened that someone’s going to steal your knowledge.

Paul Wurth:

But even in that … Matt Risinger, he’s out of Austin, Texas.

Brad Leavitt:

Uh-huh, yeah. Good friends with Matt, yeah.

Paul Wurth:

So, he said that, and I agreed with him, nobody was charging for pre-construction services, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Right.

Paul Wurth:

They were doing bids for free. It took weeks of their time, but essentially him and all of his competitors just said, we’re not going to do that anymore. And they elevated the entire scene. We charge for this stuff, and they all agreed. So, even if you are competitors, you can still get wins out of there by elevating the business, right?

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, and you should. There’s a lot of time that we expend as contractors that I think customers sometimes take advantage. They don’t understand how much work goes into it.

Paul Wurth:

We could do a whole episode on that. That’s crazy.

Brad Leavitt:

No doubt.

Paul Wurth:

But I think everybody’s moving that way. And Matt, he did a whole speech on that and it made sense to me.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah, absolutely.

Tom Houghton:

Brad, I think we’ve talked your voice out of commission there.

Paul Wurth:

Tech talk with Brad and Tom. I’ll keep working on these.

Tom Houghton:

Brad Leavitt from A Finer Touch.

Brad Leavitt:

AFT.

Paul Wurth:

Instagram. I’m going to smash the follow button.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. @Aft_construction on Instagram.

Paul Wurth:

Smash the follow button.

Tom Houghton:

Smash it.

Paul Wurth:

Well, just don’t actually.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, otherwise we’re going to get sent broken phones.

Brad Leavitt:

Smash it with a few other hundred, we’ll take that.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, share with your friends.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Check them out. I’m sure we’ll probably see some of those commercial projects.

Paul Wurth:

You will.

Brad Leavitt:

Follow along. Yeah. Follow us. If you look up all our handles AFT construction, you’ll find us on all the platforms and follow us along.

Tom Houghton:

Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, again, sharing your Buildertrend experience, but also just sharing your industry experience. We really appreciate that.

Paul Wurth:

Appreciate you.

Brad Leavitt:

Yeah. Thanks guys.

Paul Wurth:

All right, man.

Tom Houghton:

All right. Wow. What a great conversation with Brad.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. He was a great guy. Opened up a lot about his business and quite the following on Instagram.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Don’t forget to follow him on Instagram if you’re not following him. And if you have any other questions or want to learn more about our podcast, check out our show notes page at buildertrend.com/podcast. You can learn more about what’s coming up next, more about this podcast. Again, tune in next time for another discussion at the International Builders’ Show with another one of our great clients. And don’t forget to rate the podcast.

Paul Wurth:

Yes. Subscribe, tell all your friends, rate the podcast. If you like it, we’d love to hear that.

Tom Houghton:

Tune in next time for more of “The Building Code.”

Paul Wurth:

A Buildertrend podcast. Appreciate y’all listening.

Brad Leavitt | AFT Construction


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