This week’s episode of The Benefit of Hindsight is going to take us to Lee’s Summit, Missouri to speak to Richard Smith, owner of Lee’s Summit Builders and BRS Construction. Rich, now mostly retired, has been a small business owner for most of his life. He started working at his father’s lumberyard during his childhood and ended up purchasing the business from his father at the age of 27. In order to get more business running through the lumberyard, he decided to start a small construction company. Before too long, he was so busy building that it was his full-time job.
Throughout a lifetime of construction, Rich has more stories than we could possibly get through in one setting, but some of the highlights include why he switched from residential construction to commercial construction, why he pays his people more than anyone else, and what he had to do when he broke his back and was no longer able to do the do the physical labor of construction. When life throws you a curveball, you have to be able to adjust and Rich made an incredible adjustment by going to work as a project manager and within two years had been promoted to the Sr. Vice President and General Manager for the entire Kansas City market. He goes on to talk about how he delved into developing a residential development from a piece of farm land and how being debt free during the recession saved him from going out of business when every other developer in town was struggling.
A few lessons to take from Rich’s success:
1. Plan the day ahead of time- Rich plans his day out the night before so there is never a question of what he will accomplish the next day and he can hit the ground running in the morning.
2. Get started early- Rich tries to get the majority of his work done before noon so that he knows he will have a profitable day. He was often the first one in the office in the morning so he could get everything ready for the day.
3. Pay your people well and keep them busy. Rich was lucky enough to work with the same crew throughout his career and his people were committed to him because he paid them what they were worth. Make sure you listen to the story of when a union representative tried to get his crew to unionize.
