Brady Johanson from Brady Colt Custom Homes

Brady Johanson is the founder of Brady Colt Custom Homes. Brady Sits on the Board of directors and is also significantly involved in the Young Professional Leadership Committee where the young professionals of the industry combine their resources to help and aid local San Antonio charities. He is definitely a leader in the industry and it’s exciting to watch him and his business grow.

Here are some notes from this episode:

We started off talking about IBS/KBIS:

Go the to the International Builder’s Show with an agenda.
Go to social meetups
Attend the classes and learn

Brady says that he is glad he has a degree to fall back on. Early on in his career he got burned out doing commercial construction. So, he started a concrete company. He had 3 partners. Eventually the company fell through, and Brady went on his own.

He started a custom home building company. When just getting started he was turned down by 18 banks on his first spec house. But he pressed through and his business took off.

The transition from commercial construction to custom residential is hard. Why? Because in commercial EVERYTHING is spelled out exactly how it is to be done. Down to the very last minute detail. But in residential construction there is more “gray area” that isn’t specified in the plans. Here are some tips:

Create mockups
Get sign offs
Constantly tweak your specifications

When asked to what Brady contributes his success, he replied:

Got lucky
Being able to take advantage of situations that present themselves in front of him
Being open minded

Here are the core values of Brady Colt Custom Homes:

Be professional
Bid presentation
What we wear
The way we speak to people
Clean jobsites
Job site signage
Be on time
Answer your phone

Make time management a priority.

Set your parameters with your clients concerning your family and the time you spend with them.
Get up early and get stuff done while it’s quiet.
Office hours are from 8-10am
Time in the field for 3-4 hours
Then back to the office to finish out the day.

As far as technology goes, Brady likes to use these apps:

Bluebeam software (PDF reader)
OneDrive
Upwork – to outsource any computing work like, virtual staging, logo design, or marketing videos.

For marketing here is Brady’s advice:

Use Instagram
Network, and be out there in your community
Have a good website

Books:

Peaks and Valleys
NUTS (founder of Southwest Airlines)
Let my people go surfing
Shoe dog (Nike story)

If you are just starting out, here is Brady’s advice:

Join your local Home Builder’s Association. Ask for help from other people in the industry. Focus on educating yourself and continuing to grow. Get involved as you can.

Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share this podcast with others.

Thanks,
Martin Holsinger, show host