Building Moxie (part 3 of a few) - me and the Big Builder

Click here for part 2

May, 2005 – I quit my job and started as a construction manager with a big builder. Sure, it was a little risky. And married to a real estate agent, I certainly wasn’t numb to the idea of the bubble-bursting, new reality that was headed our way.

We (my wife and I) had our second child, Eva, on the way, and we had just completed the purchase of our second property in Lauraville, an 1880’s farmhouse. (It can be categorized as a “fixer upper." LOL.) And . . .

Ok – I wasn’t the Construction Manager for our site; I was one of two assistant construction managers (I did not have experience in this field after all). The way our work duties were divided, more of my responsibilities fell to the finishing and service portions of the construction schedule. To spin it, I was a finish-end construction manager.

Stop here – I definitely have mixed feelings about my time with the big builder. And I am not sure exactly how this will all come out. But . . . I do not think it is wise for me to be overly critical of either the company I worked for, or of any of the people that worked with them. What I have to say, here, probably, is more indicative of the industry as a whole.

Just add water

This organization, a one-time Fortune 500 company, really seemed to have their act together; from the top, almost down to the bottom. They held (and probably still hold) a butt load of land, most of the material for certain building systems was integrated and generated internally, and they had an in-house architectural department putting out simply excellent floor plans.

To the public, to investors, and to prospective employees, this all added up to one hell of a bulletproof operation. They were leaders in what I like to call instant community. (Just add water and it grows.) The site at which I worked, to put it one way – was choice. It was choice Baltimore County property, a perfect location for a Luxury home line.

Building on paper (aka the formula)

I don’t want to get hung up here too much. They did what they do well. (And I did have enough experience to fit nicely into their system.) They were/are “production home builders” and that’s what they did: they produced houses. How/why would I have thought that that was anything less than the ultimate goal – I don’t know?

I guess, I did have a few preconceived expectations. No, I never thought that I was going to swing a hammer. Did I think I would learn the nitty gritty of how home systems actually work, and why things are done they way they are done? Yes, Yes I did – and I did learn a little bit about this and that. Did I think I was going to learn how to build a house? Yes, I did, and I did – just not in the manner that I expected.

You see, within the formula of production home building, clients pick their home site, a house style they like, and fill in the myriads of selections in a blitzkrieg of meetings that ultimately ensue.

My immediate boss, who I count as a friend and a mentor, did an excellent job of working with – to be fair, even if you read this, a “hard to please” clientele. Generally, the whole process (at least in this organization) was guided by top notch professionals.

With all these systems in place, you might think, the houses could build themselves

Quite frankly, this was a very stressful job. (And I think everyone that encountered me in that period of my life probably knew.) Did I like it? Yes; was it stressful? Yes; was I good at it? Well, maybe not. And I guess it was all in the management of things; Am I good at managing stress? Sometimes, No.

And sure on paper, you knew the selections, usually you knew what and how everything was going in – on what schedule. (This too comes from a guy who had spent some years managing “paper.”) But maybe the problem (at least for me) was the disconnect -- I mean, the communication tools were there, even service requests. This is a good way to be; I am in fact an advocate of getting things, and seeing things, in writing.

But I ask, does everything in construction actually happen as planned, as it is laid out on paper? What do you think? Paper doesn’t build houses, and paper doesn’t make new homeowners happy, people, and the things they do, do. (I said do do.)

And in lies another point at which I begin Building Moxie.

Laid out and laid off

I mean – you think I was in grade school again, not building million dollar houses. He said, she said (as much from the organization) – like you wouldn’t believe. And when push comes to shove, it really is the money that makes things happen. Again, I try to resist the urge of hammering any individuals; we all have our own stresses, strains, and others to answer to.

I really wasn’t that surprised when I got the word the day after Labor Day, 2006. Yes, I got laid off. Was it performance-related? Maybe, I kinda sucked. I was a little too soft with sub-contractors, and found that way too often (in a business sense) I sided with homeowners despite documented procedure.

I mean, I took it as a relief. It meant I could pursue other things; not least of all – working on our newly acquired fixer upper. Of course, I had thought about it previously, and as any good cast off construction manager, I thought to myself, "This might be my opportunity to pursue a business as a home improvement contractor."

My wife, however, was not so optimistic.

More Building Moxie soon. Thanks for reading.
Click here for part 4

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More Moxie:

I actually grew up in Perry Hall; Baltimore County, MD: http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/