152. Growing Your Company With Ashley Beckman

This episode of Professional Builder Secrets is brought to you by Apparatus Contractor Services. Apparatus provides full scope, end to end QuickBooks, Precision Construction accounting and CFO services for residential builders. If you feel like you can't completely trust your weekly and monthly financial reports or you feel like you're flying blind, Apparatus Route will rebuild and operate your QuickBooks accounting system and give you precision construction accounting capability you can trust. Learn more@apparatusteam.com or on the APB Rewards Partner Directory.

Any advertising is scary in itself, but I think I've developed that level of trust because I already see what has changed. So that's. It's exciting now to think of, you know, diving into that instead of scary.

Welcome to Professional Builder Secrets, the podcast for building company owners wanting to grow safely and securely. I'm your host, Will Blunt, and today I'm joined by Ashley Beckman from Beckman Construction in Southern Indiana.

Welcome to the show, Ashley.

Hi, Will.

Great to have you on. Really excited to have a chat today. Tell me a bit more about the role you play at Beckman Construction.

Um, well, I would say that I wear a lot of hats, all probably from necessity. Um, my husband Matt is the builder, and I do pretty much everything in the office along with my team. Um, we try to basically put everything together for the field, keep everything going for them.

So I'm interested to hear more about how you met Matt. So you're a husband, wife, team, and. And just before we jumped on air, you were telling me this amazing story about how you guys met and how it all came together. Can you just take me back to that day?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We tell the story pretty lovingly in our family, and I think, little did we know when we met. So Matt had just gotten out of college. It was close to 2008. He got out of college and I was out of college. It was tough to find a job for him and for I. So I took a job at our Home Depot, our local Home Depot. I was a manager in the flooring department. And Matthew came in and was looking at some stuff in the ground aisle. And when. When I approached him, you know, of course I thought he was a cute guy and I had to talk to him. So I think I talked to him for about a half an hour and I don't think he said two words, but he ended up coming back and he asked me out a little later and we say that the rest is history. His friends joke that he. I think that he came back and looked for a tape measure for a week, tried to buy A tape measure for a week until he finally tracked me down. But that's really where we met. And you know, later down the road, after having three kids, we took him back and did some photo ops in the grout aisle to commemorate.

But that's cool.

So that's where it started.

So Matthew is already building at that point, obviously, if he was in the grout aisle at home.

Yeah, he was. His dad is actually a builder for years. He started his company back in the 80s and he, he built residential homes and Matt grew up in that. We're a small community, but he grew up in that world and it just really was all he ever knew. He actually has never worked for anyone else. So he went straight away from college right into working with his dad. And yeah, eventually we bought the business, so.

Okay, that's cool. So when you came into the business, how did that all happen?

Well, so we got married about a year and a half after we met. And so that was back in 2011. And at that time I actually transitioned to a national cabinet builder that's situated in our community. And luckily enough I got to work with national builders that build production builders that build 500 or more homes a year. So. So basically I got to work with purchasing agents and job supers. I got to see scheduling, production, all of that behind the scenes. And it really, I mean, even at that point, I was there for five years. Even at that point, it didn't dawn on me that I would end up working with Matthew. But we ended up having two kids and Matt and his dad were pretty busy in building houses. And he just. I would just see him come home in the evenings. He was doing paperwork. And of course, he's a builder. He, he's a very production mind, you know, a production minded person, very hands on. I'm always pretty fascinated by what he can physically do, but he was coming home and trying to do paperwork in the evenings and on the weekends. It was taking a lot of family time. And for work, I was traveling, going to different service centers in Florida and Georgia, was taking trips, and it was really taxing on our family. So we ended up making the decision that I would just step out of my job with the cabinet company and stay home. And so pretty slowly I kind of just took on a task at a time, got involved. It really started. The first task I remember taking on was payroll, and then secondarily I was doing billing, writing out checks and that kind of thing. And I really had no idea what I was doing. So, you know, in the fourth bedroom of our house. So that's kind of how I got involved, and that was in 2016.

It's really interesting because I know there's a lot of other husband and wife teams out there and many of the wives are probably listening to this show and have gone through somewhat of a similar experience. So it's, it's not, I mean, it's unique to you, but it's interesting. The journey you've gone on and how others could learn from that as well I think is really interesting. So how did you then further understand the value you could add to the business once you started to do a few tasks here and there?

So I would say that almost everything that I've learned has been kind of an unraveling of a thread. You know, there would be just this little piece that didn't make any sense. I remember my husband keeping track of incoming billing on a lined piece of paper and the way that he would do it. If there were any questions, it would be tough to come back and find an answer. So I remember that was one of the first things that I questioned and just said, you know, well, how are you doing this? And, you know, how are you answering? If you had an issue, how are you answering? And he was like, no, I just go back and I just have to remember. So it was all specific to him and what he could do. Um, and when I would pull a thread, I usually found something just a step above, you know, an Excel spreadsheet or something like that. And it would, it would be a solution and we would just kind of build on that and just one thing after the next, you know, you just, you start asking more and more complicated questions and pulling bigger threads. And yeah, before you know it, you kind of have almost like baby processes in place. You know, kind of start to see it come together.

Was it ever challenging to change the way Matthew was doing things?

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, it was incredibly challenging. And I would say that it wasn't just Matthew, it was his dad. His, his dad is a very, he was a very good builder, very strong minded. And he, he grew a construction company in an era when he had to do everything. And, but it was, it wasn't uncommon in that era for, for a person to be expected to hang Sheetrock and do brick, you know, to, to also be able to handle masonry and trim, carpentry, your framer and a trim carpenter. And there was just a way of doing things. And it, and it all worked. And it worked well, you know, in that generation. And as expectations have kind of shifted. Uh, I think both Tom and Matthew saw that the times needed to change, but it was a, it was a huge undertaking for them to do it on their own when they were trying to keep a production schedule and keep trades lined up and all of that. And just that office support, you know, for them to have to do that as well was just. It was too big of an ask I think.

Yeah, it's crazy to think if you are building the homes and then you try to do all the back office stuff as well, uh, you must be working crazy hours and just. I can't imagine how you're, you know, getting good enjoyment out of that.

I don't either but I. And we have a lot of friends that build. I mean we have a lot of really talented friends who still do custom home building and I, I do not know how they go home and do the paperwork after work and manage it to that. And it's kind of an expectation I'd say still in our area. So. So I think there are a few builders in our area that are trying to overcome that thinking and create a well rounded product where you know, the expectation is that there is someone managing the entire project for you, you know, not just building the house for you.

Yeah, exactly. What kind of changes have you made that you feel like have had the biggest impact on the company? Well, maybe the biggest impact.

The biggest impactor that Matthew would say. I think Matthew's also, he's a tougher sell than I. I think that I probably celebrate the little wins a lot. Something that was a big pain point. You know, sometimes it's as little as like getting your scanner to work on your computer because you don't have a tech department. You know, some little things like that. But some of the big programs I would say that we have initiated. One would be our technology piece, initiating builder trend and getting that to work for us. That's been just fantastic and huge. Another would be the design process. Seeing that the client really needed to be able to feel like the project, that the project was well designed and well planned and that we would hit the budget. So all of the little pieces behind the scenes we've really tried to paint the process picture for the client of, you know, this is where you come in and this is how the process will flow through for you. Um, so. And that's, that's been something I think in the last year we really hit hard. Um, so I speak to that right now because it was probably our biggest project too to try to paint that process picture for the client. And Clint, my coach, has really been helping me take that to the next level and kind of think bigger than I was thinking, you know, in presentation and all of that. So that's been one of the biggest things I'd say that's cool.

I want to come back to the design build model in a second because we chatted about that again in our pre interview. But talk to me about buildertrend. When did you implement that and what were you doing before that?

So I'd say we had a false start. So back in. Let me think here. It would probably have been around 2018. I started using BuilderTrend in the office to try to manage things, and what I found was it really pointed to places in the business that I didn't even have, like, cost codes. I didn't have cost codes. And I'm like, well, what's a cost code? How do I set up a cost code? You know, and through exploration, that was a piece that, you know, I got to. To put together. But it took, I would say, from that point until now to feel like we were, I would say now, 75% of the way using Buildertrend. But Buildertrend was also the first step, I think, into becoming a really professional building company, you know, where we were really trying to launch forward and say we are investing in tools that are gonna help our client navigate this world. So that was a really, excuse me, a huge step for us. And I don't even. Like I said, I don't think that we're fully using the program. We don't have the schedule loaded at this point, so that'll be something that we tackle next there.

But that's a long journey. 2018 you started, and we're in 2024 now. And you feel like you're only at 75% integration. I mean, does that speak to the complexity of the tool or just, you know, the broadness of its features, or what do you think it is?

I think that it's always easy in concept to say, Let me see if I can think of an example to say. Like the cost codes, for instance, when. When you're onboarding with BuilderTrend, the thought is, well, just, you know, go ahead and put your cost codes in. Well, I've got to stop and I've got to go figure out cost codes, and I've got to try to sync that up with my accounting codes, and I've got to figure out how to get it uploaded. You know, it. Nothing was ever as simple as just, voila, here it Is, you know, so I think every time what buildertrend really did for me was show me what other builders were doing. If there was a format and a template for it, then that really pointed to me that it was something that could be utilized in our business. So if I didn't have a process for it, it could become something or like the estimating tool. I had my own process for estimating, but when we launched with buildertrend, I adapted to use buildertrend's tool because I knew it was, you know, part of a bigger process and it was the smart way to go. So.

And overall, would you say you've seen, what benefits have you seen of implementing the software?

I think in our area, it's definitely one of those things that when you say you can have an app on your phone to see all your selections and manage your contracts and we'll communicate within this program and when invoicing begins, it will live here. It, it's amazing the look that people get because they just don't expect it, you know. And I think that something to point out too is that we're building homes that are between 5,500,000 and a million dollars. So at that price point, I think it's, it can be kind of surprising. I think, you know, I'm sure that you get to a $3 million home and it, it's probably an expectation, but yeah, it's a surprise to our clients. I think that we're using it.

Yes.

I guess what you're saying is it's just improved the client experience, which has flow on effects to the type of clients you can work with, et cetera.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well said.

You spoke about the design process. I'm interested to hear more about that and why you've chosen a design build business model.

Yeah, so Matthew actually likes design and he kind of worked with a few people to draw their houses early on when the business was smaller. And actually a little later I kind of wanted to put the kibosh on the design because I just thought that the complexity, I saw it as a bottleneck and I couldn't see how we were going to bring a designer on and make that work. So I went back to him and said, I think either we need to hire someone professionally to come and design, we need to outsource it, or we just need to take that off the table and just kind of go back to the old method. And he really, I think he kind of, he dug his heels in and we launched forward with an in house designer. And I think the thing that made the big difference there that, that we really pushed forward with that the design build piece was the control that we had that I don't think we would have when someone brings us a plan set. Because that still happens. You know, people go work with an architect or designer before they get to us and, and they'll bring us a plan set and inevitably the project's upside down. The budget, you know, they've topped their budget and when we tell them, well, we can do some in house design, they kind of regret going the way that they did. So we've really found it to be a fantastic solution for clients because we have also the versatility to make, you know, if we run into budget constraints, we can make changes ourselves that are not going back and making costly changes with an architect. And so, yeah, we found that to be a pretty fantastic tool for our business. It's been the way to go.

Yeah, it can be quite deflating. I think as a home builder when you go and get this beautiful home design thinking it fits within your budget and it just, it's nowhere near it, right?

Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. I think as a home builder it's really tough because you come up with that emotional response too where you're disappointing people and you just really feel, you know, they bring you a plan and they, you know, my budget's 7:50 and they have a million dollar home drawn and that's, that's deflating for everybody. And we don't want to disappoint the client just as much as they don't want to be disappointed.

So you said you build homes between 500 to a million, 500,000 to a million dollars.

How did you, how much do you.

Understand about the type of client you.

Want to work with?

We, we kind of cemented that. I would say with apb. When I started talking to Clint, in my mind, we, before we came in, we were looking at that second or third time move up client in their 30s, 40s. But I would say kind of the sweet spot is that retiring couple, especially in this world right now. I feel like really the people who are still building, building are the people with cash. And that's usually that, you know, that, that client that's a little further on in their career or getting ready to retire. So, um, yeah, and Clint really helped walk through that, that, you know, we're really seeking that specific type of client and we, you know, we want to vet that it up front and qualify that person and make sure that we're a good fit for them and that seems to be the. That seems to be the one that we can suit and service the best, you know.

Interesting.

Are they good to work with as well, the retirees or.

Yeah, depending on the stage of life. It's funny. Right now we're building a house, two houses for two people that are moving into our area. And so buildertrend was huge for. Because they have that remote access.

Okay.

And they're all selling their. Both of them are selling their homes, and it's a huge transition for them. But in that. With that client, I think their expectation is of a professional building company, especially they're coming from another area where they've built with other builders, and they have. I think they have more discerning taste. You know, they want that professional touch, which is what we want, too. So. Yeah.

Makes sense. You mentioned Clint a couple of times. For those out there that don't know who you're talking about, it's Clint Best, who is an executive coach at apb, the association of Professional Builders. I'm guessing you didn't just dive in and start working with Clint from day one. How did that journey happen? How did you end up getting into a coaching relationship with Clint?

I think it. Actually, it was pretty early on. So when I found apb, I had already been in several programs, other programs that were not specific to the building industry, and I was really actively searching for some assistance and really wanting to push past what I could do on my own because I. Well, since 2016, had been trying to navigate, you know, processes and improvement behind the scenes. And I just got kind of tired of navigating it by myself. And the people that I would reach out to and get some help with, they were. They were fantastic. I loved the people that I got to work with. But when I. When I signed up for apb, so I first signed up for just the membership, and I started dabbling in the training, and I was like, wow, it blew me away. This is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted information that was specific to. To what we are doing right now. And I had a meeting with Clint, and I just remember thinking it. I joke with Clint. It's like jumping on a moving merry go round. I was like, am I ready? You know, am I ready to do this? And I just. I really felt like talking to Clint. He understood what we were trying to do, and I just felt like he could better guide me than I could guide myself. And I didn't want to spend another year spinning my wheels. And I still feel like the first few months I was my own worst enemy. But he stuck with me and walked me through that, you know.

And what kind of things have you started implementing? Like what were the top priorities for you?

Believe it or not. And I'm sure other people don't struggle with this to the degree that I do, but I really had a hang up in the beginning working with Clint on navigating the client experience. I just felt like I was so worried to disappoint them. And I think he spent the first, I don't know, four months. Every time we would meet, he would kind of go over that with me and help me try to get my head on straight and just feel confident with that, you know, all the while in the background, I'd say the things that kind of took the back seat. It was really more the, the financial bit. All the while, we're trying to get the WIPA under control. We're trying to fill out all that financial data and tracking through that. We also have been working on our conceptual agreement. It took him some time to help me navigate that and feel like I had a handle on that, but we've got that and we're getting ready to start launch into marketing, which I'm excited about. I know that's near and dear to you, so I don't know much about that. So it'll be fun to do that.

Yeah, we can't go down that rabbit hole. I told you, I end up talking forever if we talk about marketing.

So I'm interested to hear all about that when we get to it because we're pretty close to that. No marketing at all. So it'll be nice to, to dive into that when we get there.

How are you getting here? I go on my rabbit hole.

How are you getting leads at the.

Moment then, if you're not marketing?

Well, someone once told me that word of mouth wasn't marketing at all. When, if you answer that way. So I won't answer that way. We do. We're active on social media and we do some Facebook ads, but it's very, very half hearted. Yeah, we're not, we're not doing anything in our community. We're not, you know, billboard billboards or anything like that.

When you're having a coaching session with Clint, is it just you and him? One of mine is Matthew come along.

As well, or Matthew.

No, he doesn't, he doesn't want. He really doesn't want to have a part of it. And I think that's just something that we've kind of worked out. We dabbled I think in the beginning to see if he would be there. But Matt is really a proof in the pudding kind of guy. He's good with me initiating things, but I've pretty well got it all. I've got to get it all wrapped up and implemented. And then when he sees that there are results, I completely have his buy in. So he's. He's pro me doing this, but yeah, it's kind of my baby.

That's good. That's great to hear.

Yeah.

Actually just diving a bit deeper on some of the things you do within the APB community. The reason I reached out to you initially for to come on the show was I saw you very active in our private members Facebook group. What kind of benefits do you get out of that?

Well, I was part of another group. Like I mentioned, I had sought business coaching and I would say it was somewhat of a similar format. You actually, you had some, you had some group involvement in Facebook, but I was in the group with photographers and recycling companies and roofers. And I would try to glean as much information as I could, but I really never felt like I could rub elbows with people who were doing what I was doing. And also sharing with people who maybe need some guidance and something that I've already learned. But also I'm looking to that we're doing around 3 million a year. I want to get to that 5 million mark. How did that 5 million. The person who's doing 5 million or 10 million, how did they get there? What did they do differently? And I feel like in the Facebook page, it's direct access to exactly what I wanted. So I try to stay active and I, you know, I really enjoy it.

No, that's good. I always love. Yeah, I always love your input because it just keeps the community active. And I think it's a great point as well. People are always at a different point in their journey and a lot of times they need to remind the builders that come on the show that there's someone else. That's not where you've got to yet. And they can learn a lot from your journey. And in the same respect, you know, to your point, there's, there's builders that are further along the journey as well and you can learn a lot from them. So that's, that's the great thing about the community, I think.

Yeah. And I love that I have access to people in, you know, on another continent. I love that I have access to people three states away. And it's, it's kind of funny. I Think that was probably 50% of what. Of what was driving me to seek a program like this. Because I just, you know, there's nobody in our local community that's willing to share to the degree that I'm looking for. And I've tried. You know, we were very active, active in our builders association. Matthew's a director, and I try to have that. That community, but it's tough to get past. You know, people want to know why you're asking and all that. And I definitely feel like there's enough to go around. But, you know, when I'm talking to someone, I. There are just things that I've learned talking to other people who, you know, there are people I've talked to that are doing spec homes, and we've talked about that and they have told us, you know, no, if you're already doing custom, don't go to spec, you know, stay. So it's just little tidbits that, you know, may prevent us from going down a path that we would have regretted anyway. So just. I can't get enough of it.

That's good to hear. Good to hear. Well, we love having you as a part of it.

They go, what's. What's next?

What have you got planned over the next 12 months?

I would say I had mentioned in the next six months, we're really hoping to tackle marketing, which I'm super excited and nervous. We're shoring up the design process and trying to make that presentation ready. So we'll wrap that up and then we'll continue with the financial planning and we'll move into the marketing bit, which I have. I really have no idea what's in store there. So I'm excited about that. But I'm also really hoping that in the next 12 months I can look back and say, this is exactly what we did. And that's. That's the difference between. This time. Last year, I didn't really have a roadmap and now I do. So, you know, excited to see where that goes.

Yeah, I'm excited to see this marketing journey you go on.

Yeah. Yeah, I am, too. Really excited.

Yeah. It is quite scary, though. I can understand why you'd be apprehensive if you haven't spent a lot of marketing before. It's a challenging one to wrap their head around, and the benefits can take a while to unfold, but really, really worthwhile in the end if you can get it right.

Yeah. And I feel like I've got the trust now with that. That going into it. You have some apprehension when you're seeing, well, you need to invest this much money in your advertising, and going from no advertising to any advertising is scary in itself. But I think I've developed that level of trust because I already see what has changed. So that's, it's exciting now to think of, you know, diving into that instead of scary.

Yeah, that's good.

Yeah.

Well, Ashley, thanks so much for coming on the show today. I've loved hearing your story and all the awesome work you're doing at Beckman Construction. So thanks for coming on.

Yeah. Thank you for your. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Yeah, of course.

Also, a big thank you to our.

Listeners wherever you are in the world.

If you like the show today, please subscribe to Professional Builder Secrets on your platform of choice. And if you're feeling generous, leave us a review. But until next time, have a great day. This episode of Professional Builder Secrets is brought to you by Apparatus Contractor Services. Apparatus provides full scope end to end QuickBooks, Precision Construction accounting and CFO services for residential builders. If you feel like you can't completely trust your weekly and monthly financial reports or you feel like you're flying blind, Apparatus Route will rebuild and operate your QuickBooks accounting system and give you precision construction accounting capability you can trust. Learn more@apparatusteam.com or on the APB Rewards Partner Directory.