From Marine Veteran To Design-Build Builder In Chattanooga with Sean McNamara, Sol Terra Construction, LLC

0:00Sean McNamara:Welcome to Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners. Every week, we sit down with business owners, founders, and leaders to uncover the real stories behind building a successful business. The wins, the setbacks, the lessons learned, and the strategies that help them grow. No scripts, no fluff, just honest conversations with entrepreneurs who are in the trenches every single day. Whether you are a business owner yourself, thinking about starting a business, or simply enjoy hearing how successful people think and operate, you are in the right place. Let's jump into today's episode, shall we?

0:57Sean McNamara:Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Sean McNamara with Solterra Construction LLC. Sean, thanks for being here. How are you doing today? I'm great. Thanks for having me. It's a beautiful Chattanooga day here and all is well. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful spring day. So, yeah, excited to have you on. Let's go ahead and jump right into things. So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who are you, Sean McNamara?

1:31Sean McNamara:And what is Solterra Construction? Yeah, I my name is Sean. I'm a United States Marine Corps veteran, father of two general contractor, focusing mostly on residential remodels and small construction. I've got a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Oregon that I kind of fold into my business as a sort of design aspect of that. But and yeah, I've been in business for, well, general contracting for a little under six months now. I've been in construction for about five plus years. It's always sort of handy before that, like building things, designing things. And that's kind of what led me led me on the path.

2:12I am now did a few other kind of subcontracting and independent work things before that. So I've been kind of tiptoeing my way into having my own business. And now I'm just in a full on sprint. Okay.

2:24Sean McNamara:Okay. So, so Sean, real talk, what's, what's something about running a business that people think is amazing, but it actually is complete BS. I think, you know, in some ways, the kind of myth of flexibility and freedom, you know, you, you quit, you quit one boss just to take on a hundred and everybody else has, everybody, you know, you, you serve all of your clients, they have their kind of particular needs and quirks and foibles to figure out, you know, so there's a whole lot of, a whole lot of kind of soft skills in addition to, you know, the hard skills of whatever service you might be providing that you need to navigate as well.

3:00You know, sometimes you might, you know, be playing, you know, mediator in a sort of a marriage counseling role, trying to help a husband and wife decide a disagreement on a project or something. And, you know, having your being able to set your own schedule is both liberating and constraining at the same time, because, you know, It's not a regular 40 hours. You take off when you want in theory, but sometimes that's not a good time to do so. And you find yourself often fielding phone calls and text messages at times you wouldn't want to. So I'd say that's been one of the biggest challenges so far.

3:38Sean McNamara:So what would you say is the exact moment where you realize this either could really work or it can completely blow up in my face? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it's kind of been a slow burn for many years. You know, my time in the Marines taught me that I really didn't like being kind of micromanaged as a person. And, you know, always kind of knew I wanted to own my own business someday. Didn't really know exactly what at the time. Left service. I really fell in love with my travel overseas with architecture and building design and construction and things. So I went to school, studied architecture, and decided that after a short stint working in an architecture office after graduation, that it wasn't a good fit.

4:28That's kind of a funny story in its own right. But I was working. I decided to kind of move over into building things, got into carpentry, and I did that for a few years. But the pivotal moment happened last year. In fact, last Easter, I broke my wrist and was out of work for several months and thought, wow, this is this is a real wake up call. You know, I got mouths to feed and, you know, I can't clearly can't rely on my own two hands indefinitely, you know, for good. But at some point I'll grow older and just not be able to, you know, lift piles of wood anymore and swing a hammer. But, you know, even in the intermediate time frame, you know, an injury can put me put me down for a while.

5:10So it's kind of during that time that I decided, you know what, I've been doing this for a while. I've got, you know, knowledge and skills and credentials. Why not just get my general contractor license and really pursue this thing I want to do? And so I did. So late last year, later last year, did all the things, jumped through all the hoops, got my license. And, yeah, I hit the ground running the end of last year, moving into this year. Nice, nice.

5:36Sean McNamara:So what would you say is the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment? Yeah. Cash flow planning has been challenging, you know, in this line of work. You know, it's not like I sell a product, get paid right away. you know it's selling a service and typically it's you know kind of an expensive service and it's a sort of long process service and so you know structuring that in a way where you know I can get paid up front enough to cover materials and and you know cost of things until the project is done but not really getting kind of not really getting paid myself until the back end and you You know, sometimes in construction, oftentimes, really all the time, there's unexpected things, delays, especially when you're doing remodels and you always find surprises there.

6:33That's been one of the one of the biggest kind of like and biggest biggest stressors and hurdles so far. You know, it's getting better now, but but definitely one of the things that I didn't really expect. I mean, I kind of expected it. I just definitely underestimated it. that sort of cashflow planning and project planning aspect. And just, you know, this was, this is a lesson that I've always heard being around design and construction is like whatever, however long you think it's going to take double it or triple it. And sometimes I don't follow, always follow that advice, even though I know it's been proven time and again, and I know better.

7:09But that's been the biggest challenge that, you know, I'm kind of like to get through starting out. Okay.

7:15Sean McNamara:So, you know, if you had to start again from absolute scratch, you know, let's say you had no brand, no clients and no safety net, what would you do differently the second time around? Or would you do anything differently? Yeah, that's a great question. I would recommend anybody starting out, you know, definitely have more money saved up than you think you'll need for sure. definitely last year given the challenges of injury and being out of work for a little bit set me back more than I would have hoped that would be number one however much you think you need save a little more and I think

7:59marketing is important getting the word out is important and so So definitely sort of, you know, my website's not complete yet, but having that kind of ready to go for is helpful. Just kind of give people a landing page, a place to go to, you know, advertising. I wouldn't change this because I'm already doing it, but definitely being a part of some kind of business networking group is very, very helpful because it gives you an opportunity to get exposure to people and a network, you know, and that's the biggest thing. It took me a long time in life to understand the value of the phrase. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

8:36And that's really, really true. You could be the most skilled guy at whatever. But if you don't know how to get the word out and nobody knows what you do and you're not getting your services in front of the right people, then it's all kind of for nothing. You can imagine your great work all day long, but you won't get anywhere.

8:55Sean McNamara:Yeah, no, definitely agree. So marketing, marketing, get that word out there basically, right? Yeah, for sure. For sure. and just be a good person. Don't burn your bridges. Maintain good networks and have more money saved up to what you think you'd need, I would say. Keep things starting out. Have you ever thought about quitting? If so, what stopped you? Sure, yeah. There's definitely days where I'm like, God, what have I got myself into? Why am I subjecting myself to this? Um, you know, uh, there's, there's risks and reward with any path. Um, you know, I, I just, I'm not really cut out for the nine to five, go do what somebody else tells me to do all day, every day, what to wear, where to be, how to act, um, you know, all the things.

9:48Um, and that is, yeah, I just, I never, I, I, I realized at a certain point in life that, you know, time and time and energy are precious. You know, the only two things we really possess in life are our time and our attention. And we can put those towards whatever we choose, you know, making money, spending time with family, you know, studying, doing, recreating, whatever you want to put those things to. But you really fundamentally only have time and attention And you could really kind of put energy in that third category as well. So do I want to put my time and attention and energy into grinding someone else's hay and making someone else very wealthy off my precious life essence?

10:37Or do I want to do that in service for myself and my family and some kind of generational legacy there? And I chose that second category. And so that's what it is for me. The days I think about quitting, I think about, well, do I really want to be chopping and chipping away in the mill or turning the wheel at the grist mill? Or would I rather put my efforts towards something I could grow, something that my kids and grandkids hopefully could be proud of and one day assume potentially? So that's really it. I just think about going, you know, putting on somebody else's T-shirt and being told to show up at a certain time and, you know, being reprimanded by a grown adult, you know, for being five minutes late because I had to drop my kids off at school or something like that.

11:27And just, you know, really not feeling like I'm having ownership over my own life. And that puts me right back in the headspace I need to be to continue on. Yeah, definitely agree.

11:37Sean McNamara:So what would you say is a mistake you made early on that cost you either serious money, time or reputation? Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a good one.

11:50I'm more willing to accept a challenge, I think, than some other people are. I guess entrepreneurs are kind of more risk-tolerant than others for reasons, but I would say even in the field of building things in construction, you still get a lot of guys that are just kind of like, I'm just going to do the bare minimum, and I'm just going to do the bare minimum. what I've been taught. And I don't really, if it's a pain or a hassle, I'm either going to charge an arm and a leg or I'm going to pass it off and say no. I'm more willing to say yes. And so

12:25I guess they kind of get into the nitty gritty. Remodeling a newer home is a lot different than doing remodeling and repairs on like an older home, like let's say a hundred year old home. So I took a job, a friend of a friend, it's kind of just starting out. I was like, okay, yeah, I need a project right now, just any project right now. And it just happened to be probably the most challenging set of circumstances, a hundred year old home with old plaster and laugh walls and bathroom remodel, a new tile and everything ended up trying to get the old tile out and found that there was four inches of poured concrete under the floor that I had to chisel out and just all kinds of little things.

13:07I wouldn't say it really cost me reputational damage, but I would have definitely told the guy with the knowledge I have now that either it's going to cost more or I can't do this right now. Come back when you have more money for this because it was just every little thing opened up like five or six other things. It was a project that went way over timeline and realistically should have gone more over budget than it did. But me being reasonable and wanting to stick to my word, I kind of kept with it. But yeah, that was definitely a project where I wouldn't say that I bit off more than I could chew, but I definitely bit off more than I was expecting.

13:48And like I said, would have set some more realistic expectations with the client, but it still went well. But that was definitely something it's like, man, you could just never really account for everything. And that one really, you know, at the end of it, definitely didn't quite make the money on that, I was hoping. Kind of just broke even. But it was a good lesson to learn. And I'll definitely be more prepared next time.

14:16Sean McNamara:Yeah, yeah. So if someone shadowed you for a full day, what would surprise them most about how you operate? Well, I think that's a really good question. Probably just how many things I'm juggling at once. Timetables, schedules, making sure I have the right material, making sure everything's accounted for, getting things where they need to be, when they need to be there. Coordinating with subs to figure out who's going to do the work or am I going to do the work with my own hands, which is still happening more often than I would like right now. You know, chasing down subs that don't call back, things like that.

15:03Just the constant problem solving. And I would say that that's really kind of the essence of what I do in my work is I'm really just solving problems all day long, different problems, whether I'm hands-on or whether I'm coordinating and planning. I think it's that. Most people go to work and they kind of have an idea of what they're going to do all day. They kind of have their routine set, whether they're medical field and you have your list of patients or you're working in a factory or whatever. You kind of have your schedule and your day kind of set. Me, I really don't. I think that would be surprising and kind of a challenge to many people.

15:45It's just that it's a constant problem solving and many answers to problems sprout a couple more problems from that that need to be solved. That would really, I think, be the most surprising part for most people. It's just how varied my day is and how many things I'm juggling at once. Yeah.

16:04Sean McNamara:Okay. Okay. Let's get into the numbers a little bit. Let's talk numbers without getting too specific. What would you say was the turning point where things started to scale and you started to really see that profitability in your business? Yeah. Figuring out kind of what to say yes to and what to say no to and kind of figuring out, you know, what really, again, that time factor of like, okay, this is what I should be charging versus, you know, maybe this is not what they want to pay, but this is really like kind of a break even point here once everything is factored in. And I kind of assume or understand a little bit more about the risk.

16:44Until you figure that out, I mean, honestly, as a builder, as a contractor in this kind of line of work, you're really trade secret here, kind of just throwing out wild numbers and seeing what sticks sometimes and hoping that you get a bite. But until you kind of figure out like, okay, this is what people are willing to pay for this service or willing to pay for that service in this area or whatever, that can be a real challenge. But that's kind of it. I mean, it's really just kind of figuring out what to say yes to, what to say no to and giving yourself enough cushion and not just being able, being willing to say yes to anything just because like you need to get a job on the calendar, I guess, if I could, if that kind of answers the question.

17:30Sean McNamara:Yeah, yeah, that does. So basically be more selective in what you what you take and what you don't take. Yeah, selective and kind of starting to understand how much certain subs are going to charge, certain subcontractors are going to charge for certain things. You need to know that so that you can give an accurate estimate to the client as well. That's another big thing. Plumbers, for instance, can vary widely. Some will charge your whole arm and leg. Some are pretty reasonable. So kind of understanding like, okay, this person is going to charge this or that person is going to charge that. This is what I'm looking at.

18:01This is my markup. this is what I can present to the client and be able to explain it. Which is another key part of kind of getting a little off the track of the question, but communication is huge. If I could go back and put another point on previous question about what would surprise somebody about my day. I think being able to communicate with a client effectively in a way that kind of doesn't freak them out. You know, if there's changes, if there's updates or whatever. But yeah, understanding those things and being able to get accurate numbers is really what, what hits where the tipping point hits.

18:31And it's like, okay, yeah, I found my stride now. I can, I can kind of do this. Yeah. Yeah.

18:36Sean McNamara:No, yeah. No, communication is huge, man. It's just, you know, I don't understand, you know, we've, we've got more ways to communicate now than ever, but we have, but people communicate, I feel worse or, you know, are less effective than ever. I mean, I've got people, you know, you hire somebody for something, you don't know what time they're coming, what day they're coming. They can't, you know, you don't even have to make a phone call. I mean, we got to, we got text and email. You don't have to pick the phone anymore. You can't even do that. Right. Yeah, and that's like the biggest challenge in the construction field, especially is like subcontractors that don't call back or people that just, they're not reliable.

19:10And, you know, when that happens, you know, once I can forgive, twice is like, okay, I'm taking you out of the Rolodex now, losing your number. Yeah, that's huge. And I think that like just being communicative with clients and potential clients or leads and calling back puts you above 90 to 95 % of them out there because so many of them just won't. And like you said, we have all these apps and platforms, which, you know, God bless the intention of the people who create these things, hoping to help streamline this and, you know, innovate that, you know, all these buzzwords that get thrown around.

19:47But I just, I had one of those platforms for a minute, like a short minute and realized like, this is more than I need. I got a second phone line and I just text and phone call. You message me, you don't get a message automated reply back saying to accept messages from Solterra. Reply with a yes. All this jazz. Or AI. Or AI. I want people to know they're dealing with a real person who understands their real person concerns. And I think that's that's a huge thing that's lacking in today's market of buzzwords and technology and the latest this and whatever. It's just like just people just people really want a human to human contact not to get a generic auto reply text message or whatever.

20:34So I think that's huge. Yeah. OK.

20:38Sean McNamara:So and I know you said you're a solopreneur, but, you know, this will be hypothetical. This next question, what's the fastest way someone can lose their job working for you? yeah um not being communicative right yeah not being communicative uh generally being unreliable not being where you're going to be when you said you're going to be there you know just the kind of basic things um that was uh you know we had a saying in the marine corps you know early is on time on time is late and late is unacceptable uh you know that got a little bit extreme where it's like well we got to be here 15 minutes prior but you know that's for the boss so you got to be 15 minutes prior to him and you actually got to be 15 minutes prior to your boss and it got a little crazy.

21:16I'm not to that extreme, but if I say, hey, let's set a time frame to be here, be there at that time frame, be communicative, be helpful. Don't just stand around on the job site looking at your cell phone when there's a bunch of stuff that could be organized, things to be cleaned up, things that could be done to help us get out of here on time or just being kind of proactive with what needs to be done next. These are all huge. Obviously, poor quality work. It's like, you know, I'm willing to take on and teach people who are willing to learn. And I think that having, one, being communicative, and two, having a good attitude and a willingness to learn and work are just the two most important things.

21:59You know, whatever you've got on your resume, whatever else you've got going on, you can't just show up and do the bare minimum. Because that's not the kind of service that I want to provide to my clients. That's not the kind of work I want to do. I don't want to manage people that don't want to be motivated to work well and do the best they can. Because that's really my approach to it. If you want chucking a truck for the bottom dollar, call the other guy. Don't call me. I'm not advertising here myself as the cheapest services. I'm not the cheapest, but I'm not the worst. I want clients to be satisfied with what they get at the end and really feel like they've really got something really good instead of just somebody's balance of how cheap can I do this job and do it quick.

22:50Yeah, yeah.