How A Contractor Collective Grew Fast With Low Overhead And Smart Networking with Calvin Denny

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. All right. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae filling in for Bill Gilliland with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners.

0:44I'm excited to have Calvin Denny with Atlas Mountain Contractors as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Calvin, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company, what primary products or services you offer the community. Hey, Cliff. Well, thank you for having me on. I'm a big fan of the podcast. Yeah, so my business is Atlas Mountain Contractors, and we are a collective of independent contractors that offer a wide range of services in the greater Asheville area. We service all the way through Hendersonville and then Yancey County the other way.

1:20we typically the majority of our work is decks deck repair uh light exterior framing and some interior work lvp flooring installations tile things like that but as i kind of mentioned you know our bread and butter is really we want to do decks and deck remodels and screened and things like that so if it's outside framing particularly and uh you know spaces that'll be utilized on a pretty day. That's what we like to do. Perfect. Perfect. So if you had to start your business from square one, would you do anything differently? So I would. It took me quite a while to add a couple of members to the team.

2:06Initially, it was just me doing, you know, light construction and handyman repairs. and it really, really took off when I added a couple more people to the crew. You know, it just really increased the types of jobs that we could complete and the quality of the work with our diverse backgrounds and knowledge bases. We were really able to take on a lot bigger projects. So that's what really kicked things off. And I wish I would have done that immediately. I like that. Love it. Love it. So what have your biggest learnings been as an owner since you started your business? um well so i was already running a home inspection business so i had my foot in the game a little bit in terms of uh what to expect but but this this business has been a lot busier and more consistent and what i didn't expect is just i mean it's obviously it's a lot of work but i mean the work doesn't stop when the work day stops you get home and you have to write quotes and make contact with clients um it it's just you know when you're running your own small business, it's fairly all encompassing.

3:12So I think just the actual amount of time it takes to work one eight hour day is something that was surprising to me. Okay, perfect. Perfect. So that probably goes into the next question then. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business? And you kind of talked about, you know, that your workday ends at five o 'clock and that never happened. So you think that's a common misconception as well? Absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, on that kind of same point, you know, you think when you're running your own business, like, oh, I'm going to be my own boss, make my own rules, take vacations whenever, whenever I want.

3:52But really, it's not that you don't have a boss. It's that you have a lot of bosses, you know, every client that you work for, you know, you're working in their home and have to respect, you know, the way they expect their property treated and their and your time management and things like that so it's really you have to be very flexible and make a lot of compromises and even though you might be the one calling the shots there are a lot of people that control what you're able to to do okay any other common misconceptions about running a business you can think of um well this may be specific to the type of work that we're completing um but it has not been difficult for us to generate a good client base and get consistent work so i think a misconception is like oh i need like a lot of money to start a business and it's going to take so long just to get it off the ground and i'm sure that that of course that's the case in a lot of businesses but not always uh the way that we've structured things.

4:55It's really taken off pretty quick. We didn't have like a huge amount of money getting started. Um, so, so really it can start with an idea and if you're willing to go for it, um, there's a lot of potential for starting your own business. It's not as daunting as, uh, as it seems. Okay. Okay. So how do you handle taking vacations while running your business? so i've learned that i have to i have to plan them out pretty far in advance because even if i say hey i'm going to take a vacation next month okay well i get a couple days behind on this project and that pushes the next one behind and now i'm into my vacation so i have to really plan it out months in advance and then give myself a little buffer beforehand you know that i can finish up any projects that are kind of residual and that we're still buttoning up before before I go.

5:47So way more planning than I would like, but that's what it takes to, uh, actually get out and enjoy myself. Okay. Okay. And I know you said you had some employees as well. Are you big on delegating, delegating certain things to them while you're on vacation? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And they really aren't employees. So that's kind of what makes us interesting is they're independent contractors. So they carry their own insurance. Um, and they have their own you know llcs and sole proprietorships and things like that and uh but but we do everything together so basically i find all of the work and i do all of the networking and then we all complete the projects together and and i pay them as subcontractors um but i do delegate i do delegate tasks um while i'm gone i try to find projects that are really appropriate uh for their skill set and for a two-man crew and keep them busy while I'm on vacation.

6:46Okay. So what have you attributed to your growth so far? Well, certainly a big thing is that we are part of a B &I group that I was part of before, and that's Business Networking International. And I'm a member there, and that was huge for starting my home inspection business. So I stayed in as a carpenter, and they sent us a lot of work that got us started and then you know you do a good job and your client tells their friends and then their friends tell their friends and it's kind of a snowball effect from there okay okay how do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business that's been that's really been a challenge for me and uh it's sort of a you know new year's resolution this year and i've been doing pretty good so far though it's only been you know a week but yeah i'm pretty good but it's tough it's really really tough you just um and it kind of goes back to scheduling you know the the type of work that we do can be unpredictable uh you know i give an estimation for the amount of time that'll take sometimes it takes more time sometimes that means later days extra trips to the store um so it can be hard to make time for personal time And it really comes down to, you know, finding that fine line between providing the service that you agreed upon and also, you know, balancing your own self-care.

8:16So, like, for me, the minimum thing is like, okay, I'm not going to work on the weekends. You know, and I have broken that rule occasionally, of course, but I try to at least take weekends off. I'll try to take one day off during the week if I can. If we're on a bigger job and things are smooth and I can take a day off in the middle of the week, then I'll do that. But that's certainly – it's been very challenging for me, and I think that that is a challenge that anybody starting their own business is going to face. Okay. Okay. So what qualities do you look for in potential employees or independent contractors that you're looking to work with?

8:59Anything in particular? Yeah. I mean, well, the most important thing to me is that they work hard and that they're going to show up. You know, we're such a small collective of contractors that there are three of us. So everybody is really like a third of the effort. So it's important that everybody's there, that everybody's at 100 percent and ready to get the job done. And possibly equally important to that is just the skill set. So I have kind of a wide skill set, and so do both of the guys that work with me. And we all have areas where we're stronger. So I think that if I were to bring another person on the team, I would try to find somebody that knew a lot about something that maybe we didn't have a lot of proficiency around.

9:49so that we can learn from each other and also have someone who's the best at everything because we all need to be proficient framers and we all need to know how to work safely and use all the tools and everything like that. But like, for example, I would love to have someone who came from just a background in paint and drywall because that's not what we do. We'll do a little bit in conjunction with a bigger job and things like that. But, you know, any kind of specialized skill like that is so helpful to the whole team. So, yeah, I like kind of having our knowledge spread out a little bit. There are things that we're all the best at.

10:31OK. OK. So how do you go about fostering a positive and productive work environment? Well, so the guys that I work with, we know each other really well. We go get lunch together. We have fun. It really is a fun job when it's appropriate for outside, you know, we'll listen to music and and talk and stuff. And it just it. It doesn't really feel like work to me. I can't speak for the other guys. I mean, it is work, so it probably does. But I'm one of those sick individuals that like I work for fun, like on the weekends, I'm working on my own projects around the house and I restore old motorcycles and things like that.

11:11I always work with my hands. So as long as with, I'm, as long as I'm with people that I enjoy their company, you know, it doesn't really feel like a job. It's more like just, this is the task and then onto the next one. But yeah, we, we have a good time. We have a good time with it. We really do. Yeah. It sounds like you kind of keep it like more, you know, kind of like a brothers or, you know, kind of like a family thing, good friends or whatever. Right. Rather than coworkers. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Perfect. So, yeah, now we're going to head into the quick fire round. And basically what I'm going to do here is I'm going to say I'm going to say one word and you kind of just give me the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about running your business in regards to that word.

11:56OK. First word is education. um experience i think in this particular line of work experience is the best education you know i have a bachelor's degree in something unaffiliated i'm a licensed home inspector but the the most knowledge that that i carry for this particular job is uh just the hours that i've worked doing remodeling and construction over the years including um buying a foreclosed home and renovating it from the ground up, which is kind of where I gained my skill sets. But you just have to put the hammer to the nail. It's all about experience for us. Planning. Planning. I keep an old school paper calendar, like it's like the 1980s or something.

12:49And that's just how I do it. And that's what works for me. I go through, you know, a notebook a month, I write down, I do all my bids and calculations on paper and keep everything organized like that. Not very efficient. And so that's something that I'm looking into improving in 2026. Inspiration. I'm very inspired by everyone I've just known growing up who ran their own business, just independent contractors and people that run, you know, that, that run the automotive shop and have their own store or anything like that. I've always been, um, just extremely drawn towards, um, being your own boss.

13:38So people who exhibit that have always been a big inspiration for me. Commitment. um i would say for commitment you have to be 100 committed to to your work um and and that comes along with a lot of sacrifices so for commitment um i think you have to be willing to sacrifice certain areas you're not going to have as much free time for your hobbies you're not going to necessarily make just a ton of money uh you know right out of the gate even if you're working really really hard you have to be committed to taking your business to the next level at all times and just seeing it through to make it successful that's why so many businesses fail i think is um people get really discouraged because it's so hard to get started and they don't really make it to the plateau okay perfect perfect yeah so that's the end of the quickfire around to what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow um if you are a new business uh get involved with local networking whether that be a bni group which you do have to pay that is a paid group so all the members have to pay to be there but there are also free networking events the chamber of commerce and etc so do a little research find other people that you think would be good referral partners and go out and meet them.

15:05So network, network, network. Okay. And you said the BNI is paid. Would you say what you pay is worth it for people that are looking to grow? Oh, absolutely. That's why I've been there for, I think it, I think I've been in the group for four years. Yeah. It very, very quickly pays for itself. It's not like an exorbitant amount of money compared to what you get out of it. So, yeah, that's been a huge positive investment for me. Okay. Now, what makes you different than your competitors? Yeah, so it's what we talked about a little bit. The fact that we are independent contractors, so we do not work under a general contractor.

15:49We do not have a fleet of vehicles. So it doesn't necessarily cost me very much just to get to the job site. You know, I hear a lot of people in construction talk about like the cost that it takes just for them to start the truck in the morning and get somewhere. And for us, we don't really have that. All of well, the two guys that work with me and myself, we're all responsible for our own tools. We have our own work vehicles. We carry our own insurance. So because of that, we can be compensated fairly and still provide a really competitive price for the work that we complete. because there isn't somebody in an office somewhere also getting paid for the work, if that makes sense.

16:35It's just us. So because of that, we have a really low overhead. Okay, perfect. And what's the next big thing for Atlas Mountain contractors? So absolutely. In the next two years, what I really want to shift focus to is I want to start flipping houses. and that's been a dream of mine for a long time and now I have a good crew to do it. So that's kind of what we're building up to and we'll still do work in the community but split our time between full renovations on houses that we own and doing continued carpentry in the Asheville area. So hopefully in the next couple of years that's what I would like to be doing.

17:25okay and lastly what's the best way for someone to find you or get in touch with you if they're interested the best way is just to shoot me a text or give me a call and leave me a voicemail and my phone number is 828-284-1925 perfect any social media we do have a facebook and that's uh if you just look on facebook it's atlas mountain contractors llc and that's where we showcase um a lot of our finished work that will, we don't post a bunch of gibberish on there. It's only pictures of projects. And so if you want to kind of see what we're capable of or the types of things that we like to do, that's a great place to just poke around and see our work.

18:10All right. Well, fantastic. Yeah. Thank you so much for being a part of this community and for all that you're doing. You know, we certainly wish you continued success in all that you do. Really appreciate it, Calvin. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And again, And I really enjoy the podcast. I've listened to a bunch of them. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming on. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs.

18:45Plus, you guys know how it works. the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com that's my personal email that i read no one else reads it first there's it's not screened it's my real email just send it to me i can't wait to talk to you hey and until then all the best