How Builders Scale Without Losing Control of Their Business

Jesse Sampley (00:31)

Welcome back to the Meridian Pursuit Builders podcast. I'm your host Jesse Sampley. Today my guest is Tim Winter. He's the founder and CEO of Paradigm Homes, a Northern Virginia and

South

firm. He launched in 2007. Tim, welcome to the show.

Tim Winter (00:49)

Thanks for having me, Jesse. Excited to be here.

Jesse Sampley (00:51)

Alright Tim, so tell me, when did you first realize you were a builder at heart? Did you have an aha moment?

Tim Winter (00:58)

I don't know if there was an aha moment. It was kind one of those things that I kind of, I want to say fell into it. I think more for me, I've become more of the business side of the building components and the structure than I am the actual builder. Cause you don't want me building anything. You don't want me, I mean, I can fix some things. Well, my wife might say differently, but I've got a guy or a team that can come in and do that stuff. So for me,

My aha moment was probably more when I was a kid, just kind of being around it, kind of falling in love with seeing things kind of start and finish. one of those builders that I like the beginning. I like the end. don't like the middle. That's where all the resilience and the challenge building is in there. I think for me, think the aha moment, if you had to pinpoint something, was probably just, I love to start and finish things. I grew up where my dad would buy houses, fix them up, rent them out. And it was cool just to be a part of that.

and see that all come to fruition.

Jesse Sampley (01:52)

did you do

a kid?

Tim Winter (01:54)

So, mean,

my dad's one of those guys that, you you live under the house, you got to

as early as I can remember, he had us always doing some kind of chores. mean, as soon as I was heavy enough to sit on the tractor and cut grass, I was out there cutting

we've always been doing,

kind of projects. I mean, what is seven, eight, something like

I got older, take on more work, but it was definitely early age. Always had us doing some kind of chores to kind of, teach us.

His principle was, want you to learn to work not with your back. So he was teaching us the physical side of it, the importance of it, but also so that we would learn not to kind of work smarter, not harder technically.

Jesse Sampley (02:31)

Yeah, I mean, that's a good lesson.

quite have that value. I think he liked for us to work with our back too. My dad.

Tim Winter (02:38)

Well, my dad did too. Don't get me wrong. Don't get

me wrong. there was a principle behind it. There was a reason behind it. But no, he definitely had us working with our entire body.

Jesse Sampley (02:49)

Yeah, well, it definitely

sounded like

strong work

you on a leadership style too for just what values he instilled.

Tim Winter (02:52)

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, for sure. mean, it's one of those things as a kid, you're like, I want to go play with my friends. I got this work to do, these chores to do. You know, so when you're growing up, it's miserable, right? You have a tough relationship with your dad because he's, you know, he's driving you to do all these chores and work, but he's also teaching you life lessons. But now looking back, I mean, yeah, that work ethic has been, you know, the catalyst to what drives a lot of what I've done and even what I do every day and some of the disciplines that I do every day personally and professionally.

Jesse Sampley (03:24)

to me a little bit about the start of Paradigm Homes. How did that come about? When did it kind of form into a company?

Tim Winter (03:31)

so I came out of college, I grew up outside

on the Western side, outside of Pittsburgh, went to school to Penn State, not sure what I really wanted to do. And so, I came out of college, went to work for a national builder. So I spent about seven years with a national builder where I learned more of the business and some of the actual skillset of being a project manager, doing some development deals.

being a part of like some general management and kind of learning the, I'd say the business side of

As well as, know, quality that comes with building a house and quality comes with managing subs and relationships and all those things.

in 2006, the builder that I worked for, a national builder, and they started seeing the writing on the wall that things were shifting. And so, you know, I kind of worked my way up through the ranks.

And all of a sudden they started letting people go at the lower levels of the ranks. So I got basically put back into the field and I was building some houses again and I was just bored. And I'm like, you know, if I'm going to build houses, why don't I think about going to do this on my own?

I left that builder early 2007, but unbeknownst to me, the world was about to come to a crashing halt with, the mortgage meltdown was in August. I think I left the builder in May.

I partnered with a developer to build three, spec homes. And so, but I was young, dumb and naive. think I was 20, around 27, maybe 28 at the time. And that's where kind of paradigm came from was just me always wanting, I've always had that entrepreneurial drive to kind of go and, and do my own thing and, kind of take that step. So that's really where it was birthed out of. I wouldn't say it was a company at that point. It was really

through that time, how I kind of got through that period was I got into additions or innovations. hit the, what I call the friends and family circuit, right? Doing projects for people that you know. And then we got into some light commercial work through some context that we had, built some restaurants, did some retail, did some office space. Basically that's how we survived, I would say the downturn from 07 until probably 10, 11. I

left in 07 to go build my

but I really didn't build a true custom house outside of those three specs, took a major haircut. didn't build my first home until 2010 or 11, So was like, wanted to be a home builder, but really I got thrown into survival and figure it out. And so, those early ran company or a business, but there really was teeth behind what we were doing. We were just kind of moving through.

And then we kind of transitioned from there into the years and got out of the commercial and got back into strictly residential. And there's even been some ebbs and flows in the different kinds of projects and different things that we've done throughout the inception. point was really me wanting to go leave this national builder because work was slow, but really I didn't realize that the whole world was about to come to a screeching halt.

Jesse Sampley (06:23)

Yeah, but at least you had that good foundation to see kind of how the process worked on a really large scale. think that helped you as you were refining your process later on for how to work with customers, how to work with your subs and refine those SOPs?

Tim Winter (06:39)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. I mean, I think, for the first, I started in 07, it probably wasn't until 1819 that I realized that, you know, you've got to create some SOPs. an executive coach and so they came in, took the lessons that we've learned and we built on and the mistakes and challenges that, we went through about running a business poorly, for those seven to 10 years.

I was a builder left a project manager, knew the business, but I never ran a business. So no one really taught me some of the X's and O's that go into running the back office, running some of those things. So I just kind did what I needed to do to survive, but it wasn't really until 2019 when I hired an executive coach to where we really came in.

We model called scaling up and put some of those practices and principles is very similar to like an EOS model. So we put a lot of SOPs in place, put a lot tools and resources that we didn't have before. built on our strengths, but we our weaknesses by putting a lot of these systems and processes in place that really have kind of helped navigate the future.

Jesse Sampley (07:45)

left one job and you had a bigger job. You had an elaborate job and then 2019, it transitioned. How was that experience hiring an executive coach?

Tim Winter (07:56)

Honestly, I have to equate it to one of the best business decisions I've ever made was one of those things you had somebody else other than you. When you're the business owner or the main leader, aren't really good about coming together in community and sharing best practices. At least that's what I've learned, or at least some of the local ones. So this was the first time that I had somebody other than me that I can talk to about.

this, that, the other, what's going on, talk strategy, talk about some different things, but then also hold me accountable. we went owning a business, but really the business owned me to taking it to where now we've got SysSys in place to where I'm actually running a business, right? Instead of being owned by it. Now there's still as a business owner and small like we are,

Jesse Sampley (08:30)

Right.

Tim Winter (08:40)

There are still days where I feel like I'm owned by my business. Don't get me wrong. know, we're always fine tuning those processes in order to get, get to a place where the business is running. So if I need to step out, we've got the team, the process, the people, all those things in place to do so. So for me, looking back, this was the end of 2019. Little did I know what was coming around the corner or any of us did. As you can there's some points in my life where two things like,

The birth of Paradigm in to then hire an executive coach on of 2020. Literally, we started December of 2019. And so we started excited about, we go with these new systems and processes in place. And then all of a sudden, February, March, we hit this thing called COVID. And now we're like, hell, what does this mean?

Jesse Sampley (09:29)

What were some of those first key hires

Tim Winter (09:31)

hired people throughout the, from the inception. think my first ever hire, was actually an uncle of mine to come on as a project manager to help us build a community center that we were doing that we, I had worked for with the previous national builder. So that was my first hire. And then we did some other projects I think early on, you know, I had a couple of different project managers and people come in.

systems. But I wasn't really hiring the right people. was putting bodies in place, but I didn't have a good measurement for putting the right people in now we call them putting A players in place. We put the right people the right seats the bus, all the things that you talk about when you're reading your different business strategies and books. But early on you know, even through COVID, we missed the mark, a couple key hires, I think probably my best

key hire over the years has been, he started off as a sales, he came on to do sales and business development, but most recently in the last year, because we're in two markets, I moved him into a general manager role. he, James is our GM up in the DC Metro, Northern Virginia area. So that's probably been one of my pivotal hires, being able to train a leader to kind of step in and do all those things so that we can expand into another market. So.

There's been a lot of hiring almost 18 years. Some of it's been okay. Some of it's poor. I'll be, I'll be nice. but then there's been some where you brought in and they're great and they leave for, you know, circumstances they thought the grass was greener. So you get, through some of that. But right now I think that pivotal position that I brought has been James. He's been with me for a little over four years, really watched him grow and develop and shape into a leader.

And I'm excited for him as we go into 26 and, you he spent a year under my two legend. It'll continue, but really over the last year to watch him grow and step into this new general manager position. It's been exciting. that for me at the end of the day, I love to train, develop people. Leadership is important to me, but really it's more importantly, how can I help the people on my team, my teammates, not only professionally, but also personally. Like at the end of the day, that is almost more important to me than even the

professional science. So it's been really awesome to watch James and a few others on my team that have been with us for a while really kind of mold themselves not only professionally, but also personally, which has been at the end of the day that that impact is more important to me about, than building anything that we do. So really I love to build people even though we're in the building industry to me building people is probably the thing that gets me out of bed the most more than anything else.

Jesse Sampley (12:07)

It builds such a strong culture having that can have the, higher, slow, fire, fast, because you can have the right person. Sometimes it's in the wrong position. And if it's the wrong person and the wrong position, it hurts everybody. then it's, you risk your, your A player losing your A players. We had a long ago that

We were happy to see that it was kind of a mutual separation and it was taking a toll our project manager that handles a lot of our stuff to it's just a problematic client. it was on a financial side, look at the numbers, you're like, mean, surely they're not that much of a headache. But we were at risk at losing a really, really good person just because it was not a good fit.

But those are hard decisions to make sometimes.

Tim Winter (12:55)

⁓ so hard. mean, I think the people component is the most difficult in any business, but it's also the most important, So you've got to get that right. And this is me talking to myself right now because that's the most important thing that any of us can do when we're leading a company, leading a team in any industry. doesn't matter what it is. It's the people component is the most important. And that's why for me, building leaders is

It's so critical because you're right, it's the culture, you don't have the right culture, you're not building into people, it impacts everything. It impacts relationships with vendors, suppliers, counties and municipalities, and relationships with clients. I all of those things are impacted by the people on your team.

Jesse Sampley (13:42)

Yeah, man, that's so good. It's such a, are some things that you have seen that have just guess, exciting to see on a growth side by having that mindset and by having that culture in your company? Have you seen things that maybe were an issue in the past and now they're not because you're seeing that more of your people taking more leadership or taking more ownership in their position?

Tim Winter (14:07)

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. think the biggest thing that I've learned, right? So I'm going to back up in second to answer that. right, going into COVID, like most builders, we scaled, right? So we had to hire people, bring people in. We needed to kind of put some bodies in place. made some mistakes, I did not have, I didn't hire slow. I hired because we needed people, And I think a lot of builders did that and we kind of scaled. We had a solid foundation, right? We've built that over the years.

We put these new processes in with our executive coach, but the piece that was missing in all of that is one word, accountability. And that's where I fall on the I did not hold the team accountable enough those growth channels to where things kind of fell off the tracks and we're still paying for some of those As things have shifted and they've been exposed as the market's kind of slowed over the last two years.

But what that's done for us is make me go back to the people that are still on my team and we were reconfiguring KPIs and some of the standards. But the key that's different this time is accountability. I think, you know, the people that you put on your team want to be held accountable. If they don't, then they're probably not right for your team. So I think that's where we're at right now we've got the solid foundation. The piece that we were missing is that accountability.

So now everybody actually just rolling this out, literally is coming to fruition this week. Everybody on my team has a scorecard. I built five KPIs for each person. And then there's five standards. And then there's three commitments that they got to adhere to each week. And then they're graded on that. And so that grade is the thing where I missed. This is what I learned, leading through growth and through scale, kind of scaling too quickly.

I did not have a good accountability system. So as we, right sized, have the right people on our team right now, they want to be held accountable, right? A player's one accountability and they want people around them that hold themselves That's the team that creating and where we're going. And so, you know, going back to that, think, that word for me, accountability is where I failed. because as the president owner, sometimes janitor, whatever it is like that.

That to me is the most important thing. Who's taking ownership? And one of our core values is own it. Well, it was great because it was on a sheet and we'd talk about it every quarter when we did our full team meeting, but I wasn't owning accountability and keeping the team responsible. So now knowing that where we are, the team that I have, I'm excited to see where we go moving forward because I'm in line. know, our theme of the year is fully aligned and

that starts with accountability, that starts with me, and that starts with building these things out to be able to manage the team and help the team manage themselves so the client experience is fantastic, subcontractor relations, the vendorship management, all of the things that need to happen in this business, as you know, there's a lot, but it starts with the people. Like I said, it all goes back to the people, and with the people, it all goes back to, in my view, my opinion, accountability.

Jesse Sampley (17:06)

Yeah, man, that's so good too. And on a KPI side, give builders some insight. What are some of those metrics that you're measuring different people?

Tim Winter (17:13)

Yeah.

So each person's different. So KPI, for those of who may not know, it's key performance indicator. So we're tracking some things team member has their own KPI. So like a field project manager is what we call our superintendents. You know, might just call them a regular project manager, site supervisor. There's all kinds of different names for the guys that are actually building the field

obviously schedules, one of the Everyone needs to be managing the schedule. There's some things that kind of fall in line with that schedule client experience, right? We do weekly follow-ups and check-ins. use an amazing software called Rezio. It's a newer project management software. We've been engaged with that now since about October. So part of one of the KPIs is making sure

all of the scheduling, there's a to-do list, there's a tracker, like Resio is updated, Managing the project management tool that we've given our guys is critical. The other piece of that is cost management. So we work with another amazing software that we just brought in probably about six months ago called Adaptive. And resource behind this is all about managing the cost of a project.

not getting into QuickBooks because no project manager should ever be in QuickBooks. just on the project management level, the team can go in, they're coding invoices, they're reviewing the estimates versus actuals, making sure things don't go over budget, which they tend to do in this business, but it's got to be managed. It goes back to that same thing, accountability. So these KPIs that we've given this project manager are all things that are going to keep him accountable to running the project efficiently, effectively, and at the end of the day,

Jesse Sampley (18:43)

Yeah.

Tim Winter (18:53)

financially profitable, right? Because those are the things that we learned. We weren't managing some of those things. All right. So when you go build a couple of projects and you realize like, Hey, my margin was supposed to be this, my profit was supposed to be this. And you get back and you say, wait a second, why is that negative? Well, it's because all these things happen. Nobody was being held accountable. Nobody took ownership of this. So these KPIs that we put in place are holding people accountable to make sure that the project moves timely. The client relationship is impacted.

at the end, the biggest thing at the end of the day, the project's profitable, right? So we built them around kind of the role and responsibility of the project manager, but more specifically the project and the client, right? Because at the end of the day, if the client's not happy, lost the game.

Jesse Sampley (19:39)

Talking about client relation, to finish the circle that you were talking about, what does that look like on a communication side, on a frequency side? How are the project managers handling that? Are you using a certain platform?

Tim Winter (19:51)

Yeah,

so we use Resio. So Resio has got a built-in communication app. put our clients on there. communicate through the app. So what we typically do is every Friday, my project manager is part of one of their KPIs, part of that kind client experience, is they send the client a weekly update. Hey, this is what happened this week. This is what we need from you. Maybe we're still waiting on some selections. And this is

the plan that's coming up over the next two weeks. These are the things that we're working through. And so that's a mandatory. But then random things will come up. Hey, we ran into an unforeseen situation. You send them email. Let's schedule a meeting to talk about it. So it's using that platform. And what's cool is then we can see, because it'll email notify you. So I'm on the notifications. And same thing with my GM and other team members. So if something gets missed,

and say the PM doesn't respond in our timely, we like to see responses in 12 to 24 hours, depending on when it comes in. Somebody else can jump in and make sure that communication is picked up. And so this is something new for us. Literally, we just launched this communication part through Rezio on this project that just started here in December. So it's been a good tool. I mean, we've actually hit an unforeseen, pretty major unforeseen condition with this client. And so we've been able to use that to track and communicate, even saying,

Hey, we don't have an update yet today or hey, we're still waiting on two more proposals because we got to this situation. a great tool to be able to use in real time and as a weekly updating tool as to what's going on in the project. Because, client today, we're all used to being on our phones and everything's so industry is a little bit archaic when it comes to that. And that's why, I keep promoting Resio because

the program that they've it's an awesome project management tool so many things. ⁓ But I can talk about that But you can tell we're big fans of Raziel.

Jesse Sampley (21:43)

Have you used any other?

Have

you used any other? Is Regio your first software like this?

Tim Winter (21:50)

No,

we were with Buildertrend for years. So we just migrated over in October of 25 into Resio. So we were with Buildertrend for years. mean, great tool, great resource. A lot of builders use it. It was just a little bit too cumbersome for us. And we were probably using 20, 30 % of it. We weren't using the and you're paying for it. And so somebody introduced us to Resio. We gave it a little test trial and

Jesse Sampley (21:53)

Okay.

Tim Winter (22:18)

And we're still using ButterTrend at the time, but we just basically going into the new year, we've stopped the ButterTrend uses and everything's now moving forward all into our Resio platform.

Jesse Sampley (22:29)

that transition, how long did that take? Moving everything from Builder Trend over to a new platform, how cumbersome was that?

Tim Winter (22:37)

cumbersome at all. Rezio's got some great support staff that have helped us kind of migrate some of that. I've got a great guy that's been on my team for five years. So he's helped integrate that with a VA that we have. So it probably took us, we're fine tuning three months, like I said, but we're still we used to use monday.com, which is,

we built like an autopilot, almost like what I call a construction program for dummies. Like if you just follow this thing, you could build a house. Maybe not, may not look good, but you can follow it. But so moving some of those templates over. So this is still going to be an ongoing thing, but the bulk of it to where we were able to put a client on the platform took us about three months.

Jesse Sampley (23:19)

Okay. Just to give our audience some context, what kind of homes are you building?

Tim Winter (23:23)

we specialize in a couple of things. We do design build. So we've got an architectural firm that we own called HomeLux Architecture. So HomeLux is when a client comes to us, they don't have an architect, that's when we'll do design build. We'll go to our own in-house, if you want to say, architectural firm that we have. They also do work for other builders. So if you need a good architect, we can help you with that.

We understand the construction side of it. You know, that's why I started the architecture firm so that we've got, builders and architects that in line together. Sometimes there's a disconnect. So we do design build when a client comes to us, but we also do outside projects. Architects will bring us projects. do different things like that. So we're doing custom homes. would say mid luxury to the high end luxury, depending on where.

the client wants. We also do additions and renovations. So we're not afraid to get in and do major surgery to existing homes. we do a lot of those. So kind of all over the gamut when it comes to type of projects. So it could be, just did a major right now we're doing a massive, full house gut, we're not doing any addition to it. It's just a major renovation project. So anything renovations pretty good sized custom homes.

size wise, I mean, we've done anything from, a 2,500 square foot home to a 12,000 square foot home. So it just, it just depends on what the client wants at the end of the day. That's kind of what our niche has been is like, what do you want? Let's figure out how to design it. If our team can't design it, let's go bring in an outside architect that is much better at this style of housing. So really at the end of the day, we're really client focused. we also do some spec homes.

But majority of work, 90 % of our work is client related, custom projects projects that are come and brought to us. Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (25:05)

Yeah, real hands-on

with the customers from early on. Very collaborative, it sounds like, too. Just let's bring everybody in on this project early so that we can get exactly what you want, which is especially crucial for those renovation projects because it seems like the doesn't always end the way it starts.

Tim Winter (25:12)

Yeah, we try to be.

No, never.

Never. And unfortunately, but that's just the truth of this business. It's, run into unforeseen conditions or the client comes in and they change their mind completely or they add on things. a system and a science to that. I've not a hundred percent figured it out because every client's different, but hey, we try our best.

Jesse Sampley (25:43)

But if you're communicating with those people on a regular basis, then those are easier conversations to have because you're building rapport, you're building a relationship, and everything's easier when you have a good relationship with people because there's a mutual trust there. Yup.

Tim Winter (25:54)

absolutely. Yeah, that's it.

mean, at the end of the day, all of us builders in this industry, we need to build trust. But once trust is lost, now it's an uphill battle. And unfortunately, we've experienced that too. You know, it's just kind of par for the course in this business.

Jesse Sampley (26:09)

You have any advice for how to build back, earn back that trust?

Tim Winter (26:13)

Over, just over sometimes if you make a mistake, you got to fall in the sword, own it at the end of the day. That's, that's really it. you got to own it. You got to prove it. Sometimes, you may not be able to get a hundred percent of the trust back, but you're able to get some of it and there's still going to be areas that they're going to question. And you just need to be prepared did it. And at the end of the day, you got to own it.

Jesse Sampley (26:19)

Own it,

There's a custom home builder I was talking to a couple months ago out of Kentucky and they said I didn't always make my clients happy, but I always did right by them. That was a really, a really insightful perspective that he had is that in the moment.

Tim Winter (26:42)

Hmm

Jesse Sampley (26:50)

not everyone was happy, but he's been in business 50 years and he's building in a pretty small area. So he's running into his customers at Lowe's and restaurants. So he's around them and it's everything was fine because I always did right by them at the end of the day. so even though it...

it's going to happen, but still do right by them, just so that you're maintaining that reputation. Because once the reputation is stained, takes even longer. emotions are easier to get over, but a reputation is a whole lot harder to repair.

Tim Winter (27:20)

absolutely.

Yeah, for sure. And we're doing some of that repair right now, based on some of the things that we went through with COVID and wrong hirings and some challenging projects on things. There's a lot of things that are out our control, but we could do a better job of managing that control. And so that's where, going back to the builder that you mentioned, that's kind of our core too, is we want to make it right within reason of where we can and what we can do.

got to repair some of those and sometimes you got to just do what you can to make it right. And I think that's how you weather the storm, right? You're going to have those seasons this is construction. There's challenges. You're going to make mistakes. Vendors are going to make mistakes. What do you do to re-correct that? What do you do to make it right? That's a huge core value of ours as well.

Jesse Sampley (28:07)

Especially on the custom side because it's not the same you can't really dial in the process that well because it's custom It's it's different every single time So it's the brand new set of plans it's never been seen in 3d before It's a little hard for the client to visualize sometimes can look at Until you actually do a walkthrough and it's like this is totally different than I thought this is much smaller than it looked on paper

Tim Winter (28:17)

Yeah, for sure.

you

for sure.

Yeah, well, the cool thing now with AI and technology and some of the things that we're able to do, mean, depending on the client and the level and they're willing to pay for some of it, we can get in and do some of the 3D modeling. you can put some goggles on and the 3D and walk the house. We've done that with clients before and some locations now, I don't know. I know Charleston doesn't have it. Virginia might have one now. They've got these studios, these warehouses where you can actually walk your blueprints. I had a client do that one time.

We were doing a consulting for an architecture project for a client in Dallas and they went and walked the blueprint because Dallas had one of those warehouses and they came back and they shrunk the house. They didn't realize how big it was. ⁓ Yeah. So I mean, that's the blessing with technology. And I think with AI is going to get, more involved and hopefully it'll reduce some of the costs with a lot of that 3D. ⁓

Jesse Sampley (29:16)

No way.

Tim Winter (29:29)

component as well. mean, we're doing a lot with AI. We're embracing it. We're really trying to put it into practice in a lot of different ways, not only on design, but even in operations.

Jesse Sampley (29:38)

think

a lot of people have a lot of skepticism. tell me some of the positives that you're seeing on just a very realistic side that you're using AI. Because I think this ties into the client relationship side too, because it comes with a lot of good clarity. When you're able to visualize something, you're able to communicate, all of that stuff ties in. So how are some practical ways you're using AI?

Tim Winter (29:56)

Yep.

Yeah. So

I mean, one of the first ones that we're working with, so we're working with this adaptive, which is our kind of invoicing system. It manages our relations with subs and vendors and different things. So when an invoice comes in, it gets emailed to our adaptive email and AI scans it. AI will then scan it. put it to the right job. put it to They make mistakes, but then we've got a backend VA that reviews that, but it's taking 80 % of the work.

that a human would do and speeding it Putting it into the right thing. it's just small administrative tasks that would take somebody hours to do. AI is doing it in seconds. So it's streamlining that part of the process, especially with builders that are doing volume. You've got a lot of invoices and things that come in. It read flags, hey, this invoice has already been in. I've seen it. So it's taking a lot of human error out as still need oversight with AI. think that's the thing with this industry.

Constructions is going to be one. There's always going to be human involvement, like, until robots are fully building everything. But I think we've got some years before that now we're seeing it more administratively, right? Different things like, like the adaptive program. I do a lot with chat GTP on building, even like the KPIs for the team. had it, go through and help me build I've trained my chat to basically know everything about me, everything about paradigm, all of our systems processes.

I'm even recording this and I'll take dump that into AI. So it hears how I talk, what the vision is, what we're doing. and so it's just really getting it to learn. it speeds up some of the things that would like the KPIs that are built for the team. I did, I'm not completely done, but I've done it in probably eight to 10 hours. If I was doing this, I would, it would probably take me two months because I, it's very thorough. so it's just taking those strategic and administrative tasks.

and it's streamlining it. There's more to come. We're doing some things on the design front. We're doing some things in the marketing front, creating some videos, taking photos, refreshing photos. So it's a combination of all of things that we're really exploring. I'm always looking for ways to learn and see what other people are doing because it's impactful.

Jesse Sampley (32:09)

Yeah,

have to collect all of that stuff if you want to scale because you you can't just take this bit of knowledge and then just try to scale and never add anything new to it. you're either shrinking or you're growing. There is really this note in between just because things move so fast and things are definitely moving fast on an AI side that it's kind of going back to, some of these builders that have been around for 40, 50 years, still don't have a proper website and

a new kid on the block that may be around for four or five years, they look like they've been around for much longer than this guy's that's been around 40, 50 years is because this guy's invisible. And, unless you physically went around to people in his community, online, there's just such a differentiator. I wanted to ask, are you on a cut on the chat, GPT side, are you creating your custom GPTs and then feeding the knowledge?

Tim Winter (32:48)

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (33:04)

Or are you just dumping stuff into the general chat?

Tim Winter (33:07)

So I've built folders. Each has its own folder. I will do some custom GPTs, but for now, most of the stuff is So if I'm looking paradigm related stuff, leadership, whatever, it's all in there. I've got some other different things. I just folder it for now. think I told you before we started, I'm working a consulting and coaching business older generation builders that need this help and

I've got a folder that kind of ties into I've been doing a lot of on that from the, to help these builders get into AI, get into some of these back office solutions. because they've got the field knowledge, they've got the years of experience. How do we leverage that? How do we make this industry better? Like at the end of the day, like I think AI, it's a blessing and curse, like all technology, but I think.

it could be used properly to take the knowledge from some of those, guys and girls have been doing this for years and sit down in a thing, like a setting like this and extract all of that knowledge. I could just out there. So, I'm really passionate about the industry and really helping builders, all the lessons that I've learned in my even short years of doing this. because like I said, I go back to that.

hiring that executive coach. That was the best thing I've ever done. outside of start the company, from a business perspective. And I think that's where builders, need help. And a lot of them don't want to put their hand up. I didn't want to put my hand up. and especially now they need that support. They need somebody that understands, know, maybe some of this back office stuff help understands the AI understands, what can we do to help them? And,

And I think, because I don't want them to get of pushed out of the industry. Those are the ones that have built this industry. How do we help them? How do we move that through? Then there's builders that are around my same age that don't have that, right? So it's like, how do we make this industry better? Because I think there's a lot of opportunity. And like I said, AI is not going to fully replace all of us yet. So why don't we do something about

Jesse Sampley (35:06)

Yeah, there's also an exciting wave of the second generation And I've already heard this a couple times, but you know, you're going from the dad that started it over to the son that's trying to change things and there's They need to know the importance and they need to know that the opportunity is there so that there can be an easy change

just bringing everything to the modern world because in today's world, like if you are not able to be found, everything else you do is kind of meaningless.

Tim Winter (35:34)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have a heart for the next generation, man. I've got, a part of this consulting and coaching is this cohort group that I'm trying to create like a community. I've got a couple of young builders, around the same age I was when I started, Tim, how do I do this? I love to go back to those guys and girls coming up in this industry and see, look, I've been doing this for almost 25 years. Here's what you don't want to do.

Learn the lessons. Let me help you avoid all the dumb mistakes that I've made, all the stupid tax that I've paid. And let me teach you early on about leadership. Let me teach you about people and let me teach you about all of these things. And so that's one of the things I'm working on is creating this community. And I've got some young guys here in Charleston that I meet with. actually meeting them later this week. And I just sit with them and kind of coach them and listen to them. And they call me when they got a problem. think we need more of that in this industry.

you know, bringing builders together. So I'm excited about what you're doing on this podcast. it's impactful. I think builders need to, kind of commiserate together a little bit, but then also you'll learn from each other. Like I don't have a problem. I've got a few other builders that are, that are, close to not only here in Charleston, but also in Northern Virginia. I'll tell you everything I do. Like I'm at the end of the day, I know where my work comes from. a strong believer in God and I know that he's the provider of all things for I'm willing to share. I don't have any secrets.

I have lessons that I've learned, but I'll share it all with you. Like at the end of the day, like if we can make this industry better, I'm all for it because there are so many people's lives that are impacted by what we do. Not only building houses and renovating houses and all those things, but like there's so many people in this industry that could lead and do much better if they just had somebody to stop pouring into them. And I could go back to build leaders, build team members, like changing that mindset of just

let's just go to like my dad, just, hey, go break your back and go to work. No, let's actually, let's pour into people differently, lead them differently. And I think there's an opportunity there to really see this industry in this next generation, these second and even the built guys and girls that are coming in that are in this industry yet have the opportunity to really make a difference. so...

if you can't tell really passionate about leadership and really passionate about the next generation and helping them succeed and avoid, paying the stupid tax and making mistakes that I made.

Jesse Sampley (37:57)

What do you think the Home Builders Association has? Where do you think the place for a Home Builders Association is in this?

Tim Winter (38:06)

were involved in the one in Virginia. think we still are. don't do much with it. Right. I we I'll go to the Builder Show here in February that's coming up ⁓ mainly so I can kind of network and meet other guys, especially as we're launching this consulting business. Right. There's a lot of builders there. I've not done too, too much. So I'm probably not the right person to ask. any time that I've gone to any events, it's usually filled with vendors and

Jesse Sampley (38:15)

good, me too.

Tim Winter (38:29)

and suppliers trying to get business. that's for me. know that they've got some, I forget what they're called, but some of the NHB has some like small builder groups. I forget what they're called, but those are supposed to be really good. Kind of the same vision of what I'm thinking about creating some cohorts. Mine's thinking about more locally than nationally, but I think they do good. I we need it on the national level. We need somebody advocating for this industry.

And we definitely need, at the local level advocating for what we need because there's too much regulation in this industry, especially on the local level. I won't get into that, but we've got a lot of nonsense things that happen both in the DC Metro and here in Charleston that are just like, stupid. So we need the advocacy, So I think there's a lot of that that's, that does good. But other than that, I'm not too involved with it. I...

can't speak too highly of it, but I know that there's like any organization, right? Any of those things. They do good work. They help people out. And, you I think there needs to, continue that for sure.

Jesse Sampley (39:30)

Yeah, but more just peer to peer, ask people that are doing it on the daily, hey, what are you doing? Here's the challenge that I have. The more people that you have to solve a problem, the better that answer will be when you actually solve it. Let's dive into a little bit of the marketing side. What have you seen that has worked for you? What are, you know, we've got a good.

back inside for the process and how you're refining all of that. But as far as attracting people, what does that look like today?

Tim Winter (40:01)

I think the biggest, and this was everybody will say, right, you got to, you're creating raving fans, right? Your current clients are your best referral source. They're your best, advocates for what you do, who you are. They've gone through the experience. And as long as you make it right, because there's going to be challenges, as long as at the end you make it right and you've rebuilt some trust and you've done that, they're going to be your best referral source, which that's been the case for us. but then we get into all the other things, we do a lot with realtors.

when we're doing some spec Architects, we're looking, outside architects are a good referral source for us building those relationships. The difference, they're kind of, architects and clients are very similar in a referral, right? You do a great job for an architect, makes them look good. So you continue that, they're gonna keep feeding you opportunities. So that's always a good connection. Then we do all the social media, Instagram, we're doing videos, we do some different.

things like that. I that's more for probably I would say brand awareness than it is lead generation. It's just so that going back to when somebody looks for us, you're going to find us on our Instagram page. You're going to find us on our website. You're going to find us on Facebook and all the things. So I mean, that to me is more of a brand awareness than it is a gen. But, you know, it's being in the community, people knowing where you are. And then another big one is science, right? People drive

your project, they see the sign, they give you a call. What do got going on over here? So it's a combination of all the different things, but nothing beats the referral from a ⁓ previous or current client.

Jesse Sampley (41:27)

Yeah. The

cool thing about social media is now you've got these virtual referrals. So you've got, especially on it, like real estate agents, you've got people that will follow you or refer people to you. You've never even met them, but you know, they're, they're watching your content. they're listening. So, you know, it's be more intentional about some of the stuff that you post rather than just, happy new year or

But you kind of get your message out there, the things that people talk about, you kind of have to feed to people. Paradigm Homes, what's special about Paradigm Homes? You let's be intentional about that, of what we want people to say about us, whether they know us or not. And then let's put that out there. And just like you said on an awareness side is we're going to put the stuff out there that we also want to get back. So we're going to put the renovations that we want, these type of renovation projects. We're going to feature the homes that we want more of those homes. So it's kind of this one.

one-on-one communication channel back and forth to where eventually the reputation all of it starts working together in synchronicity to say ⁓ man these guys are great they do this this is the type of projects that they focus on they help these type of people this is what they you know all of these it's kind of like a PR engine that you are running for yourself that kind of it's like a snowball it it just builds over time and gets more and more powerful

Tim Winter (42:47)

Yeah, absolutely, for sure. And it takes work.

Jesse Sampley (42:48)

You guys, it does take

work. And it's, are you guys outsourcing some of that or are doing a lot of this in house?

Tim Winter (42:55)

We do it in house. So I've got a marketing person on my team that that's what they, all the posts, doing all the social media, doing our website, doing all the things. mean, then behind the scenes, my wife, not as involved as she used to be, but she's a marketing strategist or background. So early on, she did a lot of stuff with the business, set a lot of things in place, helped us think through strategy. So now anytime we get into anything that needs some strategy or kind of high level stuff, we'll go to her to get some feedback and get some thoughts.

and make sure that we're on the right track.

Jesse Sampley (43:25)

Yeah, what would you prioritize if you were, haven't done a whole lot of marketing, you're kind of relying on referrals, maybe you've tried some stuff that didn't work too well. What's some of the marketing things that you would prioritize?

Tim Winter (43:39)

mean, obviously the website, Making sure people you've got the right images, you're spelling out exactly what it is you do. Cause that's always the first check. They may not spend much time there, but that's always the first check in my mind. And then the second is probably some type of Instagram page, even if it's not, great content and highly public, you know, produced, right? Something there is better nothing so that they can see what you're doing again, putting your pictures of houses.

seeing the things you've done, if you're willing to grab a camera and talk about what you're doing, great. Some people aren't great behind a camera. So it just really depends on where you see fit. But I think for us, those are the two things that we still focus on the most. When I say Instagram, it also means Facebook, right? So they're both one and the same. We do some LinkedIn posts and things like that, but that's just kind of regurgitated copy that we're bringing in from LinkedIn and I'm sorry, from Instagram and.

Facebook, but those are the two I would make sure that the website we're always fine-tuning our website. I that's one of our core values is fine-tuning. We're always fine-tuning everything. I just kind of tweet here and there.

Jesse Sampley (44:36)

Yeah, I mean, I love that. I

love that.

Who do you pull some inspiration from? It's, yeah, this could be a, sounds like maybe a coach that you have, but people that are constantly feeding you, that drive you and give you good ideas. Something that on a daily basis, it's so good to have just a flood of, things that really keep you going.

Tim Winter (44:58)

Yeah, man, I've got so many. I do a lot. mean, I read a lot. I don't do as many podcasts. I probably read more books or listen to more books, but I'm in a high capacity leadership program that's run through the John Maxwell organization. So it's a great community that's involved with that, that I'm in and just constantly once a month we get together and it's virtual, but I'm learning a lot of leadership principles and I've got other people that are in that group that I can kind of lean on.

I'm also in a national kind of entrepreneurial group called GoBundance. So we've got some different pods. there's some guys that are in my pod that we meet every two weeks. Again, accountability is important. So talking about different things, what's going on in the industry. I got a couple of guys that have done some different things, not in the same industry, but you know, our business owners. And so can do some of that. I've got a great friend who's actually, who's podcast studio I'm sitting in. He runs a coaching company. helps coach.

train coaches to run their own coaching businesses. So I've got a great friend, him and I go to the gym together every morning. So sometimes we're helping each other there, not only physically, but also kind of work through some business challenges. So, I mean, I've got a lot of people in my life to, help kind of elevate me and then I'm around other people because I want to help elevate other people. So I take a lot of those things and lessons that I learned from people. I try to share that. Right. And so really at the end of the day, there's not one person.

that pouring into me, it's multiple channels I think diverse and so you need to have multiple channels depending on what it is that you're focused on and what you're trying to grow. I think to other builders right now, if you don't have anybody in your life, you can start with one. Find somebody that you can talk to, maybe it's another builder in a different country or a different state or a different...

county or whatever, just so you've got somebody to kind of commiserate with, use for ideas, shape each other. I've got some other builders that I talk with often. me, it's like put somebody in your corner, find a mentor or if you not even mentor somebody, take it the other way. Go and find somebody you can pour into to help. Because I learn more when I help others, honestly, when I teach some of these young guys.

Jesse Sampley (47:07)

Absolutely.

Tim Winter (47:09)

I'm learning every time because I got to go in prepared. Right. So what do they want to talk about? Or they ask me questions like, that's a great question. I have no idea. So I think that's that's for me is surrounding yourself with people is how you grow and change. that's what I'm doing every day. Always looking for ways to grow. And how do I win today? Right. One of those things is what I learned today. At the end of the day, I look back and like, what's one thing I can look back and say?

Yeah, I definitely learned something there. And sometimes it takes a challenge for you to learn it, but a lot of times it can be from learning from somebody else.

Jesse Sampley (47:40)

I always

ask, what did you learn and who did you meet? Those are kind of my two daily KPIs that Albert Einstein said it's not what you know, but who you know. And I think that who you meet and just being intentional of like, I'm going to try to meet somebody. don't care if it's somebody at the gas you, think once you have that mindset too, it makes you just have a better day overall because like we're just made to connect with other people too.

Tim Winter (47:42)

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

for sure.

Yeah. Well, here, I'll

take it one step further for you, Throw this one in your, in your KPI mix. So when you do meet somebody or you're on a call like this or whatever, who do you know that I should know? That's a John Maxwell line. Who do you know that I should know? Because there, there's somebody that you know that I should know. And there's somebody that I know that you should know. And so that question just builds that network. Like I'm with you. I love networking. I love meeting new people. And, and so add that one to your mix.

I'll give you another tip. when you listen to any of these things, so I use a note, I use Evernote, but I'll record it and then I transcribe it, copy it and put it in the chatGPT. So I take some notes, but then I'm not good at catching all of it. So now you can, I've trained chat to get a meeting prompt of what I want out of it. It's amazing what you can learn by just recording it, taking it back.

Jesse Sampley (48:53)

Yeah.

Tim Winter (48:55)

rereading it. So anyways, just a tip if you're an average listener to a podcast or even sitting in a meeting or whatever it is. It's another great tool going back to whole AI conversation.

Jesse Sampley (49:07)

Like you said earlier, when you feed it your different conversations, it also knows what you're normally talking about, what you say. So then it'll be a lot more customized when it comes back and gives you those highlights too.

Tim Winter (49:13)

Yeah. Yep.

Yeah, and I've trained it to push back on me. gives me the hard truth. And it'll start with, all right, you're not doing any of this. So you need to hear if you're going to do this, here's what you need to do, because you're not doing any of it.

Jesse Sampley (49:24)

I'm

That's

good because it can be a little too optimistic and positive sometimes.

Tim Winter (49:35)

Yeah, you

can go in and change those prompts. You can say, don't be so, you know, pie in the sky, like shoot straight with me, like, you know, give me the brass tacks here. Let's say it definitely. I've got, I've got it trained to push back and it's been good because it makes you think right. Or ask you deeper questions. And so, but anyways, for what it's worth.

Jesse Sampley (49:42)

You

Yeah, that's mostly

what I use it for is just, it's like a think tank of, how can I see this from a different angle? Tell me a little bit about the paradigm foundation. How did that come about? How long has that been around?

Tim Winter (49:58)

Yeah, me too.

Yeah. So the initial concept and vision started when my wife went on a mission trip with our church in 2013. She had her dad earlier that year and maybe six months before that she'd lost her job. So she was in like a kind of a desert season. And so we were sitting at church and heard about this trip and she's like, ah,

It's multi-generational women. Maybe I'll do it. They never talk about this. So she ends up going on the trip and one of the pastors ends up having her lead the trip. She's like, how am going to lead people right now? I can't even lead myself with all the stuff that's going on. So she ends up on this trip and on the trip, it was an anti-human trafficking trip to the DR. And on an off day, they were delivering some food to a community, impoverished community.

And all of a sudden she's looking at this house that our church youth group had rebuilt this facility and this little small house. And she all of sudden was just flooded with this this download of all of sudden started crying. And she just heard God say, this is why you're here. You need to go build houses. And she's like, I don't know how to build houses. And God's like, well, your husband does. And so she came back, I picked her up in the airport and she's in tears. I'm like, what happened? Like, what is this supposed to be a mission trip? Like this is supposed be awesome.

And she's like, no, God's calling me. We got to go build houses in the DR. I'm like, what are you talking about? So that's where it came from. It came from that mission trip that she went on in 2013. This was the latter part of 2013. So we went into 2014 with the idea of, let's start a nonprofit. And we named it the Paradigm Foundation to kind of be in line with the company, Paradigm Homes. And we thought it was going to take a year or two to get our 501C3, because that's where we had been told.

So we applied in May of 2014 and literally two months later, August, we're approved and we off to the DR in November of 2014 to go build our first house. So we are going on 11 years now and we are in, I want to say seven countries and the foundation's done close to 80 houses, three churches, one community center, one well. During COVID we provided a farm,

a farm that's still producing, I think it's cassava, it's in Central African Republic. So we're in the DR, we're in Brazil, we are in the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Kenya, Guatemala, and I feel like I'm missing one. My wife knows all the names, but ⁓ it's been amazing to watch it. But our two main countries that we've served in have been the Dominican Republic and Kenya. Those have been our two.

Jesse Sampley (52:37)

Wow.

Tim Winter (52:46)

We go to Kenya pretty much once a year. We went to the Amazon of Brazil last year. We started some projects there. That's a newer country for us. And so it's been amazing just to watch this thing grow, watch God use it to impact lives and not only just the lives of the families that are receiving a house, but the lives of ⁓ the generational, right? You're seeing multi-generational people and families come and live in these homes and the impact is just, it's greater than we'll ever see or imagine.

And it's been awesome to watch it kind of flourish. And my wife runs it on her own. We've got partners in each country. mean, we've got a small board and we're building houses for anywhere from 12 to $15,000. I mean, it's not like we're building houses here in the US. So the money goes a lot further. The impact goes a lot further. So yeah, it's been exciting watch people.

lives change and we take people on trips. We've got a 10 person team going to Kenya in March. And it's amazing when you take people to see and get out of the states, truly see poverty at a different level, how that truly impacts their lives and what they come back and how they, want to be more involved, not only with what we're doing, but with other, to kind of give back and get involved.

anyone's not been out of the States on a trip like this, would highly encourage it. It's life-changing not only for you, but also for the families and the people that you visit. But honestly, I think you get more out of it than you think. A lot of people go, hey, we're going to go build a house or we're going to go serve. We're going to do this. We're going to go help people. But really at the end of the day, help comes back to you just being impacted in a different way because we don't see that a lot

in the States to that level of poverty.

Jesse Sampley (54:26)

My dad was a home builder and he would do a few homes a year, but then he would take a mission trip every year and I'm one of seven kids. So we had a family of nine and we would go to Central and South America every year and he would go to different churches and different schools and talk.

Tim Winter (54:40)

wow.

Jesse Sampley (54:45)

And he called it family builders. So it was kind of a play on the building side. And it was about building a family foundation and putting God at the top and everything else kind of being put into place. just it was that was he did this from 80s all the way until I was well, he does not as much now just as he's getting a little bit older.

Tim Winter (54:51)

That's so good.

Jesse Sampley (55:08)

But at an early age, was one of the most, I didn't know it at the time, but one of the most impactful things is just seeing people in a different culture that are living literally in a cardboard box. it just.

Tim Winter (55:17)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (55:22)

I mean, it changes your worldview and you treat people different, you see the world differently. Just like you said, if you haven't been out of the country, I think it's a must, you have to. And it is because then you're not as self-focused and it forces you to, you're in this environment to where you're not able to focus on yourself. And if you do, you feel really bad about it because it's like...

Tim Winter (55:33)

yeah, it's livestream.

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (55:49)

I've got everything. These people literally don't even have a home. So even a $12,000 to $15,000 home, a real structure everything. It was incredible. I'm really glad that I think that's the single most important thing that my dad did was he had the passion for it and even sometimes took his family kicking and screaming. He still forced us all to experience that and now as an adult.

it laid such a great foundation for, respect for people and being really appreciative of the country we live in and the opportunity that we have here. Yeah, yeah.

Tim Winter (56:26)

Man, what an example he set for you. That's so awesome. Awesome. Still awesome.

Jesse Sampley (56:30)

Yeah, man, it really was.

Tim Winter (56:34)

Well, we need to get you on a trip. I know you got all these kids, so maybe at some point, the younger ones get a little bit older.

Jesse Sampley (56:37)

Well,

Yeah, that's what

I was actually thinking is dad was amazing, but I haven't really done the same thing. I really, that's one thing that my wife and I would like to be more intentional about is, one showing the kids the world, but two, showing, how can we foster that, you know, that philanthropy side of it, of just, giving back. Cause it's so easy to look inward and

constantly kind of be looking at yourself, even for good things, for building your company. You're still, everything's kind of focused on you, but how better to change the perspective a little bit to say, I'm building this company because I'm able to have more people on the team. I'm able to help those people and their families. It's just a paradigm shift a little bit. And it's not just growth for the sake of the financial gain, it's growth because you're able to. That's the opportunity and the God given.

Tim Winter (57:24)

Yeah. Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (57:33)

talent that you have to be able to grow the company, absolutely should because there's a ripple effect and it will help so many people down the road.

Tim Winter (57:41)

call that living a life of significance over success. That's the piece that I think is so important. For many years myself, I was living the success route, going with everything has showed. This is success. what the world chose as successful, but got to shape me, mold me, and ultimately break me to flip me into this other mindset of humility to we're now living a life of significance has way more impact than

a life of success because you can impact more people's lives if you're living a life of significance because you're not looking out for yourself, you're looking out for others. And that mindset shift has been huge for me personally. And that's why I'm even more excited about going into 26 because that's where my mind is now. It's like, what can I do? That's why I want change some things within Paradigm, fine tune it, but then also launch this consulting piece to really go help other builders find their significance.

Jesse Sampley (58:32)

Man, well so good. Well Tim, thank you so much for jumping on this podcast. This has been incredible. I'm looking forward to following along with everything you've got going on. You've got a lot going on, so it may take me a while. Where can people learn more about you and follow you?

Tim Winter (58:36)

Yeah, man. It was awesome.

I'm

Yeah, sure. Email is twinter @ paradigmhomes.com. twinter @ paradigmhomes.com. And you can check us out online paradigmhomes.com or Instagram is @ winter builds.

I don't do too much on there. It's more repost from Paradigm Homes. It's at the Paradigm Homes is our Instagram those are probably the easiest ways to track me down.