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Bill Cowdin started Cowdin Design and Build in October 2008, the worst possible month of the worst possible year to launch a construction business.

And for a while, he was the whole company… Building kitchen islands in his garage, hauling sheets of wood in the back of a Suburban, and working 100 hours a week with an office in his spare bedroom.

The turn came when he stopped asking whether he could afford the next hire and started asking whether he could afford not to make it. He took the leap, paid his people before he paid himself, and made it work.

Today he runs a team with systems built to handle 35 to 40 percent more work than they have, and he doesn't touch day to day operations at all.

What we covered:

→ Doing every job in the company yourself, and recognizing when that stops being a badge of honor

→ Hiring before you can afford it, and paying your people before you pay yourself

→ Letting go of good people the business outgrew, and why owners wait too long

→ The client happiness chart, and why everyone bottoms out at drywall

→ Four ten hour days, quiet Fridays, and the Tuesday at 2:00 standing meeting

→ The discovery flight that led to his own Bonanza, and the flight with his dad that never happened

Most owners stay buried in the work because writing that first real paycheck to someone else feels impossible.

Chapters

0:00 Meet Bill Cowdin

1:53 Woodshop dreams, architecture, and a finance degree

4:38 Starting the company in October 2008

10:52 First clients, garage built islands, and 100 hour weeks

15:31 Hiring, letting go, and paying your people first

18:36 Four tens and the quiet Friday

21:18 The project roadmap and Tuesday at 2:00

28:55 Mini marriages and the client happiness chart

35:46 What's next, AI estimating, and building extra capacity

42:26 The Bonanza, his dad, and learning to fly

Connect with Bill

https://www.cowdindesignbuild.com/

https://www.instagram.com/cowdindesignbuild/

https://www.facebook.com/CowdinDesignBuild/

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Connect with us!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-cellini/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-young-43391714/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/kingsview/

Prefer to listen?

https://pod.link/6791679944

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