We were lucky to catch up with Erin & Derek Kvistad recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Erin & Derek, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My husband Derek and I started our company, Story Builders, in 2017, shortly after moving our family to Texas. It was truly a journey of faith. We arrived here and signed our kids up for school, then set out to determine what God had in store for us. We knew our education and experience were significant and would play a role.
I had gone to law school and practiced law in the areas of construction and general business formation and advising before taking time off to raise our three boys. I returned to the workforce in the capacity of risk manager for the painting contractor Derek was working for. I also had an online coaching business where I honed my social media marketing and interpersonal coaching skills.
Derek graduated from college with a degree in architecture and went to work for a small firm designing custom homes. After eight years he left to help a friend oversee and grow his commercial painting business. Eleven years later he went to work for a commercial general contractor, rounding out his construction knowledge and experience.
So we had the background, at least on paper, to wear all the various hats we might need if we were serious about starting our own construction company, from scratch. But it’s our work ethic that brought it to fruition. And for both of us, that work ethic was modeled for us by our parents – and more particularly our dads who had worked in the construction field all of their professional lives. Derek’s dad was a carpenter by trade. Derek literally grew up on the job site as his dad began bringing him to work at an early age. His dad built hundreds of homes over many years and we still call on him regularly for his wisdom.
My dad was in the army for two years, stationed in Germany. When he returned to the states and civilian life he knew he needed good skills to start a career. He went to trade school to become a plumber. After a number of years working with the tools he decided to take a leap of faith and started his own plumbing company. At one point his company was the largest new home construction plumbing company in Northern California. It is still going strong today, some 52 years later with my two brothers at the helm.
We did not have to look far for role models and our families were behind us 100% when we stepped out in faith to build our own business. We gained the grit and strength we needed to create and run our business by observing it throughout our lives.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Story Builders is a design/build custom home building company in North Texas. Most builders only oversee construction of a house, whose design was already done by a designer or draftsman. What makes our business unique is we work with our clients from the moment they purchase their property until we receive the Certificate of Occupancy and they move into their new home.
The design process starts on the land. Together we take in the views, the terrain, and the natural attributes the property offers. We just completed a home on a slope where we created a walkout basement – an unusual feature in Texas. We are currently building a home whose master bedroom window looks out at a tree, under which the couple got engaged.
Then we explore how the family lives. For example, do they do a lot of outdoor living, entertaining? How many kids, how old? Do both spouses work from home, workout at home, etc.?
Then Derek begins the design process to put their dreams onto paper. Frequent meetings help to shape the plan to the couple’s vision. After final design and budgeting the construction process begins. Together with our vendor teams we oversee all design, selections and the overall construction of the home.
We often describe our business as “from dirt to final detail.” We love being a part of bringing a family’s vision to life.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in our journey are experience, faith and finding a work/rest balance.
As we began to dream about starting a home-building business, we had to take a hard look at our training and skillsets. We recognized that throughout our two career paths we had experience in almost every area that such a business would require. Derek had done hands-on construction, studied and worked in architecture, worked for a subcontractor and a general contractor in the areas of project management and business development. I had a background in construction law and general business, HR, risk management and social media marketing. Our twenty-five years of professional experience were coming together for our own endeavor.
As we contemplated our next step, we were still looking for a church in Texas. We were invited by friends to check out their church. The second week we were there, there was a visiting pastor and he preached a message on “God-given dreams.” He told us that God gives each of us a dream. Often the question is the timing as to when we will pursue it. Sometimes we are to go after it immediately. Other times we are meant to bide our time and sharpen our skills as we help others build their dreams. As we walked out of church that day I looked at Derek and said “We’ve been building other people’s dreams for twenty-five years. It’s time to build our own.” And Story Builders was born.
Finally, it takes grit and balance to run a business. As a good friend likes to say, when you own your own business you get the freedom to choose which sixteen hours a day you want to work. There’s a lot of truth in that. There is so much to do every single day that you could literally work around the clock. And being a husband and wife team, we are almost always working or talking about work. We have had to be disciplined to shut things down in the evening and at least take one day on the weekend to rest. We aren’t good at this but being Christian business owners we also must recognize that our business will carry on even if we shut down for a few hours. We know that we know that God gave us this business and that He is partnering in it with us every day. We have to trust Him enough to work hard and to take the rest that He very clearly mandates in his word.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Home building is a difficult endeavor in itself. For example, in a recent home we completed we worked with 56 unique vendors – from more sophisticated mechanical tradesmen such as HVAC and electrical, to less-skilled trades, design showrooms, building material supply houses and equipment rentals, right down to the porta-potty. These are 56 independent businesses and we only work with legitimate, insured companies. They each have their own accounting systems, employee issues, and business realities. Some are great at their craft but not necessarily at their paperwork. In a world of Amazon instant shopping and streamlined, discounted billing, single home construction could not be any further from that.
Building is an art and not a science and it involves working with vendors, and clients, of various levels of knowledge, skill and sophistication. Trades often know their own work but don’t necessarily know how it plays into the greater whole – how a seemingly minor delay can set back an entire project as work is paused, resequenced, etc. And for most clients, this is the biggest project they will ever be involved in. It is challenging from start to finish – physically, emotionally, financially. There are literally thousands of decisions to be made over the course of a project.
Then enter 2020, a global pandemic, worldwide supply chain issues, quality of material issues, and labor shortages. These last few years have added significant wrinkles to an already complex process, including a volatile market for building supplies and an overall coarsening of interpersonal relationships. Everyone is stretched, and tired.
But this is our industry, our area of expertise and our livelihood. We know our upbringing and our experience set us on this path and we continue to push forward through these more challenging seasons. We stay grounded in our faith and surround ourselves with people who encourage and support us, including many business-owner friends whose wisdom and support are invaluable. Knowing our purpose and our why is critical to continue to press on to making an impact – with beautiful custom homes and the families we build for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.storybldrs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storybldrs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storybldrs
