Business Building

Gary Striegler, a hands-on, custom home builder in Fayetteville, Ark., has been building custom homes for most of his life. A second-generation builder, Striegler started working — at the age of 14 — as a trim carpenter for his father.

As an adult, Striegler's strong work ethic combined with his love for handcrafted woodwork made the decision to build homes an easy one. "When I started my first partnership back some 20-odd years ago, we were just two guys with an incredible work ethic who were just trying to make it. Between us, we knew a lot about building houses, but not very much about building a business. We picked up some business skills as we went along, but like most carpenters out there we wanted to do what we do best, which is to build houses."

Enter the booming success of the Fayetteville area. Home to companies such as Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and Hunt Trucking, Fayetteville grew — and continues to grow — as companies open businesses in this point on the "Golden Triangle." As any booming town can attest, an influx of new businesses brings more people. With more people, comes the need for elegant, well-built homes.

As the client base and business grew, so did the demands of running a business. "Our clients are working professionals who are used to orderly paperwork and business practices," explains Striegler.

However, like most carpenters, Striegler ran his office out of the front seat of his truck. The demands of an increasingly sophisticated client base pushed the way the business was run to the limit. "I was spending more time doing the business of running the company and less hands-on building. This wasn't part of my plan."

The breaking point between the two partners occurred over a philosophical difference. After a 20-year partnership, one partner wanted to create a building system to build spec houses, and let it run. Says Striegler, "I couldn't do it that way. I really enjoy building high-end custom homes, which is incredibly hands on. That's when I realized I needed a business partner."

Striegler, like many hands-on contractors, grew up in the trades. Running the business side was always the more daunting struggle and he wanted to get better at it. To begin this quest, he met with Dennis Moore of Commerce Construction.

• Striegler, like many small builders, did not have the type of accounting system or software that would show a breakdown of costs and expenses — compared to budget — for each of the homes he worked on.
• Striegler also did not have a comprehensive tracking system to keep up on insurance, workman's compensation, etc.
• Striegler also lacked a support staff that would assist him in answering phone calls and fielding faxes.

Moore was able to modify his own commercial building systems and apply them to Striegler's residential construction business. Moore suggested Striegler apply new accounting software to his accounting system. The software would allow Striegler to better monitor his own costs and expenses while also providing his customers with a cost and expense breakdown as well. Moore also set Striegler up with a system for tracking insurance, workman's compensation and the like.

As a result of the consultation, a partnership was born. In addition to consulting Striegler on business practices, Moore also shares a support staff as well. According to Striegler, the systems Moore suggested — improving the accounting and tracking systems and installing a support staff — have greatly improved his business's organization.

"Now I have a physical business with proper systems already in place," said Gary. " I have a talented group of people who answer the phones in a professional manner and keep track of my billing and invoices."

"These people have developed a great system and can easily show my clients what's been done, when things are scheduled to be finished, what they've spent and where there's room in their budget to do a little bit more. They have the proper tools at their disposal, and now I find myself in the office just one or two days a week. The rest of the time I can get on doing what I do best: making sawdust."

As partners, Striegler and Moore share Striegler's profits 60/40 (in Striegler's favor). To accomplish this, Striegler determined his base salary — an average of his earnings from the past three to four years; he then splits anything above his base salary 60/40 to himself and Moore, respectively. Striegler notes, "That was incredibly fair and it works out really well for me."

What Striegler does best is create striking, high-end interior finish work. "I learned an incredible amount about building from some great carpenters when I was younger. But they didn't have the opportunities to make a nice curved staircase or an intricate fireplace mantle. They gave me the basics, but I had to figure out the rest."

Striegler's passion for building is evident. He is a detail-oriented carpenter who also has a passion for sharing his knowledge.

"For me there was a lot of trial and error when I was stretching my building skills to fill the demands of my new clients. Now that I have organized my time better, I like to share what I've learned over the last 30-plus years with other carpenters."

With the new business systems in place, Striegler can schedule his time more efficiently. He now has time for one of his other passions: teaching. Striegler has worked on a number of training videos on behalf of various tool manufacturers. This summer, Striegler can be found teaching a class on milling historically accurate trim work at the Marc Adam's School of Woodworking — the largest hands-on woodworking school in the world.

During his class, Striegler will share his secrets on his greatest passion: woodworking. Attendees will have the honor of learning the following:

• how to make and install curved trim
• how to build striking mantels
• how to build a curved stairway
• how to top off a room with the right ceiling details — from basic crown molding installation to intricate coffered and beamed ceilings

Just like the houses Striegler builds, this class sold out in record time.