In this episode of the Strong Conversations Podcast – Building the Brand Series, host Sam Marcoux sits down with Brian Larrabure, a trailblazer in the construction industry who took an unconventional path to success. Unlike many who are born into the trade or stumble into it, Brian was drawn to construction from a young age, shaping his own path with determination and a drive to build something lasting. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: - How Brian went from critiquing curb appeal as a kid to leading a major framing and panelization company - The unconventional career journey that led him from digging ditches to managing multi-million-dollar projects - Why he bet on panelization before the industry was ready—and how it helped his company survive the 2008 recession - The value of hands-on leadership and how an early mentor reshaped his approach to business - Lessons in differentiation, customer service, and long-term thinking in a highly competitive industry Brian’s story is about more than just construction—it’s about recognizing opportunity, betting on innovation, and leading with integrity. Whether you’re in the building industry or looking for lessons in entrepreneurship, this episode offers valuable insights from someone who built success from the ground up.
BRIAN LARRABURE: Start
(SM) Oh, everybody, welcome back to Strong Conversations. I am Sam Marcoux. This is the "Building the Brands" series and joining me on this episode, a very special episode, is Mr. Brian Larrabure. How are you doing, Brian?
(BL) Very good, thank you.
(SM) Well,
thank you for being here.
This is going to be an interesting one, ladies and gentlemen. We talked to a lot
of folks, Brian, who are in the building industry and they all have, I would say,
two unique two unique paths all of them. You're either born into this industry or you
somehow fall into it. You might be the unicorn that doesn't fall into either one of
those categories. The exception to the rule. We're going to talk all about that and
everything that you have been doing here in the construction industry for the last
however long you've been doing it, but tell everybody who you are we already did
that and what do you do and who you do for and how long have you been doing it.
(BL) I am the president of our companies. We have an installation arm for the framing
side and then we have a fabrication arm which builds roof trusses, floor trusses,
and panelizations, so we prefabricate the entire project and turnkey install.
(SM) So, building houses and structures for everyone to live in across the United States,
or at least primarily here in Southern California, yeah?
(BK) Multi-family primarily here
in Southern California.
(SM) Perfect. So growing up, I already alluded to,
the family business was not necessarily construction, right?
(BL) Nope. Mom and dad were
in the studio business.
(SM) So we are in Southern California right now as we record
this. Mom and dad were in the studio business, meaning TV shows, movies, Hollywood?
(BL) Dad did a lot of commercials for airlines and mom was Alfred Hitchcock's right-hand gal. Albeit, an older genre,
but a somewhat well-known man who made a lot of very well-known historic films.
(SM) Yeah, I think we could name drop Alfred Hitchcock and people are gonna know who
the man is. Obviously, a legend. I bring this up because I would be willing to bet,
good money, that there were probably more people that were born into the construction
industry who decided to go into the movie industry, as opposed to people born into
the movie and entertainment industry and going into construction. [02:20]
(BL) I would venture to
guess you'd be correct there.
(SM) So what was the appeal of going … because when we
talked about this you were pretty young when you realized I want something
different. I don't want to do this, what my parents are doing. I'm gonna go in
there for another path. How old were you when you realized construction might be the
path for you?
(BL) Pretty young. I was very interested in architecture and houses.
I had an opinion on just about every house and how poorly it was looking or how
good it was looking. Yeah and when I got to junior high, the unions were there on the school day and they had a wood frame building and that seemed kind of interesting.
In high school, our wood shop class had a framing course, and we had a drafting
course. What those two courses really were, were sweatshops for the teacher for wood
shop and the teacher for drafting, because the two of them would conspire to get us
to do all the work to model their side jobs that we're just developing.
(SM) Okay. So
they had a little side hustle through the high school there.
(BL) Yeah.
(SM) Woodshop and
drafting. So take it back to, you said that you would, you had an opinion on all
the structures that you would see. What is it that you would look at? Can you
remember and go back and go, well, I don't like the, was it like the windows? Was
it the doors? Was it the color? What was it that would catch your eye first?
(BL) It
would be the curb appeal.
(SM) Okay. So just in general, I'm looking at this and I would
want to live there or I don't.
(BL) Correct.
(SM) And then from there, you would start to…
(BL) Form an opinion and I felt like maybe my path was going to be building
houses.
(SM) Okay. So that's where I go back to you being a unicorn. I don't know of
too many people that choose to come into this, right? You're either born into it or
you sort of fall into it. It's a great industry. I've been in this industry for a
long time since I was a teenager. But it wasn't anything we're, you know, again,
sitting down at school going, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It was
never, I hope I'm a harbor salesman.
(BL) It's like uh…people didn't look at …
it's a blue-collar job. [04:19]
(SM) Yeah
(BL) People didn't look at like, "This is your career
path, really? You should be going to college." But this is like the dirty jobs
thing. You can actually make good money doing this.
(SM) To your point, the dirty jobs
with Mike Rowe, it's kind of a secret, right? I mean, it’s a secret that we keep
trying to tell people about and try to get more people into the industry because I
think there's a lot of opportunity for people to have wonderful jobs and careers in
this, but it's one of those things where you have to experience it almost firsthand
to realize the appeal of it, in my opinion. Do you feel the same or?
(BL) I would say
a pretty spot on, yes. You try and talk to people and say, "Hey, this is a good
job and you should come in and work for us." If they're coming from a different
background, it's hard for them to see it.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) And then their family may say
things like, well, that's construction, it's very volatile. You don't want to be in
that.
(SM) So you realize at a young age, Brian, that you're like, this might be my path. I
might go into construction. You had an eye for what you were looking at. You had
an interest as people showed up and you know you're taking trades, trades classes, I would say,
in high school. Did you know at that age, okay, not only am I to be in this
business, but I'm going to own my own business. I'm going to run a company.
Did you have that big, you know, like big picture in mind or was it just I want
to be involved somehow?
(BL) I did, I had the picture where I thought I would be
building houses.
(SM) Okay.
(BL) I had this vision of I'm going to build a house at a
time, I'm going to figure out how to make the money, build a house at a time,
build it, finish and sell it.
(SM) Okay, so how did that get started? Now, obviously,
you're in school and you've kind of figured out what you like and what you're
passionate about, but at some point, you got to take that step to this is now
going to be my career. What's that first step look like?
(BL) First step was going to
be going to be a laborer for a contractor, so I got to dig ditches and holes and
all the fun stuff, all the really not fun stuff, and paint and haul trash and spend
the summers between different grades doing that during high school.
[06:19]
(SM) Now, during that, I mean, obviously you're paying your dues, right? I think that's the very definition of paying your dues right there. Did it ever make the dream of
being in the construction industry a little dimmer? Did you go, "Eh, maybe this
isn't for me if I got to do this type of stuff." Or was it, "I know what this
is. "Take care of it and move on."
(BL) It didn't change it. It just made me more
motivated to move on 'cause being in the ditches and hauling trash.
It's like, okay, how much longer do I have to do this?
(SM) Yeah, yeah. Now how much
longer did you do that before you moved on?
(BL) I think I did the dirtiest of dirty
jobs for
maybe the first three or four years of my field career.
(SM) Okay, after that, those
first four years, you're moving on, you're moving up. What was next?
(BL) I moved away from general contracting. I was working for a Malibu based general
contracting firm.
(SM) Okay.
(BL) Building houses for celebrities and whatnot and we were doing
it from bottom and top. So I got to do a bit of everything. I moved into a
company that was framing and I was fortunate enough that there was no piece work,
it was all hourly. So we got to do everything and so besides hauling lumber and
doing the labor work, they would let me actually help them do the different aspects and it was on the ground training course, so you got to learn at a very rapid
pace all the different categories, which sadly our industry doesn't do that anymore.
(SM) Yeah. So when you're in that environment and your hands on,
like you said, you got to do everything. So you got exposed to different parts of
the business, was there one area that you were drawn to more than others in that
environment where you're learning all this different stuff?
(BL) It drew me into framing.
When I started with my thought process, I'm going to be building houses. I want to
learn every aspect of building houses and then just go out on my own and this is
gonna be my thing, the framing drew me in to the passion of framing.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) To
where I decided, I'm not so sure I wanna go build houses. I’m kinda liking this framing
thing.
(SM) Right.
(BL) And how do I make money doing this? [08:34]
(SM) So you're setting this up,
you're like a pro. How did you make money? How did you ultimately turn into what
you are today?
(BL) So, at that time, in the era of framing in Southern California,
a dirty little word was starting, a little practice called piece work and one by one, a lot of these companies were taking on piece workers to do what
was being done hourly. Yeah. So, our bosses in of their great wisdom looked at all
of us, the team, said you guys are making too much money you don't appreciate it
so we're gonna show you. You're gonna piece work. Okay, so I grabbed one of the best
guys or maybe two of the best guys. I can't you know can't quite clearly recall,
but I grabbed one or two of the guys that I knew were the best and I said hey you're
with me and we're gonna go piece work. So, my first check was three or four times
what I was getting paid.
(SM). Wow.
(BL) So, within a
month, I was making a significant amount of money and within a month, our bosses had a meeting with us. "Hey guys,
this was all a grand experiment. Just kidding. We need to put, you know, we need to
put that back in the box and
some of the guys who were a little less ambitious said, oh, okay boss. I'm back on
the clock. I looked at him and said
It's either piece work or see you and it was see you.
(SM) So you parted ways at that
point.
(BL) Parted ways from that group.
(SM) How old were you? How old do you when that
happens?
(BL) I think I was 20.
(SM) 20?
(BL) Yeah.
(SM) Wow,
okay, so that is a pretty young age to put, kind of draw that line in the sand
as an individual, I would say. I mean, that's pretty brave to do at 20 years old.
(BL) Motivated by money.
(SM) Sure.
(BL) There was plenty of work. [10:41]
(SM) But a lot of people are
motivated by money, but they're still like, I know I can still make money over
here. There's comfort in having the job. Whereas you said, no, no, no, hold on a
second. I've got something here.
(BL) And that comes from two things. So it comes from I
have no overhead. I have no wife and no kids. Nothing that says hey,
don't take the risk and it comes from within. So from within I was motivated to
take the risk and make the money.
(SM) Were you scared at all at that point? 20 years
old saying I I could figure this out separate from you.
(BL) No. No,
I was more disappointed because I liked the group.
(SM) Right.
(BL) It's like its kind of
like you're losing your friends.
(SM) Sure.
(BL) Yeah, so well, I’ll be seeing you
guys. I don't know when, but I'll be seeing you.
(SM) Ok, so
we'll circle back to that to that sentiment a little bit later. So 20 years old, you
kind of, the light bulb goes off. You see the money that you can, you know make,
where did you go from there?
(BL) So then I grabbed a couple of guys. One came with
me from the company and then I grabbed a couple of my buddies, which is kind
of the trying to convince your friends that you drink beer with.
(SM) Yeah
(BL) Hey bro get
up early in the morning Come with me to work. It's not all bad. You'll make some
money.
I grabbed a couple of those guys and went out and went to the jobs.
You just go to a job and you pull up and say hey you got work
and they would say yes or no. You'd drive around the valley and there was work
everywhere.
(SM) You’re just door-to-door salesman at that point.
(BL) Literally, yeah. You
just walk up, who's the foreman? What's available? Do you need a ... and then we
were a little bit more open to what we were doing. We were doing whatever they
said.
(SM) Right. [12:21]
(BL) We got framing, get to work. You can do framing. You got
joints, send me to do the joints thing.
(SM) So you land there..what was it like? Do you
remember the first time that you went out and did that, knocked on the door
proverbially and said, "All right, do you have work? " And they said, "Yes." Do you
remember that day?
(BL) Not exactly, but I don't think it was yes.
(SM) Yeah. (laughs)
Well, was it?
(BL) Probably get the F out of here.
(SM)Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So how long did you do that in terms of the piece work?
(BL) I did that off and on through my 20s.
(SM) Yeah
(BL) And had partnerships through my
20s and the partnerships would stem from…I'd be doing specific tasks on a, will call them a client and a client would like my work so much, they would
say, "Hey, why don't you become a partner?"
(SM) Okay
(BL) And that's kinda how I got into
doing the overall framing thing, 'cause they had the license, I didn't have a
license.
(SM) Right. So, you know, kind of word of mouth, proving yourself out there for
sounds like the better part of the decade?
(BL) Pretty much. Yeah. For about for about 10 years, I was doing what they call snap,
plate and detail. So I had a layout crew and I was doing stairs and I was doing a
plumbing line and setting beams and back then they called that the gravy. So
you'd roll up on a job site and it's like, oh, hey, the gravy trains here.
(SM) Nice.
What happened after that? Because full disclosure for everybody listening to this
or watching this, you and I don't know each other very well, right? I mean, we've been
in the industry for a long time. I've been in Northern California, you've been down
here in Southern California. I'm fascinated by the journey to where you are. You
know, we have some colleagues that we were just talking to. They absolutely love you
and adore you and I trust them to the very end of the day and it's always interesting
to hear people's journeys and how they got where they are so that's why I'm going
through some of this because I don't know every detail of your career here. [14:18]
(SM) I
kind of know the end and where you are now. So just filling in those blanks there. So
you run through; you’ve got the gravy train.
What happens after that?
(BL) So the gravy train was good, but it's distracting because I was making
In my early 20s 150 to 175 thousand bucks a year just doing a two three-man deal working 70-80 hours a week. The pull
would be from my elders who would try and get me to partner up saying,
you know you need to go to college and the college being you know you need to come work for
me, get the big picture and make some money and then move forward.
So that's kind of what I did off and on throughout my 20s was trying to find a
good partner that could teach me
and taking kind of a bachelor's degree towards a master's but in segments. So we'd go and work partner with somebody for a minute and then go back out
and piece and then repeat, rinse and repeat.
(SM) And just kind of learning as you
went, getting better as you go?
(BL) 'Cause you're learning to manage more people.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) 'Cause when you're running a piece crew, you only got like three or four guys
or maybe five guys. So how do you manage the whole big picture? And that's what I
started stepping my way up on. I'm managing a 20 unit, a 30 unit, a 50 unit.
(SM) What's the biggest difference between that. So yeah, like you said, three or four people
versus what we'll call a unit, 20 people. What's the biggest difference in terms of
leading either one of those crews that that people need to be aware of?
You need to really figure out what your structure is going to be on a project and
who is doing what and be a task master and make sure, you know if you are hands on managing a project, it's delegating the duties and making sure
that each of the individuals are doing that.
(SM) And like you said holding everyone
accountable and make sure that they are staying on task?
(BL) Yeah and going around and
making sure they're doing that. That took a while to learn and that wasn't
that wasn't easy and one of my best teachers was a gentleman who made me his
partner for a couple of years who let me run the first project and it went to
… it didn't go that great and then rather than lecture me,
he just showed up with his nail bags and he worked with me hands on for the three
months it took us to get through the job. So he just went to work. He went to work
and showed me what it meant to lead a team.
(SM) So how'd that change you? I imagine
that would have to change you. I mean, you're talking about it today.
(BL) Yeah, it opened
my eyes to how to better manage people. [17:03]
(SM) Yeah and it's amazing how that happens.
I didn't know how to read plans when I was really, really young in this industry and one of the veterans that I worked with, he's retired now, could see it.We we're
at a meeting together and he was looking at me and after the meeting was up,
he was like, you know, you're looking at? And I’m like, I have no idea. Thankfully, I was honest and I have no idea what I'm looking at.
(BL) That's the best that's the best way to
get taught.
(SM) Yeah and he didn't have to, but he did. He sat down with
me and showed me the basics to which to this day, I still kind of fall back on.
It's amazing how they can have that impact and him showing, not just saying you got
to go learn to do this or be better, but let me open this up and show you and
do it side by side. Pretty powerful stuff. I mean, that's kind of what leaders are
made out of, right? And you got that sent to you and obviously you're paying that
forward with your business to this day. So let's get to the meat of it.
When you and I were talking about a week
or two ago, we started talking about what made your, what makes your company unique and what
made it unique and it took some time to, for Southern California in
particular, to catch on to what you were seeing and the vision that you have for
panelization. So I guess we'll work backwards. What makes or made your company unique
at the time in your opinion?
(BL) At which point?
(SM) Well, I guess just in general, you're well known,
right, VLF? So what is it that when people think of you and your brand> What is
it that stands out in your opinion?
(BL) What stands out is customer service. You know that we're always going to take care of you and we are always going
to stick to whatever we said so you got to be, you got to follow through, right? You gotta do
what you say you're gonna do. So if we say we're gonna do XYZ in this many
months, we strive to do XYZ in that many months. Are we perfect? No,
but we get pretty close to as good as we can be every time.
(SM) Well, and that gets
you that repeat business, I would assume, right?
(BL) Correct.
(SM) People go, well, I can
rely on him and I can rely on that company. We're gonna do that again.
(BL) I mean,
It's self-promotion. Yeah, it's easy to sit down and negotiate with people
that know that hey if I hire you I know that you're gonna finish the job. You're
gonna get it done and if I'm asking for, which they always do, the fantasy
game. Hey, can you do this in two months? No, nobody can do it in two months.
Well, so-and-so said they would, well I
can do it in three.
[19:31]
(SM) So it's pretty important though, right? I mean,
you're not robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. You're gonna be pretty upfront
and honest. I can't do this in two months in that scenario. I can do it in three
and here's how.
(BL) You can't, you can sell something one time or two times that way.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) And how do you sell it the one time? You tell them that and they believe
you and then you don't do it and then they get angry. How do you sell it the
second time? You sell it the second time after they've forgotten and then you cut
your price. So then in between, they kind of don't remember it and you've cut your
price and they okay, I believe you again, but you can't do it on a repetitive basis.
(SM) Yeah, it's not sustainable.
(BL) No, the only way for it to be sustainable is to be
the cheapest guy in town.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) So then it's like, there's the arrow, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, the price, okay.
(SM) Well, there's no value there necessarily,
right?
(BL) Not as a business owner.
(SM) Sure.
(BL) It's not the way to make money.
(SM) So let's talk about wall panelization. Let's talk about panelization in general. So
we were talking about this and it was fascinating.
You were kind of at the forefront of this of what I would say is revolution in
construction.
(BL) We were definitely the leading edge in this region. Panelization has
been around for a long time. It just hasn't been suited to our market and what we
do. We do a very complex major multifamily. For every success,
at that time, there was a dozen failures. So the panelization industry was not
believed or embraced.
(SM) So why did you believe in it?
[21:09]
(BM) Because I had decided to go into what I call Brian's folly,
which was opening a trust plant. Okay and now I have millions of dollars in this
trust plant and I'm looking at ways to utilize the land I have and equipment I
have and going to trade shows. You get to see a lot of cool pieces of equipment
that they may work or maybe not work. I happened to see a saw at one of the trade
shows and I said, "That saw, if we can get software to talk to that saw,
we got something. We can do panels." And I was interested in panels and following
it for decades on the basis of understanding that eventually it's going to figure
itself out and it's going to make a difference. So by seeing the saw, I saw the
opportunity to perhaps get the ball rolling.
(SM) So,
just to put that on the timeline, how old are you when you saw that saw? Like
around, what year?
(BL) Uh 40…44,
(SM) Okay.
(BL) What year was that, it was 2004, no you know when
I was born, 1960.
(SM) I'm not doing math, I'm a sales guy,
so I can do fives and zeroes. You throw a four and there I'm out, I can't do it.
So, your secret safe with me. Um, okay, so around 2004, uh,
you really, you know, you're like, okay, I see where this can go. I've got this
entity over here that I've already invested in. I want to maximize my investment. I
think that saw with the right software, we're cooking with fire, but it didn't just
take off right away.
(BL) No, we, we partnered with a software company that said they
could do it and gave them a year. They they didn't do it. We partnered with
another one and within six months we realized they weren't going to do it and then
we partnered with MiTek and the partnership was based on will you guys really
put out the effort and put up you know the horsepower to get this done because
this is not something we're gonna get done in six months, a year
or two years. This is gonna be years of us working together to get this software worked out.
(SM) And, thank you Warren. Mr. Buffett’s money funded a great software package.So, were a couple of years into this.We’re trying a couple of things and its not fitting right and you finally find a partner there. What happens next. I mean it felt like there was still some time before this really started to take
root or am I wrong in that?
(BL) No, we spent years doing baby steps.
(SM) Okay.
(BL) So you're building houses, any software package will work on the houses. So we
were fabricating houses, getting used to panelizing and how the processes work. [24:03]
(BL) 'Cause
we had a pretty big housing division before the crash. We were doing about 300
starts a month and the builders liked the panelization at the time for the houses. So we were
using that process to get … keep things rolling and the software kind of came to
a place where we felt it would work enough around the end of 2008 and we took a 80-unit project and made it panels,
found out where we were not doing so good and found out where we worked strong and
then went full in and turned our entire production the following year into full
panels.
(SM) So what did that do to the business for you?
(BL) Fortunately for us it helped us survive because the economy was coming apart pretty
strong and it helped us cut labor at a time when we needed to cut labor and keep
us afloat.
(SM) You're talking 2008. So we're right at the beginning of when it was going downhill.
(BL) So in 2009, our eighth housing had already … like we used to have
these big three dry erase boards in this conference room with the tracks. There were I don’t know
40 tracks of homes and you would have the starts per month
and you could go down each line item for each month and you know its ‘06 and it's
300 starts 300 starts 300 starts and somewhere around, I want to say it was August of
‘06 or was August of ’07, all of a sudden it went to 100 and then a month later,
it went to 80.
So it…
(SM) Alarm bells.
(BL) Yeah, it hit pretty hard. The multi-family was what was
sustaining us and going to the prefabrication is what helped us carry through there.
(SM) So having that vision ahead of time, like you said, and investing and doing the
research and finding the right partners to partner with at that time and setting
yourself up, like you said, it allowed for you to sustain and be able to use that
panelization and run kind of lean and mean through those lean years. Coming out of
that, coming out of that, you know, that great recession, you know, when did it
really start to, I know what that family was holding you afloat, but coming out of
that, was it just like, okay, this is how we're doing it from now on and we can
scale up or what was that like coming out of that recession?
(BL) So it was during that
period of time, it was a lot of training the customers and educating them on the
process because it still wasn't embraced and getting all the trade partners. So it
was years of, as we were coming out of that, getting the different trade partners,
the plumbers, electricians, all the follow on trades, to realize that this was
something not to fight, it was something to embrace. You you're gonna do better if
you would work with us.
(SM) Yeah. [27:07]
(BL) Because a lot of the trades, we'd say like coming
into the meeting, you're gonna, we're gonna put the bay right where you want it.
We're gonna do all this stuff. “I don’t have time for that”, but once they started
figuring it out, all of a sudden, it started to becoming a closed loop.
The real momentum took,
gosh, I gotta say it was probably like seven
years. There's a little phrase we were kicking around that took us, uh,
yeah, it took me 40 years to be an overnight success. I think it took our
panelizing a decade to be an overnight success.
(SM) So how do you not get discouraged
during that? Or did you? I mean, I would imagine after 10 years or close to it,
you're like, this just isn’t …it's a great idea, it's just not the right time or
what kept you going?
(BL) I didn't feel like the panelizing wasn't like the right time.
What you're having these mental arguments with yourself about is when you have all
these people that work for you that are kind of your family and you see the
economy being bad and you're watching your bank account kind of going, "Should I
just pack this in and just keep my pile of cash and wait till the economy comes
back or just keep trudging along and things are gonna be fine. So those are the
kind of little conversations you have in your head. I never felt like I needed to
stop, but it didn't mean I didn't think about it.
(SM) That's incredible though, though.
I mean, you very well could have gone into self-preservation mode, like you said,
and said, okay, I made good money. This isn't gonna work. I don't need to do this
anymore. I'm good. But that thought of, I have all these people that work for me,
that work with me, and what happens to them if I were to do that? I mean, that's
pretty incredible to not put yourself as the lead horse in that regard. I mean,
again, going back to having your boss at the time work right next to you,
but I think that's you putting yourself right next to the employees at that point
and saying, we're in this together. We're going to see this through
and hopefully
we see it all the way through and it's better as we come out of this, which it
certainly was.
(BL) Yeah, it turned into a great plan and a great program 'cause you're
all about your people.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) I'm just one person. I can't do it all myself. So if you don't build a good
team, you can't build a good operation.
So leaving that team behind was not like a serious option.
(SM) Given all that and given where you started and how you started and and you know
your resolve to keep going through different areas there
Is there something that stands out in your career right now that is like you're
most proud of that was like a tent pole of like if that didn't happen, man things
would have been different or is there anything like that? Is there anything thatstands out?
(BL) I think it would be two things. One, would be my decision to differentiate myself
from all the other framers. When I was first starting,
I was doing 50, 60, 70, 80 unit, occasional 100 unit stuff and it seemed like
everybody was doing that and I would go, I'd have a customer [30:21]
and I'm doing two
jobs and then I don't get the next three and the next three were three
different guys and I looked at who was doing the big work and it was a
handful the guys done the big jobs and I thought about it and I said that's where
I need to be I need to be up there doing the big jobs because soon there's ahalf dozen of us or there's eight or nine, but there's not 50 60 70 guys all
fighting for the same work.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) So that was a pivotal point and then I think the next pivot was doing the panels because the panels really
differentiated us from everybody else. 'Cause when you're a stick framer, now you're a stick
framer and you're one of the seven to eight or nine guys.
Well, my competitors have all these relationships and I'm the new guy
and you'd walk in and the customer says, well, why am I gonna give you the job,
Brian? I have a relationship with Rainey Davis or Beckett and Lee Bolin or X,
Y, Z. Well, because I'm a great guy and I'm gonna do a great job. Well, they're
great guys and they do a great job. So hearing that kind of on a repetitive basis,
my only alternative was to be cheaper.
(SM) Right.
(BL) Well, that doesn't make you rich and it's
not, it's not gonna sustain your business and it's gonna make it very hard to grow.
So the pivot with what the panelization is, we're different from everybody else.
We're providing a completely different service. So that put us in the position of,
we like our framer that we've been using, but you're available and we really like
what you're doing and he can't, and the way the industry is, the industry is not
in a position to provide the product.
(SM) Well, when you're different and that unique, who
are you bidding against at that point too, right? I mean, you're so, you're in, you
know, your first cousins, everyone's family, whatever, but when you're doing it so
differently than somebody else, it makes you stand out to where people go,
"Okay, I'm interested, I'm intrigued, what do you got?" And it feels like the value
add is a little bit different or the value prop is a little bit different than
everybody else. Is that…
(BL) There is a value add, but somehow we still can't get
that value.
(SM) Yeah.
(BL) They still say, "Okay, you got to do it for a stick framer price." And we're
fine with that.
(SM) Yeah
(BL) That's what we do, but it's funny 'cause my partner and the
accounting people in my office say “why can't you just charge more?" 'Cause the
industry isn't ready to pay more. They're still willing to use Randy or XYZ Framer
versus me if I stand my ground and don't match the price.
[33:14]
(SM) Well, so that in mind. I mean, you've experienced quite a bit in your career
. Anybody looking to jump out, if they're listening to this or they're watching this right
now and they're hearing everything that were talking about Brian, what advice would
you give to anybody saying “all right, I'm gonna go out and do something.” Whether
it's a framing company or just something else in this industry, doesn't have to be
in this industry, what's the one piece of advice that if you're talking to somebody
they can't live without? What do they have to you are not do in order to be a
success in your mind?
(BL) I think the easiest path towards success if you're really
determined to do anything in any industry is to go work for somebody who's
successful. Go see it. Go live it right next to them.
(SM) Yeah. I love that.
All right. Well, this is probably the most important question of the entire podcast.
We've learned a lot here today. Talking to Brian Larrabure.
Your your mom and dad were in the movie industry. I sent this over to you so I'm
hoping you got a chance to take a look at this, but
Hollywood calls you tomorrow and says we're making a life about your movie or we're
making a movie about your life. Let me flip that over.
Who's the actor that's playing you in the movie and
what's the title of that movie?
(BL) Well, I'd say would be Mike Rowe.
(SM) Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. Yeah, there you go. I love that. That's a great answer. I wish I thought of that
for me when somebody asked me that. I think he’s done a fantastic service for for this
country in terms of what he…
(BL) Oh yeah, he's fantastic. Yeah.
(SM) Well, what movie out
there if you had to watch one movie that you said that was already made but that's
my life. Is there one out there?
(BL) No, I haven't seen anything.
You sent me the question and I thought about it. I was like, no.
(SM) You’re too busy building all the
houses and everything anyway.
(BL) Too busy racing and goofing off and other stuff.
(SM) So
talk to me about that. We were talking a little bit about that in the green room 'cause we
do have a green room here. You're big into racing, right? Cars, motorcycles?
(BL) It's
my hobby. I enjoy motorcycle racing and car racing.
(SM) Is there anything else that
you're doing outside of work that you're just like, heck yeah, if I'm done working
today, I'm going to go do this.
(BL) That would be hanging out with you guys and
what was the catchphrase for that product?
(SM) Simpson Strong Water?
(BL) Yes, having a little Simpson Strong Water.
(SM) Yes, we're experts
of that. We can certainly do that. So talk to me about, how'd you get into racing?
(BL) My dad, so my dad was, my dad used to race motorcycles in South America.
(SM) Wow.
(BL) And he's part Peruvian and that was his passion and he used to drag me
out to the racetracks when I was a little kid and I was like 9 years old and
I was a corner worker waving a flag and they tried putting me in some no impacts. I
don’t think it could ever happen today. I’m in some no impact zone and it would become an impact
zone and they would move me.
(SM) Uh, that was a bad idea let's put him over there.
(BL) Yeah, put him in some area where he’s going to get sunburnt and nothing's gonna happen all day
long and I kind of got the bug on the bikes and bike racing, but I never had the time for it. I had bikes. I always wanted to race,
but I never had the time. Work was first, and then it was family and I have a
collection of real factory race bikes that I’ve built up over the years and I
wanted to race them. So I think I was in my mid 40s and I told my wife, I
said, honey, I'm having a midlife crisis.
I can either get a full head of hair and a nice Ferrari convertible and a hot
young girlfriend or go motorcycle racing, she goes, I think that's a better choice.
(SM) The illusion of choice right there. I love it. Well done.
(BL) So she let me go run around the country and go racing. I was trained by professionals. World champion and
some AMA champions have taught me over the years to keep me safe and then my
business partner, you know I'm fortunate to have as a business partner, invited me to go car
racing and I really liked the car racing thing.
He does endurance racing. So I said this is a lot of fun. I really like this. I
don't like the car you have. It's a piece of junk, and I don't like the guy you're
doing it with because he's kind of a jerk and so since there's only room for two jerks
in the room and that's you and me. We can't have three. So let's go get a car and go
racing and we've been doing that for ten years.
(SM) I like that your your your career
starts with you as a child Looking at the curb appeal of the houses saying I like
that. I don't like this and for your hobby you go. I like this, but I don't like your
car. There's there's there's there's something there on the bookends there of taking a
look [38:06]
at this and go on I like it, but we could do better. Yeah, and now it's
almost kind of your career in many ways I like this but we can do better. That's
fantastic. So last question before we part ways here today. Where is the best
place to race or your favorite place?
(BL) Top Five. Road America would be in the top
five. That's in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
(SM) Okay.
(BL) Sebring for the cars. That's Sebring,
Florida. Barber for either cars or motorcycles in Alabama.
Birmingham, Alabama.
(SM) Okay.
(BL) Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
(SM) Close to my home.
(BL) Yeah, both bikes and cars. Thunder Hill is a
favorite. We're doing Thunder Hill next weekend. It’s a thousand miles of Thunder Hill. F
ive mile course. It's gonna be eight hour days and the first car to cross and
do a full thousand miles is gonna checker the race.
(SM) That's
awesome.
(BL) It was gonna be our national championship run because we were in position,
but I got hit at the finale, at the regional finale, at over a hundred miles an
hour and and my car, our cute little Porsche with me in it was sent flying into
the woods and it doesn't exist anymore.
(SM) Wow.
(BL) So we're out of the National
Convention and we're in a fresh car for the race weekend.
(SM) Well, I wish you
nothing but luck. I appreciate you being there.
(BL) Thanks. We will need all the luck we can
get.
(SM) on Strong Conversations and thank you all for joining us here. Stay tuned for
more episodes of Strong Conversations coming up soon. See you then.
[39:39]
BRAN LARRABURE: END