Launching a New Business: Month 0 Update

I launch a new business in January 2023. Want to join me as I document the good, bad and ugly?

I’m a bit obsessive about documenting the present. I feel an unusual compulsion to create things that can be called upon in the future to tell me about my past. I have a few theories about why I do this, but that’s for another time.

Part of my inspiration for this newsletter is to document my journey as I launch a new company. I wish I had done this when starting my other two businesses. Looking back on those times would be at least interesting, if not instructive.

So as I launch Trinity Builder Solutions, I’ll share my victories and struggles via monthly updates.

Since the business does not formally launch until January 2023, I’ll call this the “Month 0” update. In this post, I’ll provide context for this new business and set the stage for what’s to come.

The background - Skip this if you know me well :-)

Here’s my professional career in a nutshell. (I can’t write that phrase without thinking of this scene…)

• Graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 2002 with a degree in Construction Management. Yes, that’s an actual major. It’s a confluence of engineering, business, and beer drinking. I entered Cal Poly in architecture and realized I’d be a terrible architect. Live and learn!

• Worked for a fantastic family-owned general contractor for eight years, learning the ins and outs of the commercial construction industry, including project management and design-build delivery.

• Started a real estate investing partnership in 2007 and acquired more than 50 rental units (apartment, condo, and single family) during what will probably be the best time in my lifetime to secure real estate. (What is it they say about blind squirrels?)

• Launched Trinity Renovation, Inc. in 2010, focusing on commercial general contracting (office and such) and insurance restoration (fire and water damage repair).

• Came up with the idea for kitchen & bath CRATE (kbCRATE) in 2011, tested it in 2012, and pivoted to it exclusively in 2014. Currently, kbCRATE completes ~200 residential kitchen and bath remodels per year out of our Salida, CA, and Elk Grove, CA, locations.

What is Trinity Builder Solutions (TBS)?

The new business is called Trinity Builder Solutions. It’s a forgettable name, is it not? That’s intentional. The sector I’m targeting does not care about names, is full of VERY dull names, and you want your name to sound like something that’s been around for 20 years. I checked all those boxes, right?

TBS is a subcontractor serving the commercial construction industry (with an emphasis on multi-family). We’ll begin by focusing on stone countertop and backsplash fabrication/installation for new multi-family projects. We’ll then add apartment-level cabinets to the mix.

Simply put, when you drive by a new 300-unit apartment complex in the next few years, I hope TBS will have supplied all of the cabinets and countertops in each of those units. Selling bananas in bunches, right?

Why the heck do you want to start another business, Scott?

Here’s why I think TBS is a fantastic opportunity:

• There is an exceptional demand and constrained supply for multi-family housing in California. I see the same in the decade(s) to come.

• TBS as a concept has a unique two-pronged benefit: it provides overall diversity to my business portfolio (by serving a very different sector with different economic variables) yet relates very well to kbCRATE in terms of shared resources (payroll, administration, fabrication facility, etc.)

• TBS will provide additional growth opportunities for my existing team, both in backfilling for me as I step out of the kbCRATE day-to-day and by creating new management positions in TBS.

• Personally, I’m a great starter but not a great manager. KbCRATE is ripe for the next generation of leadership, and we’ve spent the last 12 months implementing the transition. They’re ready; I’m ready.

What are the next steps?

Build the Team - Aaron and Brian are helping me launch TBS. Aaron is a current kbCRATE project manager and will join TBS as the Estimator & Project Manager. Brian is the existing kbCRATE Fabrication Manager and will split his time in the same role with TBS.

Pursue Projects - We need to continue to bid and secure projects, as these jobs take a long time to come to fruition, even once a subcontract is awarded. As we build, we’ll also be bidding on other project types (office, custom residential, etc.) to jumpstart the machine.

Relocate the Office - Aaron, Brian, and I will move into an empty office space on our current site, two buildings over from kbCRATE.

Start the EOS Process - EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) is the bedrock goal-setting/vision-casting/accountability system upon which kbCRATE is built. We’ve been using it for more than three years. I will never run a business without EOS. It’s that powerful.

So there you go. That’s the TBS “Month 0” update. I look forward to updating you at the end of January to let you know how month one is going. If you’d like to follow along in this adventure (including hearing about opportunities to join the team as it grows), please subscribe to this newsletter.

Click here to read the month 1 update!

I’m humbled that anyone would care about my business adventures, and I truly appreciate you reading this post!

Book Note: Books have changed my life, so I thought I’d add a recurring section of this newsletter with recommendations and observations: I just finished Pappyland. I assumed it was a cute little history of how a very expensive bourbon got so expensive. Instead, it ended up being a touching portrait of fathers and sons. Highly recommend. Thanks for passing it on to me, Jeffrey!

If this post brought you value, I’d be honored if you’d subscribe to my newsletter. I’d also love a follow over on Twitter and Linkedin, as I post things there that are either too brief for the newsletter or are just entertaining things I come up with over a responsibly-sized serving of Blanton’s.