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Money Focused Podcast
Helping ordinary people, become extraordinary with MONEY! Each weekly episode is packed with actionable tips, expert insights, and real-world advice to help you grow financially and take control of your future. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your wealth, you’ve found the perfect place. Get ready to transform your financial journey, one episode at a time!
Money Focused Podcast
EP 67 - What You Need to Know for a Profitable Home Builder Journey
Join me on this episode as we explore the Home Builder Journey of R Dyson Colley, affectionately known as the Gentleman Builder, who transitioned from IT professional to a home building expert after being inspired by Warren Buffett. Colley shares the highs and lows of his first big construction project, showing why new builds can be a smarter choice for investors compared to flipping houses. He helps new investors break into the industry by teaching the ins and outs of home building, from acquiring and developing land to understanding zoning laws, utilities, and flood zones to avoid costly mistakes. Colley also dives into financing strategies, explaining how owning land can give you leverage for construction loans. He offers practical advice on working with traditional banks, hard money lenders, and private money, while emphasizing the value of mentorship in this challenging but rewarding field.
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Welcome back to the Money Focus Podcast. I'm your host, moses Dementor, and on this episode I have the pleasure of bringing on R Dyson Colley, also known as the Gentleman Builder. He has built over 50 homes and has a portfolio worth more than $20 million. He's mastered the art of turning dreams into reality in the world of real estate and construction. His journey from house flipping to becoming a leading figure in home building is truly inspiring, and we're going to dive into the world of home building and explore how this seemingly far-fetched dream can become a path to prosperity. So let's get started.
Speaker 2:After serving about 10 years in the military man, I got out I'm a network engineer by trade. So all I know is IT and working on computers and things like that man. I built a couple of Fortune 500 computer networks and stuff like that. So I did IT for 20 years. But one thing that intrigued me during that time I read an article by Warren Buffett and he said in the article that there are more millionaires made in the real estate industry than any other industry. At that time I decided that I should no longer be working on people's computers and I should somehow find my way into getting my real estate Right. So you know, fast forward. A couple of years later, after reading that article, I had the opportunity to join a networking group here, my local area of Dallas. Joined a networking group, got me a mentor, started doing fix and flips. My first year in real estate I did about seven flips, kind of got acclimated to the whole real estate industry. Things like that Built me a couple of construction crews and things like that. So me being the person that I am, I'm always looking to get to that next level how to create a different opportunity, a different realm of what it is that I'm doing, opportunity, a different realm of what it is that I'm doing. And so I started to take my rehab cruise and I created a construction company. And so my construction company. Now, outside of doing fix and flips, I was also doing renovations for clients doing bathrooms, doing kitchens and things like that.
Speaker 2:But one of the things that I always wanted to do in real estate was build a house. So I built a house before and I say I built, I didn't really build it, I bought it from a builder as they were building it right. One thing that I wanted to do I was fascinated with that process. I was fascinated with the moving parts and being able to see a house go from dirt to done and all of this type stuff. So one of the things that I always wanted to do was build my own house. So it just so happened, man, and this was like early 2016. I purchased my first lot. You know, I had a private money investor lend me some money, purchased my first lot and it just, you know, it just started to grow.
Speaker 2:From there, man, I built my very first lot, and I tell this story all the time it took me nine months to build my very first house, I was $19,000 over budget and I only made $3,218 in nine months, man. So if you do the math, it was like $408 a month, and I was unemployed at that point because I quit my job, right? Well, when I started the house, I didn't quit, I was still working, but during that process I ended up resigning from my job because I actually had a stroke as a 37-year-old right, and so I ended up leaving my job. But that very first house taught me a whole lot of lessons, man. It taught me what to do right, what not to do, who to hire, who not to hire.
Speaker 2:And so since then, man, I just made it my mission to be a student of my craft, to learn everything that I needed to know about residential new construction learning codes, regulations, city ordinances, installation processes, how to manage trades, how to manage multiple projects and things like that. And so that thought process led me to where I am now, where I've built upward of about 100 houses, man. I have students that I'm currently teaching. I've built over 20 million dollars worth of real estate, things like that. So you know, it's just a blessing to be able to have taken that journey. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:But talk to us about the market, the opportunity in itself for new construction, and why someone should consider building a home from scratch versus doing like what I've done in the past and just buy an existing home experience in being a fix and flipper before I was a builder.
Speaker 2:One of the cons to being a fix and flipper is a lot of the unknowns that you have to sometimes run into when you're doing these rehabs. Right, when I buy a house, sometimes I purchase houses sight unseen because we have tenants who won't get out or whatever, won't let you go around take pictures. So I bought houses in the past sight unseen and I think that because of the area it's going to be a certain budget and I account for that budget. But then once I get in and I start doing the construction, then I realize, oh man, I might have to rewire the entire house. Well, that might be an extra seven, eight grand. Or, hey, I might have to redo the plumbing. That might be an extra nine or 10 grand, right.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of uncertainties that go into fix and flips versus new construction. Because I know a new construction, everything that I put in to the house is going to be brand new. So when I do my foundation I get a foundation inspection. I know I don't have anything wrong with that foundation. I know there's no foundation repair that needs to take place when I get my rough in electrical in. I know that's all new wiring. Rough in plumbing, all new plumbing. Hvac I know that's a brand new system. Now I'm not saying that there aren't times where some of those mechanical issues have problems, but I know that because they're new I will have a less challenging time trying to get those fixed than I would if it was a fix and flip. And so to me those are some of the cons that I would kind of stay away from fix and flipping now.
Speaker 2:But some of the pros of residential new construction are number one I get to create my whole inventory are number one.
Speaker 2:I get to create my whole inventory right. So I don't have to wait for somebody to lose sentimental value on a piece of property that they lived in their whole life and they now decide they wanna sell it. Right, I can go find a piece of land anywhere in the United States and if I can purchase it I can probably build a house on it. Right, so I get to create my whole inventory. But then outside of that is I teach my students man, there's 13 states in the continental US where I do not need a license to go build a house, which means anybody that has the skill can go to any one of those 13 states and start building the day they get there right. So for us, as builders, it's an advantage, because I have one skill that translates across 50 states Well, 13, immediately but it gives me the opportunity to be able to build in any other region or area besides my, the one that I currently live in.
Speaker 2:And not only that man, you make a lot of money. Let's, let's not leave that out.
Speaker 1:You make a lot of money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hey, that's the money focused podcast, so we definitely want to help our folks make money Before we go into. Even you know the ins and outs of this process, because I'm sure it is a process like you know what are. What would you say are some of the biggest obstacles that you or your students when you guys first started?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, man, it started with having a lack of financial capacity to be able to not only buy the land but also get the construction funding to build a house. I was just fortunate enough that because, through my flipping experience, I had investors that trusted me, that knew my work, who understood my grind and what I could do, and they were willing to lend money to me to be able to purchase my first lot. At that point, you know, it was just the trust of some other but then not also having the money that they need to actually get started. Right, that's number one. But number two is they lack the ability to understand and value what a good piece of land is. Good piece of land is, man.
Speaker 2:There are so many good pieces of property that people pass by every day just driving to work that they don't see the value in because they don't know how to assess it. They don't know how to look at it and say, hey, my utilities are here, that's a check off the thing. The size is large enough for me to put a nice size house. They don't know how to go check market comps and see what houses are selling for in that area. So all of that plays a part into why people hesitate in getting into new construction. But then I think one of the largest ones is they think it's too difficult, they think it's too big of a challenge because it's a house right. And so one of our sayings in my company is it's not as hard as it looks, but it's not as easy as it seems. So it's going to take some work, but once you understand that work, then the skill of building man becomes second nature.
Speaker 3:Appreciate you breaking that down. So let me ask you that Did you mention about?
Speaker 3:obviously it all starts with the plot of land, and you're right now I drive through my city and also the city I invest in it, especially in cleveland. That's a million at the. If the lot is everywhere, it's crazy. How do you? What's the process of buying land like? Is it, you know, for someone who has no clue, right? So if you see a plot of land, you say, hey, this has a lot of potential. I know you mentioned something about utilities near there kind of walk us through that has no clue, right? So if you see a plot of land and you say, hey, this has a lot of potential I know you mentioned something about utilities near and dear Kind of walk us through that initial step when someone finds some land that they want. And what process? What should be those first few steps that they do to get the ball rolling?
Speaker 2:So the most important piece of purchasing land is being able to do proper due diligence. And what due diligence is in a nutshell is taking that piece of land and going through every stage of critique for that to make sure that it's going to be a buildable and profitable lot, whether that is checking to make sure that the zoning is correct for what you want to build, whether that's a residential one through four, whether that's a single family detached, whether it's a duplex, whatever the case may be, understanding the zoning requirements to know what you can actually build on there. You heard me mention utilities.
Speaker 2:Without utilities, then really what you have is just a kickball field, right, because there's nothing you're going to be able to do with that lot. Right, you have no water to it, no way to dispose of sanitary waste and things like that. So utilities play a big part. But then one of the biggest challenges or biggest mistakes that a lot of new investors make or new builders make is not understanding how to find information about properties that are in a flood zone. Right, most people would say if I asked you right now, where would you go to find flood zone information? What would you tell them?
Speaker 3:I would just go to some government site, you know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, most probably yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And most people that government site you're referring to would be FEMA, and most people think that to go find the most current flood zone information they're going to FEMA. But what people don't understand is FEMA can be anywhere from 12 to 36 months behind on local municipality data, right? So the cities update their GIS mapping systems, and all that more frequently than FEMA does, right? So if you go to FEMA for a particular lot, it might say that it's not in a flood zone. But then when you go to that city website and you go start searching flood zone data for that municipality or that city, you might see that it's in a 500-year flood zone or a 100-year flood zone, because their information is more current and FEMA has not caught up yet.
Speaker 2:So those are just a few things, man. Real, real, proper due diligence is the most important part. Like we teach our students, do not ever buy a piece of land without first getting a survey. Right. Survey is going to give you some important information on it boundary points, how big the lot is, you know easements and things like that, and so you know those are some of the most important things that you know you're looking for when you're purchasing a lot to make sure you're not buying a kickball field or a parking lot.
Speaker 3:When people buy their lot, is that typically their cash. Or do lots can run you so much money that you would actually be able to get financed for that.
Speaker 2:I mean, it really just depends, man. It's a case by case scenario, right? In my experience, man, I've purchased lots with cash and then I've also had hard money lenders that finance my lot and give me the construction loan. So it really just depends. I would say this if you're able to purchase the lot cash, then it benefits you, because most lenders and most banks will use the ownership of that lot as equity to get your construction loan, which then means it's going to lower your closing costs when you go to close on that construction loan, right? So we teach our students if you can purchase a lot and you have the financial capacity to be able to purchase a lot, go ahead and do it, because you can then turn around and use that as equity. So it really is just a case by case basis, man.
Speaker 2:Some lenders want to be in first lien position, so they want to buy your lot out. So you purchase a lot and then they roll your lot cost, the purchase of your lot cost and your construction loan into one loan. So now they have first lien position, right? So it really just depends, man. I think for those people who don't have money to buy a lot, I would implore that they try to find some type of private money lender where they can do some type of equity return on investment right, a percentage where they may get 20 or 30% on that buy roll money until they get the construction loan right. There are so many ways, man, that you could creatively purchase lots in this game. Man, that is just you know, you know, it's it's. You know a lot of ways.
Speaker 3:And when you purchase a plot of land, like, what are some of the responsibilities you have, what you have, that put the city on you know so with taxes? Is there any other costs associated with just having this plot of land? Oh yeah, Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2:Listen, man, you don't spend money before you make money. Let's say that right. So, man, you have things like permit fees. That's across the board, right? I don't know a city that's given building permits that's not charging you some type of money for that actual permit, right? And so things like your surveys we call these soft costs. So things like your surveys and things like that, these are going to cost you before you even get into the bill. Going through the municipality, some permit fees are greater than others. So you might pay $1,500 for a permit fee here, or you might pay $6,000 for a permit in another city, and so those are usually the associated fees, outside of things like closing costs and things like that for your loan or to pay for the lot. Those are the most associated fees with the actual purchase of the lot, getting your permit, and then your closing costs for your loans.
Speaker 3:So I'm happy you pointed that out. So again, these are fees outside of the law. Oh yeah, yeah. So OK, Gotcha.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so usually how it works. Man say, for instance, we're purchasing a lot, I'm paying sixty thousand dollars for that lot, right, I'm going to go purchase that lot through the title company. Well, there is going to be an associated amount of closing costs that I have to pay. Some of those may be to a realtor. If the realtor actually brought me the deal, they're going to be a lawyer fees associated with that. So all of those things that are in your closing costs document fees, notary fees all of that stuff is encompassed in your closing costs. So that's a fee that you pay just to purchase the lot, right? So that's $60,000. It's just for you to own the lot on top of those associated costs.
Speaker 2:So then what happens is when you go to get your construction loan, you have another closing. So there's another set of associated fees which are construction loan. So there is another set of associated fees which are construction loan. Now if you have a banking institution that's going to pay for your land and your construction loan altogether combined, then you're only paying one set of fees. But if you're buying them separate and they get in the construction loan on the other hand, then that's two sets of closing costs you have to pay before you even submit an application to build a house. So yeah, you spend some money, man, you spend some money.
Speaker 3:Gotcha, yeah. So yeah, I mean, it makes perfect sense. I mean, and I like the fact that you recommend that you, if you can, if possible, you buy the land on your own to use it as collateral for the actual loan. So yeah, that's something I, you know, I got to consider if I go that route. But let me ask you this. So you know, with hard money loans, I don't know, for people to fix a flip, they talk a lot about the speed, the speed of the process. You know they're able to get the money pretty fast. How does it work with construction loans fast? How does it work with construction loans? So is it a longer process? Is it more people work?
Speaker 2:So I have an ebook called Five Ways to Finance a New Construction Flip right. And in the ebook it talks about a couple of those ways that we currently get funding for some of our lots right. When you're talking about going through a traditional banking institution for your loan, you have to understand that they have a set of requirements that are governed by either the state, federal, whatever the case may be. So they have a different set of requirements that they have for approving builders to get money for them, right, and so that situation is usually a extended situation, right. That's usually an extended period of time where they want tax returns, they want references, they want to see all of the houses you you've built they want. They want your baby, they want your kids, they want like, they want everything. They want college too. They want everything, right. And so that's usually one of those situations to where you have a client that you're building for we call that a fee bill and they've already established that banking relationship, and so all you're doing is going through the process of getting approved by that bank by completing that paperwork.
Speaker 2:So then you have what we call hard money lenders, right? I'm sure you're familiar with hard money lenders. You've done fix and flips. That is our main go-to for lending, because it's easy to get approved, especially when you have builder's experience right, so we can show that we built three or more houses in the last 36 months. We have a proven track record. A lot of times the lenders that we're associated with aren't doing any background checks. They're not doing any credit checks. It's more so of an asset-based situation where they're looking at the numbers of the deal, saying, hey, you bought the land for this, you're going to build it for this, your profit is going to be this. And then they say, okay, we're comfortable with lending money on that. That's one of the fastest ways to get money. Usually, our hard money lenders are closing the loans within 48 hours, sending us money for our first phases of work.
Speaker 2:But then you have what I mentioned earlier in private money. But then you have what I mentioned earlier in private money, right, most people who want to get in a new construction don't understand that they I said listen, pick five people in your network, right, five people that you know trust you just because you're you. Go to them and offer them an investment opportunity where you're going to give them a higher than normal return on investment. Right when I mean higher than normal is the highest return on a high yield savings account or high yield CD. Anything right now is 7 percent. That's the highest you can get right now and that's few and far between. Like you really have to have some money in your account to get that 7 percent Right. But if you're an investor and I come to you and I say, hey, lend me $60,000 and I give you 30% return in six months, how does that sound?
Speaker 3:Sign me up, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I don't have to do anything. You know that's also an asset too. You know what I mean. It's not like you're gambling or nothing like that. You're building a house.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So you take that $60,000, you go buy a piece of land. Now that loan, that money that you borrowed, is backed by a piece of real estate right. One thing real estate never does is depreciate Right, houses depreciate. I've never seen a piece of land depreciate Right. So you purchase that land but say you go through with the rest of the construction. Now this investor, you're giving them 30 percent return on their money in six months. You think they're going to want to give you that $60,000 again, absolutely. So now you've made money, they made money, you've established a trusted relationship. Now you can continue to go to these people for money, right, and that's what most people miss. So that in a nutshell, man, those three opportunities for you to be able to get money are there. My first two is searching for private money and then going to a hard money lender. Those will be the fastest ways for you to be able to finance purchasing a lot for your new bill.
Speaker 3:And you know I'm assuming you know I've never done personally private money, but I'm aware of the process. You know private money should be cheaper than hard money. So you know, because, like I said, you have a relationship with those people, you probably can get better rates of hard money. It's about speed. It's about no docs or low docs to be able to get in and out Like I said they're not asking for college tuition or all that type of stuff.
Speaker 3:That's good to know. So it's okay, that's good to know. So anybody that's listening who was familiar with hard money loans for a fix-up flip, it sounds like this is not like completely different.
Speaker 1:You know, it's still about it. Not at all Gotcha, it's still about the math.
Speaker 2:Yeah, still about the math, and this is what I would say. You have to understand too that when you're borrowing money from people individuals, personal people it might benefit you to offer a higher rate of return initially to build that trust and relationships Right percent. Well, I built 50 or so houses. Now I'm not at 13 percent anymore, I'm at nine point. Nine percent because we've established that relationship. They know I'm going to perform. I trust them to give me the money. They trust me to give that money back to them, right.
Speaker 2:So same thing with your private money. Initially you might have to give somebody 20, 30 percent on their money for six months, just to build that trust. But as time goes on, if you continue to perform, they're going to continue to get money. And then you go back and renegotiate those terms and you might you might, at the end of the day, be down to 15 percent Right Ten percent. They might want to be partners with you. Now you have consistent money at an equity split. So I mean, man, hey, there's so many ways of skinning this cat man in real estate. You just have to know what you're doing.
Speaker 3:I love it, I love it, I love it. So now you've got the property, you've got the funding and everything lined up. So what type of? Because I always say, okay, you've got to find a contractor, how do you vet someone to actually build a house? Let me just say that. So it's a whole lot different. I would have shown, like me, with my rate tools or maybe not, I see you shaking your head. So you know how do you actually find the right team to build a house.
Speaker 2:Man, it really boils down to establishing solid relationships, right, contractors and trades have a very high turnover rate, right. I mean you hire and fire trades just like you change underwear bro, every day, every day, right. And so what I've learned in my experience is the better you treat the trades, the better quality of houses and the better work they do for you, the longer they stay around. You get what I'm saying and what I found is I mean, you have some people, man, who, because your trades, like I, have all Hispanic trades right, I don't have one other trade in my entire network of subcontractors that's not Hispanic, right. And because you know, I've met guys who you think, because they're from a different country than you are, they're doing the manual labor, they don't have as much money as you that you shouldn't treat these people like people. And so what I've learned is your trades will either make or break you in real estate. They can cause you to make a lot of money or they can cause you to lose a lot of money.
Speaker 2:And so the way I approach it is I establish relationships with my trades, or try my best to, while they're working for me. Right, I have trades that have been working for me since I started building houses and we've established a relationship to the point to where I sponsor some of their kids' soccer teams and they invite me over to the cookouts. Like you know what I mean, when the birthdays come, I'm going to the Kinsietas and I'm going, you know, I'm going to hang out, so it's like that. And so what I've learned is that has allowed me to be able to leverage that relationship at three in the morning when there's a thunderstorm and this client who I built the house for seven, eight months ago is now having a leak, and I can call my roofer at three in the morning and say hey, joe, I'm having a leak over here. I need you to take care of that for me, and he'll get out of his bed to go make sure that that client is taken care of, because he knows that. Listen.
Speaker 2:I've done a lot right, I'm giving you that extra $500 to $1,000 at Christmas so you can make sure all the kids have what they want, or, you know, your wife can have what she wants. Like, I'm that guy, and so for me, the most important thing about managing trades is having a solid relationship with them. Right, they're human man At the end of the day. They're not perfect, they're not going to be perfect, and you're not going to be perfect as a builder. So at the end of the day, you treat people how you want to be treated and you know things tend to go your way.
Speaker 3:So I mean that's the labor part of it. What about, like you know, do you have to hire an architect or something like that to kind of get your?
Speaker 2:yeah, like you know, let us know that part, like that part right there, they're sure man we've, we've been blessed man to, because we teach students right now have one hundred and seventy seven students.
Speaker 2:We've been blessed to be able to create a system that's almost turnkey Right. So, from the start of construction man, we have architects and engineers that are in our network. We have real estate agents that are in our network, surveyors that are in our network. Like every component of the house building process, we've established a relationship with multiple individuals to create that, that success system, that success system right, to create that ecosystem of everything that a builder, whether you're new, whether you're experienced, whether you fix and flip before, whether you're a school teacher, whether you're a nurse, we've created that ecosystem of resources for everything that you'll need in new construction. So there's not an individual that touches a house that I can't call out of my, my Rolodex, an individual that touches a house that I can't call out of my, my Rolodex, and you know I I tell people all the time on the show and in person.
Speaker 3:You know you have to invest in yourself, number one. So because you know yeah, you know you might watch this episode and say, man, I want to build a house, right, but you're going to have those. The learning curve is going to be so much wider because you know you don't have to figure this stuff out through trial and error. Why not tap into a program like yours? I also have a program for literature properties. Learn from people, learn from our mistakes. It's just as simple as that, because when you're a computer operator, you create processes to avoid those mistakes. So tap into a network that has the processes in place to help you be as bug free as possible. You know it can always be a bug. They ain't going to take you off the track, right.
Speaker 2:It's not going to be a pothole. It'll be a bug, but it won't be a pothole. Potholes can mess up a car man, you know what I'm saying but a little bump you're able to roll over it and keep going. You hit the wrong pothole. You're going to have some damage that you're going to have to take care of man. So I mean you hit the nail right on the head.
Speaker 2:You know, when you establish these, one of the things that I tell people, when they ask me like, what is a piece of advice that I would give people trying to get in the bill game? And not because I want to sell my course, but I know from experience, if I had had a mentor on my very first house, then I wouldn't have went $19,000 over budget. It wouldn't have took me nine months when it was only supposed to take me six. Right, I would have made more than thirty, two hundred and eighteen dollars. So when people ask me, what, what key advice can I give people try to get in a bill game? And the first thing I tell them is find you a mentor, find you somebody who has experienced what you're trying to do. There's no point that I should be talking to anybody other than a millionaire. If my goal is to be a millionaire, right, that makes no sense to me. You talk to the people, connect with the people or engage with the people on a level of where you're trying to go, right.
Speaker 2:People walk downstairs backwards. But you have more possibility of falling backwards than you do if you turned around and just walk down the stairs with some something that you can see. Same thing with a mentor. People go into this house, build a thing blind. It's like walking down the stairs with something that you can see. Same thing with a mentor. People go into this house building thing blind. It's like walking down the stairs backwards, right, and if you fall, that could be real detrimental. And so, man, mentors are. Hey, listen, listen, I got mentors all over the place.
Speaker 3:What was my name is Moses the mentor. So you know I'm an advocate of mentorship.
Speaker 3:And you know, I just really, you know I wanted to resonate with people because you know people might see the costs associated with these programs and mentorships and stuff like that. They might be turned away, but the people, the most successful people I've interviewed, you know millionaires on this show consistently. They invest a lot of money in themselves, a lot. So it's not listen. Look at LeBron, look at LeBron. You know and not vouching for LeBron, but LeBron, he'll tell you he invested a million dollars in his body. I think it's a lot, it's something crazy. You know, it's a lot of money for him to see where he needs to be. At that level. You can't just say I made it and I'm done because everybody else is working and once you get to a goal, you're trying to get to bigger goals. So you know, just really look at the big picture. When you're investing in yourself, you're not buying a course, you're not buying a mentorship, you're investing in yourself. That's what it is?
Speaker 2:I tell people all the time life costs, right, it's going to cost you a little, it's going to cost you a lot, but it's going to cost you. So you pick the cost. You pick a cost that's either going to benefit you or it is going to be detrimental to you. But at the end of the day, you're going to pay for something, right? So why not pay for the thing that's going to help you get to the next level, versus paying for the thing that's not going to help you get to the next level? I stopped wearing the designer clothes a long time ago, right? Because, listen, going to buy an $800 t-shirt is not going to benefit me at all, right. But if I take that same $100 and invest in my brand, where I sell my old shirts and I make $800, guess what? Now I became another profitable stream of income. So it's going to cost you something. You choose what it's going to cost you. I only wear my merch.
Speaker 3:That's it, so I'll wear two. It's all I wear.
Speaker 2:I'll wear it briefly, man, so yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3:So tell us about, like, how much can you make from, you know, a new construction you know, because I know people want to know, know. Is this something that you can really be fruitful with? Does it sound like it's about a six to nine month process, or is that about right?
Speaker 2:How much. Right now we're building anywhere from 14 to about 2,200 square feet. We're building in about four months.
Speaker 2:So it's 120 days and, to answer your question, man, you can make anywhere from $30,000 to $130,000. Just depends on the project, depends on the product and depends on the market. I've made over six figures on deals, and then I've made $30,000 on deals, so I am considered what's called a volume builder, so I build multiple projects at one time, which allows me to make more money. The only thing about that is I have to spend more money to make more money, and so in different markets. We're about to start a project in Atlanta, where you are, bro, and so the profit margin for the real estate market in Atlanta is different than it is in Texas.
Speaker 2:So my understanding is I can build a house for 400,000 and I can sell it for 800,000 plus, which means I'm probably going to make a minimum of about 200, $225,000 on the house. That's that's like work in Atlanta, from what I understand, which is why I'm moving there, right, and so what? From what I understand, that's that's like work, and so, man, it just varies, bro, but I mean to to put it in a number, man, it's I couldn't even. I couldn't even do it, but the possibility of you making over six figures building houses on one deal, is there, the possibility of you becoming a millionaire from home building is there, and so, man, it's a great opportunity to be able to be a builder.
Speaker 3:Before we close out, like talk to us about your you know any program, that you have your ebook course. How can people tap into you to learn more and get their journey started?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, man, you see I was throwing those shameless plugs out there as we go, you know, so we can set it up and catch the rebound off the backboard. Man for the hoop. So man, we do have a mentorship program, that is, it's focused and mainly for people in Dallas, the Dallas area. So we have a 16 week mentorship for those that want to learn how to build a house from the ground up, live on site. So what we do is we take a group of collective students, we create a cohort and we assign them to a new construction project, from the time we purchased the land to the final construction, to where we sell it, and they walk through a entire build process, learning everything that it takes for them to build a house from the ground up. Now we have had students. I say it's local to Dallas, but we have had students that fly in. Like right now I got a guy that moved from New York to Texas for 16 weeks to take this program Number one. He did it because it's just that good right. He heard from another individual who had taken the course and referred him in. So he moved from New York, quit his job, left his wife for 16 weeks to move to Texas to come learn how to build a house, Right? So it's not it's it's. It's a Dallas based mentorship program, but we do have the opportunity for individuals to fly out, come and be a part of it.
Speaker 2:But then we also offer strictly online and digital products. So the same course curriculum that you can get on site, we have it in an online form that runs parallel with the 16 weeks, so that one you can take it your own pace. It teaches you everything that the students building the physical house are going to learn, from A to Z. You have all type of resources, man. We have glossaries, videos of 30, 30 hours of Technical videos for you to watch. We have a, a, a curriculum over 600 pages full of new construction information, Right, and so that is one of our digital products, along with, like, our mini course, our eBooks and things like that, and so we do offer that.
Speaker 2:If you know you're looking to get into new construction, you can find the Gentleman Builder anywhere. You just Google on IG thegentlemanbuilder. Youtube, I'm the Gentleman Builder. Facebook I'm the Gentleman Builder. So I'm the Gentleman Builder. So you know we're everywhere.
Speaker 2:We offer a number of products. We have a proven concept. Right now I have students in the DFW area building $23 million worth of real estate right now. Crazy work, Crazy work. And these people range anywhere from I have a nurse, I have a school teacher, I have two high school basketball coaches who leave work on their lunch break to come to their session for an hour and a half to learn how to build a house, and then they're going back to school.
Speaker 2:Right, man, just to give you some credentials, we're the only new construction curriculum approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission, which means I have real estate agents and brokers that can take a portion of my course and receive CE credits right, Two and a half CE credits. In about 45 days, we will have approval by the Texas Department of Labor and the Veteran Affairs as an approved provider for transitioning and veterans who want to learn how to build a house. So, man, we're doing some major things. We have a lot of major offerings going on. You want to learn how to build a house? So, man, we're doing some major things. We have a lot of major offerings going on. You want to learn how to build a house from the ground up? Just visit getinthebuildgamecom and you'll find out all the information.
Speaker 3:Perfect and I'll make sure to include all that information in the show notes. So again, thank you so much. I think this. You know I'm a real estate guy, so just learning about this other layer of real estate it's just huge. So I hope everybody taps in Appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Hey man, it's like the HOV man. You better put some people in your car and get moving you.
