Brian Wiggs (Part 1) | The Founder of Brian D Wiggs Homes Shares The Dividends Created by Systematic Excellence

Audio Transcription

Speaker 1:
Andrew demand on today’s show is actually building my house. He is in over there. That is my spouse. That is, it is a very special edition of the thrive time show on your radio and podcast. Download it as you meet the builder of my house, the man who got the gig, it’s Brian wigs, some shows don’t need a celebrity and a writer to introduce a show, but this show dies. Two man, eight kids co-created by two different women, 13 Mo time million dollar businesses, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the thrive time show [inaudible] is a very special occasion because my spouse, who I live with in this house is on today’s show to talk about the builder that we chose, Vanessa, how are you?

Speaker 2:
I’m doing wonderful. Thank you.

Speaker 1:
It’s the first time I’ve called her Vanessa in like a decade. I don’t really call her bird. So there we go. I’m getting classic on today’s show. We’re leaving tomorrow to go to the white house. Very excited about this it’s happening. I’m hoping I don’t screw it up, right? I mean, hopefully I don’t say what I want to say to most people. Hopefully I just, you know, say what they need to hear, but I don’t say what I want to say. I’m a big Trump supporter, big freedom supporter. There are certain people that will be there. If I run into Fowchee, the we’ll call him the little one, dr. Fowchee, if you can see him and he says, you need to wear a mask, you need to wait. Right man. But I read the guidelines and it says, I should wear a mask that says encouraged.

Speaker 1:
Well, I’m going to encourage myself not to wear a mask. So you can take that touchy. I might just want to cough on him anyway. So on today’s show, we’re interviewing, uh, Brian wigs, who is a builder who, uh, his had a reputation for building great homes. And what I liked the most about, uh, Brian, when we were first looking at home builders was that he unapologetically came heavy with references. He had a lot of references from a lot of happy people. And that to me was, was great. Second. He he’s willing to, he actually signs every home and we’ll get into that later, but he puts his initials on every home. And then Vanessa, this, this, this, this guy, he took you to actual homes he’s built in the past. What was your experience like looking at the work that Brian wigs has done done in the past?

Speaker 2:
Well, my immediate reaction and I haven’t told Brian this, but I was super impressed because, um, it, let me know that you had a plethora of homes to choose from that you could have taken me to, because I had seen someone just recently post that you had built a home for them just finished and you didn’t take me to their home. And I knew they were happy. So I’m like, wow, he’s got like stockpiles of people. He didn’t even have to mention, you know? And so he kind of tailored and took me to homes. I think that were more similar to what you and I were going to be looking for. So one of them was almost all a one story and he knew I was leaning towards having the majority of the house, a one story home, and then another one was a remodel.

Speaker 2:
And I just, I appreciated, um, that, and then what I loved about his references was they were again, um, I didn’t see the couple that, that I knew he had recently built a home for. He picked Taylor picked ones that were similar to what we were doing, which is out on acreage. One was I think on like 80 acres or so they were their projects more similar to what we’re doing. And again, that’s because he had so many to choose from. He could be kind of picky and didn’t have to be like, these are the only three references I have. And therefore that’s what you get.

Speaker 1:
What I want to talk about on today’s show. And I’ll introduce today’s guest is, is the dividends created by excellence. You know, when you do a good job, people say, good job, man. Andrew, good job. It’s a good hot dog. It was an 87 cents. And you know, I got it. And it was, it was okay. Yeah. But when it’s excellent. I mean, think about when was the last time Andrew, that you bought something and your, and w when was something that you and your wife bought, something where you said that was excellent. That was worth the money. What was the thing? The experience, what was it? Give me something and don’t get yourself in trouble. Don’t don’t name things that don’t include the time with your wife. Give me a good, give me a good one so that I get to spend time with my wife in is our home.

Speaker 1:
That was a good bruise. A good purchase. Oh yeah. You were happy. Yeah. Okay. Well, I can say this so far. We’ve worked with, uh, Brian, how long have we worked with you, sir? How long have you been stuck with us? We’ve been working together probably almost six months now, six months. And, uh, so during those six months, uh, my appreciation for what you do has grown. It has not decreased, but with other vendors, sometimes you get frustrated with them, whatever. Um, walk us through the mindset that you have when you first meet a customer. How do you, what is your process like for creating an excellent experience? Because you’ve done that. I just wanna know what, what is your process like? Well, it starts out with our mission statement. We believe that every day we’re improving lives and making dreams come true. And we take that to heart.

Speaker 1:
It’s not just the dream of the new homeowner, but it’s our dream to, to be a part of their life. And part of their new home, part of their family, our business is a family business. So we’re at there trying to make the dreams of each and every one of my family come true along with your family at the same time. And then you take that next step and think there’s over 300 people that will work on your house over the next several months. So you go, every one of those people have dreams as well. And we’re all a part of the economy of those dreams. So just being in touch with that family, being in touch with you guys is really what makes it for us, our dream come true. Uh, when did you

Brian D Wiggs:
Have the epiphany that you want?

Speaker 1:
I wanted to become a builder. Like what, what age were you, where were you? What, when did you decide, Oh, I want to be a builder.

Brian D Wiggs:
Well, you’re getting deep into my personal history now, but I’ll tell you that, uh, it was, uh, over 30 years ago and my wife at the time said, if you could do anything you wanted to do, if money was no object, what would you do? And I said, well, that’s easy. I’d be a home builder at the time. She said, well, that’s great. Uh, how do you do that? And I said, well, I don’t know. And so after that, I took the, I guess I took her encouragement and I started chasing that dream. That started the dreams that I’m talking about. And I had some people in the business that I knew, and I was able to go out there and meet with them and get advice from them. And I joined the industry back in the eighties and I started working hard and then started working my way up through the business.

Brian D Wiggs:
And it was fortunate enough to come across a good friend that took me in and train me and showed me how to build houses. Right. And I worked with him for years and we had a great partnership. And then, uh, about 15 years ago, my wife and I started our own company. And we could, we’re just going to be a mom and pop company and build a few houses. But it took off very quickly because we were helping people achieve their dreams and ours at the same time. And when you couple those together, it really makes for a good combination.

Speaker 1:
And I, and I know, and I know that you’re not saying this. You’re not saying that your company’s excellent. You’re saying you aim for excellence. I’m saying as a consumer, you guys are excellent. You do, you do a great job. Um, but I in Oklahoma and this could be just, you know, this could just be Minnesota in Oklahoma, Andrew, but Andrew, we, we, we run into a lot of great people who, um, you know, come to conferences, we shake their hands, we talk to them and, uh, uh, they’re, they’re great coachable people, but then we all go out into the marketplace and we’ve, we’ve tried to buy things from people that are not Brian wigs. Yeah. And typically, this is what I have found you, you’re going to call it a local contractor, a home builder. And Brian’s not saying this, I’m saying this, you’re going to call them.

Speaker 1:
They’ll go. Hello. And you say, is this such and such construction? And they say, yes. And then you can hear in the background, like hammering and woo, woo. To hear nailing. And somebody get off the shit, you hear all that stuff in the background if they even pick up or ever call back. Right. And then when you set an appointment, you’ll say, can I meet you at one o’clock to two or homes? And it’s almost like, you’re, re-introducing like when the early settlers on the planet, they were introduced to maybe a sundial or however, God revealed time to Adam and Eve. It’s like, what time space being in a place at an appointed time? You say, I’ll meet you at one o’clock we meet at one. And they’ll say stuff like where I’ll meet you around one or four, between eight and eight. And then you get there, you know, at the appointed time, they’re not there. It just seems like Brian, what’s going on with, with contractors. And you’re not, you’re not ripping contractors. I’m just saying, why have I run into a lot of contractors that are unaware of space time? And how do

Brian D Wiggs:
You guys seem to manage time? Because you do a very good job of it. Well, I think a lot of it has to do with having a good setup. We have an office where we can have our computer set up. We can have our plans laid out, and then we can come in each morning and check our schedules on the, on the computer. Uh, there’s still a lot of guys out there they’re working out of their trucks, they’re working off their phone and they’re just not as organized. And they may be very good at what they’re doing and building houses, but they’re not necessarily very good at being very well organized. And so that’s a, that’s a big part of what we do is just coordinating our schedules with the staff that we have, make sure that we’re all on the same page on the same day.

Brian D Wiggs:
And that’s no easy task when we have so much going on these days, who’s not a good fit for you. I, my wife and I were wowed by you, but who’s who, you know, comes to meet with you. And who do you say that that’s a good fit? And who do you say? Well, that’s really not probably the right client for us. We’re really looking for people that value what we do. So we’ll sit down and see if our values match up. That’s our first idea is to go, do we match well? And if they’re excited about what we do, and they’re eager to get some really excellent design, they want to build an extraordinary house. And it sounds like we might match up well, if they’re just wanting a contractor for the low, lowest possible price, then we’re going to say, look, that’s not us. Well, that’s don’t want, we’re going to do what we do cost a little more money, because it is more organized, is better designed. It is more professional. And that takes a little more money is still a great value, but it’s not the cheapest guy in town.

Speaker 2:
And it’s very custom it’s designed to towards you. I mean, we sat, um, had a lot of revisions in the design process to get the house, you know, exactly in the location we wanted then, which of course affected the design. How we work.

Brian D Wiggs:
Do you ever have men that actually, uh, call you in and design a custom home or is it all women? Tell me what percentage you can be honest. Don’t don’t play the game. What, what percentage do you think? I think it’s more women driven. Just that they are more interested in that and the guys will come and they’ll come in and go, okay, I can do I have a couple of things. My garage is very important to me. My man caves are important to me. The rest of the house is hers. I don’t care what color we paint it, but okay.

Speaker 2:
I do have to ask this. I want to interject. Have you ever had a, anyone as hands off as clay? I mean he’s so he he’s going to dive in when it gets to his part, but people, when I talked to them to like, wait, he’s just letting you like design the whole house.

Brian D Wiggs:
Yeah. That was a little surprising that have him that much hands off. It seems like though, over the last few weeks, he’s getting more and more guys more with us.

Speaker 2:
We’ve given him the bones for his spot. As soon as you dive into it, he’ll be, you won’t hear from me on his. He’ll be all about that. So, yeah, which I think for us, I don’t know for other couples, but for us, it makes it really easy. The design, because he says, you know, I don’t even want to try to compromise because then you’re, you’re not going to like it and I’m not going to like it. Why don’t you just get what you want and all of us area, and then I’ll get exactly what I want in my area. I said, sound like a good deal to me,

Speaker 1:
Andrew. I want to kick you out of here for just a second. Let’s do it. I want Jonathan Kelly on the show from an I, you know, the folks out there. They say, listen, we want some Jonathan on this show. We want a guest on the show. It’s actually also building a home there. Andrew. You’ve just bought a couple of homes. They want to get. It’s actually built a couple of times. Now, let me tell you something about Jonathan. Jonathan not only is a buyer, a building. He has built two houses. Now in the last three years, I think was like less than a year. I’ve now purchased three homes in three years.

Speaker 2:
Bill built two in one year now. Right?

Speaker 1:
Well it’s like, yeah, two years, Julie. Okay. Now you’ve chosen to use Shaw homes. True. And we’re using wigs. Now, let me explain Shaw. And you guys can disagree with me here, but Shaw does big neighborhoods. There’s a lot of homes in the neighborhood, probably. I don’t know, 80 or a hundred houses in the neighborhood pretty much. And, uh, um, I, I don’t do neighborhoods. I can’t, I can’t do it. I’ve tried. I can’t do it. That’s a bad thing. Um, and wigs, you’re more of a custom guy. You do neighborhoods, right? But isn’t, I mean, you don’t, you don’t do like a whole neighborhood, do you? Yeah. We’re a lot more interested in building on private land and bigger lots. And that seems to be what we’re really better at. And then going into a neighborhood and building the same house, which you can do.

Speaker 1:
So I went to a Shaw homes.com. I talked to Aaron anti-ice and he says, no, no, we’re, we’re not gonna build it for you. You gotta, you gotta use it. You know, he said, he says, Brian wigs is one of the best people in town. So your competitor, even though you might have some houses that are in a similar price point, I think Shaw’s are more affordable, even though they are in a similar price point. Um, Aaron ha they know what they do at Shaw. You know what you do at wigs, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But both of you have a very clear vision. John, what have you liked about working with Aaron antice over there because they do a great job at, you know, show homes too, but again, two different mindsets, two different, you know, one’s neighborhoods. One’s not how, what do you like about shop?

Speaker 1:
Well, uh, so before we use Shaw, we actually met with a diff a couple other different builder companies. And, uh, very much like what you were saying earlier, Brian is, um, kind of running it out of their trucks, you know? And so there’s, there’s no process, there’s no plan. There’s no anything. And so, you know, with Shaw homes, uh, you know, you just go and you can pick from different floor plans, you pick the neighborhood and then it’s just very streamlined, very process driven. So in the book, uh, E-Myth by Michael Gerber, he talks about one of the things that really bothers customers on page 104, page one Oh four of the book, E myth revisited. He says I’ll page one Oh six. I’m sorry. He’s talking about what makes customers crazy. And he says, absolutely no consistency to the experience. It drives consumers crazy.

Speaker 1:
When they’re working with somebody that’s erratic, that’s not consistent. If somebody were to hire you a Brian, what does the experience look like? Do you meet with your clients weekly, monthly, daily? What does the experience look like? Each experience is a little different, but if we can set it up, uh, to begin with, we try to meet every two weeks. That’s about how long it takes. We’ll start with the design and we’re working with our architects. We’ll get all the ideas on the table. And then we go back out and start working on the details. And then we come back around two weeks later and we meet regularly every two weeks. Sometimes we’re on a little more of a fast track and we have to meet a little more often. And so when we try to, when we get with people, we try to find out if they have enough scheduling flexibility, because we may call in and go, Hey, plan came in early.

Speaker 1:
Can you come on by this afternoon? So we have some amount of spontaneous meetings, uh, just to keep things going, particularly when we have a schedule that we’re trying to keep. Now, if I was a single man, this is the kind of house I build. Step one, it would have been, I’m just getting my music credits. I get to come, I’m ready to go here. It would be underground first. So the house would be on a big piece of land with trees and it would be dug into the ground, no windows underground, like how this music’s playing. But if you had drew away, this music would never be playing to your house. It’s just no woman would ever be like, Oh, that sounds great. Let me go there. This is the music biker bar I go to. I would, I would dig a big hole in the ground. I’d say, Brian, I want 10,000 square feet with only. I want a bathroom with a huge tub. I want a kitchen with just one big open room, no cabinets. You don’t believe in cabinet shelves, no cabinets. And I want it now. And I want it fast. Is it done yet? And that’s what I want. And would you, would you probably have to turn me down, turn down earth and underground sub earth. I mean, cause it’d be cool down there.

Speaker 2:
I think that he would do it for you. You know why I think because it’d be unique and custom and you can’t find the problem is you’d have to, you can’t find a lot of people who could do that, but he would take the time I’ve seen through this experience with him.

Speaker 1:
There wouldn’t be a few building code issues with your vision, but otherwise we would try to make that happen. Cause if it’s your dream, you know, it’d be so cool. And then like the grant, you wouldn’t even know you’re on top of the roof of the house because it would just be earth. It would just be on a Hill, but it’d be awesome. And you’d go into a cave door. Cave door sounds very safe from floods. I build up high. Oh, how’d you build up high if you’re in the, okay. Anyway, there’s some details. So things I have thought through all these details and then I quit thinking through them when I got married. I’m glad I stopped thinking about it, but I just, for a moment there just wanting to flirt with the idea of having a real underground man came maybe in the future.

Speaker 1:
Maybe once my wife has her, her palace and I have my man cave, maybe I don’t know, wing called the West wing where I add in basically stairs. That just keep going down. Nice. Okay. So again, step one. I’ll make sure we’re getting this. You have to define your mission. Would you agree? It starts there, Brian, you start with your mission. Absolutely. You have to have a vision for what you want. What, what feels good and what fits for your family and in step two, I think you have to define your ideal and likely buyer, like who you actually want to market to and who you don’t do. Do you agree with that, Brian? That’s correct. Now, step three. You’ve got to create a system that’s not just in your head and I’m sure you’ve is an early builder. Maybe when you started out, maybe you drew most of your blueprints on, on yellow pad and you said, all right, go, go get them, Daryl, go get ’em Carl, go, go. Um, but I mean, when did you realize, okay, the complexity of this is going to have to be written down or did you start off writing stuff down from the very beginning?

Brian D Wiggs:
Always been big on writing things down and having lists, but it really started more as my, uh, my son and my son in law. And my niece joined me in the family. Uh, they just kept looking at me cause I was doing a lot of things just naturally. And I was training them to do what I was doing. And you have to write that down. You have to create a system, so they have something to follow. So we’ve worked at the last several years trying to create that system. So we have that clear, proven path that we do over and over again.

Speaker 1:
I feel like the idea that you, uh, put your signature on every home is, uh, your purple cow. And because, you know, you’re, you’re not really indoctrinated into the, into my systems, but, uh, John, will you explain to the big, big wigs here, big berm? What the, uh, what the purple cow is all about Seth Godins purple cow. Yeah. If you don’t stand out, you know, if you’re not remarkable than you’re forgettable is essentially what it comes down to. And so, you know, if you, his, his, uh, point in the book is, you know, you get used to seeing Brown cows all the time and they’re not, you know, remarkable. You don’t, you don’t make a comment about them. And, uh, if you were to drive and see a purple cow. And so I think one of your purple cows is the customization, but I also think that you put your signature on every home you build. I don’t, I don’t know any other builders that do that. When did you start putting the signature on it?

Brian D Wiggs:
When we started this company, Brian D wakes homes in 2004, we thought it was a great idea to go out there because we were really creating something from our heart. So it was like a piece of sculpture for us. It was a piece of art to us. And so we thought it was a good idea originally as a marketing technique, to be able to go, Hey, here’s my, here’s my name? Here’s who we are. But I really found that it changed the way I build, because when I was going to put my signature on it, cause it’s Brian D wiggs right there on it. And we number each house, the, a flag on the house, you know, the know that people are going to know that. Then it makes you step back and go, okay, I’ve got to take my, I got to take my standards up a notch. And we did. We started building differently. You know, I thought I was a really good builder before, but when you start putting your name on it, it changes everything.

Speaker 1:
Uh, I don’t know if you’ve, uh, John, have you gone to, uh, the, the restroom at Angelina’s in downtown broken arrow? Uh, no, I have not. You serious? Yes. I’m serious. I’ve never been there. You’ve never been to the Angelina’s a lot. I can promise you. I’ve never been to the bathroom. I’m not a hundred percent sure on the handling these missing out. Let me tell you something. The bathroom, the bathroom above the urinal, a sign says a wise man. Once Pete here, 96. That’s the kind of, if I, as a single man, I would say wigs. Could you, could you put, kind of engrave it where it says a wise man, once Pete here, can we do that? Could that be something like, I bet he’s too classy. See, this is the, the class he meant he wouldn’t do it. So to answer your question, no, he would not take you on as a client.

Speaker 1:
No, he would have been shown that of coercion. So, okay. So step one, you define your vision. Step two, you got to define who your ideal and likely buyers. Step three, you got to create a system for things. Step four, you got to create a purple cow. Now, step five, you’ve got to market your business. You know, you gotta, you got to market your business. Now I think, um, I don’t know how you market your business, Brian, but I think a lot of, uh, home builders out there, a lot of dentists, a lot of doctors, they just think, you know, I don’t need a website. You know, I don’t need a, I don’t need a business card. I’m just going to let you know money. Come in. As it comes in, I’ll get leads here. Then talk to me about how you got, how you were able to gain your first 10 clients.

Speaker 1:
First 10 clients. We actually started out when we built spec homes. And so they would market. Those would advertise those and get people to come out and see them. We had realtors that we worked very closely with. And so we began to build up a following and build up a references. But then as we, uh, as we grew, we did create a website and pretty early on, and we started taking pictures of our homes and putting them out there on the website. And then we’ve done a lot of advertising, whether it’s in a Tulsa world or in the local magazines, we’ve tried to always do that. But what’s exciting for us right now is the parade of homes every year in the parade of homes, where you come out and see new homes, you talked about Shaw homes. You could go out and see some brand new Shaw homes in the parade, which starts this Saturday. And we’ll have a home in there as well. That’s down in Midtown

Speaker 2:
And everyone needs to go to the parade of homes. It is a great date night thing, even if you’re, even if you are not thinking of moving, it is fun to go and get ideas. And then he may be inspired to, to move. Who knows? But I think it’s, it’s so great to be able to go in and see builders work showcased right there and get ideas. And, and the last thing I’m going to say is we keep hearing of so many business owners moving to Tulsa from out of town. And I, you would be, your mind would be blown to know what you think

Speaker 1:
His mind was blown from New York, John, you met this guy. Now he moves easy Conan from New York to visit. And he couldn’t believe how much home. I think he was spending, you know, let’s say 6,000, it’s like four or 5,000 a month for a nice apartment in Manhattan and for four or 5,000 a month. I mean, you’re getting a beautiful home in Tulsa. There’s just a big difference. So if you’re out there today and you’re thinking about using Brian wigs, I really do encourage you to check them out. And I’ll just say this, if you’re a man out there and I know you are, and you’re looking for a, uh, you know, kind of like, uh, uh, I hate to aspire too, but kind of a, kind of a thatch, it looks like a statue, but it’s really a steel building. That’s underground kind of in a bunker kind of something that, well, some of bin Lauden would have been down with something that I’ll kite us into something that’s impossibly cheap and always cold underneath the ground.

Speaker 1:
You probably not going to call Brian Woods now, but if you’re looking for something classy, something well done, whatever you might want to call Brian wigs, but Brian wakes up. We’re, we’re very happy with this, sir. We’re very happy with you. And I want, I want to mention this before we wrap up today’s show is you stay organized and you set expectations, you stay organized and you set expectations. John does a great job of that in our office with the clients. You do an awesome job of that. They’re there, Brian, um, talk to us about, uh, how do you set the expectations? And I think a lot of builders promise the moon. They don’t mean to, but they get kind of excited. The customer starts asking for stuff that can’t do. Next thing you know, they’re upside down on a project. How do you temper those expectations and how do you, how do you stay organized?

Speaker 1:
Well, we have to come in every morning and we actually know what we’re going to do. We know the step by step process of each house. And so we’re putting that out on our calendars. We have, we have website based program so that we calendar out the house all the way in advance. So when we start the house, we know the date that we’re going to finish the house. We know there’s changes along the way, but we know that just to keep on schedule, we have to do certain things on certain days. So we’re pulling that up and looking what’s what’s today’s task to be done that day. And in that, that schedule speaks to us on what we’re supposed to be doing. Do you like your job, Brian? Did you like building? I absolutely love to build houses. Is it your favorite thing to do or your favorite?

Speaker 1:
Uh, you know, your favorite work activity is building houses houses. My favorite thing to do is really spend time with people. So when I’m meeting you and I, when I meet with Vanessa, I come away charged up because it’s so much fun to be a part of it. There’s things about the job that, you know, you have to go, that you go do that aren’t as much fun, but being out there with the people, with my crews, talking with them, I love that part of the part of the business. Well, this is part one of our interview series with Brian wigs. We’re going to have part two coming up here in a week or so. And, and I, Brian, I just thank you for your time. I know you could be a, a whacking, a nail. You could be screwing a screw. You could be slapping up some sheet rock. You could be looking at a blueprint until your brain explodes. These are all things you can be doing. You’ll be talking to people, but it’s really been an honor working with you. And my wife has something more profound.

Speaker 2:
No, I just want you to, again, just reiterating for everyone to check out the parade of homes home. Can you give the address of where that home is?

Speaker 1:
Yeah. Come see us at 36 39 South Yorktown Avenue. That’s down about 36. Then you’d go in Midtown Tulsa, cutting. You’ll see the signs up, but come in and see us. It’s going to be open one to seven everyday. Starting Saturday through the following Sunday, you come and see us. And if you’re ever here from out of town,

Speaker 2:
Go check it out and know that he could build you. Whatever, you know, it could be that house, but it could be something completely different on your own lot. If you’re not wanting to be in a neighborhood. I know a lot of people here are wanting to move here and are interested in getting land. We can do the same thing. I want some land. Yeah,

Speaker 1:
No windows. These are all things he doesn’t do. Folks stay away from Brian D wigs, unless you want to live in a normal house. But if you don’t live in a bunker, don’t call the guy Clark’s condos. Cc’s wouldn’t it. Wouldn’t it be awesome. No, seriously. Just for a moment, they can think about that. If you walked in, there’s no kind of like this room almost no windows. It sounds like my nightmare. Really? Yeah. I’m claustrophobic as heck. Are you? Yes. Well wouldn’t we would put like a, like a guy, like a submarine has like a hat where you look through the Periscope and they show them, boom, here we go. Three, two, one, boom.