Foundations of Success: Episode 10 with Jason Couto of Couto Construction.

please do me a favor and just fail fail
fail because the only time that you’re
going to be successful is getting
uncomfortable and trying things you
never did and you’re going to be
expected to fail if you’re doing things
like that and failure is a sign of
success right I agree and you need to
fail you need to get uncomfortable but
you got to take action all right episode mortgage
Daddy’s J Kudo Kudo construction yes sir
thank you for joining us my man yeah man
it’s uh it’s truly an honor and
appreciate you guys reaching out to be
on it yeah man when we were thinking
about you know who would be somebody the
good local person that runs a successful
company that is probably one of the
hardest working non-stop guys that
always wants to be at
% never stops never stops rinse and
repeat you came to the top of the list
yeah well you know I appreciate that
guys and I’m I’m I’m wicked humbled to
be here and I speak the same for you
guys right I mean what I’ve seen the
trajectory of Milestone I mean it’s look
it’s business is business right it’s you
get that one denominated that mental
toughness that character to just
overcome and be determined and yeah it’s
definitely been some hard work but I’ve
been enjoying the ride so but I
appreciate being here so thanks for
thinking about me I mean we’ve we’ve
grown a lot over the years but I feel
like
Kudo you know even before I knew you
I’ve heard of Kudo construction always
saw the signs around the trucks around
and everything you know I played I think
I played in in a golf tournament with
your brother with a buddy of mine Jay uh
Carl Dort and that’s how I met your
brother years ago and then you know I
kind of got to know you guys and you
know I remember seeing like a couple of
pickup trucks and then all of a sudden
it’s like it’s just everywhere you guys
grew like crazy you know what what
really like you know changed or you know
what was kind of that catapult or what
makes you guys different man I I I love
that question and it’s it’s a question
that comes pretty often and for one you
know I think they there’s there’s
different levels in business right like
in when as you grow you there’s these
constant ceilings that you hit and then
you need to change and evolve you can
you can perfect your business at any
scale and then you always hit these
walls and that’s where you need to grow
and I’m going to tell you the biggest
difference that I can always say from a
Kudo perspective what I can say for me
personally that has been the biggest
influence is I’ve actively and always
sought out the best mentorships that I
could I am truly blessed to say that I
can pick up my phone right now and I can
dial the most successful people that I
feel in this industry in my industry
specific and they’re all over the
country my network no longer is a local
network and I’ve always benefited from
some local guys I mean a lot of great
friends that I’ve always so thankful for
I always go back to some of my earlier
mentorships is the you know Mike maderis
and Kevin maderas the attorneys their
brothers when I got into real estate
first started kind of getting into you
know developing they were there you know
Ron Olivera was a big part Paul
Fernandez was a big part locally when I
started investing but definitely % I
always tell anybody seek mentorships the
second factor that I’m going to say that
was a big role is action I can’t tell
you how many conferences I go to all
over the world all over the country and
I see some of the same faces there they
recognize we know we’re going to see
each other at conferences and I’m like
hey man what’s going on you know did you
do such and such that you said that you
were working on a big project and I I
didn’t quite get to it you know one
thing that I’ve had to benefit myself
and my brother we’ve always been
determined it’s take action learn come
back take action my team knows when we
go to a conference they’re like okay
what are we doing they’re coming back
with something new something Innovative
we’re going to put something to play so
that’s that’s definitely the second
factor that I would say in
third doesn’t matter the business
doesn’t matter what business that you’re
in is it’s all comes down to numbers
it’s metrics kpis metrics it’s data
learn what data points are the most
effective for you and it’s about how can
I affect those data points the perents
that I can consistently increase and if
you break it down to those three Simple
Rules man I think you know it’s it’s not
about if it’s just a matter of time that
anybody can be successful in any
business and that’s my opinion that’s
been my experience so and you just never
stop being hungry right like that’s
that’s one of the things that when you
said always evolving when you’re when
you when you go away for a conference
you come back and your team’s like like
J Jay and Derrick are coming
back people running a business need to
be able to change on a dime like Craig
knows I’ll come in I’m like it’s time
eliminate that whole entire process like
just it’s time to throw it away and now
he’s gotten to the point where he just
walks in my office he’s like we’re
getting rid of this entire thing like
just toss it out if it’s a system you
know like you cannot stay stagnant
technology changes people change you
cannot do the same thing you cannot run
a business the same way today as you
could years ago BR the passion oozes
out of me when I when when we have
like-minded I mean I literally get
chills as you’re saying that cuz you
know there there’s so many great books
out there and I’m I’m an avid listener
I’m I’m probably you know good for two
three books a month right and there’s a
book called The Road Less stupid and the
worst thing that you can hear in any
organization when you ask them why you
do this and the answer is because that’s
the way we’ve always done it that’s how
the fire department is dude and it’s
it’s because that’s the way this like
that is the worst thing that is a
trajectory for failure right AI man has
that change of landscape today and I’m
going to tell you not just that I mean
so many different parts of this business
has changed and Technology evolv the
customer demographic it’s ever changing
and you got to be willing to you know I
I always say you know when the wind
blows the reason why a palm survives in
some of the harshest Winters is or or
harshest winds is it bends you got to be
flexible you got to bend and when the
times come don’t be stuck in your ways
sometimes it hurts I mean I’ve been
hundreds of thousand invested in
technology and CRM building it and
customizing it and just say well now we
went in a different direction we’ve done
the same thing but you got to and it
hurts yeah your ego takes a check cuz
it’s like dude this is going to be my
life my life work you think you know
this is going to be great and then but
you got to Pivot you got to be smart and
you got to execute I mean one of the
biggest things that you said that really
hit home to me is execute you have to
execute what your plan is what you’re
going to do and you have to stay
dedicated to that and too many people
want to execute for a day a week a month
it takes a lot of time to get used to a
change in a system to get used to just
operating differently and nobody wants
to do that because it’s work people get
comfortable people get
lazy Comfort right the disaster I you
know and it’s funny
because you know I got a new girl who
just started she’s going to be our
marketing coordinator and you know one
of the first things I’m telling her is
please do me a favor and just fail fail
fail because the only time that you’re
going to be successful is getting
uncomfortable and trying things you
never did and you’re going to be
expected to fail if you’re doing things
like that and failure is a sign of
success right and you need to fail you
need to get uncomfortable but you got to
take action if you just keep waiting oh
I’m not sure and I don’t do it which
comes down to action if you’re not
taking action if you’re not putting the
work and you’re
right man doesn’t get me frustrated and
it’s also the key to that differentiates
what I think and and I’ve see lots of
businesses especially with my role with
IHS and now mergers and Acquisitions and
all this kind of
stuff and
man when when you’re in a business if
you’re not willing to take action get
uncomfortable and really make the
changes and so many times businesses
Overlook that % right they think ah
it’s just not that big of a deal but
that % over a long period of time makes
all those differences and for me I chase
every percent I don’t care if it’s a %
chance of making it better those % all
add up you find percenters you got
yourself % that makes a huge
difference right so yeah I’m I’m I’m big
man those those % are big for me Jesus
so you guys I mean just kind of going
back to Kudo you guys have grown crazy
you see a ton I mean everybody knows
somebody that does construction but so
many of those companies are two guys one
guy one guy and some helpers nobody
seems or there’s so many construction
companies in my opinion that cannot seem
to figure out how to grow a construction
company you hear the excuses oh it’s too
hard to to find help you know to keep
employees to try to chase the money you
figured out how to execute that
obviously at this point you know what
was those big changes that you guys did
because you you weren’t handed a company
overnight that was uh hundreds of
millions of dollars company that you
just okay great dad gave me the keys I’m
moving in and taking over you completely
change your entire company yeah man for
sure and and you know and and look when
my brother Derek and I became part
Partners in
which great time to get into
construction right that’s when I
partnered with my brother dark the
business had already been running and my
dad I love him to death great great from
sales perspective good people person
really big on customer service but he
really taught us work ethic but the
truth is is when we started the business
you know in about
we found out that we were over half
a million dollars in debt and we didn’t
do over half a million dollars in
Revenue right that was literally the
best thing that could have happened to
us cuz the mental toughness the
resiliency that you that you build
climbing out of that debt is biggest
game Cher for us so and I think that’s
where it starts so many people that’s an
excuse and the reason I go to having the
mental toughness is yeah you hear all
the time what if I train somebody and
they leave that’s what happens all the
time I don’t want to waste the time
because then they just leave but what if
they stay and yeah I’ve gone through
bad ones before before you find the one
good one but you do that enough times
eventually you start to build some good
ones around you the biggest thing is
we’re a training organization I take a
lot of pride in most of the people that
are in the positions that Kudo doing
what they’re doing today never did that
before so we’ve taken the people who
have the right attributes the right
values the right character you know the
the right character just you know in
assets and then we train we give them
the tools we give them the training and
give some people the opportunity and
again also you know so often there’s
lack of good leadership um strong
leaders like to give away all the all
the all the good right you know give all
the credit to everybody else and also
allow people to make decisions it’s an
often thing I say in my organization
that I I learned this from a mentor of
mine George Hedley one of the many
mentors I’ve had somebody comes and asks
me question I know they’re capable of
answering it I tell them take care of it
don’t even tell me what you
did don’t even tell me what you did at
the end of the day I can fix just about
any problem but what I’m going to learn
even if they make a mistake is you bring
them in hey how could this have gone
better and they start to answer and
guess what when they learn they learn
better from mistakes best lessons learn
I’m sure everybody that you know we can
all sit here and talk about me and some
lessons that really changed us and we
hated it at the time but thank God we
learned those lessons right dude failure
is a sign of success just fa fast fa
forward yep that’s insane so many so
many things I me we’ve only been open
five years you guys obviously your your
brother partner up in what do you
guys see the business going in the next
five years with all the changes the
market the
demograph across the board you know for
me everybody gets into the economic
situation what’s going to happen it’s an
election year I can’t control those yeah
uncontrollables I can’t control the
uncontrollables what I control is what I
can control look I know I make x amount
out there on X marketing Source I’m
going to get X resource that’s going to
change it varies the percentages change
so it’s not always pist but I know I put
x amount of money into this you know I
call it marketing being a gumball
machine I put quarters in the gumball
machine I’m going to get leads I get
those leads I work on my sales te for
one doing things for the right reasons
making sure that we’re a company of
values company of vision so I I guess
moral of it I can go on and on it’s I
don’t worry about the uncontrollables I
worry about what’s in front of me right
now look I got a game plan we’re
budgeting we’re about flat and we’re
pivoting constantly pivoting but where
do I see it going to be going well we’re
opening up another office in tberry
right now and uh we’re going to start
working north of the state and I’m going
to keep grinding sometimes it takes a
little bit more work than it did before
but you just keep grinding eat sleep
repeat eat sleep repeat you know you
just put in the work and just constantly
keep adapting but for kudo what do we
see we’re going to be in the next five
years you know um dominate New
England that’s right and we’ll go from
there you got to set that goal high that
set that bar High I mean I think one of
the things that separates in my mind
Kudo construction when I hear the name
and it’s it’s really turned into a brand
right it’s
and that’s what as a leader of an
organization like you are that’s what
you want you want it to be a brand you
want people to compare Kudo construction
everybody else this is where we are this
is material this is the service this is
what you’re going to get from us and
then those the those guys that Craig’s
talking about with the two or three guys
showing up with a pickup truck with no
lettering on it with you know personal
plates on it’s like you’re a homeowner
did you did you expect a different
result yeah with what you got like you
pay for what you get so you know I’m not
saying that you’re expensive inexpensive
but I tell people all the time I have a
story I wish I knew that you were going
to be heading up North I I got some
decks I’m throwing on at my house up in
Jackson New
Hampshire I always get three quotes
typically I don’t but if I’m not
familiar with the area I don’t know
anybody right so I ask around a couple
real estate agents because that’s the
business I’m in hey who do you suggest I
get three
quotes I got a quote at Grands got a
quot at and I got a quot at
the is right out the window yeah
I never want to go with the the bottom
guy especially if I’m I I don’t know the
air I don’t need go with the I’m like
what separates this price is like I’m
going to get the job done it’s going to
be fast nice simple you’re not even
going to know we’re
here I go with the middle guy I’m down
and I’m gonna end up spending more
than the top guy was I came back and
told Craig I’m like at the end of the
day I don’t know if I’m ever going to
you know ask around I I’ll probably get
a couple estimates in that type of
situation
but I’d always rather go with the brand
that’s been around a long time they have
a great reputation because somebody can
always come in and we get it all the
time on the mortgage side you get it all
the time oh why is why is your interest
rate an eth higher an eth higher let me
break that down to you uh your your
interest rate is about a pizza a month
in payment and this is all the reasons
for it so that guy over there could be
promising you the world when you get to
the closing table and your rate’s a
quarter higher you can’t call me like I
we’re through that I can’t call that guy
who the highest possible quote be like
can you come clean this up yeah so the
first contractor took me I lost some
money he did some demo that was
expensive now I got another guy in there
doing all the work kind of cleaning up
but it’s more of a disaster by the way
that’s been going on almost a year in
the end of July will be a year working
on two decks look man man first what
you’re saying so hits home and I got a
similar situation you know I just bought
a place in
Florida and I’m going through a bunch of
it and I’m so understanding what’s out
there and I’m going to tell you I really
just wish I had somebody like myself who
can go in there and just be like look
this is what it is for one I will never
ever be the cheap guy the reason why is
I’ll match my quote apples for apples
but let’s put them side by side and make
sure we know what we’re getting because
what most of this industry is made up
for those couple of guys they’re racing
to get to the bottom and I’m on this
other completely other version where I’m
trying to provide you as much value you
see for one % of the times I can make
up what the cost is just on the the
products that we use matter of fact our
supplier we they don’t sell exclusively
just to us but they got products that
nobody moves off their shelf but Kudo
and we move that product six % of the
time % of the time now the reason we
move that product is because we believe
in it and we know the value behind it
but see to so many nobody even gets the
opportunity to see that because they
just RAC to say how cheap can I get this
done and I’m going to tell you something
here’s some statistics about this
industry that’ll blow you away
okay so
million complaints come into the
BBB
and we’re getting waved on I told you
this can happen
quick and I’m GNA tell you out of those
complaints % of those complaints come
into the Home Improvement industry okay
out of those complaints million come
into the roofing industry more
complaints come into this industry more
than anything by more than triple okay
more than triple % of those people who
had an issue with their project okay
most of them trouble even getting the
job finished some of them even getting
it started people running away with
money went with the lowest or second to
lowest bit so again and it’s not even
like we we all have the right intentions
but a lot of these guys they get
themselves caught in this Rabbit Hole
where they pulling from Peter pay Paul
they don’t know how to charge for a
margin they’re not counting for the work
the correct workers comp and not to
mention God forbid something goes wrong
right who do you think is getting that
door knocking on that door and now
you’re putting your home equity you’re
putting all that at risk I mean you’re
trying to save a couple bucks but at the
end of the day if you’re hiring a
construction company it’s a company not
just a carpenter yeah man and that’s the
biggest problem when you hire just the
carpenter who can do a good job maybe or
whatever but they don’t know how to run
the company that’s when you’re going to
run into issues dud and I say this one
thing right here and this is a saying I
say all the time true character is not
defined by what you do when things go
right cuz that’s easy when things are
going right everybody can do what’s easy
but it’s what you do when things go
wrong and that’s one thing that
everybody in my company knows we stand
behind no matter what it is it’s not
about the money we got to try the
economics needs to be what the economic
is but regardless we’re always going to
stand by doing what’s right and that’s a
culture that needs to go around and for
me it’s important maybe that -year-old
kid that was maybe not brought in the
most fruitful home with the right values
when he walks inside of our organization
he’s going to know what those values are
and that’s number one and it’s got to be
relevant to our customers but also not
just to our customers but also our
customers to our employees at any time
there’s missing those values then that’s
the one time that I step in and I try
not to step in but I stand strong on
those values and it’s just a company
based off of values and that’s a lot of
the reason why I feel like we’ve been
successful you know or any success that
we’ve had awesome well I know you got a
run I appreciate you coming in I’d love
to have you back another time because we
have obviously a ton of uh we could do
this we have a lot
I’ve known you for a long time and
there’s not too many people forget
mortgage daddy is in a podcast there’s
not too many people that I like to just
go crack a beer with and just talk about
because every time I sit down with you
it for minutes or two hours I just it
starts making my brain work like hey
what can I be doing better art it’s
contagious dude you know stale sharpen
steel and the truth is is I like the
same conversation I love to hear which
and I love to see the success I love
what you guys are doing right now like
this is great and good for you and you
know what it’s uncomfortable when you
get started yeah but good for you for
getting uncomfortable and that’s gonna
that’s why this is going to be
successful and you guys are always going
to be chilling the game like you guys
are I me one more thing I’m GNA throw
you off the cuff we did not rehearse
this ask about it but I have to ask you
a serious question because you do bring
so much heat I got a lot of heat for the
name mortgage daddies maybe at home on
the street what do you think about this
name honestly dud man you know what I
think it pushes the envelope enough to
make it interesting enough for people to
want to listen and if you’re not willing
to push the envelope you’re not willing
to get outside the comfort zone then
what are we doing right oh would you
like to say mortgage gentlemen you know
it is what it is I like mortgage Daddy
because you know what you’re making this
your baby so yeah let’s go let’s go well
you hear heard it here first Jay Kudo
approves mortgage daddiy that’s the name
I’m in we’re rocking it we’ll see you
next time thank you all right take care