Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandt Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brandt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career

I would change the fact that most high schools seem to push college prep, with little to no focus on trades. Given the rising cost of college and the dire need for skilled labor, trades, such as mason, electrician, plumber, carpenter, and the list goes on, will be a way to earn a very good living without the debt of going to college. Not only is being skilled a trade filling a growing void in construction, but it can also lead to owning your own company in that skilled trade.

Brandt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I fell into construction by accident. After graduating from Hampton University with a BS in Finance, and searching for a job in that field, I took a part-time job working in a small construction office that needed help that I heard about through a family friend. From that experience, I decided to stay with construction and saw a path to entrepreneurship, which was always my goal.

After working in construction for over 10 years with varies companies across the country, I decided to launch SGS Contracting. We are a full service, general contractor/construction manager in North Carolina. We perform commercial construction projects, in particular, but not limited to , K-12, higher education, life sciences, mixed-use, restaurants, commercial renovations and ground-up. We also provide consulting and program management options.

With all of the growth in the Triangle region (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), and being a native of Durham, I felt compelled to come back and start a construction company here. I noticed through my visits home, that minorities were not heavily involved in the “reconstruction” of Durham, and I wanted to change that image. Based on my past experiences, I knew I could add a tremendous amount of value to the region by being a competent minority contractor that is vested in improving the community for all and trying to make sure as many groups of people have a voice as possible.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best sources of new clients has been word of mouth, and that comes by doing a great job each project. My best advertisement has been producing a quality project, on time, within budget. In process of doing that, I am able to develop relationships with Owners and designers, which translate into future opportunities with those same Owners and designers, as well as them sharing my information with their colleagues.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I kept my day job as a project manager for a larger construction company and I started out doing small residential construction projects on the side during nights and weekends. After a couple of years of that, I pivoted to doing only commercial projects, but still on the side. Since I worked in the industry during the day, I was able to evaluate talented individuals on projects, and ask them if they were interested in doing projects on the side. From that, my subcontractor base grew and I was able to work with very skilled individuals and companies to take on larger projects that did not require my full attention as I continued to work during the day. Eventually, I partnered with a large construction company on several projects, and that afforded me the opportunity to go out on my own full time, while mitigating some of the typical risk of taking the leap to self employment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sgscontractingllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sgs_contracting/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SGSContractingllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sgscontracting
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SGS_Contracting

Image Credits
Ariel Perry