We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eduardo Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Eduardo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I’ve read plenty of self improvement and entrepreneur books and there’s always been one thing in common when it comes to success. Never quit. It’s not easy and there are challenges every day. I keep the mindset that every challenge is a test. It’s ok to fail, as long as you recognize what was done incorrectly, fix it, and try again.

Eduardo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Eduardo Harris. I’ve gravitated to working outside since I was a baby. My dad was always outside working on something and I was right next to him. I laid tile when I was 15, framed houses when I was 16 and all kinds of remodeling work with my dad.

After high school I joined the marine corps and tried college out. College wasn’t for me, at least the education part wasn’t. Not at that time. I’d pay for that decision later working two jobs and night school for 3 years.

I came back and began working with a survey company which was really the start of my professional construction career. I worked with a custom home builder in south lake, texas, built apartments with KWA construction and Marriot hotels with a couple of other companies. Being a superintendent in commercial construction is what opened my eyes to a need for better service in the construction industry. As a superintendent that was pushing million dollar schedules, I needed to know tasks were being done correctly, when they were being done, how long it was gonna take and when is it ready for the next trade. Updates and communication is what seemed to be missing to me. I feel customers are the same way. Keep them updated and do the work correctly and you can keep people coming back.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I’ve always had a negative view on debt. I’ve spoken with a lot of people on the topic and there are a lot of rich people who see debt differently. I understand it but don’t prefer it. In the beginning I had business coaches push for lines of credit or business credit cards and I always said no. I started the business by building fences and doing handyman work. Even the small jobs require updating and communication. Do those well, and people will talk about you. With each job I did, I kept my overhead as low as possible and reinvested as much as I could back into the business. My end goal has always been to get into new construction and commercial work. Keep at it and it works out. It takes time without the big money to float the big work, but you’re gonna make mistakes in the beginning. The smaller the work, the smaller the consequences while you go through the real time learning experiences. I think growing organically is the best way to go.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I did a full remodel recently that almost had me close my doors. Strew was high and we had to get the job done. It was a special situation and I had nobody to send change orders to. Regardless, the success of the project depended on us getting it done and the expected, hoped for success from this project depended on it as well. I didn’t have a choice and it left me owing a lot of money to contractors. You typically have a come to Jesus moment in times like those. There’s only two choices, quit or keep going. I don’t like quitting. I also don’t hide from my problems. I called everyone up, explained my situation and promised I would pay everyone and keep the business open in the meantime. Everyone has been very understanding and it’s getting paid off and work is picking back up. In the end, all that stressful stuff doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things. Family and faith are the most important things in this life and nobody can take that from me. If I lost everything today, I would still be ok. You can always start over.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hnbuildingco.com/home/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hn_buildingco?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Linkedin: Eduardo Harris