We recently connected with Justin Lee and have shared our conversation below.
Justin , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
“Build your own dreams, or someone will hire you to build theirs”. This has always been a quote that has stuck with me throughout life. I took an interest to real estate after Hurricane Katrina and experiencing the trauma and loss of all of my personal items, family, memories, and my home. At the age of 7, I realized the importance of ownership, insurance, and overall business essentials. As soon as I was able to begin working and earning an income, I began to invest in real estate. After becoming a seasoned real estate investor, I often ran into shady contractors and having over a quarter of a million dollars stolen from me from vanishing contractors so I began to pursue the construction industry in 2020 and obtained my general contractors license. I initially obtained a license to solely work on my family projects, but after people began to see the quality of work and how efficient I was as a contractor they began to request my services. Since 2020, I have built over twenty five homes, eight restaurants, nine banks, night clubs equating to over five million dollars in contract value. My mission statement states, “You can dream create design and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires people to make the dream a reality and we pride ourselves in being good people that make your dreams a reality”. I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith, as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos and that’ll be a home run,
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Upon receiving my contractors license and launching my contraction company I immediately alerted my Morehouse and fraternity network that I was open for business and accepting clientele and I was fortunately blessed to be awarded a significant amount of contracts from day one. In fact, one day after receiving my license I immediately began building Neyows of Atlanta, Atlanta’s number one creole cuisine giving a taste of New Orleans one block away from the Superdome. The lessons I have learned along the way are to always under promise but overdeliver and to keep honesty, integrity, and communication at the forefront of every business relationship. As a new father building a brand in business that outlives me became my goal and focus after welcoming Justin, Jr. into the world in June of 2021. My vision for JMLee Construction is to become the nations largest minority owned construction company and real estate developers. Ironically my purpose for building this business was not and is not only to generate a revenue for my family, but to build a better future for business and for your families.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
What helped build my reputation in the market is my brand and knowing how to execute from project and delivery in a timely and efficient manner as well as taking on each project and providing it as if its my own. Expertise on both the operational standpoint as well as construction standpoint for the business has done wonders for my company. Being reputable goes beyond a concern for yourself and your own advancement. My mindset has always been Fostering a mindset of helping other people as construction is not only my business, but my passion and hobby.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of Mouth has been the biggest source of my clientele. We capture all of our projections from start to finish and provide clients access to our social media platform for the best results and client happiness. Word-of-mouth has helped my company reach new audiences and build a positive brand reputation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://jmleeconstruction.com/
- Instagram: @jleetherealtor