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Before Bryan Ehrlich founded NCE General Contractors in 2022, he had a brief stint as a quarterback on a professional football team.
Growing up, Ehrlich worked for his father’s construction company in San Antonio every summer after he turned 13. He played football at Newberry College in South Carolina and Texas A&M Kingsville, before doing some coaching with the San Antonio Talons of the Arena Football League.
Ehrlich then returned to his father’s company, Central Builders, until it split to form the retail-focused construction company NCE, also in San Antonio.
During that time, NCE’s team of eight full-time employees has delivered projects throughout the Southeast, and Ehrlich says it continues to branch out into more renovation and expansion work throughout the county. And despite hanging up his helmet and cleats about a decade ago, Ehrlich remains a partner and contract advisor to Generation Sports Group, a local NFL agency that represents professional football players.
Here, Ehrlich talks to Construction Dive about the challenges his young company faces in developing subcontractor relationships and what skills he brings from the world of sports.
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
CONSTRUCTION Immersion: What are your biggest challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled workers?
Brian Ehrlich: We outsource many of our trades. Since we’re all over the country, finding these trades in the pockets we’re working in is obviously a bit of a challenge. We’re not doing the big $10 million or $50 million projects, so it’s hard to find subs who are willing to work at the scale we need them to. I don’t think of it as a challenge, it’s more of an opportunity for us as a company.
Some of the people I have working behind the scenes are developing relationships with smaller subcontractors and providing them with back office needs, saying, “Your estimate won’t be on a napkin,” or “Here’s the insurance you needed. .”
Again, it’s more of an opportunity to develop a startup and try to make it a sustainable partner over a long period of time.
Is there a region where you work where it is more difficult or takes longer to develop that relationship?
As you get farther into each zone, it makes it harder overall. We’ve worked in some major cities, and then, for example, Washington, North Carolina, which is on the coast, and there’s not a lot of business there. So that meant a lot of travel.
Convince people to travel, convince people that you will pay them on time. And then making sure that your paperwork is correct so that all the qualifications meet what they need and the security concerns and guarantee the lien relief. A lot of things that startups or newer companies or smaller companies that are jumping into this world don’t have.
So I would say North Carolina is probably one of the most difficult because there is a level crossing for licensing requirements, even for subcontractors. If they are not an unlimited subcontractor, they can only accept a contract up to $100,000, and now you need to talk to them about limiting the scope of work or providing the financial requirements or documentation they need to increase their limits.
Risk management is an important part of the industry as a whole. So as the projects get bigger and the scopes get bigger and you’re more isolated in your area, it just creates more ladders that we have to climb to get to the top.
I don’t want to ask you to give away any trade secrets, but are there any keys to help develop this relationship?
It’s twofold. No. 1, you have to get to work. There’s no substitute for me or one of our seniors calling these people, talking to their owners and laying the groundwork and letting them know, “This is who we are as a company. This is what you can expect from us. Here’s how you can expect our payment.”
Especially as companies grow, that responsibility is diluted to an intern or simply reduced because it’s not as important. And I think you lose a lot of value whenever you don’t have executive leadership doing those things.
Number 2 is listening. “Hey, what are your challenges? What are your financial constraints? What are your workforce constraints?” In a fast-track project, I’ll need 15 framers, for example. So, calling and understanding not only what the challenges are for our particular project, but being able to go to the subcontractors and make sure you’re very clear on what the expectations are.
How do you handle a hiccup or surprise in those expectations?
Working with them on a daily basis. Every week we have a weekly meeting with a two-week outlook. And a lot of people think it’s time for the GC to demand what we’re doing. And that’s not what we do.
I tell everyone, “Guys, here’s the two-week watch, check it out. Please provide feedback.” And if we need feedback, we need to adjust. Obviously, some things can’t be moved, that’s just the way the world works. But just sit in those meetings, take feedback, be open to feedback, and then adjust as needed.
Are there any skills you’ve brought from the football business to construction, or vice versa?
Resilience and a “never give up” attitude apply to both professions. I truly believe that no door ever closes, and the answer “no” is only temporary.
If you continue to pursue the right things and treat people right, it’s amazing how many doors open up for you again in these two industries.
