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'NWA Founders' is a voice for Founders, Owners, and Builders driving growth in Northwest Arkansas, hosted by Cameron Clark and Nick Beyer.
To recommend a guest or ask questions, reach out at nwafounders@gmail.com and follow us on YouTube and LinkedIn for video content.
NWA Founders - David Harris Full Audio
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David Harris: [00:00:00] I mean, Walmart started here. Tyson started here. JB Hunt started here. My gosh, Michael Milken came into town one time and said, "You guys had lightning strike three times." I love what I do. You know, you start with a piece of dirt, right? And you end up in a year with a beautiful home, and you're gonna sell that, or it's for a family you're building for.
That's their biggest purchase. They're gonna have Christmases and Thanksgivings and memories there. If you can think about it and you see it in Instagram or, you know, anywhere on the internet, we're doing it. Heated floors in bathrooms, special windows, special flooring, smooth finish, you know, class five walls, lighting now with all, you know, the things they can do with lighting.
We have a team of people now that we're meeting with 15 people to create, you know, a really nice home.
Cameron Clark: We wanna give a special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Greenwood Gearhart. Starting with my parents, for years they've helped my family feel at peace by having a team we [00:01:00] can trust build our finances for the future. One thing I love about Greenwood Gearhart is how directly involved the team is in the holistic planning of our finances.
We can regularly check in with our advisor and know they see the full picture of our family, even between generations. I know they're adding immense value to so many lives here in Northwest Arkansas. And to learn more about Greenwood Gearhart and their suite of services, you can visit their website at greenwoodgearhart.com or hit the link in the show description.
The Northwest Arkansas Founders podcast is supported by Cushman & Wakefield Sage Partners. Sage is a full service commercial real estate firm helping companies, investors, and developers grow across Arkansas. I've personally seen them add immense value to so many business owners across the Northwest Arkansas market.
From office and industrial to retail and land, Sage helps businesses find the
Nick Beyer: right space to grow in the state's most dynamic market. Learn more at sagepartners.com. Now, let's dive into the episode.
Cameron Clark: David Harris, uh, David Harris Construction, um, thanks for jumping on this morning with Nick and I. Uh, I mean, your story here, your family story here, so integral to what's going on in Northwest Arkansas.[00:02:00]
Um, curious to kick us off, uh, what's your point of view of the luxury home market now in Benton County, uh, and Rogers and Bentonville? I feel like you're getting, you're on the front edge of what's happening, you know, as we become, like, a nationally recognized luxury market. I mean, it's really Bentonville more than anything.
Um, how are you seeing that?
David Harris: Uh, good question. Uh, as old as I am, uh, in the old days, you know, it was pinnacle or you bought five acres, built a big house, and there was key neighborhoods that you would see the higher end homes. Um, and it was, you know, a little bit more Fayetteville. Now Benton County's just taken off, right?
And so now you're seeing big homes in a lot of areas. Of course, Pinnacle still and some other great neighborhoods. Um, and then before luxury was, you know, right here. Now, with all the things that are out in the market and all the things that people want, and we have so many people coming in from so many different parts of the [00:03:00] country that are used to maybe a, a level of this high of what they call luxury that some of us have never seen before, maybe seen before, but never have done before.
And so it's, it's been a little bit harder as far as on the building side to maybe find those materials and find the person that can actually put that... You can put anything together, but you gotta do it right. But as far as the luxury side of things, when I first started building houses, you know, our average was 125 to, you know, 200,000.
Now my least inexpensive home I built is probably 950, a million. And so it just, it's crazy how much it's changed and, you know, you see homes now 5 million, 8 million, some 10 million, you know, depends where it is.
Cameron Clark: Okay, so what are some of the things you're seeing in these super high-end homes? And like what, what are some of the materials people are requesting?
Um, just, versus like what we've, you know, we've, I feel like we've had pretty builder grade, like maybe someone just building a larger home, 4 or [00:04:00] 5000 square feet, but like now it's getting like, I imagine you're sourcing materials like from across the world on some of these things.
David Harris: Uh, yep. I mean, if you can think about it and you see it in Instagram or, you know, anywhere on the internet, we're doing it.
Um, heated floors in bathrooms and, you know, just anything you can think of that they're doing at a higher level. Special windows, special flooring, smooth finish, you know, class five walls. Uh, lighting now with all, you know, the things they can do with lighting. Um, so the, what we're also seeing a little bit, before you got a local draftsman or a local architect, you kind of put your ideas out there, the builder threw a few things out there.
Now we have clients that are bringing in architects from Atlanta with landscape architects from, you know, Texas and they're all, we have a team of people now that we're meeting with 15 people to create, you know, a really nice home. And so they bring tons of experience and ideas that they've done on [00:05:00] other unique homes.
We have a project now that we're working with where they've done stuff in London and, you know, they've been all over the world to do things. So now with the northwest Arkansas growing, uh, and all the things that are going on, uh, they're starting to bring those resources here.
Nick Beyer: I imagine that's fun for you, like seeing some of that change and learning, learning new things maybe you haven't done before.
Is that-
David Harris: Yeah, you can get in autopilot on some things. You know, some builders, we build the same plan over and over, change the color a few times. Where, uh, and I have a great team where, you know, they'll throw an, not throw an idea, but they go, "David, we want to do this." And we just don't wanna say, "Hey, we'll give it a try."
You know, we wanna... And sometimes we bring a subcontractor in. We brought a subcontractor in to do some walls for a client of mine from Nashville, who's one of the only guys in the country that I felt like could do a really good job at that. Um, and the architect also has leads in that, that help us. So they'll go, "Hey, David, we did this in New York or wherever it was, and this guy is [00:06:00] the best."
Now he's out of Georgia, and so if my client, if I don't have that level of expertise within my subcontractor pool, then I gotta go get the guy and bring him here. So, um, but you don't wanna spend all that money and have all those great ideas, then it comes together and it doesn't look like it should. You want it to be the product it should be.
Nick Beyer: And how much has construction changed? Uh, I remember when, when I was growing up, my parents built, their builder had his own team. It wasn't all sub, you know, th- there wasn't a group of subcon- Sure ... h- has that changed a lot since you started building? Have you always, has that model changed? What have you seen maybe in our market?
David Harris: Yeah, I, we have subcontractors that pretty much just work for us. Okay Right? Uh, trim carpenter, he does some other builders, but we're primarily his guy. Um, so they know what I expect, uh, and we, you know, it's a marriage, right? And so I've had some guys for 30 years. I try to find really good [00:07:00] guys. Uh, I don't overpay them, but I pay them like clockwork on Friday.
They get the job done. We've learned expectations. They know what I expect. Um, and then later down the road, if I ever, if I built your house, two years later you go, "Oh, David, we got a crack in our brick." The guy that did it is still working with me, he's gonna come fix it. Um, so the, the subs that I've had, I've been lucky to get really good ones, um, and then keep that relationship.
And so I think I do a lot for them, they do a lot for me in return. Um, and I'm, I'm no good without them. You can have the best builder in the world, if he doesn't have the subcontractors, it won't matter. You gotta have good subtar- subcontractors
Cameron Clark: Talk about the- the, the beginning. Like, so you, I mean, you were saying before you started, your family's fourth, fifth, fifth generation Rogers?
David Harris: Five generations, yeah.
Cameron Clark: Jeez.
David Harris: Crazy.
Cameron Clark: Um, and, and yeah, talk about [00:08:00] starting the construction company.
David Harris: Sure.
Cameron Clark: What would, you know... You worked for your dad for a little bit, I guess, or, and then-
David Harris: Yeah.
Uh, honestly, uh, I didn't know what I wanted to do. Went to Rogers High School, you know, had fun. Small town, there's 250 people in my class. You know, the town's 12,000 people, small town, great place to grow up and live. Um, then my, my dad and everybody else went to the University of Arkansas. I had an opportunity to go to some s- other schools, but I said, "No, I'm gonna stay at Arkansas.
It'll be fun." You know, I was thinking more parties and doing all that kind of stuff. Um, then got into business school, um, and kinda liked it, but I was fortunate enough that I had s- with my family and my dad's friends, and, um, my future father-in-law that I was around, they were so smart and so business savvy.
I had all the business I could... I didn't need the help from the university, so to speak. And I love history, got into history, graduated history, came out of college and said, "I [00:09:00] have absolutely no idea what I want to do." I thought about being a history professor. Uh, everybody worked at Walmart or Tyson, so I thought, "Man, do I wanna do this?
I have no idea." So my dad had the real estate company, came to work for him, um, and I was super aggressive. Always had a job through high school, always had a job through college. Um, and so when I got there, um, I helped process contracts, helped run the office a little bit, and then I thought, "Okay, we're gonna conquer the world, and here's the plans."
And he was like, "Hey, big fella, this, this is not... Your name's on the sign, but it's not your name." Um, and so my father-in-law was a builder developer, super smart, great mentor. Um, and he started a little subdivision, and he said, "David, if you want, I'll give you the lot, and you can build a spec house on it. And then when you sell the house, pay me back for the lot, and that could be your equity to go get the construction loan."
So I said, "All [00:10:00] right." So I did two houses right out of the gate. I was working for my dad full time. Um, I was then building houses, uh, were those two. And then of all things, you're gonna laugh, my father-in-law had these llamas And so my wife and I bought llamas, and we were gonna be in the llama business too.
So I was running three different things at one time.
Cameron Clark: What do you do with llamas?
David Harris: That, y- yeah, well, that's, we didn't ask that question before we got them. It's more of a pyramid scheme. Yeah. You buy these things, and then you breed them, and then- Somebody else buys it ... you go to auctions. Yeah.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Anyway, so we quickly got out of that, but, uh, it was a good experience, but a learning lesson for sure.
And then, um, just I got lucky, right? So I did the houses on the side thinking, "Well, this'll be some extra money," and I'm... it's wasn't my passion at the time, but I'd seen it. My dad's been selling houses since, you know, forever, and my father-in-law was a builder, developer. Um, and I built those two. I sold my first one before, in the [00:11:00] framing stage.
I said, "Well, this is easy money. This is great." The second one, it took me a year to sell. And so I fell in love with it, though, and I got to be my own boss, so to speak. And, um, I thought, "Okay, this is what I wanna do." So my dad was like, "Hey, go do your thing. You do what you wanna do." My wife at the time was working for her, uh, my father-in-law, her father.
And, uh, so I just kind of bought a few lots here, built a few houses here. Um, my brother-in-law was a builder. His brother was a builder. My father-in-law was a, is a builder. At the time, his brother was a builder. I mean, it, it was, you know, Thanksgiving was all shop talk. But, um, so just kind of fell in love with it.
But back then in Rogers, uh, it wasn't this boom. It was a good place to build, but it... I mean, that was in the mid-'90s. I mean, it was growing, but not like it is today. Not 40 people a day. No.
Nick Beyer: Where were those first two houses, David? Do you remember?
David Harris: A little subdivision called Seminole Hills- Oh ... [00:12:00] in Central, uh, kind of off of New Hope Road in the middle of Rogers.
Yeah. I sold my first one for $97,500.
Cameron Clark: Wow.
David Harris: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: And at the beginning, were those all spec homes? Were you doing any customs then too or?
David Harris: No customs. So, uh, I built two or three specs, sold those, bought some, uh, lots in Lowell. And then Sean Keith, one of my high school, uh, still one of my best friends, uh, grew up since first grade together, he had gone off to law school, and, uh, uh, he went to Paris, Arkansas, and then, uh, came back, and he said, "We wanna build a house."
And so Sean Keith was my first, uh, custom home. And since then I've built him three, so four total I've built for Sean. Yeah. That's
Cameron Clark: pretty cool.
David Harris: Yeah.
Cameron Clark: Uh,
David Harris: and then slowly got into the customs a little bit. Just when you're from Northwest Arkansas at that time, you knew everybody. And so at my age at that time, my friends were starting to build houses- Sure
right, having kids. We're [00:13:00] starting to be in our 30s now, and so, "Hey, David." And so I got lucky and got to, uh, partner with Charles Reeves. He had three great subdivisions, uh, ended up four with Shadow Valley. So we got in that subdivision. I built a house there. All my friends, you know, it was a great location.
Other people our age were building in there. So I just got into the custom business that way. My father-in-law had always built spec houses and never built a custom, and then I got into the custom business, so to speak. Built spec homes too, and that kinda saved me, because in 2007, '8 when the crash hit- Yeah
I didn't have a lot of inventory. Mm. I had a little bit, for sure, but I didn't have a lot of inventory 'cause I was building all these customs.
Cameron Clark: Sure. Why, and wh- why'd you, I mean, were you just kinda saying yes to it because, "Hey, I, I know these people. It feels right. I enjoy it"? I mean, there were-
David Harris: Yeah, it's a different bui- Or
Cameron Clark: was there strategy behind it, I guess is what I'm asking.
David Harris: A little bit, right? You're well-balanced, you know, you, you're not thinking, you know, the economy's gonna crash or anything like that, you know, or you hope it doesn't. But we were building spec homes on the side. We [00:14:00] were probably 50/50. Um, and then, you know, i- if you guys came to me, you're a nice person, great people, you know, sure I'm gonna build your house.
But back then there wasn't all these choices. There wasn't the internet. It wasn't, "Hey, David, let's talk about everything that you could possibly talk about in building a home." There's 52 million decisions. Back then, everybody did that door. Everybody did the bronze hinges. Everybody did that counter. It was those three countertops were the most popular.
You should
Cameron Clark: probably show them a piece of paper, right? "Here's your, here's your options, or we can go down to the store- Yeah ... and look." Yeah. Yeah.
David Harris: We had maybe five conversations. Today we have five conversations about the brick mortar.
Cameron Clark: Wow.
David Harris: So it, it was easy back then. Um, and it, it just, and it wasn't that the customer made it easy, it was just there wasn't a lot of choices.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Uh, and that's what you did. But anyway.
Cameron Clark: Are you, would you say you're pretty risk-averse?
David Harris: Um, you know, this sounds corny, but when I was younger, I was ready to conquer the world. I got in the llama business. I even thought [00:15:00] about having a business that you could hit golf balls in. Before they had the, you know, hit golf balls into a screen.
Yeah. Yeah. I had an idea for traveling businessmen that were in the airport and they had a layover. I was gonna rent these spots, and you could hit into the net. You know, I was always thinking of ways, you know, what am I gonna do? Um, but as I... We, you know, we bought commercial property. We did other things, uh, early on, tried to save our money and invest.
We believed in Northwest Arkansas. Never would've thought it was gonna be like it is, right? But we bought some, I bought some land. Gosh, we built some big buildings on it today, but on the interstate, you know, back in 2000.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: You know, on the interstate. How did David Harris, who the heck is that guy? But no one was buying stuff back then.
You know, they'd buy it here and there. But, so as far as the risk question, we're, then take risk, 'cause we were a healthy balance between customs and spec homes. Um, and so I, I was risky enough that, hey, I bought into some subdivisions, I bought [00:16:00] some lots. I'm gonna build, you know, 10 houses at a time, spec homes.
Um, you know, but back then, that whole inventory might have added up to 3 million. Today, we're building, you know, 15 spec homes, and they're a million a piece.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Um, so we kept pretty balanced, cautious. Um, but a lot of builders sometimes would say, "I just build customs. I'm gonna build two or three a year.
I don't wanna build specs."
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: And then I really watched the market. You know, you had the Riggins. They came on the scene just as I did, and I mean, they took off building spec houses left and right and, you know, they really had a big operation quickly.
Cameron Clark: And talk about the, when you say you got in on some of these subdivisions, like, just industry-wise, like, I'm, I assume, like, for a custom builder, like, that's the, that's the lane to be in, where, hey, you're the preferred builder, you have some, you know, interest in subdivision.
I mean, how, are you, like, is it, are, are you, are you buying these lots ahead of time, or is you getting on the preferred [00:17:00] builders list, and then client goes, buys the lot, you know, you're saying, and then they gotta pick between the three, four, five builders there?
David Harris: Well, the, the model today is, in the old days, you had developers that would go out, Charles Reeves for an example, he'd go out and buy land, develop it, and then he would sell lots to whoever wanted to buy a lot.
Sure. Right? He'd add covenants, but, and then that turned into I've got a builder group, David Harris, you know, we got five builders, you're gonna pick from those five builders. Uh, but the builders didn't have any involvement in the subdivision cost and, and all that. And so today what you're seeing in the market is Buffington does their own development.
It's all their houses. The Toll Brothers now, DR Horton, Riggins did that. We kinda have a model in that way with Bob David in that, like in Scissortail, he has five exclusive builders. Some of us silently invest in the subdivision, uh, and then when the subdivision opens, we control it. So if you wanted to build a house on there, you're gonna pick from five good builders-
Cameron Clark: Sure
David Harris: not just one. [00:18:00] Um, and so that's kind of the model that you're seeing right now in some of these bigger subdivisions. Um, now there's still the builders that you buy a lo- lot in Downtown Bentonville, "I wanna hire this guy to build a house," right? Anybody can do that. But if you're gonna go in a planned community, uh, with nice amenities and everything, it's either gonna be the model that I'm in with the five or four builders, or it's one of a big builder
Nick Beyer: So zoom in on Scissortail.
I mean, how... Talk about how that came about, when that was. Feels like it wasn't there, and then all of a sudden it was there, and there were a ton of large homes-
David Harris: Yeah ...
Nick Beyer: in it. Br- beautiful homes in it. Talk a little bit about that development.
David Harris: So Bob David from Tulsa had done some subdivisions over here in Northwest Arkansas, and, uh, had some good neighborhoods.
The crash kinda hurt everybody. Uh, that kinda slowed everything down. Then Bob came back over, bought the land, um, from Arvest. They had taken it back. Um, and so then I got [00:19:00] lucky, stumbled across Bob, and he goes, "Hey, I'm gonna do Scissortail Subdivision." Uh, he's done it before. Bob was very good about, you know, the amenity package, a nice entrance, good builders, nice covenants.
And, uh, so me, EJ Johnson, some of the other builders said, "Hey, we wanna be part of it." Uh, we've invested in subdivision as well. And then, you know, when Scissortail first started out, it just didn't boom. I mean, it, it... We sold houses. And then, you know, here lately it's, you know, there's a waiting list almost.
But that was a great location. Uh, everything was going West Rogers. Uh, Bob get- We bought the land, or he bought the land, we were partners on it, I think in 2015. And so the time you get utilities and all things you're gonna do, takes so much longer to develop a piece of land today than it used to But yeah, Scissortail has been extremely great.
Um, and a new phase is coming this spring, phase four, and we've already got, gosh, [00:20:00] we probably already have 10 pre-solds in there.
Nick Beyer: And is that, was that land in, in the fourth phase that's been there? Uh- Or is that a new acquisition and y'all-
David Harris: Yes.
Nick Beyer: Okay.
David Harris: So, uh, that's been there for a long time, and Bob David really worked hard to get that land, uh, and finally bought it and made it part of ph- uh, phase four.
It was not in the original Scissortail.
Nick Beyer: Okay, so what was the original parcel when y'all...
David Harris: The original parcel, I'm gonna guess 60 acres. Okay. Uh, you know, and that was just chip and seal road, gravel road. Wow. And so we had to bring the water and sewer to it. We had to pave the road to it. Uh, it was kinda, you know, and that's where the end of water and sewer was.
Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm.
David Harris: Um, and so at the time, and same thing with Shadow Valley. When we first did Shadow Valley, gosh, I mean, it was just turkey houses, chicken houses, you know, some ponds, and you went down kind of a gravel road to get to it. Uh, it was crazy.
Cameron Clark: Talk about the inception of Shadow Valley. When did that come about?
The, yeah, just-
David Harris: Yeah ... tell some of that story. So, [00:21:00] boring story on me. So started building houses, uh, and then back in the old model, you might find a developer that was selling lots, so I would go sell lots. And at the time, my brother-in-law, Kurt, and his brother, Vance, we'd kinda follow each other, and we'd go buy lots wherever we could in little subdivisions.
And so Charles Rees at the time, he was from Chicago, or worked in Chicago with Sears, lived in Jonesboro, uh, new northwest Arkansas, so he bought all that l- uh, land where Highland Knolls, Ridge Crest, and the Manors is.
Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm.
David Harris: And so out again, you know, out in the backwoods, so to speak. And so I begged him for, uh, let me build in there.
He said, "I already got a builder, David. He's gonna take all the lots." And I kept begging him and begging him. I bet I pestered him every week. And I said, "Will you let me build my personal house in there?" He said, "No, David, you know I've already got this lined up with this one guy, da, da, da, da, da." Well, again, we're back in the '90s, late '90s, and so, you know, things just didn't [00:22:00] sell real quick, and then so that builder wasn't working out.
So then after my 100th call, Charles said, "All right, come on." So I got a- my, my buddies to come with me, Kurt and Vance and some other builders, and then we took over Highland Knolls, and then at that, just right timing. Yeah. It just started booming. And then Charles, uh, parlayed that, went to build Shadow Valley.
So he said that, "Hey, I have an idea for a golf course. It's gonna bring people in." 'Cause at the time when people would come in to Northwest Arkansas, if you had someone working for Walmart, and then the wife would go, "Where are we going?" And then they would fly in, you know, and it's like, w- w- what is Rogers, Arkansas?
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Um, and we didn't have the things that we do today. And so, you know, Charles said, "Okay, these guys want golf courses. They want more than just, you know, a little clubhouse or a playground in the front part." Yeah. So it was kind of a loss leader. It's gonna help us sell houses. So Charles, so all the builders that were in Highland Knolls, [00:23:00] we just went to Shadow Valley.
Uh, and Shadow Valley was great. Boy, it took off fast, and the clubhouse, and just, man, just bad timing. We were open two or three years, and then, you know, in 2007, '8, it hit hard. Mm-hmm. We, we kept s- kept building houses, but not at, near at the same pace. Yeah, not at the
Cameron Clark: pace, yeah.
David Harris: But great development.
Probably one of the biggest developments, uh, in the state. I think there's... I'm gonna get this wrong a little bit, but I'm pretty close. There's probably 1,000 home sites.
Nick Beyer: Jeez.
David Harris: So if you have, you know, three people on average living in a house, there's 3,000 people.
Nick Beyer: Wow.
David Harris: Um, and so yeah, Charles did a tremendous job with that and his son, Rich.
They were great partners, great people to build with. Charles, you know, he, he just, "Hey, David, we're all in this together. Let's work together. What are good ideas?" You know, he, he was awesome.
Cameron Clark: That's pretty cool.
David Harris: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: So what year was that? Do you remember?
David Harris: Gosh, uh, Shadow Valley, I think we opened, the first year was [00:24:00] 2004.
Now we'd s- you know, probably started in 2002, development, getting lots ready, building the clubhouse. Crossland had just come on the scene. Chris Crossland came down. They built the clubhouse. Um, and so, uh, yeah. And so I think 2004, 2005 was our first official year the clubhouse was open, and we were building houses at the time.
Um, yeah, the, like, the first New Year's Eve party, I remember that. It was, like, eight people. Like, you know, this, there was nobody in the neighborhood yet. We'd just had opened, and you know, get a tee time any time you wanted.
Nick Beyer: Yeah. So the golf course was open too?
David Harris: Golf course, tennis. He did indoor tennis, you know, playground.
And the reason that was so smart is people would come here, and either you're gonna meet friends through church, work, or, you know, wherever you're hanging out. Well, you could go to the country club after the third or fourth year. You would go into the country club, and you would see some people in there that you knew, but you're from Chicago, you're from Atlanta.
You know, [00:25:00] I'm from Nashville. Yeah. And then you're kinda in the club playing tennis or something or eating dinner, and you have kids all about the same age. Next thing you know, you're talking, then it's a play date with the kids. Now we're playing golf. You know, and it gave them a place to meet friends.
And the, yeah, the clubhouse was great. Now- The golf business is not the most profitable business in the world, country club business. Um, but it was, it helped sell a lot of houses.
Nick Beyer: Yeah. And, uh, was Pinnacle around then before?
David Harris: Pinnacle was. Okay. So Pinnacle was a great subdivision, uh, and that's got a storied past.
Uh, but thank goodness the Hudson bought it and, and figured it out. But, uh, they had it at the time, but it wasn't as family-friendly. Uh, Red Hudson, who developed, or he wasn't the original developer, but the guy that developed it, big lots, big houses, uh, big country club, maybe more old school feel. Uh, where Shadow Valley, we wanted to sell to young people [00:26:00] with young kids.
You're gonna go in the restaurant, there's gonna be a french fry going across the room, you know, laid back. We put a daycare center in there, uh, children's activity center. Um, so we catered to the younger family. Where Pinnacle, you know, it was a nice golf course, nice country club, all those things, but a different feel for sure.
Nick Beyer: And then did the, all of the builders like put money into the development of the neighborhood golf course, country club, or was it kind of, how did that work?
David Harris: So-
Nick Beyer: I mean, who's floating the bill for the, the golf course- Sure ... the country club- Yeah ... all while y'all are building the homes?
David Harris: Well, Charles Reeves.
Nick Beyer: Okay.
David Harris: So what Charles did is, I called it a membership to get to build houses in Shadow Valley, which was a great investment for me. But I tease everybody that I owned the ball washer on number 16. But, uh, but we all contributed some cash to build or to be partners in the country club, not the development side.
[00:27:00] Uh, but Charles was, you know, 90% of all the money and what he did.
Cameron Clark: What's, so talk about just, like, your team, like, over the years. Like, how did it, how many people do you have now, and how did it kinda evolve, you know, from the beginning to what it is now?
David Harris: Sure. Um, well, you know, building it was just me. And then, uh, uh, my wife, Teresa, uh, funny story, so her dad, super smart, good guy, um, was a great mentor to me.
Uh, she had worked for him. He built houses in the '70s, early '80s. Uh, owned some apartments, uh, shopping centers, and got into that. Kinda got out of building. Um, and so, uh, she had worked for him, and so then when we got married, uh, we're gonna have kids and all that. And so I said, "Well, you have all the experience of running the books, and you've been around it."
And so, um, I tell the story. She thinks I'm fabricating this, but I said, told her one day, "I need you to do something." And she said, "Are you asking me or telling me?" [00:28:00] So I said, "Well, however you wanna take it." So her dad said, "There can only be one boss." And she goes, "Well, then I quit." And so- There you go. That was 32 years ago.
But, uh, but no, just, you know, what I tried to do is, back then and still do it today, but I would pay attention to a lot of things. So if I saw a guy on the job site that I thought was pretty smart or he worked really hard, and, you know, good common sense, and I go, "That might be a good foreman one day."
'Cause back when I building, a lot of builders, they, you were just the builder. You might had someone help you in the office, but you didn't have a foreman, and you didn't, you know-
Cameron Clark: Yeah ... but you got- Solopreneur. You're just doing, you're doing your thing. Yeah.
David Harris: Yeah. And so the first, uh, foreman I had was my, a lumber salesman.
I said, "Hey, I want you to come." You know, great guy and all that. And then, um, so then I got a, uh, um, Allison Hames helped me in the office a little bit, and then, um, got lucky, so- [00:29:00] Back when I had someone in the office, had a superintendent, then that guy left, got another one. Then, uh, from afar again, Andrea McConnell, who's been with me 21 years.
So raised three kids, was working, you know, running marathons, and I go, "Okay. She's got a lot of energy and good work ethic, good common sense." I'd built a house for her and her husband, Doug. And, uh, so I had this one girl that was working for me, uh, stole a little money, and so I said, "All right." So that was a big mess.
Um, and so I said, "Andrea, I gotta have you. Come on. Whatever it takes." And that was 21 years ago, and she's been with me ever since. But kind of my deal on that is I, I don't really care about your pedigree or what you got on your ACT score or what, you know, where you went to. If you've got good common sense and good work ethic, I, I can tell you everything you need to know to help me and help you be successful.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: And so everybody I've had around me, I've been super lucky. I've, [00:30:00] I've only had to get rid of maybe two or three people. Um, and so I've just had really good people around me. My... Both, all my superintendents now, I would put them up against anybody. Andrea, uh, we were talking about Logan earlier. They are all great.
And so I've just kind of been lucky. Uh, Logan I hired 'cause, uh, Doug McConnell owns Foster Roofing. Doug says, "Hey, we work with this kid." They called him a kid, just weren't sure how old. "But, uh, he does all the estimating for Riverwood. You need to talk to him." And so I go, "Okay." So I knew, watched Logan from afar a little bit, brought him in the office.
We hit it off, and, uh- That's cool. Yeah. So I've tried to find from afar who... And I've still to this day, if I see someone, I'm impressed with them, I go, "Okay, that might be somebody I need to know soon." And so now we have probably, we have three, four superintendents. Andrea's in the office. My daughter helps us.
She's been a blessing. She does all our interior design stuff. Um, she has her [00:31:00] own company, but we hire her to do all our spec homes and so forth. And now with spec homes being so, not difficult, but so many things you gotta pay attention to and all the details, she's been awesome. And then my son, Peyton, who, uh, works with us, he's in the office.
He's really good. He can look at something for five minutes and figure out what's wrong, or that's not right, or that's not lined up right. He's kind of a perfectionist in so many ways. Now, he's not the salesman like me. He's very black and white. He's gonna tell you how he stands. Yeah. Uh, which can be good and bad.
But they've been both a blessing, and it's been great to be in the office with them and work with them, see them every day. I love that.
Cameron Clark: And, and we, we were talking about it a little before we started, but, like, talk about the transition. How long have they been with you? How, how long have your kids been working with you now?
How did that start?
David Harris: Peyton and Rachel right up, pretty much out of college. Uh, so four years now probably, three or four years. Uh, Peyton was like his dad, took a little longer to get through [00:32:00] college. Rachel, we call her a nerd. She graduated on time, you know, she's by the book, everything's great. But Rachel, I knew that, you know, construction maybe not was her thing, but on the interior design she has great taste, uh, she has a great work ethic.
Just like I said before, everybody loves Rachel. Um, and so she, as the market started getting better after we came out of 2008, 2010, '11, '12, we were starting to build more spec houses, but we are still s- in the custom business, so to speak. And then, uh, as we got bigger we said, "Okay, I need help." You know, I don't wanna, if, if I can, uh, hire an interior designer, but Rachel was right there- Yeah
so it worked perfect. And then Peyton, I've told him, "Buddy, I want you to do what makes you happy. I want you to find your passion. If this is it, it would be great. I would love it." Um, but he already has that architecture mind, he's great at art, he can do so [00:33:00] many things. He gets it from, uh, my mother and her side.
They were all, they could do anything. Yeah. Um, and so he likes that part of it. Now, he's not the salesman, so, but it's worked out great, and we love it. And so I hope they like it. They might fire me one day.
Cameron Clark: And how, how do you balance the customs versus, uh, spec homes today? How, like, is your business 50/50 right now?
Or what's the-
David Harris: Probably, yeah. Yeah. We're out of, probably in the portfolio it's probably 50/50
Nick Beyer: And how, how do you, how is your split on superintendents like...?
David Harris: Um, I, I have one superintendent that takes care of, of... We're good friends with the George family, truly blessed to be, um, friends with them, and we, we built some houses for them.
Um, and so one of my superintendents just strictly takes care of them. And then I've got Jason Fice, who's great. Uh, he does some of my other customs in downtown Bentonville. He does a spec home here and there. My son, [00:34:00] Peyton, he's more spec homes. Logan's a little bit more spec homes. So I kind of plug and play.
So depending on the client, who it is, the level of the house, it's gotta be this superintendent or that superintendent. Um, some have more knowledge than others, but then some of it, it, it's gotta be a fit. I mean, when you build a custom home, I mean, you're, it's... I call it a short-term marriage. And at the higher end level stuff, you...
Jason Dye, for the Georges, he's there every single day. He's... Yeah, he lives down there.
Cameron Clark: How long does it take to build a high-end custom today?
David Harris: Um, a high end, wow. Uh, depends. I, I would say to build a, let's say a $3 million home in downtown Bentonville, nice amenities- Mm-hmm ... you know, which you guys have probably seen before, it's every bit of a year.
You... It can go year and a half. Uh, Blake Hamby, uh, built a beautiful home. He said it took three years. Uh, I think it took maybe two and a half, but- ... who's [00:35:00] counting? Evidently, Blake
Cameron Clark: was. Yeah. Uh, and, and like how, how are... I'm, I'm curious too, like you, you just have such like a f- you know, front end view of the residential development going on.
What, what, what are you seeing for the next five years? Like w- how- what's the next evolution of change that we're gonna see here in Benton County o- on the residential development piece?
David Harris: You know, what we're starting to see, and we knew it was coming around the corner, is, you know, the Toll Brothers, D.R.
Horton, Weekley's looking around. You know, those guys, they're the massive. They, they do it all over the country. They have better buying power. Um, you know, they, they're just, they're gonna be tough competition as far as that goes. Now, my price point, when we're at a million or higher, Toll Brothers dabbles in that a little bit, is I, I just think you're gonna see subdivisions that you're, "This is the builder, this is the subdivision.
Here's your four paint colors. There's your three tile colors." You [00:36:00] know? If you want a custom in a subdivision like that, if it's one of their s- uh, subdivisions, you're gonna get a limited custom. Where I think our group has the advantage in The Roar and The Scissortails is we can do a full-blown custom from start to finish.
Now, they might do that, but I don't think they do. Um, but I think you're gonna see more controlled subdivisions. Um, I think you're gonna see the old days of a developer building and anybody can build, I think those are gone. Um, and- Why
Cameron Clark: is that?
David Harris: Well, there's the... Here's what you're seeing. So the competition is, is, and they c- they have the ability to do that, is land is so hard to get right now, and these farmers know that they're sitting- Just
Cameron Clark: because it costs so much, the basis is high?
Yeah.
David Harris: Right. So D.R. Horton can come and get there and say, "Hey, we can pay $100,000 an acre." And I do the pencil to that and I go, "Man, 80,000 is about the best we can do." 'Cause we wanna make a little money on the development. Okay. They can say, "We don't have to make money on the development. We need a place to build."[00:37:00]
Yeah. And so w- we're kinda in that model a little bit now that we go, "We got... We're gonna make money on the house, but we gotta build houses. That's what we do." Yeah. And in the old days, you'd have developers that would develop and then sell to builders. And they can still do that, but it's getting harder.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: If Toll Brothers comes in and says, "Hey, I'll give you 110,000 an acre," and I go, "I can only give 90." Not 'cause I can't get the money, I just, the math doesn't work- Yeah ... on the development side. Yeah. Doesn't matter. We're building houses. That's what we're trying to do. So I think that's the change you're gonna see.
Cameron Clark: And I mean, uh, it feels like just, you know, we're gonna see the airport just surrounded, surrounded with these, you know- Yeah ... suburban nei- neighborhoods. Is that what you kinda think, think too, and?
David Harris: Well, history repeats itself. Yeah. I always say, "If you wanna know what northwest Arkansas is gonna look like, go to Austin, go to Nashville-
Cameron Clark: Yeah
David Harris: uh, go to North Dallas." Uh- Yeah ... they were w- you know, it, it... We're gonna grow like they did, as to a certain degree. Um, and so the pains that they had and are having, we're [00:38:00] gonna have the same. Um, and so same thing with expectations on houses. We used to drive to Dallas all the time before the internet and all that stuff, and, you know, we'd see ideas on what builders were doing down there and say, "Okay, we need to do that."
And you gotta, you know, Sam Walton was the master. You gotta listen to your customer, see what they want, and you gotta pivot and, you know. We have some customers that want everything- Yeah ... right until they see the price. But you gotta pay attention to your customer, what they want. So when we compete with more of a track home builder, we gotta then say, "Okay, we're gonna m- more hold your hand.
We're gonna customize it more. You're gonna have more selections." Um, I would love to do their model, less work, but that's how we're gonna have to compete. So you're gonna have models of subdivisions that are totally controlled by one builder, and it'll be a national builder. He'll have the whole subdivision.
There'll be four floor plans, and that's what you're gonna get.
Cameron Clark: Yeah[00:39:00]
Nick Beyer: Do you think like They're gonna smother out builders like yourself?
David Harris: I don't think they're gonna smother. There's still gonna be a need for someone will want a custom home.
Nick Beyer: Yeah.
David Harris: Someone says, "I don't wanna be in a track home. I don't wanna be..." You know, they're great subdivisions. Buffington has done a good job with that model and so forth.
But I think you're still gonna see a developer or you're gonna have the model that we're in now where Bob, David, me, EJ Johnson, and others, we're gonna say, "Okay, we're gonna build our own subdivision, um, and we're gonna do some specs for sure, but we're gonna do some customs, customs from the ground up, uh, where you can do anything you want, not, you know, four, four plans and that's all you have to pick from."
And then you're always, on the custom side, you're always gonna have that person that buys the lot in downtown Bentonville or five acres out by the airport, and, "Hey, David, I want a, you know, detached barn and I want this." That's more on the custom side. A- and then you're gonna have some builders that are gonna speculative build.
They're [00:40:00] gonna, you know, buy a lot in Pinnacle, tear down the h- or tear down the house and build a spec house. Uh, that's gonna be on the higher end. Um, but you're still gonna see that to a certain degree. But in the old days, you know, it was the developer sells to the builder, and it was whoever the builders were.
Today, and rightfully so, the town's grown, people are gonna come in and do the other models of the T- uh, Toll Brothers and that kind of model.
Cameron Clark: And what's your pulse on the market right now? I mean, some people are saying, "Hey, it's a little soft." Where, where are you seeing it? Where are you seeing it's hot?
What's the... What are you seeing?
David Harris: Um, so my dad has a real estate company, and we talk, uh, and we pay attention to the market. Course, we feel some things, uh, in our subdivisions, whether it slows down or it's going crazy or not. But, you know, it's still a good, healthy market. My dad says there's a three-month supply.
And so you go, "Okay, what does that mean?" Well, you know, that's still better than a lot of markets. Yeah. Some markets are at six, seven months supply, five months [00:41:00] supply, those kind of things. During COVID, it was like a two-week supply. Yeah. You just put the sign up, and they were getting offers, you know, 50,000 over list.
Um, and you can't base your pro forma today on that. If you are, y- you're gonna get hurt.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: But, uh, I think it's a good, healthy market. I think the curve is, is if you're used to that pro forma and you go, "Okay, we're gonna put a lot of houses out there," well, the time I decide to put a footing in the ground to the day I'm gonna sell it could be a year.
So in a year, a lot can happen. So a lot of builders put a lot of product in the ground, and then now there's some inventory. I think inventory right now is 4,500 homes on the market. It was as low as 700, you know, three, four years ago. So then you go, "Okay, I'm sitting on some homes," or it's taking longer, right?
Yeah. It's taking three, four, five months, six months to sell.
Cameron Clark: Sure.
David Harris: Well, what happens then is that you go, "Okay, some of those builders, okay, quarter one, we wanted to put five in the ground. Now we're gonna just do two. We're gonna wait till that inventory gets eaten up a little bit."
Cameron Clark: Yep.
David Harris: Um, [00:42:00] still so many people are coming into Northwest Arkansas- But there's a bigger supply, for sure.
Used to it was a seller's market, now it's kind of 50/50, depending on the neighborhood you're in. Uh, buyers are asking for more and getting more. Um, and so we're offering a little bit more incentive packages as well. Um, but I think it's just a good market. I think the other thing that does when the inventory gets up a little bit, it weeds out some of the guys that shouldn't be building houses.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: There's guys out there, "Oh, you just build it, it'll sell. Don't worry. You know, we don't even have to look at it, uh, or pay attention to quality." Those guys are, this market will weed them out.
Cameron Clark: Yeah, they can't, they can't operate in this
David Harris: market. Yeah, which is good for me.
Cameron Clark: And what's the price point you think, you think is, like, the, the best, hottest price point right now in, in, in this market?
David Harris: Is- It's k- it's kind of funny. In ours, um, you know, we, we have a few around the 900, 950 where, uh, you would think, "Okay, the lower the better." Uh, everybody wants affordable housing. But for us, uh, [00:43:00] it's more the 1.2 million, 1.3 is selling faster for us.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Um, uh, on the real estate side, they would know so much more than us, but, um, I think it's where the location is and what your expectations are for that.
Cameron Clark: And, and what are, what are the best locations right now in today's market in Benton County that you see?
David Harris: Well, I used to say just say West Rogers, right?
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Uh, but Pea Ridge is on fire. Bella Vista's going, you know. And I think it depends on your buyer. Like, in Bella Vista, if, if you want more of affordable, a little elbow room, I don't wanna be in a neighborhood, you know, uh, Bella Vista.
Um, Pea Ridge, there's been more land acquired up there, um, and a lot of people are going there. Before you'd go, "I don't wanna live in Pea Ridge. I don't wanna drive that far," or whatever, that's northwest Arkansas now. So I think on your high-end luxury a little bit, um, I'm jaded a little bit, but I think West Rogers, definitely downtown Bentonville.
[00:44:00] Um, you know, Fayetteville still has some great pockets. Uh, Springdale's gonna have some stuff to the west towards Tontitown. Um, so I think you're gonna see a lot of different pockets and areas. It seems like the east side, um, you know, I don't know if it's 'cause of the terrain and the lake, you're just not seeing as much go to the east.
Everything's going north or west. Yeah.
Nick Beyer: Take us back, 'cause we... I feel like we didn't capture enough of the history of you growing up here, five generations. I mean, you've been in Rogers, like, when I was in high school and I worked at Pinnacle, there was nothing when I got off this exit- Yeah ... except that Walmart and Embassy Suites.
David Harris: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: And I'm 30. So you've got some really, you've got some really interesting memories. Like, just talk about how much Rogers has changed, what you saw here growing up, you know, what you think it'll continue to look like in the future.
David Harris: Well, the Harris family, you know, five [00:45:00] generations, right? My grandfather, uh, started Harris Baking downtown.
We tell the story and, and my dad's better than I am, so I could get it off a little bit. Like, you know, he quit school when he was in eighth grade, you know, had to work to help the family, sold bakery things and then started his own bakery and then bought the Harris Hotel. And so, you know, small town, right?
Um, and then my dad grew up in downtown Rogers and, you know, where you go to the drugstore and you just put it on the credit you know, pay for it. And I got a little taste of that. I'm showing my age, but got a little taste of that. And then, uh, you know, he started Harris McHaney, the real estate company. My mom and dad, you know, small town, it was great to grow up here.
Um, but to your point, like, we would have to go to Fayetteville, which was 30-minute drive back then, you know, if we wanted to eat somewhere fancy or you went to a football game. There was nothing. You know, you wouldn't even go to Bentonville. Now you don't know where the two end and start. Where the [00:46:00] line is, yeah.
Um, but went to high school here again, you know, graduated college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and... But, you know, seeing Rogers grow, you know, everybody says, "Well, why didn't you buy Walmart stock?" And my mom has a joke. She graduated with Rob Walton, and they're still great friends, and she said, "I should have paid more attention to Rob Walton growing up."
But- Um, yeah, I wish she would have. But anyway, um- But you, you just, you s- it was happening, but it, it just, it's not like it happens overnight, even though we feel like it. And, you know, Sam Walton, you're like, "Well, Sam's, you know, the five-and-dime. He's gonna give a, a shot at, you know, starting stores in Walmart," and all this.
"Well, eh, we'll see what happens," whatever. You know- Yeah ... and then he's going and going, and you go, "Well, should we buy stock from that? I don't know. He's only got 60 stores," you know? And next thing you know, there it is. Um, but all of Northwest Arkansas, I think what, where Northwest Arkansas has been fortunate, uh, in the growth and where it could lead, [00:47:00] uh, I mean, Walmart started here.
Tyson started here. JB Hunt started here. I mean, my gosh, Michael Milken came into town one time and said, "You guys had lightning strike three times." I mean, you know, we had Beaver Lake, and my grandfather was instrumental in getting Beaver Lake here, and he was instrumental in getting Daisy Manufacturing here, and back then, that was huge.
Mm. Right? That was the big deal. Um, but it's been smart growth too. There's been great mayors, great leaders, great city councilmen that have made good decisions over the years. You can have bad growth, right? Yeah. But anybody right now would trade our problems, right? We have sewer problem a little bit, right, and the infrastructure.
People are complaining about, you know, the price of homes, but those are all good problems to have to a certain degree versus-
Cameron Clark: The opposite ...
David Harris: but I think Rogers- Well, Northwest Arkansas with the university here and Beaver Lake here, and those three companies, and now other companies that are here, I mean, my [00:48:00] goodness, it's like you couldn't ask for a better playbook for success.
And I think the challenge now will be is how do we handle the growth? Um, and as you do things, you know, I've always said, and this might be a, a silly way to look at it, is, you know, do you go to a Nashville or Austin and get a city planner and say, "Help us navigate. You've been through it. Come here and help us.
Uh, what are we not doing right, or what do you see that you saw in the growth of those towns?"
Cameron Clark: Yeah. What's your hope and what's your fear for Rogers?
David Harris: Um, y- you know, growing up in small town and graduating here and just knowing the history is, part of me misses the old, you know, town and, you know, just, you know, we call it little Mayberry and, you know, those, that feel.
Um, and the growth has been great for us, the family and the business that we're in, but, um, y- you know, and you get better restaurants and the [00:49:00] museum and the bike trails and all that is, you know, you don't want... Sometimes with growth comes crime, sometimes with growth comes other things that you go, "Okay, might not be able to stop it, but let's contain it, manage it the best we can."
I don't really see any problems. Uh, it just, I think you're gonna see some people that'll say, "Hey, I, I can't, I don't want the big town. You know, I grew up here. I'm gonna move down to, you know, Fort Smith. It's still small town feel," or whatever. So I think you're gonna lose some people because of that. But, you know, on some of the growth, what we're seeing is in the old days, on my, I have a huge board in my office, and I have all what's going on in my world.
And you could throw a dart and who we're building houses for was a Walmart executive, a vendor, Tyson, um, you know, maybe a doctor. And so you s- today it's, you know, your parents could live anywhere they can live, right? The grandchildren have huge amount of power. And so we have people that [00:50:00] come in and say, "Well, my son and daughter h- live here.
They're in their 30s. We can live anywhere. Before we would never consider Northwest Arkansas, but with all the things you have to offer now, we're gonna live here part-time, and we'll live in Florida part-time." And so they're moving here. Uh, and just the quality of life is good here. So we're getting retirees that move here that have nothing to do with Walmart or anything.
They just wanna be in Northwest Arkansas, which is, I like that balance.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
Nick Beyer: That's good. So you said your business is roughly 50/50 customs and specs. Have there been seasons where that has fluctuated maybe strategically coming out of the recession, like some things you learned from that? I don't know.
David Harris: Well, we stayed in the custom business probably too long. Uh, we got in it and we, we were already in it before the recession. Uh, and then we stayed in it, uh, once the recession was there, so we needed the, the business and the houses. We still built a few spec homes, but very little, [00:51:00] and then as times got better, I should have got more in the spec homes and less in the customs.
And so I still did that, it just took too much time to do it. But right now we have a healthy balance of specs and customs. Uh, and we, we always watch that, right? If we, if we end up sitting on 10, 15 specs, then, you know, if we need to load up on customs, we can. Uh, again, truly blessed, we get calls all the time that we turn down, and it's not against the people, it's, "Hey, will you go to Fayetteville?
Hey, will you go to Beaver Lake? Hey, will you go to Centerton?" I'm like, "Guys, I can just be more efficient if I stay in West Rogers, Downtown Bentonville. I can check on 10 houses versus 30 minutes to your house and back." Right? So it's more efficient for me to do that, but if things slow down, then I'm gonna start picking up those calls again.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Yeah. And I'm at the age now, uh, that, you know, I, I'm more selective. Uh, 'cause I wanna do a good job for the customer, uh, but it has to be a good fit. Before I would just, you know, we'll take [00:52:00] anything. You wanna build a house? Sure, I'll do it. Today, I think- We wanna be and have a partnership that we're gonna be able to make them happy, meet their expectations, and they understand what it's like to build a house.
What we try to do now, that I didn't do a very good job early on, is before we even build you a house, you're gonna think it's gonna go a certain way, and it's not. I want it to go the way you think it's gonna go, but someone's gonna drink beer on the job. Someone's gonna leave a window open. S- No one's gonna be on the job site for a week, you know.
Someone's gonna put a hole in the wall. All those things are gonna happen, but at the end, it's gonna be beautiful. You're gonna be happy. You're gonna move in. But when a customer, when we build a house and they come in on the process, I always say it's like delivering a baby and all the family's in there at the same time.
"Hey, guys, y'all wait out in the waiting Y'all wait in the waiting room. I'm gonna bring out the beautiful baby bouncing boy, and y'all are gonna be happy." You're gonna cry. You're
Cameron Clark: gonna cry. It's gonna
David Harris: be amazing. But if you're gonna get in here with me, it's, [00:53:00] yeah, I don't- It's
Cameron Clark: messy.
David Harris: Yeah. We don't want... You don't...
But we tell them that, and then it's kinda funny. They'll go, "I know you said that, but this is my house, David." And we go, "I know, I know, I know."
Nick Beyer: How have you done that? I mean, 'cause it, uh, I know some of your friends who you've built for. You've talked about some of them, and, like, they're still some of your best friends.
Yeah. I feel like that's a pretty... And you're talking about being a custom home builder, it's a short-term marriage. Like, how have you, how have you managed that? What have you learned from that? Well,
David Harris: there's still that one- there's some that still wanna kill me, I'm sure. Uh, but i-i-yeah, so I think what happened, well, one, they're excited, right?
So if we all planned a big trip, and we said, "Hey, let's all- we're gonna go to a big trip to Disney World," and you, you know, think about it, and you plan it and all that. Well, now that you've said go, we're, "Let's do it. Let's go, and we're gonna have fun," and all this and all that. And so I think people, they're ready to custom build, and they wanna get it going.
And then it's like, all right, we put a shovel in the ground. This is exciting. And then as the process wears, and decisions are being made, and [00:54:00] we're going over budget here, and this is taking longer than I thought, and that guy didn't show up, and then I want in here, and then fru- you can feel the frustration building a little bit.
And so you just gotta manage that to a certain degree. I think the key is, and, and we should probably do a better job, is gotta communicate a lot. "Hey, guys, instead of me just not telling you someone's not gonna show up today or this week, I need to tell you that," 'cause then you'll go to the job site and say, "David, what, what the, what's going on here?
No one's here today." Well, we didn't tell you, right? The guy got sick, or the job he was on before is taking longer. Yeah. We, we are scheduling and rescheduling every day like you would not believe. You can be reactive. So I can say, "Okay, the tile guy's done. What's next?" "Well, plumbers." "Okay, let's schedule them."
"Well, David, we're two weeks out." "Okay, well, two weeks," right? So the house sits for two weeks. But being proactive, you go, "Okay, tile guy should take X- Uh, we'll buffer that a couple days, then [00:55:00] let's tell the plumbers to be then right after that. Then after him, he needs three days, right? And we've done this a thousand times, so we know how long it's gonna take.
So you line all the dominoes up, and then one domino falls. Yes. Stack 'em all back up. Well, with a spec home, who am I gonna tell? Myself. With a homeowner, I gotta go, "Hey, here's what happened." Right? "Well, why did that guy not show up?" Like, "I, I don't know, but he didn't. Uh, he's sick. He can tell you 100 reasons, but he didn't show up, so that postpones everything."
"Well, you need to tell him-" ... you know, da, da, da. I said, "Look," I said, "Guys, if I lose him, I gotta go find someone else, and it's gonna take a month." Yeah. "And they're gonna charge more." Yeah. "So I need these guys more than you think." Uh, so that has to be... That's why I try to find good guys and keep 'em, so that there's a good relationship.
Some builders, it's the lowest price wins, and you got a new tile layer every other job. And then you need something fixed, and then he goes, "Well, you don't use me anymore."
Cameron Clark: Yeah. "
David Harris: I'm out. I'm [00:56:00] not coming over there to fix that." But with customs, that's the hardest part. It's expectations, timing. I think you gotta communicate really well, uh, and explain what you're doing.
Some of them have built houses at that price point sometimes that we build out. This is their third or fourth time to build. Mm. Right? Um, and so they have a little bit of experience of it and gone through the process, but you gotta manage expectations.
Nick Beyer: Uh, and then talk about the spec. H- how, how, how has that changed for you?
I mean- Labor's increased, prices of products have increased, interest rates have increased. How, how much has that side of your business changed in the last five years?
David Harris: Well, well, on the spec homes, you know, to be successful at a spec home builder, you've, you've, you gotta know the market. You just can't throw up anything.
Now, on the, during COVID you could and it would sell, but you gotta pay attention to your buyer, you gotta make sure the floor plan's good, you gotta understand [00:57:00] what people like today. Um, you know, the, the fine line you do in a spec house is you can get too bland and try to say, "Well, it's an empty, uh, you know, palette, you guys dress it up how you want," and then you can skate to, "I'm gonna add a little flair, a little color," and you went too far that way, right?
So there's... So Rachel's been really good at that. Um, and then you gotta know your market. Like I always say, I can build anything. I've built some of the biggest homes. I try to find the gap in the market. So if I feel like in this particular neighborhood that we're building in, there's nothing in the 800 to 900.
It's either 900 or they're, you know, it's 800 or less.
Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. I,
David Harris: I, I can... I'm not here to show off and say, "Hey, look what I did." I wanna fill that gap.
Cameron Clark: Yeah.
David Harris: Um, and then sometimes it's strategy again, where everybody had that same idea, and you get too much over there. So we try to, in our spec business, we try to have multiple points.
So we'll go anywhere, uh, we just sold our last one, but we had some [00:58:00] patio homes, like, at 750, uh, we have some spec homes in that 950. We have some spec homes at 1.1, 1.2. We usually don't go over that on our specs, so, but it depends on the neighborhood, the location, and what the, what the gap is in that market, and that's what you need to build
Cameron Clark: And what, I mean, today, what keeps you motivated?
What keeps your, your foot on the pedal? Like, what gets you excited to go to work every day?
David Harris: Um, I'm kinda driven naturally. Uh, but, uh, I love what I do. Um, and, you know, it's kinda corny, but, you know, you start with a piece of dirt, right? And you end up in a year with a beautiful home, and you're gonna sell that, or it's for a family you're building for.
That's their biggest purchase. They're gonna have Christmases and Thanksgivings and memories there. And so there's a little bit of me that loves that part of it. But, um, you know, now, I, I was driven for myself, now I'm driven for my kids. [00:59:00] Um, I want them to experience those things and do good. And, you know, I come here to look over them and try to teach them where I really...
I was blessed and so lucky to have so many good people around me, with my dad and my father-in-law and just some of my friends I've had, you know, Matt Mawby and Blake Hamby and Patrick Slope. And I've just... You know, I've gotten lucky and surrounded myself with re- some really good guys, smart guys. Um, and so I, I need to do a better job to take that knowledge and give it to my kids and people that work for me and so forth.
And so that drives me, for sure. Um, and then just being Northwest Arkansas and the growth and all the things, and it's just, it's amazing, uh, of all the great things that are going on. And so you get up, and how can you not be happy here?
Nick Beyer: Uh, are there any projects you're working on that you're really excited about that you can share? If you can't share them, it's fine.
David Harris: [01:00:00] Um, we- Scissortail Phase 4's coming up, like I said, and there's a lot of people on the waiting list there. Uh, there's a new subdivision that Bob David, we mentioned earlier, Trillium, uh, that he's got coming up that'll be a mixed community of patio homes and bigger homes, medium-sized homes.
So that's good. Um, and then we dabble in commercial real estate and doing other things and developments, and so I'm always got my ear to the ground of anything that's coming up. Um, you know, I watch my dad's real estate company from afar, um, and so I'm excited for all the things he's doing and the growth of there, and that business is changing all the time.
And so, you know, and then again, working with my kids and getting to see them every day, so excited about. But project-wise, I would say Scissortail 4, Trillium. I think those are gonna be two great neighborhoods.
Nick Beyer: Where's Trillium at?
David Harris: Trillium is as the crow flies, it'll be south of Scissortail.
Nick Beyer: Okay.
David Harris: Um, but, uh, Bob David property there, uh, going [01:01:00] through planning on some things and, and they're starting to move dirt.
So that'll be g- be about, about 18 months before it's ready. So we're excited about that.
Cameron Clark: And what size homes are you expecting there in that neighborhood?
David Harris: A- and on the price point, I think you're gonna see patio homes that, you know, might get, you know, 600. Uh, and then I think you're gonna see some as high
not patio homes, but homes up to probably 1.5, 1.6 maybe at the most, and everything in between. Um, and it'll have a nice amenity package. Uh, won't be gated, but it'll have a nice amenity package, but a nice blend of homes.
Nick Beyer: And what is Scissortail? What's the range of homes
David Harris: in there? Scissortail, on the front end right now, it didn't start that way, but I would say Scissortail on the front end is probably the least inexpensive home you're gonna see is 900.
And in the back, they're as much as 3 million. Yeah. Scissortail's been great. Um, it, i- it's got a good balance, but it's not too big. It's about 250 lots. It's got a nice amenity package. It's gated. It's a great location. It's got the [01:02:00] pools, you know, and all that stuff. And so I think it's just ... And, and really good neighbors, but all those three things added up for it to make a great neighborhood.
Cameron Clark: So two last questions for you. Uh, one, um, you know, why would you tell someone else to ... Why build a business in Northwest Arkansas?
David Harris: Well, uh, good question. Uh, you know, some people say, "Well, you just come here," and maybe that's 'cause I'm in the building, uh, business, but, "You just come here, you build it, it'll, you know, it'll happen."
Um, and I think today there's more competition out there than you think. Uh, it's not as easy as you think. Um, and so even in Northwest Arkansas, I would say, has a huge safety net to a certain degree. Uh, but I, you know, it's just, I think it's well-diversified. I still think it's a s- little bit of small town, um, uh, feel.
I, I think in Northwest Arkansas, you just have so many opportunities. Uh, [01:03:00] you have so many things that, you know, that you can do and learn from other people. And I think, to a certain degree, just like you guys are meeting so many people, right, and what you're doing today, is you gotta get out there and meet people and understand the market, whether you're selling cars, houses, technology, whatever it is.
And I think the mistake that some people make is they get here and they go, "You just, you know, put a stake in the ground and you're good. You know, start the business, you'll be, you'll be fine," right? Um, but there's more and more competition. But I think with Northwest Arkansas, you have a pretty good safety net.
But with the potential of growth, uh, the pie is getting bigger and bigger.
Cameron Clark: A lot of blue sky.
David Harris: Yep. Yeah. If you can get just a little sliver of the pie- It's nice ... uh, yeah. It w- it's, it's good.
Cameron Clark: And how do you define success?
David Harris: Oh, gosh Um, I'm probably not gonna give a good answer here. Um, you know, success, [01:04:00] some people measure it in dollars.
Uh, we were talking about this the other day with a realtor. Some say, "Well, I'm the number one real estate company." Okay. Well, are you making money? You know, are you happy? Um, so to me, success in my own world, you know, like I said, I was highly driven, uh, especially when I was younger. There was nothing that said I want to be the biggest builder or I want to be the best custom builder.
I mean, who, who judges that anyway, as far as who's the best? I think internally in yourself, if you love what you do and you have a passion for it, and you're in a great community like we are, and, um, you know, you have a great church to go to and you have a good family, and w- I'm so blessed with my family being here, my mom being here, my dad, my in-laws being here.
My kids get to work with me. It's not about the money for me at that point. That, what I just described is my success. Uh, and that's what makes, I feel like make me, [01:05:00] makes me successful. Others see it a different way. You know, it's what kind of car, how big my business is, what the bottom line looks like. I mean, there's all sorts of tests that measures those levels.
But I think for me, it's what I just described, success.
Cameron Clark: That's amazing.
Nick Beyer: That's awesome. Well, one of the things we do at the end of every episode is we try to highlight what we learn, what we think people who listen to this episode are gonna learn. Um, and David, I think the first thing's work ethic. Like, hearing you talk about your business, how into the weeds you are on some of your projects- uh, before we started rolling, you're like, "Yeah, I'm, I'm here every night till 6:30 PM."
You're not slowing down. Right. And, uh, some of that, as you cited, it's not for you, it's for your kids, and you want to teach them the work ethic that was taught to you. So, um, I think our society has drifted away from that, and it's always encouraging to learn from people who have a really, really strong work ethic.
So [01:06:00] thanks for sharing that. Yeah. I think the second one's humility. Like Cameron said, we, we always get a- We, we pull together a report as we prepare for these, and there was not much online- ... to help us prepare for this. Um, you have no website. You know, it's just, it was, it was funny. And just hear- hearing you talk about your business, like, you, you did it in a, in a, a humble way.
And so I think that's something we can all learn from. And I think the last thing is you, you have a genuine love for what you do, and I think everyone in business and life, like, wants to, to have that. And, uh, I think that's why you have an amazing product. Anyone you've talked to, you know, I've talked about some of your friends who've built with you, and they're still your best friends.
Like, that seems pretty rare, and I think it's 'cause you really love what you do-
David Harris: No, I do.
Nick Beyer: Yeah ... and you wanna take care of them. Yeah. So I think that, that genuinely, um... Yeah, it's just a really cool thing to learn from. So David Harris, David Harris Construction, thanks so much for coming on. How can [01:07:00] people reach out if they're interested in learning more about you, your, your company, or wanna build a custom with you?
David Harris: Well, I'd take you to my website, but, you know- ... I wish I, I don't have one. Uh, I don't know if you even Googled me, if I come up. Yeah. I mean... Uh, I kind of want it that way a little bit. But, uh, no, thanks for the kind words. I appreciate that very much. But yes, if someone wants to build a home or, uh, buy a spec home, uh, I'm sure you can find me online, but it's david@dharrishomes.com's email.
Uh, and then, um, you know, come up to Harris McHaney. You'll see me up here in the office anytime.
Cameron Clark: Yeah. Cool. Thanks, David.
David Harris: You're welcome. Thank you, guys.