From One Man Show to 800 Doors a Year: Learning to Let Go | Adrian C. Avila
Release Date: 09/02/2025
How a French Developer Rebuilt Miami’s Luxury Market - One Spec Home at a Time with Pascal Nicolai
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
How a French Developer Rebuilt Miami’s Luxury Market - One Spec Home at a Time with Pascal Nicolai Pascal shows up in Miami in 2008 with some cash from selling assets in France, right when everything's melting down. Most people would think that's terrible timing, but he saw it differently. "I said to my wife at the time, look, I think there is one opportunity to go there, it is now. I don't think we're going to see this kind of opportunity in our lives. The market was crashed, very accessible if you have some money." He didn't even know he'd end up in construction. His specialty...
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Are You Leaving Money on the Table? CRM for Builders with Shari Morton
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
CRMs aren't sexy. Understatement of the year! They're not the kind of thing you get excited to talk about at the jobsite. But here's the thing: if you're building homes and not using one, you're probably leaving serious money on the table. And we're not talking pocket change here. In this episode, Michael invited Shari Morton, founder and Chief Growth Officer of Shared Drive, to talk about something most builders would rather avoid: customer relationship management systems. We call it the "broccoli" of the building industry. Everyone knows it's good for you, but most people stay away from it...
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Build For Speed: America Needs Housing Now! with Scott Menard
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
Scott Menard has been in construction since he was 17 years old, starting as a laborer for KB Homes during summer breaks. Over nearly four decades, he's worked his way through purchasing, project management, land acquisition, and operations at some of the nation's most respected builders, including Ryland, Taylor Woodrow, and Shea Homes. Now he's the president of Homes Built for America, a company that didn't exist four years ago and is already the 14th largest builder in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're doing something many builders won't touch: focusing exclusively on first-time...
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How Two Brothers Survived the Housing Crisis and Scaled to 1,000+ Homes | Chris & Clif Poston
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
There's something rare about sitting down with two brothers who genuinely like working together. Chris and Clif Poston make running a homebuilding company that closes over 1,000 homes a year look almost easy, but their story is anything but. Clif: "Doing what we say we're going to do is really, really important. A foundation of our business. And we try to get that out to people in every aspect of the business, from our employees, to the marketing side, to the sales side, to dealing with our vendors, to dealing with the public when it comes to buying land and rezoning." The Poston brothers...
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Housing, Policy, and the Fight for Affordability with Jim Tobin
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
Jim Tobin never set out to spend 27 years at the National Association of Home Builders. He wanted to fly helicopters like his dad photographed at Sikorsky Aircraft. Then politics caught his attention, and he found himself on Capitol Hill in 1995, thinking he'd become a defense lobbyist selling guns and things that go boom. Instead, he landed at NAHB and discovered something better: an industry that builds shelter, creates wealth, and gives families a shot at the American dream. Now as President and CEO of NAHB, Jim spends his time doing something most association heads don't: actually visiting...
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Debunking the Modular Myth with Ken Semler
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
If you've ever driven past a construction site and wondered why we're still building houses the same way we did 50 years ago, this conversation is for you. Michael sits down with Ken Semler, President and CEO of Impresa Modular, who's spent the last 25 years trying to get people to understand what modular construction actually is. And no, it's not a double-wide trailer. That's the first misconception Ken tackles, and honestly, it's the one that's been holding the industry back for decades. Ken's journey into modular started almost by accident. He was flipping houses back in 2003 when his day...
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The $4 Million Bottleneck: Working ON Your Business, Not IN It with Glen Harris III
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
Glen Harris III was living the contractor's dream in 2016. His custom home building company was doing $4 million in revenue, clients were happy, and he was making good money. There was just one problem: he WAS the business. Every estimate, every decision, every five-minute phone call ran through him. He'd hit a ceiling and couldn't see how to break through it. This episode is about what happened next and why it matters if you're stuck in the same trap. What You'll Learn Why systems beat hustle when you want to scale. Glen breaks down the moment he realized working harder wasn't going to get...
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Start Small, Build Big: Lance Williams on 30 Years of Homebuilding, Risk, and 100% Completion Rate
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
In this conversation, Lance walks through what it actually takes to build a homebuilding business that lasts. He talks about why his first hire made the first project successful (because he knew what he didn't know), how to structure your first deal so you have enough margin to survive your mistakes, and why contingency planning isn't optional when unexpected costs show up. When Lance Williams started his homebuilding company in 1996, his equity partners were his wife, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Talk about pressure! He'd just been laid off during a market downturn, took a short...
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Builder Mindset to Business Mindset with Duane Johns of Alair Homes
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
Most builders hit a wall. They work 80-hour weeks, carry tools, manage crews, chase payments, and somehow still struggle to make ends meet. Sound familiar? That was Duane Johns twenty years ago, grinding it out in Charlotte, North Carolina after moving from the Hamptons. Then 2008 hit. While other builders went under, Duane used the crisis as a mirror. "I think that that too, one thing that happened in that 2008 environment, especially the few years after, was everyone got reduced to a commodity, you know, I mean, the builders or modelers, they had the lower hand, no doubt." The...
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Scaling a Construction Business: From College Dropout to $100M+ Builder
Builder Straight Talk Podcast
Starting a construction company during the 2008 recession sounds insane, but sometimes desperation breeds the best business decisions. Matt Millsap's story starts like a lot of ours do - working weekends with dad, thinking he was going to hang out with friends but ending up tearing out bathrooms instead. What makes his story different is where it goes from there. After flunking out of college, Matt found himself cutting grass for a builder who saw something in the kid. That builder, Mark, became the mentor who taught him everything. It was old-school apprenticeship at its finest, and Matt...
info_outlinePicture this: an eight-year-old kid on construction sites, already reading blueprints like other kids read comic books. That's how Adrian C. Avila's story begins, learning from his uncle who took him everywhere and taught him the fundamentals that would shape his entire career.
Fast forward to today, and Adrian runs AVICA Construction and Development, averaging over 800 doors a year across residential, commercial, and industrial projects. But the most compelling part of his journey happened when he was 29 and faced what he calls a "death experience" that forced him to completely rethink how he ran his business.
"I was always a team player, but you're not being a team player today, like you have to be able to pull yourself away from the business so that it can grow."
In this episode of Builder's Straight Talk, host Michael Krisa explores the pivotal moments that transformed Adrian from someone working in his business to someone working on it. The conversation covers his transition from being mentored by his uncle to branching out on his own, and the systems thinking that allowed him to scale without being trapped by daily operations.
Adrian shares his approach to hiring based on three key qualities, his philosophy on delegation, and how he built processes that let his company run when he steps away. They discuss diversification strategies including fire-resistant construction materials, preparing for economic storms, and Adrian's predictions about the future of building technology.
"The issue at hand is everybody's just looking at that dollar sign. What's it going to cost me? To bring on this employee that's going to help save you need time and a headache, right? And instead of looking at it, well, how much is that key player I'm going to bring into the company?"
The episode touches on personal growth through morning routines, spirituality in business leadership, and Adrian's community work through the National Hispanic Construction Alliance. They explore mentorship, both receiving and giving it, and how the construction industry is evolving with new technologies.
"I can give you all the resources. I can give you all the books to read. I can give you all the tips and tricks. But if you can't go out there in the field and implement what you've learned, you're going to stay stagnant."
Adrian also discusses his coaching practice, his podcast "One Stud at a Time," and philanthropic work building homes for families in need. The conversation reveals how personal challenges can become catalysts for business transformation and why letting go might be the key to scaling any construction company.
Adrian C. Avila: Founder & President, AVICA Construction & Development, Inc.
Adrian brings over two decades of construction experience to AVICA Construction & Development. His journey began at eight when his uncle mentored him on blueprints and construction fundamentals. Before launching AVICA, he held leadership positions with prestigious firms, developing his collaborative approach to large-scale projects.
Beyond construction, Adrian serves as President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Hispanic Construction Alliance (NHCA) and sits on boards for La Verne and Azusa Chambers of Commerce. He founded Anubis Tranquillum, a coaching practice focused on transformational mindset work, and hosts "One Stud at a Time" podcast.
Website: https://linktr.ee/AVICAandANUBIS
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@OneStudAtATimePodcast/videos
Avica Construction: https://www.avicaconstruction.com
Watch this episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Ti_lF2-56pU
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Podcast: Available on Apple, Spotify, and all major platforms
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuilderStraightTalk
Chapters:
00:00 Adrian C. Avila
01:03 Sound Capital
01:20 Meet Adrian C. Avila
02:52 Early Mentorship and Career Beginnings
04:48 Branching Out: Starting Avica Construction
12:33 Challenges and Health Scares
16:35 Building a Team and Scaling the Business
19:00 Mentorship and Coaching in Construction
26:17 Processes for Success
31:40 Building a Scalable Business
32:23 Future Goals
34:26 Weathering Economic Storms
34:59 Diversifying Services
37:13 Innovations in Construction
41:36 The National Hispanic Construction Alliance
52:11 Personal Growth and Spirituality
01:01:14 Philanthropy and Future Aspirations