GARY: Next on Start Up, we head to Dallas, Texas to meet up with Stacie Stewart, the founder of BWI Contractors, a company that builds residential and commercial properties in the Dallas- Fort Worth area.

All of this and more is next, on Start Up.

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RICHARD: I've had a sneaker problem all my life, right?

It's really surreal to be doing something that I'm really passionate about.

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♪ GARY: My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country faces uncertainty, small business owners continue to persevere, pushing the economy forward with their unrelenting drive and determination.

We've set out for our 12th consecutive season, talking with a wide range of diverse business owners to better understand how they've learned to adapt, innovate, and even completely reinvent themselves.

This is Start Up.

♪ The construction industry in the US plays a vital role in driving infrastructure development and economic growth.

General contractors are responsible for coordinating various aspects of a project, ensuring compliance with regulations and staying within the budget and timeline constraints.

The industry encompasses a wide range of specialties, including residential, commercial, and civil projects.

Today I'm heading to Dallas, Texas to meet up with Stacie Stewart, the owner of BWI contractors.

From what I know, Stacie completed her first successful house flip when she was in her early twenties.

Now she's becoming one of the Dallas- Fort Worth area's premier residential and commercial builders.

♪ What was it that first got you interested in doing construction and building?

STACIE: Well, my background was in accounting and finance, but I found that to be not the lifestyle that I wanted to, or career that I wanted to pursue so I started venturing in other fields, like in the lending and real estate market by way of being introduced to a mortgage broker.

And there was a husband and wife couple, and they introduced me into the investment world where the wife was teaching me how to do loans and then the husband was teaching me how to buy properties in the DC and Maryland and Virginia area.

GARY: Was it kind of exciting and thrilling when you started to learn about that and buying properties and stuff, but obviously you took a, you gravitated toward it?

Yeah.

STACIE: Absolutely, I fell in love with it and when I first bought my first investment property outside of my home and I saw how much money it made, I didn't pursue the financial accounting career any longer.

I became a full- time entrepreneur but my first investment property was in my early twenties, and I fell in love with it and I've been doing it ever since.

GARY: Wow, tell me about the margin on your first property.

STACIE: Oh, wow, my margin was incredible.

I actually made $200,000.

GARY: What?

STACIE: And I only had the project, I actually, the property, for a year and a half.

GARY: That's a massive yearly salary, let alone one flip.

STACIE: Yes, and I had no idea what I was doing.

I was young, and it was actually by default that I ended up selling the home and got that kind of money and then just decided to do it over and over again.

And I became a full-time rehaber.

GARY: You got your first taste of success with that.

What did you do next?

STACIE: Actually, got married and then I came to Texas and I was flipping at the time, but I wanted to evolve and just actually build from the ground up.

So we purchased land to, for the intent of living inside of it.

This was a great project.

It was a great learning experience on my own dime, I was my own client, my own customer so if I made any mistakes, I made it on my own.

So I loved it.

I actually built in Joe Pool Lake in Cedar Hill, a very prime real estate at the time.

It was a $500,000 home that I actually cut my teeth on in building from the ground up, my first project.

GARY: Wow.

STACIE: And I've been building ever since.

GARY: That's high stakes.

STACIE: Thank you.

GARY: I mean, going in on 500,000, that could have, could have gone one way or another.

STACIE: Absolutely.

GARY: But it went the right way.

STACIE: It went the right way, and I actually started building in Joe Pool Lake and Lakeridge all over, very heavily.

I built quite a bit of homes out there at the time, back in the early 2000s.

GARY: The technical skills of building, did you go to school for that at all?

STACIE: No, no.

GARY: Everything was just learning by doing it with you?

STACIE: Yes.

GARY: Okay.

STACIE: From experience.

GARY: It's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, that you do not- builders do not need a license in Texas.

STACIE: A long time ago, back in early 2000, they did, but for whatever reason, the homeowners association contractors or builders or whatnot, they ceased doing that.

So now, they start regulating the license but now in any city that you're working in, you do have to be registered as a contractor, but there's no qualifications.

You just have to have insurance... GARY: That's crazy to me.

STACIE: So I could walk off the street right now, go and apply for a contractor's license, have a general liability policy, and they will give me a license.

And they don't, I have no experience whatsoever.

GARY: What does that do for the market?

Does it flood it with inexperienced people?

STACIE: Yes, yes, and then I become a cleanup crew.

GARY: Con men.

(Stacie laughing) Yeah.

STACIE: It did, that's exactly what it did.

And a lot of times I find individuals that had a bad experience with another contractor and I'm coming in to fix it.

GARY: Wow, so you're getting a lot of work fixing the shoddy work of other- STACIE: By default, yes.

GARY: Wow, that's crazy.

STACIE: Absolutely.

♪ GARY: So you started off with flipping, then you, you bought the land here in Texas, started building houses, what happened next?

STACIE: Started building houses and then the mortgage crashed.

GARY: Ooh.

STACIE: The mortgage- GARY: Like '08, '09.

STACIE: '08, '09.

and so, I lost everything because at that time I was building subdivisions.

I had my own subdivision, my own billboards.

GARY: Wow.

STACIE: I had 75 lots on the ground.

I was almost, 50% along the way.

So when the market crashed and all the lending stopped, my finances got caught up in the mix.

So I couldn't sell, I couldn't- I couldn't do anything.

So, I literally went bankrupt.

I went through a lot.

I lost my home.

GARY: That's brutal.

STACIE: I was going through a divorce.

I lost everything, I just lost everything.

So I took the little bit of money that I had, and I built a daycare with the knowledge that I had.

So I went to the side of shopping center and I negotiated with the landlord, and I built a daycare, right in Arlington, and that sustained me for a moment until I ended up losing that as well.

I was a multimillionaire and I became broke.

Super broke.

GARY: Oh man.

And you had mentioned that you were homeless at one point?

STACIE: Yes.

GARY: Can you tell me about that?

STACIE: No one knew that because when I had the daycare and I ended up losing a daycare, I held onto one of the vans and I ended up, that was my home for like six months.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

STACIE: And my child's father, you know, I got divorced, my child's father, you know, took her away from me.

So she moved to Maryland.

And, so, and then, so I stayed in the van.

You know, my family, my parents, my siblings- GARY: Nobody knew.

STACIE: No one knew.

I had too much pride.

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: So I didn't wanna let anyone know.

GARY: What were some of the things going through your head at that time?

STACIE: Giving up, giving up.

GARY: Going back to a night in the van?

What's your typical thought?

STACIE: Oh, it's just, I don't even think about it.

GARY: Yeah.

Wow.

♪ STACIE: Yeah.

GARY: It's hard, it's hard to fathom.

STACIE: I'm glad I'm not there anymore.

And that's why I work so hard.

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: Yeah.

GARY: My gosh.

STACIE: It was tough, but I'm happy to be here.

GARY: I'm feeling you right now, that's why I'm focusing on it because that's, the level of strength that you have inside you that it takes to recover from that and get back to, I mean, where we're sitting right now 'cause I have a feeling you bounced back hard.

STACIE: Three times, and I fell again and came back up again, yeah.

GARY: Did you see any light at the end of the tunnel at that time?

STACIE: To be honest with you, I, it almost took me outta the business completely because, you know, it's a male dominated industry.

And it almost felt as if I had to work a thousand times harder than everybody else.

I couldn't get a job because I've been an entrepreneur for so many years, so I couldn't go, I mean, I applied everywhere.

I was over-qualified and, and so I couldn't get a job, so, I just started reaching out to people that I knew in the industry.

And I got a job for- in the commercial arena for a company that was doing, building the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington at the time.

And so I went ahead and, I got a- they offered me the opportunity to be a business development on a consultant type, independent contractor type basis.

They gave me the opportunity.

I worked there for a couple months.

I saved enough money, and then I started soliciting for like dollar stores and salons and stuff like that, that nature.

And I started another company at the time called Optimum Construction Group.

I got enough money to get an apartment.

GARY: Awesome.

STACIE: Got out of the van and then started, you know.

getting back on my feet.

♪ ♪ ♪ GARY: What did you do with that- with that new company next?

STACIE: I just started doing little like dollar stores, salons, jokes and jazz, restaurants, all kinds of commercial.

And as I was building my portfolio on the commercial side, I saved enough money to start soliciting for bigger projects that I could manage.

And then I was offered the position to build 65 duplexes out in Fort Worth.

GARY: Wow.

STACIE: And, that's where I hired a construction manager.

GARY: How did the sub go, the 65 duplexes?

STACIE: Oh, well, well, I hired this project, actually, it was a construction manager, and I paid about $10,000 a month, every month to run the subdivision.

But I never had experience in doing a duplex.

And with the duplex you have what's called a demising wall that separates both of the units.

GARY: Sure.

STACIE: And so, he actually sabotaged that actual particular demising wall that he knew I never did before and he, 'cause he knew I didn't know what to look for and how it, you know, the whole aspects of it 'cause I never did one.

And so he purposely targeted that area and sabotaged it so that I could blow the budget and then he undercut me and took my investors.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

That's like a professional hit.

STACIE: A professional hit, but it backfired because when he involved the DA, so the investors went and got the DA, they said, I stole all their money.

And I, and he said I was stealing the money I wasn't putting it into the projects.

So the DA confiscated my computer, they raided my office.

They took all my stuff.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

STACIE: I was under investigation for six months.

They, the DA came back and cleared me.

They even wrote me a letter.

They were so apologetic about what they put me through.

GARY: Wow!

STACIE: It almost killed me, caused me high blood pressure.

I mean, I was just so stressed out, you know.

And so, they- GARY: Was it him, he was the one who was actually doing it but blaming you?

STACIE: He ended up going to jail, yeah, he ended up going to jail.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

STACIE: So they all went after him.

Yeah, and he ended up going to jail.

GARY: How did you recover from that 65 unit?

Did they, did they do anything to recoup you, your time, your emotional distress, anything?

STACIE: I would, again, I was too broke to sue or do anything.

So I took the hit, I took my letter and- GARY: And you were broke again?

STACIE: And I was broke again.

♪ GARY: Oh, no.

STACIE: Yeah.

I started soliciting for more work again.

GARY: Of course, gotta keep going.

STACIE: Gotta keep going.

And so, started doing other projects for other people, building for other people.

And then at, by this time, I, again, my friend Toni, she told me of another subdivision that was booming.

And at this time, I bought with a group, it was two of us, myself, Toni, and another guy.

We bought some property and we went in as a group and started building six houses out in Oak Cliff area.

So with that project, it gained me quite a bit of money from that project.

So I just started investing, putting that money into other projects and so on and so forth.

♪ GARY: How'd you end up building your way back up and then where did that lead us next?

STACIE: By that experience, I started having enough revenue, enough resources to where I started building spec homes.

So I started building, all over the DFW area, buying lots everywhere.

Building specs and just having the- the public buy.

And then I got a contract with the city of Dallas, and I started building affordable homes on a- on a larger scale.

GARY: Affordable homes.

Talk about that.

What is considered an affordable home?

STACIE: Well, at the time, the market kept on increasing.

And, I had a lot of experience in building high end and, luxury properties, and I just wanted to give back to- and my passion is to give back.

And so, there was a need for affordable housing 'cause the, housing market was just at an incline.

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: So affordable market is when it's so below the market and the government- not government, but the city and other programs fund the gap difference.

GARY: Like a subsidy.

STACIE: A subsidy.

So, that started building more affordable homes for the public.

GARY: So tell me about your company today.

Where do we sit today with BWI?

STACIE: BWI is built with integrity.

It's a construction, full-service construction company where we build residential, commercial, and multifamily construction projects.

Right now, it's in a great position.

We acquired a contract with the city of Dallas in Matthew Southwest, where we are building in the Fair Park area.

It's 50 houses right now, yes.

GAR: Wow.

STACIE: And then, I'm doing a project with them, but I also have projects on my own.

♪ ♪ GARY: Tell me where are we headed right now?

STACIE: We are heading to see the block that we are building on.

We literally have the whole street blocked off and we're building eight duplexes.

I mean, not duplex, single family, two story single family homes.

GARY: What do you love most about this?

STACIE: What I love the most about it is to see the satisfaction on the faces of those individuals that actually buy the- the homes.

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: And just seeing the dirt, you know, like literally seeing the raw land and then few, you know, a few months later you actually seeing this, you know, this project erected out of the ground and it's there for years to come.

GARY: Yeah, and people are gonna live their lives and have memories there, yeah.

STACIE: It's gratifying, you know?

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: And I never knew that I would even be in this position as a young adult.

I mean, I never knew I would evolve into a builder.

GARY: Right.

STACIE: Never knew it, never saw it.

But, it's my calling.

♪ ♪ ♪ GARY: As a builder, do you enjoy doing the smaller homes like this?

STACIE: I do, I do.

I mean, I've built mansions and, and million dollar properties, but I have a passion for the affordable, so that, you know, they need a place to go and live that they could afford.

So I like to give back by doing affordable housing.

GARY: And there's gonna be- there's gonna be 50 of these in this area.

So already you're putting a big dent in, in the ability to own a home in Dallas?

STACIE: Yes, yes, this is the first eight outta 50.

And it's all gonna be spread out throughout this whole area here.

GARY: Yeah, how long does it take to construct a home like this?

STACIE: The true construction timeframe started when we poured concrete, and that started in January.

So from January to May, we have eight buildings up.

GARY: Incredible.

STACIE: Right now we're- oh, thank you.

We're sheet rocking on the inside and, texturing and painting.

And then on the outside we're starting painting.

They started prepping all the paint.

So we'll be done here by within 30 days, 30 to 60 days.

GARY: That's fast.

STACIE: Well, thank you.

GARY: That is really fast.

♪ ♪ ♪ So let's say I acquire a piece of land and I want to build a house.

What are the steps, one through, like one through 10 or whatever?

Like what do I do first?

STACIE: Well, you do your research first to make sure you're in a area where once you build it, you could sell it if that's your intent.

GARY: Okay.

STACIE: And if your intent is to rent it, you wanna know that it's a rental area as well.

You wanna check the proper zoning.

You have to pick out your blueprints, your lots, do the comps, do all your homework.

GARY: And then what about when it comes time to actually build?

STACIE: We get the financing, we get approved for the financing, and then we apply for the permits.

We get the permits, and literally we break ground.

GARY: Okay, and then once you break ground, are you, do you have consistent builders that you work with, and trades like, you know, HVAC and plumbing and all of that?

STACIE: Mm-hmm.

We have our own crews.

So, we run all these projects that we do, we use our own crews, and as we grow... GARY: Okay.

STACIE: We solicit for other talent.

So we execute the plumbers.

GARY: So you have internal trades?

STACIE: We do have internal trades.

We do self perform some of our trades, but the other trades like a licensed plumber, licensed HVAC- GARY: You sub that?

STACIE: We sub that out.

GARY: Are there any other divisions to your company right now and how are you growing and expanding your- your mission within real estate?

STACIE: I decided to give back.

And, you know, I'm a spiritual woman and I didn't wanna go to my grave with this site, I mean, with this knowledge.

So I decided to help other people that are aspiring to be rehabers or builders or whatnot.

And so I became an educator by way of writing a comprehensive construction manual that teaches someone like you or anyone in this room how to build from A to Z. GARY: Wow.

So you wrote a book?

STACIE: I wrote a book.

GARY: Okay.

STACIE: And now I'm actually, I've had students, I have had several students through my career and so I decided to do this full-time and start mentoring and coaching other people in this space.

GARY: Is there a charge to mentor?

STACIE: Yep, Building with Stacie.

If someone decides to, to just buy the book, the book is just a flat fee.

They can just buy it out right but if they wanna be mentored and they are ready to begin investing, then they could do a masterclass that starts from $1,700, 1750 actually for a masterclass where we just go over all the information.

But for someone that actually wants to go and be coached through the whole process, that package starts about 5,000.

GARY: What does that package include?

Basically, you're gonna hold their hand from start to finish?

STACIE: Yes, I educate them where to buy, how to buy the comps, the market... GARY: Wow.

STACIE: Help them with the blueprints, help them with the financing.

I literally help them from the whole process, from the beginning to the end.

Allow them to get their own financial resources after the third permit.

So after the third file that I walk my students through, if they decided to do this full-time, they would be able to get their own financial lending back on their own without me.

But, that's for those that wanna do this full-time and or embark in this, in this arena.

♪ GARY: Tell us your name and how you first became acquainted with Stacie.

JASON: My name is Jason Wilson.

I'm an independent builder.

We met, was able to work on two projects together, two properties, sold both of them.

They were great builds.

She walked me through it.

GARY: Awesome.

JASON: What the- the main thing is, it just makes it easier when you have someone who knows what they're doing.

GARY: Right.

JASON: They don't gatekeep the knowledge, and they're able to answer a question if you're brave enough to answer it, if you're brave enough to ask it.

GARY: So you hired her to essentially coach you- JASON: Yes.

GARY: Through the process?

JASON: As the contractor, and she shares anything that you want to know.

And, you know, she got to the point where she's just like, I could just help people how to do this.

So that's what she's been helping people do.

And it's- it removes a lot of the guesswork, which is the fear when you're out here by yourself.

GARY: Absolutely, and this is my first time really hearing about- or hearing several people talk about the importance of working with someone as a coach.

I mean, it makes sense, it's logical, right?

But I just never really thought about it from that standpoint.

JASON: Coaching is valuable to me because it's one thing you're gonna have to have your foot in the game, right?

GARY: Of course.

JASON: Because you're all the way in, it's your name on the contract.

GARY: Yes.

JASON: To that bank is responsible for you so you wanna put yourself in the best position possible as far as the knowledge and as far as everything else, the coaching, doing it by yourself is one way to do it.

I would not suggest doing it by yourself.

GARY: Can anybody do this?

JASON: Anyone can do it.

I'm a bartender.

I bartend full-time.

Anyone can do this.

As long as you are willing to focus your time, focus your effort, and understand that the sacrifice of you maybe not going out for six months to a year or so... GARY: Yep.

JASON: Is so much worth it.

Because when you get to be a property, someone's gonna live in that property.

They're gonna form memories.

They're gonna live, breathe, eat every single day in the house you created.

GARY: Beautiful.

JASON: It's very cool.

And if you can get that going more and more, and like she's doing the affordable housing, that's amazing.

'Cause that's something that affects 70% of the people, the top 30%, if you get to that point to where you can entertain million dollar properties, which you totally can.

It's the same process, it's just different.

GARY: Just bigger numbers, more zeros.

JASON: Bigger numbers, more zeroes, different factors you have to deal with.

She can do that with you as well.

And I'll see if I get to that point.

♪ GARY: How many students have you had or do you currently have?

STACIE: Right now, I have seven.

In my past, I had probably, close to about 20, but I was doing it in the past, not into the extreme, just kind of like voluntarily.

GARY: Yeah.

STACIE: But I decided to open up a branch called Building with Stacie just a year ago.

GARY: So you were just doing it just to help people, but then you're like, you know what, this is valuable?

STACIE: Yeah, 'cause I'm getting older and as I retire, you know, it takes a lot to build one house to make, you know, make a living.

And so as I retire and I get older, I wanna transition from being a full-time builder to now speaking, having speaking engagements and teaching other people, coaching other people, and training other people to be in this space.

GARY: What is your best advice to somebody who knows very little about real estate, but really wants to get into it, that has an interest, but just doesn't know where to start?

STACIE: I would say team up with someone that- that you can trust because- GARY: Find a mentor.

STACIE: Find a mentor, because when I started, like I said, I found a mentor.

They taught me the lending and the rehab game.

No one taught me the construction game.

But if they did, I wouldn't have made a lot of mistakes.

And and I lost a lot of money.

And of course I would've never went homeless if I had a coach.

So I would say pair up with someone that knows what they're doing.

♪ GARY: It was such an honor meeting Stacie and learning about the incredible highs and lows that she experienced to get to where she is today.

Her story is truly a masterclass in resilience.

And resilience, in my opinion, is the most crucial trait that any small business owner can possess.

Because the reality is you are going to experience failure, but it's how you deal with that failure that defines your future success.

Having the ability to persevere in the face of adversity not only builds character, it strengthens your resolve to overcome the inevitable obstacles that you're going to face throughout your entrepreneurial journey.

Even after losing everything, multiple times, Stacie remained committed to her vision and simply refused to let anything, and I mean anything, get the best of her.

I love hearing stories like this because it reinforces my personal belief that there's nothing to be learned through success.

Success is satiating.

You've achieved your goal and there's nothing left to learn.

The real value lies in our failures and our hardships and the things that test who we are as human beings.

That's where you really get to learn what you're made of.

And as for Stacie, not only did she pass that test, she went back and wrote the textbook.

For more information, visit our website and search episodes for BWI Contractors.

Next time on Start Up, we head to McKinney, Texas to meet up with Unoma Okorafor the founder of Herbal Goodness, a superfood company that promotes healthy living while supporting women and girls in need.

Be sure to join us next time on Start Up.

Would you like to learn more about the show?

or maybe nominate a business?

Visit our website at startup-usa.com, and connect with us on social media.

♪ ♪ We've got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ Got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ Before we pay our dues ♪ We've got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road MAN: That's good, there you go.

GARY: Oh!

That was not easy!

♪ Before we pay our dues I'm sitting in a cave and we're shooting b-roll.

♪ ANNOUNCER: The future is not just going to happen, you have to make it and GoDaddy Airo can help you get your business online with an AI-generated name, logo and website.

GoDaddy Airo, learn more at godaddy.com/airo.

ANNOUNCER: Running a business isn't easy.

BambooHR supports your HR strategies by automating operational tasks, leaving you with more time to concentrate on what's most important to you and your business.

Learn more at BambooHR.com.

BambooHR, a proud supporter of Start Up.

NATI: The founders of Reed always put the employees first.

That's what the company is about.

We take care of our people and they take care us.

ANNOUNCER: More than 60% of sales in Amazon's store come from independent sellers like Nati at Reed Wholesale.

Amazon, a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: Colonial Penn offers guaranteed acceptance, a type of whole-life insurance that does not require answering health questions or taking a medical exam.

Learn more at colonialpenn.com or by calling 1-800-372-8383.

Colonial Penn is a proud supporter of Start Up.