With 688,000 subscribers on YouTube, Matt Risinger has established himself as the preeminent homebuilder on the internet.
What his viewers see now is a polished builder who is highly-skilled and adept at his craft, but Risinger didn’t achieve this level of success overnight.
For a man who got out of college thinking he might begin working in the auto industry, Risinger has come a long way in the construction business.
Throughout his journey, Risinger experienced the usual trials and tribulations, including a terrible stretch through the 2008 recession that nearly bankrupted him.
But all those peaks and valleys were essential for Risinger to become not only the builder, but also the person that he is today.
These days, Risinger is passing his expert-level knowledge on to others, and in the process enjoying his continued growth as a professional.
It’s a far cry from those rougher times, a point at which Risinger says he was tackling speculative builds, which is when a builder agrees to build a home even though that home does not yet have a buyer.
“I’ve shed a lot of that risk,”
Risinger says, explaining that he did so not only because it’s a risky proposition, but also because with his large brand, Risinger is able to acquire projects where there is already an owner in place, thus assuring he will be paid for his work.
As mentioned earlier, Risinger didn’t always think he was going to be a builder, much less the most popular builder on YouTube.
“I worked for other people for ten years. It’s a great path. Working for a good building company that gets it is a great way to go,”
he says.
Despite its artistic drawbacks, Risinger encourages other builders to work for bigger companies while they establish their individual brands.
“It [a project] may or may not be your dream house that you want to build, but if you’re not in the industry currently, you need to understand the business. You need to understand the mechanics. You need to understand the relationships, the processes, and trying to do as many different jobs [as you can],”
he adds.
For Risinger, his indoctrination into the industry included managing sometimes as many as twenty projects at once. Risinger admits that not all these homes were built to the codes he employs today, but back then Risinger was just a young man learning the ropes of homebuilding.
And even though he didn’t know much about homebuilding, he quickly learned a lot about the industry.
“What I did know was that I was meeting concrete guys, and plumbers, and I was understanding the process,”
he says.
“I had a mentor, and I was figuring out how to manage my time and juggle customer calls, subcontractor calls, and also what needs to happen next week with what’s happening today. It was a great training ground for what I’m doing today.”
“Starting with another builder can also be a great way to learn the business,”
Risinger continues, going on to say that doing so isn’t limiting someone’s creative spirit, especially if they work for a smaller company.
“When I worked for the smaller builder, I worked for them at a really critical time, which was a huge blessing in my career path,”
he says.
This was around the time when the EIFS crisis and ensuing lawsuits were taking place. With so much chaos going on in the construction industry, and many companies going under as a result, Risinger was shown a multitude of ways for how NOT to run his business.
As he says:
“If we don’t pay attention to how we build these houses, they can have massive problems.”
This is partly why Risinger has a stranglehold on his current position as lead dog in the homebuilding world. He doesn’t sacrifice quality in favor of the bottom line.
For a guy who didn’t expect to be in homebuilding all those years ago, there is no doubt that Matt Risinger has already left his mark on the construction industry.
Want to meet Matt?
He will be speaking at the Roofing Process Conference, which takes this December 2nd and 3rd in beautiful Orlando, Florida.
Don’t forget to purchase your ticket today before they run out!
