Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. It's featured guest time on the show and we've got a real interesting business today because with me is the founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems, Kenneth Neatherlin. Kenneth, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.

Kenneth: Great, Russ. Great to be here. Thank you.

Russ: Well you bet. Well let's start by you telling us about your company.

Kenneth: Well, Ground Force Building Systems was basically an idea of mine based on my background in construction.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: And I had a very unique idea of building offsite in a warehouse and have a very unique background that allowed me to build it on a moveable concrete slab.

Russ: Okay, now you talking about building - are these - are they residential, commercial -?

Kenneth: We're doing both residential and commercial.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: Most of the focus today is commercial applications for the concrete slab -

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: Because it gives us a very nice finished building in the field.

Russ: Okay. Now there's always been sort of a prefab construction business going on and even in residential but I always thought that was getting pretty close to the trailer house kinda construction.

Kenneth: Well -

Russ: Yours is different, right?

Kenneth: Yes, sir. Quite a bit. Everybody's focused on prefab and trying to cut costs.

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: I looked at it after selling my homebuilding operation - which was a site building operation - trying to figure out how could we get out of the weather and cut our time, cycle times, and actually deliver a little bit better foundation. As anybody knows in the Texas markets, most of the markets, we have a terrible expansive clay soil so how could we eliminate that movement and cracking of our slabs and so I went in and started my R&D and focused on coming up with a cast concrete slab that we could also transport, handle and deliver it without using a crane or any other type of lifting equipment and so, you know, I did that and got a pretty broad-based utility patent on the system and we're off and running.

Russ: Cool. Okay so we're talking about a concrete foundation construction business done offsite, delivered to the site. My experience with foundations - which isn't in depth but I know they're very heavy and it seems to me any movement would tend to crack and break them.

Kenneth: Therein lies a lot of the uniqueness of the patent and that is I'm able to handle and hold it and transport it in, basically in compression which concrete is meant to be in compression, and the carrier itself keeps the load in compression without attaching to it and able to deliver it without loading it on a trailer and so as it travels down the highway, 60, 65 miles an hour, you can bounce down the highway and not crack it and frankly we've delivered most of our buildings and not even had a stress crack in the drywall, the sheetrock of the building.

Russ: Wow. So it's the way that you encase the concrete, is that the area that you patent and that's' the area that you think enables you to do this?

Kenneth: Well the delivery system is a broad-based utility patent. The way that we cast and pour our concrete, the mixes, the mix designs - because we do use a lightweight type aggregate. It's a little bit different PSI concrete than you're used to.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: Much stronger. Probably double the pressure PSI that most concrete would be.

Russ: Okay. What's the largest size of a foundation that you can pour and actually move and deliver this way, effectively?

Kenneth: We build them in sections. Probably the smallest section we do is around a 12x20 but as big as a 15x60 foot section and we do that mainly to manage our weights and widths going down the highway but we could build a building coupling up 10, 15, 20, 30 sections to make a 5, 10, 15,000 square foot building. The average thickness of the floor is around three and a half, four inches at it thinnest point. It's got a lot of cabling and steel and fibers and aggregate mixtures in it to give us the strengths that we need to be able to handle and deliver without cracking.

Russ: Okay. And that's a lot more than a traditionally-ground poured foundation?

Kenneth: Absolutely. You'll see some of the foundations around Houston, they go to a post-tension cable to allow the slab to be a little bit more pliable and move without cracking it, holds the cracks together, basically. This system is more like your concrete parking garage that you see stacked all over town.

Russ: Is it critical the way that when you get to your destination and you're making delivery, the way that the foundation and the building unit actually sits on the ground or did you just lay it there and it's over?

Kenneth: Typically, we'll have a drilled pier at each corner -

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: - of the building. It's like a bridge overpass.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: It'll span the full distance, the full length of the slab. So it only has to be really supported on the four corners and if you're mating - for instance, I've got a building going to El Paso that's a biomedical research laboratory and it's 5,000 square feet, so it's eight or nine slabs that'll be put together and you just have to have a pier on the matlines and in the corner points and then that building'll be a brick slab building.

Russ: Okay. So how many buildings now have you actually delivered with your new method?

Kenneth: We've probably done 30-plus buildings. I've been in research and development, research and development, for about ten years. I sold my home building operation and immediately began - once I left the company that acquired me, separated - we began R&D and I spent many years doing R&D to perfect the systems, was able to draw on a lot of experience, both myself and my dad, on how to build the equipment and then how to cast the slabs and I've got an excellent engineer that works with me side-by-side on the concrete.

Russ: Okay. Well I'm quite certain, Kenneth, that you probably have a bullet list of comparison - what's the advantage of your system versus just standard, on-site construction. What are a few of those bullets?

Kenneth: Well, number one, first and foremost, it is the true flex space that you'd ever want. You can go in on a leased piece of property or an owned piece of property and frankly, the building looks like a site-built building but I can come out and grab it and take it away that night if need be, if somebody wants to move or grow. WE can add to it. We can subtract from it. But probably for me, the most important part it is a true engineered slab setting on drilled piers so it eliminates the movement in the foundation.

Russ: Okay. It's really cool. Talking with Kenneth Neatherlin, founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems and we're gonna be back with more with Kenneth after this. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.

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Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com and continuing on with Kenneth Neatherlin, founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems. Well Kenneth, you know, you were going down this list of advantages. I like the idea that there's flexibility to it that you don't get in standard construction. You can add, you can take away and all sorts of things. That's pretty cool, too. But tell us a little bit more. What else is there, like a financial, a cost advantage and so forth?

Kenneth: In a lotta situations, we tell people to get the proper tax advice but since the buildings are moveable, there are some advantages of it being considered a personal property asset, which gives you a shorter depreciation cycle.

Russ: Wow, so on the commercial installations, that could be huge, right?

Kenneth: It's a big advantage.

Russ: Yeah, okay.

Kenneth: You can take a internal rate of return and more than double it.

Russ: Okay. Wow. Have you been doing it long enough to have a buyer install it and actually add a component to the building already?

Kenneth: Yes. Yeah, we've installed for several larger companies and smaller companies. We've had some success with a lot of the brand-name companies you would recognize out there and we're - you know, every day we're getting inquiries and applications that are probably adding to our capabilities.

Russ: Okay. You keep emphasizing commercial actual construction but you've done residential, right?

Kenneth: We have. We build a lotta residential product out of our factory. We have a relationship with Trendmaker Homes at this point in time. It's a company called Texas Casual Cottages.

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: It's a little bit different product. Probably more mid- to high-end product for a farm or country lot.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: But we also are gonna roll out some more residential product and we're gonna come out with a product that basically it'll be on a stained concrete slab or polished slab.

Russ: Cool.

Kenneth: Have the advantage of that slab again.

Russ: Wow. Well you mentioned Trendmaker Homes. Do you aspire at some point in time to maybe really go after the building industry and doing business with some of the real large spec builders?

Kenneth: We'd love to. You know, we've got a real special relationship with Trendmaker and we're out in the marketplace. They've put in a model home, sales center up in Round Top, Texas and we're having some success there and we're gonna look at it and figure out - I think there's some growth in our future with Trendmaker and Texas Casual Cottages. The next play - we are looking for a builder at this point in time for the coast. You know, everything's built up on stilts and I think that we've got a true advantage of bringing a finished product and just setting it up on the stilts.

Russ: Wow, that's real interesting. So I'm real curious, then, about the long-term vision. What do you see in the future five, ten years down the path for Ground Force Building Systems?

Kenneth: Once we get some good, established markets in the different verticals that we're going, the next step for me would be to reach out to some of the other manufacturers in other parts of the country and work with them on licensing our product to their factories and working with some of our customers and their customers to continue to enhance the product but also get it out in other geographic regions that can truly use it. California's probably one of the naturals because since the slab is on a engineered drilled pier you can easily put it on seismic caps and eliminate the movement.

Russ: Right, okay. Well so you mentioned licensing it to competitors. Do any competitors today do a poured concrete foundation with their actually manufactured homes?

Kenneth: No, there's nobody out there that does what we do. And typically what has held people back from that product has been the handling and delivery. I believe that that's what separates us from anybody. You can use crane but there's a lot of the sites you cannot get a crane into -

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: - and in a lot of instances you can't afford for a crane to come out on a 1,500 square foot house to set it out in the middle of nowhere.

Russ: Sure. Okay, so the long-term vision is ultimately a licensing strategy to other people and then you have your product and being licensed and built all across the country, perhaps all across the world.

Kenneth: We've had some inquiries and we're looking into it now and I would tell you that that's probably the smartest growth pathway that we can take.

Russ: Okay. Now you mentioned that the thing that you've done so well is you have this background and understanding how to move houses and I've done a little homework and studying on you, Kenneth, and I know that kinda runs in the family. In fact it was sort of the marrying of moving structures with building structures that ultimately led to the idea. Is that accurate?

Kenneth: Oh yes. You're not gonna run across many people that have such an unusual background but my grandfather moved the first concrete structure in Houston, Texas back in the late '40s.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: My dad perfected all the hydraulics and the movement of many, many large structures. My great uncle was in the business with my grandfather. My brother and I grew up moving houses and structures with my dad and my grandfather. You know as kids, we crawled and tunneled underneath slabs and set jacks and raised them up outta the ground and loaded them and trucked them across town or across the state.

Russ: That's great. Well I remember - I don't see it quite as often anymore. Maybe that's because they do it a little bit more in the dead of night, but I remember when I was young seeing homes moved and churches being moved and it looked like an extremely complex process. Even, you know, having to adjust for power lines and so forth. But so your grandfather had a business that did that but what set him apart was he moved one of the first foundation structures in -

Kenneth: Yes.

Russ: I mean, how did he do that?

Kenneth: He was very, very creative and there's no such word as "can't" in his vocabulary.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: So he was challenged with a friend of his that wanted to move a brick slab house and he just said, "Yeah, we can do it," and my great uncle and he went over and figured out a way to pick it up outta the ground and hydraulically lift it and then my dad grew up in the business. He realized many more efficiencies in the years and I watched him and learned a lot.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: Growing up in the house moving business, you learn how to do a little bit of everything and you know, my dad taught us at a very early age how to drive 18-wheelers and winch trucks and we actually, literally drove the truck and pulled the houses and rode the roof and pulled the wires over.

Russ: Rode the roof, meaning you're lifting up -

Kenneth: Lifting the wires over the -

Russ: Yeah.

Kenneth: edge of the, top of the roof and we crawled underneath them and jacked them up and did the - everything. So

Russ: And you were doing that starting at what age?

Kenneth: Oh I did it all through my life. I rode in the truck with my dad even as early as - in diapers.

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: And probably pulled my first house through Houston, Texas downtown probably when I was in my - 14, around 14.

Russ: Okay. Don't you sometimes have accidents when you're moving houses, like you know, flat tires or they fall off or something or something breaks or you -

Kenneth: Oh that's - there's always something you're dealing with -

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: -but when you're in the middle of the highway and you've got a 30-foot wide house and 20-foot tall, you can't just call a wrecker. So -

Russ: Right. You have to solve the problem.

Kenneth: You've gotta solve the problem.

Russ: That probably is good conditioning for an entrepreneur, isn't it?

Kenneth: Excellent conditioning because there is no such word as can't.

Russ: So when you headed down the path of actual home building, did you envision that someday you would probably put these two together or were you just interested in home building and thought, "Hey, that's a good business. I can go do it."

Kenneth: Well, when you're in high school, working in the summers moving houses, it's not the easiest chore.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: And so I absolutely knew that I wanted to go to college and so I went to Texas A&M University and got a finance degree and when I came out I worked for Merrill Lynch for a couple of years and then came up with some research that showed me that there was a builder that I could go compete against and just build a little bit different, which I built brick on slab, and we typically win all the rural markets across Texas and when I sold the business, I had been thinking about how do we simplify all of these scattered lot sites that we were in all across Texas - what was the best way to do it and it kept coming back to the factory. But the negative is I did not wanna build your typical mobile home, modular home type product.

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: So I decided that the best way to do it was on a concrete slab and I figured that if anybody could do it, I could do it, based on my background and we have taken it from there. My dad is still in the moving business and he helps me quite a bit and we have perfected the equipment; we've perfected really every system in our factory to be able to handle and deliver those slabs.

Russ: Describe the factory for us.

Kenneth: Oh, I bought a facility that's south of College Station in Navasota, Texas.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: It's a great little community. It was a former mobile home factory and it's six acres under roof, so all the rain days that we've had recently - my guys are working every day and there's a lotta job sites that had to shut down but we were steadily working. We've got about 50 employees and we're growing quite fast in that facility.

Russ: Great. Describe for us some of the unique tools and equipment and trucks that you use to actually move these concrete foundation systems.

Kenneth: Well there's a lot of equipment in the factory. Lots of jig tables we call them, but basically a lotta systems build a truly square, plumb house or building. The equipment n the factory is really unique. I've had people stop and look at what we're doing and they realize there's no trailer underneath the slab and they're looking at it trying to figure out what makes it work. I would tell you my patent process with a long-term patent attorney was a little bit of a challenge because it was hard to get everybody to understand what made it work but it's basically the back end and front end of what you see as a normal trailer going down the highway. It's just that it's got a lot of hydraulics and cabling that pulls the units together against the concrete slab 'cause you cannot attach to the concrete or you would twist it and crack it. So it puts it in a compressive strut and hauls it in that compressive strut down the highway. So actually any time it bounces or twists, it goes into greater compression with the hydraulics computer-driven offsetting it and keeping equal pressure into the floor of the slab.

Russ: So the structure is not actually sitting on top of a trailer bed?

Kenneth: That's right. It is suspended in midair between the two ends of the neck end and the bogey end of the trailer and then we've got hydraulic cabling systems that pull it together and hold it. Very unique. We have delivered units two or three hundred miles and literally not one hairline crack in the drywall, much less the concrete.

Russ: Wow.

Kenneth: Yeah, I was delivering a building, a bank building one time from Ft. Worth, going to Austin, Texas, and I was by myself. I was actually driving the truck.

Russ: By yourself?

Kenneth: By myself and I noticed that there was a policeman behind me with his lights on and he was pulling me over. So I pulled over, stopped, jumped out. I looked back. He was walking alongside the building, looking underneath the building -

Russ: Yeah.

Kenneth: - and finally, he points at it and he says, "What is this?" And I said, "Well it's a bank building on a slab with a, you know, hooked up to my trailer." And he goes, "Where's the trailer?" And I said, "Well, it's just on the two ends. The slab foundation is actually acts as the floor of the trailer. He goes, "I've seen it all, now. Get outta here." And I left.

Russ: [Laughter]

Kenneth: So I went to Austin with my building and got the bank delivered.

Russ: Okay, so kinda describe the process of moving and delivering one of your homes.

Kenneth: Well think about the situations or the sites that we're going into. They're not wide open. They're not easy to get to.

Russ: Right.

Kenneth: So we have to have the carrier situated such that we can steer both ends and we're making improvements every week. I've got a couple of guys working on systems to make it better but today, we can drive up to a job site and steer the truck end into the site but I can also steer the back end of the trailer like the old fire engines.

Russ: Like, like the fire truck. Wow. Does that mean you actually have somebody back on the rear end driving?

Kenneth: No, we wouldn't want that.

Russ: Okay.

Kenneth: We've got different methods but typically it's some electronics involved and into the hydraulics -

Russ: Whoa.

Kenneth: - with remote controls. And typically, the guy that's following the load, the escort, he has a remote control and he can kick the power unit on from the remote -

Russ: Wow.

Kenneth: - and steer it around, steer 45, 50 degrees.

Russ: Is he telling the driver that that's what he's doing?

Kenneth: They're all connected by radio and in constant communication.

Russ: Okay, so you must have a specialist that is the lead driver, I guess?

Kenneth: No, it's people I've trained. You know there's a certain way that I want it done. The good news is I can get up in the truck and drive it and I still do. I go on almost delivery today and I will continue that as I continue to perfect the equipment that we're gonna use.

Russ: Wow. Wow 'cause that's a key part of Ground Force Building Systems is the delivery, right?

Kenneth: It's probably one of the biggest parts. The buildings don't do you any good sitting in the factory and you've got to be able to get them on the job site. Russ, we're kinda at that stage where we're really watching the equipment and the deliveries and the safety. Safety is probably the foremost thing in all of our minds. It was ingrained in me as a little kid. My dad still goes with me on almost every delivery.

Russ: Wow. You know, with people that I've interviewed here on The BusinessMakers Show that are this far down the path, I often sense a high degree of passion in liking what they do. I kinda feel that with you. Is that accurate?

Kenneth: Oh yeah. Doing what I do, certain people would say, you know, "That's crazy. Why would you wanna do that?" Literally, we're developing a new industry, not a new product. What we're doing is a little bit disruptive. It's very new. A lot of people do not understand it until they actually come to the factory or walk through one of our finished buildings.

Russ: Okay. Talking with Kenneth Neatherlin, founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems and we'll be back with more with Kenneth after this. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.

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Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com and wrapping it up now with Kenneth Neatherlin, founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems. Well, I gotta tell you it's a real interesting business. I think it's cool that you're doing what you like to do and in fact, let's imagine for a second that we have an aspiring entrepreneur tuned in right now listening to Kenneth Neatherlin talk about his company and they're thinking, "Man, oh man, that's what I wanna do. I wanna do my own thing." So what general advice would you give to him or her?

Kenneth: I guess what I would say is you've got to go with your gut on whatever it is you wanna do. Go with something you have passion for because if you don't, you won't survive all the weekends and nights and all the hours that you would put in and absolutely don't take no for an answer. There is many, many ways to overcome the challenges and it's not gonna be easy. There's gonna be a lot of obstacles in your face every hour, every day, every week. I would tell you the number one obstacle for most entrepreneurs is payroll every Friday and you've gotta overcome it. You've gotta make sure you accomplish it and get it done and it is a challenge but at the end of the day, you can look back and say, "That's what I did."

Russ: Kenneth, I really appreciate you sharing your story with us.

Kenneth: Oh, absolutely. Thank you very much, I enjoyed it.

Russ: You bet. That's Kenneth Neatherlin, founder and CEO of Ground Force Building Systems. And you've been listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.