E17: Business Growth Through Faith and Mentorship | Chase McNutt
In this episode, business expert Chase McNutt shares how he built a career in construction from the ground up, guided by faith and supported by strong mentors.
He explains the lessons learned through mistakes, how God's favor has shaped his journey, and the value of having the right people around you.
We also delve into the unique culture of a Christian company and how it influences business operations, along with the importance of balancing business, faith, and family.
📒 Show Notes and Resources 📒
https://www.stagcoaching.com/podcast
===========================
Want to discover what's holding your business back?
And get a customized action plan to fix it?
Take our FREE Business Assessment:
https://www.stagcoaching.com/assessment
===========================
Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast HERE:📱
➡︎YT: https://www.youtube.com/@stagcoaching
➡︎Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-growth-masterclass/id1741987960
➡︎Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stag-coaching
===========================
Kellen Ketchersid
Kellen is a co-founder of Stag Business Coaching, business strategist, and a systems thinker. He leverages his extensive experience in biotech and consulting to empower entrepreneurs to navigate complex challenges with strategic growth solutions.
Albert Gillispie
Albert is a serial entrepreneur, business efficiency expert and co-founder of Stag Business Coaching who has founded several multimillion-dollar companies. With expertise in optimizing operations and innovative systems, he mentors business leaders who want to unlock their business’s full potential.
Chase McNutt, based in Lubbock, Texas, United States, is currently a President at Betenbough Homes. Chase McNutt brings experience from previous roles at Citadel Construction Company and Betenbough Homes. With a robust skill set that includes Construction Management, Construction, Contract Negotiation, Strategic Planning, Residential Homes and more.
===========================
Let’s Connect!
Website: https://www.stagcoaching.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stag-business-coaching/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stagcoaching/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/stagcoaching
Twitter: https://x.com/stagbizcoaching
—————————————————————————————————————————
EPISODE 17 TRANSCRIPTION
Introduction
[00:00:00] Albert Gillispie: Welcome to the business growth masterclass where business growth is made simple. Listen, as we discuss best practices to streamline your operations, increase your profits, and ultimately create healthier, more stable, and more valuable companies. Today's guest is none other than Chase McNutt, one of the co-founders of Citadel Construction, a commercial construction company headquartered here in Lubbock, Texas.
[00:00:29] Albert Gillispie: And it was a fun interview, Kellen.
[00:00:31] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah, it was a good time. Chase is a fun guy. He's a colorful guy.
[00:00:36] Albert Gillispie: What would you say is your number one takeaway from this interview?
[00:00:40] Kellen Ketchersid: Well, Chase is, I mean, he's always willing to jump into new things. And that's always inspiring—to talk to somebody who, even if you don't have the answers, you're willing to go for it. And with him, that's about having faith that God is going to lead him and being prayerful in that process. And then he talked about balancing life and, you know, being present in seeing people as human beings, not human doings. So, being present, being prayerful, and then asking a lot of questions. I feel like those were the things that he really highlighted, and I really enjoyed that.
[00:01:17] Kellen Ketchersid: So how about for you?
[00:01:19] Albert Gillispie: I really appreciated how he led with his faith and continues to lead with his faith. But I think business leaders, or those who are employed right now that might have aspirations to work for themselves eventually, should listen to his story because his story is this arc that is building towards his current venture today.
[00:01:47] Albert Gillispie: And, you know, he had several stops along the way, but all of his previous work experience, he was intentionally building knowledge, intentionally seeking wisdom from people who had been there longer, done it bigger, done it better to gain the knowledge he needed to eventually go out on his own. And eventually, he had to—there was no question. It was so obvious to everyone in his life, including his employer, that he had to do this. Like, it was time to jump.
[00:02:19] Albert Gillispie: And I think so many people, so many entrepreneurs, can relate to that story. I know I can. That was a lot of my story. I think if you have aspirations to be a business owner, listen to his story and how he went about building his knowledge and experience and capability to make that jump.
[00:02:41] Albert Gillispie: Great. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. All right, enjoy the podcast. Here we go.
[00:02:52] Albert Gillispie: All right. Welcome to the podcast, Chase McNutt.
[00:02:55] Chase McNutt: Hello. How are y'all doing?
[00:02:57] Albert Gillispie: Doing good, man.
[00:02:59] Kellen Ketchersid: Thanks for coming on.
[00:03:00] Chase McNutt: You bet. Thank you guys for having me.
The Starting Point in Construction
[00:03:02] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah, we've been looking forward to this. So, I'm curious, just to start us off, what's your go-to snack during the day?
[00:03:06] Chase McNutt: Oh, go-to snack is going to be pre-packaged protein shake. Got a lot of those at the office. Keep them at the house. Mix nuts and cheese combo packs.
[00:03:18] Kellen Ketchersid: Oh, yeah. Is that a Costco one there?
[00:03:20] Chase McNutt: Costco, yeah. I know the one. It's good stuff. We bring them to Costco.
[00:03:23] Albert Gillispie: Absolutely. Man, we've got, we've had healthy people. I know. I always, I want it to be like, I don't know, like a Little Debbie or, I want it to be that so...
[00:03:34] Chase McNutt: ...bad, but those are there in between, but that's not the daily. Can't have those all the time.
[00:03:38] Kellen Ketchersid: People are going to tell about those on the podcast, right? They don't want to know about Big Debra.
[00:03:44] Kellen Ketchersid: All right. Well, that's great. I'm, I'm proud of your healthy choices. What got you—so getting into what we're actually here to talk about today. What got you into your industry? What, what is the beginning of your story?
[00:03:57] Chase McNutt: So I guess starting out, there was a guy that I met at a Bible study. We had started a fertilizer company together, and we met at the Bible study, started the fertilizer company. He built homes here in Lubbock.
[00:04:11] Chase McNutt: And that eventually evolved into conversations of, like, he was asking me, what do I want to do when I grow up type of deal. And I was like, man, I've always wanted to do construction.
[00:04:22] Chase McNutt: He was like, well, why are you not doing it? And I said, well, that's just not something that you can get into. It's kind of hard to start your own construction company when you don't know anything about construction. So he was like, man, I build homes. Do you want to come work for me? I was like, well, if you'll have me, I'll come check it out.
Leadership Challenges
[00:04:37] Chase McNutt: The only, the only thing at the time that I could do—I’m not very physically, I'm not really good with my hands. I don't have a whole lot of talents, I don't have trade in that aspect—but I was doing some cabinets and trim. Went to work for him as a trim carpenter on the trim crew. And within two weeks, I took over the entire—we were in the middle of a 22-home construction project—never built a home a day in my life. And I went from, that Friday, looking for checks, the guys rally at the end of the block. They usually bring checks, the entire, everybody on the job site shows up to me and they're like, hey, we heard you have our checks.
[00:05:15] Chase McNutt: And I was like, man, that's news to me. Oh wow. The owner comes up and he's like, hey, you're, you're the new superintendent. You're going to be taking over the rest of this project. And I was like, Oh Lord. Yeah. So that was essentially how I got started in construction. Finished those 22 homes out. We ended up doing close to, I think, 90 homes for that guy.
[00:05:34] Chase McNutt: That's amazing. For the next three years, it was just me and him. He ran the books, I ran the field. And then at that point, Rick Beaton Bowe and the Beaton Bowe outfit came and headhunted me to come work at Beaton Bowe.
[00:05:48] Albert Gillispie: All right, I gotta stop him right there. Yeah, you're you're a humble—part of the Chase charisma is just how matter of fact and good old boy you come across and, and how, and how much you, you downplay your gifts. And so, building a home is a complex project.
[00:06:07] Albert Gillispie: Absolutely, you know, really especially relative to, you know, whatever DIY cabinet kit you go buy from Lowe's and take it home and put it together. You were obviously doing something well that they gave you that responsibility. How did you go about learning? The trade obviously is, you know, it was trial by fire, but were you learning about it along the way?
God's Favor and Learning from Mentorship
[00:06:29] Chase McNutt: How One thing I would say is God's favor. That's one thing that if you're, if you're praying for that favor, one thing I've always heard, favor isn't fair. And that's something that God—God's favor isn't fair. He doesn't, it's not selective. He doesn't say, hey, you get more favor here or there. Like when you have God's favor, it makes no sense how you get places and how you do things.
[00:06:52] Chase McNutt: I spent a lot of time with the trades. That was something on site every day, hanging out with the electricians, asking them questions, hanging out with the concrete guys, figuring out how concrete cures, figuring out how to place concrete, figuring out just all the ins and outs of construction as a whole. And that's something that if you, if you engulf yourself in it, you're naturally going to learn.
[00:07:09] Chase McNutt: So between asking a lot of questions, being willing and able and present at the time, and then also having the right people around you to give you that information, like if you're willing to learn, there's a lot of people out there that'll teach you, but you have to be willing to learn. I spent a lot of early mornings, long evenings, late nights—there were many days, weeks, months, and years now at this point that it just takes a lot to get to this stage.
[00:07:30] Chase McNutt: But ultimately I would say God's favor. Like I, there was, there was zero reason for Rick Beatonbow to be on that job site with Corey and a couple of the other guys and the executives walking through our product.
[00:07:53] Chase McNutt: We were a much inferior builder. We had, we weren't competition. There was no, no reason for them to be there. So I think that in itself is, maybe they stumbled across it. I don't know, but just talked to him that day and told him what I was up to. And more conversations, more conversations later, just eventually it came to a head and it was like, "Hey, I want to go to the next level." And Rick was like, "Well, I think you should come with me."
[00:08:19] Chase McNutt: And that actually, the guy that I had started building for, he was gracious enough to—he forced me out. He literally. Like I would have, I would have been pretty upset. I spent all this time pouring into this kid, gave him the reins, gave him all of these resources, and for me to leave. And that was one thing, I'm very loyal, and I was like, "Man, I can't leave you. I can't. I appreciate everything that you've done, and that's something that I can't pay you back." And he was like, "I'm not asking you to pay me back. I'm asking this for you. Like, you go do what's right for you."
[00:08:40] Chase McNutt: Wow. And he essentially said, "If you don't take that job offer, I'm going to fire you." I was like, "Oh, noted." So,
[00:09:00] Albert Gillispie: Wow. Okay. So what, what year did you start? Did you start for the original home builder?
[00:09:07] Chase McNutt: That would have been, I think, in 2009.
[00:09:10] Albert Gillispie: Okay.
[00:09:11] Chase McNutt: 2008 or 2009.
[00:09:11] Albert Gillispie: And then for, for our listeners, Beat and Bo is a home builder here in Lubbock, Texas, that is one of the most prolific, mainly starter homes, would you say? Starter homes, and they do it very affordably, but through that, it's all economies of scale.
[00:09:35] Albert Gillispie: And technology and so many things they've done to really streamline that operation to build quality.
[00:09:42] Chase McNutt: Starter homes.
[00:09:43] Albert Gillispie: At one point,
[00:09:44] Chase McNutt: They were the 42nd largest home builder in the United States.
[00:09:47] Albert Gillispie: That's amazing. Just here in Lubbock. Giant
[00:09:50] Chase McNutt: West Texas company. And maybe we'll get into some of their culture later.
[00:09:55] Albert Gillispie: But, but so, so Rick, Rick Beatenboe comes calling.
[00:10:00] Chase McNutt: So he saw what we were doing, liked it. Me and him got along. He brought me over to Beaton Bow. And at the time, I think I was in the field for about six months on the construction side and kind of knew a lot for, I would say for what they start guys at knowledge-wise, I knew a lot more than the average guy that came on board. So I was able to excel pretty quickly. And then this project came up with the new office on 82nd. That was the grove and the wedding venue and all that stuff. At the time, Rick was picking my brain about it. And it was like, "Hey, who would you get to build this? You know anybody in town that you would recommend?" So I gave him two or three names and then they dialed it down to one. And one of the guys was one of my mentors, another guy that has built things all over the country that poured into me for many years, spent a lot of time with me, a guy named Patrick Goff. And I recommended him for the job. This guy's like in his 80s.
[00:10:54] Chase McNutt: I've been there, done that. Perfect guy for the job. Well, Patrick tells Rick that he's not going to do the job unless I do it. And I was like, you're an idiot, an absolute idiot. Like there's, I've never done a project. It was a 32 or 34 million project story. It's a big job with the theater, courtyard, sky bridge, bell tower, clock tower, elevators here and there. Like just stuff that I'd never done. And so for whatever reason, Rick sat me down and he was like, "Hey, I think you're my guy." And I was like, "I also think you're an idiot." This is where two idiots met. So went home and prayed about it. And I was like, man, at this point, I don't have anything to lose. Like these guys, they see something in me that I obviously don't see. They believe in me. They're willing to take the risk of letting me at least help with this project. I didn't know to what extent. So long story short, it turned into a two and a half year long project and we built it with about a, I'd say a 60, maybe 70 percent set of plans and there were a lot of changes that were made. Beatonbo was growing so fast, as soon as we built something, they'd outgrown it or it changed. But ultimately, one of the coolest buildings in Lubbock, Texas. And essentially, I got, I would say, 30 to 35 years of construction experience on that one job. Like, we saw stuff that guys that have been doing this their whole life have never seen. So it was, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.
[00:12:21] Kellen Ketchersid: That's a quick way to level up.
[00:12:22] Chase McNutt: It absolutely was. And I think God realized that with, with me and the way that I learn. He's like, you're too slow to drag along in certain areas. He's like, I'm just going to throw you into it. And it's sink or swim and you'll figure out a way to swim.
[00:12:39] Kellen Ketchersid: Well, if I was trying to sum up what you were just saying, I'm thinking about that idea of leveling up fast and it's because you're willing to take risks.
[00:12:47] Kellen Ketchersid: It sounds like you're willing to jump in when you didn't always know, but you didn't do it blindly, you had good mentors, right?
[00:12:54] Chase McNutt: Absolutely. Yeah. Every step of the way. I honestly don't think I was smart enough to know what I was getting into a lot of the time. Like to be real honest, I was young in every aspect, like in each of these stages. I didn't have, I didn't know what I was signing up for, but what I did have and what I've always had is mentors and people pouring into me. And I listened to people. I don't want to make mistakes that others have made, and if I can prevent heartburn in that aspect, I'll do it.
[00:13:20] Kellen Ketchersid: That's awesome. So having the right people is a huge deal. And then I was trying to think of the other things you said. We had prayers, we had being present, and then you're asking questions. They're kind of a three-piece. Yeah. All right. So, it can't all be roses though, right? You got any stories about times when things, you got a setback, something went wrong, you had to learn the hard way?
Navigating Setbacks and Learning from Mistakes
[00:13:44] Chase McNutt: Oh man. In construction, there are always things wrong. To what magnitude that varies, but I don't have anything off the top of my head that’s not one from the early days.
[00:13:54] Kellen Ketchersid: That was like, oh man, that was a tough day that I learned a lot.
[00:13:58] Chase McNutt: I built a house on the wrong lot. That's a good one. You almost spit your water out.
[00:14:03] Chase McNutt: It was actually at Beatonboe, and I came on hot and heavy, just jumped in the mix. We went into a new neighborhood. I went kind of rogue on this deal. We didn't have a plat from my GM, and I've got a bunch of other reasons I can blame it on. But at the end of the day, we pulled measurements from one end of the street, many lots down, pulled it from the other end. We were matching off of transformers, water meter boxes. I had about 10 of us out there—electricians, fence guys, concrete guys—and we all... I seriously think everybody was like, "Hey, this lot, this is what we're coming up with." And I was like, "No, it's this one." I told the guys, "Just go, trust me." Well, it was wrong. It was the other one, and we started building. We got the footings in, I think we got all the way to the slab.
[00:14:53] Chase McNutt: Oh dear. It got a ways down the road—far enough it was an issue. Trades involved and... Oh yeah, lots of money. Lots of money. And, well, they got a house I'll never forget. We just had to change some paperwork around. But, uh, it's actually happened a couple of times at Beatonboe—they just move fast. But I made a bad call that day and overturned everyone. And I still don't fully know how I did it, but I did it. And ultimately, that was probably the biggest, dumbest thing I've ever done.
[00:15:29] Chase McNutt: It wasn’t a huge financial problem—it was workable—but it's one thing I'll never forget. I remember thinking Rick was going to just hang me for this deal. And Rick, if you know Rick, he's this laid-back guy, he just said, "Hey, it's all right, man. There's going to be another one. Let's go." And I was like, "That's it? I just put a house on the wrong lot!" I don’t know what it cost him, and he was like, "I don’t care. What's never going to happen again is you're not going to put a house on the wrong lot. This is the best lesson you could have ever learned." And I was like, "Wow, that's mind-boggling" that he brushed it off that easy.
[00:15:55] Kellen Ketchersid: What a great example for all the bosses out there.
[00:15:57] Chase McNutt: It's, man, if you can get to that place in life where Rick was—of, that was a learning lesson and it cost some money and it cost some time. I got enough grief for it that I will never—I will double, triple-check whatever we're building on. So to this day, we go above and beyond to verify building corners, but he's right. I'll never do it again.
The Culture of a Christian Company and Its Impact
[00:16:19] Albert Gillispie: I want to talk about Beat and Bow's culture. Okay. I think this is important. Beat and Bow may—maybe explicitly is, yeah, explicitly is a Christian company, right?
[00:16:25] Albert Gillispie: There's multiple Bible studies led by all of the employees that a lot of the employees are participating in, attending regularly—down to, you know, praying in the house with the family that's moved in, a Bible when they move in. There's so much there that I think when people hear of Christian companies, they don't necessarily expect excellence. And Beat and Bow is crazy. It's one of those like unicorns that they almost pioneered the ESOP program in West Texas.
[00:17:14] Albert Gillispie: You know, there's no, like, specialty attorneys that can walk you through that. And Beat and Bow just brought that in house. "Hey, we're going to implement this super complex employee stock option program, ESOP." And then the software that they have—they designed their own, created in-house software. It's this super complex project management, ordering, you know, ERP software that is their competitive advantage.
[00:17:40] Albert Gillispie: And then at the same time, you have the guy at the helm who's like sponsoring you to go on mission trips. Talk about that. I just—I know all these from you, and it's always blown my mind, but like, what was that like walking into that? And then after the fact, what has stuck with you?
[00:18:01] Chase McNutt: So for me, walking into that, it wasn’t that big of a stretch because that's kind of a culture that I've come from in many aspects—like prayer’s not foreign to me, reading the Bible, stuff like that. In the workplace, it is. But what I think about is the people that don’t have that in their previous dealings in business. For them to walk into Beaton Bow Homes, it’s mind-blowing.
To see the Friday positives every morning, the Friday lunches where they get your entire family together, and they pay for food to be catered in, and it’s just for community. They want you to interact with coworkers, the spouses—just all the prayer during meetings, the decisions that get made. They’re actively asking for wisdom and discernment in everything they do, from the top to the bottom, and you see it flow through the company.
Because there’s a lot of people involved that are in management positions that don’t have that background of, “I grew up praying, I grew up going to church, I grew up asking for wisdom,” all that stuff. But the coolest thing about it is seeing those people—over, I was there seven years—and seeing some of those guys just grow in their faith. And when you first see them starting out, it’s like, “Man, I’m having to go through the motions because this is what Beaton Bow wants, and they want us to pray and they want us to lead.”
[00:19:22] Chase McNutt: But by the end of it, it’s like, “This is me now.” They step into that position, and they truly are changing people—like, legit changing. They’re changing the construction industry. The software—there’s nothing else out there like it. All the other software available, it doesn’t matter how expensive they are, there’s nothing that can do what their software can do and create the efficiencies that they have. But they just—they pour into their people.
[00:19:46] Chase McNutt: The work-life balance—that’s a real deal to them. Rick Beatonbow almost fired me. He didn’t fire me for putting a house on the wrong lot or going over budget on this, or doing all these things. He almost fired me for not going home to be with my family. And that happened multiple times.
The first time, I thought it was a joke. The second time, I realized it was not a joke. It was, “If you do this again, you will not work here.” I was like, “Wow.” So they take that stuff very seriously. And as I’m starting my company, I’m trying to take as much of that with me as possible. I’ve asked Cal, who’s now running Beaton Bow, like, “Whatever information you guys can give me—I’ve learned a lot of it while I was there, but I want to implement as much of that as I can. I want to take that culture.”
And that’s ultimately their goal. They want people just like me. They know that Beaton Bow is not my forever home. They want me to go start a new company and take the culture with me and create a people-centered company. And that’s like, we want to be a people company that just creates community. And work-life balance—that’s a real deal. So that’s something we preach at Citadel, and that’s something that’s very important to us.
[00:21:01] Kellen Ketchersid: Well, just having that view of people as people and not just workers, you know, not just doers in your business, but the whole person is so important. I think it's something a lot of business owners miss. It's just so cool that you got to experience that at Beaton Bow first. So now that you are the business owner, how do you balance your personal life with all the things that go with running a business and still being a dad and a husband and all those things?
[00:21:27] Chase McNutt: I can tell you that I have failed miserably before Beaton Bow. I failed at that miserably. And then even at Beaton Bow, I still failed at that miserably. Up until the day that I left Beaton Bow, I was not actively pursuing that portion of it. And that's something that I learned—the quality of life at home, with your marriage, with your kids, the time you're available as a dad—that stuff.
Doing that project, I missed a lot of that. And Maddie, my oldest, she's nine now—first three years of her life, I missed every ounce of it. I was working and justifying it to my wife. Thank the good Lord that Casey, you guys know Casey, corrected me on that. She had been trying for years, but it finally took stepping out into Citadel. And that was one of her biggest fears. She was like, "I know you're going to own your own business. I know you're going to do this stuff, but you don't have anybody."
[00:22:25] Chase McNutt: You don't have Rick Beatonboe telling you to go home. You don't have these people telling you when to quit. And that's what she was ultimately nervous about. It took a while early on, but just sitting back and realizing that work is not about money. It's not about status or making a name for yourself. If you really think about what your internal goals are as a parent, as a husband, that’s the stuff I’m daily trying to get better at.
So you just—you have to turn it off. There's no justifying it. You're either at home, or you're not. Even if you're home and you're not present, you're on your phone—which I'm horribly guilty of—you're not doing it right. And ultimately, that's not going to work for marriage. Your kids are going to see it. My kids notice it. So you have to... I don't know. I have to pray for it, honestly, because that's not something that I can physically control. I'm passionate, I'm hungry, and I want more in the workplace. And those are just two really hard things to balance. So I constantly have to pray like, "God, help me shut it off. Tell me when I'm doing too much." Or give me a wife that tells me I'm doing too much.
And He comes through in that category very well. My wife is very vocal, and she's not wrong. I went to her, I signed up for marriage, I signed up with these kids, and that's my life. Work can't be my life. Work's the way I provide for my life. I've got to be present in those two aspects to have a healthy marriage and to raise good kids.
[00:24:10] Kellen Ketchersid: I think it's a struggle for so many of us to not be a human doing, but to be a human being, you know, and being present with our families and our wives and being deliberate about that time. It's hard when you've got so many things to juggle and your phone is blowing up because everybody needs something from you as the business owner.
[00:24:31] Kellen Ketchersid: It's nice that you're aware of it and you've got a wife that helps you, you know, but it's...
[00:24:37] Chase McNutt: I'm aware of it. I can't say that I'm good at it yet. Well, I wish I was, but that's something on a daily basis I'm trying to get better at.
Starting a New Business
[00:24:44] Albert Gillispie: Tell us what does today look like? So, we've kind of got the story up until Beaton Bow. It's time to leave Beaton Bow and start Citadel Construction. So, what does that look like?
[00:24:56] Chase McNutt: So, Citadel started when I was in my last year at Beaton Bow. This is something that I'd always told Rick from the day he hired me, "At some point, I'm going to go do my own thing." I honestly thought I'd be there two or three years tops. It turned into seven because of the culture, because of the people I was around. But Taylor Tucker reached out to me, I guess this would have been five, five and a half years ago at this point. I grew up with him, known him my whole life. He called out of left field and said, "Hey, we're looking at building apartments."
[00:25:27] Chase McNutt: I was like, "That's a terrible idea. That is the worst construction that you can possibly do."
[00:25:34] Kellen Ketchersid: And why is that? Why is it so bad?
[00:25:37] Chase McNutt: It's in between residential construction and commercial. It's kind of the red-headed stepchild. It's right in the middle. So, you have residential trades, but sometimes it's too big for them to dabble in. On the commercial side, there's more money, so you just have this gray area that nobody wants to exist in.
[00:25:57] Kellen Ketchersid: I see.
[00:25:58] Chase McNutt: So, you have to pull somebody from either way, and it's always a fight. It’s huge. I mean, this last project was 243 units—you're slamming, there’s a lot going on. If you think about it from a superintendent standpoint, 17-acre site, and you have construction going on every square inch of that 17 acres. You get a call over here, and then a call over there. So, it takes a lot of pre-planning, and there’s just a lot that goes into it.
[00:26:24] Kellen Ketchersid: So, how did he talk you into this?
[00:26:27] Chase McNutt: Honestly, to this day, I really don’t know, but he called. We went and ate, and we actually talked about it for probably a year. I told him, "If I leave Beaton Bow, I’m not doing construction." I told my wife that. I told everybody, "I’m done with construction. I’m worn out. I’ve spent my time." A year later, I was like, "Sure, we’re going to go do construction, and we’re going to do multifamily."
[00:26:48] Chase McNutt: The reason I went back into this was because of Taylor and Jordan, the two guys. I didn’t know Jordan very well at the time, but Taylor, who I’ve known a very long time and trust with my life—he has that same trust with Jordan. And so, I was like, "Man, this is a rare opportunity for two guys." It’s hard to go into business with friends or family—it’s the worst thing you can possibly do. Anybody would agree with that. But Taylor’s one of those guys who’s more than a friend—at this point, he’s a brother. I trust that guy with everything. He’s proven himself through and through. There have been a million times he could have done something in his favor and not mine, and he’s never once done it.
[00:27:46] Kellen Ketchersid: That's awesome. A lot of people are jealous of that.
[00:27:49] Chase McNutt: I would be too, man. It's a rare thing that I've found, but also, I mean, all the signs were pointing to don't get back into construction. Like I'm not good at handling or managing myself in the construction atmosphere. I work too much, I do all these things, whatever—which maybe I can do that with anything—but just prayed about it and got peace. I mean, I literally, I woke up one morning and was like, "I think I'm going to do this." My wife was like, "Great, here we go."
[00:28:18] Chase McNutt: But it's been the best thing, and we're doing it different. That's one thing I love about those guys. They're allowing me to do construction differently, trying to take some of the Beaton Bow culture. We want to be different in how we treat subcontractors. GCs are known as—you know, I can't think of a better word—hard asses of construction. You're just always yelling. There's always a deadline. It's bottom line. Nobody cares about your feelings. Nobody cares if you're sick. Nobody cares about anything. They care about these two things: on budget and on time.
[00:28:56] Chase McNutt: And so we're trying to do that differently and bring people along with us the same way we want to bring our employees along and create community and culture. We want the subs—like, if you think about subcontractors, they don’t have anybody. If you're a subcontractor, you have nobody to create that space for you unless you're creating it on your own. And that's a really hard deal for a lot of people to understand as a business owner.
[00:29:21] Chase McNutt: But we want that to overflow into the subcontractors. We want them to be involved with us. We give a lot more grace. We have a tremendous amount of grace in a construction zone on deadlines and stuff. It's a hard balance. We want to be human in the deal here, but it's just different from how the industry has done it and the way we communicate with people.
[00:29:48] Chase McNutt: We don't yell at people. There are ways to get things done without yelling, without cussing, without all the things GCs are known for. We want them to grow their business at the same time we’re growing ours. We want them to go to the next project with us. We don’t want to cut them so low on a project that we never see them again. So, it's just an inclusive environment that we’re trying to create and recreate from project to project.
The Importance of Mentorship
[00:30:04] Chase McNutt: So, Taylor and Jordan had this idea, and I decided on January 6th, I left Beaten Bow. That was the day I started at Beaten Bow, and seven years later, to the day, I left, and we started Citadel. We’ve been doing multifamily, commercial, industrial—we do anything but residential. We just don't do anything in the residential space. It’s been incredible. We’ve had a lot of opportunity, and we've been blessed.
[00:30:28] Chase McNutt: But a lot of that is due to the three of us as the leaders of that company, with lots of prayer and praying for the right people. Praying for the right jobs to come up. Essentially, the right people have been the big ticket for us this year, and really the last two years, just praying that God brings us the right people at the right time. And He’s come through, and He’s been faithful in that. And so, the only thing I know to do is keep praying.
[00:31:04] Kellen Ketchersid: That's awesome.
[00:31:04] Albert Gillispie: Yeah.
[00:31:05] Kellen Ketchersid: Well, I, we have one of our questions that we usually ask, which is, what’s the secret to your success? I feel like you’ve already been giving us so many of them, you know, and I think you’re leading with prayer. Would you add anything to the list? Cause you’ve already had so many good things.
[00:31:19] Chase McNutt: Man, I joke about this, but I literally pray for wisdom and favor every day. And a lot of the situations I find myself in that are overwhelming, that I don’t understand, I think are God giving me wisdom. I view this as, I’m praying for wisdom and God’s like, okay, I’m going to put you in a situation that you’ve never been in, and I’m going to give you limited resources—what I feel like—and you’re going to find a way out of it. And then at the end of it, guess what you have? You’ve learned, you have knowledge now, so there’s the answer to your wisdom.
[00:31:45] Chase McNutt: I would say, if you want to call it a secret to success, it’s prayer. It’s putting myself aside and asking God, like, I’m so limited in this, my resources, my knowledge. I have no education. I didn’t go to college. I didn’t go to school for any of this stuff that I’m doing. I grew up in a residential environment. Now I’m in commercial and multifamily—completely different, but it was still construction.
[00:32:19] Albert Gillispie: Yeah.
[00:32:20] Chase McNutt: But a lot of that’s just seeking God and saying, like, give me the eyes to see things that I can’t see. Like, I want to see things through your eyes. I want to see people through your eyes. I want to see everything from top to bottom, start to finish. I want to see it through your lens and give me the resources emotionally, physically, mentally—whatever it is, spiritually. It’s like, just make those available to me. And so prayer is 1000 percent my secret sauce, if I had one.
[00:32:48] Albert Gillispie: He described one of the concepts we talk about: the four C's of committing, you know, jumping in—jumping in both feet into the fire, committing to that, having the courage to commit, be bad at it for a season, and then through that courage, through the persistence of "we’re going to see this project through to the end," stick with it.
[00:33:12] Albert Gillispie: And you develop a new capability that then, over time, gives you confidence.
[00:33:17] Chase McNutt: Yep.
[00:33:18] Albert Gillispie: And it’s because you started with committing to it, having the courage to be bad…
[00:33:24] Chase McNutt: And then eventually an idiot for a little bit. And then hopefully, at some point, you don’t look like an idiot. That’s the goal.
[00:33:32] Albert Gillispie: But, and you touched on that earlier. Entrepreneurs have a level of, I don’t know how to pronounce this word—like naivety—that, "I don’t know everything, but I’m going to jump into it and we’re going to figure it out." You know, it’s ignorance is bliss to a degree. You’re just ignorant enough to think you can. And I think that’s one of those intangible qualities of an entrepreneur. You got to have the guts to do it.
[00:34:00] Chase McNutt: Yeah. And I think the only difference in that is some, some guys will say, "I can do anything. I can figure it out. I can learn it."
[00:34:06] Albert Gillispie: Yes.
[00:34:07] Chase McNutt: And I think that’s very evident in a lot of very successful people. I think I don’t have that to a certain extent. I have the, "I’m going to lean on God to give me that." Like, I know I don’t have it. So it’s not more of a "putting myself forward" and saying, "I’m going to figure this out." It’s like, "Man, God, I’m getting called to this table. I’m getting called to this job, this whatever it is. I’m like, you know me, you know what I don’t have, you know what this takes. So if you want me here, then you’re going to give me what I need."
[00:34:39] Albert Gillispie: Yeah. It’s a trust thing. It’s a huge trust deal.
[00:34:41] Chase McNutt: So I don’t know, that’s something I tell young people all the time. If you don’t have a prayer life, you better get one.
[00:34:49] Kellen Ketchersid: Well, there’s so much good in reframing that from an "I" standpoint to "He’s putting me in this position, so I’m going to trust that He’s going to equip me along the way." I don’t have every answer. It’s like Albert was saying, so many entrepreneurs we talk to—that’s the common thread we see—is that mentality of, "I don’t have all the answers, but let’s go for this." But I love the trust that you have in prayer and in God and talking about it from your perspective too. So that’s really inspiring. What is the thing that you’re most excited about right now at Citadel?
The Future of Citadel Construction
[00:35:23] Chase McNutt: Oh, at Citadel, I would say right now for me, it’s the people. I kind of hit on it earlier. Citadel is still a small company, and not a whole lot of people know who we are, but we are getting some bigger names in the industry that are interested in coming on board.
[00:35:44] Chase McNutt: We’ve got a few of them coming on board that if you would have told me three years ago, when we started, that we’d be looking at some of these people and talking to them or being in the same room on some jobs, I would have told you, you’re crazy. Like, that was more of a 15-year goal or maybe even a 20-year one.
[00:36:04] Chase McNutt: And we’re getting some people that—it’s just mind-boggling that they even… How did they hear about us? Why are they even talking to us? We’ve got some people interviewing at every GC in West Texas, and they could go to any of them. And we just had one a couple of weeks ago that’s coming to Citadel. And it’s like—that is God’s favor.
[00:36:23] Chase McNutt: That’s really cool. You can’t, like—I… there’s no explanation for that whatsoever. That’s not anything I’m doing, we’re doing. Like, that is, again, praying to God like, “Hey, if you want this guy here, I need you to make it happen. I don’t see how it’s possible, but if it’s in Your will, then let’s go with it. We’ll be sitting here waiting, and if he shows up, we’re ready.” And there’s been a couple up here lately that they show up, and I’m like, “Ooh, what do we do now?”
[00:36:45] Chase McNutt: That’s a good feeling, though.
[00:36:46] Albert Gillispie: Yeah.
[00:36:47] Chase McNutt: It is. It’s cool. I think it means that we’re doing something right. I think that God’s showing us some favor, and I think He’s trusting us with what we’ve been given and just to handle it correctly and steward that well, properly. And I think so far, we’re doing that, but I think there’s a lot more that goes into that. And so it, again, requires a lot of prayer for wisdom and how to maintain things.
[00:37:21] Albert Gillispie: I know this from knowing you over the years, and I’ve heard it in your story today. A lot of this—you are present with people, right?
[00:37:33] Albert Gillispie: As a business owner, so many people have this incorrect depiction in their mind that the owner, you know, lives on some beach and comes in once a month to check on the troops and then ships out. And what I’ve heard all throughout your story and how you’ve built the culture that you have is you’re present on site with your people.
[00:37:58] Albert Gillispie: You’re there where the work happens and getting to know all of your subcontractors, everybody—getting to know them and developing real relationships with them to lead them, to invite them into the community and culture that you learned from day one and through those seven years at Beaton Bow. This is how we do business, this is how we want to do business differently. We don’t get it perfect, but we care about our family, we lead with our faith.
[00:38:27] Albert Gillispie: And, you know, I’m going to be in there right next to you, helping you develop, helping you build your business. That’s what a leader does. A leader is like a coach. And that’s so much of what I’ve heard—you're coaching up even your trades. They’re not technically your employees, but it’s contract labor, 1099 folks that if you can pour into them a little bit, you’re making them better at what they do.
[00:38:57] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah. But if I’m a sub and I’m listening to this, I’m thinking, “I want to go work for them.” Right. Right.
[00:39:01] Chase McNutt: Well, a lot of this is we can’t do it without them. Yeah, so we, we have to bring them along. So if you’re going to bring somebody along, why not get to know them? Why not get to know them on a personal level and actually have a meaningful conversation with them, get to know their family.
[00:39:17] Chase McNutt: I mean, some of these guys, some electricians and concrete guys, they’re like family, like they would come to my family events. They’re closer than a lot of my family. I’ve grown up with them, but I trust them, and we just have a different relationship. It’s not just work and job site talk. It’s like legit getting to know people. And some of that with my people, or the people of Citadel, the employees. At my age, I don’t know everything. So a lot of it is spending time with people. One, it may be a control issue. That’s one thing I’m looking into. I want to know what everybody’s doing.
[00:39:54] Chase McNutt: And it’s not from a—I really hope it’s not from a control standpoint—but more of like, I want to know what you guys are doing. One, I can learn in the middle of that. A lot of my people are twice my age, so they have wisdom that I don’t. So as we’re going through stuff, like, I may be the boss here, but I’m still learning just as much as they are. And just doing stuff together in tandem always makes more sense to me. Making decisions in isolation, like, that’s just not who I am and that’s not who Citadel is. We don’t do anything in isolation. It’s community, it’s group effort, bringing everybody along.
[00:40:30] Kellen Ketchersid: So hearing the humility throughout this, it’s just cool.
[00:40:34] Kellen Ketchersid: A lot of business owners that we talk to who are seeing success, many of them are people who are trusting in God, like you. And, but along with that, the humility and knowing, you know, not taking credit. This is cool to talk to people who have that mindset. And I really appreciate that in you too. Albert, you think we’re ready for a fire round?
[00:40:53] Kellen Ketchersid: Let’s do it.
[00:40:54] Albert Gillispie: Let’s do a fire round.
[00:40:55] Kellen Ketchersid: All right, fire away. Okay. Chase, what's your favorite movie?
[00:41:01] Chase McNutt: I like shoot 'em up movies. So I think Mark Wahlberg’s Shooter is still one of my favorites.
[00:41:07] Albert Gillispie: I haven’t seen that in forever. That is a good one. That’s a good sniper movie.
[00:41:11] Chase McNutt: Probably not a family movie, but I like sniper movies. I like the, I don’t know, they are shoot 'em up.
[00:41:17] Kellen Ketchersid: That’s one I wouldn’t have thought of, but I like that. That’s a good one.
[00:41:20] Chase McNutt: All right. What is your favorite book?
[00:41:22] Chase McNutt: Ooh. I’ll rattle off a couple. So Thanks for the Feedback by Sheila Heen.
[00:41:26] Albert Gillispie: I haven’t read that one. That’s out of left field.
[00:41:30] Chase McNutt: Big on communication. I suck at it, but it’s one of my favorite things to read about.
[00:41:33] Chase McNutt: Any of Patrick Lencioni’s books like Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
[00:41:36] Kellen Ketchersid: Yes.
[00:41:37] Chase McNutt: The Advantage. Let’s see, Chris Voss Never Split the Difference.
[00:41:41] Kellen Ketchersid: Uh huh. Uh huh.
[00:41:42] Chase McNutt: It’s a negotiation book.
[00:41:43] Kellen Ketchersid: So you’re a reader?
[00:41:45] Chase McNutt: You would think that. So, I do a lot of Audible. If I could have it my way, I would do Audible and read a paperback book with a highlighter. It’s probably a learning disability, but whatever it is, that’s my best way. It costs a whole lot of money to read one book doing it that way.
[00:42:00] Chase McNutt: I like Audible. Anytime I get a chance, if I’m driving down the road, going on trips, or in the yard, I’m always listening to something beneficial. You can always learn.
[00:42:17] Albert Gillispie: Yeah. Common thread there.
[00:42:20] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah.
[00:42:21] Albert Gillispie: Those were all really good. Thanks for the feedback. Okay. I want to check that one out.
[00:42:24] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah. All right. All right. Next question. What's one piece of advice that you think is or that is common in your industry that you don't agree with it.
[00:42:33] Chase McNutt: From a construction standpoint, one that we hear a lot is "it looks good from my house," meaning I don’t really care what the quality of this looks like because I can’t see it when I go home. Ah, you will get fired if you say that working at Citadel. If you say anything like that, that just, that approach to things is exactly what we’re trying to get rid of in the industry.
[00:42:58] Chase McNutt: So I would say that, and then "fake it till you make it," that type of— I grew up saying that because I feel like my whole life is a "fake it till I make it," but now it’s a "face it till you ace it."
[00:43:11] Kellen Ketchersid: Nice.
[00:43:12] Chase McNutt: And that’s just get some stick-with-it-ness, keep pressing on. And then, like you said earlier, you keep doing something, you get good at it, and then you build confidence. And so it’s a process, but "face it till you ace it."
[00:43:17] Kellen Ketchersid: Face it till you ace it. That’s a new one.
[00:43:18] Albert Gillispie: That’s a new one. Bumper sticker.
[00:43:23] Albert Gillispie: Well, that, that kind of hits my neck, but what words of wisdom have impacted you the most aside from "face it till you ace it"?
[00:43:35] Chase McNutt: "You have not because you ask not."
[00:43:39] Albert Gillispie: Okay, okay.
[00:43:39] Chase McNutt: That goes back to, if you don’t have wisdom and you’re not asking for wisdom, if you don’t have whatever it is... so yeah, blank.
[00:43:47] Albert Gillispie: Yeah.
[00:43:47] Chase McNutt: If you don’t have it and you’re not asking for it, like, what are you really doing?
[00:43:52] Albert Gillispie: I love it.
[00:43:53] Albert Gillispie: All right, man. How can people get in touch with you and how can people do business with you?
[00:44:00] Chase McNutt: You can reach out to me directly in any way—social media. I do still have social media, might be canceling that, we were just talking about that. But you can call our office: 806-516-9250. We've got a lot of people running around town, just reach out to me in any way. We do any kind of project, big or small. We do remodels, we do new construction, anywhere in the multifamily, commercial, or industrial space.
[00:44:25] Albert Gillispie: Right.
[00:44:25] Chase McNutt: So, Citadel Construction, look them up.
[00:44:28] Albert Gillispie: Awesome, man. Thank you so much. I’ve been looking forward to this.
[00:44:31] Albert Gillispie: Yeah, you didn’t disappoint. Appreciate it.
[00:44:33] Kellen Ketchersid: All right.
[00:44:34] Albert Gillispie: I hope you enjoyed that interview. I know we did. Chase is full of colorful stories, and he's just—he's just a good old boy.
[00:44:42] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah.
[00:44:43] Albert Gillispie: Great guy. So, if you want more like that, go ahead and click "Subscribe" and keep coming back. We have a lot more upcoming.
[00:44:54] Albert Gillispie: So click "Subscribe" and keep coming back. If you are a business owner or business leader and you feel stuck in your business, go to our website at stagcoaching.com. In the top right-hand corner, click our free business assessment. In just a few minutes, in just a few questions, we can help diagnose what’s going on in your business, why you are stuck, and help you determine the next steps to get your business back on track and back to where you want it. So, go to our website, stagcoaching.com, and take our free assessment.
[00:45:17] Albert Gillispie: Thank you guys. We’ll see you on the next one.
