Hi! I'm Seth, a hopefully soon-to-be GC from Lexington, NC

[Seth Davis]

Hello!  Thanks for dropping by.  My name is Seth Davis.  I currently own a horse farm in Lexington, NC and work as a software developer for Wells Fargo.  I have been developing software for the past 20 years and developing mobile applications for the past 10 years.  I'm very passionate about all things technology. But within the past 3 years, I realized that I also have an extreme passion for building and construction.  I jumped in feet first and designed and built by hand a 2-story workshop in the backyard of my previous home.  It took about 1 year from start to finish, but the rewarding feeling I got after all of the literal blood, sweat, and tears of 1 year of very hard work, was worth it all.  But the icing on the cake was selling our house in 1 week, and the buyers buying the house because of the building I built.  Such a fantastic feeling.

So, now, I'm jumping feet first into my next endeavor, becoming a General Contractor and starting new home construction business.  I have never started a business before, so this will be a learning experience.  I may succeed, or I may fail, but we won't know that unless I try.  My initial focus will be spec home building, and then once I have a few builds under my belt, I may venture into client builds. 

There are a lot of builders and a lot of new homes for sale, but I'm going to try to set mine apart slightly by incorporating my knowledge of all things technology. My homes will be smart, have robust home networks, and be equipped with fast and reliable indoor / outdoor WiFi.

So, right now I'm in the process of studying for the GC exam.  It's going to be tough, and I may fail the first time around, but we will see.  I'm also in the process of getting my ducks in a row to start the business.  I have been trying to put my rock star team together as this can't be done without a great team of people that are smarter than me.  Here is what I have at the moment:

• Accountant: He has been doing our taxes for the farm the past 2 years and I really like him.  Super intelligent when it comes to all things taxes
• Real Estate agent: We purchased the farm and sold our previous home with the help from this guy.  I don't know what it was, but we just had a connection. Like we had been friends for years.  So, I contacted him recently to see if he would be willing to help me out with all things real estate, land acquisition, selling the specs, etc.  He was more than happy to be on board
• Lawyer: My buddy from high school became a lawyer and helped with me a personal family matter a year or so ago.  He has agreed to be on board for my contracts and all things "lawyery". 
•  Investor?: My plumber for the farm found out I was getting my GC license.  He has built and sold some specs in the past and is interesting in partnering up and might possibly front the money for the project.  We will see...
• Mentor: It must have been the powers-that-be. A gentlemen purchased a horse walker we had for sale. Come to find out, he is a contractor/developer of apartment complexes.  I was immediately hooked, asking as many newbie questions as I could about contracting.  He says he has available every sub-contractor I would need to complete a house and is willing to let me shadow him and ask questions.  He has already pointed me to the estimating software I should be using.  I truly believe he is going to be an invaluable resource

My plan is to start a thread on BiggerPockets, similar to the Diary of a spec build that J Scott did, and just document my whole process of starting this business, including the ups and downs, and the process of my first build.  There are a lot of people on here that are a lot smarter than me, so maybe they will tell me "yeah, don't do that", or "yeah, do that" or "dude, seriously?? WHAT were you thinking..."

I hope you enjoy your day. Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to meeting all of you!

PS - Below are a couple of pictures of my building I built.  The first is the AutoCAD design I made before the build, and the second is the almost-finished product.