Rob Stott: All right, we are back on the Connected Design Podcast and excited today to jump into the world of custom home building in North Central Arkansas. Is that right, Mr. Jason Bourg, owner of Bourg Builders, out there. Yeah? So how’s business out there in North Central Arkansas?
Jason Bourg: Correct. Yes, sir. You got it. It’s pretty steady right now. You know, we had a huge, huge inflow of people around the COVID era, you know, when COVID was really hot and heavy. We got super, super busy for a while there and then you know, it’s really slowed down a little bit, but it’s steady. You know, a lot of us are still building houses. We do a lot of custom homes here. Don’t do a lot of spec houses, but mostly customs. A lot of people retiring to this area. So yeah, it’s good. Business is good.
Rob Stott: Yeah, I now correct me if I’m wrong. You’re not far from the Ozarks, is that right where you are? In the Ozarks. Okay. So like now I have to ask, did the show have anything to do with a lot of the interest of people coming down there? Or did it scare the other direction scare them away? Yeah.
Jason Bourg: We are in the Ozarks, yes, sir. Yeah. You know, honestly. I don’t you know, I don’t really know. That’s a good question. I’ve never really watched that show, so I guess I can’t I can’t comment, but
Rob Stott: Fair enough. It’s one of those things. It’s a you know it’s about your area. You don’t wanna like it’s like people from Scranton probably don’t like talking about the office. It’s like, you know. Although a little bit different, I know, but no. Well, appreciate you jumping on and diving into it with this, man. You know, a space I’m looking forward to learning more about too. We got a lot of custom integrators, as you know, on Connected Design and You know, we like to have these conversations about the cross-section of our industry and you guys are kind of sitting right there. So for you know, those that don’t know who you are, our audience, introduce yourself and kind of you know, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and founder of Bourg Builders. So tell us about founding your business. So like bring us up to that.
Jason Bourg: Yes. That’s correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I’m a first generation builder. I started my company about six years ago. I was originally in the medical field. So you know, back to when I was younger, I grew up building. You know, my parents were handy, very, very handy. And I like to say we were like the Bob Vila family of the area. Like, you know, my parents, if there was something to be done on a house, we were doing it. My dad was a mechanic by trade. My mom worked for the post office, but we were always building something. And so I kind of gravitated towards that at a really young age. You know, I remember swinging a hammer when I was four and five years old. So I really fell in love with building. And you know, when I left my parents’ house, they wanted me to pursue something in the medical field. They felt like would be a stable career, so I did. I went into medicine. I was a paramedic for twenty-three, twenty-four years. And I was also a registered nurse for a part of that time, about five or six years of that. And I flew on helicopters. I did all the cool stuff in medicine and then COVID came around and it really honestly just gave me a reason to retire. So yeah. So I retired from medicine and started my company. I started in 2020. We started Bourg Builders and you know, I really just kind of started it to be
Rob Stott: I yeah, I don’t think you’re alone in that from that field.
Jason Bourg: Just another option in the area. I wasn’t planning on doing what I’m doing. I didn’t really know where it was gonna go, but I really enjoyed building. And so we started doing some small projects and you know, I built a house that I could sell and then the company just kind of took off from there. And we got lots of requests to build custom homes and so you know I had personally built my own house in town here and I actually did a blog when I built my house. And so I put a lot of content out there just for what I was doing, you know, my own little thing. And I guess it got noticed. And so when I started building houses, it people kind of knew that I could do that. And so I got a little lucky to be honest. You know, we got some beautiful homes right off the bat, and the company kind of blew up and we just started building houses. So yeah, it was kind of a kind of a we just got lucky to be honest, but I really feel like
Rob Stott: That’s pretty cool.
Jason Bourg: You know, we’re building, you know, five hundred thousand dollar homes, we’re building two million dollar homes. We’re building like all over in that area. And so I definitely feel blessed and lucky to be on that level of building so early in my career. You know, we’ve got really good talent.
Rob Stott: Yeah. I yeah, I have a serious question and a silly question to ask. The medical, I’m gonna start with the silly one. The medical background in the building industry, you know, how often are you finding yourself having to go back? Someone gets hurt on the job and you gotta pull out your old EMT hat and go, you know? Good. Good. You know? Yeah. I get that’s a good thing. I
Jason Bourg: Honestly, it’s only happened once, so I’ve been very fortunate. I’m very safety conscious as you can imagine. So, you know, I make sure my guys aren’t doing anything crazy that would get them hurt to begin with. So yeah, so like we’ve had we have those conversations pretty regularly. And so yeah, so I’m big on safety on my job sites, you know, we try to mitigate as much of that as possible. I’ve never had any serious injuries, knock on wood.
Rob Stott: Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah.
Jason Bourg: So yeah, so we’ve we try to be as safe as possible, as humanly possible. Yeah.
Rob Stott: No, that that’s awesome. Now the serious question. I so the the getting into this space, having, you know, I mean, one thing to be sort of into it and, you know, just interested in it and passionate about it. Was it like a hobby that turned into a career? Like explain how you learn or teach yourself in this space and become knowledgeable enough to be as successful as you’ve been in such a short period of time.
Jason Bourg: Sure. So growing up, you know, I got a lot of I got a lot of hands-on experience building with my dad, working with wood. We did a lot of woodworking, you know, and so we built a lot of different projects. We did everything from decks to barns to, you know, nothing we never did a house, but we always did we always did things with wood. And so I was always just kind of handy that way. He really got me into it at an early age. And then as I grew up, I started doing my own projects outside of my family. So I got into college, I bought a house, I renovated that house. That was my first real experience doing it all by myself. So you know, I demoed it, did all the sheetrock. I built it back, I did it all myself. And that was really kind of before YouTube was a thing. So a lot of that for me was some trial and error. You know, I didn’t really have some of that experience, so I had to learn. And I always thought it’d be better to learn on my own stuff than to do it for somebody else. So it was a little bit of trial and error in the beginning and then so the other thing I did when I was a kid is I used to watch a lot of home improvement shows on TV, which kind of seems it seems far fetched today because it’s not, you know, but like back when I was younger, yeah, I watched Hometime, I watched New Yankee Workshop, I watched This Old House, you know, I watched these shows and they explain how they do these things. And so I think since I was so interested I
Rob Stott: Mm-hmm. That’s the YouTube university of today, right? Yeah.
Jason Bourg: In that at the time, I just retained a lot of that information and was able to take that with me, you know, when I started doing it on my own.
Rob Stott: Yeah, I’m glad home improvement was not on that list because I feel like people probably learned a lot of what not to do from like Tim Allen. That’s awesome. That’s fantastic. Yeah. That’s so good. That’s awesome.
Jason Bourg: Dude, I love that. I actually own all of those series. I love it. It was my favorite show growing up. But yeah, so I think a lot for me it was, you know, I read a lot as a kid. My parents owned a collection of magazines, a collection of building magazines when I was a kid. And so I read a lot of that and I really just kind of self taught myself the things that my parents couldn’t teach me. Yeah.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome. That’s really cool. And I know too something to bring up is that just looking at your site, I know you got a couple of association memberships that I know you’re a part of. Namely for those one that obviously is gonna stand out to a lot of people, NAHB, the National Association of Home Builders. Talk about the role I am assume a lot of education through them for you guys and kind of what you’re doing.
Jason Bourg: Yes, so they offer a lot of different courses and classwork that we can take to, you know, kind of keep up on what’s coming up, the newest trends. I became a fan of building science when I built my personal home. And so the actually the government has a great website that lays out a lot of building science that they’ve done over the years. You know, for example, advanced framing. We don’t do a lot of advanced framing here. It’s a it’s a framing technique that’s It takes a lot of thought and planning, but that’s a technique that’s used in other parts of the country. And I’ve always been interested in doing that. I haven’t really been able to implement it just yet, but it’s definitely something I’m looking at doing. But yeah, National Association of Home Builders is it’s integral to what we do. There’s a lot of resources there. You know, and being a member is kind of a big part of our community. And we have a local chapter here where there’s a lot of us builders and subcontractors that are part of the local home builders association as well. So it gives us a you know, we meet once a month and we have guest speakers that come in and talk about their trade or, you know, what they’re bringing new to the to the to building and so it’s a kind of a way for keeping us networking too.
Rob Stott: Yeah. I do you go to the like the national shows and stuff like that as well?
Jason Bourg: So I have plans to I haven’t been able to yet. I’ve actually I wanted to go to the Vegas one a couple of years ago and then they had it in Orlando this year and we were invited to go to Orlando, but I had I just had some major projects going on that I couldn’t really leave to attend. But yeah, so we are we are definitely planning to attend that’s like on my bucket list really, you know, of shows to attend. So yeah, that’s definitely on the list.
Rob Stott: Heck yeah. No, that’s awesome. Well, for I know people here too, the so I wannask about kind of the types of projects you work on. You mentioned obviously custom homes being a big portion of it. A big difference I know between custom and spec. Custom you kinda get that blank slate, right? You get to work with yeah I don’t want to steal the thunder. I want to kind of let you explain what it’s like to work on a custom home and have that sort of, you know, blank blueprint that you can build off of and Really be creative with what you do.
Jason Bourg: Yeah, so on the custom side, it’s very fluid in a lot of ways. So you know, once we develop a plan with an architect or a draftsman or in the client, we kind of you know, hash out what they really want the house to look like. There’s a lot of intricacies that we can develop in that stage of building that lets us take the house to another level. You know, in a spec house, you’re building something, you’re on a really tight budget, you’re building it to sell it, so you can’t really indulge in some of some of that creativity like you can in a custom. And so in custom homes, we really try to incorporate one-off things. You know, we want their custom house to be very unique and true to what they want. And so in that custom world, it’s a lot more fun because Your creative side can come out, your innovative side can come out. And so, you know, and that’s kind of where we get into the technology side as well with these customs. You know, we build in budgets to really automate these houses because, you know, for me, I want the house to work with me. I don’t want to fight the house when I’m living in it. And so, you know, when I walk when I walk in the door, I want the house to know I’m home and I want it to do certain things. And so that’s kind of where the home automation side comes in and that’s a big that’s a big deal for us in our customs. Just about all of our customs have some home automation in them.
Rob Stott: Mm-hmm. Well, talk about that because I’m glad you brought it up naturally, right? Like it’s nice to see on this platform that technology just kind of naturally comes up in this conversation. Because you know, there is a lot of especially on the custom side, having to the opportunity to sort of implement technology and these automation platforms and whatnot. So like how big of a role dive deeper into that. Like how big of a role does tech play in what you do and sort of a follow up to that, you know, how are you staying sort of ahead or or understanding of what you know the of what’s available out there from a tech perspective in these homes that you’re working on?
Jason Bourg: Sure. Yeah, so for me, technology has been something that I’ve been interested in homes for a long time, long before technology had the capability to do what I was already envisioning it to do. So just to kind of preface that, back in the back in the late nineties or mid nineties, the show Hometime that I used to watch, they actually built a smart home. They put a computer in that house and it would control lighting and it would control the HVAC system and it was very rudimentary. And it was like my first real introduction into technology and houses. And so, you know, I was a kid when that aired, and it really drove me to be like, okay, well, what can I do in my houses to incorporate this stuff? And you know, and back then I was so new to that, I didn’t really know anything, you know. So I had to kind of do my own research and so, you know, that technology in the house was always a marriage that I wanted to make. But to be honest with you, it’s kind of expensive to do that sometimes, you know, and so, you know, as a kid, I you know, building my first house, I obviously didn’t have a budget to do that. So, you know, fast forward to, you know, being in my thirties and I’m actually building my first home for my family. And I wanted to integrate technology. I knew that was a big deal. And so for me, I wanted to the very first thing I wanted to do was, and it sounds so simple now, but I wanted to have my TV, all my components, everything in the house on one remote. Like that was my big that was my big goal at the time, you know? It’s like DVD player, stereo, everything I wanted on one remote. And so, and so that was like my introduction into finding a platform that would really help me integrate all the things that I envisioned for my house and then to try to find out what was truly capable. And so I reached out to a local local company here, Brad’s Entertainment, who I’ve got a really good relationship with. And I had already kind of done enough research to know what platform I wanted to go with. And that was Control4. And Control4 at the time was a big company. They did a lot of commercial stuff, but they were really kind of getting into the residential side and integrating some of their automation and home controls on the residential side. And so I found out that Brad was a local dealer for Control4. And so I went up and talked to Chris, who’s one of the integrators. He’s a he’s an installer. He’s and he and I have become really good friends in this process. And so, you know, he talked to me about Control4 and everything that it can do. And I was like, man, this is this is literally what I’ve been looking for to integrate into my homes. And with that, he really educated me on a lot of things that Control4 that could do that I wasn’t even aware of. And it really just expanded my mind as far as, well, there is something out there that can do all these things that I’ve always wanted to do and I can integrate it now. The platform is there. And so for me it was a kind of a marriage, it was a perfect timing for that marriage for me and Chris to kind of get together and start planning how to integrate technology into the homes that we build. And it started with my own personal home. And the thing that I love about the Control4 system is it’s infinitely expandable. You know, so you can start with something small and you could expand that across the home over time. And truly build a whole home automation system that literally the house functions without you. You know, and so and so for me that’s like it’s kind of where I geek out a little bit is you know, I want the house to literally function when I’m not here. And Control4 allows me to do that. And so, you know, Chris, Chris and I have got this really good relationship now, and so when
Rob Stott: Right, right.
Jason Bourg: You know, when something new is coming on the market or some new technology or something’s like, hey man, I ran into this, we should look at this. You know, he really keeps me up to date on on what’s new and what’s upcoming and how can we integrate this? How can we make it cost effective to integrate? And, you know, and he keeps me mostly up to date on the component side and kind of what’s the newest and what’s the latest. And you know, there are times when I when I’ll think of an ideand I’ll Google it and I’ll research, you know, how can we make this work? But, you know, he’s really my source. So, you know, that relationship that we built has been, you know, it’s been incredibly important for me to kind of get the technology that I’m dreaming about actually in person and in a home. So yeah, that relationship’s been great.
Rob Stott: Yeah. No, that’s that’s awesome. And I’m gonnask what seems probably seems like a really simple question, but you know, the that relationship and developing that, you know, did did you know what an integrator was before you started looking for? Like I wannask how y how did you end up actually finding Brad’s home entertainment and like what was that process like for you and it and all that?
Jason Bourg: Yeah. So, you know, f I w at the time I was looking for, like I said, I was looking for a system that would just run everything on one remote. You know, and so for me, I had looked at Lutron, I had looked at there’s several different others out there that I had kind of gone through. And, you know, I got on some forums, I had read some read some articles, and it all kind of led me back to Control4. The Control4 seemed to be the platform that I had been dreaming of. Like like if I was gonna create a platform, that was the platform I would have created, you know.
Rob Stott: Right. It’s what you So really it’s like the technology backed you into the relationship? Yeah.
Jason Bourg: Yes. So once I found the platform that I really wanted to use, that led me to Brad’s, which, you know, they just so I like, what’s the chances of there being a Control4 dealership in Little Old Mountain Home? You know? And so like so the so the t I found the technology, then I found the company that can install the technology. And that kind of formed our relationship. Was you know, my love of this specific technology, and they had that technology. And so and they knew how to integrate it and knew all the ins and outs of it. They had been doing it long before I even knew it was a thing. And so you know, that’s kind of how we developed that was just me searching the platform and then finding the integrator. And they’ve been phenomenal. It’s just been honestly the best relationship I could ever imagine for technology. Yeah.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome. So awesome to hear for sure. And kind of the like I said, you know, p the reason why, you know, a platform like Connected to Design love highlighting these types of partnerships. How important, you know easy to ask this, but like to get you to dive into it a little more. I know you mentioned that you know, you’re in touch with them on a regular basis for for projects, but like I a big cup a big Point of conversation that happens all the time in this space, I know, is, you know, technology integrators wanting to get involved earlier in projects and things like that. So ’cause you mentioned the budgets and things, right? Because these things can get pricey. So bringing them in late kind of puts puts can put them at a disadvantage. So to get that like how early do you involve them in sort of the work that you do in whether it’s a custom home or or whatever the project might be.
Jason Bourg: Yep. Yes. They can, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so the way I kind of do it is every house that we build, I build a budget in the original estimate for infrastructure. And so you know, my original estimate includes infrastructure for internet, you know, we run Cat cable everywhere, we you know, any cabling, security camera, all that stuff is kind of integrated into my original budget. So even if the homeowner decides not to do it, the infrastructure is there. And so Chris and I will typically get together around the electrical phase in the rough-in side. We’ll actually sit with the client at that point in time and say, Hey, this is what we have built into the home. Like, how much of this do you want to access? And so then we can kind of put together a plan for the client as far as you know, a camera system. If they wanna do Control4, if they want to integrate music into their house, if they want door locks, if they want HVAC control, you know, all of those systems start to come online once we sit with Chris in that kind of that mechanical stage of the house.
Rob Stott: Yeah. What are those conversations like with the client? ‘Cause I imagine they can, you know, some it may go over their heads like, Man, this is too much tech for me to handle. Others it’s like probably like you were, you know, kinda researching Control4 for yourself is like they geek out over it. But what are what are the what can those conversations be like?
Jason Bourg: Yeah. So That original conversation, like the very first conversation is definitely overwhelming because there’s so much information. Let me back that up. I would say it could be overwhelming, but I really do try to I piece it together in our original conversations to g I basically give them all of the options and say, Hey, these are the things that we can do. We don’t have to do them all. We can do them a little bit here, a little bit there. We can add to the system as you need. But this is basically what we can do. Now let’s talk about budget and let’s talk about like if you want to do this, what would you be willing to spend? And then once we know that number, then we can build in the systems that are most important to them first. So most of the time it’s going to be a camera system. And for us, a lot of the houses we build are second homes or lake homes. So we always try to integrate leak detection and whole-home water shutoffs, that kind of stuff. So, you know, those are our big priorities in the beginning is security and prevention of disasters, you know. And so that’s kind of our first conversation. And if we can get them on board with that, then that usually leads to door locks. Garage doors, lighting, you know, all the things and that system gets built out from there. So yeah, that the initial conversations are more information and then budget, you know, like what are you willing to spend? And then let’s build off of that budget and see how much of this can we include in that budget.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Hey, now I know I as technology advances and continues to innovate, I know it can feel like it gets more complicated and complex and whatnot, but you know, as from when you started the company to today, does it feel like technology conversations have gotten easier with clients or you know, how Yeah.
Jason Bourg: Yeah, I think I’ve absolutely become a better salesman at it, to be honest with you, because I’m intimately familiar with the product. Now I’ve got this product all over my own home. And so, you know, I can literally show clients all the things that are possible. Which really helps me explain the product number one, but it helps me sell the product too. You know, and so I would say it’s gotten easier for me just because I live in that system, you know. I use the system every day. So my familiarity with it is, you know, a thousand times better than it was when I first started.
Rob Stott: Yeah, no, that’s awesome. I as far as like other cause I obviously you work with architects, I’m sure designers are part of this too. What what do you what sense do you get from from them on their understanding of technology? Like i is there any hurdles you have to get through with them or or what are those conversations like?
Jason Bourg: Most of them honestly, the only real challenge that I find we have, and it’s not even on the architect side, they’re you know, they’re mostly looking at structure and you know the integration into technology usually comes after them. You know, after we’ve got the house designed and you know, we’ve got a structure, the architect really doesn’t get too involved in that side. It’s mostly on the design side, you know, making sure that we’re not designing a system that’s gonna be you know awful to look at, you know, when we’re designing spaces to hide equipment, you know, finding closet space. And honestly, a lot of time that comes in after the architect because it’s hard to explain to the homeowner kind of what this space needs to be until it’s actually there. And so, you know, we usually get the house framed. And then, you know, in the back of my mind, while we’re framing, I’m looking at spaces that we can capture to hold equipment, you know, that we can we can tuck away somewhere where you know that equipment is hidden but accessible. It’s in a it’s in the it’s in the climate controlled space, but it’s not seen. And so, you know, that space becomes very important to me as as the general contractor because I have to integrate that space, but I have to keep it hidden too. And so I’ve gotten pretty good at, you know, in the framing stage, finding those spaces and presenting them to the homeowner, homeowners as we’re, you know, as we’re walking through the house. I’m like, hey, this is, I want to take this space over here for all of your all of your equipment, you know, because because at that point we’ve already had the initial conversation about Control4. I usually have, you know, a small budget planned. And then when we get to that electrical side, now we’re talking like, okay, how much of this do you want to integrate? Like how much where are we at with this? And so yeah, so those spaces can be sometimes difficult to create if we filled the entire space in the house, you know, and so you know, most of the houses we you know it’s kind of on the back end kind of space. And so that’s kind of where it gets a little challenging. We don’t I don’t typically address that space up front, which maybe maybe something I need to start doing. But I haven’t had to do that yet. So I think it’s kind of one of those things, until I have to do that. So
Rob Stott: Right. I know, it makes sense. Well, I and I know t I know too, like obviously going through some of these homes and seeing, you know, I’ve seen homes, there’s one in particular that stands out in Las Vegas that I visited that like it was a ridiculous home for one, but it had like rack rooms that were ever like multiple throughout the house because it was like that type of system that was installed. Like I know they can get, you know, very involved, but one of the I And those it’s like it’s tough to make a room with all of the racks look, you know, sexy. You know, but like at the same time right at the same time, like I know one of the concerns too well, maybe not even a concern, it’s just like one of the considerations or or things that people that come to mind for a designer or even the homeowner, is that you know, when you’re talking about technology, how it’s gonna just look bleh throughout the house. And I know that
Jason Bourg: Right? Appealing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Rob Stott: As a builder, I’m sure you see that’s not the case as much anymore. Like it’s not just boxes out. So t talk about that a little bit.
Jason Bourg: Correct. Yeah, so especially with Control4, the component tree for that system is you know we can usually stick most of it in a twelve unit rack space, you know. It’s very compact. And so we don’t need a whole lot of space to hide those components. The lot the thing that I really like about Control4 is their Zigbee switching. So their integrated light system, the switches that we put on the wall are they look Like designer switches, you know, and so and the way they light up and integrate into just a regular switch box is flawless. And so, you know, when we’re talking lighting control, you can’t tell other than the fact that the light, the switch has an LED light on it, you can’t tell the difference from a designer switch to a Control4 switch. They’re the design on the switch is phenomenal. And they come in multiple colors, and you know, you can change the face plates out, and you can do different keypad type installations. So you know, so on the design side, it’s very minimalistic on the inside of the house. You know, we have touch screens on the wall in in ideal locations, you know, for the homeowner to use. Another thing I really like about Control4 is you know, we can put basically an iPad on the wall that can control the whole house. And stick it, you know, in a hallway by the master bedroom so when they’re coming out, they have access to the whole house. And it’s also integrated on their phone. So you know, that platform, I think that’s why I love that platform so much, is it’s there’s so many ways to access the house, not just from touching the switch. You know, you can literally lay in bed and control your house. You know, so you know Aesthetically, Control4 and you know, this system that we’ve chosen to use, it blends seamlessly in the house and we can make it we can make it as visible as the client wants it to be. You know, we do a lot of sound integration in the homes too. So you know, I’m a big I’m a musician, so I love I love sound in homes. I’m you know, I’ve got thirty some odd speakers in my own house, you know, and so music is and sound is a big part to me. On the integration side, you know. So new technology out there, you can put speakers behind drywall. You know, you can literally hide everything. So yeah, so I think as far as the aesthetic on the interior, it can be as minimalistic or as obnoxious as you want it to be.
Rob Stott: Yeah. No. It depends on your your level of interest in having it be f you know, visually forward. No I think it did I hear you mention like when you are talking to clients or Kai obviously it’s difficult to explain how this stuff wor you can explain it, but it’s one thing to explain it and another to experience it. Do you t did I hear you say like you take clients through your home to show off the technology. That has to be
Jason Bourg: Yeah, yeah.
Rob Stott: Eye opening for one, if they’re not familiar with it, but also like super impactful for them to be able to see the stuff in action before they decide to put it in their home.
Jason Bourg: Yeah, absolutely. I honestly think it’s the only way to truly give them an experience. In you know, is to put in a house that’s already integrated. So yeah, so all of my clients, my office is actually in my house. So my clients come to my house fairly often for meetings, but you know, that serves twofold. That’s a that’s a that’s a two-fold purpose because not only have I built my own house, I can show them some of the things that I can do, but I can also show them the technology behind the house that they can’t see otherwise. And I know I know at Brad’s they have some of this technology available for them to show clients, you know. So they have blinds set up, they have cameras set up, they have the showroom, you know, but a showroom and an actual home that’s already integrated. I mean it just takes it to another level. So yeah, so I bring my clients to the house, I show them the technology, I operate the technology. You know, they can see all the different things that I’ve integrated into my own house and there’s still even more that can be done from what I’ve got. And then at that point, you know, they can get a really good sense of how their home can operate through that system. Yeah.
Rob Stott: Yeah. No, that’s awesome. Well I feel like we could keep going and I’m gonna I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I know you we both gotta work, right? Hell yeah. Well in that case, no I well I well one other one other question I wanted to ask just to kinda close the loop on, you know, I having that integrator partner. You know, what are what are sort of the keys to making that real obviously an interest in the tech and you know
Jason Bourg: You’re fine, man. I’ve got you for the day, like whatever you need.
Rob Stott: Work closely together, but like what are sort of the keys to making that relationship between the builder that you would explain to other builders out there that maybe don’t have an integrator partner? Like what would you tell them about like why it’s important to have one and then how to have a successful relationship with that integrator?
Jason Bourg: Yeah, so as as a general contractor, there’s no way we can possibly keep up with everything that’s new. Or, you know, every little aspect of every little thing. And as a general contractor, we have subcontractors that subcontractors that work with us that are experts in their field. You know, like take electricians, for example. I’m not a master electrician, but my subcontractor is a master electrician and he knows everything about it. And so that’s kind of how I see integrators as well, is they’re a very important resource for me, number one. So they keep me not only up to date with what’s new, but they also keep me up to date on how to integrate these systems in the house electrically on the rough-in stage. You know, because if there’s new technology that comes out where we don’t have to run wire, then we won’t do that, you know. So we really do work hand in hand on you know every aspect of integrating the house from you know from the design side to the installation side. And honestly that really boils down to me. The main thing we do is communicate and we talk a lot. And so early on in the project, Chris and I’ll have conversations about the things that I think the clients are gonna want, the things that I think they’re gonna want in the future. And then we together kind of develop, you know, a system for the house that we can present to the homeowner. And and I can always bring Chris in to explain something that maybe I’m not super intuitive about, you know, that maybe he has a little so let’s like take for example, you know, I’m building a house for an electrical engineer right now. You know, they’re way over my head on some of this stuff, you know. And so I can bring Chris in to talk to him and they can speak their own little language. So that helps tremendously is that you know, that relationship and that communication that we’ve developed over, you know, the last six years of seven years of doing this. Actually, I take that back. Chris and I, I think our relationship started in 2015, which is when I got into Control4. So we’ve been doing this eleven years now.
Rob Stott: Wow. Yeah. Wow.
Jason Bourg: So with my own personal home and then when I built my company integrating him into that system.
Rob Stott: So yeah, there’s definitely a trust built there over that period of time.
Jason Bourg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think for me, you know, the biggest thing, especially if you’re getting into this and you’re wanting to start integrating your houses is, you know, find a system that you want to use. Okay. And for me, you know, that’s Control4. I’m and Control4 is not paying me to say this, but that’s just the system, you know, that I fell in love with. So, you know, I found an integrator that integrated Control4 and luckily for me, they were good people. Like they’ve been really like by my side through this whole thing they’re more than willing to explain stuff they’re very hands-on with me and so that relationship kind of developed naturally i guess you know i’m a very hands-on builder i don’t build from the office you know i’m very hands-on with all my projects i’m you know sometimes i’m swinging the hammer sometimes i’m you know managing subs sometimes i’m sketching it just depends on what aspect of the build but i’m there a lot And so, you know, having those integration partners that are willing to be there with you and walk through those things is super important on for me to have that relationship with them. And so, you know, I would say to anyone that’s looking for an integrator, those are the things that I would look for is you know, someone willing to step out there with you, someone that’s gonna communicate with you. And just be open about you know everything like hey this is the latest and greatest this is this is the budgetary stuff that the cost is always a big thing you know and so you know having an integrator that’s willing to say hey this is what we can do for this you know and just being transparent you know I think that’s yeah and I and that’s really for all subs but especially an integration side you know because there’s so much of that in and even though I’m a technology fool. I love this stuff. There’s still so much that it’s so rapidly evolving that I can’t possibly stay on top of it all. You know, and so I’ve been super fortunate and super lucky to have a great relationship with them and you know, we’ve developed that relationship over eleven years. So
Rob Stott: Yeah. No, that’s awesome to hear. And really again, I you know, just at the heart of kind of what we’re trying to highlight. So that’s awesome to be able to do that. And it was a lot of fun, man, diving into this with you. A really cool conversation. Awesome to hear sort of how things are going, how you got the business together and up and going in in you know, pretty cool short period of time there. But also the technology side. It’s you know, just a lot of fun to see and you know, I definitely think not A one off conversation here. So I’d love to have you back and seeing how things are going, man. So
Jason Bourg: I’d love to. Yeah, absolutely. I’d love to talk to you about all the things these houses can do because that’s a whole nother conversation. Okay. Yeah, sounds great.
Rob Stott: Heck yeah. Well we’ll plan on it. No, that’s awesome. Well we appreciate it.
