Josh Lyle

Husband, Father of 3, @AF_Academy ‘01, Professional Engineer, Commercial Subcontractor, Freediving Spearo, Ultrarunner, Mansard 2 Modern

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

Things they don’t tell you about starting/buying/running a blue collar SMB:

1. You need to be a technical expert in your field. Good blue collar employees will sniff out a poser real quick, losing all respect for you. I get multiple calls a week from my guys seeking technical guidance. You better be able to answer their questions.

2. You need to be good at sales. “All business is sales business.” If you are a technical expert but hate being a salesperson you will not succeed. I often jokingly get told I should be a used car salesman or could sell ice to an Eskimo by my employees and some clients.

3. You will not succeed if you remain a one man/crew show. You likely start out that way, but if you are afraid or unable to grow beyond yourself and a few workers you will not succeed. You can have a comfortable life that way, but you will not “get rich” as they like to talk about on here. My first year in business (2018), I hired my first employee in March, but ended the year with 8 employees. We did $1.23M in revenue that year, but had only done $174k of revenue through June.

4. You will constantly be dealing with employee relations/turnover. You will be stolen from by an employee. You will have a bogus workers comp claim filed against you. You will end up reluctantly giving a mediocre employee a pay raise because he has another offer, and though you would love to replace him, he is doing an okay job and you would be worse off without him. You also will tell yourself you can’t fire that mediocre employee for months on end, and then finally you will and realize you don’t miss him at all and find your other hardworking employees were judging you for keeping him around for so long.

5. You will be super stressed out because you don’t have enough work and will be convinced you are not going to succeed. The same week you will be super stressed because you have too much work and you will be convinced you will ruin your reputation by not being able to complete the work you won.

6. You will have a bad job/client that will suck dry all of your profits for months on end. You will not be able to sleep for nights on end worrying about it. You have to get up the next day and still complete that job that is costing you $5k, $50k, $500k or more. We completed a project in 2023 with a contract value of $1.4M where our direct cost (COGs) was $2.0M.

7. Clients will waste your time. You will bid a job multiple times with multiple different scenarios only to have a competitor swoop in at the 11th hour with a lower bid and be awarded the project. Will you have a good attitude when that client calls you up the next time to bid the next job?

8. Each year your employees cost you more (if you aren’t giving them raises someone else will…so many folks on X are starting SMB’s now remember), insurance goes up, lawyers/accountants increase their fees, taxes increase. You have to keep growing just to keep up with these increased costs of doing business.

9. Long hours…you will work really long hours and no one will notice or care. Hopefully your 14 hour days will only feel like 10 hour days because you ultimately enjoy what you are doing and building.

10. At some important level you have to have a passion for the work you are doing. In my early 20’s I left the Air Force because I had a passion for building. I loved being a Civil Engineering officer in the AF but they were too far removed from the actual construction. I then went to a large commercial GC working for them for 11 years building some amazing structures, but I still felt one step too far removed. Now I am the subcontractor directly responsible for framing the walls and hanging the drywall and I love it. Zero chance I would have had success if I just did this because X told me I could get rich.

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

We did it! After years of struggling with overpriced construction management software that wasn’t built for us, we went and built our own. Using Claude Code and other AI tools, we were able to build and launch custom software specifically for Lyle Contracting Solutions Inc.'s needs.

Just a few years ago something like this would have taken a team of developers years to build and deploy, which made it an impossible option for the average company. Using advanced tools and techniques, we were able to build our platform, from conception to deployment, in less than 3 months. Here are a few of the cutting-edge features that we were able to roll into the software platform:

- Custom-built application designed by our field and office teams

- AI-assisted chat interface for daily log and timecard entry

- Fleet-integrated GPS maps that show management/asset locations

- Web, IOS, and Android applications

- Offline data and image sync

- Fully integrated drawing system with custom markup

- Improved T&M, Change Order, and Budget/Materials tracking

- 100% configurable and filterable daily tracking and reports

The world has changed – AI has brought new possibilities for us to make our company faster, more efficient, and more responsive.

#constructionsoftware #softwaredevelopment #AIrevolution #customsoftware #buildingthecarolinas #subcontractor

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@onlyskypace 120

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@10mirbeyxx 72

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@jamesonhaslam This photo has $104.7k worth of doors…two 12’, a 20’, and in the distance a 30’ door on the pool house. Crazy how expensive they are now.

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@shairnn 9

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@farman4x 7

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@shairnn 18

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@farman4x 12

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@10mirbeyxx 7

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@SMB_Attorney @smblawgroup We need to talk. About to buy my first business. A small ($4M) steel erection business in eastern NC. I’ll DM you.

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@Elifbenad 120

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@jamesonhaslam You had me at T&M! Good job. This year around $750k of the $9.0M+ we will do will be T&M. Happy clients and happy bottom line.

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@linadreaamy 9

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@AmandaMashburn First post I have seen from you in months…scrolled down more in my feed and saw that they have updated the algorithm earlier today. It must have worked.

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@linadreaamy 10

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@linadreaamy 98

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

For the babies first 18 months or so yall just need to manage the 3 S’s. If the baby is unhappy they either need to Sleep, Shit, or Suck! That’s it.

Also, mother’s intuition is a thing and is super powerful when they have a new born. Your wife will surely be getting lots of information and advice from others or other sources. Some of that advice might go against what she is feeling y’all should be doing. Keep asking her what her instinct tells her to do and support that path relentlessly, as she may be doubting her instincts because of what others say or do.

Congrats!

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@jamesonhaslam https://t.co/hu2skRInr0

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

@jamesonhaslam All business is sales business! Great write up. I have been enjoying following your journey. BDE for the win!

[Josh Lyle @Josh_C_Lyle]

Interesting thing I have noticed over the last several years…my friends on the left have hard lines “if you think xyz we can’t talk about politics.” Yet my friends on the right have never given me ultimatums about what we can and can’t talk about. I will discuss any topic with any of my friends. And if you can’t that means way more about our friendship than the topic we are discussing. If you are my friend, I want to hear your views. This is mostly a problem on the left from my experience.