ERIC: The growth didn't happen because we were such and such. The growth happened because we wanted to become such and such. We really focused our growth and staffing and the mix of skills within that staffing on a goal, and so it was really about bringing on the right people at the right time because we needed to do that to get where we wanted to be.

(Voiceover) Did you -- did you pull your permit.

You can't spend your time reacting to the opportunities that you're given. You have to know what opportunities you want and be prepared for them. You can't -- in my business you can't go get a job and then figure out how to do it. This is too important to too many people and if you are lucky enough to even be on a list to get a shot at a project, you better be able to perform. If you get picked, it isn't time to go hiring people. It's time to figure out which of your team are going to be the ones to execute it.

HATTIE: OK, so that meant you had to invest dollars perhaps to get that person before you had the dollars in your bank account.

ERIC: I don't buy into the idea that everything has an ROI that you can calculate and be sure of. What is entrepreneurial if it isn't risk. You know, what is risk if it isn't getting the right person who is a talented person, experienced, has exactly what you know you would need if you were doing the things you wanted to do, but they came too soon.

Risk is getting them when you can get them, and being ready when the time comes. It isn't waiting till you have a job and then running around looking for anybody to do it. That's not managing risk. In fact, that's creating risk.

And you don't know which you could do if you don't have people that you have tested, that you have brought on, that you have watched, and observed and trained and taught and learned from. It's a collaborative effort, but you need to have them on board well in advance of when you're going to rely on them.

HATTIE: Even though you've got 40 something, almost 50 people on your team. It can be lonely.

ERIC: It's lonely because you're constantly trying to learn what you don't know.

The last 10 years have been remarkable in residential construction. It has been the second coming of the gilded age. It's just been extraordinary in terms of the quality, of design, materials and workmanship that has resurged in residential construction. And we haven't seen anything like it in decades.

We're trying to build that perfect thing that lasts a long time for the client; but for the architect, you're trying to make whatever it is they think up and make it happen. When it seems like they're asking for something that can't be done, what they're asking for is for something that somebody else hasn't done yet. And that -- that's where you can really make a difference and that's what we love.

I think when you're young you don't know necessarily what it is that's driving you. You know, I knew I wanted to be a builder. I remember even talking to my father about my decision to do that. And I would describe it in terms of, 'I want to go out there and I want to cut wood and nail nails.' And then you wake up one day, and in my case I woke up and said, 'Well that was fun. Now what?' And I went back to where I started which is what I really love. And it was just a closer contact with a complicated project.

HATTIE: Right. So that's OK to do.

ERIC: If you don't do that you're making a mistake. If you don't follow your heart, if you just stay in that big job because it's a big job with lots of people (and you get to fly around the world), well that's fine, if that's enough for you. But, if really being successful is about living what you do and about getting better at what you do, then being around a lot of people who work for you and flying a lot of places isn't the point.

And so for me, I needed to come back and do this.

HATTIE: How smart is your business? How smart is your home? One thing we all have learned from Eric, we can all get smarter and our homes can too! We'll see you next time.