Building a 5-Star Fence Business with Paul Montenegro, Owner of Hawk Fences

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube.Paul never saw himself installing fences. After serving in the Marines straight out of high school, he joined the upper echeleons of finance at Blackrock, but something was missing. Once thing led to another and he left his career in finance behind to start a fencing company with his friend. Three years later, Hawk Fences is installing 15 fences a week for a mix of residential and commercial customers.In this episode, we get into how Paul grossed $400K in their first year of operations, why 75% of his customers are pet owners, and his moves to grow their fence business.Some takeaways:* Parallel pathing subcontractors and direct outreach. Although a majority of their early revenue came from subcontracting, Paul still spent multiple days each week knocking on doors and canvassing with door hangers. He advises folks to do both early on. Building a brand takes time, and it was weeks before they got their own lead from his outreach efforts. Meanwhile, their subcontracting work allowed them to pull in early revenue and learn on someone else’s brand. * Look for talent in adjacent industries. Sourcing great installers is tough. Instead of trying to poach from other fence installers, Paul’s strategy is to source folks who do framing for construction. It’s a similar motion to fencing with a lot of the same tools, meaning the train up time is minimal. Plus, fencing is a whole lot safer.* Refining your ideal customer profile. When Paul first started, he assumed that his target market would be neighborhoods with the highest home prices. Over time, he realized that a sense of community is what matters most. Neighborhoods where folks know each other drive the highest referral volume. Nowadays he looks for signs like kids playing in the street, neighbors chatting with one another, etc.* Pet owners drive demand. Initially, I assumed that most fence work comes as a result of a home purchase. In reality, it’s existing homeowners getting pets. Nearly 75% of Hawk Fences’ installs are for customers who recently got a dog.* Project managers can make or break your business. Paul’s second hire was a project manager to handle customers and installer crews. He credits their project manager with a lot of their success. Not only does he manage projects and handle customer support, but he also brought a deep network of installers to Hawk Fences, meaning that they’re able to deliver on projects in a matter of weeks, not months.Where to find Paul and Hawk Fences:* X: https://x.com/Paul0Montenegro* Website: hawkfences.com* Instagram: @hawkfencesIn this interview, we discuss:* 0:00 Current Volume* 0:49 Intro to Paul Montenegro* 1:51 Serving in the Marines * 3:23 Growing up around his Mom's Bakery * 4:06 Leaving BlackRock for Fences * 5:31 Starting Out with Subcontracting * 8:07 Creating a Brand * 9:52 75% of Clients Are Pet Owners * 10:30 How They Pick Neighborhoods * 11:47 Price per Job * 12:38 Building the Team * 16:55 Streamlining Estimates * 19:49 Permits & Dig Alerts * 21:49 Building a Warehouse * 23:24 Vertical vs Horizontal Expansion * 25:10 What Separates Great Fence Companies This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smb15.substack.com