David and Nathan McWhorter discuss how their family steel construction company grew from a garage welding shop into a 75-person operation. They share lessons on reinvestment, hiring, family leadership, and adapting to a cyclical industry.
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About the guest
David and Nathan McWhorter. David started D&D Welding in his garage in 1992, after gaining experience in ornamental iron and custom fabrication. The family steel construction company grew to 75 employees, and Nathan describes its goals, hiring approach, and work to improve operations.
Key takeaways
- David says reinvesting in equipment and facilities brought more satisfaction than spending on nicer cars, and helped the company improve fabrication efficiency.
- Nathan describes working backward from revenue goals, using win rates and bid volume to estimate how much work the company needs to pursue.
- The family emphasizes hiring the right person at the right time to solve a specific business problem, especially when the company must be profitable each month.
- Nathan recommends approaching leadership with humility, learning from experienced employees, and earning respect by producing results.
- David says he and his wife encouraged their sons to make decisions and mistakes while providing guidance as they learned the business.
- The company brought steel detailing in-house through its operation in Thailand, and David says this has helped support clients.
- David describes using shop automation, including automated fitting and welding, to improve efficiency and compete with larger companies.
- The company returned to steel erection after leaving that business in 2010, aiming to serve clients and projects more fully.
- David says he had to stop being involved in every problem and show employees he trusted them to make decisions.
- Nathan advises second-generation family business members to value the opportunity, work hard, and avoid feeling they must prove themselves entirely on their own.
Best quotes
"I would I would say that my wife and I were extremely committed to reinvesting back into the company way more than we were committed to having nice cars and and all that stuff."
"I loved the facilities and the equipment part of it and strategizing uh, how to bring out efficiencies in fabrication and stuff."
"So we as a family have revenue goals or goals for the business and then we work backwards from those."
"But one one step further than just like hiring people is hiring the right people, especially when you're a family company that needs to be profitable every month."
"Step one, have humility. Step two, actually produce results."
"we really want them to um go through some of these struggles that all small businesses have."
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