Winning First vs. Going to War: Is Your Pre-Construction Costing You Millions? (With Arch)

Owen sits down with Arch, a 33.5-year military veteran (Marine Aviation & MARSOC) and founder of a commercial and residential general contracting business in Tampa, Florida. Arch shares how he applies the “irreplaceable” leadership and systems experience from his military career directly to his construction company .

They discuss the power of “victorious warriors win first, then go to war”—using military-style “backwards planning” and robust checklists to prevent errors before breaking ground . Arch also shares the “significant loss” he took on his very first job from unsigned change orders, and how that expensive lesson shaped his “contracts are in stone” mindset . This is a masterclass in building a scalable company through systems, leadership, and a plan to win.

🕒 Timestamped Key Points

• [02:46] Why his first partnership didn’t work out
• [04:16] 33.5-year military background: leadership & project management
• [04:31] Hiring a bilingual PM (Carlos) was the key to working ON the business
• [06:21] Background in masonry: “Marine Corps was easy” compared to it
• [10:07] Transferable skill: Using aviation checklists to guarantee results
• [10:25] Debriefing: Figuring out “what worked, what didn’t work”
• [12:33] “Victorious warriors win first, then go to war” (pre-con planning)
• [17:31] The $25,000 mistake from 3 different plan datums
• [21:11] The “bitch session” that built office/site collaboration
• [26:31] Expensive lesson: “Learned it the hard way on job one”
• [27:21] Taking a “significant loss” from unsigned change orders
• [35:31] Next hires: 3 full-time superintendents & 1 construction admin
• [37:05] The goal: Scaling to the $25M-$30M range