Green Day

That description applies equally well to Redhorse, which packs a prodigious range of capabilities into a light, efficient corporate structure. And we can stretch the cycling metaphor further still. Each time Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France, he did so with the support of a highly skilled, though largely anonymous, team. No team, no trophy. And the same is true for Warner. From the time he founded Redhorse, Warner says, “It was a very dynamic situation. It wasn’t like I had a five-year plan. I was looking at daily opportunities; it wasn’t even weekly opportunities.” The guiding principle, he says, was avoiding the mundane projects, following his interests, “going where the juice was.” But someone has to mind the store, and Warner knew that he wasn’t that guy. “I’m good on global and not so good on micro,” he says. “I’ve always had a good controller in the company, and a good accounting company. That’s one of the bigger things. You’ve got to know your strengths and cover your weaknesses with people you totally trust.”

Today Warner’s first line of backup is a trio of lieutenants: project managers Jay Blumenfeld and Michael Houts and CFO Neil Holland. Blumenfeld and Houts share Warner’s responsibilities for project oversight. Each takes an equal share of the job list, though Houts adds, “David gives special attention when need be. He is available to any owner at any time. He never turns the phone off. He lives, eats, and breathes his work.” These three seem to be eating and breathing their share of it too, and Houts is on familiar ground when he discusses how work.” These three seem to be eating and breathing their share of it too, and Houts is on familiar ground when he discusses how Redhorse differs from its competitors. Unlike builders who subcontract most or all of their field work, he says, “Our crews are well versed in all aspects of building, from coming up out of the ground to handing the project over.” On-site administration is three layers deep—a project manager, a site superintendent, and a site administrator to manage paperwork, budget, and schedule—“That’s what that scale of a project requires. We do not ever let a subcontractor on the site without Redhorse presence.”

The company distinguishes itself also by the scope of services it will administer. “We try to take on the full package, as much as the owner will allow,” Houts says, listing the professionals he might coordinate on a typical project: land use attorney, civil engineer, surveyor, soils scientist, water testing company, mechanical consultant, electrical engineer, solar consultant, structural engineer, and wildlife biologist. “We have failed if, at the end of the job, a client asks, ‘Why didn’t you tell me about that?’”

CFO Holland influences the client experience too. “We build a custom home, but also a custom contract,” he says. “We customize the contract and the billing.” To make the process as transparent as possible to the client, the company’s contract, accounting, and billing documents all use the same format.

In a company of 60 employees doing $25 million annually of intensely complex work, this layer of management is the difference between chaos and order. More importantly, though, it frees Warner to be Warner. “We try to keep up with him,” Houts says. And the captain clearly sets the pace. It is Warner’s enthusiasm and drive that are the company’s mainspring; his intellectual curiosity and confidence that turn chance encounters into business niches; his imagination and relentlessly positive outlook that advance greener ways of building. And for Warner, it all comes back to green building. “If you take the passion for green building as a way that we have to go to be a successful culture on the planet,” he says, “and apply that passion to your work, then you get more and more into applying new technologies and accepting new technologies faster. Our ability to apply new technologies is a huge asset.” Accept change, validate new technology, and put it to work, Warner says; that is the process. “You’ve got to make risk your friend. That’s why I’m up in Canada building a factory. We’re not waiting for someone else to do it. We’re doing it. That’s what I live for. That’s my day.”