RAYLEE HOMES: ALL IN THE FAMILY
Feature Story
Is there a finer legacy for a father than to have his children take over the family business and transform it in their own vision while retaining the core values that made it a success in the first place?
For the Grady family, a third generation family of home builders — now operating as RayLee Homes — nothing is more important.
“As I weaned myself from the company and let these guys run more and more of the business on a daily basis, right now and for a long time, it’s been completely functional on their part,” RayLee founder Scott Grady said. “We talk about some of the bigger decisions, but day-to-day they’ve been on their own. It’s all them.”
Sons Jeff and Tim Grady and daughter Tammy Grady Thornton have picked up the hammer when the elder Grady put it down to take on other challenges.
“The subs love them and the homeowners love them,” Scott said. “They’ve been really carrying on the legacy that my dad started with me and I passed to them. It’s kind of a nice thing to see that they have made the business even better.”
Scott learned at the hands of his father Bud Grady, who built houses before moving on to sheds with All-Star Builders. He is also one of the few remaining house movers in the state. Scott constantly evokes his father’s lessons on business to his children.
“I’ve always encouraged them,” Scott said. “Not only from a business perspective but as their dad, to take what I taught them and grow. That’s just like my relationship with my dad. There were a lot of great things I learned from him, but he created a foundation for me to build and develop.”
Scott finds some of his father’s best lessons were in his approach to materials and techniques.
“It’s kind of interesting because my dad had a different perspective on how to run a business,” Scott said. “He was very frugal with his money. For instance, we would mill our own lumber. As a young guy, 15 or 16 years old, he would send me to a lumber mill in Las Vegas (NM) to pick up a load of culled lumber to process through a machine in our yard in Bernalillo. We would actually take crooked lumber, send it through this machine and make straight lumber. That’s what we would make our houses out of.”
More than anything, Scott learned the amount of work it takes to succeed.
“The most important thing I learned from dad was work ethic. That guy was just tireless. If there was an hour left in the day, we did it. If there was another moment in the day, we did it.”
But he also learned how to treat people, a lesson he passed on to his children.
“I learned not only the technical things in construction, but also how to manage employees and that is what I tried to pass on to my children. The most important thing is integrity, along with the importance of a handshake and looking people in the eye — the work ethic associated with being a self-employed person,” Scott said.
“Like my dad said, it’s about respect, integrity and holding true to your word,” Tim said. “I remember a quote Dad used to tell us, ‘Every day you wake up and its game day. And you better come to play.’ Jeff and I still think about that today.”
Of course, they were well-grounded in the fundamentals, as well.
“My dad was very, very adamant about when Jeff and I started in the business, we started in the field,” Tim said. “We started in the trenches, per se, as superintendents.
So we knew how to build a house from the ground up, which was important before we were actually able to try and take thing by the reins.”
Even though their dad is no longer an active part of the daily operations, his presence looms large.
“It has been a wonderful challenge to work alongside our Dad over the past 10 years,” Grady Thornton said.
“His experience and reputation in the homebuilding business is to be admired and we strive each day to continue his legacy while continuing to learn new and innovative ways to be the best in the business,” she said. “The opportunity to improve people’s lives through homebuilding is a gift and a great responsibility.”
Keeping things rolling has been the ongoing theme for them.
“I think for all three of us, there was a sense of excitement and we knew there were some big boots to fill,” Tim said. “There’s some added pressure when your dad is your boss. You want your business to do well and you also want to make your dad feel proud. I’m not going to lie and say there wasn’t some pressure.”
The trio scales things way back from when RayLee was at its peak as a three-state operation building a 1,000 homes a year in the mid-2000s.
“We saw how big things got with my dad and how successful he was and we did see things start to turn with the economy’s downturn,” Tim said. “We always thought it was the perfect time to get in. We didn’t know any different as business owners. He mentioned our first year closing 20 houses. That was Jeff, Tammy and I, along with a couple of other people.”
Tim describes the operation while working through the recession and recovery.
“Jeff and I were building houses. Tammy was selling them. We had some finance backing here in the office. We celebrated those 20 houses. We thought it was the coolest thing in the world.”
And so did their dad.
“I’m really proud of them,” the elder Grady said. “They all have different responsibilities and all have different skill sets but when you put it all together, it’s a cool thing.”
Scott takes pride in the accomplishments of his children and their continued success.
“You live your company. You live what you’re doing 24 hours a day. It’s not like when somebody goes home at 5 o’clock. You are actually that encompassed and that engaged. I think that’s the most important thing about being successful for anybody in business is the fact that they know it’s a 24-hour-a-day job and the commitment that’s associated with what it takes to make those kinds of businesses successful.”
It’s been a lesson well-learned.
“I remember a quote Dad used to tell us,‘ Every day you wake up and its game day. And you better come to play.’ Jeff and I still think about that today.” tim grady