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Show Summary
In this conversation, David Simonini shares a poignant story about building a $6 million house for a client, highlighting the emotional impact of fulfilling dreams through construction. The discussion delves into the challenges faced and the satisfaction derived from making a significant difference in someone’s life.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
David Simonini (00:00)
this is a big, you know, big like football player kind of guy. And I looked at my project manager and I said, man, we do some. And I said to him, said, hey Thomas, you okay? And he said, he said, man, if you knew what it took to get here, you know, what he grew up in a room, I think with three brothers and sisters and, know, and he, here he is moving into 10,000 feet in, in a, know, I made this guy’s dream come true.Quentin (00:24)
Yeah.Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Excited today to be with you. Always excited to have a fresh face, someone who’s an expert in what they do. And we get a chance to pick their brain. We get a chance to let them tell you about their experience and get some nuggets, glean some nuggets from their experience. And so I’m so excited to introduce you guys to Mr. Simonini.
How did I do Mr. David Simonini? How did I do? Awesome. Awesome. He was giving me prep, y’all, right before we signed in. He must have read my thoughts. I was practicing it in my head. And so Mr. David, yeah, exactly. I might not have got it right without your coaching. So I appreciate you, sir. And again, super excited to have you on. I really mean that you know what you do in your field.
David Simonini (02:29)
You did good. You did very good.Not many people look at that right.
Quentin (02:54)
And you even told me, you you’re dominated in the Charlotte area. You have 40 years of experience. So it’s no doubt in my mind, you know exactly what you’re doing, but I kind of want us to pick your brain on how you do what you do. And so I want you to take us into your world. Tell us what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us a bit of an origin story of how you got in real estate, I think we would love to hear that. But listen, sir, the floor is all yours.David Simonini (03:21)
Okay, well, I appreciate being here today. My name is David Simonini. We have a company, David Simonini Signature Homes, where we build luxury homes. Our family has been in the real estate building business since the 70s. My father was a builder. My brother’s a builder. At one time, was me and my father and my brother in a construction industry. I broke off on my own about 1994 to build one of a kindI call them masterpieces because truly my homes are masterpieces. So we build luxury high-end homes, typically two million and up in South Park area of Charlotte, North Carolina. And South Park’s got an infill location, it’s miles from uptown and it’s a very desirable area of Charlotte. And we build just one of a kind, I’ve never built the same home twice.
We custom design every home for the site. And we work really hard with the clients and so on to get exactly what they want. We have an amazing team. So, you know, we love what we do.
Quentin (04:37)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Like you told me, you know, you and I continue to that word dominate. You told me you dominate in Charlotte area. You used to be you, your dad and yourself. Now it’s just you. And so I’m interested to know what are some of the key strategies that you use business wise and actually personal to kind of keep yourself motivated, to make sure that you’re hitting your goals, to really like scale and success. So what are some key strategies that you use, Mr. David?David Simonini (05:07)
Peace strategies that we use, ⁓ you know, what everybody says about real estate, it’s about location, location, location. I mean, that’s just true. So I try to, it’s hard to find lots where we’re at because I’m in the oldest section of Charlotte. So there really is no empty lots. And so I’m having to buy homes that are beyond, somebody doesn’t necessarily want to repair them, you know, so there, I hate to say, but we have to bulldoze a lot of houses.But people realize that because you can’t spend a million five renovating a house where you still, at the end of the day, you still have an old house. So finding the locations are the hardest thing, the biggest challenge. I have a real good eye for that. I kind of just have a sixth sense about it. And I see opportunities that other people don’t see. And also because of our reputation and our legacy here in Charlotte,
A lot of people call us before they put their product on the market. So we get a lot of opportunities other builders don’t have. I had two last week, you know, we’re thinking about selling our house, wanted to check with you first. I made an offer on both of them. I haven’t heard back yet, but so we have a lot of those opportunities that other builders don’t get a chance to get because, you know, we’re probably the most recognized recognizable luxury home name in Charlotte. The entire family, as I said, my
My sons are builders, my brother’s a builder, my sister was a builder at one time. So we all, that’s what we do.
Quentin (06:36)
Wow.Yeah, yeah. And everybody has a Simonini name. So it’s that name that’s ringing bells. mean, that’s, unless you can’t duplicate that name, that name in itself stands out. So it makes sense that it’s all over the place, right?
David Simonini (06:58)
Yeah, so it’s, you know, if you arrive around South Park, you’re to see my signs in a lot of areas. I have some amazing, you know, I was a leader in the, I’ve been known to be a leader in the architecture here in Charlotte. Like back in the nineties, I brought European architecture to Charlotte. There were no architect, there were no European homes. And I did a project called Carance, which is French for.Quentin (07:03)
Yeah, yeah.David Simonini (07:23)
flowing waters and it was seven acres of floodplain that I turned into this amazing European village. And Professional Builder Magazine voted it number one subdivision in United States. And after that I did a project called Chipping Camden, which is an English village of luxury townhomes. And I went to the Cotswolds of England to do my research on that. And so I used to, I don’t just build, I create thesereally masterpieces. And I go to France, Provence of France, or I’d go to Chippincampden in England, in the Cotswolds, and I’d actually do a lot of research, and then come home and try to do something special in Charlotte. And now, I’m doing modern. So we’re doing these amazing modern homes with lots of glass and, you know, very sleek, you know,
Quentin (07:54)
Yeah.Yeah.
David Simonini (08:21)
It was very sleek,open floor plans, and it’s a lot of fun because I really like the modern. And ⁓ I’m having a lot of fun with it because it’s just, it’s got a lot of cool features to it. So we’re now doing mostly modern, but I still have clients that still want to build some Europeans, some traditional product. But the wave right now, today, ⁓ is modern. And so I’m riding that wave for a while.
I’m sure it will change. know, gray was the hot color last year. This year it’s green and brown. I’m waiting for Mauve to come back. When Mauve comes back, but I know we did to full circle. I think I used to Well, I think Mauve was big back in the eighties, but I think it’s coming back.
Quentin (08:53)
Yeah.Uh-huh.
One of my favorite colors.
So that makes sense. I was born in the eighties and I love mauve. that maybe that makes sense. Maybe that’s why I love it so much. I’m so, so I’m interested. Do you have a favorite builder or artists or architect? Like, do you have like a personal favorite that you really kind of lean like inspiration from?
David Simonini (09:17)
Bye.It was big in the end.
Well, the modern homes, the guru is Frank Lloyd Wright. I mean, he did it back in the 60s and he was innovative ⁓ of that product. And so I love him and a shout out to Bobby McAlpine. I think he’s still in Alabama. He is amazing. Here in Charlotte, we use Christopher Phelps. ⁓
who’s amazing and love working with Chris and we use other architects as well. So as architecture, ⁓ those are people that we work with and enjoy being around. And I do a lot of, now that I’m in my modern mode, I do enjoy looking back at what Frank Lloyd Wright did 50 years ago. ⁓ So anyways, what was the other part of that question?
Quentin (11:14)
You answered, I was just asking if you had a favorite, like a favorite architect, artist or builder. Like, I don’t know if you glean a lot of information from art yet. So you answered the question, but that was the question. Yeah.David Simonini (11:24)
Yeah, ⁓ those are people that I look up to, you know, and Chris and I make a good team here in Charlotte and we do a lot of our products together.Quentin (11:34)
Beautiful, I love it. Well, you you have an eye, you when you said, you know, you’ve done this for 40 years, like some things just come in neat. You know, I was reading that in order to get to the point where things just come so natural, you had to already have put several years of work in. And so it makes, it’s no surprise to me that things come so in neat because you’ve just put in the time. You’ve just built up your muscle in a sense, just over and over. Yeah, right.David Simonini (12:00)
I’m old.I’m old.
Quentin (12:04)
Yeah,see, now listen, I, listen, I was trying to give a very articulate way to just say experience and you’ve done it a lot, you know?
David Simonini (12:14)
Yeah, yeah, we tried to say it in a nice wayQuentin (12:18)
but no, man, you know, I appreciate you.David Simonini (12:19)
He’s inveteran. I’m like Steph Curry, man. He’s 38. He’s ready to work. I’m just getting started, believe it or not. I kind of took a slower time the past few years and got bored. I’m really creating some of the most amazing architecture I’ve done in my entire career. Just now getting ready to start it. So I think the future is going to be amazing. I plan on going really hard.
Quentin (12:22)
There you go. Absolutely. Absolutely, Yeah, man, absolutely.David Simonini (12:49)
for the next 10 years at least. I wake up, the one thing about this business is you gotta love what you do. And so I love creating and I love the passion. I love the feeling. I’ll tell you a quick story. I’ve built a $6 million house for a gentleman and we’re walking through the house, house about halfway done. And he just started crying.Quentin (13:17)
Hmm.David Simonini (13:18)
this is a big, you know, big like football player kind of guy. And I looked at my project manager and I said, man, we do some. And I said to him, said, hey Thomas, you okay? And he said, he said, man, if you knew what it took to get here, you know, what he grew up in a room, I think with three brothers and sisters and, know, and he, here he is moving into 10,000 feet in, in a, know, I made this guy’s dream come true.Quentin (13:43)
Yeah.David Simonini (13:48)
And man, there’s, know, it makes it all worth it. Right. And we’re doing that now with a couple of clients that are really, you know, I, I’m not building people’s first home. I’m really building their last home. You know, from here, they may go to Florida and put their feet in the sand. may, you know, move up to the mountains and kick back in a rocking chair on a porch. But I mean, I’m building people’s houses that they’re not building again. And so.Quentin (13:52)
Absolutely.Yeah.
David Simonini (14:17)
They’re taking all their years, all their creativity, all the years of, you know, accumulating that, hey, this bedroom needs to be a little bigger. And I really wish we had a fireplace here and I wish the kitchen was a little bigger. And so we create these amazing dreams, you know, because this is something that, you know, that I’m doing a job now for a gentleman. And he’s so excited and we’re creating all these cool rooms. You know, he’s got, he’s got us.His cold plunge next to his sauna next to his hot tub. I mean, he’s like a, you know, and he’s got this workout room, but he’s, he’s fantasized about this room his whole life. And I’m making it come true. And so it’s a, it’s a lot of fun.
Quentin (14:51)
Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah, man. I can only imagine how rewarding that is for you just to see people face light up. And that’s interesting, your awareness to know, well, not awareness, but yeah, guess awareness to know. You’re building people’s last home. Like, in a lot of them, I guess they’re dream home, right? The home that they have been, yeah, that they’ve really been, it’s been, exactly, it’s been in their head for so long. And now to see it come to right in front of their eyes, that is enough to get you emotional, right?
David Simonini (15:18)
dreamboatfor 40 years.
Quentin (15:31)
And so, yeah, that-David Simonini (15:31)
Yeah, soit makes it all worth it,
Quentin (15:34)
makes it all worth it, all worth it. So listen, let me ask you, what are you most focused on solving or scaling next? Like, is there a next real goal for you? Is there something you’re aiming for in the near future or even just five years from now?David Simonini (15:50)
⁓ You know, we have goals of how many homes we’re going to build and so on, but I only want to build really special projects. So we’re not trying to just take on every job. ⁓ We really focus on infill architecture. ⁓ It’s usually a good right fit, but it’s got to be good fit with the client.We got to be in, I’ve really worked with my clients as a team. I really truly do. And our entire team is so amazing. I have some of greatest employees in this industry. And you know, we build, we partner with our clients and we create this vision together. It’s not the builder versus the client. We are truly one. And it’s a lot of fun because, you know, I love walking the jobs with them.
I love walking the jobs with my project manager. I love walking the job with my clients. ⁓ I love creating, you know, we walked the job last week with a client and we’re coming up with ideas when we’re walking the job. You know, she wanted to put these bookcases on this one wall. And I said, you know, this is really a featured wall with an arch ceiling and all this. said, I’m not sure we should put bookcases here. You know, let’s maybe put it over here.
And I said, we could actually do a disappearing door with the bookcase. So you would even know there’s a room here. And she lit up. She said, my God, you’re right. You know, because she was taking away one of the features in this room was this beautiful window in this elliptical ceiling. And it’s a study. And the bookshelves were going to take away from this wall. And so I, I don’t know, I have a GIF.
Somehow, I don’t know how, maybe it’s because I’m Aquarius or whatever. I’m amazingly creative. I’m constantly thinking. I’m laying in bed at two in the morning taking notes on my phone and my fiance’s like, what are you doing? And I said, I had some ideas and I’m jotting them down on my notes in my phone because I didn’t want to forget them. And so I’m constantly reaching for the next level. I mean, this morning I set myself up.
a text on something I saw the way I’m going to be doing my baseboard in my next house and stuff. Cause I want to take, I always want to be one step ahead of everybody in Charlotte. I can’t tell you, I started sealed crawl spaces in Charlotte. I started, back when we were doing vented crawl spaces, I started using wrought iron then and the other builders using plastic vending. Um,
I started ⁓ zero entry showers instead of having to go over a curb. The list goes on and on. Now everybody kind of follows me. And so I’m starting the next trend. And I do a lot of time and effort research. I’m constantly looking in other markets, California, Miami, New York. When I’m out of town, I’m going to open houses. Because, you know, other markets, you know, maybe something we don’t have here. You know, Charlotte’s just now becoming
modern houses, but California has been modern for 20 years probably. So, you know, there’s a lot we can learn and I’m constantly looking at opportunities to make ourselves better. I’m literally a perfectionist in construction. And my last three homeowners that moved in literally, all three of them couldn’t make a list of 10 items total between the three of them. mean, these are six million dollar houses. You’re telling me.
Nothing. You know, I’m so proud of that. I mean, it just blows my mind. You know, I think the first time I’ve heard of one client in a year, three years, she said her mailbox hinge was squeaking. I didn’t make the mailbox. But I went over and fixed it, but I’m like, that’s your, that’s your only issue. I didn’t even make it. I, you know, but I went over there and made it, I fixed it for her. So, I mean, I’m real proud of the job we do. We do an amazing job.
Quentin (20:16)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.Thank
Yeah.
David Simonini (20:42)
And my team is, like I said, the best. The best in Charlotte.Quentin (20:47)
You it sounds like to me, cause you’ve mentioned your team, you said you partnered with people. So it’s like to me, relationships are really, really important to you. And what are some of your secret sauce to growing relationships? Like what’s made the biggest difference for you when it comes to relationship building?David Simonini (21:05)
⁓ we listen. First of all, we have to listen. We have to sit in that first meeting and I, the wife will sit there and I have to have a, I have to have this. I want the bathroom to be like this. I want the kitchen like this. We just did this last week with this amazing couple and I have a full-time architect on my staff and we’re already, she doesn’t know this, but we’re already working on her dream house plan and she, we’re just doing it and I’m going to surprise her with it.But I listened to the changes she wanted to make. And ⁓ so we’re working on that, but it’s listening. It’s ⁓ sharing my 40 plus years of experience ⁓ of what I suggest and recommend. And it’s important to have a builder that has been through it. It’s just, like I said, I’m building people’s…
Maybe their last custom home they build. you know, I really don’t want to make any mistakes. So I try to think of, you know, I try to think way ahead. You know, what we’re going to need this here coming up in a month and what can I do to make this better? You know, and I’ll remember that maybe the husband, Bob said, you know, when he’s in the garage, he wants this at his workshop and he wants special lighting on his, you know,
And I’m already researching that and coming up with great ideas. ⁓ I make this painless for the client. The client’s ideas are, you know, I take on the burden of making sure it happens and I bring them what I think’s best. And most times they’re like, we love it. You know, because some clients come in the door and they’re like, I don’t know. All I know is we need a new house and my better is not big enough and I want a better kitchen.
Quentin (23:02)
ThankDavid Simonini (23:03)
The rest of it, I don’t know. And I’m like, I listen to it and then I come back with some great ideas and they’re like, oh my God, you nailed it. And I’m like, awesome. So that happens a lot. It just happened. It literally just happened. Well, the client is could build probably a four and a half million dollar house. So anyways, we.We really work hard. have some of the best staff. My project manager is amazing. My operations manager is an ex-banker, eight years banking experience. He just brings a lot of ⁓ experience with that here. And I’ve got a great team from the marketing and ⁓ my land acquisition manager. My in-house architect’s amazing and so on. So I put together a really good team and that’s…
That’s the secret sauce. You gotta have the right team.
Quentin (23:59)
Yeah. No, it sounds like to me again, you know, I started asking this question. It sounds like to me you take relationships very seriously and to talk about your team. You have been glowing about your team pretty much this whole podcast episode. So it lets me know you matter. And the fact that you can think ahead of your client. I wish I could be there when you show that lady’s face, her dream house that she ain’t even thinking about, that you already got in mind.I wish I could be there when you show, like when the time comes for you to present it, whether she bring it up or you bring it up. And I just, wish I could see her face. Like, wait a minute, what? Like what? So, man.
David Simonini (24:40)
I hadone client is a long time. It was probably 20 years ago. And they said, got this big 4 million back then was a big deal 25 years ago. And they said, we have $4 million. We have no idea what we want. Know it. I got with Chris Phelps. We designed a house, this European home, all stone, cedar shake roof, a backyard that made MTV cribs look sad.
I mean, I’m talking about one of the things, they literally looked at each other and said, my God, how did you know? I said, I don’t know. just, it came to me. mean, I literally just, it came with this Europe and it was featured in many national magazines and so on. It’s one of my finest homes I ever built. And it’s probably worth 10 million today, but it’s, and it’s all stone. I brought limestone in from Oklahoma and created a
a limestone home with a cedar shaped roof and we did copper windows. Can’t do that today probably. Copper windows, copper is so expensive now, you probably, it wouldn’t be feasible, that ⁓ was very rewarding. you know, it’s not just building, it’s not just being successful, it’s not just everything, it’s creating people’s, you know, dream.
Quentin (26:24)
Mm. Mm. Mm.David Simonini (26:49)
What could be more rewarding than making someone’s dreams come true?Quentin (26:53)
you. Yeah, it’s nothing more rewarding than that, right? Yeah, yeah.David Simonini (26:55)
Right? So…⁓
So, you know that I’m lucky that I’m able to get up every day and come in here and do this, be honest with you. Very blessed.
Quentin (27:07)
Yeah. Well, listen, Mr. Simonini like to me, sir, everything I’ve heard, you are a true artist, man. And I hope and pray that you’re taking time to have a system in place that shows your legacy, right? That archives what you do, because I think what you’re doing is going to outlive you. Obviously it’s going to outlive you, right? Because what you’re building, you’re building structures just in themselves that’s going to last. But I think your legacy…is going to last and people’s going to look back at you and one of the great builders that they admire and look at your stuff and they’re going to say, Hey, yeah, Dave is one of my favorite builders. And so I’m excited about what you’re doing. I thank you for taking time out today. Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,
David Simonini (27:57)
My email is david at davidsimonini.com. Simonini is spelled like Simon, I-N-I. David at davidsimonini.com. Email me, especially if you’re moving to Charlotte or the surrounding areas and let’s build your dream.Quentin (28:14)
There he is. Sir, thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your perspective. Today has really, really been a pleasure. And so I thank you so much for stopping through. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Now listen, everyone, you’ve heard Mr. David. You heard what he’s doing. You know we’re going to continue to bring amazing people just like Mr. David. You can’t tell me this was not an amazing episode. So just go ahead and subscribe. That way you can come back in.David Simonini (28:27)
You’re welcome. Thank you very much.Quentin (28:44)
and you can just stay connected with us. So Mr. David, I thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.David Simonini (28:51)
Thank you very much.
