Design Development

What if the incentive package isn't what decides where a company goes?

Kyle Touchstone grew up in South Mississippi, the kid of a hardware store owner who watched one large manufacturer change what a small business and its employees could afford. Today he is Director of Raleigh Economic Development, a program of the Greater Raleigh Chamber that provides business recruitment, retention and expansion services on behalf of the City of Raleigh.

Kyle says the Raleigh area is growing by about 100 people a day, up from about 33 ten years ago. That kind of growth gets attention from companies. Kyle says it is not why they come.

He puts it plainly: companies come for the talent and a competitive cost of doing business. Incentives are part of the game, but they are the dessert.

So what does a city need beyond the pitch? Kyle says developers who took a chance on the market created the opportunities for companies to locate there, like the redevelopment of an old steel mill that became home to Audemars Piguet's North American service center. He also points to a city process that brings developers and the AEC community to the table on day one, with a plan, a date and a reconvening meeting.

In this episode, Kyle and Rens dig into:

● How a hardware store in South Mississippi shaped Kyle's view of what one large employer can do for a community.

● How Raleigh Economic Development works with the Greater Raleigh Chamber, the City of Raleigh and regional partners.

● Why Kyle says the Raleigh area is growing by about 100 people a day, up from about 33 ten years ago.

● Why Kyle calls incentives the dessert, and what he says companies actually come to Raleigh for.

● How Raleigh structures incentives as a grant tied to the property taxes a company pays, with approval through a public process.

● Why Kyle says developers who took a chance on the market created the opportunities for companies to locate in Raleigh.

● Why Kyle says Raleigh has never been an office spec market, and what that means for new deliveries.

● How the city brings developers and the AEC community together from day one, so a project knows what it takes and when.

● Why predictability may matter more to developers than speed.

● The cost of growth analysis the city is working on as it plans for the next 30 years, and why Kyle thinks it could build support for density.

● What Kyle calls radical collaboration, including pitching companies alongside partners in Durham.

● Why the Greater Raleigh Chamber takes about 180 civic and business leaders to another community each year to ask what they would do differently.

● Where Kyle sees the next wave of opportunity, including billions of dollars of investment in downtown Raleigh.

The business lesson underneath the episode is bigger than Raleigh:

Pay attention to what actually brings people to the table.

Sometimes the winning move isn't a bigger incentive.

It's a predictable path from the city to the developer.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

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Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

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Founders can run a real estate firm on heroics for a while. At some point, the business needs a system.

In this episode of Design Development, Leslie Cohen, Founder and Principal of Ops Alchemy, talks about strengthening operations, reducing founder dependence, and preparing a business for growth and leadership transitions.

Leslie shares how she approached becoming the first COO at Samuels & Associates: establishing a cadence around the operating budget, listening to people throughout the organization, and clarifying decision ownership among partners. She also explains how she diagnoses operational challenges today and helps teams implement improvements.

In this episode

• Recognizing when a real estate firm has outgrown the way it operates.
• Giving operations dedicated attention as the company grows.
• Defining roles and decision ownership before assessing whether people are in the right seats.
• Understanding the communication problems created when founders bypass management.
• Aligning operational improvements with the founder’s goals and succession plans.
• Starting with the most important pain points and documenting workflows, including tenant introduction through lease execution.
• Using standard operating procedures to support onboarding, training, and consistent execution.
• Connecting operational improvements to financial results and sharing the operating company’s financial picture with the team.
• Building quality management through defined processes and standards while preserving independent judgment.
• Documenting processes before introducing automation or AI.

About Leslie Cohen

Leslie Cohen is the Founder and Principal of Ops Alchemy, a consulting firm that helps growth-stage companies scale by aligning people, process and profit. Its approach: “We focus on the business so you can focus in the business.”

With more than 30 years of experience in real estate, Leslie brings an operator’s perspective, having built her career from developer to Chief Operating Officer. She partners with founders and leadership teams to transform organizations in a growth mode or period of transition, creating operational clarity, systems and structure.

Before launching Ops Alchemy, Leslie served as COO for Davis and COO for Samuels & Associates, where she executed firm-wide strategy. Known for translating vision into execution, she has led organizations through periods of growth and change while strengthening culture and driving financial performance.

A respected industry leader, Leslie has served as President of CREW Boston and NAIOP MA. Her numerous honors include Bisnow Power Women in Commercial Real Estate, BBJ Women Who Mean Business, Globe Street Women of Influence, the CREW Boston Leadership Award and BBJ 40 Under 40.

Leslie has a BSCE from Tufts University and an MBA from Babson College. She resides in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children.

Connect with Leslie

• Ops Alchemy
• Leslie Cohen on LinkedIn

Resources mentioned

• EOS and the Accountability Chart
• The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham
• Walker Webcast
• Adam Grant’s podcasts

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

What if the most valuable thing a window cleaner brings down from the side of a building isn’t clean glass — but information?

Matt Pierce started his career pounding the pavement, walking into restaurants, car dealerships, and storefronts selling recurring window cleaning. Today, he leads PIERCE Property Services, a roughly 120-person company providing maintenance, waterproofing, restoration, roofing, and broader building-envelope services.

The leap between those two businesses wasn’t part of some perfectly executed strategic plan.

It started with listening.

A crew member once pointed out that if they were already standing on the ladder cleaning windows, they only had to climb a couple more steps to clean the gutters.

That simple observation became a much bigger philosophy:

If the customer already trusts you with one problem, what other problems are you uniquely positioned to solve?

Eventually, Matt recognized an even larger opportunity. His crews weren't simply servicing buildings. They were repeatedly seeing parts of the asset that owners, property managers, and even consultants rarely see.

So PIERCE began documenting what they found.

That eventually became LIFECYCLE360 — technology designed to capture, locate, and track building-envelope conditions so owners can better understand what is happening to their assets and plan maintenance and capital expenditures before small problems become major restoration projects.

Today, Matt says the company has captured roughly 250,000 images that are helping power the next AI-backed iteration of the platform.

And he isn’t stopping there.

Matt also launched Building Envelope Group, exploring whether the systems, technology, training, and operating model developed at PIERCE can help established contractors in other markets evolve their businesses — without requiring those owners to sell to private equity or abandon the brands they've spent decades building.

In this episode, Matt and Rens dig into:

• How storefront window cleaning became the foundation for a building-envelope company.
• The employee observation that helped reshape how Matt thought about expanding services.
• Why recurring maintenance creates an unusually valuable relationship with building owners.
• The original problem that led PIERCE to develop LIFECYCLE360.
• How 250,000+ field images are being used to build its next AI-backed iteration.
• Why deferred maintenance can become dramatically more expensive as buildings age.
• Matt's philosophy of “listening to the whispers of the business.”
• Why his strength as a delegator can also become a weakness.
• Using data to separate great-looking opportunities from businesses that actually produce healthy margins.
• Why Matt created Building Envelope Group instead of simply planting PIERCE offices across the country.
• The tension between private-equity consolidation and independent, family-owned contractors.
• How Matt thinks about growth after surpassing milestones he once thought might never be possible.
• The role faith, family, reflection, and intentionality play in keeping ambition from consuming everything else.
• Why Matt says he wants to “fight for these days” while his kids are still at home.

The business lesson underneath the episode is bigger than building envelopes:

Pay attention to the advantages hiding inside the business you already have.

Sometimes the next business isn't a completely new idea.

It's sitting two steps higher on the ladder.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

Most business owners go through a pivotal moment—their first real look behind the curtain at how buyers value companies. For Rens Hayes, that moment came when he went through a sale and due diligence process for his father’s structural steel business. What he learned from that experience completely changed how he approached building and scaling his own company, H&O Structural Engineering.

In this episode of Independence by Design™, Rens and host, Ryan Tansom, break down how he engineered his business for value creation, using Ken Sanginario’s Engineer’s Value Opportunity Profile (VOP) as his roadmap. Instead of scaling haphazardly, Rens built his company by systematically improving the eight functional areas that drive business valuation—the same areas buyers care about most.  

Rens and his partner have taken a deliberate approach to aligning cash flow, valuation timelines, and growth goals, ensuring that every dollar reinvested moves them closer to financial independence. Whether you are preparing for an eventual exit or simply want to build a business that works for you instead of the other way around, this conversation is packed with insights that will change the way you think about scaling, hiring executives, and managing risk.

Rens Hayes is a structural engineer and entrepreneur who transformed H&O Structural Engineering by applying enterprise value principles to modernize the traditional engineering industry. After experiencing due diligence firsthand, he shifted from operator to owner mindset, implementing Ken Sanginario's Value Opportunity Profile to align business growth with long-term value creation. Hayes helps real estate developers maximize returns through strategic design and cost-efficient engineering, while sharing insights on scaling, capital allocation, and executive hiring—expertise valuable for business owners seeking to build wealth-generating enterprises rather than just larger companies.

Resources:

Website: H&O Structural Engineering 

LinkedIn: Rens Hayes 

Podcast: The H&O Podcast 

Sound Bites: 

"Scaling a business isn’t just about revenue—it’s about building an asset buyers actually want." – Rens Hayes 

"The biggest mistake founders make? Hiring executives before they know what success looks like." – Ryan Tansom 

"If you don’t know how to allocate capital inside your own business, you’re just hoping for growth—not engineering it." – Rens Hayes 

"There’s a difference between working in the business and working on the business. The sooner you figure that out, the sooner you get your time back." – Ryan Tansom 

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

For roughly 40 years, developers looked at a six-acre oceanfront site in Long Beach and couldn’t get it done.

Then B2K did.

In this episode of Design Development, Jon Weiss explains what finally unlocked the 1.2-million-square-foot Superblock - and why getting a project built often has less to do with the idea and more to do with timing, local buy-in, construction strategy, and understanding the economics early enough to make the right decisions.

Jon is a fourth-generation builder and partner at B2K Development, where he leads B2K Construction and oversees nearly half a billion dollars in active construction.

We also get into:

• What Jon learned growing up in the family business under his grandfather, Sydney Engel
• Why a “fast” development approval on Long Island can still take years
• How similar buildings can carry dramatically different construction costs depending on geography
• Why B2K brings construction into the process early instead of relying on late-stage value engineering
• How understanding the developer’s pro forma changes the way a contractor approaches design and cost
• Why B2K is expanding into Connecticut and South Florida while remaining deeply rooted in Long Island

It’s a conversation about family business, partnerships, development risk, construction economics, and what it really takes to build smarter.

Don't miss the full conversation of with Jon Weiss, Principal and President of Construction at B2K Development.

Resources:

• B2K Development - Explore more about B2K Development’s projects and initiatives.
• Long Island Builders Institute - For more information about the regional development climate and ongoing projects.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

Early in his career, Patrick Carino tracked real estate opportunities with aerial maps pinned to the wall and a binder full of spreadsheets. It worked, but it exposed a bigger problem: real estate is inherently visual, yet much of the information developers use to make multimillion-dollar decisions is fragmented across spreadsheets, maps, inboxes, and relationships. That frustration eventually became DealNav. But it also opened up a much bigger conversation about how great developers actually make decisions.

Patrick Carino is Vice President of Development at The NRP Group, where he sources and executes market-rate multifamily developments across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. He's also the founder of DealNav, a map-based deal-tracking tool he built after years of managing his own pipeline in Excel and Google My Maps — now used by real estate professionals across the globe who want a simpler map-based alternative to bloated CRMs.

Pat also brings a broad perspective across brokerage, entrepreneurial development, and institutional real estate. Before NRP, he worked at RMS and began his career at CBRE, where he was involved in more than $1 billion of investment sales transactions.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why capitalizing good deals may be harder than finding them right now.
• How decision-making changes when you move from one owner deploying his own capital to an institutional investment committee managing other people’s money.
• Why some of the best development opportunities still come through relationships, not simply better data.
• What working on $1B+ of transactions at CBRE taught Pat about validating every assumption.
• Why NRP built a highly specialized organization and how that structure supports scale.
• The Westchester deal Pat walked away from after investing meaningful time and money, and the lesson he refuses to learn twice.
• How NRP is growing its Northeast market-rate pipeline across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
• Why Pat built DealNav and what he learned turning an internal tool into a software business.

The through line is bigger than real estate software.

Information helps you find the opportunity. Relationships get you access. But judgment determines what you pursue, what you pass on, and whether you can ultimately get the deal built.

Resources:

• NRP Group: NRP Group Website
• CBRE: CBRE Website
• Deal Nav: Deal Nav Website
• Book/Resource Mentioned: $100M Offers, Alex Hormozi's work for growth strategies, particularly in sales and business development.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

(Ep. from 10/24) Rens Hayes IV is the co-founder of H+ O Structural Engineering, a pioneering firm focused on innovative solutions in real estate development, design, and construction. With a background in steel construction and engineering, Rens's journey in the industry has been fueled by an early influence from the family business and a commitment to lifelong learning. He is a certified value growth advisor and has utilized his expansive knowledge to scale H+O nationally, emphasizing alignment in design processes and financial efficiency.

Joe Walker, principal at Walker Architects, operates in Georgia and Florida. A previous guest on "Design Development," Joe is recognized for his insights on agile design and leadership in the architecture industry. 

Episode Summary:

Dive into a captivating exploration of cutting-edge design and structural engineering with Rens Hayes IV on the episode of "Design for an Agile World." In this engaging dialogue with Joe Walker, Rens shares his revolutionary approach to engineering through the H+O Cost Index, a model that aligns design efficacy with economic practicality. Learn how H+O Structural Engineering blends innovative business acumen with top-tier engineering talent to create sustainable value in the construction and real estate industry.

Explore the mindset at H+O that drives success in a dynamic industry. Rens shares his philosophy of lifelong learning, applying MBA-level insights to shape H+O's strategic and operational model. He outlines how financial management and enterprise value creation foster balanced organizations, aligning client goals with employee success, and highlights the future of structural engineering's role in real estate development. 

Key Takeaways:

• The H+O Cost Index leverages trained personnel and proprietary data to bring efficiency and cost-effectiveness to structural design.
• Lifelong learning and open book financial management are pivotal to scaling and improving organizational processes.
• Crafting a "design process" rooted in understanding construction costs can lead to significant client value and project optimization.
• Aligning business operations with strategic goals allows for sustainable growth and profitability in the design and construction sectors.
• Embracing technological advancements and AI could revolutionize site planning and the future of architectural design.

Resources:

• Connect with Rens Hayes on LinkedIn: Rens Hayes IV LinkedIn
• Learn more about H+O Structural Engineering: H+O Engineering
• Podcast Recommendation: The Game by Alex Hormozi
• Book Mentioned: "Atomic Habits" by James Clear

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

A dog run almost triggered another stair.

The solution? Convince the building official that the space wasn’t assembly space. It was a fitness center.

For dogs.

That story is a good snapshot of this conversation with Ben Kasdan, Principal at KTGY Architecture + Planning.

Great multifamily design isn’t just about creating something that looks good. Every decision sits at the intersection of resident behavior, building code, construction cost, site constraints, operational efficiency, and ultimately whether the development pencils.

Ben has spent more than two decades navigating those tradeoffs across multifamily, mixed-use, affordable, student, and urban infill housing.

In this episode of Design Development, we get into the decisions shaping the next generation of multifamily development:

• Why the “amenities arms race” may be over and what residents actually value now
• The multifamily efficiency benchmarks triggering an architect’s “BS meter”
• Why co-working space has evolved far beyond one big communal table
• How pools, pet amenities, and even “catios” influence the resident experience
• Why KTGY created a dedicated R&D studio to solve problems before they show up on real projects
• What makes office-to-residential conversions far harder than they appear
• How architects can use research, data, and experimentation to make better development decisions

We also explore a bigger question:

How do you know which design features actually create value - and which ones are simply consuming valuable square footage and development dollars?

Ben brings the architectural perspective. Rens brings the structural and cost lens.

The result is a practical conversation about designing buildings people want to live in without losing sight of the economics required to get them built.

Listen to the full conversation with Ben Kasdan of KTGY on Design Development.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

Rens Hayes IV, the host of "Design Development," is a structural engineering expert and co-founder of H+O Structural Engineering. With a lifelong commitment to learning and growth, Rens is passionate about high-powered organizations and leadership. He brings extensive experience in real estate development, design, and construction, aiming to share actionable insights drawn from top industry performers through his podcast.

Episode Summary:

In this insightful episode of "Design Development," host Rens Hayes shares ten actionable steps for young professionals aiming to advance their real estate development, design, and construction careers. Rens emphasizes an "abundance mindset" and the importance of self-reflection and openness to growth, while illustrating effective career strategies drawn from his own professional journey. This episode offers a roadmap for leveraging skills and mindsets to achieve career goals, ultimately helping professionals feel less stuck and more empowered in their career trajectories.

Throughout the episode, Rens explores core concepts such as the four stages of contribution, viewing oneself as a "business of one," and the critical nature of planning. By understanding these principles, young professionals can more effectively navigate their growth trajectories, manage expectations, and break through hurdles that might otherwise lead to career stagnation or burnout. Key strategies like delivering complete work, owning one's future, and recognizing the compound effect are highlighted, ensuring listeners walk away with actionable insights for immediate implementation.

Key Takeaways:

• Four Stages of Contribution: Understand your progression from being dependent to eventually contributing strategically, and strive to acquire skills to move you independently through your career.
• View Yourself as a Business: Treat your role as a "business of one" where your sole client is your manager. Focus on delivering value instead of partial efforts.
• Accountability and Planning: Own your career path and plan your professional development, keeping a clear view of your goals and desired achievements.
• Continuous Learning: Invest in your growth with daily habits and long-term planning, recognizing the power of compound growth in skill development and career success.
• Proactive Problem-Solving: Always propose solutions when seeking input from mentors or managers, transforming every question into a learning opportunity.

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.

Rens Hayes is the passionate and insightful host of "Design Development." With a wealth of experience in architecture and engineering, Rens has dedicated his career to advancing professional growth within the industry. He leverages his podcast platform to share invaluable lessons, engaging discussions, and expert advice to help individuals overcome career plateaus and achieve their professional aspirations.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of "Design Development," host Rens delves into the crucial topic of breaking through career plateaus. The episode aims to challenge conventional career-growth mindsets and provide tangible strategies to advance professionally.

In a thought-provoking segment, Rens emphasizes the importance of judgment over time, referencing Naval Ravikant's insights from "The Almanac of Naval Ravikant." He draws analogies to illustrate how individuals can maximize their value by enhancing judgment and credibility. Rens also underscores the significance of refining weaker areas instead of focusing solely on already strong skills, thereby fostering continuous personal and professional development.

Key Takeaways:

• Judgment Over Time: Leveraging superior judgment can significantly amplify one's professional value, especially in decision-making roles.
• Holistic Skill Development: Professionals should focus on improving weaker areas to become more valuable team members and leaders.
• Effective Communication: Managing every interaction, whether with clients or colleagues, can create compounding positive effects on one's career.
• Transitioning to Management: New managers must reframe their understanding of success, focusing on team development and strategic alignment with company goals.
• Embrace Lifelong Learning: Continuous learning and adapting to new perspectives can prevent career stagnation and promote growth.

Notable Quotes:

1. "In an age of leverage, judgment is far more valuable than time." - Naval Ravikant 
2. "If we only play to our strengths, we might never overcome our weaknesses." - Adam Grant
3. "Every single conversation is an opportunity to leave a positive impression." - Rens Hayes
4. "Success as a manager looks different from success as a doer; it's about developing your team and aligning with strategic objectives." - Rens Hayes
5. "Lifelong learning involves challenging what we believe to be true and thinking differently to solve problems." - Rens Hayes

Resources:

• Naval Ravikant's "The Almanac of Naval Ravikant"
• Adam Grant's "Think Again"

Thanks for being part of the Design Development community.

New episodes drop every Wednesday, featuring leaders across real estate, design, and construction.

The goal is simple: learn from how great people think, lead, make decisions, navigate setbacks, and create opportunity.

There is no single path to success.
Careers are not linear.
The lessons are in the story.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube

Find out more at https://h-o.engineering/podcasts/

Let’s go.