Trip Biesanz·February 6, 2025

How to Lead a Trades Business Without Knowing the Trade | Trip Biesanz Interview

Trip Biesanz is a former Apex Energy Solutions franchisee (vinyl windows, Milwaukee market, ~6 years) who exited in 2020 and spent nearly two years searching before acquiring GNC Glass Mirror and Construction in Lake Zurich, Illinois around mid-2022. GNC is a 40-year-old specialty glazing and construction subcontractor doing $2.4m–$3m in revenue with ~$275k SDE and 50% gross margins, serving both commercial general contractors (65–70% of revenue) and residential homeowners (shower doors, custom mirrors). Trip came in as an admitted industry outsider—no glass or construction experience—and leaned heavily on a long-tenured leadership team (GM of 15+ years, two veteran estimators) to run operations while he focused on relationship-building, sales, and culture. His central insight is that in construction, consistent communication and transparency about problems is a genuine competitive differentiator against fly-by-night operators, and that this approach has helped GNC win back lapsed clients and secure preferred-subcontractor status with GCs. Trip also shares detailed lessons on construction cash flow complexity (retainage, slow billing cycles, long gaps between material deposits and job completion) and credits Calder Capital’s buy-side advisory service for breaking his prolonged search logjam.

Deal facts

sde ebitda: SDE ~$275k
revenue: $2.4m–$3m (2019–2022 range, excluding 2020)
notes: Bought GNC Glass Mirror and Construction in Lake Zurich, IL (northwest Chicago suburbs). Founded 1985. 15 employees at time of interview (down from ~20 at acquisition). Gross margins ~50%. Used Calder Capital as buy-side advisor. Deal closed approximately Q2–Q3 2022.

Why this business

Trip was drawn to construction because of his prior background in residential remodeling sales (Apex Energy Solutions franchise) and window sales (Pella). He wanted a business with a relationship-driven commercial side where he could leverage his networking and sales skills, build recurring subcontractor relationships with general contractors, and own something truly his own after feeling like a 'territory manager' in his franchise. The long-tenured team in place was critical since he had no trade knowledge himself.

What's working

Long-tenured team (general manager 15+ years, two estimators with decades of experience) enables the owner to lead without knowing the trade itself
Radical transparency with commercial clients — proactively communicating bad news has earned trust and helped win back lost customers
Relationship-driven approach with general contractors as a reliable subcontractor, aiming for 'last look' on bids
Strong culture of openness and referrals has supported organic hiring through employee networks
Dual revenue streams: commercial storefront/security systems (65–70% of revenue, B2B with GCs) and residential shower doors/custom mirrors (35–30%, higher margins, B2C)
Owner set honest expectations with key staff in week one, building trust by acknowledging his own knowledge gaps

What's hard

Construction cash flow is extremely complex: retainage (10% withheld until project completion), slow billing windows (30–60 days to approve, another 30 days to pay), and long gaps between material deposits and installation
Project-based nature of the business means revenue is lumpy and backlog management is critical
Highly competitive market on price; winning bids requires demonstrating reliability and value over lower-cost competitors (chuck-in-a-truck operators)
Search took nearly two years of frustrating deal flow before finding GNC; conventional listing sites (BizBuySell) yielded only picked-over inventory
Owner headcount reduced from ~20 to 15 through retirements after acquisition, requiring careful management of workload and hours for remaining staff

Notable quotes

I flat out said this was in the first week within the first week of acquiring GNC I know exactly what's going on here I know the least about what we do and I am the youngest person here and the least tenured person here.

I'm going to give you a long leash all I ask is that if and when I come to you with questions many of them are going to come across as stupid if I come to you with changes or suggestions on things that I think can be done differently with the business I just ask that they're not met with the fight I ask that they're met with an open mind and an open conversation.

What I believe separates us is we're never going to be like oh it's not our fault like we acknowledge when it's our fault and one of the big things early on in my early part of the tenure with GNC when I sat down with a lot of our key customers was what can we be doing differently or what could we be doing better they told me when there is bad news not if there is bad news tell us.

Be honest with yourself about your strengths and your weaknesses if you're honest with your team about your strengths and your weaknesses also you'll be amazed don't feel embarrassed to be vulnerable with people.