Today we’d like to introduce you to David Morrison
David, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in San Antonio and joined the United States Marine Corps after college, serving for five years on Active Duty and in the Reserves which was a formative experience. After moving to Houston from Dallas in 2017, I worked for a residential real estate development company managing their construction projects.
For years, I had a dream of starting a boutique custom home building and remodeling business to service the area in which I lived. In mid 2023, I started Clark | Campbell Homes primarily focused on two things: quality and customer experience. My goal is to try and nail each of those things on every project.
The company has grown a lot in a short period of time. We completed some great remodel projects in 2024 and hope to start our first new construction project in 2025. I’m also currently in the process of hiring my first full-time employee. This person will focus on project management and allow me to spend more of my time working on the business instead of in it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Studies have shown that almost 50% of construction companies fail in the first three years. While I’m determined not to become part of that statistic, I can see how it happens. Home remodeling and construction is a very difficult business with high stress, tight timelines and large amounts of money all needing to be managed.
Our product is not built in a factory where variables can be controlled and processes streamlined, but rather outside in the elements over multiple months with hundreds of different people involved. Materials come from different suppliers all over the world and all need to arrive at the right time with the right person on-site to install them. All the while, the buyer of our product watches over our shoulder every step of the way as it gets built. To say the least, it’s a complex dynamic. I’ve dealt with upset clients, unmet expectations, trades who didn’t show up, materials that were delayed and budgets that went out of control. But at the end of the day, my goal will always be to do the right thing by the client and for their home.
At its core, this is a business of problem solving. Some days it feels like marriage counseling for my clients, some days it’s like putting together a puzzle without all the pieces. However, it’s extremely satisfying to step back and look at something you’ve built that wasn’t there before. You created jobs for the people who worked on it, improved the neighborhood and most importantly provided a place where a family will have their most special moments. That’s what gives me purpose in my work and is why I do what I do.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Clark | Campbell Homes?
Clark | Campbell focuses on projects in some of Houston’s finest neighborhoods, including the Memorial Villages and West University. We take on a small number of projects each year for discerning clients, which allows us to devote close attention to each home, ensuring the goals of the homeowner are achieved.
Our business is currently 100% word of mouth referrals, so we are entirely dependent on happy clients. A good reputation takes time to build but can be lost quickly. I plan to be in this business for decades and to work in the same neighborhoods so I’m very focused on making sure we are a builder known for quality, transparency and integrity.
I truly believe there is such opportunity in this city, that with an insane amount of hard work and some luck, there is no limit to what you can achieve. As cliche as that sounds, still I believe it at my core. To start a company, you need an abundance of optimism, bordering on naivete, that things will work out. You also need to be able to accept
a large amount of risk. Statistically there are many more reasons that it won’t work than that it will. A lifelong gift I was given in the Marines was the discovery of my true potential and capacity in terms of determination. It’s a strength I can tap into when needed. I’m a firm believer in having total agency in whether one succeeds or fails in life. It’s very liberating because in that regard I am betting not on some unknown outside factor, but rather on myself, in which case it really doesn’t feel like much of a risk at all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clarkcampbellhomes.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarkcampbellhomes/
Image Credits
TK Images
