How a Contractor Plans to Build 500 Energy-Efficient Homes in 10 Years | Harold Packer

Harold Packer (00:00)
right now we’re trying to get that Packer Development going. And our mission at Packer Development is to build 500 homes in 10 years. And in those 10 years, we want to get these homes certified through LEED, ENERGY STAR and Indoor AirPLUS. And that would give us the triple crown home. And those homes are like the highest standard to build in in America at this moment. If we could give those to our occupants, we feel that could uplift the community.

And everybody around it.

Quentin Edmonds (01:01)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited about my guest today. he’s a builder, he’s a contractor, he’s a carpenter, he’s a CEO, he’s a owner, and so I’m super excited.

I see his vision and I believe it’s something that’s really gonna be sustainable and really gonna help people. And so I’m so excited that we get to peek through his journey, learn from his experience. I’d like to introduce you all to Mr. Harold Packer. Mr. Harold how you doing today, sir?

Harold Packer (01:36)
How’s it going?

Quentin Edmonds (01:37)
man, doing great, sir. Doing great. Glad you’re here, man. glad we get to do this episode together.

I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, kind of how you got into the spots that you’re in. And then tell them where you operate, man. which city, what state you’re operating out of. Because people they love to know that, especially if you’re close to them. So Mr. Harold you got the floor, my friend.

Harold Packer (02:04)
Okay. Well, my origin story starts a little bit fourteen years ago in Denver, Colorado, when I started out in the construction industry. And through my fourteen years, I became a carpenter and I also became a contractor. And with becoming a contractor I realized I didn’t want to just be a contractor. I wanted to be a little bit more. I wanted to do something. So that’s what led me to the energy efficiency.

Through energy efficiency, I started working with leed and you the USGBC to become a leed AP for homes. So that gives me the knowledge to be able to identify things and to spot things and build things to be sustainable. So that when to talk about sustainability, it’s not just sustainability of the builds, it’s sustainability of the life of the products and the personalities of the people, the well-being of the occupants.

Quentin Edmonds (02:54)
Yeah.

Harold Packer (02:55)
right now we’re trying to get that Packer Development going. And our mission at Packer Development is to build 500 homes in 10 years. And in those 10 years, we want to get these homes certified through LEED, ENERGY STAR and Indoor AirPLUS. And that would give us the triple crown home. And those homes are like the highest standard to build in in America at this moment. If we could give those to our occupants, we feel that could uplift the community.

And everybody around it.

Quentin Edmonds (03:23)
I’m hearing a community oriented mindset, a helping people mindset. Where does that passion come from? Like what’s the passion to help the community, to help the people? Where does that come from?

Harold Packer (03:35)
Well, I think I’ve always been that type of person. Deep down inside to passion to help the community. me being a community person as a kid, growing up in the community, getting a lot of help from the community to get to where I’m at today. That have gives me the passion to bring back to the community.

Quentin Edmonds (03:51)
So Mr. Harold I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? when we’re building something substantial that’s gonna help people, when we’re building these businesses, everything adds up. The journey adds up, the lessons, the losses, the success, everything adds up. So I would love to know, sir, throughout your journey.

What has the journey revealed to Mr. Harold about Mr. Harold? Has it made you more disciplined, more humble? Like what is this journey to building this? What has it taught you about yourself?

Harold Packer (04:23)
This journey taught me I’m a fighter. I started being a contract six years ago. I thought this thing was gonna take six months. Literally. I thought in six months, everything’s gonna be running, boost the ground, my name’s gonna be buzzing, everybody’s gonna know who I am, and it’s just life’s gonna be good. And six years later, I’m understanding I’m still only almost halfway there to being where I wanna be.

Yeah. that’s the biggest, you what I pill to swallow and that’s what I’ve this biggest thing I’ve learned. But be honest, if I would have knew how long it would have took in the beginning, I probably wouldn’t have finished. But now you get to the point where turning back seems like it’s farther than going to then finishing. Yeah. So you might as well get to the finish line.

Quentin Edmonds (05:42)
it’s nuggets in the journey, man. And I love how you said if it was laid out what it would take to get to where we are, we’d be like, man, forget to go get out. Like what?

Harold Packer (05:50)
Yes! I think it’s

Quentin Edmonds (05:53)
there’s a part of the brain. I wish I had it committed to memory, but it’s a part of your brain, it can only be accessed and only grows through.

overcoming hard times. Like we are designed to be able to overcome and it increases our growth. It literally increases our capacity to do things, to manage things, to take on more responsibility. And so to your point, I’m glad that the journey

teaches us and it puts us in a position to grow and to grow through opposition grow through hardship if i would have known some of the things i had to go on had to go through i’d be like nah no thank you i’m

Harold Packer (06:32)
Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (06:32)
off now on the play absolutely man one of the things that maintain us within business is operations and systems right

So I would love to know from you, sir, what’s one operational thing that you’ve put into place, let’s say the last year or two, that has really helped you find your way towards success or the path that you need to be on.

Harold Packer (06:57)
Well, one operational system that I’ve been putting in place over the past year, I do a lot of things on my own. I do a lot of the office work, I do a lot of the building work, and I do a lot of stuff was kind of trying to learn how to use AI. implementing AI into my business kinda helped me do a lot of things faster and more efficient, even though AI is not all the way up to speed yet.

But implementing that type of strategy into my business and kind of letting the process go, that was been of the biggest like advantage I’ve had in the past year.

Quentin Edmonds (08:07)
what’s the next real goal? What are you looking to solve at scale next, man?

Harold Packer (08:11)
Well, what’s up next for us is the Eco Flip. We wanna get all our energies focused on our TV show we want to get launched called the Eco Flip. And on this show we will go take distressed properties in certain neighborhoods and rebuild them to greatness. Yeah. Doing gut rehabs, additions and stuff of that nature. selling them and also having it documented and reported or in and hopefully aired on TV.

Quentin Edmonds (08:38)
Why that direction? Why TV? is that just a passion or is that just kind of seeing what works?

Harold Packer (08:44)
I think the revolution should be televised. So what I feel like what I’m doing is revolutionary. So I want it to be televised.

Quentin Edmonds (08:52)
Love that. it sounds like you want people to kind of know the game. Like it sounds like you’re not trying to gatekeep. Like you really want to show people, this is how this is done.

Harold Packer (09:00)
We’re gonna be giving a lot of the game out on the show. We’re gonna be showing you how to build energy efficiency. We’re gonna show you the little tricks that you may not be aware There’s a lot of things people are unaware that you waste about twenty percent of your water on just on leaks. Just on leaks. if you just could fix your leaks in the average home, you can save twenty percent on water. Just little stuff like that, knowing which plants to plant outside so you don’t have to water as much and

which way to orient your house when you design it so it could just not use as much heat. Those little things I could spot, just looking at a home. that’s what the lead training has had me do. we’ll be taking homes and just identifying ways we can make them energy efficient. And then if you’re anywhere in the country and you watching the show, you could take these ideas home with you And implement it to your own home.

Quentin Edmonds (09:44)
The eco flip that sounds brilliant. So everybody comes on the show, Mr. Harold. I love to get their unique perspective on the word relationship. So I want to get your unique perspective. What is your philosophy or outlook or perspective with building healthy business relationships?

And what are maybe some relationships that have served you well, that continue to serve you well, and maybe some relationships that you serve people with helping them.

Harold Packer (10:12)
relationship first thing that comes to mind is accountability. Doing what you say you’re gonna do. Nobody wants to be in a relationship with a person that doesn’t do what they say they’re gonna do. That’s not reliable. If you say you’re gonna be there, be there. If you say you’re gonna do it, do it. Yep. give it your effort out of it. I feel when relationship just me having accountability to do all those things for another person, that is what relationship means to me.

Quentin Edmonds (10:35)
I love the word accountability. I have very strong accountability relationship brotherhood that I leaned on. I had to lean on it the other day. because I had to be just honest about where I was, man, like with my processing and different places that I was in. So I love when you talk about accountability. I think that’s a beautiful thing. And I’m adding accountability and integrity at the same time.

we’re gonna tell people how to get in contact with you, but before we get there, Anything else you want to talk about when it comes to your business?

is there any other message that you feel like people should know?

Harold Packer (11:08)
Well, the blessings I would like people to know is that energy efficiency doesn’t always mean expensive. The first thing everybody always thinks is the upgrades are gonna cost the arm and a leg. Being energy efficient is supposed to cost you less. It’s supposed to save you money.

Quentin Edmonds (11:26)
if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Harold Packer (11:35)
Well my website is el-gatos.com but it’s the E L then a hyphen and gatos.com I usually take all inquiries from there, or you can reach out to me on social media at Harold Packer, Facebook, and also have my phone number on my website and on social media. You could reach out to me via text and email. [email protected]

Quentin Edmonds (11:53)
So, Harold let me say three things to you sincerely, man. One, again, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity, man. So thank you for making some time for us today. Secondly, man, thank you for the gift of your authenticity, the gift of your integrity. I feel like when we show up as our authentic self and talk about what we do best, it plants little seeds for people so they can look at their life and just see what you talked about into the garden and the things that they’re growing.

So I think you planted some real seeds today, man. So thank you for coming on and doing that. Lastly, man, thank you for the way you think, your unique perspective, your mindset, and bringing that mindset to this platform. I appreciate you coming on today, sir.

Harold Packer (12:33)
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Quentin Edmonds (12:34)
Absolutely.

So listen, y’all heard her, my friend Harold here. His information is in the show notes. So please get in contact with him. Make your home energy efficient. Like he said, it’s not supposed to cost you more, it’s supposed cost you less. So get in contact with him. Find out more about that. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed here. Cause I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Harold Packer So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, listen.

You’ll have an incredible day.