Ever wonder what it takes to build 7,000 homes over three decades? Or better yet, what it takes to keep the same team together through multiple companies, market crashes, and the inevitable chaos of scaling a construction business?
Ed Berlanga sat down with Michael to share stories that most builders will never tell you. This isn’t the highlight reel. It’s the real stuff: the midnight decision that changed his career path from tax accountant to home builder, the exact moment he knew his company was about to implode, and why he’d rather have peace of mind than a hundred-hour work week.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. It was exactly at 117 homes. I said, the wheels are coming off. And he just looked at me, ‘No, everything’s fine. We’re doing well, we’re making money.’ I said, no we’re not. I said, it’s going to explode.”
What appears throughout this conversation is Ed’s relentless focus on people over profit. Not in a corporate mission-statement kind of way, but in a “I mortgaged my 401k alongside my guys” kind of way. When he started Texas Homes in 2014, every single employee from his previous company followed him. Not because he paid the most, but because he’d spent 30 years proving that he meant it when he said “I hire to retire, not to fire.”
“If somebody leaves, it’s usually on their own accord, because I believe wholeheartedly in investing in people, giving them every opportunity to succeed. I’ve made very few enemies in this industry over the years. I can’t name any. You treat people with dignity and respect and they give it back to you in droves.”
The conversation digs into the mechanics of scaling without losing your soul. Ed talks about the systems and software investments that saved his sanity, the banking relationships that matter more than interest rates, and why overleveraging for growth’s sake is a trap he’s watched too many builders fall into.
“I’ve seen a lot of people be very successful with using as much of their own money as they can. You want to keep your debt to equity ratio at one, not three. Overleveraging yourself for gross sake, that’s risky because the market can change on you.”
Ed is refreshingly honest about the learning curve, working side by side with his childhood friend Gordon Hartman, putting in hundred-hour weeks when they were young and too inexperienced to know better.
“We always joked, if you work a hundred hours a week, you’re two and a half times smarter than the guy who works 40 hours a week. I don’t know if we got smarter, but we sure accelerated our learning curve.”
A deeper thread running through this whole episode is the impact builders have that they rarely stop to recognize. Ed puts it simply. When you build someone a home, you’re not just putting a roof over their head. You’re creating a vehicle for generational wealth that most families could never achieve any other way. A home appreciating at 10% a year does more for a family’s net worth than most people can save in a lifetime. That’s not sales talk. That’s math.
“The most selfish thing you can do is be selfless. The more selfless you are, and the more you talk to people about what we’re doing for other folks, you get the satisfaction that’s like, I feel a little selfish, I’m really happy, I’m really fulfilled, but you’re doing it for the right reasons.”
Ed’s been involved with everything from Catholic Charities to building 100+ homes for San Antonio’s chronically homeless population. He doesn’t talk about it like charity work. He talks about it like using your actual skills to solve real problems. When a family’s house burned down before Thanksgiving, he didn’t write a check. He rallied his network and rebuilt it before Christmas.
“We said, we can put that house back together before Christmas. This is the day before Thanksgiving. I was thinking to myself, either we’re half crazy or half baked, or we’re just taking on more than we can shoot. But we said, no, we can do it. I like stupid and impossible. It’s kind of fun sometimes to attempt it at least.”
There’s gold in the mentorship sections. Ed learned early from older builders and coaches that you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. You need to surround yourself with great people and put them in positions where they can succeed.
“Most people do not listen to understand, they listen with the intent to reply. I took that as a great lesson to say I shouldn’t listen to reply. I should just listen and understand what the person is trying to tell me, and that’s where I’m going to learn something.”
The family business angle is also interesting: Ed’s oldest son Jack is now his CFO, but not before spending years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Manhattan. Ed’s philosophy:
“If you ever want to work with me, we’ll figure it out, but go do something else first. I’ve seen too many situations where family members are brought in too early. They haven’t experienced other things, both success and failure in other areas.”
If you’re scaling past 20 homes a year, thinking about bringing family into the business, or just trying to figure out how to build a company that doesn’t consume your entire life, this episode has your name on it.
About Ed Berlanga
Ed leads Texas Homes as CEO and President, overseeing everything from land acquisition to after-sale service across San Antonio. He’s a University of Texas grad who started as a CPA before making the jump to construction 30+ years ago. Over his career, he’s built 7,000 homes and developed 10,000+ lots through roles at Gordon Hartman Homes and McMillin Homes before acquiring Texas Homes in 2014.
Beyond building, Ed served as 2021 President of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association, HomePac Chairman for the Texas Association of Builders, and sits on boards ranging from Central Catholic High School to the San Antonio Food Bank. His most impactful project might be Town Twin Village, delivering permanent housing for San Antonio’s chronically homeless, with 80 more units currently under construction.
He’s San Antonio born and raised, married to Kitty, with two sons: Jack (CFO at Texas Homes) and Travis (working in the family restaurant business). Both graduated from Central Catholic, and both took their own paths before finding their way back home.
Texas Homes website: https://www.texas-homes.com/
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