Craig Neal didn’t come up through the usual channels. He didn’t study construction management. He doesn’t have a degree at all, actually. What he does have is a story that starts in a small Scottish town, takes a sharp turn at a funeral, and winds through Thailand, the South of France, Fort Lauderdale, a decade on private yachts, and eventually into the heart of American home building.
In this episode, Michael Krisa sits down with Craig to trace that path and pull out the lessons that matter for builders at any level. And there are plenty.
Craig was set up to take over his father’s motorbike showrooms in Scotland. He had the house, the dog, the whole setup. Then he attended the funeral of a vendor’s infant child, and something shifted permanently.
“When I saw it going into the cremation, I had to stand up and walk out. It was like a light bulb went off in my head that life’s too short. Within three months I sold my house, sold my puppy, quit my dad’s company, and moved to Australia.”
That decision, the willingness to walk away from a comfortable path when it no longer felt right, became a pattern that would repeat throughout his life. Thailand, back to Scotland, then dock-walking in the South of France and later Fort Lauderdale, hoping to land work on private yachts.
He got his break working as a deckhand on a celebrity’s yacht in the Bahamas. He talks about what he was actually like (quiet, polite, building a high chair with Craig on Christmas morning) and what the work demanded. Eighteen to twenty hour days during guest trips. A standard of detail that borders on obsessive.
“The guests would be on deck holding the rail, looking out to sea, but once they left, you had to wait till they were out of sight and then come out to buff out the fingerprints on the stainless steel so it was perfect. That work ethic and level of detail really helped with my foundation of being detail-oriented moving into any job.”
He rose through yachting ranks over ten years, eventually serving as first officer on John Henry’s yacht (the Red Sox owner), managing crew, safety protocols, customs, scheduling, and daily operations. He also talks honestly about the jobs he walked away from, including one owner who had Craig shuttle the girlfriend off the boat so the wife could arrive, while the crew swapped out photos and bed linens below deck.
“That to me was like, this is not someone I want to work for. It doesn’t matter how much money I’m being paid on this yacht, I’m not working here.”
The conversation shifts to Craig’s move into residential construction, which happened almost by accident. After leaving yachting to start a family, he was working from home in healthcare IT and hating it. While house hunting in Nashville, a real estate agent introduced him to new construction. He got hooked, became friends with the sales agent at the model home, and when that builder got acquired by Meritage Homes, they offered him a job. One problem: he needed a real estate license first and had two weeks to get it done. He passed the exam with no backup plan.
From there, Craig moved through roles at Meritage, David Weekley, and other national builders, going from sales assistant to senior management. Along the way, he leaned into a philosophy about growth that he keeps coming back to:
“I want to fail because if I fail, it means I’m learning because I’m not going to fail again. So every time I fail, I improve. Without failure, you’ve got nothing.”
He and Michael dig into what he observed at those companies: how the large builders handle downturns (some lay off fast, others buy land while everyone else is selling), why overexpansion kills culture, and the importance of keeping your new markets within driving distance of leadership so the culture actually transfers. On that point, Craig is direct about what he’s seen go wrong:
“Culture can be destroyed by one person. And the higher up that person, the more they can destroy the culture.”
Craig also shares his views on hiring and gratitude. There’s a story about a deckhand who negotiated his starting salary before even saying thank you for the offer, and how Craig pulled it back on the spot.
“I am not going to hire somebody that is not grateful for the opportunity they’re being given. We called one of the other guys in and he jumped for joy, never once asked about money. He’s now a captain on one of the largest yachts in the world.”
When Michael suggests Craig’s success sounds like winning the lottery, Craig pushes back hard:
“No, because that would be luck. By saying it’s lucky, it takes away the pain and suffering and effort I’ve put in to be here.”
Toward the end, Craig talks about his new role at Stancil Services, a Charlotte-based trade company doing paint, drywall, and plumbing for residential and commercial builders. It’s a move he never saw coming, but it aligns with what matters to him: a company rooted in giving back, with a leadership team that flies workers to Jamaica not for a holiday party but to help with storm relief. He also discusses his board seat on the Charlotte NAHB chapter, where he chairs the membership committee and is working to bring builders and trades together through relationships rather than sales pitches.
The conversation closes with Craig reflecting on legacy. Not plaques or titles, but something closer to home:
“They are my legacy. I now have the opportunity to raise three children that are focused on helping other people. All I can ask for is that when they are adults, they make decisions that help other people.”
The whole conversation wraps around one consistent idea: take care of people, protect your culture, and don’t be afraid to make the next move when the current one stops fitting. Craig’s not preaching from a textbook. He’s talking from a life that took him from selling motorbikes in Scotland to leading teams for some of the biggest names in American home building, with a yacht and a few barefoot months in Thailand along the way.
Craig Neal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-neal-6442b062/
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