— Victor Smolyanov
I got my start with my dad hammering rooftops in the summer for some extra cash. It wasn’t a lot, but I felt like the richest guy alive. At the time, I don’t think I could say why. I also probably wasn’t thinking about much else but not dying from either the heat or falling off the roof! But with a few decades under my belt now, I know it’s because the work meant something. I did that with my own two hands. And over time, that thought evolved into me starting my own business with Victors Home Solutions, eventually scaling it to being one of the most successful home improvement businesses in the Midwest, earning over $160 million in regional revenue.
The next logical step they tell you as a businessperson is to sell and become an advisor for the business. I get it. It’s less work, easier money. It all makes sense. And so I did that and sold Victors Home Solutions in 2023. And at first, it was great. We even won the 2024 Residential Roofing Contractor of the Year award. But what I realized pretty quickly was the gig was just not for me. Over time, it took me away from the customers. I didn't work with them as much and couldn’t be as hands-on as staff and customers expected me to be. And I missed the work, too!
I needed to get back to the work that built me and that’s where I am today launching Build Brands.
With the continued support of my incredible wife, kids, and 20+ of the original team, Build Brands is a home improvement parent company built on a simple but powerful idea. Find great legacy businesses, bring in world-class systems, surround them with elite talent, and grow them into something their founders always believed was possible but never quite knew how to reach. We’re back, baby!
What makes us different isn't just our track record of success or that I started as a tradesman first and then got into business. I know what it means to build your entire life up—your work, your family, your health, all of it—and I spent the first decades proving that where you start has nothing to do with where you end up.
What we’re doing now is helping other business owners leave behind lasting legacies of incredible business. When I got my start, I felt like the guy with a million questions and no idea. I still feel that way, and it’s been a super power that keeps me learning. But despite all that, I know what I know. We can help great business owners grow and scale their companies while keeping the core identity intact. And we can because we were the case study for it.