Galaxy Builders’ distinguishing characteristic is its reputation, which shines with star-like quality. We discuss how the company continues to thrive with COO, Cara DeAnda
Writer: Rachel Carr | Project Manager: Michael Sommerfield
With a population of over 30 million, Texas is the second-largest state in the US, renowned for its vast expanse of land and major cities which require constant infrastructure development and housing.
To assist with this, Galaxy Builders (Galaxy) provides extensive experience in constructing luxury and affordable housing and active senior
communities. Today, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, a modern and vibrant Texan city with unique architecture influenced by a mixture of native Mexican, German, and Spanish cultures.
Established in 1991 by Arun Verma, Galaxy specializes in multi-family housing throughout the Lone Star State. However, at the time of the company’s inception, Texas
entered a savings and loan crisis, which eradicated many building opportunities.
“The early 1990s were an ideal time for Verma to kickstart his dream of becoming a third-party general contractor. He pursued any construction project he could find, big or small. However, he eventually turned to his passion for multi-family
projects,” introduces Cara DeAnda, COO of Galaxy.
“We have been able to focus on that particular niche for the majority of our existence, and we will primarily continue to do so. We are present in all major Texan cities, offering affordable and market-rate housing, and senior living, many accompanied by state-ofthe-art amenities,” she continues.
Galaxy focuses solely on multi-family housing, taking advantage of the current high demand for it in Texas.
“Although we primarily build suburban, garden-style apartment buildings, there is always an opportunity to expand into other property types. We are not looking to do high-rise projects; that’s not our
wheelhouse, but there could be an opportunity to expand to other types of multi-family projects without going outside of what we do well. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” DeAnda declares.
Galaxy’s target clients are multifamily developers with projects in Texas that seek a value-added general contractor (GC) to join the “Big T”. “We try to get involved in deals
early on in the build process so we can be value-added team members. In the construction world, there is also the concept of hard bidding, where often the lowest price gets chosen, but we don’t like to do that because we’re unable to add the best value, which requires our involvement as early as the conceptual design phase,” notes DeAnda.
Thanks to strong client relationships, Galaxy secures a lot of repeat business with both new and existing developers, who it goes onto work with for many years on multiple projects.
Galaxy’s positive results can equally be attributed to the essential
“WE ARE PROUDLY CUSTOMER FIRST; WE LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED, AND ULTIMATELY, OUR PEOPLE AND CULTURE ALSO ADD TO OUR ATTRIBUTES. THAT’S WHAT SETS US APART”
– CARA DEANDA, COO, GALAXY BUILDERS
long-term partnerships it has maintained with suppliers and subcontractors.
“We recognize the crucial role that our trade partners play, and we have strong subcontractor relationships in all trades that are key to our success. We intentionally focus on ensuring all our eggs are not in one basket and implementing a more disciplined process,” DeAnda outlines.
To spread the wealth, Galaxy endeavors to ensure that a single subcontractor does not receive all the work in their respective trade. This also helps with risk mitigation and ensures that production continues unabated.
“Out goal is to achieve the 60/30/10 model. 60 percent of the work goes to top-tier subcontractors, 30 percent to second-tier, and 10 percent to a pool of subcontractors,
“WE RECOGNIZE THE CRUCIAL ROLE THAT OUR TRADE PARTNERS PLAY, AND WE HAVE STRONG SUBCONTRACTOR RELATIONSHIPS IN ALL TRADES THAT ARE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS”
– CARA DEANDA, COO, GALAXY BUILDERS
so there is an opportunity to create new relationships while remaining focused on the ones you can depend on,” she explains.
In addition, the construction industry in Texas, traditionally a leader in the broader economic landscape, has experienced a decline in recent years.
“Unfortunately, in today’s market, some of our trade partners have not survived the economic challenges we have experienced over the last few years. It’s really hard for a GC to have subcontractors fail as the multiple projects they’re working on are impacted.
“Therefore, we try not to leave ourselves open to exposure, but still manage to remain true to our subcontractors with whom we have long-standing relationships,” clarifies DeAnda.
As a multi-family region, the Texan environment is a conducive construction space for Galaxy to operate in.
However, it is not without the challenges of high construction costs, rampant interest rates, and slowing rent growth.
“Many different financial factors are making it difficult for new projects to get off the ground, but hopefully, the landscape will begin to shift later this year. Thankfully, we are in a place where we have a strong backlog,” DeAnda excites.
Indeed, despite market volatility, Galaxy has numerous active projects due to reach completion later in the year, along with new deals that are expected to commence.
Through strategic manufacturing partnerships with industry leader MiTek, we’re investing in cutting-edge automation that boosts building efficiency and results in substantial savings for America’s homebuilders.
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Family is a key component of Galaxy’s close-knit culture.
To facilitate this, the company organizes various teambuilding activities and holds quarterly meetings with the entire workforce.
“We want to be transparent and ensure that we all share the same vision,” acknowledges DeAnda.
The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) program has taught Galaxy that the company vision should not be kept within the executive realm to help gain traction throughout the organization.
“We have to share our wins, goals, and challenges to keep moving with one vision.”
To incentivize its employees, the company has created Galaxy University, an in-house training curriculum that supports people development.
“We encourage our staff to take advantage of all
the resources available to improve their career opportunities,” she emphasizes.
Whereas many GCs hire for certain positions on a project-by-project basis, Galaxy remains loyal to its employees, which has helped to strengthen the company culture.
“Our strategy is, if you’re a long-term employee and you perform, we’ll figure out how to carry you to the next project. If you are loyal to Galaxy, Galaxy will be loyal to you,” urges DeAnda.
Cara DeAnda, COO: “I am a certified public accountant (CPA) by trade, and I was lucky enough to focus on real estate development and the construction industry during my public accounting tenure. The Verma family were my clients, and they recruited me to work in-house – that was around 10 years ago.
“My role has evolved over the years, and my current position as COO is to ensure that all areas of our operations are working together and not in silos.
“A decision that works for one may be detrimental for another, so I try to look at the big picture and consider the impact on all pieces of the Galaxy puzzle.”
“Developers were striving to put deals together, but market volatility had many moving parts changing on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. That volatility has now calmed down, and developers are now able to quantify the gap and get creative about solving it,” details DeAnda.
Undeterred, Galaxy has successfully navigated these challenges, giving clients hope and optimism to pursue deals that have been previously on hold.
Now, clients are starting to work on these deals again, and finding ways to
make them happen.
Furthermore, Galaxy is distinguished by its ability to overcome industry challenges with innovative solutions.
“We commit to our promises and relationships with our clients. Moreover, subcontractor trades have set us up for success, and of course, our diverse expertise helps.”
The construction industry is full of potential problems, but as a GC, Galaxy comes with plenty of solutions.
“We are proudly customer first; we leave no stone unturned, and
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ultimately, our people and culture add to our attributes. That’s what sets us apart,” enthuses DeAnda.
Galaxy employs an EOS program that helps create a unified vision, organizational traction, and ultimately a healthy leadership team.
“We seized an opportunity to work on ourselves as a company and create better processes for managing our schedules and budgets, while ensuring that clients know our team is communicating in a timely and effective manner,” DeAnda affirms.
Galaxy strives to simplify things after the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic and wants to return to the principles underpinning the company.
“The crazy construction that happened because interest rates were so low meant that so much work was getting done and we lost some of our disciplines. Therefore, over the next year, we want to focus on returning to our foundations that have made us successful for over three decades.”
Galaxy’s success is not measured by revenue or volume, but rather by other organic factors. If they are delivering exceptional service and high quality projects for our clients, the revenue and volume will come.
“Our goal for this year is to re-establish our disciplines and processes, enabling us to deliver on our commitments and remain true to our word,” DeAnda concludes.
Tel: (210) 493-0550 samb@galaxybuilders.com www.galaxybuilders.com
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