Today we’d like to introduce you to John Whitton.
Hi John, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up in a family of construction entrepreneurs, I always loved construction and the process of taking raw materials and ideas and transforming them into a beautiful or effective finished product. As a middle schooler, my dad bought my mom one of the first Canon Rebel DSLR cameras. She didn’t use it very often, so I picked it up and immediately loved it. It felt similar to construction for me, taking the raw beauty found in the world and then composing it into an aesthetic image. For the duration of my education, construction was to be my profession, and photography undoubtedly became my favorite hobby. I took classes, worked in the dark room, studied photos, and eventually printed and hung my own art in my homes. After college, I serendipitously met Steven Greer, Managing Principle of Multivista, a construction documentation and photography company, here in Austin. With over 50-75 active projects at any time, I worked on some of the coolest and biggest projects in Austin, learning more about construction and the high-level processes than I ever did as a Student, Project Engineer or Manager. I loved it. When I got my drone license (over 700 flight hours ago), I started taking videos while I was airborne on photo missions. We started offering small drone videos to our clients, with music and logos included. They loved it. So we did more of it. And then more. And I fell in love with the process of planning, shooting, editing, and delivering videos about cool construction in Austin. But Multivista is a photo-based firm, not a video-based firm. So as our client requests continued rolling in, we decided it was best for me to leave Multivista and pursue full-time construction videography. In 2019 we signed a contract with 44 East Ave to shoot an 8-part docuseries taking people “Beyond the Fence” on a 3-year 50-story high-rise construction project in the Rainey District. That project (set to wrap up around October 2022) catapulted SteadyBuilt Productions to the next level of video production services. We now offer full video production services for the construction industry, covering everything from marketing videos, training videos, safety orientation videos, documentaries, project update videos, and social media videos. We work with the top GCs, Architects, Engineers and Sub Contractors in Texas. I often have to pinch myself to make sure this fusion of my 2 greatest passions in life, isn’t actually a dream.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Leaving a six-figure position working with a team of great people is hard to do. Taking a bet on yourself and your creative abilities is a gamble. But one of my favorite sayings, by which I strive to live out is “Challenge promotes growth” so I welcome the challenges, because they’re actually opportunities to grow. I hired my first employee 7 months into business, and she, unfortunately, had to return to North Carolina for personal reasons, so just as we got into a good work groove, she had to quit. Since then, we have hired a new Production Assistant, a Bookkeeper, a CPA, and an Executive Assistant/Social Media Manager, as well as doing contract work with about 3 drone pilots and cameramen. We are currently in the process of hiring a full-time editor, which is proving to be most challenging, as the construction industry requires a unique editing style and workflow. It’s much different than studio video work or shooting a documentary, or a wedding, and in fact its actually kind of a fusion of them all, while also understanding the pain points of the construction industry, because we gear our videos to solve those problems.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At SteadyBuilt Productions, we craft Videos Built for Construction. We thrive in this industry/niche because of our extensive knowledge of and experience in the construction and development industries. We have built our video production company in a similar fashion to that of a general contractor. We have our pre-con meetings (pre-production, to create the blueprints of the videos), our construction (production/camera/lighting/audio/editing) team, which use the blueprints to construct the video properly. We provide Kask (the industry leader) hardhats and safety vests to all members of the team who visit sites. We focus on safety and training on site. We always operate like the leading GCs do, prioritizing safety first, then quality, then schedule, then budget. We know how the projects flow, so we know when to be there and how to do our job effectively, so as to not take away time or resources from the projects. All of our full-time employees involved in the production aspect have years, if not decades, of construction experience with a knack for creativity.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Under promise, over deliver. Be willing to work your @ss off. The law of reciprocity is real. You get out of business (and life) what you put into it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.steadybuiltpro.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/steadybuilt_pro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSEBcM7SUtIh-NM_GBlKB3g
Image Credits
SteadyBuilt Productions
