Meet David Bohler of Bohler Builders Group in Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Bohler.

Thanks for sharing your story with us David. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I had what I consider an apprenticeship. My brothers and I grew up on my parents’ job sites as a kid. We learned by doing, getting our hands dirty. I spent my college years with a full-time job at the phone company and my own small construction jobs during the weekends and in the evenings. A good friend of mine became a designer for the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition so I volunteered on the Gilbert, AZ episode building furniture and I ended up being asked to interview for a project manager position. 48 hours later, I hopped on a plane to North Pole, Alaska where the sun never dipped below the horizon. A 4800-square foot house was complete in 108 hours and our team was awake for most of those hours. I’ll never forget the first time I saw that bus move. I was hooked. I got to do what I loved and improve people’s lives at the same time. It was a dream job, and essentially another apprenticeship for me. I got to work with professional builders across the country for six years, building about 200 projects. When the show ended, there was no question our next step would be to officially open our own business.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Bohler Builders Group was born in the middle of the recession so it was a risky time to start a construction business and it required a lot of our own savings as with any startup. Having worked on Extreme was a gift that led to more TV construction work at a time when home remodeling and new home construction was not a priority for most homeowners. Another struggle has been the shortage of skilled labor workers to select from since we opened Bohler Builders Group. We are very lucky to have skilled tradesmen on our team who are willing to learn from each other and grow individually. It’s important for us to keep growing talent on our team.

One early bit of advice we received was not to hire a professional for office work until it hurt so for the first five years my business partner and wife, Jen, ran the office and I ran the construction side while raising two kids and being active in our church. We were stretched thin but it was worth the work and worth the wait. Now the company is able to pay professionals, like accountants, who are able to do far more than we could on our own. We’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. Thankfully, we haven’t made the same mistake twice. We learn by listening to our clients and being willing to look at what we could have done better.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Bohler Builders Group is a small business that does big things. We are a design / build firm and a home remodeler but we are more widely known for our work on TV shows like Fox’s Home Free, Nate & Jeremiah’s By Design and the upcoming Making It on NBC. As a company, our team is proud of our unique systems management which was refined on early shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Our subcontractors and vendors have become accustomed to working next to each other, which is uncommon in this industry, but is paramount to time management.

What were you like growing up?
I couldn’t sit still as a kid. That hasn’t changed. I have always needed a job or a responsibility to keep me motivated and to feel useful.

Contact Info:

• Address: 440 E Route 66
  Glendora CA 91741
• Website: BohlerBuildersGroup.com
• Phone: 626-790-9224
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
Dustin Reynolds
Jana Bishop

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.