Unlocking Opportunities: Alex Kosley's Journey from Nonprofit Finance to ADU Innovator in Construction

Meet Alex Kosley With StreamHome Construction

Discover how a finance director's vision transformed into a groundbreaking construction venture with Alex Kosley, our licensed general contractor and co-host of the StreamHome Construction Podcast. Join us as we journey through Alex's captivating story, from living in a friend's basement to co-founding a company that empowers homeowners to capitalize on accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Uncover the secrets behind Alex's leap from the nonprofit sector to the bustling world of construction, and how a simple idea to improve rental opportunities evolved into a successful business model.

Our exploration doesn't stop at residential innovation. With commercial endeavors led by business partners Casey Copley and Lee Chapin, StreamHome Construction is more than ready to tackle diverse projects in the Colorado Springs area. This episode reveals how changing city codes have revitalized the potential for ADUs and why StreamHome Construction is perfectly positioned to ride this wave. Whether you're curious about passive income through ADUs or intrigued by the dynamic construction industry, this episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss.

To learn more about StreamHome Construction visit:
https://www.YourStreamHome.com
StreamHome Construction
719-644-6777

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Stream Home Construction Podcast,
where we take your project fromconception to completion.
Hosted by Licensed GeneralContractor Alex Kozley, we cover
everything from accessorydwelling units to commercial
construction in the greaterColorado Springs area.
Whether you're dreaming of anew ADU, planning an office
upgrade or tackling a majorrenovation project, we've got

(00:26):
the expertise to guide youthrough it.
Let's get building.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome everyone.
I'm Tony Hill's co-host andproducer here in the studio with
Alex Cosley.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Alex, how's it going?
I'm doing great today.
How are you doing today, Tony?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Awesome.
Hey, over the years you'vegrown a remarkable following.
However, some listeners may notbe familiar with your full
journey.
Let's take it from the top.
Could you share a littlebackground about your company
and what you do?
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yes, our company is Stream Home Construction.
We're a design build generalcontractor.
We do commercial andresidential projects.
Our company started with afocus on residential projects,
specifically accessory dwellingunits, or ADUs, also known as
granny flats, mother-in-lawsuites and several other names.
Essentially, there's a secondapartment unit that you can

(01:21):
build on your property, a secondapartment unit that you can
build on your property, andcurrently in Colorado Springs,
the city is in process ofchanging some of these codes
right now and they changed thecodes back in 2020, which was
one of the reasons that westarted the company to begin
with, as we saw accessorydwelling units really taking off
in other areas of the country,primarily in California, and we

(01:43):
saw that a wave would cross theUnited States into other areas
as well, like Colorado.
So we're one of the firstcompanies to see that coming and
get involved.
The idea originally came to me,related to accessory dwelling
units.
It was probably about 15 yearsago.
I lived in a friend's basementand thought it'd be great if I
could help other people rent outtheir basements, so people like

(02:04):
me have a place to stay andpeople like my friends who are
renting me the basement can makesome extra money.
And I thought.
You know, there's probably somethings we could do adding in a
door at the top of the stairs,create a private entry, create a
little kitchen downstairs wherethe units can function
privately, independently, and soa property owner can generate
passive income with minimalinvestment in some cases, but

(02:26):
always typically somesubstantial return that can
really offset that mortgageexpense and just make owning a
home easier, while also makingit easier for people to rent by
increasing the housing supplyand providing some more options
in areas that typically don'thave a lot of rentals available,
that are highly concentratedwith single family homes.
So our story goes back.

(02:47):
I worked at a local nonprofitfor several years.
I was the director of financeat this nonprofit.
We completed a large renovationproject there, adding about
2000 square feet of usable spacefor the facility.
We hired a local generalcontractor, commercial
contractor, to complete that joband that's where I met one of

(03:10):
my two business partners.
His name's Casey Copley.
He was the superintendent forthat commercial construction
company and we met.
You know, the project was sixor eight months long.
Casey and I got to know eachother pretty well.
It was during COVID times.
Eventually I ended up sharingmy vision for Stream Home
Construction and the plan andCasey got really excited and was

(03:30):
immediately asking how he couldpartner up with me and I said
well, let's just do it.
Then, from there, we launched acompany, took a while to get
some traction, get things going,building out our website,
really figuring out the ADUcodes, and eventually we got
another business partner, leeChapin.
Lee has over 40 years ofconstruction and architecture

(03:50):
experience.
He's a licensed architect,holds a lot of general
contractor licenses which we nowhold in El Paso County, park
County, teller County andDouglas County, which allows us
to basically build anything.
But, as I mentioned before,we're primarily focusing on
accessory dwelling units, butwe've also gotten into quite a
bit of commercial renovationprojects.

(04:12):
Just with our team's background, it made a lot of sense.
As we're waiting for the ADUwave to sweep our city, we've
been keeping busy with lots ofcommercial work.
We've built several ADUs todate, but I've also branched
into commercial and are happy totalk with people about those
kinds of projects and serve ourcommercial and residential
clients in a similar way, wherewe're just trying to get all of

(04:34):
our clients just to maximize thevalue of their property, get
the most out of it, have itfunction for them the way that
best suits them and really witha focus on income generation
potential, adding additionalrental units and making the most
of the spaces that they have.
So yeah, generally speaking,that's kind of our history in a
nutshell.
We're really starting to see ahuge uptick in people's

(04:56):
awareness of accessory dwellingunits.
In 2020, there was very minimalawareness in the community.
I probably one out of every 30people I talked to might have
heard of ADU or accessorydwelling unit.
Since then, the city passed newADU codes in 2020.
And now is it going to pass newADU codes in 2025?
And the level of awareness hasgrown substantially at this

(05:18):
point and we're expecting to seea substantial increase in
demand as we're moving forward.
So that's kind of our generalhistory.
You know what we do, where wecame from, in a nutshell, tony.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Wow, when you're not busy running your business, what
do you do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Well, I like to play disc golf as one of my favorite
recreational activities.
Some of the guys on our teamcome with me pretty regularly.
My wife and I like to travel.
We like to spend time in ourlocal church where we're members
and just sharing life withother people, and I have a
passion for entrepreneurship aswell as fostering younger
entrepreneurs, as I'm gettingsome years under my belt that I

(06:00):
can provide some valuableguidance to others who are in
this journey as well.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Okay, we know marketing is key to any
business's success.
How do you market your business?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Our business is marketed primarily right now
organically.
We rely on word of mouth,referrals and we have social
media accounts that we'vestarted to tap into and build a
little bit of a following.
We've recently also hired anSEO marketing company to help us
really optimize our website,add several new web pages to
increase our reach and we'relooking at some other campaigns,

(06:37):
some ad campaigns specific tothese new ADU changes, as well
as tracking some changes inWoodland Park related to
short-term rental laws that arelooking to be changing in the
near future and looking totarget some of those specific
events really to build,specifically in regards of
building more accessory dwellingunits or ADUs.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Alex, you're a very busy person, In your own words.
Why are you doing this?

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Well, yeah, it's a great question, tony.
I've always had anentrepreneurial heart.
I just kind of always knew I'dhave a business.
I shared some of my story aboutliving in a friend's basement
and really seeing the potentialfor a business that could help
people connect the unused spacethat they might have in their
house or property with someonewho is in need of a rental unit,
which can be a win-win for bothof those parties.

(07:30):
We really have a heart ofservice at the core of what we
do.
Customer satisfaction is ournumber one priority.
We value building customerrelationships.
It really comes down to justpeople at the end of the day and
building up our team andlearning to serve our customers
well, together, building bettersystems.
My entrepreneurial drive justhas me always working to improve

(07:51):
and optimize our systems andgrow our team and learn how to
best serve our clients.
Ultimately, it just comes downto serving people and really
serving God.
From our perspective At least,our ownership team is where our
heart really comes from, andjust being humble servants and
finding a need in the communityand meeting it was in my mind
from living in my friend's housewith this entrepreneurial

(08:12):
career, and then you know mywife's openness as well, which
took, you know, a little bit oftime to get her to a place where
she was ready to take the leapwith me.
All those came together and nowwe're able to serve people in
the way that we're doing now.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Love it, love it.
Alex, we'll catch you on ournext episode, where we'll dive
into some frequently askedquestions.
Have a fantastic rest of yourday All right, you too.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Thanks, tony.
See you then.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
That's a wrap for this episode of the stream home
construction podcast.
Ready to bring your vision tolife?
Snag a free on-siteconsultation by visiting our
website at wwwyourstreamhomecom,or call or text us at
719-644-6777.
Until next time, let's keepbuilding your residential and

(09:09):
commercial dream in the greaterColorado Springs area.