In the latest episode of Builders, Budgets, and Beers, we sat down with Dirk van der Velde, co-founder of Momentasize, a high-end residential builder based in Bend, Oregon. Over the course of the conversation, Dirk offers a masterclass in grit, growth, and getting better every day without sounding like a business book cliché.

Yes, there’s talk about systems. Yes, Adaptive is mentioned. But this isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a reflection on five years of hard-won lessons, the kind you only earn by doing the work—and often, doing it the hard way first.

Building a Company, Rebuilding a Leader

Dirk’s journey began not in spreadsheets or on job sites, but in a moment of personal transformation: becoming a parent. That shift gave him the clarity to pursue something lasting, and it planted the seed for what would become Momentasize. But growth didn’t come easy. "I wasn’t a great leader at the start, Dirk says. “I didn’t have a clear vision for culture, and I hired whoever was willing to work. It cost us."

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Dirk shares how missteps in hiring and undefined expectations created cycles of inefficiency, and how clarity in company values eventually attracted the right people to the right roles. The message: don’t scale chaos—solve it first.

Red Flags in the Back Office

For the first few years, Dirk and his team processed every invoice manually. Each one required triple entry: into QuickBooks, Excel, and backup folders. When you’re managing hundreds of invoices per month, that kind of inefficiency doesn’t just cost time, it leaks cash and erodes trust in your numbers.

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He breaks down their original process and why it wasn’t scalable:

• Invoices emailed to a general inbox
• Manual entry across multiple platforms
• Night shifts and Red Bulls to meet draw deadlines

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Sound familiar?

Turning Manual Mayhem into Momentum

What made Dirk take action wasn’t just burnout. It was the realization that his systems didn’t match his ambition. His team was built to be tech-forward, but their operations told another story. That disconnect triggered an audit: Are we actually using our tools? Are we set up to scale?

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Key improvements included:

• Automating invoice and receipt processing
• Reducing draw prep from hours to minutes
• Real-time syncing with financial software for faster reporting
• Eliminating costly human error through smarter checks and balances

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Dirk put it best: "When your overhead starts to grow, you can’t rely on what’s in your head. You need clean, up-to-date numbers. And you need them fast."

What Builders Can Learn from Dirk

Dirk’s story is refreshingly honest, tactically rich, and emotionally grounded. His advice doesn’t come in the form of frameworks, it comes from experience.

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Still, a few themes stood out:

• Clarity unlocks everything: Whether it’s people, tools, or process, you can’t improve what you haven’t clearly defined.
• Don’t over-celebrate the wins or overreact to the setbacks: Stay steady. Construction is cyclical; resilience is key.
• Treat tech like a teammate: If you’re paying for a system, use it. And if you’re not using it well, fix it or move on.
• Cash leakage is silent but deadly: Missed receipts, uncategorized expenses, unbilled costs—they all chip away at margin, often without a trace.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve ever stared at a stack of invoices at 9 p.m., or if you’ve felt like your back office is dragging behind your build quality, this is your episode. Dirk doesn’t just talk about doing better—he shows you how he did it, one lesson at a time.

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