Timothy Dagit got his start in the home building industry, delivering over 15,000 homes until the financial crisis. From 2006-2008, his generational wealth was wiped out and he had to start over again. He quickly built up his company to break all national records for building a Supercuts in six weeks when the national average was 14.
It was a conversation with a childhood friend that prompted him to start building McDonald’s restaurants and now, The Dagit Group is a predominant builder for McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Dunkin’, Raising Cane’s, Chick-Fil-A, and more.
The Dagit Group is a general contractor of new and remodeled fast food and casual restaurants. The firm specializes in the fast-food industry, minimizing construction times by being hyper-focused on this niche, saving customers thousands in rework and costly time delays.
According to Dagit, the construction industry is known for horrible relationships between contractors and customers with the industry filled with companies committed to one-time jobs. “We are the polar opposite,” he said. “We learn our customers’ businesses and products and try to minimize and rarely charge for anything missed by architects or engineers, which results in long-term, recurring revenue customers.”
As a result, Dagit said he has never had to lay off employees with workflows which has resulted in higher profits than traditional construction companies. “We have uncovered a niche that not too many people in the industry would be interested in due to the fast pace and intense 24-hour, 7-days-a-week operation,” said Dagit.
According to Dagit, the most important risk he took was to believe in himself when all conventional metrics suggested that was not a good idea. “I struggled with school and was ridiculed by many, but I was lucky to grow up around a lot of successful entrepreneurs who saw me as different and important,” he said. “I will forever thank those who recklessly supported my direction and I think the thousands of employees and associates that have benefited would strongly agree.”
As a leader, Dagit said the most important quality is humility. “Being a true team member, the same as all other employees, is respected and creates a safe environment for the humility of all, which I believe unleashes group learning,” he said. “Once this is achieved, everyone has an opportunity to elevate their contribution to the team.”
