TDS Design Build
Choosing the Road Less Traveled
Contributing to the Local Community
Ben Blodgett, owner of TDS Design Build, started at the company as a laborer in 2000 and worked his way up to becoming its owner. He was invited to purchase the company in 2015 and pulled together a package to buy the business over a six-year period.
“It was a good opportunity to have ownership over my career,” Blodgett says. “I’ve grown as a person and an owner.”
Growing up in Fort Atkinson, Blodgett watched his family run the farm his grandfather started — his first experience with running a small business. When he began working for TDS, Blodgett gained management experience and developed his business skills by working with the UW-Madison Small Business Development Center at the Wisconsin School of Business (SBDC) and through industry groups as he prepared to purchase TDS.
“Learning how to buy a business was a huge undertaking–in retrospect, larger than I realized,” Blodgett says. “I now have a large library of information and experience that I can share with other people.”
SBDC Support
Blodgett found the SBDC through the Wisconsin School of Business in 2015, as he began preparing to purchase TDS. He has worked with SBDC business consultant Anne Inman since 2016 and worked closely with her from 2018-2020, during the three years leading up to the business purchase on January 1, 2021.
“I’ve known Anne for ten years, and she was my main guide during the purchase process,” Blodgett says. “Anne provided guidance during the due diligence period, getting to a letter of intent, and then making sure my team was operating well as we made the purchase.”
Blodgett views the SBDC as a crucial part of his business team. He has also taken countless SBDC courses–in fact, his current CPA taught one of them. He took the Entrepreneurial Training Course to write his business plan, which he says helped him get funding.
“I see the SBDC, plus my banker, lawyer, and CPA, as part of my team, and the SBDC provides guidance,” Blodgett says. “Anne has always been helpful in making sure there were no unwelcome surprises.”
Blodgett purchased TDS with an SBA 7A loan and used a capital contribution from his family as personal equity.
“It was a decent ask from my family,” he says. “I did not go to college, so at age 36, I used my college funds.”
Blodgett worked with Casey McClyman, who has taught SBDC courses, on his SBA loan. McClyman was then at the State Bank of Cross Plains, now Lake Ridge Bank.
“Casey was a big early part of my operations,” Blodgett says. “It would have been much harder without that banking relationship.”
For eight years, Blodgett was a member of the national peer group Remodelers Advantage, which included ten non-competing U.S. companies. The group met biannually in different locations around the country, going over financials and updates together. Blodget participated in his role as GM/Operations Manager of TDS with the previous owner.
“I got my financial education from the SBDC and them,” Blodgett says. “They were old school professionals who brought a lot of knowledge. I learned how to be an owner and that most people’s businesses aren’t perfect.”
Supporting Employees and Community
Blodgett values TDS’s capacity to provide a positive workplace, healthy culture, and solid pay for his staff and their families.
“We’re early adopters of health benefits for employees within Madison remodeling, and we also offer paid vacation, holidays, and a Safe Harbor 401(k),” he says.
He’s proud of TDS’s ability to contribute to the Madison community through its remodeling work.
“We’re helping people with growing families remodel to have extra office space and space for kids to grow, and we’re helping people who are retiring stay in their homes,” he says. “We’re creating a better version of their houses. In Madison’s housing market, if you have a house in a neighborhood you love, there’s lots of value to staying there.”
TDS leverages a broad network of trade partners, working across the local economy with 25 other companies, which keeps money in the community and helps support an array of local businesses.
“I value the fact that we’re growing leadership and careers,” Blodgett says. “Hopefully, we’ve created a business that, at some point, when I’m ready to retire or move on, is something someone else will want to take forward. Right now, we’re building depth and leadership within the company and keeping our culture and clients.”
Blodgett plans to keep the business “right-sized,” he says.
“I would much rather have a profitable business that people want to come work for and provide the best service we can to our clients,” he says. “Happy clients are one of the biggest drivers of new business, especially if they refer people to us. We like to work with people who like to work with us, and we prefer a collaboration. One reason I bought the company was for its name, community vision, and neighborhood history.”
Looking forward
As Blodgett looks ahead to TDS’s future, he says he hopes to involve his younger staff members in SBDC courses.
“I want to make sure we always have an education component,” he says. “I want my staff to have opportunities to work with different people to develop skills specific to their role within the business and their careers.”