Then & Now: Burt Box just getting started in the construction biz

Editor’s note: The following story appeared in the Dec. 10 issue of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. “Then & Now” is a profile of a past member of the Business Journal’s  Forty Under 40 class.

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The overall business climate in Northwest Arkansas is more robust than in most markets, and perhaps no sector booms as much as the construction business.

That makes Burt Box’s job enjoyable. Since April 2017, he’s been director of business development for W. Wheat Construction Co., a commercial construction company in Springdale founded in 2013 by Warren Wheat.

Box had no previous construction experience. But his prior business background helped him adapt quickly, offering an analogy befitting of a construction executive.

“It’s just like any job you jump into,” Box said. “You’ve got to use the tools in your toolbox to make it work.”

Box, 39, was a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2008. He was president of Milver Investments Co. in Fayetteville, a venture he shared with his father. Milver dabbled in a variety of deals and evolved to include real estate investing and business acquisition.

“We ended up becoming a venture capital firm of sorts, and pooled money to buy various companies and invest in various companies,” Box said.

In 2013, Milver Investments rebranded its company name to The Moxie Group. But as Box and his father each got older, they started cycling out of the business by selling their ownership interests in their assorted real estate and industry holdings.

Burt Box and his family moved to Springdale’s Har-Ber Meadows west of Interstate 49 in 2015, where he met Wheat. The two men made a professional connection, which eventually led to a partnership that is flourishing today.

And it started in a way that a lot of great partnerships begin.

“I was making some introductions for Warren to some of my real estate contacts from my previous work,” Box said. “And we’d just finished a meeting and were having a beer when we started kicking the idea around. I was cycling out of one deal and looking for my next challenge, and I suggested the idea of jumping in and trying to help [Wheat] out.”

The partnership has spurred substantial growth for the company. In the past 18 months, Box said W. Wheat Construction has quadrupled in size in terms of revenue, with 10 employees and jobs in multiple states.

Box also became an equity partner in the company in September 2017.

“I was the first person [Wheat] hired, which is unusual for a construction company because it’s usually a superintendent or estimator or jobs like that,” Box said. “But it’s really taken off.”

Box said 2019 should see more growth for the company. Wheat started his career working for Baldwin & Shell, one of Arkansas’ leading general contracting firms and has a vision of one day growing his own company to similar size.

“We’re both like-minded on where we want to take this company,” Box said. “We want multiple offices in multiple regions. And I think the first [expansion] will likely be the first quarter of next year. The growing pains are in our face right now around the office. Next year will be exciting.”

When asked who he considers a mentor for advice, Box said Sarah Sparks Diebold, a Fayetteville business strategist and investor through her diversified holding company called SSD Holdings.

“Burt is as dynamic as the market in Northwest Arkansas,” Diebold said. “His success stems from his ability to look outside the box for opportunities and be nimble in changing environments.

“His financial understanding has allowed him to seize opportunities others may overlook.”

Box, a Dallas native, graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2002 with a criminal justice degree. His ambition then was to attend graduate school and work for the FBI as a profiler. Box, however, saw potential in a new romantic interest that suggested those career plans might not be sensible.

“I had just met the woman who is now my wife, and the FBI path didn’t seem like the right thing to do with a family,” he said.

Box and his wife, Erin, have been married since 2004, and they have three boys, ages 9, 7 and 5.