It’s all about constructing partnerships.
Isaac Pannell of Pannell Construction, seems to be a lot of things all at once: a coach, a visionary, a rescuer, a leader, a friend, an entrepreneur, and a family man. His first baby was a nonprofit called Center of Light, founded to help internationals and refugees find work in Knoxville. Now he and his wife, Savannah have two babies at home.
He started as an entrepreneur, not to make money, but to help other people make money. He’s willing to hire young laborers and help them start their own companies. He’s not worried about competitors; he turns them into friends. There’s a lot to just this one individual.
Pannell got into construction backwards, sort of, but it worked. It all started with the nonprofit. “Our goal was to provide workforce development and skills training by owning and running businesses. So that’s kind of how I got into construction. But we also had a cleaning business, a retail business, a sewing business.”
Eventually, Isaac merged the various nonprofit enterprises with other existing for-profit businesses — for example, with Reagan Design and Construction and with other cleaning companies.
“At that point, they were all trained. So I had, I think, eight employees that came with me in the construction endeavor.”
About seven years later, Isaac and Savannah launched Flourish Flowers on North Broadway.
“And so we started that business together. I was working at the nonprofit, and then when I made that transition to being a director-level person at Reagan Design and Construction, that’s when my wife’s business was kind of taking off, and I was actually working part-time there as the business manager as well.” A few years later, they added Cultivate Coffee and Flowers.
One of Isaac’s biggest pieces of advice in becoming an entrepreneur is to get a partner. “I’m a big believer in partnerships,” he says, “so in the eight businesses that my wife and I own, none of them are owned by just one of us. Like every single business we own, we have a partner, because we’re not good at everything.”
He has compassion for tradesmen who don’t know how to run businesses.
“So for me, I was looking for a really capable young plumber, a really capable young electrician and teach them how to run a business. It’s much less about construction and it’s much more about building their business. Now, go run the business on your own. Be successful.
My advice would be if you’re a young entrepreneur, figure out a way to get a business coach. Get someone to help you run your business. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.”
Now he has both a commercial and residential construction company. One of the feathers in his cap is Kern’s Food Hall, a modern vibe in an old, but beautiful shell with an assortment of businesses under one roof. A few of the other many achievements include The Humble Hog, South Landing Fitness, and Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Maryville.
“Most of our residential work is through networking with architects,” Isaac says. “We’ve got really, really good architect and developer relationships where they trust us. I would say the majority of our business comes through word of mouth.”
Pannell Construction does a lot of state projects and government projects as well, he says, such as five TCAT renovations in the last two years and current project at Pellissippi State.
“Because we’re a preferred contractor for the state of Tennessee, when they have a new project they’ll reach out to us and say hey, we’ve got one coming up. Would you please bid on it?”
His heart is still in the nonprofit realm. “One of my favorite things that I do,” Isaac says, “and is pretty much my more full-time job now, is the work that I do at the foundation that I started, and it’s basically a coaching and consulting organization.”