About

Why GIB Exists

Georgia's builder landscape is full of national coaching programs that won't publish a price, buying groups that turn away anyone under 15 homes a year, benchmarking clubs that require a plane ticket, and a hard-won set of new permitting protections that almost nobody enforces.

What we saw is that nothing in that landscape is built around the operating economics of a builder doing 3 to 50 homes a year: procurement pricing at that scale, financing without personal recourse, benchmark data without a plane ticket, workforce dollars that go unclaimed because the paperwork is unforgiving, and the government relationships to actually get a permit issued on time.

"We're building the organization that owns all of it — the margin and the access to make it real."

Both of us spent time at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs — the state's housing agency — before starting this.

Mike Beatty

Co-Founder

Georgia State Representative and State Senator, Northeast Georgia
Commissioner, Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), June 2003 – July 2013, appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, reappointed by Gov. Nathan Deal
Member, Governor's State Workforce Development Board
Founder and CEO, Great Promise Partnership, 2013–2017
Director, USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, since 2017
Lives in Jefferson, Jackson County. Started as a history teacher and football coach in Northeast Georgia; ran a poultry and cattle farm with his wife, Judy.

Bernard Reynolds

Co-Founder

Started at Southern Company / Georgia Power — grassroots networks, policymaker facility tours, regulatory witness preparation
Director of state and federal affairs, Georgia EMC (42 member cooperatives)
Assistant Commissioner, Georgia Department of Community Affairs — chief legislative liaison to the General Assembly, civic engagement across all 159 Georgia counties and 550+ municipalities
Executive Director, Georgia Rural Development Council (gubernatorial appointment)
Principal, True North Strategies, since 2008 — community relations and government affairs for energy, infrastructure, economic development, higher education, and nonprofit clients

What we are, and what we're not

"We're not just a benchmarking club — we work the Capitol too."

GIB is structured to do more than procurement and benchmarking: agency navigation, permitting statute work, and, when it matters, legislative positions. Two founders have careers built on exactly that.

"We are not an events organization."

No launch party, no golf tournament, no awards program. If GIB builds something, it's because it puts a measurable number in a member's pocket.

"We monitor legislative issues — and intervene when it matters."

A former state legislator and a former DCA Assistant Commissioner are on this founding team. We track legislation and agency action that affects Georgia builders' operating economics, and we step in — through agency navigation, program access, introductions, or a position on a bill — the moment it protects members' bottom line.

Current status

Georgia Independent Builders is in formation and has not yet incorporated. We're validating the model directly with Georgia builders — structured interviews, supplier and lender conversations, and a founding member cohort — before asking anyone to commit long-term.