Colleyville couple reaches top floor in their business world

Nearly 10 years ago, it started in a two-car garage in Euless with a pallet of crown molding and a spark of inspiration.

Colleyville resident Richard Bell, founder of The BOSS — Boss Builders Outlet Superstore — leveraged his experience in the wholesale trading industry to begin building relationships with pro contractors, vendors and consumers across the Metroplex.

Word spread around the quality of pro products Bell was sourcing and business began growing rapidly. The small garage could no longer satisfy the level of inventory the businessman was securing. A 3,000-square-foot-warehouse could, for a little while.

Growth exploded and those relationships expanded across the country and around the world.

Today, The BOSS has grown into a 35,000-square-foot warehouse in the 2400 block block of Merrell Road in Dallas with more than 1 million square feet of inventory specifically selected to serve its pro partners and the consumers.

Bell said many who did business with him out of his garage still do business with The BOSS today.

“Contractors, real estate investors and installers come to us because they want a partner that understands their unique needs, is local and knows the specifics of the market,” said Bell, 40.

Richard and wife Rachel Bell were featured Feb. 8 on CNBC’s Blue Collar Millionaire — a weekly series that celebrates America’s most inspiring self-made successes: the working-class who’ve managed to build fortunes with mud, sweat and tears.

The show detailed the growth of the Dallas-based flooring and home improvement builder’s outlet superstore that has expanded to an annual revenue of more than $7 million.

The show relayed how the businessman went from an average student to race car mechanic to self-made millionaire.

Bell said his chosen path was forgoing college and joining a professional race car team. He traveled the country with the team “experiencing both success and setbacks,” but also connecting him with his business mentor who was the owner of the team.

The wooden pallet business allowed the owner to fund his race team. Bell learned all there was to know about the business. When the owner sold the team Bell got an SBA loan and started his own company.

Over the next two years Bell said he was given a “crash course” in business ownership, and the business didn’t make it and he was forced to close.

The setback would ultimately be a setup to success as Bell joined a lumber brokerage company where he was introduced to closeouts, the model that he uses today. Seeing opportunity, Bell had a strong entrepreneurial desire to build his own company.

A byproduct of the wholesale business was the odd lots and small quantity products that were too small to be wholesaled. Always one to see opportunity, Bell began purchasing and filling up his garage with these home improvement items and he began promoting and selling them on Craig’s List and online classifieds.

“From this, The BOSS was born,” Bell said. “I am so proud of how successful the growth has been.”

Bell is quick to point out that his wife Rachel and mother of their three children — Julia, 7, Charlotte, 6, and Hank, 2 — shares equal kudos for their company’s success.

The couple married in 2006 and moved into a home in Euless, where they began selling construction and hardware materials out of their garage. In 2010, they moved into another home in Euless that they gutted and updated to be their dream house.

But Bell had fond memories of Colleyville, where as a youngster living in Dallas he had visited cousins who lived in a city that “was like going to the country and really roughing it.”

So in 2014 when they found a 1992 home in Highland Meadows in Colleyville that had never been updated, they bought it, gutted it and made it their own.

“It’s cool and nostalgic to be living in Colleyville,” Bell said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Colleyville couple reaches top floor in their business world."