Quattro Development is a real estate development company headquartered in Illinois. Although its co-founders, Rob Walters and Mike Liyeos, kept the company small, it has a footprint across 31 states in the U.S. 

It's unusual for a small company to have such a large national presence. However, Walters and Liyeos credit their success to their distinctive approach to leadership, culture, and business operations.

Real estate might be a cutthroat industry, but this duo's contrarian approach has led to several high-profile deals for Quattro Development. Walters and Liyeos share the three differentiators that make Quattro Development truly unique in the real estate development space. 

Quattro Development Doesn't Rely on Brokers

While real estate brokers can certainly streamline the process, Quattro Development doesn't rely solely on brokers to do the heavy lifting. Rob Walters and Mike Liyeos highly value and frequently work with brokers, but they try not to lean on those brokers when it comes to selecting commercial real estate sites. 

"Many of our competitors rely exclusively on brokers to find sites for them, which is fine. But that ends up meaning a lot of the principals of the development companies never even go out and see these sites. Mike and I have been to every state in the country multiple times," Rob Walters explains, "brokers actually end up loving it because we help them to look good to their clients."  

Instead, Quattro Development's philosophy is to get boots on the ground locally. The partners believe in visiting sites personally so they have relevant knowledge about them. In fact, in Walters' experience, this hands-on expertise gives Quattro Development a leg up against other developers.  Walters' tells the story of having one client that was very excited to open new locations across the country.  In one three and a half day period they visited 13 states and drove over 3,000 miles.  The next week they were in Anchorage, AK looking for sites.

"If we have a meeting with the head of real estate for Chipotle, we can talk to him intelligently about pretty much any trade area in the country. I think being able to talk about it with somebody who has that direct knowledge really goes a long way versus pretending," Walters says.

Hiring for Culture Fit

Quattro Development has seven employees in addition to its two co-founders. To make their ship run as efficiently as possible, Walters and Liyeos follow a unique approach to employee delegation and empowerment - starting with their hiring practices. 

"A lot of the people that we've hired have come from relationships, either family or friends or whatever that have been referred to us," Mike Liyeos says. By hiring people they're already familiar with, the pair works with people who have already proven to support Quattro Development's mission. It doesn't hurt that hiring friends and family also ensures cultural fit.

For Walters and Liyeos, hiring for culture means taking on people who are self-motivated and who can function without constant direction. It's an approach that's worked well for the firm: "I don't know if we've ever had anybody leave our company," Rob Walters says.

Walters and Liyeos Built an Employee-First Culture

Quattro Development's values are uniquely pro-employee. "We have a culture that I think is different than our competitors and other development companies that we've seen," Mike Liyeos says. 

The co-owners believe that giving employees ultimate flexibility results in better work. Plus, it saves them the hassle of micromanaging a growing team. "I was in the Army Reserves for a while. I got the Army bureaucracy chain-of-command style of leadership. It just doesn't sit with me. I don't like being told what to do. I assume other people don't really want to be told what to do," Rob Walters explains.

This flexibility is a perk for both the co-founders and their eight employees. "Everybody knows what their job is and they know how to manage their schedule to take as much time off as they need to enjoy their lives. We don't make people come into the office. We just don't have rules. Everybody knows what they're supposed to do," Liyeos explains. "We trust our people and we respect our people. We don't have a vacation policy, for example. If you want to take a vacation, you take a vacation."

Unlike many real estate development companies, where the pressure of the job often erupts into shouting or arguments, Quattro Development takes a levelheaded approach to leadership. "We don't ever yell at people. If somebody makes a mistake, we'll let them know it can't happen forever, but we never berate somebody. Nobody ever has the fear of being chewed out by their boss. We don't make snap, irrational decisions," Walters says. 

Quattro Development's leaders also believe that employees perform better if they have a stake in the projects they're working on. That's why Walters and Liyeos offer equity in their real estate projects to all employees. "One of the things that we offer our employees is an equity stake in every project that we develop so that we're all working together for the common good of the company. Each of us individually, we have financial rewards as equity participants in the projects," Liyeos states. "It helps that all the employees make money when we sell a project; rather than the employees just seeing their boss add a new car to their collection," Walters adds. 

Basically, Quattro Development's culture is all about the firm's version of the Golden Rule: "Act like the person you want your employees to act like," Walters says.

Revolutionizing Real Estate With the Golden Rule

Ultimately, Rob Walters and Mike Liyeos set out to establish a company they would love working for. It might not be conventional, but their unique approach to hiring and leadership made Quattro Development a real estate juggernaut with a small but dedicated team.

Going forward, the duo dreams of scaling the company and supporting employees to be even more independent. "At the end of the day, what we're trying to accomplish is: 'How do we leave this world better because of our involvement?' I think Quattro helps a lot of people in that respect," Liyeos concludes.