Corey Billings
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Corey Billings is the founder of Elevation Design & Build, a company specializing in the design and construction of high-end synthetic golf environments. He began his career at age 20 as a laborer on a golf course construction project in Hawaii and spent nearly 15 years developing his craft in golf course construction and shaping before taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Today, he is known for bringing traditional golf course shaping principles into the synthetic golf industry, creating environments designed to look, feel, and play like real golf. His work ranges from full 18-hole par-3 courses and multi-green putting and chipping courses to private residential golf projects ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 square feet.
His path to entrepreneurship was anything but linear. After years of inconsistent work and the challenges of supporting a family, he launched his first business in 2019 with no formal business or marketing experience. That venture eventually failed, but the lessons from it became the foundation for his next chapter. After coming close to leaving the industry entirely, he chose to start again and built Elevation around the reputation, experience, and expertise he had spent years developing. His story is rooted in resilience, faith, craftsmanship, and the belief that failure doesn't have to mean you're on the wrong path—it can be the education that prepares you for the next opportunity.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
- That failure doesn't mean you're on the wrong path when your first business teaches you essential lessons.
- How Corey turned nearly fifteen years of golf course construction experience into a specialized synthetic golf business.
- Why starting with less than $30,000 in his first year still gave Corey the freedom to see a path forward.
- How doubling sales year after year taught him the difference between doing the work and building a scalable business.
- That losing a business he believed in became the education that prepared him to start again stronger.
- How negative bank accounts and near repossession pushed him to take another shot instead of quitting the industry.
- Why clients with large synthetic golf projects trust Corey to make artificial turf look and play like real golf.
- How approaching every project as a golf course builder rather than a turf installer creates believable contours and shot variety.
- That your first attempt doesn't have to work if you become better with every attempt and earn another opportunity.
- Why he spent nearly fifteen years working for others before finally making the leap into entrepreneurship.
about the show
America’s Top Contractors is a cinematic business documentary series featuring the general contractors, trade experts, construction company owners, and industry leaders who bring projects to life through skill, leadership, and execution.
Each episode takes viewers inside the story behind a successful contractor, showing what it takes to win jobs, manage crews, solve problems, serve clients, and grow in one of the most demanding industries in business.
The series highlights contractors working across residential construction, commercial projects, remodeling, specialized trades, and large-scale service operations. These are the men and women who understand pressure, deadlines, budgets, safety, quality, and the responsibility that comes with leading teams in the field.
America’s Top Contractors goes beyond the finished project to show the decisions, setbacks, sacrifices, and lessons behind building a respected construction business.
For featured guests, the series provides a platform to share their story, build authority, and showcase the experience, standards, and leadership behind the work they do every day.
