Episodes

Casey Finan of Finan Craftsmanship is a restoration artist but he would never claim to be a contractor.On ADD…when he first heard of it he essentially looked down on it, like many, like it was an excuse. He now sees building as therapy because it engages all of his senses.Casey says he was a “C” student. School did stimulate him but he was reluctant to pursue trades because of the stigma…in high school the burnouts pursued trades (this was my experience as well).Then he carves his own path in to rehabbing old houses and started an apprenticeship program to pass the torch.In the second installment, Casey “Not a Contractor” Finan tells us how he created a job for himself. Why he can’t be a traditional contractor and why he charges his mom full rate! Value: Integrity- life family, friends, subs, inspectors, and no yelling, why do we accept yelling?Greatest mentorWhen I ask this question, Caseys reply dives into the eternal question of how we bring people into the tradesCa…

Today, you get to meet my friend Robin Pierson, The Plumber Formerly Known As HVAC Warrior Woman, if you don’t already know her, prepare to be charmed and disarmed.Robin story starts in the garage helping her grandfather on cars, a tradition she carries on with her daughter.Like many before her, she had a career that she left behind to become a tradie. She is in her final year of apprenticeship and we hit upon a very cool and recent development in her career.Robin is a self proclaimed “a late bloomer” in terms of thinking about retirement. “Retirement?”, you say? Yeah, I didn’t think about it either for a time. Here’s a reminder.She has been the victim of hyper masculine abuse on the jobsite. I could but couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She’s also been told “why should I teach everything I know, then I won’t have ajob.”Robin plans on increasing the number of women in her union in the years ahead and she’s got great ideas on how to do it.Robin accomplished this singleh…

Drew McClain brings much experience to The Contracting Handbook this week. Coming up through the trades as an electrician and moved on to project supervision after the 2008 housing crash. He has built a long resume of incredible builds with the vision of one day opening McClain Construction Group and building a legacy of his own.I’ve been watching progress on a 30,000 sq foot “French Mansion on the Beach” that Drew is supervising and it’s a beast! There is so much going on you need to go to his handle on Hammr to see it.While Drew wraps up that project, the day has come, McClain Construction Group is a reality. The conversation that unfolds in these next two episodes are, in a sense, what I imagined The Contracting Handbook to be at the outset. It’s a driving conversation between this incredibly knowledgeable and experienced home build supervisor and myself. Asked him to maybe have a few questions for me and he’s got me on the run the entire pod! Drew really brings the heat!You …

Drew McClain brings much experience to The Contracting Handbook this week. Coming up through the trades as an electrician and moved on to project supervision after the 2008 housing crash. He has built a long resume of incredible builds with the vision of one day opening McClain Construction Group and building a legacy of his own.I’ve been watching progress on a 30,000 sq foot “French Mansion on the Beach” that Drew is supervising and it’s a beast! There is so much going on you need to go to his handle on Hammr to see it.While Drew wraps up that project, the day has come, McClain Construction Group is a reality. The conversation that unfolds in these next two episodes are, in a sense, what I imagined The Contracting Handbook to be at the outset. It’s a driving conversation between this incredibly knowledgeable and experienced home build supervisor and myself. Asked him to maybe have a few questions for me and he’s got me on the run the entire pod! Drew really brings the heat!You …

What did you make in your shopclass?My next guest Matt Blomquist and his students build high performance homes in his shop class.In my talk with Matt, we talk about the guts of a home building shop class and how to set one up where you live.Join us!That’s my guest today on the contracting handbook podcast, Matt Blomquist. He’s a shop class teacher that builds houses with his students. Today we are going to look at what it takes to start and operate a program like this. The idea is, lets get more schools involved and do whatever we can to get todays kids to be tomorrows builders.

I truly admire Schannon Yodice’s ability to communicate tiling advice, business advice, and encourage tradespeople across multiple platforms and, you know, operate a tiling business, simultaneously. So, I am fortunate to get her to talk to us.Schannon left her dream job to start a business because the local operators work was sub par. This is where the story starts and we quickly get into:-being taken seriously as a woman in the workplace-working with GC’s vs clients-vetting clients-not cheapening yourself -issues around hiring help-mentors and mentoring-her philosophy (pretty well covered in the quote here)-then we wade into the discussion about how to treat the next generation of incoming trades peopleSchannon is also a badass in the gym but we didn’t have time to get into that topic in this pod. Anyway you slice it, Schannon is an excellent role model and mentor for people coming into the trades.

This week, we meet up with Ella Star, owner and operator of “Plumberella”. She opened the doors of her plumbing business on March 7, yeah, that’s right, two weeks ago. She and I get into what it takes to run a business but, more importantly, living the life she wants to by moving to a place that she enjoys, leaving the company she worked for, and taking the leap of faith to be her own boss. It sounds like she has surrounded herself with a good community of builders and, from where I am sitting, it would appear she’s going straight to the top.

Sasha Kassis calls it like she sees it. She works her tail off doing everything from forming to framing by hand in a remote area of British Columbia. Her partner is a mentor in the trades and best friend. She blows off the the stereotypes about women in trades by doing, learning, and being fearless. An advocate for women in construction, an advocate for everyone in construction.

IT DOESN’T matter what type of business you have, if you are in business for yourself, you need to listen to Rachel Taylor.Rachel is my guest during Women in Construction week and she is full of inspiration, business insight, and she shares her story.I keep saying it but we just graze the surface in this chat. Please join us tomorrow on The Contracting Handbook.

Mike Morley, owner and operator of MGM Construction and Maintenance, is all about growing his business “in due time”. He’s clearly among the best in Nassau and proudly shares his knowledge with the public with construction technique classes. He’s 31, been on his own for 4 years but started with Mike Sr., his dad, at M&M Construction when he was 12. Mike considers himself a brother to his team and wants communications to be good.Material price fluctuations are even worse where Mike is operating. The added work of updating quotes after time has passed is eating away at time.Mikes advice?Be punctual, good manners, respect, know your trade and you’ll get far!

We get right into award winning builder Nick Lonsdale's design build business structure to micromanaging, quickly shift to the mandatory 10 year warranty, and mental health. Stepping way from design. That’s the first 7 minutes!Yes, that his bulldog Boston snoring away in the backgroundImportance of trade relations!Setting standards as builders that are above code.Then it’s a bit of banter comparing building in AK vs OzHow does Nick choose clients?This is where it gets interesting…as his company grew, he stood back and looked at it and thought “is this what I want”. There was a ton of workChoosing client comes down to these factors:Distance to jobs“can they regulate their emotions” We get in bed with clients for ten yearsIts their life savings so there is so much emotion involved.- affirmationHe’s building a legacy (he sounds just like me! I'm older)- affirmationWe have to educate our clients We need tradesperson to share that educating skillThe process from…

Brek Goin is the co-founder and CEO of the Hammr App. He was raised by a contractor and had the brain child to start an app that showcases and elevates the work of trades people. In this episode Mike and Brek talk about Brek's inspiration to make the app and how development is going. The feedback from the building community is strong. Brek talks a bit about hiring tradespeople off the app, what it means to contractors and monetization. Then Brek talks about toxic masculinity in relation to the Hammr app.Mike gets personal about Brek's habits and life lessons.Listen to the complete episode to get to know Brek Goin.

Mark Wille is a passive house advocate and contractor. He's been involved in the residential building science scene for years, had a hand in starting the #BS Fridays podcast, and help developed the T-Stud. The conversation drops right into talking to clients about energy efficient homes and the importance of putting in that time face to face when explaining project costs. While he likes to focus on envelope and mechanical, he really just wants the client to pick paint color and sheen. Mike recently completed a Six Star Energy rated home build and the boys meander into the relaxing of national standards for air barrier. Both men agree that we need to do better than the standard. Way better because, it's our legacy. At this point, they get of the path of running a contracting business and get into wall science.

Mark Wille and Mike Knoche talk about Mark's YouTube and Podcast shows, #BS and beers, and BS Fridays, briefly but turn the importance of sharing information with the building community. Why? Because people and potential clients want to work with builders that are proud of their work. They go on to discuss Mike's book in regards to sharing of information as Mark points out, most craftspeople and tradespeople don't have experience with business. Mike's head gets blown up! They have a candid talk about what Mark's friend calls "chasing endurance" and burn out! We all burn out! Mike shares one of his methods to stave off burn out and Mark has a powerful story about burn out! This is a must listen episode!

These guys both spent time on the Yukon River and traveling the world. It's ten minutes of banter that will clearly pave the way for more calls in the future to share adventures. THIS IS A BONUS EPISODE!

In part 2 of the talk with Michael Anschel, Mike Knoche asks Michael to define success. The answer is unconventional. The pursuit of money draws a long dramatic pause from guest and host before Michael rescues the chat by talking about his other business of taking professionals on retreats to make them think hard about what they are doing with their lives.The deep questions don't end here. Michael explains how he decided that he was going to be capable of leading what is now a 15 person company. His story begins with and import export company of ancient instruments while living in China. Listen to this conversation if you want to know the difference between working in your business, on your business, and/or building a company you can let operate while you essentially retire.Michael lays it down "we are contractors, we do contracting, we are not in the trades".Mike reads OA Design Builds website claim about transparency of their contracts. While completely transparent, Michael sa…

In this episode, Mike welcomes Michael Anschel of OA Design Build and they go deep right away. Do we tell our clients how good we are? Does it sound arrogant? How do we move past our insecurities as professionals? Then, they blast into Mike treatise on contracts, "this is not a negotiation". But, Michael has considered this and parses the "my way or the highway" attitude vs. charging for your work and the duties that are assigned to that- guiding and teaching your clients. They revisit the importance of relationships from trade partners to family and friends. Michael And Mike discuss how they ended up as contractors bc it wasn't the original trajectory and how their prior experience helps them in their businesses. Then, on to the resources that they used to build upon and get to where they are today. There's a lot of laughs at the parallels in their lives. It's a good story with book recommendations by Leo Kottke. Michael, a nationally recognized expert on Green design, remodeling…

Tim Sprague has been running his concrete foundation and home framing business for three years. He's 29 years old and light years ahead of where host Mike Knoche was at this point in his career. Tim talks about breaking away from his former boss, general contractor Randy of Ringmaster Construction /, and the incredible support he received from him as he made that transition. Tim took that support seriously and lays it all out for anyone who is trying to start their own contracting business in his trade. He built on his predecessors experience but realized he needed to constantly be improving his systems. Then, Tim talks about the power of social media in solving problems. He talks to other people he follows online real-time if he's looking for another set of eyes on something. He doesn't let pride get in the way. He struggles with office work and Mike gives Tim some unsolicited advice! No one asked, Mike! They talk about the importance of workman's compensation, boring but necessary! …

Today Mike Gena Hoyt, co-owner and co-founder of Big Dog Construction discuss the labor force shortage and what could help to change public perception of the trades and tradespeople to bring more young people to the table. Listen in to hear us talk about the US vs Canada, the good, the bad and the ugly. Gena also talks about being Aron Jones boss, their partnership, and what its like to be a contractor in Grand Manan, NB.

Founder, entrepreneur, and developer, Andrew Vanderwoerd joins Mike Knoche to talk about his new product, Walk on Plans. What is it? It's a full scale projection of architectural drawings on an area where clients and contractors can actually walk through the house they are going to build! We get into the product development, challenges with large format projections, and then how it works. The benefits to builders and clients? Inexpensive insurance that the dimensions of the new home fit the wants and needs of the client. We go in-depth into the potential for implementing 3D components and franchising this innovative new business

Today, its Brant "The Tool Hacker" Taylor. He rails on the lack of an entry point into the trades and construction industry in the US because its not just public perspective on trades causing the issue with new recruitment. Brant, wants to go even further though. He's making tools and developing techniques to make work easier on the body to "keep the craftsman alive". Many people try trades but once they're in, there is no clear path to upward mobility. We have a huge housing shortage. We have a labor shortage. Who is gonna build the houses? Who's gonna build the bridges?Even with some movement towards "sustainable" building techniques, it's not enough. It's still incredibly wasteful and our building have relatively short lives. Brant suggests a direction for the industry.

Robin Clevett is a carpenter, joiner, and passionate builder in the UK and he's translating that work into a YouTube channel that has tutorials and techniques from his hands on business. He weaves a great tale about how he came out of school and "accidentally" getting onto business after he'd learned a bit of carpentry. It was a struggle but once he had a taste of self employment, it was over! Even though Robin and I grew up in distant lands, starting the business had similar challenges. They go into self employment vs working for somebody. It's a different mindset bc we have different goals. Then we move on to avoiding bad clients. Even if you think you know, it's still good to hear how Robin teases apart the contractor-client interaction to determine 1. if they really want to do it 2. do they have or will they fund it. Programming (television, cable) programs on property remodels and builds give the public unrealistic expectations about cost and project length. We move on to a touch…

In the second installment of interview with Brittany Farrow, Mike Knoche asks her to talk about burning out. The question comes up because the first time they attempted to talk on the phone, she was tired and stressed. She has a strategy but still burns the candle at both ends. Her biggest struggle running her business outside of sexism and discrimination...it's running the crew. Not being buddy-buddy, sensitivity, and, then, Mike shows his true colors about his frustration with employees. Having a partner has it's benefits! He does the books, payroll, and the office side so she can focus on the work. The Job Site Speed Round reveals what Brittany appreciates most. Then she runs through her vision for the future of her business. She's positive and a go getter

Up and coming framer Brittany Farrow, co-owner of BM Farrow Construction, talks business with Mike Knoche. She's a mentors women of all ages to get into the trades and runs a crew of women. Brittany lays out the realities for women in trades where she lives. From blatant harassment, disregard for bad behavior on jobsites, reactions from everyone when women show up to frame, the clients who love her, and how it all began for her.