Episodes

The conversation meanders into ICF vs. framing for home construction, but "failure" is not linear. Getting your clients and contractors on board with building science and then having the "dumb" conversations that are necessary. Don't let your subs run williy nilly with locations. Make sure you walk through with them. This with some exampled from a current project. The guys go on to discuss the exciting challenges associated with doing work on old homes and projects that require research bc they have no experience there. Then it's a speed round 1. Tiny Houses 2. Offsite building 3. Remodels vs new construction 4. Historic restoration 5. Why architects insist on goofy eyewear. His advice to you: Be a team player, manage water, and build airtight! Steve Baczek wants you to write a 5 star review!

Steve Baczek is a hands on architect with previous experience in the trades. After some brief background, Steve and Mike talk the importance of talking budgets from the start. Bla bla bla. It's an in-depth discussion between two guys who have a lot of experience weeding out tire kickers and getting straight to the point. How much money do you have? Both of them agree that a lot of their clients are "pre-qualified" in a sense if they came to them based on reputation but the budget question still needs to be addressed! And tire kickers? They talk about some red flags and turn down a lot of people. When it comes to friends and family, charge full price or charge nothin at all! Steve then talks about his process with clients...listen as he describes " narrative" he assigns his clients for homework and then meet and discuss before any drawings are started. Guiding, coaching, or leadership, call it what you want, Mike and Steve agree that you are responsible for making your client underst…

This is the introduction to Season 2 with a few highlights of the episodes recorded so far. Season 2 of the Contracting Handbook is all about conversations on what ties builders together, who are we what are we, client communication, innovation, inspiration and more. Episodes drop weekly on Monday at 5:30 EST

I was invited to talk on my favorite podcast "Remodelers on the Rise". I've chopped up the audio to give you guys a little taste of my talk with Kyle Hunt where we talk about how I set boundaries with clients, what rules I have, how I implement said rules, and then we talk about my world travels a bit and how that influenced my

The Contracting Handbook is back! Well, kinda. In this teaser, Mike Knoche says what's in store for the first six guests in the second season of The Contracting Handbook

Today Mike reviews what he has distilled as the 16 most important take home messages from his 17 interviews with contractors, consultants, accountants, and authors of the construction industry. He also highlights messages from the 20 topical episodes he produced based on his 16 years as a general contractor.

In this second installment of my talk with Kyle Hunt of "Remodelers on the Rise", we hit upon the importance of being genuine with your clients but then we turn to working your numbers once under contract. This continuation from the previous episode dives into tracking your numbers from estimate to actual, i.e. job costing, through daily logs. All grippage and no slippage! Then it's a brief rapid fire on change orders and the final 5% (which you have to hear to find out about). And finally we wrap up with Kyles plea for you to keep in touch with your clients even after you are paid!

Today, Kyle Hunt, host of Remodelers on the Rise (podcast) and founder of Remodel Your Marketing joins Mike for a lively chat about running your contracting business. Kyle has been coaching his clients for 14 years and really cuts to the chase! In this first installment of the interview, Mike and Kyle discuss the perfect marketing scheme from scratch. Kyle really drives home the importance of always keeping that in mind. They talk about taking action steps and giving yourself deadlines to hold yourself accountable and end imploring you to always be recruiting new help even if you dont need new help. Why? Listen to find out.

In the second installment of my talk with Kendra Ferguson, we delve into finances and accenting best practices from the perspective of a general contractor and that of a CPA raised by contractors. Kendra's insight into construction specific accounting practices are vast. She explains job costing to determine whether you are estimating properly to achieve target margins bc most contractors expectations for gross profit are overstated when its actually calculated correctly by job costing. Then it's more about our bad habit, as contractors, of bank account balance accounting. She is explicit in her terms of explaining balance sheets and income statements. Mike got schooled a bit about cash flow and kept quiet as she explained how to understand positive cashflow. And, finally, we chatted about forecasting the financial future of your company to know where you need to go and when to raise your rates!

In this talk between Mike Knoche and Kendra Ferguson they discuss why you should hire accounting out immediately. The story unfolds with Mike sharing how he finally realized he needed someone else to do this (Uncle!) and Kendra shares a recent story about a roofing company that had been losing money but those losses were masked by loans. The story is a great example of how things can go sideways if you don't have your finger on the pulse of overhead costs! It's a great segue into the final section of the interview where Kendra explains how to seek out the right CPA for you and why it is important that they have experience in contractor accountant because IT'S DIFFERENT.

Wow, I can't believe a grown can do so many unacceptable things on a job site! Here I list ten of my top actions that happen on job sites that I try to convey before they happen. The challenge is that it seems like these things should be instinctual but THEY'RE NOT FOR SO MANY PEOPLE!I sound angry, but I'm not!

In this episode Mike draws on his 16 years experience listening to customers on cold calls, at first time site visits, under contract and between contracts and the signals that scream for you to get out!

In this episode there is advice on setting wages and talking about how you find employees. Mike tells you his preferences and some good stories about wages in other countries and being part of the Bad News Bears of finish carpentry

Author and remodeling consultant, Jim Molinelli joins Mike to talk about his work in preparing clients for contractors. This information is invaluable to contractors because we can glean from his techniques how to prepare our clients for their budgets. We go on to discuss his book series. I've read both of his books and I am saying that, from someone who has read every book tangentially related to running a small contracting company, this series is the best I've read. I've recommended his book to friends and clients. This book would have really benefited me as a young contractor even though it's written for our potential clients. We also let the cat out of the bag...we chat a bit about the manuscript for my upcoming book....

Today, Mike tells some stories about his employees and asks you to think about how you're going to use them. It's not that good.

In the second part of this interview, we get into a discussion on scope of work as it relates to budget and billing. Daniel has a great sense of how to manage money, client expectations, subcontractors, all while managing his own time to keep up with his wife and 8 children!

Today, Daniel Preston of Clay Contracting talks with Mike about his start as an apprentice to a mason, his years wearing tool bags and then moving into a management position for new custom home construction. His company is a cost plus builder with no employees and subcontracts all of their work. We talk about boundaries with clients, estimating time for proposals, how the keep clients in the know about project progress through the use of cameras, hard conversations with clients, and more. Daniel values integrity and honesty above all else.

Here, I outline ten essential tasks to do on Fridays!

Andy Bannister tells Mike what he loves most about his work. His response? Maybe somewhat unexpected. Mike and Andy talk about burnout in the industry, life-work balance, and health in the construction industry. It's a personal conversation and probably a conversation not many builders have with one another. Then, Mike takes a hard right and asks Andy about soaring demand, soaring prices, and how its effecting business.

Andy Bannister describes how his company went from 1 to 67 employees. We talk about what factors allowed him to grow that business. Then Andy tells Mike about how they survived the crash of 2008. It's an interesting story of making a bold move and having it pay off. We spend a large part of the talk sharing our perspectives on expectation management for residential builds and how that differs from commercial work. Then we shift into change orders and the challenges of identifying and executing them. This episode wraps up with a conversation about "mindful building", the idea that not only should we attempt to control the wastefulness in the construction industry and invest in green building, but incorporate being socially responsible into the business model...

Mike tells couple stories about working with friends and the lessons learned.

In this second installment of my talk with Kat Willer we talk about the importance of good communication, woman in the trades, and women owned general contractors. There's a story about sticking to her guns with a contract. Dealing with men as a female contractor. Did you know that only 3% of general contractors in the US are women owned? And only 1.5% of the construction work force are women? Here, we discuss the reasons behind that phenomenon, the women we have hired (the only ones that applied), and much more. It's the elephant in the room and we take a good picture of it!

Today, Kat Willer tells her story about how she came to run her remodeling company, Revision Remodel and Design. It's a great tale of a self made contractor. She asked all the right questions. She is passionate about her career and respects her customers hard earned money. She's a quick study in this industry. She sets boundaries with her clients, sets realistic goals for project completion, respects her employees, and excels in creativity. She doesn't let ego get in the way of learning and growing as a builder! Learn more about Kat at her handle @revisionremodel

This episode is a description of how to take the information gained at your sight visit and transforming it into an informative, attractive, comprehensible presentation in the form of a proposal for you clients. It relies on the listen of Episodes 12, 22, and 27 as well. Employing this good practices will win you more contracts with fewer mistakes!