Hiring

How to Build Morale and Culture During a Transition with Jason Willet – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

On a recent episode of The Tim Faller Show, Jason Willet, a partner and now vice president at Willet Construction, shared his experience on how he kept his team engaged during a company transition that ultimately led to growth for the company.

Willet Construction faced a challenging transition, but instead of letting it bring the team down, they came up with a creative solution called “Vision Day.” The main goal of this event was to get everyone on the same page regarding the transition’s how, what, when, where, and why.

Through this event, Willet Construction not only brought their team closer together, but they also raised morale and reinforced their company’s culture. By involving the team in the decision-making process and soliciting their opinions, the team felt valued and empowered.

Jason, Tim, and Steve delved deeper into the strategies that Willet Construction used to make Vision Day a success. They discussed the importance of creating a well-planned agenda, prioritizing goals, and utilizing team opinions.

As a partner at Willet Construction, Jason’s role involves estimating and design, as well as being an exterior consultant. With his experience and insights, he offers valuable advice on how to keep a team engaged and motivated during challenging times.

Overall, this episode offers practical advice and real-life examples of how to create a positive company culture and navigate challenging transitions. It’s a must-listen for anyone who wants to build a successful team and grow their company.

The Art of Teaching with Paul Cardis – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E20

Today on the Tim Faller Show, Paul Cardis of ON3, joins the show to discuss the enormous challenge of proper staffing in the remodeling industry and how proper education, teaching, and coaching can expand the pool of qualified employees and help you retain current ones. Paul states that one of the most effective methods of “training” is to combine digital learning with live mentorship.AI technology allows for this by allowing for the creation of customized learning paths for individual employees.

Paul Cardis is the co-founder and acting CEO of ON3 in Madison, WI. Paul came up with the idea for On3 following the sale of his previous company Avid Ratings. His goal was to solve a pervasive problem within the industry – creating a mobile, AI-based source of truth for construction knowledge serving builders, remodelers, and trade contractors.

Paul, Tim, and Steve talk more about…

  • Fixing the staffing challenges with training and coaching
  • Using a combination of AI with personal mentorship for the most effective training, teaching, and coaching
  • How to apply learning science to training and coaching
  • And more…

Building Teamwork with Trades with Daniel Carrero – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

Do you struggle to maintain relationships with subcontractors and experience your projects not being handled with urgency or priority? If so, you haven’t built a team, you have built a contact list.  

Guest Daniel Carrero joins Tim and Steve to talk about how he has built a solid team with little turnover and kept tradesmen that have been with him for over 15 years.

Daniel Carrero, President of House to Home Solutions in Rockville, Maryland, has been able to build a Sub-Contractor Team that prioritizes his jobs over any other contractor. 

He shares his tips and tricks to how he has made a team that has stuck with him for years and are willing to take care of service issues without question.

Tim, Steve and Daniel talk more about:

  • Building relationships with subcontractors and trades. 
  • How to stand out to subcontractors
  • Getting trades engaged
  • Prioritizing trades and subcontractors
  • And more…

How To Hire And Keep Great People With Mitch Gray – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E10

Mitch Gray joins the show to discuss hiring and keeping great people.  He talks about the importance of understanding interpersonal relationships and getting intentional about finding people with passion, as passion feels energy.  Understanding that everyone wants to feel valued, empowered, and a part of something larger than themselves, no matter what level of employee.  This is core to the successful hiring and retention of great employees.

Mitch Gray is the founder of Mitch Gray Media, author of HOW TO HIRE AND KEEP GREAT PEOPLE, and host of The Mitch Gray Show. After spending over two decades leading teams as a business owner, manager, pastor, non-profit founder, and community organizer, Mitch developed a strong passion for leaders and employees. Mitch’s mission is to empower teams to perform and individuals to pursue their passion.

Mitch, Tim, and Steve discuss

  • The challenges of recruiting the right employees
  • How to convey passion to all levels of employees
  • Tips to do a better job of hiring
  • And more…

Click here to listen.

Active Listening in the Job Interview with Christine Miles – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

In the interview process, actively listening is key. But how? And how do we change if we “really need someone”? Then, of course, there are all the other times that when we look back at a difficult situation, whether a client or an employee, we see all the signs of the challenge were there, but we did not listen. Guest Christine Miles is here to share some insight and answers on how to avoid that situation.

Christine Miles is the author of What Is It Costing You Not to Listen?: The Power of Understanding to Connect, Influence, Solve & Sell, a professional keynote speaker, consultant, executive coach, thought leader, entrepreneur, and radio show host.  She is the founder and CEO of EQuipt.  Additional information on her may be obtained here. 

Tim, Steve, and Christine talk more about:

  • The importance of learning to listen
  • Other situations we can benefit from actively listening
  • And more…

Hindsight is 2020 with Tim Faller and Steve Wheeler- [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

If you’ve ever wondered what you’d do differently when starting your remodeling business if you only knew then what you know now, you’re not alone. 

Tim and Steve do, too. 

In this episode, the guys talk about what they’ve learned in their time at Remodelers Advantage and from their podcast guests that they wish they knew when they were running their own businesses.

They each identified the five biggest takeaways that make remodeling businesses stronger, more profitable, and built for growth. Learn what they think is important and why, including:

  • The power of job descriptions
  • Being financially transparent
  • Protecting profit through data
  • Making business decisions based on numbers, not feelings
  • Learning to sell, not just take orders
  • Getting to a zero punch list
  • And more …

Exploring the Decent Human Being Theory with Nick Slavik – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

Many remodelers, builders and business owners make resolutions or commitments to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and then they get caught up in the daily grind and it never happens. 

Another challenge for many companies we work with is attracting and hiring people, especially new people to the industry, and getting them trained to “do things our way.”

Our guest today, Nick Slavik, has done an outstanding job of developing SOPs for his company and then implementing training to meet those internally. It turns out he has some other views of the world that are extremely helpful in running a business, as well.

Nick is the Proprietor of the Nick Slavik Painting & Restoration Co., Host of Ask a Painter Live, and contributes to This Old House. He has been a national and international speaker on topics such as entrepreneurship, trades reformation, working with millennials, harnessing technology for trades business, financial benchmarks, and industry standards. Nick has been a craftsman for more than 25 years. His company has been awarded more than 5 National awards for craftsmanship over the last 3 years. He has created a rigorous apprenticeship program where he finds, trains, and mentors young people in his craft. In 2018, he was made a family member at This Old House.

Tim, Steve and Nick talk more about:

  • Background and description of the Decent Human Being Theory.
  • Creating & developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
  • Holding teams accountable and getting them to adhere to SOPs.
  • Balancing the demand for work, growing the business and training new personnel.
  • And more…

 

Best of the Tim Faller Show: Ep. 128: Onboarding New Staff with Chris Beck

When we discuss the labor shortage, we are often talking about how to find or develop good talent.

What we are now hearing from our Roundtables members is that they are finding people, getting them on the team, and then they fail. In many cases, these aren’t catastrophic failures, but slips in net profit or schedules or proper estimates, etc.  We can write this off to “they misrepresented themselves” during the interviews. Or, we can take a closer look at our own onboarding process to ensure we are setting our new hires up for success, not failure.

To dive deeper on this topic, Tim and Steve welcome Chris Beck to the show to talk about how he and his team at Normandy Remodeling handle the onboarding process.

Chris has been with Normandy Remodeling in Hinsdale, IL for 14 years; eight as Superintendent, two as the Production Manager and four as Director of Production. Normandy has added five Superintendents over the past five years to cover increased production and they are on pace to set another annual Produced Sales record, their 5th year in a row.

Tim, Steve and Chris cover:

  • Definition and background of onboarding.
  • Documentation and checklists.
  • And more…

Ep.198: Becoming a Memorable Leader with Howard Prager

Howard Prager joins the show to talk about how memorable leadership can help retain good employees, increase productivity and improve customer service.  He outlines his VIP model of leadership, which is easy to apply, proven effective, and will help create a company with which customers will want to do business and employees will want to work.

Howard Prager is president of Advance Learning Group, the author of the book Make Someone’s Day Becoming a Memorable Leader in Work and Life, speaker, executive coach, and consultant who helps managers become memorable leaders.  He has worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies as well as numerous small businesses and has won multiple professional awards for his work. 

Tim, Steve, and Howard talk more about:

  • Characteristics of a leader
  • Leadership vs. Management
  • And more…..

Ep.194: Encouraging Diversity

Join Tim and Steve as they talk to Nicole Warren about embracing and increasing diversity in the trades, and in this case, with women.   Tim makes the case that professionals in the remodeling industry must be more proactive in reaching across traditional boundaries in order to attract high preforming talent.  Nicole is a great example as her strong work ethic has helped her outperform her male colleagues to secure a number of promotions in her career.  Crossroads had the insight to encourage diversity and has reaped the rewards of that with Nicole.

Nicole, along with her father, is a carpenter for Crossroads Contracting  in Londonderry, NH.  She has always liked working with her hands, and once she had a child, she needed family friendly work hours. Becoming a carpenter allows her to work in a fulfilling career, but have the work-life balance she needs for her family. 

Listen as Nicole, Tim, and Steve discuss:

Creating the awareness that there are opportunities for everyone

How to ensure that the wording in communication does not exclude anyone

And more…