Operations

The Tricks of a Lead Carpenter with Doug Horgan- Season 4 Episode 5

October 24, 2022 00:44:29

Tim and Steve welcome Doug Horgan to the show to discuss the role of a lead carpenter. Doug talks about his responsibilities, including research, being an internal “help desk,” managing people internally and externally. He also manages scheduling and explains the meaning behind the saying “make ready planning” and why it’s essential for a lead carpenter.

Doug Horgan is Vice President–Best Practices at BOWA, the Washington DC area’s premier custom and remodeling builder. In this training, quality, and troubleshooting role, Doug’s goal is reducing construction defects through sharing knowledge. Doug’s thirty years of tools-on carpentry, warranty troubleshooting, and instruction experience, are the foundations for visually rich presentations on how to build properly and avoid construction problems.

Tim, Steve, and Doug talk more about

Having an organized job site
Client relations and communication
Advice for a lead carpenter
And more…

Emotional Intelligence as a Management Tool – Season 4 Episode 4

October 17, 2022 00:41:02

Jesse DeBenedictis joins the Tim Faller show to talk about emotional intelligence. Jesse tells us his definition of emotional intelligence and how he, as a leader, uses it to better his business. He discusses how being self-aware is the most critical piece of emotional intelligence. He also talks about how having good emotional intelligence can help your clients.

Jesse DeBenedictis is the proud owner of Works by Jesse DeBenedictis located in Beverly Massachusetts. He is focused on building long-term relationships with clients and vendors, some of whom he has worked with since the company was founded in 2001. Jesse continues to drive the company to deliver a better higher quality service to their customers.

Tim, Steve, and Jesse talk more about:

How to use emotional intelligence as a business owner
Self-regulation
Motivation
And more…..

Concierge Service With Aimee Cianfarani – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E3

October 10, 2022 00:33:47

Today on The Tim Faller Show, Aimee Cianfarani discusses how her company has made concierge services (a/k/a handyperson services) a successful part of the overall business. In this high-failure segment of the industry, Aimee and her team have overcome significant odds to find great success by applying a strategic approach and using marketing as a key part of the process. Aimee said hiring the right person for this role is also critical.

Aimee is the Concierge Services Coordinator at Teakwood Builders in Saratoga Springs, NY. Aimee has helped grow Concierge Services from a one-person operation into significant operations with jobs booked into 2023.

Listen to this episode where Aimee, Tim, and Steve talk about:

How to use this to service upsell customers to more significant projects or as a follow-up to other projects to keep them happy
Determining the right customers and employee talent for this service
And more…

Time Management for Project Managers – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E2

October 3, 2022 00:32:29

Today on the Tim Faller Show, we welcome guest John Vendafreddo to discuss time management. John talks about how to organize jobs based on importance or urgency, and how planning can help with time management. John also discusses how to handle in-office meetings while working on job sites. John finished the show by giving some advice to new project managers.

John has been interested in building since he received his first Fisher-Price toolset. Upon graduating high school there was no question about what field John would enter. John joined the Hogan Design Build team as a laborer but his drive and eye for perfection helped develop him into the company’s head trim carpenter. As Hogan Design Build grew, John’s attention to detail led to him being promoted to Project Manager and now, Senior Project Manager. John is married and has three sons. He lives in a house that he built from the ground up in Batavia.

Tim, Steve, and John talk about:

How to prioritize your time
How much time to spend with clients
On the job site time management
And more…

The Partnership Between Owner and Production Manager With Clark Harris and Eric Bain – [The Tim Faller Show] S4 E1

September 26, 2022 00:28:22

Season 4 Starts With This Special Episode Recorded Live at The Remodelers Summit!

Listen to this episode and get tips on creating an effective and highly functional relationship between company ownership and the production team. Clark Harris and Eric Bain of Innovative Construction discuss how they have built an open, trusting, and team-based relationship that allows them to work effectively together while creating a culture for innovation, growth, and change.

Innovative Construction is a high-end design firm in Atlanta, GA, with the goal of improving lives through design, craftsmanship, and teamwork. Clark and Eric run their organization with a philosophy of “do it badly and improve.” They do this with a relationship of openness and trust.

Join Clark, Eric, Tim, and Steve as they discuss:

Radical Candor
Failure as a growth opportunity
Overcoming challenges and fears
And more…

The Impact Your Production Team Has on Marketing with Spencer Powell – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

September 12, 2022 00:39:17

Raise your hand if you are a salesperson… Maybe a few business owners raised their hands, but most likely, our production people and our Project managers, Lead carpenters, and Production managers all kept their hands down. Not so fast!

In this episode, we step out of our comfort zone a little and talk about your production teams’ impact on sales and marketing. For this discussion, we bring in an expert in the marketing world who has worked with hundreds of remodelers and home builders all over the country, Spencer Powell.

Spencer is the President of Builder Funnel, a Colorado-based firm that provides sales and marketing services for homebuilders, remodelers & contractors. Spencer earned his Inbound Marketing, HubSpot, and HubSpot Partner Certifications in 2010 and has been practicing and teaching inbound marketing to businesses ever since.

Tim, Steve, and Spencer talk more about:

The impact production has on the Client Experience
The Top 3 things that will create negatives in the clients’ mind
The Top 3 things that create a positive reaction with a client
How the production team can create vital content for the marketing effort
How owners and leaders can get buy-in from the team and show the impact they have on the business

Let’s Revisit Zero Punch List Production with Mike Volochuk – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

August 30, 2022 00:38:00

On our third episode, in March of 2018, we talked with Mike Barkhouse from Amsted Design Build about achieving “Zero Punch List” production.

We heard from a few listeners about that episode, and the concept of Zero Punch List, so we wanted to revisit it. We are now evangelists pushing to see the term “Punch list” eliminated from the remodeler’s vocabulary. In a zero punch list scenario, after a project, no items remain to be addressed or “punched” because the items will have been addressed during the project and not at the project’s end.

A punch list is so ingrained within the industry that it is tricky to conceive of not having one. Every blog article about working with a contractor says something about that punch list. Usually, “Don’t pay until it is done.”

Our guest for this episode is Mike Voloschuk, Production Manager at Hurst Design Build Remodel in Westlake, Ohio. Mike is a member of our Roundtables for Production Managers peer group, and when he mentioned how his firm had adopted the Zero Punch strategy, we invited him to join us and discuss it.

Mike has been with Hurst since 2008 and moved from Carpenter to Production Manager.

Tim, Steve, and Mike talk more about:

Background on Hurst Design Build Remodel (size of projects, type of work, etc.).
Why Hurst moved to Zero Punch List production.
How Hurst made the transition and how the team reacted and adapted to the change.
How Hurst is doing with the new production mindset and how the clients have responded.
And more…

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

July 25, 2022 00:29:48

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 …

Special Guest Kevin O’Connor of “This Old House” [Best of the Tim Faller Show]

July 11, 2022

Television is full of construction and remodeling shows, but we all know many of them leave false impressions of how fast and easy the process can be. But the pioneering program, This Old House, still shows viewers how complicated it can be.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the program, and they’re tackling a net-zero retrofit, a mid-century modern remodel, and spearheading outreach programs to get more workers into the trades.

In this episode, Kevin O’Connor, host of the Emmy Award-winning This Old House and Ask This Old House, talks with Tim and Steve about what you see on TV, and how it helps the construction industry as a whole.

Kevin has appeared on the two shows since 2003, and serves on the editorial board of This Old House magazine. He also hosts This New House airing on the DIY Network and Hidden History in Your House airing on the History Channel’s H2 network. Along with his four brothers and two sisters, Kevin grew up on various job sites led by his father, a civil engineer. When Kevin and his wife, Kathleen, were renovating their 1892 Queen Anne Victorian they sent an e-mail seeking advice from the Ask This Old House experts. The house call served as Kevin’s first screen test to serve as the new host (the third host in the history of the home-improvement series).

Kevin talks about the evolution of the show and about the Generation NEXT campaign, cosponsored by the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. It’s a high-profile effort to close the skills gap in the trades, encouraging young people to master those skills and look at construction careers. He also talks about the challenges of working on a job site that’s also a TV shoot, including:

Scheduling
Scrambling and adapting
More about the show’s two projects this season
How the show’s contractors juggle TV and their businesses
Using their big megaphone
And more…

Ep.198: Becoming a Memorable Leader with Howard Prager

June 27, 2022 00:36:35

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…..