The Builder Nuggets Podcast

Show highlights include:

• How your Shiny Object Syndrome transforms your business into a profit-eating monster (1:20)
• 4 core principles of building a lean and mean business that can scale up or down with ease (2:30)
• The "Not a Bank" business model that keeps your company lean and mean (even as you scale) (2:41)
• The dirt-simple car analogy that makes potential clients want to give you their money before you start building instead of making you foot the bill (4:00)
• Why bringing marketing talent in-house is less effective and more gut-wrenching than outsourcing (12:57)
• How building your construction business like a doctor's office maximizes your profitability and minimizes your headaches (14:26)
• The "Who, Not How" mindset that unlocks true freedom in your business (20:42)
• Don't invest in what you don't need (26:10)
• Why creating a lean and mean company puts your exit plan on "easy mode" (29:32)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

In this episode we talk with Byron Brooks and Stefan Wright to hear the unique spin they are putting on builder events. It's a refreshing way to bring like minded builders, remodelers, architects, designers, and students together to work on their game and have a ton of fun while doing it. With your help, and some craft beer, these events can be hosted at a location near you.

Show highlights include:

• The "Craft Beer Secret" for collaborating with your competitors (without sabotaging your business) (2:35)
• How craft beer can help attract young people into the construction industry (9:59)
• Trying to break the mold of the old fashioned way of networking (12:05)
• The strange way drinking craft beer lets you charge your clients more and not be seen as a commodity (16:56)
• We want to provide local champions the autonomy to host local events in their community (26:35)
• It's a new and refreshing way to network in a stodgy industry (28:12)

If you'd like to learn more about Builders and Brews, you can check out their website at https://www.buildersandbrews.ca/ and follow them on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/buildersandbrews/.

Or if you're interested in learning more about the Builders and Brews pilot program, you can reach out to Duane and Dave on the contact page: https://www.buildernuggets.com/contact/

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

Join us for a conversation with custom home builder Andrew Black and learn how his quest to find a better way to run his business led to 500% growth, multiple offices, and a team that's never been happier. We've featured other members of his team in Episode 21 & Episode 26 so thought it was time to talk to the guy who started it all. We were worried that he'd start feeling left out.

Show highlights include:

• Why focusing more on operations rather than production is the key ingredient to growing a successful business (3:09)
• The weird way growing too fast can bankrupt your business (10:41)
• How promoting your project managers to owners prevents them from bailing on your company for something else (and helps you keep your sanity as your grow) (18:32)
• The "Incubator Secret" that attracts the best builders to your team
• Constantly finding ways to improve in every aspect of the business (22:13)
• Truthfully it's not that hard to have high revenue. What's hard is to have an NOI at the end of the year that's positive (30:34)
• How your operations are the difference between a 7 or 8% NOI and a 0% NOI (even if you're a multi-million dollar business) (31:14)

If you'd like to get in touch with Andrew you can email him at [email protected] or send him a DM on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/alairhomesforesthill/

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

In this episode we continue our conversation with industry consultant and training expert Joe Stoddard on what all of us can do to make training a key element in our business. With no end in sight to the high demand for housing, coupled with a tight labor pool and trade base, training will be a necessity for growth moving forward. It is essential in building the workforce of tomorrow.

Show highlights include:

• Investing in your business is the best way to become more profitable, have higher customer satisfaction, and deliver all your projects on time (0:50)
• How to turn your business into a valuable asset that that will be more attractive to potential buyers (2:05)
• Why growing too fast is a recipe for disaster that can bankrupt your entire business (4:30)
• The one common trait all custom builders who made the leap from craftsmen to business owner have (13:40)
• The "MSN" Strategy that helps your business become predictable and scalable (16:45)
• How to survive and thrive in business as interest rates grow (22:30)
• Whoever wins this talent and training game of the workforce is going to be way ahead of their competition (23:26)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

TRAINING! It's an absolute must. With no end in sight to the high demand for housing, coupled with a tight labor pool and trade base, training will be a necessity for growth moving forward. It is essential in building the workforce of tomorrow. Join us for a conversation with industry consultant and training expert Joe Stoddard on what all of us can do to make this a key element in our business. We owe it to the industry to get this right.

Show highlights include:

• Why you have to budget for training or your business will die a slow, painful death (3:10)
• How to take people with limited construction knowledge and transform them into leaders inside your business (8:16)
• The "Pre-Assess & Reassess" system that ensures your employees learn something from your trainings (12:54)
• Systems and process need to be in place before you can train anyone else to use them (14:50)
• How the commodity mindset can cost you time and money (17:43)
• The counterintuitive way paying your team members more turns them into profit generators (19:51)
• Why making your business simpler is more profitable, makes it easier to hire new people, and eliminates expensive waste (26:15)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

A builder's mindful approach to building a better home. There's more to it than just being green or eco-friendly. It's about livability and understanding what's important. You need to be the most interested builder.

Show highlights include:

• Why getting involved with home builders associations is more profitable and fulfilling than only joining them (3:09)
• The "Mindfully Built" mindset that erases almost all of the stress from the building process (7:36)
• The "100 Years" method that helps you build homes that last decades (9:32)
• Green doesn't have to mean ugly (9:37)
• Why poor air quality ruins otherwise beautiful and captivating custom homes (14:15)
• How a client first perspective makes it easy to build better homes (16:44)
• The "Tesla Secret" for educating the market about green homes (22:01)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

Our guests on this episode are true innovators with a get it done mindset. As representatives for Kohler, an iconic name in our industry, they embody the company's belief that better business and a better world go hand-in-hand. Join us for a conversation with Amy Dyer & Megen Rapp who believe their company culture is what allows them to make things happen.

Show highlights include:

• How developing your brand and culture as a builder enables you to provide memorable experiences (4:22)
• Why getting complaints about a project can be a blessing-in-disguise that make your relationship stronger (9:56)
• How autonomy and empowerment make your team "power up" and never want to work for anyone else (15:56)
• The "Yes Mentality" secret that makes it almost impossible to fail (23:56)
• How to solve complex problems simply by listening (24:32)
• You need to have a culture of listening at all levels (25:01)
• You can come up with solutions just by listening (25:28)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

A few years ago we read the book Never Split the Difference and it changed how we viewed conversations. Never Split the Difference is a deep dive into a former FBI hostage negotiator's field-tested tools for talking anyone into (or out of) just about anything. Join us for a conversation with Brandon Voss from The Black Swan Group and improve your emotional intelligence.

Show highlights include:

• The counterintuitive way you'll get more customers by raising your prices (7:15)
• The "gather data with your eyes" trick that helps you vet if a client will pay what you're worth in the first 5 minutes of talking with them (9:29)
• The only 3 types of negotiators and how to deal with each type in the middle of a negotiation (16:16)
• The "Verbal Mirroring" secret from an FBI hostage negotiator that helps you dominate any negotiation you're in (21:23)
• How asking questions to analytical type negotiators are a surefire way to blow the deal (25:49)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

If you'd like to beef up your negotiation skills, join Black Swan's negotiation newsletter at https://www.blackswanltd.com/home or check out the Black Swan YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/Blackswanltd1

When it comes to business, profit should not be a dirty word. In fact, profit is one of the key elements of success and essential if you want to create financial freedom for yourself and others. Because it's so important we simply can't fit it all into one episode. We're doing a series. We're kicking things off in this episode with a look at Billable Time.

Show highlights include:

• How to get up to 6% additional profit on billable time and transform what used to be overhead into a profit center (1:19)
• Why the most common pitfall for builders is giving away free money (and how to make sure you're paid for your time) (2:25)
• Getting over the false belief that there is no way you can do this in your market (9:39)
• How educating your clients about your staff's time lets you charge more (and makes your clients feel like they're getting more value) (9:53)
• Stop building your client's home with your money (and how to bill your clients for all the time it takes to it) (13:42)
• Don't be afraid to show your people how valuable they are (26:43)
• You have to be able to deliver what you sell (27:08)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

How do we turn the general adversarial relationship of builders and realtors into a two way street of collaboration and trust? In this episode our guest Kimberley Mackey shares real world solutions for just this. She has earned the reputation as being an expert in today's competitive and rapidly changing sales environment. Her broad experience working directly with both builders and realtors brings a unique perspective on how all parts should work together to create the whole.

Show highlights include:

• Why adversarial relationships with builders and real estate agents ruin home sales (5:07)
• How working with multiple realtors can multiply your business (if you know how to build great relationships) (8:18)
• The "Running Out the Back Door" process that allows you to pick and choose only the best clients to work with (15:10)
• Why understanding realtor commission structures can grow your own sales (23:42)
• How your broker registration policy can attract only the real estate agents you actually want to work with. (27:19)
• With realtors it's all carrots and no sticks...sticks don't work (35:20)

To get the most out of this podcast, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.