The Construction Life

In our last show of the 24-hour event we discuss a topic that no construction cares to discuss but this is The Construction Life. As a GC we ae asked to handle so many details, on and off the job site, recognizing what our clients, crews, sub trades, suppliers are going through on a day-to-day basis. Where does this type of behavior come from, where does it begin? We feel it begins and comes from competition; competitive behavior breeds this type of environment. Construction is 100% about communication and you will get a lot of tradespeople telling employers “I know how to do that” it forms a disconnect and can create bigger issues.

What is toxic masculinity? Mike brings up a great point, it’s like asking what color is the rainbow? There are so many colors and so many ways to describe it. How should GC’s and other tradespeople handle these toxic situations, when they see that a tradesperson is uncomfortable, it is really about the most against the least on site? Toxic Masculinity is a majority thing and how should we handle it and possibly change it for future tradespeople. We even discuss the toxic environment that clients, designers and architects create for tradespeople and how we are almost as much to blame as the people lashing out at us, we place ourselves in these situations and we allow people to speak down to us.

The construction industry, the clients we work for do not allow for a work life balance, mental health, physical issues, they simply do not care to move the industry to where other industries are already at. Our traits are left in the past and we must so called “Man up”. The only way to get through to other tradespeople is to show our own vulnerability. We even discuss mental health being a service charge on projects and even having WSIB cover mental health, we know neither will happen until we speak up as a collective. Let’s make this conversation something that all tradespeople are not afraid to discuss.

Thank you so much Mike for joining the show and sharing, this was not an easy conversation to have but an important one. Please contact Mike at [email protected] and find him on IG at @belleyrenovations for some great posts and videos that will teach and entertain you and at his website www.belleyrenovations.com

Find Carlito @theconstructionliferenos and reach out to him at [email protected]

Want to reach out to Manny, text him on his mobile, 416 433-5737 and or email him at [email protected] or [email protected] Please let him know who you are and then ask away.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

Jesse has now joined the 3rd guest show appearance club and we couldn’t be happier as we have watched him grow his business over the course of our show. Welcome back Jesse, on with the show.

Jesse gets Manny and Carlito to join in for the opening track and it’s great. Where do we begin with this show, it’s 6am and we are down to the last 3 shows of the event, the sun is starting to rise and Carlito and Manny are back with some energy. Jesse begins with a major foundation fuck up, funny enough it was an ICF pour, and boy was it out of common sense, 6 ½” out of square. Missing key point load rebar and their fix was to use PL 400 instead of the engineer fix of epoxy and the hits on this first-time builder and first-time client gets worse. It ended with Jesse firing the foundation crew because “the way they fix mistakes is by negotiations”.

Shifting gears to hiring and firing and Jesse now has 7 framers and he’s always on the hunt for better, skilled framers to work with. No matter how good you might think you are, if you have a shitty attitude, not a team player, you won’t survive on this crew or in this business. Jesse treats his business as a democracy and it’s what has built his business up very nicely.

Jesse shares his ups and downs with machinery and why he heeds them to make his business run well. Jesse shares his thoughts on signing his contracts and how projects are getting bigger and more complex but also poorly organized and once Jesse agrees to a start date, GC’s can’t push these dates months ahead. It really is about control of as many elements so then you can deliver what you promised. We wrap up the show with some chat about pre fab and modular framing and building and where the future of framing is heading.

In 18 months, Jesse and his team have come a long way and he credits the Building Passive project as the project that shifted his business in a new direction. Flo from Pro Custom Painting recommending Jesse was a beautiful thank you to Jesse. Working with Jim Caruk turned into 3 projects and many more to come. Jesse has just positioned his business a certain way, he has learned, he continues to share, he encourages new and old trades to contribute and work together to build the best possible homes. At TCL we are very proud of Jesse and his crew.

Shared and Discussed Links

@procustompainting

@buildingpassive

https://hummingbirdhillhomes.com

https://www.mississaugahardware.com

https://www.paramountnetwork.com/shows/yellowstone

Thank you so much Jesse for joining the show and sharing your construction stories and you have a massive career ahead of you. Anyone interested in any kind of great framing please contact Jesse at 647 227-7783 and [email protected] and find him on IG at @barbosacarpentry for some great posts and videos that will teach and entertain you.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

Taha (T) is back and gearing to go 3am in the morning and it all begins with where he left off the last time, a 400K fuck up. Sit back and enjoy the many lessons T has to share on this show and we appreciate him being a part of our craziness. Back to the 400K involving a union roof job that certain things didn’t get done and then T and his crew were asked to make holes in the roof for the anchoring points, but the next trade decided to go home and not do the work. Lesson learned and big ups to everyone for keeping their cool throughout the entire process.

T moves on to some more current projects and a recent excavation job and how quickly he and his team made it happen. Then from there he was clear across the core and back on another job and another and another, the construction life does not stop for the Crew Men Group. T shares his construction bone regarding how he handles racism from neighbors attacking him and his team, he handles it properly. We all have families to feed. We all bleed red, powerful words from Taha, thank you brother.

We have a very in-depth conversation about money, about the future of construction, about your destiny, T really lays things out and makes you think where and when will my next step be, thanks brother for stirring the pot. Carlito and T have a conversation about hiring crack heads, never judge a book by its cover. T shares a story about a group of men that he found living in a shed for a project that was scheduled to be demoed and things get interesting that morning. Negative energy attracts negative energy, there is never a reason to feed negative energy with more negative energy, treat everyone the same way, no matter if you as a tradesperson is verbally attacked for doing your scope of work. Thank you Taha for sharing such a powerful message.

FUCK MONEY and find the real riches in your life, don’t chase the money, chase the happiness.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://sandcustomhome.webs.com

Thank you so much Taha and the entire crew for the information, educating us and our listeners on loving what you do for a living, proud, ambitious, hungry and not for the money and so funny and real, Thank you. Find Crew Men Group on IG @crewmengroup and contact Taha on his email at [email protected] for your next project.

Find Carlito @theconstructionliferenos and reach out to him at [email protected]

Want to reach out to Manny, text him on his mobile, 416 433-5737 and or email him at [email protected] or [email protected] Please let him know who you are and then ask away.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

One O’clock in the morning and Manny and Carlito are still at it and thanks so much for Adrian for making the trek for such a late night or early morning show, much appreciated. Adrian began his career with ICF at the young age of 14 years old, learned so much with the right builder, then decided to get his mechanic ticket, hated it and got right back into building homes and the rest is history and will be shared on this show. Adrian has worked with and used every type of ICF block, and his preference is Amvic for several reasons.

This show is full of information and might feel a bit slow but trust us, it’s worth listening to the entire show as things pick up quick a third into the show.

Adrian walks the listeners through all the key steps associated to installing ICF and the rebar inside. ICF has increased so much during the pandemic, it is now cheaper to build with ICF than traditional lumber. Adrian dives deep into the numbers behind ICF and it’s well worth factoring in this new and old way of building. We discuss the many options of exterior cladding, pretty much anything you want can be used on the exterior as your finish cladding.

Of course, we discuss a Construction Bone To Pick with Adrian and he discusses the old timers refusing to embrace ICF and he has two words for them all, first word begins with an F and second word ends with an F. Adrian has been a part of a project that went 18 floors in ICF, very interesting story. Adrian discusses the importance of actual on site experience and no matter how many YouTube videos about ICF you watch will never teach you real on site experience.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.amvicsystem.com

https://www.nudura.com/products/

https://logixicf.com

https://www.foxblocks.com/products

https://www.quadlock.com

https://integraspec.com

https://www.insuldeck.com

https://www.advancedcoatings.on.ca

What an amazing show thank you so much Adrian for being a part of the show and sharing so much insight into the business. Find him on IG @c.r.c_contracting and at his email at [email protected]

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

This has been an idea for a show since our very first show and here we are 200 shows later and we finally get to record a show about our significant others and what tradespeople put our loved ones through every single day of The Construction Life. We have Carlito, his wife couldn’t make it, Jason from The Keystone Contractor is back with his wife Laura and Manny and his girlfriend Bela are here to chat the other half of the business. This should be interesting.

The men speak up and accept what they do, the women share the ups and downs, but words can only go so far, action will take us further. For all you young tradespeople just starting out this is a show worth listening too, the men on this show might not be right but a lot of what is being shared is the truth and there are some suggestions in between the words.

Tradespeople need to understand how and when to say no, it’s never about get as much work as possible, gobble up all of it and just find the time to do it, the answer is no. Learn to say no so you can have your personal time, family time, significant other time, these are important.

Carltio and Jason share a lot about their long-term marriages and the ups and downs while Manny asks the questions and pokes the relationship bear to get to the route of the issues. Of course, the Electric Space Shuttle makes an appearance on this show and the leads to an injury from a possible materbating incident. That’s right this is The Construction Life.

What an amazing show thank you so much Jason, Laura and Bela for being a part of the very personal and difficult show but a show that needed to be heard.

Find Carlito @theconstructionliferenos and reach out to him at [email protected]

Want to reach out to Manny, text him on his mobile, 416 433-5737 and or email him at [email protected] or [email protected] Please let him know who you are and then ask away.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

Danny is the one gentleman that turned me onto natural juices and the many benefits behind them, I began with raw ginger and kept going from there. It has been over 4 years now and drinking raw juices is a part of my daily routine. Thanks Danny. Manny TCL

“Tough times create strong men. Strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men. Weak men create tough times.” The quote, from a postapocalyptic novel by the author G. Michael Hopf, sums up a stunningly pervasive cyclical vision of history.

That is what this show will be about.

Plenty of older tradespeople are nervous of the future of construction including the 3 on today’s show. Danny sparks the conversation about what will happen when the older generation of tradespeople decide to put the hardhat down for good.

It all begins with a certain type of work ethic and Danny, Manny and Carlito agree that work ethic is quickly disappearing from the jobsite, and we need to figure out how to bring it back and bring it back hard. We discuss modular, automated workforces, panels of brick not individual bricks, what does the future really have in store for construction? These questions must be asked, and solutions must be offered. Are we raising a generation of way too sensitive people, nobody wants to go to the school of Hard Knox, you can’t yell at anyone, you can be arrested for words and actions that upset others, the entire world has gone to bullshit.

The comparison to government contracts and government ways of building and the amount of waste that is there and being taught to every generation. We are not saying that today’s generation, the workforce is to fully blame here, anyone who doesn’t care to work hard is to blame, anyone that wants to do as little to be paid as much is to blame and things are not getting better. Do we need to reopen the immigration gates and bring the people that want to work and work hard to make a living and have a better life in Canada, will that be the solution to the shortage in tradespeople?

Who is really to blame for removing the hard work ethic previous generations had? Do we blame parents, government, teachers? We have an interesting chat about who is the easiest and hardest trade out there, might just piss off a few trades listening, keep in mind Carlito and Manny were on 16 hours at this point. How long will it take to replace the old school trades, to find those new trades, navigate the new world we live in and have them find their passion to be in construction. Carlito makes one last suggestion where to find more tradespeople, prison, he thinks that’s a great idea in this new sensitive world.

What an amazing show thank you so much Danny for spending the weekend in Toronto again, next time we see you, we will have the whole family on the show and it will be in Montreal. Thank you for sharing so much about big your journey and educating our listeners on what it is to have a construction family. Find him at [email protected] and on IG @dannydosca Thank you

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

With today’s show we cast a wide construction net, but Kurt wants to focus on young trades, young business owners, the youth of construction, as the older trades prepare to step down, where is the industry going to be in the next decade, a particular favorite topic at TCL. Strap on the tool belt, this will be one hell of a great show.

The show begins with Kurt’s experience with George Brown and how it was a huge positive step in his career path, sharing the teachers, the classroom sizing and fundamentals of construction being learned. Kurt has a lot of positive things to say about the school route and he knew when it was his time to decide, either start in the industry or begin with school, he chooses school for a very good reason.

Kurt has never been that old type of tradesperson, where you yell, you “man up” kind of mentality and when he was given certain great opportunities by established builders, he did ask that he work in new ways and that worked out amazing for him and the crews and especially for the clients. We ask Kurt how have the clients changed in the last 15 years of his construction, his response is great and he touches on a number of key factors.

Kurt has some great ideas and he’s not afraid to share them on our show and the reasons behind those ideas because they stem from him learning every single day on the job site. One idea in particular is known as a Trades Day, he brings the trades into the job before it begins to meet the clients and walk through the scope so the clients can now feel better and more secure with the strangers entering their home and spending their hard-earned money.

We wrap up the show with numbers, how and why Kurt came up with his rates, his overhead, his figures and he turned to people he trusted for guidance, and it has worked out great for him.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://fergusonfinehomes.ca

https://www.facebook.com/alsheatandaircond/

http://www.cameronplumbing.ca

https://vitalelementsplumbingandmech.ca

https://www.facebook.com/mark.allison.77736

https://dkexcavating.com

https://www.gotconcreteinc.com

https://www.greybruceconstruction.ca

https://www.homehardware.ca/en/store/10788

What an amazing show Kurt, thank you so much for your passion for the construction industry and being on the show, spending the time to share your early experiences, stories, and valuable insight, we wish all the best and would love to have you back anytime. Find him at www.snellcs.com and email [email protected] and on IG @snellconservices and on FB at Snell Contracting Services Inc. Thank you Sir for all of us at TCL.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

WARNING - This show is raw and honest and if you’re not interested in the real version of The Construction Life then please don’t listen. Very Explicit conversations on this show.

What a show we have for you during our craziness of 24 hours of podcast and 14 shows, finally reaching the halfway mark we have 3 of the best finish carpenters in the Greater Toronto Area on the show and boy will the fun be let loose like sawdust in the wind. We begin the show discussing suppliers and the quality of material these days. From there the group discusses mdf, poplar, red and white oak, walnut, they go nuts discussing different species of wood and applications. The guys are very open about how everyone, they mean everyone that can buy a saw and the tools considers themselves a finish carpenter, not the case.

Schedules how can custom trim carpenters stay on schedule when clients continue to increase the scope, the panel of trades share their thoughts. Of course, we chat about tools and boy that conversation goes everywhere when you have 5 tradespeople on the show. The group has fun discussing pocket doors and what the real costs are associated with a proper pocket door, material, and assembly. Blades, all kinds of blades and it does make a difference what number of teeth you use for what kind of material and surprise Gary shares the fact that oscillating blades can be sharpened, reach out to him and he might just give up his connection.

The pros discuss several rapid fired topics about the work, business, retiring, techniques, clients and more, they don’t hold back. What an amazing show for anyone wanting to get into the industry or looking to be better at their trade. Thanks guys.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://centralfairbank.com

https://brenlo.com

https://www.balmorallumber.ca

https://doorlandgroup.com

https://www.kncrowder.com

https://conceptthirteen.ca

What an amazing show gentlemen, thank you so much for your passion for the industry and on the show and for spending the time to share your early experiences, stories, and valuable insight, we wish all the best and would love to have you back anytime. Find these rockstars of finish carpentry Gary Mares @marescarpentry the one and only email him at [email protected] and Fabio Andrerde from FNA Custom Woodworking @fabio.andrede51 and email him at [email protected] and finally we had Joe Nicolau from Unique Touch Carpentry and find him at [email protected] and on IG @uniquetouchcarpentry Thank you Gentlemen for all of us at TCL.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca @jusspresss

What a great show we have with Quaid Sturdy from Sturdy Contracting Co. and he’s going to share what he’s been doing being so young in Trades and why he sees such an optimistic future in construction. At 24 years old Quaid is very interested in meeting, speaking, absorbing from as many tradespeople as possible. Quaid walks us through his journey from working with his dad’s electrical co to busted up collar bone to all types of employment to finally getting into construction for good. Then we are pleasantly interrupted by Jeff from @gl.plumbing who stopped by to say hello.

Quaid is an old soul in a young man’s body, he’s looking at the construction industry with fresh eyes, working on new ways to do things, new ways to streamline your business, your trades, your suppliers and how clients interact with us, he sees a bright future for anyone interested in being a part of this amazing industry.

We wrap up the show with a few laughs and a gambit of different construction topics but all centered around the business side of the construction industry.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.somervillenurseries.com/home

https://www.acceleratorsorg.com

https://www.eonetwork.org/toronto

https://www.csiresources.org/standards/masterformat

https://www.wsib.ca/en

What an amazing show Quaid, thank you so much for your passion on the show and for spending the time to share your early experiences, stories, and valuable insight, we wish all the best and would love to have you back in a year to see how you’re doing. Find Quaid at [email protected] and at www.sturdycontracting.ca and on IG @sturdycontractingco

Find Carlito @theconstructionliferenos and reach out to him at [email protected]

Want to reach out to Manny, text him on his mobile, 416 433-5737 and or email him at [email protected] or [email protected] Please let him know who you are and then ask away.

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.

Reach out to Joe and Trevor at the following info. www.venturesxcanada.ca find them on Social Media @venturesxoakville reach them at 289 644-2393 and email [email protected]

Don’t forget to check out https://www.juspress.ca keeping us active during our 24 hour event, thanks Danny. @jusspresss

Danny is the one gentleman that turned me onto natural juices and the many benefits behind them, I began with raw ginger and kept going from there. It has been over 4 years now and drinking raw juices is a part of my daily routine. Thanks Danny. Manny TCL

Welcome to the wonderful world of HVAC, Tyler is back to discuss his business, the HVAC business and more. Working for an established HVAC brand Tyler was making suggestions on where to take the business how to grow with the times and his ideas, the powers at be didn’t want to go in that direction so after many ups and downs and Tyler watching his sales go up but revenue go down, Tyler decided to take the leap and go on his own. He partnered with someone, plus a helper, one van they were off into the HVAC market. 5 years later and the partner has decided to move on, Tyler has 5 vans now, the crews, specialty techs and he has built a solid construction business, his former employer and business closed 2 years ago.

We get right into the world of HVAC and Tyler begins with a Construction Bone, construction heat, GC’s using a brand-new furnace to heat and or cool the home, in turn placing wear and tear on a new machine and potentially damaging the unit, a few great suggestions are brought up. The world of maintenance comes up and no point in spending the bucks and getting the proper system if you as a homeowner won’t handle the maintaining or hire someone like Stott to take care of all that seasonal maintenance.

Tyler shares his ideal ultimate mechanical room and what would be in there servicing the entire home, from a boiler, snow melt, forced air for AC and air movement to a steam humidifier. With an ideal humidity level between 30-50%. HVAC designs, Mechanical Engineers, calculating loads, hot and cold, Tyler brings up a major point about OBC standard loads and how they don’t work for clients’ needs and expectations. We get talking about 2nd furnaces and zoning but instead of zoning horizontally with basement and main floor and then 2nd zone will be 2nd floor, go vertically and zone the home front and back because of the position of the home and natural sunlight and radiant temps affecting the home comfort.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://ntiboilers.com

https://www.amana-hac.com/products/gas-furnaces

https://www.navieninc.com/residential/boilers

https://www.carrier.com/residential/en/ca/products/boilers/

https://www.bosch-thermotechnology.us/us/en/ocs/residential/boilers-1098951-c/

https://www.ecobee.com/en-ca/

What an amazing show Tyler, thank you so much for coming back on the show and for spending the time to share your experiences, stories, and valuable HVAC information. Find Tyler at www.stotthvacsystems.ca and his email at [email protected] and on IG @stotthavcsystems

Find Carlito @theconstructionliferenos and reach out to him at [email protected]

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry. www.venturesxcanada.ca find [email protected]

https://www.juspress.ca

@jusspresss