The Construction Life

Jeff from GL Plumbing is on the show today, commercial and residential master plumber. He understands his Italian surname but always questioned his first name, his mom wanted him to blend in, but he stands out, he’s one of the best plumbers in the industry and today he will share a lot of love for the industry, the trade, the people he works with and for. Hold on, this will be an amazing podcast and listen up all you younger trades looking for an opportunity.

Jeff began his plumbing career the old fashion old school Italian way, his Tile Setter Dad knew a guy that needed an apprentice, with Jeff it was either plumbing or electrical, he went with plumbing, they work harder than sparky’s…lol. Jeff began in high rise with copper, copper as large as 6” where you need two torches to get that pipe cherry red hot. The one thing that drove Jeff to leave high rise, was the repetitive scope of work, to the point that guys became their tasks, bathtub jeff, or finishing Tony…lol. Jeff shares a few interesting details regarding hospital plumbing, great info shared here.

Jeff shares one of his major Bone To Pick and we can all relate. The conversation continues with running a business during Covid, his workforce, his clients, and his sub-contractors which leads to hiring new employees, how hard it is to find any kind of trade, how these job search websites don’t work just like the people using the service, these and they are mostly millennials don’t care about learning, they care about money and being paid top dollar for min amount of work. Nobody will hire that kind of attitude.

We do discuss the vaccine and clients are now asking that all tradespeople entering their home, mostly commercial spaces are asking for proof. On top of trying to run a business, hiring tradespeople that only care about themselves, we as construction business owner and operators must now add one more hurdle into the mix. It is causing more unwanted stress to so many tradespeople.

Don’t expect anything for free and never give away your skills for free.

Shared and Discussed links

https://nextsupply.ca

https://nextsupply.ca/?s=Road+Hockey

https://modernniagara.com

https://www.ipexna.com/usa/products/industrial/acid-waste-systems/enfield-electrofusion/

https://www.rosegoldhomes.net

https://roadhockeytoconquercancer.ca

@prostreammechanical

@spencerk87

https://www.kingofdrains.ca

https://osteriagente.ca

What an amazing show full of truthful insight, I thank you so much Jeff for sharing so much on your take on plumbing, drains, construction and more, educating our listeners on everything to do with your trade, and skills. Thank you. Find him on IG @gl.plumbing and contact him for your next project at [email protected]

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

Welcome to TCL’s longest show to date, over 2 hours and for good reason. Patricio and his lovely wife, Pricilla is on the show. The focus on this show will be about safety but we will discuss electrical, a few other trades, the industry, schools, new trades, old trades and right back to safety. Patricio with 22 years of electrical experience, master electrician and fire alarms certified. At 18 years old he had a bad accident on site and a pair of safety goggles could have saved his eye from blindness. This is one opening story you must listen to.

After the accident and trying to move on he got back on site, but the sound of the saw triggered him and he was diagnosed with PTSD, he bolted from the job site, he left. Patricio disappeared on his motorcycle and did a road trip out east and that trip gave him the confidence to get back into the trades, he became a master electrician. From there he was paying attention to the 2 groups of tradespeople that are getting hurt the most, the new kids and the old timers, new kids because they have something to prove, the old timers because they have done it a thousand times.

Patricio shares another story about new tradespeople being tasked to carry a 1500-pound transformer up the stairs, sure enough only one of the new trades said no while the others agreed, it didn’t end well. Patricio talks about knowing your basic right to refuse unsafe work, never be pressured to do something that you as a tradesperson know is not safe. The conversation shifts to education, getting trades back into high schools and making guidance counselors to present trades as an option to every student, not every student is going to or want to go to university, some are passionate about construction.

We compare trades to other careers, we discuss how learning the electrical trade here in Canada and the USA means you can use that trade globally, you can go work in other countries as options.

New trades, old trades, Journeymen, everyone, take the second and ask if you have your PPE and make sure others around you have their PPE, take the time to put on your PPE.

Not everything is rainbows and butterflies.

Shared and Discussed links

https://www.kleintools.com

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

What an amazing show full of enlightening insight, I thank you so much Patricio for sharing so much on your take on construction and more, educating our listeners on everything to do with your trade, men and women in construction and skills. Thank you. Find him on IG @psquaredelectric and @patotheelectric and contact him for your next project or reach out to him just to learn about the construction industry

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

Stay tuned, HUGE ANNOUCEMENT happening in October 2021

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.

We have one hell of a great show today, Sunaina, a self-taught taper with 6 years in the business, coming from university degrees to bartender, to construction, to dog grooming and more. Sunaina will not be holding back, she has a lot to say about the construction life and yes, we will discuss men and women in construction and how men treat women and why.

A first for TCL we have a puppy on the show, Sir Nicholas Liam will be sharing a few of his thoughts throughout the show which brings us to a side hustle of Sunaina – Pup-Struction

We get right into women in construction and inappropriate behavior, no sugar coating anything here. Sunaina brings up a recent scenario that unfolded where the upper management felt it was better to remove the female and make the males comfortable then to educate the males to be respectful of the female, which is total BULLSHIT. She brings up a great comparison about socializing dogs to tradesmen. We back track a little bit and bring up Sunaina’s path to construction, she has a triple degree from the University of Waterloo, in Drugs and Addiction Health Promotion, with a minor in sexuality, family and marriage studies. Bartending to pay bills, then her roommate had a connection to construction and that is where it all began for Sunaina during her educational years. She doesn’t regret the school, but she wishes started sooner in construction.

We discuss taping tools and where and why certain tools and brands will and won’t work for her scope, always considering why don’t you as a tradesperson not like one brand over another. Then we get into mud and how Sunaina has such a hatred for 5-minute mud as we all should. We discuss PPE and coming into the construction industry, one day you the student will be the teacher one day and we have to watch out for all of our brothers and sisters in construction.

We end the show we Sunaina’s sharing some thoughts on Covid and Vaccines. She shares some very interesting thoughts behind both, some things to consider.

Shared and Discussed links

https://csrbuilding.com

@eugene_crsbuildingsupplies

https://www.nela.tools

https://www.level5tools.com

https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/en/products/walls/drywall/joint-compound/lightweight-joint-compounds/sheetrock-plus-3-joint-compound.html

https://www.certainteed.com/drywall/finishing/products/easi-fil-dust-away-joint-compound/

What an amazing show full of enlightening insight, I thank you so much Sunaina for sharing so much on your take on construction and more, educating our listeners on everything to do with your taping, trades, men and women in construction and skills. Thank you. Find her on IG @tapingandbeyond and contact her for your next taping project at [email protected] and don’t forget Sir Nicholas Liam and his IG page @pup_struction

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

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

Curtis got his start with his Dad who was a tradesperson, working at a very young age and learning the ropes, from there decided to open and run his own business for 5 years, loved it and then Norbert suggested he take over as his Operation Manager. The connection was made over IG, Curtis was interested, Norbert was interested in taking his business in new directions and needed to find the right tradespeople. One of the first questions Norbert asked Curtis, how would you like to build your business inside of my business?

Alair Homes, the client is in the control from the very beginning, it all begins with a budget expectations meeting, discussing options of the lead and scope of work and then things shift to the Client Control Software where the client will find every single detail attached to their project. Alair Homes is all about the clients’ goals, why do you want to do this renovation or new build? It’s truly about full transparency with every project. Every month the Alair Family has a call, it’s call the All Partner Mastermind where owners can share and work on making things better on all levels of construction.

An interesting conversation about social media and hardworking comes up and Norbert and Curtis have some great insight to share. The guys discuss how to live your best construction life and the many things that you can do to add more value to you and your family, basically fire yourself from the business is what Norbert shares and I couldn’t agree more. You have to look at a sales manager, operations manager, marketing rep, start building your team so you as the owner can begin to enjoy the fruits of your construction labour. What is the overall vision of your construction business? What is your 10-year plan? What are your goals? What are you doing for personal development? What are your values? Extremely important questions to ask yourself and find out what is stopping your business from growing.

Shared and Discussed Links

Recommended book “Traction – Get a Grip on Your Business” By Geno Wickman

https://www.fanshawec.ca

http://foremontdrywall.com

https://www.alairhomes.ca

https://discoveralair.com

What an amazing show full of guidance, I thank you so much Norbert and Curtis for sharing so much on construction possibilities and more, educating our listeners on everything to do with your business, and skills. Thank you. Find them on IG @alair.homes.springwater and on Facebook at alairspringwater and contact them at [email protected] and [email protected] and the website is www.alairspringwater.ca

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

Stay tuned, HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT happening in October 2021

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]

A true stone artist, Paolo talks to us about his beginnings, his arrival to Canada, the country he loves because it has given him so much. Paolo was a peacekeeper, in the army, Special Forces as a teenager and into his 30’s, working for the government studying civil engineering in college back in Italy, originally from Viciano, on the edge of Naples. Paolo’s construction career began with him studying history, studying techniques from centuries back, studying what and how and why Michelangelo did what he did with the works of art that we all know so well.

Paolo’s education and scope of work involves going to and choosing blocks of stone direct from the quarries, understanding true book match cutting, slab match cutting or random. Planning the cuts, setting up the cuts, quarry manufacturing is a generational skillset, the father teaches the son and they look at the mountain, they assess the best place to begin, do they cut into or up the mountain? There is a real art to diamond rope cutting blocks of stone from a mountain.

Everyone thinks that natural stone will never end but it’s difficult to say, some say there is another 300 years’ worth but if you consider technology and machinery being able to remove the stone faster it could be 100 years. There is a monopoly on the stone, the price of stone fluctuates with the supply and demand. Paolo is always nervous about his projects, he takes that nervousness and embraces it, it challenges him, he uses his experiences throughout the years to solve things, he’s learned how to manipulate the physical properties of stone. Paolo wants to cross his limits, he wants to test, educate, experiment, challenge and take stone to new heights, he wants to put his hand in the fire, he wants to see how things are and will they last based on his calculations and experiences. Every tile trade must understand structure and where the structure and or point loads are and extra care should be placed at those points especially when installing large format tiling and stone. Paolo has never worked a day in his life, because he loves what he does, it’s his passion.

Paolo discusses installing marble slabs in garages, that’s right, full slabs of marble on garage floors, he has clients that request, or desire, or expect to drive over marble, not concrete, we discuss. He shares his technique of installing dry pack “fresh” to achieve 1000 pounds per square inch.

Paolo has a lot of respect for history and learning from the past teachers, some were engineers, most weren’t but they understood how to separate the body by the spirit and become free to think of new ways, better ways to design and build. He has clients ask him,”make my wife cry tears of happiness”. Lastly, Paolo shares another great passion of his, food, and he’s been working on a mobile pizza stone oven and great quality pizza, must listen to how he talks about pizza. One more last note, Paolo discusses his custom slab and mosaic work that he’s developed and he shares how he does it.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.mapei.com/ca/en-ca/products/mapelastic-aquadefense

https://www.mapei.com/us/en-us/products-and-solutions/products/detail/mapeguard-um

What an amazing show full of passion, I thank you so much Paolo for sharing so much on marble, stone, restoration and fabrication and more, educating our listeners on everything to do with your trade, and skills, the true artist you are. Thank you. Find Paolo on IG @fogliatile and contact Paolo on his email at [email protected]

Before the mics get recording David’s brother drops off some amazing food from Ombretta Cucina, amazing pizzas from Pizzeria Rosso…OMG So good. Thank you so much. Check them out and trust me, you will love the food. Open the show with a listener message from Mike Dunn from Washington @m1keandike24 asking how he can start on his own and some of the things to consider when you make that move.

We are going to talk about everything, how he got started, who taught him, building a business from scratch, dealing with trades, clients, designers, Tarion, management, the past, present and future of construction, and somehow, we chat about HGTV, I never spark it, guests spark it and David has more than a few interesting stories to share there and still even more. Hold on, fasten your safety harness and prepare for a classic TCL show because we are going to piss a few “individuals” off.

It all began with Nono, David’s grandfather, an immigrant came to this country like so many others and worked hard in the rail industry, David’s Dad followed his steps but then got into construction, eventually David followed his Dad into construction and here we are. Through networking David was able to get his name out there and be given a chance to submit an estimate and eventually get to work with these designers and many others, the word spread and spread fast because of the quality and the positive experience David was offering his clients. David is offering high quality engineered hardwood flooring and high-quality stone and tile, check it out. Manny wants to invent a TCL Fly where we can leave it at the client’s house after we didn’t get the job, that way we can tune into the live TCL Feed and watch how and why certain jobs go bad. Get your stockings ready, this might be a huge seller on Amazon. LOL

David wraps up the show by letting everyone know all his friends are in the trades, they all have successful careers, happy fulfilling families, choosing a career in construction should be an option for a lot of kids and we need to get trades back into high schools and we need to educate these stupid parents to let their kids choose a career in trades if that is where their passion is. And remember 4, 5, 6 or in construction dubbed, for, fucks, sakes.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://ombrettacucina.ecwid.com

https://www.avenue-design.ca

https://ericagelman.com

http://evelyneshun.com

https://drgraniteandmarble.ca

https://smpldesignstudio.com

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1214605/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

What an amazing show and thank you so much David for sharing so much of your construction love and life, greatly appreciate your time. Thank you. Find David on IG @lucodesignbuild and contact David on his email at [email protected]and on FaceBook at Luco Design Build and his web site www.luco.ca for your next project or finish flooring materials walk into his design center at 2133 Royal Windsor Drive Unit 16, in Mississauga, right off the street, can’t miss it, don’t miss it.

Stay tuned, HUGE ANNOUCEMENT happening in early October 2021

We open the show with a recent message from @seantaggy which pretty much set the tone of today’s show. Sean had a lot to ask being a new listener to TCL and loves the show, he has since gone back to the beginning and has been listening to all the shows. Huge thanks Sean and I hope the shows and this show help you. I will say this much Sean, M.A.P will be a huge resource for all your questions and this exclusive membership will launch before the year is over, watch for it and I encourage you consider being a M.A.P. Member.

Here’s a first, 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.

On with the show.

This show is about hiring, sourcing out leads, moving up the construction business ladder, putting yourself out there for your first lead or your current leads, how to present you and your business to others and understanding, as tradespeople, you are learning every single day, set aside the ego and the expensive toys and bring you’re A-Z game, every day. We begin by understanding the paper side of this business is far more important than the skill side of this business.

2016 Chris started his construction career with Local 27, that was his beginning. He learned what he could but ultimately Union wasn’t for him, his next step was going into residential through some online job postings. Chris loves construction for the clear cut, black and white that it truly is, you either fit in or fuck off. We discuss your worth as a tradesperson, the skills and skillset you bring to each project calculating your rate, your worth and adding to your business and brand.

Manny shares a thought about construction multiverses, where if there is another Manny, doing another version of TCL, that Manny might be a Makita Manny, because Makita does make a great line of tools. There is no multiverse where Manny is a DeWalt guy.

Chris brings up an interesting fact, the word “prestige” a word that is thrown around with certain construction tools, in French that word translates as fake, an illusion, a trick, deceit, a lie.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/home

https://ca.indeed.com

https://www.monster.ca

What an amazing show and thank you so much Chris for sharing so much, greatly appreciate your time. Thank you. Find Chris on IG @onpointcontracting_on and contact Chris on his email at [email protected] and on FaceBook at opcontractingon

Stay tuned, HUGE ANNOUCEMENT happening in early October 2021

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

We have Julia Rose AKA The Brick Chick on the show, 26 years young, 3 years in the business, a young and skilled mason leading the way for men and women in the industry. Julia at a young age had a lot of mental health, drug addictions issues, it was a hard time for her. She was considering post education and unlike her friends looking at universities and a mountain of student loan debt, she chose to be a mason. Never worked as a mason, never apprenticed as any trade, didn’t really know construction but she had a passion, and she went with her passion. She came across an ad for free masonry training, free tools, all set and ready to get learning, she enrolled into the Ontario Masonry Training Centre - https://ontariomasonrytrainingcentre.com

Julia has been involved with brick replacements, damaged brick, restoration, block, tuckpointing, stone repair, partition walls, elevator shafts, and more, she has picked up so many tips and tricks from so many other masons. Early on in her career Julia had a great mentor that shared a lot and it all began with blueprints, drawings, learning the paper side of the business which is incredibly important part of being a tradesperson.

It was not an easy road for Julia entering the mason trade with a few tradesmen, not even mal mason, all sorts of tradesmen say stupid things to her solely based on her being a woman. Such comments as, “Don’t even bother, you’ll never be as good, as strong as a man.” We get right into women in the trades and why a small segment of male trades treat women in the trades the way they do, Julia isn’t shy on the subject because she experiences it all the time. How do we get more women into the trades, set aside the political replies and get right to the core and find suggestions that will change the industry, Julia shares her thoughts?

Coming from the gym and power lifting, Julia is asked all the time, being a mason is easy for her, lifting and training is a different world than masonry work and she explains it further, the gym saved her from a toxic downward spiral her life was heading.

Bottom line Julia isn’t afraid to ask questions when it comes to her passions, she’s not afraid to speak to her fellow trades and other trades, get a better understanding on why the electrician, the plumber, why everyone is doing what they are doing. She wants to change this industry for better and change begins with absorbing the current knowledge and then discuss making things better for everyone. I wish Julia all the best and please continue the amazing work that you provide your clients, thank you. Level Plum Straight LPS

Shared and Discussed Links

https://kreitmaker.com

https://marshalltown.com

https://www.designboom.com/architecture/mvrdv-hermes-store-amsterdam-crystal-houses-transparent-brick-facade-06-27-2019/

@thetimbertailor

@avenueroadmasonry

What an amazing show and thank you so much Julia for sharing so much, greatly appreciate your time. Thank you. Find Julia on IG @the.brick.chick and contact Julia on her email at [email protected]

Stay tuned, HUGE ANNOUCEMENT happening in early October 2021

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

Training for a triathlon Julie was biking and was hit by a car and paralysed from the breastbone down. Thrown 30 feet, split her head, broke teeth, broke her nose, broke ribs, broke her spine in two places, T4 and L1. 5 people every day sustain a spinal cord injury in Ontario. Fast forward 6 years and Julie is now an Accessibility Strategist.

How do we begin having conversations with accessible clients? Just have the same conversations you would have with other clients, no reason to beat around the bush, ask the questions, get to know your clients, having those direct questions answered will help contractors and designers design and build a perfect space for your clients, all your clients.

By far the bathroom is the most important room for accessibility, so many details that need to be thoroughly considered. Consider space around toilet, seating inside shower, where the valves will be, always a thermostatic valve, linear drains with one side slope, there is so much to consider, have those conversations. We must consider all trades and their scope of work, light switch heights, HVAC thermostat height, garage door opener height, so many details that must be discussed and considered.

22% of the Canadian population is identified as accessible needs, more businesses need to realize the loss revenue, more contractors need to begin building for accessible clients. Accessibility is about energy, when a space isn’t dead level, a person using a wheelchair must use more physical and mental strength to move around the space.

We need to have more industry people looking into building for more accessible clients and understanding that accessible can be brough to new levels of design and construction. Universal design is family design.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.ontario.ca/page/specialist-high-skills-major

https://www.scc.ca/en/standards/notices-of-intent/csa/accessible-homes

What an amazing show and thank you so much Julie for sharing so much personal experiences and educating our listeners on so much to do with accessible renovating, Thank you. Find Julie on IG @sawesome_julie and contact Julie on her email at [email protected] and her web site at www.juliesawchuk.ca and remember the first 5 listeners to sign up for her newsletter will receive a free copy of her book. Find her books on her web site and on Amazon “Build Your Space” and “Building Better Bathrooms”. Find her on LinkedIN, connect with her, find her YouTube channel, Julie Sawchuk. Also, you can download for free here book “Roadmap to Recovery from her web site. Julie has some online courses for anyone to try, learn more about bathrooms and all the rooms in the home for accessibility.

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

25-year-old Peter, working at this trade for 8 years now is going to talk about Styrofoam plaster mouldings, coffered ceilings, waffle ceilings, diamond patterns, accent walls and so much more. The reason Peter started his business and has always built to a certain standard, he was disgusted with where the construction industry was going. Peter gets very passionate about million-dollar custom homes with upgrades that have no value because the builders use the cheapest of the cheap material, such as 7” MDF baseboards, that’s not right.

Peter uses a 12” Makita stone blade on his Milwaukee mitre saw, he has to remove the guard to make the cuts he needs, especially when it’s a bigger crown, and he uses the fence the same way you would for wood mouldings. Even if his cut is a little off the special mix of plaster will make that joint perfect, that’s his trade secret, his R&D for the construction industry. There is a theory that your crown should be as many inches as your walls are in feet, 9 foot walls, asks for 9” crown, that’s incorrect. Crown must be used for the space and the size should complement the space, it’s a trial and error with samples.

At 23 Peter bought his first house, at 22 he opened his business, he has so many friends that are not doing anything with their lives, they are just riding life out, they are waking up at 1 in the afternoon, without a care in the world. WOW. Peter shares a great tip and product that he uses to install his one step beam and crown pieces for the coffered ceilings, and he continues to share how he installs an entire ceiling design.

Peter and I have a straight up conversation on what’s really next for all of us in construction, what to expect in the next year or two and why we have the expectations that we share. Peter also shares where he got his drive from, such a great story. There is so much uncertainty these days and that goes for construction, for all the tradespeople, entrepreneurs and building your businesses, do not overextend yourself, build but build your business slowly, careful, there is a bad recession coming and a lot of you tradespeople have not experienced a recession and you really want to be ready for it. Stay alert.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.mouldexmouldings.com

https://www.avaloncontracting.ca/?fbclid=IwAR3-9qlins2MseYPTK-MatmGwOrKryLP8jStaA99EFDEpIeMP_odKIwHEuo

https://expertcrownmoulding.ca

https://www.instagram.com/hg.landscaping.inc/?hl=en

https://www.omegamantels.com

What an amazing show and thank you so much Peter for sharing so much on mouldings, plaster accent walls, exterior stucco, and construction in general, educating our listeners on everything to do with your trade, Thank you. Find Peter on IG @picassointeriors and contact Peter on his email at [email protected] and his website www.picassointeriors.ca

Find Manny @hardcorerenos [email protected] [email protected]

TCL M.A.P Is coming soon – Stay Tuned for more great information