The Construction Life

We open the how at a new venue, we are at VenturesX workspace in Oakville and next week’s show will be all about this space. Thanks Trevor and Joe for offering up the space to record the show.

Mike, what a great guy, calls himself the “toolbelt contractor” he loves being on site and seeing what’s happening and doing what needs to be done. Mike is proud of what he does for a living, but even more so proud that people call him a carpenter. Mike has 21 years of great stories, a successful tradesperson and running a great brand at the young age of 37. Mike and Manny get right into his construction life.

His story begins with an apprenticeship with his Dad and when he looks back at it now, Mike didn’t realize how much he was being taught at the time, the opportunities his Dad was presenting him. His Dad built a very successful company, a union company with 20 employees and Mike learned so much from how his Dad set up and ran the business.

A lot of respect for Mike because he not only tells us the great stories, the positive stories but he shares the downside of the business and how it happened and how he handled it. His Dad guided him through those major ups and downs and Mike thanks him for all of those lessons.

Mike’s next mentor brought him to the bid, bad and bold world of high-rise commercial work for all of the big players in the industry and Mike loved it. He worked for this mentor for 5 great and life changing years, the knowledge Mike absorbed forever shaped his future.

Mike shares an interesting story about his white ford van way back in the day that sort of got him into a bit of heat, you want to hear this story about a 1/3 into the show. LOL.

Mike and Manny discuss side hustles, flipping, the how to’s and does it really make sense? Mike opens up the Millennial door wide and presents some valid points about working in trades, smoking pot on or near site, handling employees and subtrades and much much more.

We warp up the show with a bunch of rapid fire scenarios and that leads Mike to telling us that he had Covid and what he went through.

Thank you Mike so much for being on the show and sharing such amazing insight into your construction life. Find Mike Campbell from Integrabell @integrabell on IG and www.ibbg.ca or on his cell 905 691-3830 and on his email [email protected]

Don’t forget to find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Jesse Barbosa is back on the show and finally gets to meet Jim, we get talking loads of Framing.

Jesse a 25-year-old framer with a solid crew that has old school heart and love for the trades and the construction life. He’s a hard worker that truly cares about his trade and what happens before, during and after his work, regardless if he can only blame the foundation guys for any issues while everyone else blames the framer. Listen in as Jesse shares some great insight on how he started his business, working with homeowners, GC’s, and always on the hunt for more framers to work with.

We get talking about winter framing, back framing, steel framing, jobsite appearance, tradesperson appearance and more. We discuss cash jobs, taxes, underground economy, getting rid of the tax on renovations, proper paperwork, running the show and the business and none of us pull punches, our objective is to educate others to build and run a business better and you can only do that by sharing the information.

Jesse brings up a great term, Framer of the Future when it comes to understanding building envelope and passive framing. We discuss how the quality of milling lumber comes up and reputable framers are sending a lot more lumber back to suppliers. The conversations get right into the ups and downs of framing, estimating, and so much more. We end the show with a few construction stereotypes, classic ones are expressed.

Thank you so much Jesse for being on the show again and continue to build like a Rockstar. 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] find him on IG at @barbosacarpentry for some great posts and videos that will teach and entertain you. Don’t forget to find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

WE ARE BACK!! It was a nice hiatus, well worth the 4 weeks off and enjoy some downtime to ourselves. We hit 121 podcasts at the end of 2020 and now we are focused on reaching 200 podcasts by the end of 2021.

We welcome Marc from Craigmhor Construction back on the show to have a great conversation about stigmas in construction and we just let the conversation roll from there. We open the show on what potential clients think about us showing up at their homes, the way dress, the tools we use, the work vehicle we drive, everything, it’s the way we present ourselves and our brand that matters all the time. We discuss education, trade schools and the career path tradespeople should consider and the value and available assets out there for every tradesperson. Marc brings up some great points about workforce and what has been going up or down and how to understand putting yourself in a much better situation based on a little research. We get right into the heart of construction and talk about working together, set aside our differences and build the construction up together, possibly look at building a network of like-minded tradespeople and grow this amazing industry together.

Marc said it best, the construction worker is not the person most people think of, now is the time to push the change, push the image of tradespeople to new heights. The topic of reno tv shows and the renoactors comes up, the negatives behind social media as an individual and forgetting the construction collective comes up, and the agencies that only care about their percentage points behind a connection versus building the construction industry, trade shows and webinars come up, the future of sharing information and how we can evolve comes up.

Thank you so much Marc for being on the show again and sharing such amazing information and insight.

Find Marc at www.craigmhor.ca @craigmhor_construction and don’t forget to find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.comand [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We get right into the wonderful world of architects and designers. Talking about the formal education, the on-site education, the real construction life. We even discuss the egos attached to being an architect, a designer and how to handle those egos. Then we jump into the formality of drawings, zoning, committee of adjustments, urban forestry, conservations and all of that fun stuff months, years before that first shovel hits the ground. Jim and Craig walks us through actually attending a Committee of Adjustment meetings and dealing with the neighbors objecting the permits. Jim and Craig walks us through dealing with neighbors, bad neighbors, good neighbors and why most neighbors just will never like construction until it is their construction.

Craig walks us through where the love for custom residential came from and why, such an interesting and relevant story, we can all relate too.

Thank You Craig for being on the show and sharing so much, a lot about the construction industry, architects, designers, and clients. Craig enlightens us on how the homes have changed over the years and what clients are asking for today, basically making the home a more functional space throughout. The dreaded work triangle is brought up and discussed is it really used in design today? All 3 of us go off on closet space and what closets were like for 3 brothers in one room versus today’s client’s requests, amazing how times of interests have changed. Powder rooms and sound levels and boy do all three of us bring up some very valid decibel points when designing a powder room. We finally chat about the numbers, the real construction numbers behind everything. We get to talking numbers versus clients expectations and the lovely world of construction finance.

Thank you so much Craig for all of the valuable information and great stories.

Find Craig at www.cardesignstudio.com @cardesignstudio and don’t forget to find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.comand [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We get right into the world of working for women clients, single professional women, married women and the stigma attached to having a female client. Why do contractors treat the ladies differently? Why can’t all tradespeople treat all clients the same way?

Women are concerned that they need to know all of the construction terminology, not true, women and men, all clients need to know what they want, let the contractor worry about the terminology and make sure they are using the proper materials and techniques. Never be afraid to ask a question, ask 1000 questions, ask for images during each stage of construction, it’s your money being spent here, so ask away.

The discussion of the “look” of a contractor comes up, their appearance and personal hygiene and somehow the conversation turns to exciting women, stimulating women, that fantasy of the strapping, manly man wearing a tool belt and taking care of problems in the home comes up in a big way and a new term is shared, Vagina Coupon, we will let the ladies explain that one.

Then the issues of safety and bringing in strangers into your home and how can you trust people. It has a lot to do with who and why women hire anyone and allow anyone into their home. Would a woman client prefer to hire a woman trade? Single women looking for good contractors is an important segment of the market and instead of dismissing these women, embrace it. Change your business today.

Thank You Ladies, Maya, Tanya and Trisha for being on the show and sharing so much, a lot about the construction industry, coupons and more.

Maya @shopjtg and find Trisha @trishasand1 find Tanya @tanyakusu and don’t forget to find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We open the show with a couple of bottles of wine, a few cheeses, salami and bread as any great construction podcast should start.

We don’t sugarcoat it…Covid is killing small business or should we say selective lockdown is killing small business. The panel today gets right into the motives behind the Canadian government and how they are handling the pandemic, lockdowns, and small business owners or should we say small business survivors.

What is the real reason for this 2nd lockdown? The government is saying to prevent a burden on the health care system. When you actually look at the actual real health numbers, which by the way Alberta has been the only province to share this info, the actual number is 26 people of 297,000 people in Alberta with Covid have died, less than 1 percent and by the way that healthy person is over 70 years old. All of these cases we keep hearing about and the justification of the lockdown and restrictions are numbers from 99% of Covid mixed with underlining issues. Our government should be sharing all of the information, not just the information that will benefit big corporate. The medical industry is now controlling the economy, is that right? Is that fair? There are more deaths from driving than Covid, are we going to lockdown driving? More deaths in skiing than Covid, are we going to lockdown skiing?

We discuss the recent Adamson’s police and government fiasco and why and what did he really do wrong? We discuss the Canadian Charter of Rights, The Canadian Bill of Rights and what our small business is allowed to do. The conversation gets warmed up and we don’t hold back. Are restaurants really the cause of the spread of Covid? They are not and yet the government is forcing these small businesses to close and die.

Dave expresses a 3rd lockdown will happen in early January, as soon as this one is done, the 3rd one will begin and there will also be a 4th lockdown. Are these selective lockdowns really doing anything? We all get quiet as Dave shares his thoughts.

We discuss the cause and effects of Covid on families, domestic issues, divorces and the overall mental strain on the communities for years to come after Covid.

Thanks to Dave and Mark for being on the show and sharing so much about the pandemic and small business and the construction industry.

Find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Something a little different but very relevant to our construction life, on today’s show we get right into a lot of health and lifestyle, eating and living. You really need to listen to your body and what your body is telling you because it is telling you a lot and listen up. It really is about what goes into your body has an effect on you, physically and mentally and what needs to come out, what is left inside will do good or bad to your body and mind.

Your health begins with your gut, your colon, what is going on in those two places and you need to drink half your body weight in ounces in filtered water, that is the best first step to changing your body. Your body is always trying to come into balance, what is consumed your body has a reaction to it, good or bad and we need to understand the balance. Your body needs to always be in a state of repair and recover, we cannot bombard our bodies and skip the repair and recover because it will compound and eventually create life threatening issues.

We get into the whole world of vegan, gluten, celiac and what are we really eating and why are bodies react the way they do. We discuss the Blue Zones around the world and how and why these cultures are living healthily into their 100’s whereas we live in a place where prescriptions are being handed out in our 40’s and 50’s to maintain a somewhat normal healthy life.

Pay attention to your sleeping environment, black out blinds, not lights, phones not near your bed or even worse your head, place your phone on airplane mode, do not check that last email, that last post, clear your mind before you go to sleep. EMF’s, electric cars, GPS units and how these microwave fields can cause damage to your bodies. We finally try some foods that Sandra and Speducci have brought together for the show and you can find everything at Speducci. We wrap the show up discussing colonoscopies, colonics, float pods and more, most people are really full of shit because of the what they eat and all of that extra waste is just staying inside you. Let us not forget about stress, it is the number one cause of reducing life in all of us. Start with drinking lots of water, then squatting on the toilet and eact better food for you and your life.

What an amazing show on health and wellness, it will open you eyes to living and eating better to live a much better life and lifestyle. Thanks Sandra for being on the show and sharing so much about the health, nutrition, energy and food, so much great food for the construction industry and thank you to Speducci for always inviting the show into one of the best places in the Toronto area. Anyone interested in reaching out please contact Sandra @speducci on IG [email protected] web site www.speducci.com 416 242-2777 and at her own website www.sandraflorio.com and IG page @sandra.florio

Find Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Back in the Caruk Hall Boardroom and we have a couple of special guests, Dan Hall from Caruk Hall, Jim’s younger partner in construction crime and Terry a recently retired plumbing expert on today’s show and we are going to talk about the three segments of business ownership and operation.

Both Dan and Jim got started in their late teens and went the union route and they partnered up 5 years ago, Terry was independent and started in the 80’s as a renovator and got out in the early 90’s, went into plumbing and recently left for good. The construction landscape in the next decade is going to dramatically change with more people tradespeople leaving than coming in, which sets up the challenge for us one man shops, and partnerships to find more tradespeople to be a part of the team. The frustrations will pile up and some will leave, some will grow, some will accept it.

We talk about the renovation triangle, we talk about how everyone is billing for on-site meetings except contractors, designers, engineers, architects, they all bill for time and this conversation bring us to understanding it takes a special type of person that wants to love construction and when that love stops, that is when you consider getting out for good or at least shift gears to another segment of construction.

The conversation gets really interesting once we discuss what average people are making s an income, what tradespeople are making, what school costs for people in and out of construction and the return on that education. Jim flat out says we need to bring back the technical trade schools and classes to attract more people into the trades and he’s so right. We need more passionate people in the construction industry.

Thanks Dan and Terry for being on the show and sharing so much about the construction industry.

Find Terry enjoying life, driving his cars, find Jim @jimcaruk and find Dan and Jim @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.comand [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Back in the Caruk Hall Boardroom and we have a special guest, Dan from Tropical Heating and AC and today’s show is all about HVAC and Dan shares his experience for over 30 years, wait till you hear how much things have changed and how little things have stayed the same. Dan started at 19 years of age and eventually got partnered up with his brothers and built up one of the best HVAC teams in the Greater Toronto are and now the sons are working with the Dad’s, truly a Family Business.

We discuss forced air systems, radiant systems, steam humidifiers, ductless systems and cassettes, HRV’s, Snowmelt systems, Generator Back Up, BTU’s, ventilation of 2nd, 3rd and 4th basement levels, carbon monoxide air filtration sensors for underground parking, indoor pools, ground source heat pumps, geothermal, 1200 cfm exhaust fans, best HVAC practices, services and more about HVAC, always a great talk when it comes to the air in your home. Remember, after your kitchen the mechanical room is the next most expensive room in your home, after all, it runs the house, it’s the heart of the home, plan for it, design it, lay it out perfectly for future service calls.

Thanks Dan for being on the show and sharing so much about HVAC service and construction.

You can find Dan and his family of hardworking HVAC tradespeople at www.tropicalheatinghvac.com and find Jim @jimcaruk and @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

10 years ago Jim was on a road trip across Canada and with a phone call from a friend about his son in law returning from Afghanistan and struggling with his family and new born, Jim came up with Renos for Heroes and wanting to do something. We open the show with Mike and Dean sharing when they join the service and when they retired, the beginning as it turned out was a choice between military or prison, that old cliché. We discuss the connection between every service person and how that brotherhood and sisterhood carries on through the years. A lot of service people transition into the trades and Mike and Dean are a lot like that, they discuss the reasons behind the military and construction and how we can all help veterans transition into the workforce.

We have a moment of silence for all of the military service people around the world. Thank you for your service.

Thanks Mike and Dean for being on the show and sharing so much about military service and construction. Thank you Jim for starting a charity helping military service people, Renos For Heroes.

You can find more info at www.renosforheroes.org and on IG renosforheroes find Jim @jimcaruk and @carukhallconstruction www.carukhall.com [email protected] 416 546-8602. Find Dean at www.fast-rescue.com and find Dean at www.helmetstohardhats.ca Lastly, find Manny @hardcorerenos www.hardcorerenos.com and [email protected] 416 433-5737

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com