The Construction Life

The show begins with Euan and his rendition of a classic Kenny Rogers track and we love it. A few housekeeping shout outs and Euan was so kind to bring us homemade olives and Renossance tees, what a gentleman.

It all begins in BC and Euan moving to Toronto, working with tradesmen from B.C. go figure, working as a plumbing apprentice working on sprinklers and black pipe and a lot of oil, possibly olive oil, that led to a very bad motorcycle accident that changed things. The bad head injury brought Euan to become an orthotic and prosthetic technician at George Brown. He did amputee limb fabrication for about 4 years and felt he was losing his focus and felt it was time to move on, that brings us to monkeys and Euan’s dislike of monkeys and for good reason, especially monkeys on the job site.

Let’s talk older homes and how and why they have lasted, a lot of over engineering and no building code at the time and yet they are still around. The basic principles of older homes and how they heated them, lived in them, such fascinating talk. After the hospital work Euan went back to school to study Geology and Environmental Science to get a Master in BioGeo Chemistry so he figured his brain was working perfectly fine. Where do you go with that kind of education? He became an Environmental Consultant assessing soil contamination by excavating monitoring wells, with a focus around older gas stations. He did that for 4 years and then wanted out of that kind of work and since he worked construction to pay for his education he got into construction for good. How one job from a friend led him to building his business into what it is today based on learning every day, building the proper team and respect for renovations.

Euan says something that hits hard, “you can’t incentives people by paying them more.” So very true. About building your business with the Carrot or The Stick mindset and coming out on top. You really need to be an asshole when it comes to running a construction business for any of your guys to listen to you and your needs.

Take the time to drive around town and check out other job sites and chat with the trades there, pick their brains, network, that is how Euan found a great female mason, @stoneangelsmasonry she is a purist and respects the old school way of stone work. Big talk about mortars and what is spec and how It sometimes goes against how things should be restored, maybe the architects should spend a bit more time on site and discuss things with the people actually doing the work and seeing the progress. Street elevation is what Heritage is always most concerned about.

Apparently Carlito found an 1828 Gatorade bottle, must hear this story.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny at the beginning of the show, Building Code Talk with Manny at the midpoint and Green Book Talk with Carlito at the near end.

Thank You Euan so much for joining the show and sharing so much great insight about restoration, renovations, preservation and more on these beautiful homes. Check out Euan @renossance_inc www.renossanceinc.com and find his email and phone number on the web site for your next renovation.

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Zak walks us through his early days, university days and how he got into painting, how a flyer left on his classroom desk for student painters inspired him to become a painter. Manny follows that up with telling home owners that painting is a justifiable and skilled trade and not everyone especially clients thinking because some idiot taught them to do a “W” on a wall gives clients the experience they require to paint. Painting is 95% about prep and 5% about painting. Understood?

Painters are the last trade on site and are expected to repair, cover up, rebuild, rework all of trades before them and that’s not fair to painters and the homeowners. A first on TCL, Manny compares open miters left for painters to deal with to a Penial Surgeon leaving a gap and not expecting the patient to be unhappy.

Zak walks us through his steps, from first day arrival to the final reveal, what products and techniques, all of the great insider tips. Step ONE – tape and mask everything with the correct tape and that even goes for stucco ceilings. Lighting is paramount on a jobsite, from installed fixtures to flood lights like the Festool unit. Clients dictating which brand of paint right down to primers, is this fair for the experienced contractor and the results that contractors have achieved through on site real world experience? Color matching and what to consider based on each brand and the substrates an blacklisted colors and why. Note that every single kind of surface has it’s own type of primer to use and professional painters know this and how to once again prep things. Then we get into sprayers and what really makes a good sprayer. Best practices when priming poplar, MDF, HDF, LDF and CDF, a new name for a crappy product to Pine finger joint, Maple, Cedar it is all shellac primers. Getting into older homes and testing for oil or lead based paints, Zak offers up a great Trade Tip. We discuss prepping and priming and painting drywall in a perfect world. We wrap things up with drying time and prep times and the correct times it takes to paint professionally. Lastly, we reveal our favorite colors, a hint at wallpaper and venetian plastering, and lacquers, a few topics we will be discussing on the next “paint” podcast.

Zak and his crew has always worked by the philosophy, try to help the person behind you, in front of you and who hired you. It is a great way to handle the scope of work and daily ups and downs.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny at the beginning of the show, Building Code Talk with Manny at the midpoint and Green Book Talk with Carlito at the near end.

Thank You Zak so much for joining the show and sharing so much great insight about painting, construction, renovations and more. Check out Zak and his crew @pictureperfectpainters [email protected] www.pictureperfectpainters.ca

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We have Tony Cordeiro of TC Service & Installations INC on the show today talking about cabinetry installs and more. With over 20 years of experience, Tony has a lot to say about The Construction Life so you don’t want to miss this show. The show begins with Tony singing our first Portuguese tune as our intro and we loved it. Thanks Tony.

We get right into the show with a question about the origin of dust extraction, who and when?

So now we get into the real hammer Tony got as a gift from his parents when he was 3 years old and that was the beginning of his construction career and we jump to high school and building construction and cabinetry course that set him on a path to the pros. His first real job was actually at a bank and that paved the way for Tony to run a better business, so important to learn your math. Finally got into a shop and it was all sanding and finishing for Tony and so important that he did.

We get into a lot of Toronto history and construction shops in and around town and of course a few Portuguese jokes do come up. Tony was given his first chance be a shop foreman that believed in him and that established his career, word spread around, mixed in with a couple major life lessons and that was the beginning of TC Installations Inc. A cabinet maker, installer and overall super nice gentleman, one of the best in construction.

Tony’s Dad, a retired renovator always told Tony, "we have to figure out a way to solve this" and that has been Tony’s go to on the job site. Tony is known as one of the cleanest trades on any job site and he makes sure his team feels the same way, must be a Portuguese thing.

We get into a series of cabinetry company names from all over the world and what Tony thinks about it them and cabinetry details from North America and all over. What are Tony’s thoughts on shaker cabinetry? Tony also services these cabinetries’ and that is an art in itself. It is about time that we state all showers and kitchen walls should be built with LSL lumber, no more dimensional lumber for these areas. Then we get into Tony’s way of starting the work, where to begin, how to proceed and how to wrap up and get things ready for templating. Have electronics taken over way too much of the kitchen? Should we have plywood or drywall for main kitchen cabinetry walls? We do get into Tony fav tools and vehicles from what’s in his vehicle and the shop.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny, Building Code Talk with Manny and Green Book Talk with Carlito.

Thank You Tony so much for joining the show and sharing so much about construction, renovations and more. Check out Tony @tc.installations.inc

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Ian opens the show with his version of the Hips Courage. On today’s show we have Ian from @galeforcemasonry and we are talking historical buildings and restoration and a lot to do with the oldies but a goodie when it comes to construction. From brick, to lead roofs, to those original windows and more.

Ian begins with school at Algonquin College and how there really is a shortage in stone and mason trades and we have to go outside the country to find good guys, Irish, Polish and others. Ian brings up a massive point, with any trade you can take that skill anywhere in the world and you will find work, that is a fact. We love hearing that. Learning from the time and actions during his Union days which brought Ian to planning for his retirement one day.

We get into a little safety and proper set up of scaffolding because when you work in high end neighborhoods, the neighbors are watching. This part of the podcast leads us into a scenario in Ian’s past that could have been a lot worse. A serious injury when he was working in a crypt with a hospital right across the street.

Let’s talk about the seven P’s Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance, everyone needs to understand you have to slow it all down to speed it up. Ian talks about construction recipes, where he worked on something, did all the testing and figured out what he needed to restore the damage and Ian stays in touch with client’s years later with the hope that they will hire him to move forward with the work.

Let’s get into heritage buildings in Toronto, NYC, Boston, Chicago and Philly and why Toronto is terrible at restoring and would rather knock down. Then the big questions, how does one price a restoration job? We get into stone details of yesterday and compare them to today’s building details. And let’s talk Widths or Wydths of brick and stone. Then we get into the paperwork behind actual heritage buildings and the work involved to get the work started, building permits and the years attached to doing the work along with the building reports that Ian has been task with. We even get into talking about Hot Lime process and how it was done back in the day.

How to reading buildings and what clues Mother Nature shares with us, what a fascinating talk with Ian. We get into different stone finishing and the tools needed, there are so many options out there. Talk about health and safety and understanding that grinding out joints for tuck-pointing is now considered and Type 1 abatement and the rules apply.

We finally get to See You Next Tuesday, a first for our little show. Lastly we get into making 6 figures in this business easy and how more people should consider trades. Special thank you for the listeners listening right now as Carlito tells the listeners. We end the show with Twinkle Twinkle, we outta here.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny, Building Code Talk with Manny and Green Book Talk with Carlito.

Thank you Ian so much for joining the show and sharing so much about construction, restoration, renovations and more. Check out Ian @galeforcemasonry and [email protected]

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We are recording live at Foam Core Mouldings 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Niagara Falls. Over 1000 different profiles to choose from and you can still walk in with a custom order and have that turned around in days. Working with foamcore panels, siding, all kinds of options from Foamcore Mouldings for exterior and plaster interior products.

Let’s get right into the origin of stucco. Testing the product to hold up to 4 seasons including Canadian and USA harsh winters and hot summers. It all begins by cutting the product on a Hot Wire machine and from there is built up with plaster or a cement embedded with mesh for flexibility, durability and strength.

We even ask Matt, what is the largest sized crown and he tells us about a 36” crown, Holy Crown!! Matt tells us about working with Heritage buildings and repairing the old with new technologies like his product.

Matt tells us about his own personal build going on right now and how he is mixing and matching up different types of products to build a beautiful home, from his new foam siding, foam soffit and more.

We get right into DuRock products and best applications and the short cuts that a few take. What kind of person gets into stucco and stucco products, what kind of business to build, installation to ICF and stages of a proper install, you really shouldn’t and can’t miss a step?

How durable is stucco? High Impact Mesh stucco products and why they are worth it? What is the proper price points for these products? Why so many Eastern European guys get into stucco and plastering and why there really aren’t that many stucco girls and plenty of stucco guys.

And yes we get into proper building envelope because every single trade should know this, they all contribute and must understand the WHY.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny, Building Code Talk with Manny and Green Book Talk with Carlito.

Thank you Matt so much for joining the show and sharing so much about foam mouldings, stucco and interior and exterior products. Check out Matt and everyone @foamcoremouldings and www.foamcoremouldings.com

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

What an amazing show we have today, Paul from Mack Constructions Inc. and we are talking self-leveling products and applications. Believe it, Paul is one of the leaders and he actually began in plumbing as a licensed Master Plumber but then one day on a job he was asked if he could and he did and that was the beginning of his self-leveling career in construction.

Paul went from doing one job a month to doing 8 jobs a week and two crews and hasn’t looked back. Pumping the material as high as 14 floors and he could have gone even higher and further. Always up for the challenge. He has done leveling basements, with or without radiant, bonding to old and new concrete, you name it, Paul and his crew have done it.

He exclusively works with LaFarge Agilia Screed and loves the product for so many reasons. What are the differences between Agilia and Concrete and why concrete guys do and don’t get it. What a floating floor system really means and how it really works. Working from different thicknesses, as thin as 10mm to as thick as 9 inches, Mack Constructions Inc. knows how to make your floor perfect.

Paul gets right into estimating, scope of work, steps involved, calculating true level before during and after right down to the mm, taking the final floor to a perfect sanded surface ready for finishing. Staircases and how important it is NOT to order your finish staircase until the pour has happened because Paul knows floor framing is never perfect and self-leveling is about being perfect. We even get into a little self-leveling vs dry pack vs barrel bag mixing products and listen to find out who wins.

We even get into sound proofing and Paul loves to work with MSL Sonopro underlayment, it rolls out onto the subfloor, taped to each other and never stapled to the subfloor and what a difference it makes with those hard walking sounds. Working with Schluter BekoTek foam products, why use it and the added benefit by lowering the overall weight. We also get into slump testing each batch regardless if the batch was tested at the yard, what types of primers to use and where, taking care of any issues and always making the customer, the GC or the homeowner happy from the start to the end.

We end the show with word of mouth from digital to old school and how has Paul built his business.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny, Building Code Talk with Manny and Green Book Talk with Carlito.

Thank you Paul so much for joining the show and sharing so much about Self-Leveling. Check out Paul @mackconstructionsinc and www.mackconstructionsinc.com

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We have another amazing show talking finish carpentry and hardwood with the one and only Andrew Prete of @carpenteronsite An elder millennial that has really taken the industry by the horns and made the business better than most. Andrew isn’t shy about how and why he builds the way he does, the best that he can filled with a lot of passion no matter the size of the project, it is all the same to him.

Andrew is different than most contractors, nobody from his family is in construction, no one really influenced him to get into construction, he followed his passion and built a solid and reputable company. Once he touched those first tools back in high school, he was hooked for life.

Andrew was a Union member and loved his time there because he learned so much but once he was on the job site he met Nelson Gonzales and boy did Nelson take his skill set to a whole new level. School was very much worth the experience Andrew dives deep into what and why he learned what he did.

Of course we get into a lot of techniques, tricks of the trades for trim and hardwood installs and we even get into his fav tools, here’s a hint, BOSCH. We even get into the great debate, van or pick-up truck? We will give you another hint, SPRINTER.

Early in his days Andrew would trim out a 2500 square home, around 20 windows, doors and over 300 LF of base in one single day, two guys, boogie and get the work done with next to no deficiencies. At 25 bucks a window, those were the valuable days on site, the knowledge he learned even though there were some days where he made no money. Andrew even talks about the DAPENDERS on site and how he is a part of Respect The Next Trade TM. Andrew talks about hiring and keeping good and bad guys and what he looks for in a tradesperson.

We talk about going on his own, pricing out jobs quickly, budgeting, client’s expectations, poplar vs mdf, hardwood installs and so much more. At 30 years old, Andrew is already thinking about retirement, not looking to stop, planning to stop hugely successful. We get talking hardwood flooring install, wax paper, layouts, inlets of details, when to install hardwood and more.

Andrew is hungry for construction and during his early days and still today, he will always stop by a job site and offer up a quote, why not, you never know, that GC might be looking for a new guy. Andrew gives Tony and the family @mississaugahardwarecentre a well-deserved shout out and even talks about Collin Clamps and how he tells his clients the clamps are found at adult sex shops.

What an amazing show, Andrew thank you so much for being on the show and sharing all of your valuable experiences with us so far. We look forward to watching your business grow even further.

Find Andrew @carpenter_onsite

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

We have Val, AKA @safetyval a Safety rep that helps your business, your employees, your sub trades, and the owners, the industry be better and safer on the jobsite. She offers up basic safety knowledge, hardhat and safety, fines and max fines, deaths on site and plenty more very valuable knowledge.

We talk about alcohol and weed on the jobsite and how it can impact your day to day operations. Who really is responsible when a worker is drunk and or high? Proper workwear and we are not talking about “daisy dukes” or sweat pants, Carlito.

Who wrote these safety rules and why? Val started a great program called Speak Up For Safety and since her first day on site nearly twenty years ago she has been making the construction industry a safer place.

She discusses the lack of safety and respect from clients while they visit contractors onsite. She even gets into all of the safety requirements on site, all 25 of them so grab a pen and make sure your job site has all 25 and not just the first aid kit.

Val also offers up on site training for one or more of your employees and or sub trades. Paying for safety and more, we even get into stickers on your hardhats and writing on your harness, good or bad, is it allowed?

This is one extremely important show and worth listening to the very end.

Thank You so much Val for being a part of the show and offering up so much amazing information. Please contact Val at 416 899-9272

This is The Construction Life

www.theconstructionlife.com

Part II of Jim Caruk – The Godfather of Construction and Jim gets right into his very first build as a tween and his first run in with an inspector. Jim shares more of his great insight into the construction industry.

Jim gets into his details and what has worked for him and his clients, from plaster crown to his love for wood trim. He discusses how the trades have changed over the decades and what they are like today versus the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. Keeping the jobsite clean, professional, and how to deal with the new digital age on site and online.

Jim has always had a love for the business and anyone can see it when they walk through one of his homes. He has built himself a few homes and sold those homes for exactly what they were worth and stuck to his price because of the respect of the work, a few great stories about those sales.

We finally get into Jim’s other passion, Renos For Heroes a charity he began to help wounded soldiers. Jim with help from the Canadian government has helped so many people that have given up so much.

Lastly we get into van or pick-up, what tool brand is he and a few interesting quick question and answer inquires.

A massive thank you to Jim for spending the 3 plus hours with us talking construction. Really appreciate your time, your knowledge, your stories. Two amazing shows worth listening to the very end.

Find Jim at www.carukhall.com

@jimcaruk

@carukhallconstruction

@renosforheroes

www.renosforheroes.org

This is The Construction Life