Fresh off the GlassBuild floor, we dig into the real story behind AI, sales momentum, and the future of windows, doors, and glass. Industry veteran Rick Cross, Account Executive at Paradigm, joins us to separate signal from noise, arguing that the biggest wins don’t come from shiny tools, but from teams that trust each other and processes built to carry weight. We explore how to turn traditional knowledge into systems, reduce error at the edges, and unlock self-serve quoting that speeds deals without sacrificing accuracy.

Rick’s “hull speed” analogy anchors the conversation: like a boat, every business has a sustainable pace. Push faster than your structure allows and you don’t grow, you break. We talk through how to design for the speed you want, from clean data and clear roles to measured implementation and empathetic selling. You’ll hear how to read timing in complex deals, when to ease off and when to nudge, and why steady progress beats short-term sprints that burn trust.

We also look ahead at talent and training. With a generation of industry pillars nearing retirement and AI changing workflows, the opportunity is wide open for students, tradespeople, and technologists to build meaningful careers. Associations like WDMA and NGA can bridge the gap with seminars, school outreach, and content that shows how fenestration fuels safer, more affordable homes. To close, Rick shares practical ways to reset a slump: step away, take a break, or help someone else, so you return focused and effective.

Topics we cover:
• Tech fear reframed through the tractor analogy
• AI used to capture tribal knowledge and cut errors
• People and process as the real leverage, not tools
• Trust, clear paths, and win-win as project accelerants
• Software reducing friction and enabling self-serve quotes
• Patience in sales cycles and timing the push
• "Hull speed" as a guide for sustainable growth
• Habits for breaking slumps and sharpening skills
• Recruiting next-gen talent via schools and media

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...

A soft market can fool you into thinking nothing’s moving. Under the surface, single-family starts are edging up, mortgage pressure is easing, and homeowners are about to unlock record equity, shifting windows and doors from isolated upgrades into bigger, General Contractor led projects. I sit down with Todd Tomalak to decode what’s next and how brands can earn the only verdict that matters: the contractor’s yes at the kitchen table.

We break down why fenestration often loses to visible bundles like kitchens, and what it takes to win anyway: reduce friction, ship on time, and make installation boring, in the best way. Todd connects today’s volatility to a 1974 “lumber recession” playbook, where tail events shattered loyalties and market share moved fast. Expect more pro veto moments, where installers override plans based on what actually works on site. That’s where margins live, and where the few who master complexity will lead when demand rebounds.

Search has changed too. Pros and homeowners now ask long, specific questions to YouTube, Instagram, and AI assistants. If your content doesn’t speak to climate, codes, install constraints, and aesthetics, you won’t even enter the conversation. We share practical ways to audit how GPT frames your brand, craft niche content that ranks for real prompts, and position yourself as the credible alternative when the first choice falls short. The strategy is simple and hard: pick one target, go deep, and become unmistakable to the buyers who matter most.

Topics we covered:
• Macro softness and rising single-family starts outlook
• Windows and doors losing to visible upgrade bundles
• Contractor labor tightness and the power of pro veto
• Brand loyalty shaken by tail events and reliability gaps
• Parallels to 1974 and the coming market share swaps
• Home equity extraction fueling larger, GC-led remodels
• Search shifting to YouTube, Instagram and AI assistants
• How GPT frames brands and why that matters for recommendations
• Niche strategy for remodel complexity and margin
• Practical steps to be named first at the kitchen table

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

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...

Want a practical playbook for how independent dealers can outmaneuver bigger competitors? I sat down with Gabe Arnold at the Do it Best Market to dig into the moves that matter: consultative selling, smarter buying, and turning human visibility into a real advantage on the yard and online.

Gabe’s story spans from Millwork Account Executive to Northeast Regional Sales Leader, and his perspective is grounded in over twenty years of helping members win. We break down why partial truck buys often cost more than they save, how reload and full-truck strategies unlock scale, and where vendor partnerships can remove friction all the way to the jobsite. You’ll hear how strong communication turned pandemic shortages into closer member relationships and why soft pricing today demands proactive planning rather than reactive buys.

We also talk about the new leverage hiding in plain sight: LinkedIn. No fluff, no “go viral” fantasy, just consistent, helpful posts that show your yard, your people, and your capability. In B2B, one well-placed post can land a $20,000 door package or a $200,000 custom home order. Let your team be the face, and let your feed prove what you do every day. Looking ahead, Gabe outlines a bold five-year vision for LBM growth in the Northeast, including creative reload capacity and species mix that allow independents to compete directly with distributors in dense metro markets.

Topics we covered:
• Career path from millwork to regional sales leadership
• Leading a young Northeast team and building capability
• Consultative selling that removes friction for members
• Using partnerships and reload strategy to beat distributor pricing
• Humanizing brands through LinkedIn and consistent posting
• B2B wins without chasing virality
• Lessons from shortages, soft pricing, and constant communication
• Five-year outlook for LBM growth in the Northeast
• Creative moves to add reload capacity and take share

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

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👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

The fastest way to lose great work is to forget the people doing it. We dive into a candid, high-energy conversation with Chip Gentry, Chief Legal Officer at Quaker Windows, on why relationships still beat automation and how trust turns into measurable growth in the built world.

We start with the foundations: face-to-face time, accountability, and agreements that act like partnerships rather than traps. Chip explains how supply chain risk gets easier to manage when your contracts are human, your partners are friends, and your values are visible. From there, we unpack why 2025 demands personalized, legendary experiences for customers and vendors alike, and how open-book management, profit sharing, and real benefits keep talent for decades.

Chip’s path from trial lawyer to fenestration insider is a masterclass in curiosity and niche expertise. He moved beyond compliance by learning the product, hiring experts, and becoming indispensable to clients. Now at Quaker, he’s helping scale a culture where relationships are the backbone, risk is calculated, and innovation is a mandate. We talk commercial expansion, integrated IG capabilities, community investment, and a testing lab that pushes beyond standards to prove performance customers can feel: safety, clarity, comfort, longevity.

This episode is for leaders who want brands chosen on purpose. You’ll hear how to translate technical specs into human outcomes, build vulnerable and diverse teams, and set an innovation rhythm that refreshes 25% of product offerings every five years. It’s a story about staying family-owned, mission-led, and relentlessly modern, about keeping the windshield bigger than the rearview and remembering that showmanship only works when it’s backed by substance.

• Relationships, accountability, and trust as a competitive edge
• Supply chain agreements focused on shared risk and purpose
• Personalization in 2025 customer and vendor experiences
• Open-book management, profit sharing, and retention
• Family legacy shaping mission and governance
• Expansion of Quaker's commercial division and IG integration
• Reinvestment in communities and 100% healthcare
• Chip's journey from trial lawyer to fenestration expert
• Failure as tuition, journaling, and mindset
• Building vulnerable, diverse, high-ownership teams
• Beyond compliance strategy and market vision
• Storytelling that translates specs to human value
•

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

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...

What does it really take to build a career and a business that lasts in the building materials industry? Kristy Labrecque’s story offers a rare, ground-level answer. Starting as a teenage cashier in a contractor-focused lumberyard, Kristy spent 37 years learning every aisle, role, and pressure point of the business. That long view became her greatest asset as she helped guide her store through COVID, a complex acquisition, and a major operational change, without losing the trust of her team or customers. 

In this episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast, recorded live at the Nation’s Best Women’s Retreat at Rough Creek Ranch, Kristy reflects on how independent dealers continue to outplay big box competitors: relentless customer service, deep relationships, and a willingness to adapt without abandoning what works. She shares how strong sales support and on-the-job learning shaped her confidence early on, and why creating a culture where people feel supported to ask questions still matters today, especially for younger team members entering the industry. 

Topics we covered:
• Starting as a teen in a contractor-first yard
• Learning on the job with strong sales support
• Building a rental center and service department
• Adding value with a full kitchen and bath showroom
• Navigating COVID paperwork and acquisition due diligence
• Leading through uncertainty and protecting morale
• Traveling ERP conversions and forging cross-store ties
• Women advancing in lumber, windows, and doors
• Customer service as the moat against big box
• Practical advice for loving a long career

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

What if doubling your speed didn’t require a new machine, just fewer steps? We sat down on site at the Do it Best Fall Market with Scott Morrison to unpack how simple, evidence‑based changes turn door shops, warehouses, and lumberyards into faster, safer, and more profitable operations.

Scott walks us through his on‑site approach: capture the current state with brutal honesty, map the “dance steps” between machines, and target non‑value‑added motion that steals hours. From a door shop operator walking 20 to 30 steps for inserts to forklifts hunting for staging space, distance is the hidden tax. When you cut travel time in half, it's as if you've doubled your speed. Scott shares a zone picking case where a member saved 90 minutes per day, eliminated overtime, and rolled first‑out loads by 6:30 to 7:00 a.m., a competitive edge contractors feel on the jobsite.

If you want earlier trucks, fewer headaches, and a culture that hunts waste daily, start by mapping what is true right now. Then remove distance, balance work with real sales data, and design your aisles for where you’ll be in five years.

Topics we covered:
• Mapping current state to expose waste
• Cutting non‑value‑added motion between machines
• Zone picking design and balancing by sales history
• Saving 90 minutes per day and reducing overtime
• Preloading trucks for first‑out morning deliveries
• Building cross‑functional teams with a single quarterback
• Iterating future states and breaking old paradigms
• Planning layouts for 50% growth without new buildings
• Centralizing staging to halve travel
• When to pair layout changes with WMS

LBM Member Operations Form: Sign up for your complimentary 60 minute meeting to discuss your yard's current state and future wants.
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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

A workforce crunch won’t solve itself, and the answer might be hiding in plain sight. From the floor of GlassBuild, I sit down with the National Glass Association’s new CEO, Lakisha Woods, for a fast-moving conversation about elevating women, the workforce gap in glass and construction, and building the kind of partnerships that turn trade show energy into real business.

We talk about the first-time magic of GlassBuild, complete with a drumline that set the tone for a show built on momentum and connection. Then we get practical. Exhibitors want architects in the aisles; architects want hands-on exposure to new glass, fenestration, and facade solutions. When those worlds meet, projects move faster and smarter. Lakisha shares early wins from bringing architects to the show, and how timing, non-competing calendars, and aligned goals with groups like AGC and NAHB can raise the bar for the entire construction ecosystem.

The heart of the conversation is leadership. Lakisha walks through the story behind her book, Never Get Their Coffee, and how subtle tasks like note-taking can sideline voices if leaders aren’t intentional. We trade lessons on finding mentors, learning from people you’ve never met, and using tools like podcasts and YouTube as modern apprenticeships. We also explore curiosity as a leadership engine, borrowing from Leonardo da Vinci’s cross-discipline mindset to keep skills fresh and teams inspired. The Women in Glass initiative gets a spotlight too: why visibility matters, how allies accelerate change, and what small, local steps build real momentum.

Topics we cover:
• Workforce pain points and the case for more women
• First-time GlassBuild energy and the drumline moment
• Partnerships to expand impact
• How visibility and community change career paths
• Finding mentors later and learning from afar
• Leonardo Davinci-style curiosity, self-care, and sustainable leadership
• The coffee and note-taking story as a leadership stance
• Women in Glass momentum and practical allyship
• NGA’s next moves: listen widely, act decisively

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

Price pressure is loud at the counter, especially when a local roll former can make a panel that looks identical to a premium option. I spoke with Gary Davidson from Metal Sales to cut through the noise and explain how dealers and contractors turn “why does it cost more here?” into a confident YES using proof, not hype. From Texas Windstorm and UL impact ratings to paint chemistry that actually resists fade and chalk, Gary lays out the specifics your team needs to sell metal roofing on performance and lifecycle value instead of a race to the bottom.

Gary shares how Metal Sales supports co‑op members with territory managers, inside sales, and free estimating, so newer counter staff can quote accurately, choose the right profiles, and avoid costly reorders. We also explore where demand is growing fastest: residential roofs, modern farmhouses, and the rise of barnominiums and shouses, plus how wind and fire resilience give metal a clear edge in challenging climates.

If you serve farm and ranch, residential, or light commercial work, this conversation gives you practical language, training angles, and customer education tools to close more confidently. Use lifecycle cost to reframe price, show verified testing to bolster trust, and match profiles to project goals so buyers feel guided, not pushed.

Topics we covered:
• Metal roofing as a value play beyond first cost
• Difference between premium panels and local roll formers
• Texas Windstorm, UL impact data, and verifiable ratings
• Paint system choices and why PVDF outlasts basic polyesters
• Training, free estimates, and sales enablement for members
• Product breadth across ag, residential, commercial, and architectural
• Lifecycle cost versus sticker price for homeowners
• Barnominiums and shouses as growing residential trends
• Wind and fire performance as key decision drivers
• How to engage territory managers and inside sales support

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

What if one setback could rewire how you lead forever? That’s where Steve’s story begins: a blown knee, a chance conversation, and a walk to a boathouse that forged a lifelong blueprint for excellence, belief, and team-first leadership. From the stern-led cadence of the Blue Boat at Cambridge to the complex reality of general counsel at a fifth-generation manufacturer, Steve shows how grit becomes a system. Train hard, trust the process, and keep pulling when the water turns rough.

We dig into the moments that define durable brands. Steve recounts Marvin’s 1961 factory fire and the decision to rebuild in its rural hometown rather than chase incentives, competitors fulfilling orders, the town showing up to help, and employees returning to a stronger company a year later. That choice to prioritize people and place built loyalty that money can’t buy. We trace how family ownership, a requirement of owners to work in the business to keep stock, and a long-term lens shaped responses to bet-the-company litigation and supply shocks. Along the way, rowing lessons echo in the boardroom: align the crew, trust the coxswain, and make excellence the daily habit that produces wins.

The conversation looks ahead with clear eyes. Talent pipelines are tightening, products are more technical, and plants in rural communities require a full ecosystem, including housing, childcare, and education partnerships. Steve outlines practical steps: high school tours, robotics teams, and a mechatronics program with a state college to prepare skilled operators and technicians. We also unpack the surge of state-level rules and why advocacy must pivot from Washington-first to a nimble, multi-state strategy that pushes for harmonized standards. Add in a call for more diversity in leadership, and the path becomes sharper, stronger, and more human.

Purpose anchors it all. From mentoring law students to supporting Hope Academy in Minneapolis, where parent partnership and classical education deliver standout results. Steve reminds us that people are hope-fueled. Promises made create hope; promises kept build trust.

Topics we covered:
• Focusing on excellence over outcomes and trusting the process
• Rowing as a model for team leadership and belief under pressure
• Cambridge Boat Race wins and translating adversity into resilience
• Building a purpose-led legal career and founding a firm
• The Marvin story: 1961 fire, community loy

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...

From a live conversation at Rough Creek Ranch with Amber Little, Chief Human Resources Officer at Nation’s Best, we get real about what it takes to support women in a male-dominated industry, attract the next generation, and turn everyday work into a story people want to join. This is a candid look at leadership you can feel: intentional retreats, strengths-based development, and the kind of fellowship that happens when you make space designed for women.

We dig into Amber’s winding path, from pre-med to industrial-organizational psychology to HR leadership, and why that background makes her a force for practical change. Servant leadership shows up here as more than a buzzword: whiteboards, sleeves rolled up, shared decisions, and a team that trusts the process because they’re part of it. We also confront a looming challenge: as experienced pros head toward retirement, how do we transfer the wisdom only time in the yard can teach? Amber’s answer starts with a mentorship engine, ride-alongs, subject matter experts, and structured knowledge handoffs, so new talent grows faster without losing the craft.

If you sell or hire in the building materials space, the psychology piece will hit home. Tools like CliftonStrengths and the Predictive Index help match people to roles and tailor coaching that sticks. In sales, story beats specs for most buyers. Outcomes, empathy, and clear narratives pull decisions through emotion before logic. Save the deep tech for architects; lead with a story that reduces friction and shows what life looks like after the purchase. That’s how brands become unmistakable in a crowded market.

We leave you with optimism and a plan: reframe recruiting around impact, invest in strengths, and build mentorship that honors the people who built this industry.

Topics we covered:
• Creating intentional spaces for women in building materials
• Focusing on strengths to boost confidence and performance
• Amber’s career path into industrial-organizational psychology
• Servant leadership as a hands-on team practice
• Reframing recruiting with clear stories of impact
• Building mentorship to transfer field knowledge fast
• Using CliftonStrengths and Predictive Index wisely
• Storytelling over specs for better sales outcomes
• Simple advice to ask more questions and keep mentors close
• A 52-week leadership journal for women is on the way

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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

...