Podcast
Builder Stories
Hosted by Eric Fortenberry · EN
Welcome to Builder Stories, the podcast where builders, remodelers, and contractors share their personal and business journeys. Come learn from the stories of successful entrepreneurs who share how they got started, how they found success, and the lessons learned along the way.
Your host, Eric Fortenberry, has successfully built two businesses, one in software and one in construction. He is now the Founder and CEO of JobTread Software, a construction estimating and project management platform that has helped thousands of builders and contractors sell and manage over $1 billion in construction jobs.
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Turn Your Craft Into Content | Mike Coffey of Coffey Custom Builds
1w ago01:01:44Tap to summarizeMike Coffey grew his social media audience from nothing to more than 120,000 Instagram followers. Here, he reveals how contractors can use social platforms to build trust, show their humanity, and turn finished-project beauty shots into real sales opportunities. He also shares how suffering a stroke last year changed his priorities. Instead of feeling consumed by the less inspiring parts of his business, he is now focused on building a life around the things he loves most: producing excellent work and the creation of meaningful content he can share with others. In this episode you will learn: How much social growth your business really needs The difference between personal branding and company branding How Mike learned the best times to post Common social media mistakes contractors should avoid What to know before working with sponsors and brands Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about Coffey Custom Builds here.
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Running a Company You Grew Up In | Kelly Kirk of Greymark Design + Build
2w ago00:58:47Tap to summarizeKelly Kirk took over Greymark Design + Build a few weeks after her mother, who founded the company, passed away. Leslie King was a larger-than-life figure and a well-known industry leader. Kelly chose to honor that legacy while also finding her own voice as a leader and bringing in fresh processes and a new approach. The journey wasn't easy, but today Kelly heads up a thriving company with a strong, aligned, and high performing team. In this episode you will learn: Why Kelly could not lead the way her mother did, and what she built in its place The single email that changed how Kelly's team saw her, and how long the effect took to compound What her business coach used to pull the company through its worst stretch, and why it was far simpler than she expected The client comment that revealed a blind spot only someone outside the industry could see How she plans in one, three, five, seven, and ten year increments without losing focus on the current month Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about Greymark Design + Build here.
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Inside the Playbook of a Successful Design Build Firm | Bryan Sebring of Sebring Design Build
3w ago01:02:07Tap to summarizeBryan Sebring didn't just grow a business, he rebuilt one from scratch. After running his company in Chicagoland for over two decades, Bryan moved to Franklin, Tennessee and relaunched as a design build only firm serving a completely different market. He shares the controversial 15 day pricing window he uses to qualify leads and close faster, along with a "power of three" approach to budgeting range. Bryan also opens up about the peer group community that changed his business and why he treats every homeowner, even the ones he turns away, as a future advocate. In this episode you will learn: The "dating before marriage" mindset Bryan uses to qualify homeowners before they ever see a price Why he intentionally gets fewer leads now than he did in Illinois, and why that's a good thing The controversial 15 day pricing window some builders call dishonest and Bryan calls incentive How Bryan turns down projects and still creates lifelong advocates out of the homeowners he refers elsewhere The unexpected way switching his accounting system finally made work in progress reporting possible
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When the Exit Goes Wrong | Vince Nardo of Master Roofing Solutions and TimeProof USA
4w ago00:55:49Tap to summarizeVince Nardo helped grow his family's cabinet refacing shop into the largest home improvement company on the West Coast with 700 employees. The company operated in multiple states and even landed a partnership with Costco to sell their products. In 2022, he sold the business to private equity firm Audax. Two years later, the acquiring company went bankrupt and the 40-year legacy the Nardo family built was gone. Now Vince is out of retirement and building a national roofing brand from scratch, and he's sharing every hard lesson along the way. In this episode you will learn: The simple metrics Vince used ensure growth of a 700-person company Why Reborn stopped thinking of itself as a sales and marketing company, and what it became instead How a meeting in Seattle turned into a partnership with Costco, and what selling under a retail giant taught his team The one question Vince says every contractor must ask before selling to private equity What convinced him to bet on himself again after losing everything he spent decades building Listen to the episode to learn more.
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How Contractors Get Found Online, Straight From Google | Jane Dzielski of Google
Jul 800:58:51Tap to summarizeJane Dzielski has spent nearly a decade at Google turning massive datasets into answers about how consumers make decisions. She knows what people type when they need a contractor, and that behavior is changing fast. In this episode she breaks down search, reviews, ads, and AI for the home services industry. Contractors will walk away seeing their own marketing differently. In this episode you will learn: Why showing up in fewer searches can win you better clients The one thing customers search for most, and why leaving it off your website costs you jobs What AI can and cannot read in your Google reviews The way your paid ads and organic results boost each other Which type of content to make first when you can only make one Resources: Learn more about Jane's work here.
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The Three Moves That Got Him Out of the Weeds and Back to Building | Dustin Hippensteel of True Grit Roofing
Jul 100:50:30Tap to summarizeDustin Hippensteel spent years convinced he had to do everything himself. Then three decisions quietly changed how his entire business runs. None of them cost much, and none were the flashy fixes most owners chase first. In this episode he breaks down what they were and why they mattered. In this episode you will learn: The hire he was sure wouldn't work that now handles the load he used to drown in How to tell a coach worth paying for from one who just has good marketing The first system he wrote down that made every customer call land the same way The mindset he had to kill before any of it could actually stick How his wife turned days of software setup into twenty minutes Resources: Learn more about True Grit here.
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How to Step Back From Your Business Without Watching It Fall Apart | Felipe Freig of Versa Method Coaching
Jun 2400:29:59Tap to summarizeAs the leader of Versa Homes, Felipe Freig builds multimillion dollar homes for executives and entrepreneurs. He dialed in the systems behind those builds so completely that he was able to step back from the daily grind. So he launched Versa Method Coaching to hand that same playbook to other contractors. In this episode he gets specific about what actually keeps a building business profitable. In this episode you will learn: Why Felipe calls "transparency" a "crock" in the construction industry Why Felipe commits to a fixed price on multimillion dollar custom homes when almost no luxury builder will What luxury clients actually want instead of a line by line breakdown The one number Felipe says no client should ever see, and why showing it loses you the job The full SOP library running Felipe's company, and how a builder could soon have it dropped straight into their own system Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about Versa Method Coaching here.
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How to Turn a Stalled Business Into Your Most Profitable Year | Corey Plourde of Core Remodeling Services
Jun 1701:00:34Tap to summarizeCorey Plourde spent eighteen years climbing the corporate sales ladder before walking away to build his own remodeling company. Years later he hit a wall he could not see past and finally admitted he had run out of answers. In this conversation he opens up about the moment everything turned around and the year that followed became his most profitable ever. He also reveals why the change he feared most was the one that finally unlocked his growth. In this episode you will learn: Why his most uncomfortable decision became his biggest breakthrough The mindset shift that finally helped him understand his true numbers How he nearly tripled his average job size in a single year What he wishes he had stopped spending money on in the early days The leadership blind spot he is still working to fix today Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about Core Remodeling Services here.
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How to Grow Your Profits Without Growing Your Team | Todd Dawalt of The Construction Leading Edge
Jun 1000:53:09Tap to summarizeTodd Dawalt spent more than 30 years in construction learning expensive lessons the hard way. In this episode, he reveals the one stage of every project where the most profit slips away, usually long before work even begins. He shares the counterintuitive shift that helps companies make more money without adding to the team. Todd also explains how one builder was leaving $400,000 on the table every year without knowing it. In this episode you will learn: Why hiring more people often makes a struggling business worse The part of a job where most inefficiencies hide, and why owners keep missing it What turns a fumbled project handoff into a smooth one The question that gets clients to gladly pay for work most contractors give away Where AI helps your business and where it can secretly hurt it Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about The Construction Leading Edge here. 00:00 Show Introduction 00:18 Meet Todd Dawalt 00:50 Todd Origin Story 02:33 Launching The Podcast 05:37 Cash Flow Wake Up 06:21 Coaching Operating System 07:31 Market Shifts After Covid 09:08 Profit Without Hiring 15:41 Find The Bottleneck 17:36 Why Change Now 19:42 Mental Malware Mindset 26:25 Lesson Without Scar 29:32 Systems Beat Intentions 32:49 Preconstruction Handoff 39:36 Paid Preconstruction Phase 44:08 AI Benefits And Risks 49:17 Resources And Wrap Up 52:45 Final Outro
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How to Rebuild Your Construction Business Around AI | Jake Gosselin of Churchfront
Jun 301:01:34Tap to summarizeJake Gosselin built Churchfront into one of the most innovative AV firms in the country, all fueled by a 300,000 subscriber YouTube channel and a relentless drive to automate the work that used to drain his time. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on the AI agents now running his business behind the scenes, including budgeting, procurement, and payroll. Jake also gets real about the security risks of connecting AI to your operations and the smart moves every owner should make first. This is the episode that will change how contractors think about AI inside their business. In this episode, you will learn: The surprising path Jake took from YouTube creator to multi million dollar design build firm Exactly what Jake's AI agents are doing inside his business every day The bold claim Jake makes about AI and why he stands behind it The security playbook every business owner needs before connecting AI to their software The one task Jake says every owner should hand off to AI right now Listen to the episode to learn more. Resources: Learn more about Churchfront here.
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