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A podcast by Buildertrend that explores people, technology and innovation.
Episodes
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
On today’s episode of “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are talking to Casey Grey, founder and CEO of The Conscious Builder, a custom home and renovation company in Ontario, Canada. Casey took an early interest in the construction industry starting his career in renovations at the age of 17 before starting his own company at 24. His focus then became building net-zero homes and educating others on the importance of creating healthy living environments.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about what it means to build net-zero homes and how to educate homeowners on the benefits.
The idea of net-zero homes is still fairly new. How does your process work with educating clients on the benefits and choosing the options that work best for them?
“We put out so much content to help educate people. It's up to us to give the clients the options so that they can make a decision that's best for them because there are so many factors. There are all sorts of products out there that are better for the environment. But usually, those products are a lot more expensive, too. So, what's most important to that individual, to the person that we're building for? Based on what's important to them, we'll make recommendations for the wall assembly or what products to use and so forth. But at the end of the day, it's not up to us. And we're not building for everybody, but we're using the experience and the knowledge that we have to help teach other people so that they can ask better questions when they go to buy their house. They can go to their builder and ask for specific things. A lot of people who reach out to us have watched a lot of our videos.”
What is your focus when building a net-zero home?
“Where we really focus on is really for the house itself and the health, the comfort, the benefits to the homeowner. Because at the end of the day, you still want to build a healthy indoor air quality, like a healthy environment for people living in the house because we spend like 90% of our time inside. Depending on where you live, could be more, could be less. But most of our time is spent indoors. Obviously, we live at home, and now most of us are working at home. So, we really focus on, "Okay, what do we have to do?" By default, when you build a healthy and comfortable home, you build a more efficient home, which in turn helps everything else that people say it's affecting the climate. That’s where we’re at.”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
The Conscious Builder resources:
Visit The Conscious Builder Academy and use code BT15 to get 15% off any course.
Listen to the last episode of “The Building Code” to hear Bill Smithers’s insights on inflation and how it will continue to affect the construction industry.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top residential construction management platform this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Aug 18, 2022
Thursday Aug 18, 2022
Episode 158:
Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are chatting with Bill Smithers, president of CBUSA and returning guest on the podcast. As a veteran in the construction industry, Bill had years of experience in both production and custom home building before starting CBUSA, a group purchasing network for professional builders.
Tune in to the full episode to hear his insights on inflation and how it will continue to affect the construction industry.
Read the show notes for this episode here:
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Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Episode 157:
On today’s episode of “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are chatting with Ernie Goss, Ph.D., principal investigator, professor of economics and holder of the Jack MacAllister Chair at Creighton University. Ernie is world-renowned for his economic expertise and has published more than 100 research studies focusing primarily on economic forecasting.
Listen to the full episode to hear his insight on when the economy will turn around and where it’s heading next.
Will the pricing of the homes need to adjust to keep the demand of the construction market a bit higher? Will that make building more affordable, too, as a result?
“Well, I'll just tell you what I told my niece. She lives in Atlanta. She said she's been having a difficult time buying a house. And I just told her availability's going to be higher. There will be more choices. Supply will increase. Now, as far as the price, we're going to see it moving sideways, but a significant downturn like we saw in 2008 and 2009, we’re not going to see it this time. And this is my experience from the construction industry. As long as there's lending, contractors will keep building."
What signals are you watching to predict possible changes in the economy?
“The signals that I see, and I'm not always right in looking at signals, but watch what the federal governors or the Federal Reserves say. The governors of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, watch them, listen to them, what they're saying, because they're telling you where they're going. And one thing that really affects building that we haven't heard any noise about is the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve.”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the Goss & Associates website to subscribe to the “Economic Trends Newsletter.”
Listen to the last episode of “The Building Code” to hear about the top five areas you should be focusing on for continued success in project management and business growth.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top residential construction management platform this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Jul 07, 2022
Thursday Jul 07, 2022
Episode 156:
Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are joined by Paul Atherton, a business coach at Breakthrough Academy a company that provides smart and innovative solutions for contractors. Paul focuses on helping business owners develop the skills, systems and community necessary to set their companies up for success.
Tune in to the full episode to hear about the top five areas you should be focusing on for continued success in project management and business growth.
Why would a contractor come to Breakthrough Academy?
“Well, generally I think businesses fall into basically two main categories. There's category one, where there's low net profit and some chaos happening in the company. They come and they're like, ‘I have no idea how to get myself out of this. Can you guys show me?’ Or they think, ‘Wow, this is going to take me 10 years to figure this out myself. Can you guys show me how to get there quicker?’ So, we're really good at helping those people, but then there are also the businesses that are already pretty good. Like they have strong systems in place. They're making good money. They have strong networks, and strong visibility in the marketplace. We also work on helping those organizations really polish everything that they do in the core areas businesses need to be strong in order to see success.”
What are some warning signs that would indicate that a business owner or company needs some additional coaching?
“Well, the obvious ones are company owners working 12, 14 hours a day, and there's just a lot of chaos and a lot of fires that are coming up. And they're like, ‘My business is controlling me. I'm not controlling it.’ So, that's a warning sign. Another warning sign is, that they're just not making as much money as they thought. Their net profit will be anywhere from zero to 5%. Generally, we can do something quickly to help in those areas. For the businesses that are already doing pretty good, usually those people, they just want to learn, and it's quite easy to gap them to say, ‘Okay, well, you're good in lots of areas, but here's how we can get you better.’”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the blog series recap of our roundtable discussion for even more insights on how to grow a construction business.
Listen to the last episode of “The Building Code” (link episode 155) to hear about what it takes to start a career in the construction industry, some of the latest evolving design trends and how Buildertrend helps curate the design process for clients.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top residential construction management platform this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Jun 30, 2022
Thursday Jun 30, 2022
Episode 155:
Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are joined by Piper Stromatt, director of interior design and partner at Boutique Living by Curate in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Piper was born into the construction industry and decided to take the route of design working for a residential construction company right out of school.
Listen to the full episode to hear about what it takes to start a career in the construction industry, some of the latest evolving design trends and how Buildertrend helps curate the design process for clients.
How has Buildertrend helped with your design process?
“We can go as deep as somebody wants to or as minimal as somebody wants to. And that's also something that Buildertrend has allowed us to do – build our template to be able to do that. We've put almost nine years into our template. We're very strategic of what goes in there, all of our vendors can't live without it now, and our subs can't live without it. We can't live without it either. Even though we have a catalog that anybody can bring in, we're able to streamline that process for our homeowners to not get so overwhelmed when they do start getting down to the nitty-gritty.”
What are some of the design trends you’re seeing right now?
“I think you're going to start seeing a lot of the Scandinavian, which is like very simple, very eclectic, just very easy, very natural. Then you're going to start seeing a lot of the natural designs really start to trump the farmhouse. But what you'll start seeing, shiplap was always horizontal, now it's pulling vertical. You're starting to see a lot more sleek lines, colors, and a lot of light and brightness. You're not seeing the grays anymore or the gray tones, or anything like that. You're starting to see the simple whites, a lot of Ben Moore and Sherwin-Williams' light and bright, but also with the natural color tone.”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out Piper’s podcast, “The Building Blonde” on Spotify.
Tune in to the last episode of “The Building Code” (link episode 154) to hear about how our Financial Services team is working to change the way the construction industry gets paid. Learn more about why the future of getting paid is digital.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top residential construction management platform this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
Thursday Jun 23, 2022
Episode 154
Every other Thursday, we give our listeners a glimpse into the inner workings of our business with our new “Inside Buildertrend” series on “The Building Code.” What are our teams working on? What features are coming up, and how will they benefit our users? What data and research are being collected behind the scenes? Tune in as we take a look inside Buildertrend.
How is Buildertrend impacting the future of payments in the construction industry?
On today’s episode of “Inside Buildertrend,” Trevor Pillen, payment operations specialist, is chatting with Zach and Charley about the significance of online payments.
Tune in to hear more about how our Financial Services team is working to change the way the construction industry gets paid. Learn more about why the future of getting paid is digital.
What are the key takeaways?
- How is Buildertrend changing the way the industry gets paid?: In the construction industry, checks have historically been the preferred method of payment. So, our goal as a tech company is to show business owners the value of using ACH and credit cards. There are many advantages to accepting these methods of payment – and one of them is timeliness. Time is money in construction, and getting paid via check takes a lot longer.
- What are some key benefits of online payments?: One of the biggest benefits of online payments is time. The average turnaround time for a check is 20 to 25 days. Whereas with digital payments like ACH and credit card, it’s closer to 10 to 12 days, if not less. Another benefit is the ability to streamline getting paid by accepting online payments quicker, which will help solve cash flow issues.
- Why is accepting online payments better for business?: Today, many construction professionals are limiting the way homeowners pay for their projects. By widening the funnel, clients can pay the way they want, and contractors get a wider range of jobs to choose from. Offering flexible payment options is a good business practice, and there really are no downfalls.
Why is this cool for Buildertrend users?
Buildertrend Payment Processing is integrated with the Customer Portal feature, which allows homeowners to make digital payments directly through the platform. Builders have the option to accept ACH and/or credit card payments within their Buildertrend account.
LINKS AND MORE
How to get started with Buildertrend Online Payments:
https://helpcenter.buildertrend.net/en/?q=payment+processing
Related content:
Check out the last “Inside Buildertrend” episode to hear about how our Customer Experience team is connecting the dots between the voice of the customer and Buildertrend’s internal departments by answering questions like: What support do our customers need from us? What are they expecting from us from marketing? What do they need our product to do to support their business needs?
Subscribe to “The Building Code,” and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top residential construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Thursday Jun 16, 2022
Episode 153:
Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are live from Buildertrend University with Austin McKnight, co-owner of Southern Creek Homes in College Station, Texas. Austin and his brother founded the company in 2015, and it wasn’t long before they realized they needed to implement construction software if they were going to be successful.
Listen to the full episode to hear about their experience at Buildertrend University and how Buildertrend is helping them scale their home-building business in a manageable way.
How has your experience at Buildertrend University been so far?
“So, we've only had a few classes thus far, but it's great. Especially seeing how it seems like some of the trainers are just specialty in those areas. Looking forward to the one-on-one session this evening to drill down and get a little deeper in some things. But no, it's great. We used 10% of Buildertrend for three years, and I'd still say we're only like 60% now. There are warranties, surveys, there's the sales side of it that we don't use, there's a lot of things that we're excited to keep growing in and keep utilizing.”
How has Buildertrend helped you in the current state of the construction market?
“The market is totally changed, and it's hot right now. But to me, that's another reason to get organized now. I think some of the smaller builders that may not have a system like Buildertrend or whatever system, this market's really changed the last two years. I see projects all the time sitting waiting on windows. Well, that’s easy if you have it set up, and you know upfront, ‘My windows are 16 weeks out, I need to order them at this point.’ Our timeline really hasn't drastically increased because we've moved our process up. So, we're in appliances right away because it's eight months out right now. So, little things like that, we've just changed our process versus letting it change our process for us.”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the last episode (link to ep. 152) of “The Building Code” to hear more about our Customer Experience team and how they’re connecting the dots between the voice of the customer and Buildertrend’s internal departments.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the top construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday Jun 09, 2022
Thursday Jun 09, 2022
Episode 152:
Every other Thursday, we give our listeners a glimpse into the inner workings of our business with our new “Inside Buildertrend” series on “The Building Code.” What are our teams working on? What features are coming up, and how will they benefit our users? What data and research are being collected behind the scenes? Tune in as we take a look inside Buildertrend.
How does Buildertrend define and prioritize the customer experience?
Today on “Inside Buildertrend,” Scott Hale, customer experience manager, joins Zach and Charley to talk about the exciting new initiatives happening in our Customer Experience team.
Tune in to hear more about how the Customer Experience team is connecting the dots between the voice of the customer and Buildertrend’s internal departments by answering questions like: What support do our customers need from us? What are they expecting from us from marketing? What do they need our product to do to support their business needs?
What are the key takeaways?
- What does the Customer Experience team do?: The Customer Experience team at Buildertrend focuses on initiatives that define our implied promises and how we deliver on those promises for our customers in the most effective ways.
- How are we measuring customer experience?: Customer experience is measured through feedback. Many of our users already see emails with surveys in their inboxes. Now, they’ll get questions in Buildertrend’s software as well. We're implementing in-platform questions because the best feedback happens when customers are in the middle of using a feature.
- How are current initiatives helping users?: One of the biggest initiatives currently being worked on is organizing customer feedback that impacts feature updates. The Customer Experience team collects every piece of feedback related to certain features and organizes it by feature. This makes it easier for the Product team to prioritize and deliver new tools and improvements that align with customer needs.
Why is this cool for Buildertrend users?
The Customer Experience team was formed to ensure our customers have a wholistic, valuable experience with Buildertrend – whether it’s the usage of our software or interactions with our team. Customer feedback collected by this team plays a huge role in the prioritization and decisions regarding which feature updates are made.
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the last “Inside Buildertrend” episode to hear about the new invoicing workflow and how it will help streamline financial processes and create a better experience for homeowners.
Subscribe to “The Building Code,” and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the world’s No. 1 construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday May 12, 2022
Thursday May 12, 2022
Episode 151:
Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are chatting with Adam Copenhaver, co-founder of CopeGrand Homes in Charleston, South Carolina. Adam and his twin brother Ben founded the company in 2015, expanding to their second location in the Greenville, South Carolina, area in 2020.
Tune in to the full episode to hear about the formation of their superhero team and why project management software has been so instrumental in sustaining their company’s continued growth and success.
What is one of the most important aspects to consider when starting a construction business?
“That is the biggest item that a builder could focus – just building as strong of a team of superheroes that you could possibly build. And what we've learned, too, is those people are worth their weight and some of them more expensive and that sort of thing. And as long as it makes sense for your client and your product and what level of fit and finish you're going to do. You’ve got to go after those folks, and you’ve got to create an environment where they can grow and evolve and build along with you. And so, that's also been one of those things that we've learned.”
Why should other builders choose Buildertrend to support their business?
“It's actually added a ton of value to what we do. It's been a huge resource for our clients and our sub base. And I'll tell you, props to you guys. I'll say this for most of the people that listen to the podcast probably are Buildertrend users. But those folks that aren’t, if you're not using Buildertrend yet, you’re stuck way behind the times because I truly believe that Buildertrend is going to be the dominant software forever in our building industry. The rate at which you guys evolve and the rate at which you make changes to help benefit us, the rate at which you receive and make those changes from our feedback, has just been phenomenal.”
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the last episode of “The Building Code” to learn more about some upcoming enhancements being made to Buildertrend’s invoicing process.
Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the world’s No. 1 construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend project planning pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.
Thursday May 05, 2022
Thursday May 05, 2022
Episode 150: Inside Buildertrend – invoicing
Every other Thursday, we give our listeners a glimpse into the inner workings of our business with our new “Inside Buildertrend” series on “The Building Code.” What are our teams working on? What features are coming up, and how will they benefit our users? What data and research are being collected behind the scenes? Tune in as we take a look inside Buildertrend.
What do users need to know about the upcoming invoicing feature update?
Today on “Inside Buildertrend,” Emma Dickinson, product manager, joins Zach and Charley to talk about the upcoming updates to the Invoicing feature and how it’ll bring the best of both CoConstruct and Buildertrend together.
Tune in to hear more about how the new invoicing workflow will help streamline financial processes and create a better experience for homeowners.
What are the key takeaways?
- What’s new with invoicing?: The update to the Invoice feature will introduce a new workflow for adding costs that are elsewhere in Buildertrend. When creating an invoice, users can pull in costs from estimates, selections and change orders into a single invoice.
- How does it benefit homeowners?: Needing to invoice costs from multiple features and sending three separate invoices creates confusion for clients. The update will eliminate the confusion by allowing costs to be collected and sent to homeowners in a single invoice document.
- How does it save users time and money?: The biggest benefit is that users can easily check a single invoice to make sure they haven't missed any costs. This means it'll be less likely that they miss costs that should’ve been invoiced to their clients. The other big benefit is the amount of time saved. Instead of invoicing from three features, it’ll all be done from one.
Why is this cool for Buildertrend users?
Creating construction invoices is an essential piece of running a successful business. And keeping numbers accurate requires simple workflows and organization. That’s why our Product team has worked hard to create a new invoicing experience that will streamline the process and make it easier for homeowners.
LINKS AND MORE
Related content:
Check out the last “Inside Buildertrend” episode to hear about the many learning and training opportunities we offer our customers.
Subscribe to “The Building Code,” and never miss an episode.
Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.
The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend:
Looking to improve how your team plans projects with the world’s No. 1 construction management software this year? Pick up Buildertrend pro tips on the newest season of “The Better Way, a podcast by Buildertrend.” Subscribe and stream all five bingeable episodes on your favorite listening app now.
Follow us on social:
Instagram and Facebook:
Listen to “The Building Code” on YouTube! And be sure to head over to Facebook to join The Building Code Crew fan page for some fun discussions with fellow listeners.