Glorified Carpenter

Angelica Armitage — Owner/Operator, Armitage Construction Company Ltd. | Sussex New Brunswick, Canada Angelica put in 10 years with her bags on to earn her Red Seal Certification. A mix of great mentors, bad mentors, and hard-won experience gave her everything she needed to hang her own shingle. Today she runs a crew of 5 carpenters — bags on, all day — while wearing every hat in the company: owne...

CJ Nielsen of CNC Electric Co. joins us to share what it's really like running an electrical sub-contracting business from the inside. We get into scaling, systems, crew structure, and how he manages everything from small projects to ultra-high-end builds — each with their own tech stacks, client expectations, and GC dynamics. CJ breaks down what keeps his work consistently sharp no matter the job...

Dave Hanes is a second-generation builder running a family-owned boutique firm in Northern California. He learned the trade working alongside his father at Hanes Construction — a shop built on hustle, handyman work, and the occasional $200k renovation. The strategy was simple: ballpark the numbers, stay busy, and hope for the best. Dave wanted more. He set his sights on architects and high-end cus...

Matthew Logue of Matte Building Pty | Newcastle, Australia We dive into what’s the same—and what’s completely different—about construction and renovations on the other side of the world. Matt’s cut from the same cloth. Came up through the trades on a similar path, with a real love for building and creating. But where things split? He’s scaled—taking his company from just him and his sister (part-t...

Jason Pietruszka of JJP Construction, out of Los Angeles, joins us this week on the pod. Jason takes us back to 2008 — when his dad gave him that first nudge into the industry. From there, he’s gone on to build 250+ homes… starting in production, where there’s little to no connection to the end product, to where he is today — designing and building homes in the Palisades, rebuilding in areas impac...

Chad Coll of C.S. Spoon & Co. is doing what a lot of us in construction have done — turning a hobby into a business. And the path? It’s almost too familiar. This wasn’t some calculated move chasing market share — “let me go grab 5% or 10% of the spoon market.” Nope. Life unfolded… and Chad stumbled into a niche that gave him purpose, allowed him to support his family, and actually be present — not...

Paige Heron — a female framer out of Canada.
I’ll let that sink in for a second. After chasing a career in firefighting, Paige landed in a cabinet shop for a summer job… and never really looked back. Over the next 6+ years, she went on to frame homes with some of the best crews in the Toronto area. We get into what it’s like navigating this industry as a female. And speaking for myself — it was in...

Episode 35 with three great guests and presenters from this year’s JLC Live. Always love this show and the people who make it what it is. We talk about their approach, the why behind stepping up to present, the nerves that come with it, and why paying knowledge forward matters so much in this industry. Great meeting Ryan Smith and catching up with Rick Mills and Mike Whalen. Hope you enjoy the con...

Brent Hull — Fort Worth, TX native and award-winning master builder. A graduate of the North Bennet Street School in historic preservation in the ’90s, Brent is also the author of six books and co-host of the podcast Passion for Craft. Brent is more than a romantic about the craft — he’s a purist. He believes in quality inside and out and has devoted his career to understanding the details and whe...

Dmitry Shevchenko of Shevcon Custom Homes is a different breed. Most will agree — framers are warriors. Out in the elements, winter and summer, building the bones so every other trade has something to pile into. But beyond that grit, Dmitry introduced me to something I’d never experienced before: The wood-fired banya. We start with his story — how he got into framing, what shaped his work ethic, a...

Troy’s Journey: From House Moving to Tiny Home Innovation I loved catching up with Troy and digging into the innovations he and the Fritz team are bringing to the tiny home space. His path is anything but linear — from growing up in a family house-moving business, to aviation mechanics, to flooring, and ultimately co-founding First Tiny Homes with Kevin and Heather Fritz. Today, they’re building p...

In this episode, I sit down with architect Breck Craparo to dig into the thinking behind the work — not just the drawings, but the decisions. We talk about what it really takes to build an architecture firm, the do’s and don’ts he’s learned along the way, and what actually matters when a design moves from idea to reality. As builders, understanding how a design is created, why it was created, and...

Zane Ellis is a Project Manager at F.E. Trainer out of Knoxville, TN—and more famously, a co-host of the LevelHeads Podcast. This industry… the clients, the pressure, chasing money, job security—the list goes on and on. It can be a killer. Zane opens up about how it almost killed him. Even after being told to step away from the industry, he came back. This conversation dives into how having the ri...

What a YEAR!! Couldn’t think of (2) better guys and builders to recap 2025. Jason & Mike join me in discussing all topics We discuss everything AI, bringing trades in-house, markets, slow or on the rise, ADU’s, BuildShow, Golf, health and everything in-between. Hope you enjoy the conversation. Learn more about Ep. 29 Guests: @artisansignaturehomes @greenside_design_build 🎥 YouTube Series: #RoadTr...

Meet Russ Barstow. Remember the name—because you’ll definitely remember the story. I don’t use the term “self-made” loosely. Very few people earn that label in my book, and Russ is one of them. Russ spent years searching for purpose. He found it in the mountains, through hiking. Construction, at first, was simply a way to make a living—to subsidize that purpose. But like most of us, it only takes...

Black Boots Builders is a hidden gem in Pittsburgh, PA. I’m grateful I had the chance to spend three days with David—meeting him, his crew, and walking his job sites. He didn’t disappoint. His story, his execution, his team, and even Pittsburgh itself—I loved all of it. Dave has an incredible story, and we dig into how it all started, focusing on the small moments that had the biggest impact on hi...

Stan Romanek is the kind of contractor you’d want running your own home renovation or addition — someone who values the craft, enjoys being in the mix every day with his bags on, and leads by example with his two-man crew. Stan’s true to his word and consistently overdelivers. We get into how he stays so dialed in on his numbers for fixed-price work and schedule durations — especially since most o...

Episode 25 — Rick Mills | Jackson Andrews Building + Design
Rick Mills out of Virginia is the perfect blend of building science and on-site execution. We share a similar path into the industry, and in this episode we dive into his early exposure to the trades—how money, experience, and growth shaped the journey. Rick’s held down the Superintendent / Project Manager role for more than 16 years and...

The great and powerful Spencer Lewis joins the pod this week! Spencer cut his teeth running insane trim packages solo—the kind of work most can’t sustain, but he’s built a career on it. He’s grown on his own terms, never sacrificing his means or methods. What I love most about Spencer is his ethos. His pursuit of execution has always been for himself and his own standards—not for followers or clie...

This week we sit down with Andy Moore of ModernOak Construction out of Lynchburg, Virginia — a smaller market where the median home price runs around $270k–$300k and construction comes in between $200–$400 per square foot (per my ChatGPT research). Andy is coming up on his 12-year anniversary with ModernOak, a milestone worth celebrating. We asked ChatGPT what it had to say about Andy’s company an...

I sit down with PJ Antonik — Emmy-nominated developer, TV personality, builder, husband, and father. Each of those could stand alone as a full-time career, but PJ finds a way to take them all on. We dig into how he balances it all: time management, mental and physical health, leading a team, and the risks that come with wearing so many hats. PJ also opens up about the humbling transition from runn...

Episode 21 hits different. My guest, Adam Heffner, went from ironworker to specialty metal fabricator and entrepreneur. Maker Table is his third company—and it’s taken off thanks to a mix of calculated strategy and a little luck. From plasma-cut signs and outdoor décor to massive art installations at the Hard Rock Hotel, Adam’s work blends precision with creativity. He’s a deep thinker, and I alwa...

Episode 20: Finding Balance with Taylor English of Tailored Design + Decked by Tailored In this episode, I catch up with Taylor English to explore the real-world dilemmas many small firms face. We discuss whether chasing “big” jobs is really worth it, or if multiple smaller projects can be more profitable. Taylor also shares how he separates his love for the craft from the need to run a sustainabl...

Mike Michalowicz joins the show!
Author of Profit First, Pumpkin Plan, Clockwork, Fix This Next, All In—and more. Mike wrote his first book back in 2008, but he landed on my radar closer to 2018 when Profit First shifted the way I thought about business. That book—and honestly, most of his others—should be required reading whether you’re running a business or managing a single job site. Every proj...

EP18: Joe Langlais — From Apprentice to Owner of Langlais Custom Builders In Episode 18, we sit down with Joe Langlais of Langlais Custom Builders — a true “mom & pop” New England contractor. Joe runs the field, while his wife Emily keeps everything moving behind the scenes. Together, they’ve built something special. Joe also has one of the best origin stories in the business. As a student at a lo...