The Construction Life

One O’clock in the morning and Manny and Carlito are still at it and thanks so much for Adrian for making the trek for such a late night or early morning show, much appreciated. Adrian began his career with ICF at the young age of 14 years old, learned so much with the right builder, then decided to get his mechanic ticket, hated it and got right back into building homes and the rest is history an...

This has been an idea for a show since our very first show and here we are 200 shows later and we finally get to record a show about our significant others and what tradespeople put our loved ones through every single day of The Construction Life. We have Carlito, his wife couldn’t make it, Jason from The Keystone Contractor is back with his wife Laura and Manny and his girlfriend Bela are here to...

“Tough times create strong men. Strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men. Weak men create tough times.” The quote, from a postapocalyptic novel by the author G. Michael Hopf , sums up a stunningly pervasive cyclical vision of history. That is what this show will be about. Plenty of older tradespeople are nervous of the future of construction including the 3 on today’s show. Danny s...

With today’s show we cast a wide construction net, but Kurt wants to focus on young trades, young business owners, the youth of construction, as the older trades prepare to step down, where is the industry going to be in the next decade, a particular favorite topic at TCL. Strap on the tool belt, this will be one hell of a great show. The show begins with Kurt’s experience with George Brown and ho...

WARNING - This show is raw and honest and if you’re not interested in the real version of The Construction Life then please don’t listen. Very Explicit conversations on this show. What a show we have for you during our craziness of 24 hours of podcast and 14 shows, finally reaching the halfway mark we have 3 of the best finish carpenters in the Greater Toronto Area on the show and boy will the fun...

What a great show we have with Quaid Sturdy from Sturdy Contracting Co. and he’s going to share what he’s been doing being so young in Trades and why he sees such an optimistic future in construction. At 24 years old Quaid is very interested in meeting, speaking, absorbing from as many tradespeople as possible. Quaid walks us through his journey from working with his dad’s electrical co to busted...

Welcome to the wonderful world of HVAC, Tyler is back to discuss his business, the HVAC business and more. Working for an established HVAC brand Tyler was making suggestions on where to take the business how to grow with the times and his ideas, the powers at be didn’t want to go in that direction so after many ups and downs and Tyler watching his sales go up but revenue go down, Tyler decided to...

This is one show Carlito and Manny have wanted to do since the very beginning. We are going to upset some, we are going to bring up some issues that most don’t discuss, we will discuss addictions, anxiety, suicide, depression and more. This show might not be for everyobe but it’s a conversation we must have and at TCL we will never hide from speaking the truth. Taylor is here to discuss mental hea...

Running two businesses, at times 3 or even 4 or more, Giancarlo is snow removal, contracting, landscaping, property maintenance and electrician. We begin the show discussing the winter wonderful world of snow removal. Servicing from Toronto to Huntsville, Giancarlo has figured out how to run his business for the season and avoiding all the issues most new guys fall victim too. The conversation qui...

We have Alonso from Casa Nueva Contracting Inc and Kase from Alchemist Carpentry discussing framing, union, non union and all kinds of framing. Alonso is a George Brown graduate, would he do it the same way? He says no, he says he would have gone the appprentice route and jumped into framing. He's been framing for 8 years now. Then with Kase he is no longer a part of the union and working the cust...

77 years of educating and changing the Terrazzo Tile and Marble industry for the better, we have an amazing show to share today where Tod will not be sugar coating anything and sharing so much valuable information when it comes to this part of the construction industry. First up substrates, we discuss the proper ways subfloors were built, were engineered and these days clients are asking for far m...

Marc was having a conversation with Manny and 5 mins in, this show idea came up, we have to share this. Marc recently had a Zoom call with our Minister of Labour and he’s going to share that talk. We are going to talk about getting into trades and why teenagers should consider consruction as a career, we are going to talk about wages and rates, running your business, working for someone, we are go...

We stir the pot and begin the show discussing rates and how trades should be working towards billing $1000.00 per day, once that has been stirred we hear from Stu and Justin and how they got started, interesting stories as Stu if 50 and Justin is 26. Stu does share the way the UK handles aprrenticeships versus how it is handled here in Canada. It’s refreshing to hear from the 3 different perspecti...

It’s great to have Carlito back on the mic, he needed to take the year long break and focus on important details in his life. We have all missed him. On today’s show Manny and Carlito discuss a variety of construction topics from wages, rates and worth, bad clients, where will the indystry be in 10 years, failed products, construction scenarios and how to handle them, client and contractor releati...

We have a great show today, Jon Witt from Deck Protect Inc discuss his humble beginnings from trade schooling with horticulture technician, hardscaping, followed by a few different trade jobs ultimately falling into decking and fencing just as the recession and family were growing adding to so much stress, isn’t that always the case, hard times makes hard trades. Let’s get talking all kinds of dec...

Sit back and enjoy this special show where we will be discussing family, old school, new school, all kinds of bricklaying, building in Montreal, more family, food, history and more, Danny has a lot to share and of course, we will upset a few, it’s The Construction Life. Danny begins his journey almost 40 years ago when his Dad immigrated to Canada, the family followed, sisters married two brothers...

Carlito is back on the mic, it’s been over a year since he was last heard on the show, nice to have him back and sharing so much about The Construction Life. Carlito will be on future shows, and he will be part of an event happening in November, stay tuned to learn more. On with the show, Michael from Rose Gold Homes & Design, 29 years old, a custom home builder since he was 22. He set out a plan...

Thank you Mat for being on the show and opening the show with a little ACDC. Mat works for a large rental corporation and due to some legal logistics, we must keep the name out of the show. There are times where I want to interview certain big-name brands, but it’s takes months if not years to get approvals and instead of waiting and jumping through hoops, we record a show and still share valuable...

We have a great show, talking about insulation, all types of insulation, batts, cellulose, closed cell, open cell and sound proofing. James walks us through his first year running his own business and the last 9 years working with his dad who has been insulating for 35 plus years, how the batts have changed. James discusses different types of insulations and applications, and he knows his building...

What an amazing show we have today, we are going to talk about solid wood furniture making with Oliver the current Business Manager and owner and Mark the original owner who recently retired and has passed on the business over to the digital age. Sit back and enjoy what these gentlemen have to share because Woodcraft began by someone who really didn’t know about furniture making but he had a passi...

10 years in the business currently working as Supervisor Sales of Operations, Marco actually went to school, worked at a bank, that didn’t last and went right back into construction, specifically concrete where his uncles taught him so much, he has concrete in his blood so a year into the banking industry he was back to learning the ropes, being yelled at, understanding different mixes, scheduling...

Roland Skuce and Dan Ray partners in Caledon Timber Frames for nearly a decade with 5 employees and still growing. They have known each other since grade 2, worked as stick framers for Roland’s Dad, a custom builder, and his dad was a plumber so the guys were familiar with the trades. They both attended Fanshawe College and studied Construction Engineering, with a focus in Carpentry Techniques, fr...

Scott is a mortgage broker and entrepreneur; he has a lot to share regarding the misunderstood industry of lending. We begin the show discussing building business relationships the old school way, a phone call, a meeting, speaking in person and getting a better understanding of the client’s needs. Scott is here to discuss how to finance a recreational property, a cottage, a piece of land, construc...

We have quite the show today, Andrew Padre Cura and Jalen Lam will be sharing the whole electrical truth, trades, and the industry, might want to buckle in for this one. Two Conestoga graduates under the Electrical Technician Program, nothing but praise about the school. Andrew opens the show with an interesting story with every perfect storm possible, wiring mistakes, ministry of labour arriving...

Aadil from WorknWear is on the show today, since 1975 they have been outfitting tradespeople and more with the proper work wear, safety wear, fire rated wear, long underwear, and more. I have a huge amount of respect for Aadil and his staff and how they treat everyone that enters the shop, buys online, the same way, with respect because Aadil knows you work hard as a tradesperson. Aadil shares his...