Built. Trusted. Chosen.

Most trades businesses don’t have a revenue problem. They have a labour performance problem. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen., I sit down with Michael Fortenberry to unpack what actually happens when a founder-led trade business starts scaling and the owner is no longer on site. We talk culture, systems, job costing, and the uncomfortable truth about hourly pay. Michael shares how his co...

I’ll be going live with Aaron Husak to unpack what actually drives consistent leads for trades and construction businesses right now. We’re getting practical on Google Business Profile optimisation (and why it can matter more than your website), what “consistency” really means to Google, when Google Ads makes sense (and when it becomes a money pit), and how AI is changing the way customers compare...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t lose work because they’re bad. They lose it because they’re bland, unclear, or competing on the wrong thing. In this conversation with Alex Gore, co-founder of F9 Productions, we unpack what it really takes to get chosen for the right projects in architecture and construction. We talked about the hidden cost of cheap drawings, why most pitches sound id...

Too many trades and construction businesses stay busy but never become truly valuable. They win work, carry the stress, manage every decision, and still end up with thin margins and a business that depends too heavily on the owner.  In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen., I sit down with Stefan Kazakis to unpack what it really takes to grow a trade or construction business beyond survival mode...

Trades and construction businesses don’t usually fail because the work isn’t good. They stall (or break) because the foundations underneath the work are shaky: cashflow, systems, and consistency. In this upcoming live conversation, I’m sitting down with Adrian Henry from Business Grower to unpack what actually helps contractors grow without overcommitting, burning out, or getting smashed by “surpr...

Running a trades or construction business is hard enough without disengaged crews, missed expectations, and constant frustration on site. In this episode of “ Built. Trusted. Chosen.” , I sit down with executive coach Trevor Blondeel to unpack why leadership breakdowns happen in trades and construction, and how small shifts in communication, expectations, and accountability can completely change t...

Most homes pass inspection. Very few are built for health. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen., I sit down with Craig Leonard, a third-generation builder who completely rethought his approach to construction after mould contamination in his own home made his family seriously ill. What he discovered will challenge how you think about energy efficiency, ventilation and modern building standar...

Trades and construction businesses often help create value in investment properties, but many owners and project teams do not fully understand how that value can flow through into tax deductions and cash flow. That gap can mean missed opportunities, weaker pitches, and less confidence when talking to property investors. In this episode, I sat down with Jarrel Dugay from Duo Tax to unpack how tax d...

If you run a trades or construction business, it’s easy to wake up one day and realise the business cannot run, or sell, without you. In this conversation, I’m joined by Anita Marshall from Gold Coast Business Brokers, and we unpack what actually makes a trades business attractive to buyers (and more resilient for you as the owner). Even if you never plan to sell, building with an exit in mind for...

Trades and construction businesses are getting hit from every angle: rising costs, hiring pressure, housing shortages and constant negative headlines. The danger is making short-term decisions based on panic instead of seeing the bigger forces shaping where demand, people and projects are actually heading. In this episode, I sit down with Simon Küstenmacher to unpack the demographic and economic t...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t struggle because the work isn’t good. They struggle because the day gets swallowed by calls, admin, quoting, follow-ups, and the never-ending “I’ll get to that later” list, and the business pays for it in missed opportunities, slow response times, and trust gaps. In this episode, I sit down with Janine Fraser to unpack the real operational bottlenecks...

If you run a trade or construction business, you’ve probably felt it: plenty of work, plenty of effort, but cash is tight, the phone never stops, and the business only works when you do. In this conversation, I’m joined by Peter Wesley to unpack what actually changes when a contractor moves from “muscle and hustle” into a business that runs with clarity, consistency, and breathing room. We’ll talk...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t stall because the work is bad. They stall because leadership, cash flow, systems, and people start breaking under growth. In this episode, I sit down with Jay Meacham to unpack what changes when a great operator becomes the owner and suddenly has to lead. We talk about the hidden “ceiling” most builders and trade businesses hit, why getting clear on yo...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t stall because of workmanship. They stall because the business gets bottlenecked by people, process, and the unsexy stuff like logistics. In this episode, I sit down with Roggen Frick from Bear Iron Works to unpack what it really takes to build a company that scales: spotting a niche, learning fast in “round one”, rebuilding properly in “round two”, and...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t have a marketing problem, they have a clarity problem. When messaging is vague, everyone competes on price, margins shrink, and trust is harder to win. In this episode, I sit down with Laura Zahariou to unpack what “senior marketing leadership” looks like without hiring a full-time Head of Marketing. We talk about getting clear on who you serve, what y...

In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen. , I sit down with Chris Gilman to unpack the turning point that forced him to stop running his business “in his head” and start building a real company with people, systems, and accountability. We get practical about what to delegate first, how to hire (even if you’re not great at HR), why financial clarity matters more than most owners think, and how to...

In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen ., I sat down with Brad Hebner to unpack what actually gets trades and construction businesses chosen, even when they’re not the cheapest. We talked about breaking the hourly-rate mindset, why niching down makes growth easier (not harder), and how simple communication systems and automations can build real trust before you even arrive on site. You’ll take...

Zoning, overlays, hazards, setbacks… for builders, the “can we even build here?” question can kill momentum before the job even starts. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen. , I sat down with Avi Kaufman from FutureLot to unpack how builders in the USA are using pre-feasibility to get clear, property-specific answers fast, qualify leads earlier, and build trust before the first site visit. We...

If you’re leading a trades or construction business and it still relies on you for every decision, every fix, every “quick question”, you don’t have a team problem. You’ve got an operating system problem. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen. , I sat down with David Forster (Dave) to unpack what it really takes to scale a trades business without burning out. We talked about the messy early da...

AI is flooding the market with “good enough” marketing. For trades and home service businesses, that makes it harder than ever to stand out and get chosen. In this episode, I sat down with Kyle Bailey to unpack why storytelling is no longer optional for contractors, trade businesses, and home service owners who want to stay visible as search and AI evolve. We talked about how story connects direct...

In construction, growth can look incredible right up until cash flow collapses. You can be flat out, fully booked, and still get sunk by payment terms, big material outlays, and poor forecasting. In this episode, I sat down with Dustin Young , a fractional CFO who helps construction companies build financial clarity, stronger cash flow, and more predictable profitability so owners can scale withou...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t fail because they’re bad at the work. They fail because they take the wrong jobs, price from scarcity, and don’t have the numbers to see what’s really happening until it’s too late. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen. , I sat down with Dan Bamper, a fractional CFO who works specifically with contractors and trades businesses. We got practical ab...

Most trades and construction businesses aren’t struggling because the work is hard. They’re struggling because hiring turns into “whoever shows up”, expectations stay fuzzy, and trust gets chipped away in a hundred small moments. In this episode of Built. Trusted. Chosen. , I sat down with Traci Austin to talk about what actually creates retention in construction. We unpack how to hire for genuine...

Most trades and construction businesses don’t lose money from one big mistake. They lose it from a hundred small “interpretation” mistakes that turn into RFIs, rework, delays, and budget blowouts. In this episode, I sat down with Dennis Dixon to unpack why noncompliance is the thread tying together so many project failures, and how AI is already being used on-site in practical ways (often by the p...

Trust in construction is getting hammered, and when clients shop like it’s online retail, everyone loses. Lowest bid wins, corners get cut, change orders explode, and reputations get dragged. In this episode, I’m joined by Eugene Gershman from GIS Companies. Eugene’s come up through a construction family, ran contractor operations, and now focuses fully on development management. We get into what...