Friends of Build Magazine

Jonathan has over 10 years of experience in kitchen design, residential construction, and general contracting. Alongside designing and manufacturing gas fire features with Montana Fire Pits, he and Amy also cater to the more discerning luxury clientele with Architectural Fire. Listen in as Jonathan shares his journey from visionary to business operator, how Montana Fire Pits distinguishes itself f...

Since 2016, Essential Craftsman has continued to build its brand largely through video content. Their videos have received tens of millions of views, inspiring hundreds of thousands of people to think differently about work, tools, and craftsmanship. Listen in as Nate shares the story behind Essential Craftsman and a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of its entertaining and educational videos...

Gail has been in the interior design industry for over two decades and has owned and managed her own business for a good amount of those years. Today, she taps into her first-hand experience as a business owner to train clients on how to run a highly profitable design business with clarity and confidence. As Vice President of the consultancy, Erin likewise brings her passion for interior design an...

Listen in as Darrel looks back on his 30+ year journey in the world of cabinetry and how he came to lead Westwood Fine Cabinetry. He discusses the continued challenges of operating the business in a post-COVID world, stressing that finding creative ways to communicate with clients and vendors on a personal level has been one of the main reasons for Westwood’s continued success. Finally, Darrel exp...

Listen in as David looks back on 30+ years of building custom homes and how tastes and technologies have evolved over the decades. A lover of travel, he also talks about his architectural inspirations as well as the unique strengths that Europe and America have in the homebuilding industry respectively, and how David incorporates these design and construction strengths into his own work. Finally,...

He speaks on the underrated value of having a coach as a business owner, and how the company keeps an edge over their European cabinetry competitors with Norelco’s consistent eight-to-ten-week lead times. At the same time, Peter explains what American manufacturers can learn from their European counterparts with regards to automation and sustainable processes. Peter also talks about the unique cha...

Edan Marshall has been in the construction industry for over 24 years, starting in the trades before completing architecture school. He has worked in several boutique firms, including the Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative, as well as operating his own design office, before joining Grant Architecture Studio (GAS) in 2018 where he is now a managing partner. As a humanist and a poet, Edan seeks...

Listen in as Reisa pulls back the curtain on her road to massive success and recognition since establishing Beyond Beige in 2003, not just in the Vancouver market, but internationally as well. She discusses why it’s vital to get clear on the attributes of your ideal client as early as possible, why smaller budget builds actually tend to be more challenging than bigger budget projects, the benefits...

Listen in as Maxim shares the key differentiators that set Germanhaus and LEICHT apart in the kitchen design and manufacturing space. He breaks down Germanhaus’ incredible (and uniquely German) approach to construction, which has resulted in their production of 650 kitchens with net-zero carbon emissions. He also explains how the privately-owned LEICHT has consistently maintained its reputation as...

Duane entered the construction industry over 30 years ago working on oceanfront estates in The Hamptons on Long Island, New York. After honing his skills and being involved in all aspects of high end custom construction, he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1996 and started a general contracting business with Roger Ketchum and the two achieved success right away, winning industry awards and ea...

Tiffany got involved with the business in 2014, joining her brother Frank and father Arturo on the company’s leadership team. Along the way, she immersed herself in her family’s history, at one point enduring a grueling five-hour hike amid an Italian summer to the exact spot her great, great-grandfather chopped down trees for Legno Bastone five generations prior. She shares how the company underwe...

Lew himself has over three decades of experience as a CEO and Board Member. He is a Clinical Professor and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Loyola Marymount University in the Fred Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship Management, where he teaches both undergraduates and MBA candidates. In 2016, he won “Professor of the Year”. Lew is the creator of The ONE DAY MBA®, an online training program for entr...

Dwayne kicks off the conversation discussing his latest partnership with Italian marble company Kreoo (known as Decormarmi in Italy). Of this collaboration, he says, “We are reimagining how to use marble in a little bit more modern and slightly more sophisticated way.” He also looks back on his good fortune, from growing up in the rural Midwestern U.S. to getting the opportunity to design and show...

Established in 2003, Tim builds impactful homes and businesses for his clients that are viewed as the best-built and best experience for each of our clients from design to move-in, with a slew of industrial facilities, commercial properties, and 600-plus residential homes under his belt. Tim’s larger-than-life perspective gave him the perfect mindset and drive to build a successful build and desig...

Alan kicks off the conversation dissecting the universal emotion, fear . To any who desire success, he asks, “When you feel fear, do you acknowledge it and do the work anyway, or does it give you the excuse to back away?” He then shares the importance of giving value as opposed to selling . He says that the former focuses on doing something for another person’s benefit, while the latter focuses on...

Jim’s family had an architectural background and, alongside Kristy, started building custom homes as speculative projects as they transitioned the family to Central Oregon, where the two eventually developed Pacwest Builders, a full service design/build firm. Kristine Yozamp is an innovative award winning interior designer who blends the creativity of design with the practicality of Bend living. K...

David speaks on the growth and evolution of the appliance space over the past two decades. He explains how independent businesses continue to thrive alongside big box stores. Because margins are always small when it comes to appliances, the true value proposition that sets one store apart from another is the level of knowledge of their salespeople . In the latter half of the conversation, David of...

The trade association is made up of approximately 300 wood product manufacturers. From start to finish, BC Wood deals with manufacturing CLT (cross-laminated timber) and mass timber products all the way to high-end finish products. With 18 years of experience under his belt, Dave has seen a number of changes in the forest industry, from the perspective of both manufacturers and consumers. For one,...

Adam reflects on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he had to learn the ins-and-outs of business and leadership directly under the tutelage of both sales and marketing guru Chet Holmes and performance coach Tony Robbins. After Chet and Tony’s merger in 2010, Adam began working with the Business Mastery Breakthroughs program where he was able to rub shoulders with entrepreneurs across the globe spa...

From early 2016 through mid-2021, Win was the Director of Marketing at London Bay Homes. Today, he consults a variety of builders and developers, and also keeps his Realtor's license at John R. Wood Properties' 5th Avenue South office in Naples, FL. Today’s conversation focuses heavily on the timeless principles of brand development and longevity. Win also speaks on the art of value proposition, i...

Today Ted speaks with Trisha Isabey, Creative Director and Principal Designer at Isabey Interiors, an award winning design company based in Kelowna, BC specializing in both residential and commercial designs. The mom of two has loved design for as long as she can remember, but it was only in October 2012 when she established her own company. She sees her background as a professional stockbroker an...

With a passion in building and construction since childhood, which seems to be within the family, (with his younger son following suit), Ranny has worked in the industry for over 35 years. Even a tragic accident that made him crippled for a year couldn’t stop his dream. Today, he and his team at the Elegant Homes work on at least three major projects every year. Driven by passion and a dream to of...

The third-generation woodworker has spent the last 32 years building on the foundation his grandfather, a master woodworker from Europe, began prior to World War II. Allan’s family business is a legacy defined by faith, gumption, and relentless perseverance: The elder Rosenthal, a tie salesman, was dragged into woodworking by Allan’s grandfather. Not long after, he became a Holocaust survivor who...

“I was about to become a Santa Fe statistic,” she says. “I’m not proud of that. But it’s the truth. I knew that if I didn’t get out of Sante Fe and do something really big and scary, I didn’t have a future and neither did my children.” She tells us how she eventually received a grant to study architecture and construction and, with $900 in her pocket, moved to California to get her education befor...

Asked why there seems to be a lack of tradespeople today, Will says that there simply aren’t enough opportunities for apprenticeship in the US. Serious journeymen find themselves having to leave the country for an extended period of time in order to learn the craft they want to make a career out of—such as Will’s own son, who lived in Japan for three years learning to become a knifemaker with the...