The Construction Life

Saskia Van Den Berghe joins us all the way from Belgium to talk about women in carpentry and the construction industry in Belgium. On the show, Manny learns some Flemish words, how trade schools work in Belgium, and how the Belgian government's decision to open the borders to other countries' tradespeople is affecting the Belgian trades. Saskia also shares her devotion to changing the way young pe...

Larry Serpa of Key Tile Co. joins us from Vancouver to talk tiling. Opening with talking about heavy tiles on plain drywall, we soon jump right into trim versus other edge options, whether designers should be responsible for small details that are usually left to tradespeople, and the problems with listening to show contractors. Larry shares a few great stories with lessons about accountability, a...

Derick DaCosta of DLC Installations joins us to share his roundabout entrance into the construction industry. We discuss trade separation in Hi-Rise projects, missing high school shop classes and the issue with Toronto's infrastructure. After a long conversation about vans versus trucks for tradespeople, Manny and Derick give some advice to clients before spending the back end of the show breaking...

Cam from Custom Development Group joins us on this episode of The Construction Life Podcast. He talks about starting his business in the depths of the pandemic, and his approach to the learning the trades. We discuss the age old topic of the younger generation versus the older generation of tradespeople, and the evolution of teaching. After a brief conversation about diesel prices and electric car...

Ron Nussbaum, CEO of NuttNest, joins us to discuss communication issues in the construction industry. Ron developed NuttNest to fill a void in the industry, and he shares his experience getting it off the ground. He even answers questions about the future of the service, and the show wraps up with a conversation about the origins of the podcast. If you're interested in communication, this is the s...

Part 4 To wrap up Coach D from Pure Motivation Fitness's 4 part series, we break down the way our bodies break down as we age. Coach D teaches us about the effects of testosterone and estrogen on the male and female body over the years, as well as the dangers of metabolic syndrome, and the manipulative practices of both doctors and natural path nutritionists. Dimitri and Manny encourage you to sha...

Part 3 On part 3 of Coach D from Pure Motivation Fitness's miniseries, we talk injuries and dangerous, preventable health conditions. Coach D teaches us about posture injuries, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and types of harmful tissues. He also gives pointers on getting over barriers, setting achievable goals, and knowing yourself. Dimitri and Manny encourage you to share this series with your l...

Part 2 On part 2 of Coach D from Pure Motivation Fitness's miniseries, we talk food. Coach D teaches us about the three macronutrients and when to eat them, as well as how to food prep and the cons of fads like intermittent fasting. Dimitri and Manny encourage you to share this series with your loved ones, especially those over 35, in hopes that it can give someone the advice and encouragement the...

Part 1 Coach D from Pure Motivation Fitness joins us for a four-part miniseries on health and fitness, in and out of the construction industry. In this first part, we discuss the basis of exercising, covering everything from the importance of a good support system to proper stretching and breathing techniques. Dimitri and Manny encourage you to share this series with your loved ones, especially th...

We're talking tiling on today's episode of The Construction Life Podcast with guest Paras Sood from Innovation Tile. Starting off with how he got into tiling as an immigrant Marketing student, Paras shares lots of stories about his experience being a young tiler learning on the job. Now running his own business, Paras has the experience to back up his spirit as he discusses contractors and clients...

Jon MacNeil of MacNeil Construction, Clark Walker of Walkers Custom Frameworks, and Jason Guest of Guest Contracting Inc. and Tiletime join us all the way from Barrie to talk trucks, television and tools. The conversation starts off with whether they factor the rising gas prices into their quotes and soon transitions into Jon telling us about his experience being a part of a TV reno show. A throug...

Today's episode of The Construction Life Podcast opens with a heartfelt thank you from guest Mher Kerushkerian of Triple M Electric before we get into the nitty gritty of his experience being an immigrant getting into electrical in Canada. He shares his encounters with and opinions on ESA inspectors, homeowners doing their own electrical work, and the electrician’s obligation to fix discovered ele...

Taylor Pagniello from The Therapy Space and Hannah Conover from Compass Construction join Manny and Jason the Keystone Contractor today for a jam-packed episode on gender, therapy, and, of course, construction. Opening with an ever topical discussion on the pandemic's effect on people in therapy, we cover issues with emotional avoidance, the forces stopping men from seeking help, and what to do wh...

Heavy Duty Homes’ Phil Russo is back on the show joining Manny and Jason the Keystone Contractor to talk international. We open the show talking about payment installments and Heavy Duty Homes’ fascinating quoting process before moving on to reveal Phil’s plans for the future of the business. After an interesting discussion about the importance of admin, Phil gets into what everyone is curious abo...

Alex Maggiacamo from Universal Aluminum Products Ltd. joins Manny and Jason the Keystone Contractor on today's episode of The Construction Life. Starting off the show is a talk about supplies, prices and wait times boiling down to Canada's lack of infrastructure. We play politician, discussing what we would change before segueing into a conversation Employment Insurance and other government benefi...

Today's show features guest, Matthew Hill of ResCom Contracting, and a rehashing of a few of the most pertinent issues within the construction world, such as the dwindling interest in the construction industry among the younger generation, and how construction workers struggle with saying no to clients looking to negotiate prices. Matt discusses some of his experiences with ResCom's marketing bein...

We've got a full house on today's episode of The Construction Life Podcast. The AVAS Group is here to talk about their history and the pros of having so many in-house trades. Each member has something to say, from the prevalence of job takeovers to the importance of ventilation systems to "respecting the power" of your generators. Tune in for some incredibly varied conversations, whether you're in...

Starting off the video podcast era of The Construction Life Podcast, Jason Schywiola from The Keystone Contractor joins us to share his experiences working with egos, attitudes, conmen, and threatening clients. Jason breaks down his opinion on the profitability of cash guys, how he deals with competitive pricing, as well as how ignorance of risk that can drastically change a quote. After a quick d...

First up!!!! The Tiny Home Show is August 4-7, 2022, in Ancaster Fairgrounds, Municipal Day is the Thursday where there will be a lot of government officials there to discuss a number of things. There will be 12+ tiny homes there for people to walk through and discuss. Over 35 different exhibitors featuring everything you need to know about building, maintaining a tiny home. Let’s get into everyth...

We open the show with a little Dirty Dancing melody. 7 years in the business on his own with his brand but many more years of learning from so many other trades. During his college years he picked up some work with a plumber digging undergrounds 4 months straight and that was his humble beginning. With 4 children Tom has a busy household and he’s had to refocus his energies to keep the money in th...

How did it all begin? Children’s BDay party and a few drinks and plenty of pics about wood and the ideas started flowing. Steve didn’t have any formal construction experience, but he would tinker and build odd things and then friends suggested he should do this as a business and Vintage was born. Steve and Jenn love what they do, they love to create ideas for clients, they love working with mother...

Tony Viera and Dave from GD Contracting Services Inc. are here to share their many stories, from a humble beginning working in roofing and eventually int renovations of all scopes. It all began with roofing, working with their Dad’s and uncles during all extremes of mother nature. Dave did it for 6 years and Tony for 20 years before he got out and began renovating. This show will dive into the edu...

Matteo Nunziata is on the show to discuss changing the construction industry with his app UBild. Of course, we will discuss plenty of construction bones to pick, old school vs new school, trade schools, technology and construction, politics, and so much more, one show not to miss. Matteo began his construction career by knocking on doors and offering up odd jobs, known as Odd Job Matthew in the ne...

I first met Bob nearly 20 years ago and to sit down with Bob, expect hours and hours of your time as he truly enjoys sharing his wealth of knowledge with anyone that will ask. Hold on, for our longest show ever and Carlito and Manny could have gone longer speaking with Bob. This isn’t a show to miss and please do yourself a favour and take notes. At The Construction Life we embrace guests offering...

We open with must be the worst version of Easy, and rolled right into why we are not drinking on a Sunday morning. Larry Serpa from Key Tile Co and Key Surfaces is back. He was traveling back home to Pico Azores with a stop in Toronto so we had a chance to stop by for him to meet some of the Portuguese trades in Toronto. Fabio @fabio.andrade51 who was late to meet up with us on the current job sit...