The Dr Decks Podcast

Ben from Big Pine Decks had 80% of commenters on a local Facebook post recommending his company. A woman saw those recommendations, Googled "Big Pine Decks," found a phone number, and called it. She scheduled an appointment. The person who answered wasn't Ben. She only figured it out because something felt off and called him directly to report it. Ben had no idea this was happening. In this episod...

After 35 years and 500+ deck builds, Doctor Decks doesn't recommend gear lightly. So when he says True Work is the real thing and it's worth paying attention to. In this episode, Jason Russell sits down with Jason Cloyd, VP of Partnerships and Community at True Work, the performance workwear brand built on a simple idea: what if the technology behind elite outdoor gear was redesigned for the job s...

What does sneaking into the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone have to do with building decks? If you're Hayward Gatch, the answer is: everything. In this episode of the Dr Decks Podcast, we sit down with Hayward Gatch, founder of Be Nice Home Solutions, a Rhode Island and Connecticut contractor with maybe the wildest backstory in the trades. From the hand tattoo that accidentally named his company,...

Blaise grew up watching his dad build decks. There's a photo of him at age two in a tool belt on one of his dad's job sites. His dad ran Knock on Wood Construction for 35-40 years before burning out on five crews. Blase went to college, played rugby, got put on academic probation, dropped out and came back to decks. In this conversation, Blase shares how LVMC went from just him and his dad in 2014...

Coy Pence spent a year following Bob Weir's touring band across 15-20 states, selling Kirkland water and grilled cheese in parking lots to fund his travels. He was a Deadhead by culture and a hustler by necessity. That chapter ended in Louisville, Kentucky, where his first construction job was rebuilding rotten apartment decks. One move to Minnesota, two years of framing log homes near Leech Lake,...

Todd Roe grew up in Brady, Nebraska. A town of 200 people where he genuinely thought North Platte (population 25,000) was the biggest city in America. After graduating second in a class of 11 and playing all-state basketball, he spent a year working on Ted Turner's 88,000-acre bison ranch. One day in the field, Todd calculated the remaining diesel in a 500-gallon tank using improvised geometry. Tu...

Leo Adorno was making six figures at 17 years old running a moving company through U-Haul's partner program. By 18 he was losing everything he'd built. By 26, he had his own deck company in Massachusetts with a website generating 2-10 leads per week, seven months after forming the LLC. In this conversation, Leo shares what happened in between: dropping out of high school at 16 after his school ref...

Nick Waters from Waters Woodworking Corp joins Dr Decks, who we met at the International Builder Show at the FastenMaster Booth. Nick is 32 years old, born in Kentucky, raised in New Hampshire. His mother relocated constantly during his childhood: sixth grade in Florida, eighth grade in Mississippi, finally settling in Exeter, New Hampshire for high school. Nick graduated through an alternative pr...

Keith Camacho's grandfather drove a school bus converted into a pizza restaurant. His grandmother drove a box truck converted into a calzone stand. They traveled state fairs and bazaars across the tri-state area and Keith grew up behind the counter. That's the kind of upbringing that makes someone impossible to stop. Keith shares the colorful path that eventually led him to deck building: making 7...

In 2019, Lake Michigan hit the highest water level ever recorded in history. Shoreline bluffs were eroding, homes were sliding toward the water, and property values were collapsing. Mason Kuipers was a senior at Hope College when a family friend's house was about to fall into the lake. That emergency phone call started Lakeshore Customs. Mason and his brother Clayton began filling 50-foot-long geo...

Sam got expelled from three schools before he turned 16. He stole the master key at boarding school in Asheville. He skateboarded instead of studying and didn't care about traditional education. His Cuban mom and Mexican dad didn't know what to do with him. Now he builds some of the most technically sophisticated homes and decks in North Carolina and he's studying to become a certified passive hom...

Travis Collins has been posting on Instagram for nine years. He started with 16,000 followers when companies first noticed him. Today he has nearly 2 million followers across platforms and creates the "F.U.K.I.T Friday" videos that contractors obsessively wait for every week. But he still shows up to remodel houses. In this conversation, Travis shares his journey from a small town in upstate New Y...

Zach Burnop had full ride offers from Michigan, Florida State, Stanford, and Georgia Tech. He kicked a 57-yard field goal which is still one of the longest in North Carolina high school history. Then things went sideways. In this conversation, Zach opens up about leaving Appalachian State after two years, becoming a prison guard at a medium security facility (including getting pepper sprayed durin...

Jeremy Wilkins woke up in a Baltimore jail cell on April 20th, 2004. He was 18 years old, and that morning changed everything. In this conversation, the man known online as Deck Master J shares the story he's kept private for over 20 years. You'll hear about the kid who was repairing computers with spare parts at age eight, building robots in middle school, and playing soccer year-round before dep...

Mike Malkin spent 15 years installing doors for his parents' Home Depot contract; 35 stores, 15 crews, thousands of installations. In 2020, that all ended with a phone call. The corporate rep told him walking away would be the biggest mistake of his life. Instead, it became his best decision. In this conversation, Mike shares his journey from a skateboarding dropout to deck building business owner...

Robbin Havasi has only been in the United States for six years and the story of how he got here is unlike anything you've heard on this podcast. Born in Sweden to an Air Force family, Robin spent a decade working for Scandinavian Airlines before his construction side hustle took over. But here's the part that caught us off guard: Robin has made about 2,000 skydives, competed on the Swedish nationa...

Andrew and Benjamin Schoonover are identical twins who built Twin Brothers Construction into a $2.5 million deck company before turning 26. Based in Minnesota's south metro, they've been hustling together since middle school; flipping limited Jordans on Facebook, buying and selling pickup trucks at 15, and finishing high school online in three months. This conversation goes deep into their journey...

Sam Royer is 24 years old, French Canadian, and about to lead his own deck building crew for the first time. In this conversation, he shares his journey from shy kid who struggled in school to confident team leader at his father's company, Pro Deck, near Montreal. Sam opens up about the learning difficulties that made him feel different from other students, choosing carpentry over becoming a mecha...

Chad Hillweh builds decks in one of the most challenging construction environments in America. Based on Oahu's windward side, his company Hawaii Deck Builders faces 8-month permit waits, materials that cost double the mainland price, and freight timelines that stretch 6-8 weeks for basic supplies. In this conversation, Chad shares his unlikely path from Vermont-born son of a Palestinian refugee to...

Levi Tibbetts from TC Decks joins Dr Decks to share his remarkable journey from Mormon missionary in Brazil to building a million-dollar deck company in Utah. This conversation goes deep into the personal side of construction entrepreneurship. Levi opens up about his darkest days during the 2008 recession when he lost vehicles, equipment, and nearly everything he built. He shares how growing his f...

Meet Marcello Guimarães, whose path through Brazilian advertising's highest levels led him to become marketing director for GMX Group and the brands underneath that umbrella including Maximo Wood. In this first hour, Marcello shares his unconventional upbringing; growing up as the son of a video rental empire owner in Brazil, spending two years in Orlando learning English through immersion and Hot...

Meet Steele Roberts, whose name alone makes him unforgettable, but his story is what keeps you listening. Growing up in Eastern Washington's Tri-Cities with brothers named Stone and Sterling, Steel's mom knew exactly what she wanted when picking names for her sons. In this first hour, Steel shares his journey through Richland High School football (2017 state champions), his early days working demo...

Meet Chad Furley, whose 30-year journey through lumber, windows, packaging, and engineered wood products led him to become Pacific Wood Tech's outdoor living specialist. In this first hour, Chad shares his path starting with a paper route at age 8 in Nebraska, running cross country in high school, and attending trade school where 98% job placement was guaranteed, not something you get with a four-...

Meet Lainie Slevin, whose 25-year journey through the decking industry has taken her through manufacturing, distribution, and now territory sales for Decks and Docks. Lainie shares her unconventional path growing up taking city buses to school in Queens, moving to Lake Hopatcong where water sports became her passion, and eventually finding her way into the construction industry through a job selli...

Meet Jason Varney of Docks And Decks, whose journey through the construction trades led him to a unique specialty: building custom boat docks on Tennessee's waterways. Jason shares his path through framing carpentry in upstate New York, surviving the 2008 recession with eight employees, and discovering his niche in the specialized world of marine construction. You'll hear about his childhood build...