The First Shift

In Episode 25 of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Adam Schaffer, a man who took the ultimate war path to entrepreneurial success. Adam started as a humble sales rep in Saskatchewan with nothing but seven color samples, no brochures, and an unwavering belief in a revolutionary building product: Vipeq Thermal Cork Shield. Today, he owns the distribution rights for North America, the...

In Episode 24 of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Daniel LeSieur, a man who traded the high-stakes world of Fortune 1 logistics for the deeply personal business of custom home building. After a 20-year career at Walmart—managing billion-dollar supply chains and building the Walmart marketplace—Daniel could have easily taken a quiet board seat. Instead, he founded Walk Your Plans NW...

In Episode 23 of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Carl Nelson, founder of Visual PNW. Carl’s journey in construction started at age 14, physically framing houses with his father and grandfather. After a stint in the Army and a decade in residential design, Carl transitioned into the corporate commercial world, spending years executing high-efficiency, massive-scale rollouts for gia...

In this episode of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Keegan Burke, the VP and COO of Ground Floor Industries (GFI Inc.). Keegan didn't start his career in the corner office; he earned his respect in the trenches, digging foundations and working 14-hour days in the grueling waterproofing industry before transitioning to concrete. We discuss what it actually takes to scale a famil...

In Episode 20 of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Jeremy Herider, a former professional baseball player turned real estate mogul, coach, and tech founder. Jeremy’s incredible story starts with a devastating moment at thirteen years old when his coach told him he "wasn't good enough" to make the all-star team. Instead of letting it break him, his mother asked a questi...

In Episode 20 of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Brett Burkhart, the Chief Operating Officer and Partner at CapVest. Brett’s resume reads more like a Silicon Valley founder than a Wisconsin real estate developer. Starting out with a passion for architecture, he pivoted to launching his own software development company and a marketing agency before bringing his systems-level think...

In Episode 19 of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Brandon Bentley, the General Manager of Wimberley Roofing. Texas is known as the hail capital of the world, a reality that attracts thousands of fly-by-night storm chasers looking for a quick insurance payout. Brandon shares how Wimberley Roofing took the exact opposite approach, building a legacy of permanence, trust, and communit...

In this high-energy episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Brad Strawbridge, the visionary founder of Capital City Roofing and Chief Strategy Officer at BuilderLink. Most contractors spend a decade grinding to hit the $8 million revenue mark—Brad did it in just 18 months. He opens up about how he turned his ADD into a superpower, using intense hyper-focus to map out complex b...

In this episode of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Andrew Lyon, founding partner of Studio Lyon/Szot and a professor of architecture at Pratt Institute. Andrew brings a remarkably rare perspective to the table: he has the elite academic pedigree of a Yale and Brown graduate, combined with the gritty, boots-on-the-ground experience of directing advanced technology at Enclose, one o...

In this episode of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Denver's own Peter Brumley, a unique force in the commercial real estate world. Operating as both a commercial realtor with Brumley Realty and a Vice President for a commercial General Contractor, Peter embodies the "gray collar" professional—bridging the gap between the white-collar executives signing leases and the...

In this episode of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Jim Heimler, the visionary founder of James Heimler Architect, Inc. (JHAI) and a true pioneer of sustainable design. Long before "green building" became a corporate buzzword, Jim was operating as an "ecoist" in Los Angeles, co-founding one of the first government-sponsored recycling centers in the 1970s and pus...

In this inspiring episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Nicole Davis, the Founder of Fortitude, a nonprofit transforming the lives of young adults facing systemic barriers. After three decades navigating the high-stakes, "soul-crushing" world of corporate contract triage on Wall Street, Nicole made a radical pivot. She left the safety of the boardroom to return to...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with a true powerhouse of business reinvention: Lori Tschohl, founder of Eagle Pipe Heating & Air. Lori’s resume is anything but typical for an HVAC owner. She started her career under the Golden Arches, rising from a crew member to running a $10 million McDonald’s franchise, before pivoting to own luxury jewelry stores with Pando...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Austin Park, the founder of Visual Installers. Austin describes his team as the "Special Forces" of the branding world—the guys hanging off high-rises at 3 AM or navigating security checkpoints at luxury jewelry stores to ensure every vinyl wrap is perfect before the doors open. Austin takes us through his gritty origin...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Jeff Wieland, a third-generation builder and owner of Wieland Builders in Southwest Ohio. Jeff isn’t just carrying the torch of a 65-year legacy; he’s completely redesigning it. He opens up about the brutal reality of the 2008 recession, where his family went from building entire neighborhoods to taking any job they could get—som...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Malcolm MacInnes of MGM General Contracting to get inside the mind of a veteran General Contractor. Malcolm didn't start with a spreadsheet; he started with a shovel in sub-zero Boston weather. He shares the hilarious and pivotal moment he corrected a superintendent on a surveying error—an interaction that launched a career s...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with Ben Parco, the founder of Parco Studio. Ben’s career didn't start in residential design; he spent decades as a corporate architect designing massive campuses for tech giants like Google and Uber—projects spanning over 20 million square feet. We discuss the "burn the boats" moment that led him to walk away from the s...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks is joined by Jess Glowacki, the visionary founder of EcoPhi. Jess isn’t just an architect; he is a regenerative designer on a mission to flip the traditional construction model upside down. From designing in the mountains of Montana to tackling housing crises in Bali and Colombia, Jess has seen firsthand how the industry prioritizes profit over...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with a rare breed in the industry: Jim Zack of Zack | de Vito Architecture + Construction. Jim isn't just an architect who stays behind a desk; he’s a licensed contractor who spent his formative years as a carpenter and "shop rat." This hybrid identity allows him to design with a level of precision and "spatial thin...

We often talk about building houses, but we rarely discuss the nightmare of leaving them. In this episode of Built on Blues , Graeme sits down with Barry Gordon, CEO of Gordon’s Downsizing and Estate Services, to deconstruct the machine he built to handle the one thing every homeowner dreads: moving a lifetime of stuff. Barry traces his company's evolution from a 1950s livestock auction house to a...

Concrete is the oldest material in the book, but the way we lay it is about to change forever. In this episode of Built on Blues , we are stepping away from the trowel and looking at the robot arm. Graeme sits down with Justin D’Angelo, founder of Printera 3D, to discuss how he went from an IT background and a garage hobby to printing architectural masterpieces in Manhattan. We dive deep into the...

In this episode of Built on Blues , host Graeme Bryks sits down with commercial real estate "Hall of Famer" Greg Schenk, President of The Schenk Company. With over 38 years in the trenches, Greg has built a reputation as the "renter's bodyguard"—a broker who refuses to take landlord commissions so he can fight 100% for the tenant. The conversation dives deep into the evolut...

In this episode of Built on Blues , Graeme sits down with Alison Alston, owner of Lodestone Real Estate and partner at Finca Living. Alison didn’t just stumble into success; she built it on a foundation of grit, coming from a family of contractors and house flippers before taking the reins of a high-volume real estate team. This episode is a wake-up call for any business owner still operating manu...

Episode Description: How does a career firefighter build three successful companies in under five years? On this episode of Built on Blues , Graeme sits down with Brad Covington, founder of Forged Construction, to discuss how he translated the life-or-death command structures of the fire station into a scalable business blueprint. Brad’s journey started in 2020 as a backup plan during the uncertai...

In this episode of Built on Blues, host Graeme Bryks interviews Adam Fincik, founder of Planet Roof. Adam shares his journey from working in door-to-door sales to establishing a successful roofing company. He discusses the importance of mentorship, the influence of his sports background, and the challenges of scaling a business. Adam emphasizes the significance of customer experience and quality a...