The Tim Faller Show

As the remodeling and custom building industries struggle to find young, talented, hard-working talent to hire, business owners often miss out by not looking toward opportunities for minority hiring. Expanding the search for talent in otherwise overlooked groups of people can open up an entirely new group of prospects. Guest David Jacobs of Jobs for Delaware Graduates shares how he provides studen...

By all accounts, business is booming. Projects are being booked way in advance, and everything is roses and sunshine. Or is it?  In this episode, guest Chris Bache joins Tim and Steve to discuss the “dark period” – the period of time after the sale is completed, the project is booked, and is on the schedule. A critical time where the battle for client satisfaction can be won or l...

Bridging the gap between new home construction and remodeling can seem pretty intense.  There can be a lot of bias from each side about which is better or quite frankly, which is easier.  Hearing the perspective of someone who has had experience from both sides can help both new home builders and remodelers understand the benefits of each, and in this episode, guest Scott Fridrych does just that....

The transition from client to employee, does it work?   Meghan Haines joins Tim and Steve in this episode to talk about the dynamic from being a client to now an employee and why it may or may not work.  Having the knowledge and experience of a client in the remodeling industry is helpful in the transition to becoming an employee and brings a point of view that some employees may not have.  Meghan...

Building science has come a long way over the past several decades and with contributions from the industry’s finest experts, remodelers can learn how to deal with mold, moisture and all things ventilation.  Moisture meters, vapor barriers, where does one begin?  Guest Bill Lotz joins Tim and Steve to bring awareness to a subject that many remodelers may not know much about.   Bill Lotz, P.E...

Being a woman in a field that is dominated by men presents its challenges.  So, how do they do it? Isabella Battig joins Tim and Steve in this episode and talks about what it is like being a female trade contractor and some of the experiences she has had working in construction and remodeling.  Isabella discusses the things that she looks for in a general contractor from her point of view and ulti...

Raul Lopez is a Project Manager at Innovative Construction Inc. and manages all aspects of construction on multiple jobs from start to finish.  Raul believes that only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. After 8 years working in the food industry as a General Manager, he decided it was time for a change and gave construction a try. He started as a laborer on a f...

Solar power is becoming increasingly popular and is being seen in more and more new, and existing construction.  The cost of it is coming down and the government is taking steps make it more affordable, therefore making it more appealing to property owners.  Dana Weinberg, Sales and Finance Director of Sunwatt Solar , joins Tim and Steve in this episode to talk about the benefits of solar power an...

We have addressed the remodeler/trade contractor relationship in past episode; one from a Production Manager and the other from an on-site Project Manager, but both from the remodeler’s perspective. Learning a different point of view of who you’re working with is crucial to running a smooth business and a lot of remodelers could benefit from hearing the perspective of a trade contractor. In this e...

We have done a number of podcasts on work force development. We have spoken with contractors, vocational school teachers, and trade associations like NARI about the topic that is so important to the future of our industry. In this episode, we are expanding by talking to a Career Advisor who works in the guidance department of a Charter School here in Rhode Island. We have worked with Rhonda Hanawa...

While the pandemic situation, we’ve been dealing with for almost a year, has led us to one obstacle after another, it has also opened up the production side of the business to a variety of tech tools we haven’t thought of using until we were forced to. 3D imaging is one of those tools that was mentioned several times during our Production Manager Roundtables sessions last year, and we began lookin...

On our third episode , back in March of 2018, we talked with Mike Barkhouse from Amsted Design Build about achieving “Zero Punch List” production . We heard from a few listeners about that episode, and the concept of Zero Punch List, so we wanted to revisit it and we are now evangelists in pushing to see the term “Punch list” eliminated from the remodeler’s vocabulary. Punch list is so ingrained w...

Have you ever gone through an entire job thinking that the client was delighted with your work and then discovered afterward that they liked most of it, BUT…. (you fill in the blank). So, the question remains, how do you ensure customer satisfaction or, as some call it, creating “Raving Fans?” There is no better way to explore this than by asking real clients, and even better when the client has a...

The production professionals that we work with in our Roundtables Peer Group Program for Production Managers are creatively solving problems and finding new ways to manage jobs. Whether it is motivating their teams, finding new way to drive profit or measuring dollars with a new metric, sometimes we just hear about a cool idea. During our fall meetings, we heard a few new concepts and strategies t...

We have discussed the concepts of LEAN process improvement in several past episodes. In episode 47 we had our own Director of Consulting, Doug Howard, join us to introduce the LEAN System and we have referred to the various concepts of LEAN in others. Over the past few years, Doug has worked with remodelers and builders on implementing LEAN into their production systems . We wanted to look a littl...

In shifting and changing roles within an organization, there are many paths we could take to get to the destination we desire. This is also true for implementing Project Management systems. The 3 most commonly used these days are The Lead Carpenter system, the Project Manager system, and then a hybrid of these two. What we find is that companies have trouble either shifting from one to the other o...

There are many things that can destroy a company. Recession, pandemics, and yes, even growth; especially, if the growth occurs with no planning or control. In the past few years, our economy, and our industry, have grown significantly, and many companies have struggled to keep up. Growth is usually controlled by the amount that a company can sell and subsequently produce. Sometimes it is planned,...

The Runs! Most of us think of two situations. There is an unfortunate personal issue, which is not good. And then there are “the runs” from the job site to the store or lumberyard to pick up $10 worth of stuff. Both scenarios are bad, but the latter will quickly eat away at your job costs and profit margin. Lumberyard runs are notorious among production professionals; a necessary part...

When we discuss the labor shortage, we are often talking about how to find or develop good talent. What we are now hearing from our Roundtables members is that they are finding people, getting them on the team, and then they fail. In many cases, these aren’t catastrophic failures, but slips in Net Profit or schedules or proper estimates, etc. We can write this off to “they misrepresented themselve...

In episode 177 Marion Faller joined us to discuss dealing with the stress that we are currently seeing in the industry, specifically in the production departments. In Tim’s Production Manager Roundtable groups , he is hearing about it and seeing the symptoms that Marion described in her conversation with us. We are facing the “perfect storm” of a booming remodeling/building industry in the m...

Some remodelers want to stay small… just do the work themselves, avoid the challenges that managing a team can bring and just “build things.” However, there are those that embrace the challenge of building their companies, wear all the hats, and make the transition from Carpenter to Business Owner successfully. In episode 119, we spoke with Brad Sawler in New Hampshire and got his view of how this...

We have heard contractors say, “This would be a great business if it weren’t for the people!” Many remodelers get into the business to build and create… the unfortunate reality is that they can’t build things without people…yet! One big challenge owners and managers face is the annual employee review. It seems ineffective at creating change and is often just a platform for an employee asking for a...

How the concept of “green remodeling” has evolved over time and what, if anything, does it mean today? In this episode, Tim and Steve discuss the green movement, where it has been, where it is going, and a little about being involved. To dive further in we welcome Paul Eldrenkamp – Founder and Project Manager for Byggmeister, Inc . in Newton, MA to the show, as he was an early ad...

Many remodelers, builders and business owners make resolutions or commitments to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and then they get caught up in the daily grind and it never happens. Or, they take the time and energy to create them and they sit, unused, in a binder on a shelf. Another challenge for many companies we work with is attracting and hiring people, especially new people to the...

Remodeling companies and builders are now selling virtually, saving time and labor. Business owners and sales teams are finding new and unique ways to reach their audiences and secure contracts for projects and we’ve heard from some R/A Roundtables members that are now booking projects into 2022. Our guest today has taken it a step further and we wanted to explore how far technology can take us. I...