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 about, Heavy Duty Homes' expansion into the USA. He compares American and Canadian clients, shares stor...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 30 min
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 benefits. After that heavy topic, we talk tools and brand comparisons, share some strong opinions on spray...
Oct 02, 2022•1 hr 39 min
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 being mostly through word of mouth and shares the truth about being "Baeumler Approved." Matt also share...
Sep 30, 2022•1 hr 34 min
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 interested in plumbing, smart homes or any other aspect of the trades you're sure to find something of...
Sep 28, 2022•2 hr 24 min
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 discussion about the work ethic of the current generation, Jason wraps up the show by telling us the ...
Sep 18, 2022•1 hr 43 min
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 everything to do with tiny homes, beginning with 188-450 square feet is the clear definition of a tiny home...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 37 min
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 the bank. It’s a daily challenge running a construction business. Tom shares his thought on the differ...
Jul 23, 2022•1 hr 39 min
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 nature resources and making vintage ideas come alive. Vintage has been built on 100% creative and c...
Jul 22, 2022•2 hr 51 min
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 education of construction, the search for the next group of trades, the lessons learned from every empl...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 44 min
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 neighborhood, from there he began to look at the industry differently, he realized how inefficient the...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 31 min
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 up suggestions and with this show Bob preferred opening the show with a spoken word and quite the o...
Jun 28, 2022•2 hr 46 min
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 site. Joe from @jr entry systems Gary and the Old Man from @marescarpentry Tony from @tc.installations....
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 55 min
We open the show with a little Rob Base and it takes two, not the best version but we did it and it’s fitting for today’s show. A couple of shout outs to @hh.concpets sharing a few messages about preparing for a potential recession. @summitexteriorsidaho discussing moving his business from Canada to the States. On with the SHOW we talk about Side Hustles, and we will be doing a series of these shows featuring tradespeople that have worked on other things outside of construction. I wrote a novel,...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr 48 min
DISCLAIMER The following show is in no way advice on how you should invest into cryptocurrency, always do your own research and source out the information for yourself. Shawn Silva, an Engineering Technologist who created A3C to help others navigate the blockchain landscape and Marco Carlini, a salesperson in the concrete industry are here to share a lot about cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFT’s and a whole lot more. On with the show. What is Blockchain? A blockchain is a distributed system that a...
May 20, 2022•2 hr 38 min
DISCLAIMER Let’s begin the show by saying that the information shared on this show is in NO WAY legal advice to any of our listeners, please schedule a meeting with a lawyer to further discuss your particular legal issues. Operating his own private practise for 2 years now, graduated University of Ottawa, worked for an investment broker dealer after he did his article for a sports and entertainment firm. He was planning on moving to Chicago but then the pandemic had other plans, he stayed in Can...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 49 min
This show will relate to so many tradespeople working in the industry, please give this show a listen as Bradley shares why and how he got into construction and the path he took, or you could say the path that took him. Thank you so much Bradley for sharing so much and opening up, I know there are a few other tradespeople listening that have or are going through similar struggles. This show we will discuss the industry, business owning and running, union strikes, economy, mental health, addictio...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 36 min
What a great show we have, I first met Gwladys and the Grad Concept crew over 2 years ago at IBS, I knew about them through Thermory and the PaCs clip system and trust me, once you use any of the Grad Concept systems, you will never look back at any other type of system for all of your projects. On the show we dive deep into the products and the ease of use, the countless uses for the clips for decking, siding, features, interior use and so much more and remember they have a key that allows you ...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 26 min
Amazing to have John on the show talking the fencing business for the past 50 years, from humble beginnings as an immigrant with his grandfather, working on smaller residential projects to full scale commercial and industrial projects of today. So much to discuss on this show, but first up, we discuss the economy and I must say, it is refreshing to hear from a 26 year old like John that feels there is something bad coming our way, he has heard the stories from his Dad, from his GrandDad from the...
May 01, 2022•2 hr 1 min
Finally have Mike Valchuk, the man, the myth, the contractor on the show and what a show it is. We begin by discussing his 8 years of construction and how during the beginning of the pandemic Mike and his partner Grant O’Neal felt they needed to pivot, shift gears, an idea that will carry through this episode and has been brought up on so many other TCL shows. Mike and Grant decided to seek professional coaching and they have never regretted it. When they realized the business was creating mirro...
May 01, 2022•1 hr 28 min
Nearly 2 decades in the business Natalia has seen and experienced so much, she is WELL AP, AKBD, CLIPP certified and recently completed her first book, hopefully 1 of 3 of a series of renovation books to help the industry and clients. Natalia is a kitchen and bath designer and there is a difference between her and an Interior Designer and even a decorator. Off to the designing races, Natalia shares that there should never be a microwave over a cooking surface, the same with a TV over a fireplace...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 59 min
What a great show we have, Paul is here to share his insight into the wonderful world of kitchen repairs and contractors mistakes and of course, we are talking about those short cuts that eventually lead to failures and homeowners are left with dealing with the builder, warranties or bringing in a professional like Paul to get it done and get it done properly. His business and reputation grew very quickly because Paul found by dealing with smaller scope of work, he was able to fulfil the solutio...
Apr 17, 2022•1 hr 31 min
What an amazing show we have today, Bethany King, threw herself into real estate after being laid off a job she loved, quitting a safe, secure, soul sucking federal government job, realizing as a millennial she needs to make more money to be able to buy her own home one day, she asked herself several questions and went searching for all the answers. Then came Tik Tok and she used the platform to build her network and in turn create sales, all the while never selling herself. She focused on shari...
Apr 08, 2022•1 hr 32 min
On with the show, Fix It Friend with Jeremy Ross next level of Handyman Services. 6 years in construction after studying and working in the mechanical engineer field, he had enough of the office environment and wanted to get his hands dirty, that is how Fix It Friend began. Of course, Jeremy had some concerns, lack of confidence if he would be accepted into the industry and would establish tradespeople share, we all went through that, that’s the beauty of construction, it truly is a community, a...
Mar 27, 2022•1 hr 48 min
We open the show with a few shout outs to the many tradespeople that reach out on social, emails and through the industry. Thank you everyone for making the show the huge success it is as we make our way to over 1 million downloads. I have always said it is all because of our guests and the tens of thousands of listeners. Thank you so much. This show is all about the numbers behind running a construction business and Kyle, a 29-year-old has a lot of great advice for the young and old tradespeopl...
Mar 26, 2022•1 hr 29 min
Something a little different on the show, the worktables are being turned around, Greg and his brother Justin from Generation Construction, 1.5 years into the business of being a GC are going to ask Manny questions about all kinds of scenarios that we GC’s go through on the daily. We are going to bring up a lot of things and some you may not want to hear but it should be spoken, as you know construction social media has always been about filters and everyone only discussing the good, at TCL we t...
Mar 20, 2022•2 hr 4 min
Brock from Advanced Property Solutions is back on the show, check out his first appearance on TCL Show #153, and this time he has brought a new friend, Dalton Cousineau from Southpaw Stoneworks and we are going to be talking Brocks first year as a GC and how Dalton is taking masonry and stone skills to new levels. New Podcast to check out – Michelle Farrugia has been on TCL twice now and she’s doing her own podcast called Cognitive Capital Podcast and find it on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube, grea...
Mar 13, 2022•2 hr 8 min
What a show we have today!! Let’s discuss a new product that has changed the way you consider cladding and decking, we have Constantine (Kosta) Karolidis, the GM and he shares how it all began and how it’s going. But first, a few shout outs and a lovely story about a lazy and talentless renoactor. On with the show. Kosta runs us through this new product to Canada and the many benefits attached to working and designing with it. Kosta literally dove into this business, upon graduating from univers...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 55 min
Part Five –50–59-year-olds. #FitnessFridays with Dimitri Giankoulas Our last show of this series and Dimitri gets right into it. Yes, you still need to be active, but at these ages you need to be careful on the level of active. At this age there are a lot of failing body parts and putting too much stress on joints can create bigger problems, especially since older people don’t heal as quickly. Functional strength is what you are after at this age, learning to improve your mobility from everyday ...
Feb 19, 2022•51 min
Part Four –50–59-year-olds. #FitnessFridays with Dimitri Giankoulas This show begins with life stresses, as you get older, you have challenging moments in life, a divorce, separation, loss of a parent or parents, loss of employment and how this can affect your health, mentally and physically. At 50 you need to ask yourself are you doing this for your kids or yourself? Yes, you need to be a role model for your children, but you also have to be selfish, I am 50 now, I want to live a high-quality l...
Feb 18, 2022•58 min
Part Three –40–49-year-olds. #FitnessFridays with Dimitri Giankoulas We begin with mindset, because everything begins with mindset, if you wake up in the morning and the life, your body, your work, you have, isn’t what you want, your mindset will dictate how the rest of the day, that week, that month, that year turns out. In your 40’s your margin for error is smaller and smaller, you can’t continue with the bad habits, those habits will catch up to you and will make your life even more difficult...
Feb 18, 2022•59 min
