Today’s episode of The Tim Faller Show is a special one—it’s our annual live recording at Summit and, poignantly, the final episode of the podcast.

In this memorable send-off, host Tim Faller is joined by Greg and returning co-host Steve Wheeler for a heartfelt conversation. Together, they reflect on Tim’s remarkable career, the journey of launching The Tim Faller Show, and his plans for retirement.

Tim, Greg, Steve, and the entire team at Remodelers Advantage want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our listeners. Your support has made this journey possible, and we hope you’ve enjoyed every moment of The Tim Faller Show. While there won’t be any new episodes, you can still access the full archive at thetimfallershow.com. Thank you for listening!

And stay tuned for the upcoming Why We Build Podcast with Greg Woleck and Steve Wheeler! Whether you’re part of the production team, design team, or managing the whole operation, you can look forward to expert insights, tips, and inspiring stories. Season 1 begins soon! 

Most remodeling companies are small businesses with simple structures, and team building can be difficult. Imagine the challenges of building a real team with more than 70 people in the field and an almost equal number working in the office. 

In this episode, Bruce Case talks to Tim and Steve about what it takes to keep a large remodeling company running smoothly — especially in the production department.

Bruce is the president and CEO of Case Design/Remodeling Inc., one of the largest full-service remodeling firms in the nation. Operations are focused in the Washington, DC, area and bring clients a unique mix of design/build and home improvement services through Fred The First Name in Home Improvement. Case has extended its reach across the U.S. through a network of licensees and franchisees. Since its founding in 1961, Case has won more than 100 national  remodeling, design, and business awards, and the Case network has completed more than 100,000 renovation projects for more than 60,000 clients. Binding these initiatives is a focus on inspiring team members and clients.

Bruce started working in the business when he was 12, but initially pursued a career in insurance. He came back to the family business and had to pay his dues, working in almost every department of the company in the 12 years before taking the reins. This gave Bruce an increased level of empathy and a greater perspective on the roles within the company. He discusses the importance of the culture at Case, and how to keep it together with the right mix of people — even if that means cutting a top performer loose — as well as how Case works in production, including:

• How to develop structure and processes
• What it takes to change processes
• The timeline for change
• Taking the time to develop your people 
• Proactively growing and promoting from within
• Case’s professional development program
• Reimbursing for continuing education
• How training helps you hire, keep, and inspire people
• Why you should micromanage a new employee — and when to stop
• Gatekeeping the project’s process
• How to bring ideas forward and be positive
• And more …

With business booming and companies growing, one of the questions a lot of remodelers find themselves asking is, “Where can I find a good Production Manager?”  It is hard to find people that can do this very difficult role, and this episode will continue to look at this role in a company and who may be the best fit.

The focus of this episode is hiring one of your trades out of their business, and into yours.  Guest August Bergdahl talks about how this method came about and some tips for listeners to be successful in their search for a great production manager.

August is the Founder, Chief Growth Officer, and a Principal of Crescent Builds, a Seattle based residential construction and remodeling firm. August started Crescent Builds in 2007 and has been leading sales, growth, and business development from the start. He currently leads the sales team and is focused on the growth and success of Crescent delivered through relationships, analytics and new opportunities. 

Tim, Steve and August talk more about:

• Getting started in the process of finding a production manager
• Where to look in the search for a production manager
• Signs you may need a production manager
• And more…

Across the country, companies are increasingly empowering project managers to review budgets and the entire project packet before the client’s final sign-off. This practice varies widely—some companies conduct a review only after the job is sold, while others do it beforehand but may not allocate enough time. In many cases, project managers are simply asked to “review and provide feedback,” but their busy schedules often lead to delays, and by the time they get to it, it’s too late. These challenges are all too common, but today, we’re joined by Margaret and Josh from MAC Renovations, who will share how they successfully tackled this issue.

Margaret Cormode is the Program Manager at MAC Renovations in Victoria, BC. Since joining the company as a Project Manager in 2015, when there were just 23 employees, she has played a pivotal role in MAC’s growth. Now leading a team of over 50, Margaret spearheaded the development of their value chain documentation, which laid the foundation for the standard operating procedures and Operations Manual implemented in 2020. Her passion for process optimization and smart interpretation has been instrumental in streamlining operations.

Josh Radford, the Estimator at MAC Renovations, has been with the company for about 8 months. In his role, he focuses on creating systems that bridge the gap between pre-construction and production. One of his key contributions is the development of a new estimating sheet that clearly breaks down labor and materials, making the information more readable, digestible, and transparent. This tool ensures the entire team thoroughly reviews the estimate before contract signing, improving project understanding, reducing scheduling issues, and strengthening trust between the pre-construction, estimating, sales, and production teams.

Tim, Greg, Margaret, and Josh talk more about:

• The importance of aligning communication between teams to avoid project delays.
• How implementing clear processes has led to improved client satisfaction.
• The challenges and successes of scaling a company while maintaining quality and efficiency.

Restoring a home after a catastrophe like a fire or flood is fairly specialized, not something most remodeling companies do. There are different challenges, like dealing with insurance companies and payouts, so these companies have different perspectives on production.

Mike Carey has worked in insurance restoration for 25 years, as well as doing residential remodeling and commercial contracting, giving him a unique viewpoint.

In this episode, Mike talks to Tim and Steve about the differences — and similarities — in production when restoring a client’s home versus standard remodeling, and what to do to get started in this part of the industry.

Mike’s company, Carey Contracting, is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In business for 35 years, Carey Contracting has 15 employees. Carey has been involved in insurance restoration work for 25 years, and there are years where insurance restoration produces more than 50 percent of the company’s volume. 

Mike went to school to learn what an insurance adjuster knows when he started out in the restoration business. Since then, the company has made a name for itself in the insurance restoration business. He says the restoration can be wonderfully rewarding work. Mike talks about the process of working with insurers and clients, and getting your team up to speed, including:

• Working with adjusters
• Project time frames
• Working through the clients’ stresses
• Demolition and discovery
• Billing for restoration work
• The critical need for proper documentation
• Insurance vs. “as built”
• Remaining objective
• Creating a buffer between the insurer and the homeowner
• Dealing with code improvements and policies
• And more …

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.

Tim and Steve welcome Jared Thayer to the show and talk more about this transition; one that he has actually done twice! Jared is the Founder of Thayer Construction in beautiful Corvallis, Oregon.

Tim, Steve and Jared cover:

• Finding the right person to replace you in the field.
• Challenges Jared discovered during the transitions.
• What made the transition to owner easy… and what made it difficult.
• One piece of advice for others wanting to take that same step.
• And more…

The hiring process is a big challenge for, well, all of us.  

One way to assist in this process is by having a good set of interview questions, and the skills to actively listen to the responses given.  Without these tools, you may find yourself later on wondering how you missed red flags in an employee’s interview and hiring process. 

Guest Ben Reynolds joins this episode to teach you how to avoid that very situation.

Ben is the Director of Construction at Kawartha Lakes Construction in Lakefield, Ontario, a design build company that has implemented a hiring process that has proved to be successful, and promotes employee retention.  

This process includes a required skills assessment made up of practical tasks that a potential employee in a specific position would be faced with on a regular occurrence.  By adding this to their hiring process, they are able to ensure that prospective employees are proficient and efficient when operating in remote and hard to access areas, a large part of their business.

Tim, Steve and Ben talk more about:

• Who should be participating in the interview process
• What positions require this demonstration of talent
• Hiring based on drive and aptitude
• And more…

You don’t need a crystal ball to look into the future for your Production Department. A master schedule can give you a predictable look at what’s to come, backed up by solid data. 

Tim and Steve get insight from Aaron Enfinger, Chief Operations Officer of The Cleary Company. Aaron joined the Columbus, Ohio, design/build remodeling company as a Project Manager four years ago. It became evident in early 2017 that the company needed additional oversight and management in the other areas of the organization, and Aaron was promoted to General Manager. He has now worked his way up to becoming the COO of The Cleary Company. 

Some of the evident success of the Production Department during that time was due to the master schedule Aaron developed with the help of Jennifer Wood, the Director of Finance at The Cleary Company. Having a solid grasp of big-picture scheduling and forecasting aided in creating a sense of stability and predictability in the Production Department. With buy-in from the Sales and Design Departments, the master schedule creates that same predictability across the company. 

Aaron details the benefits of creating your own master schedule, including how it: 

• Acts as an early-warning system, red-flagging upcoming shortfalls or bottlenecks 
• Increases communication between Sales and Production 
• More accurately forecasts labor needs 
• Gives you solid information to make informed decisions 
• Allows for flexibility in scheduling across the company 

Find out more about what a master schedule can do for you, your team and your bottom line in this episode — and see more about The Cleary Company.

In the interview process, actively listening is key. But how? And how do we change if we “really need someone”? Then, of course, there are all the other times that when we look back at a difficult situation, whether a client or an employee, we see all the signs of the challenge were there, but we did not listen. Guest Christine Miles is here to share some insight and answers on how to avoid that situation.

Christine Miles is the author of What Is It Costing You Not to Listen?: The Power of Understanding to Connect, Influence, Solve & Sell, a professional keynote speaker, consultant, executive coach, thought leader, entrepreneur, and radio show host.  She is the founder and CEO of EQuipt.  Additional information on her may be obtained here. 

Tim, Steve, and Christine talk more about:

• The importance of learning to listen
• Other situations we can benefit from actively listening
• And more…

There’s a traditional divide between Sales and Production. It’s always a challenge — they have different goals, processes, and personalities. Typically, Production is left out of the conversation when it comes to scope creep, leading to delays and change orders during construction — and disgruntled clients.

Will Giesey and his team are changing that situation through careful communication, new processes, and using change orders negotiated by Sales during the design process to set client expectations and streamline the Production process.

In this episode, Will brings along his Production Manager Ryan Stiffney to explain the process to Tim and Steve.

Will founded Bellweather Construction in 2002 in Philadelphia, PA. He earned his MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business and studied fine art at Lawrence College, including concentrations in design and architecture. He holds multiple certifications with the National Association for the Remodeling Industry and other related credentials.

Ryan worked in the trades through high school and college. Ryan became Bellweather’s production manager in 2017 and handles internal sales-to-production project hand-offs, client communication, and trade partner relationships.

By introducing the idea of a core scope of work, with change orders occurring during the design process, Bellweather has been able to cushion the blow of escalating prices on their clients while maintaining margins. Get the details on how they make it work, including:

• The importance of communication
• Who should sign off on the contracts and why
• How to explain it to clients
• Why it works to vet good clients
• The three phases of change orders
• Why talk isn’t cheap — or free
• And so much more…

Estimating accurately is critical to the success of any remodeling business. As you grow your business or hand off estimating to an employee, having the right system in place is paramount. It can feel like an overwhelming decision — there’s so much software available. The wrong decision will cost you lost revenue, but even worse — lost time.

Fortunately, there’s a simple strategy to help you navigate this very important decision.

In this episode, Jef Forward talks about estimating software with Tim and Steve. He’s worked with several estimating software packages and systems over the years, and shares what he’s learned.

Jef Forward is the founder of Forward Design Build Remodel in Ann Arbor, MI. For more than 20 years, Jef has performed every role within the company, including designer, laborer, carpenter, bookkeeper and estimator — you name it, he’s done it. Now with 24 employees, Jef has two full-time estimators.

Start your decision-making by looking at two factors — getting the estimate itself right and how the program’s output will be presented to someone other than the estimator — especially your clients. The first step is to not look at any software, Jef says. You can get distracted by all the bells and whistles of new programs and miss whether it will really work for you. He talks about the vetting process, what it can do for your estimating, and some of his favorite software choices, including:

• How to create a Process & Needs document
• Integrations with other programs
• Deciding on must-haves and nice-to-haves
• Mixing and matching vs. all-inclusive systems
• Not looking for quick fixes
• Evaluating and testing
• Who to involve in making choices
• The fine art of guessing
• What to do by hand vs. what’s automatic
• Slicing and dicing information
• Client presentations and reports
• And more …

Choosing the right estimating software for your company depends on many factors, but the work done up front will ensure you’re not saddled with a system that doesn’t fit. Taking the time and involving the team will help you make the right pick.