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The Home Building and Remodeling Show
A groundbreaking platform that is reshaping the narrative on construction. Our podcast is dedicated to championing best practices, offering expert analysis, conducting insightful interviews, and providing valuable product recommendations based on real-life industry experience in the Home Building and Remodeling Industries.
At The Home Building and Remodeling Show, we are on a mission to drive positive change within the home building and remodeling industry, which in turn affects everyone worldwide. As we strive to create better and more affordable homes for all individuals, we believe it is crucial to shed light on the latest trends, innovations, and challenges faced by the industry.
Our podcast features in-depth discussions with industry experts, thought leaders, and professionals, offering our audience invaluable insights and strategies to navigate the dynamic landscape of home construction and renovation. From sustainable building practices to cutting-edge design trends, our podcast covers a wide range of topics that are shaping the future of the industry.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show
Contractors in Crisis: Breaking the Silence
Behind every beautiful renovation reveal and perfect new build lies a reality most contractors never talk about—the cash flow nightmares, the endless punch lists, and the crushing weight of running a construction business. Chris Kirby breaks through this wall of silence in this deeply personal episode that speaks directly to the hidden struggles of contractors everywhere.
When a friend shared their business troubles, it struck a chord with Chris, highlighting how contractors battle their challenges in isolation. From clients withholding $75,000 payments over minor caulking issues to weather delays that cascade into financial strain, these universal struggles remain unspoken as contractors maintain polished professional facades. The competitive nature of construction creates an environment where supporting fellow contractors feels risky, yet it's precisely what the industry needs.
This episode serves as both confession and call to action—challenging contractors to find trusted colleagues with whom they can share burdens and celebrate victories. Chris extends a personal invitation to connect with contractors struggling in silence, offering his own experiences as proof that you're not alone. Whether you're a seasoned builder facing cash flow issues or a homeowner wanting to understand what your contractor really experiences, this raw, honest conversation illuminates the human side of construction that social media perfection never shows. Ready to break the silence in your contractor journey? Email the show to share your story or connect with others walking the same path.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show. Let's go. Welcome everybody to the Home Building and Remodeling Show. My name is Chris Kirby and I'll be your host. I am the owner of three construction companies on the Alabama Gov Post. The show is about residential construction. We're going to cover topics of home building and remodeling. Are you thinking of doing a remodel or building a home? Are you a contractor looking to improve your knowledge base or grow your business? Have you ever done a remodel project or built a home? There were so many things you wish you knew or that you could have done differently during the process. Then this show is for you. We break down the process of building and remodeling and how to have the best results during your project. Whether you're a DIYer looking for tips, someone looking to hire a contractor to do a project, or a contractor looking to expand your knowledge base or your business, welcome aboard. Glad to have you. Stay tuned. We kick off the show with my thoughts on home building and remodeling. I'll share best practices and talk about some of our experiences in business and out in the field. These shared thoughts and lessons learned are meant to help you on your very own journey. Let's go. Thanks for tuning in everybody.
Speaker 1:This week I just wanted to kind of talk about something that it's been on my heart man. I had a friend come by just discussing business and talking about some of the stuff that they've been going through, and I kind of hit this spot where I could relate so much to some of the troubles they were having and some of the things that they were saying and it made me realize that we don't take care of each other enough as contractors and so I wanted to talk about that this week. We get in our heads. We're going through this battle of business alone. Being a contractor isn't easy, I understand that, but we fail to take care of each other. We're so competitive yet we fail to take care of each other. There's so many of us suffering in silence, and even me. I do the home building show. I own multiple construction companies, but times are so hard. I just enjoy doing the content and showing people what it is about. We try to be real, we try to be raw, we talk about delays and we talk about things that we go through. We show you our step-by-step process. But this one kind of hits hard for me because I do not like to see other contractors go through stuff that I feel like I could help them with, but I also know there are a lot of you out there who have similar stories, similar experiences, and we could help each other. So that's what I wanted to talk about and kick off the show with this week.
Speaker 1:I wanted to get a little personal. You know we struggle as a company all the time. People don't understand cashflow issues. They don't understand when you have 10 people at the door waiting for money, plus bills, plus everything else that goes on, and then you have a delay and can't get your draw, or there's some issue on the job site that the client won't pay or doesn't pay, and then you have to figure it out whether it's getting a loan, getting a personal loan, getting a business loan, borrowing money. We need to do better about talking about the realities of being a contractor, and I wanted to say you know we are so competitive and I wanted to say you know we're so competitive. We always are competitive, especially if it's same industry, right? So electrician versus electrician, plumber versus plumber you know things like that, where in our world it's remodeler versus remodeler.
Speaker 1:Homebuild have the home builders association. Yes, it's fun to get together, but let's be honest, we're all competing for the same clients. We're all competing for the same work home build, remodel, home addition, whatever it may be, and what I see and it's not everybody. I have a lot of good relationships with local contractors and I do this show so the client, consumer, diyer, other contractors can have and share this information and know that we're all going through the same thing. As far as the talking portion of what we do, then we have the how-tos and things like that, and that's just to show the process to better educate the consumer. This isn't to tell a seasoned contractor how to do their job. That's not what this show is about.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you're a seasoned contractor, you know this stuff right. So we get comments all the time oh my gosh, do it this way, do it that way. I've been doing it for a hundred years and you're doing it wrong. We understand You're always going to get that. We're going to get negativity on our page. There's always a hundred ways to do something in construction. But we don't. We just look past all the negativity and we continue to do what we do and we love it.
Speaker 1:Okay, and a part of loving it is listening to stories from other contractors and remodelers and tradesmen and women, and that's guy and girl, both right, we're all in this world together, interior designers. I just want to make sure that when they come on this show they give you some of the reality, the reality check, some of the stuff that actually goes on behind the scenes, not just the I built this big, beautiful home and sold it for X amount of dollars and the client's happy, or you know, those stories are great and the how to's are great and the stories of how to get you know a before and an after and the product is right for the client. Those are great stories but it's not reality. It is so hard to do what we do as contractors. It's so hard to manage the personnel, to manage the cash flow and that's probably one of the biggest things is when a client is not paying or non-paying because of a small object or a small issue. Right, let's just say, for instance, we've had this happen. Let me know if you have had this happen as well.
Speaker 1:We build a house, the house is I don't know. Let's just say it's $750,000. It could be 300. I'm just throwing a number out there. It could be 300,000. It could be 350. I'm just throwing a number out there, it could be 300,000. It could be 350. That's relevant, right? We go through, we build it. We're 95% complete, right? So you've captured the majority, or what you think is the majority of the money through the draw schedule with the client that you've worked out. You may have a 10% left on the end once everything's done and you get that certificate of occupancy. You're expecting that pay, right? Wrong, the client is not going to pay that last little bit until they feel 100% comfortable and they want to make sure everything on that list.
Speaker 1:They do these punch lists and you've got 10 items of caulk and paint and now they're holding up $75,000 because of some paint or some caulk. Right, and it may be a situation. We've had this happen. I can't state this enough. We tell these stories based on our experience in the field. We have had this happen. Everybody has.
Speaker 1:I don't care how good of a contractor you are. You have had a payment dispute with a client, but anyway, you're going to get the never-ending punch list. You're going to get the never-ending situation where there is a small bit of paint, a small bit of caulk, a small bit of trim, something like that, a small bit of mortar, a small bit of cleanliness, okay. I could go on and on with the issues that we have had and heard. That may take a day, may take two days, may be a reason the contractor, you can't get to it and the client is holding up that much money because everything isn't 100% complete. 99 isn't good enough? Okay, they want it 100% complete. 99 isn't good enough? Okay, they want it 100% complete. And this could string along and string on, for I don't know how long. Sometimes it actually goes years, okay. I haven't had one happen.
Speaker 1:I've had plenty of clients not pay, and not even just because they weren't satisfied, but because they just basically said we don't have the money or we're not going to pay you, or we're not satisfied, even though the job you know, in your opinion and everybody else in the world's opinion, was immaculate. But everybody goes through these situations and we do not take care of each other. We do not share those stories in fear of hurting our image, because our beautiful work is always at the forefront of what we do, right? Great pictures, before and afters, especially in what we do kitchen bath, all that stuff. Beautiful work, happy client, happy life. That's just the business.
Speaker 1:But that is not true. The reality is we're sitting and suffering in silence because we have cash flow issues, we have an unhappy client, we have employees not showing up, we have subs not showing up, we have delays due to weather. I'm sitting in a weather delay right now on a slab that we cannot get the compaction test done, the footers dug because it continues to pour. Here in the deep South, we're on the Alabama Gulf Coast and so this every time a delay happens, it compounds right, and we, as contractors, we don't talk about that stuff. When you're selling yourself, when you're selling your company, when you're marketing, when you're out there, you're not telling the story of what you can't do or how the delay happened or anything like that. Well, we are, and that's what this show is about. We want you to know.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter how perfect you think a build is going to go, how much you vet that builder. Ok, they've been doing it for 5, 10, 15, 20, however many years, 50 years, guess what. There's going to be a hiccup, there's going to be a problem, there's going to be a delay. There's going to be an order missed. There's going to be a delay. There's going to be an order missed. There's going to be so many things that happen.
Speaker 1:But how are we as contractors helping each other out? Right, we are trying to please the client. We are trying to complete a punch list. We are trying to make sure our name stays strong in the community as a contractor right, because there's so many bad actors out there taking money, doing things. So we are trying to combat all of that, and so any crack in our system, any flaw in what we do, comes off as you're not a good contractor. But that's not true. All contractors battle this stuff and we don't do it together, we do it alone. That Home Builders Association that, right, there is another front for all the positivity that's going on these business groups, all of those things and hey, they're great, I'm a part of the Home Builders Association, I'm a part of those things, and hey, they're great, I'm a part of the Home Builders Association, I'm a part of business groups. I applaud people who do that to market their business, to help each other out. I have no problem with that.
Speaker 1:But where are you getting the real help? And that's where our story and our show comes in. We want to be real, we want to be raw. We want you to watch it, not so you can dog us and talk about well, they're showing their system flaws. No, that's not what it's about. We do this because I want to relate to you. I know there's somebody out there watching and listening to our podcast and they're listening so they can get better.
Speaker 1:Well, part of getting better is taking care of each other and being real about your situation with another contractor, with somebody that you can trust, not just your personal, your family or whatever it is. And you know, sometimes we suffer in silence so much that not even our employees are aware of the full situation of what's going on. Not even our employees are aware of the full situation of what's going on. And the one thing that has helped me so much was opening up to my leadership team so they can share the burdens and the load. You should not carry the load of business by yourself. Okay, no matter what you do, you need to find some people you trust that you can talk to and that you can relate to and share those experiences.
Speaker 1:All right, and as contractors, we have to stop tearing each other down. You know, I see it all the time. We have these local group pages where people are constantly asking for referrals for business, and what I mean is we have a community page and the community page there might be somebody asking for a kitchen remodel. You're going to get a whole list of names right Of different companies that do kitchen remodels, ours included. Well, guess what? They're going to call a few of those people. You're going to go out, you're going to bid, you're going to talk to the client.
Speaker 1:One thing I never do and I don't allow I shouldn't say allow because that's not the right word but I talk to my team about, we don't talk about other contractors. If we are asked about other contractors, hey, we don't really know. All right, we don't keep up with it, whatever it is, even though I'm sure my team does. I'm sure they're out there watching what the next person is doing, which the next contractor is doing. That's okay. But what we don't do inside our doors is talk about other contractors. The reason that we do that is because we don't want to get caught up in what they have going on. Okay, and we hope there aren't people out there talking about our company, but we know there is. And so we're battling not just cashflow issues, client issues, employee and labor issues, the negativity from other contractors either, trying to tear us down so they can get the work, underbidding us so they can get the work. All of that stuff. It hurts us as an industry.
Speaker 1:So let's take some time and think about is there one person today that you think that you can think of as a contractor, that you would sit and talk to and really open that door, open up you know a little bit to them and share your story and share some of the burdens that you have as a contractor that you don't think would hurt you or your reputation? And I want to encourage you to reach out. Hey, reach out to me via email, phone call, just talk to me. I'll share a ton of stories with you. I'll share some of the burdens of being a contractor. I want to be real and open and raw. Okay, it's not all a facade and you can't go out there to these different trade shows and different. If you really want to talk about it, let's talk about it. Let's talk about how hard it can be being a contractor and you don't have to suffer in silence.
Speaker 1:Okay, the Home Building Show is here for you. We want you to relate to what we do. We want to share our stories. I am going to be bringing in a lot of local contractors home builders, designers, everything and then some you know some that are on TV that are doing this and my hope in all of this is that not only do you learn how to do construction residential construction, build a home, install flooring, paint, whatever it is but that you learn the business side and then you also understand that we're all human, we all have problems, we all share in the same burdens and being a contractor is relative to all of us. The same hardships that I go through you're going through, and I hope that more of you open up and share your story so somebody else can learn and listen from that. And that's the goal here at the Home Building Remodeling Show. I'm so glad that you are tuned in and listening and let me know what you would like to see and hear more of.
Speaker 1:I've got some exciting guests coming up. We're still doing our women in construction right now and I definitely have some heavy hitters that are joining the show. Jan did show with us and she did such a wonderful job and you know even the hardship of her reality was she was told as a kid by her own family that you really shouldn't build houses, right? That's not something that women do. There are so many stories out there. We're going to get them out there. Stories out there, we're going to get them out there.
Speaker 1:And if you have one, if you want to be on the show, if you'd like to be a guest on the show, please reach out to the homebuilding show at gmailcom. Email us. I'll set up a introductory call. We'll just kind of chat and get to know each other and then from there we set up the recording. I send you the questionnaire to be interviewed and we're off and running. And if you have a story to get out there or you follow somebody who you think should be on the show, please let me know who that is. Send them my way, tag them and let's get them out there.
Speaker 1:I appreciate all you contractors, diyers doing this stuff and listening to our show. Hopefully we can help you out. Hopefully you gain something from every show every week just by listening. We want to do more and we're about to do a lot more to help each other. Thanks for joining us today. As always, we are grateful for our listeners and your continued support. Please subscribe to our youtube channel. Follow us on social media via facebook, instagram and tiktok. Get more info at our website, wwwthehomebuildingshowcom and, as always, remember who we are the Home Building and Remodeling Show.
