Ep # 169 - Design Clarity, Budget Certainty, And The New Way Homeowners Upgrade

Ready for a renovation without the stress spiral? We sit down with Ryan Brining and Tom Battersby, the co-owners of White Maple Construction, to unpack how a business-first mindset and a rigorous pre-construction process can turn complex residential projects into calm, predictable experiences. They didn’t come up through the traditional trade route, and that’s exactly why their system stands out: build it twice—first on paper, then in the real world.

Ryan and Tom explain how they moved from small kitchens and baths to their current sweet spot around the $500,000 range, typically blending rear additions with kitchen and primary suite upgrades. The secret is planning everything before demo, from bathroom elevations and lighting locations to finish schedules and procurement. With JobTread software as their hub, selections hit 100 percent completion, costs are detailed and transparent, and construction becomes a matter of execution rather than discovery. Homeowners avoid mid-project budget shocks, and builders avoid delays and rework.

We also dig into what clients want right now. Interest rates and locked mortgages are pushing families to stay put and invest in their homes with ADUs, detached garages, and first-floor suites. The open concept is evolving toward defined, functional zones that feel connected yet livable. On the design side, color is back—greens are trending—and stained wood brings warmth where pure white once ruled. If you’ve ever felt left on your own to make every choice, you’ll appreciate how White Maple guides decisions with clarity while honoring each client’s vision.

Curious how to get started? Ryan handles early conversations, budget estimates, and the move into pre-construction, so you know what your project will cost and look like before a single wall comes down. If you value budget certainty, thoughtful design, and a smoother build, this conversation is your roadmap. Subscribe, share with a neighbor planning a remodel, and leave a review to help more homeowners find a better way to build.

White Maple Construction
Ryan Brining and Tom Battersby
4 Ramapo Valley Road, Oakland, NJ, United States, 07436
(201) 579-0627
info@whitemapleconstruction.com
whitemapleconstruction.com

Transcript

Meet White Maple Construction

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.

Doug Drohan 0:10

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbor Media Group. I am Doug Drohan, your host, and today we are joined by Ryan Brining and Tom Battersby. They are the co-owners and partners of White Maple Construction, based out of Oakland, New Jersey. Guys, welcome to the show.

Ryan Brining 0:28

Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Doug Drohan 0:29

Yeah. Uh, so we were talking before we went on, uh, you know, started recording about, you know, why white maple, right? I mean, there's a lot of construction, I guess we'll just for want of a better word, construction firms or companies out there. Obviously, you guys do a lot of different things, but what is different about white maple when it comes to say a custom home or a kitchen or a renovation or remodel?

Ryan Brining 0:55

Yeah, I guess we could start with uh the the backstory a little bit. Um, we started in um in 2020, uh very small. Uh it was just Tom and I uh on site doing little little kitchens and and bathrooms uh with one other guy helping us, and we've really uh you know slowly but consistently kind of changed and grown grown the business since then. But but to start, you know, we had very different backgrounds. Um I was originally in investment banking, and then I owned a restaurant, and uh Tom had a different but you know adjacent kind of of path uh to get there, which you know he can can tell you about. And so it was it was a little bit random, the start, and then you know, since we've uh been working on growing this business, it's been very consistent and and focused. But uh really it started because uh Tom's brother Doug is an architect, he actually works in the same building as us here. And we were both uh at different stages kind of looking for for the next thing and didn't know exactly what that would be. And uh and Doug, you know, had his own uh his own business, architectural business, and uh was saying that you know he he's referring a lot of business to to contractors, so we kind of uh started that way. You know, um we were too small to be getting anything from him at that time, but we we kind of figured out and and grew from there.

Doug Drohan 2:24

Um did you grow up with a a father or mother that was like really handy, or were you handy growing up, even though you were a finance guy and got into the restaurants like not me, not at all.

Tom Battersby 2:35

I I did. So okay so I grew up um with my dad's actually a lawyer, but in free time, he's a real estate attorney, and so he would have some deals fall apart from time to time on small fixer uppers. Uh and if the deal fell apart and he liked the house, sometimes he would take over the deal and and go through the purchase himself.

Speaker 4 2:56

Wow.

Tom Battersby 2:56

So he did a few of these uh small fixer uppers when I was a kid, and so I kind of spent my weekends on these job sites, right? And so um, you know, I did that growing up, and then eventually he had a deal fall apart and he was getting a little too old to want to continue doing it, and he let me take over the deal, and that was my first renovation project. I bought a house and fix it up soup to nuts myself, and you know, I finished that and then we started our business together and kind of never looked back.

Doug Drohan 3:26

Wow. I mean, I'm always impressed by people that like didn't have the background, but said, you know what, I we can do this, you know. Like you went from finance to restaurant business, Ryan, which is uh not for the faint of heart. Um I mean, did you do any renovations in the restaurant?

Ryan Brining 3:44

Like maybe not yourself, but had people renovate it and then we did, which was you know an interesting experience that was probably helpful early on in this this business. Um and we did you know a full renovation there, um, but really just learned everything hands-on and obviously learned a lot from Tom at the start um on on job sites. Uh but yeah, we we kind of came from the the business and entrepreneurial side rather than the technical operational side, uh, which you know it was made it so it was a slow start for us, but I think has been really helpful as we've as we've grown the business. Um, and now we're you know we're both in the office. Uh looks more like our our previous roles a little bit, you know?

Doug Drohan 4:24

Yeah. Well, I'd say that is that is a differentiating factor for you guys because most contractors, they're not business people, you know, they they know the hammer and nail and things like that. But when it comes to running their business and all those other things, it kind of just either they pick it up as they go or they make a lot of mistakes as they go. And you know, by the the grace of God, they're getting business, but they're not really running a business. Uh, that's what I've found with a lot of guys that I've yeah or spoken to over the years. So I think you come about it from a different perspective.

Ryan Brining 4:57

I don't think that's uh exclusive to to contractors either. I think most small businesses, they're you know, like a restaurant, it's usually the chef is opening a restaurant or an electrician. It's the guy that's wearing the tool belt that's going off on his own, right? Um, and uh yeah, so I think that in the past couple of years that's been a really big advantage for us. That, you know, I was actually just reading the the e-myth by Michael Gerber, which talks about that specific thing and how we have much more of the entrepreneurial and managerial, you know, traits than the the technician is right, right. Uh and so, you know, we've been really implementing for the past couple of years a lot of new systems that have been just like you know, uh allowing us to to grow the business and and do larger projects, which we're focusing on now.

Business First: Systems Over Spreadsheets

Doug Drohan 5:45

Nice. So, you know a lot of people that listen to the show are business owners or it's meant to be for other business owners, like kind of like how I built this. And um, like what along along those lines of these new systems you've implemented, like is it more on the marketing side, like SEO, or how you're handling um you know, digital or what you're doing for advertising, or like what what are these systems that you guys uh implemented that you feel comfortable sharing?

The Power Of Pre-Construction

Ryan Brining 6:12

Yeah, I mean the first, well, it wasn't the first. We started with marketing, but the first thing we should have started with was um essentially putting in in place, move moving to a new project management software. Uh, what we're using is JobTread, but you know, the the other big ones, builder trend and co-construct, are basically the same thing. Um, so moving onto that platform and then working with consultants to develop um a pre-construction process uh where rather than just putting together a quick estimate and trying to get a contract signed and then figure out selections uh on the fly during projects, we now have a rigorous pre-construction process where while architectural plans are getting developed, the you know, the schematic design, the elevations, and the construction documents, we also have, you know, we have a pre-construction manager in our office now who's working with clients to get 100% of selections done before the project starts. And then we do a detailed cost estimating during that pre-construction process. And we we charge for that pre-construction. It's you know, it's it's not a lot, but it charges, you know, uh compensates us for our time. And that has been like the number one biggest thing that we've done. It means that actual construction goes much smoother because there's a lot less decisions and stress, you know, like a lot less rework, a lot less delays because everything's already been decided and thought out. We're we're doing you know, bathroom elevations, so like we know the exact location of mirrors and sconces and outlets, and all of those details are lined up before construction starts. And and the other thing is it's great for homeowners too. Obviously, construction going faster is good, but it also means that you know what the project is going to cost before you start. And so this is just like you know, definitely the single biggest change we've we've made. And that, you know, at the end of pre-construction, there's still lots of room for value engineering and you know, kind of aligning the budget with what the homeowner's budget is. Whereas if you start before you've done everything, then you know, if the budget's a hundred thousand over in the middle of the project, there's nothing you can really do about it at that point.

Doug Drohan 8:17

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean that yeah, I mean, from a homeowner perspective, that's key because you the the worst thing is like finding out it, oh yeah, we're 20% over budget, 30% over budget, and you're kind of stuck. Or, you know, for me, it's not having the visual kind of um end product in mind, you know, you're just kind of winging it and you hope that it turns out okay because you've talked to them about what you want, but are they going to execute on that? And I think that's a big frustration with homeowners is those two things, it running much, much more expensive than what you budgeted for. And you know, even when you watch these shows on HTTP, they come, you know, like property brothers would always annoy me because they go in there and they tell the family, Yeah, buy this house, we'll take this wall down, we'll do this, that and the other thing. Then they buy the house, like, oh, sorry, we can't take this wall down. It's a low bearing wall. It's like, you know, exactly. Um, or yeah, we gotta do it, but we gotta put a header, and that's gonna cost ten thousand dollars. And you know, so that that's yeah, I mean, I think um and that's so common, obviously, in the industry, right?

Ryan Brining 9:15

Like, you know, because these it's hard to implement this pre-construction system, so most contractors just don't do it. They get just enough information to start because they don't have time to to do more than that, and it's you know, it's bad for them, it's bad for the homeowners, and uh you know, we've it's been a long you know, process changing this, but you know, now that we're doing this on every project, it's like it's night and day, how much better it is. Um the other thing is like you alluded to was that you know we did start working with a marketing agency uh a couple of years ago, um, and slowly growing that, and you so working on SEO um and you know content creation and then also you know paid ads, and that's been really helpful to get in front of the right the right people so that we can and some traditional media like uh magazines. Oh, we've started doing that now too.

Doug Drohan 10:03

A little bit of not not with me though, not with me, unfortunately.

Ryan Brining 10:06

Probably so we've only done one quarter two quarterly ads total so far in um I think it was two on one magazine, something like that.

Doug Drohan 10:13

Oh, 201, okay. Uh yeah, I'm more hyperlocal, like I'm in Wyckoff and I'm in other domains.

Ryan Brining 10:18

All right, but anyway, that's our next thing. So, you know, we'll talk to you in a few months. Um, but that's that's been big for us because that allows us to get in front of you know people doing bigger projects and then um focus more on those projects and and and dedicate more time to it.

Doug Drohan 10:34

Right, right. So what would you say is like um uh your bread and butter, but you you know, you do a lot of different types of projects. Um, is there one like Tom? Is there something that you feel more like you guys focus on more? Is it like brand new builds or is it uh the remodeling or the kitchens? Because you know, I look at some of your you know, some of your projects and you know they're they're beautiful. Is there something like you feel is more in your wheelhouse or is everything treated somewhat the same?

Tom Battersby 11:04

Yeah, so I I think from a budget standpoint, somewhere around the $500,000 mark is our sweet spot right now. Yeah, usually that's going to include an element of an addition and a remodel. And and that's really where we've been shining right now. We're starting to get into new custom builds, um, but that $500,000 price point where maybe we're putting a wing out the back of a house, usually there's a kitchen remodel involved, usually a bathroom or primary suite remodel involved in that where there's a lot of detail. Um, and that's that's really been our sweet spot.

Marketing, SEO, And Growth

Doug Drohan 11:41

So who are you seeing like people, you know, they're staying in their homes a little bit longer now because interest rates have been higher than they were say nine years ago. Um, so instead of moving, maybe they're deciding, yeah, we need more room, and rather than buying a new house, we'll just add on. Is that is that what you're seeing when people are doing additions to their houses? It's that kind of um, I guess, family dynamic.

Tom Battersby 12:04

Yes. Yeah, we're about to start a job over in Mawa, and we're doing a small addition out of the back, um, redoing their kitchen, and then they're actually converting all of their garage space to get a first floor master suite in Oh wow. Um, whereas traditionally someone may have said, I want this extra square footage, I'm gonna move.

Speaker 4 12:23

Right.

Tom Battersby 12:24

Moving is just not an option for a lot of people right now.

Doug Drohan 12:27

They're locked into that low interest rate and they don't want to lose right, right, yeah. Good for you, not good for realtors, but uh that's right. Yeah. So one of the things I've heard from realtors and other people uh in your industry is that a lot of younger uh buyers or homeowners don't they they want like a turnkey, they don't want to fix her upper. They don't want to go through that um, I guess you could call it the pain. They just want to walk in and and almost even have the place furnished. Are you seeing that like when you're talking to like your clients? Are they more of an older um, you know, let's say they're 35 and older or 40 and older, or are they um are you seeing that with younger people where they don't want to spend the time and doing renovations?

Sweet Spot: Additions And Remodels

Ryan Brining 13:11

Yeah, I think you know, the most of the leads and most of the projects that we're getting are are older, not in that, you know, 20 to 32 kind of range most of the time. Um I think that you know I I completely agree with that, that you know, people want if they're buying their first house, they're looking for something that they don't have to renovate and put a lot of money into. Um and so we're seeing usually people that have been in their house for for a little bit longer, yeah, that are they're looking to renovate or add on to their to their house.

Doug Drohan 13:45

Right, right. So, what are there are the any other trends that you're seeing in terms of design? I mean, um, you know, your brother Doug is uh the architect. Are you seeing things like for a while? There was the white farmhouse look that everybody was going with. Um, like are there certain trends that you're seeing now? The white kitchens are they kind of going away and people are doing a little bit more color, or like what are you guys seeing?

Tom Battersby 14:06

Yeah, so we are seeing color in kitchens, and that color seems to rotate. So a few years ago, the dark blue was really in style. Now there's a couple different types of green that people seem to like. Um we are seeing stained wood coming back in a bit more. Nice for us. That's something that we both personally like. So you're seeing a lot of stained wood in kitchens. Um, and I think the open concept is it's still popular, but it's different than it used to be. It people don't want just one large open space, they don't want definition to the rooms. Um, whereas before they just wanted the entire wall taken out all the way to the ceiling and completely eliminate any room definition. I think people are realizing the importance of having some walls in their house.

Rates, Stay-Put Families, And Space

Ryan Brining 14:52

Yeah. One other trend we're seeing, it's not a design trend, but more of a uh kind of goes back to our discussion of you know, people aren't aren't moving um as much, so like a project trend, I guess, is uh ADUs and detached garages. Um, you know, go back to the example of like taking an existing garage space and converting that to you know living finished living space on the first floor. Uh some people are doing that project and then they're also adding a detached garage. Um they're adding an ADU, which is like uh additional dwelling unit uh for um for like you know an in-law suite that's right from the existing house. So that is something that we're seeing starting to gain some traction. Um we've actually seen some lots, you know, like uh family, older family has an existing house on a big lot, and then they're subdividing a smaller lot and building a custom home there. I mean, that's kind of an extreme example of the two of those that come up recently. Um so you know, you don't have to buy a new house or buy a new piece of land, you're doing an existing and putting a new house or putting a smaller uh you know that's probably happening more in Mawa and Pasea County, not so much room in Burton County to do that, right?

Tom Battersby 16:11

We are doing an ADU right now in Old Tapan, but it's really luxury ADU. It's it's uh it's a cabana, but it is a full house. It has a full kitchen, it has a full uh bathroom with a shower, and then it has a living space.

Ryan Brining 16:27

Um the plan is not for like an in-law to go and live out there, it's really a luxury for the summertime, but fully fully winterized, um, with heat and air conditioning, and yeah, and one of those divided lots is uh actually like you know three minutes from our office here in Oakland, so you know more space here than right, right.

Doug Drohan 16:48

Yeah, I live next to Alta Pan, so I know um right, yeah. I'm in Harrington Park, there's not as much space here.

Tom Battersby 16:54

We have a project coming up in Harrington Park in the next couple of months. Oh, really? Yes, all right.

Doug Drohan 16:59

We'll talk about that offline. Uh nice.

Tom Battersby 17:01

Yeah.

Doug Drohan 17:02

That's great. Yeah. So I let me ask you this. This is a personal question. So if somebody has a garage and it's not heated, but maybe you don't want to turn it into a you know a an in-law suite or something like that, but maybe you just want to turn it into a a play space where you can have your hockey game and your papa shot and put a couch in there, play poker. How uh how extensive a job is that to do that?

Tom Battersby 17:26

We did one in Ridgewood for someone last year. Um, it's it depends on how far you want to go with it. Yeah, but it can be a very simple job. Sometimes the the toughest thing is getting approvals through the town. Every town is gonna be a little bit different on what they're gonna allow.

Speaker 4 17:42

Okay.

Tom Battersby 17:43

So, you know, coming up with what you want, and then sometimes having to compromise with what the town wants to see you do in your garage space. Yeah, okay.

Doug Drohan 17:53

Yeah. Yeah. My neighbor has a three-car heated garage and they turn it into like a man cave. Yeah. Uh, so it's it's pretty cool.

unknown 18:00

Yeah.

Trends: Color, Wood, And Defined Rooms

Doug Drohan 18:01

But so how what's the best way for people to reach you if they're interested in in learning more and maybe uh have an idea for a project? How do they reach you?

Ryan Brining 18:09

Yeah, so I mean, go into our website is a great place to start, whitemapleconstruction.com, and there's a contact page there, or you can just uh email either one of us directly. It's uh my email is Ryan at whitemapleconstruction.com, and then he's Tom at you know, same thing. Um and uh usually I would be the one, you know, if someone's looking to do a project, I'm in in in charge of sale sales essentially. So I would be the one doing the preliminary calls and then you know the budget estimates and things like that before we move into pre-construction.

Doug Drohan 18:42

Got it, got it. So is there like um in terms of the way you approach each project, is there something like the mission or kind of your vision of every time you meet with a potential client that you feel is is something that's common throughout the entire every single one of your projects?

Ryan Brining 18:59

I mean, we're doing only custom stuff. So every project is is different and everything is based on what the what the client's vision is. But we are, you know, one thing that we try to do is, and I think we we're pretty good at this, we have a lot of experience, is is helping them, you know, with their vision and seeing their vision and expanding on what's what's possible, right? So like from that initial conversation, uh, you know, there's there's often things that they aren't thinking about that um, you know, I just got off the phone with someone who, you know, I was bringing up three or four things that he he's already put together plans and talked to an architect, but he hadn't really thought of a lot of these things, right? And uh so just because I'm talking to people every day um and seeing this, and we've done these projects for for six years now, uh it's just you know, uh easy to to kind of kind of help them with their vision, but really it all starts with with what the homeowner's looking to do.

ADUs, Garages, And New Uses

Doug Drohan 19:51

You know, I yeah, sorry, go ahead. I just wanted to share my experience. Um, so six years ago, well, five change, we had our kitchen remodeled, and I was actually surprised that my the con the company that we hired did not give us any kind of advice or tips, or you know, we didn't hire an interior designer, we're just kind of going off of things that we saw on Instagram or whatever, backsplash that my wife liked and this and that. But we they're basically like just tell me where you want to put it and I'll put it there. Like there was no guidance of like, well, you know, we're seeing this and you want to consider this with flow, or maybe you want to think about this. And I was really surprised, you know, it was kind of like we're on our own, and I guess a lot of general contractors don't want to take that responsibility of suggesting something that someone is not happy with. Um, but I was actually surprised that it was kind of really everything was up to me and my wife to decide, you know, from cabinets to hardware to color to everything. Um, it turned out great, but it was a lot of a more involved process than I thought it was. I guess I was naive going into it. So what you guys are providing is you know is really key, I think.

Ryan Brining 21:02

I think it takes a lot more of uh attention and and energy to kind of go that next level, right? It's like it's like it's a it's a hard job and and business, and I think uh so you know it all goes back to kind of putting systems in place and and figuring out what you're gonna consistently do. But we we enjoy like providing that that higher level of service, you know.

Speaker 4 21:21

Yeah.

Tom Battersby 21:22

I like to tell people that we build your house two times. We build it one time on paper, and that's when we're working with the homeowner, and it's a very calm process to get to build it on paper before we've you know demoed a house. And then once everything is set, really the homeowner could go on vacation for six months, and when they come back, their job is done exactly the way that they drew it on paper. Yeah, and that's really what we work towards is we build it on paper, and then we want a smooth construction process where the homeowner doesn't need to be involved because they made all their decisions and exactly how they. They want it to be.

Doug Drohan 22:01

That's great. That's great. Yeah, I mean it's kind of like what you see on HTV where they they have these renderings and the visualization of of what the project's going to be. Um that's great. I really appreciate I mean I really appreciate your approach to that because as I said, having been there um where you're kind of in the dark, uh it's it's frustrating and just keep your fingers crossed that it turns out, okay.

Tom Battersby 22:21

So I think the people who appreciate us the most are the people that have gone through a construction process before with a different company. And then when they work with us, they realize how much easier it is.

Doug Drohan 22:33

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Tom Ryan, I I really appreciate you guys joining me today, and this was great. Uh, once again, it's whitemapleconstruction.com. Go on their website. You can find their contact information there. Also find them on Instagram. Uh, guys, thanks very much for being on the show.

Ryan Brining 22:51

Thank you for having us.

Intro/Close 22:54

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.