On The Why We Build Podcast, our mission is to empower motivated remodeling & building professionals with valuable insights, practical tips, and inspiring stories. Through engaging discussions and expert interviews, the podcast aims to foster collaboration, improve processes, and build stronger teams by sharing the stories of the people who make it all possible. Our vision is to become the go-to resource for remodeling & building professionals, creating a community where production and design teams thrive through shared knowledge, collaboration, and inspiration. We strive to elevate the industry by promoting sustainable innovation, efficiency, and a passion for building better spaces with stronger teams. And more than anything we want to hear and tell the stories of the people that make it all happen.
https://remodelersadvantage.com/about-us/staff/greg-woleck/?contact=GWoleck (https://remodelersadvantage.com/about-us/staff/greg-woleck/?contact=GWoleck)
Your Gut Can Tell You No, But It Can't Tell You Yes: Fact-Driven Hiring for Remodelers, with Fletcher Wimbush
Most remodeling companies hire on feel. The person shook hands right, knew somebody we knew, and could start Monday. Fletcher Wimbush, CEO of Discovered and creator of the FACT Driven Hiring System, has spent his career on the parts of hiring most of us rush or skip. In this episode he walks Greg through a live demonstration of how to set up a reference check inside the interview, why you should never hire anyone without talking to their previous boss, how a weak candidate can lead you to your next great carpenter, and the 30-minute exercise every company should do before it writes a job ad. Plus a work comp statistic that should change how you onboard.
28 Sept 2026
The Schedule Is a Promise: Why Remodeling Jobs Slip, and Why Finishing Early Isn’t a Win
A remodeling job gets estimated at 112 working days. It finishes at 368.
This spring, production managers in six Remodelers Advantage Production Manager Roundtable (PMRT) groups put their schedule numbers side by side. Inside a single group, one company was slipping about one job in ten. Another was slipping more than half. Same kind of market, same economy. A gap that size comes from how a company runs.
In this solo episode, Greg Woleck walks through what the numbers showed about schedule slip (finishing late) and grip (finishing early), and what the best production managers do to hold the date they promised.
In this episode:
- Why anything more than 2% off the promised duration, in either direction, is a warning sign
- Why finishing early isn't the win it feels like
- The six reasons jobs slip, and why most of them are preventable
- The three-week look-ahead and the job handoff sheet - Why production needs a say before the contract is signed
- Why a slipping schedule is often the first sign a PM is struggling
"The homeowner doesn't need you to be fast. They need you to be right."
Learn more about the Production Manager Roundtables: https://remodelersadvantage.com/membership/production-manager-peer-groups/ (https://remodelersadvantage.com/membership/production-manager-peer-groups/)
To talk about a PMRT seat, email Greg at greg@remodelersadvantage.com (mailto:greg@remodelersadvantage.com) with PMRT in the subject line. Owners, the same email works for a seat for your PM.
Have a topic, a guest, or a story from the remodeling world worth sharing? Reach out to Greg at greg@remodelersadvantage.com (mailto:greg@remodelersadvantage.com).
The Why We Build Podcast explores the people, ideas, systems, and stories behind residential remodeling.
21 Sept 2026
Why Independent Plumbing Still Wins in a Private Equity Market
This episode digs into what it takes for a local plumbing company to compete as private equity money reshapes the trades. Max Hicks, founder of Reliant Plumbing, shares how he went from a teenage work program and union plumbing to building a multi-market company across Texas. We discuss scaling without losing service quality, communicating value when bigger brands dominate the market, and why Max believes staying independent still makes sense for his business.
Key topics
Max Hicks shares how his plumbing career started at 16 through a work program after school was not a fit for him.
He explains how early experience in new construction and commercial work taught him hard work, but service plumbing is where he found his passion.
In this episode, Max breaks down how he started Reliant Plumbing from a borrowed van, a small tool set, and almost no service experience.
He describes the mindset of building a business instead of just creating another job for himself, and how that shaped every hiring decision.
Max says growth came from filling roles only when the business truly needed them, then training someone else to take over.
We discuss how private equity changed the market, especially lead costs, competition, and the pressure to show up with stronger systems and sales.
Max shares that scaling across Texas required the right people in the right seats, especially for market expansion into cities like San Antonio.
He says one of the hardest parts of growth is financial discipline—wanting to keep more of the money instead of reinvesting everything back into expansion.
Max explains why he chose to stay independent: he loves the work, values flexibility, and does not want the identity shift that can come after a sale.
He talks about communicating value by focusing on talent, advertising, and honest self-awareness about what the company is and is not best at.
Max advises other owners facing private equity interest to think hard about what they want after a sale and to understand why the buyer wants the business.
Follow Reliant Plumbing of TikTok @reliantplumbing_tx
Ready to build a stronger, more profitable remodeling business? Visit RemodelersAdvantage.com (http://RemodelersAdvantage.com) to discover the resources, coaching, and community designed to help remodelers grow with confidence—without losing what makes their business unique.
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