Building for the extreme: Hurricanes with Paul Ledet

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s “The Building Code,” I’m Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle:

And I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

How are you doing today, buddy?

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m doing fantastic. It’s the middle of the work day here at Buildertrend and always appreciate the opportunity to pop down in the studio and hang out with my best bud, Zach, for a while.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Just get best bud on the podcast.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, well, Nicole and John are probably up there, but you’re a close third.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right. Well, they’re the ones who really make it happen.

Charley Burtwistle:

Absolutely.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Who do we got on the podcast today, Charley?

Charley Burtwistle:

We have Paul Ledet on the podcast today. Yeah, returning guest, which we always enjoy. The owner of CLH Build or Chris Ledet Homes, here to talk about what they’re doing down in Louisiana.

So, hopefully, dive into some interesting processes and building code areas that they have to keep a particularly close eye on to make sure that their house doesn’t blow down due to hurricanes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. It’s interesting to kind of hear the perspective with builders that have to deal with different circumstances. We’ve got a lot that have come here and talked about different things like earthquakes, hurricanes. It’s funny because in Nebraska … What do we got?

Charley Burtwistle:

Tornados.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s boring. When’s the last time a tornado …

Charley Burtwistle:

Hey, last year I had to go down to the basement, and there’s a little tornado warning.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Nicole was like, “What are you talking about?” Let’s get Paul on here before we get too far off track.

Hey, Paul, welcome back to “The Building Code.” Thanks for returning. We love it when we have people come on more than once. How are things going? How you been since you were on last?

Paul Ledet:

Man, thanks for having me. Things are great. Like I said, we’re kind of talking a little bit before the cast, just a little rainy and wet. But other than that, man, we’re in good spirits down here.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I feel like in Louisiana that’s kind of the default. Everybody in Louisiana, it’s always in a good move. That’s one of my favorite parts about the people from there.

Paul Ledet:

And this kind of heatc, and it’s kind of oppressive, you really got to just muscle through it. But yeah, man, we’re great. Life is good down here.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, for the listeners out there that weren’t lucky enough to hear the first time you were on here, could you give us just kind of a brief recap who you are, a little bit about the business and what you guys provide?

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, sure. So again, my name’s Paul Ledet, my dad’s Chris Ledet. The company that I now own and operate is Chris Ledet Homes.

Actually, we’re going through a kind of name change to CLH Build. Actually, we make 40 years next year we’ve been in business. I started about 10 years ago, maybe 11 years ago after I graduated from LSU, moved back home and kind of started to take over the family business. So, I’m a father, three little girls, five, three and a six-month-old.

We’re a custom home builder at Thibodaux area, based out of Thibodaux, Louisiana, and things are good. My dad just kind of nestled over here. He was born and raised here and kind of got in the industry kind of randomly, so pretty cool story. 40 years now, it’s great.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that’s definitely an impressive timeframe and just something that anytime Zach and I get a talk with somebody on the podcast that’s been around the business that long and has built a business that’s able to sustain all the ups and downs that we’ve seen in the past 40 years and even the past 10 years. Often yields …

Paul Ledet:

That’s two years.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, a lot of insights.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It feels like 40 is the last two.

Paul Ledet:

He’s like two in bed. Yeah, man, he kind of really set up a good name for the business and then we’re trying to carry on that legacy. Little pressure there, but very thankful for it.

It’s been great. So, like I said, second generation and still going strong. Hopefully, next couple years, several years will be fruitful.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Got to start playing in the third generation. Your girls want to jump into the construction industry?

Paul Ledet:

My middle one is pretty tenacious. I think she’s going to be …

Zach Wojtowicz:

She can handle it?

Paul Ledet:

So, right now I feel like, I mean, she’s only three, but I think she’s got it for sure.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, that would be a good tagline for Buildertrend is software that makes your business so easy to manage even a three year old could do. She could be the face.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Given the t-shirt suggestion earlier.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

And Paul, I know we did a case study on Chris Ledet Homes not that long ago. We’ll definitely have that link to the shownotes for our listeners, and we talk about a little bit in there. On your website it says you’ve built over 400 homes now, which is incredibly impressive.

I was wondering if you could talk about maybe some of the recent changes, a company that’s been around for 40 years since you’ve kind of taken over and where you guys are heading? What’s kind of at the forefront of your mind and the direction you got to take the business?

Paul Ledet:

So, obviously, the biggest change for us was going from a kind of mom-and-pop paper to integrating Buildertrend over the course of several years and then being able to … The business, I don’t want to say kind of runs itself, but the jobs, it really helps with a lot of the day-to-day minutiae, and you can kind of focus on bigger things.

We’ve got upcoming building codes that are supposed to start at the beginning of January even though Louisiana’s fairly far behind as the country, just staying in front of some of the building science that a lot of stuff that we practiced but now it’s starting to become law.

That’s been one of the bigger changes I guess is going from paper to, like I said, going to a software such as Buildertrend and then trying to stay in front of your competition and stay up to date. So, that’s a big thing.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely. And outside of just the normal day-to-day concerns of growing a business and competitors and moving into the digital age. You’re also located in Louisiana, so you have the added fun of hurricane season, which is more than most people would have to think about alone.

So, what are some of kind of the most important elements that go into preparing a home for the impacts of hurricanes? You mentioned the building code, is that something that you guys have to tweak a little bit more than the traditional custom home builder?

Paul Ledet:

So, I’ll back up to Katrina in 2005. I was in freshman in college and Katrina hit. And immediately after, probably a year or two after, the codes changed overnight.

I can remember as a young college student, my dad just having a battle with the codes finally being enforced the way they were supposed to be and that was a major change for them. Well, way back in 2008, I think it was 2007, 2008. And that also, mind you, was the same time as the housing crisis, so you had debilitating codes.

Charley Burtwistle:

I was going to say 2008, not a whole lot else going on at that time frame.

Paul Ledet:

And you had debilitating codes that were just killing prices of things and on top of a collapsing housing industry, that was the major change. So, a lot of the preparedness was kind of done back then, and we were just hit with Ida, which the eye actually skimmed Thibodaux.

We’re only about 20 miles as the crow flies from the coast and the eye just narrowly missed us. But a lot of the Houma Grand Aisle, which is a lot of vacation homes, those areas and east of us got absolutely decimated. But if you go back and look, pretty much all the 10-year-old houses fared well. It’s a lot of the 15, 20-year-old, older, those are the places that really took the brunt of the damage.

So, as far as hurricane preparedness, I guess, thankfully a lot of the codes that we’re following now, we’re ready for that. The biggest thing that we have is probably flood. That’s going to be the next big challenge here because there’s a lot of debate on … We got the wind mitigation figured out, but if you’re still at five feet above sea level, it’s still a problem.

There’s been big talks about raising the base flood elevation and parts of Louisiana above seven or eight foot, which would put entire communities below the base flood, which ultimately means thousands of dollars of flood insurance or no flood insurance and could potentially be pretty impactful to an area like ours. Not to mention that all the levies that were just built were all built for base flood off, I think it’s six, south of us. And so, then you have a whole levy system that is basically null and void that they spent trillions of dollars on.

But as far as preparedness for our projects now, I mean, a lot of our projects did great. My parents had a camp, we call it our vacation home down in Grand Aisle and we had just sold it probably about six months before the storm. And man, it was almost untouched and the storm went right over it. So, the codes are there for hurricane preparedness, it’s mainly just bunking down the hatch and making sure everything’s picked up before it hits because it’ll be bad.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, it’s really interesting. I mean, it applies obviously to a lot of the markets that Buildertrend shares. We have Florida, we have a lot of people in Carolinas, Louisiana, and we’ve had a lot of different groups come on recently about green housing and the code came up in those conversations, too, and we got some interesting perspective.

And I guess, what I’m curious about is does the code shift given the circumstances of the environment that you’re building houses is in? Or is it more of a universally applied part of construction? If you’re a listener and you’re in Kentucky, they’re considerations for things that they need to be aware of maybe not for hurricane reasons, but the code covers so many circumstances. I imagine this is where the pure we don’t actually know side of things. It’s kind of an interesting area to explore.

Paul Ledet:

So, Florida has got it figured out. Obviously, they’re some of the most vulnerable big peninsula. They’re constantly getting rattled with storms.

What’s really popular down there in Florida is ICF, insulated concrete forms. You see it up on the east coast a lot. Actually, you see it all over the place. They use it throughout the country. And I’ve done a few projects here, and it’s just not that popular yet down here. And actually, I’ve got to get a guy out of Kentucky to come all the way down here just to do the work. There’s nobody here that does it.

That’s going to be the future, especially from an insurance standpoint. I mean, I know of five insurance companies that left the state. Eventually, there won’t be anybody else that will ensure. I don’t think, eventually it’s going to stop somewhere and the only way they’re going to do it if you had of a completely bombproof home, and you see that a lot in Florida.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, interesting.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I mean, kind of on that, when you are going through your hurricane resistant, obviously the technique matters, and I assume the material does, too, about how you are prepared.

Could you speak a little bit about what are the material choices you make and other strategies that you can? It’s totally impressive to me that you built a house that effectively had the structural integrity intact. It was probably a little wet, but…

Paul Ledet:

Yeah. Basically, you think of it as a system from the slab. Most of our slabs are slabs-on-grade and everything’s anchor bolted, but there’s continuous either, plywood around the entire perimeter or half inch OSB. It’s going to be certain nail patterns, and the criteria is pretty much the same across the board as a nation.

But we just have these extra straps that’ll help tie in the bottom plate to the top plate, to the rafters and all the way through and through. Like down in Grand Aisle, which is on the coast, we use a lot of all threaded rods that go from the slab through the bottom plate, through the top plate, all connects to the roof system and it’s just one continuous founded entity. So, it’s cool, but to me it’s normal.

I mean, there’s some houses that my dad’s built in the ’80s that we’ll go back, and we’ll renovate or they’ll want to change something, and I’ll pull off the brick and it’s a little 1/4 inch thin piece of Styrofoam, and I’m like, “How were they doing this back then?” It’s pretty funny – I can watch in time how it’s changed. It’s pretty remarkable to see that these houses actually are still standing.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, on top of the kind of custom builds, do you do renovations, repairs as well too?

Paul Ledet:

We do some renovations. For the most part, it has to be a … I try to make it mandatory where they move out. I don’t like renovating in someone’s space. They’re living there and then people aren’t there every day. It’s dusty, it’s dirty, they see how the sausage is made every day and that can get challenging at times. I’m not opposed to it. I mean, we do it sometimes when they’re there. But for the most part, I like for it to be a complete renovation. So yeah, we do.

I didn’t do too much hurricane work. I did one for a friend and then I did another one that it was a total gut, but the skin of the home was actually intact. They actually lost all the shingles on their roof and then everything got flooded, so they had someone go in and gut it. So, I kind of had a fresh … it needed new plumbing, new electrical, new HVAC, new floors, so it was like a new house, so I took that one. Other than that, I’m not set up for it. I’ve tried to do it, but it’s tough.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It probably turns into like, “Well, I pulled this down and, oh, found this.” And then the next thing and the next thing and at some point, you are just hitting the reset button, so you might as well cut out the middleman, right?

Paul Ledet:

Yeah. And then it’s like, “Well, while you’re here, can you …”

Zach Wojtowicz:

That sounds fun.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You’re like, “Buildertrend change orders are great.”

Paul Ledet:

It just becomes a lot. And actually, I’m doing two renovations right now, but one’s more of an addition. It’s actually a home built in the 1930s. So, we added on, we quadruple the square footage. So, something like that, it’s kind of fun.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that is very interesting. Something we’ve been talking about a ton on the podcast the past year or so has just been the supply-demand issues and materials backlog. Is that something that has continued to hit you equally hard, specifically around some of the hurricane-resistant materials that you need?

Paul Ledet:

So, the last two years, well, first we had COVID and everybody kind of knows about that and pretty much tired of talking about it, I’m sure. But that material issue actually stretched into Ida. You can talk to five of my customers right now and five of them were all friends of mine and hired me to do their house, the storm hit, and I was kind of like, “Well, I’m not taking any work, I’m going to get these started.”

We got through the framing fairly easy and then January hit, and that’s when things just went totally haywire. We couldn’t get all the beams for the framing, we couldn’t get insulation, drywall. We couldn’t get anybody to do the work. We couldn’t get anything down here. It was absolutely terrible. Couldn’t get interior doors. It wasn’t just for, I guess, constructability for hurricane, but just in general, we couldn’t get anything.

And then that went in and then I had some more houses to start and then I couldn’t get any framing and the framing shot up so high. I mean, it was up until about July, which was not that long ago, it was pretty bad. The labor is still really bad here, big labor shortage. But for the most part, materials are starting to get better.

But now, I’ve got this bottleneck of where you’re so process-oriented and all of a sudden, you just throw all that out the window, and you kind of just take what you’re getting. It’s better though. It’s getting better, but it was bad. I don’t even know words can express how bad the last nine months were, and it was mostly due to the storm.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, just because it’s better now doesn’t mean that you don’t have the backlog that you still need to finish and everything like that.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, I was very fortunate. I met a little contractor here that had a little group of guys, and they were kind of green, and I kind of had to take a leap of faith and train them because I lost four carpenters over the age of 60 last year. Four trim carpenters, that’s a big deal, that’s a big hit in our area.

So, then I had to kind of train these young guys, they’re in their 20s, to become the new trim guys. And so far, it’s been fantastic, and we’re finally getting some things done, and they’re eager to learn, and I’ve got some old carpenter buddies that are willing to train and help direct and these guys are willing to learn. So, that’s been very nice the last two or three months, finally starting to get things moving again. Pretty rough.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, yeah.

Paul Ledet:

I don’t want to just pity party, but it was bad. I mean, it was bad. I didn’t know that kind of thing, a storm would have that kind of effect on an area. Basically, you can get framing lumber but you can’t get beams, you can’t get hurricane straps, you can’t get anchor bolts. You just can’t get it by normal things, and you’re waiting six weeks to get some of this stuff.

I mean, everybody knows about windows. I waited seven months for windows because we wanted impact rated windows. You’re talking about an area that’s already hard to get windows as it is. My customers wanted impact windows, they’re rated for hurricane strength, 200 mile an hour. They’re not making them.

I mean, they’re going to go make a billion of the little cheap windows. They’re not going to spend their time to go make the … And then after four weeks, oh, they tell you six weeks, after you wait six weeks, 10 weeks. They’re like, “Oh, well, it’s going to be another 12 weeks.” Oh, you wait another 12 then you kind of, do you reorder different windows? Kind of get stuck in this limbo, and you just wait it out.

Charley Burtwistle:

Are customers pretty understanding of that? I mean, I know there’s not much you can really do, but it’s just interesting from a customer side of things, the market’s reaction.

Paul Ledet:

I’ll say that every single one of my customers, and they all have different stories that are … And I’ll kind of get into that, but all of them are understanding. They’re in worse positions, then you can probably imagine where they moved out of there, they sold their house, but then things are taking so long, there’s really no way that they have to stay in it, or they have to move out.

So, they’re living with in-laws, or I’ve had three people that were moving to apartment buildings during a storm. Storm hits, they get displaced, there’s nowhere to live. So, two of them moved out of state while I’m building the house. And I mean, it just high tension but everybody really kind of somewhat kept their cool during it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Right. I mean, that’s also something that just with you being at a company that’s been around for as long as it has. You just establish some social capital, and everyone knows that they’re doing the best that they can. You guys are taking under the front, taking on the back. We’re all kind of in the same boat together.

Paul Ledet:

I would say that that’s our biggest thing. We got kids that are in the same class at school and then I’m friends with a lot of them. We see each other on the weekend. And so, for the most part, they were pretty understanding as long as you just say the truth, that’s all you can do. They don’t complain.

Charley Burtwistle:

The interconnection of the community is obviously big, and I know that you are looking to, well, actually you’re going to be at Buildertrend on the Road in Denver, which is coming up here pretty soon.

So, the interconnectivity of just other builders in the community, in the industry as a whole, you’ll get a chance to be one of the champions at the event in Denver. What are you kind of looking forward to most about Buildertrend on the Road?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Besides getting to meet me and not Charley in person.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, Zach will be there.

Paul Ledet:

You’re not going to be there?

Charley Burtwistle:

No. I’m a data scientist here at Buildertrend, so they keep me in my corner.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Keep him as …

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, focus on data.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sit at your desk, work your magic.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah.

Paul Ledet:

No, what I’m really interested in is, I’ve always liked this at BTU when I’ve been to Omaha probably three times for BTU – I learn every time I go. I learn something new every time I go, I know I’m going to pick up something there while I’m there. I mean, that’s a fact, but it’s also helping the person next to me or a different builder or whomever.

I mean, there’s several builders just in our area I’m really trying to push. I just know that it could help them. I think one of them finally ended up signing up with y’all and then … I don’t know, and maybe because that’s what happened to me. I went to Buildertrend University and this guy was, I wish I could remember the name of his company, but just was like, “Hey, you need to do this, this and this.” “Oh, I never looked at it like that.”

And then of course, everyone from y’all’s staff is just so supportive and just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. You kind of apply everything that you take in, and I hope someone that’s kind of on the border where I was, whether they’re either signed up, already have Buildertrend or don’t have it and need to sign up or someone that’s probably a year or two in it and wants to give up, just kind of that final little push, man.

Once you get through that little bitty section of Buildertrend, you just understand it overnight. I will say, oh, and it just clicks with you. Making it click for somebody and they can run with it, and I like that. I mean, I’ve always said I’m going to work for y’all whenever I quit building because I think it’s great.

I was just training a guy who’s just about to start working with me. He’s 64 years old, and I stayed up, he was over here for three hours last night, and he was with his little iPad and taking written notes, and I’ll show him how to use it. And this morning he’s like blowing me up all over Buildertrend like, “This is so great.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Oh man, that’s awesome. Yeah.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, it’s fun for me. I like seeing processes take way, and I hope I can share that week or that day with somebody. I’m staying a week though, that’s why I said week. I’m driving up on Saturday and after the show I’m going to probably stay, hang around for a couple days and find something to do.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I know as the champion of the event, obviously, your business and what you’ve built and how you operate is very successful. But also, your commitment to using Buildertrend as one of our power users or our BT champions is incredibly impressive as well. Are there a couple maybe key features inside the platform that you guys use a ton or that are kind of personal favorites to you?

Paul Ledet:

Oh man, I don’t really know how to answer that. We pretty much used … I’ll tell you the two things we don’t use. I don’t use the reporting too much or the warranty yet, but every other portion on there is unbelievable. I mean, the budget part for me, it’s probably what got me.

When I integrated our budgets in QuickBooks and that whole … And actually, we just hired a bookkeeper, so she’s now kind of loading up everything into Buildertrend. Any invoices or any bills that are coming in that are purchase orders and even though they’re not marked ready for payment, I can kind of just sit in my leisure, look at the budgets, look and see how they shake out approved payment and she’s …

Karen and I are not even communicating. I’m just like, “Approved, approved, approved.” She knows not to pay it if it’s not approved, and it really is nice, and it’s kind of set it up to where I’m not … Obviously, there’s no paperwork and my office is at home. So, it’s kind of important to me for my kids, they see me, we eat dinner.

And sometimes, I’ll just kind of come walk in my office in the evening, and I can just calmly review budgets and bills and as long as I get them done weekly, and she’s not yelling at me to get them done, we’re good as long as I’m doing my part. So, I think that’s something to be said, not having to thumb through a thousand invoices like my dad used to do, paper.

Charley Burtwistle:

And the peace of mind of it all, right? What you just said, the ability that you can pull up on your phone, your iPad or your computer and actually have a one-stop shop for how your business is doing, what needs to be paid, what doesn’t. The not knowing is always the worst part that.

Paul Ledet:

And we can use the selection process. We got that pretty much down pat, especially even for these custom jobs. I mean, there’s so much that goes into just window selections, and they can get so convoluted just from emails and texts and having a clear and visible “This is approved, this is a purchase order for the approved one.” Even though we gave you 10 different quotes, the window company knows that this is final. Just not having those kinds of little mistakes, it’s nice.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s like death by a thousand cuts, those little mistakes.

Paul Ledet:

And it’s pretty costly.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. That’s when they start to like you missed the details and then eventually there’s the big-time mistake that does cost you $10, $15, $20.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, we say that all the time. Well, it wasn’t a big mistake, but one day it will be if you get a window color wrong, and that’d be a big deal.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Imagine if our LSU coaches were just like, “Ah, you can do that in practice,” and then they get into the game. They forget their blocking assignment and toss themselves over time, maybe a little too soon.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, still a little sore about that last game.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, I’m a Husker fan, so we’re not doing that much better.

Paul Ledet:

Oh yeah, I guess the expectations there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, exactly.

Paul Ledet:

Most winningest coach. I’ll give him some time, I’ll give him a season. I’m not one of those fans. I’ll give him a season.

Zach Wojtowicz:

There you go.

Paul Ledet:

I’ll give him two seasons, there you go.

Charley Burtwistle:

Gee, plenty of time.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. Well, we’ve given our guy five, so there’s going to get clipped and sent to the University of Nebraska I’m sure.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I’m sure they’d pay really close attention to football over here in Omaha. I would say we’re getting close to the end here, but one last kind of question on Buildertrend on the Road. For anybody that’s maybe hesitant about coming or even hasn’t heard about it before, what would be your pitch for why they should attend this event? Other than getting to see Zach Wojtowicz live in person, which is a big draw.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Absolutely.

Paul Ledet:

Honestly, I would say you can read and look up and research all you want on the computer, but nothing is as good as going there and hearing it one-on-one and working with somebody. I mean, like I said, I’ve been to BTU three times. I’ve had Brett Jones come to our office. I think he just got married.

Charley Burtwistle:

He did?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, it was last weekend. Look at that, wow.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We didn’t get invited.

Paul Ledet:

I know.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Small wedding, good for Brett.

Paul Ledet:

But just having them coming down and having that one-on-one or even when I go and see y’all at the builders’ show in Las Vegas or Orlando, I learned something just having a one-on-one with anybody. And I think that’s more powerful than anything you can do.

So, if you’re even contemplating it, man, just go check it out. It’s not a salesy thing. I think once someone shows you how it can work and don’t get overwhelmed by the small little details, it would be fruitful for you, really would.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, and I’ll tell you this, you’re going to be busy, my friend. When I was there in Atlanta and our champion, I mean, it was get ready to talk because it’s the testament. Builders are looking for other builders to connect with, and Buildertrend’s a great way to kind of come to do that. But a lot of people come, and they’re like, “I don’t know how to implement it in my business,” and you’re someone who has done it. So, you’re going to have a lot of great conversations.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve already kind of … I mean, it’s easy. I say it’s easy, I didn’t know where to start. I started with the calendar. It was, “Oh, we just put a schedule together for my own good,” and then I started adding pieces and parts to it, and I was like, “Oh, well maybe we can add selections to it.” Man, once you figure it out, you can just take off with it.

Charley Burtwistle:

There you go. And good news for our listeners, they can go and register right now at buildertrend.com/denver. And if they use pod100 at checkout, they get a nice little discount as well, too. So, highly, highly encouraging anyone out there to go and register again at buildertrend.com/denver. Get a chance to learn from Paul, maybe go say hi to Zach, and it’ll just be an overall fantastic event.

Paul Ledet:

Yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

Otherwise, I think that about does it for this. Paul, it was absolute pleasure to have you on.

Paul Ledet:

Absolutely.

Charley Burtwistle:

Maybe we’ll bring you back on again for a third time, that’d be fantastic.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Put you in the three club.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, man.

Zach Wojtowicz:

The rare three club.

Paul Ledet:

Man, I think we need to do that. Definitely need to do that.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We’ll make it happen.

Paul Ledet:

Okay, y’all.

Charley Burtwistle:

Thanks a lot, Paul. See you.

Paul Ledet:

Thanks, I’ll see you later.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We just had Paul Ledet on, talking about his business and everything. Charley, what did you learn?

Charley Burtwistle:

Learned a ton. This is yet another example of an area that I was very, very underinformed on. Going into the podcast, and I feel fantastically informed after. Paul was a stud. It’s really, really cool to hear about how long the business has been around and his transition, taking over the ownership there.

One of my favorite things, and this is obviously very biased, was just how much he loved Buildertrend. It’s cool to talk to people that have fully implemented that and can see the value that it brings, which obviously, is why we chose him to be the BT champion at Buildertrend on the Road.

So, if you’re going to that, I will not be there, but just had to plug that one more time. If you are going, that’s going to be a fantastic event. Definitely, go introduce yourself to Paul. He talked a lot about how he likes to help other builders and other builders have helped him. And it’ll be a fantastic community event where a ton of people learn a lot. So yeah, fantastic guest, and I think maybe we do have to get him on here another third time. Get him in the three club.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, absolutely. It was always great. I mean, he’s been a big fan of Buildertrend for a long time. I remember the first episode we got into, just how much it changes business, and obviously, really one of those things that I love hearing our builders talk about it. I mean, it’s one thing, obviously, when we work at Buildertrend, we talk to our customers, and we tell them it’s going to change what you do and how you do it. But to actually hear it from someone who lives it, uses it, it’s embedded in his business, it’s really powerful, it’s really exciting, and we’re changing the way the world builds.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s the dream.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s the dream.

Charley Burtwistle:

So, if you do want to meet Paul and Zach and hear more about it and a ton of other fantastic things at Buildertrend on the Road in Denver, again, make sure you go out to buildertrend.com/denver and use code pod100 at checkout for $100 off your order.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Love it. We’ll catch you next time, I’m Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle:

And I’m Charley Burtwistle.