Live from IBS with Matt Risinger

Tom Houghton:

You’re listening to “The Building Code,” your guide to a better way to run your business. I’m Tom Houghton.

Paul Wurth:

I’m just Paul.

Tom Houghton:

He’s just Paul today.

Paul Wurth:

That was one of your best, right there.

Tom Houghton:

Thanks.

Paul Wurth:

That was really good.

Tom Houghton:

Thank you. It’s just the show vibe because we’re here at the-

Paul Wurth:

The showmanship.

Tom Houghton:

International Builders’ Show-

Matt Risinger:

You sure it wasn’t this, Tom? The giant coffee that Paul just downed.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, the huge coffee.

Tom Houghton:

That voice you may recognize. It’s the voice of none other than Matt Risinger joining us. Hi Matt, how are you?

Matt Risinger:

Great, Tom. Thanks for having me on today.

Tom Houghton:

Yes. Welcome Back to the podcast. We had you on earlier. We loved that episode.

Matt Risinger:

I know, not that long ago. I was talking to nerdiness on that episode.

Tom Houghton:

Building science.

Paul Wurth:

I like that.

Matt Risinger:

I love it.

Paul Wurth:

Are you our first repeat?

Tom Houghton:

No.

Paul Wurth:

Oh no.

Matt Risinger:

Oh, thanks a lot Paul. You’re our best ever, not.

Tom Houghton:

No, but he is our 50th podcast guest.

Paul Wurth:

Hey, that’s even better.

Matt Risinger:

That’s a big deal.

Tom Houghton:

50th episode, this one.

Paul Wurth:

Milestone city.

Tom Houghton:

50th episode this one, five-zero.

Matt Risinger:

That is a big deal, thanks for having me on boys.

Paul Wurth:

Back where it started. This is a big show for you. This is a big weekend for you. We were just talking about that.

Matt Risinger:

It’s like the Super Bowl for me, Paul.

Paul Wurth:

Super Bowl.

Matt Risinger:

Every minute of my day is scheduled, but it’s super fun. As my YouTube channel has grown, I remember a couple of years ago, five, six years ago at 3,500 subscribers on my YouTube channel I’d come here and I’d walk down the halls and be like, “Hey, you’re Matt Risinger, right? And I’d be, “How do you know me? Like, what? How have I met you before?

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And honestly, five years later, when a lot of people say that to me, I’m still like, “How do you know me again? Oh yeah, yeah. You watch my videos.” And it’s getting creepier though. People really know a lot about me.

Paul Wurth:

I’ve always wondered, because you don’t say this, but you’re basically a celebrity inside this industry.

Matt Risinger:

It’s weird.

Paul Wurth:

It just is what it is. So how have you settled into that? Is it just still a little awkward, as you said?

Matt Risinger:

It’s still a little awkward because I’m just a dorky builder-

Paul Wurth:

Right.

Matt Risinger:

Doing these videos that… It’s funny, my mission honestly, is a little similar to Buildertrend. I’m doing it to help people and I’m really passionate about it because I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’ve made a lot of errors that I’ve paid for. And Buildertrend fits right in with that. Because I’ve also made a lot of financial and business mistakes, change order mistakes that Buildertrend help me solve. And that’s not a paid commercial. That’s just honesty is I think that’s one thing that people about my videos is I’m real honest with my mistakes and my failures and saying, “Hey look, I jacked this up. Here’s what you should not do. Here’s what I did. And here’s how to do it better.” And I’m generally pretty positive on my videos, but I try to be critical of myself in the past and errors I’ve made. And I think people appreciate that. I’m willing to talk about my failures and not just my successes.

Paul Wurth:

Well, they appreciate it on two levels. One, they probably made the same mistake is as you. So that’s that shared sort of empathy, but also it’s like, “Okay, I hope I don’t do that.” So that’s like business coaching.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Everybody’s making mistakes,

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

I got a Tom.

Tom Houghton:

I got one funny for y’all, though. So This is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened to me, probably. I’m at “The Builder’s Show” this morning at 7 a.m. I had to meet someone before the show opens? Not many people out front, right by where the big IBS logo is.

Paul Wurth:

Yep.

Matt Risinger:

And this, this woman comes up to me. Who’s a little older than me and there’s a man next to her, but he’s slinking back a little bit. She goes, “Oh my gosh, Matt Risinger, it’s so nice to meet you. My husband and I are builders and this part of the country. And we watch all your videos on Friday nights. It’s like date nights. And we’re having a threesome with you on the couch.” And her husband had this, “I can’t believe my wife just said that. And please tell me that she didn’t just say that.” And he wouldn’t even shake my… I was trying to be like…

Paul Wurth:

Well yeah, it’s a little awkward now.

Matt Risinger:

Laugh it off. It’s super awk- I was like, “Did you really just say that to me?”

Tom Houghton:

Wow.

Matt Risinger:

That is the most awkward thing ever.

Tom Houghton:

He’s he’s a married man, folks, stay back.

Paul Wurth:

You could have explained watching Matt Risinger on Friday nights, a hundred different ways.

Tom Houghton:

A lot of different ways.

Matt Risinger:

But not that way.

Paul Wurth:

Not having to use threesome.

Matt Risinger:

My hope is that she meant the three of us were on the couch talking building science.

Paul Wurth:

I assume so.

Tom Houghton:

That’s exactly what was happening.

Matt Risinger:

That’s my that’s what I’m going to assume she meant by that.

Paul Wurth:

Let’s not go down that other side of what that could of meant.

Tom Houghton:

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Paul Wurth:

Yes we are in Las Vegas. There you go.

Matt Risinger:

I was thoroughly creeped out and now I just told the world on your podcast.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah there you go.

Tom Houghton:

You heard it first.

Matt Risinger:

Even though the guy was I was with I was like, “Don’t ever talk about this, ever.” Now here, I’m telling everybody about It.

Paul Wurth:

That’s a good story, though.

Matt Risinger:

It was a pretty good story.

Tom Houghton:

Thousands of listeners. They’re a part of it now.

Matt Risinger:

A 100,000 people just heard that story.

Paul Wurth:

And growing. So what’s your week look like?

Matt Risinger:

Bunch of appearances, a bunch of cool stuff. Giving a bunch of talks. I love giving talks at IBS because people that know my videos then get to hear from me. And honestly, it’s crazy being a YouTuber. I’m almost 50, right? I’m not some 25 year old, who’s out there with a selfie cam. But all these people know me. And then speaking of YouTube this past year, I’ve had the privilege of meeting another giant YouTuber of this guy named Matt Carriker who’s got a channel called Demolition Ranch and Off the Ranch. And man, when I met him, I got another a hundred-thousand subscribers because all his 10 million people were introduced to me, or 3 million on the channel I was on. And a bunch of them are in the building world and started following me.

Matt Risinger:

Crazy giant year of growth in 2019. Had a great year for my building company. Had a great year for my video company, my YouTube channel did really well. So IBS is super fun. It’s kind of my Super Bowl every year.

Paul Wurth:

Well you also launched a new website.

Matt Risinger:

We’ve got a brand new venture, Buildshownetwork.com.

Tom Houghton:

The Build Show Network.

Paul Wurth:

The Build Show or Build Show?

Matt Risinger:

Buildshownetwork.com.

Paul Wurth:

What’s what’s the reasoning behind that? Tell us a little bit about it.

Matt Risinger:

Well, a couple things, YouTube doesn’t give me a lot of metrics and only gives me a certain number of ways to partner with people and to talk about things. Honestly, on my videos, I like to talk about whatever’s interesting to me at the time. I don’t want to do just advertorials or be a corporate slave. I want to talk about what’s interesting, how to build a better house, how to help people build better houses, the business of building better houses. Of course, I’m a products guy too, I love interesting products and things that are going to help you with that. But by having my own network, now I can get other builders to also, who are really smart in other parts of the country and have a different style. Whether it’s an architectural style or whether it’s a building style, they can also shoot there.

Matt Risinger:

So I coined it Netflix for builders, right? You can go to this website. And right now, five days a week, you’ve got a brand new video every single day from one of our four people. And we’re just adding a fifth guy as of the show. This is the first time I’ve talked about it again, named Steve Bakzec. Who’s an architect in Boston. Really smart architect, does great building science. He’s joining us on Buildshownetwork.com and now he’ll have a video too. So now six videos, brand new from job sites around the country on Buildshownetwork.com.

Tom Houghton:

That’s awesome.

Paul Wurth:

And so these are educational, basically?

Matt Risinger:

Mainly focused on education.

Paul Wurth:

Okay.

Matt Risinger:

Helping builders build better houses.

Paul Wurth:

Right.

Matt Risinger:

With the underlying core of educating people on durable, healthy, comfortable, efficient. All those things on building a better house.

Paul Wurth:

Okay, cool.

Tom Houghton:

I love it.

Paul Wurth:

So we got to check that out.

Tom Houghton:

Just all in the name of making the whole industry better.

Matt Risinger:

Yep.

Paul Wurth:

So we’re in the next build and yeah. Every booth in this next build area is about technology. And I think besides being a business and making money and being profitable as a software company or a technology, I honestly have talked to a lot of vendors and a lot of us are at our head space now of like, “It’s time that this industry gets the technology thing.” We lift it up. Let’s, let’s make sure everybody knows that we are a forward-thinking industry.

Matt Risinger:

Yep.

Paul Wurth:

That’s what we’re all about. Honestly. That’s really what drives us beyond the business side of it.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

Wouldn’t you say you’re seeing that this week though, Paul? I’ve met a lot of builders here, they’re second generation, the 25- to 35-year-olds taking their dad’s company over or their mom’s company as mom and dad are retiring out of the business. We’ve got this next generation of builders that are savvy.

Paul Wurth:

Yep.

Matt Risinger:

And pretty soon gone are going to be the days that the concrete sub faxes their invoice into the builder’s office. Believe it or not, I talked to a buddy yesterday, that was that. And he was talking about how to get them away from the fax. And the guy started texting him a picture of his invoice that he hand wrote. We’re getting there slowly-

Tom Houghton:

Baby steps.

Matt Risinger:

But I feel like we’ve got this really young generation of builders that are 25, 35, 40 years old that are really smart savvy. They’re looking to us as the older builders. I’m lumping myself in that older builder category.

Paul Wurth:

Ouch, self-inflicted wound there. You’re still young.

Matt Risinger:

25 years in the business this year, Paul. So, I’ve been around the block.

Paul Wurth:

Okay, well then experience.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, experience.

Matt Risinger:

I learned 10, 15 years ago before there wasn’t YouTube from builders that were 10, 15 years older than me. I had a mentor relationship with them, on several guys that I went to lunch with once a month. And these are guys that are now in their mid-60s at the time they were mid-50s. And I was talking to them about problems I had on the job site. What do I do about this? I got this issue with the client or the contract or a change order, or this issue with a sub who’s dealing with X, Y, and Z. How do I deal with that? And that’s what my YouTube channel does. And honestly, that’s what your podcast does, too right? You’re getting builders on that are talking about their specific issues on the job site. How Buildertrend is part of that solution.

Tom Houghton:

Absolutely.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, the feedback we get typically from our listeners is that they love hearing a story of that shared pain.

Matt Risinger:

Absolutely.

Paul Wurth:

And that connects everybody. And we always talk about this podcast as it doesn’t have to be about our product-

Tom Houghton:

No, not at all.

Paul Wurth:

That’s one side of our business. I’m more interested in talking about our people.

Tom Houghton:

Yup.

Paul Wurth:

And then hearing from our clients and hearing their story. I mean, that’s really what makes the listeners go in this one.

Matt Risinger:

You’re great people, Paul. I’ve got to say.

Paul Wurth:

What’s That?

Matt Risinger:

That is the difference over here. We’ve used some other software and similar technology before we came to you guys and it’s the… You guys have some awesome people.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

I mean, here’s a story. One of my office, a woman who works in my accounts payable, when our Buildertrend, inside person had a baby, she sent her a gift from our office and had us all sign it because she knows her so well and appreciates her help so much. She sent her a baby gift.

Paul Wurth:

Wow. That’s awesome. Well, thank you for that.

Matt Risinger:

For sure.

Paul Wurth:

That’s a testament to our founders and all the leadership at our company. I mean, we do have great people. The feedback we get at this show, we love being here.

Tom Houghton:

We do.

Paul Wurth:

Because it’s one of the only times besides Buildertrend University that we get to actually in-person meet our clients.

Tom Houghton:

Yep.

Paul Wurth:

And they always say the same thing like, “Man, your people are great. They’re so young and energized and they care.” Which is crazy. I don’t know the secret behind it. Maybe it’s just Omaha, something in the water.

Tom Houghton:

It’s good people there.

Paul Wurth:

It’s good people there.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

That should be the new slogan for Nebraska-

Tom Houghton:

For Nebraska, good people are here.

Paul Wurth:

Because they gave a really bad one now. Nebraska, there’s good people here.

Matt Risinger:

There’s nothing else to do is that the slogan of Nebraska?

Tom Houghton:

It’s not for everyone.

Matt Risinger:

It’s not for everyone, that’s the slogan: “It’s not for everyone?”

Tom Houghton:

That’s current yeah.

Matt Risinger:

That’s terrible. That’s literally the slogan, Tom?

Tom Houghton:

It’s an acquired taste.

Matt Risinger:

We need to work on that.

Paul Wurth:

It’s terrible.

Matt Risinger:

Nebraska needs some branding, maybe Buildertrend can help with that.

Paul Wurth:

What was it before that?

Tom Houghton:

They won an award actually for it, that campaign though.

Matt Risinger:

No way.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, because to maybe to spend this in a little bit marketing conversation here, obviously not the best marketing choice, but the backlash from it, the outcry from it was so huge. National attention across multiple media channels.

Paul Wurth:

It’s like North Dakota came on the slogan for their anti-drug. It says, “Meth, we’re on it.”

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Like we’re on top of taking care of problems, but it seems like we’re on meth. That’s true too.

Matt Risinger:

There’s no such thing as bad press.

Tom Houghton:

True story.

Paul Wurth:

There you go.

Matt Risinger:

That’s hilarious.

Paul Wurth:

We digressed.

Matt Risinger:

I got a bad press story for you real quick, it’s kind of funny. There’s another YouTuber where this guy named Meet Kevin. That’s made several videos on what an idiot I am.

Paul Wurth:

Wow. Nice, very nice of him.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah. You know what it’s of funny though because it’s actually gave me a bunch of new subscribers because he’s got 200,000 subscribers. And I’ve been working on this remodel on my Texas house and he’s an investment real estate guy.

Paul Wurth:

Okay, yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And so he was watching my video on camera, pausing it and saying, “Now here’s where Matt is an idiot doing this, this and this.” But you know what? It’s gained me probably 20, 30,000 subscribers. He’s made four or five videos. And every time he publishes one, I get a text message from 15 builder friends, “Have you seen this video, Matt? This guy’s raking you.

Paul Wurth:

Geeze.

Matt Risinger:

I’m like, “Hey, there’s no bad press.”

Paul Wurth:

Thats true.

Matt Risinger:

So crazy enough he reached out on Instagram to me. He was like, “Hey man, I hope there’s no hard feelings. And funny enough, in every video, even though he rakes me he’s always like, “Oh, and by the way, Matt’s a great builder. And he’s just not doing this, this or this well.” So he reaches out to me and says, “Hey, I’m going to be in Las Vegas this week.” I was like, “Dude, let’s meet up.” I had dinner with him on Monday night.

Paul Wurth:

So you actually met Kevin.

Tom Houghton:

You broke bread.

Matt Risinger:

I met him. I had dinner with him.

Paul Wurth:

Well, no, his name’s Meet Kevin.

Matt Risinger:

His name’s Meet Kevin.

Paul Wurth:

So you met Kevin. You missed that joke I just did.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, I was moving on to the bread joke.

Matt Risinger:

… he’s actually a super nice guy. And we had a great chat. He’s hilarious.

Paul Wurth:

There’s an angle there. Nobody knows if you guys become rivals online, but you’re actually friends-

Matt Risinger:

Yeah, totally.

Paul Wurth:

Just like that. You’ll create some really good press.

Matt Risinger:

Some good buzz. So there’s no bad press is what I’m saying.

Paul Wurth:

So I think you should go meet Kevin again. Video him videoing you.

Matt Risinger:

That’s right.

Paul Wurth:

Talk about him and that’s just a whole-

Matt Risinger:

it’s a whole thing, it’s just a repost on Instagram that just keeps getting-

Paul Wurth:

Exactly.

Matt Risinger:

Reposted in the mirror.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Oh man. That’s great.

Tom Houghton:

Speaking of mirrors.

Paul Wurth:

Oh, good transition.

Tom Houghton:

Thanks.

Matt Risinger:

Oh man, Tom knows..

Tom Houghton:

Let’s talk about some of the great-

Paul Wurth:

What a pro.

Tom Houghton:

Products that we have here at the International Builders’ Show. I’m sure you’ve been around the trade show floor. It’s massive.

Matt Risinger:

There’s a lot to see here.

Tom Houghton:

You haven’t recovered to the International Builders’ Show. You need to come check it out.

Matt Risinger:

Yep.

Paul Wurth:

You should. Next year it’s in Orlando.

Tom Houghton:

Yes.

Paul Wurth:

I think the rotation is every two years now. So that’ll be in Vegas, Vegas, which we just had them in Orlando, Orlando. But it’ll blow your mind how big it is, right?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

Yes.

Paul Wurth:

That’s probably the first thing.

Matt Risinger:

It’s crazy.

Paul Wurth:

I think some many people have told me this, if you just walked a normal pace down every aisle, try to see every vendor, you couldn’t do it in three days.

Matt Risinger:

Is that right?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, so that’s how big it is.

Matt Risinger:

That’s crazy.

Tom Houghton:

So I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of great products around, in the building science world what are you excited about right now?

Matt Risinger:

Oh man, that’s a great question, Tom. I haven’t seen any breakthrough this year. I was here two, three years ago and this is super nerdy, but have you ever heard of AeroBarrier?

Tom Houghton:

We talked about it actually on our last podcast.

Matt Risinger:

Did we?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

AeroBarrier is a relatively new product. It’s an aerosol-ized caulk that fills all the cracks and crevices in your house and really air tightens your house. And I saw it here first at a show. They were in the junkiest cheapest booth in the back that I happened to walk by one day and was like, “What is this?” And it’s a total game changer and they’ve blown up. in the two, three years since then. I haven’t seen that AeroBarrier product yet this year, that’s the game changer.

Matt Risinger:

But I have seen a lot of incremental stuff that I’ve liked. And honestly, one of the things I love about the builders show is all the vendors that you might consider in one spot. For instance, builders, when it comes to showrooms for windows and doors, there’s a million of them around town and you have to drive forever to see them all whereas here, if I want to go see Anderson, Jeld-Wen, Marvin them. Boom, they’re all in one area.

Matt Risinger:

I can visit each one and say, “Okay, I got this project this kind of budget. What do you fit? What’s new? What are the differences? What’s the fit and finish of this and that. And visiting those is really fun. So for instance, Jeld-Wen has a new product that’s a composite window. I’m going to use it on my personal project. It’s really crisp. It has very crisp wood, interior feeling, but it’s a composite product. It’s basically wood, fiber and polymer together combined, but they’ve done a really good job and they’ve got black on black, which builders love.

Tom Houghton:

Nice.

Matt Risinger:

That’s what I’m using on my house.

Paul Wurth:

Why do builders love black on black?

Matt Risinger:

It’s a super-hot trend is black windows with black interiors. Black on the outside, black on the inside.

Paul Wurth:

Oh wow.

Matt Risinger:

And the one thing… What’s up Brad from AMT Construction walking by we got a celebrity, right here.

Tom Houghton:

Wow.

Paul Wurth:

All the celebrities in the house.

Tom Houghton:

We’re talking about you.

Matt Risinger:

Celebrity, we’re talking about you, Brad, celebrity.

Brad:

[inaudible]

Matt Risinger:

He’s a total celeb.

Paul Wurth:

Yes he is.

Matt Risinger:

Anyways, the black-on-black thing though, a lot of window manufacturers will have black outside, but when you open the window, it’s a big white channel.

Paul Wurth:

Oh, that’s what I was confused about. So it’s just, the whole thing is black.

Matt Risinger:

The whole thing is black.

Paul Wurth:

Not the glass.

Tom Houghton:

Not the glass.

Matt Risinger:

You don’t black out glass it’s not quite as exciting. You could spray paint it if you want to.

Paul Wurth:

Put a little tint on there. So I have a question, I’ve always wondered this. If you were saying, “You’re a builder, you’d never been to the International Builders’ Show here’s why you should come.” When you’re going to those window manufacturers are you trying to get to know them in general? Are you trying to find out new products? Or like you said, I wouldn’t have thought of this, you’re actually talking about a specific project that you want.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah. It’s both Paul. A lot of it’s specific projects you have in mind and that’s the beauty of these kinds of shows is you got, a remodel on a new build and this coming up and you’re trying to figure out what do I recommend? What do I do? What are the options out there? Oh I ran into this vendor and even though they were… I didn’t even know them. I never heard their name and they had some really nice products.

Matt Risinger:

And sometimes you walk by something and realize, “Oh, that could solve a problem for me. That’s really cool.”

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, so it’s like awareness.

Matt Risinger:

You’re in the tech area here, right?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

You have an issue with, whatever it is, change orders or billing clients or invoicing or AP or AR. Hey guys, Buildertrend, how would this work in my business, I do $2 million of remodeling, would this even help me? And then you guys will sit down with a person for 15 minutes and ask them about their business. Okay. Let’s see whether this would help you or not.

Paul Wurth:

That’s exactly right, yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And having that face to face… And I do that, whether it’s a window manufacturer, a technology company. The key though is finding someone knowledgeable and I’ll tell you, I’ll give you guys credit. When you come to the Buildertrend booth you talk to someone who’s knowledgeable. And several booths we’ve been really frustrated at the show like, “Oh, I’d actually don’t know the answer to any of those questions.” And our one tech guy has five people waiting to talk to him.

Paul Wurth:

[crosstalk] lead from you.

Matt Risinger:

Sorry. You’re like, “What? No. I need to talk somebody knows what they’re talking about.” One of my guys specifically mentioned NanaWall and they went to the NanaWall booth and some dude there was… Hugo is with me, one of my builders was like, “Dude, that guy was unflappable. He could not be flapped. I asked them 10 questions that were really hard questions. He knew the exact answer to all of them.” He was the legit knowledgeable guy there.

Tom Houghton:

That’s good.

Matt Risinger:

That’s what builders like.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

Especially if you can get a card from that guy too.

Paul Wurth:

He’s your contact from now on?

Matt Risinger:

Yeah, you got a question, all right, maybe you’re not based in Austin like I am, but I can call you and go, “Hey, I got this issue with this house. What product do I need? What’s how do I fix this?” Or, or frankly, I’ve got an issue with your product. How do I get some service on it or whatever. And then you have a name and a face.

Paul Wurth:

So that got me thinking when you’re a builder, as you are now.

Matt Risinger:

I am a builder.

Paul Wurth:

Yes you are.

Tom Houghton:

He checked that box.

Paul Wurth:

Check. How do I want to phrase this? What value do you bring in new ideas to your client? Or is there value there? Does that make sense? Like for me, I’m not really interested in new ideas. I probably have it in my head already. If I was going to build a house, I want that.

Matt Risinger:

Sure.

Paul Wurth:

But is there a value, I guess saying as my builder, “Hey Paul, have you thought about this awning with the copper?” And showing people that.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah, that’s a great question Paul. Well, it really depends cause we’re such a diverse community among builders. So for me, I’m an old school general contractor where I don’t do any design work. I don’t do any interiors. All I do is build for you.

Paul Wurth:

Right?

Matt Risinger:

And my value to you, if you’re my client, is that you’ve already hired an architect. You’ve already hired an interior designer. I’m going to review those plans with a really critical eye and go, “Hey, this selection, this type of architecture, this, whatever, I’ve had this, this, and this issue with it. I’m willing to do it, but I really want to make this, this or this change to make sure that we don’t have a problem down the line.” Or have you thought of this, which is a similar look that may not have this issue or even of course, every builder deals with budget, right?

Matt Risinger:

Guys, I’ve said this several times, even in my talks. No matter what your price point is, whether you’re building $50,000 kitchens or $5 million houses, the first budget you present to a client is always too much.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And they never can understand why you would recommend taking their six-car garage down to a four car garage to save money because I have to have it. Their $250,000 media room, could we drop 50,000 on that budget? No, I need that media room. I can’t live without that.

Paul Wurth:

Right.

Matt Risinger:

So, we’re always dealing with that pressure from clients. And that’s where our value comes as builders. But there are a ton of builders here. My buddy, Nick Schiffer at and NS Builders, he’s doing some design build, he’s building cabinets, he’s doing all kinds of stuff for clients. He’s not really doing design build per se. On some of his jobs, he is. He brings a lot of value and those other aesthetic issues that he brings and he’s a savvy guy and there’s a lot of builders like him that are doing design as well as build.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And I think for those builders, this isn’t even a more critical show to not miss.

Paul Wurth:

To bring that strategy, new product. Have you thought about this?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, it’s great because it’s a great place to meet other builders, right?

Matt Risinger:

That’s the other thing we haven’t even talked about. It’s awesome.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly. We’re even seeing that here at the booth? I just had a conversation earlier with Chris Gorman from Chris Gorman Homes. Chris was here and we had, some people had stopped by the booth said, “What’s Buildertrend?” And he’s a Buildertrend user and he immediately jumped in before I could even start saying, “Let me tell you about Buildertrend.”

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, there’s a lot of cool meetup stuff here. Did you guys do something recently?

Matt Risinger:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

What do you guys do?

Matt Risinger:

So, Monday night before the show started about 25, 20, 30 builders, probably just builders. Nothing else, no manufacturers, met for dinner.

Paul Wurth:

Awesome.

Matt Risinger:

And we’ve been doing that for two or three years now. And the group’s grown a little bit, it’s all dudes that I know from Instagram. And sometimes I’m like, “Oh, you’re in Northern Build Pro. I’ve no idea what you look like, but I love your Instagram feed. You’re awesome.” And man, this community… I think there’s not too many markets. There’s not too many industries in America that have the common comradery that builders have. But honestly it hasn’t always been that way.

Paul Wurth:

Right.

Matt Risinger:

When I started in this business 25 years ago. And then when I transitioned 15 years ago to my own company, there’s a lot of hesitant people to share their secrets, to talk to the competition. Even people in other markets. But we also didn’t have Instagram 15 years ago.

Paul Wurth:

Right there wasn’t a medium to do this.

Matt Risinger:

So, now I can ask a builder in Idaho, “Hey, what do you charge? How do you do your pre-construction agreements? What’s your strategy on change orders?” And he doesn’t feel the pressure of, “Hey, I might compete for the same job next week with this guy.” He knows I have no skin in the game. He’s not going to lose any business to me, vice versa. So we can be really real and honest with each other and honestly care about each other. And man, that’s your brother love right there.

Paul Wurth:

That’s huge.

Matt Risinger:

Builders who care about each other and are willing to share those quote, unquote “secrets” with each other.

Paul Wurth:

When I was on the front lines, selling this 14 years ago, it was a lot of, “Hey, don’t tell somebody I’m using Buildertrend.” There was no sharing at all. And then this has really changed that, which is great.

Matt Risinger:

It’s been good.

Tom Houghton:

Speaking of sharing, let’s transition really quick. We got some questions from some of our followers.

Matt Risinger:

Oh yeah. Let’s do it Tom.

Tom Houghton:

You ready to answer some questions?

Matt Risinger:

Q and A baby.

Paul Wurth:

Oh my.

Tom Houghton:

We go. So from @Greensidedesignbuild, they ask, “Do you Matt, plan to address or spotlight any healthy home initiatives on your channels?

Matt Risinger:

Oh man.

Tom Houghton:

Thoughts about that?

Matt Risinger:

Oh man. Yeah, that’s a great question. Who was that from again?

Tom Houghton:

From @Greensidedesignbuild.

Matt Risinger:

Greenside Design Build. All right. So not to knock his name, because he’s got the word green in his name, but one little comment I would make is when I started my blog, which was before YouTube, even like 2007, I called myself Matt Risinger in the green building blog. And if you came to IBS in 2005 to 2008, every manufacturer is was talking about how green they were. There’s a bunch of green booths. A bunch of pictures of the planet on there.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

And so I started this bog, Matt Risinger in the green building blog and I and green building is basically high performance building, but Oh, by the way, we’re also doing things in a sustainable way, in a smart way, in a healthier way. But the word green is totally dead in my mind. People won’t pay for green. They never did. That’s why we transitioned out of it. It’s a buzzword that means nothing now.

Matt Risinger:

So then we transitioned to high performance houses and we’re still in that phase right now where a lot of us talk about ourselves as high performance builders. But I think the new thing that we’re going to start talking about more and more is actually healthy builders. Builders who build healthy. I heard somebody quote yesterday and I’m sure I can’t tell you who attributes the quote to, but they basically said our houses are basically sheds for our families to store our families. If you’re going to store your family somewhere, when you want to store them somewhere, that’s healthy.

Tom Houghton:

Sure.

Matt Risinger:

Of our days on earth, 40% of them or something are spent in our bed. So how healthy would you want your bedroom air quality if you’re going to spend 40% of your lives hours there?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Wow.

Matt Risinger:

If you keep those things in mind, I think there’s a lot to be said about building a healthier, smarter house with really good indoor air quality. That’s going to be a place that your kids, whether they have asthma or not, are really healthy and thriving. And it’s interesting too, on a side note to that. Have you seen the Sekisui House guys that are here? That’s that Japanese company that did the show house that’s off property here. Japanese company that bought Woodside homes in America a couple of years ago. Woodside is a largish production builder and the offsite house that’s built right outside of town that I visited last week before the show started, the Sekisui House or the Chowa house. I forgot what they call it. Anyways, their whole point is a really healthy house is a happy house. That you should grow in age in place and should be just as healthy 30 years from now as it is today.

Matt Risinger:

That really resonates with me. And it’s funny how sometimes, not always, sometimes the Europeans, the Japanese are a little ahead of us on this.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, for sure.

Tom Houghton:

And it’d be interesting to see how they’re marketing their new houses in Japan or Germany or some of these other places and what they’re using to sell. Because when you go to those markets, they are not building 200 square foot houses. I mean, they are building probably 500 and up per square foot or more. And for them it’s all about the envelope, the shell, the durability, the healthiness. What’s this going to be like when I pass it on to my grandkids someday? Because I’m not thinking about this because I’m going to move in three years. I’m thinking about this because my third generation Risingers are going to live in this house. That’s a whole different mindset.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah that is. That’s cool. So you’re already thinking about grandkids, huh?

Matt Risinger:

I hope so, man. My oldest just turned 14.

Paul Wurth:

Oh man.

Matt Risinger:

But I turned 50 this year, Paul. I know you’ve been acting like this is-

Tom Houghton:

50th episode, 50 year old Matt. There you go.

Matt Risinger:

Here’s the, here’s the funny story on that though. I’m actually 47, but one of the guys I work with, Pete’s like, “Hey man, happy 50.” And I was like, “Dude, I’m only 47.” He’s like, “Matt, if I asked you what time it was and it was 12:47, would you tell me it’s 12:47? You would say it’s 12:50, wouldn’t you?”

Paul Wurth:

Oh man.

Matt Risinger:

He’s like, “You get it on the back end though. When you’re 53, people are still going to say, “Hey, it’s 1250.”

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

You’re 50.

Matt Risinger:

So for the next six years, I’m 50 years old.

Tom Houghton:

I love it.

Paul Wurth:

I’m 50. And they had like a skit [crosstalk 00:27:24].

Matt Risinger:

Who was that actress on Saturday Night Live who did that?

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, I’m 50.

Matt Risinger:

I’m 50.

Paul Wurth:

We’ll get that little clip, no we’ll probably have copyrights. Probably, I can’t do that. Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

Probably can’t. That’d be awesome.

Tom Houghton:

Just YouTube it.

Matt Risinger:

Go to YouTube.

Tom Houghton:

And then while you’re there, why don’t you subscribe to Matt’s channel-

Paul Wurth:

Oh nice.

Tom Houghton:

In case you haven’t subscribed.

Paul Wurth:

And Buildertrend’s.

Matt Risinger:

Good transition, Tom.

Tom Houghton:

And Buildertrend.

Paul Wurth:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Tom Houghton:

Oh yeah to our YouTube channel. We absolutely do. We have got some great content on there now.

Matt Risinger:

YouTube.com/Buildertrend?

Tom Houghton:

Yes, that’s us.

Matt Risinger:

Excellent.

Tom Houghton:

How about you? Why don’t you share yours?

Matt Risinger:

YouTube.com/MattRisinger.

Tom Houghton:

Boom. There you go.

Paul Wurth:

Let’s go.

Tom Houghton:

Hey, I think we’ve got time for maybe one or two more questions, is that cool with you Matt?

Matt Risinger:

Oh I like it, Tom, let’s do it.

Tom Houghton:

Okay. Ritchie Home Builders, they asked, “How do you introduce Buildertrend and all of its features into your team? What did that look for you?”

Matt Risinger:

Oh man. So I’ve got a bigger team than I used to have a few years ago. So I’ve got basically four chiefs that run my two companies. I have a company that does my videos and my video production in my website. And I have another company that’s my home building company. And man, my chiefs did an amazing job. And I had what I would call a champion. I had a team of people choose Buildertrend this wasn’t a, “Hey, Matt’s telling me I have to do this.” And that was critical for my success.

Matt Risinger:

I basically had a four-man team or I should say a two woman, two man team that chose Buildertrend. And so that crew really were the ones that implemented Buildertrend. But I’ll tell you, it was critical for us is we had to of your guys come down and as offsite consultants and I’m sorry, I don’t remember their names. They were amazing. They spent two full days with us and that was probably two or three months after we implemented it. And that was critical to success. That is money well spent. It wasn’t that much money as a builder. You should definitely spend that money to have the onsite.

Paul Wurth:

There’s something that when somebody comes into your environment and really understands physically how you guys do things as well as your processes. I think things click a little faster that way.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

It’s worth the investment. Yeah.

Matt Risinger:

The uptake after that was really quick and really good for us.

Paul Wurth:

That’s great.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Good stuff. One last question.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah lets do it, Tom.

Paul Wurth:

Final one.

Tom Houghton:

This is from Ben Horning of BH Design and Build he asked, “What is your favorite thing about Buildertrend?

Paul Wurth:

Besides the podcast.

Tom Houghton:

And besides us which is part of the podcast.

Paul Wurth:

Besides Tom.

Tom Houghton:

And you.

Paul Wurth:

Okay.

Matt Risinger:

Mainly Paul, but a little bit, Tom.

Paul Wurth:

There you go, nice.

Matt Risinger:

For me, honestly, the biggest issue that Buildertrend’s helped me with is change orders and change order management. I have lost, I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars on bad change order issues. Whether it was that they didn’t get written up early enough, whether they didn’t get signed. There’s a whole podcast episode where I could spill the beans on my dumbness over the years with change orders, because I’m a cost-plus builder. Just cause you think you have a cost-plus contract, that’s a really good one that says here’s the cost. You pay them and then you pay me. That doesn’t mean you actually happens that way.

Paul Wurth:

Right?

Matt Risinger:

And so having Buildertrend and a really organized and technology solution to change orders, I mean, that’s a game changer for us.

Paul Wurth:

That’s one everybody shares that pain. I mean, I think if you’re in construction for any amount of time, you’ve gotten dinged on change orders.

Matt Risinger:

No doubt. And whether you’re a $50,000 kitchen remodeler or a $5 million builder, you are going to get dinged on a change order and it’s going to be painful.

Paul Wurth:

The pain scales. So just cause you it’s $500 on a $50,000 change order, that hurts.

Matt Risinger:

Oh man.

Paul Wurth:

A couple of hundred thousand on or whatever.

Matt Risinger:

And there’s a million mistakes you can make, but having a really organized easy system to do them in the field with your iPad and even get a signature right there. Now you guys have some payment options as well. Like the Rocket Loan guys are here too.

Paul Wurth:

Yep.

Matt Risinger:

And you guys make it really, really good for me.

Paul Wurth:

That’s awesome. That was three features that are your favorite within one.

Tom Houghton:

That’s good.

Matt Risinger:

It really wrapped back to change orders though. Well, maybe you should think about a change order podcast.

Paul Wurth:

I like it.

Matt Risinger:

Top five dumb things that I’ve done on change orders or not done on change orders. Mark it down, Tom.

Paul Wurth:

Teaser.

Tom Houghton:

Already down.

Matt Risinger:

Q2 2020.

Tom Houghton:

Stay tuned.

Matt Risinger:

Matt’s dumb issues that he’s made over the years.

Paul Wurth:

It’ll be our most popular episode. Wait, how about that? On that episode, we’ll all come through. I’ll just talk about mistakes I’ve made in my life.

Tom Houghton:

I’ll do top five things that we’ve made mistakes in.

Paul Wurth:

Then maybe I’ll just get my wife on here. She’s got it just rattled off.

Matt Risinger:

That’ll definitely be the biggest downloaded podcast ever.

Paul Wurth:

It will be.

Matt Risinger:

Paul’s personal life, his mistakes.

Paul Wurth:

Paul’s mistakes.

Matt Risinger:

We want to peek under the covers, Paul, and find out.

Paul Wurth:

How do I get it down to five?

Matt Risinger:

Yeah. That’s the problem. Me too on change orders unfortunately.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Well, if you enjoyed this episode with Matt, don’t forget to check out our other episode with him earlier. We spoke a little bit on change orders.

Matt Risinger:

Yeah a little but.

Tom Houghton:

We talked a little bit more building science, that’s episode 21. So make sure you check that out. Matt, thank you so much for coming on the show again. We always love chatting with you. We of course wish you success in both of your businesses.

Matt Risinger:

Thanks Tom, I appreciate that.

Tom Houghton:

Don’t forget to check out the Build Show Network. It’s just buildshownetwork.com.

Paul Wurth:

Yep. That’s awesome.

Matt Risinger:

You got it. Thanks guys. Appreciate y’all having me have a good rest of IBS 2020.

Paul Wurth:

That’s right. We’re about halfway through.

Tom Houghton:

That’s right.

Paul Wurth:

Thanks Matt.

Matt Risinger:

My gosh, that’s right halfway through. All right boys. We’ll see y’all later.

Paul Wurth:

Thanks.

Tom Houghton:

Thanks.

Tom Houghton:

Love what you heard? Don’t forget to rate and subscribe to our podcasts so you can hear from more guests that will benefit your business. Also, please check out our show notes page for more information on what we discussed on this episode. You can find it at buildertrend.com/podcast. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time on “The Building Code.” Appreciate you.