Builder Stories

Welcome to Builder Stories, the podcast where builders, remodelers, and contractors share their personal and business journeys. Come learn from the stories of successful entrepreneurs who share how they got started, how they found success, and the lessons learned along the way. Your host, Eric Fortenberry, has successfully built two businesses, one in software and one in construction. He is now the Founder and CEO of JobTread Software, a construction estimating and project management platform that has helped thousands of builders and contractors sell and manage over $1 billion in construction jobs.

Builder Stories is a business podcast hosted by Eric Fortenberry, with 158 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 83.

Eric Fortenberry hosts Builder Stories, a business show with 158 episodes published.

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  Episode #158

  How to Invest in Marketing When You Cant Fully Prove It's Working | Ashley Wainscott of Simply Home

  Sep 23, 202654 min

  Ashley Wainscott built Simply Home for years on referrals and relationship marketing alone. In recent years she made a real investment in SEO, paid ads, and video content, even without a clean way to prove any of it was converting. She talks about the shift from scripted, robotic video to something rawer, and what her content looks like today. In this episode she breaks down her current lead mix and the rule she uses to decide whether a new marketing channel is worth keeping. In this episode you will learn: Why Ashley believed relationships alone would carry her business, until they stopped being enough How she turned her direct competitors into one of her most reliable sources of new clients The shift from scripted, robotic video to something rawer, and what her content looks like now What she spends each month on video content with no clear way to prove it converts The rule of thumb she uses to decide whether a new marketing channel is worth keeping Resources: Hear the full conversation on Builder Stories. Learn more about Ashley's work here .

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  Episode #157

  Where Americans Are Moving and the Homes They Want to Build | Jared Davis of Architectural Designs

  Sep 16, 202650 min

  Jared Davis left Stripe to take over a family business that sells house plans to builders across the US and Canada. Today Architectural Designs represents 28,000 plans from around 200 designers and sells to tens of thousands of builders every year. In this conversation he shares what that buying data reveals about regional growth and shifting design tastes. He also makes the case that a stock plan can get a builder to a custom design faster than starting from scratch. In this episode you will learn: Why the "pre-drawn" stigma is costing builders time in preconstruction The question to ask before hiring an in-house designer The home style that dominated the last decade and what's replacing it The regions where home building growth is spiking, according to what people are buying What a life-size floor plan walkthrough revealed about how buyers decide Resources: Hear the full conversation on Builder Stories. Learn more about Architectural Designs h ere.

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  Episode #156

  Meet the 30 AI Agents Running in the Background of a Remodeling Company | Jeremy Wood of Neil Kelly Company

  Sep 9, 20261h 6m

  An agent is just a program that runs on a timer and does one job for you. IT Director Jeremy Wood has about 30 of them working inside of a large, 80 year old design build firm that handles projects from handyman jobs to whole-house remodels. They sync the CRM, process AP, reconcile vendor invoices, check estimates against scopes of work, and much more. Here, Jeremy explains what agents are, how to run them, and why the version most people picture is the version you should never build. He even used agents to select construction software and had a graded shortlist of options before he ever spoke to a salesperson. In this episode you will learn : What an AI agent really is in plain language, and why the simplest ones are doing the most valuable work at Neil Kelly The one thing Jeremy refuses to let AI do in a business process, and what he has it do instead What Jeremy learned he was really building when he thought he was building agents The three levels of company technology, and why agents only work if the bottom two are solid Why mid-size companies are falling behind smaller ones on AI right now, and how a small shop can turn that into an advantage Resources: Hear the full conversation on Builder Stories. Learn more about the Neil Kelly Company here .

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  Episode #199

  Turning $100,000 in Debt Into a Thriving Remodeling Business | Todd Milton of Milton Construction Company

  Sep 2, 202652 min

  Todd Milton inherited his father's sterling reputation as an Appomattox, Virginia home builder, then nearly ran the company into the ground. He then attended a two-day conference that exposed how badly he had been pricing jobs, and that same year he closed the books $100,000 in debt. He rebuilt his pricing, rewrote his contract into something that protected him, and slowly turned a business run off a legal pad into one with real financial software behind it. Today he's learning when and how to step back and let his team lead. In this episode you will learn: The pricing myth he believed for nearly a decade that bled his company dry The unconventional method he used to climb out of six figures in debt The formula that finally showed him what he actually needed to charge to turn a profit How long it really took before his marketing investment started paying off The advice from a client that changed the way he leads his team Resources: Hear the full conversation on Builder Stories. Learn more about Todd's work here .

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  Episode #154

  Rebuilding the Business Every Time You Outgrow It | Canon Baldridge of Integria Construction

  Aug 26, 20261 hour

  Canon Baldridge started Integria in 2023 with no connections in California and no book of business to fall back on. Every hire since has forced him to redefine his own role, from hands on tools to project management to marketing and sales. He has assembled a stack of software and outside partners piece by piece, adding each one only when the last version of the business stopped working. Three years in he is rebranding as a design build firm because a run of change orders proved the model itself had outgrown its usefulness. In this episode you will learn: The software stack Canon runs a four person company on, and the one piece he preaches like the gospel The outside partners Canon relies on for clarity, branding, and administrative help How Canon divides work between a virtual assistant and AI so neither one runs unchecked The weekly meeting he and his wife have not missed in two years, and the $200 rule that guarantees it The two words Canon says every owner needs before they can build anything worth keeping Listen to the full episode and learn more about Integria here .

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