“As humans I think we appreciate things more when we know it was crafted by another human being...by someone who cares and takes pride in their work” Eric Ruggiero grew up in the trades but early on he knew he didn’t want to continue with the status quo of the construction industry. Our dm’s get pretty colorful! Eric is Passive House certified but his belief in healthy, efficient homes doesn’t just mean abiding by that standard. It’s personal. Never having attended college, he self-edifies and has a number certifications. He knows that building takes intelligence, experience and wisdom and sees no reason why contractors and tradespeople should not be seen as professional! Nobody questions the price of the architect, engineer or doctor but they love to try to bargain us down! Certifications earn respect. He quit the union and started his own business with no business experience. We hit on some of his struggles on the office side (eternal struggle for the contractor) and what he has found to work for him and how it increased his confidence moving to the next contracts. His vision for Biophilic Build is to take existing space in a home and transform it using elements from the local environment…I’ll let him explain. People with ADHD are three times as likely to start there own business. Expectation management is a common pitfall. What’s your style? How do we get people to pay more money for less waste? At the end of the day, everything can’t be built by robots.
Mike Knoche has been running his general contracting business for 16 years. It's been trial by fire and in The Contracting Handbook, Mike shares his successes, his failures and asks other industry leaders to join him in a discussion of how to run a contracting business! The Contracting Handbook podcast discusses the behind the scenes running of a small contracting company. It’s everything from starting up, working with employees, subcontractors, and clients. Remember, it won’t just be Mike’s perspective as he will talk to contractors from all over the world about theirs too! Why the world over? Because through his travels in the off season he’s come to see that contractors everywhere have similar business needs, struggles, and ideas in common. We a are a global community of builders! Contact Mike at info@thecontractinghandbook.com for questions, comments, or to be interviewed.
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Host: Mike Knoche
Website: The Contracting Handbook
Instagram: @thecontractinghandbook
Venmo: Mike-Knoche-1
Guest: Eric Ruggiero
Insta: @biophilicbuild