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Contractor Growth Network: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Logan Shinholser
Growing up as the son of a successful contractor, Logan experienced firsthand the benefits of a healthy contracting business: less stress, more money, and more time for family. Now Logan runs Contractor Growth Network to help guide you on your journey to create a strong and reliable contracting business for your family.Interested in learning more? Visit contractorgrowthnetwork.com or join our Facebook group, Common Sense Contracting, today.
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- 4 days ago59 min
#493 Hiring, Firing, and Hard Conversations (ft. Squirrel Solutions)
Most remodelers call an HR person when something is already on fire. Somebody quit, somebody needs to be fired, or a role has been empty for three months and the owner is covering it at 9pm. In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan Shinholser sits down with Bryan Williams, owner of Squirrel Solutions, a fractional HR and operations firm working with remodelers and custom builders across the country. Bryan's whole premise is that the hire is almost never the actual problem. When an owner calls him about a designer or a project manager, his first move is to figure out whether it's a hiring gap — not enough hours in the day — or a role design gap, where the work is unclear and another body just adds confusion. He walks through the time study he uses to tell them apart, and the client in New York who set out to hire a project manager and ended up hiring an estimator instead. From there the conversation turns to the stuff owners already know they should do and keep putting off. Job descriptions dated 2016. KPIs nobody checks. The performance conversation that should have happened three years ago and is now costing real money. Bryan lays out the people audit he runs before pushing any change through a company, why he identifies his cheerleaders before he announces a decision, and the "I do, we do, you do" onboarding framework he uses instead of trial by fire — including how to run it when you only close three custom homes a year and don't have enough at-bats to train on. Logan pushes back throughout on what's realistic for a 20-person shop versus what sounds good on paper. The section on niceness versus kindness is worth the listen on its own. If you've been avoiding a hard conversation with a long-tenured employee because you're worried they'll quit, this episode gives you the case for having it this week instead of three years from now. Resources Mentioned in the Video: Squirrel Solutions https://solvethesquirrel.com/ 00:00 Where the name Squirrel Solutions comes from 05:36 The hiring gap vs. the role design gap 06:58 HR as preventative care instead of an ER visit 11:01 Job descriptions from 2016 and new hires who fail on arrival 18:58 Putting a number on every seat: 29:00 The people audit 34:39 "Allow an adult to be an adult" 45:41 I do, we do, you do: onboarding without trial by fire 55:14 Performance reviews and rocks
- 2 weeks ago47 min
#492 4 Stories to Add to Your Sales Toolbelt (ft. Mark Dixon)
Shownotes Most sales training tells you to talk about your past projects. Mark Dixon talks about spaghetti. In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan Shinholser sits down with Mark Dixon, co-owner of Odd Fellows Contracting in Michigan and a remodeler with more than 40 years in the trade. Logan first heard Mark speak at the Rise Conference earlier this year and expected a talk about project storytelling. Instead he got Italian food. Mark walks through the three analogies he actually uses in the field: the spaghetti dinner that explains why nobody can price an addition over the phone, the client who told him remodeling is exactly like giving birth to a baby, and the tomato aisle that dismantles the "all remodelers are the same" objection without ever mentioning what remodeling costs. The conversation gets into the mechanics, not just the metaphors. Mark explains why he asks questions inside the story instead of narrating it, how he lands on four possible decisions at the end of the spaghetti dinner — including the fourth one, going hungry, that nobody ever picks. He talks about when he chooses not to tell the story at all. There's a stretch on why he uses clients' real first and last names when he tells these stories in someone's living room, plus the dumpster he wrapped in a three-foot red bow and the kids' drywall paintings he cut out and framed as a closing gift. Logan pushes on where a contractor who isn't a natural storyteller should begin, and Mark's answer starts at the dinner table with your own family. If you've ever watched a homeowner's face go blank while you explained your design process, this episode gives you three stories you can borrow and a method for building your own. Timestamps: 00:00 — Why every story Mark tells comes back to food 00:55 — Two guys doing odd jobs: how Odd Fellows got its name 03:06 — The spaghetti story: what happens when you push the cart together 06:33 — You don't know the price until you get to the checkout 11:47 — The four decisions every homeowner makes, including the one nobody picks 14:52 — Read the room first: when Mark skips the story entirely 19:29 — A client tells Mark that remodeling is like giving birth 26:37 — Not all tomatoes are created equal 33:38 — The dumpster with a three-foot red bow on it 45:24 — Where to start if telling stories feels unnatural
- Aug 19, 20261h 1m
#491 Marketing Your Job to Sell the Next One (RISE Summit '26)
Your next project is probably within a mile of the one you're finishing right now. In this live session, Logan Shinholser breaks down how to systematically market the neighborhood you're already working in. It starts with a story about his neighbor Bo — a basement remodel, a nerdy Gantt chart, a Friday pizza party, and four of that contractor's yard signs appearing within a half mile over the next few months. The problem with the Bo model is that it depends on Bo. So the whole session is about taking what happens offline, by luck, and rebuilding it as something you actually control. Logan walks through five stages — pre-construction, day one, during construction, project complete, and on repeat — with roughly 20 tactics spread across them. Ask for photography access before demo starts, not after you've been in someone's house for six months. Shoot before photos from the exact angles your photographer will use at the end. Size your yard sign to the size of your projects, then strip the copy off it, because nobody reads your license number at 45 miles an hour. Paperclip a real gift card to your door hanger, not a $5 Starbucks card, which is worse than giving nothing. Film your process videos on the job site instead of in your home office. And when the job's done, turn it into a featured project page — the page everything else points back to, from social posts to $5-a-day geo-targeted ads that act like virtual yard signs around neighborhoods you want to be in. The back half gets into the five types of after photos every project needs, why a real-estate-photographer look actively hurts you, why videography is a 4.0 problem and not where your next marketing dollar should go, and a closing Q&A on incentivizing your project manager to actually put the sign out, plus how information gain and E-E-A-T factor into showing up in AI search. If you've ever finished a great project and had nothing to show for it three months later, this session gives you a sequence you can start on the next job you sell. Resources Mentioned in the Video: Your Guide to Great Project Photography https://youtu.be/BvwhM1gx-hY One Mile Playbook — Slides, Prompts, and Replay https://www.contractorgrowthnetwork.com/webinar/one-mile-playbook/ Timestamps: 00:00 — Bo's basement, the Gantt chart, and how one project became four yard signs 02:50 — The five stages, and why picking two tactics beats attempting twenty 04:32 — Get photography permission before the job starts, not after 07:40 — The "pardon our dust" postcard and the 25 houses that matter 10:30 — Before photos: same angles, more of them, and shoot them before demo 14:37 — Your yard sign is a truck wrap, not a magnet 19:21 — Door hangers, coffee gift cards, and the $5 Starbucks mistake 28:27 — Three kinds of job site video that actually work 35:12 — The five after photos every project needs 44:10 — Featured project pages and the virtual yard sign play
- Jul 22, 202652 min
#490 Answering Remodeler's Top Photography Questions
How do you find a good remodeling photographer — and once you've found them, how do you actually get photos worth paying for? In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Aaron Horner sits down with Luke Strappelli, a CGN client success manager, to answer the photography questions that come up over and over from remodeling clients. Aaron spent years traveling to shoot on-location photography for CGN clients and has been building a full photography guide, so this one gets tactical. They cover what actually separates a good photo from a bad one (spoiler: it's not just camera quality — it's staging and whether someone can picture themselves living in the space), why real estate photographers are the wrong fit for emotion-driven remodeling work, and what you should expect to pay — from the $200–$600 budget end up to $2,000+ day rates. Aaron breaks down the five categories of photos every remodeler needs, why high-end photographers shoot with the interior lights off, how to prep both the space and the photographer, where to find a shooter if you're in a rural area, how many photos to aim for per room, and what to do when a family has already moved back in. If you've ever looked at a beautiful remodel captured in a flat, lifeless photo and winced, this episode will show you how to stop leaving sales on the table with bad media. LINKS Photography Prep Questions Doc: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Zlnntx-JYQrcgEj9XfYy1UhWSVxWhIJ/view?usp=drive_link Photographer Sourcing Websites: findaphotographer.com https://www.asmp.org/find-a-photographer/ Today's Podcast Episdoe on Youtube https://youtu.be/VSIiBs1Exrk Youtube Photography Guide https://youtu.be/c36bz-0kdiY 🎯 Timestamps: 00:00 — Why listen to us? 03:12 — What actually makes a photo "good" 08:44 — What remodeling photography really costs 12:34 — Why pros shoot with the lights off 15:32 — Staging the space, and why it matters most 25:37 — The five types of photos every remodeler needs 30:32 — How to prep your photographer so they get the shots 34:03 — What to do when you can't find a photographer 39:04 — How to pick the right photographer from your options 42:43 — How many photos you actually need per room 44:46 — Getting photos when a family already lives there 48:00 — Can you just do it yourself or use AI?
- Jul 8, 20261h 13m
#489 Your Remodeling Business' Marketing Strategy for 2027
A year ago, in episode 466, we laid out the entire six-step marketing strategy for a remodeling company. A lot has changed since — the market has slowed, AI search has gone from a curiosity to a real force, and the tactics that used to move the needle have shifted. In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan Shinholser and Aaron Horner give you a "State of the Union" on what CGN is now doing differently for its remodeling clients, and why. The foundation hasn't changed: know your ideal client and their real problem, articulate how you solve it, back it up with strong branding and media, and tie it all together on a website that reads like a tailored resume for your business. What's changed is everything above the foundation — the traffic layer. Logan and Aaron break down how Google's AI search is reshaping SEO, why the Reddit-gaming era already came and went, and why "by the book" still wins even if it's the slowest lane. They also get into why AI writing reads like AI — it's the uniform sentence length and the talking-a-lot-about-nothing, not just the word "delve" — and what that means for how you should produce content now. From there it gets practical. As AI makes generic content effortless, the only real edge left is proof, so the whole strategy now centers on specific, real projects. Logan walks through capturing a project in a 45-minute interview instead of a fill-in-the-blank form, turning that one project into a featured project page, and then spinning it into a web of supporting content — informational blogs, "am I getting scammed?" job-to-be-done posts, cost pages with real examples — that builds topical authority and gives people (and AI) a reason to land on your site instead of a summary. Then he covers the demographic side: running social ads as "digital yard signs" that put a finished project in front of the exact neighborhood it's in. If you're doing scattered marketing tactics without an overall strategy — or you're wondering how to fold AI into your business without sounding like everyone else — this episode gives you a clear, current playbook. 00:00 — Why CGN is updating the strategy from episode 466 03:36 — The six-step framework, recapped 09:56 — Traffic: intention-based vs. demographic-based 18:10 — How AI search changed SEO, and the Reddit-gaming era 21:44 — Why AI writing actually reads like AI 26:26 — Ideal client: pick one real person, not a generic avatar 31:18 — Reverse-engineering a featured project, step by step 39:33 — Turning one project into a featured project page 48:19 — Writing content AI can't just summarize away 56:05 — "Digital yard signs": social ads to the neighbors
- Jun 24, 20261h 5m
# 488 AI Tools Built BY REMODELERS (ft. Data X)
Everyone keeps telling contractors they'll be out of business in six months if they don't adopt AI. The reality is calmer than that—and a lot more useful. In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan Shinholser sits down with Peter Ranney and Elliott Wittstruck, the founders of DataX, an AI optimization company built specifically for contractors running JobTread. Peter and Elliott come from the remodeling world themselves, and DataX started as a hodgepodge of tools they built to solve their own problems—Peter brute-forcing automations in Zapier, Elliott writing code for cash flow projection calendars. They walk through how those scrappy internal tools turned into a software company, and why the goal was never to build a business so much as to build helpful things and share them. Along the way they break down what AI actually does well in a construction business right now: receipt processing that runs while you sleep, a grammar checker that turns "bathroom color?" into a question a high-end client will actually respect, and connecting your phone system, Gmail, and Zillow data into JobTread as a single source of truth. Frontier models like Claude and ChatGPT will "brute force" a vague prompt by burning huge amounts of tokens and time—sometimes 15 to 20 minutes per question. DataX pre-defines the construction logic and JobTread tools on the back end so the same task runs 20 to 50 times more efficiently. Peter and Elliott also get into the misconceptions—the FOMO, the trap of solving problems that don't exist, and why you can't outrun a business with foundations that aren't set up yet. If you've been told AI is going to leave you behind but you don't know where to actually start, this episode gives you a grounded, contractor-specific way to think about it. Timestamps 00:00 — Meet Peter and Elliott, the founders of DataX 01:22 — Peter's origin story: from BuilderTrend to JobTread to Zapier 08:09 — Elliott's path: band director, self-taught coder, family business 14:07 — The biggest misconception: FOMO and solving problems that don't exist 14:46 — Only 0.4% of the world pays for AI—you're not behind 17:12 — How DataX acts as guardrails between you and JobTread 18:25 — The massive system prompt behind DataX (20–50x more efficient) 33:27 — The bread aisle analogy: buy tools, don't build everything 46:23 — The most-used workflow: the receipt processor 01:01:37 — Final thoughts: have AI tell the humans what to do
- Jun 10, 20261h 9m
#487 Branding for the Billion Dollar Client (ft. Vought Construction)
Everybody says they do "high end." Almost nobody looks the part. In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan sits down with Devin Vought of Vought Construction — JobTread's 2025 Builder of the Year and a luxury home builder in the Bay Area whose clients are routinely worth hundreds of millions, sometimes billions. Devin breaks down what branding actually means when your prospects can buy anything they want. It's not the logo or the tagline. It's the client journey he's engineered behind the scenes — the demo-day party, the handmade pastries waiting for a client flying in from London, the white-collar warranty guy he sends over to hang a light fixture months before a contract is ever signed. Logan ties it back to the book Selling the Invisible: in a service business, the brand is the product before you can deliver it, so every touchpoint has to prove you'll handle what the client can't see behind the drywall. They get into uniforms and the "broken windows" theory on job sites, why trash cans everywhere beats nagging your subs, removing decision fatigue for busy clients, the real ROI of a website, and why Devin is now working to make Vought Construction stand on its own — without Devin. If you've ever felt like you're doing great work but can't get clients to pay what it's worth — or you want to move upmarket but don't look like a company that belongs there — this episode shows you the small, accumulating moves that actually raise your average job size. 🎯 00:00 — Targeting billion-dollar homeowners: what this episode is about 00:34 — Devin's back, now 2025 Builder of the Year 01:04 — The Remodelers Advantage peer group that sparked this conversation 02:10 — Who Devin's clients really are (and why "high end" is watered down) 04:42 — What branding actually means — beyond the logo 05:51 — The proprietary "client journey" most clients never see 09:25 — The London client, the pastries, and the tears 11:40 — Why most contractors want to do this but never find the time 12:24 — Getting into the client's world through dinners and events 15:28 — Why hiring a customer-success role pays for itself 18:34 — Uniforms and the broken-windows theory on a job site 21:14 — Defining the "Vought way": clean, organized, respectful 22:55 — Trash cans everywhere — shaping behavior instead of nagging 26:50 — Removing friction: pods, white-glove moves, decision fatigue 31:13 — Selling the Invisible: third-party proof vs. first-party experience 34:00 — Photos that show a lived-in home, not a realtor's empty room 36:16 — Honey-do touch-ups during pre-construction as a marketing move 39:33 — The real ROI of a good logo and website 46:44 — Consistency, the Starbucks standard, and core values that ring hollow 50:13 — The pushback: "it's just price and time" 56:22 — Living into your future identity before you've earned it 59:08 — The next three years: building a company bigger than the founder 01:02:16 — How brand drives job stability and pulls talent from competitors
- May 27, 20261h 21m
#486 How to Get Cited by ChatGPT, Gemini & Claude in 90 Days
_*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> Is your remodeling company being recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude — or would you even know if it was? In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan sits down with Patrick Sculley, CGN's in-house SEO lead, to walk through a 90-day plan for getting cited in AI search. _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> They start with the basics — what "cited" actually means, why personalization is making AI results different for every searcher, and why the old SEO formula of "more reviews + more backlinks = trust" doesn't hold the same weight anymore. Then they break the 90 days into three sprints. Days 1–30: run a visibility audit, fix your service pages and About page, and figure out what the LLMs already know about you. Days 31–60: build first-party content — call recordings, FAQs, cost articles, project pages, and YouTube videos that AI can pull from. Days 61–90: spread your influence beyond your own website with reviews on Houzz and Angie, Reddit answers, association memberships, and press mentions. _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> The conversation also gets into CGN's "client brain" — the system we've been building so that every blog, page, and ad we write for a client is sourced from their actual transcripts, calls, and brand voice instead of generic keyword targeting. _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> If you've ever opened ChatGPT, asked "who's a good remodeler in my area," and not seen your name come up — this episode lays out the exact 90-day path to fix that. _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> 🎯 Timestamps _*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> 00:00 — Is your remodeling company being recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude? 02:50 — What "cited" actually means in AI search 16:09 — How realistic is 90 days, and what foundation do you need first? 19:00 — The most-crawled page on your site 24:14 — Day 1–30: how to run your AI visibility audit 30:31 — Quality vs. quantity: why pumping out blogs will backfire 33:18 — Why your search results look different from your neighbor's 47:32 — Day 31–60: turning sales-call FAQs into website content 54:51 — Inside CGN's "client brain" and why it changes what we write about 01:04:01 — Chunked indexing: why one long article can replace ten short ones 01:08:26 — Day 61–90: amplification, reviews, Reddit, and associations 01:14:54 — Do NARI and Chamber of Commerce memberships move the needle? 01:18:40 — How to re-measure your visibility at the end of 90 days
About Contractor Growth Network
Growing up as the son of a successful contractor, Logan experienced firsthand the benefits of a healthy contracting business: less stress, more money, and more time for family. Now Logan runs Contractor Growth Network to help guide you on your journey to create a strong and reliable contracting business for your family.Interested in learning more? Visit contractorgrowthnetwork.com or join our Facebook group, Common Sense Contracting, today.
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