EP131: Innovative Strategies for Home Renovations: A Conversation with Ben Strout

So when I was in high school, My dad had a, you know, Strout prestige cabinets and we would go and just slap up box cabinets in people's homes and you learn a lot. I think, honestly, from my perspective, that starting, you know, in the detailed world of construction actually really helps a lot as far as like your understanding of how things go together. Because if you start. in the framing world and start, you know, where it's really rough, then you don't necessarily get a feel for how to make things go together really tight. But I think when you start backwards, where you start where, you know, doing measure into a 32nd of an inch, measuring real tight, it actually helps you when you start doing bigger things that you got a little bit more flexibility, but, you know, having that mindset of accuracy. And true to spec dimensions on things really comes to play and it helps you do a better job.

Yeah. I think the importance of that to me also comes in when you're thinking about like tolerances. So like when you're building a staircase, you know, as a trim carpenter, you walk in and the first thing you do is you're checking all your frame and making sure that everything is true and that they haven't put things either too wide or too narrow for all the standard components that you're trying to bring into the project. Like knowing those things as an architect actually has been exceedingly helpful because now like as i'm drawing things i'm like well you get stair treads that are 36 inches long or whatever and they're supposed to fit into a stairwell that's you know going to be 38 inches wide like that might work it might not work like you you're gonna have to like look at all these different components and it really helps you have a mindset of how all the pieces fit together when you're building the project

I

I'll tell you something. Sorry. Um, one of the things that I don't think they really stress enough. in school is that you may or may not know, you may or may not need the stuff that you're learning. Like, I don't use advanced structures classes. You know, I don't use any of that information anymore. Like, it is great, whatever. But the process of learning is what you learn. And so going through five years of college, learning how to learn and learning how to like, okay, I need this information. How do I go get that information so that I can bring it to bear on the situation that we're working on right now? That's the main benefit of college to me. But now I'm very good at learning something new. Like I can go and, oh, you want me to learn about, you know, how the JAM specifications work on this door system? Okay, well, where do I get that information? I go to Pella's website, I download the information, and then I look at it and I'm like, okay, these are the constraints. These are the things that, you know. That's how, you know, that you're not necessarily using the actual math information that you learned, but you're using the ability to learn as the primary benefit of going to college and all that school.

an old guy. No, that's okay. I mean, I feel like I've heard of it, but I don't really know it.

So again, back to my intro. So in 2012, we attempted to rip the roof off of a house and frame back as fast as possible and put a second story on a house here in Birmingham, Alabama. That was not a good idea. That was the beginning of an epic failure that I would have said would have ended my decision to ever do that again in that moment. And I said, you know, that's too hard because We basically ripped the roof off of the house. It started raining. It rained for two weeks. And we lost everything in the house, like all the sheetrock, all the insulation. By proxy, we wound up having to pull all the electrical. I mean, like everything that got wet wound up having to be replaced. And so we basically gutted the main level down to the studs and had to start over on the main level. which we did not have a budget for. And, you know, there was a scene in the middle of the night one night when we were trying to keep tarps on the thing where, you know, my business partner actually like stepped into the valley of the roof on a tarp and it's raining. And that's also known as a water slide. And he went shooting off into the distance and almost died, but somehow survived. We, you know, we made it through the thing, but, you know. cost us upwards of $100,000 to fix the situation. And so from that, I was like, you know what, never doing that again. And then one night, I'm sitting on my couch after somebody else has requested for us to do it again. And I'm like, if I was going to do it again, how would I do it where I wouldn't put the house at risk? And It just kind of came to me in a flash. I was like, there's no reason to take the old roof off before you have the shell of the new roof in place. You want to have the whole house completely in the dry before you take the old roof off. There's no reason to take it off. You got to figure out a way to build the shell before you take the old roof off. And that's what we came up with. So we actually developed a system that allows these. point loads around the perimeter of the house to carry a perimeter beam that holds the entire shell of the second story of a house before you take the roof off and then you get the whole thing in the dry completely dried in and we call it the end of the story second story system and the last thing you do is take the roof off throw it out the window and then you all of a sudden you have a shell and you put your floor in put your walls in You build it kind of backwards from what you typically do, but it protects the house from ever getting any exposure. And the best part about it is that the homeowners that are living there don't actually have to move out. It's more like you're doing work on their neighbor's house. It's kind of annoying that there's construction going on on the property. But outside of that, you're not breaking through to the main level at all until the last portion of the project. And so you're actually building a whole house on top of their house. And then like as a magic act at the end, you cut the stairs in and all of a sudden they have a whole new second story on their house. And it is amazing.

let's come back more in detail.

I don't think, I think that people like to put this hard line between architecture and construction that doesn't exist. They're the same thing to me. I don't think of what I do on a daily basis is any different than what I used to do. It's just digital now. So like me putting together a house in the computer, emotionally, physically, like psycho spiritually, whatever, all feels the same as me going and picking up a skill saw and, and cutting the plywood and putting it together. Like it's the same thing to me. And I think that also really resonates with the people that I work with because, you know, I'm, I'm out on the site with the contractors, with the carpenters. And I'm like, you know, getting their feedback on how they would put it together. And then they're like, yeah, but what about this? And I'm like, yeah, let's do it this way. And working with them, helping them understand that, like, I actually understand how to build this thing. I could come and do this, but it's better for me to go and draw this for you to build it. And so really, I get a lot of street credit with all the guys that I work with because I know how to build things.

Yeah. Which obviously helps you. I feel like it's a cheat code. And I really feel like every architect should have to spend a period of time working on a job site, understanding how houses go together. Like, there's no reason that you don't have any frame of reference to draw anything if you don't know how to build it. Like, what are you drawing? Like, what do you expect somebody else to do? Like, you can't expect somebody else to come up to build the things you've drawn unless you know how to actually build it, in my mind.

Absolutely.

So, you know, when you're on these platforms, when you're on TikTok, when you're on Facebook, you know, people want to know that when they call you, they're talking to an authority. And the best way to position yourself as an authority in your space is to teach other people. things, whatever it is that you're teaching. If you're on the, you know, if you're on a platform and you're telling them how to, you know, adjust their doors or how to, you know, do something special to their home, like that's the best way to begin gaining a position of authority where people believe that what you're saying is true is to teach. And I mean, that's honestly like, been my philosophy with getting employees my philosophy with any any amount of like business is i look at myself first as a teacher and then as you know a business person and then as you know the different parts and pieces like but i'm always looking at it from an opportunity to like how do i teach something some to somebody so that they can win you know it's a i do we do you do kind of mindset with all of the different people that I work with. And that actually helps people understand that, you know, you're trying to help them learn something. And then once you, like people get like this mindset that if I give away all my good stuff, that then they're not going to pay me to, you know, to keep teaching them stuff. It's like, no, that's not how that works at all. The more you give away as far as like what you know, the more trusted you become and the more people insist that they want to work with you because I want to work with a teacher. I don't want to work with the guy that doesn't know anything. And so that's been really been my philosophy.

It's all out there. Yeah. I mean, there isn't all the information

So as, as a teacher, you're not actually, necessarily telling anybody anything new. You're more helping them parse through the volumes, the tomes that are available to them and say, no, this is the actual information that you need. Like all of this other stuff is superfluous to you in your particular situation. Like you need that information and that to be able to help somebody through that is actually really powerful.

I mean, do I know how to use it? Yes. Is it useful for me? No, because I get computer programs that do all of it now. Or I have, you know, span tables or whatever to figure out how to do all of these things. And the more that you can actually like lean into using. The stuff that's available, the faster you are, the more, you know, the more you can use non-custom parts to create custom solutions, the faster you can get to like a really great solution for a client. But you got to know where all that stuff is. And you like, that's the thing that clients come to me for is like, you know, I've got clients that where I'll be like, hey, you know. you don't need me. You can just use an interior designer to do your project. And they're like, nah, we want you to do the thing that you do, like bring all the parts together and then we'll get the interior designer to make it what it's supposed to be. Once you get all the parts together for us. I'm like, okay, I can do that. And they're willing to pay for that extra level of expertise where you've already parsed through everything for them.

When there's so many nuanced. things within my system and within your system, within any contract system that they take for granted. Like there's so many times where I'll have a friend will call me and be like, Hey, I need to do some tile on my bathroom. And I'm like, okay, so here's the tile guy's number. Just call him and he'll help you. And then, you know, months later, I'm like, how did that go? And they'll be, he never called me back. I couldn't get him to do the thing. I'm like, okay, that's not how you do this. There's a sequence of events of how you communicate with subcontractors, a sequence of events of how you get all the material there and make sure that they can do their job. And you take for granted that you know how to do that and you know how to get everything on site to do the project and make sure that everything happens the way that it's supposed to happen that most people don't know how to do. And you think it's just like second nature, but it's not. And so that is a true value that you're allowed to charge for. You need to charge for.

But to the

Well, and then the more you're able to facilitate, I guess that's been the beauty part about being an architect is that now I get to put all of the thoughts of like how to put the thing together, together with all of the components of knowing how to build a building and then creating a very cohesive documentation of what everything is going to be. And, you know, our. Our final set of construction documents are like, they are an awesome playbook. They are just like, all the information is there. If you do this, we're going to win. We're all going to win together. Just if we all stick to this set of documents together, like here's the contract, here's the contract documents, go. And people love working with me because of that, because they know that like, they have everything that they need to win. Cause that's the end of the day. Contractors just want to go win. Homeowners want to win. We all just want to go and do the project, get it done, have it be what we wanted it to be. And then everybody goes home and everybody gets paid. I'm like, that's just so simple. But the more you can help other people get what they want, the more you can charge for what you're doing.

That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

We just finished one where I went to the job site twice and it was just to see. I was like, oh, okay, everything's fine. Well, all right. And that, that was like the best one we've ever done. And it was, It was magical because I was like, they had everything that they needed to succeed. Like they had all the information that they needed, that everything specified that all the tile picked out, all the cabinets picked out, all the different components part. They're all there. They're ready to go when the project, when the project needed them. And it was just like, I felt like a symphony conductor. It was just like, and I didn't, I mean, I'm barely moving my hand and everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing. and it's just beautiful and then it's done and then you have this like oh well that was wonderful and just honestly magical for the homeowners and i just i love being part of that

I mean, I don't know how you would shortcut the situation, honestly. Like, I think that there are probably ways to shortcut it, but at the end of the day, like you have to, you have to grunt through all the different parts. Like you have to, you have to fail a lot. to, to learn, like, I've never been really very good at learning from somebody else's mistakes. Like, I like to think that I can, I can look at it and be like, Oh, you know, I shouldn't do it like that, you know, whatever. But at the end of the day, like the ones that like, punch you in the pocketbook, you're like, Oh, I'm gonna have to learn how to never do that again. Or like, know that like, when I'm communicating about a certain component of a project, like, To lean in and be like, no, you need to listen to me on this part. This thing right here. This is the hinge pin of the entire project. Like, I know it doesn't look like it, but it is. And so if we get this wrong, nothing else matters. And like, but being able to have that in your pocket only comes from failure. Like, and I don't know how to like, I don't know how to tell somebody else. how to have all that without the failures, honestly.

Yeah. The $100,000 mistake led to, uh, a new classification of architecture and, and residential real estate. Then basically with our patent, like we've unlocked the airspace above everybody's home to do it in a safe way. It was just never done in a safe way before. I'm sure that somebody else has done it similarly to what we're doing, but not in a codified way, not in a way that's just like, if you do it this way every time, you're going to have a solid solution for a homeowner to be able to get the space that they want on top of their house. I mean, basically, we're able to double somebody's square footage without them having to move, without them having to, you know, uproot their family. Like, I can't overestimate how much value it brings to the families that we're involved with. It's amazing to be part of seeing families just, like, transform. when there wasn't any other solution for them. And that's really the biggest one for me is that so many times we're working with families that like they're literally at their wits end and they can't move because of some constraining factor and they don't have the ability to do anything else. And their family is expanding and, you know, they're like, they're gonna, their whole family is like collapsing. because they're in this teeny tiny house and then all of a sudden we're able to give them this space and let them expand into this life and it's just like you go back and see them a year later and you're like oh my gosh it's not the same family like we changed their lives and that makes it like really really worthwhile to be part of it

I'm sorry. It's what I love.

So there's, there's so much of our industry where people have been injured. And there's so much trauma related to the scale of injury that happens within our industry. Because people have negative experiences with contractors and invariably they're very expensive and they're very painful for people to deal with. And so the trust level for people that are getting into construction, that are getting into this industry is very low. And so you're coming into a situation where people are, their guard is up and they're expecting to have a negative experience based on what you either heard or they've personally experienced from other projects that they've been part of. And you have to, it has been my experience that as long as you can stay on the side of the client where they believe and that you believe, that what you're doing is acting in their best interest at all times, then you can win in this industry.

Now, that may be charging more than everybody else because it allows you to do the job properly. But at the end of the day, you have to be able to look. the client in the face and say, I would rather you go find somebody else than me tell you to do it the wrong way. Like me cut corners, me do something where I'm going to injure you. Like at the end of the day, like the project's going to cost X number of dollars to do. You don't have the budget. I'm going to tell you upfront, even if that means that I don't get the project. You know, if somebody comes to me and says, you know, Hey, like my home needs to do this, this, and this. And I'm like, yeah, we can do two of those, but we're not going to get all of that. And being okay with the client saying no, giving them and giving them the truth and letting them decide for themselves is the best thing at all times. And then the chips fall where they may from that. So. That allows your clients to be like, you know what, Ben says it's going to be more expensive than this guy who just lied to me over here. But I believe that he's telling me the truth. And so I'm going to go with him anyways, even though he's more expensive. Or, you know, it's hard to tell you all of the individual circumstances where this comes to play. As your client's advocate, as your, you know, as kind of the fiduciary responsibility that you have to each of your clients, being willing to tell them the truth, whether or not that means that you get the job. And that actually winds up getting you way more work and the type of work that you will actually enjoy and the type of clients that will invite you to dinner when you're done.

It's just integrity. Having integrity as much as possible. And letting that shine through on what you're doing, even if that means injury, like in the short run, it comes back around. And people see it. You think that people aren't watching when you make something that looks like a small integrity glitch. People see it. And you know it. And if you can't lay your head on your pillow at night. with good conscience about how you've responded to each of the different parts of the project, like that's a problem. And that's a problem for you. And it's going to come through at some point in time. Like the golden rule is the rule for a reason. Like you got to treat people the way that you would want to be treated and it will come back. Like when you have a subcontractor that like goes into the world for you because he knows that you're going to continue to do a good job by him. Like, who are you going to call, you know, next time when another project comes around? It's like you're going to call the guy that went and did more than was expected of him because that was what the job needed and helped you through a certain, you know. But also the other way around. Like, you see that the subcontractor didn't have enough baked into his. into his price and you say you know what i'm going to go to the bat go to bat for you with the homeowner and say look this this wasn't we didn't have enough and so now we have that conversation and you know all of these things are hard but you do the hard thing and then everything else is easier

And that's the mark of a good leader, too, is there's no one size fits all for anything. And so you have to bring discretion and integrity to every conversation that you have. And knowing like I can handle this contractor this way and I can hold him handle this employee this way. And you have to tailor the way that you communicate as a leader specific to the audience for each audience. And it's, it's not always easy. You know, like you always have to, you have to wear different hats at all times for different people that you're working with to help them get where you want them to be and where, you know, as a leader, you need them to be.

Well, and then it's definitely not a – none of it's across the board. Like you never know what one person is dealing with on any given day. And so you think you have the same employee today that you had yesterday and you don't. Like they have different constraints in their life. You know, their family situation has changed because of X, Y, and Z. And then, you know, you have to be flexible to roll with the punches and maintain that integrity, you know, and that good leadership, which is, you know, meeting each of the people that you're dealing with at the level where they need to be met.

No, soft skills, especially today, are superpower. That's your superpower. Like, you've got to have soft skills with every relationship that you're in, and that's the only way you're going to win in business. So, I mean, soft skills and accounting. That's what you need to do if you're going to win at business.

You need to know what you're measuring and your soft skills.

Absolutely. And I think

you know

absolutely yeah i mean i had a an experience like that earlier on in my career actually when when my dad passed and I got little grace from some of my business partners and I was like, you know what? I'm going to find a different place to work. You know, it was just like you, you find out people's actual motivations in those moments and say, well, that's good to know. Now I know. But you also take notes in like, that's really important. Like that, that guy's wife just had a, you know, had a miscarriage like that's really hard like you need to let him have as much bandwidth as he needs to deal with everything that's going on with that and that's not that's not for you to judge as to like what that is even and so that that becomes like part of your job as a leader is just to like understand the nuances of those kind of um situations

But it comes back around too, though. Like now they, they know that, that you've got their back. And so when, when you have to call down a favor later, they're like, you know what? He had my back. When things were hard in that circumstance, like I know that I can trust. I mean, this is back to that trusted advisor mindset, trusted advisor with your employees and trust advisor with your clients. And the more you can put yourself into that position of like, okay, I can see how I would respond in that circumstance. Like being able to actually like have that empathy and, and understand how people are feeling in a given circumstance. Like that goes a really long way, you know, in your leadership role.

Another Story. AnotherStory. com. And we actually got the domain, which wasn't free. But we're happy about that. I hate that.

gosh. Yeah. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Let's put it that way. So I was glad we were able to get it at a reasonable price. But so we got another story. com and another story as we've talked about is kind of a really unique way to add a second story on your house without having to move out. But it's also one of the best alternatives to the real estate shenanigans that we watch, you know, happen on a daily basis and so people outgrow their homes i mean it's it's tale as old as time you know you have a young couple move into a house and it's them and a dog and you know then they have a child and they're like oh this house is okay still fit and then they have another kid and then this house is getting tight and then the third kid shows up and like well okay now it's time to move or is it it's like no well do you love your neighbors okay do you love the school system you're in okay these are good things do you love you know being part of this community that you've created right here do you really want to uproot all of that just because the house is too small now it's like not really also moving costs you a year of your life it does like i don't care who you are i don't care how good you are if you've got three kids and you think you're going to move and it is not going to take a year of your effort to move from one house to another house, you're out of your mind because that's what it's going to take. Or you can do another story and you can add a second story on your house while you live there, undisturbed. The worst part of it is when we install the staircases at the end. And so, you know, maybe go on vacation for two weeks while we're putting the staircase in. But outside of that, it's basically new construction on top of your existing construction and it's all level and true and plum and beautiful and it's really hard to overestimate all the different benefits that come with it but i'll go down kind of a list of things that we've noticed that are really important one like it's all new systems so you know you're putting a hat on the house that's well insulated new windows new hvac new everything and it's really tight and so Where you were losing a lot of heat and everything out through the roof previously, you're not anymore. Now you have this brand new hermetically sealed hat on top of your house, which is glorious. But you also have an air gap between your old house and your new house, which actually acts as a sound deadening device. So now you're putting the second story up, and typically you hear kids running around in circles upstairs. You don't hear that with the system. It's so much better. Because it's completely separate, it's isolated. There's no sound transfer because of the air gap. And so you get this awesome separate unit up top. So it could technically be a whole nother house if you want it to be. If you wanted it to be a rental unit, it could be that as well. Because you really just don't have the traditional issues that you have with having a separate unit up there. But again, All of these things happen while you stay in the house. And that part is like incalculably beneficial. How much is your time worth? How much is it worth for you to not have to move out of your house? How much is it worth for you to, you know, be able to live your life the way that you're living it. And then all of a sudden you have the house that you always wanted and you didn't have to do anything. You just had to make a couple of decisions during the design process. So that has been. Really cool to be part of that.

I tell people just anticipate it being about the same. And they're happy when it's a little bit less. It's usually a little bit less, but it doesn't. The thing that also people don't really take into consideration is when you add out the back, the thing that always happens when you add out the back is now you have these tentacles of construction that have to come back through the house to accommodate this addition that you just did. onto the back of the house. And so that means either you have to rework a bedroom, you have to make a new hallway, you have to do these other things to accommodate this thing that you've added on that you don't get any benefit from those additional costs of those tentacles that come back through the house. So those tentacles are just added cost to the cost of construction that you get nothing from. Whereas with the second story, The hardest part is determining where you're going to put that staircase. If there is an obvious place to put it, stack it on top of where the basement stairs are, which is the best. Like, okay, we've got basement stairs. Great. We don't even have to have a conversation. That's where the stairs are going to go. But if it's like, okay, the living room is kind of big, we're going to put it over here in the corner. Or, you know, the dining room is weird. It's kind of oblong, you know, one direction. We'll put it on the end of the dining room. That's the worst impact on the main level of the second story. It is really no impact. So you're not really at that cost of impact on the main level is negligible comparative to the addition cost out the back. And so you don't really have to absorb those secondary costs the same way when you're doing a second story the way we do it.

Yeah, it's all brand new. And so the best version is when you've got like a house with a crawl space or a house with a basement. So most of the time those are going to have the existing mechanicals in the crawl space. So you're not really touching any of that. So you leave that all alone. And then you put a new system on the top. that deals with whatever additional load that you're adding to the house. A lot of times it doesn't take very much more though, because what you're adding is so, so much more efficient than what was there. And so a lot of times the systems that are there are oversized to deal with the fact that the house wasn't very well insulated. The house wasn't like very well done as far as like current codes go. And so a lot of times what we'll do is we'll, do a whole house second story. And then the homeowners were also like, okay, we're going to do replacement windows as well, just to kind of like button everything up. And then all of a sudden, like the main system is barely undersized to do the whole thing. And so we're adding, you know, maybe a ton and a half upstairs to be able to do 1200 square feet, because it really doesn't take very much when everything else is already sized up.

The sub, yeah. I mean, there's, that's usually one of those ones where you have to have that, you know, a front conversation with the homeowners. Like, look, your system is a, you know,150 amp system. It's probably not going to handle what we're going to do. So we're either going to have to upgrade the old system or whatever. A lot of times it's not an issue. Like we've had it several times where they had a 400 watt. system already installed and okay 400 amp system and all we do is just put a sub panel up in the upstairs and we're good but those are conversations that we have on the front side we actually have an initial consultation that we do with homeowners called a feasibility study and in the feasibility study we assess the electrical foundations soil covenants hoa zoning all of these kind of like big ticket components that like if we are able to get over all those hurdles then we say yes your your project would be a great fit for another story or no like that doesn't really make sense for you to do that so like you spent a little bit of money you found out that it was not wise for you to move forward with this project based on these considerations or you do have do a different scale project based on these considerations

So most foundations, you know, they are, they're going to be based on your standard eight inch block foundation or, you know, whatever standard unit that you have. Those are mostly going to be based to be able to hold a two story house. The main question is the soil. And so we actually do a foundation test when we do the feasibility study where we actually go out and dig down and just test the soil to make sure that the bearing for the soil is enough to be able to hold the weight of the house. But other than that, most 8-inch CMU block wall systems are going to be sturdy enough to hold a second story.

All you need to do is join our team, honestly. The way that we're setting it up is that we're doing the architectural drawings for any given contractor in the various markets across the United States. We're beginning to expand right now. But we do all the front end alignment for the contractor to make sure that the projects will work. And then they act as our point of contact on the ground in the various markets. And so if you're interested in being a contractor, we actually have a contractor. page on the website it's right in the drop down on the website where you can go in put in your information and then make sure that you check all the boxes as far as like experience um there's a bunch of different stuff on there i wouldn't uh get all into that but just basically making sure that you have enough insurance and training to be able to be sure you know, the person that can do this, but then we actually develop the plans with you, with your clients that we help you source. And a lot of times what we're doing is we actually get clients in a market that come to us and say, hey, we're interested in doing this. And then we help source a contractor initially for them. It's even better if we have a contractor come to us and then we're able to help them get clients using our system.

It's a, it's a per project licensing fee for using the Another Story system. And then the cost of the jacks and then the homeowner bears the cost of all of it. Honestly, when it comes to the end of the day, like the homeowner will wind up be the one that pays for the licensing fee and the cost of the jacks and then the architecture fee to get the designs done properly. And then the contractor winds up with a full set of plans. It's ready to go. It's already vetted and ready to build.

We do all of the architectural side of it. And then the way that it has worked out the best with each of the different contractors is we kind of build the entire framework of what the thing will be, go through all the code studies, make sure that all of the macro... boxes are checked and then we love for you to have your own interior designer local just so that we're not having to source tile and stuff like that in every given market um so we work with your interior designer to help get all the specifications onto the drawings but it's a you know it's better to have that kind of fine detail stuff done locally to make sure that all the components are available creating a playbook together and it each each project has its own nuance and it's just like any other architectural project you know they don't nothing's ever like exactly cut and dry but we have a really good kind of throughput like this is how we're generally going to go and then we address the issues as they arise

I've actually been going to site for the first one for every contractor just to make sure that the framers know what we're doing and why we're doing it. There will be modules available in short order. We haven't created all of that yet just because we're – like the patent for this whole thing was – is live on September the 16th this year. So like we've been working on getting the patent and working on all the back of house. So like this is a brand new baby. Like we're getting it out there. We've built 10 of them and they work great and clients think that they're magical. But I mean, we're just now starting to expand and really get this thing out here. And you're the first podcast that I've been on with to like, really just tell everybody about what's going on with it. I've talked to other people about it, but not really the full Monty of what we're doing. So I really appreciate you having me on here to talk about it, honestly.

Let me show you one.

I guess if they watch it, I'll show you. Give me one. Just a second. Step one, you show up on the job site. You're going to cut a hole in the roof above where the first floor wall is on the perimeter of the house, and you set this connection plate down into the roof onto the top of the plate of the first floor wall. Then you slide. this pipe down onto that connection point that's sitting on top of your first floor wall and then you flash it just like you would a plumbing vent for a regular plumbing vent. Then you have this saddle that sits down on there and that is an adjustment nut that allows you to level these to each other around the perimeter of the house. Okay and then you set your outside floor band on top of here and that goes around the perimeter and then you actually lock this connection point up over the roof to the to the opposing side so that the beams can't roll out while you're placing weight down on them and force outward and so that it binds everything together and we actually create a plate that sits on the kind of roof apex to be able to not buckle when you're adding the chains up over the top. And so you get all of this locked in around the perimeter and beam on here and then you build your walls in your roof planes up off of this system that you've created that's sticking out through the roof. And so water is able to flow underneath this during the entire framing process there's never a point where your house is at risk of getting wet and then the last thing you do is after you've taken the roof off you actually come in and stitch in a knee wall that sits in this same plane and lock that portion to the bottom floor using a new knee wall that's underneath the floor system yeah underneath the floor system and down to the first floor main wall.

It's after the roof is out. So there's some temporary bracing that kind of has to go in and, you know, like none of it, that's the part where I like to go and like train the guys how to do what we're doing. to make sure that you know you're doing it it's all about sequence and so making sure that you're dealing with all the loads appropriately through the sequence of events

we're doing one every eight feet just to make sure that we're not putting too much load at any given point

So we like to have contractors place them where, you know, there's going to be like at least a single jack stud. So on the corners of windows, at the corners of the house, places where there's obvious, like, okay, you're going to generally going to have a through plane that's going to have. Load bearing all the way around because you don't want you don't want to you don't want to crunch that top plate if you can avoid it obviously but the whole system All of the jacks do remain but they become somewhat redundant by the time you put the entire wall in Underneath the floor system so that you don't have to worry about like There it's not the whole thing isn't just being held on load points But when you're done, it's load planes and shear planes and everything.

And then that also brings the full shear value that you need to bring, you know, so the thing can't shift related to the main level.

It varies per project. And that really is one of those kind of custom components. We send out the pipes pre-cut to the midpoint of the property. And so like some houses you need a six inch piece pipe and other houses you need a 14 inch piece pipe. And it really just is a per project kind of scenario. And it's going to be based on the differential between where the top plate is and the bottom in the plane of the roof. And so that varies. Yeah, the roof pitch.

And that's actually one of the things that we are really dogmatic about when we're designing it is that we have, um, we have a little bit more space at the bottom of the stairs to, in case they need another step, because it's happened on a couple of occasions where the house was, you know, three inches at a level over the whole thing. And so we wound up having to set to the low point and then everything else wound up growing and, oh, we need another step. And, oh man, that kind of moved things around. So those are, those are kind of some of those like failure points that we're like, okay, don't ever do that again. Leave room for an extra step at the bottom.

I mean, you might notice it. Other contractors might notice it, but homeowners have no, they don't know. Like, it's like, oh, it's just what it is.

and looking at how did you cut the crown upside down? How did you do it? I don't know how you installed the crown upside down. I understand how to do it right side up. I don't know how you do it upside down.

Oh, my goodness. Awesome.

Man, honestly, like I'm just, I feel like it's my calling to help people understand that this is a better solution for families. And so I just want to get as many people involved with it as possible and expand the network of available contractors. So if you're a contractor and you're interested in being part of what we're doing, just there's a link on another story. com in the link in the dropdown, you know, for contractors. And just go to that link, put your information in and then get signed up. And then we have marketing and stuff for you. We have all these different resources that are available to help you sell it in your market. And then we become your back of house to help you execute this thing. And then you can make money, we can make money and we can help homeowners get the space that they want.

depending on the market like certain markets it makes perfect sense so we have a market kind of overlay that we're working on where the cost of construction versus the sale price of construction and that's really what you got to look at it's like as long as the cost of construction in your market is lower than the sale price of construction then the appraisal value of what you're creating on top of the house is no problem for a bank. They're just like, yeah, I'll give you the money all day long because everything you're adding is real good, true square footage. It's like, that's the money shot of what people want on their house. You're adding bedrooms and bathrooms and playrooms and like, just like the best kind of square footage to a house. And banks are like, where do we send a check?

Fix This Next.

Oh, man, it's so good. I wish I'd have read it 20 years ago.

It's Fix This Next and then 10x is better than 2x. It is easier than 2x. That one is by... You're the second person. I'm the second person who said that recently.

Yeah. That's a really potent one. But Fix This Next probably had the most profound... It's the best litmus test for a business owner, in my opinion. It's like, what should I be working on? It's like, if you've got this figured out, then you can work on this. But you don't get to work on this until you figure this thing out. And that's one of the hardest things to do as a business owner is just knowing what to be doing at any given circumstance. You got to have a sequence of like... hierarchy of importance.

That's what it's like.