Podcast Guests

Mike and Brian are joined by Johnny Panjarjian, Owner of Vinyl Pro Fence. Johnny started out in corporate America before quickly realizing he wanted to start his own company. His brother-in-law pointed him in the direction of a large vinyl fencing company in Orange County, California and Johnny went to work for them. Super honest and upfront, he told them his plans to start his own vinyl fencing company in a different demographic and his goal to learn all he could in a short amount of time there. His honesty paid off and now runs his own fencing company with a new exclusive partnership with Home Depot in San Diego! Checkered with amazing stories in between, you’ll definitely enjoy Johnny’s story!

Mike and Brian are joined by Mark Pitman, President and Owner of California Waters. Mark’s entry into contracting was on the business side and not as a family member of a contractor. He owned a few laundromats in Los Angeles and, with his business partner, found that California Waters was up for sale. They quickly acquired the company and, in their first year (2009), brought in $600,000 in revenue. In 2019, $14 million! You’ll hear Mark’s visionary approach to growing the business and the very intentional steps they’ve created to find talent, foster their culture, and train their staff the California Waters way. If you’re looking to grow intentionally and be forward thinking in your growth, this is for sure your episode.

Mike and Brian are joined by Jenna and Vince Free, COO and President/CEO respectively of FREEZ Construction. Version 2.0 of our conversation with Vince with the addition of his wife and partner, and let’s be honest, the brains of the operation! This episode covers not only some of what was discussed in Episode 22, but also goes into Jenna’s history and her unique perspective on the beginning of FREEZ Construction, their meteoric rise (already at 198% year over year for 2021 and it’s January!), and some fun banter. With all of that going on, she’s getting her Marriage and Family Therapist license… like we said, the brains behind the operation! Huge thanks to Jenna and Vince for joining us again… and for the swag and Tequila!

Mike and Brian are joined by Nick Young, Owner and General Contractor of the BC Team. Growing up, Nick told himself while working on jobsites with his dad that he would never get into construction. In 2009, Nick left his small home town in Texas and moved out to the Phoenix area. But in that space of time, he found himself with tons of opportunity in construction to fix up foreclosed homes for different banks during the Great Recession. Fast forward a few years later, his brothers recruited him to run the construction side of their real estate investment and property management company, the BC Team. Very much a family business, the BC Team is growing like crazy building 30 to 40 custom homes per year while remodeling an additional 10 to 20 homes to flip every year. To say they have plenty of work is an understatement! Check out their philosophy on how the manage and pay subcontractors and why they’ve been working with them continuously for years. To quote Nick’s dad, “You expect what you inspect” and that’s become one of their company mottos and is a huge reason for their success.

Mike and Brian are joined by Jade Nunes, Business Development Manager, Ultra-Networker and Darth Jader (you gotta listen to know what we mean) of SDB Contracting Services! After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in Journalism, she could not find a job in media, so she took a job with Habitat for Humanity. She was on a jobsite for 2 years, building homes, sporting her PPE and hardhat! Now with SDB Contracting Services, she’s ushering in a new way of business development and marketing. Be sure to check out her Seven Touches concept on branding and networking. Huge shoutout to Jade for joining us!

Mike and Brian are joined by Greg Fricks, Owner and Partner of The Fricks Company based out of Fort Worth, Texas. A third generation contractor, Greg and his brother started working for Fricks, the family business, as concrete finishers, laborers, and operators and everything in between. After college, Greg and his brother moved into the office and started learning the business side of things before buying their dad’s share and taking over in 2004. Starting small in 1979, the Fricks Company is now a recognized national leader in industrial concrete flooring construction with clients, past and present, spanning the continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic.  

Mike and Brian are joined by Blair Keaton, Managing Director of S&B Services. With a background in finance and program project management, Blair was working on a project with a retired Brigadier General from the Army, and realized while working together on this $1 Billion job that they should strike out on their own and start a company together. That company, S&B Services, eventually met with the Department of Energy and those construction projects helped bring on more commercial projects, jobs with the VA, and State Parks. But where they shine is on the technical side and that’s the secret to their success – finding complex and technical jobs with less competition and more financial upside. And while Blair will quietly say from time to time that they’ve been lucky, you’ll quickly see that their preparation, organization, and creativity has benefited them with high paying jobs and opportunities.

Mike and Brian are joined by Tim Zacharias, President of Cougar USA. Graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in finance, he went to work for Cisco Foods doing internal audits. Not realizing it at the time, he was learning manufacturing and distribution business processes that he would eventually use in his next step in his career. After a year at Cisco Foods, he had a casual conversation with his father and decided to leave Cisco and go to work for the family business – Cougar USA. In terms of what they do, if it has to do with the flow of water for high rises, hotels, or stadiums in the Houston area, they most likely have a system in place to help control the water pressure, temperature, flow and quality. They represent specific pump and valve manufacturers and Cougar manufactures the control panels to complement what they source on the distribution side. In addition, they have specific hiring practices put in place to ensure that their new employees are a fit for the Cougar culture. Huge thanks goes to Tim for joining us on the show and congratulations on the new position as President of Cougar USA!

Mike and Brian are joined by Mike Fiorenza, COO of Bundren Painting. Starting as a kid straightening nails on the jobsite for his grandfather’s residential framing company, Mike became a carpenter by trade in New Jersey. Leaving for Texas in 2009, he moved up the ladder into project management and estimating and eventually joined Bundren Painting. Now as COO, they utilize software to forecast cash flow and to identify job gaps so they can go out and fill them. With past projects like Reliant Stadium in Houston and an Art Blocks installation in downtown Houston for the Final Four and Super Bowl, you’ll quickly see why Mike and I had a blast with Mike Fiorenza.

Mike and Brian are joined by Andy Boggeri, Owner of AB Construction. Growing up, his father was involved in construction which caused him, at a young age, to start working with an electrician and a plumber doing side jobs in the summer. By the time he was a high school senior, he had started his first construction company building fences and a large deck for his school and really it went from there – calls for work started rolling in and AB Construction was in business! With a sweetspot in residential remodels, especially now in the midst of COVID-19, the bulk of their business comes mostly from referrals and local Realtors. They’ve also been able to give back to the community protecting local businesses during the riots by donating plywood and boarding up retail stores in their area.