Builders, Budgets, and Beers
The Builders, Budgets, and Beers Podcast is where the construction industry comes to talk about the financial side of building — the decisions, the mistakes, and the systems that separate profitable companies from the rest. From regional GCs and high-volume builders to construction accountants and industry tech leaders, our guests share what's actually working and what they wish they'd known sooner.
Produced by the team at Adaptive, it's real talk on the financial operations behind growing, scaling, and running a complex construction business. One budget, one story, and one beer at a time.
Episodes
97 episodes
Why Residential Builders Lose Track of Cash Flow
Reece sits down with Steven Bernitt, CFO at Artisan Builders, to talk about what happens when a residential construction business is making decisions with financial information that is already out of date. Steven explains how real-time project ...
A Construction Tech CEO on Why Builder Financials Break Down
Reece sits down with Matt Calvano, co-founder and CEO of Adaptive, to talk about why construction financials break down when the field and back office are working from different information. Unlike most businesses, construction accounting depen...
4 Perspectives On When Why And How Builders Scale Profitably
This compilation episode revisits past conversations with Tyler Grace, Shawn Van Dyke, Isabel Affinito, and Paul Atherton to explore when, why, and how builders should scale their businesses.Across four different perspectives, the conve...
Stop Confusing Markup With Margin with Kevin Aycock
Reece sits down with Kevin Aycock of Southern Luxury Homes to talk about what it actually takes to get control of the financial side of a construction business. Kevin shares how COVID forced him to rethink estimating, cost-plus construction, pr...
How Builders Get Control Of Their Numbers with Jared Westergard
Reece sits down with Jared Westergard of Blackline Financial to talk about why so many builders are still making financial decisions without fully trusting the numbers in front of them.They cover overhead, deposits, cash flow, bad data,...
What AI Means For The Future Of Construction Through 3 Perspectives
Reece revisits conversations with Julie Adams of Sage, Deepti Yenireddy of Boone AI, and Ryan Rademann of Wipfli about how AI is changing the work of construction.Pulled from three past episodes, these conversations explore estimating, ...
The Hidden Costs Of A Messy Back Office with Aimee Roden
Reece sits down with construction bookkeeper Aimee Roden to talk about the back-office mistakes that quietly cost contractors money, from poor cost coding to delayed billing and unreliable job-cost reports.Aimee breaks down why contract...
Building A Future In The Trades with Bryan Eberson
Reece sits down with Bryan Eberson, founder of Eberson Construction and Remodeling, to talk about why the trades may be one of the biggest business opportunities available to the next generation, and what separates simply having a job from buil...
Making The Numbers Matter To Builders with Tyler Krueger
Reece sits down with Tyler Krueger, controller at Canopy Builders, to talk about why construction accounting has to be more than something owners check at tax time. From a million dollars in the bank that may not actually be yours to milestone ...
Foundations Of A Better Building Experience with Alex Wolfe
Reece sits down with Alex Wolfe of Wolfe Homes to discuss how builders can grow by getting clear on what their company actually does best. Alex explains why Wolfe Homes stepped back from in-house labor to focus on project management, even knowi...
How Technology Is Reshaping The Construction Workforce with Dexter Bachelder
Reece and Dexter Bachelder, Head of Sales at Speckle, examine whether construction’s labor shortage can be solved by hiring more people alone, or whether contractors need to redesign how work gets done. They discuss using AI, automation, BIM da...
When The Job Becomes More Than A Paycheck with Paul Durst
Reece sits down with Paul Durst of Waldman Construction to talk about what happens when a construction business grows past gut feel, old habits, and numbers that live in one person’s head.They cover why purpose still has to connect to h...
The Cost Of Becoming The Owner with Chris Ehrenfeld
Reece talks with Chris Ehrenfeld of Bold Companies and Bold Construction about the real risk behind growing a construction business, especially when a builder moves from doing the work to leading the company.Chris shares how he started ...
Stop Promoting People Into Failure with Andrew Amrhein
Reece and Andrew Amrhein of Precision SME talk about why builders struggle to turn strategy into real execution, and why the missing layer is often management.Andrew breaks down how contractors can connect numbers to meaningful action, a...
When Contractors Become The Bank With Aaron Dearborn
Reece sits down with Aaron Dearborn, president of Amerail Systems, to talk about one of the strangest cash flow problems in construction: why GCs and subs often end up financing the project before owner money arrives.They get into delay...
Why Builders Leave Profit On The Table with Russ Stephens
Reece sits down with Russ Stephens, co-founder of the Association of Professional Builders, to talk about why so many builders look successful on paper but still miss the profit sitting inside their business. Russ breaks down work in progress, ...
Stop Making Decisions With Bad Numbers with Scott Franchini
Reece sits down with Scott Franchini of RedHammer to talk about why contractors often blame their software when the real issue is messy job costing, unclear WIP, and financial reports they cannot trust.They cover indirect costs, overhea...
Build A Business That Buys Back Time with Brad Stokes
Reece sits down with Brad Stokes of Highspire to talk about the shift from owner operator to strategic owner, and why top-line revenue alone does not mean a construction business is healthy.They get into real estate development, market ...
How Building Science Reduces Costly Callbacks with Sam Myers
Reece sits down with Sam Myers of Retrotech to talk about why comfort issues, humidity problems, and buckled floors often turn into expensive callbacks for builders. They cover how air tightness, HVAC design, ventilation, and testing all work t...
How Contractors Can Adopt AI Agents Without Chaos with Ryan Rademann
Reece is joined by Ryan Rademann from Wipfli to talk about why contractors cannot treat technology, AI, and systems as random tools anymore. As builders grow, weak integrations, messy data, and outdated processes can quietly limit cash flow, re...
Your Tech Stack Needs To Start With Strategy with Dustin Stephens
Reece sits down with Dustin Stephens, CEO of Alliance Solutions Group, to talk about why contractors cannot treat AI like a shortcut around broken systems. As labor gets tighter and construction businesses get more complex, the companies that u...
How AI Speeds Up Profitable Bids with Deepti Yenireddy
Reece sits down with Deepti Yenireddy, founder and CEO of Boon AI, to talk about the real business case for AI in estimating: tighter bid timelines, thin margins, and why speed matters when builders are chasing more work. They get into how Boon...
Why Contractors Need Better Accounting with Chris Murphy
Reece sits down with Chris Murphy of Breakaway CAAS to talk about why so many contractors struggle with bookkeeping, payroll, and job costing, and what better financial systems can unlock for a growing business. It matters because weak accounti...
How Builders Can Raise The Standard with Andrea and Brian Seymour of Springdale Custom Builders
Reece sits down with Andrea and Brian Seymour of Springdale Custom Builders to talk about the systems, pricing discipline, and process thinking it takes to build a company that is actually worth something. For builders, this matters because bad...
Don’t Let Weak Process Stop Your Growth with Archibald McLellan
Reece sits down with Archibald McLellan of CBIS to talk about why weak process can quietly hold a construction business back long before the owner realizes it. For builders trying to grow without losing control, this episode gets into why bette...
