Build to Win

Jonathan Weinberg & John Kolbaska
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Management
  • Updated Biweekly

Tools and tech for the smart contractor that save time, win more jobs, and boost their profits. Do you feel like your home improvement business is stuck? Are constant delays and unexpected challenges creating chaos in your day-to-day? Some say it’s just part of the business. We know there’s a better way. Welcome to Build to Win—the podcast where industry veterans Jonathan Weinberg and John Kolbaska share expert insights to help you thrive. Here, you’ll learn how to unlock new levels of efficiency, streamline operations, generate high-quality leads, and improve the quality of your work. Everything you need to create a trail of happy customers as you grow your business and drive higher profits. Make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a new episode.

  1. 2d ago

    How This Contractor Went From $300K to $1 Million a Month

    Every contractor wants a million-dollar sales month. Almost none are ready for what it does to their backlog. Stephen Pisulak just booked his first million-dollar month at Lehigh Gap Exteriors, up from around $300,000 a month back in March. In this episode of Build to Win, Jonathan and John dig into how he turned it around, from the daily sales training that reset his team to the new sales manager he hired and trains two tasks at a time. They also get into the part nobody warns you about. Sell a million and install $700,000, and you just handed yourself a $300,000 backlog that can choke your cash flow. Stephen and John walk through how to keep sales and production close enough to stay out of trouble. If your sales have been flat and you want a real look at how one exterior contractor is scaling toward $10 million, this one is worth your time. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 01:18 First Million-Dollar Sales Month 02:08 Mindset, Training, No Commiserating 04:00 Weekly Training Schedule and Siro 08:14 Assigning Appointments Like a Baseball Lineup 10:26 Repair Leads That Turn Into Replacements 16:36 Production Has to Match Sales 21:36 Top Three Lead Sources 35:34 The Rep Only Rents the Lead 43:18 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm      #BuildToWinPodcast #ContractorPodcast #HomeImprovement #ContractorSales #OneCallClose #ScalingUp

  2. Sep 4

    RERUN: Speed to Lead Wins More Jobs

    Wait three minutes to call a new lead and you're 70% less likely to reach them. Your competitors already dialed. By the time you get to it, you're the fifth call, and the customer is gone. We pulled the highlights from our speed-to-lead conversation, the parts that help you turn more leads into booked jobs. In this episode of Build to Win, Jonathan and John walk through automated follow-ups across the whole sales and marketing funnel. They get into speed to lead, the text messages that actually get a reply, confirming appointments without any manual work, and what to do when a demo does not close. You will hear real numbers from John's own business. You will also see how the follow-up runs in the background so nothing gets missed. Here is what you will get from this episode: Why the first 60 seconds after a lead comes in decide whether you reach themThe text templates that get replies, including the one that opens "I don't want to be a bother"The Builder Prime lead statuses that keep your team on the right message at the right timeHow a demo-no-sale follow-up pulls customers back in with a survey or a fresh repThe $100K to $150K a month John credits to his follow-up systemGive it a listen. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 00:54 Speed to Lead: Why the First Minute Matters 02:26 70% Less Chance After Three Minutes 03:08 HomeAdvisor Days: A Lesson in Speed to Lead 04:46 How the Lead Sequence Works in Builder Prime 06:28 Text Message Templates: Short, Sweet, and Convert 08:10 Why Automated Follow-Up Beats Manual Every Time 10:20 Speed to Lead Stats: 391% Conversion Increase 12:46 Confirming the Appointment Before the Rep Goes Out 15:00 Warming Up the Customer Before the Demo 19:14 After the Proposal: Keeping Sold Jobs in the Loop 22:12 Demo No-Sell: Automated Rehash Sequences 25:28 Feedback Surveys and Inside Sales Follow-Up 28:00 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm

  3. Aug 21

    Most Contractors Are Down. He's on Pace for $7M w/ Stephen Pisulak

    Home improvement contractors are having a down year, but Stephen Pisulak is growing. He took his exterior contracting business from $4.2 million to a projected $7 million by fixing his production capacity and tightening his sales margins. When Stephen first joined the show a year ago, he was the answer to every question in the building. He is back as the first returning guest, and his team now handles the day without him. Stephen walks Jonathan and John through the changes one at a time. He stopped being the bottleneck and handed real ownership to his managers. He gave his production team a daily install number to schedule against, so revenue stopped riding on how the crews felt that morning. He found nearly $700,000 he was giving away in discounts and missed line items, then built checks to protect it. He rebuilt his call center for speed to lead and watched his best month climb to $796,000 on the same marketing spend. If you are busy but not making the money you should, this one shows you where the profit is probably hiding. Listen now to hear how Stephen turned a good business into an efficient one. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 00:16 Steven Returns: $4.2M to $7.1M 02:18 Replacing Yourself 04:00 Call Center Rep to Production Coordinator 09:52 Revenue Per Crew Per Day 13:54 Before the KPI 20:04 Accountability Cleaned Out the C Players 23:10 Over-Discounting and Underselling 32:08 The Measure Tech Position 38:14 Remote Call Center and Speed to Lead 48:00 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm

  4. Aug 7

    How to Stay Profitable When Leads Dry Up

    New leads are harder to come by, and the ones you do get cost more. Close rates are down five to six points from where they were. If business has felt tougher these past few months, you are not imagining it. In this episode of Build to Win, Jonathan and John talk through the summer slowdown hitting home improvement right now and what it means for specialty contractors doing $10M and up. Material costs jumped close to 10% this year. John's own close rate slid from around 32% to 27%. The market is cooling, and nobody knows yet if a real recession is coming. Here is the good news. The contractors who know their numbers and work the database they already have will come out the other side stronger, with less competition. John lays out the exact moves his company is making right now, from mining old leads that never bought to launching a repair division that feeds future replacements. If your leads have slowed and you want to stay profitable while the market sorts itself out, this one is for you. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 00:20 Summer Slowdown: What They're Seeing 01:10 COVID Boom Is Over 02:04 This Year vs. Last Year 03:26 Closing Rates Down and Costs Up 05:52 The Market Needs a Cleanse 07:30 How to Recession-Proof Your Business 09:00 Rehash: Mine Your Database 11:38 Adding a Repair Division 14:22 Repair Leads That Turn Into Replacements 17:50 Getting Back in the House 21:16 Market, Media, Message 24:16 Know Your Numbers 26:26 What If the Internet Went Away Tomorrow 28:34 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm

  5. Jul 24

    The Automated Emails That Keep Sold Jobs From Going Cold

    You closed the job. The customer is excited. Then they hear nothing for weeks while the order sits with the manufacturer, and that cold stretch is where jobs cancel and referrals dry up. In part two of their email and SMS series, Jonathan and John pull up John's live Men With Tools account inside Builder Prime and walk through every automated message it sends. You will see the exact emails and texts that fire from the moment a job is sold, through order updates, install day, the final walkthrough, and a one-year anniversary check-in. John explains why the system pays off. Lead times run two to six weeks, so the account keeps customers informed at every step instead of leaving them guessing. It recovers canceled jobs and books installs faster. And it turns happy homeowners into repeat and referred clients, which now drive 30 to 40% of new opportunities. Here is what you will learn: The "happy email" that goes out 24 hours after a job sells, and why early expectations prevent problems laterHow John recovers canceled jobs, and why he wants cancellations sitting at 8 to 10%The order-status emails that keep customers calm during a two to six week lead timeWhat to tell customers before install day so there are no surprises about prep or paymentThe post-install walkthrough and one-year inspection that bring customers back for more workWhy repeat and referral clients close at over 70% and cost almost nothing to reachIf your install calendar goes cold after the sale and your referrals feel like luck, this episode gives you the follow-up system that fixes both. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 00:16 Part Two: Inside John's Builder Prime Account 01:26 The Happy Email: Setting Expectations After the Sale 03:00 Embedding Video in Emails: The Workaround 04:06 Internal SMS Notifications and Team Reminders 04:42 Sold Job Canceled: Rehash Emails and Recovery Texts 06:02 Canceled Job Recovery Rate: 8–10% Benchmark 07:48 Order Submitted and Acknowledged: The Communication Cadence 10:24 Order Shipped and Product Received at the Warehouse 13:08 Schedule Install: Email and Text Reminders 15:06 Keeping the Warehouse Empty to Drive Install Revenue 16:02 Job Scheduled Email: Scope, Payment, and Day-of Prep 19:00 Afternoon Install Email: Managing Arrival Windows 20:40 Install Complete and Walkthrough Scheduling 22:06 Warranty Registration and Manufacturer Coverage 23:22 One-Year Anniversary Inspection and 30–40% Repeat and Referral 25:40 Referral Program: 90-Day Email Cadence 28:00 Google Reviews, Bagels, and the Customer Experience 30:28 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm

  6. Jul 10

    The Real Numbers Behind a $10.5M Coatings Company

    Growing fast feels like winning. Then you check your profit and your cash. Alosha Pederson built Endless Poxybilities from scratch into a $10.5 million concrete coating company in just four years, with five production offices and 65 people on the team. But hitting that number surfaced the problems most owners run into on the way up, from profit that stayed too thin to a sales team that could book more work than his crews could install. On this episode of Build to Win, Jonathan Weinberg and John Kolbaska dig into the real numbers behind the climb. Alosha explains the year that working harder finally stopped paying off. He breaks down how he moved net profit from around 4% to 11%, and why John argues it should be higher still. There's also the cash flow crunch that hit even as sales kept climbing. He also shares the fixes, from getting real visibility into his numbers to bringing in a director of operations so he could stop running every day himself. This one is for owners in growth mode who can feel the cracks forming. If your top line is climbing but your profit and your cash are not, you will see a lot of your own business here. Here is what you will get from this episode: Why "work harder and longer" stops working around $4MHow to catch a production capacity problem before it turns into a backlogWhat hypergrowth really costs, and why 11% net profit isn't the win it looks likeHow to keep cash flowing when sales grow faster than collectionsThe plan behind building to $100M and selling to investors Follow Build to Win wherever you listen, and hit play to hear the full story. Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm

  7. Jun 26

    Your Production Capacity Is Your Profit Ceiling

    Most contractors plan from the top down. They set a sales goal, run the marketing, and hope production figures itself out. John Kolbaska did it that way for years. This episode is about what changed. In this episode of Build to Win, Jonathan and John break down the two most important numbers in your business: your break-even point and your production capacity. He breaks down how he uses his crews' install rate to set a production ceiling, works out exactly where his break-even lands each month, and plans every sales and marketing dollar around that math. Every dollar above his break-even converts to 55 to 60 cents of pure net profit. He plans his year from that number, not from a revenue target. They also cover accrual accounting and why it gives you a clearer picture of your real margins, what a healthy backlog actually looks like on your P&L, and the installer recruiting process John built from scratch. He applies the same speed-to-lead logic from his call center directly to job applications. Get them on the phone within a minute. Interview scheduled within 72 hours. Jonathan also walks through Bolt Insights inside Builder Prime, a business intelligence suite built directly into the platform. You ask your data where you're losing money and it shows you by lead source, by sales rep, by crew, by job type. No external tools needed. If you run a specialty home improvement company and want to know what's actually driving your margins, this is a good place to start. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 01:02 Why Most Contractors Plan Backwards 01:26 The Two Numbers That Run Your Business 02:18 How to Calculate Your Production Capacity 04:30 Break-Even Math. Where the Real Profit Starts 06:20 What Happens When You Oversell Your Capacity 08:56 When a Backlog Is Telling You to Hire 10:54 Accrual vs. Cash. Why It Changes Everything 12:38 Profit First. Why People and Process Come After 14:36 How to Recruit Installers Using Speed to Lead 20:00 Treat Recruiting Like Marketing. Short Bursts Win 23:02 Show Young Tradespeople a Career Path 27:22 Bolt Insights. Ask Your Data Where You're Losing Money 36:44 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook:   / builderprime   LinkedIn:   / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn:   / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn:   / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram:   / builderprimecrm

  8. Jun 12

    How to Scale a $2M Home Improvement Business to $15M

    Your pricing is right. The margin is built in. Your reps still give it all away. In Episode 34, Jonathan Weinberg and John Kolbaska sit down to break down a $4M home improvement company that was losing $600K to $700K a year. The fix took two weeks and one set of controls most owners never run. John also walks through the launch of Core Ignite, his new remote marketing team and call center installed inside a contracting business. A trained marketing manager handles Facebook, Google Ads, and Google LSA spend. Remote reps apply speed to lead at a 50 to 60 percent target set rate on raw opportunities. It's the playbook he ran to scale Windows and Doors by the Men with Tools, now packaged for contractors trying to break $10M to $15M. Here is what you will get from this episode: How a $4M contractor lost $600K a year to over-discounting and missing post-install job costing checksWhat 3 remote call center reps can produce: 50 to 100 booked appointments per weekWhy profit has to come before people and processThe hiring profile of a roofing production manager who came in with his own crews and SOPsWho Core Ignite is built for and how it pushes contractors toward $10M+ If the leads are coming in but the bottom line isn't, this one names what's eating your margin and what to install next. Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 00:42 Introducing Core Services and Core Ignite 03:56 Ideal Client: $2M–$5M Companies Looking to Scale 05:16 AI Agents, Graphic Designer, and Videographer 07:06 Future of the Call Center and AI Regulation 09:28 Sales Capacity and Remote Recruiting 13:44 KPI Tracking, Guarantees, and Replacing Underperformers 16:18 Lead Aggregator Strategy and Weekly Client Meetings 18:24 10–20 Set Appointments Per Day: What to Expect 20:46 Why John Started Core Services 23:50 Consulting Case: $600K–$700K Lost to Over-Discounting 27:06 Running Multiple Companies: Profit, People, Process 29:22 Adding Roofing: Hiring a Production Manager with His Own Crews 33:00 Final Thoughts Additional Resources: 🔥 Watch our FREE on-demand webinar: HERE ⚡ Learn more about us: https://www.builderprime.com/  📱 Connect with us on social media: Facebook: / builderprime   LinkedIn: / builderprime    Jonathan’s LinkedIn: / jonathanweinberg    John’s LinkedIn: / john-kolbaska-a271a757    Instagram: / builderprimecrm   — Build to Win is a podcast for contractors where we give you the tools to grow your home improvement business. Follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Tools and tech for the smart contractor that save time, win more jobs, and boost their profits. Do you feel like your home improvement business is stuck? Are constant delays and unexpected challenges creating chaos in your day-to-day? Some say it’s just part of the business. We know there’s a better way. Welcome to Build to Win—the podcast where industry veterans Jonathan Weinberg and John Kolbaska share expert insights to help you thrive. Here, you’ll learn how to unlock new levels of efficiency, streamline operations, generate high-quality leads, and improve the quality of your work. Everything you need to create a trail of happy customers as you grow your business and drive higher profits. Make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a new episode.

Information

  • Creator
    Jonathan Weinberg & John Kolbaska
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Build to Win 2025
  • Show Website
    Build to Win

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