#474 Lessons from 30 Years in Residential Architecture (ft. Chris Landis)
Release Date: 12/03/2025
#490 Answering Remodeler's Top Photography Questions
Contractor Growth Network
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...
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#489 Your Remodeling Business' Marketing Strategy for 2027
Contractor Growth Network
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...
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# 488 AI Tools Built BY REMODELERS (ft. Data X)
Contractor Growth Network
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...
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#487 Branding for the Billion Dollar Client (ft. Vought Construction)
Contractor Growth Network
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...
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#486 How to Get Cited by ChatGPT, Gemini & Claude in 90 Days
Contractor Growth Network
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. 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...
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#485 JobTread's Founder on AI, Automation, and The Future of Remodeling
Contractor Growth Network
What's the one thing in your business you wish could be automated? In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan sits down with Eric Fortenberry — founder and CEO of JobTread — to dig into how AI is reshaping the way contractors run their businesses, and where the real risks are hiding underneath the hype. JobTread just rolled out a feature that lets contractors connect their own AI model directly into their JobTread account, and within two weeks over 1,500 users had spun up Claude and wired it in. Eric walks through what's working, what's blowing up in people's faces...
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#484 The Anatomy of a Great Remodeling Testimonial
Contractor Growth Network
How well does your company share stories of your past work? Many remodeling companies know that client testimonials are important, but are wasting the opportunity because of a lack of understanding around what a testimonial is supposed to do. In this episode Logan and Aaron are breaking some of the most impactful lessons they've learned over the years making impactful testimonials that actually sell more work. They walk through why most testimonial videos fail, the biggest mistakes contractors make when trying to capture them, and what it actually takes to create a video that builds trust and...
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#483 Tommy Mellow: Scaling Your Contracting Business Presentation
Contractor Growth Network
Tommy, founder of a $200M+ home service business, breaks down the exact principles he used to scale—from performance pay and hiring A-players to dialing in branding, KPIs, and company culture. But more than tactics, this talk hits on something deeper: accountability, execution, and why most contractors stay stuck despite having access to great ideas. If you’ve ever felt like you’re working hard but not making the progress you expected—or you know what to do but aren’t actually doing it—this episode will challenge you to rethink how you operate your business and your life. ...
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#482 "My biggest Lessons and Mistakes from 26 Years in Design Remodeling"
Contractor Growth Network
In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan sits down with Jef Forward—founder of Forward Design Build Remodel—to unpack what it really looks like to build a remodeling business from the ground up… the hard way. Jef shares the unfiltered story of his first five years in business—projects going months over schedule, losing money, taking on debt, and nearly reinforcing every negative stereotype about contractors. But instead of quitting, he used those failures as the foundation for what would become a 40+ person design-build firm. From digging out of financial holes...
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#481 How I Restarted my Remodeling Business from 0 (ft. Sebring Design Build)
Contractor Growth Network
In this episode of the Contractor Growth Network podcast, Logan sits down with Bryan Sebring—owner of Sebring Design Build—to unpack what it really looks like to start over from scratch. After building a nearly $3M design-build company over 20+ years in Illinois, Bryan made a bold decision: relocate his entire life and business to Franklin, Tennessee. No team. No clients. No local reputation. Just experience. Bryan shares what changed the second time around—from how he structured his business and hired his team, to the mindset shifts that allowed him to hit similar revenue with fewer,...
info_outlineLogan sits down with Chris Landis, co-founder of the award-winning Landis Architects/Builders in Washington, D.C. With over 35 years of experience, Chris shares how his architecture background shaped the firm’s design-build approach—and what remodelers can learn from their detailed, phased design process.
From feasibility studies and pre-construction agreements to hiring in-house designers and scaling team structure, this episode is a masterclass in how to elevate the design side of your remodeling business.
Whether you’re just starting to charge for design or scaling up to larger, more complex projects, Chris offers clear takeaways on how to structure your process, train your team, and charge what you’re worth.
🔑 What You’ll Learn
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Why Landis’ design process includes 3 clear phases: schematic, DD, and CD
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How feasibility studies help pre-qualify projects and set expectations
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What to look for when hiring designers—and how to train them
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How a team leader role bridges sales and design for smoother execution
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Why charging properly for design leads to better clients, work, and profits
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How Landis keeps clients excited and engaged throughout long design timelines
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What it looks like to run a design department that actually makes money
⏱️ Key Timestamps
00:00 – Intro to Chris Landis + Landis Architects & Builders
01:30 – From Wall Street offices to handyman work: how the business started
05:30 – Why drawings matter (and why they should never be free)
11:00 – Overview of Landis’ design services: feasibility, pre-construction, full design
15:00 – Three phases of design: schematic, DD, and CD
20:00 – Aligning sales and design with a “team leader” role
27:00 – How Landis prices design and stays ahead on billing
30:00 – In-house vs outsourced design teams: pros and cons
36:00 – Matching designers to project types and geographic regions
38:00 – Keeping clients excited during long design and permitting windows
45:00 – How Landis markets high-end projects (and the power of awards)
47:00 – Design isn’t a loss leader—it’s a profit center
52:00 – Why charging for design leads to better hires, better clients, and a stronger brand