The Intelligent Builder

The Intelligent Builder is a podcast for residential contractors and home services operators who want less chaos and more control. Each week, host Owen Gagne sits down with CEOs, founders, and operators to break down what actually drives growth. We go deep on the day-to-day levers: lead flow, sales process, project ops, reputation, and the systems + tech that make it all happen. Actionable, tested, and built for crews that actually do the work without the burnout. This podcast is sponsored by Plutus Agents, an AI growth consulting firm helping residential contractors reduce admin load, increase efficiency, and connect tools using custom systems and automations.

The Intelligent Builder is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 40 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts The Intelligent Builder, a business show with 40 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  The Intelligent Builder

  The Contractor Habit That Causes Rat Infestations

  Aug 22, 202637 min

  David Dorfman co-owns a rodent control company that has run the same three-step, poison-free treatment on every job for over 20 years, whether it's a 500 square foot garage or a 300,000 square foot commercial building, and backs every job with a lifetime warranty. We get into the biology behind why infestations keep coming back when you only set traps, why dogs are the single biggest predictor of a rodent problem, and the specific thing contractors do on nearly every job that creates an entry point. David explains why the monthly exterminator model is structurally designed not to solve the problem, how he built a system repeatable enough to step out of the field, and how the company is now turning its field-proven treatment into a nationwide DIY kit. If you're a contractor, remodeler, or builder who has ever run a pipe, pulled wire, or replaced a panel and moved on, this episode will make you think twice about what you left behind. Guest: David Dorfman — Co-Owner, Rodents Stop Host: Owen Gagne Sponsor: Plutus Agents — Custom workflows. Built for your team.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Intelligent Builder

  Growth That Almost Broke the Business: Building Systems in the Trades

  Aug 20, 202635 min

  Chris Husek co-founded Husek Brothers Fencing in 2022 with his brothers in Eastern North Carolina and grew it to mid-seven figures in under four years without outside funding or a playbook. The revenue was real from early on. The systems were not, and Chris is honest about what that actually cost them: pricing built for a one-man operation, cash flow crises that ran alongside every growth milestone, and a season where every problem in the company found its way to his phone within minutes. We get into the specific moment he decided to bring in a business coach, what changed in the six months after, and how letting go of perfectionism turned out to be the actual unlock. Then we dig into how Chris and his team have spent the last 90 days building custom AI tools with zero coding background, what it's doing for project manager capacity, and the constraint theory he's running the company on as he pushes toward $10M this year. If you're a contractor who's grown the revenue but feels like the problems are growing with it, this one is worth the listen. Guest: Chris Husek — Co-Founder & CEO, Husek Brothers Fencing Host: Owen Gagne Sponsor: Plutus Agents — Custom workflows. Built for your team.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Intelligent Builder

  Three-Legged Stool: How Residential Design Protects Homeowners

  Aug 5, 202641 min

  Robert Platt has spent nearly five decades in residential design and construction, first as a designer, then as a licensed contractor in Florida, and now running his Atlanta-based design firm Habitations. That double-sided experience gives him a view of the industry most people never get. This conversation covers a lot of ground. Robert explains the architect-builder-inspector model he calls the three-legged stool, what happens to homeowner protections when design-build arrangements collapse that structure, and why competitive bidding used to give consumers leverage that most homeowners today never see. He's direct about the ways marketing has replaced rigor in how homeowners find and hire builders, and what the boring research actually looks like if you want to protect yourself. He also walks through the real timeline on a renovation project, why phasing almost always backfires, how decision fatigue derails clients mid-project, and the skilled labor shortage he puts at two to four million workers nationally, with five to six years before the industry can meaningfully rebuild that pipeline. If you work in residential construction or you're about to spend serious money on a renovation, this one is worth your full attention. Guest: Robert Platt — Principal, Habitations LLC Host: Owen Gagne Sponsor: Plutus Agents — Custom workflows. Built for your team.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Intelligent Builder

  The Contractors Who Don't Adapt Are Two Years From Closing Down

  Jun 4, 202637 minS0

  <p>Craig Williams has run a home services business for years, built a 15-team operator network, and personally dragged a legacy pest control company off handwritten carbon paper tickets. In this episode, he and Owen get into why most owner-operators won't buy back their time, the mindset Craig teaches across his network, and how he thinks about the automation decision: what to hand off, what to keep, and why that answer is different for every business. They also talk about content creation as an underrated business skill, the trap of becoming your own brand instead of building one, and Craig's...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Intelligent Builder

  This Roofing Operator Built a System So Good He Licensed It

  May 28, 202637 minS0

  <p>Brad Strawbridge started at Lowe's as a delivery driver, worked his way up to district manager over in-home services, and then made the leap into roofing. He scaled Capital City Roofing to eight figures in two years, built 64 AI agents on top of documented SOPs, and runs the company on strict EOS with a visionary-integrator split tight enough that he can travel every week while the business keeps moving. Now he's licensing the entire operating model to other roofing operators through a tiered shared-services structure, where the pitch is simple: we'll run the company, you sell the roofs.</p><...

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on The Intelligent Builder. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.