Bad Bitch Builders with Coleen Brennan
Episode #94: Welcome to the She Builds Show! I’m your host, Stefanie Olson, and on this episode, we delve into the world of construction, craftsmanship, and the remarkable journey of women breaking barriers in the industry. In this installment, we are honored to feature Colleen Brennan, an exceptional builder based in the picturesque Malibu, California.
Join us as we explore the significance of women in construction and the invaluable role they play in keeping age-old building techniques and expertise alive for the generations to come. Our guest, Colleen Brennan, hails from the vibrant city of Chicago, where she not only embarked on her own construction journey but also championed change by founding and owning an all-female construction company known as “Bad Bitch Builders.” With a team of over 30 skilled women, Colleen shattered stereotypes and demonstrated that the construction field is not exclusive to any gender.
ABOUT COLEEN BRENNAN:
Colleen Brennan is a builder living and working out in Malibu, California. Originally from Chicago, where she started and owned an all female construction company Bad Bitch Builders, employing over 30 women. For 13 years she has been remodeling, and building homes. Currently in California she works on a crew of 20 men for Phelps Design Company. She has built/remodeled over six homes in two years with Phelps design. Many homes and clients will hire Colleen separately for her knowledge and abilities “hardening homes” a newer field which involves taking properties at risk of burning in California fires, making the changes necessary to eliminate dangers around and on property prone to fire.
Colleen has also been involved part time with So Cal Fire Supply installing mass scale fire suppression systems on large properties. This company has successfully saved thousands of acres during one of the largest brush fires in southern California history the Woolsey fire. These automatic suppression systems change the game when it comes to fighting fire out in California, they have the proof to back it up. 
Out of all the trades that Colleen has become skilled in, Tig, Mig Welding, Carpentry rough and finish, as well as roofing and demolition are her favorites. She has become skilled in concrete, masonry, framing, iron working, installing doors and windows, insulation, drywall, tiling, electrical, landscaping, trenching, siding, etc… She loves it all.
She hopes to start a trades school out here as well as continue to grow her company out here in southern California hiring more women in construction.
CONNECT WITH COLEEN:
• Website: https://badbitchbuilder.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badbitchbuilders
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH STEFANIE…
• Website: https://shebuildshomes.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebuildsbetter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebuilds.homes
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shebuildsshow
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
0:01 Welcome to the She Builds Show.
0:03 I’m your host, Stefanie Olson, a licensed general contractor who builds new construction, renovates, and designs your vision today.
0:12 More than ever we need raw, authentic women who are willing to rise above society’s norms, break those glass ceilings and encourage each other to boldly build the life we were meant to live.
0:24 So, honey, what are you building?
0:29 Today on the She Builds Show we have an incredible guest down from Malibu, California Coleen Brennan.
0:34 Welcome to the show.
0:36 Hi.
0:37 Thank you.
0:39 Yeah, I like I was saying earlier just a little out of it flying in from taking the red eye from Malibu to Chicago, visiting my family.
0:49 Oh my goodness.
0:50 My husband always tries to get me to take red eyes and I’m like, no way, I’m wait, I need to sleep way too much that just came out and that’s the one time I can pass the house and then wake up and I’m like, where am I?
1:04 Yeah, that’s perfect.
1:05 Ok, so tell us what the name of your company is and like where you’re from.
1:11 So I’m from Chicago originally.
1:13 The name of my company is bad bitch builders and when I was about 22 years old, I started a company that was fully all female employed.
1:27 And it was an architectural restoration company.
1:32 So we worked on Franklyn Wright houses, we worked on the Rigley building.
1:35 We worked on Chicago Fair building, you know, Victorian houses out here.
1:42 And it was really eye opening.
1:45 Seeing the, the biggest thing for me about construction and why it is so important was the physical healing I saw happen in these women.
1:56 I am 13 years sober and have done something to my body physically where my body physically has a different brain than my mind and we react and we have that, you know, fright or play going on or stress their cortisol levels or you know, whatever it is.
2:16 I think a lot of people throughout their day don’t realize that they are mindful of what is going on with their body.
2:24 And what I saw happening with these women where some of these women who had kidney disorders or were sexually abuse victims or had physical abuse were just hyper aware and sensitive all the time.
2:38 All of a sudden just through the physical action, the demolition of framing of, you know, being super, super intricate and detailed with dexterity on like just the side of a building, whether it’s even coughing, it was this frontal focus that all of a sudden these women could look people in the eye, they move slower, they their shoulders were back, they function better.
3:08 They ate better.
3:10 They, I mean, it was just, it was eye opening, and I keep trying to Google every now and then does trade work.
3:18 Help with PT.
3:21 There’s no articles I can find but it is, I, I imagine it’s the same thing with people who are dancers or yoga instructors or wrestler healers or I, you know, just masseuse, I don’t know, people who have a kinesthetic occupation.
3:40 I can get it and, and construction is definitely one of them.
3:46 I, I think that that’s just any sort of like physical movement is healing, right?
3:50 Like, you know, just kind of gets you out of your mind and gets you into your body so bad bitch builders.
3:55 That’s pretty cool.
3:57 Tell me a little bit of what the business is now.
4:00 What does it look like now?
4:01 And then we’ll kind of walk backwards.
4:04 So I work on a crew now of 20 guys and I work for an entirely different company and all the women that I employed are still employed with other construction companies.
4:16 The company is down to one person.
4:20 The reason being I drove down can, it’s this road in Malibu, it cuts through the canyons, and I have to, I was probably 12 years.
4:30 So by then, no, 10 years, 10 years because it was four years ago.
4:35 And I have this white light spiritual experience that says you need to be here, you need to show other women out here, what it is.
4:45 You do.
4:46 And I, I don’t know, I’ve never done something impulsive like that in my sobriety.
4:53 I usually always have to double check with my sponsor.
4:56 Like, ok, my first thought is usually the wrong thought, you know.
5:00 But I was just, it was such a weird voice and intuition that I went with it and I, I moved my entire life in a week and, yeah.
5:11 Right.
5:12 But by the time I paid everybody off and I paid for all my stuff moving.
5:17 So I was like, maybe $100 to my name.
5:21 What did I just do until that first year was one of the hardest years, but one of the most amazing years of my life and I ended up living in an apartment right on the ocean.
5:32 What happened is there was this thing called the Woolsey Fire and it was one of the largest brush fighters that has ever been recorded in history in Southern California.
5:44 And it decimated.
5:45 Now, people usually get this idea that now is this, you know, celebrity, you know, posh, like just stereotypical, you know, people with their noses up in the air.
6:00 It’s actually, it’s like cowboys.
6:02 It’s rednecks.
6:03 It’s these people who left LA that wanted nothing but just to be in rural areas in California and then came the celebrities and then came the people that wanted to follow that.
6:16 So it’s a mixture of everything and the locals are the ones who I love.
6:21 The cowboys, the rednecks, the craftsmen, the surfers, the people, the place in Malibu I found out is that the land there, if you’re there for the right reason, you will flourish.
6:35 If you’re there for the wrong reasons, that place will chew you up and eat you out to spin you up.
6:41 Like it’s, it’s just one of those principles and I’ve seen it happen over and over and over again.
6:48 So on this crew with 20 men in the past two years, we have remodeled and rebuilt over six homes.
6:56 And what I love doing on the side is I harden homes.
7:02 What that means, it’s a newer field kind of in construction in the fire world and it has to do with brush clearance.
7:10 It has to do with installing different sockets or embers because it’s not the 100 ft wall of fire that’s going to burn your home.
7:18 It’s the embers that smolder and cook like in places underneath your deck or in the sockets of right under your eaves.
7:27 It’s stuff that, you know, super simple to fix.
7:31 If you just took the time to do it.
7:34 Certain trees like and some eucalyptus palm trees are like, that’s not every time I see a palm tree, I’m like, that’s AAA, they’re not meant to be in L A.
7:46 They’re right.
7:47 I agree.
7:48 I always like, I don’t know why I just hate palm trees here.
7:52 I’m like, they only belong in Hawaii and my neighbor has, like, 20 I’m like, we live in, like, we, I live in, like, agriculture, you know, I live up in, in Durham and it’s like orchards and I’m like, why are they palm trees?
8:04 Like they don’t do.
8:09 I know.
8:10 I don’t know.
8:10 They always look terrible.
8:12 They don’t look pretty.
8:13 Ok.
8:13 So, you, you really are right now.
8:16 You’re just like, you’re on a crew and kind of like working as a subcontractor for various general contractors in the area doing some pretty extensive remodels.
8:26 I imagine if you did six, they’re probably pretty big and pretty large projects.
8:31 What do you think?
8:32 Like, your favorite skill is because I know you have a lot of them in terms of like construction.
8:38 I know you do welding as well.
8:40 So, what is your, what’s your favorite, you know, trade big welding for sure.
8:46 And I love climbing.
8:48 I absolutely love doing a rough training.
8:51 I love it all.
8:52 Frankly being a redhead in California, roofing isn’t the most physically great feeling and like being fully Irish, but roofing is so fun, you know, doing rebar and concrete.
9:06 Yeah, but I would definitely say demolition, welding, carpentry, hands down.
9:11 I love Finnish, carpentry too.
9:13 That’s a whole different language than, yeah, such an intention to detail.
9:19 Yeah.
9:19 So how did you learn?
9:22 That’s a great question.
9:24 I’ve always been artistic, right?
9:26 And as a kid, we weren’t exposed to trade school.
9:29 So it’s a huge thing I want to look at doing down the line in my life.
9:34 I had terrible add right.
9:38 And so what only allowed me to focus was working, built, like, taking apart my bike and putting it back together, taking apart, I don’t know, a light bulb and looking at how it’s built, like I was that kind of kid that wasn’t playing with a, playing with Lincoln Logs.
9:56 Like, I don’t know, for the younger people might not know what hands-on things.
10:05 Yeah, definitely.
10:06 And I went to high school and when I hit Illinois and I got into film.
10:12 Photography.
10:13 Absolutely loved it.
10:15 And it allotted me a scholarship at Denver University to go for fine arts.
10:21 I had a terrible art teacher.
10:23 I was in the throes of my addiction dying, going here and there trying to get this over and I got licensed as a brother out in Colorado and I started doing carpentry in Colorado.
10:38 And that was the one thing that kind of was my happy place.
10:43 I’d wake up from a night out, you know, not knowing what happened.
10:48 And the only thing I could get that would get me out of bed was that flash forward.
10:53 And I go to Chicago, second year in college, I go for Thanksgiving and there’s a party going on at our home and there’s alcohol from huge Irish Catholic family.
11:06 And next thing I know I’m waking up two weeks later, out of the coma and I had a really, really bad day one.
11:16 the character who was and I was ejected from the sunroof.
11:21 I landed on my neck on the dining room table.
11:23 I broke every single one of my fingers.
11:24 I broke my neck.
11:25 I broke my collarbone.
11:27 I broke all my ribs.
11:28 I had the occipital lobe which hit so hard.
11:32 I was, I didn’t have vision and I couldn’t move my legs.
11:36 I still have like a piece of glass working itself out of my room 13 years later.
11:41 And right, he said, so I woke up from that coma, that induced coma and have this white light moment.
11:51 They only had two now and it said you will stay so for the rest of your life, but it will be the hardest thing to do.
11:57 I have never left you alone.
11:59 I love you and you are going to help so many people.
12:03 And it was the most warm, incredible feeling I’ve ever had because I couldn’t see, I could feel the heat of the blinds on my face.
12:12 And it was December in Chicago, December 5th of 2009.
12:16 And about a year later I started picking up carpentry and then I got hired again and then I got my general contractor’s license and then I started that company and because I was sober, I had a head start above everybody.
12:34 That’s my age.
12:35 I had these experiences from people in the meetings that were carpenters that were electricians that were tradesmen that were businesspeople that were lawyers that were all these things that I could pick from and have help from that taught me so much.
12:51 So how frankly my teachers were those crazy drunks and, you know, and I to give back I would hire them.
13:00 Yeah.
13:01 It saved my life.
13:03 It, oh my God.
13:04 It saved my life.
13:06 And so flash forward I have now picked up.
13:09 I mean, Malibu is like, it went back to the 19 fifties where women are stuck in the kitchen or like they are helping another situation.
13:17 Either they’re on Instagram and self and, you know, I’m, I’m all about it too.
13:22 Whatever you got to do, I love me a good picture and whatever.
13:26 You know, when I’m 90 I’m going to look back and be like, oh, look at that.
13:32 But, but at the same time, I think with social media and with that culture, I ask so much about this physical exterior appearance and I’m start going off and it, but it, but there’s something there that I want to have a few years still working on a crew just as a tradesman just to get my bearings.
13:55 And I’ve created a really good reputation for myself because your reputation and construction is everything.
14:00 Absolutely.
14:02 Absolutely.
14:03 I was just telling that to my, one of my employees, that, you know, there was a particular client that was being difficult.
14:11 And she’s like, well, we could just refund them and tell them like, nothing.
14:14 You and I was like, yeah, and then what about what they say to other people?
14:18 Like, even sometimes it’s difficult to move forward with a frustrating circumstance and it may be easier to just quit and tell people to go away.
14:27 But like that affects you, you know, for many, many years and I’d rather, you know, suck it up and do the right thing in every scenario than, like, take the easy road.
14:38 That is a pretty intense story.
14:41 And one that, it’s interesting to me how many people that you can see who’ve gone through stuff and have come out of it and then you see people who need to go through stuff to get their heads out of their ass sometimes and, but you got to let them have their own right.
15:03 And it’s like I can just always recognize somebody who appreciates life and views it with gratitude and hard work and knows what it’s like to be at the bottom and knows what it’s like to climb out of it.
15:19 And I bet you are the hardest worker that is ever then on a job site.
15:27 Straight.
15:29 I got 10 minutes early.
15:32 I leave 10 minutes late.
15:33 I’m always hard working, but I worked with a bunch of guys who are from Guatemala and a lot of them took coyotes over the coyotes is another term for somebody who smuggled somebody else in.
15:46 And these guys are now in their thirties, but they would be smuggled in when they were Children, and they haven’t seen their families in 20 years.
15:54 A lot of them and those men are one of the hardest working groups of people I’ve ever seen in my life.
16:02 They make sure I’m fed during lunch.
16:04 They, like, have homemade or, you know, burritos or, you know, so one of them made Italian and they make sure I’m fed, you know, they, yeah, they respect me on a level that most people, it took about a year and a half to be taken seriously.
16:24 I mean, Stefanie, I’ll never forget.
16:26 I got hired by a company and I, I don’t care to put them on glance, but I will put them on glass fully.
16:33 They’re building steam jobs as ex-wife tops.
16:36 Paradise Co and I was going to be hired to do concrete river and a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful house already poured and I show up, I’m dressed appropriately.
16:49 I’m quiet, I’m together and I make sure to blow the hamster wheel down, scare people.
17:00 And the foreman looked at me and said, absolutely not, absolutely not be too much of a distraction on this construction group.
17:07 Thank you for your time.
17:09 But within two seconds of just seeing me, that was his reaction.
17:14 And I, I don’t know anybody in California and I’m, I’m thinking to myself, don’t physically hurt this human being to bail you out.
17:25 And I looked at him, all I could come up with is I said, if this were Chicago, I would shove rebar so far up your house.
17:31 If I walked off and I called the woman who was so excited to hire me and so excited.
17:38 She was all about it.
17:40 It was a woman who was there, you know, on the phone as the assistant for this company.
17:45 And she was just like, I am so sorry out of my hand, and she was like, but whatever you do, you will flourish.
17:53 Don’t let this stop you for one second.
17:57 And a lot of my girlfriends don’t want to touch them in California.
18:00 It’s competitive.
18:02 It is like that same song.
18:04 Dance we all talk about, and I am so r for that day where I don’t, nobody brings up that I’m a woman.
18:11 Yeah, I’m so ready because I walk in every day if I, you know, have the, you know, and the same gender as those.
18:20 That’s how I walk in.
18:21 It’s like it’s out the window.
18:24 It’s not even an issue.
18:26 Well, I think it’s also like to me like the other day I had like a new drywall crew on a job and they had never seen me before and they, you know, I pull up in my truck and they see me getting out of the truck and they just like, gawk at me and I want to stop all of them in the face and one of them is smoking inside my house.
18:53 No, I oh yeah, on the job.
18:56 And I like inside in this house like I’m flipping it.
18:59 So I walk in, and I look at it.
19:02 I go, I’m Stefanie and I shake his hand and I go get your ass outside.
19:07 This is my job, my house.
19:09 You do not smoke here, and he was like, oh my God.
19:14 But to me it’s like there has to be that respect.
19:18 Like I’m not somebody to look at and to not be taken seriously.
19:22 And my guys know I will like the guys that know me and have worked for me for a long time know like I will have their back and I will treat them with respect.
19:31 But when I feel disrespected, you bet your ass I’m not going to stand down and it’s like it had to be established in that moment with that one guy.
19:41 And then they all were like, oh she knows what she’s doing, but like I was, I could have been intimidated and not said anything and made my superintendent deal with it.
19:52 And there’s just those moments that I’ve learned that sometimes you have to step up and you know, carry some weight to make sure that you are respected.
20:02 But then like you guys are doing a good job.
20:05 I appreciate you.
20:06 Thank you for being done on time and make sure you clean your shit up, you know, like, like to where there is this balance that I kind of feel like I have to carry of being hard, being kind and being appreciative and also making sure that they know that I have the knowledge and they’re going to walk all over me.
20:25 But I do it take to learn that.
20:30 you know, I think if it were 10 years ago, I never would have said a word.
20:36 You know, I just wouldn’t have said a word and I probably would have, you know, cowered away into my little home, but like I am not terrified of you, and this is my job and I’m paying you and just like anybody else’s job, no other person would want somebody smoking inside their house.
20:56 Like you’ve got to be freaking kidding me.
20:59 And I’m like, that’s just like blatant disrespect to me and I handled it.
21:03 I think how anybody else would have handled it, but just like you, that’s unacceptable if you want to smoke, go find another job.
21:11 But, you know, I had never met them before.
21:14 And so now, now, now they’ve met me, I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I understand it’s a delicate balance and I haven’t run into that in a long time because I, you know, where, like I, I needed another crew because just with how many people or how many jobs we were juggling and, and I needed another crew to be able to get that job and get that schedule done.
21:38 And so I just haven’t felt that way in a, in a long time because, you know, I, I look at you and then for those who can’t see Stefanie looks like a Barbie.
21:49 It’s gorgeous.
21:50 But I imagine I look at you like you have been this little girl that I’ve been 10 years ago that, you know, my heart goes out to these girls who want to be in, but typically usually the welding that they all want to be in.
22:06 And I look at them and even women who are my age or older, I’m like, I wish I could do this.
22:12 I want to do this.
22:13 I could do this.
22:14 I’m like, get your ass out here.
22:15 Come on, you know, but I feel that empathy of like you have to have a, you do.
22:22 Yeah.
22:22 And I think that that’s what it is.
22:24 It’s like you showed me respect like I’ll show you respect and if you’re doing something disrespectful, like, come on, let’s just so let’s be kind to each other.
22:31 And I don’t, I have such massive respect for the men in the trade who have taught me and have, you know, given me the opportunities and treat me as an equal to them.
22:43 Like I could not be more grateful I have, you know, like the contractor that they like in California, you have to have four years of experience and then you have to have a con like somebody sign off on your work experience and, you know, just being able to have somebody that lends you that and, and, you know, it wasn’t a woman like there wasn’t anybody, it wanted me to give that to me.
23:06 And I just hope someday I have the opportunity to do that, you know, for another woman, you know, like where, like there will be more generations that are helping other women get their contractor’s license or whatever, you know, or, or whatever certifications they want to get.
23:23 I think I encourage more of my guys that like end up being like employees or they have a trade.
23:28 Like I was just talking to a Finnish carpenter and he’s like, I want to get my license.
23:31 I’m like, this is where you go, and this is how you do it.
23:34 Like those guys that you’re talking about from Guatemala, like they’re the guys that deserve, you know, to be able to be running that stuff because they have the most experience and the most knowledge.
23:42 And so I’m always trying to, you know, level up the guys.
23:45 So they don’t just feel stuck as like the laborer that they can go, and they can achieve something more.
23:51 So, yeah, it is.
23:52 It’s like, let’s just help each other.
23:54 I love it. California is a whole other crap shoot.
23:57 It is.
23:58 It’s literally just, I know, I think the first time we found out that like, you could just fill out an application to get a license, like, on the east coast somewhere.
24:08 I was like, what I had to study for like six months, 44 plus years of work experience.
24:16 Like, it was so hard.
24:20 Certain things that aren’t even being used to this thing, like, understand aren’t really, I’m trying to think of an example.
24:28 Well, yeah, and like 99% of what’s on the test, like, you don’t actually use out in the field.
24:34 Like you can, you can know how to build a house and how to do a remodel and not pass the test and there’s like a certain amount of income that you need to be making to afford the, you know, license and bonding of also for payroll and it’s that whole other world and I’m so proud of you because it’s not easy and it just even what payroll happens on Thursday or Wednesday, you have to fill it out every week.
25:00 And it’s like, I, you know, I watch my boyfriend do it every week with his company, but it’s a lot to juggle and II, I respect my GC so much too because California dealing with the, the permanent processes of what goes out there.
25:15 I mean, it is just, I mean, there’s OK, there’s a good part to it.
25:19 Meaning a lot of people can’t just take this lush land and put whatever they want to.
25:25 Exactly.
25:27 The, the downside is there are people who literally haven’t been able to pour a foundation in four years since that fire because they haven’t got a permit and there’s four inspectors for the entire city.
25:41 I know I’ve been trying to get test holes dug and inspected for a septic for like two weeks.
25:48 You know, like the little town I’m in, I’m like, you know, how much it costs to have an excavator sitting out in an orchard to wait for the inspector to dig test holes.
25:57 Like come on, like you’re costing me so much money.
26:00 Let’s go.
26:02 And all women should understand what it’s like to drive an excavator and use it for a dollar.
26:08 Oh my God.
26:10 Best feeling in the world.
26:13 That’s awesome.
26:14 Well, let me, let me ask you this.
26:16 What do you think with where you are now?
26:19 Where do you see yourself in five years?
26:22 Oh, jeez.
26:25 Oh, great question.
26:26 Great question because I’m definitely a one day at a time person.
26:31 But yeah, that’s a beautiful gift that you’ve talked through, and getting through the moment, one minute at a time, one day at a time, and taking gratitude for each of those things.
26:42 But maybe it’s time for what you’ve been dreaming of.
26:44 Exactly.
26:45 Exactly why a good question because this is something that’s been weighing on me and I’ve been scared to look at of what do I want my future to look like?
26:54 What is necessary?
26:56 And I would love, like, I would love to build a school that teaches agriculture, farming board is all of those things for other kids who are really mommy and have a terrible, and I just like in homes that are, you know, hyper.
27:13 I know.
27:13 What’s, what’s the word, just not stable, you know.
27:18 Yeah.
27:19 Chaotic.
27:19 Yeah.
27:20 And, or those who just have are, you know, need to be artistic and are good at it and want to learn.
27:27 I think the more independent I can help my clients become with their own lives, the better we are as a country, I think.
27:39 Can you imagine if all of us had our own farms that, we all grew chicken, we all had our own, you know, potting soil with our own vegetables and our own herb.
27:50 And we all use the water with gray water tanks where we use, we use it to water plants that we’re using for our showers like our solar or whatever.
28:00 It just like if you could self-sustain your home because everything is so expensive.
28:06 It’s like I want to be able to help long term just the country in itself because I I’ve heard of scary statistics that for every seven men that lead instruction, then there are women, only one comes in.
28:22 So for every seven months, meaning the library of information that an iron worker has a library of information, a cabinet installer and maker has out the freaking window and only one guy is coming back in.
28:38 I had that conversation with my fireplace installer.
28:42 So I have used this guy for a really long time.
28:45 Just the nicest guy.
28:46 I loved him.
28:47 I love him.
28:48 He’s wonderful.
28:49 And he, I texted him like, hey, I have a fireplace.
28:52 He’s like, I had a stroke and I’m like, oh my gosh.
28:55 And then I go to the supplier, you know, and I, and I go, do you have anybody else, you know, that you recommend?
29:01 Because like, you know, you’ve been, I’ve been using this guy for eight years.
29:05 Like, I don’t know anybody else.
29:07 So they send me this other guy and I call him and he’s an older guy.
29:12 And I’m like, I go, what’s your plan?
29:15 Like, what is your plan?
29:18 Because your trade in your gift and your knowledge, it cannot be there and not passed on, like, because he’s a creative stone guy, you know what I mean?
29:30 Like, he’s not just like, slap up some stone on the outside of the, you know, bottom half of the house.
29:35 Like he’s an artist and I’m like, your craft needs to be savored and capsuled and passed on.
29:42 And he’s like, well, I’m teaching my son and I’m like, ok, good because that kind of stuff scares me that there’s, the knowledge isn’t getting passed on to enough people.
29:54 Like my guy that unfortunately had a stroke.
29:57 It’s like he didn’t, he didn’t teach anybody else.
30:00 And, you know, he didn’t have anybody else to recommend.
30:03 And that part that bothers me because we’re not going to be able to give good quality, beautiful homes with these like ornate details.
30:18 Without those 30-40 years of experience, you know, or they know, and they’ve seen and they, they’re, you know, it’s not someone, the new person that’s never seen anything.
30:29 And when I meet people like that, I’m like, oh my gosh, tell me everything, you know, I feel like I got a machine right here.
30:36 Go.
30:36 Yeah, I’m always asking questions.
30:40 Like one other example there, I’m doing this like a, the pickleball court and basketball court for our Durham, like our community park.
30:49 I wanted to do that, and I’ve never done, you know, like, I’m not a fencing contractor and I’ve never done any like, sort of fencing in concrete, but like, you know, you hire yourself to be able to do this and this guy, the fencing contractor, he was so, just so nice.
31:06 And I’m like, I go, how are you going to, because my guys just get the pickle ball coast and they like, saw cut the concrete, right?
31:16 And he goes out and so then you score it and it looks like crap, but we’re going to resurface it.
31:21 So I wasn’t like, too worried about it.
31:22 He goes, well, we’ll just do the cord drilling and I’m like, what’s cord drilling?
31:26 And we don’t do that here.
31:27 And he’s like, well, it’s a cord driller.
31:29 It’s like a whole saw and I’m like, you mean, like, for dry ball, but for concrete and he’s like, I’m like, how big of a hole is it?
31:36 And when are they coming?
31:37 Like, I want to see it, the one and, oh my God, the, the bits that you use?
31:45 Yeah.
31:45 I’m like, I want to see that bit.
31:47 Like, he’s like, oh, it’s like a 10-inch hole and it just, like, saw cuts down the four inches of the slab and like, it’s done. Botta-bing, botta-boom and, you know, cost hardly anything to do all the, there’s like 14 holes that had to be so cut into the, you know, for, for a fence.
32:01And I was like, why didn’t I think of that?
32:06Right.
32:06 That’s, that’s my favorite part is when somebody else has a mind that’s completely differently wired and they think of something that’s so much easier and I’ll think of something that’s so much easier and it’s just, it’s like, yeah, there’s so many different ways.
32:21 My coach told me the other day, as many contractors as there are in construction is as many ways as there are to do construction.
32:31 Like there’s not like some contractor and he was doing this in a way that helps explain it to his clients that just because we like the way we do it is the way we do it because that’s the way we do it.
32:43 And that’s what our knowledge and experience has shown us and if you take the contractor right next door, he’s going to do it differently because of his knowledge and experience.
32:52 And so it’s, it keeps the clients from going, well, you know, when George built their house, he framed it this way and, you know, trying to tell you how to do your job.
33:01 And I was like a genius, like, you know, as many contractors that are out there as, as many ways as you can build it.
33:06 And I was like, that’s such a good thing to tell clients that there’s not one way to do it.
33:11 And I think that people think that there’s only one way I think with the inventions of all these new tools, that is one of my favorite parts about construction too.
33:21 It’s like I walk into any Home Depot, any, you know, there’s this great place called lumber.
33:28 It’s my favorite lumber yard.
33:29 And they have an insane little collection and seeing the ingenuity and the invention of these tools they come up with and like, oh, just making your life so much easier.
33:42 Right.
33:43 Oh, it’s my favorite part.
33:44 I like, how do they think of like the magnet on the end of a freaking drill?
33:49 Genius, a genius, super functional to do, you know, that cost a lot or how about like when they put the light on the D dr finally?
34:00 Like, you know, I was like, oh, there’s this thing called the Bash bulldog.
34:05 Oh my God.
34:06 It’s just, you know, the hammer drill, but it’s got these bits that are massive.
34:11 Cut any drilling into concrete time or any demolition in half. Like it, Oh my God.
34:19 Like I got to ask, what is your company going to be like?
34:23 What is your tool?
34:25 What, what brand do I use?
34:27 I use Milwaukee.
34:29 Is that what you use?
34:32 Yeah, I want a girl and they’re all the like when I walk into the aisle down like Home Depot or close, my kids are like, no, no, no come on like come on like they I’m like just, just, just, just like let me, let me look and then I realize I look at my wallet and I’m like, oh I know we we’ll get you later what the girl can do?
34:56 I know, right?
34:57 Oh That’s so awesome.
34:58 Ok, well, tell people where they can find you.
35:02 I know you have a wonderful following on Instagram.
35:04 So share your Instagram handle and if they want to hire you share all your things.
35:11 So I’m at bad bitch builders on Instagram and I’m a bad bitch builders dot com.
35:17 God, my family has had so much.
35:20 There’s so many issues with the name but I’m like, you know what?
35:23 Its good bad bitch energy is like you’re there and you see your cub about to be hurt and you just let me go hand, right?
35:32 Oh my gosh, my coach.
35:35 Had another good statement the other day.
35:37 And he was like, we, we were talking about passing on the like preconstruction to the construction crew, right?
35:44 And I’m involved in the preconstruction, and I do the scope of work and then like my project manager takes over like to execute.
35:53 He said to me two things.
35:55 One was she needs to make sure she’s the HMFIC.
35:58 And I was like, what, what’s that?
36:00 And he was like, head mother F in charge.
36:04 And I was like, yes, because it was like about some Yeah.
36:09 HMFIC!
36:10 I was like, all right, she needs to take that attitude and carry it on because he was talking about a producer at like, I can’t remember who it was but like on a movie set in the back of his chair said HMFIC.
36:22 And like, I was like, what does that mean?
36:25 And he goes, that’s the attitude that your project manager needs to have that like, no matter what she’s in charge.
36:32 And then the other thing he said was she also needs to be like, Will Smith, like, get your, don’t you ever, what did he say when he was on stage?
36:41 He was like, I don’t ever want to hear my wife’s name out of your mouth.
36:46 And like the purpose is like, you never, I’ve never had your project manager say your contractor’s name.
36:52 So like, oh, I don’t know, I’m going to go check with Stefanie like that is the worst thing you could say because it minimizes your authority.
37:02 Right.
37:02 And then your client’s always just going to be calling Stephanie now because, you know, the project manager isn’t quite sure what to do.
37:09 So, it’s always, like, no problem.
37:10 I’ll find out for you.
37:11 But don’t you ever say my name?
37:13 You know, I was like, that’s such good advice just to, like, the best advice I ever heard was active if you are on camera every second of the day.
37:25 Yeah, you are being watched, you know, and, and it’s not like I’m, you know, like a crazy thing.
37:31 But yeah, but you’re, you’re being watched and how you clean up your station, how you talk to the guys, how, how you’re dressed, whatever it is you’re being watched.
37:43 And that, that had, I kept with me always of just like how I conduct myself and not that, you know, I would do anything to not in a fake way but that you just like, be mindful of, of who you are and how you show up.
37:57 And I think that that’s so important.
37:59 Absolutely.
38:00 Well, gosh, Coleen, it has been amazing to get to know you and the incredible stuff that you’re doing, and I wish you well and I am so proud of your journey as sobriety.
38:12 I know that that is not an easy one and I have a lot of, you know, family and friends who are, you know, on that boat as well.
38:21 And it is a beautiful thing to see when people can overcome things and choose to have their life be what they want to be and not have everything, just happen to them and you have gone after your dreams and you took a chance and I know you will be where you want to be, you know, in the future.
38:44 And I’m just, it’s just been a pleasure to meet you.
38:46 You too.
38:47 I still have big sentiment and I’m so grateful that while everybody went this way, you and I and all these other women went that way.
38:56 Thank f*cking God.
38:57 That’s right, bad bitches.
39:00 All right.
39:01 Well, you have a good day.
39:02 Ok?
39:03 Ok.
39:03 Bye, honey.
39:04 Bye.
39:0 6 Thanks for joining me today on the She Builds Show.
39:08 My name is Stefanie Olson.
39:10 My hope is that this episode leaves you feeling empowered and ready to boldly take that step into building the life that you envision one 2×4 at a time.
39:20 And if you can do me a quick favor, please leave me a five-star review on iTunes.
39:24 Get you over reading the reviews each week and I will choose one special person to win some She Builds swag.
39:30 Make sure you add your name to the review, and I’ll reach out if you’re the winner.
39:34 Thanks again for hanging out.
39:35 Be sure to visit me at theshebuildsshow dot com where you can ask me questions and share with me what you’re building.