The Dr Decks Podcast | Podcast on RSS.com

The Dr Decks Podcast

The Dr Decks Podcast

by Dr Decks

Design Education

Season 1

He Insured Billionaires. Now He Builds Deck Companies

Before decks, Jade Pender co-founded Valor Agency, a company that provided pre-travel threat assessments, medical evacuation, and kidnap-ransom insurance for ultra-high-net-worth families. The kind of clients who needed two separate private jets just so a single crash couldn't wipe out an entire family's estate. Before that, he sold concussion-prevention football helmets on the road for a Massachusetts startup, ran an events business for the multifamily real estate industry, and walked away from a Division 1 football and track scholarship after transferring twice. The first to UTSA under national championship coach Larry Coker, then to Colorado State chasing a girl. Severely dyslexic, never earned a college degree, and self-described as someone who "isn't a deck builder", Jade built Front Range Outdoor Living from a broken truck window and a couple thousand dollars into a company handling $500,000+ custom projects, before eventually joining TimberTech as a Contract Development Manager. Today he splits his time consulting for GHS Exteriors, building out their deck division, and advising a modular deck kit company.

7 Months of Lost Leads and I Had No Idea Why (DDP #61)

I had 17 leads coming in every week. Then things went quiet. He assumed it was seasonal. It wasn't. My Google Business listing had been suspended for seven months, and half his leads had been disappearing before they ever had a chance to call him. He only figured it out because he ran into Alex Danner at a bar during a TimberTech event in Arizona and described the problem out loud. In this episode of the Doctor Decks Podcast, Jason sits down with Alex Danner; founder of Fence and Deck Marketers, a 26-person digital marketing agency that exclusively serves fencing and decking companies. No roofers, no plumbers, no HVAC. Just fence and deck. Alex explains how he and his team fixed Jason's listing, rebuilt the website, and what the full digital marketing picture actually looks like for a deck builder trying to get found in 2026. But before the marketing, the backstory. Alex started as a software engineer after watching Instagram sell for a billion dollars in college. He went to Africa three times before he was 20, hunted cape buffalo and leopard with his dad and grandfather, trained with a 300 Win Mag at 14,000 feet, and nearly died in the bush more than once. Then came Salisbury University, a double major he didn't plan, a software placement company that fell apart in Texas, years of building websites for contractors, a mastermind that changed everything, and a decision to niche all the way down to the one industry where he felt most at home. This episode covers the full picture: How a Google Business listing suspension silently costs you leads and how to fix it Why the website and the listing have to work together or neither works YouTube as the second largest search engine (and why it keeps sending clients to Doctor Decks) Reddit: six real clients this year from threads Jason didn't even know existed The rule of 23: why expensive purchases require more touchpoints than ever What "omnipresent" actually means for a small deck company with one crew Why Alex niched into fence and deck and why the decking side surprised him most

His Own Videos Were Sending Jobs to His Competitors (DDP #60)

Ben from Big Pine Decks had 80% of commenters on a local Facebook post recommending his company. A woman saw those recommendations, Googled "Big Pine Decks," found a phone number, and called it. She scheduled an appointment. The person who answered wasn't Ben. She only figured it out because something felt off and called him directly to report it. Ben had no idea this was happening. In this episode of the Doctor Decks Podcast, Jason Russell sits down with Ben, co-founder of Big Pine Decks in Bellevue, Nebraska, a composite deck specialist who built a Best of Bellevue award-winning company from scratch with his father-in-law, starting in 2019. Ben breaks down exactly how competitors are allowed to legally run ads targeting your content when you're not running your own, what it costs to stop it, and why a company with two crews and 30,000 social media followers only just found out this was happening to them. But before the decks, and before the business, Ben was a 21-year-old police officer. The youngest ever hired by his department. He lasted less than a year, walked into the chief's office, and was honest enough about what wasn't working that the chief respected him for it. Then a master's degree, a father-in-law who'd built custom homes for decades, and a decision to niche all the way down to one thing and become known for it. That's the through-line of this episode: the discipline of saying no to everything that isn't your thing, and what happens to your business when you do, including the problems that come with being known well enough that someone else wants to use your name.

He Saved Skiers. Now He's Coming for Carhartt (DDP #59)

After 35 years and 500+ deck builds, Doctor Decks doesn't recommend gear lightly. So when he says True Work is the real thing and it's worth paying attention to. In this episode, Jason Russell sits down with Jason Cloyd, VP of Partnerships and Community at True Work, the performance workwear brand built on a simple idea: what if the technology behind elite outdoor gear was redesigned for the job site? Think less Carhartt, more what Carhartt would be if it was built by someone who came from the outdoor performance world. Jason describes it best: "imagine Carhartt and Under Armor had a kid." But the story behind Jason Cloyd is what makes this episode unusual. Before True Work, he spent years designing cryogenic systems: liquid oxygen storage tanks tied to Mars Rover projects, heat exchangers for liquid fuel rockets. He helped bring the first widely available avalanche airbag to the US market: gear that went on to save real lives in the backcountry. He ran global education sales for SolidWorks across three continents. And somewhere in between all of that, he reconnected with a friend named Brian who had an idea for a workwear brand and eventually bet his career on it. What does aerospace engineering have to do with the pants you wear on a job site? A lot more than you'd think.

The Deck Builder With the Most Insane Backstory Ever (DDP #58)

What does sneaking into the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone have to do with building decks? If you're Hayward Gatch, the answer is: everything. In this episode of the Dr Decks Podcast, we sit down with Hayward Gatch, founder of Be Nice Home Solutions, a Rhode Island and Connecticut contractor with maybe the wildest backstory in the trades. From the hand tattoo that accidentally named his company, to hiring mechanics and homeless workers when no one else would take a chance on them, Hayward built his business by doing everything differently. But before the decks came the journey: a heartbreak-fueled trip around the world on a few hundred euros, talking his way out of a nuclear zone, getting caught in a street siege in Athens, squatting in abandoned Soviet buildings, and navigating foreign cities by nothing but the sun. This is a story about grit, reinvention, and why old-school craftsmanship still matters in a digital world. This is Part 1 of 2 — Hayward's journey concludes in the bonus episode. Subscribe for new episodes of the Doctor Decks Podcast Follow Hayward: Instagram @be_nice_home_solutions Doctor Decks on YouTube: youtube.com/@drdecks

They Weren't Going to Stop Building Decks. They Were Born Into Them (DDP #57)

Blaise grew up watching his dad build decks. There's a photo of him at age two in a tool belt on one of his dad's job sites. His dad ran Knock on Wood Construction for 35-40 years before burning out on five crews. Blase went to college, played rugby, got put on academic probation, dropped out and came back to decks. In this conversation, Blase shares how LVMC went from just him and his dad in 2014 to three crews building 150-156 decks a year at around $3 million in revenue. He sells five decks a week by himself. His dad runs production entirely. His brother runs the crew Blase used to run. His cousin recently took over. His sister-in-law handles the office. The company joined Chris Breen's Legacy Academy this year to build the systems they never had and the results are already showing. Blase also opens up about his rugby background (his father played professionally in Palestine before immigrating), the brief HVAC company he and his dad started and abandoned, and building his home from the ground up the day after his wedding with his wife and father-in-law.

A Deadhead Lost His Partner. He Built Anyway (DDP #56)

Coy Pence spent a year following Bob Weir's touring band across 15-20 states, selling Kirkland water and grilled cheese in parking lots to fund his travels. He was a Deadhead by culture and a hustler by necessity. That chapter ended in Louisville, Kentucky, where his first construction job was rebuilding rotten apartment decks. One move to Minnesota, two years of framing log homes near Leech Lake, and a relocation to Tennessee later, Coy started Rough Ashlar Construction. Three months in, his business partner Lucas relapsed and overdosed the week before Christmas. Coy rebuilt alone. Now he's consistently booked six to eight months out in the Nashville area, focusing exclusively on high-complexity custom builds; compass rose inlays, steel framing, premium mineral composite boards. He doesn't take cheap jobs. He doesn't chase volume. He built his name one conversation and one difficult project at a time. The company name comes from a Masonic symbol: a rough ashlar is a stone not yet carved into its final form. Always a work in progress. Always striving to be better. This is one of the more quietly powerful stories we've had on the podcast.

The Engineer Who Swung a Hammer First (DDP #55)

Todd Roe grew up in Brady, Nebraska. A town of 200 people where he genuinely thought North Platte (population 25,000) was the biggest city in America. After graduating second in a class of 11 and playing all-state basketball, he spent a year working on Ted Turner's 88,000-acre bison ranch. One day in the field, Todd calculated the remaining diesel in a 500-gallon tank using improvised geometry. Turner walked over, asked what he was doing out of school, and said nothing else. A week later a $2,500 check arrived from T.E. Enterprises; "This should cover your deposit and first month's rent." Now Todd is the Technical Specialist for Pacific Wood Tech's engineering department; the person who bridges contractors, salesmen, and engineers in a way most companies haven't figured out how to do. He spent 15 years framing and building 26 homes in Nebraska before finding the role he was built for. He also owns approximately 168 guns in seven safes. His wife knows about most of them. This is one of the most colorful backstories the Doctor Dax Podcast has hosted.

26 Years Old. 7 Months in Business. 10 Leads a Week. (DDP #54)

Leo Adorno was making six figures at 17 years old running a moving company through U-Haul's partner program. By 18 he was losing everything he'd built. By 26, he had his own deck company in Massachusetts with a website generating 2-10 leads per week, seven months after forming the LLC. In this conversation, Leo shares what happened in between: dropping out of high school at 16 after his school refused to sign the transfer papers for an early college program, working under the table as an electrical apprentice at 16 for a boss whose equipment kept getting repossessed, the moving business that made him more money than he knew what to do with, and the spiral that followed. His dad has been sober for 30 years and runs the largest homeless shelter in Boston. A backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail helped Leo find his way back. So did mountain biking, his dog, and eventually a job building decks for a house flipper who taught him the rest. This is a young guy who went the hard way before finding the right path.

He Got Sober at 21. Built a Deck Company by 28. (DDP #53)

Nick Waters from Waters Woodworking Corp joins Dr Decks, who we met at the International Builder Show at the FastenMaster Booth. Nick is 32 years old, born in Kentucky, raised in New Hampshire. His mother relocated constantly during his childhood: sixth grade in Florida, eighth grade in Mississippi, finally settling in Exeter, New Hampshire for high school. Nick graduated through an alternative program for students who couldn't function in a traditional school environment, got into drugs at 17, became a full-blown heroin addict, went through rehab and a sober house at 21, worked at Dunkin Donuts and a factory making giant Jenga blocks, discovered framing at 22, spent four years framing houses, three years in remodeling (including work on a $30 million home where every wall was a radius), and started Waters Woodworking Corp around age 28-29. He now builds 20 decks a year in New Hampshire with a small crew.

1 of 7