Designing The Future: Modular Homes, Custom Millwork, And Walkable Communities with Lew Oliver

How Doors Are Made On The Kval Door Machine: Behind the Build at Magbee Contractors Supply Part 2

Most people who sell doors have never seen one built. That is a problem. The product is more technical every year, the margins are tighter, and the warranty claims come fast when something is installed incorrectly. In this episode of Behind the Build, I walk through Magbee Contractors Supply in Winder, Georgia, with owner Bob Magbee. We tour the custom door shop and watch the process of making a door from start to finish. You’ll learn how doors are made on the Kval door machine, the equipment that Bob calls the Lamborghini of door machines. We cover the steps it takes to run a vertically integrated door manufacturing line at scale, including hinge routing, screw application, weather stripping, and threshold seal protection for the jobsite. You’ll learn what a split jamb is and how it comes apart in the field so casing can be pre-applied at the shop. We see a V-nailer in action making brickmold hoops, and discover the benefits of assembling and applying these to the door unit in the shop instead of the field. Bob talks about why being vertically integrated matters for a dealer, how it solves warranty problems for builders, and why volume matters when you’ve made this kind of investment. This is the kind of behind the scenes content I wish I had when I started selling doors. If you are a dealer, a sales rep, or a builder, this door shop tour will change how you think about the product on your jobsite. What you'll take away today: How doors are made from raw components into a finished unit. Why the Kval door machine is the most trusted piece of equipment in a serious custom door shop, and what it can run. How split jamb installation works in the field and why dealers in Georgia pre-apply casing in the shop to save builders time. Why Magbee Contractors Supply built a vertically integrated custom door shop and what that solves for builders on warranty and turnaround. Tips that door sellers should know about how doors are made. Explore Magbee Luxury's Beautiful Products: https://magbeeluxury.com/ 👉 Subscribe to Built to Win [https://stefaniecouch.kit.com/ae221e2ce6] Real talk, strategies, and tools from Stefanie. 👉 Book a Strategy Call [https://calendly.com/stefaniecouch/grit-blueprint-strategy-call] Ready to grow your brand or business? Let’s talk. Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com [https://gritblueprint.com]YouTube: Stefanie Couch [https://youtube.com/@StefanieCouch]Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial [https://instagram.com/stefaniecouchofficial]LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch [https://linkedin.com/in/stefaniecouch]Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com [https://stefaniecouch.com] 👉 About Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint. I grew up in a third-generation building supply business. I've worked inside dealers, distributors, and manufacturers. I built Grit Blueprint to solve problems I saw in our industry. Grit Blueprint is a visibility, media, and growth partner for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and leaders in the building industry. We help you get seen, build trust, and become unmistakable.

Simple Marketing Strategies That Drive Revenue For Independent Businesses | Marketing Panel at Do it Best Spring Market

If you run a hardware store, lumber yard, or building supply business, this episode shows you how to compete without big box budgets. I sit down with Sharona Eiserer of Wood Shed Lumber and Hardware, Ashley Guest of Harbin Lumber Company, and Kerry Hasselbach of Do it Best to break down omnichannel marketing for independent dealers that actually drives foot traffic and revenue.  Sharona Eiserer runs Wood Shed Lumber and Hardware across six locations in Missouri. She does live radio twice a week, and helped kick off the company's video content by recording their first reel. Now her team has taken the reins and has over 500 posts on Instagram. Ashley Guest is the marketing manager at Harbin Lumber Company, a fourth-generation business in Georgia with about 300 employees. She built a branded apparel program where every employee gets a $100 stipend twice a year to wear what they choose, and the logo now shows up on kids at the Little League field and shoppers at the grocery store.  Kerry Hasselbach leads marketing at Do it Best and has spent 20 years building brands across fashion, retail, and home. She walks through the digital tools available to members and what most dealers are missing.  If you have ever felt like marketing is too big, too expensive, or too confusing for your business, choose one thing from this episode to implement, and start winning.  What You'll Take Away Today: - Omnichannel marketing for independent dealers is not a digital-only game. Print, radio, events, and in-store signals still drive real customers through the door. - A branded apparel program turns your team and your customers into walking billboards. Done right, every hat and hoodie pays back the cost in word of mouth. - A simple marketing strategy for lumber yards comes down to the four C's: customers, culture, community, and consistency. If one bucket is empty, you are leaving money on the table. - Google My Business for retailers and reviews are still the cheapest way to get found. Most dealers have not even claimed their listing. - Do it Best digital marketing tools make it possible to plan, post, and track ads without hiring a full marketing team. Many members are not using what comes with their membership. 👉 Subscribe to Built to Win [https://stefaniecouch.kit.com/ae221e2ce6] Real talk, strategies, and tools from Stefanie. 👉 Book a Strategy Call [https://calendly.com/stefaniecouch/grit-blueprint-strategy-call] Ready to grow your brand or business? Let’s talk. Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com [https://gritblueprint.com]YouTube: Stefanie Couch [https://youtube.com/@StefanieCouch]Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial [https://instagram.com/stefaniecouchofficial]LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch [https://linkedin.com/in/stefaniecouch]Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com [https://stefaniecouch.com] 👉 About Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint. I grew up in a third-generation building supply business. I've worked inside dealers, distributors, and manufacturers. I built Grit Blueprint to solve problems I saw in our industry. Grit Blueprint is a visibility, media, and growth partner for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and leaders in the building industry. We help you get seen, build trust, and become unmistakable.

How a 70 Year Custom Millwork Shop Operates: Behind The Build at Magbee Contractors Supply Part 1

Most lumber yards sell what their suppliers stock. Magbee Contractors Supply builds it. In this episode of Behind the Build, I head to Winder, Georgia with owner Bob Magbee, VP of Sales Stewart Brandon, and inside sales manager Melissa McDougald to walk a 20-acre, rail-served yard and the custom millwork shop that sits at the heart of the operation. You will see how Magbee runs a real custom wood door shop. We find door slabs in white oak, poplar, and maple, raised panels, shaker designs, and a 48-inch wide door with a custom lattice grid built in-house, that you will not find at a big box. You’ll learn about multi-point hardware, flush glaze exteriors, direct set vs sash set transoms, and the difference between true divided lite and simulated divided lite. These are the small details that separate a custom home from a cookie-cutter look. Bob shares how his dad and uncle started the company in Decatur in 1954 and why rail access still matters in 2026 when most framing lumber comes down from Canada. Stewart breaks down the rise of thermally modified wood, a heat-treated, chemical-free option that holds straighter, lasts longer, and gives clients the stain-grade look they want with very little maintenance. We also get a sneak peek at the Lew Oliver Collection, a curated set of doors, crowns, trim, casings, and plinth blocks designed by one of the Southeast's most respected designers, Lew Oliver, and built by Magbee Contractors Supply. What you'll take away today: A custom millwork shop can run custom wood doors, knives, moldings, and trim packages that most yards cannot offer. Thermally modified wood gives clients a chemical-free, low-maintenance option that lasts longer. True divided lite and simulated divided lite look similar, but solve very different jobs for high-end home building materials. The Lew Oliver Collection gives builders and homeowners a curated path to custom without starting from scratch. A 20-acre rail-served yard with custom wood doors built on site is how a family business competes with the giants. Explore Magbee Luxury's Beautiful Products: https://magbeeluxury.com/ 👉 Subscribe to Built to Win [https://stefaniecouch.kit.com/ae221e2ce6] Real talk, strategies, and tools from Stefanie. 👉 Book a Strategy Call [https://calendly.com/stefaniecouch/grit-blueprint-strategy-call] Ready to grow your brand or business? Let’s talk. Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com [https://gritblueprint.com]YouTube: Stefanie Couch [https://youtube.com/@StefanieCouch]Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial [https://instagram.com/stefaniecouchofficial]LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch [https://linkedin.com/in/stefaniecouch]Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com [https://stefaniecouch.com] 👉 About Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint. I grew up in a third-generation building supply business. I've worked inside dealers, distributors, and manufacturers. I built Grit Blueprint to solve problems I saw in our industry. Grit Blueprint is a visibility, media, and growth partner for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and leaders in the building industry. We help you get seen, build trust, and become unmistakable.

Designing The Future: Modular Homes, Custom Millwork, And Walkable Communities with Lew Oliver

Lew Oliver has spent decades doing something most designers never attempt. He does not just draw homes. He plans entire towns. From Seaside to Rosemary Beach to the first expansion of Edinburgh since 1805, his work has shaped some of the most loved communities in the world. In this episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast, I sit down with Lew at his studio in Clarksville, Georgia, to talk about what real community building looks like and why so many developers miss it. We walk through his philosophy on vernacular architecture, why a home should feel like it belongs to the land, and how the early settlers of the South shaped a building tradition still worth studying today. You’ll learn the principles of new urbanism and walkable community planning, including how a hundred houses can sit on fifteen acres instead of one hundred, and what that does for both people and profit. We also break down two collections Grit Blueprint helped bring to life. The MOD Modular Home Design Collection is built to make stylish, well planned neighborhoods attainable for teachers, families, and first time buyers. The Lew Oliver Collection with Magbee Contractors Supply is a curated millwork, molding, and door collection that ends the twenty year drought of soulless trim and doors, and brings real detail back into homes. Lew shares why labor shortages are pushing modular forward, why details create the moments people remember, and what most developers get wrong when they try to manufacture a sense of place. If you are a builder, dealer, designer, or developer in the building industry, this conversation will sharpen your thinking about scale, materiality, and affordable home design. What you'll take away: Why vernacular architecture creates homes that feel like they belong on the land and sell faster because of it. How walkable community planning lets you fit one hundred homes on fifteen acres, raise margins, and preserve land. Why modular home design is the path to affordable home design without losing style or quality. How the Lew Oliver Collection with Magbee Contractors Supply ends the era of boring trim and brings detail back into homes. What most developers get wrong about new urbanism, and what it takes to build communities people refuse to leave. 👉 Subscribe to Built to Win [https://stefaniecouch.kit.com/ae221e2ce6] Real talk, strategies, and tools from Stefanie. 👉 Book a Strategy Call [https://calendly.com/stefaniecouch/grit-blueprint-strategy-call] Ready to grow your brand or business? Let’s talk. Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com [https://gritblueprint.com]YouTube: Stefanie Couch [https://youtube.com/@StefanieCouch]Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial [https://instagram.com/stefaniecouchofficial]LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch [https://linkedin.com/in/stefaniecouch]Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com [https://stefaniecouch.com] 👉 About Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint. I grew up in a third-generation building supply business. I've worked inside dealers, distributors, and manufacturers. I built Grit Blueprint to solve problems I saw in our industry. Grit Blueprint is a visibility, media, and growth partner for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and leaders in the building industry. We help you get seen, build trust, and become unmistakable.

How To Start Using AI In Your Business: Proven AI Tips That Help Businesses Grow with Jason Blair

Most leaders in the building industry know AI is going to change the game. Very few have a real plan for what to do about it. This episode is a working playbook on how to use AI in your business from a CEO who is already doing it. Jason Blair runs Tal Building Centers, a family-owned company with 28 locations in the Pacific Northwest. Fifteen months ago, he started an internal AI committee with people from across his organization. Not just IT. Not just leadership. A real cross-section of his team. The goal was simple. Define what AI means for Tal, set governance, and put it to work as an augmentation tool, not a replacement for people. In this episode, I sit down with Jason at the Do it Best Market to break down the real moves. You’ll learn how he used ChatGPT as a thinking partner on a project he called Project Clarity, which solved months of friction between three of his departments. Jason shares how he uses AI to help write board updates in five minutes, how his AP department runs a 225 million dollar business with two people, and how he handled the youngest leader on his team who was the most resistant to AI. This is not theory. This is AI for small business owners in action. You’ll learn how to keep sensitive data safe, why Loom is one of the smartest tools for training your team, and what the next 12 months look like for AI in the building materials industry. If you have been waiting for a sign to start using AI at work, this is it. What you'll take away: - AI works best when you treat it like a thousand dollar an hour consultant, not a search engine. - You can get started with AI in your business with simple tasks like writing emails, summarizing financials, and verifying POs. - Using AI as a thinking partner can help you spot leadership blind spots and find friction between teams that you cannot put your finger on. - AI automation is already helping 225 million dollar companies run AP departments with only two people. - How you start using AI at work matters less than the fact that you start. Pay the 20 dollars a month, turn off data sharing, and ask it to help with tasks that you do every day. 👉 Subscribe to Built to Win [https://stefaniecouch.kit.com/ae221e2ce6] Real talk, strategies, and tools from Stefanie. 👉 Book a Strategy Call [https://calendly.com/stefaniecouch/grit-blueprint-strategy-call] Ready to grow your brand or business? Let’s talk. Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com [https://gritblueprint.com]YouTube: Stefanie Couch [https://youtube.com/@StefanieCouch]Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial [https://instagram.com/stefaniecouchofficial]LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch [https://linkedin.com/in/stefaniecouch]Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com [https://stefaniecouch.com] 👉 About Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint. I grew up in a third-generation building supply business. I've worked inside dealers, distributors, and manufacturers. I built Grit Blueprint to solve problems I saw in our industry. Grit Blueprint is a visibility, media, and growth partner for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and leaders in the building industry. We help you get seen, build trust, and become unmistakable.