04/14/26: Mastermind Session

Mastermind Session: Estimating, Sales, & Hiring Insights from the Field

What This Session Covered

This mastermind session focused on real-world challenges builders are facing right now, including:

• Estimating complex projects like covered decks
• Keeping up with increased lead flow and sales demand
• Hiring and retaining quality talent

As always, the value came from builders sharing what’s actually working in their businesses.

💡 Key Takeaways

1. Covered Decks: Price Higher Than You Think

A major discussion point was how to confidently estimate covered deck and patio structures.

What builders are doing:

• Charging an upfront design fee (~$1,500) that applies toward the project
• Treating covered structures as equal in cost to the deck itself

👉 A strong rule of thumb: A deck with a roof is often ~2x the cost of the deck alone

2. Don’t Underbid—Use Your First Project to Learn

For newer or more complex project types, the group emphasized:

• Don’t try to “win the job cheap”
• Price it confidently, then learn from it

Simple framework:

• Do the job
• Analyze where you made/lost money
• Refine your pricing going forward

👉 One good project can set your pricing standard for years.

3. Systems Make Estimating & Sales Easier

Multiple builders mentioned using JobTread to:

• Build structured estimates
• Present detailed options
• Protect margins with clearer scopes

4. Hiring: Skill Matters Less Than Attitude

Hiring came up as a major challenge across the board.

Consensus from the group:

• Attitude and character > skill or experience
• Protecting company culture is critical
• Paying more than competitors helps attract better talent

5. Set Clear Expectations Early (Especially for Hiring & Subs)

Simple but powerful:

• Create a 1-page expectations doc
• Clearly outline requirements upfront

This helps:

• Filter out poor fits early
• Save time in the hiring process

Bonus: A Simple Framework to Improve Hiring Decisions

One theme that came up clearly in this session was how difficult it is to find and keep the right people.

While this wasn’t fully unpacked live, there’s a framework we use internally that can help bring more structure to these decisions:

GWC — Gets it, Wants it, Capacity to do it

• Gets it → Do they truly understand the role and what success looks like?
• Wants it → Do they actually want to do this work day in and day out?
• Capacity → Do they have the mental, physical, and time capacity to perform at a high level?

If someone is missing even one of these, it’s usually where things start to break down.

🔍 How to Apply This

When evaluating a hire or even a current team member, ask:

• Do they get it without constant direction?
• Do they want it, or are they just showing up?
• Do they have the capacity to perform consistently?

This pairs well with a simple People Analyzer, where you can quickly assess:

• Core values fit
• GWC alignment

👉 The goal is to ensure you have the right people in the right seats, not just filling roles.

Final Thought

This session highlighted a common theme across all topics: The builders who win are the ones who systemize.

• Systemized estimating → better margins
• Systemized sales → higher close rates
• Systemized hiring → stronger teams