The show begins with Euan and his rendition of a classic Kenny Rogers track and we love it. A few housekeeping shout outs and Euan was so kind to bring us homemade olives and Renossance tees, what a gentleman.

It all begins in BC and Euan moving to Toronto, working with tradesmen from B.C. go figure, working as a plumbing apprentice working on sprinklers and black pipe and a lot of oil, possibly olive oil, that led to a very bad motorcycle accident that changed things. The bad head injury brought Euan to become an orthotic and prosthetic technician at George Brown. He did amputee limb fabrication for about 4 years and felt he was losing his focus and felt it was time to move on, that brings us to monkeys and Euan’s dislike of monkeys and for good reason, especially monkeys on the job site.

Let’s talk older homes and how and why they have lasted, a lot of over engineering and no building code at the time and yet they are still around. The basic principles of older homes and how they heated them, lived in them, such fascinating talk. After the hospital work Euan went back to school to study Geology and Environmental Science to get a Master in BioGeo Chemistry so he figured his brain was working perfectly fine. Where do you go with that kind of education? He became an Environmental Consultant assessing soil contamination by excavating monitoring wells, with a focus around older gas stations. He did that for 4 years and then wanted out of that kind of work and since he worked construction to pay for his education he got into construction for good. How one job from a friend led him to building his business into what it is today based on learning every day, building the proper team and respect for renovations.

Euan says something that hits hard, “you can’t incentives people by paying them more.” So very true. About building your business with the Carrot or The Stick mindset and coming out on top. You really need to be an asshole when it comes to running a construction business for any of your guys to listen to you and your needs.

Take the time to drive around town and check out other job sites and chat with the trades there, pick their brains, network, that is how Euan found a great female mason, @stoneangelsmasonry she is a purist and respects the old school way of stone work. Big talk about mortars and what is spec and how It sometimes goes against how things should be restored, maybe the architects should spend a bit more time on site and discuss things with the people actually doing the work and seeing the progress. Street elevation is what Heritage is always most concerned about.

Apparently Carlito found an 1828 Gatorade bottle, must hear this story.

Don’t forget we have Construction History from Manny at the beginning of the show, Building Code Talk with Manny at the midpoint and Green Book Talk with Carlito at the near end.

Thank You Euan so much for joining the show and sharing so much great insight about restoration, renovations, preservation and more on these beautiful homes. Check out Euan @renossance_inc www.renossanceinc.com and find his email and phone number on the web site for your next renovation.

This is The Construction Life

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