Appetite for Construction

Hosted by John Mesenbrink, Tim Ward

Business News Education

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Episodes

432

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Mechanical Hub Media's John Mesenbrink and Tim Ward turn up the volume as hosts of this weekly Appetite for Construction podcast. The chat fest digs deep into the building trades industry, and features interviews with industry professionals and a variety of irrelevant, fun stuff that we hope you will enjoy. Trust us, we are just two regular guys with lots of thoughts, ideas and opinions. #construction #trades #tradetalk #plumbing #mechanicalsystems #buildingtrades #hvac #heatingandcooling

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 15, 2026Episode 43032 min

Labor, Leads & Loyalty

Send us Fan Mail Last month, Tim & John caught up to Scott Harkins, Vice President of Sales at Resideo, as they talk smart home connectivity. And, a little bourbon talk, as well. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

October 9, 2026Episode 42919 min

Growing a Business

Send us Fan Mail While at this year's Nexstar Super Meeting, the guys talk to Jon Ryan, president of Genz-Ryan HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical, Burnsville, Minn. Jon talks about taking over his family business and growing it to a 60-truck operation through collaboration and taking advantage of advancing technology. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

October 1, 2026Episode 42832 min

Building A Great Team

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Rick Goodman joins the guys as he talks about building great teams and great sales through repair, adaptiveness and performance, and building a culture through a sense of belonging, motivation and appreciation. Don't miss his keynote—“The Hidden ROI of Belonging: Building a Symphony of Talent in the Workplace—at this year's PHCC CONNECT. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

September 24, 2026Episode 42738 min

Plumbing Engineering

Send us Fan Mail On the Appetite for Construction podcast, as we set our sights in the ASPE Convention next month in OKC, we caught up with Bryan Hutton, ASPE Society President and Director at Maverick Applied Science. We talk about his path to the ASPE presidency and we talk about the upcoming ASPE convention. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

September 17, 2026Episode 42640 min

The Undercover Employee

Send us Fan Mail The guys talk with Nora Burns, Chief Curiosity Officer, The Leadership Experts, Denver. Nora Burns doesn’t study workplace culture from the sidelines; she has flipped the script to research it from the inside out. She has interviewed for more than 350 jobs and worked frontline roles inside Fortune 500 companies as The Undercover Employee™, uncovering what employees actually experience in hiring, onboarding, and day-to-day work. Check out her presentation at PHCC CONNECT, “What employees are really saying when they talk to each other.” This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

September 10, 2026Episode 42528 min

New Water Heater Design

Send us Fan Mail Dr. David Yashar, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), talks about a new water heater design that helps keep pathogens at bay by raising the heat to at temperature that kills essentially all concerning bacteria. Normally these temperatures would be dangerously hot for human skin, so the new design cheaply and efficiently brings the decontaminated hot water back down to a safe temperature. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

September 3, 2026Episode 42431 min

Scaling Operations Without Losing Your Identity

Send us Fan Mail Tim and John chat with Westie Magnuson, Chief Culture Officer, HireAligned, Portland, Oregon. He’s also a Presenter at PHCC CONNECT 2026: “Recruiting in the Trades: Modern Tactics With Proven Results.” Magnuson specializes in helping plumbing, HVAC, and multi-trade contractors scale their operations without losing their company’s identity. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

August 27, 2026Episode 42322 min

Counterfeit Crap

Send us Fan Mail Tim and John welcome in Cambria McLeod, Vice President of Industry Relations and Business Development, IAPMO, as she discusses counterfeit plumbing products and the impact of counterfeit use of IAPMO certification marks what the industry can do to help protect the public. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

August 20, 2026Episode 42242 min

Tool Innovation on the Jobsite

Send us Fan Mail While John was on his annual fishing trip, Tim scooted up to Milwaukee for the annual Milwaukee Tool Pipeline event. There, he caught up with Zach Richman, senior vice president of marketing, and John Karl Jarzombek, senior product marketing manager. This episode of Appetite for Construction is brought to you by Webstone. Protect the entire system with Webstone’s NEW Sediment Filter. Its spin-down design protects against rust, dirt, sand and other suspended particles, while the multi-mode handle lets you filter, bypass, clean or stop flow. And with Webstone’s Twist-to-Clear feature, accumulated debris can be flushed through the integrated hose drain, making service fast and simple. Plus, G-Union connections help simplify installation. Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective

August 14, 2026Episode 42121 min

Happy Backflow Prevention Day

Send us Fan Mail Subscribe to the Appetite for Construction podcast at any of your favorite streaming channels and don't forget about the other ways to interact with the Mechanical Hub Team! Follow Plumbing Perspective IG @plumbing_perspective Follow Mechanical Hub IG @mechanicalhub Sign up for our newsletter at www.mechanical-hub.com/enewsletter Visit our websites at www.mechanical-hub.com and www.plumbingperspective.com Send John and Tim your feedback or topic ideas: @plumbing_perspective