Michael Anschel of OA Design+ Build talks client perception, are contracts negotiable, the path to contracting and more...

In this episode, Mike welcomes Michael Anschel of OA Design Build and they go deep right away. Do we tell our clients how good we are? Does it sound arrogant? How do we move past our insecurities as professionals? Then, they blast into Mike treatise on contracts, "this is not a negotiation". But, Michael has considered this and parses the "my way or the highway" attitude vs. charging for your work and the duties that are assigned to that- guiding and teaching your clients. They revisit the importance of relationships from trade partners to family and friends.

Michael And Mike discuss how they ended up as contractors bc it wasn't the original trajectory and how their prior experience helps them in their businesses. Then, on to the resources that they used to build upon and get to where they are today. There's a lot of laughs at the parallels in their lives. It's a good story with book recommendations by Leo Kottke.

Michael, a nationally recognized expert on Green design, remodeling and building, writes, trains, and speaks for various publications and events around the world. His building assemblies have been published in numerous publications including the US Department of Energy. He is the owner of OA Design+Build an award winning nationally celebrated design build and architecture firm, and CEO of Verified Green Inc. which consults with Local Government, product manufacturers, suppliers, builders, and architects on Green building. Michael led the effort to develop MN GreenStar, and is past-president of the national GreenStar Alliance. He also teaches Green Building at Boston Architectural College.

Born in MN, he attended Capital Normal University (Beijing), and the U of M. He has had the honor of presenting at Harvard’s Center for Joint Housing Studies, and The United Negro College Fund. He helped develop the city of St. Paul’s sustainability building policy, and re-wrote Minneapolis’s yard ordinance. Named #25 in Metro Magazine’s 100 reasons to love the Twin Cities and called “one of the nation’s most outspoken green building advocates” by MN Business, Michael successfully straddles the building, design, and green worlds by engineering profitability into sustainability.