The Fine Homebuilding Interview: Matt Risinger
This Austin builder is using his growing network to teach builders and clients to demand better.
Synopsis: In the second installment of the Fine Homebuilding interview series, Aaron Fagan interviews Matt Risinger, host of The Build Show. Matt describes the building-science learning curve, America’s short-term view of houses, and how more and more builders are interested in building better.
We caught up with regular Fine Homebuilding contributor Matt Risinger as he was en route from his home in Austin, Texas, to a job site in Missouri—where he would be meeting with builder Jake Bruton and architect Steve Baczek. They are all part of The Build Show Network, Risinger’s growing group of mentors utilizing social-media platforms to advance the culture of the home-building industry by holding it to a higher standard through the power of example.
Matt is the owner of Risinger Build, host of The Build Show, and founder of Build Productions. The object of these ventures has been to shape what we talk about when we talk about building by helping people recognize quality craftsmanship and understand the role building science plays in creating lasting, healthy homes.
AF: What did the building-science learning curve look like when you began?
MR: It was huge for me. Honestly, Fine Homebuilding was a big part of that story. I started subscribing to the magazine in the late 1990s and thought, “I can’t imagine building one of these houses. They are so detailed and cool.” I mean, I was building matchstick-box houses. Then when the mold crisis hit, I started to get connected to EEBA [the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance], the Houses That Work program, and eventually people like Mark LaLiberte and Joe Lstiburek.
AF: The view from here is that you’ve grown your media presence in a widening circle of education and leadership. It’s not just about promoting a local business any longer; you appear poised to make real progress toward smashing old myths that performance comes at the expense of aesthetics.
MR: I love that I get a lot of views on my videos, because it allows me to have more of a mouthpiece in the marketplace for people to demand better.
From Fine Homebuilding #298
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