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06/17/2026

Which costs more to build per square foot, a house or a Costco? The answer may surprise you.

We’re talking home building and AI-proof trades for Gen Z with President of Southwest Montana Building Industry Association slash owner of Rivers Landscaping Riley Rivers and Career Outreach Coordinator for Bozeman and Gallatin High Schools Karl Schwartz, architect of the new Bozeman Construction Academy.

Riley breaks down the real inputs driving building costs in the Gallatin Valley: materials, labor, land, fuel, permit delays, government regulation, and the cost of holding land while projects wait for approval. Karl explains how the Construction Academy gives high school students hands-on trades experience, college credit through Gallatin College, and job-site readiness before they graduate.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/swmbia

Join SWMBIA: SWMBIA.org

Support the Construction Academy: BozemanConstructionAcademy.org

And get your Big Sky Community Rodeo tickets here: BigSkyPBR.com

SWMBIA Southwest Montana Building Industry Association Costco

06/16/2026

AI can hammer out an email, but it can't hang drywall in a Montana February.

We’re talking home building and AI-proof trades for Gen Z with Career Outreach Coordinator for Bozeman and Gallatin High Schools Karl Schwartz, architect of the new Bozeman Construction Academy. We’re also joined by President of Southwest Montana Building Industry Association Riley Rivers.

Karl explains how the Construction Academy gives high school students hands-on trades experience, college credit through Gallatin College, and job-site readiness before they graduate.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/swmbia

Join SWMBIA: SWMBIA.org

Support the Construction Academy: BozemanConstructionAcademy.org

And get your Big Sky Community Rodeo tickets here: BigSkyPBR.com

SWMBIA Southwest Montana Building Industry Association Gallatin High School

06/15/2026

A Montana builder breaks down why home construction costs are at an all-time high even as rents come down.

We’re talking home building and AI-proof trades for Gen Z with President of Southwest Montana Building Industry Association slash owner of Rivers Landscaping Riley Rivers and Career Outreach Coordinator for Bozeman and Gallatin High Schools Karl Schwartz, architect of the new Bozeman Construction Academy.

Riley breaks down the real inputs driving building costs in the Gallatin Valley: materials, labor, land, fuel, permit delays, government regulation, and the cost of holding land while projects wait for approval. Karl explains how the Construction Academy gives high school students hands-on trades experience, college credit through Gallatin College, and job-site readiness before they graduate.

They also get into why construction careers are much broader than “swinging a hammer,” why AI is not about to install sprinkler lines on a Big Sky hillside, and how private industry support helped launch a public-school trades program. Then Joe makes Riley and Karl play a deeply unserious but weirdly educational price-per-square-foot guessing game featuring storage units, Bozeman homes, Costco, Yellowstone Club, coffee shacks, the Las Vegas Sphere, and the International Space Station.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/swmbia

Join SWMBIA: SWMBIA.org

Support the Construction Academy: BozemanConstructionAcademy.org

And get your Big Sky Community Rodeo tickets here: BigSkyPBR.com

SWMBIA Southwest Montana Building Industry Association

06/13/2026

Bozeman’s school district couldn't afford a new trades program, so the building industry wrote the check. Now high school students build engineered-lumber sheds to construction spec — and sell them to fund the whole thing. Year one. 48 students. It's working, according to Career Outreach Coordinator for Bozeman and Gallatin High Schools Karl Schwartz, architect of the new Bozeman Construction Academy.

The students get experience in home building and AI-proof trades thanks to help from groups like SWMBIA (Southwest Montana Building Industry Association) and its president Riley Rivers.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/swmbia

Join SWMBIA: SWMBIA.org

Support the Construction Academy: BozemanConstructionAcademy.org

And get your Big Sky Community Rodeo tickets here: BigSkyPBR.com

SWMBIA Southwest Montana Building Industry Association Bozeman High School Gallatin High School Bozeman School District

06/11/2026

Riley Rivers explains SWMBIA and how he got “volun-told” into being in charge of it.

We’re talking home building and AI-proof trades for Gen Z with President of Southwest Montana Building Industry Association slash owner of Rivers Landscaping Riley Rivers and Career Outreach Coordinator for Bozeman and Gallatin High Schools Karl Schwartz, architect of the new Bozeman Construction Academy.

Riley breaks down the real inputs driving building costs in the Gallatin Valley: materials, labor, land, fuel, permit delays, government regulation, and the cost of holding land while projects wait for approval. Karl explains how the Construction Academy gives high school students hands-on trades experience, college credit through Gallatin College, and job-site readiness before they graduate.

They also get into why construction careers are much broader than “swinging a hammer,” why AI is not about to install sprinkler lines on a Big Sky hillside, and how private industry support helped launch a public-school trades program. Then Joe makes Riley and Karl play a deeply unserious but weirdly educational price-per-square-foot guessing game featuring storage units, Bozeman homes, Costco, Yellowstone Club, coffee shacks, the Las Vegas Sphere, and the International Space Station.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/swmbia

Join SWMBIA: SWMBIA.org

Support the Construction Academy: BozemanConstructionAcademy.org

And get your Big Sky Community Rodeo tickets here: BigSkyPBR.com

SWMBIA Southwest Montana Building Industry Association Rivers Landscaping Explore Big Sky

06/10/2026

Play “Worm Food or Still Kickin” with Big Sky’s favorite worm composter and the local resort tax master.

Big Sky, Montana is technically unincorporated — no town council, no mayor — yet it generates $25 million a year in resort tax revenue and just became the most taxable community in the state. We sat down with Daniel Bierschwale, Executive Director of Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD), to break down how resort taxes work, what the new hospital district means for residents, and why Big Sky is essentially funding two teachers per school district across all 391 Montana school districts.

And while we’re talking dirty details, Karl Johnson, owner of YES Compost, joins to explain vermicomposting is. It’s hundreds of thousands of worms eating your food scraps and pooping out garden gold. We talk worm aversions (no citrus, no onions, definitely no diapers), scaling from 10 lbs of worms to a city-wide composting operation, and the one commercial client who really should have read the green bucket guidelines.

This episode was made possible by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, for your enjoyment and information.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/yesbsrad

Learn more about Big Sky Resort Tax: ResortTax.org

And sign up for YES Compost here: YesCompost.com

06/09/2026

Montana has no sales tax but one resort town is finding a way to tax tourists to fund important services.

Big Sky, Montana is technically unincorporated — no town council, no mayor — yet it generates $25 million a year in resort tax revenue and just became the most taxable community in the state. We sat down with Daniel Bierschwale, Executive Director of Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD), to break down how resort taxes work, what the new hospital district means for residents, and why Big Sky is essentially funding two teachers per school district across all 391 Montana school districts.

And while we’re talking dirty details, Karl Johnson, owner of YES Compost, joins to explain vermicomposting is. It’s hundreds of thousands of worms eating your food scraps and pooping out garden gold. We talk worm aversions (no citrus, no onions, definitely no diapers), scaling from 10 lbs of worms to a city-wide composting operation, and the one commercial client who really should have read the green bucket guidelines.

This episode was made possible by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, for your enjoyment and information.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/yesbsrad

Learn more about Big Sky Resort Tax: ResortTax.org

And sign up for YES Compost here: YesCompost.com

Big Sky Chamber of Commerce

06/08/2026

What some people try to compost is… nappy.

Karl Johnson, owner of YES Compost, takes us into the world of vermicomposting — hundreds of thousands of worms eating your food scraps and pooping out garden gold. But there are some items that the worms reject…

This episode was made possible by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, for your enjoyment and information.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/yesbsrad

Learn more about Big Sky Resort Tax: ResortTax.org

And sign up for YES Compost here: YesCompost.com

Big Sky Chamber of Commerce

06/06/2026

He has a quarter million employees and pays them in food scraps.

Karl Johnson, owner of YES Compost, joins to explain what vermicomposting is. It’s hundreds of thousands of worms eating your food scraps and pooping out garden gold. We talk worm aversions (no citrus, no onions, definitely no diapers), scaling from 10 lbs of worms to a city-wide composting operation, and the one commercial client who really should have read the green bucket guidelines.

This episode was made possible by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, for your enjoyment and information.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/yesbsrad

Learn more about Big Sky Resort Tax: ResortTax.org

And sign up for YES Compost here: YesCompost.com

Big Sky Chamber of Commerce

06/04/2026

One Montana resort town is punching above its weight when it comes to taxable value.

Big Sky, Montana is technically unincorporated — no town council, no mayor — yet it generates $25 million a year in resort tax revenue and just became the most taxable community in the state. We sat down with Daniel Bierschwale, Executive Director of Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD), to break down how resort taxes work, what the new hospital district means for residents, and why Big Sky is essentially funding two teachers per school district across all 391 Montana school districts.

And while we’re talking dirty details, Karl Johnson, owner of YES Compost, joins to explain what vermicomposting is. It’s hundreds of thousands of worms eating your food scraps and pooping out garden gold. We talk worm aversions (no citrus, no onions, definitely no diapers), scaling from 10 lbs of worms to a city-wide composting operation, and the one commercial client who really should have read the green bucket guidelines.

This episode was made possible by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, for your enjoyment and information.

Watch the full interview: ExploreBigSky.com/episodes/yesbsrad

Learn more about Big Sky Resort Tax: ResortTax.org

And sign up for YES Compost here: YesCompost.com

Big Sky Chamber of Commerce

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22 S Grand Ave
Bozeman, MT
59715

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