Construction Genius

Basic sales knowledge tells us:  "You cannot control productivity but you can control activity. Focus on quality activity, and the productivity will follow."    Productive business development for a construction company focuses on landing the right projects, with great clients, in the right locations.    In this short episode of Construction Genius I explain why the productivity of your business d...

What if there was a way to manage and control risk effectively all while lowering your insurance costs?    Today, we have Wesley Sierk with us, President and Lead Strategist at Risk Management Advisors — who joins us to talk all about captive insurance. Learn the types of captive insurance you can set up, the obstacles to getting started, and why you should or should not set up one in the first pl...

Mark Twain says, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and starting with the first one." Making massive improvements in your business is difficult and can be overwhelming. However, if you understand how to make incremental improvement, you can take on even the biggest projects with tr...

Why do employees perform poorly? 80% of the time, it's just because they're in the wrong position, and unable to leverage their strengths.    Our returning guest today, John K. Coyle — is one of the world's leading experts in Design Thinking, and an Olympic silver medalist. At a young age, John was able to identify his strengths and use those strengths to his advantage.   I've invited John to join...

Construction companies often struggle to adopt new technology. It takes work, time, costs money, and entails risk.  Our guest, Yaron Dycian — Chief Product and Strategy Officer at WINT-Water Intelligence brings an outsider's perspective to the table today on how construction companies can benefit from adopting new technology and using it effectively. We discuss the following essential highlights:...

I'm shopping for a new car. I make these types of decisions slowly, and do lots of research. Recently, I was driving by a dealership and popped in to see if they had the car I'm looking for. They didn't. What got my attention was after I was finished chatting with the employees at the front desk, they didn't ask me for my name and email to keep in touch. They just let me walk out the door, despite...

This week's podcast takes a detour from our usual leadership topics.  A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. For example, Pepsin is an enzyme that acts as a digestive catalyst, speeding up the digestion of meat. We are also familiar with the use of catalyst to refer to a person that causes change or action. In this episode we will think about such a person. That catalyst is...

Contrary to the popular belief the construction industry is an innovative and forward thinking industry.   However, there are some risks inherent in construction that can slow the pace of innovation.    Brian Potter — a structural engineer, returns to Construction Genius to discuss why it's seemingly hard to innovate in construction and how construction companies can do it more effectively.   We a...

Your projects will be profitable if your field crews are efficient. How can you increase your crew's efficiency so that you can make more money? On this week's episode of the Construction Genius Podcast we are joined by the co-founder and CEO of Clue Insights Inc. — Oded Ran. Oded is obsessed with helping construction companies make more money by improving their field efficiency using data and AI....

In the 1960s, President Kennedy set the goal of sending a manned flight to the moon. To achieve that goal, three programs were put in place — the Mercury Program, the Gemini Program, and the Apollo Program. Three programs which can be perfectly used for analogies with regards to growing businesses including construction companies.   Today, we have Doug Howard — Director of Consulting at Remodelers...

Generation Z is the most ethnically diverse generation the United States has ever seen. Tapping into this pool of talent will be essential for your business's progress in the next 15-20 years.   Paul Robinson — the founder and CEO of ConstructReach — a company that focuses on diversifying the construction industry, is here with us today to explore diversity, and why it's important to your company'...

Marketing is one particular area of business I've always been fascinated about. Probably because of the fact that I've been involved in sales and marketing my whole life but I always feel like I'm just getting started. There's so much to learn and it's always a pleasure to get expert advice on the matter whenever given the opportunity.   So, I've once again invited Wayne Mullins — founder and CEO...

For construction professionals, the whole purpose of bidding work is to win work. But what are the elements of a successful bid? Some say most decisions heavily depend on the lowest price at the end of the bidding process.   But today, Dave Wagner — Vice President of Product Marketing and partner development at STACK construction technologies enlightens us with how you can increase the likelihood...

According to Listen Notes, there are over 2.5 million podcasts all around the world as of today. Big names in the podcast industry include Joe Rogan and Tim Ferris.   I'm not Joe or Tim but I'd like to share with you how I grew my own business through my podcast. Some of the key points I talk about in this episode include:   How you can market your business through podcasting,   What are the RIGHT...

Waste seems inevitable when it comes to construction projects. But why does it occur? And how can you reduce it?   Shane Saltzgiver — founder and CEO of VEC, joins us today to discuss how we can reduce waste in our construction projects with the use of technology.   We also talk about the following points:   Why waste occurs, Ways to reduce waste, Misapplication of technology, and how to address i...

When you get appointed into new positions or get promoted to a new role, you may feel overwhelmed. Why is that? Weren't you hired or promoted in the first place because of your capability?   After getting off a call with one of my executive coaching clients, I decided to record this short video and talk about these important topics:   The reasons why you're feeling overwhelmed,   Beating overwhelm...

One of the most dangerous things that a leader can say is "we've tried this before and it didn't work."   It's so crucial for an organization to have team members who are innovative enough to bring new ideas to the table. Especially if you're someone who's been inside the box for so long, it's refreshing to have people come in and help you take a look outside of the box.   One way to squash your t...

What does it take to execute an ESOP successfully?    To get a clear perspective about this topic, I talk with Herb Sargent, the President and CEO of an ESOP, Sargent Corporation, a construction company based in Maine. This podcast addresses some of the following essential points:   the importance of distinguishing your runway for ownership transition and management or leadership transition to exe...

The General Contractor of the future will be successful based on their ability to identify, evaluate and implement new technologies.    In 2017, computing power became sufficient to open up the doors for some of the toughest challenges in Construction to be addressed by software solutions. Billions of dollars of venture capital poured into tech start-up companies and the Construction tech renaissa...

Incentive programs are powerful tools for motivating employees to deliver amazing results. But they also have the potential to encourage bad behaviors that are harmful to your company.   What's key is knowing how to create a well-structured program that aligns what your employee wants with what's best for your company.   Today's episode is packed full with insights from my guest, Mark Brooks, the...

A long term commitment to building relationships through networking will result in more sales. As a CEO or President, you play the main role in building your network and making sure the people in your organization continue to cultivate those relationships.  My guest today is a construction  company President and a tremendous networker. Austin Edwards of Emerald Site Services gives several practica...

The pandemic has brought on the rise of "hybrid work environments", people working in the office and the job site and at home.  This new work setting has proven to be a double-edged sword as workers are given more time to tend to their personal lives while business owners struggle to keep productivity and happiness in check. Today's guest, Founder and CEO of L-12 Services LLC, Lizabeth Wesely-Case...

Every one of your clients started out as a stranger to you. Good Marketing is how you turn strangers into friends, clients and evangelists for your company.   Wayne Mullins, Founder and CEO of Ugly Mug Marketing, is back to share with us his approach towards The Natural Progression of Marketing . He shares that by having the right intentions and setting clear expectations you can use Marketing to...

I root for the San Francisco Giants. They are my favorite baseball team. In the past few years, they've been struggling, losing more games than winning. This year, that's started to change. They've strengthened their roster, and are on pace to win over 100 games.  Are you devoting time to evaluate your construction company's roster strength? Building winning teams starts with Construction CEOs tak...

The process of submitting and responding to RFIs is often a source of tension. In today's episode, my guest, Slater Latour, frames the challenges that the construction industry has in taking a concept and design and building it in the real world. He then explains how the whole RFI process can be managed effectively. Slater and I also discuss the software developed by his company, Newforma, and how...