Elevate Construction

Jason takes on a short, urgent topic that affects everyone in construction and beyond: the lie of "I'm fine." He shares the moment a project executive helped him see his emotional highs and lows on a whiteboard, and how learning to speak up changed everything. The episode is a direct call to stop saying I'm fine when you're not, to ask the people around you with real intent, and to recognize that...

Jason makes the case that the industry's instinct to throw manpower, money, and materials at a struggling project is the very thing slowing it down. Drawing from Felipe Engineer-Manriquez's Scrum course, the Bottleneck Rules, and the Parade of Trades simulation, he contrasts pushing with building capacity and walks through the real data behind Brooks's law, team size, communication saturation, con...

Jason takes on the industry's favorite scapegoat in the supply chain crisis: just in time deliveries. He makes the case that just in time is not the villain, batching and overproduction are. He walks through what just in time actually is, why most projects fail to use it correctly without a Takt plan, procurement log, supermarkets, and right sized buffers, and why every batch order placed ahead of...

Jason and Katie Schroeder take on one of the hardest topics most couples avoid: intimacy in marriage and why so many relationships end up stuck in resentment, aversion, or a sexless marriage. Drawing from a book Jason felt inspired to pick up at a bookstore, they walk through the differences between how men and women approach intimacy, the grief that hits couples after the honeymoon phase, and why...

Jason and Katie Schroeder sit down for a candid conversation about divine and wounded feminine and masculine traits, and how those patterns show up at home, on the jobsite, and everywhere in between. Katie walks through a chart she's been studying in her coaching program, and they map it onto leadership in construction, where the controlling, aggressive, withdrawn superintendent stereotype has don...

At a training Jason sat knee-to-knee with another person and noticed he lowered his shoulders and head to make the other person comfortable. He was diminishing himself to make others feel comfortable. Jason vowed to be authentic and let things fall as they may. Stop playing small and hiding your light under a bushel. What you'll learn in this episode: Rapport Leadership training: sitting knee-to-k...

Every system has a bottleneck. As you optimize bottlenecks, more will show up. Pushing manpower, materials, and money at a bottleneck increases pressure but does not increase flow. The FOCCCCUS formula is Find, Optimize, Coordinate, Collaborate, Curate, Upgrade, Start again. What you'll learn in this episode: Law of bottlenecks: every system has one, optimizing reveals new ones, increase capacity...

Niklas Modig has been researching lean for almost 20 years and studied the Toyota production system in Japan. The foundation of lean is teamwork and respect because flow requires cross-functional work and we are dependent on each other. Niklas tells two stories about respect with his dad: the bad respect story where he told his dad he was not sweaty after the gym and should not have fika, and the...

All lean construction techniques can be scaled to smaller projects. The only thing that changes is coverage systems are harder and you need to get creative. Get help from PMs, safety directors, logistics foremen, or office administrators for coverage. Stop using small project size as an excuse for not implementing good systems. What you'll learn in this episode: Technology principles: should do wh...

Terminating an employee is about respect, not punishment. If you approach it from a punishment mindset, you will not do it successfully. Always talk to HR first, document everything, and create action plans with specific consequences. Ask yourself questions before terminating: Would you hire them again? How would you feel if they left tomorrow? In the termination meeting, state the reason in two f...

The Superintendent Commandments include 20 principles like prioritize your task list, study drawings 30 minutes daily, take reflection walks, and remove roadblocks as top priority. Do not work more than 55 hours per week. The Superintendent Secret Sauce lists 32 items including sees the future, drives with urgency, creates flow, and does not delegate safety, quality, and schedule. Motion does not...

The 8 Wastes of construction use the acronym DOWNTIME: Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Nonutilized talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra processing. The 5S methodology is Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. Create standard work for common tasks so everyone does them the same way. Zero tolerance safety policy means if someone does not wear safety glasses, send them home fo...

Read How to Win Friends and Influence People to learn skills not taught in schools or trades. Create 14 communication resolutions like no cussing, no accusing, never get angry, stay moral, bring high energy. Learn Excel, Bluebeam, and P6 because superintendents must be proficient with technology. Stay out of the box by presuming positive intentions. Jason cussed out a mechanical contractor about a...

Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Superintendents must create a mission for personal life and work, examine resolve to carry it out, and set up habits that support their goals. If you don't write it down, it ain't going to happen. Always act with honesty and integrity even when it costs money. One superintendent made a $300,000 sewer line mistake but admitted it openly and kept...

Being a good neighbor is one of the main responsibilities of a superintendent. Treat the neighbor on the corner as if your own grandmother lived there. We are in construction to build people first who then in turn build great buildings and great things. We make money when workers work, not when we send emails or hold meetings. Craft workers are the heroes and deserve our respect and reverence. Wha...

We do not need superintendents with the plan only in their heads. We need givers, not takers. Takers want control and credit by keeping information in their heads. Givers share time and knowledge for throughput of communication on site. Well-run meetings are amazing and should have healthy conflict. What you'll learn in this episode: Hold effective meetings: clear purpose, prepare beforehand, hook...

Cleanliness is the best indicator of a project's health and stability. If it's not clean, it's not going well. The set point must be set to perfection. If the superintendent's set point is set to dirty, it will always return to that state. What you'll learn in this episode: Cleanliness as pulse check: can't assess safety, quality, morale, materials, flow, or schedule on dirty project Set point con...

The Art of the Builder is a principle-based leadership guide for superintendents. The Hammer Story: Dave only yelled and threw hard hats. Mike asked if he would fire a carpenter who could only use a hammer. Dave realized he only knew one management tool and needed more leadership tools beyond pushing. What you'll learn in this episode: The Hammer Story: superintendent only knew how to yell, needed...

The Art of the Builder is a principle-based leadership guide for superintendents. The Hammer Story: Dave was a hard-nosed superintendent who only yelled and threw hard hats. Mike asked: if a carpenter could only use a hammer, what would you do? Dave said he would fire him. Mike responded: you only know one management tool. You're nothing but a pusher. Dave returned three days later wanting to hear...

A Norwegian philosopher wrote that the meaning of life is improvement. Sisyphus rolled a rock up a hill for eternity as a life without meaning. Stop Decorating the Fish teaches us not to improve the wrong process. Don't organize waste. Are you pushing rocks up hills that are meaningless? The art of continuous improvement is personal. What you choose to work on is unique like art. Workers want to d...

Jason, Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, Spencer Easton, and Reno Schroeder reflect on their time in Munich with Yanosh Dlouhy, Marco Binninger, Saskia, and Magdalena. They share what it was like to walk the BMW production line, watch a finished car roll off every 58 seconds, and play through the Takt simulations that Felipe says blew away everything he thought was possible with Takt. The conversation la...

Jason, Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, and Spencer Easton hit the road on the Autobahn for a Germany series episode dedicated to Tony Robbins Business Mastery. Felipe shares what it was like to spend five overnight days in a virtual training with 2,600 people from over 70 countries, the integration of business, psychology, motivation, and continuous improvement, and the immediate changes he made to his...

Jason continues the Germany series from Munich after wrapping up two days of Takt simulations with Yanosh, Marco, Spencer, Felipe, and his son Reno. He shares what flow actually felt like during the simulation, then makes the case that most of the industry never plans like a builder. From poring over half size drawings the way generals studied war maps, to running the math on tax zones and tact ti...

Jason kicks off the Germany series from Munich, fresh off a tour of the BMW manufacturing line with Felipe, Spencer, Reno, Yanosh, and Marco. He shares his first major reflection from the trip: how Takt planning enables every other tracking and alignment system in construction, and how the shared electronic line at BMW illustrates what happens when the whole network shifts together. Then he lands...

Jason takes on a topic that comes up everywhere he travels: are we working hard enough when we're young, and are we working too much when we're old? He shares the personal story of how he became addicted to hard work as a teenager, the lessons he learned working alongside Mexican craft workers in the high desert, and why nothing good will ever accrue to anyone who hasn't first learned to grind. Th...