Construction Brothers

This week we're revisiting our 2023 interview with Matt Aston.  The Founding of GPRS  Today we welcome Matt Aston. Matt is the founder of GPRS. Although that is an acronym for ground-penetrating radar systems, the company does much more than that these days. Matt started his company in 2001, and now they employ almost 800 people in 54 cities. We discuss the ground-penetrating radar equipment. Matt...

Tyler’s not showing much empathy for Eddie and his coffee spillage. Eddie appreciates the setup. Today he shares some thoughts about tactical empathy. Tactical empathy is another insight Eddie harvested from the book Never Split the Difference . When you’re trying your best to genuinely, deeply invest in your work with others, you’re practicing tactical empathy. When you make a point to listen car...

Introduction Our guest today is Noah Pritchett. Noah is a field engineer who shares a homeschool background with Tyler. He ended up getting his GED and meeting a chick at Chick Fil A. They also both had to be corralled by a dad into their work in construction. Then it just clicked.  His first job in field-engineering world was as a helper. Then the engineer he was helping was called away to anothe...

Today Eddie once again shares his impressive vocabulary. Today’s word of the day is isopraxism. In essence, it means mirroring. When you repeat back to someone their own words or behavior, you’re engaging in isopraxism. Eddie mentions that this kind of mirroring can increase as your sense of connection to people. It’s not about awkwardly mimicking them. It’s about falling into their patterns of sp...

Introduction Today we revisit a conversation from last year with two members of the team at DPR Construction . We dive in today with some multi-generational hard hat chat. If you’re interested, check out the helmet conversation we mention with Dr. Bottlang . DPR and Recruiting  We ask Chris and Will to talk about how DPR is recruiting and training young workers. They talk us through the variations...

Tyler’s sharing this week.   It was in a conversation not terribly long ago that he realized just how profoundly his ADHD affected his daily work. Over time, he’s come to learn how beneficial this condition can be if managed properly.  Here are a few tips Tyler shares: -Use Pomodoro Timers to keep yourself on track: https://pomofocus.io/-Work out.  -Research shows that exercise can mitigate some o...

Introduction Is Tyler Irrelevant? That’s where we start out today. From there, we conclusively demonstrate our shared lack of connection with today’s youth. We zone in on the term skibidi. Here’s the Urban Dictionary definition .  Then we move on to Ohio , rizz , and sigma . Aren’t you glad you joined us? A new generation in construction The reason we’re discussing this linguistic nonsense is that...

Tyler’s been hiring. In the process, he’s had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people. One guy in particular checked in toward the end of the scheduled interview time slot and asked thoughtfully whether Tyler had a few more minutes.  Proactively consider the needs, desires, and circumstances of the people you work with on a daily basis. Doing this on a consistent basis will help them know th...

Introduction Today we welcome Joe Purtle, who is here to talk to us about concrete forms. Joe has been in construction for well over two decades, and he’s currently the COO of Doka, which specializes in forming and shoring. Eddie shares a bit about his experience in construction back in the 2x4 and plywood days. He shares how cool it’s been to see the complexity of forms increase over time and to...

We’re always trying to help. This week we have a memory Tyler shares about the invisible tattoo he mentally cut into his arm–the message (in its family-show iteration): “Don’t be a jerk.” He reads this tattoo to himself at work and at home.  Frustration awaits you at every turn in this industry and in life. Establish the neural pathways needed to avoid falling into bad, adrenaline-fueled habits. ...

00:00 - Intro We start out today reflecting on Lee Evey, an interesting guest from a couple former episodes ( part one , part two ). Then we get going on the conversation with today’s guest, Matthew Byrd, who started the Reality Capture Network .  Matthew gives us a run-down of his career preceding RCN and what drove him to start this conference. He talks about the lack of equipment knowledge he s...

Yes, it’s another quote. This week, Maggie Thatcher speaks to us through Eddie. She says, “Keep Fighting the Good Fight.” Tyler adds to that. Learn to love the “no” he says. Great things can come if you are willing to fail more. Eddie shares about RFIs that you know are a sign of something that’s going to become a bigger deal. Sometimes you need to set aside your own interests and do something for...

A discovery Tyler shares about the blueprints he and Eddie’s dad found in their grandfather’s house. They were prints for a relatively simple house, but still Tyler was overwhelmed by the artistry of the prints. Eddie recalls the values and the social dynamics of work crews in that generation.   Core values Tyler shares about an exercise that Chat GPT gave him when he asked for help clarifying the...

Nuances matter. Today, Eddie focuses on a specific language nuance and encourages us to be kind, not nice. In explaining the distinction, he suggests that niceness involves telling someone what they want to hear. Kindness, on the other hand, is speaking the truth in a way that respects the person. Tyler latches onto this distinction as an opportunity to extend some kindness to Eddie. We take a bit...

This week we're re-airing a conversation with had with Melanie Ford last year.  Introduction - Melanie’s backstory Melanie Ford is the Senior Director of Construction for the University of Georgia Office of the University Architects. Before her move to the university, she worked for 20 years as a contractor and a Vice President of Whitsel Construction Services. She’s the Georgia Chapter President...

No tips and tricks today. Just a list of things we love about the good ol’ US of A. We touch on sports, fireworks, greasy grub, flags, and more. Eddie shares about his love of baseball and small-scale explosives. Tyler focuses on food, with some thoughts about deep-fried fair food and pool beer. Are we thankful to live in ‘Merica? Youbetcha, yeah, yeah . Check out the partners that make our show p...

This week we revisit a conversation we had with DPR's Chris Bell and Will Sheane last October. Today we welcome Chris Bell and Will Sheane, two members of the team at  DPR Construction . We start with some multi-generational hard hat chat. If you’re interested, check out the helmet conversation we mention with Dr. Bottlang . DPR and Recruiting  We ask Chris and Will to talk about how DPR is recrui...

Eddie’s going deep for today’s quote–all the way back to Sun Tzu’s Art of War (which you can hear for free on Youtube if you can spare 72 minutes.)“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Sometimes people will use these two words interchangeably. Here’s the difference: Strategy is the long-term plan. What you plan to achieve i...

We might be just a bit late for graduation in some parts of the country, but this week we’re awarding some senior superlatives for the construction industry. Here are the categories. You’ll need to listen to hear the winners. Best partner for a zombie apocalypse:  We ponder who would be best able to help us survive an onslaught of the undead. We ponder weapons, transportation, and power distributi...

Eddie’s got another quote. This one is attributed to historian Daniel J. Boorstin. “The greatest obstacle to discovery is ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge.” Sound applicable? We think so. Eddie looks back to the early days of the podcast. We thought we knew a lot. We did not. Fast-forward five years, we now find ourselves fully aware of our ignorance. Our advice based on our experience?...

00:00 - Ennui and another Tyler We know that you come here for philosophical insight and existential explanations, so today we’re discussion ennui. Tyler shares… tries to share about this state of listlss… listsles… listlessness and dissatisfaction. After this fun, we welcome our new vocal presence, Tyler Cook. Tyler shares about the secret to connecting with Zoomers. It’s all about tier lists and...

Tyler’s struggling today, but Eddie’s bringing the wisdom. Actually, he’s passing along wisdom from John F. Kennedy. Here’s what JFK had to say: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Eddie shares about lessons Dad passed along about how to use down time. If things are slow but you know the time is coming when they won’t be… Then use that time to do the things that you know will...

He brought us coffee. 00:00 - Introduction Today we welcome Jay Jenkins. Jay is Principal in charge of Higher Education and Operations at May Architecture. We invited him to the studio to learn about building a team that’s equipped to handle the unique challenges of college and university construction. Jay points out that colleges and universities are little cities unto themselves. Eddie brings up...

Can you think of a more difficult decision than the one that President Truman had to make in 1945? We can’t Sometimes sitting still and not doing anything is the riskiest thing to do. Tyler recalls a conversation with friend of the show Henry Nutt III. Henry recounted a situation where his boss left him in a room and told him to sit tight until the boss returned. Henry sat around for a while and t...

Check out this link to learn more about the tools discussed in this episode. 00:00 - Introduction Rob Coakley is the equipment manager at Lithko Contracting. He’s here today to discuss a decision familiar to every construction business owner: to rent or to buy.  Rob shares some of Lithko’s history in order to set the stage for the complexity of the rent/buy decision. It boils down to this: Having...