Construction Disruption

“As we get older, you have a choice. You can either share it or keep it. Well, I'm choosing to share it. My business plan is to support you at creating and helping you meet your sustainability message.” -Brian Iverson, CEO of Innovated Structures, Inc.   When an innovation hits the market, the landscape shifts. New companies race to sell it, customers clamor for it, and a new solution often h...

“ If we could change homeowner’s mindsets on how to be with contractors and contractors how to be with homeowners, everything would move smoothly. Especially if I could educate homeowners and contractors to improve their processes, that’s the big impact I would like.” -Rico León, Host of HGTV’s Rico to the Rescue.   While every contractor deals with difficult clients, few develop systems of d...

“Anodizing is both a science and an art. And what we're doing with the anodizing process is we're building a translucent oxide layer to a much, much thicker level, which protects the aluminum; it stops the oxidation process.” -Park Kersman, President of Lorin Industries.   Most of us have heard of anodized aluminum, maybe with aircraft parts, old-school cookware, or as a “fancy” material opti...

“There wasn’t this residential understanding of our home environments and indoor air quality and environmental aspects regarding residential homes. Nobody even thought about it. So I started on that path and gathered all the information and education I could learn from every indoor air quality class I could take or every certification of public health.”  -Caroline Blazovsky, America’s Healthy...

“When you're in a sales situation, the prospect knows you're a salesman and they're afraid of you. Because the perception is that salesmen always want to close the sale. But there's no mutual mystification. Everybody has to understand what's going through the mind of the other person. I tell people it's okay for them to tell me no if we're not a fit.” - Rolf Snobeck, National Strategic Account Man...

“There’s  always something, a peril in your area. And are you willing to do something to help you survive it? You should always say, what does it take? I’m going to be around when it’s over. ”  - George Siegal, Documentary Filmmaker at Move the World Films and host of the Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast.   In the wake of Hurricane Michael, filmmaker George Siegal was creating...

“When we thought through the reality of what that looked like and how strongly we felt about the environment and doing things locally and helping our local supply chains and supporting regional forestry, we knew that we couldn’t accomplish what we felt so strongly in our hearts to be the right thing while also not doing it ourselves.”  - Britta Teller, Co-founder and CSO of Steller Floors . &...

“There are people that need you, and you have a chance to change a life absolutely forever, just like mine was. Young people are going through so much, and all they really need is just, you know, one person to tell them that they’re capable of so much more in life.”  - Letitia Hanke, President/CEO of ARS Roofing, Gutters, and Solar and Founder/President of The LIME Foundation .   As a ch...

“ With any professional, the three most important words we should be referring to is reputation, reputation, reputation. Value your reputation. All it takes is one dumb, rude, unthinking action to go ahead and ruin a perfectly good reputation .”  - Charlie Bellefontaine, Licensed Home Inspector and Radio Host .   As a home inspector, you hold tremendous responsibility in making sure home...

“Branding’s not this big nebulous thing. It indicates how people feel about the company and how the public sees you in the public domain, whether it be digital, word-of-mouth, all of those things create your brand. In the world we live in today, your social and digital proof is really everything.”   Claire Sakaoka, Owner and Chief Strategist of engage5w   So, you have a great product, a...

“Beyond your bills, beyond next month, why are you here? What are you trying to build for yourself? You’re much more in control of your future than you think you are. You just have to give yourself the confidence and the courage to recognize that.”   Ken Rusk, Rusk Industries and Author of Blue Collar Cash   Choosing a career is a decision we all undertake younger than we likely should....

“People are just looking for dignity, respect, and quality housing. So, when you put that quality product on the market, we have more than enough qualified tenants who move in.”   John Delia Jr, Green Monkey Builders and Housing Joint Venture   Housing, specifically affordable housing, is a pressing concern for people worldwide. A house is more than a place to live; we work, eat, sleep,...

“I decided early on that I wanted not just to have a job, but I wanted to have something a lot bigger than that. I wanted to have impact. I’ve learned that in 100 out of 100 instances, it’s always an emotional story that connects to that person’s heart that drives them to want to give. It’s about connecting your cause and your story with that person’s heart.”   Andrew Olsen, DickersonBakker &...

“You need those relationships. You need Joe at the lumberyard to help you because you were either bad at ordering or you forgot to order things. And meanwhile, Joe at the lumberyard needs Hank at the manufacturing site. Relationships are absolutely vital.”   Craig Webb, Webb Analytics   Like so many other facets of life, construction works best when we invest in our relationships. As mat...

“There’s  no doubt in my mind, no doubt whatsoever, that a modular project is going to have a higher degree of quality than a conventional project. Modular allows even a small manufacturing facility to produce, you know, 100 homes in a year. ”-  Steven Haylestrom, The Modular Solution/Rise Up Modular   Construction is an ancient profession with deep roots in cultures around the worl...

“You can see a project from start to finish, and you have confidence that the house or multifamily unit was built according to the standards and specifications that the builder promised they would deliver. Our customers provide feedback, and we don’t edit it. We put it into our report, and then we publish it publicly.”-  Connor Dillon, Building Science Institute   From quality to energy...

“There is a lot we can offer people if it would be easy enough, intuitive enough, integrated enough into their daily workflows. With this in mind, we built our product to be minimal in tech-savviness yet powerful.” -     Maria Khokhlova, TraceAir   Often, the best innovations are right in front of us. For Maria and the TraceAir team, combining construction and technology f...

“I was probably the first journalist in the hotel industry to write about the environment consistently. I grew up in nature, so in some way, I like to advocate for it in my work. Nowadays, I find a sense of urgency among hotel companies about the climate and the state of the world in general.”   -        Glenn Hasek, Green Lodging News   Hotels occupy a...

“I’ve been in sales, leadership, and management. I ran a crew and was a laborer on a job site before. Over the last 12 years, I’ve experienced everything in residential construction. There’s a lack of transparency and communication breakdowns we could all avoid if we had the right systems in place and people were on the same page.”   -     Ron Nussbaum, Co-Founder/CEO of N...

“The new part of Boxabl is that you can pack and unpack. You can grow your home, or you can make your home smaller.”   “If we don’t screw things up, we’ll bring building construction into a modern, post-industrial world.”
 -      Paolo Tiramani, CEO and Founder of Boxabl 
 Their first customer was Elon Musk, their first big job was for the Department of Defense,...

Todd Hodrinsky, a prodigious inventor, introduces his recent creation, TiCoat. TiCoat is a titanium dioxide coating applied with a spray gun to most surfaces. It not only cleans interior and exterior surfaces but deodorizes too. TiCoat has already seen applications in restrooms, restaurants, hotels, and schools. By constantly cleaning, it streamlines routine cleaning, saving money and time.  ...

Architect Emily Mottram has made it her goal to educate Maine homeowners on the potential for healthier, tighter, more efficient homes. Through her architecture practice and recently released book, Pretty Good House , Emily shares her expertise, aiming to level the playing field between homeowners and trade professionals. Building better homes helps everyone. It improves each homeowner’s quality o...

As our world grows and evolves, technology and humanity intersect in complex and often unexpected ways. Artificial intelligence is a prime example, as it improves alongside human understanding, making a powerful partner in work and play. We’ve already seen AI create art, write stories, and win at chess and Jeopardy. Who knows what the future holds?   Futurists like Greg Lindsay interpret the...

Despite construction’s reputation for being stuck in its ways, innovation and technology continue to play an important role in advancing the industry. In this episode we hear from Finland’s Aarni Heiskanen, a Construction Innovation Agent, podcaster, and blogger for AEC Business. After his start as an architect, Aarni helped bring CAD to Finland in the ‘90s. Ever since then, he’s been an advocate...

The world of real estate and remodeling is a complex one. As the economy fluctuates, supply chains struggle, and outcomes are uncertain, how can we understand the market?    John Burns Real Estate Consulting and Qualified Remodeler strive to clear things up with their US Remodeler Index. Created by polling a massive group of contractors, the Index gives an unprecedented look under the ho...