Elevate Construction

Jason discusses integrity, doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. Definition: quality of being honest with strong moral principles; state of being whole and undivided. Story 1: Jason graded contractors on site, self-perform got Fs, asked Jason to mark them differently because "we're the same company." Jason refused for 3 months until they fell in line. Story 2: Basement/level 1 had 80...

Jason discusses war maps, the visual command stations and strategic planning areas superintendents need to lead effectively. Napoleon studied maps on the ground for days, planning options for Plan B, C, D. General Patton had war maps in his trailer. Leaders are only as effective as what they can see. Jason's dream: mobile mini command station with war maps, craned around the job site to stay with...

Jason and Charlie Dunn discuss the "buy what you want" philosophy: if you want lean behaviors, put them in contracts and pay for them. Don't assume trades will magically do morning huddles, afternoon foreman huddles, or keep sites clean without contractual requirements and transparency. Two $150M hospital comparison: one recovered with Takt flow (0.98 fee position, on time, delighted customer), th...

Jason and Katie Schroeder discuss why receiving help is actually a form of giving. Construction workers have the "tough exterior" mentality, thinking they should do it all themselves, never need help, always pay the bill. But refusing help is selfish because it's pride-based and denies others the opportunity to give (which is the ultimate form of happiness). Katie shares her sister's story: single...

Jason challenges superintendents and PMs to know their project financials, you can't manage what you can't measure, and you can't play the game without a scoreboard. Know your job cost report, contingency position, exposures, change orders, and projected fee (including staff labor gains, craft labor gains, insurance/bonds gains, and lump sum self-perform). Strategy matters: is your self-perform lu...

Jason opens with a serious message about Operation Underground Railroad (rescuing children from sex trafficking) before diving into his most comprehensive defense of Takt/Last Planner/Scrum vs CPM. His official stances: CPM is a push system (worst - forces out-of-sequence work, crashes crews, creates chaos). Last Planner & Scrum are pull systems (queue work behind ready work). Takt is a hold syste...

Jason challenges you to raise your expectations. Most contractors think "good" is good enough, but good is NOT good enough, it's a nightmare for workers. Successful projects mean 90%+ fee, on schedule, remarkable quality and safety, workers enjoyed it, team met career goals, and owner is delighted. Jason uses the mountain analogy: it's easiest to be at the top (excellent) or bottom (bad), hardest...

Jason sick daughter got sick then family got sick. Business Mastery Tony Robbins day 3 of 5, would pay 50k for just afternoon info. Elevate Construction big hairy audacious goal: preferred trainer construction with most addictive useful fast training. Main topic two second lean videos scaling excellence. Paul Acres method before after videos with iPhone and YouTube account. Video tools: Teleprompt...

Jason hit 40,000 podcast downloads. Business Mastery with Tony Robbins 2 days in, superintendent boot camps starting northeast south Texas southwest southern California. Three core services: recover projects, remarkable training, business consulting. Main topic distraction and stress come from fear. Tony Robbins quote two states fear and flow. Jason's projects had custom indoor bathrooms, indoor l...

Jason interviews Mike Truelove from Plano Texas, 24 years construction experience. Mike worked cleanup gopher framing crew, KB Homes superintendent 45 to 60 houses at time, Hensel Phelps field engineer to superintendent 10 years. Main topic transparent leadership. DPR block game with pull planning, different teams plan differently, swap team members mid-exercise to cause disruption on purpose. Mik...

Jason interviews Paul Dunlop from Dunlop Consultants Australia, lean manufacturing consultant six years. Paul learned from clients on shop floor, fell into manufacturing early career grew passion for lean. Main topic hearts and minds giving people voice. Jason's lean definition: respect for people and resources, stable environments bring problems to surface, total participation, continuous improve...

Jason selling Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within, spent 9 grand on tickets hotels planes for kids but COVID-19 hit week everything shut down. Main problem not knowledge but no vision mindset personal organization morning routine giving 100%. Firewalking with 15,000 people real hot coals, 5 to 10% get burned not in state. Dickens process works past limiting beliefs get leverage against fears. Af...

Jason went K1 Speed racing with son Reno, got car sick from work on proposal, son beat him first time, ate In-N-Out Cold Stone feeling queasy. Gordon Hinckley quote life not perfect, most putts don't drop most beef tough, trick is thank Lord for letting you have ride. Main topic procurement tracking early and often. Procurement log tied to takt plan not CPM. Project engineers oversee scope beginni...

Jason saw pre-made food instruction cards clear visual, 15 year old daughter can make complex meal because single card. Dream feature of workboards for every worker with visuals English Spanish. Principle 16 no more fighting fires, superintendents fighting fires don't know what doing, stable environments created by best builders. Football vs tennis, we play football run ball to end field not tenni...

Jason late this morning from travel but podcast over the top. Katie figured out one meal a day little or no sugar lots of water standing on absorption pad. Jason's solution eating window 11 to 2 or 11 to 4 standing desk with absorption pad. Main topic 20 key questions for lean implementation asking why. Why takt planning, does it create flow? Why site logistics, are we maintaining supply chains? W...

Jason recording 4:46am East Coast. Elevate Construction business gets all work from podcast and LinkedIn, seven times rule before people trust you. Principle 12 equality, best supers not elitists, understand craft workers add value should be elevated respected trained. Office trailer should feel like Disneyland, clean fun organized great signage visuals. Music smells visually stimulating, wall flo...

Jason pleads to create takt plan in proposal phase schematic design before CPM. Company hit rate went from 66% on time to 89% rising by implementing takt planning. Snagit tool for superintendents, hit print screen send snippets to trade partners. Daughter had horrible experience with mean people, stayed above line, Jason proud she was present with emotions didn't run away. CPM metrics showed probl...

Jason warns against mandating software, sincere loving warning not threatening. Takt Planning book out on Kindle Amazon paperback, beautiful cover no errors, fantastic fable. Momento mori Latin phrase remember you must die, stoic philosophy reminder of mortality, clarify illuminate inspire. At DPR as superintendent used P6, Excel, Vplanner, Smartsheet, Bluebam, CMIC, BIM 360, Notevault, text syste...

Jason in Baltimore hotel heading to project for scheduling. Principle 15 outpace entropy, must have systems correct problems fast enough to outpace natural chaos of project. Never been on project went badly, always pre-construction run well. Nine steps recover project: Stabilize site cleanliness organization safety, organize functional roles by area not scope, focus on contract work not change ord...

Jason reveals colleague said unless life or death no reason overly emotional. Stay calm then handle appropriately. Every business partner not keeping own spiritual commitments never worked out. Art of War win without fighting, when you engage you lose control become animal. Leadership and Self-Deception teaches not get triggered. General superintendent kicked down door got in trouble. General Patt...

Jason reveals takt book almost done, uploading Friday. Principle 15: Balance and stability, teams can't be filled with waste, overburdened, work unevenly to detriment of schedules and families. Main topic no meeting days. Context switching wastes 5 to 15 minutes every time you switch tasks. Project engineer calculations showed only 12 to 14 hours per week for production work after meetings and con...

Jason at hotel after scheduling boot camp reveals principle 13: Comfort workers, discomfort staff. Workers need stable environments, respectful conditions, tools, time to work at productive rate. Main topic: 12 consequences of no field representation on leadership teams including disconnected with craft, become brokers not builders, dispatch best field people to fix bad projects instead of prevent...

Jason introduces the concept of latency, the delay before action takes place, and explains why teams that decide or correct issues under 5 hours have dramatically higher success rates. Traditional project management (CPM) has only a 26% success rate with 21% failures, while Scrum/agile systems achieve 42% success with only 8% failures. The difference? Latency in seeing and acting on problems. A CP...

Jason is driving in Washington State to do a scheduling training and shares a powerful insight about discovering your life's purpose. Ask "why" seven times (plus or minus three) until you get chills or a revelation. A company owner discovered their purpose: "to build people and families" (not what you'd expect from their technical trade). Jason's friend discovered: "to find joy in improving the li...

Jason interviews his dad, Ken Schroeder, former truck boss and driver for Service Rock Products, about developing remarkable vendor relationships, specifically with ready-mix concrete suppliers. Ken shares firsthand stories of providing world-class service: 305 yards per hour on big pours, inspectors recommending Service Rock to customers, 7-day breaks instead of 21-day breaks, spotless batch plan...