The Morning Huddle Construction Show

Economic uncertainty has become normal for all of us. Contractors who are busy today are just waiting for the music to stop. While nobody can predict economic conditions with certainty, smart companies pay attention to the trends and plan accordingly. Nobody may be better at reading the tea leaves for the construction economy than our guest, Anirban Basu. Anirban joins The Morning Huddle a second...

The Morning Huddle gets a jump start on Women in Construction Week with this episode featuring three successful women working in construction. Each of our guests has their own unique story to share. Through their stories, we’ll explore what can be done to draw more women to the industry and inspire women in construction everywhere to follow their passion.

Every contractor needs an accountant, but certain relationships have the potential to become trusted advisors. As a contractor, you may want to be asking more of your accounting provider. Tim was a trusted advisor for several contractors during his time working for an accounting firm. He joins us on The Morning Huddle to share the principles that made his relationships so strong and strategic with...

Advances in construction materials and methods are allowing us to achieve amazing levels of sustainable building. Passive house design is one of the latest advances toward net zero and net positive buildings. In this episode, we’ll speak with Trey Farmer, architect and owner of a passive house himself! He’ll walk us through the passive house design approach and demonstrate how it is more attainabl...

There’s a demand for qualified leaders in the construction industry, and our guest for this episode has dedicated herself to meeting that demand by unleashing the potential of women in leadership positions. Mentors guide up-and-coming professionals, using their experience to help develop a (usually younger) mentee. Sponsors, on the other hand, advocate on behalf of their mentees and help them adva...

When most small to midsized construction companies think about Human Resources, they think of employee handbooks, PTO policies, and managing employee files. When people like Kathy Humm think of HR, they think about how investing in human capital becomes a strategic advantage for a business. In this episode, we hear about how leading construction companies leverage their HR departments to become be...

Real estate developers drive a staggering amount of construction in the US today, and like all construction project owners, they have unique needs. Whether you are a design firm, general contractor, or specialty contractor, some or even most of your projects have a developer as your ultimate customer. In this episode, we hear from a VP of Construction for an affordable housing developer, but Meade...

Lean stands for reducing inefficiencies and removing waste wherever Lean principles are applied. Lean has been a buzzword around the construction industry for decades, and while some segments of the industry have fully embraced it, others have only a vague sense of what Lean is all about. Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, this episode will invite you into the discussion in an approach...

We've had on a few guests with leading views about integrating more manufacturing practices with construction. It seems like a relatively new trend to most, but to people like our guest Gerry McCaughey, offsite construction is how things have been for a long time. Gerry has been building offsite for over 30 years between Europe and the US, and he joins the show to tell us why any other method is a...

Most people don't associate the construction industry with human trafficking, but it is happening on a large scale worldwide. In this show, we learn what human trafficking really is and how we can play a role in snuffing it out. Meg Hughey and Miranda Nehrig from Freedom Network USA are on the front lines of the issue, working to educate owners and employees on how to spot and resolve the issue.

For companies and project teams that have embraced prefabrication and other concepts from manufacturing, the results are undeniable. To bring these ideas home to more contractors, we at the Huddle want to showcase more stories! The Queen of Prefab, Amy Marks joins The Morning Huddle to continue her mission of advancing industrialized construction. Her role at Autodesk puts her in a position to mee...

Many construction companies develop meaningful innovations that create strategic advantages in their market in a crowded field of competitors. Perhaps they develop a tool, a fabrication method, or an operational process that gives them the upper hand only to have an employee leave and bring that information to the competition, diminishing a hard-won advantage. When you think of Intellectual Proper...

Join The Morning Huddle for a timely discussion about laws governing how we hire and pay our construction workforce. Workers are misclassified as 1099 when they should be legally W-2. Subcontractors are hiring labor subs to augment their workforce or, in some cases, to replace them altogether. These labor subs have a varying level of commitment to following the law, and now their prime subs and GC...

Demand for qualified workers in the construction industry is high, and supply is low. That's no surprise, but rather than accepting such a disappointing reality, people like Jennifer Sproul are working hard to solve the problem. She is the President of the Maryland Center for Construction Education and Innovation, whose mission is to develop, promote, and connect career opportunities in the built...

For most Americans, shopping online has become the norm for so many items in their lives. I mean, can you even remember what shopping was like before Amazon? As consumers, we have the ability to check pricing across platforms, read reviews, and buy the best available options with a click. Could we be seeing the same consumer experience developing in the construction industry? Michael Wisnefski is...

What is the difference between BD and Marketing, and how should they complement one another? Many construction companies get it wrong, and some don't even incorporate these efforts into their business. Ronnie Brouillard and Taylor Tobin might have it figured out better than any tandem in the construction industry. These two have been a tandem with the general contractor, Chesapeake Contracting Gro...

The Morning Huddle is back for season 3, starting on Tuesday, September 13th! We'll be running every week for three months at 9:00 AM Eastern. Join us!!! Improving contractor procurement must remain close to the top of the list in our search for positive change. George Nash joins us to share his personal experience in 35+ years with traditional versus alternative procurement methods. We'll talk ab...

In what has always been a high-pressure industry, now more than ever, teams in the building industry are facing breaking points and burnout. Everyone seems to be too busy, feeling overwhelmed, and can barely keep up with the fires from day to day. It's not sustainable and an industry with a poor quality of life won't attract the bright young people we need for the next generation. Rex Miller joins...

In the commercial, industrial, and multifamily construction segments, companies have the chance to work together repeatedly. As such, maintaining strong relationships with customers and service providers alike is a great strength for the companies that do it well. Matt Bolyard joins The Huddle to talk about the value of strong relationships between GCs and Owners, and the service-oriented mindset...

Since most office-based workforce was forced into working from home over two years ago, many theories have been swirling around about "the future of the office". While the debate isn't entirely settled, today it at least seems clear that offices will indeed continue to exist and play an essential role for most companies. Kelly Ennis is a workplace strategist and the Founding Principal of The Verve...

Of all the ways the building industry is innovating and evolving, the use of modular construction methods is perhaps the most practical and promising way to increase efficiency in the field. Nancy Novak joins The Morning Huddle to talk about her experience with Modular Construction in her role as the Chief Innovation Officer at Compass Datacenters where she brings immense experience as a General C...

Not many people in the construction tech community started in the industry with a shovel in their hands like Duane Gleason. After spending several years on the physical end of construction, Duane began to master the digital side of the business. Today, he works for Trimble, an industry-leading construction technology company as the Program Director for Connected Construction. He joins The Morning...

The construction industry needs skilled tradespeople and not enough young people are entering the workforce with the skills we need right out of school. However, training the workforce poses significant time and financial challenges. Chris Bybee and his company, Interplay Learning, are working to address those challenges by bringing an immersive VR training platform to the trades. Chris joins The...

For more than 25 years, Mark Perna has been empowering educators and employers to unlock the tremendous promise of the younger generations. He regularly speaks to audiences of CEOs about it, and he wrote about it in his best-selling book "Answering Why: Unleashing Passion, Purpose, and Performance in Younger Generations". Inside construction companies there can be a clash between "old school" cult...

Our workforce is in dire need of capable, passionate young people with technical education applicable to careers in construction. Amy Rock is one person delivering that to Prince George's County Maryland and the surrounding region. She joins The Morning Huddle to share success stories from her school district and help the construction community understand how they can be a part of the solution.