Construction Brothers

When it comes to confidence and peace of mind within your business, there’s nothing that compares to having employees who actually care. Is this obvious? Yup. Still bears repeating. When your workers are thankful for their job, they’re going to bring creativity, responsiveness, and conscientiousness to their work. Everyone that your business touches will notice the difference. How do you make your...

Today’s episode includes a visual demonstration, so you may want to consider watching the Youtube version . This episode is a re-air from earlier in 2023. 00:00 - Bloody Dumpling Shenanigans (and Introduction) Dumplings can be deadly. What a birthday… After that story, we shift to today’s guest, John Fay. John is the founder and CEO of Låda Cube (pronounced Lauda Cube). Låda Cube produces pre-fab...

Today Eddie suggests that we go to the person who has the hammer in hand. This is not only the best place to identify problems, but it’s also often the best place to formulate solutions. It’s the nip-it-in-the-bud mindset. Solve the problems right where they start. This is more logistically efficient, and solutions formed at this point in the system are also more likely to be supported by the whol...

00:49 - Small Talk We’re struggling. Tyler opens by sharing that his reading ability has been waning recently. We chat about his delinquency as far as following up on his eyeglass prescriptions. His knees aren’t doing so well either. 03:30 - Getting into the Concrete We discuss our wives’ confusion about our fascination with the Roman Empire, but that’s where we’re settling today. We start out at...

You’ve encountered them. Can we just admit it, you might be one. To be fair, we all become one at one time or another. There are plenty of unreasonable people in the construction industry, but Eddie has a tip for how to deal with them. Don’t fight with them. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you just because someone else did so. Tyler chimes in with the comparison about children and parent...

00:56 - Introduction Brent Wadas is an Army veteran who has also worked in finance and SaaS. In 2020, he and his two co-founders dove into construction automation with BotBuilt. He joins us today to talk about automated framing. 04:38 - BotBuilt Overview Brent explains why he sometimes feels like a five-year-old. He and his co-founders found that most automated systems required almost complete uni...

Eddie’s stealing this week’s insight from Micah Piippo (See episode 180 ). That insight? Think ahead–way ahead. Plan long. Dad said it too. Don’t just think about this week, this month, or this year. Plan out 20 years. Where do you want to be? Tyler mentions how quickly you see time pass when you’re a parent. That’s part of the point, but not all of it. Eddie points out how few people there are wh...

Here are a few links related to today’s episode: Join the Bluebeam User Group Download a zip file with instructional videos and some of the tools Patrick mentions in this episode Contact Patrick McLaughlin on LinkedIn if you’re interested in more information about customizing Bluebeam Try Bluebeam for free 00:00 - Introduction Today we’re visiting with Patrick McLaughlin and Steve Smith. Patrick i...

We all spend a good deal of time discussing how to improve the construction industry. Large problems don’t start out large. They’re usually a result of a long series of small problems. How do you reverse a large problem made of small problems? Yup, you seek a series of small solutions. Instead of getting discouraged, let’s start digging. An army of normal people can present a solution that is bett...

Fouad Khalil is back! About three years ago, Fouad founded Modly, a modular construction consultancy that provides the building and real estate sector with market research, feasibility analysis and advisory services. Today he’s here to share some leadership insights. We jump right into the conversation today with some talk about liability. Tyler asks Fouad to repeat what he had explained in an ear...

Finally! Tyler is finally getting on board with the baseball analogies. (Well… This one is borrowed from his pastor, but it’s a start.) You might know that the Atlanta Braves are having a pretty impressive season. Tyler points out that statisticians have done the math: When Ozzie Albies is on the field, Ronald Acuña plays 30% better than when Ozzie is not on the field. It’s not because of anything...

00:00 - Introduction Tyler is excited about his visit to a Glossier shop. While his wife was exploring ways to look even prettier, Tyler’s makeup-free mug was recognized by another patient husband. He didn’t ask for an autograph, but it’s a start. 6:44 - Mulberry Harbor Eddie leads us into today’s topic: the two large harbors that were constructed in preparations for the D-Day Invasion of Normandy...

Today Eddie doles out some wisdom for beginners. 1) Don’t turn off the study habits that helped you in school (if you had such habits). Get to know the software, the terminology, and anything else that is a part of your job. 2) Don’t succumb to a whiner culture. Just learn. Just grow. (Tyler fesses up to having violated this tip.) 3) Stay humble, and learn from your checker. They’re not trying to...

00:00 - Introduction Today we welcome 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 . 7:25 - 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 between states in re...

We use Bluebeam all day every day at ABSI. Today, We talk about some of our favorite features. Favorite #1 - Tool Chest: On the left side of your screen, you look at the tool chest. Click on that icon and open it up. Inside, you’ll find tool sets. Favorite #2 - My Tools: If there’s a command you use frequently, you can put that command in my tools. It will be assigned a number and become readily a...

00:00 - Introduction That’s a frickin’ cookie. We could do an entire episode on the beautiful construction of the cookie we’re eating. Shoutout to The Cookie Company in Milledgeville, Georgia. (Also, sorry, Mom, for talking with our mouths full). 4:00 - The Crystal Palace - Background We review the steps that lead to the construction of the Crystal Palace. In 1840, a guy named Henry Cole suggested...

Tyler’s been doing some training lately. Eddie has been both working out and listening to ultra-runner Nick Bare’s podcast . Nick talks about running a 230-mile ultra-marathon. Tyler and Eddie are not doing that. During COVID, Eddie was set to run a marathon that ended up being canceled. The Campbell family stepped up and set up a one-man race. When he hit 16 miles, he hit a wall. He was determine...

You listen to us, and we listen to you. Today we welcome a guest who engaged honestly and thoughtfully with one of our LinkedIn posts. 00:00 - Introduction A while back, when Eddie posted on LinkedIn to say that he wanted designers to have more money and more time in order to produce a better product, Nick stepped up to say that he didn’t think that was always the answer. Nick said that collaborat...

We promise no original thoughts today. We do, however, hope you’ll find our borrowed insights to be useful. Eddie shares today about something he read about traits common to students in Ivy League colleges. It’s one that we’ve probably all seen in elite performers in other arenas as well. Don’t mistake it for apathy. It’s not a “Whatever” attitude. It’s just about unflappability. It’s just about n...

We thought about calling this first episode in our redesigned studio “Between Two Fools,” because that’s where Dad is sitting today. 00:00 - Introduction Dad’s been in construction so long that he worked on moats. Well, okay, it was a moat in a zoo, but still… Today we ask dad to impart the wisdom and experience he’s gained over the last several decades in construction. We’ve had Dad on the podcas...

FMF: 4 Tips for Project Managers(While we remodel our recording studio for some exciting changes, we’re sharing this Five-Minute Friday episode that was originally aired in September of 2021.)You may or may not know that Eddie is not only a master of steel detailing. He’s also a seminary dropout (as Tyler is quick to remind him… frequently.) Today Eddie’s sharing some scriptural insights that coul...

(While we remodel our studio in preparation for some exciting changes, we’re sharing this conversation with Matt Haskins that aired in July of 2022.) Matt Haskins has been in construction for a very long time. When we talked to him, he was working in northern Minnesota on a small, 100-year-old apartment building. Lead pipes. Ugh. We start out with a discussion about early mornings. He completes ye...

Today we share some multi-generational wisdom. These are useful tips and principles passed down to us from our dad and grandfather. Our dad and grandfather both reminded us not to be a project pilot… Actually, what they meant was not to be a project “pile-it.” Don’t just pass paperwork on to others. Don’t be the “please advise” monster. Just don’t. PLEASE. DON’T! Stay in front of the airplane. Thi...

We start out with a brief discussion about the mystery of lost files (due to some tech challenges we encountered today).Today we’re discussing inefficiency–specifically as it relates to the amount of time allocated to a task. We discuss the art (or the science?) of scheduling in a way that provides just the right amount of time–not too little, not too much. OVERVIEW OF PARKINSON’S LAW: Tyler share...

Stunned. Tyler is stunned that he is praising Bing. While scrolling through LinkedIn, Tyler encountered a mention of punching shear. His understanding of that phrase was reasonably solid, but he thought it might be interesting to see if AI could help him understand it just a bit better. Then he challenged Bing to explain it to him in an even simpler manner–at the level that a child could understan...