Construction Brothers

Eddie’s gears have been ground. It bothers him when people act like they’re the only one with problems–especially when this leads to them unloading their workload onto someone else.This kind of offense is especially frustrating to managers, owners, or other types of bosses who can’t pass the buck.(We can’t imagine how worked up Eddie will be when he’s an old man.)Ultimately, it’s a basic “do unto others as you’d like them to do unto you” situation. It makes you a better employee, a better coworker, a better friend, a better contractor. Tyler reflects on the sense of entitlement that he had as a young fella in the industry, and we discuss the long-term benefits of making deposits to the trust account of those you work with day in and day out.   Check out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!

Tyler’s struggling with sugar withdrawal. Eddie sometimes doesn’t feel like a real man. Hamzah Shanbari likes his coffee bitter and black.02:55 - Welcoming Hamzah ShanbariWe’re glad to have Hamzah back. It’s been a good, long while–almost three years since he joined us to discuss marketing vs. reality. He’s still achieving more than us. Hamzah now works with Haskell, where he is the Director of Innovation. Haskell has charged Hamzah and his team to invest, invent, and innovate. They do this under an LLC named Dysruptek, that seeks to look with a fresh eye at things that have long been done the same way. Hamzah talks about Haskell’s Big Pitch, the Shark Tank-style event where people within the company present their new ideas. Tyler asks how they vet the ideas. Hamzah talks about Miro digital mapping and a few other steps. He enters these ideas into a database that can be consulted as company needs arise over time. When an opportunity arises, they pull up these ideas and fund pilot programs. 15:12 - Some SpecificsEddie asks for some specific examples of projects Hamzah’s team has guided through this pilot process. He shares an example of a software package. Project managers upload the specifications of their projects and then the software tracks down and compiles all of the documentation required and ensures that all parties have what they need for their respective scope of responsibility. Then reminders can be programmed that will ensure continued documentation is properly collected and organized and distributed.  Tyler asks how commonly AI has arisen within these conversations, and we spend some time discussing Sora generative AI. We discuss the changes we’re likely to see in this area within the coming months and years. Eddie wonders if it will discourage our imagination. Hamzah shares about the book The Coming Wave, which recounts the process of training AI to play the game Go.   25:22 - AI IntegrationHamzah takes us into a conversation about the ways that AI is increasingly integrated into software such as Revit. We ponder the fact that big companies move slowly, meaning the shift towards intuitive operation doesn’t happen quickly. Hamzah shares some examples of contracts being examined and on some level executed by AI. He also mentions Togel AI conducting safety analysis for jobsites. Eddie shares some thoughts about the reasonable reach of automation. Hamzah’s thought: Verify. Eddie agrees: Check the numbers. Hamzah refers to the importance of highly qualified inspectors–for example stainless steel welding inspectors. He shares about a machine-learning experience they had with training AI to flag questionable welds. One of the lessons? AI is not that easy. Using it with high-value work requires a lot of time, money, and effort. Tyler asks Hamzah to share about cool new tools he’s seen. He mentions Skydio drones that are much more extensively automated in its execution of photogrammetry tasks. 40:36 - The BookTyler invites Hamzah to share about a big development in his life: He’s writing a book. Hamzah explains that he approached this project as an effort to share the knowledge he’s gained during his many years engaging with innovative ideas in construction. The book is titled Paperless Builders: The Why, What, and How of Construction Technology, and it’s designed for people working in contexts where they don’t have someone to facilitate innovation. Tyler talks about his interest in this subject matter and the mission of sharing information that will serve as a tide to raise all boats.Hamzah is working on building a community of people who can provide perspectives that will help shape his book. If you’re interested in learning more about the book, check out this page.  47:24 - Megaphone MessageThink outside the box. Do some research. There are tons of solutions that will make you more efficient, safer, more accurate. Find Hamzah on LinkedIn and at Haskell Check out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening

Today's leadership lesson was inspired by what we've recently learned about Joseph Strauss, the somewhat-designer of the Golden Gate Bridge. (You’ll hear more about him in an upcoming full CBP episode.)When you’re in charge of a crew, there’s a natural tendency to want to look good. This is natural, but it’s also dangerous. The good team leader knows that he looks good because of the members of the team. If you’re claiming credit for the final project, you’re blowing the opportunity to give credit where credit is due.Your tendency to claim credit for success should be directly related to your tendency to take the blame when things go wrong. As Eddie says, the call is to accurately represent your contributions. There’s no reason for false humility, but there’s always reason for genuine, circumstantially appropriate humility. People work ambitiously for people who lead this way. Check out the partners that make our show possible. Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!

A few weeks ago, Jennifer Wilkerson joined us to discuss training, education, and recruitment. Today we’ve invited her back to talk about women in construction. Jennifer Vice President of Innovation and Advancement at the National Center for Construction Education and Research. 00:00 - All in the FamilyTyler asks Jennifer to give a run-down of the welding business that she and her husband own. Jennifer was the business manager for several years after leaving her job as a high school English teacher. Over the years, their two daughters, aged 21 and 31, have taken different meandering routes into that business or the broader construction industry. This means that Jennifer speaks from a position of rich experience when it comes to women in construction. Eddie asks how the job search went for her younger daughter, who shifted to construction from a forensic-science program. Jennifer said that construction companies were quite eager to welcome a young prospect interested in becoming a superintendent. 06:09 - The ObstaclesEddie asks Jennifer to discuss the obstacles that keep women from entering the construction industry. She recounts a survey of elementary-age girls that revealed the primary concern most of them had: “I’m not strong enough.” They simply don’t realize that the construction industry is not all about lifting stuff. Tyler shares about how much he enjoys taking his daughter to Home Depot or to visit a work site. Eddie follows up with some memories about the bros’ grandma, who had a toolbox of her own. Tyler asks about the pressure to recruit women at this moment in the industry. Jennifer says that it’s a matter of need. The industry needs to tap into all sectors of the workforce if it wants to resolve the labor shortage. 10:42 - Research ResultsJennifer shares about research that NCCER conducted regarding women in construction. They surveyed 176 tradeswomen to see what changes might make the industry more welcoming. They also studied other surveys that have been on this topic.Here are some of the findings:Women do things more thoughtfully and meticulously in situations where men might to revert to brute strength.Women bring a sense of teamwork and emotional cohesion to a team. Men who worked on teams with women rated themselves higher on productivity then men on teams without women. Jennifer attributes this to the fact that many women are encouragers.Women bring a diversity of perspectives to a crew and a worksite.We talk about that many women got into construction for the money and then found themselves taking great pride and satisfaction in seeing completed projects. 18:10 - Concerns of Prospective Workers Eddie asks Jennifer to share about the concerns that women have coming into the industry. She mentions concerns about sexual harassment but expresses that the industry has come a long way in this area. She gives an example of a company that invested genuine resources and thought toward ensuring that concerns were recognized and addressed. Another concern is accommodation for mothers. She says it’s important to consider some creativity in shift work to enable women to address concerns of childcare. She suggests some other creative solutions, such as designated parking for parents. Many of these family-friendly considerations would be beneficial for everyone.We step into the topic of porta-potties and the fact that most of them are designed with no consideration to feminine hygiene products. The companies say they’ve never been asked for these simple features.Eddie asks about the best ways to ensure that women’s perspectives are making it into planning conversations. Jennifer explains how much of a difference that makes. She encourages women to speak up to the leaders of their organizations. They want to hear. 28:34 - Safety and Team ChemistryEddie shares his speculation that women are more risk-averse than most men. Jennifer confirms that this is the case. She shares about a woman who plays “Mama bear” as a safety enforcement specialist. Eddie refers to the cowboy mindset that many men take until there’s an accident. Tyler and Eddie share about an experience with a woman who became an integral member of their detailing team. Eddie refers to the clarity she brought to communication and the attention to detail that she brought to the detailing process. 36:29 - Megaphone MessageHere’s what Jennifer says with her megaphone this time around: Give women a chance. Be a company that women want to join. Think about your project sites. Ask the women on your team what you can do to be more welcoming to women. Think about your daughter, your wife, your sister. Find Jennifer on LinkedInCheck out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening

It’s hot when you weld.Today we’re back around to the topic of young people coming into the industry. Today, we’re specifically discussing ways to help young people with an interest in the construction industry. This conversation brings to mind times when we’ve learned from newbies who are approaching industry-standard software for the first time. We encourage educators and people within the industry to encourage young prospects to explore. Help them wade into the waters of Bluebeam and other software that are at the heart of design and construction today. Here are some links to get you started: Bluebeam’s academic program: www.bluebeam.com/academic Bluebeam University: www.bluebeam.com/bluebeam-universityCheck out the partners that make our show possible. Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!

If you're interested in learning more about the construction of Hoover Dam, scroll to the end of the show notes for links.00:00 - A Quick Dam Joke, the Consortium, and Some StatsWe question our ability to keep our puns in check. Sorry, Mom.Then we move on to the contractors. We discuss the consortium called Six Companies Inc. that won the bid at nearly $49 million, approximately $860 million in today’s dollars.Eddie makes a conveniently timed comparison to the Washington Monument. The Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall–almost 200 feet taller than the Washington Monument. Only 6 buildings in the US were taller than the dam when it was built.We discuss some stats:-4.4 million cubic yards of concrete were used in the project. That is enough to pave a two-lane road from Seattle to Miami or a four-foot-wide sidewalk around the Earth at the Equator or enough to pave a two-lane road from Seattle to Miami.-Its base is as thick as the length of 2 football end-to-end-It has 4 intake towers (30’ diameter each) that can carry enough water to fill 900 bathtubs in only one second. That means 1,448,100 “bathtubfuls” of water will have passed through the dam in the time it takes you to listen to this episode. 07:15 - Construction Costs and Power OutputTyler mentions that the cost of the initial construction, which finished in 1936, wasn't paid off until 1987. Eddie discusses the way that we handle financing for capital projects, spending not just tomorrow’s money–but money that won’t come in for decades. We compare these expenses to the absolutely monumental amount of economic impact that the electricity from the dam has had. Here’s where the 4 billion kilowatt-hours each year goes:19% to Arizona23% to Nevada58% percent goes to California (15% to LA, which is 270 miles away)10:46 - Hoovervilles and FatalitiesEddie fills the gaps in Tyler’s history education with an explanation of the Hoovervilles from the Great Depression. Hoover didn’t get much positive PR aside from this dam. We discuss the desperation of the Great Depression is shown by the fact that the ability to line up workers for a job to do this. Tyler shares the troubling coincidence is the fact that the first and last men to die on this project were father and son. Thinking about these human costs leads us into a discussion about the structure of incentives and penalties that drove the owners of Six Companies to push the pace of construction. 19:53 - Takeaways: Big Projects, Green Energy, Old-school DraftingWe discuss the fact that bold projects lead to emboldened people who move on to even bolder projects. Sometimes biting off more than you can chew leads to growth. Tyler makes the point that this dam was a green-energy project long before the term “green energy” was coined. He also expresses awe at the thought that all of the drafting for this massive project would have been done by hand. Eddie stops short of calling himself a history buff, but he expresses a deep respect for the teams of designers and workers who accomplished massive projects like this with so little help from what we consider advanced technologies. Tyler invites you to submit your ideas for future research-based projects. If you’re interested in additional details about the Hoover Dam, explore these sources: EIA.govUSBR.govB1M video: compares the world’s largest dams to other structuresLake Mead historical water-level chartNPS.govBechtel’s page about construction of the damOld publicity/education videoLibrary of Congress Photos Video of the physics and engineering involvedCheck out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening

Today we bring you the last of our February series on things we love about the construction industry. Today, we're talking about variety.When it’s Friday and you just wanna go home. What keeps you there?Eddie and Tyler point out that you could be in a dull, repetitive cubicle job that is going to be taken over by AI. But instead, you’re in a field where you encounter something new every day. There are tampers to ride, new guys to send out for the beam stretcher, all kinds of fresh and exciting variety. And, yes, there are new regulations, new owners, new contractors to work with. Is all that variety wonderful? Probably not. Still, it’s not dull. So hang in there at least until lunch.Check out the partners that make our show possible. Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!

Commissioning agents Jeffrey Michael and Darren Draper discuss the intricacies of their work in ensuring buildings operate as intended. They delve into the testing procedures, relationships in construction projects, and the vital role of independent objectivity. The podcast also explores conflict resolution, training challenges in construction engineering, and the importance of finding your worth as an engineer.

We’re back with some more love. Today is the third episode in our “For the love of…” series.Eddie loves solving problems. He loves seeing all of the pieces laid out in front of him and then figuring out how to put them all together. His favorite is solving problems as part of a team. He loves to spitball ideas and build off of the ideas of his teammates until there’s a solid, impressive, satisfying result.Tyler expresses his appreciation for the fact that construction still involves a hefty amount of face-to-face interaction when a group of people get together in a room and hash it out. With coffee, of course.Check out the partners that make our show possible. Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!

Today we’re talking to Jennifer Wilkerson of the National Center for Construction Education and Research, where she’s now the Vice President of Innovation and Advancement. Our conversation today focuses on the recruitment and training of tomorrow’s skilled trades workforce. 01:20 - TSwift, JWilk, and the Family Welding BusinessWe recorded this episode pre-Superbowl, so we start out with Tyler’s speculations about a potential earth-shaking breakup that might follow the game. Jennifer shares with us about her path from aspiring financial advisor to high school English teacher to VP of Innovation and Advancement at the NCCER. She’s now been with NCCER for 14 years. Tyler asks Jennifer to share about how hiring has changed since the days when she and her husband started their welding business. She discusses the cultural shifts that have made it necessary to have a greater amount of structured training. 08:15 - Poaching and JumpingEddie refers to the retention challenges that employers face, and we discuss employee etiquette. The job market makes it a serious challenge. Jennifer points out how much of a teacher mindset many tradespeople have. We share about how we’ve seen that within ABSI. 12:53 - NCCERJennifer outlines what the NCCER offers. Much of their work has to do with guiding contractors toward the rich network of organizations that can provide them with support in hiring and training employees as well as other aspects of managing their business. She points out that many community colleges and high schools are experiencing a long-overdue pendulum swing back toward training for the trades. She mentions the spirit of cooperation at a recent American Association of Community Colleges conference. Jennifer mentions that employers need to adjust their expectations as far as how much experience they can expect workers to have when they enter. Many of these incoming workers will have training that is wide but shallow. Employers need to be prepared to fill the gaps. 17:10 - High Schools and Shop ClassTyler asks about the responsiveness of high schools to the return to an emphasis on shop classes. Jennifer shares how the NCCER helps high schools navigate this process. The need is clearly there, but the infrastructure has deteriorated and significant cultural attitudes need to be addressed. Jennifer explains how culture defined success after WWII and how it has developed since then.Eddie asks about the differences in employee demand between different regions and markets. Jennifer shares some insights on this and also touches on the advancement opportunities present within construction–including owning your own business. 25:50 - CollegesTyler discusses the structure of college curricula and how it provides a perceived path toward a career. He sees this as a weak point in the construction industry. Eddie talks about his son’s recent experience with a surveyor.Jennifer shares about the fact that contractors don’t know how to reach out to schools. She discusses the persistence required to make these connections. 31:15 - Urgency and How to Take ActionEddie asks Jennifer for some numbers. She shares these troubling ones:-By 2025, 25% of the current workforce will retire.-By 2028, it will be 30%. That’s almost a third of the workforce.-For every 5 people that retire out of construction, only 1 is entering. She points out that we have to establish a consistent presence in the schools. Eddie points out that Gen Z seems to have a “Show me the money” attitude.Tyler asks Jennifer for action points for contractors seeking young workers, and she encourages them to go to BYF.org, NCCER’s site designed to help people build their future. The site contains packets of activities and materials for career days.Tyler mentions the Heavy Metal Summer Experience that we discussed with Angie Simon. Jennifer also suggests that you ask about helping math teachers with lessons that are connected to workplace application. 39:48 - Megaphone MessageHere’s Jennifer’s message to the construction industry: Carpe diem. Seize the day. Build something that will last longer than you. This is the time. Get off your a**. Get on your feet and go visit your local schools. Do something to address this problem.Find Jennifer on LinkedInCheck out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening