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While many construction companies focus on technology for efficiency and transparency during construction, significant opportunities remain in applying advanced tools to the preconstruction phase. Michael Ho, CEO of Bespoke Metrics Inc. discusses the importance of tech stack integrations, growing concerns around data ownership and security, and the role of prequalification in preconstruction. 1:00 Sponsors 7:23 Bespoke Metrics Intro 9:17 High Risk Prequal and Bringing Structure 10:30 Owner Developer GC Risk Management 11:20 Not Pricing Risk Appropriately/Eliminate Low Bidder Wins 12:30 Prequal will grow 16:00 Working on Prequalifications 16:12 Larger GCs Tracking Metrics and Data Points 17:09 Is Prequal Part of Precon? 17:56 Consider Personas: Partner Vs. Risk Who is the decider? 19:40 May have a Predisposition or desire to get a cheap price? 23:08 AI in Prequal Process 26:51 Data Collection, Data Verification and Standardization 28:28 Generative AI 31:30 All-In-One Solution? 33:05 Concept of Building Tech like an App 36:25 Tech Overload, Need Fewer Choices 37:43 Get a Tech Plan Now 38:48 Choose Best in Class 40:20 Has Tech made us more profitable yet? 41:20 Apples to Apples Pricing: Flat to Lower- Price Tech Accordingly 42:49 Invented Terms and Pricing Thank You to Our Sponsors: Well Built Construction Consulting https://www.wellbuiltconsulting.com/ Steel Toe Communications (Digital Marketing for Contractors) https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/ Katz Abosch (Tax, Audits and Accounting) https://www.katzabosch.com/ Lawrence Law (Legal Challenges for Contractors) https://lawrencelawllc.com/ Sandy Spring Bank https://www.sandyspringbank.com/ Genesis AEC (Full Service Architecture, Engineering, Construction in Life Sciences) https://www.genesisaec.com/ Marsh McLennan Agency https://www.marshmma.com/?utm_source=... Construction Links Network: https://constructionlinks.ca/ For additional episodes and information visit https://www.themorninghuddleconstructionshow.com/about Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter for the latest updates. https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/s...

In this episode, we’re joined by Scott Arias, CEO of ACE Consulting, and guest host Tom Hughes, VP of Construction Operations at Genesis AEC, to tackle the vital topic of construction scheduling. Scott breaks down the essentials of time impact analysis (TIA), explains the importance of "frag nets," and dives into how the critical path influences scheduling. With real-world examples and actionable advice, Scott makes it easy to understand how accurate scheduling drives productivity and protects your business. 6:57 Introduction Scott Arias 8:25 What is Time Impact Analysis? 12:00 When to Submit Change Order for a Contract Extension 12:45 Example of Contract Extension 14:56 Retrospective Claim Analysis 16:52 As-Built Schedule 17:12 Modeling Perspective: Design Change 18:20 Firm Impact of Overall Project 21:15 What is a “Frag Net?” 23:10 Who has the financial impact and owns the responsibility? 25:19 Need a Basic Understanding to Negotiate a Change Order 28:35 Keep Proper Project Documentation 30:16 A Dozer Costs Money if Its Sitting 34:13 AI Impacting Scheduling 33:30 Tools Used for Time Impact Analysis 36:36 Concept of 3D 37:39 Integration between Primavera and Procore 40:45 Baseline the Schedule 43:40 The Navy Used the Critical Path Method to Construct Submarines 45:30 Marking Up the Schedule Thank You to Our Sponsors: Well Built Construction Consulting https://www.wellbuiltconsulting.com/ Steel Toe Communications (Digital Marketing for Contractors) https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/ Katz Abosch (Tax, Audits and Accounting) https://www.katzabosch.com/ Lawrence Law (Legal Challenges for Contractors) https://lawrencelawllc.com/ Sandy Spring Bank https://www.sandyspringbank.com/ Genesis AEC (Full Service Architecture, Engineering, Construction in Life Sciences) https://www.genesisaec.com/ Marsh McLennan Agency https://www.marshmma.com/?utm_source=... Construction Links Network: https://constructionlinks.ca/ For additional episodes and information visit https://www.themorninghuddleconstructionshow.com/about Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter for the latest updates. https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/s...

Whether you are a minority contractor or not, this episode delves into what new opportunities exist within the electric vehicle industry and infrastructure. Specifically, our guest, Larry Bullock from the US Minority Contractors Association discusses how minority contractors can capitalize on the growing EV industry, and what partnership opportunities may exist for non-minority contractors. 00:46 The Morning Huddle Construction Show Sponsors 2:12 Catching Up with Stacey and Chad, Return of the Show Season 7, Episode 1. 4:00 Well Built- Chad's New Book 6:42 Steel Toe Communications discusses launch of Instagram and TikTok @CHAT_CTE 7:35 Introduction of Guest, Larry Bullock 12:57 The Economic Boom of the Transportation Industry. 15:10: 1/3 of where we need to be in fulfilling the 500,000 Station Promise, and half way through funding. Lots of opportunity. 15:53 The Joint Office for Energy and Transportation, www.driveelectric.gov/contact 17:12 Justice40: Goal is 40% of every dollar spent under the $5B operation should be spent in disadvantaged communities. 23:50 Which Non-MBE firms are partners with MBE firms. 28:00 Become Bid Ready 30:58 What kind of trades will be involved in installing and maintaining EV. 33:41 17 Electric Car Business Ideas: You Get in Where You Fit In 46:49 Closing Thank You to our Sponsors: Well Built Construction Consulting https://www.wellbuiltconsulting.com/ Steel Toe Communications (Digital Marketing for Contractors) https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/ Katz Abosch (Tax, Audits and Accounting) https://www.katzabosch.com/ Lawrence Law (Legal Challenges for Contractors) https://lawrencelawllc.com/ Sandy Spring Bank https://www.sandyspringbank.com/ Genesis AEC (Full Service Architecture, Engineering, Construction in Life Sciences) https://www.genesisaec.com/ Marsh McLennan Agency https://www.marshmma.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=ntl&utm_content=resilience&utm_campaign=ntl-brand-awareness-mma&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3P-2BhAEEiwA3yPhwBStkU82B0UALO_Ro1GKvn_sfhRJaY7TaEfwisj92ciDKSpYt52NwhoCPAcQAvD_BwE Construction Links Network: https://constructionlinks.ca/ For additional episodes and information visit https://www.themorninghuddleconstructionshow.com/about Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter for the latest updates. https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/Ro2QrVt/Themorninghuddlepodcast?__cf_chl_tk=9S8PSaN6zCOUNBhPtHXE.qk8HWtzxNNluBDlsEYhZkg-1726511898-0.0.1.1-8361

AI and automation are reshaping the construction landscape. Technology enhances efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness by optimizing equipment usage, predicting maintenance needs, and streamlining processes. Companies that stay at the forefront of technological advancements position themselves strategically, ensuring they are well-prepared to address the evolving needs of future owners. Tune in to this engaging conversation with Adam Stark, CEO of Jet.Build, where we discuss how a top-down approach driven by construction owners, combined with contractor readiness, can shape the future of sustainable construction.

In this episode, Pat McGettigan, Vice President of Excellerate Manufacturing, joins us to share his unique insights into modular construction. From UPS data centers to driving innovation in off-site manufacturing, Pat's expertise sheds light on the pivotal role of modular solutions amid labor shortages. Throughout the discussion our guest host, Tom Hughes, Vice President of Genesis AEC, also shares his valuable knowledge, enriching the conversation on the convergence of manufacturing and construction.

In this episode, we explore the evolving landscape of social media strategies and transformative tactics in the commercial contracting sector. We'll examine the strategic collaboration where marketing, sales, and business development should converge, making "collaboration" a vital force in content creation. Our guests, Matt Graves, founder of Construction Yeti, and Jonathan Cor, founder of Customer Growth, share unique insights and uncover out-of-the-box approaches for securing optimal coverage and selecting the most impactful social channels. Join the conversation as we dive into innovative strategies to up your game in the competitive commercial contracting world.

A significant number of our field employees do not speak English as their first language. This language barrier has contributed to thousands of injuries and even deaths each year. In this episode, two-time Morning Huddle guest, Oscar Garcia, joins us to discuss how he is using artificial intelligence to breakdown language barriers and create safer job sites for Hispanic workers.

While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a part of our lives and work for many years now, the release of ChatGPT in 2022 has brought the possibilities of this advancing field to the forefront. People like Morning Huddle guest, Stjepan Mikulić dedicate themselves to researching the latest advancements and exploring the most viable technologies AEC firms can implement in the near term. He joins us to simplify the topic and help our audience understand how they might apply AI in their construction businesses.

The spaces we occupy for our work can make a world of difference in profitability. Our guest, Nitin Govila, is the head of Sales and Marketing for global textile manufacturer Serge Ferrari. Their materials are integral to a wide array of construction products, ranging from acoustical panels to PT concrete. He’ll share insights on constructing workplaces with sustainability and profitability in mind from the start.

Virtual design and construction (VDC) as a tool for building better spaces is quickly becoming the norm, but our guest for The Morning Huddle's 47th episode, Darren Young, believes in taking things a step further.

What if your VDC efforts were aimed at reducing waste, creating scalable and resilient technical frameworks, increasing data quality, and leveraging opportunities to generate new revenue?

Join us as we discuss aligning proven VDC technology with compelling business goals to build a better future!

Ryan Lanser, the Dirt Jedi, joins our podcast to talk about how his company has applied GPS and Drone technology to revolutionize how site work contractors estimate and plan their projects. We'll talk about how it works, what value it adds, and the future of this exciting tech.

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 attainable than we may realize for residential and commercial applications.

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 mistake. Join us to hear from a true veteran in a construction space that is gaining traction.

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 meet and interview some of the industry's most successful leaders in Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA).

We get to hear her real-world stories of Prefab in action and hold a Q&A for practical tips for our audience.

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 Property (IP), the industries that come to mind immediately are manufacturing and software, not construction! Greg Stone, IP Attorney with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, joins us to see how construction companies can protect and monetize their IP.

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 working to foster the evolution of commerce in commodity raw materials. His company, MaterialsXchange is a digital marketplace for lumber.

During this show, we discuss the impacts of this kind of shopping experience on the construction industry. Who is for it, who is against it, and why? Join us as we reimagine the future marketplace for raw materials and beyond.

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 Huddle to talk about how construction companies can leverage technology to build better, more profitable projects.

No pie in the sky theoreticals here, just real examples of things companies can do immediately to drive a better result using the right technology to build their projects digitally AND physically.

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 Morning Huddle to talk about what his company and others like it are doing to close the skilled trades gap in our industry.

America's infrastructure is at risk of cyberattacks, and private businesses are a favorite target for cyber-criminals looking to wreak havoc and line their pockets. As the second-largest global industry, construction is a definite target for hackers. Meanwhile, the average construction firm in the US is not taking the steps necessary to protect itself and its data from attack. Security Fanatic, Nick Espinosa joins The Morning Huddle to talk about why we should be worried about cybersecurity and some tangible steps construction companies can take to protect themselves.

Join Host Chad Prinkey (Well Built Construction) and Co-host, Stacey Holsinger, (Steel Toe Communications) every Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. EST. on LinkedIn as they interview top A/E/C industry experts. Guests can participate in the conversation live!

Transcript:
Speaker 1: 00:00

Man.

Speaker 2: 00:04

So, so I'm an hour behind right now. I am in Louisiana, which I, I can't figure out. Where, where is the line? Is it in Mississippi? Is it in Louisiana? When do you shift over to Central as opposed to Eastern?

Speaker 1: 00:20

Oh, it's actually, it's actually along the Alabama, Georgia border. And I know that because I used to live about four minutes from the line. I used to work in, in Eastern time and live in Central time, so I used to get home an hour earlier than I left work.

Speaker 2: 00:39

Really?

Speaker 1: 00:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 00:42

That's craziness.

Speaker 1: 00:44

Yeah, that's, that's the truth. I did that for, for a couple of years.

Speaker 2: 00:48

So. So it'd be like bonus in the morning and then a bummer in the evening. Is that, Is that right?

Speaker 1: 00:56

Was the other way because I was coming back to Central time, so I.

Speaker 2: 00:59

Oh, you got it.

Speaker 1: 01:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 01:00

Coming back to Central. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 01:02

Give me half an hour to get home. So I'd leave around 5:30 and I'd get home at 5.

Speaker 2: 01:09

Got it.

Speaker 1: 01:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 01:10

Stacy, are we. Can you confirm that we're up and rolling on LinkedIn right now?

Speaker 3: 01:15

Let me check. I can't send messages.

Speaker 2: 01:18

I got it. I just got a. I just got a little thing. We are. Hi, LinkedIn. What's happening? All right, we're gonna get rolling in about a minute. We'll start right on time. As per usual. When I, When I travel, I keep my computer on regular time so that. Because everything else in my world will fall apart if I don't remember what time it is where I'm from. Right. But. But my phone changes in my watch change so that I'm not late to the stuff that I'm supposed to be. I gotta tell you, it's, it's, you know, when you're, when you're doing travel, it can, it can really sneak up on you. And then, of course, I can't sleep a moment past whatever 5:30am Eastern is, so I'm just toast when it comes. Like, I'd say, okay, I guess I'm seeing 3:30 if I'm in Mountain time, you know?

Speaker 3: 02:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 02:20

Stacy, how was your leadership program?

Speaker 3: 02:23

It was awesome. Grinnell Leadership Jumpstart. I met eight wonderful strangers, spent a week with them, learned a lot about myself. And you know how I want to apply that to my business. I highly suggest, you know, if you're early in your career, your 20s, you're a little confused about, like, who you are, where you want to go to jump in and try to get that training, and then again taking it, like years down the road, whether you have like a life changing event happened personally or professionally, to get some more clarity on who you are and you know where you're headed, it was, it was pretty cool.

Speaker 2: 03:05

That's awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and get rolling. I want to ask you a little bit more about that in a second. Stacy. Hello and welcome to the morning huddle. I'm your host Chad Prinky alongside my partner and producer, Stacy Holzinger. Stacy, it is great to hear that you had an awesome experience at a leadership training all week last week. You said that it helped you to learn some things about yourself. And I wonder if you could share with us something that you learned about yourself.

Speaker 3: 03:31

Yeah, one of the things was, you know, in every business, leadership wise, I liked you have to find the Ying to your yang. So someone hires someone that you know, pretty much their strengths are your weaknesses. So that's kind of what I'm looking for now.

Speaker 2: 03:51

You have weaknesses.

Speaker 3: 03:52

I know, right? No, I have plenty. I feel bad for that person actually, that I'm gonna trust me.

Speaker 2: 04:01

Whitney is. Whitney gets a sainthood dealing with me. It's amazing what she's able to do. Yeah, Yeah.

Speaker 3: 04:07

I think your go to sometime is to hire somebody that you're comfortable, that you want to hang out with, but that's not really a good business, smart business decision.

Speaker 2: 04:16

So hopefully you like them and you do want to hang out with them. But I totally agree. I think that's awesome. And so you got a little insight as to, you know, when you do make that hire, what direction you'll go. That's cool.

Speaker 3: 04:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 04:29

Do you want to make an announcement of who you're hiring for right now or do you want to hold off?

Speaker 3: 04:34

I'm just looking for, you know, someone that can do 10 hours a week, payroll, accounting, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 04:42

Awesome. Very cool. The word is getting out as we speak, so that's awesome. Good. So as always for the audience joining us live, please type in your questions throughout the course of the show and Stacy will select a handful of those questions to cover at the end. Stacy, we will see you with about 10 minutes left. I'll drop you off so you can take notes.

Speaker 3: 05:06

Okay.

Speaker 2: 05:06

All right, thanks, Stacy. Justin. Our guest today is Justin Panzer. Justin, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 1: 05:13

Sure. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 2: 05:15

Justin is a friend of mine, somebody who spends a lot of time in the construction technology space. And. And Justin and I were talking about the possibility of him coming on probably what, like three months ago when we first had the notion of this program. We wanted to get the word out. So Justin, if you would give us a little bit of background on yourself.

Speaker 1: 05:37

Yeah, sure. So I'm Justin Panzer, I'm the director of marketing for Jack Solutions, which is based in the Baltimore area. My background is about almost 30 years now in mobile technology, mobile communications, wireless business, and you know, not so much the consumer grade phones and tablets that you may be familiar with that everybody might be watching this on today, but more enterprise grade, you know, business to business solutions that are highly customizable, that we put in a lot of construction, manufacturing, logistics, really sort of challenging conditions, you know, harsh environments, real heavy workload kinds of applications. And you know, here, here at JAX actually we customize those things right down to the, the bits and bytes so that they fit perfectly and whatever it is that you're doing out there.

Speaker 2: 06:41

So you're so, so, so, so just so the audience is clear, I think what you're saying is you make like custom devices, you know, so you're, you're literally, you know, like a competitor iPad or whatever, right? Like when you're making customer custom devices for, for specific applications.

Speaker 1: 06:59

Yeah, to an extent. I mean if, you know, just to, you know, put it into that kind of context because everybody's familiar with iPads and Samsung tablets and things like that where you know, you can buy one of a million of those right off the shelf. We don't do that. We still sell tablets and devices of that type, but one is not like the other. And, and you're never gonna find anything like this off the shelf. It's usually very purpose built for a specific application, specific customer need.

Speaker 2: 07:36

Awesome. So, okay, so with that as our context for the conversation we were talking about, this episode is all about your field technology strategy. We talked about reducing costs, we talked about reducing risk, you know, and, and that, that's sort of, you know, some of the things that we want to get into today. But, but I want to take it all the way back to that first term of strategy. What do you mean by technology strategy when it comes to, you know, the field?

Speaker 1: 08:09

Yeah, that's, it's a good point and a good question. I mean, I think the first, first thing is, you know, have one, have a strategy. And, and what that means is that I think everybody knows we need to be connected. The, the way that we work is a lot different. And thinking about what do the devices look like that I need to incorporate into my work, what kind of functions are they going to perform? How can I put tools in the hands of my people or the people that maybe sub for us, that keep us connected, that are reliable, that are secure, that, you know, offer the kinds of automation. And, you know, we hear terms all the time like digital transformation. I mean, those kinds of things are not just about, you know, putting a phone in somebody's hand or putting an iPad in somebody's hand. It's really more about thinking holistically about the technology and how it all connects everything together.

Speaker 2: 09:16

Yeah. So, like, I. Now I'm feeling guilty because I can. I can think back to at least a dozen situations where I've come back in my role as a consultant, where I've come back and told a client, you know, you need to up your field tech. And they say something like, what should we do? And I'm like, I don't know. Put iPads in their hands. I'm not a technology guy.

Speaker 1: 09:37

And they go out and they buy.

Speaker 2: 09:38

60 iPads, and they're like, all right, we did it. And what I'm thinking is just. Just. Just hearing that sort of background is that that's. That that's not a strategy and that. But. But I. I would say, by and large, and that's what I see. So. So, you know, I mean, the nature of the construction industry is most of the companies are small companies, right. It's, you know, small businesses. And. And, you know, there might be some people saying, hey, I'm not small. Okay, but if you have several hundred employees, you're not small in the construction world, but you're a small business. You know, when it comes to the total economic environment. Right. Compared to, you know, auto manufacturers or, you know, fill in the blank. So in that small business environment, it's not surprising that, you know, usually what has happened somewhere along the line is somebody said, let's. Let's get devices in the hands of our field. And whether that was phones or iPads or Samsung tablets or whatever, it just sort of started and wasn't necessarily a thoroughly considered strategy. So, so. So put yourself in the shoes, right, Of. Of. Of the, you know, 150 employee trade contract or electrical contractor, you know, concrete company. Fill in the blank. What are some of the benefits to our viewers of developing this type of strategy? Why. Why should we take the steps to, you know, go into the. To the tech strategy realm?

Speaker 1: 11:12

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna kind of hone in on one of the things you said and that was, you know, you talked about the economics of it. Right. And total cost of ownership is. Is something that's not often really thought of when you're you're thinking, okay, I've got to put devices in the hands of everybody or I've got to get some software or I've got to connect everything. You know, think about again, maybe like an off the shelf, consumer grade tablet. They're pretty cheap entry costs, right? I mean, you could probably do something in the $300 range, put one in everybody's hands. But you know, if those things are, you know, you're carrying those around a work site, you're putting them on a forklift, you're, you know, it's in the cab of a tr. Chances of those things getting broken are pretty high. And when those things break, we're, you know, then we're replacing them. The, you know, the high failure rate in dusty, dirty areas, you know, maybe these things get wet, they get, they get dusty, they get, they get left places in the heat or the cold. I mean, there's a lot of ways that these things can fail that you maybe didn't really think of. It was cheap to get into, but now the replacement, the repair, not to mention the downtime and productivity and all those kinds of things. I mean, you can put all of that into the total cost of ownership equation. And I'll throw one other thing in there too, is like how much stuff is on a off the shelf tablet when you buy it, for example, right? What can be installed in that thing? What's it taking away from day to day? So again, it's not just about devices, which, you know, that's kind of my bread and butter and where I live every day. But you know, think about the software and even I don't know how technical some people in the audience are, but you know, we talk about firmware which is really getting into the operating system and starting to lock down some things. So, you know, people aren't installing YouTube and Angry Birds and whatever else and just, you know, basically distracting from work all day. There's a lot that goes into that.

Speaker 2: 13:37

So as you were talking, I literally last week visited a client job trailer and had I, I feel like, I feel like this scene plays out all over America all day, every day, where, you know, the cracked screen, the shattered screen, you know, a tablet that the superintendent's trying to show somebody on, you know, and they say, screw it, let's go into the trailer, let's go to my computer. And you, and whatever efficiency gains you thought you were getting from the, from the technology you're losing in that moment until they, you know, get new technology. So I'm seeing what you're saying. And I, I, I, I don't disagree. I think there's a, I think that the, oftentimes the hardware isn't up to the, to the, to the task, if you will, you know, out, out in the field for these guys. So that, that clicks together and as you started to talk about unnecessary software on, on devices, that's got my mind going a little bit. Tell me more about that. Maybe not so much from, like we want to keep people from, you know, playing Angry Birds. Though there's, you know, probably some relevance in that. But, but what are, what are some examples that you see of, of unnecessary software?

Speaker 1: 14:58

Yeah, I mean, you know, there's, there's software and then there's also a level down which like I mentioned before, we call firmware. So, you know, when you get a, any kind of electronic equipment, whether it's your PC, your Mac or a tablet or a phone, I mean, you've got the operating system that comes pre installed with a bunch of things. And how many of us on here have had woken up to get that message that says, hey, your device has been updated or your device is updating or something like that? A lot of what goes in there is what we call bloatware.

Speaker 2: 15:34

Did you say bloatware?

Speaker 1: 15:35

Bloatware, yeah. Bloated code and all kinds of things with, I mean, a lot of the stuff that comes in these, these updates, it's great, it looks nice. It's, you know, it adds some conveniences, but they're very consumer focused. It may be a lot about design, it may be a lot about animating the, the, the, the haptics and the, the, the touchscreen, you know, gestures and things like that. It's not anything that really benefits us in an enterprise environment or in a, you know, a work environment. And those things add a lot of, they take a lot of processing power. They, they also take away, you know, they may impact the bandwidth and the throughput when we are transmitting data. So, you know, there's, there's just a lot of stuff that's sort of built in that we can do away with or not just we, but lots of providers like us can do away with and make sure that those things are keeping the, you know, the work flowing and you know, not taking the valuable bandwidth. Especially, I mean, if you're at a site where Internet access is a little difficult. Maybe it's somewhere a little bit rural. Maybe you're in the midst of a project where you're surrounded by cinder block. I mean, you can't be wasting bandwidth and, and, and fighting with unreliable access just to make some of these unnecessary things work.

Speaker 2: 17:16

Makes total sense. And, and, and I'm now having flashbacks to my 1998, you know, top of the line Windows laptop that, that five years in, took, you know, 20 minutes to start because it had to do the big groovy animations before it got going. And I was like, come on, just get straight to the. I just need Word right now. I just need Microsoft Word.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Yeah, that's, that's a, that's an awesome point too, is that, you know, you, you said top of the line, right? And if you see a Verizon commercial, T. Mobile, AT&T. Whatever, there's all discussion about 5G and the, the broadest 5G network coverage and things like that, which is actually, you know, that's great technology for a lot of reasons. But think about back to the strategy. What is the application that you're running? What kind of bandwidth do you need? What kind of security do you need? 5G may not be necessary and it may be more expensive than what you need. Back to the total cost of ownership. I hate to use the term good enough, but sometimes a, you know, more legacy technology or a more established technology is good enough for what it is that we need to do. And it allows us to do those things more cost effectively and more efficiently.

Speaker 2: 18:41

So this gets to the return on investment. So, so if I'm, if I am. All right, let me give you, let me give you kind of a scenario and maybe paint, paint a little bit of a picture for the audience. So I'll. Let's say I'm, I'm a trade contractor. You know, maybe I'm a, you know, masonry company or a plumbing company, doesn't matter. But I've got, you know, folks out in the field and let's pretend it's an outdoor trade just for, you know, kicks. So, so they're spending. I've got, I've got 30 people out in the field. My 30 people are dealing with the weather conditions on a daily basis. Gets hot in the summer, gets cold in the winter, gets wet. You know, all those different types of things. And they, they, they're running a software platform like Procore, you know, that I need them to be able to access from a mobile device, run me through, you know, some of the, like, just, just hearing some of the things that I just went through, some of the things you'd recommend they consider and, you know, just come up with a theoretical diagnosis like you should get these types of Devices, you should focus on this type of firm. Just lay out a theoretical, if you would.

Speaker 1: 20:00

Yeah. I think from a hardware perspective, you're looking at things that are either, maybe you've heard the terms ruggedized or semi ruggedized. Right. And those things are built to withstand drops, vibrations, temperature changes.

Speaker 2: 20:14

Can't I just get a case?

Speaker 1: 20:17

Sometimes, but more often than not, I mean, those cases, they, they break as well. They come off, they come loose, they, they prevent the, the charging cable from sitting properly. You try and mount them. We have people all the time, they mount our devices in, in machinery, in trucks, in cranes, in forklifts. You put some of these cases on and, and now you've taken away all of the like Visa mount screws and all the access. You can't mount them any longer into the vehicle sometimes.

Speaker 2: 20:55

All right, fine, you got me. I'm going to semi ruggedize, get back to it. I'm sorry about that, I just.

Speaker 1: 21:01

No problem. Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent, but it happens all the time. So. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the, that's just kind of the form factor in the hardware. There's other things too that maybe if you're working with somebody who can customize a device. And to your point about working outside, there are special customizations to a backlight, for example, so it's always going to be visible. Maybe you're working in places that need special speakers so that you're able to hear over the loud equipment all the time. Take it down a level. And then we'll look at like the software applications. And right now if you have a device, you can go out to the Google Play store and get whatever application you want. Maybe, but maybe your team has developed something in house. What's nice about those things, or maybe a partner of yours developed it, is that you're not necessarily subject to the constant updates. Right. So I mentioned the updates to the operating system, but the updates, when there's one to the operating system, you have to retest and make sure that your software is then backwards compatible. So now there's additional costs, there's additional time, there's additional loss in productivity to go and, you know, rework that app that you've been using with no problem at all. But now you have to do it because there was some other update that you're, you're chasing down. And then the last thing that I'll mention on this is, you know, look for something that has the security profile that you require. Right. That may be in some instances very high security. But in a lot of cases, if you're just maybe sending photos of a, of a site back to someone, or you have to send a blueprint or maybe it's just a time card even, do you need like, you know, military grade encryption and all kinds of things like that built into, to your firmware or built into your device? Probably not. So, you know, you think about things that's three different levels, hardware, software and firmware, where you can kind of look at what, you know, what your technology is going to look like. That's rolling out to the field.

Speaker 2: 23:30

Makes sense. All right, that's, you've given us a lot to think about. I mean, you know, for me so far my big takeaway is that, you know, frankly that there are options that aren't sitting on shelves. And I'm just going to ask you candidly, you know, our price point. When I hear custom device, I'm like, oh man, I probably can't afford to do custom device do, do just quick comparison to consumer grade just for the audience to wrap their head around that.

Speaker 1: 24:02

Yeah. And I, I think that that's, that's not an easy one to always answer because the customization options are so broad. But for the most part, again, remember, you know, we're thinking about things like it's not the absolute latest, greatest technology. Sometimes, sometimes good enough is good enough. Maybe you can scale back on some of the, you know, 5G modules and you can focus on the software and you can get something that ends up costing you about the, an off the shelf consumer grade product would.

Speaker 2: 24:31

But your point is we're not talking about doubling and tripling your cost to get custom, you know, devices which, which, you know, I don't know, I don't know how many companies that are watching this have actually considered custom devices, but I would wager probably not a ton. And, and so that's, it's, that's great. So I'm going to shift gears just because we're, we're running into about eight minutes here remaining. And I want to hear from Stacy. Stacy, what kind of questions do you have for us?

Speaker 3: 25:01

What do you think is like the average replacement cost on a tablet or something like that?

Speaker 1: 25:07

Yeah, well, most of the time it's a, it's a brand new tablet. So I mean those are 300 to 600 to $1,000, depending on what we're talking about. So I mean, it's going to be just replacing outright. It's a whole lot easier, especially with consumer grade stuff to just replace it than to try and repair.

Speaker 3: 25:32

Okay, so for technology wise, is there, do you factor in training, costs and all or I guess for strategy, when someone comes to you, do you put together like, do you come in and analyze all of their techno technological devices?

Speaker 2: 25:56

Right. What's the starting point? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:01

You know, again, it kind of depends on how we come into the equation. Sometimes we're, we're a sub or sometimes we're a prime. In these, in these sort of contracts with our customers, we may look at the entire device portfolio and what's in place now and then make recommendations about what the, the technology is that can better enable those things. Or we'll identify where there are some productivity, some, some cost issues. You know, we're, we're pretty good at looking at those things and saying, you know, right there is where, you know, you're going to have connectivity problems that are going to keep your people offline or is going to affect the reliability of your, your connectivity back to your, your headquarters or wherever else you're trying to get everything back.

Speaker 2: 26:54

So, so you mentioned being, sometimes being the sub and sometimes being the prime. Pardon me? When you're a sub, the picture I have in my mind is you're working underneath maybe a holistic technology consulting firm that is in there looking across their entire tech stack and making decision, you know, in advising and then they identify this need for custom devices and they, and they come, come out to a company like, like Jacs. Like Jax?

Speaker 1: 27:23

Yep. Yeah, very much so. You know, we get pulled in all the time by, you know, somebody that's doing that kind of top to bottom review and you know, then we'll, we'll work on, on hardware, we'll work on firmware, we'll will just help build out the end solution.

Speaker 2: 27:42

Awesome.

Speaker 1: 27:43

Cool.

Speaker 2: 27:43

Stacy, Sorry, what else do we have?

Speaker 3: 27:46

What is the turnaround time from contract to implementation?

Speaker 1: 27:51

Again, it's going to depend on the degree of customization. But we can do some things in six to eight weeks, some things in 16 weeks, some things take a year or more.

Speaker 3: 28:04

Okay. And then for the audience, which is comprised primarily of contractors and subcontractors, someone had asked what are the three most important things for us to consider with respect to field technology?

Speaker 1: 28:20

Yeah, in the, in the field, I'd say one is what is your access to a network? What type of network connectivity are you using? Are you going to use cellular? Are you going to use a private network? Are you going to use WI Fi? That goes a long way to determining what your technology selection is going to be. The second thing is the security. I would always put that really close to the top of your consideration is how secure do you need your data to be and your transmissions to be? And I would also say the, the, the, the form factor, the ruggedness, the, you know, the environment and the conditions that you're going to be working in. You know, do you need, look, rugged ruggedization costs money. There's no question about that. If you don't need it, we don't want to give it to you. Right. We want to make sure we, we give you what you need. Think about that. Because we've talked a lot about the hardware, but it's not always about that. It's, it can be about those privacy.

Speaker 2: 29:30

And connectivity issues as it relates to connectivity. For, for a moment on that, you mentioned private network. So I can picture setting up a WI FI network. I can picture working off of the, of whatever, you know, whatever networks or provide. Right. Public networks. When you say private network, what does that mean?

Speaker 1: 29:49

Yeah, so I won't spend a lot of time on it because I know we're close to the end. But there, there's a shared frequency band out there that's been allocated by the FCC called CBRS in the US Anyway, it's called something else in other parts of the world. But it's. You can build a private cellular network within a campus environment, a job site, even a, you know, distributed rural environment where mobile access may be difficult. It's very small cells. You can buy the equipment and set up a private network and then only the devices that you authenticate and that you, you allow onto your network will have access.

Speaker 2: 30:39

Got it. That's awesome. So that's kind of, well, like you said, sake of time. But, but I think mega projects where there might be, you know, over a thousand people on a job site that can create like a dead spot in a regular network. Like just like, you know, I don't know, try using your device in a football stadium. It can have that effect. And so a private network may. Makes sense. That's.

Speaker 1: 31:13

Wow.

Speaker 2: 31:13

Okay, cool. So. So, Stacy, anything else? We probably have time for one more if we need it.

Speaker 3: 31:19

I was just curious. Do you. Or will you dabble in like VR and augmented reality and caption like all that?

Speaker 1: 31:26

So we, we actually don't make anything that's VR ar, but we have a partner we work with that, they make a, a very cool AR headset that is like a pair of goggles and goes around the, like a headband and we provide the connectivity for it. And those are things that you know, you can, you can be viewing instructional videos on how to operate certain equipment and you can look at a piece of gear and be downloading all the manuals to the headset. And we provide the connectivity for that through a USB dongle that includes a SIM card. It's actually really cool technology. It's a lot of fun, but it's probably its own hour long discussion. It's pretty cool stuff.

Speaker 3: 32:17

Cool.

Speaker 2: 32:18

That is wonderful. All right, cool. It's just about 30 minutes and we like to finish on time on the morning huddle. Justin, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 1: 32:30

All right, thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 32:32

Absolutely. Yeah. So, so word to the audience. If you're passionate about the industry, if you want this industry to be better and, and you've got a message that you want the, you know, that you want to share, please reach out to me, to Stacy and with your interest in joining us as a guest, we would love to get you involved. We're probably looking at, you know, February or, or April next year. So, you know, please reach out to us next week. We have Josh Hauserman from hms. He is a bonding guru and he's coming on to talk about what he has seen all of the most bondable companies have in common. So the companies that the bonding companies view as a great risk, aside from being huge, what do they have in common? And I think we're going to try to pull out some business best practices. If you're trying to expand bonding capacity, that is something you should absolutely be checking out and also just learn about what the best companies are doing. So please join us. That's next Tuesday, 8am Eastern, just like we have every week, 8am Eastern. If you can't join live, check out the recording on, on YouTube or whatever app you use for your podcast. One last message that I want to send out to you guys is please, if you would like to be getting an email rather than relying on LinkedIn to find out about these shows, shoot us a message with your email address. We'll add you to a weekly email distribution list. It'll have both the link to sign up for this week's new episode and a link to the YouTube episode if you happen to miss the, you know, the live experience. So that, that's it. Justin, any final word before we sign off?

Speaker 1: 34:21

I just want to thank everybody for, for tuning in. A lot of great questions. So appreciate you guys having me on and feel free to reach out if there's anything else that I didn't get to.

Speaker 2: 34:32

Thanks, Justin. Yeah, if you, if you have additional questions. Shoot. Justin, a note. I'm guessing that if you put them just into the chat here, Justin will be taking a look at the chat and he'll respond to anything. That was outstanding, Stacy. Anything. Any final word for the audience before you sign up? We sign off.

Speaker 3: 34:48

Just wanted to thank Justin again. I'm not too tech savvy, so I definitely learned a lot today, and I appreciate you being here.

Speaker 1: 34:56

Thanks a lot.

Speaker 2: 34:58

Have a great one. We'll see you next week on the Morning Huddle. See ya.

Join Host Chad Prinkey (Well Built Construction) and Co-host, Stacey Holsinger, (Steel Toe Communications) every Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. EST. on LinkedIn as they interview top A/E/C industry experts. Guests can participate in the conversation live!

Transcript:

Okay. We should be live. 

S

Speaker 2

00:05

Yep. Good morning, everybody. 

S

Speaker 1

00:07

Good morning. 

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Speaker 3

00:08

Good morning. 

S

Speaker 1

00:09

Let's take a look and see if we are officially streaming to the. To the post here or to the event here. Want to make sure that's happening in the meantime. All right. Yes. Yes. It sure is wonderful. The tech worked. We did it. 

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Speaker 3

00:31

All right. 

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Speaker 1

00:32

I got to tell you, this is the easy part. It's all the stress leading up to the live stream that's the hard part. That as soon as the live stream is working, my mind just goes to its happy place, which is having fun conversations with cool people. Chris, Stacey and I are here in the metro Washington, D.C. Baltimore kind of realm. I know you mentioned that you're out in Park City. Where are you originally from? 

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Speaker 3

01:05

I'm originally from just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Town suburb Hudson, Ohio. 

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Speaker 1

01:11

Cool. 

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Speaker 3

01:12

So just southeast of Cleveland a little bit. 

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Speaker 1

01:15

And did you. Did you live there? Like, how long ago did you make the move to Park City and from where in. 

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Speaker 3

01:22

Yeah, so interesting. Prior life. I was a college athlete and also a competitive skier, and I lived in Park City for a little while after school and was competitive, and then I moved back to the Cleveland area. So I originally moved out here in the mid-90s and then bugged the heck out of the ski CEO from my last company and moved back to Park City in 2007. In the fall of 2007. 

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Speaker 1

01:58

Right on. 

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Speaker 3

01:59

Yeah. 

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Speaker 1

01:59

So this is not. This is not like a. A Covid development like so many. 

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Speaker 3

02:04

Right. 

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Speaker 1

02:04

Like so many people who. Who have fled to. To remote work in beautiful areas. You've been. You've been working and living in this beautiful area for. For, you know, a decade and a half, and all combined two decades, it sounds like. 

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Speaker 3

02:18

Yeah, yeah. Was not a Covid move. And loved a mountain bike. Loved to ski and moved out here and then met a lot of people from both the east and west coast this last year and a half that are working remotely. A lot of folks from New York City and Chicago and the LA area seem to have migrated here. 

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Speaker 1

02:43

You gotta wonder how long that is all gonna last. And. And, you know, if there's. If there's ever gonna be a big migration back, you know, because they realize, you know, if the market doesn't allow for constant remote work. 

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Speaker 3

02:58

Yeah, yeah. It will be interesting to see, but I. I think some of them really like it, so we'll see how they're. If their companies can lure them back into their offices. 

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Speaker 1

03:08

Yeah, no kidding. Well, cool. We're coming right up on eight. There it is. 8:00 let's go ahead and get started with this second episode ever of the Morning Huddle. Today, we've got Chris Blyk joining us. But. But for. For now, I'm Chad Prinke alongside my partner and producer, Stacy Holsinger. Stacy, how are you today? 

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Speaker 3

03:32

Good. 

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Speaker 2

03:32

Good morning, everybody. 

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Speaker 1

03:34

Stacy, what's the best thing happening in your world this week? 

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Speaker 2

03:38

Just busy. I have, God, a ton of things to do, but nothing too crazy. Just work and kickboxing and, you know, nothing crazy. 

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Speaker 1

03:49

Just work in kickboxing. 

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Speaker 2

03:52

My boring life. 

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Speaker 1

03:53

That's awesome. We're gonna have to do a whole episode on your kickboxing. 

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Speaker 2

03:58

No, no. Thanks. 

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Speaker 1

04:01

As always for the audience joining us live. Please type in your questions throughout the show. All throughout the show, type in the questions. Get comfortable chatting with each other during the course of the conversation. If you guys have, you know, some, you know, if you're inspired by something, you want to grab that and run with it. That's what the chat channel is there for. Please, you know, engage in that, enjoy that and all the stuff that you type in the, you know, during the course of the show. Stacey will be back on with 10 minutes remaining, which is 8:20 Eastern Time here. And she'll help us to kind of go through those questions and, you know, prioritize the ones that were most common or the. Or the most interesting and what have you. 

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Speaker 1

04:46

So, Stacey, we'll see you again with about 10 minutes to go. Cool. 

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Speaker 2

04:50

All right, sounds good. 

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Speaker 3

04:51

See ya. 

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Speaker 1

04:53

All right, so, Chris, let's jump into it. Our guest today is Chris Blyk. He is with Pivot Workforce. And welcome to the morning huddle. It's good seeing you. 

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Speaker 3

05:04

Thank you very much for having me pumped to be on show number two. 

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Speaker 1

05:09

We're really psyched to have you. Thank you. So tell us a little bit about your background, Chris. Tell us your story a little bit. 

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Speaker 3

05:19

Okay, well, my story, I grew up in a construction family, specifically in excavating just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. I think like a lot of people that I hear that are in the industry and I grew up in it. The last place they thought they'd end up was back in the industry, but grew up running excavators and bulldozers. And I wasn't quite as talented as my older brothers brother. And after school, you know, like everybody else, I dabbled in real estate a little bit, started looking around and I found a construction staffing startup back in 1993, and I have been in the construction staffing side of the business since Then and frankly love it and just like everybody else, get a little obsessed with it. 

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Speaker 1

06:14

Awesome. Awesome. So tell us, how did you end up starting Pivot workforce? This is a new company, right? This is months old, just like mine. 

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Speaker 3

06:24

Yeah, yeah. So like I said, I work for one of the largest or the largest construction staffing firms in the United States or North America for almost 27 years and decided basically from a startup through a couple of private equity acquisitions and left in June of 2020 and have spent the rest of that time, the last 15 months, putting pivot together. After a lot of collaboration with people in the industry, both contractors and even some of the software providers in the industry really started to understand when asking questions about workforce demand, kind of this new niche with construction technology and also some of the more direct hire positions, that's where Pivot came from. 

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Speaker 3

07:23

Probably spent, I don't know, six months, eight months talking to, whether it was virtually or actually in person, meetings when we could do it, contractors on the MEP side about new workforce demand, and then, like I said, also some of the large software providers. 

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Speaker 1

07:43

So you were listening to the market and the market said construction technology and you got sort of inspired to launch into this space because you were paying attention to what the market was telling you. 

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Speaker 3

08:02

Yeah, the conversations. And frankly, I looked at other forms of staffing. I had a couple of people approach me in a couple of different niches, it, healthcare. And then like I said, you know, construction is my passion. I love it. And after talking to more and more folks as to where the industry was headed with prefab and the manufactured process and that workforce demand that was there, we decided to explore this and have dove in with both, both feet and are chasing after that and learning more and more like everybody else because it is developing rather quickly. 

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Speaker 1

08:44

Wow. So, so tell us a little bit about Pivot. What do you do and what do you not do? What are, what are? You know, draw some of those lines for us just so that as we have our discussion today about emerg technology roles, everybody can have some context for exactly what it is that you do and don't do. 

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Speaker 3

09:04

Yeah. So we basically focus from field supervision up into some of the C suite positions. So we do project managers, project engineers, senior project managers, and then we also are doing some like C level hiring for HR directors in some of those positions. And then we also are in the context space. So on the design side, you know, the bim, some data engineers, data analytics, cybersecurity has become a big one as far as the Conversation that's been around for a while. But yeah, we do not. We're not in the skilled trade space, but we're basically everything else but skilled trades. 

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Speaker 1

09:56

Awesome. Got it. So you're not doing the skilled trades, but you're doing all the other sort of management roles. Field management, internal management, executive leadership, and then the technology stuff. So let's stay focus on the technology angle for the remainder of this conversation. Well, I don't know, we'll see where the heck it goes. But what are some of the fastest emerging construction technology roles? What are you seeing, you know, happening around the industry? And maybe it's inside construction companies, maybe it's, you know, around construction companies. I don't know. You, you paint the picture for us. 

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Speaker 3

10:33

Yeah, so there I, there's kind of a few different bucks to that. On the AEC side and the MEP side, you know, you have your, the design piece. So bim, virtual design, even some of the CAD that's still being used then a lot of the industry is moving towards this data driven approach per se. So you have again, on the AEC side you have data engineers, data analytics, computational engineers. Drones are becoming a much bigger piece of the construction community, so to speak, both in renewables and the regular construction. And like I said, cybersecurity. On the tech side there's been, I think it's since 2016 or 17, there's been over $12 billion of investment in technology that just this year to date, $2.1 billion from venture capital. It's 3,500 startups in the construction space. On the tech side, 3,500, yeah. 

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Speaker 3

11:53

So there's been a lot of investment and there's a lot of innovation going on there. So from the tech or software providers, you're seeing software engineers, DevOps, cybersecurity is another one. And then there's the client integration piece. With all this technology, they need people to be able to service a client and do the integrations for the technology that the client or contractors are buying. Then there's an interesting one, the client service side. You're seeing more and more. Some of these software companies are reaching out. I actually saw an advertisement last night looking for example, estimators to sell their software and be the link between them and a contractor because they understand the construction side. So that's, you know, they're looking for people with previous experience in the industry. 

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Speaker 1

12:47

That's the last thing our contractor watchers want to hear. Is that right? Like, hey, your people could leave construction and go to Technology. But I think, you know, one of the other things that really struck me in our conversations leading up today was the idea that, you know, the enhanced role that a technology background is playing in your everyday construction positions. Right. So, so that now there's a project manager. But if the project manager has X and Y qualifications or technological technology capabilities, they become considerably more appealing. What, what have you seen there? 

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Speaker 3

13:33

Yeah, so you see both sides of it. For example, senior project managers need to understand some of the different software programs to help manage the job, run the job. They have to be to collaborate with everybody. A lot of the, most of this is going to cloud based technology. And then the other side of it, to your point about the tech companies stealing an already depleted workforce from construction, in some cases it's actually lengthening a career for you know, say an estimator that was getting ready, he's burned out, he's getting ready to retire from the industry. It's giving him another option or her another option to keep going and move into a different space in the industry and keep working in the industry as opposed to retiring. 

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Speaker 1

14:26

Yeah, it's a really good point. I think that you know, working in a company that is supporting the industry, adding value to the industry is certainly better than losing them to like the financial sector or something like that. 

S

Speaker 3

14:42

Yeah. The challenge with the construction tech stack, if you will, is even some of these, the higher end tech positions, they still need to understand that the contractor's world, the built world and finding those people is a big challenge. 

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Speaker 1

15:00

So what do you think? You mentioned all this investment, $2.1 billion this year alone, which is amazing. What do you think that's about? Why is it, why is there so much money pouring into produce technology for the construction industry? 

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Speaker 3

15:23

Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. I think the first thing that comes to mind is innovation. Construction is measured very much on productivity and the more that tech can help enhance that productivity and bring automation to the industry, that is one of the big drivers. So there's a big opportunity there. And obviously the venture capitalists are seeing that with all the different tech startups and frankly, you know, going, talking about the skilled trades a little bit, you know, as people, I think I saw a stat that 53% of the industry is going to retire by 2036. We're not replacing the skilled trades fast enough. This has been a couple of decades of a conversation. So bringing this automation and manufactured environment to construction will help with that. It's not going to solve the problem, but it will Help. 

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Speaker 3

16:22

So I think a lot of it is around innovation, safety, productivity, and there's a big opportunity there. And obviously the tech companies are seeing it. 

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Speaker 1

16:33

You mentioned productivity and obviously I think all those buckets, safety obviously also chief among them. But when I think about productivity and construction, I think about. It was a 2018 McKinsey & Co. Study that was produced that identified that the construction industry is just about as productive today as it was in 1974. 

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Speaker 3

16:58

Right. 

S

Speaker 1

16:59

Something along those lines. And I think there's a bunch of reasons for that we won't get into during this show, but I think tech companies are recognizing a massive upside in terms of elevating productivity. Right. Compared with other sectors of the economy, it's dramatically less productive and has not grown nearly on the same stride as, say, manufacturing, let alone know technology as a market sector. So, so I think it's not a surprise. It'll be really interesting to see what starts to happen in the next three to five years, five to 10 years, as a result of these massive investments from technology and whether the lagging technology, you know, construction industry, that sort of old school, you know, we, we do things the way we do things, you know, kind of mentality, see how that impacts it. 

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Speaker 1

18:05

Because at the end of the day, construction folks aren't going to change just to change. 

S

Speaker 3

18:09

Right. 

S

Speaker 1

18:09

They're only making a change if they can point at real meaningful improvement. 

S

Speaker 3

18:15

Yeah. What you see from a lot of the tech companies, because there's, they're all over the place, they typically solve a single problem, whether it's contracts or, you know, just getting all the data scrubbed and making sure that everything makes sense. But they still, you know, a building still needs to get built physically. So I think that, you know, the challenge is getting the minds that are behind the contractors and the tech industry to work together. And they're different. Right. It's, I think it's 41% of our workforce now are millennials, and I think it's 5% are Gen Z right now. And then by 2025, Gen Z will be about a quarter of the workforce. So there's a big transition going on there. 

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Speaker 3

19:07

And it'll be interesting to see how the two worlds come together because that is one of the attraction points for the new workforce is having contractors that are innovative, that are diverse. So it's a big challenge for the industry and frankly for a lot of this workforce, you know, we're competing with Amazon, Apple, Google for this talent. So it's going to force us to, you know, be innovative and look at the way we're doing things on all levels. 

S

Speaker 1

19:37

Let's. I'm going to jump right on that question because you get a chance to talk to obviously the companies that are interested in hiring new talent, but also I can't even imagine how many candidates you and your team get a chance to interface with. It probably gives you a fantastic perspective on what they care about. So you talk about the, you know, sort of, and I don't care what generation they're in. What are candidates asking for when you're in those discussions or your team's in those discussions with potential, you know, candidates for your clients? What are, what are they looking for in the companies that they would come and join you talk about the vert, like diversity. Is that really a topic that is coming up regularly with a candidate? 

S

Speaker 3

20:24

Yes, particularly actually with Gen Z. There's a couple of different studies that are out there and that is they want to work for diverse companies because of, you know, what comes from that is innovation and different trains of thought. And there's a massive opportunity, you know, for the industry as we talk about losing, you know, 53% of our workforce in the next 15 or 16 years. Getting into a more diverse workforce is one way to backfill that and also bring innovation with it. But they, yeah, they do have those questions. They're big on company culture. You know, it's not all about money, but, you know, that being said, I think wages are up 7,7% in the industry and so money is a factor. But they're looking for culture. 

S

Speaker 3

21:19

They're looking at benefits and not just the standard benefits, but they're looking for, you know, like mental health benefits. They're looking for PTO that they don't, you know, they don't have to wait three years to have two weeks of vacation. So they are looking at things differently. 

S

Speaker 1

21:38

Yes, there's a higher, and I've read this and seen, you know, anecdotally seen this watch, you know, read studies about it, all that type of stuff, but there is, there really is, it sounds like, you know, from your experience a higher value being placed on quality of life issues on companies that are thinking about the whole person that they're hiring and not just the, you know, I guess the employee aspect of the person. 

S

Speaker 3

22:11

Yeah, you know, they look for a lot of the same things we all have, but they are, you know, the me time is a real thing. They also are looking for career paths. What does it look like as they come into a company, as they move through the company, have other people in the company followed a career path. I was listening to another interview the other day, and it's a big, very large mechanical contractor, I think, with 40 people in their design department, and now they have eight remotely. So that remote workforce is a, it's a thing. It's a real challenge for our industry because again, the thing, you know, buildings get built in the field, so the collaboration needs to happen. 

S

Speaker 3

22:56

But were even seeing with some of the senior project manager positions, not necessarily a remote, but a hybrid situation where they don't have to be on site all the time. And when you talk to clients about that, they, you know, it's a real challenge for them to wrap their head around doing something like that. 

S

Speaker 1

23:15

So we just have a minute or so before we shift gears into taking questions from the audience. I would go ahead and prompt the audience. I don't know what kind of questions have come in, but please, if you've been holding off on sending those in now, go ahead and fire in a few so that we can address your specific questions and thoughts while we have Chris this morning. One question that I have is when you. Let's fast forward five years. What is a position that is currently not the norm for a contractor to have, you know, on staff that you think we are going to see more construction companies, more contractors have as kind of a normal role inside their company? 

S

Speaker 3

24:12

Yeah, that's a great question. I would say this because everybody's trying to wrap their arms around data and understanding, you know, how things are happening and being able to take that to their client, to their owner. I think, you know, data and data analysis, data engineers, data scientists. I didn't even know what one of those were until three years ago. And being able to take real information and, you know, one of the challenges, I think, is, you know, what is the information a client or a contractor really deems as important and what isn't. But then also being able to go to, you know, say they built, you know, a commercial building and they're in a, they're bidding for another one. Being able to take that data and show an owner, hey, here's what it's going to look. 

S

Speaker 3

25:13

Here's what your mechanical is going to look like on this site. Here's a similar site, this is what it looked like. So I think everything revolving around data is going to be important because whether it's even on the HR side looking at data, who's applying for jobs, what posts are attracting People who wants to come to work for your company. I think that the data is going to win from that perspective because you can pull real information out of it. 

S

Speaker 1

25:43

And talk about things that can really contribute to enhanced productivity. If these construction companies are able to start capturing and doing something with this data that they monitor, they're going to be able to actually make business decisions to drive productivity. I love it. So we have 10 minutes, a little less than that remaining. And I'm sure we have some questions in from the audience for you. So I am going to pull Stacy back up for us. Stacy, there we are. 

S

Speaker 2

26:20

We don't have any questions yet, but I have some questions for you. 

S

Speaker 3

26:24

Yeah, hit it. 

S

Speaker 2

26:24

You could answer. So you were talking about all these tech startups and I was wondering, like, the only one that I can think of is Interplay and they do 3D simulations to help, you know, train people in H Vac and plumbing virtually. And their whole goal, I believe, is to try to get people trained quickly within like three weeks or something like that, as opposed to going to an apprenticeship program. So I was wondering if you could throw out some names of any tech startup companies that you know that we could just, you know, check out and look into. 

S

Speaker 3

27:05

A company called Join is. Is one of them. There's a, there's a couple of companies. You know, there's two really big companies that are buying up other tech startups. Company called Labor Chart Workforce Management Platform. But I believe they were just bought by Procore. There are, you know, some fascinating ones on the human resource side, a company called Paradox. They're, they're four years old. They're using some AI to help track who's applying for jobs. And they're using bots to, when somebody goes to apply online, they're using those, using bots to chat with people to get information and ask questions. And you wouldn't know that you're actually talking to a bot when you start asking questions about wages and benefits and where the jobs are and stuff like that. But yeah, there's a multitude of them out there in different spaces. 

S

Speaker 2

28:15

Thanks for those examples. 

S

Speaker 1

28:17

Yeah, that's awesome. Now I've got a bunch of research to do and I sincerely hope you're a shareholder and all of those Right. 

S

Speaker 3

28:28

Just here at the moment. Right. 

S

Speaker 2

28:31

I also wanted to ask, I know, me and you had conversations before, but just to tell the audience, kind of share some stories about how competitive it really is out there. So, you know, if you have a PM and you think that they're A great candidate and they get the job offer and then another company comes in and snatches them. Like, what does that look like? 

S

Speaker 3

28:56

Yeah. So one way I'll address it is addressing the great resignation that everybody keeps hearing about. So I would call it more the great transition because the numbers are, I think in the first five months of this year, 17 million people moved to different roles. They didn't leave the workforce, but they left their existing role. It was pre Covid, it was 2.5 million people a month had moved and the first five months of this year was 3.4 million a month were changing jobs. So the competitiveness in the market, you don't have days, you have hours to make decisions on people. 

S

Speaker 3

29:48

You know, we see people that are, you know, looking at project manager jobs, senior project manager jobs, and you know, whether they move, you know, we have a client that needs them, they interview them, they like them, their current employer offers them more money to stay. But then client number three or company number three offers them a, you know, 10k sign on bonus and you know, three weeks of vacation out of the gate and they end up over there. So it's, we've seen a lot of very quick decisions and I think that's the big challenge for, you know, contractors on their side are making decisions on some very important roles and they should take their time. But you know, quick decisions and really getting through the interview process is important. 

S

Speaker 2

30:43

Yeah. 

S

Speaker 1

30:44

Awesome. 

S

Speaker 2

30:45

And finally one more question. Do you have any resume tips for people that are looking for new roles in the construction industry and how that's changed because many of us have stayed with company long term, but maybe we're looking for a new opportunity. But it's been so long since we have updated our resume and so much has changed. So what do you suggest there or even researching companies? 

S

Speaker 3

31:12

Yeah, I think that what we see typically and is what, you know, people that haven't updated their resume for a long time, but also, you know, the different types of, you know, for example software they have used, integrations, they have done some real detail, you know, on the operations side, you know, being detailed about what type of projects you have been involved in and really updating it consistently is probably the most important part. And nobody likes doing resumes but you know, we'll get resumes for a fantastic candidate. For example, a project manager that is, has worked in the pharma space, which is obviously crazy right now and they'll have three bullets under their last job. 

S

Speaker 3

32:05

So really getting some detail in there and what your experience is and how many people you manage on site and the different operating systems you use is important. 

S

Speaker 1

32:17

Chris, fundamentally, just. This should probably be a 10 second answer, but fundamentally, are you seeing companies actually take steps to offer what candidates are looking for? 

S

Speaker 3

32:33

Some, yes. I think that's, you know, we're seeing, you know, a few different things happen. Some are being very innovative and I think frankly, the industry gets a little bit of a bad rap because I think we have some of the most innovative companies in any environment in the construction industry. Some are slow to adapt. We have an old school mentality in some. Understandably, some of these companies have been around a long time, but we are seeing companies look at benefits, looking at hybrid versus remote working through that because it is being asked for. But yeah, were seeing some move. 

S

Speaker 1

33:13

That's awesome. That's great to hear. All right, so that's just about our 30 minutes. And just like a strong contractor on the morning huddle, we finish on time. So if you're passionate about the industry and you have a message that our audience should hear, please contact us in with your interest in joining as a guest. You can contact me or Stacy directly right here on LinkedIn or email or whatever you like. Next week we've got Brett Harton, who is the vice president of construction at Folger Pratt. That's going to be a fantastic conversation where we're talking about, from a general contractor's perspective, the steps that Brett and his team take to treat subcontractors like partners. Please join us live every Tuesday at 8am Eastern. 

S

Speaker 1

34:02

And if you can't join live, check out the recording on our yout Channel, which I think is coming, Stacy, or whatever app you use for your podcast, which I think is coming down the line. So we're pretty excited about that. But. But Chris, thank you so much for joining. Any final words before we sign off? 

S

Speaker 3

34:21

No, I appreciate y'all having me. It was fun. A little early out here, but it's okay. And yeah, love to do it again sometime. 

S

Speaker 1

34:31

We'd love to have you. It sounds great. Stacy, any final word? 

S

Speaker 2

34:34

Nope. I think this was a great conversation. Hopefully people can take something that they learned today. And I look forward to next week too. 

S

Speaker 1

34:44

Same. Sounds good. See you guys. 

S

Speaker 2

34:46

All right, see you guys.