Construction Brothers

Today the bros' are chatting about one of the biggest problems in the steel industry and how it can be solved.
Things that we talk about: - RTU Frames: Why is it the biggest problem? - Christmas is coming...just like big projects. - Pre-Detailing meetings are important. - Most of all, communication is key


Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating or review and follow us on our social accounts! SUBSCRIBE!      Like us on LinkedIn!      Like us on Facebook!    Follow us on Instagram!Eddie's LinkedIn      Tyler's LinkedIn    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we sit down with Scaled Robotics CEO, Stuart Maggs. Stuart specializes in construction robotics and brings really interesting perspectives on the building processes we use today and where the strengths of robotics are in our industry.  Excerpt from Scaled Robotics website - "Scaled Robotics was founded by a multidisciplinary team of experts in construction and robotics. The founders met in 2014, quickly becoming friends. Sharing a common vision to reduce the waste and inefficiency in the industry, the founders embarked on a journey to modernize construction. Bringing to bear years of experience in construction and robotics, Stuart and Bharath are passionate about transforming the entire industry with new processes and tools." Related Links Scaled Robotics Website Stuart's LinkedIn  Scaled Robotics LinkedIn  TechCrunch Article 
Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating or review and follow us on our social accounts! SUBSCRIBE!      Like us on LinkedIn!      Like us on Facebook!    Follow us on Instagram!Eddie's LinkedIn      Tyler's LinkedIn      
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Today we channel our inner Kasparov to discuss the fact that things are better when you think several moves ahead. Whenever possible, it’s best to be methodical and avoid the need to make decisions on the fly.    We discuss how we’ve seen people do this effectively–including a former colleague who would occasionally head to the back room, pop in his earbuds, and do the dishes. Sometimes it even bothered us because not doing anything doesn’t feel or look like hard work. But thinking is doing something. Thinking is working.    It feels counterintuitive to simply marinate in silence, but it’s essential. It enables you to stitch up those seams today so things won’t unravel tomorrow. 

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This week we sit down with TestFit CEO, Clifton Harness and discuss the topic of generative design. TestFit designs building diagrams in milliseconds--so architects and developers can process deals more quickly. During our conversation, we dive into what automation in construction will look like in the future and how TestFit can be used today. 
Related Links TestFit WebsiteTestFit LinkedIn PageClifton's LinkedIn
Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating or review and follow us on our social accounts! SUBSCRIBE!      Like us on LinkedIn!      Like us on Facebook!    Follow us on Instagram!Eddie's LinkedIn      Tyler's LinkedIn      See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discipline or regret. It’s one or the other.    Tyler shares his morning routine and the challenges of consistency, and we discuss how much harder it is to start a new routine than to maintain an existing one.   Life, especially family life, doesn’t lend itself to consistency.   Discipline is uncomfortable for a time, but regret can last a long, long time.   Discipline=freedom.    By the way, if you’re wondering who Blippi and Meekah are (from Tyler’s morning Dad routine), you can check them out here. Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedIn If you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before we go any further, here are three movie scenes that we refer to in today’s discussion. If you haven’t seen these in a while, you might want to refresh your memory:

• Billy Madison milk scene
• Cousin Eddie and his RV
• Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker

  Some hail Trevor Owen as the BIM Guru. Some call him BIM Boy. Whatever term you use, Trevor knows BIM. Specifically, he’s the BIM specialist for Hilti. Today we hear Trevor’s thoughts about the influence of building-information modeling on the construction industry.    We start out with some light Christmas-related banter and an introduction to our guest star, Ralph, Jr. Check out the Youtube version of this episode to see Ralph.   Trevor shares how Hilti aims to cut across business units in order to look at each business’s entire workflow. They want to be a productivity partner and solutions provider. We discuss the need for this increased form of efficiency and consolidation because “you can’t throw people at problems anymore. You can’t find the people.”   Hilti’s BIM efforts are focused on model maturity: “If we’re going to leave it in the building, it should be in the model because we have to buy it.” They want to envision and plan the entire process, from prefab all the way to delivery.   Trevor explains that the goal is not just to include more detail but to include more attributes and then process estimates from that.    As a construction guy, Eddie raises some concerns he has with certain aspects of BIM, and we explore those.    Trevor calls upon Billy Madison to explain that when it comes to means and methods, there’s sometimes a dynamic that asks “Who owns it?” He says we need to move from “What’s in it for me?” to “What’s in it for us?”    Eddie speaks up to express his desire for greater automation in the BIM process and points out that BIM is increasingly functioning as the database that we use with automated construction processes.    We discuss the challenges of finding the right people to fill design positions and then to train and retain them. Trevor says “constructability knowledge” is an important skill. Hilti offers a BIM Masterclass that involves 15 weeks of training, culminating in a closing week in The Netherlands.   Eddie and Tyler compare Hilti’s training timeline to Tyler’s as a detailer. Eddie says it was seven years before he was able to declare Tyler “mature” as a detailer (not necessarily mature as a person.)   Trevor’s Megaphone Message: The construction industry has never been as fun as it is now. Construction is fun and has a lasting effect on our children’s lives and their children’s lives. 

Find TrevorOnline: LinkedIn - Twitter   Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedIn If you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We use Bluebeam all day every day at ABSI. Today, We talk about some of our favorite features.

Favorite #1 - Tool Chest: On the left side of your screen, you look at the tool chest. Click on that icon and open it up. Inside, you’ll find tool sets.

Favorite #2 - My Tools: If there’s a command you use frequently, you can put that command in my tools. It will be assigned a number and become readily available.

Favorite #3 - Custom-built tool set: You can compile your own collection of tools that you use frequently. These custom sets can then be exported as a .btx file that you can share with other members of your team.

We’re all about sharing tools, so if you’re interested in having our collection of favorite Blubeam tools, email us at [email protected].

Did we go too fast for you? Well here’s the Bluebeam webinar that Eddie mentioned.

For a free trial of Bluebeam, check out this link.

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Today we welcome Fouad Khalil to the show. Fouad calls himself a reformed architect. About three years ago he eased into offsite construction and founded Modly, a modular construction consultancy that provides the building and real estate sector with market research, feasibility analysis and advisory services. His focus is on helping owners and construction companies integrate manufacturing processes in the construction process.

Tyler asks Fouad to unpack the category of industrialized construction programs (IC). He explains that it has to do with looking at the increased rates of productivity in manufacturing and bringing some lessons from that world into the world of construction.

Efficiency and productivity within construction has remained largely stagnant during the last several decades, while those things have improved dramatically within manufacturing. This means that Fouad pursues improvements in quality, speed, and budget. Manufacturing programs are one way to handle that. He looks for areas where implementation of standards and repetition can gain the most traction.

Tyler asks Fouad to talk us through the series of questions that he asks in order to determine which projects are good candidates for industrialized construction. Here’s what he shares:

Volume: Is the juice worth the squeeze? Does it represent enough potential return to justify the effort? Fouad says that IC works best for serial builders–those who are aiming for consistency across a large number of projects. He gives examples including hospitals, data centers, and fast-food restaurants.

Pipeline: Do I have enough of it spread over time? Will the pace of work be steady enough? If I’m going to do it only once and then not do it again for another six months, that pipeline isn’t robust enough to consider. Some owners want to have several dozen units produced as modules, but they want them all done at the very same time. This is unrealistic.

Repeatability: Is every part of this project unique, or are there enough repeatable elements that my workers’ hands will be able to master routines? The construction world is used to sprints–going all out from start to finish. Fouad explains that factories take more of a long-distance running mindset, often aiming to run steadily at 80% efficiency. With a manufacturing mindset, the profitability horizon might be quite distant. You might need to make 150 modular bathrooms before you’ll turn a profit.

Design: How can we ensure that design and production maintain an active feedback loop so that iterative cycles can be continuously active? Fouad describes the routine of morning and afternoon meetings that his team did with Walmart on their health centers. Sometimes you change the design to make it more buildable. Sometimes you need to redesign the production floor to fit the design.

Optimization: At the production level, how can I improve margins on man-hours and other elements of cost. The goal is for unit costs to drop through a continuous flow of improvements in engineering and production. Projects that appear impossible in the early stages become lean and profitable because of a consistent focus on optimization.

Eddie presents the idea of “demonstrable economy” and discusses an example of how optimizing and productizing applies in his world, and we explore the importance of defining the use of the term “optimized” within a team. If you have various silos optimizing in isolation, the overall outcome may be far from optimum.

Fouad describes the IC process as the space program we need in construction. Through the application of these techniques, we’ll be able to see improvements across the industry. Surprise, surprise, Tyler brings us back to Formula 1 racing. We discuss the iterative process and the feedback loop between the race teams and the consumer world as it plays out in that world.

Fouad’s Megaphone Message: Owners, explore the benefits of setting up a recurring IC program. Talk to your VP of construction and see if the commitment might exist to move forward with this approach. It requires everyone to pull together and work really hard, but the rewards are worth it when the situation is right.

Find Fouad Online: LinkedIN

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Today Eddie is sharing more wisdom from the book Never Split the Difference.

When you’re in a confrontational situation and you don’t regulate your anger, your body begins to release stress hormones that will reduce your brain’s ability to process information effectively. You’ll be less able to empathize, less able to assess the situation.

Tyler points out that repeated, continual inability to control anger might be a sign that you’re experiencing anxiety that should possibly address with a professional.

When you lose your cool, you lose control. It’s just useless. 

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Software design as a trade
If you’re in need of custom software, James Cosman is your man. James started out as a software developer and went on to found VeilSun software. Much of the work that James and his crew do involves QuickBase, so Bob Salaj from QuickBase is also in the studio.

Tyler points out that custom software for specific construction companies is still a pretty new thing whose potential has yet to be explored.

Bob explains that he got tired of seeing money fly out the window due to the gaps and the overlaps between various specialized software packages. That’s what drove him to QuickBase.

James says he sees software design as an additional trade within the construction landscape. The people who are customizing software are crucial to the efficient completion of a job. They’re building information infrastructure.

Addressing Disconnect 
James counted 35 different use cases for their software, but one his favorites are the ones that eliminate the need for liaisons that should be unnecessary. There are too many people out there whose entire job is to update P6.

Tyler points out that we seem to be at a point in construction-industry history that is particularly ripe for automation of job tracking and schedule-related communication. Bob discusses how project managers tend to default to Excel when they encounter complications. He and James want to help those people do things more effectively.

Eddie shares a real-life scenario presented to him by a GC friend just last week. He asks Bob and James to share what systems they would put in place in order to address this friend’s problem. James puts on his Matrix glasses and says he’d find the gaps. Then he’d use QuickBase and other solutions to fill those gaps.

Bob discusses the value-add that a contractor can bring to a project when they deliberately address systems in a proactive way.

Connective tissue
Tyler discusses the need for dot-connectors and process-mapping–people who can use data to inform relevant parties seamlessly about the status of project elements. 

Eddie discusses serial builders who work on one project after another that are similar, such as schools. The repetitive nature of this situation may make their projects good candidates for optimizing systems.

The discussion shifts to the differences between small projects and large projects.

James acknowledges that yes, AI is part of the future of technology in construction, but he thinks the real growth in the coming years will be related to connectivity of data. Tyler shares about the time that was spent at a recent shoot hunting for a specific physical clipboard containing safety standards that could have been digitized and readily available to anyone with a QR code.

Bob lays out the benefits of the low-code/no-code customization available in today’s software and how it frees people from the need to operate within off-the-shelf software’s constraints. James points out that packages can be built to operate as stand-alone apps or to receive and properly process data sent as texts or email.

Training
Bob raises the issue of training and how effective onboarding would include encouraging newbies to seek opportunities to customize their systems.

Tyler asks James and Bob to share some other success stories, and James shares a few. He talks about systems adjustments that resulted in an increased culture of safety awareness and accountability. Then the conversation shifts to one-off solutions compared to cluster apps that are reusable in similar projects.

Bob shares about workforce management software that streamlines the scheduling of crew members with the skills and availability for specific jobs. We discuss master dashboards that allow big-picture

Data for the people
James shares the excitement that he experiences when he sees these systems working the way they should–and then when leaders also see that and use it as fuel to improve the systems even further.

Bob talks about spreadsheets full of KPIs that can be made substantially more useful when the data is integrated into user-friendly dashboards.

Megaphone Message
Bob would like to tell everyone not to settle for the status quo. Respect the people who’ve been doing the job. Respect the input from all generations and then embrace the change we’re about to see. James adds the suggestion that people be curious, ask questions, and get excited.

Quickbase - www.quickbase.com

Quickbase Construction Solutions - https://www.quickbase.com/solutions/construction-management-software

Veilsun - www.veilsun.com/

Find Bob on LinkedIn

Find James on LinkedIn 



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Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedIn

If you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening