We thought about calling this first episode in our redesigned studio “Between Two Fools,” because that’s where Dad is sitting today.

00:00 - Introduction
Dad’s been in construction so long that he worked on moats. Well, okay, it was a moat in a zoo, but still… Today we ask dad to impart the wisdom and experience he’s gained over the last several decades in construction. We’ve had Dad on the podcast before, but we explore some new areas today.

The day after the last baseball game during the summer after his senior year, Grandpa woke Dad up and said, “Get up. You’re going to work.” Grandpa took him to the union hall for a card. Then he took him up to a worksite at Miami University of Ohio, and the rest was history.

One of his gigs under that first superintendent involved backfilling around an oil tank at a zoo, where he accidentally buried Mom’s class ring. Then he had an interesting run-in with a camel.

02:20 The College Years
Dad shares about the awkward challenges of those early years–learning hand signals for front-end loaders, etc. He explains how the Messer co-op program that gave him a substantial head start in the construction world. Dad’s dad had been through the same program.

Flipper, a frozen Ohio River, and a general distaste for gloomy Midwest winters then sent Dad south. They loaded up all their possessions and baby Eddie and headed to Sarasota.

12:55 - Heading South
The community there was not particularly young-kid friendly, so they moved on to St. Petersburg. Dad shares a story about palmetto bugs leading to another move. Mom was having none of that.

21:10 - Roy and the Arrival of Computers
In St. Pete, Dad worked in a satellite office of a top-300 company headquartered in Clearwater. There, he worked under the oversight of a supervisor, Roy, who came to be a significant mentor for him. As the “kid” in the office in the early 80s, Dad fell into the role of computer expert.

As we discuss the perceptions of technology in those days, Tyler mentions that user interface is really all that has changed and the the basic process is still the same.

32:00 - Hatred of Computers
Dad shares about the trials of early computer technology, including large stacks of greenbar paper and the tensions between data vs instinct. We review the various waves of computer technology that have come and gone since Dad stepped into the industry and discuss the glitches that have persisted through all of those changes.

This conversation involves dual-floppy computers, monochrome monitors, Lotus 1-2-3, and printers that needed to be enclosed in boxes because of the noise they made. Dad discusses the F9 key that would trigger a manual recalculation in order to preserve processing power with large spreadsheets.

38:11 - Interior Finishes and Long-term Relationships
Eddie shifts us forward to the period where Dad started working on interior finishes, when he was able to become more of a difference-maker. The pace picked up at this point, and relationships grew increasingly important. Dad tells about a large job for a company with a team of aggressive MBA grads who had high expectations for quick estimate turnarounds.

Dad recounts some specific jobs, recalling the project parameters and completion times. He also talks about some of the colorful characters he encountered along the way. He discusses the efficiencies that came with long-term subcontractor relationships–including “trust that transcends generations.”

Helpful Links:
Eddie makes a reference to this episode with Chuck Colwill.

Find Dad online: LinkedIn - ABSI

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