This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt and Alex Horton are joined by Dirt World “Expert” Eric Jumper. Eric complains about not getting paid after working at BuildWitt for two years (editor’s note: this is not true) before the guys address internet trolls who complain that every video Aaron posts doesn’t show every step of every process, people putting RAM-NEK in the back of an excavator to warm it up in the cold months, and the time Eric brought 10 feet of sewer pipe into the BuildWitt office. Later, they answer questions about how Aaron should be approached in public, now that he’s famous (editor’s note: he absolutely hated this question), and how, after the People Problem, material shortages might be the Dirt World’s next colossal problem.

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Sophie Coleman (of Victoria, Australia) was raised around the Dirt World as her father built up his career before he started MC Earthmoving. Sophie had thought joining the family business would be for her other siblings, and ended up moving to New York City. But after working a few jobs and traveling a good bit around the US, she started feeling the pull to go back to Australia. And after working part-time at MC Earthmoving as she built her freelance graphic design business, she started to find she wanted to spend more and more time working on the construction business. Fast forward a little bit, and she’s now the “Operations Manager of sorts” for the family business.

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt is joined by Sophie Coleman as she graciously stopped by the BuildWitt office during her whirlwind tour of the US. They dug into the opportunities and challenges of working for your father, why it’s sometimes okay that people assume she’s a man on the company's social media accounts and the value of approaching efficient practices one tiny step at a time.

You can learn more about MC Earthmoving at mcearthmoving.com.au or @mc_earthmoving.

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This week, Aaron recounts his recent travel through Canada as he visited an oil sands mine site, the largest Caterpillar dealership in the world, Fort McMurray, Calgary - a wide-ranging trip with some badass earthwork. Aaron weighs in on the negative perception (and the importance today) of oil and the role it plays in society before he and Alex discuss questions about how some employers are providing work-life balance opportunities for their people and why some companies who do the actual earthwork are also required to finance the project before getting paid.

“The only way to have a more sustainable world is through infrastructure.”

Will Paddock is the Managing Director of WAP Sustainability based in Tennessee, a team of sustainability professionals who help clients both in and out of the Dirt World achieve their sustainability goals. To say “the world of sustainability is complex” would be an understatement, as evidenced by the conversation Will had with Dirt Talk host Aaron Witt, but Will has spent his entire career in the space and was able to connect a lot of dots with the role that sustainability plays in the Dirt World.

This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt and Will Paddock dig into the world of sustainability in the U.S. and how it plays a role in the Dirt World. Aaron and Will discuss the meaning of LEED, measuring the concrete carbon footprint, and why cement production has had to drop off (and the problems that causes!).

Thanks to Will for coming on the podcast. You can learn more about his company at wapsustainability.com.

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This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron and Alex check in on the joys of running and the utter terror of a bathroom emergency in the middle of a long run. Naturally, they transition to the topic of “Perseverance”. Later, they answer questions about staying in the Dirt World while striving for a healthy work-life balance and how to work through relational issues with difficult crew members.

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation. Stay Dirty!

This week on Dirt Talk, the DT crew has collected some of the most asked-about topics and combined them into one episode to answer YOUR questions about the importance of training and leadership in the Dirt World. Spanning over six months of conversations, we hope that every listener learns something new or sees a new perspective that they hadn’t considered before.

Questions/topics discussed include:

Thanks to all of the listeners of Dirt Talk. You’re the reason we get to do what we do. 

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This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt and Alex Horton are back at it, catching up after another long stretch of travel for Aaron. The guys discuss the Appalachian Trail and the “time warp” of living on the road before diving into this week’s topic: Interns. They discuss the value of skipping the unpaid internship and just getting out in the field and working. Then, they answer a question about the value of outward-facing branding and why it works for some companies to paint all of their equipment. 

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George Marsh is a collector at heart. Recently, he’s begun hunting for and collecting chain saws. Why? “Why not?!” he says. But because this is a podcast about construction, George’s most obvious (and precious) collection is the armada of heavy equipment that he and his father have accumulated over the years. According to George, a self-proclaimed “old iron enthusiast,” they have something like 70 pieces on their property… and most of them still run! But in addition to the old equipment, he’s also quite the Dirt World historian and an old soul, especially when it comes to being a dragline operator.

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt and George Marsh dig into why George believes in the power and education that operating only old equipment can provide. George also shares the history of earthmoving in his own family before laying out what drew him to draglines and why it’s such a good fit for the work he wants to do right now. Later, he and Aaron discuss some of the downsides of using and relying on GPS and the pride and level of expertise that can be gained by learning operator skills on older equipment. The guys also discuss the lack of tolerance for mistakes in the industry, the shortage of entry-level positions, and the fulfilling nature of manual labor. 

If you want to learn more about the equipment that George collects, he’s @oldschoolgeorge on IG.

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This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt is joined by Eric Jumper to talk equipment (of course), but the conversation quickly evolves into a conversation on how you approach valuing your work abilities and how to use certain tools to develop yourself and your career. The guys also touch on landfills, meat processing, and machine rental. Later, Aaron and Eric answer questions like “what is strip mining?” and “how do you determine how much you should be paid?”

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation.

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If you’ve spent any time working in or around the Dirt World, you know this one thing to be true: there is a labor shortage. And if you’ve been listening to Dirt Talk for any length of time, you know that host Aaron Witt is very passionate about working with folks in the industry to fix that issue. 

Enter Tyler Robertson: CEO of Diesel Laptops. In addition to being a badass company name, it’s also precisely what the company sells. Diesel Laptops “originally set out to help clients with their diagnostic tool needs. As trucks and emission technology became more advanced, a demand was placed in the market for diagnostic tools to meet those needs.” It’s a fascinating technology and the Dirt Talk crew enjoyed chatting with Tyler.

This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt is joined by Tyler Robertson of Diesel Laptops to talk diesel engines (insert Tim Taylor from Home Improvement’s grunt here) and the tricky diagnostics and maintenance that come with them. Tyler shares why he started the company in the first place, how it helps with the diesel tech shortage, and what, exactly, “predictive maintenance” is. Later, Tyler and Aaron dig into the disconnect between OEMs and dealers, the future of trucking, and why change starts with responsibility.

Thanks to Tyler for coming on the podcast. Go check out Diesel Laptops at diesellaptops.com. 

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