Dirt Talk Podcast

In another installment of “Questions and Questionable Answers” with host Aaron Witt, Aaron and co-host Alex Horton review questions sent in by listeners. This time, the guys answer questions like “should everyone start on a shovel before becoming an operator?”, “where does manufacturing fit into the Dirt World?” and “is it valuable to go to college for construction management?” They also discuss Aaron’s foolproof plan to track books he wants to read. It’s uh... pretty simple.

Thanks as always to our listeners and especially those who send in questions! Keep ‘em coming, friends.

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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Steve Goodfellow is the Chairman of the Board for Goodfellow Bros after years as the CEO. Goodfellow Bros Inc was founded in 1921 by Steve’s grandfather and uncles. Joining the company at 17, Steve knew early on that his career path was always going to be with the family company. The company now has an HQ in both Hawaii AND Washington. 

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt was kindly invited to speak at a Goodfellow Bros Company Meeting in Hawaii. In addition to giving a presentation, Aaron got to sit down with GBI Chairman Steve Goodfellow and chat about Steve’s history with the company. Steve shared stories of failure, lessons learned, and hard-earned advice to young people entering the Dirt World.

Thank you to Steve and the entire Goodfellow team for your hospitality! Learn more about the company at goodfellowbros.com.

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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Ben Warren of Warren Land Solutions is back on Dirt Talk. We last heard from Ben in the summer of 2021 when he and Aaron recorded a podcast at Aaron’s dining table. My how things change.

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt and Ben Warren relate the opportunities and challenges that come from growing and leading a business in your late 20s. Ben again drops nuggets of wisdom throughout the episode as the guys dig into the importance of communicating the “what” to a team and then allowing the team to discover the “how,” as well as discussing the creative ways his company finds to get rid of or sell wood from land clearing jobs.

Follow @warrenlandsolutions on IG to keep up with Ben and Warren Land Solutions.

Big thanks to our friend Ben for the good conversation!

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt is joined by BuildWitt’s own Eric Jumper to dive into the dark web of construction. They make predictions about ConExpo 2023, virtual equipment training, and why “more robots” is a poor solution to the workforce issues facing the Dirt World. 

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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Shane Patterson started his career selling tires and making good money. Life was good… until he realized that the Dirt World was calling. So he took a job as a haul truck driver to get out from behind a desk, and over the span of 18 months, he earned more and more responsibility (and the accompanying skills) by asking directly for it when he saw how he could help the team. 

Shane would go on to realize that he could take the soft skills learned from sales and the technical experience he was learning from his construction job and build something for himself. So with a total of 2 side jobs under his belt, he took a chance with his wife and started Patterson Excavating in Zionsville, Indiana. With a focus on growing and leading the people that he brings into the company, he’s been able to experience firsthand just how hungry the new generation coming into the Dirt World is to build things that last.

This week on Dirt Talk, Shane Patterson joined host Aaron Witt in the BuildWitt HQ to discuss the importance of asking for what you want, communicating to a team the specifics of why growing a company helps everyone involved, and why Shane is so passionate about instilling in his employees the drive to accomplish huge goals. The guys also discuss a boots-on-the-ground perspective of the challenge and opportunity of bringing young people into a more traditional industry.

Check out more about Patterson Excavating at pattersonexcavation.com or follow them on IG at @pattersonexcavating.

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron and Alex are back answering good questions with questionable answers. The guys dig into questions on topics like hard hat stickers, using LinkedIn to build a business, and discussing where a 22-year-old should start when coming into the industry to start a career. Aaron also reflects on the most important decision(s) that have had the biggest positive impact on BuildWitt’s culture. 

Thanks to the folks who sent in questions! If we didn’t get to your question, Alex will try to get to it on the next Q+A episode. Unless it’s very clearly not for public ears (you know who you are, fellas!).

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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Carson Mediate is interesting. Multiple times during the podcast, host Aaron Witt exclaimed, “no shit!”

Carson is from south Georgia, and didn’t grow up in the Dirt World, in that neither of his parents worked in the industry. However, he DID start his own landscaping business when he was 14 and was running crews of his friends and managing at a Chik Fil A all while going to high school. He always had an interest in agriculture work, and after high school, he had to decide if he was going to focus on landscaping as a career or move on to something bigger. He moved to Savannah, GA in his early 20s and had an opportunity to start a trucking company focused on dump trucks in the area. As that business grew, he became immersed in the Dirt World, and from those experiences, Carson knew that he wanted to focus on starting his own excavation and grading company. Fast-forward a few years to today as he and his team are constantly learning and adapting to the needs of the Dirt World.

Today on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt and Carson Mediate chat about why college wasn’t the right path for Carson (and why diving into work was the correct way), why the trucking industry is a red-tape nightmare that is systemically built to make it harder and harder for new people to enter it, and why it can be so valuable to do the kinds of work that aren’t “sexy” to build relationships in the Dirt World. 

To keep up with Carson’s story, check him out at @brackishconstruction.

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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“Being in the family business…  I'm lucky for that because a lot of people don't have the opportunity. I have it. I want to take advantage of it.”

Kevin Tompkins grew up in the family business, going to work with his dad when he was 2 years old. He started working weekends and summers when he was 10, but ended up going away to college for civil engineering. After just one year of school, however, he knew deep down that he wanted to go back home and help his family run Tompkins Excavating. He was doing bidding and estimating while still in school, and once he graduated in 2019, he was all-in full-time with the family company. But to get to that point, he first worked for other companies, and even though he got good experience, he knew he’d maximize his career by diving into the family business.

This week on Dirt Talk, Kevin joined host Aaron Witt to discuss the value of learning a large variety of skills in the Dirt World, why embracing technology allows you to stay ahead of the times, and why it’s important to realize that it’s getting harder and harder to hire elite talent in the field (and why you’re better off developing the talent from the ground up).

Thanks to Kevin and the team at Tompkins Excavating! To follow their story, you can go follow them on IG @tompkins_excavating or visit tompkinsexcavating.com.

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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This is the first official episode of Dirt Talk: Travel Reports with Aaron Witt and Chase Lyons. Chase is the director/videographer of the Aaron Witt vlog. Check that out at youtube.com/@AaronWitt. 

This week, Aaron and Chase recount the week they recently spent in the Western US in California and Colorado. They only got to see a few job sites in California before the uncharacteristic rain forced a change in plans. In addition to the classic construction content, they also were lucky enough to see a Cal Fire training session, Winter X Games construction in Aspen, and the guys got to spend a day with action sports star Jarryd McNeil on his farm. They ended the trip hanging with old BuildWitt friend Shay Stutsman from Stutsman Gerbaz Inc Earthmoving. 

If you have any questions or feedback, email the Dirt Talk crew at [email protected].

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Back on Dirt Talk this week is Randy Blount, former owner of Blount Contracting and now current CFO(!) at BuildWitt. He was the first investor at BuildWitt and has been a valuable advisor over the years, and we’re stoked to have him leading our finance arm into the future.

This week on Dirt Talk, Randy and host Aaron Witt chat about why the construction industry's stuck in the old ways, using a traditional command and control structure. They also get into the Dirt World's low-profit margins, the importance of the office even though it's not revenue-producing, and why internal conflicts are both natural and a problem that must be addressed culturally. They also discuss the Dirt World’s crucial role in shaping society's future and leveraging good economic times to make big changes.

If you have questions or feedback for the Dirt Talk crew, email us at [email protected].

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