Elevate Construction

Jason sits down with Ryan Schmitt, owner and president of Petticoid Civil Contractors in Florida, to talk about how to truly train and develop the next generation of construction workers. Ryan shares story after story of friends' college aged sons spending a summer on a pipe crew or punch out crew and coming back transformed, sleeping harder, talking about it for years, and gaining a respect for the work that no classroom could teach. They tackle the myth of generational differences, the role of all inclusive worker huddles in giving every laborer the bigger picture, and the question of whether our generation is actually doing the next one a disservice by shielding them from hard work.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why a summer on a pipe crew creates camaraderie and accomplishment unlike anything else

• Whether we're stealing a developmental right of passage from the next generation

• How all inclusive worker huddles deliver the bigger picture every worker actually wants

• Why showing a clear career path from laborer to superintendent changes how people enter the trade

• Why a college degree is great but real life teaching often starts after graduation

Hard work, camaraderie, and respect aren't generational. They're human. Build the experiences, and the next generation will rise to meet them.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free, and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason continues recording from Jacksonville and shares the two driving rules he hammered into his daughter Effie when she was learning to drive: don't hit the car in front of you and stay in your lane. He maps those two rules onto construction leadership and makes the case that flow and team balance are the only two things superintendents and project managers need to master first. Everything else, the lean tools, the last planner system, BIM, continuous improvement, is just turn signals and windshield wipers compared to those two fundamentals. The episode closes on Schroeder's law: stability before continuous improvement, every time.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why distilling the rules of driving down to two principles is what keeps new drivers safe

• How "don't hit the car in front of you" translates to clearing the schedule of roadblocks

• How "stay in your lane" translates to team balance, capacity, and never overburdening the team

• Why Paul Akers, Toyota, and BMW all built stability before they ever did continuous improvement

• Why getting distracted by lean tools without flow and team balance leads to crash landings

Two rules. Master those first. Everything else falls into place from there.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free, and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason continues the personal coaching series with a candid episode on cleanliness as a reflection of the mind. Recording from Jacksonville on four hours of sleep, he walks through the awakening moments in his career when superintendents and general superintendents drilled cleanliness into him until it stuck. He makes the case that what your project looks like is what's in your mind, what your desk looks like is what's in your mind, and that real construction leadership starts with becoming fanatical about clean. The episode is part challenge, part personal call to live a cleaner life on the outside so the inside can match.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why non cognitive skills like grit, discipline, and stick to it iveness separate the great from the rest

• The signs of a project in trouble list and why cleanliness was at the top

• Why your desk, truck, phone, and bedroom are physical representations of your mind

• Why awakening moments hurt, and how to choose to wake up before the pain forces it

• Why becoming fanatical about clean is the prerequisite to anything else working in construction

How you do one thing is how you do everything. Clean the space, clean the mind, then go run clean jobs.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free, and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason makes the case that standard work is one of the most underused practices in construction, and that it's not about distrusting workers but about deeply respecting them. He shares a reading from Taiichi Ohno's Toyota Production System on the three elements of a standard worksheet, cycle time, work sequence, and standard inventory, and reframes them for construction crews. The episode opens with two reflections on leadership endurance, lands a quick answer to a listener question on "nothing hits the ground," and closes with three questions every foreman and superintendent should be asking about their crews.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The boxing analogy: leadership in construction is an endurance game, and the last one standing wins

• The "nothing hits the ground" rule and practical staging strategies for tight projects

• Taiichi Ohno's three elements of standard work: cycle time, work sequence, and standard inventory

• Why the foreman's primary job is training, and why three days should be enough to train new workers

• How to build a feature of work board with the pictures, safety points, QC steps, and buffer info crews actually need

Standard work isn't a slight against the worker. It's the highest respect you can show them. They get to do it right the first time.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free, and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

How you do one thing is how you do everything. Bad handwriting caused hundreds of thousands in safety mistakes because instructions not followed. Dress and appearance shows you care and advertises for promotions. Well-groomed means trimmed hair, washed face, brushed teeth, nice clothes without holes, good shoes. Update wardrobe regularly and dress for next position.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Handwriting impacts everything: haphazard handwriting spreads to safety quality cost, hundreds of thousands lost
• Dress for next position: advertise for promotion, show you care, campaign for career advancement
• Grooming top to bottom: hair trimmed, face washed, beard trimmed, teeth brushed, eyes rested, nice shirt and pants
• Update wardrobe regularly: constantly reinvent yourself, iron clothes, dress intentionally with good colors
• Stubbornness costs opportunities: how many blessings promotions are you giving up because of rebellion

How many blessings or opportunities or promotions are you giving up because of your rebellion and your stubbornness when it comes to dress and appearance.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jessica Buchanan kidnapped in Somalia for 93 days and rescued by Navy SEAL Team Six. SEAL ethos: guardians who protect fellow Americans, willing to sacrifice lives. Builder ethos Jason created: protect workers, families, neighbors, enforce safety rules, win projects on time on budget. Guardians train, rise to challenges, never fail.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Jessica Buchanan rescue: Navy SEALs laid on top of her as human shield, went back for ring
• SEAL ethos: humbly serve as guardians, voluntarily accept hazards, place others before self, never quit
• Builder ethos: protect innocent workers families, clean safe organized projects, respect people, win means on time budget safely
• Guardian questions: train like guardian, push through adversity, loyal to team, demand discipline innovation
• Because I am here: people are safe, people respected, families preserved, we will win

I am a guardian because I am here people are safe, because I am here people are respected, because I am here families are preserved, because I am here we will win.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Every successful person keeps a to-do list. Handwriting must be block lettering all caps because how you do one thing is how you do everything. The system is capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage. Use Eisenhower method to triage urgent versus important tasks. Mind needs to be free from loops to receive inspiration.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Everyone needs to-do list: cannot be successful without getting ideas out of head onto system
• Block lettering all caps: fix handwriting because how you do one thing is how you do everything
• Five-step system: capture everything, clarify and triage, organize, reflect three times daily, engage with focus
• Eisenhower method: urgent and important do it, not urgent important schedule, urgent not important delegate, neither delete
• Mind free for inspiration: no open loops, few capturing buckets, empty regularly to hear solutions

If you have stupid ignorant handwriting I want it fixed because you are brilliant and wonderful and amazing and deserve better.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like

the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Culture is common beliefs and actions shaped by story. Research laboratory story: safest, cleanest, most remarkable project in Arizona with owner who cared. Story gives people significance, certainty, love, and connection. What we do must be clear, visual, incentivized, enforced, and made famous through morning worker huddles.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Story creates culture: research lab was safest cleanest most remarkable, workers believed and fit into story
• Human needs met: story provides significance, certainty, love, connection, variety for team
• Five requirements: what we do must be clear, visual, incentivized, enforced, made famous
• Morning huddles rehearse: repeat story daily so people know where they are, why, where they belong
• Connection and future: no connection no future no emotional safety means poor culture

People have to see themselves in a story and our story was that we were the safest cleanest and most remarkable project in Arizona and they believed it because we rehearsed it every single day.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like

the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Focal Point teaches how to focus after knowing what you want from Think and Grow Rich. Do more valuable things, do less low-value things, start new things, stop wasteful things. Leverage knowledge, energy, money, and other people to accelerate progress. Clarity enables triaging tasks into important, delegate, or eliminate categories.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Four actions: do more valuable, do less low-value, start new, stop wasteful things
• Leverage principle: use knowledge, energy, money, other people's success to multiply path
• Balanced life: constrain time to force delegation, manage effectively, work in one-piece flow
• Clarity enables productivity: know where going, triage into important/should do/delegate/eliminate
• Highest value activities: only do what you were paid to do, delegate or eliminate rest

Your mind will give up a hundred times before your body will, so your only limits are in your mind and you have to grind and drive forward.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like

the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Wilson Electric and foreman John Bohr delivered excellence for 20 years but never received written feedback until Jason sent appreciation letter. The company said they had not received feedback like that in 20 years. Give people a good name and they will live up to it.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• John Boore excellence: traced circuits with colored pencils, as-builts perfect, oriented new workers, communicated constantly
• Appreciation letter impact: first written feedback in 20 years, company forwarded to superiors, trade partner went above and beyond
• Give good name principle: treat people with respect, they live up to it, workers are smart and deserve dignity
• Monthly practice: calendar reminder to send appreciation note to trade partner every month
• Workers are not stupid: followed different path, just as smart, creative, kind-hearted, require respect

If you give contractors a good name and appeal to their noble motives and give them something to live up to, then they always will because these are good people who deserve our respect.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw