Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder

Six years after episode zero, Jesse is back with his original co-host (and baby brother) Rene for a 250th episode full of laughs. They recorded at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, with Rene hiding out at his office so his four kids, the "raptors," wouldn't crash the interview.

Rene explains why he stepped back from co-hosting, and he shares the whiteboard drawing behind his advice for new podcasters: a pipe full of mud, with clean water waiting behind it. They look back at the messy early days, including the conversation Jesse forgot to record. Rene admits what he was really doing with some of his questions ("let me get some air time"). He also tells how he ended up editing five podcasts at once and making the most money of his life, and why that taught him he isn't driven by money. Jesse explains why the guest list grew beyond tradespeople, and why he'll keep doing the show even though it costs him money. Along the way, Rene says Jesse is secretly showing guests the Dragon Scroll from Kung Fu Panda.

Then Rene throws Jesse a curveball on the closing question: What is the promise you are intended to be? The answer involves a goofy lizard named Rango.

00:36 250th Episode Reunion

02:44 Starting the Podcast Messy

07:02 Pipe Full of Mud Advice

10:58 Confidence and Questions

13:10 Stepping Back to Edit

15:44 Values Beyond Money

18:23 Career Growth and Connections

20:53 Big Guest Takeaways

23:45 Unicorns and Caring Leaders

24:56 Family Life and Editing Time

25:43 Family Support and Diapers

26:28 Podcast Guest Shift

28:30 Finding Guests Gets Hard

30:44 How to Ruin It

31:58 Why Keep Going

36:27 Same Format Debate

37:24 Dragon Scroll Metaphor

40:55 Future of the Show

42:07 The Promise Question

47:15 God Given Purpose

48:28 Becoming the Hero

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Sales blames marketing. Marketing blames ops. Ops blames sales. Neel Zbinden says it usually starts at the top.

After 30 years in restaurants, Neel quit on April 1st with no plan. A few months later she was in construction marketing, teaching herself the job through trial and error. Today she's the founder of Z Collab Group and co-founder and president of Contractors, Closers, and Connections (CCC) Fort Worth. She fixes the disconnect between sales, marketing, brand, and operations, and she won't work with anyone who lies, cheats, or steals. She tells them on the first call.

In this episode:

• Why service-industry people make great hires in construction
• What field marketing really is (hint: the extra mile)
• Why departments battle, and why great people get fired for bad leadership
• Quarterly reviews, simple CRMs, and cutting the busy work
• Why "What's in it for me?" loses the room

00:00 Leadership Sets the Tone

06:04 From Restaurants to Construction

12:20 Service Mindset and Transferable Skills

15:39 What Field Marketing Really Is

22:35 Aligning Teams and Fixing CRM Chaos

29:41 Integrity and Ops vs Sales Disconnect

32:56 Speaking Up at Work

34:36 Consulting Gets Heard

37:00 Sales Marketing Reality Check

39:10 Delegation and Giving Value

40:43 Training as Retention

44:07 Bachata Training Lesson

47:38 Owning Your Voice

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Most superintendents don't run jobs; they survive them by firefighting their way to the finish line. Jody Fitzgerald did it that way for 40 years, until it cost him more than he was willing to keep paying. In this week’s conversation with Jesse, he breaks down what separates a superintendent who protects tomorrow's work from one who's just good at creating the next fire.

What you'll get out of this one

• Why most jobs have zero flow — superintendents run on personality, not a system, because nobody ever taught them the why behind the steps.
• The five pillars of Built Not Forced — identity, preparation, flow, standards, stewardship. Everyone talks about the middle three; Jody explains why the bookend pillars are where all the money actually is.
• A one-sentence definition of the job that'll stick with you: protect tomorrow's work. Everything inside the fence is his to own.
• The "dummy tax" is real. Jesse confesses exactly how trade partners quietly price bad superintendents differently than good ones — and Jody's reaction says it all.
• Ownership can be taught — and Jesse gets vulnerable about the moment it finally clicked for him.
• Technology gave us speed and stole our communication. Why instant information created an expectation of instant, "complete" answers — and why that's wrecking decisions in the field.
• The 23-year-old kid Jody handed a job to — proof of what it looks like to actually build someone up.

 Connect with Jody:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-jody-fitzgerald-73235843/

00:00 People Build Buildings

00:33 Meet Jody Fitzgerald

03:16 Why Jobs Lack Flow

05:42 From Screamer to Leader

13:56 Built Not Forced Origins

15:21 Five Pillars Framework

16:05 Superintendent Role Defined

19:12 Ownership and Self-Improvement

20:27 Tech vs Real Communication

22:53 Teaching Ownership the Why

28:08 Dummy Tax and Trade Respect

30:54 Industry Perfect Storm

32:08 Training and Listening Fix

34:26 Listen Not Apps

35:24 Translation On Site

37:20 Huddles And Systems

38:17 Surface Problems Safely

40:44 Trust And Standards

42:50 Mentoring The Next

47:58 Tech And Expectations

50:35 Drawings Owners And No

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Every leader has that employee who clocks in, does the bare minimum, and clocks out. Jesse says that's not a "them" problem — it's a "you" problem. In this episode, he flips the script on who your most important customer really is (hint: it's not the one paying the invoice) and breaks down why the people on your team who seem checked out are actually starved for two things: autonomy and critical thinking.

Jesse gets brutally honest about his own journey, reframes why some people show up guarded and afraid to make decisions, and shares the exact reflective questions he uses to turn hesitant "doers" into confident decision-makers. Plus, he tackles two pop-up questions: what to do when your boss is underutilizing you, and how to "manage up" without becoming a bootlicker.

If you've ever thought "why won't they just think for themselves," this episode will make you rethink who's really responsible for that.

00:00 Failure Fuels Growth

00:14 Your Most Important Customer

01:00 Internal Customers First

02:01 Activating the Doers

02:58 You Are Not Paying Them

06:18 Autonomy Explained

08:50 Stop Overreacting

10:01 Reinforce with Reflection

16:42 Critical Thinking Muscle

23:34 Fear Based Backgrounds

25:23 Underrated by Your Boss

30:01 Managing Up Without Sucking Up

36:33 Fulfillment Beyond Work

37:20 Fernando’s Wake Up Call

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Stephanie Reichman has done everything "right". She is the co-founder of AEC Tech Jobs, creator of More Than an Engineer, a stage speaker, and a customer success manager at Bluebeam. So why did hitting a major follower milestone leave her flat instead of fired up?

In this episode, Stephanie returns to unpack the moment she stopped chasing "cheat codes" for success and started building her own definition of it instead. A cross-country move from Las Vegas to the Midwest cracked open questions she hadn't let herself ask: What pace of life actually fits me? What happens after I hit the goal? And who am I if it's not exciting anymore?

Jesse and Stephanie get into:

• Why can a big milestone feel like nothing, and the one thing that changes that
• The real reason she left Las Vegas, and what it forced her to confront about her values
• How showing up on LinkedIn became less about growth and more about connection, fun, and impact
• The blunt truth about employers who shut down employees who create content (and why that's a mistake)
• Why content creation quietly makes you better at your job, and more valuable to your company
• Her take on AI and tools lowering the barrier to start, and the one thing that still separates people who succeed from people who don't
• What "More Than an Engineer" really means, and the identity work behind reclaiming a label
• The promise she made to herself: to become the person her younger self needed

If you've ever hit a goal and felt strangely underwhelmed, or you're an engineer (or anyone) quietly wondering if there's more to your identity than your job title, this one's going to hit close to home.

00:00 Taking Back Control

00:26 Meet Stephanie Reichman

02:00 No Perfect Plan Confession

06:46 Redefining Success After Moving

09:18 Finding Your Pace

12:35 Celebrating Goals Without Parades

17:39 Followers Versus Purpose

20:27 Keeping Content Fun

23:10 LinkedIn Impact at Work

26:14 Employers and Employee Advocacy

31:14 What Community Means

33:11 More Than an Engineer Origins

34:03 Turning Ideas into Action

34:44 AI Lowers the Barrier

36:13 Building A Personal App

38:18 Iterate and Improve Fast

40:26 Marketing and Distribution

43:32 Choosing Projects Wisely

45:49 Fun Versus Practicality

49:26 More Than an Engineer Meaning

56:00 Momentum Train Mindset

49:27 The Grand Slam Question

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

A 31-year ironworker doesn't scare easily. But ask Dino DePasquale what keeps him up at night, and it's not the job site; it's the industry's silence around mental health.

Dino built DePasquale Steel over 21 years and created the Steel Erector's Playbook along the way. In this episode, he goes to the side of construction leadership nobody puts on a business card: the suicide and overdose statistics haunting the trades, the impossible task of "shutting work off," and why connection might be the most underrated safety equipment on any crew.

Jesse and Dino don't stay in the dark for long. They dig into why leaders hesitate to teach and mentor publicly because of confidence, added responsibility, and the fear of getting it wrong out loud; and how Dino turned his own mistakes into the systems now running his company. His answer to burnout and bottlenecks? "Clone yourself" through documentation and training, so the business doesn't live and die by one person's memory.

Then things get real when Dino walks through a recent job that went sideways, and what it actually looks like to earn trust when you own the problem instead of hiding from it. He also previews his plans to help lead a construction-focused peer group on mental health.

If you run crews, run a business, or just run yourself into the ground more often than you'd like to admit, this episode’s for you.

In this episode:

• The mental health and addiction crisis hiding in plain sight across construction
• Why "shutting off" work is a skill most leaders never learn
• Building a peer support network for an industry that doesn't ask for help
• Turning mistakes into systems: how to document, train, and clone yourself
• What it really takes to earn trust after a job goes wrong
• Protecting focus time and staying resourceful enough to climb the ladder

00:00 Industry Pain Opens

00:14 Meet Dino DePasquale

02:17 How Hard Is It

02:59 Steel Life Story

04:59 Mental Health Crisis

08:46 Peer Group Plans

09:23 Addiction And Overdose

11:19 Jesse Recovery Story

15:23 Why Share A Playbook

18:55 Cloning Yourself Systems

21:00 Confidence To Teach

26:39 Document Your Day

28:26 Track Your Time

29:00 Stop Answering Every Call

29:31 Delegate With Clarity

32:15 Progress Over Perfection

32:55 Being Real Online

36:24 Job Went Off Rails

37:58 Own The Fix

41:35 Purpose Beyond Hard Work

46:42 Resourcefulness To Advance

51:46 Where To Find Dino

53:32 Why Converge Hit Different

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Here’s a test for you: write down every single thing on your plate today and tomorrow. Now circle only the ones that would fall apart if someone other than you did them.

Most people circle almost nothing. And that's the problem.

In this episode, Jesse breaks down "strategically selfish"; a framework for builders and leaders who can't delegate, can't say no, and are quietly running on tasks that were never actually theirs to carry. He walks through the exercise in real time, then shows you what to do with everything left uncircled: reduce it through optimizing or automating, delegate it, or extinguish it outright, and why time deserves more vigilance than money ever will.

The twist: he says you don't build this skill in the high-stakes moments. You build it at home, in the small stuff, asking for help before you need to; so when it counts in your business or on the jobsite, saying "not me" is second nature instead of a crisis decision.

If you've ever ended a workday exhausted but couldn't name what you actually accomplished, this one's for you.

00:00 Focus on What Matters

01:25 Framework Overview

02:30 Step One Write It Down

04:33 Step Two Circle Only You

07:11 Why Delegation Feels Hard

11:37 Step Three Reduce Tasks

19:34 Extinguish Nonessential Work

21:09 Outsource and Guard Time

24:15 Ask for Help and Communicate

29:09 Final Recap and Homework

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Tim Tuoni went from riding backhoes as a kid to running Tuoni Site Development, and he's got zero patience for people who think construction guys are just difficult for the sake of it.

In this episode, Tim breaks down what actually gets mislabeled as "a-hole energy" in this industry: it's standards. It's direct communication. It's not tolerating half-effort on a highway job where mistakes cost real money and real safety. He and Jesse dig into what it's like building a company under public scrutiny, including dealing with the YouTube and social media critics who've never swung a hammer but have plenty of opinions.

Tim also gets real about the moment that changed his trajectory: walking off a job after a safety incident and taking a leap into subcontract work before he was "ready." He talks about the mechanical skills that saved him money and made him dangerous in a good way, how he uses LinkedIn every single day to market himself and scout opportunities, and why he now shows up for Crew Collaborative classroom talks to give students a real alternative to the college-or-bust narrative.

If you need a reset on what actually matters in this trade, Tim's closing line says it all: "It's just f*ing dirt. You're never above a shovel."

Connect with Tim

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-tuoni-16730893/

https://tuonisitedevelopmentllc.com/

In this episode:

• Why the industry's reputation for being "difficult" is really about standards
• Building a business in the age of social media critics
• The safety incident that pushed Tim into entrepreneurship
• Using LinkedIn as a daily marketing and research tool
• Why he's showing up in classrooms to change how kids see this career path

00:00 Just Dirt Mindset

00:18 Meet Tim Toonie

02:09 Construction People Standards

05:41 Mentors And Online Critics

09:52 Why Equipment Life Chose Him

13:03 First Machines First Memories

15:24 Skid Steer Lessons And Antics

18:25 Getting Hired Certified Today

21:09 Starting His Own Company

24:39 Resourcefulness Under Pressure

30:27 Saving Money With Repairs

33:03 Time Versus Money Skills

33:59 DIY Marketing Learning Curve

35:28 LinkedIn Outreach Playbook

39:28 Creative Prospecting For Contractors

42:35 Why He Volunteers

44:02 Trades Versus College Paths

51:27 Where To Connect Online

54:48 Promise Intended To Be

58:00 Never Above A Shovel

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Leadership in construction is lonely. The 2 a.m. gut-check calls. The mistakes nobody at the office needs to know about. The moments where "fake it till you make it" stops working and you just need someone who gets it.

This episode, Jesse opens the door to something new: the Construction Leadership Lab: a peer community built for leaders who are done pretending they have it all figured out.

This isn't a networking group. It isn't a highlight reel. It's a room for GCs, subs, owners reps, coaches, and service providers across the U.S. and Canada who are ready to trade the polished version of leadership for the real one.

What's inside:

• Monthly live calls — recorded and shared as a members-only podcast, so nobody misses a session
• Fishbowl coaching — bring real problems, get real input, leave with a real commitment
• Book study — one book every three months, discussed as a group, not just read alone
• Selfish Servant Cheat Sheets — a weekly newsletter built to make leadership stick
• The Vault — templates and checklists ready to use on the job, not just in theory

Three rules keep the room honest: be generous, be fearless, be cool. Ask how people want to be treated. Be more interested than interesting. Know when to pass the mic.

If leadership in construction has ever cost you sleep, this is the group built for that.

Listen now. Then go save your seat in the Lab.

00:00 Leadership Is Human

00:20 Why Leaders Need Support

01:52 Introducing The Lab

02:50 Core Features Overview

04:52 Calls Schedule and Focus

05:09 Book Study Deep Dives

08:12 Fishbowl Problem Solving

11:07 Commitments and Accountability

13:05 Weekly Newsletter Value

13:46 Content Vault Resources

15:17 Mission and Purpose

16:17 Community Guidelines

21:53 Join or Keep Listening

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Ever quit on a goal the moment it stopped feeling like a win? This week's episode breaks down why treating progress as pass/fail is the quiet reason so many goals stall out before they get traction.

He unpacks the start-stop cycle: new goals always run into friction from commitments you already have, and pass/fail thinking punishes you for that friction instead of accounting for it. Using fitness as the example, Jesse shows how to build momentum differently, going from zero to one, chaining back-to-back reps, hitting a three-time streak, and only then raising the bar. Small wins aren't consolation prizes. They're the mechanism.

Next Jesse introduces "bookends": instead of judging a goal week to week, you set a real time horizon and a single checkpoint down the road; like committing to a podcast for 12 months no matter what the download numbers say early on. That container is what lets you actually learn, build relationships, and stumble into upside you couldn't have planned for (Jesse points to finding his own voice as one example).

Lastly, Jesse closes on why this matters beyond the goal itself, framing success not around hitting a number, but around impact, using his own book as the example: if it helps even one person, it did its job.

00:00 Escape Win Lose Thinking

03:04 Celebrate Zero to One

06:07 Back to Back and Streaks

10:01 Feedback Loops Beat Perfection

12:20 Shift Two Bookends

15:54 Podcast Bookend Example

18:51 Discovering Your Voice

20:58 Impact Based Goals

23:05 Book Link and Share It

24:19 Wrap Up and Next Steps

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be