Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder

Brittany Jacques grew up on her grandfather’s excavation sites, then became a behavioral social scientist. She spent two years in the field watching how construction crews really communicate. What she saw changed how she thinks about retention. The industry puts enormous effort into project infrastructure and almost none into people infrastructure.

Jesse and Brittany get into why entry-level workers leave and what leaders can do about it. They cover how to bridge generational communication gaps, and why people development is one of the most important investments an owner can make.

What you’ll learn

• Why construction needs a “people blueprint” with the same rigor as a project plan
• How a foreman and a Gen Z laborer can look at the same moment and see two different things
• Why Brittany and Jesse both say turnover is a treatment and development problem, not a work ethic problem
• Why culture change has to start with owners and executives, and why a leader’s beliefs cap what their crew can do
• How the Pygmalion effect plays out on job sites
• The real cost of losing one person: the skill set, the project, the reputation, and about six months for a crew to gel
• The “two C’s” Brittany teaches: lead with curiosity, then find something in common or give a compliment
• Jesse’s “visible leadership” exercise: walk the job, pick up three pieces of trash, and meet someone new

 Connect with Brittany Jacques on LinkedIn

Visit the Website: https://www.magnifiedconsulting.net/

00:00 People Over Principles

00:21 Meet Brittany Jacques

02:33 Why Magnify People

04:34 Building People Infrastructure

07:17 Field Lessons and Generational Gaps

09:38 Phones and Teaching on Site

12:30 Culture Versus Marketing Hype

15:29 Mistreatment and Turnover Reality

19:14 Leadership Lids and Behavior Change

21:54 Pygmalion Effect and Expectations

24:32 Training as Retention Strategy

25:57 Confidence and Why

28:09 From Field Roots

31:07 Humanize Leadership

34:12 Trust and Retention

36:52 Curiosity Commonality Compliments

38:05 Visible Leadership Walks

41:45 Finding the Right Clients

45:45 People Blueprint System

47:46 Where to Connect

48:48 Promise to Magnify

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 

Tara Cristel was owed about $200,000 on the biggest job her glazing company had ever done. She’d filed a lien, and the banks wouldn’t lend against the money because nobody could say when it would show up. So she did the one thing still in her control. She started talking about it, out loud, on the internet. And that’s how The Subcontractor Project got going. 

Day to day, Tara runs a subcontracting business, and she’s got the pink hard hat to prove it. In this episode she explains how a system that looks like “just the way it’s always been” ends up making subs finance the whole project.

She’s not talking only about small shops, either. Tara tells the story of a $50 million sub who says $12 to $15 million is sitting past due at any given time. Even companies that size are scrambling to make payroll on Wednesday.

Tara is clear about her intent. She isn’t out to trash GCs. She wants the people at every level of the chain to understand what it’s like at the bottom of it.

In this conversation:

• Why Tara calls late payment a “free loan” subs give to everyone above them
• Her own retainage story: a project that slid from summer 2025 to summer 2027, with money still held
• Why pay-when-paid and pay-if-paid clauses leave subs with no payment date at all
• What a good payment answer looks like: a real date, within 24 hours
• Her challenge to subcontractors: if we keep signing the contracts, nothing changes
• A sub owner she spoke with revenues of $50M a year but has $12-15M that sits past due at any given time
• What she’s building: The Subcontractor Project, a podcast, and a book, The Subcontractor Trap

Connect with Tara on LinkedIn

Contractor Compliance https://www.linkedin.com/company/contractor-compliance-co/

00:00 Welcome + why Tara's content is rattling cages 
03:00 Why Tara advocates for subcontractors getting paid 
05:00 "Reverse reimbursed": the free loan subs give to everyone above them 
07:00 One project, three delays, and retainage that won't release 
10:00 "It's the cost of doing business" (and why that answer falls short) 
14:00 What drives late pay? Pay-when-paid, pay-if-paid & zero transparency 
16:30 Pay apps in the horse-and-buggy era (and the tech that already exists) 
18:00 Jesse's view from the GC side 
20:00 Fast pay: the company or the leader on the job? 
23:00 Could a 45-day pay guarantee be a GC's competitive edge? 
24:30 Net 30 wins, and a 70-day wait that ended a relationship 
27:30 The "dummy tax": how GC reputation changes a sub's bid 
30:00 Subs are part of the problem too: the call to action 
33:00 Burnout, lowest-bidder trouble & the labor shortage 
35:30 Transparency: what a straight answer on payment date looks like 
38:00 The $200,000 turning point that started it all 
40:00 Thousands reach out: $12-15M in past-due receivables 
41:30 "Have your materials in hand before you can bill" and the 90-day gap 
43:00 What is The Subcontractor Project? 
45:00 The Subcontractor Trap: Tara's book 
47:00 "Aren't you afraid you'll lose work?" Tara's answer 
49:00 Where to find Tara 

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 

You walk away from a conversation and nothing happens. No follow-up, no rapport, no real connection. What if the problem isn’t that you’re boring, but that you’re trying too hard to be interesting?

In this episode, we break down why leading with your resume, credentials, and accomplishments can quietly sabotage the connections you want, and what to do instead. Resume stuff has its place on a job application. Face to face, it often builds a wall.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The mindset shift that makes people instantly more comfortable around you
• The behavioral shift: how asking more questions changes every conversation
• What “toppers” are, and why one-upping people kills rapport
• How to measure your “airtime” so you stop dominating the conversation
• Simple, curiosity-based questions you can use at networking events and on the job site
• Why people who feel listened to become your biggest advocates

Being more interested than interesting is one of the simplest ways to build influence, earn trust, and become the person people want to work with and recommend.

00:00 Stop Selling Your Resume

01:44 Be Interested Not Interesting

03:23 The Topper Problem

05:05 Learn About Them

06:05 Questions That Open Doors

08:20 Why Interest Works

11:01 Pressure to Sell

12:47 Back Pocket Questions

15:01 Jobsite Conversation Starters

19:42 Measure Your Airtime

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

A “big zero” in writing credentials and a C in English. That’s how Doug Berry describes his qualifications, and he’s now a children’s book author, a sci-fi novelist, and a Josie Music Award nominee headed to the Grand Ole Opry.

Doug is a recently retired Air Force veteran from South Carolina who asks the question most of us are afraid to answer: why am I not working on my dream? For Doug, it started when he watched his Air Force buddy study to become a pilot. It led him to send about 5,000 emails and letters until one NASCAR team finally said yes. None of his success happened overnight. It’s been about 26 years since the NASCAR days to the Opry stage, with hot spots and cold spots along the way. The one thing about Doug is that he never stopped.

 In this episode:

• Why Doug’s advice for retirement is “keep busy and enjoy it”
• How a baby rabbit named Jasper, caught in the backyard by his nine-year-old son, became the Jasper and Friends children’s books
• The part of publishing nobody warns you about: choosing the illustrator’s scenes, getting an ISBN, and why Doug took photos from “rabbit height” around his yard
• Hybrid publishing vs. Amazon KDP, and why he did one for his children’s books and the other for his sci-fi novels, Guardians of the Unknown and Guardians of the Unknown: Convergence
• How rejection toughened his shell, including about five hybrid publishers saying no before one said yes
• The “make a decision and fix it if it’s wrong” mindset he learned in the Air Force
• The advice from game-show creator Dave Knoll to “think huge” that sent Doug from books to a jingle and songwriting
• The story behind “We Don’t All Come Home the Same,” nominated for Social Impact Song of the Year at the Josie Music Awards
• Why Doug says he's “years into a 10-year overnight success”

Connect with Doug: You can find him on LinkedIn. His Jasper and Friends books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart online.

00:00 Think Huge Mindset

02:00 Retirement Transition Tips

03:21 No Credentials Needed

06:23 Air Force Grit

07:31 NASCAR Dream Pursuit

13:03 Handling Rejection

14:56 Jasper Book Origin

16:59 Publishing Reality Check

20:40 Sci Fi On KDP

22:26 Writing Process Flowcharts

25:05 Songwriting And Branding

28:38 Song Meaning and Message

29:26 Josie Awards Nomination

31:24 Long Game of Success

33:40 Make the Decision

37:29 Handling Rejection and Ghosting

39:09 Outside Perspective and Networking

44:27 Dream Bigger Than Big

47:36 Where to Find Doug

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 

Fourteen years on the tools. About twenty in safety. A safety expert witness. An author. And a woman who got a 98 on her journeyman's test, better than the guys who did all four years.

Kim Pierce is the kind of safety professional Jesse says he wishes he'd had on every job. She doesn't stand over the crew like a "bird dog" and then tattle to the foreman. She shows up early, asks what's coming, explains the why, and finds a compliant way to get the work done.

In this conversation, Jesse and Kim dig into:

• Why safety is still hard 50 years into OSHA
• How production pressure and personal risk tolerance shape what happens on a jobsite
• Why the "safety guy" who only writes people up kills trust and retention
• What new safety grads need to hear before they walk onto a site (hint: go get dirty first)
• What happens when a company hands the safety job to someone with no training and a chip on their shoulder
• How Kim became a construction safety expert witness
• Why she wrote The Hands That Built This: Restoring Respect and Rebuilding the Future of the Trade, and what it will take to keep new people, especially women, in the trades

If you work in construction, lead people in the field, or are the person who gets called when something goes sideways, press play.

Connect with Kim: https://www.kajelegacy.com/  

 Author Site

02:30 Why Safety Is Hard

04:27 Risk Tolerance Clash

05:53 Proactive Safety Planning

08:04 Real World Safety Lessons

12:29 Field Experience Matters

16:52 Advice for Young Safety Pros

22:22 Punitive vs Culture Safety

25:23 Credentials and Career Paths

27:33 Mentorship and Knowledge Loss

31:17 Choosing a Service Mindset

32:04 Safety Bird Dog Problem

33:41 Building Trust On Site

36:44 Safest Option Not Perfect

38:12 When To Drop Hammer

39:46 Life As Expert Witness

43:41 Writing The Hands That Built This

48:38 Retention And Respect In Trades

52:09 Breaking In As Woman Apprentice

54:57 Where To Find Kim Online

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 

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