The Construction Corner

Material costs are climbing, lead times are stretching (medium voltage cable jumped from 30 to 52 weeks), and data centers are reshaping the labor market. Dillon gives a blunt market update on why waiting to build will cost you more, then pivots to a sharp critique of AI doomerism and NIMBYism around data center development — and the real economic benefits these projects bring to communities.

Dillon shares lessons from a whirlwind travel and recruiting season, breaking down what makes candidates stand out — and what gets them instantly disqualified. From incomplete applications and AI-generated responses to failing to research the company, this episode is a frank guide for anyone applying for jobs in engineering and construction.

Inspired by a Travis Kalanick interview, Dillon discusses managerial capacity and delegation before diving into AI's massive impact on the economy — including how data center construction now represents roughly 3% of GDP. He makes the case for why data centers (and AI broadly) deserve more nuance and less knee-jerk criticism.

Ahead of a founder retreat with fellow construction entrepreneurs in Denver, Dillon talks about the deep work of documenting VDS's business playbook — from financials and org structure to client onboarding — and the clarity that comes from being brutally honest about a company's strengths and gaps.

Dillon breaks down why responsiveness — getting back to clients quickly with pricing, proposals, and answers — is one of the biggest differentiators in the construction industry. He walks through the real financial cost of delays in the field and discusses how VDS is building its team and processes around speed as a core value.

In this episode, Dillon explores what it really means to show clients and employees you care — arguing that actions, not words, are what build trust. He connects this to his own demanding travel schedule and the day-to-day work of showing up, answering the phone, and following through.

Dillon reflects on VDS's explosive growth — tripling, then nearly 8x'ing revenue year over year — and the challenge of writing a founding document to guide the company's future. Drawing inspiration from Jeff Bezos's 1997 shareholder letter, he discusses why concise, well-considered writing matters, and how building a "flywheel" for a project-based engineering firm is different from a typical business.

In this episode, host Dillon reflects on VDS's first summer hosting two engineering interns, from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Michigan State University. He shares how the interns toured a range of live projects — from a massive million-square-foot warehouse to a gymnasium, a brewery, and a church build — gaining hands-on exposure to different construction types and complexities.

Dillon dives into the technical breadth the interns experienced, including lighting and power distribution design, data infrastructure, security and access control systems, fire alarm design, BIM modeling, and power system studies in SKM. He discusses why construction and electrical engineering career paths are often overlooked for students outside civil engineering, and outlines VDS's plans to recruit at Rose-Hulman's career fair and other top universities this fall. The episode wraps with reflections on what makes a strong technical foundation for newcomers to the field — starting with Ohm's Law — and why VDS is committed to growing its internship program going forward.

Dillon shifts from macro trends to the day-to-day realities of running a construction engineering firm. He talks through how his team stays ahead of aggressive project deadlines, his philosophy of growing talent through internships rather than poaching senior engineers, and the balancing act of keeping a sales pipeline full enough to keep new hires busy without burning them out. He closes with a candid look at the seasonal grind — how his travel and workload swing from near-zero in summer to nonstop once interns head back to school.

The demand for AI compute is exploding, but is growth truly exponential? Dillon breaks down why power generation — not construction — is the real bottleneck holding back data center expansion, and how that ripple effect hits memory production, GPUs, and fab manufacturing (Micron, TSMC, NVIDIA). He also explores how legislative gridlock in the U.S. could push data centers overseas to the Middle East, or even into orbit, as SpaceX's Starship makes space-based compute a surprisingly viable option.