The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

By Todd Dawalt

Construction business owners doing $1M–$20M: fix your preconstruction and handoffs so you can stop firefighting and build a profitable business that runs without you.

For custom home builders, remo... more

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The podcast currently has 518 episodes available.

Best of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

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Number 1: What To Do When Your Construction Business Finally Runs Without You | Ep. 458
You systematized your construction business and now it runs without you, so what do you actually do next? Todd Dawalt and CEO Alliance coach Monish Khadye break down the operator-to-owner shift and how to build a construction business that supports the life you want. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉 Most construction business owners spend years chasing the same goal: a company that runs without them. But what happens once you actually get there? In this episode, Todd Dawalt sits down with Monish Khadye, a coach who leads the CEO Alliance member team, to talk through the problem that shows up when the systems finally work and the phone stops blowing up. You've made the shift from operator to owner, and now you're staring at your calendar asking who you are without the business. Todd and Monish dig into the head trash that keeps owners glued to the day-to-day. Fear that hides behind procrastination. The belief that nobody can do the work as well as you can. An identity that got wrapped up with the company over decades of building it. They also name a warning sign Todd calls the firefighter who becomes the arsonist, where owners who miss being needed start creating the problems they used to solve. Then the conversation gets practical. Monish lays out the pieces that let a construction business run without its owner, from the right people in clearly defined seats to documented processes and a financial dashboard that projects the next twelve months. Todd shares the federal prison thought experiment his members used to expose how dependent their businesses still are on them, and how the same answer solves business continuity if something ever happens to the owner. Real builders are already doing this, taking long trips while their companies keep turning a profit. Consider this your starting point. Key Takeaways: 00:00 When the Business Runs and You Don't Know What to Do 04:00 What Actually Keeps Owners Stuck 06:50 The Hidden Fears Behind Procrastination 11:24 Your Business Should Not Be Your Identity 13:32 Real Client Stories: Travel, Racing, Missions Work 16:46 The Firefighter Who Becomes the Arsonist 22:36 The Federal Prison Thought Experiment 25:04 What Happens If the Owner Is Gone 30:06 The Power of a Peer Group 38:40 Design the Life You Actually Want Additional Resources: ⚡Register for The Construction Leadership Advance - October 22-23, 2026 in Nashville -HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: https://constructionleadingedge.com/ The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time. Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode! #ConstructionBusiness #ContractorMindset #GeneralContractor #BuilderCEO #ConstructionSales #ConstructionLeadingEdge #ContractorGrowth
August 24, 202644min
Number 2: The Skywalk Collapse & The 5 Decision Questions Every Construction Leader Must Train Their Team On | Ep. 457
The 1981 Kansas City Hyatt skywalk collapse came down to one unchecked decision, and it holds a hard lesson for every construction business owner. In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast, Todd Dawalt shares a decision-making framework of five questions and four tips to train your team to make better calls in the field and in pre-construction. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉Your team makes dozens of decisions a day, and most were never trained on how. In this episode I break down the five questions and four tips that help construction leaders make sharper calls under pressure, before the pressure hits. Give it a listen, then share it with whoever on your team needs it most. On any given day, the people on your construction team make dozens of calls that touch your money, your schedule, and your safety. Most of them have never been trained on how to make a decision well. Todd Dawalt opens this episode with the 1981 Kansas City Hyatt skywalk collapse, a disaster that traces back to a single design change nobody stopped to question, and uses it to show what happens when decisions get made on gut feel instead of a framework. From there, Todd lays out a practical decision-making framework any construction leader can teach: five questions to run before acting, and four tips for moving faster without moving recklessly. You'll hear where Colin Powell's 40/70 rule fits, why thinking three steps ahead saved one company from serious liability, and how the cost of indecision stacks up while you wait. The through-line is pre-construction. The more decisions your team locks in before a job starts, the fewer expensive fires they fight once it's running. If your project managers and superintendents keep winging it in the field, this is the episode to share with them, and a preview of the exact skills Todd is training at the Construction Leadership Advance in Nashville this October. Key Takeaways: 00:00 The Collapse That Started With One Bad Decision 03:54 How Many Decisions Your Team Makes Daily 06:26 Construction Leadership Advance in Nashville 07:34 Five Questions for Better Decisions 08:42 Question 1: When Does the Risk Profile Change? 10:02 Question 2: Do You Even Need to Decide? 11:22 Question 3: Who Should Be Involved? 13:28 Question 4: What Is the Desired End Result? 14:44 Construction Leadership Advance: Second Mention 16:36 Question 5: What Is the Cost of Indecision? 19:44 Business Evaluation Call 23:22 Tip 1: The Colin Powell 40/70 Rule 24:50 Tip 2: The Lynyrd Skynyrd Three Step Rule 28:02 Tip 3: Set a Decision Deadline 30:18 Tip 4: Decisions Take Seconds 34:24 Construction Leadership Advance: Final Mention 35:04 Recap and Closing Additional Resources: ⚡Register for The Construction Leadership Advance - October 22-23, 2026 in Nashville - HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: HERE The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time. Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode!
August 17, 202639min
Number 3: How to Turn Customer & Employee Excuses Into Action | Ep. 461
Every construction business owner hears the same objections: now isn't a good time, this will take too long, and it's too big to tackle. In this episode, Todd Dawalt breaks down the three excuses that keep customers and employees from taking action, and the calibrated questions that get them to move. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉 If you run a construction company, you already know the moment. A prospect tells you now just isn't a good time, and the job stalls out and dies. Or you ask an employee to take on a new process and they say they don't have time, so the change never happens. Push too hard and they dig in. Back off and nothing moves. You can tell there's something underneath the excuse, but you can't quite name it, and you definitely can't get past it. In this episode, Todd Dawalt walks through the three excuses that show up again and again in the construction sales process and any time you try to get your team to change something. The catch is that these excuses don't sound like excuses when you're the one making them. They sound like facts. Todd breaks down the distortion of reality hiding behind each one, and the kind of questions that get the other person to inspect their own thinking rather than dig in and defend it. And there's one more place these excuses show up that hits a lot closer to home than most owners expect. If there's a decision you keep pushing to January, a hard conversation you keep putting off, or a project that feels too big to start, this one is for you. Give it a listen before your next sales call or team meeting, and see how many you catch yourself making. Key Takeaways: 00:00 The Excuse That Killed the Deal 01:20 Excuse 1: Now Is Not the Right Time 05:08 The Doctor and the Busy Schedule 06:04 Jedi Questions for the Timing Excuse 08:02 Excuse 2: It Is Going to Be Too Hard 10:12 Belay: Get Your Time Back 11:48 The Real Cost of Doing Nothing 13:20 Jedi Questions for the Inconvenience Excuse 14:02 Excuse 3: It Is Too Big to Tackle 16:44 The Mount Everest Problem 20:12 What Construction Business Owners Do to Themselves 22:36 Now Is Not the Right Time for You 26:02 This Is Going to Be Too Hard for You 29:18 This Is Too Big for You 33:24 Three Steps to Break the Pattern 38:46 Which Excuse Are You Using Most? Additional Resources: ⚡Get started with Belay: HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: https://constructionleadingedge.com/ The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time. Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode!
September 14, 202641min
Number 4: How to Design Your Construction Business for Growth, Profit, and Freedom with Tom Raisanen | Ep. 459
Designing a construction business with the right systems and processes from day one is how you build for lasting profit and freedom. New Hampshire home builder Tom Raisanen shares how he set up pre-construction, project handoffs, a CEO schedule, and his first hire so the company can eventually run without him. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉 Here's how to build a construction business that runs without you, starting with the systems most owners wait too long to put in place. After 15 years in his family's construction business, Tom Raisanen struck out on his own and launched Raisanen Home Builders in Southern New Hampshire. Most builders chase projects first and deal with the business side once chaos and burnout force the issue. Tom built the systems and processes to grow before he hired anyone or broke ground on his first new home. On this episode, Todd Dawalt and Tom get specific about what that looked like. They dig into charging for pre-construction as a profit center, and why a paid process filters out tire-kickers and funds real planning. They break down nailing the handoff from estimating to the field, with drawings and selections locked in up front so the schedule doesn't stall. Tom explains why he gets every selection made before the build starts, and how carrying allowances sets builders up for change-order fights later. From there, they get into how Tom runs his week like a CEO, planning each day ahead so he does owner-level work instead of grabbing a hammer because it's the easy thing. He shares why a virtual assistant was his first hire and how she keeps him accountable to protected CEO time. Narrowing his focus to the Big Five keeps him out of the hundred-item to-do trap. If you want more control and fewer costly mistakes while you build a company that can eventually run without you, this one's worth your time. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Building the Business Right From the Start 02:28 Free Resources: Builder CEO and Buyout Playbook 06:16 Introducing Tom Risanen of Risanen Home Builders 09:34 Business Evaluation Call 12:06 Why Tom Built Systems Before Projects 15:22 One Estimating Mistake Can Cost You Everything 17:00 How Tom Started Charging for Pre-Construction 21:10 No More Free Estimates 22:26 Nailing the Pre-Construction Handoff 28:06 How to Get Clients to Make Selections on Time 30:28 The CEO Schedule and Staying in Your Lane 33:00 Why a VA Was the First Hire 37:46 The CEO Alliance and the Power of a Peer Group 43:08 Construction Does Not Have to Be Chaotic 47:28 One Piece of Advice Before You Make the Jump Additional Resources: ⚡Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook - HERE ⚡Builder CEO Weekly Operating System - HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: HERE The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time. Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode!
August 31, 202652min
Number 5: How Builder CEOs Get Sh*t Done (Without More Willpower or Fixing Your ADHD Brain) | Ep. 455
If you stay busy all day but the work that actually grows your construction business keeps getting pushed to tomorrow, the problem probably isn't your willpower or your ADHD brain. In this episode, Todd Dawalt breaks down the deep work system builder CEOs use to cut interruptions, protect their time, and get the important work done. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉 You start the week knowing exactly what you need to work on, then somehow reach Friday having answered every email and put out every fire while the work that actually moves your business never got touched. Todd Dawalt calls the hidden culprit the Owner Interruption Count: the running total of calls, texts, job site notifications, and questions that land on you in a single day. Once that number climbs past 75 or 100, the issue isn't your personal discipline. Your business has been designed so every decision flows back to you. The answer Todd lays out is the deep work session: one or two protected blocks each week, each pointed at a single concrete outcome. He reframes what your time is actually worth, shows why scattered five-minute pockets never add up to real progress, and explains how attention residue drains your focus every time you switch tasks. From there he shares ten field-tested tips, from getting out of your usual office and putting your phone on airplane mode, to using a virtual assistant to protect the block, leaning on accountability, and treating AI as a thinking partner. The point of every session is to solve a recurring problem at the root so it stops returning, and to free up more hours for the high-value work only you can do. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Why Good Intentions Don't Get Things Done 00:56 Download the Builder CEO Weekly Operating System 06:16 The Owner Interruption Count and What It Reveals 08:28 Business Evaluation Call 11:28 Why Your Time Is Worth $1,000 an Hour 17:36 Scattered Time Does Not Create Meaningful Progress 19:12 Tip 1: Schedule Deep Work Like a Client Appointment 22:22 Tip 2: Define a Specific Outcome Before You Start 24:08 Tip 3: Put the Phone Down and Protect the Block 26:00 Tip 4: Change Your Location to Change How You Think 28:12 Tip 5: Create a Protected Focus Block With a Timer 30:02 Tip 6: Use Your Virtual Assistant to Make It Happen 32:08 Tip 7: Add External Accountability 35:12 Tip 8: Use AI as a Deep Work Thinking Partner 36:28 Tip 9: Solve Problems Systematically, Not Just Once 37:54 Tip 10: Consistency Matters More Than a Perfect Routine 41:18 Five Questions to Identify What to Work On Additional Resources: ⚡Builder CEO Weekly Operating System: HERE ⚡The Remote Assistant Playbook: HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: HERE The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time. Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode!
August 03, 202648min