All Episodes
Build America Podcast — 298 episodes
S11, Ep312- Trench Talk 07 - Brad Musick, Wastewater Operator
S11, Ep311: A Checklist – Contract Niceties and Nice Niceties
S11, EP 310 - Utility Drawings 101: The Plan and Profile
S11, EP 309 - Drop the Pronouns. Add the Units
S11, EP 308 - Pipeline Trench Talk 01 - Crane Operator Clem Conceicao
S11, EP 307 - Smartsheet™- A Contractor's Dream
S11, EP 306 – How to Start a Professional Construction Company
S11, EP 305 - Excavation Systems Bible
S11, EP 304 - What AI Does for Your Humble Construction Podcaster
S10, EP 303 – Trench Talk, Pat Mullen
S10, EP 302 – Drive the Bus and Do All Three Jobs!
S10,EP 301: Dissertation Derailed! Old Guy PhD Entry No. 2 with Scott Jennings
S10 E300: Leaving Business Puberty, Age Matters with Scott Jennings
S10 E299: No Damage for Delay Holds in Value Engineering Job with Scott Jennings
S10 E298: Sweet Spot for Cost of Failure
What is a Venturi Eductor?
Funny and Scary: ChatGPT Gives a Chuckle
Look up and Beyond 14” and Find a Double Minus 7
The Professor of Practice in Engineering Handles the 2nd
Will you Marry Me? Well, How About we CollaborDate?
Jet Grout and Soil Mixing - The 101
Just Say “No” – You May Get Thanked
What's a Form Ratio?
Don't Get Sick: Post-Topping Out Syndrome
My Old Guy PhD Program Begins – Entry No. 1
What is "Delegated Design"?
What’s that High Track Dozer All About?
Load Path & Building from the Bottom Up
Increase Profit by Rule of 27
Data Collection Without the $100,000 Fancy Toys
Two Negatives of Owning Your Own Construction Business
Red Flags in Bid Day v. Change Order Pricing
How to Make a Submittal – Check, Check, Check!
Common Rebar Inspection Fails
Daily Cost and the What-If
Construction Crossword Challenge
Trench Talk - Kelly Jennings, Small Business CFO
Profitability the Easy Way – Via the Bottom Line
What's a DRB?
ELB v. HDD or Jack and Bore or Microtunnel
Get a Master’s Degree in Engineering? Umm…
Trench Talk: Paul Kennedy, Surety (Bonding) Agent
Selling Your Business – EBITDA is “Bullshit Earnings”
Know Your Audience – Legally and Practically
Your Construction Career Path – 90% is Your Drive
Forensic Reporting 101
What’s a Deposition?
Project Specifications – The Basics, in Five Minutes
Concrete Formwork Takeoff 101 – It’s All About SFCA
The Differing Site Condition - Careful!
Kobe’s Gym Rats and Angela’s Grit
Find a Mentor: They’ve Seen What You’re Seeing
Constructive Acceleration: The Bully Owner
Increase Profit By Knowing Design Intent
Internal Divisional Subcontracting: Like Swallowing Hemlock
The Field Sketch: Kiss a Pencil Today
Trench Talk - Paul Hartmann, Rebar Foreman
Larry King and Katt Williams: Now It’s Your Turn
Measured Mile: It’s Not Just for Contractors
Partner, But Not Necessarily Via Partnering
Stroke: You’re Having One Right Now
Contractor Estimating: Drop the Curtain
New Civil Grads: Three Roads, Choose One!
Construction in Thailand: 1st and 3rd World Combined
Your Last Choice: The Total Cost Claim Approach
What is Extended Performance?
Mindset Differences – Major Leaguers v. Minor Leaguers
An Offering of a Contractor’s Standard of Care
Business In Hawaii Is The Same, But Totally Different
Pipeline Trench Talk 01 - Crane Operator Clem Conceicao
How to Start a Professional Construction Company
What’s the Difference Between Unit Price and Lump Sum Bids?
The Low Bid Model – Time to Go?
Utility Drawings 101: The Plan and Profile
Subsurface Disclaimers Don’t Hold – Travelers v. U.S.
Parkinson's Law - Hoping to Quantify Pacing
The Preparatory Meeting: Priceless
Legal Jargon and Process 101
Bonds and Bonding Capacity 101
Construction is Broken - Give me the Onsite EOR
The Importance of As-Builts
University Cooperative Education – the Real Deal!
Water in the Hole! What’s it Mean?
Smartsheet™ - A Contractor's Dream
Pipe Encasement Flotation – Archimedes was the Man!
Owners Loosen Up Your Grip!
Reading Rebar Drawings 101
Great Ways To Die
Don’t Get Your P.E. License - A Ridiculous Statement
I Wrote A Children’s Book Because I Could
Why to Get a Contractor’s License
No Taj Garage
Linear Scheduling: Effective with a Bend of Your Mind
A Kick in the, Well, You Know: “Last Minute” Bid Postponement
Claims Tools & Methodologies
Cake Batter and Concrete Mix Design: Same Thing!
Help Yourself: Be the Most Coachable Player
Ways That Engineers Manage Failure: Deflection
Bridges 101: What Makes up a Bridge
Another Contractor Claims Tool: ASCE 71-21 Identifying, Quantifying, and Proving Loss of Productivity
Project Loss Insurance: Heard of It?
Debt: You Need It
Utes and Bunds: Working in New Zealand
Bluebeam Revu Review
Don’t Be Afraid of a Little Manual Work: It’s Ok
Keep the Excavator Digging – It Drives the Cost
Estimating: Theoretical Versus Production History
Webinar: Inside the Contractor Mind: Bidding, Change Orders, & Claims
Inside the Contractor’s Mind: Bidding, Change Orders, & Claims
Using a Static Indirect Bid Item in your Bids
SJ's Toolbox Term: Joint Venture
Lose the Guilt – Mark it Up!
SJ's Toolbox Term: Working Capital
Blind and Dumb: Meeting Attendees
SJ's Toolbox Term: Pay Width
Trained or Untrained? Being Claim-Ready
SJ's Toolbox Term: Unbalance
The Calibration Period: Plan for Patience
SJ's Toolbox Term: Minority Goal
Delay Letter: A Template & How to Write One
SJ's Toolbox Term: LLC
Your Equipment Rates: Where to Start
SJ's Toolbox Term: Float
The Leonard Curves: Another Tool in Labor Loss Quantification
SJ's Toolbox Term: Extended Overhead
Going “Legit”: Lose the Brown Paper Bag
SJ's Toolbox Term: Covenant
Jet Grout in Five Minutes
SJ's Toolbox Term: Entitlement
Engine Failure Makes Engineers Great: Redundancy
SJ's Toolbox Term: Force Account
What a College Degree Says
SJ's Toolbox Term: Invert Spring Line Crown
Contingency Doesn’t Exist When Low Bid Wins
SJ's Toolbox Term: Spider Box & Bologna Cord
Bucketing – the Proper Claim Accounting Method
SJ's Toolbox Term: Allowance
K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid
SJ's Toolbox Term: F.A.R. (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
Incidental: What’s in a Word?
SJ's Toolbox Term: Latent versus patent
Delay Types – Top 4 List
SJ's Toolbox Term: Purchase order
Five Minute “How To”: Starting A Construction Business
SJ's Toolbox Term: Squares
Shallow versus Deep Foundations: What’s the Difference?
SJ's Toolbox Term: Post-tensioned concrete
Pre-Bid Questioning to the Owner or Yourself
SJ's Toolbox Term: Level vs plumb
General Contractor & Owner Financial Protection: Two Ways
SJ's Toolbox Term: Prestressed concrete
Please Cough – The One Thing to Do This Week
SJ's Toolbox Term: Concrete Slump
Setting the Bid Unit Price: 2 Main Reasons for Unbalancing
SJ's Toolbox Term: Formwork
Top 6 Ingredients of a Letter
SJ's Toolbox Term: Continuity Equation
Pipe Goes Bang!
SJ's Toolbox Term: Beam-column
Insult Your Client with Simplicity: Day Labeling
SJ's Toolbox Term: 10 Civil Construction abbreviations
Closer to 1.30, not 1.50
SJ's Toolbox Term: Pre-Stressed vs Post-Tensioned
Fire! Run to It, Not From It!
SJ's Toolbox Term: Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel
Contract Mapping: A Valuable Tool in Your Toolbox
SJ's Toolbox Term: Trenchbox
You Better Honor Your Bid on Bid Day Mr. Subcontractor
SJ's Toolbox Term: Parapet
An Hour’s not an Hour, and it’s Certainly not a Day
SJ's Toolbox Term: Order of Precedence
Anatomy of a Change
SJ's Toolbox Term: PK Nail
Shhh, You’re being Recorded – and Two Other Tips
SJ's Toolbox Term: EROPS / ROPS
Quantifying the Loss in Labor Productivity: the MCAA Factors
SJ's Toolbox Term: Air Entrainment
Cash v. Accrual Accounting – Whatchu Talkin’ About Willis?
SJ's Toolbox Term: Grouser
How to do a Job Cost Projection: Cutting through the Fog – Part 2
SJ's Toolbox Term: Escalation
How to do a Job Cost Projection: Cutting through the Fog – Part 1
SJ's Toolbox Term: Serial Letter
Mistaken Taboo: Project Overhead
SJ's Toolbox Term: Spreader Beam
The #1 Driver of a Construction Claim
SJ's Toolbox Term: Active & passive soil pressure
Don’t be Charlie Brown’s Teacher
SJ's Toolbox Term: May vs Shall
Construction Contract Review Basics
SJ's Toolbox Term: Termination for Convenience
Webinar: Small/Medium Business Cybersecurity & Best Practices during COVID-19
SJ's Toolbox Term: Invert Elevation
Better the Devil You Know
SJ's Toolbox Term: PCO
Estimating: It’s an Art and a Science
SJ's Toolbox Term: Cubic yard
Bond Premium and the Project Time Extension
SJ's Toolbox Term: Surety
Webinar: Construction Insurance & Bonding during COVID-19
SJ's Toolbox Term: Builders Risk Insurance
Video Conferencing Softwares: a Quick Review
SJ's Toolbox Term: Pawl brake
Dear Owner, No Change Orders Thank You
SJ's Toolbox Term: Entrapped air vs. air entrainment
I Didn’t Ask for a Lamborghini
SJ's Toolbox Term: Notice to proceed
Letters to the Owner Need to Tell, Not Ask
SJ's Toolbox Term: Pressure
“Boosting” Job Profits on Equipment Purchase - on Paper
SJ's Toolbox Term: Plastic hinge
Webinar: Force Majeure & Differing Site Conditions – Notification and Response
SJ's Toolbox Term: Hoptoe
But What Does It Smell Like?
SJ's Toolbox Term: Well graded material
Project Parties – Who does what?
SJ's Toolbox Term: Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Signing a Change Order: What to look for
SJ's Toolbox Term: Constructive Acceleration
What Information Governs: Order of Precedence
SJ's Toolbox Term: Retention Bond
Notice: Writing the Letter
SJ's Toolbox Term: Arbitration
Legal Word of the Day: Contemporaneous
SJ's Toolbox Term: Unexcused delay
The Joint Venture Estimate: Setup is Key
SJ's Toolbox Term: GL Account
Optimizing the Contractor’s Professional Engineer
SJ's Toolbox Term: Collapsed as-built analysis
Wanna Eat? Help me Kill
SJ's Toolbox Term: $1 Million, $2 Million
Laos: Infrastructure / Means & Methods
Earthwork: What’s a Cubic Yard?
Takeoff: Beyond the Drawings
Avoid Claims with a Pre-Bid Analysis
From Me to You: Things I’ve Learned as a Professional
Introduction to Contractor Estimating
Designers Design, Constructors Construct: Drawings Constructability Review
Designing with Cost in Mind
Subs Should Join Forces!
The Lookahead Schedule and 90/60/30
Cracks in Construction
Needed Software for a Contractor
Is One RFI One Too Many?
If Cash is King, Time’s the Queen
Time, an Owner’s Achille’s Heel
Microsoft Excel v. Microsoft Project v. Primavera P6
Crew Cost Clicker
Top 10: Basic Business Etiquette
Construction Law Bible
Davis-Bacon, OSHA, Jones Act, and Buy American
The Basics of Advanced Scheduling Terminology
A Crane with Wings!
Fleet Management: Ways to Gather Data
Instant Resolution of Contractor Overhead Daily Cost
Timecard Collection – Like You’ve Never Heard
Unit Conversion
What’s BI? Do I need it?
Freight Terms Over Land
What is Section Modulus, S?
What's a GL Account?
Cost Codes: What, Why & How
Why be an Engineer: It’s the Mornings
The Internal Pre-Con: Top 10
The Construction Daily Report: Why & What
Spearin and Modified Total Cost Method Adopted in Missouri
Training: Now I See the Value
Choosing a Construction Consultant
Construction Claims Hierarchy
Customized Programming: Easy Access and Low Cost
Some Basic Analysis Techniques in Claim Preparation
Plans Constructability Review: Why, When, & What?
Credit Unions versus Banks
Equipment – Buy, Rent, RTO, RPO, Lease - Which One???
Inventory Tracking: A Money Saver
Top 10: Basic Business Etiquette
The Unilateral Change Order
Project Management Triple Constraint
Why Track Extra Costs and How
Balance Sheet: Knowing the Basics of Liabilities
All Zeroes One Code
The $5 Casio
Estimate Handoff
Conversion of Inches to Feet in Decimals
Calc of WC, GL, & Bonds in your Estimates
Where to use QR codes today
Engineers and Architects Gotta Step It Up!
Proposal Terms & Conditions
I See Claims
Why Hire a Management Consultant
Letter Writing
A Cheap Lawyer
Standardized Docs
RFI Notice
DEF
Two for Today: Taxes & Fuel
Cost versus Price
An RFI can Satisfy Notice Requirement, said the Feds