The Mobile Workforce Podcast

Working and making a profit in a market plagued by shortages can be a challenging and almost insurmountable task. One of the key aspects of a company that helps them stand ahead of the crowd when the going is tough is the company’s culture and its people. 

Our host, Mike Merrill, is joined by Keith Post and Steve Little from KPost on today’s episode live in person to discuss their company’s culture and how it has impacted their success. Keith and Steve are long-time friends of the show and if you haven’t seen their original interviews please listen to episodes seven and eight.

Ransomware is one of the most common forms of digital attack being used today against businesses. Even after paying the ransom 92% of businesses never get their data back and many of them end up having to close due to the loss. 

Join us for part two of our special ransomware series with guest “Jimmy” who shares on this episode the top strategies for blocking and minimizing an attack. If you haven’t heard his story of successfully navigating two different attacks on his large sub-contractor firm please listen in here.

Ransomware is one of the most common forms of digital attack being used today against businesses. Even after paying the ransom 92% of businesses never get their data back and many of them end up having to close due to the loss. 

Don’t become a victim of ransomware by listening to our special guest “Jimmy” who shares on this episode how his sub-contracting firm survived two different attacks and join us next week when we learn the top strategies to protect your business from an attack.

Good business owners are always looking for the best process to get the job done with the most profit and efficiency. The best business owners look for the best practices for ever aspect of their business including the relationships in the office and on the job site. Family businesses in the construction industry are very common and the best family-run contractors have the best practices for keeping their business and personal lives separated. 

Our guests, Ethan and Brooke Redden owners at Redden Concrete share their best practices for family businesses, and every business looking to be as effective as possible, how to build a healthy culture for everyone at the company and how to keep lines of communication open. 

Taking over a family business can be a crazy process that is plagued by emotions, family expectations, undue stress and unexpected hurdles that the new owner has to manage. Make it double when the transition is unexpected and during an economic correction. It might seem like an impossible situation but our guests, Ethan and Brooke Redden owners at Redden Concrete, are going to walk us through their crazy experience of taking over the family business, managing it during difficult economic conditions and changing the direction the business was going to save it. 

It’s not every day that you hit a major milestone. It’s important that when you do you take a moment and process what it took to get that and what you have learned along the way. As we reach our 100th episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast our Host Mike Merrill takes the time to reflect on the construction industry and what has changed over the years, for better or for worse.

To make the episode even more special we will have Ron Babich one of our original guests on episode 4 where he discussed how to become a job site hero and a long-time friend of the show taking a turn as a special host, putting Mike in the spotlight and hot seat. Ron and Mike discuss the evolution of construction technology, the common thread pulling at construction innovation today and the experiences that Mike has learned the most from.

Small and medium-sized contractors face a unique set of challenges when competing against larger companies. It seems like every issue the construction industry is facing today is magnified for smaller businesses when compared to their direct larger competitors. With labor and material shortages as well as inflation and price increases it can be easy to feel like you can’t compete. 

Fortunately, that isn’t the case. In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Melissa Kastle, Office Manager at Executive Elevator, a multigenerational construction company providing routine monthly service, repairs, and modernization to electric or hydraulic elevators, onto the show for her second interview to share the importance of digitization as an equalizer, how to best differentiate yourself from your competitors and how to fight back against big businesses in your industry.

A digital workforce has been a focus of the construction industry for years now. Removing paper from your workflow and processes is paramount to getting in front of your competition and increase your profits across the board. Rarely do digital forms come up in conversation and few contractors are able to wipe out their physical forms. The good news is digital forms exist, but how can they be used to increase your business?  

In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Melissa Kastle, Office Manager at Executive Elevator, a multigenerational construction company providing routine monthly service, repairs, and modernization to electric or hydraulic elevators, onto the show to share the importance of digital forms for today’s construction companies, how forms save time and money and increase customer confidence and retention.

Most people would agree that our military veterans deserve our respect and honor but it can be confusing and intimidating to work with someone that has come out of years in the military into civilian life. The good news is Vets are hard-working, loyal and skilled employees who, when supported, can be your best workers. But how can you be the best support to your employees?

In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Halsey Filbin, Operations Officer of USEFUZE onto the show to share the best strategies for vets to use as they are getting out of the military, the best ways to engage your veteran employees and what organizations are available to support contractors and their employees.

There has never been a better time in the construction industry to step out on your own and become the master of your own business and future. That doesn’t mean becoming a solopreneur is an easy or risk-free venture. Quite the opposite in fact. Being mindful of the pitfalls that you will face and knowing the tools that will help along the way is a big step forward in ensuring your success.

 In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Rawley Filbin, CEO of USEFUZE onto the show to share how to prepare to leave your employer and go out on your own, the tools you’ll need to successfully navigate business ownership and how to build a company that will bring your dreams to life.

Project development in the construction industry is an extremely complex undertaking that requires a large breadth of skills to get right. Home building has some of the industry’s most complicated moving parts and can be intimidating for those looking to get into home building and development. Instead of looking at it one piece at a time contractors can get lost in all of the requirements and demands and never take steps to become a developer. 

 In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Dominique Main - Director at Epcon Communities onto the show to share 6-10 of the top ten challenges contractors will face when building homes and how to best overcome them. Today’s Episode is number two in a two-part series with Dominique if you haven’t listened to her first episode you can catch it here.

Project development in the construction industry is an extremely complex undertaking that requires a large breadth of skills to get right. Home building has some of the most complicated moving parts in the industry and it can be intimidating for those looking to get into home building and development. Instead of looking at it one piece at a time contractors can get lost in all of the requirements and demands and never take the steps to become a developer. 

In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome Dominique Main - Director at Epcon Communities onto the show to share the top ten challenges contractors will face when building homes and how to best overcome them.

Communication from the job site back to the office and to the customer can become a real bottleneck that impedes the speed at which a project move and it also can dramatically impact the happiness of the client, impacting future projects and referrals. The good news is that new trends are showing that increasing communication across all groups on a construction project can increase productivity but up to 35%.  

But what is the best way to go about increasing your communication and what tools are at our disposal? Our Host Mike Merrill invites Ron Nussbaum Founder and CEO of Nuttnest to discuss how communication can make or break your customer’s happiness and project productivity, the perceptions that need to be changed inside of construction and the technology you can use to increase communication without increasing everyone’s workload.   

Gamification in construction is a powerful tool that can drive the highest productivity out of your employees and subcontractors. But gamification can be a tricky and confusing process, and requires that the contract take on the role of head coach for their teams. But what does it mean to be the head coach and what does it take to gamify your job site and at the same time ensure you are keeping a successful and healthy workforce on task? 

Our Host Mike Merrill invites gamification and HR expert Joe Rotella, Chief Value Officer at Delphia Consulting to discuss what gamification is, what it can do on your job site, the role of coach and how you can increase your overall productivity while making the job site a little more fun for everyone.  

Investment into construction technology is at an all time high. The question is how does that investment translate on the job site. Fortunately we had Dennis Stejskal, the director at Sage Construction and Real Estate, stick around for another episode. Dennis was originally on the show for episode #3 where he discussed the value of construction data and we also discussed the newest development sin technology last week on episode #90. 

Dennis and our host Mike Merrill discuss the investment we are seeing in construction, the surprising areas in construction benefiting from new automation and software and how to take advantage of it for your own business.

Productivity in construction is a huge problem that economists and other business leaders point to as one of the reasons for the cost of homes has not kept up with the rest of the economy. Regularly technology and software is lifted up as the golden opportunity to increase productivity and drive construction to catch up and even overtake the historical loss in productivity. But not done correctly and with the right processes and planning software can just become part of the problem.

In this episode of the Mobile Workforce Podcast, we welcome back one the original guests on the podcast; Dennis Stejskal the director at Sage Construction and Real Estate,he was originally on the show for episode #3 where he discussed the value of construction data. Dennis uses his 40 years of experience in the construction field to share the new developments in software technology, the need for purpose-based software, and how implementation matters.

There is no doubt that construction can benefit from technology, but with margins as tight as they are, contractors are wise to take the time to understand how each option will affect their bottom line. Most of the time technology is there to alleviate risk and avoid unseen issues but with the right technology contractors can not only avoid losing profits but actually actively increase their margins and put more money in the bank. 

Bobby Rios, CFO of Bartlett Cocke sat down with Mike Merrill during the annual Brayn Architectural Engineering Construction Summit 2022 to share the best strategies for building your construction firm’s tech stack, how to keep your options open with new and old employees, and how the job site has changed forever.

Customer Experience (CX) is not new but has become one of the most important parts of any business’s client development and retention strategy. And the numbers don’t lie, 7% of your clients right now are actively looking for a new vendor, 2% in client retention is the same thing as reducing costs by 10% and it is four to five times more expensive to go and find a new client than it is to keep an existing one satisfied. But what is CX and how can you use it to your advantage?

Blake Godwin, president and partner at Client Savvy sat down with Mike Merrill during the annual Brayn Architectural Engineering Construction Summit 2022 to share how important CX is, what it means to be client centric and how to create your own CX strategy.

The economy isn’t a stagnant thing and we all know that it flows from bull to bear over time. Thankfully over the past 200 years we have seen that every time the economy slows down it is a correction and it always comes back stronger and with more opportunities than before. The key is being able to ride the wave and survive the correction. Most businesses just flounder about and hope to survive, fortunately there are actions you can take to solidify your business to not only survive but thrive during economic uncertainty.

Brady Bryan CEO of Brayn Consulting joins Mike Merrill during the annual Brayn Architectural Engineering Construction Summit 2022 to break down the best practices for contractors as the economy goes soft and indicates a correction.

No matter what market we are in, a healthy construction business is built on building a happy and consistent client list that will return for new projects, suggest new clients and give good endorsements. The question is how do you build that client list in today’s crazy market? 

This episode features Josh Edwards, the President of Expedition Contracting. Josh shares his secrets to successfully maintaining loyal clients. Including: how to find your niche, how to attract highly skilled labor that matches the challenges in your field, and how to engage with your clients.