The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE EPISODE 443: Jake spent three years running a construction business that felt like waist-deep mud. He blamed the labor market. He blamed the economy. He blamed himself. Then he found a signature at the bottom of a stack of invoices — and everything clicked. His chaos had a name. And it had been there the whole time. In this solo episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd Dawalt tells the story of Jake a fictional composite built from real conversations with hundreds of construction business owners to illustrate one of the most common reasons construction businesses stay stuck: the people, patterns, and gray areas that quietly block every attempt to grow. Jake's story isn't real. But the moment of recognition probably will be. 👉 If you've been telling yourself things will calm down soon, this episode is for you. Tune in. ☎️ Schedule a free Business Evaluation Call with the CLE team → HERE Jake had Charlie a 30-year veteran who kept things murky, kept Jake in firefighting mode, and had a quiet interest in keeping the business exactly where it was. He had Sarah, whose passive resistance and finger-pointing turned every attempted change into a confrontation. And he had a vision he couldn't seem to move toward, no matter how hard he pushed. The story is a vehicle for three questions Todd puts directly to the listener: What's the biggest gray area in your business right now? Is your business designed around the people you have, or the vision you want to achieve? And how long have you been telling yourself you'll fix it when you have time? These aren't rhetorical. They're diagnostic the same questions Todd has used working with over 400 construction companies to identify what's actually holding the business back. Jake's turning point wasn't a new hire or a better system. It was a decision. He stopped waiting to feel ready, stopped designing his business around the people he happened to have, and started building toward a destination he'd actually defined. Three months later, he was at his kid's soccer practice. He was the coach. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Jake's story begins — three years of running through mud 01:15 Introducing Charlie and Sarah — resistance from inside the business 05:20 The $50,000 window order mistake and where accountability broke down 07:00 The beach vacation call — what it cost Jake beyond the job 09:20 The invoice signature — chaos hiding in plain sight 10:25 Charlie's real role: keeping Jake stuck in the urgent 11:20 Jake fires Charlie 13:45 How Jake rebuilt — vision, business design, and the playbook 18:05 Three questions for the listener 22:15 The call to action — results page and next steps Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE ⚡ Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project 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!

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE EPISODE 441: Most builders assume cost plus is the safe play. No locked-in price. No exposure if materials spike or scope grows. But according to the author of Markup and Profits, cost plus contracts end up in lawsuits two to three times more often — and in arbitration nine times more often — than fixed-price contracts. That's not a pricing problem. It's a process problem. In this solo episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd Dawalt breaks down why cost plus contracts are far riskier than most builders realize — and what actually creates that risk. He walks through the hidden traps that turn cost plus jobs sideways: the "just enough to start" trap that lets you move forward without real clarity, the budget heart attack that hits clients at the 60-80% mark, the microscope effect that turns every invoice into a negotiation, and why cost plus limits your upside while doing almost nothing to protect your downside. 👉 If you've been using cost plus as a safety net, this episode will change how you think about it — and show you what actually keeps you protected. Tune in. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 03:05 Why builders think cost plus limits their risk — and why it doesn't 08:45 Cost plus contracts end up in lawsuits 2-3x more often than fixed-price 12:55 The "just enough to start" trap and how cost plus enables it 17:15 Real legal case study: consumer fraud, treble damages, and what triggered it 24:25 The budget heart attack — what happens at the 60-80% mark 29:20 The microscope effect and the $40,000 Snickers bar 32:25 How billing disputes slow cash flow after your leverage is already gone 36:10 Cost plus limits your upside while barely protecting your downside 38:00 What real transparency looks like vs. open-book exposure 41:20 The three things to do right now if your pre-construction process needs work Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and 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!

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE EPISODE 439: Daaron Yester has been framing custom homes in Southern California's Coachella Valley for nearly 30 years. He had loyal crews, a strong reputation, and clients who kept coming back. He was also borrowing money to keep the business alive, undercharging on jobs, and trying to run every part of the company himself. Something had to change. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd sits down with Daaron Yester, owner of DYC Framing Inc., to trace the turning point that took him from financial stress and operational chaos to a business with clear roles, tighter numbers, and a schedule that actually leaves room for his life. Daaron shares how getting into his numbers revealed the markup problem he'd been avoiding for years, why clarifying roles for people already on his team was the move that freed him up most, and what it really looks like when your GCs are running your company instead of you. 👉 If you've been in business for decades and still feel like you're holding everything together yourself, this one's worth your time. Tune in. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 00:02:20 Meet Daaron Yester – DYC Framing and 30 years in the Coachella Valley 00:03:05 The scale of high-end custom work in Southern California 00:04:05 Misconceptions about wealthy clients 00:05:15 How Daaron got started in construction 00:07:05 Company size, team tenure, and rebuilding after 2008 00:08:10 Lessons from multiple downturns 00:11:05 How Daaron has kept crew members for 15–20 years 00:13:50 What led Daaron to reach out to CLE 00:16:35 Joining Systematize Your Construction Business – the decision to commit 00:18:25 The moment the program clicked 00:21:00 Clarifying roles: putting the right people in the right seats 00:23:05 Who was actually running the business 00:25:35 Why systems make you more professional with clients, not less 00:28:45 The two most impactful changes Daaron made 00:33:05 How Daaron's daily schedule has changed 00:36:30 Advice for owners who feel like they have to be everywhere 00:39:35 Keys to implementing systems and getting your team on board 00:43:35 What the CEO Alliance has meant for Daaron 00:45:10 Highlights from the Cancun live meetup 00:48:30 What Daaron would tell someone considering SYCB 00:49:45 One unconventional thing Daaron believes about business 00:52:15 Why construction owners try to do it alone 00:53:35 Where to go if you're ever passing through the area Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading EdgeTeam: HERE ⚡Follow us on Facebook Instagram and 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! #ConstructionLeadingEdge #PreConstruction #ConstructionBusiness

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE EPISODE 437: In 1937, the U.S. Army Air Corps sent out a design proposal with a set of detailed performance specifications for a new pursuit aircraft — one that didn't yet exist and that no plane at the time could match. That proposal eventually produced the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a fighter that flew over 130,000 missions and, according to some historians, helped tip the balance of the war in the Pacific. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd breaks down the business lessons hidden inside that story — and why the way the Army Air Corps built the P-38 is exactly how successful construction business owners should be thinking about strategy, vision, and delegation. Todd walks through three core lessons: how to establish performance specifications for your business instead of just reacting to whatever comes at you, why the visionary's job is to define the what and then hand the how to the people who know best, and why the time to develop your strategy is long before you actually need it. He also walks through two detailed business examples — including how to design a pre-construction handoff process and how to build an organization chart for a company targeting $13M in revenue. 👉 If you've been running on instinct instead of strategy, this episode gives you a framework to change that. Tune in. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 03:30 The story of the P-38 Lightning and how it started with a spec sheet 08:50 Lesson 1 — You get to set the performance specifications for your business 12:20 Right-to-left thinking: start with what you want, then work backwards 16:35 Lesson 2 — Define the what, then delegate the how to your team 22:10 Real-world example: designing a pre-construction handoff process 27:15 Real-world example: building your org chart around a revenue target 30:00 Lesson 3 — Develop your strategy before you need it 34:05 The questions every construction owner should be asking about the future 38:20 Free resource: Strategic Planning Guide download Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE EPISODE 435: There's a belief running in your construction business right now that sounds completely responsible. Maybe it's "now's not a good time." Maybe it's "when things calm down, I'll fix it." Maybe it's "we just need to hire more people." It sounds like you're being smart and protecting your business. And it's the exact thing that's keeping you stuck. That gap between what you tell yourself and what's actually holding you back — that's where the real problem lives. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd introduces the concept of mental malware — belief patterns running silently in the background of your mental operating system, capping your growth without you knowing they're there. He walks through 11 of the most common mental malware files he's heard from hundreds of construction business owners, the one deeper program running underneath all of them, and 3 steps to start identifying and deleting the beliefs that are keeping your business dependent on you. 👉 If this episode stings a little, that's your signal. Tune in and find out what's really been capping your construction business. Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) Todd's website gets hacked – the malware analogy begins (01:15) Mental malware: what's running silently in your business (02:45) "That's not scaling, that's just scaling stress" (03:50) "That's not high standards. That's identity protection." (06:10) Run a mental malware scan – 11 belief files (06:30) The vacuum cleaner story – seeing what you can't unsee (12:50) The root program underneath all the mental malware (15:40) Jim Rohn: the pain of discipline vs. the pain of regret (18:10) Imagine a business that runs without you (20:00) 3 steps to delete the mental malware (21:05) The cost of inaction (25:35) Next steps: business evaluation call + 5-minute action item (27:10) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 433: Construction business owner buried in reactive mode, watching your business grow while your stress grows with it? Working 60+ hour weeks, stressed about profit, team management, and scaling your construction company… and still feeling behind? If that hits a little too close to home, this episode is for you. Most construction business owners who feel overwhelmed assume they need more people, better software, or tighter time management. But that's rarely the issue. What's really happening is that you've outgrown the current design of your business, and more effort will only increase stress instead of freedom. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, I break down the five decisions that determine whether growth creates real freedom or a larger, more chaotic operation. I talk about eliminating root cause problems, designing around results, and systematizing your construction business so you stop being the bottleneck. You don't need to work harder. What got you here won't get you there. If you want to scale, it's time to redesign the system. 👉 Listen now and start building a business that can run without you. Key Takeaways: You've outgrown your construction business design (00:00) Construction business growth and reactive mode trap (02:06) Take ownership of your construction company (11:24) Design your construction business around results (14:05) Define what you want from your construction business (15:52) Eliminate root cause problems in your company (17:43) Redesign your construction business systems on purpose (18:45) Separate business decisions from implementation overwhelm (20:50) The real cost of inaction (25:15) How to systematize your construction business for freedom (27:48) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE ⚡Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – If you've been listening to podcasts, reading books, going to conferences, and consuming business content for months, but your business still looks the same… this one's going to sting. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, I break down how construction business owners use podcasts, webinars and "research" as a way to numb the frustration of being stuck, instead of making the decisions that would actually change their business. I explain why waiting for perfect information is a myth, how indecision creates paralysis, and why the real risk isn't making the wrong move, it's making no move at all. This episode is especially valuable for those of you who are working 50, 60, even 70 hour weeks, those who know they need to hire, raise prices, systemize, or get help, but keep pushing the decision down the road in the name of being "responsible." Remember: you don't have a knowledge problem. You have an action problem. 👉 Stop using information as a painkiller. It's time to take action. Tune in. Key Takeaways: Information as a Pain Killer (00:00) The Cost of Inaction (04:56) Identifying and Addressing Inaction (11:40) The Law of Diminishing Intent (18:05) My Challenge for You (23:31) Outro (35:03) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 429: If you're hiring more people but your profit still isn't moving, this episode is for you. Many construction business owners assume the only way to grow profit is to add headcount. More project managers. More superintendents. More office staff. But in reality, hiring too early often creates higher overhead, more chaos, and flatter margins. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, I explain how to increase profit without growing your team, and why talent density beats talent volume every time. You'll learn a three-step framework used by private equity and venture capital firms to strip out wasted effort, refocus your team on revenue-producing work, and build a lean, high-performance operation. I break down how to eliminate low-value tasks, load-shed non-essential work, and create specialists instead of "everyone-does-everything" teams. If you're a builder, remodeler, or general contractor who feels maxed out, overworked, and underpaid for the risk you're carrying, this episode will help you rethink how your business is structured before you make your next hire. 👉 If adding people hasn't fixed the problem, listen closely. Key Takeaways: Why Hiring More People Isn't Increasing Your Profit (00:00) The Real Cost of Growing Headcount (06:45) Step 1: Eliminate Low-Value and No-Value Work (08:35) Step 2: Load Shedding and Treating Time Like Capital (13:00) Step 3: Create Specialists (and Why Pre-Construction Must Be Separate) (19:45) The 3 Foundations Required to Unlock Hidden Profit (26:15) Next Steps: How to Find Hidden Profit in Your Business (28:45) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE 🚀Is Your Construction Business Ready to Scale? Take the free online assessment HERE – EPISODE 427: If it feels like something's off in your construction business, like you're working your butt off, but profit isn't where it should be, jobs are dragging on, and you are always being pulled into every little decision, you need to listen to this episode. It might sting a little... but it could change everything. I'm breaking down 4 simple, unconventional metrics that explain a scary amount of what you're dealing with. They don't show up on your P&L, your balance sheet, or in a report from your CPA. These are the reasons you don't have time: you're stuck putting out fires, and your business feels like it can't run without you. Each one of these metrics relates directly to a design problem in your business. I'll walk you through how to measure them, why they matter, and how they reveal the root causes behind the chaos. 👉 Tune in and let's get to work. Key Takeaways: Introduction (00:00) Owner interruption count (04:53) Handoff completeness score (09:11) Dead day count (16:13) Daily overhead burn (22:09) Recap and next steps (24:31) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE ⚡Is Your Construction Business Ready to Scale? Take the free online assessment HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 425: You have always started the year with clear goals to grow revenue, increase profit, and finally step out of operations. If you're being honest, 2026 is no different; you're just reliving the same year over again with different job numbers on the whiteboard. In this episode, I unpack why goals fail. It's not because you are bad at goal-setting; it's because your goals are ignoring the real constraint that's actually running your business. You'll get a simple, powerful framework you can use to identify the single constraint that's holding you back and what you should be focusing on instead. 👉 Stop setting the same goals and expecting a different result. Listen now and learn how to fix the one thing that's really in your way. Key Takeaways: Introduction (00:00) Real-life signs your goals are disconnected from reality (04:22) Focus on one mission instead of a wish list (11:14) Identify what would break if your goal succeeded (14:44) 5-minute action plan to identify your constraint (26:27) Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 423: Does this sound familiar? You set goals every year, swear you'll fix the chaos in your business, and then 12 months later, you're still firefighting, still stuck in the same mess, and all you have is a stack of "almosts." In this episode, I am breaking down why so many construction businesses hit the same wall over and over again no matter how hard the owners work. You'll hear the 4 structural traps that are secretly holding your business hostage and how to break out of them. Once you see the real problem, the path forward becomes shockingly clear. 👉 Don't let another year slip by, tune in, and let's fix the chaos. Key Takeaways: Introduction (00:00) Daily struggles and chaos in construction businesses (01:27) Unmet goals and embarrassment of business operations (03:21) Four structural traps in construction businesses (05:31) Impact of structural traps and the root cause (13:25) Options for business owners to improve their business (17:29) Additional Resources: ⚡Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE ⚡ Download your free Strategic Planning Guide - https://go.constructionleadingedge.com/strategic-planning – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 421: If you feel stuck in your business, the problem might not be your team, your schedule, or your subs… it might be your identity. In this episode, I'm discussing one of the biggest hidden growth killers I've seen in the construction world. The version of you that got your business to this point likely won't get you to where you want to go. In fact, it might be the very thing holding you back. I will unpack 4 old identities that keep contractors stuck and walk through the new mindsets that will actually free you up to scale. You'll learn how to stop being the bottleneck, how to think like an investor when hiring people, and how to redefine success in a way that actually serves your life. 🎧 Listen now to start thinking differently, building differently, and leading differently. Key Takeaways: Introduction (00:00) The identity crisis no one talks about (01:04) You're not in the business you think you're in (04:33) Build the business that builds the projects (06:28) Your job isn't to be the leader (10:16) How to create leaders on your team (14:20) You don't need to be right every time (20:13) Think like an investor, not an operator (23:41) When your business becomes your identity (29:02) Questions to redefine your identity (33:12) Additional Resources: ⚡ Pre-construction playbook: https://www.constructionleadingedge.com/apply ⚡Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE ⚡ Is Your Business Ready to Scale? Take the free assessment - https://todd-rofimfx4.scoreapp.com – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!

🚀Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 419: You're regularly putting in 70-hour weeks, but the needle still isn't moving. Calls. Texts. Problems. Decisions. It all falls on you. It may not be a time management problem but a design problem. In this episode, I'll explain why your business keeps pulling you back into chaos, and how to finally break free from the day-to-day firefighting. Here's what we'll cover: Why working harder won't fix your time problem The "Just Enough to Start" trap that hijacks your calendar How your business may be unintentionally designed to fail without you The hidden cost of running on tribal knowledge The key systems that protect your time and attention …and more. If you're constantly overwhelmed, feel like your business can't run without you, and want your life back, tune in now! Key Takeaways: Introduction (00:00) Overwhelm from texts, calls, and low-value tasks (00:24) CEO time should be spent on $1,000/hour tasks (05:56) Visualization of business without constant interruptions (10:28) Root Cause #1: The "Just Enough to Start" trap (17:36) Root Cause #2: Poor business design that relies on the owner (22:01) Root Cause #3: Business runs on tribal knowledge (26:43) How to identify which root cause affects you most (30:34) Call to action for qualified business owners (31:47) Additional Resources: ⚡Download the How to Buyout a Construction Project Playbook HERE ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE ⚡ Is Your Business Ready to Scale? Take the free assessment - https://todd-rofimfx4.scoreapp.com – ⚡Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE ⚡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!