The construction industry is constantly adapting to new regulations and construction technology innovations. As a business owner, a project manager, or a construction professional, you understand how important it is to communicate with team members to promote a more effective construction process and a more productive jobsite. With the internet literally at your fingertips, resources like podcasts can help you to stay informed on current construction trends and changes in laws and help you gain more insight on landing more significant contracts and learning how to run a stronger business.
First-Hand Experience From Construction Professionals
Podcasts are a valuable tool for getting feedback and advice from trusted sources in the construction industry and can help you, as a contractor, know where to invest your money to grow your business safely. Isaac Barlow, founder of busybusy, and other construction thought leaders are using podcasting to educate and provide value to other professionals about construction topics like time tracking software, bim software, construction-specific accounting software, best practices for hiring employees in today’s workforce shortage, and more.
For example, to understand the motivation behind busybusy’s construction time tracking software, it is essential to understand its history, as told in many of the podcast episodes in which Isaac Barlow has been featured. Isaac speaks to this in detail through his experiences and the knowledge he has accumulated during his 18 years of experience in the construction industry and nine years spent developing busybusy’s construction management system.
Our Top 5 Construction Podcast Picks
Thousands of podcasts are available to construction professionals that offer interviews with notable industry influencers, expert advice, and tips on growing and running a successful business. But, considering there are so many podcasts, which ones are worth the time during your commute or on your lunch break? And what do they offer you as a construction professional?
Check out our top 5; if you want more, we also threw in a few additional podcasts. Listen as Isaac and others speak about ongoing construction industry problems and solutions for construction professionals to consider. Get insider tips on how to run a better business, stay up-to-date on current construction technology and get a good laugh too.
The Contractor Fight
The Contractor Fight gets it. He’s been there- over-budget, overworked, and frustrated. He’ll help you get your head straight and teach you how to do business more efficiently by working less and increasing sales while enjoying the business and its challenges. Tom Reber, the host of The Contractor Fight, teaches skills from building a brand and generating leads to learning how to stop wasting time on the wrong prospects. His focus is straightforward and not for the faint of heart, so it’s perfect for us in the construction world, who need a few choice words to motivate change. Tom pushes, knowing your numbers, and guess what? Tom’s right!
Episode length: 5-45 min
Frequency: Weekly
Suggested Episodes:
TCF274: busybusy with Isaac Barlow
Tom and Isaac discuss paying attention to your business numbers on The Fight. Learn how Isaac’s experience working in the trenches to project management has helped him build a time tracking tool to help construction project managers stop screwing up their math. Isaac has always loved the data and is a self-proclaimed nerd-at-heart. However, he was always looking to crunch the numbers at the end of the job, so he knew the hours and the material needed to set goals and run his jobs smoothly for higher profitability. Learn how to achieve a higher production rate by keeping better data with the help of a data tool like busybusy.
TCF301: 5 AM Fight – Processes and Systems with Joe
Tom and Joe talk about construction processes and systems within the industry. To grow a company, there can’t be a lack of systems. Learn how to find and hire the right employees and help them know their job responsibilities. Joe speaks about legacy as the driving factor for his fencing company, Ozark Fence. The company’s legacy has helped him uphold the family business and build value over the years. The strategy that has made the greatest positive change in his business was implementing the profit-first system. Learn more about how this has helped thousands of contractors, like Joe, to evaluate their business and execute goals like complimentary sales.
Dirt Talk
Dirt talk is hosted by the president of BuildWitt, Aaron Witt. BuiltWith is a media and consulting company dedicated to making the “dirt world” of heavy construction and mining a better place. Aaron travels to construction projects and mine sites worldwide weekly to speak with “dirt experts.” Aaron brings to light the problems he’s faced as he’s chased the dream of working with some of the biggest baddest companies and why their monster reputations have negatively impacted their willingness to adapt to a changing world. His podcast is for two groups. First, one new company and younger owners want to do things differently in the construction industry. Two, contractors with a long history with multiple generations recognize a need for change and want to know how to do it successfully. This podcast offers diverse stories of blue-collar workers and their day-to-day jobs, behind-the-scenes fails, and experiences learned from BuildWitt.
Episode length: 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly
Suggested Episodes:
From Dirt to Data with Isaac Barlow of busybusy — DT023
In this episode of Dirt Talk, Aaron speaks with Isaac Barlow, the owner of busybusy, about how he is helping arm contractors with more accurate data to run their businesses more efficiently. Isaac’s background is construction, naturally, after growing up in a household of excavators. With an analytical nature, he worked his way up from the trenches to be an operator, a job foreman, a project manager/estimator, and an overall business manager. He has experience in construction management and recognizes how construction can be organized in chaos. Known as the “why guy,” his analytical nature helped him realize a lot of the chaos in the excavation world and the financial loss from miscommunications from subs on a job. He wanted data to fix the problem. Isaac jokes about his certain line of crazy as he found himself jumping from operating a construction company to developing a construction software to solve the problems he was seeing. Learn how his frustrations and on-site experiences led him to create a trusted construction time tracking software and why a time card is your best source for data when managing a construction site.
Dozer Dave Turin on Old vs. Young in the Blue Collar World
Workforce development has been an ongoing conversation. With a new generation coming into the workforce, it is important to learn how to manage multiple generations while teaching the principle of hard work. Dozer Dave speaks about the value of hard work and his kids’ experiences through completing college and jumping into the working class. Learn how to gain the respect of your workers and build a better management style to improve teamwork and ensure the value of all of your employees. Dozer Dave speaks to the older workforce’s responsibility to train, mentor, and teach the younger generation how to do so. Do you agree?
Million Dollar Landscape
The Million Dollar Landscape podcast hosted by Scott and Kati Molchan shares practical, proven tips and advice on running and growing your landscape business. This podcast aims to develop your business mindset by providing you with the latest industry tools and tricks!
Episode length: 20 min – 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly
Suggested Episodes:
How Time Tracking Can Help Landscaping Businesses Succeed
Scott welcomes Isaac Barlow of busybusy, the number one app for reducing timesheet headaches. Small businesses lose out every single day due to inaccurate timekeeping. Get rid of your time cards, and start accurately tracking time for your employees today!
What Type of Leader are You? Proactive or Reactive?
There are very few examples of history’s great leaders blaming their followers for problems they, as leaders, should have seen coming. That’s because, like a chess grandmaster, genuinely influential leaders anticipate these situations and already have a plan for how to handle them before they even happen.
Subcontractor Revolution
The host of Subcontractor Revolution, Shahn Ellis, also known as the Comprehensive Business Consultant for Contractors, helps free contractors from the restraints of running a business. Shahn shares tools, blueprints, and tips on liberating yourself and your company. If you’re looking for an excellent family man who shares personal experiences and construction knowledge, give the following episodes a listen.
Episode length: 10 minutes- 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly
Suggested Episodes:
Most Contractors Are Running Their Business With A Blindfold On
Isaac talks about his experiences leading up to running his construction software company, busybusy. He shares experiences of working his way through the gamut of construction that eventually led him to create a data-driven construction management tool made for contractors by contractors. Before founding busybusy, Isaac studied the market for two years and found that 70%of construction companies failed within the first seven years. busybusy helps subcontractors stand their ground, maintain a strong crew and demand respect from general contractors because it enables them to back their work with their numbers. During a market survey study Isaac conducted in 2010, he found that companies do not fail due to the lack of skill set knowledge but because they didn’t have the business knowledge. The statement Isaac focuses on and busybusy stands by is that contractors fail due to insufficient information to make good and profitable decisions. There’s what you know and what you don’t know. Learn how busybusy helps contractors have complete visibility on some of the hardest numbers to track- the time and the resources it takes for a job (manpower and equipment power).
The Fastest Way to Grow Your Business is To Do Less
The real magic is all in focus. Take a step back and check to ensure where you spend your time, energy, and effort as a business owner. Learn how to delegate tasks or eliminate them immediately so that your actual focus is spent on driving revenue and increasing profit. Shahn reminds you to consider the day-to-day tasks required of your business and helps listeners answer the question, “Do all of these tasks focus my energy, time, and effort on driving revenue and increasing profit?” Shahn points out that this is a key issue when business owners start to see a plateau or experience the roller coaster of time management.
The ConTech Crew
Construction is the world’s oldest industry but spends the least money on innovations. The ConTech Crew podcast deep dives into all things construction technology to make the world a more tech-savvy place. With the number of technological construction solutions increasing year after year, Con Tech’s four construction technologists (James Benham, Rob McKinney, Jeff Sample, and Buck Davis) break down everything from risk management technology to BIM and employee time tracking to promote construction technology education and help navigate obstacles that are intimidating companies from using maximizing on its value.
Episode length: 1 hour
Frequency: Weekly
Suggested Episodes:
The ConTechCrew 239: Stop Building Tower of Babel Tech Stacks! with Bassem Hamdy from Briq
This episode with James Benham and Jeff Sample features an interview with Bassem Hamdy from Briq. Bassem shares his thoughts on how companies handle their tech stacks and explains how many owners are bolting on solutions for their technology stack at a rapid pace without really understanding the concept of their foundation. Briq is a technology solution to help project managers have data at their fingertips to break down the wall and ask their tracking system specific questions compared to being required to know how to sort through the data. Bassem explains that there should be a common vernacular to normalize your data, and Briq is that foundation. Learn more about robotic process automation in this episode
The ConTechCrew 234: People Want Results, Not Hype! with Anthony Corrado from Spectar.
This episode with James Benham and Jeff Sample features an interview with Anthony Corrado from Spectar. Anthony was born and raised in Delaware, and growing up was always drawn to math and art in school. His life has taken many different paths that have allowed him a creative outlook to eventually develop an AR solution that started conversations with companies around the country. Spectra has worked to build out a team of top industry talent to develop a software and cloud ecosystem that will help others do the same. Learn why Anthony says AR will change everything and more about how Spectar is part of next-generation construction technology.
Additional Construction Podcasts To Check Out
Learn more about busybusy’s time tracking tool for construction companies. Get a free busybusy pro trial to improve time management, job costing, and productivity.
