The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

Todd Dawalt
  • 4.8 (267)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

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, remodelers, commercial GCs, and trade contractors, this podcast shows you how to design a real preconstruction process and nail the handoff from office to field. If your projects are slipping, profit is bleeding out through rework and giveaways, and everything lives in your head, you'll get practical systems to tighten precon, cut chaos, and turn your construction business into a more profitable, controllable machine that runs without you. Over time, you'll use what you hear on this show to: ✅ Buy back your time– spend less of your week in day‑to‑day fires and more of it leading, selling, and actually living your life. ✅ Maximize your profit from the work you already do instead of just grinding for more volume. ✅ Scale with confidence – grow the business without doubling your hours or losing control. ✅ Turn your company into a real asset, not just a job – one that can run without you, give you real vacations, and eventually support whatever exit or lifestyle you want. Host Todd Dawalt has spent nearly 30 years in construction and the last decade coaching hundreds of builders, remodelers, GCs, and trade contractors on these issues, managing over $300M of projects and helping companies uncover millions in hidden profit. Hit *Follow* so you don't miss an episode and keep turning your construction business into a systematized, profitable machine that doesn't depend on you for every decision. To go deeper, tools and resources are at constructionleadingedge.com.

  1. 2h ago

    Short-Staffed or Just Disorganized? 5 Tests Before You Hire | Ep. 447

    EPISODE 447: Before you hire your next superintendent, project manager, or estimator, you need to know whether you have a capacity problem or a process problem. Todd Dawalt walks construction business owners through a five-step hiring framework to make smarter, more strategic staffing decisions. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team:  HERE  👉 If your PMs are stretched thin, your supers can't be everywhere, and every question still finds its way back to you, it's easy to assume you need to hire. But in a lot of construction businesses, the bottleneck isn't headcount. It's a pre-construction deficiency, a fuzzy accountability chart, or a performance issue everyone's been working around. Todd walks through the five things you need to do before you bring anyone on: confirm who's actually accountable for what, audit your handoff process, run the math on real management hours, have the honest conversation about whether someone on your current team isn't owning their role, and forecast the full cost of the hire, not just the salary. The goal isn't to avoid hiring. It's to hire at the right time, for the right reason, with the financial data to back it up. Because adding headcount to a broken system doesn't fix the system. It just gives the chaos more room to spread. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Short-Staffed or Just Disorganized?  01:40 When Hiring Makes Things Worse  04:08 The Five-Step Framework  07:50 Business Evaluation Call  10:42 Step 1: Clarify Accountability First  14:32 Step 2: Fix Pre-Construction Before You Hire  18:44 Step 3: Do the Math on Hours  21:22 Step 4: Is It a Capacity or Performance Problem?  24:50 Step 5: Know the True Cost of the Hire  31:14 Three Hiring Pitfalls to Avoid  37:54 Five-Minute Action Step Additional Resources: ⚡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!

    41 min

  2. Jun 1

    The 4 Questions to Ask Before You Try to Fix What's Not Working | Ep. 446

    EPISODE 446: Something feels off in your construction business but you can't pinpoint it. Sales are slipping, the team's out of sync, or projects feel chaotic, and your instinct is to add more meetings, more software, more hours. In this episode, Todd Dawalt breaks down why throwing action at the problem usually makes it worse, and walks through four diagnostic questions that help you find the real issue before you spend energy in the wrong place. If you've been running with your feet in quicksand and can't figure out what's really wrong, this episode gives you a simple way to diagnose it before you waste another month. 👉 If you're tired of throwing action at problems that won't go away, tune in. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE  Most business owners think the answer is more. More meetings, more software, more hours, more oversight. Todd makes the case that the real problem is asking the wrong questions. When you default to addition every time something feels off, you end up with a heavier business and the same underlying issue you started with. Todd walks through what to ask, starting with what you stopped doing that was working, then what you should stop doing altogether. You'll hear a real story about a custom home builder in Virginia who eliminated a painful step in their process. He also breaks down the 80/20 principle and why Steve Jobs cut 70% of Apple's products when he returned in 1997. The framework closes with the fourth question most owners never ask, the one that pulls you out of the DIY box. If you've been trying to figure it all out alone, this is the shift that changes Key Takeaways: 00:00 When Something Feels Off and You Can't Put Your Finger on It  02:04 Why Adding More Is Usually the Wrong Move  05:54 The Simple Framework: Pause Before You Act  07:42 Business Evaluation Call  10:42 Question 1: What Did You Stop Doing That Was Working?  12:44 Question 2: What Should You Stop Doing Altogether?  19:44 The Steve Jobs Subtraction Lesson  23:54 Question 3: What Is Actually Working? Find the Formula and Turn the Crank  27:34 Question 4: Who Can Help You Figure This Out?  32:04 Five Minute Action Item and Recap Additional Resources: ⚡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!

    34 min

  3. May 26

    How to Sell on Value Instead of Price | Ep. 445

    Episode 445 If your prospects are ghosting you, dragging their feet, or making the final decision based on whoever has the lowest number, the problem probably isn't your price. It's that you're selling the plunger. In this episode, Todd Dawalt breaks down why most contractors spend too much time talking about their company and not enough time talking about what the client actually wants. He shares a four-step sales framework for getting prospects to make faster decisions, stop hiding their budget, and see you as the obvious choice. Todd walks through how to uncover the desired end result, identify the risks and obstacles standing in the way, position yourself as the path of least resistance, and introduce the investment only after the value is fully established. If you've been winging the sales process and wondering why deals keep stalling out, this episode gives you a repeatable framework you can put to work right away. 👉 If you're tired of putting in the work only to get ghosted at the finish line, tune in. Most contractors think they lose deals on price. Todd makes the case that the real problem is leading with the wrong thing. When you talk about your company history, your core values, and your fleet of trucks, you turn yourself into a commodity. Clients aren't buying a plunger. They're buying a result, and the contractor who figures out what that result actually is will win the job every time. Todd walks through four steps for shifting from commodity to trusted advisor. It starts with asking the right questions to identify what the client truly wants, then uncovering the risks and landmines they may not have considered. This is where you separate yourself from the competition, not by pitching harder, but by listening better and showing them you understand their project at a level nobody else has. The framework closes by helping you create urgency without pressure. Todd shares how to get clients to articulate the cost of doing nothing, why price should always come last, and how positioning yourself as the path of least resistance changes the entire dynamic of the sales conversation. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Why Prospects Ghost You and Deals Fall Apart at the Finish Line 03:00 Your Business Is Like a Toilet Plunger 05:00 Selling the Plunger vs. Selling the Result 08:10 The Four-Step Sales Framework Overview 09:00 Step 1: Identify the Desired End Result 12:00 Future Pacing and Flipping to the Back of the Book 14:00 Step 2: Uncover the Pitfalls, Risks, and Obstacles 17:30 How to Create Urgency by Pointing Out the Cost of Inaction 20:15 Step 3: Position Yourself as the Path of Least Resistance 22:10 People Buy on Emotion and Back It Up With Logic 24:05 Step 4: Introduce the Investment After the Value Is Established 26:20 What Your Pipeline Looks Like When You Stop Competing on Price Additional Resources: ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE ⚡ Free Training "How to Build a Sales System That Fills Your Pipeline with High-Margin Work" HERE ⚡ Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.  ⚡Subscribe to our YouTube channel  ⚡Visit The Construction Leading Edge for more information: HERE  Follow us on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss an episode! The Construction Leading Edge Podcast helps construction business owners maximize their revenue, eliminate chaos, systematize their work, and win back their time.

    32 min

  4. May 19

    The Toyota "Pull the Cord" Method Your Construction Business Is Missing | Ep. 444

    EPISODE 444: Most construction business owners think their job site fires are operations problems. They're not. They're pre-construction problems that nobody caught in time. In this episode, Todd Dawalt breaks down the Toyota manufacturing concept of Jidoka and what it means for your construction business. He walks through why bad information keeps moving downstream undetected, how the "just enough to start" trap creates chaos on every job, and what a real validation process looks like inside pre-construction. Todd shares a four-step framework for identifying critical control points, creating second-set-of-eyes checks, applying the Missouri Standard, and fixing root causes instead of just the immediate fire. He also covers how weak controls open the door to fraud, including a real case where an office manager embezzled over $1.7 million from a home builder over eight years. If your business is still running on memory, good intentions, and tribal knowledge, this episode is a hard look at what that actually costs you. 👉 If you've been moving projects forward before they're actually ready, this episode will change how you think about pre-construction. Tune in. Most fires on a job site don't start in the field. They start weeks or months earlier, when a vague scope moved forward, a selection wasn't confirmed, or a handoff happened before the project was actually ready. By the time the problem shows up, the meter's running, and it's expensive to fix. Todd uses Toyota's manufacturing concept of Jidoka to explain why catching defects downstream is a losing game, and why validation has to be built into the process earlier. Todd walks through two critical control points every construction business needs to focus on: the buyout phase and the handoff from pre-construction to production. He lays out a four-step framework for identifying where errors turn into defects, building second-set-of-eyes checks at those points, applying the Missouri Standard ("show me it's done"), and fixing root causes so the same problem stops reappearing on every job. Key Takeaways: 0:00 The Root Cause Behind Most Job Site Fires 03:05 Why Your Team Keeps Missing Problems 07:45 When Your Client Catches the Mistake First 09:10 Toyota's Jidoka and the Pull the Cord Method 11:05 The Two Pre-Construction Control Points 13:10 Step 1: Where an Error Becomes a Defect 19:25 Step 2: Validation and the Second Set of Eyes 23:05 The $1.7 Million Embezzlement Case 25:05 Step 3: The Missouri Standard 27:25 Step 4: Fix the Root Cause Additional Resources: ☎️ Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE  ☎️ Schedule a free Business Evaluation Call with the CLE 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: 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!

    40 min

  5. May 11

    The Firing: A Business Parable for Construction Owners | Ep. 443

    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. 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  ☎️ Schedule a free Business Evaluation Call with the CLE 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!

    24 min

  6. May 4

    The Nail the Handoff Framework: 4 Crucial Handoffs to Increase Profit and Eliminate Chaos | EP 442

    EPISODE 442: Most construction business owners are managing 20 things at once and wondering why the job still falls apart. They've got good people, solid clients, decent projects — and somehow it still ends in chaos, rework, and fires they didn't see coming. The problem usually isn't the building. It's the handoff. In this solo episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd Dawalt breaks down a framework he calls Nail the Handoff — a simple way to identify the three or four points in every construction project where the most damage happens and where your time and energy will have the greatest return. Drawing on 30 years in construction and work with over 400 companies, Todd walks through each handoff point: customer to contractor, sales to estimating, estimator to subs and suppliers, and pre-construction to operations. At each stage, he shows what breaks down, what it costs you, and what one tool can fix it. 👉 If your jobs seem to start smooth and then deteriorate — or if you're still the person holding all the pieces together — this episode is worth your full attention. Tune in. Key Takeaways: 00:02 The 20-plates problem — why construction chaos isn't random 01:20 Introducing the Nail the Handoff framework 02:20 The 2020 Olympic relay disqualification and what it means for your business 04:45 What botched handoffs actually look like in construction 10:45 Handoff #1: Customer to contractor — needs assessment and expectation setting 17:30 Handoff #2: Sales to estimating — what a complete handoff looks like 21:15 Handoff #3: Estimator to subs and suppliers — bid packages and scope clarity 27:15 Handoff #4: Pre-construction to operations — the loan closing model 36:05 Bonus move #1: Work right to left 37:35 Bonus move #2: Build processes with your team 38:30 Bonus move #3: Get paid for pre-construction 40:10 Real results — Andy Culp and John Springs on what changed 44:20 Grade your handoff — and what a weak one is actually costing you 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!

    47 min

  7. Apr 27

    The Cost‑Plus Contract Trap: 3 Simple Moves to Prevent Budget Blowups and Legal Nightmares | EP 441

    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!

    37 min

  8. Apr 20

    3 Keys to Operating from a Position of Strength in High-End Remodeling with Andy Kolp | EP 440

    EPISODE 440: Andy Kolp had clients, projects, and a reputation worth protecting. He also had gaps in his process — vague scope, trade bids coming in by text with no context, and jobs where the client ended up running the show. The projects finished. The clients were happy. But Epic Building Company had bent more than it should have. So Andy set a goal for 2025: operate from a position of strength. In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd sits down with Andy Kolp, owner of Epic Building Company in Columbus, Ohio, to break down what it actually looks like to tighten up every phase of your construction business — from pre-construction through closeout. Andy shares how he overhauled his scope development and trade bid process, why fixed-price contracts require more upfront work but protect everyone in the end, and how a simple weekly client update called the Epic Weekly Rundown nearly eliminated weekend calls and client surprises entirely. 👉 If you're tired of making decisions from the defensive, this episode shows you what it looks like to get ahead of your projects before they start. Tune in. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 03:05 Meet Andy Kolp of Epic Building Company 04:10 Why Andy made "position of strength" his 2025 focus 08:45 What happens when you let clients run your process 12:55 Why pre-construction is the foundation of every successful project 15:00 The problem with vague trade bids — and how to fix it 17:15 What to say to contractors who skip straight from sell to build 20:15 Why fixed price beats cost plus for remodeling projects 24:25 What clients are actually paying for in pre-construction 29:20 Scope development and the three-part spec system 32:25 Trade partner site visits during pre-construction 36:10 The Epic Weekly Rundown — what it is and why it works 41:20 What freedom looks like after six years of systems work 46:50 What the CEO Alliance is and why it's hard to describe 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! #ConstructionLeadingEdge #PreConstruction #ConstructionBusiness

    52 min
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4.8
out of 5
267 Ratings

About

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, remodelers, commercial GCs, and trade contractors, this podcast shows you how to design a real preconstruction process and nail the handoff from office to field. If your projects are slipping, profit is bleeding out through rework and giveaways, and everything lives in your head, you'll get practical systems to tighten precon, cut chaos, and turn your construction business into a more profitable, controllable machine that runs without you. Over time, you'll use what you hear on this show to: ✅ Buy back your time– spend less of your week in day‑to‑day fires and more of it leading, selling, and actually living your life. ✅ Maximize your profit from the work you already do instead of just grinding for more volume. ✅ Scale with confidence – grow the business without doubling your hours or losing control. ✅ Turn your company into a real asset, not just a job – one that can run without you, give you real vacations, and eventually support whatever exit or lifestyle you want. Host Todd Dawalt has spent nearly 30 years in construction and the last decade coaching hundreds of builders, remodelers, GCs, and trade contractors on these issues, managing over $300M of projects and helping companies uncover millions in hidden profit. Hit *Follow* so you don't miss an episode and keep turning your construction business into a systematized, profitable machine that doesn't depend on you for every decision. To go deeper, tools and resources are at constructionleadingedge.com.

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