392 episodes

On The Construction Leadership Podcast, Bradley Hartmann (author of 12 construction-focused books and founder of the consultancy, Hartmann & Co.) interviews leaders throughout the industry to share ideas and insights to help you lead more effectively.

The Construction Leadership Podcast with Bradley Hartmann Bradley Hartmann

    • Business
    • 4.8 • 84 Ratings

On The Construction Leadership Podcast, Bradley Hartmann (author of 12 construction-focused books and founder of the consultancy, Hartmann & Co.) interviews leaders throughout the industry to share ideas and insights to help you lead more effectively.

    391 :: Wes Palmisano: Renegade Culture Challenging The Status Quo

    391 :: Wes Palmisano: Renegade Culture Challenging The Status Quo

    In episode 391, Wes Palmisano joins The Construction Leadership Podcast from New Orleans to talk about how renegade thinking drives revolutionary results.   
    For over a decade, Wes has pursued a new vision of the construction industry through his collective of brands and initiatives. Wes launched Palmisano Construction in 2013 with 11 team members and the company’s signature renegade style and cultivation of a culture where everyone could make and break the mold.
    With the company’s success and growth in subsequent years, Wes pushed the envelope further. Over the following decade, WJP’s strategy continued to evolve through new ventures in construction, investment, innovation, leadership cultivation, and real estate development—pursuing a vertical integration of service offerings that influence the construction lifecycle and continue applying its renegade approach.
    Growing his small team to over 260 people, Palmisano Construction looked to align its name with its visionary ethos—rebranding as RNGD and expanding its presence to new markets: Nashville, TN and Huntsville, AL.
    As a New Orleans native, Wesley grew up in a construction family. Inspired by their commitment to service—beginning with his grandfather, WWII veteran and founder of W.J. Palmisano Contractors, Warren Palmisano Sr.—Wesley looked to follow in their footsteps with his own vision. He earned a four-year Construction Management degree in three years at Louisiana State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Before launching WJP, he directly applied his background, education, expertise, and unique insight to over a decade of work, building and managing large-scale construction projects.
    https://rngd.com
     
    You can view clips from this episode on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bradleyhartmannandco
     

     
    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® —the most efficient way to organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes once every 30 days.
    ***
    If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your feedback will help us on our mission to bring the construction community closer together.
    If you have suggestions for improvements, topics you'd like the show to explore, or have recommendations for future guests, do not hesitate to contact us directly at info@bradleyhartmannandco.com.

    • 47 min
    390 :: Jon Vaughan Emergency Pod: Brad Jacobs & QXO Venture into Building Materials

    390 :: Jon Vaughan Emergency Pod: Brad Jacobs & QXO Venture into Building Materials

    Brad Jacobs is venturing into building materials distribution with a new firm branded QXO. His initial forecast is $1B in revenue in Year 1 and at least $5B within three years. How, you may ask, does he plan to do that? Well, he wrote on book on it, humbly titled, How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, which I would absolutely recommend to a friend.  
    Upon hearing the news, Jon Vaughan and Bradley Hartmann dropped what they were doing and bought the book, listened to eight hours of past Brad Jacobs podcasts, and spoke to leaders in the freight industry who knew Brad back in 2011 when he ventured into that industry. 
    Then Jon and Bradley got together to talk about what they learned, what they think will happen, and what you need to know.   
    Below is an edited transcript of QXOs announcement: 
    After a comprehensive year-long search, Brad Jacobs announced his intention to create a market leader in building products distribution — an industry with approximately $800 billion in annual revenue between North America and Europe. The company will be called QXO, Inc.

    On December 3, 2023, Jacobs Private Equity entered into an investment agreement with SilverSun Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNT) in which they will invest $1 billion in cash. Upon the closing of the equity investment, SilverSun will be renamed QXO. JPE will become QXO’s majority stockholder, and Jacobs will become the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. QXO will become a standalone platform for Jacobs’ new venture following the spin off of the existing business to SilverSun stockholders.
      QXO's Strategy
    QXO plans to create a tech-forward industry leader in the building products distribution industry through accretive M&A and organic growth, including greenfield openings, with the goal of generating outsized stockholder value.  

    Distributors of building products offer materials, finished goods, value-added solutions and expertise to a broad range of customers across residential, nonresidential, industrial and infrastructure end-markets. Their products are used extensively in new construction and in repair and remodeling. Key categories include access control, construction supplies, doors and windows, electrical components, fencing and decking, HVAC, infrastructure, landscaping, lumber, plumbing, pools, roofing, siding and water, among others.

    QXO expects to achieve a revenue run-rate of at least $1 billion by the end of year one, at least $5 billion within three years, and tens of billions of dollars over the next decade. QXO’s scale should elevate the customer experience, increase sales force effectiveness, and enable margin expansion.

    The industry’s nascent use of technology, particularly AI and B2B e-commerce, represents a compelling opportunity for tech-focused entrants. According to industry data, the percentage of industry revenue derived from e-commerce is currently only mid-single digits, and this share is expected to triple by 2030. Additional types of tech adoption by distributors have the potential to be transformative through price optimization, demand forecasting, warehouse automation and robotics, automated inventory management, route optimization for delivery fleets, supply chain visibility, and end-to-end digital customer connectivity. QXO’s strategy anticipates that these drivers, among others, will be central to the company’s goal of outsized stockholder value creation.
     
    The Market Opportunity
    The building products distribution industry is highly fragmented, with approximately 7,000 distributors in North America and 13,000 in Europe, according to industry observers. The industry has generated compound annual revenue growth of 7% over the last five years, based on industry data, and continues to benefit from powerful secular growth drivers for building products distribution in the residential, nonresidential and infrastructure sectors.

    For example, industry reports estimate that the current suppl

    • 43 min
    389 :: Steve Swinney, Founder and CEO of Kodiak Building Partners

    389 :: Steve Swinney, Founder and CEO of Kodiak Building Partners

    In episode 389, Steve Swinney, CEO of Kodiak Building Partners, joins the show. Steve and Bradley discuss how Kodiak integrates new companies following an acquisition, how to develop trust with authenticity, intention, and speed—and how Steve would improve the long-standing culture of mediocrity within the greatest NFL franchise of all-time, the Chicago Bears.   
    As CEO of Kodiak Building Partners, Steve is responsible for the overall vision, strategy, and execution of Kodiak’s business plan. Steve brings over 25 years of acquisitions and private equity-backed venture expertise to the founding and operations of Kodiak.
     





    Before the founding of Kodiak, Steve was a VP with ProBuild Holdings, where he created the organization to support the company’s mergers and acquisitions, financial analysis, investor relations, budgeting, and long-range planning functions. Before entering the building materials industry with ProBuild, Steve worked at First Data/Western Union as the Director of Finance.






    Steve is a CPA and earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting at Abilene Christian University and his MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
     






    You can view clips from this episode on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@bradleyhartmannandco
     

     
    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® which will organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes.
    ***
    If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.

    • 45 min
    388 :: Amber Percival: On Selling Her 2nd Generation Fire Business & Negotiating Core Values

    388 :: Amber Percival: On Selling Her 2nd Generation Fire Business & Negotiating Core Values

    In episode 388, Amber Percival joins the Construction Leadership Podcast to discuss the recent sale of her second generation hearth distribution business, Urban Hearth, based on Perth, Ontario. Amber candidly shares insights on her negotiation tactics, concessions, mindset during the 1.5-year process, the challenges of secrecy among the people in the business she cared about most, and how her core values were tested until the deal closed.     
    Amber and I close this episode with strong reminder to ensure those leaders in your network feel seen and heard—that they understand they are not alone—before Amber critiques Hartmann's recent indoor plant-buying choices. 
     
    USA Suicide Crisis Lines
    The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/) is a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.[56][57] It provides Spanish-speaking counselors, as well as options for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.   
    Canada Suicide Crisis Lines  
    911 is the national emergency number in Canada. 988 is the suicide crisis helpline. It can be reached 24/7 by call or text in both English or French. Kids Help Phone (https://kidshelpphone.ca/) is a free 24/7 national support service that provides confidential professional counselling, information, referrals and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people in both English and French. Talk Suicide Canada can be reached 24/7 at 1–833–456–4566 or 45645 (Text, 4 p.m. to midnight ET only) (https://talksuicide.ca/) nationwide suicide prevention service.  
     
    You can view clips from this episode on our YouTube channel
    - https://www.youtube.com/@bradleyhartmannandco
     
    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® which will organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes.
    ***
    If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.
    Since we're asking for things . . . we'd also love it if you recommended this show to your friends and colleagues. Your network looks to people like you to learn where to invest their time and attention.

    • 54 min
    387 :: Hamilton Nolan on The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and The Struggle for the Soul of Labor

    387 :: Hamilton Nolan on The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and The Struggle for the Soul of Labor

    In episode 387, journalist Hamilton Nolan joins the show to talk about his new book, The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and The Struggle for the Soul of Labor.
     
    Hamilton Nolan is a labor journalist who writes regularly for In These Times magazine and The Guardian. He has written about labor, politics, and class war for The New York Times, the Washington Post, Gawker, Splinter, and other publications. He was the longest-serving writer in Gawker’s history, and was a leader in unionizing Gawker Media in 2015. Hamilton is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America, East. He lives in Brooklyn.
     
    You can view clips from this episode on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@bradleyhartmannandco
     

     
    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® which will organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes.
    ***
    If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.
    Since we're asking for things . . . we'd also love it if you recommended this show to your friends and colleagues. Your network looks to people like you to learn where to invest their time and attention.
     
     
     

    • 37 min
    386 :: Farrell Middleton :: Navigating The Bell Curve of Life

    386 :: Farrell Middleton :: Navigating The Bell Curve of Life

    In episode 386, Farrell Middleton joins the show to talk about his home building career and the insights he's learned along the way regarding management, leadership, and how to navigate the Bell Curve of Life.   
    After a successful 36-year career in production homebuilding, Farrell moved into his long-awaited second career as a teacher, mentor, life coach, and guide. The Bell Curve of Life is his unique teaching, coaching, and mentoring program that focuses on circumstances that people find themselves in on a routine basis, both personally and professionally.
    His goal is to work with business owners and leaders and their staff members to create healthier and more productive professional environments. This is achieved by focusing on positive attitudes, effective use of time, improved problem solving ability, and enhanced team dynamics. The results will be greater productivity, stronger employee engagement and retention, and better customer service - internal and external.
    Thank you for listening!
    You can view clips from this episode on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@bradleyhartmannandco
     

     
    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® which will organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes.
    ***
    If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.
    Since we're asking for things . . . we'd also love it if you recommended this show to your friends and colleagues. Your network looks to people like you to learn where to invest their time and attention.

    • 46 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
84 Ratings

84 Ratings

Twe10 ,

Continuous Improvement!!!

Brad, Just when I think your podcast can’t get any better you surprise me with another great interview. Your love of learning is both obvious and contagious. Keep up the great work!

Team CODErin ,

Good info for all industries

Despite not being in building/lumber I enjoy many of these podcasts. Good leadership ideas and good interviews are time well spent for me. I especially like hearing from women and BIPOC guests who are often up against extra hurdles in the leadership positions in this industry. Learning about the tenacity required to thrive is encouraging and applicable to me. Thanks!

VickiJordan ,

Best sales podcast ever!

Bradley offers insightful thought leadership in the building products industry and as his motto says he delivers value first! I truly enjoy listening to this podcast each and every week. This is a must listen.

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