The Art of Construction – Details, episodes & analysis

"I think it's just about building a community of people who have a common vision of wanting to make improvements, wanting to make things better..."

In this conversation, Devon Tilly chats with Wiley Jones, co-founder of Doss!

Keep up with the Art of Construction (AOC) podcast on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube!

Wiley Jones, Co-founder and CEO of Doss, ARP—a lightweight ERP system focused on building tools for teams that work in the real world. Wiley has worked in product design and hardware engineering at companies like Athelas and Verkada. From designing toys in factories in China to leading hardware projects for medical devices in Silicon Valley, Wiley has been in the trenches of creating physical products and moving them along the supply chain. Discover how Doss is tackling the ERP industry by reimagining operations data primitives to provide more composable and adaptive for any company that manages physical goods.

Subscribe to us and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

"It's all about teaching it forward."

In this conversation, Devon Tilly and co-host Nathan Wood chat with Benny Baltrotsky in preparation for the  AEC Summit in Austin, Texas in April 2025!

This podcast is a part of a series of episodes that will be coming out from now until Spring 2025 covering the AEC Summit in Austin, Texas April 23rd - 25th 2025. We encourage our listeners and partners to share and engage with us during this conference coverage! Keep up with the Art of Construction (AOC) podcast on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube!

Submit a Team Topic for the AEC Summit 2025! 

Benny Baltrotsky is the Vice President of Partnerships and Go-To-Market at DEWALT Construction Technology, the innovation division of Stanley Black & Decker, where he is dedicated to advancing technology solutions tailored for the construction industry. With over 15 years of experience in building and scaling construction technology companies, Mr. Baltrotsky has a proven track record of enhancing the customer experience and driving industry innovation. In 2020, he joined MSUITE as Chief Operating Officer, where he played a pivotal role in developing the company's sales, marketing, customer success, and finance programs. Under his leadership, MSUITE experienced remarkable growth, culminating in its acquisition by Stanley Black & Decker. Prior to his tenure at MSUITE, Mr. Baltrotsky served as Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder at eSUB Construction Software, a leading provider of cloud-based project management solutions for trade contractors. As a founding member and Board Member of the Construction Progress Coalition, Benny has been a passionate advocate for enhancing integration among software platforms, driving collaboration and efficiency within the construction sector. His commitment to innovation and partnership continues to shape the future of construction technology.

Subscribe to us and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

"Anytime I'm doing something else with the data, or measurements I'm capturing, outside of just looking at it and nodding my head with it - digitally {measuring is inarguably better." 

In this conversation, Devon Tilly and Christian Reed discuss the digitization of construction tools and the development of the REEKON platform. They explore the origin story of REEKON Tools, the integration of technology into construction tools, and the role of the Recon app in connecting the field to the office. They highlight the importance of meeting construction professionals where they are and providing innovative solutions to improve efficiency and accuracy on the job site. The conversation covers the innovative T1 Tomahawk digital tape measure and the M1 caliber, highlighting their features, benefits, and applications in the construction industry. It also delves into the importance of leveraging new technologies to build a strong brand and gain a competitive edge. 

Christian Reed is the founder and CEO of REEKON Tools, a global leader in digital construction tools. Prior to starting REEKON, Christian graduated MIT with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and served in the US Army.  

Follow REEKON Tools on Instagram

Watch a clip of this virtual podcast!

Keep up with the Art of Construction (AOC) podcast on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube!

Subscribe to the Art of Construction (AOC) podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Brian Mackey, Owner of BD Mackey Consulting, joins us for episode 262 of Art of Construction and the second episode in our Digital Built Week 2022 pre-shows.

BD Mackey consulting was created to support BIM needs for AEC companies of all size through educational services, technical support, mentoring and custom training. Their goal is to make each company they work with more productive, more efficient and more successful in all areas of the Building Information Modeling process. Brian has been using Revit longer than most and knows the ins and outs of its many uses in the AEC industry. Rather than just a tool for large commercial architects and general contractors, he tells us just how there are potentially infinite uses for the data gathered from BIM for companies of all sizes. He himself began using BIM creating shop drawings as an architectural millworker.

While people think BIM has to be about a whole building, the "information" in Building Information Modeling could be anything. What kind of data do you need on a project, and how can you use that data to improve your process? These are the questions Brian asks his clients, and the question each of us should ask ourselves as we explore the best ways to integrate BIM into our company, workflow, or practice. Microsoft Excel, for example, is technically an "information modeling" tool, and the one the most people are familiar with! Many of us already use Excel in our daily work life to streamline our company's operations. BIM is simply bringing that process to the next level.

Join Devon and Brian as they discuss everyday and unexpected uses of BIM, Brian's journey as one of the earliest Revit users in the United States, the resources available for implementing Revit into your workflow, what he'll be speaking about at Digital Built Week, and much more!

Visit our podcast page to enter for a chance to win a pair of FREE PASSES to Digital Built Week Americas, June 14th - 16th in Anaheim, California: www.theartofconstruction.net/aoc-podcast

Carson Holmquist, Co-Founder and CEO of Stream Logistics, joins us for episode 261 of Art of Construction.

With the emergence of offsite construction (prefab, modular, and pods), the nature of construction logistics is evolving. This modern approach to construction is defined by high stakes. Timelines are tight, space is limited, and delays are wildly expensive. When stakes are high, the wins are lucrative and the losses can be catastrophic. This is the field that Stream Logistics has chosen to work in. 
Stream was founded in 2012 by Carson Holmquist and Chad Patton to provide quality and reliability never before seen in the industry. They envisioned meaningful collaborations with loyal clients, delivering incredible solutions, and eliminating uncertainty in transportation. Stream considers themselves an Offsite Construction company and does transportation for many modular and prefab projects across the country.

Join Devon and Carson as they discuss why logistics is the secret sauce for scaling offsite construction, how the Amazon effect and "just-in-time" delivery models helped create today's high stakes projects, the roadblocks to change our industry faces, and where the Stream team fits into the evolution of the System Build movement in construction. 

https://streamlogistics.com/

Wesley Benn, Executive Chairman at the Digital Built Environment Institute, joins us for episode 260 of Art of Construction and the first episode in our Digital Built Week 2022 pre-shows.

If you've listened to our show for many years you probably remember our partnership with Digital Built Week Americas in 2019. One of our highest rated episodes is the keynote of that conference which turned into AOC Episode 153 with Steve Burrows: Why This is the Greatest Time in History to be in Construction. This year, we are proud to announce we will once again be partnering with the Digital Built Environment Institute (DBEI) to serve as the official podcast of Digital Built Week Americas 2022! Today is the first in a series of episodes leading up to the conference, and we will also record a series of episodes live at the event.

The Digital Built Environment Institute is a not-for profit global organization dedicated to the advancement of people, processes and technology, and the improvement of productivity, efficiency, and sustainability for the built environment and the AECO industry. They do this by connecting industry participants to each other, and working collaboratively to identify the services, activities, and support structures that can be best employed to help all of us. DBEI believes that our planet has significant issues that need to be addressed and that in terms of the built environment, we have the people, the processes, the skills and the knowledge to effect change. The broad AECO industry has significant impact on the planet and together, through our individual and collective improvements, we can make that impact a positive one.

Join Devon and Wesley as they discuss DBEI's backstory, the evolution of BIM from something on the fringes to the core technology that defines the entire build process, why it's vital to break down the AECO silos, the return to the Master Builder, what people can expect from Digital Built Week this year and in the future, and so much more!

Visit our podcast page to enter for a chance to win a pair of FREE PASSES to Digital Built Week Americas, June 14th - 16th in Anaheim, California: www.theartofconstruction.net/aoc-podcast

Derrick Morse and Logan Farrell, CEO, CTO and Co-Founders of Rugged Robotics, join us for episode 259 of Art of Construction. 

Rugged Robotics is a Houston-based construction technology company. Their first product tackles the challenge of field layout, and replaces slow, error-prone, manual layout with an autonomous vehicle that marks fully-coordinated A/E designs directly onto unfinished floors. Like a Roomba for construction layout!

Derrick is a professional engineer turned management consultant and entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience in engineering, construction and B2B services. After conceptualizing the idea of Rugged Robotics, he knew he needed a technical partner to help launch the company. Then entered Logan, an engineer who'd spent 7 years in robotic design and development at NASA, to serve as co-founder and develop their first product as Chief Technology Officer. 

Join Devon, Derrick and Logan as they discuss the backstory of Rugged Robotics, why robots are best for tasks that are dull, dirty and dangerous, how their product could be an easier path forward to digitizing the jobsite than things like virtual and mixed reality, and the freedom construction workers will experience when truly blended with automation in the right way. 

www.rugged-robotics.com

Dr. Craig Ellis, Vice President of Services at HighMatch, joins us for episode 258 of Art of Construction. 
The construction industry is facing a perfect storm when it comes to employees, with an aging workforce nearing retirement, the great resignation pulling skilled and professional talent into other industries, and the new generation (Gen Z) ignoring careers in construction for other industries. Approaching this crisis using the same historical hiring approach is a recipe for disaster. Instead, contractors and affiliates need to take a different approach. 
HighMatch is a modern approach to employment assessments, delivering personalized candidate insights at every stage of the hiring cycle, leading to better matches and happier employees. As the Vice President of Services, Craig leads the consulting arm of the company. They've served many of the top builders in the country as well as small to medium sized construction businesses for the last 15 years. Craig holds a Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology and has used his degree to help contractors and affiliates of all size grow their business. 
Join Devon and Craig as they discuss modern approaches to hiring, onboarding and workplace culture for construction, why it's vital for builders to rethink who they want to hire and the roles they are hiring for, and why great people will always be the best thing for a company; even better than a great process. 

Charlie Chupp, Founder and CEO of Fading West Development, and Matt McMullen, AOC Executive Director, join us for episode 257 of Art of Construction. 

As the former CEO of Load King Manufacturing in Florida, Charlie spent 20 years manufacturing and general contracting over 4,000 food service stores across the US and Canada. With clients such as Starbucks, Einstein Bros Bakery, Safeway, Kroger and others, Load King delivered and installed turnkey, off-site built stores using systems that reduced standard times to open by over half.

Through the application of Toyota’s Production System, commonly called “Lean” in the US, Fading West is focused on bringing the same speed and value to the national housing crisis with a particular focus on essential workforce buyers. They recently opened their brand new, 110,000 square foot state-of-the-art housing manufacturing facility in Buena Vista, Colorado. Recently named as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Companies of 2022, Fading West is making waves in the industry. 

Join Devon, Matt and Charlie as they discuss the backstory behind Buena Vista's new System Built factory, the manufacturing philosophies of Fading West, and how System Built homes may be the key to solving Colorado's, and the country's, incredible housing shortage. 

David Broomhead, Co-Founder and CEO of Trade Hounds, and Jon Stambaugh, AOC Logistics Director, join us for episode 256 of Art of Construction. 

Trade Hounds is built for the hardworking skilled tradespeople building our country and is America's largest professional app for construction. Like a Blue Collar version of LinkedIn, it is a place where the trades can connect, share photos and videos, and have conversations on how to improve themselves and their craft. 

There is no question that social media platforms like LinkedIn are not very well liked by tradespeople, and for good reason. Much of the conversation revolves around fluff and corporate topics that are irrelevant to the life of a tradesperson. David grew up around the trades and saw firsthand how they were being underserved when he once heard his uncle, a painter, yell: "What the F!@# is LinkedIn?" 

Join Devon, Jon and David as they discuss the origin story of the Trade Hounds, why it is so important for tradespeople to have a digital home where they can come together, and what can be done to address the labor shortage and lack of skilled workers needed to keep society growing and thriving.