28 Rules for Building Smarter in Construction
I’ll never forget the day one of the area managers looked me dead in the eye and said, “This software is stupid.”
Because in some ways he was right. We had digitized chaos, which is a no-no.
It was a rule I learned the hard way. And after years in construction tech amassing thousands of similar conversations with people in the field I’ve collected 28 rules for building smarter in construction.
They’re part scars, part lessons learned and part rallying cry for the industry I love. Feel free to copy and paste.
Celebrating Labor Day: A Tribute to the Hands That Built Our World
Few people know where I got my real start in construction. My dad had a bright idea to throw his punk kid on a landscaping crew to teach him the importance of hard work.
So, for two summers of my life, I pushed mowers, built decks, emptied garbage cans and sweated through every layer of clothing I had. There was nothing glamorous (or safe) about it, but those summers taught me something I’ll never forget: what it feels like to put your body on the line, day after day, in the service of work that shapes the community around you.
That’s what Labor Day is all about: celebrating the men and women who sweat, strain and sacrifice to make our built world possible.
One Skill That Will Save Your Next Digital Transformation: Ask Better Questions
I’ve been on the forefront of a number of transformations. A project kicks off with high hopes, a vendor promises the moon and an executives declare it all “mission critical.”
But then reality sets in.
The tech doesn’t perform as promised, adoption lags and workarounds pile up leaving the field reverting to spreadsheets, sticky notes and side texts. The truth is, most of those failures weren’t caused by bad software.
They were caused by bad questions.
In Construction, Overload Sounds Like “This is Stupid”
There was a moment about a decade ago, one of those moments where it clicked. In the midst of a massive tech overhaul, a superintendent stopped me with, “I’ve got eight different logins, five different interfaces and dozens of manual workarounds.”
That’s when it hit me: it wasn’t that these folks hated technology. They hated drowning in technology.
At the time, I didn’t have a word for it. But now I know it was my first real-life encounter with cognitive load. And in construction, we’ve been quietly letting it chew away at productivity, safety and morale for years.
Goals Are Great, But Systems Protect the Margin
Anyone who knows me knows I love a good challenge. Sometimes too much. But despite all the plucky optimism I might attempt to muster chasing after an audacious goal, it will never be enough. You simply don’t succeed because you aimed high.
You succeed because your systems didn’t let you fall.
In construction that fall can happen fast, so how do we avoid it?
The Difference Between Reactive and Proactive Project Management
Let’s have a brutally honest moment here.
We’ve been talking about big data in construction for the better part of a decade now. Every conference, every panel, every sales pitch is all about dashboards, KPIs, predictive insights and “data-driven decisions.”
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most contractors don’t actually have big data. But it’s not their fault.
ConTech Doesn’t Replace Workers, It Empowers Them
Let’s get something straight right out of the gate: construction technology is not here to take jobs. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s here to empower the people you already have.
But somewhere along the line, tech adoption in construction started getting a bad rap. And many leadership teams (and software vendors) aren’t helping that perception much.
So, how do we set the record straight?
Compete Smarter, Not Harder: Why the Best Don’t Trash Competitors, They Outserve Them
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s this: competition in construction isn’t going anywhere. But here’s where most folks get it wrong: they aim their competitive energy at taking down the other company.
If you want to win in this business, stop obsessing over the competition and start obsessing over your client’s success.
That’s the playbook of a true Contractor of Choice.
The Lie We Keep Telling Ourselves: Why Construction Can’t Afford to Keep Failing the Schedule
Let’s get straight to the point. The fundamental flaw in traditional project management is that it assumes perfect order in a world defined by chaos. The old playbook was built on the idea that if you set a timeline and a budget, and then assign resources with precision, everything will fall into place.
Spoiler alert: it rarely does.
