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The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

The Construction Leading Edge Podcast

Todd Dawalt 200 Episodes Jul 20, 2026

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.

Episodes

Why Waffle House Is More Systematized Than Your Construction Business | Ep. 453
Why Waffle House Is More Systematized Than Your Construction Business | Ep. 453 Jul 20, 2026 31:19 EPISODE 453: If you're a contractor working 60 to 80-hour weeks and still putting out fires, here's an uncomfortable truth: Waffle House is probably more systematized than your construction business. Todd Dawalt sat at the counter during a lunch rush and walked out with four systems lessons that show exactly where your company is bleeding time and profit. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with
The 5-Step Hire Right System: How Construction Business Owners Can Hire Better with Justin Landry | Ep. 452
The 5-Step Hire Right System: How Construction Business Owners Can Hire Better with Justin Landry | Ep. 452 Jul 13, 2026 54:37 EPISODE 452: Hiring for your construction business shouldn't feel like an emergency every time you do it. In this episode, Todd Dawalt sits down with JL Talent Solutions founder Justin Landry to break down a five-step system for hiring better construction employees without leaning on gut feel. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE 👉 Most construction
Crossing the Rubicon & the Desperate Ground Principle for Builders | Ep. 451
Crossing the Rubicon & the Desperate Ground Principle for Builders | Ep. 451 Jul 6, 2026 30:45 The year is half over. Are you halfway to your goals, or halfway to another year of almosts? In this episode, Todd DeWalt breaks down why so many construction business owners stay stuck overthinking the decision they already know they need to make, still camped on the wrong side of their own Rubicon, waiting on a little more research and a little more certainty before they move. ⚡Schedule a Busine
AI Is Lying, Customers Aren't: Radical Transparency and Culture-Building with Eric Fortenberry | Ep. 450
AI Is Lying, Customers Aren't: Radical Transparency and Culture-Building with Eric Fortenberry | Ep. 450 Jun 29, 2026 01:08:22 EPISODE 450: Why are you still stuck in the middle of everything, even with the best tools, a solid team, and steady projects coming in? In this episode, Todd DeWalt sits down with Eric Fortenberry, founder and CEO of JobTread, to dig into the real reasons contractors stay under-profitable and overworked, and what it takes to finally get off the hamster wheel. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call
The Hidden Design Shift That Unlocks Growth, Profit, and Free Time in Your Construction Business | Ep. 449
The Hidden Design Shift That Unlocks Growth, Profit, and Free Time in Your Construction Business | Ep. 449 Jun 22, 2026 25:17 EPISODE 449: Can you grow your construction business, pay yourself real profit, and still work a normal 40 to 50 hour week? Most construction business owners are working harder than ever and going backwards. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team: HERE  👉 If you're grinding 60-hour weeks and every decision still runs through you, the problem isn't what you t
The One Question That Finally Gets Your Clients To Follow Your Process | Ep. 448
The One Question That Finally Gets Your Clients To Follow Your Process | Ep. 448 Jun 15, 2026 39:34 EPISODE 448: Got construction clients who miss selection deadlines, go around your communication process, then blame you when the schedule slips? In this episode of the Construction Leading Edge Podcast, Todd Dawalt shares the one question that gets your team to hold clients accountable to your process without sounding rigid. ⚡Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge
Short-Staffed or Just Disorganized? 5 Tests Before You Hire | Ep. 447
Short-Staffed or Just Disorganized? 5 Tests Before You Hire | Ep. 447 Jun 8, 2026 41:13 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
The 4 Questions to Ask Before You Try to Fix What's Not Working | Ep. 446
The 4 Questions to Ask Before You Try to Fix What's Not Working | Ep. 446 Jun 1, 2026 33:38 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 re
How to Sell on Value Instead of Price | Ep. 445
How to Sell on Value Instead of Price | Ep. 445 May 26, 2026 31:40 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
The Toyota "Pull the Cord" Method Your Construction Business Is Missing | Ep. 444
The Toyota "Pull the Cord" Method Your Construction Business Is Missing | Ep. 444 May 19, 2026 40:12 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 enoug
The Firing: A Business Parable for Construction Owners | Ep. 443
The Firing: A Business Parable for Construction Owners | Ep. 443 May 11, 2026 23:36 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 t
The Nail the Handoff Framework: 4 Crucial Handoffs to Increase Profit and Eliminate Chaos | EP 442
The Nail the Handoff Framework: 4 Crucial Handoffs to Increase Profit and Eliminate Chaos | EP 442 May 4, 2026 46:44 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 d

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