BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series – Sustaining the Culture

Posted on December 9, 2025December 9, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 3 min

Sustaining the Culture: What It Really Takes on a Lean Project

In this blog, I want to share how we kept our Lean culture alive once the initial excitement faded. After setting up incentives, refining our systems, and winning over the workforce, the hardest part began: sustaining the behaviors every single day. What I learned is simple culture does not maintain itself. It has to be reinforced, measured, and lived.

Using Accountability to Keep Standards High

One of the strongest tools we had was the trade partner grading system. Every trade partner received a weekly grade based on real data: huddle attendance, cleanliness, shutdowns, rolling completion items, safety walks, and other measurable behaviors. These grades went to project leaders and owners, which made people extremely invested in improving them. I watched trade partners drive hours to discuss a bad grade because they cared that much. Making expectations visible created accountability, competition, and instant behavior change.

Building Ownership Through Open Dialogue

We also met weekly with foremen and superintendents to let the workforce help shape the rules. They reinforced zero-tolerance policies, suggested improvements, and helped control site operations. When they helped build the system, they protected it. Even after we stopped the formal meetings, we kept an open-ended follow-up process asking the workforce what was working and what wasn’t. As their voices were heard, participation grew and the culture strengthened.

Staying Consistent With Daily Communication and Training

The daily huddle became the backbone of communication. No matter how the site evolved, everyone gathered, heard the same information, and aligned for the day. This consistency earned trust from both workers and the owner. To keep Lean concepts alive, I sent daily training topics and made sure every foreman received Two Second Lean. Many of them also completed the Lean core training, and for the first time they really understood the “why” behind our systems. Once they understood the purpose, they committed fully.

Key Takeaway

A Lean culture survives only when we reinforce it daily. Clear expectations, visible accountability, open communication, and continuous education turn Lean from a set of tools into a way of working that people believe in and protect.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

The Construction Battle Perch

Posted on December 9, 2025October 22, 2026 by Jason Schroeder

Read 3 min

Why Every Superintendent Needs a Battle Perch

In my blogs, I talk about a concept I call the battle perch a dedicated spot on the project where I can see the entire job site at once. Over the years, I’ve learned that having this elevated, unobstructed perspective changes the way I lead. In the past, I’ve even climbed tower cranes to get that view. Other times, an adjacent building or an upper floor gives me the vantage point I need. The point is simple: leaders build better projects when they can actually see the project. To go deeper, see how to use your battle perch to mentor your team.

Recently, while touring a site in San Francisco, I found a natural battle perch built right into the layout of the project. I didn’t even need PPE because the area was protected behind secure guardrails, yet it gave me a perfect bird’s eye view of everything happening below. From that spot, I could observe the flow of work, track progress across different crews, and see how the project was behaving as a living system all without stepping into any active work zone.

This kind of perspective is invaluable for any superintendent, senior superintendent, general superintendent, or field leader. When you can look down and see work fronts, material movement, staging, safety conditions, and crew coordination all at once, you instantly gain clarity you can’t get walking the site at ground level. You begin to notice patterns where things flow smoothly, where bottlenecks form, and where crews might need support or direction. A battle perch helps you lead proactively, not reactively.

Even if your site doesn’t offer a natural vantage point, you can create one. I’ve climbed tower cranes, accessed rooftops of neighboring buildings (with permission), and even relied on drone footage when needed. The method doesn’t matter as much as the outcome: I need a high-level view so I can lead the project as a whole, not just piece by piece.

This blog is a reminder that great leadership requires perspective. When you consistently step back, look from above, and understand the bigger picture, you position yourself to guide your team with more clarity, confidence, and intention.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Mind your Entryways

Posted on December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 2 min

Professionalism Starts at the Entryway

In this blog, I want to talk about something simple but incredibly important: the standard of care we show at the project entryway. It might seem like a small detail, but it tells the entire story of how a team approaches safety, professionalism, and community relationships.

Recently, I was on a job site where one of the team members was managing the pedestrian access with remarkable attention to detail. Even though you can’t see him here, what stood out to me was his mindset. He had all the proper gear, his flagging equipment, his signage, and most importantly he kept the entire area clean, swept, and beautifully organized. Pedestrians could walk comfortably. Cars passed without disruption. Everything communicated safety, order, and respect.

What impressed me most was his intention. He told me he wanted everyone workers, neighbors, passersby to feel proud of what the job site represents. That mindset matters. When someone takes ownership of an entryway like that, they aren’t just controlling traffic; they are shaping the public’s experience and setting a standard for every person who walks through that gate.

A clean, safe, well managed entryway sends a message. It tells the team what level of care is expected inside the site. It shows the community that we respect them. And it reflects the professionalism of the builders leading the project.

I wanted to share this moment because it’s a powerful reminder: excellence starts before anyone even steps onto the job site. When we get the small things right, we build the habits and culture that allow us to get the big things right too.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Construction Macro Level Takt Plan

Posted on December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 3 min

The Real Purpose of a Macro Level Takt Plan

In this blog, I want to explain the real utility of a macro level takt plan and why it is one of the strongest tools we have for leading a project strategically. A macro plan may look simple just one large page showing the project from start to finish but its true power goes far beyond dates or milestones. A macro-level takt plan allows us to analyze the entire project in one glance, think strategically as a team, and make informed decisions long before chaos ever has a chance to take over.

Why Seeing the Whole Project on One Page Matters

When I walk through a macro plan with a team, we focus on the flow of the work, the preparation needed before each phase, the risks that may appear, and the strategies we can use to stay ahead. We study phase by phase risk profiles, key modifications, and the overall path of critical flow. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is visibility. When every team member can see the entire strategy laid out together, we can refine it, challenge it, improve it, and get ahead of the work instead of reacting to problems later. That proactive alignment is what makes macro level takt planning so powerful.

A Macro Plan Is a Strategic Baseline Not a CPM Schedule

A CPM schedule can’t support the same level of strategic conversation. A macro plan becomes what I call the strategic baseline the high level roadmap that guides decisions, pacing, and team alignment. Once that macro plan is clear, everything underneath it becomes more effective. Look aheads become easier, weekly work planning gains buffers, and day plans become predictable. When the macro plan is strong, the team can consistently move activities to the left and build momentum early on the project.

Why Takt Planning Is Really Visual Planning

At its core, takt planning especially at the macro level is visual planning. And visual planning is what allows the real human discussions to happen. It’s how we talk about rally cries for each phase, what resources we will need, which tactics will matter most, and where risks may appear. Those conversations simply cannot happen inside a CPM schedule. But when the team gathers around a macro plan, the project becomes understandable and discussable at a human level. This idea aligns with what Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner describe in How Big Things Get Done: the most successful projects plan from the start with clarity, alignment, and strategy, not guesswork and spreadsheets. A macro level takt plan is more than a graphic it is a leadership tool. When used correctly, it helps the team stay ahead, think clearly, execute with confidence, and continually improve the plan as the project unfolds.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

What Is Yokoten? The Key to Scaling Continuous Improvement

Posted on December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 4 min

Yokoten: The Key to Scaling Improvement Across Your Company

In this blog, I want to break down one of the most powerful concepts in Lean culture: Yokoten, or horizontal sharing. If you’ve ever wondered why some companies improve rapidly while others stay stuck, the answer often comes down to one thing whether their best ideas stay isolated, or whether they’re shared across the entire organization.

The Foundation: Standards and Stability Before Improvement

Over the years, I’ve worked in two extremes: companies that were so rigid they never allowed meaningful improvement, and companies so chaotic they had no standards at all. Neither environment supports real continuous improvement.
True Kaizen only happens when you have standards clear expectations, visual guides, and stable systems that form the baseline for growth.

At Elevate Construction, LeanTakt, and Lean Built, we maintain all of our standards visually. Everyone knows exactly where to find the current best practice. And because standards are visible and accessible, they become easy to improve. In fact, our team shares one visual standard every day in a WhatsApp group, prompting everyone to refine, clarify, or update it. This daily rhythm creates a culture where improving the standard is just part of the workflow.

But standards mean nothing unless they’re Followed By All (FBA), a concept from Gino Wickman. If a standard exists but nobody knows where to find it or worse, knows it exists but can’t remember what it says it’s not really a standard.

Making Improvement Shareable: The Power of Yokoten

This is where Yokoten comes in. Once someone figures out a better way, the improvement shouldn’t stay isolated it should spread horizontally across the company. Here are two practical ways we make Yokoten happen:

Walk Other Projects
Most of what I learned at the Bioscience Research Laboratory came from walking ahead of schedule projects. I’d observe what they were doing, borrow their best practices, and adapt them. If your team can tour another project every month, you’ll dramatically accelerate learning.
Use Before and After Improvement Videos
Inspired by Paul Akers, our teams create quick before and after improvement videos. These videos circulate company wide, and when an idea raises the minimum standard, we attach that video to the visual standard and update it for everyone.
This creates a remarkable feedback loop, people see improvements happening daily and become inspired to contribute their own.

Gamification helps too. We often award small prizes for the most impactful improvement of the month or year. People appreciate being acknowledged, and recognition fuels the cultural engine of Kaizen.

Creating a Culture Where Improvements Scale Automatically

The real magic happens when Yokoten becomes a habit. When people proudly share improvements during worker huddles, in WhatsApp chats, or through site tours, your company develops a self propelling improvement culture.

A few things happen naturally:

Workers get excited when their ideas are shared publicly.
Other teams adopt improvements immediately instead of reinventing the wheel.
Everyone begins contributing to a cycle of creativity and refinement.
Your minimum standard rises steadily without force, resistance, or friction.

This is what continuous improvement is supposed to feel like positive, collaborative, and energizing.

Seeing Yokoten in Action

At the end of this blog, I’m sharing examples of how we create and scale visual standards, what our morning worker huddles look like, and a few improvement videos from my time as a superintendent at DPR. These examples show exactly how Yokoten works in practice and how you can start applying it tomorrow.

If you have questions or want help setting up your own Yokoten system, please reach out. I hope this blog has given you a clear and practical way to boost your Kaizen culture.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series – Winning over the Craft

Posted on December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 4 min

Building Trust by Seeing the Human First

When I think about winning over the workforce, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t a system or a tool it’s a person. On this project, I learned that leadership begins with genuinely seeing the people around me. I made it a personal goal to learn at least one interesting thing about everyone I interacted with. Sometimes it was whether they had kids, sometimes a hobby, sometimes just a small story from their life. I didn’t need their whole biography I just needed to show that I cared. And what surprised me was how quickly that simple effort opened doors. Respect grew, conversations deepened, and the team began to feel less like a group of workers and more like a community I belonged to.

Storytelling, Recognition, and the Power of Being Seen

I also learned the impact of storytelling. Whether I shared a story about my wife’s fall from a ladder during a safety meeting, or listened to Jason talk about General Patton or William Wallace during our morning huddles, these moments connected us in ways mere instructions never could. People came up afterward to ask questions not because they had to, but because something in the story resonated. Compliments, too, became a powerful tool. Passing along praise from upper management or from the owner lifted spirits instantly. Recognizing someone in front of the entire huddle was one of my favorite things to do. You can actually see a person stand taller when they feel seen. That pride transforms the way they work.

Raising Standards Through Example, Competition, and Honest Conversation

We found that modeling the right behaviors early made all the difference. Our electrician set the tone clean work areas, strong participation, great training, lean ideas, videos the whole package. Their example became the bar everyone else wanted to reach. Competition kicked in naturally, and other trade partners stepped up their game. And when things weren’t going well with a particular crew, we didn’t avoid it. We brought them into the conference room, had honest conversations, showed a clip or two to reinforce expectations, and created a space where everyone could speak freely. These discussions weren’t about blame; they were about alignment. Every time we held firm, people learned that our standards weren’t flexible and that consistency earned their respect.

Creating a Culture People Don’t Want to Leave

The real proof of success came from the workers themselves. In a market where laborers jump from job to job every week, ours kept coming back saying, “Please don’t make us leave. We want to stay here.” They told us the site felt different cleaner, safer, more fun, more respectful. Even subcontractors who hadn’t worked with us had heard about the standards we set and how committed we were to maintaining them. That consistency, even under pressure, created a culture where people felt proud to contribute. One owner described visiting our site as “walking into Disneyland” an environment full of energy, smiles, and respect. I couldn’t have asked for a better compliment.

Key Takeaway

When I focus on respecting people really seeing them, listening to them, recognizing them, and holding everyone to the same consistent standards the culture transforms. And once the culture transforms, the workforce doesn’t just work for me they choose to stay with me.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series- Setting up Contracts for a Lean Culture

Posted on December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Jason Schroeder

Read 4 min

Setting up Contracts to Build a Lean Culture
When I look back on our early Lean experiment at BSRL, one lesson stands above the rest: Lean doesn’t truly work unless it’s built into your contracts from the beginning. Paul Akers teaches that Lean doesn’t require incentives it requires expectations. But unlike a single company with its own employees, a general contractor depends on dozens of subcontractors, each with their own habits. If Lean isn’t clearly defined contractually, every meeting, huddle, and planning session becomes something someone must “justify.” To prevent that, we treated Lean not as an add-on, but as a required part of the project strategy and we paid for it up front so no one could argue about the time it took to do things the right way.

Integrating Lean into the Schedule and Expectations
At BSRL, we created a detailed basis of schedule that defined how the job would run: takt planning, one-piece flow, daily huddles, cleanliness, safety, and the rhythm of the work. This wasn’t a suggestion it was attached to every contract. During preconstruction, we walked trade partners through the plan, making it clear that Lean wasn’t optional. Most nodded politely, thinking we were exaggerating. But once the project began, the expectations held firm. If an area wasn’t clean, we shut it down. If crews didn’t take their setup time, they were reminded that it was already budgeted. Lean didn’t cost more it simply shifted waste into structured, productive effort.

Creating Buy-In and Protecting the System
When Jake joined shortly after groundbreaking, the structure was in place but still flexible. The team voted on additions like requiring OSHA 10 for everyone, shaping the final standards together. That involvement mattered. It helped the team own the system rather than comply with it. One of our strongest stances and one that changed the culture was declaring publicly that no PM or superintendent had the right to take away a worker’s 30 minutes of morning setup. We had already paid for that time, and protecting it was non-negotiable. That clarity created trust, consistency, and accountability across the entire jobsite.

The Real Value of Lean
People often ask whether Lean costs more. The truth is that Lean saves more than it ever spends. On BSRL, safety improved, cleanliness became second nature, rework disappeared, and morale increased, and turnover dropped. We used less contingency than normal for a project of this size, and the owner awarded us another project because they could see the difference. The biggest return wasn’t financial it was cultural. Lean created a jobsite where people enjoyed working, took pride in their areas, and knew that the systems would support not punish them.

Key Takeaway
Lean only works when the expectations, rhythm, and systems are built directly into your contracts and protected on the jobsite. When Lean becomes the standard not an optional extra you gain cleaner operations, safer environments, stronger teams, and better long-term results. The investment isn’t additional cost; it’s a shift in where the cost goes, transforming waste into structure and turning chaos into predictable flow.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Build a Little Better – You Don’t Work for Them!

Posted on December 7, 2025February 11, 2026 by Jason Schroeder

Read 3 min

The Trap of Becoming a Victim to Other Companies’ Chaos

Many builders constantly feel behind, overwhelmed, or pulled into emergencies that are not their own. They act like babysitters on their own projects, reacting to everyone else’s poor planning instead of leading with intention. This blog addresses that familiar trap and offers a path back to stability and true leadership.

When Stability Collapses: The Power of One Wrong Choice

On a highly volatile project tight spaces, labs, air intakes, a vivarium, students, and a nearby hospital our systems were the only thing keeping everything steady. Morning worker huddles and afternoon foreman huddles created clarity and flow. But one day, everything fell apart.

A delivery arrived early and off schedule. Instead of protecting the team’s stability, the superintendent canceled the morning huddle and rushed to fix the delivery driver’s mistake. By abandoning the system, he unintentionally created confusion for over 100 workers who arrived without direction. That moment revealed a hard truth: when leaders chase chaos, everyone else pays the price.

Why Leaders Must Stop Playing Savior

This pattern happens everywhere in construction. Leaders feel obligated to save everyone answering every call, reacting to every text, running to every issue. They absorb delays without adjusting schedules and say yes to every owner request without considering consequences. Field engineers end up doing trades’ paperwork. Superintendents become overly busy but less effective.

When we operate this way, we are no longer leading; we are working for everyone except our own team. Stability disappears, variation increases, and workers become the ones who suffer. Respect for people, stable environments, and continuous improvement can only exist when leaders refuse to be pulled off course.

Leading from the Watchtower: Protecting Stability Above All

A superintendent’s role is not to stay busy it is to create and protect stability. That means guarding systems, maintaining focus, delegating properly, and ensuring accountability. Tools like phones, emails, and deliveries exist for our use not to dictate our priorities. Great leaders stay grounded in principle, not emotion. They protect their team from the chaos of others and never abandon the routines that create safety, clarity, and flow.

The canceled huddle remains a defining reminder that one moment of yielding to chaos can ripple across an entire project. Workers deserve leaders who hold their ground, maintain perspective, and stay at their station. When we operate from the watchtower steady, aware, and disciplined we give our teams the stability they depend on.

On we go.

Key Takeaway

A leader’s number one responsibility is to protect stability by upholding systems and refusing to let others’ poor planning create chaos. When we stay in our role, shield workers from variation, and lead with intention, we build safer, clearer, and more effective environments where teams can truly succeed

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way

Posted on December 6, 2025February 11, 2026 by Jason Schroeder

Read 5 min

Finding Your Cheese in a Changing Industry

In this blog, I want to share a powerful concept inspired by the book Who Moved My Cheese? a reminder that our industry has changed, our “cheese” has moved, and the old ways that once made us successful no longer work. Lean practices, modern training, and new thinking aren’t moving the cheese; they’re showing us where it went so we can succeed again. Everything we learn helps us reorient toward a new standard and embrace the change needed to thrive.

This blog focuses on the 14 Principles of the Toyota Way and how deeply they apply to construction. These principles changed my entire understanding of how we build, lead, and remove waste. They don’t just help us work better they help us see problems clearly instead of hiding them, so that continuous improvement can thrive.

Understanding Lean Beyond the Last Planner System

Many people wonder what lean really means. They’ve heard many definitions, tried pieces of it, or assumed it might fade away like a passing trend. But lean is not a fad. It is a complete philosophy that extends far beyond the Last Planner System. Lean reaches into how we think, how we stabilize work, how we grow people, how we respect teams, how we solve problems, and how we create flow. Lean focuses not on economies of scale, but on economies of time, seeing and solving problems, and building stable, predictable systems where teams can win. Taiichi Ohno said it best: “Having no problems is the biggest problem of all.” Lean is about surfacing problems, not hiding them, so we can eliminate waste and continuously improve. If we respect people, create stability, and embrace improvement, we’re living lean.

The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way and How They Apply to Construction

Base decisions on long-term philosophy: Optimize the whole, not just short-term gains. Flow must matter more than quick financial wins.
Create continuous process flow: Flow exposes roadblocks instantly. Without flow, chaos hides all problems.
Use pull systems to avoid overproduction: Let one trade pull the next into the area with clean, finished work and clear handoffs.
Level the workload work like the tortoise: Clean and steady always wins. Chaos hides issues and destroys quality.
Build a culture of stopping to fix problems: Quality at the source is everything. Stop, fix it now, and never push defects downstream.
Standardize tasks and processes: Standardization is the foundation of improvement and empowerment. Without consistency, nothing can improve.
Use visual controls so no problems are hidden: Visual systems make quality, safety, and production instantly clear to everyone.
Use only reliable, tested technology: Technology should serve people not overburden them or slow them down.
Grow leaders who understand the work: Leaders must model the philosophy, teach it, and live it every day.
Develop exceptional people and teams: Train, coach, build trust, resolve conflict, and create cohesive teams through intentional effort.
Respect and challenge partners and suppliers: Help vendors improve just like internal teams. Flow only works if everyone is aligned.
Go and see for yourself: Get into the field. Study the work. Lead with eyes, not just reports.
Make decisions slowly, implement quickly: Think deeply with the team then execute with urgency.
Become a learning organization: Reflect constantly and improve relentlessly. Reflection drives growth.

These principles transformed the way I ran projects. We printed each principle on laminated sheets and hung them in the trailer so the team saw them every day. Trades referenced them, challenged us with them, and lived them. They shaped our culture and decision-making.

Applying These Principles to Today’s Construction Problems

Right now, the industry is full of habits that hide problems: batching, overstaffing, faking reports, pushing workers together, relying on bad technology, and ignoring training. These behaviors belong to the old maze where our cheese used to be. They don’t work anymore.

Our solution is to apply lean principles aggressively:

Use tact planning to generate flow and surface problems early.
Use quality at the source to stop defects immediately.
Use training as a strategy, not an afterthought.
Build people first, because teams build projects not schedules or software.

When these principles become part of your culture, everything changes. You work less while accomplishing more. You reduce chaos, waste, and rework. You go home earlier. You create stable systems where people thrive and find joy in the work.

Lean enables us to create construction projects that feel like Disneyland clean, organized, predictable, stable, safe, and magical. And it enables us to build careers that are fulfilling, balanced, and deeply meaningful.

On we go

Key Takeaway

Lean isn’t a tool or a trend it’s a complete way of thinking built on the Toyota Way principles: respect people, create stability, expose problems, and improve continuously. When you build your projects and your teams on these principles, you don’t just increase productivity you transform the culture, elevate people, reduce chaos, and create the stable environment needed to build remarkable projects and remarkable lives.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

General Offerings

Company Offerings

Systems

Month: December 2025

BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series – Sustaining the Culture

The Construction Battle Perch

Mind your Entryways

Construction Macro Level Takt Plan

What Is Yokoten? The Key to Scaling Continuous Improvement

BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series – Winning over the Craft

BONUS – Jake & Jason Lean Series- Setting up Contracts for a Lean Culture

Build a Little Better – You Don’t Work for Them!

The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way

Subscribe Now

Our Office

Get In Touch

Company

Follow Us

General Offerings

Company Offerings

Systems

SUBSCRIBE NOW !

Subscribe to our newsletters and stay updated!