The Three Habits of a Builder

The Three Habits Every Successful Builder Lives By

Welcome to the Elevate Construction blog, where we elevate construction for individuals, customers, companies, and the industry as a whole through training, clarity, and actionable guidance. I’m Jason Schroeder, and today I want to share the habits that have shaped every great builder I’ve ever worked with.

These habits are universal. They apply to superintendents, field engineers, project engineers, project managers, foremen, and anyone who wants to grow in this industry. If you do these three things with discipline, I promise you will see a measurable level of success often far more than you expect.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve studied general superintendents, directors, operations managers, and vice presidents. I’ve watched how they think, how they work, and what separates them from people who are merely surviving on projects. The principles in this blog come directly from that observation, and I’m excited to pass them on to you.

Before we jump in, let me give you a quote that has guided me my entire career:

Discipline will always beat mere talent.

Talent helps, but discipline wins. The tortoise beats the hare because the tortoise shows up, stays consistent, and keeps moving. In construction, the tortoise gets promoted, builds great teams, and delivers remarkable work.

And discipline becomes much easier when it turns into a habit.

How Habits Shape Builders

In the book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains the concept of habit loops: a trigger that starts a behavior, the behavior itself, and the reward or closure at the end.

Construction professionals operate the same way.
You get to the site, and your brain automatically jumps into a routine you’ve practiced for years.

The trick is to deliberately build routines that drive your success instead of relying on autopilot behaviors that keep you average.

Good routines remove the mental burden of “trying to be disciplined.” They take something difficult, like reading drawings and turn it into automatic behavior you barely think about.

When you turn a discipline into a routine, your leadership and clarity accelerate fast.

Now let’s get into the three habits.

**Habit 1

Study the Drawings Every Day**

If you aren’t studying the drawings, you’re guessing.

A builder must understand the contract documents, specs, details, hazardous materials surveys, soils reports, and design intent at a level that allows them to lead others. When you study for 10 to 30 minutes daily, the project becomes clear. You start anticipating safety needs, information gaps, materials issues, and production sequences.

Studying the drawings will:

• Improve your communication with foremen
• Strengthen your quality control
• Trigger RFIs earlier
• Help you teach and lead
• Give you complete clarity on what you’re building

Someone who reads drawings daily becomes a builder.
Someone who doesn’t becomes a bottleneck.

**Habit 2

Live in Your Primary Tool**

Every role has a “main tool” that drives success.

• Superintendent – the schedule
• Field Engineer – lift drawings
• Project Engineer – procurement log
• Project Manager – financials
• Director or General Superintendent – mentoring people

Spend 10 to 30 minutes each day in your primary tool.

When supers live in the schedule, they see the future. They can plan, predict, coordinate, prepare, and communicate before issues show up. They stop being reactive. They become leaders, not firefighters.

When project engineers live in procurement, they’re always ahead of the game.

When field engineers live in lift drawings, layout becomes predictable.

When PMs live in financials, jobs stop slipping.

Your main tool is your superpower, master it every day.

**Habit 3

Take Consistent Field Walks**

This is non-negotiable.

Whether you’re a foreman, superintendent, field engineer, or PM, you must walk the field daily. Construction is too dynamic to manage from a trailer or a laptop.

Field walks help you see:

• Quality
• Production
• Safety
• Cleanliness
• Material needs
• Crew readiness
• Upcoming work
• Reality vs schedule

Field walks create instant communication.
You see something, you take a picture, you send a text or email, and you close the loop.

This habit alone can elevate an entire project.

Why These Three Habits Matter

Because they turn you into a self-starter.

There are only two kinds of people in construction:

• Those who always need a to-do list
• Those who already know what needs to be done

The second group gets promoted. The second group earns more. The second group runs great projects.

Studying drawings, mastering your main tool, and walking the field create a builder who thinks ahead, communicates clearly, and leads with confidence.

If you do these three things, you will never again wonder, “What should I be doing right now?”

You will know.

Closing Thoughts

If you implement these habits, you will grow.
Your project will stabilize.
Your communication will sharpen.
Your career will accelerate.

These habits have helped me elevate dozens of builders, and they will do the same for you.

Use them daily. Turn them into routines. Make them automatic.

And most of all, enjoy the success and fulfillment that follows.

Key Takeaway

Success becomes inevitable when you study the drawings, live in your primary tool, and walk the field every day because these habits turn you from a reactor into a builder who always knows what to do next.