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Author: Danny Jiménez⁩

Is Command & Control Bad?

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 15 min

The Real Enemy in Construction Is Not Command and Control

Every lean construction presentation seems to open the same way. Here is the problem: command and control. Here is what has always been wrong with the industry. Here is why we needed Last Planner and collaborative planning to rescue the field from the tyranny of authoritarian superintendents.

Jason Schroeder is not convinced. And after spending years coaching companies, touring projects, and watching what actually fails, he has a different diagnosis.

What the Data Actually Shows

There is something in the historical record of construction performance that does not get mentioned in the command and control narrative. Projects used to finish. Not all of them, but the failure rate was dramatically different from what it is today.

Jason recalls a stretch at a large construction company with 1.5 billion dollars in annual revenue. Dozens of major projects across the country. One project became infamous. One. People would hear about it wherever Jason traveled. The rest were finishing on time with full fee. One project struggling against a field full of performing jobs is a very different industry than the one that exists today.

Now the ratio has inverted. Companies have one or two projects that are performing and a field of others that are mediocre, late, or in financial trouble. The crash landing has become the norm rather than the exception. And this shift happened roughly seven to ten years ago.

What changed? Jason’s best assessment: the economic crash of 2007 to 2010 stopped training across the industry. Hiring dried up. Development programs shut down. And a generation of experienced general superintendents retired without the transfer of knowledge that would have prepared the people behind them. The generals left and the replacements were not ready.

The Right and Wrong Answer to That Problem

If the problem is lack of trained builders, the solution is trained builders. Not specifically a different leadership philosophy.

Jason does not want to fight against Last Planner or collaborative planning. He believes in them. He uses them. He teaches them. The question is not whether collaborative planning is better than authoritarian command. Of course it is. That is not the argument.

The argument is that the lean community is spending significant energy criticizing the good and the better while failing to name and demonize the actual bad. The actual bad is an untrained superintendent without a plan who does not collaborate with trade partners. That person is the problem. Not the general superintendent of 20 years ago who had complete control of their project, ran it to completion on time with full fee, and happened to use a more directive leadership style because that was the model available to them.

Would you rather have a team with a great builder, team input, and integrated control? Yes. That is the best. Would you rather have a decent builder with trade partner input and the Last Planner system? Yes. That is better. Would you rather have a decent builder with a solid plan, even if they use a more directive approach? Yes. That is good. All three are acceptable. The problem is the fourth option: an undertrained superintendent without a plan and without any team coordination. That is what the industry is producing and living with, and it is not being addressed by the lean community with nearly enough force.

What Collaborative Planning Still Requires

Here is the point Jason makes with the most urgency. The Last Planner system, Takt planning, collaborative pullplanning, and every other lean scheduling methodology requires a stable, clean, organized, and respectful project environment to function. None of these tools work in chaos. None of them replace the need for a superintendent who has control of the site.

If you implement Last Planner on a job where materials are not managed, where the site is disorganized, where trade partners do not feel respected, where there is no clear expectation of safety or quality, the stickies on the wall will not produce flow. The collaborative planning process will become a performance rather than a system.

A superintendent who does not have control of their project will not gain control by adding a collaborative planning layer on top of the disorder. The control has to come first. Then the collaboration amplifies it.

What the industry needs is not less control. It needs more control exercised by better trained leaders who also know how to integrate the wisdom of their trade partners into the project. That is the best. And the gap between where most projects are and where best looks like is not being closed by criticizing command and control. It is being closed by training builders.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The best construction environments combine strong project control with collaborative planning, and the path to getting there starts with developing the leader, not replacing the leadership philosophy.

The Good, Better, Best Framework

Jason is clear about where he lands. He is not advocating a return to pure directive leadership. He is advocating for an honest assessment of what the industry’s actual problem is.

Good: a superintendent with a solid plan and control of the project, even if they operate in a more directive mode. Better: a superintendent with a plan, collaborative trade partner input, and the Last Planner system supporting the work. Best: a master builder with integrated control, trade partner wisdom baked into every planning conversation, and a project environment that is stable, clean, and respectful at every level.

What the industry currently has too much of: undertrained superintendents without plans, without collaboration, and without control of anything. That is not a command and control problem. That is a training and development problem. And until the industry names that problem directly and addresses it with the same energy it spends on methodology debates, the ratio of crash landings to successful completions will not improve.

As Jason puts it: not an ounce of the Last Planner system deployed on a project without a stable environment and a superintendent with control is going to do anybody good beyond showing off stickies and software.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Jason saying collaborative planning is overrated?

No. He is saying it is being sold as the solution to a problem it cannot fix by itself. Collaborative planning requires trained leaders, stable environments, and project control to function properly. It amplifies good leadership. It cannot replace the absence of it.

What does a superintendent who has control of their project actually look like?

They know their Takt plan and reference it multiple times a day. Their site is clean and organized. Safety and quality expectations are clear and enforced. Trade partners know what is expected of them and when. The plan is visible, understood, and being executed. Control does not mean domineering. It means the project has direction and the superintendent is driving it.

Why did the crash landing rate increase so dramatically in the past decade?

Jason’s best assessment is the combination of a training gap caused by the 2008 economic crash and the retirement of a generation of experienced builders. The development programs that would have prepared replacements were suspended during the downturn and never fully restored. The industry is still working through the consequences.

How does the Last Planner system work best in practice?

When the superintendent has already established a stable project environment, the production sequence is clear, trade partners are engaged and prepared, and the collaborative planning process adds the ground level knowledge that makes the week by week execution more accurate. The system works best as an enhancement of strong leadership, not a substitute for it.

What is the first thing a company should do if its projects are consistently underperforming?

Invest in the development of its field leaders. Not in software, not in methodology training, not in consultants who reorganize the planning board. In the sustained, intensive development of the superintendents and project managers who are running the projects. Everything else follows from having people in the field who know what they are doin

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.

Making Elevating Construction Surveyors, Final Part, Feat. Brandon Montero

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 20 min

How to Build a Career in Survey That Actually Matters: The Final Principles From Elevating Construction Surveyors

Brandon Monteiro and Jason Schroeder close out the recorded drafting of Elevating Construction Surveyors with a final session that moves from technical skill into professional identity: how to train people effectively, how to become a mentor who develops the whole person, how to find your sweet spot and chase it down, and how to build a culture that outlasts any single project.

Train Others With Effectiveness, Not Just Effort

There is a difference between training and training effectively. Brandon’s story from early in his career makes this clear. He was running a level loop on his first surveying job, and the party chief needed him to rock the rod. The party chief had never taught him the hand signals. Unable to communicate, the party chief threw his radio into some nearby bushes.

That is the furthest possible thing from effective training. The person being trained cannot learn by osmosis. They need specific, well communicated information in a format that matches how they actually learn. Some people need a sketch. Some need a five minute video. Some need to put their hands on the instrument. Some respond to written descriptions. The signal is in how they communicate with you: if someone starts drawing a picture when they are confused, that is your cue to draw pictures. If they want to go straight to the equipment, they are telling you how they learn.

Training is also not a one time event. Time and effort spent training daily compounds over time, building professionals who visualize, solve, and perform tasks faster than they did the day before. Every senior person on a survey crew has knowledge that the person beside them does not yet have. Even three months of additional experience contains things worth sharing. Share them.

Become a Mentor Who Develops the Whole Person

A mentor is invested in the long term development of another person, not just their technical output. Brandon describes giving feedback to someone on how they wrote emails: the emails were factually accurate but read as defensive and disconnected. That is a mentoring conversation that goes beyond technical skill into professional communication, emotional awareness, and career health.

The most lasting mentorship often has nothing to do with survey math or equipment operation. It has to do with how someone handles a difficult situation, how they manage their emotional response to pressure, how they show up when things go wrong. Those soft skills shape a career more than any technical certification.

Being vulnerable about your own mistakes creates a person to person bond that technical feedback alone never achieves. When the person being mentored sees that the mentor has also struggled and learned, the relationship deepens and the feedback lands differently.

Weigh In on Costs and Participate in Bidding

Understanding cost is a differentiator at every level of a survey career. Brandon describes the moment of surprise that comes when someone first begins to engage with project bids: things that seemed simple turn out to carry significant costs once all the components are assembled.

The practical path is straightforward. Find a blank bidding or proposal spreadsheet. Bid the task or project you are working on right now. Compare your estimate to the real numbers. When there is a large gap, ask why. What are you not seeing? What assumptions are built into the real bid that you did not think of?

The sooner you start exercising your thinking in this area, the faster you develop the ability to create accurate, competitive estimates. That ability also makes you more cost conscious in the field, where small decisions about method, time, and resources translate directly into margin.

Find Your Sweet Spot and Chase It Down

Do what you are genuinely good at. Make a name for yourself doing it. Brandon describes how he found his: he joined one of Jason’s boot camps, added value wherever he could, and at the end of the week told Jason directly that he wanted to keep doing this work. Not passively. Actively. That directness led to a shift in his professional focus from purely technical survey work to training, coaching, and consulting alongside Elevate Construction.

The sweet spot is not a place to rest. It is the place where your most valuable skills and your deepest professional satisfaction overlap. Once you find it, pursue it deliberately. Talk to your supervisor about how to do more of it. Ask the department manager how your strongest skill can create the most value for the company. Build your reputation in that area and let it pull you forward.

Interpreting and Writing Scopes With Precision

The devil is in the details of a scope of work. Brandon illustrates this with a sanitary sewer layout example. A vague scope says: layout all structures and bends at maximum 30 foot intervals. That same scope, written with precision, specifies: two mobilizations maximum, two offset stakes at each structure and bend, one offset stake at 30 foot intervals maximum, additional mobilizations charged at the two person crew hourly rate. The second version protects the surveyor, sets clear expectations for the GC, and removes ambiguity about what happens when the project team changes the plan.

Writing a scope vaguely is not kindness. It is setting up a conflict for later. Clear is kind, unclear is unkind. Taking the time to specify mobilizations, stake counts, offset requirements, and overage rates means that everyone on the project team knows exactly what was agreed before anything happens that generates a cost dispute.

Build a Cohesive Department Without Silos

In a cohesive team, no one separates themselves from the group. When silos appear, the symptoms are predictable: miscommunication, duplicated effort, work heading in opposite directions, competition where collaboration should exist, and mixed signals going out to clients and trade partners.

Silos form in two ways. Either someone distances themselves from the group when they feel opposition to their ideas, or the group pushes someone out when they feel that person is a threat. In both cases, the team can no longer prosper as a whole.

Brandon sees this play out in boot camp simulations. When the scenario gets difficult, introverts go into their heads, extroverts take over the conversation, and others shut down. The result is a collection of individual movements in disconnected directions rather than a team moving toward a solution. The antidote is transparent, continuous communication: everyone knowing what the message is, who is doing what, and what the direction is.

Create a Culture by Being the Culture

Determine your values. Declare them. Live by them in every interaction. Brandon describes his own culture as quality and helping people grow. He builds his career around those values because they are genuinely his values, not because someone told him they were organizational priorities.

The key phrase from this section: be the environment you want to see. When you walk into a trailer where the culture is disengaged and flat, you do not absorb that environment. You bring yours. You start asking questions, showing genuine interest, creating energy. Not because you will change every person in the room. Some people will not come along. But you will not be changed by them either. The culture is in you, and you carry it wherever you go.

A culture of accountability is unstoppable. When people know they will be held responsible for the quality of their product, they bring their full attention. When they know everyone else is committed to their best, they rise to meet that standard.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The principles in Elevating Construction Surveyors apply to every professional on a construction project, not just those holding a rod or operating total stations.

How a GC Can Work Effectively With Surveyors

The general contractor and superintendent should expect and require constant communication from the survey team: an up to date control plan, look ahead planning input, and check in and check out conversations at the beginning and end of every visit. When that communication is missing, the project team makes decisions without the input of the people who know where the control is, what the obstacles are, and what is coming next.

GCs should also use surveyors where they create the most value. If the survey team is being pulled into carpentry tasks, trade partner layout QC, or serving as a tape and square for field engineers who should own those checks themselves, the surveyor is not being used at the precision level where they justify their cost. Carpenters, field engineers, and trade partners should own their own QC. The surveyor should be focused on the precision work that cannot be done any other way.

Brandon’s closing thought is worth carrying: your career will be so much better if you care about it. That caring is what flavors everything you do and everything you become.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you identify what someone’s learning style is when training them?

Watch how they respond when they are confused. If they reach for a pen and start drawing, they need visuals. If they start asking questions about the sequence, they are processing verbally. If they are restless and want to get to the instrument, they learn by doing. The clues are there. You just have to look for them.

What should a GC do when a surveyor shows up, does their work, and leaves without communicating?

Address it directly and early. Set the expectation at the start of the project: the survey team checks in at the start of each visit and checks out with a summary of what was done and what comes next. If that is not happening, it is a professional standard issue that can be raised with the survey company’s project manager.

What is the most important thing a department manager can do to prevent silos?

Communicate the direction, the standards, and the expectations with enough clarity and repetition that every team member can describe them independently. Silos form fastest when people are unclear about the direction and fill that uncertainty with their own interpretation.

Why does caring about your work matter beyond the obvious professional reasons?

Because caring is the root of everything that separates adequate from excellent. A person who cares will catch an error the person who is checking a box will miss. A person who cares will make the extra call that prevents a callback. Caring is not a personality trait. It is a professional choice.

How do you find your sweet spot if you are still early in your career?

Try things. Say yes to unfamiliar tasks, observe what comes naturally versus what requires exhausting effort, and pay attention to what kind of work leaves you energized rather than drained. Ask the people who have observed your work what they see as your strongest contribution. That outside perspective is often more accurate than your own assessment alone.

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.

When the Company Outgrows an Individual

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 15 min

When the Business Outgrows the Leader: The Hardest Conversation in Construction Companies

Over 80% of the companies Jason Schroeder visits have this problem. Someone on the leadership team was crucial to the company’s early success. Loyal. Hardworking. Present when it mattered. Promoted to a key position because they earned it, and because the company at that size needed exactly what that person had to offer.

Then the company grew. And somewhere in that growth, the business outgrew the person. Not because the person got worse. Because the job changed.

The Circles of Influence Visualization

Jason describes this through a visual he draws on a whiteboard. Imagine three people who founded or led a company in its early days. Each person is represented by a small circle. Around each small circle is a much larger circle, representing that person’s capacity: their influence, their proximity to the work, their ability to oversee what needs to be overseen.

In the early days, those three people and their combined circles of influence are wide enough to encompass everything the business needs managed. They can review every budget, visit every project, stay close to every key decision. The business fits inside their combined oversight.

Then the company triples in size. The circle representing everything the business needs managed grows three, five, ten times larger. But the circles representing the original leaders’ individual capacity stay the same size. They no longer encompass the whole business. There are areas of the operation that are outside anyone’s effective oversight.

This is the structural problem that causes many growing companies to feel like everything is getting harder without a clear reason. The work did not become more difficult. The oversight capacity simply stopped scaling with the demand.

The Multiplier Leader

The solution is not to work harder as an individual. It is to become a multiplier leader. Instead of using your influence to directly manage the business, you use your influence to develop the leaders who are managing the business. Each of those leaders, properly developed and genuinely guided, brings their own circle of influence to the table. When you multiply those circles, the combined oversight can encompass the full scope of what the business needs.

The leader who makes this transition successfully shifts their energy from doing the work to building the people who do the work. They hold their direct reports accountable, develop them actively, have the hard conversations, and create a version of their own standards inside every person they lead.

The leader who cannot make this transition keeps doing the work at their personal capacity, which no longer matches the scale of the business. Their direct reports do not grow because they are not being actively developed. The gaps in oversight multiply.

What It Looks Like When a Company Outgrows a Leader

Jason describes the leader the business outgrows as someone who does not hold people accountable, has low expectations, checks boxes rather than drives standards, is not refining company systems, operates with a fixed mindset, and is not providing real coaching and development to their direct reports. As a result, the people under their care have very small circles of influence. The portion of the business that falls under this leader’s area becomes a consistent source of problems, cost, and lost opportunity.

The painful reality: this person was excellent when the business was smaller. Their skills, their loyalty, their contributions were real and genuinely valuable. The problem is not their character. It is that the job has become something different from what they are capable of doing. The business needed one thing in the early days and needs something else now.

Jim Collins frames this as the number one metric in a business: the number of key seats filled with the right person. If you are below 90 to 95% on that measure, it is your single biggest focus as a business leader. And in most companies Jason visits, at least one key seat is occupied by someone the business has outgrown.

The Dilemma No One Wants to Name

Here is what makes this so hard. You love this person. They were there with you through the difficult years. They showed up when others would not. Removing them from the position feels like betrayal.

But keeping them in the seat has consequences that are just as real. Other people in the organization are being affected. The company is losing money. Projects are struggling. People who deserve strong leadership are not getting it.

Jason does not offer a simple answer. He references a General Electric example from How to Win Friends and Influence People: a custom position was created for someone in this situation that allowed them to save face while freeing the key seat for someone who could fill it properly. That is not always available, but it is often worth exploring.

What he is clear about: the problem cannot be denied. Saying “it’ll be fine” when a key seat is causing consistent organizational problems is not kindness. It is avoidance with real costs that fall on the rest of the organization.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Organizational health at the leadership level is as much a part of that work as any project system or planning tool.

The Challenge for Business Leaders

Look at your leadership team right now. For each person in a key seat, ask honestly: are their direct reports growing? Are the areas they oversee running well? Is the business getting more of what it needs from that area over time? Are there consistent problems that trace back to a single leader’s department?

The answers will tell you whether the business has outgrown anyone in a key seat. Awareness is the first step. Denial is not.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you know when someone in a key seat has genuinely been outgrown versus just having a rough stretch?

A rough stretch produces temporary problems. Being outgrown produces consistent, recurring problems that do not improve over time despite effort. If the same issues keep surfacing in the same area of the business regardless of circumstances, the root cause is structural. If it was situational, it would have resolved by now.

What does a multiplier leader actually do differently than a conventional manager?

A multiplier leader invests their energy in developing the people who are doing the work rather than doing the work themselves. They set clear expectations, hold direct reports genuinely accountable, give real feedback rather than passing it over, and develop each person’s capacity deliberately. The result is that their influence extends through the people they lead rather than only through their personal effort.

Is it possible for someone to learn to be a multiplier leader if they have never done it before?

Yes, with genuine commitment and sustained coaching. The shift requires a willingness to let go of direct doing, which is often deeply uncomfortable for high performers who built their reputation by outworking everyone around them. It also requires developing skills in giving feedback, holding accountability conversations, and mentoring that many leaders have not formally developed.

How do you create a custom position for someone who needs to move out of a key seat without humiliating them?

The key is framing it around contribution rather than removal. The conversation emphasizes the specific value this person brings, identifies a role where that value is genuinely needed, and presents the move as a recognition of that contribution rather than a demotion. This works best when the custom role is real rather than a parking lot, and when the person retains dignity and meaningful work.

What happens to companies that never address this problem?

They plateau, and often decline. The business can only grow to the level that its leadership capacity can oversee. When key seats are consistently filled with people who cannot scale their influence, the organization cannot scale its performance. The problems become the defining feature of the company rather than temporary challenges to work through.

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.

MINI-POD – It is NOT in Procore!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 16 min

It Is Not in Procore: What Your Project Management Software Cannot Do for You

Here is something Jason Schroeder hears constantly on project visits: “Oh, we have that in Procore.” Buyout status? In Procore. Supply chain? In Procore. Material procurement tracking? In Procore. Financial projections? In Procore.

It is not in Procore. Most of what people believe is being managed in their project management software is not being managed at all. It is being documented, entered, and filed. That is not the same thing.

What You Actually Need to Run a Project

Before getting to the software problem, Jason lays out the instruments that a project team genuinely cannot succeed without.

A schedule is not optional, and it has to exist before field work begins. That schedule needs to be built on Takt planning principles, or at minimum on builder mentalities applied through CPM tools like P6 or Microsoft Project. Pure critical path method alone is not sufficient. The contractors who have succeeded with P6 for decades have been using it with production thinking and buffer management, not with pure CPM logic. The schedule must reflect how the work is actually going to flow.

A quality program that is not a checklist in software but an actual sequence: right scope, right buyout, preconstruction meeting, first in place mockup, ongoing inspections, closeout inspections, and a system that ensures every trade partner arrives prepared and knowing what they are building and how.

A financial projection summary that captures the full picture: original budget versus current budget, buyout contingency, over under by scope, fee, labor gains, gains on bonds and insurance, equipment rental gains, known and projected exposures, contractor contingency balance, pending change orders, and owner or design contingency balance. All of that totaling to a current financial projection that tells the team whether the project is on track to deliver its target gross margin.

A risk and opportunity register that ties directly into the financial projections.

A buyout log and a material procurement log, which are separate documents with separate purposes.

A roadblock removal system and a way to track team health.

That is the baseline. Not the aspirational target. The floor.

What Procore Actually Tracks

Procore has a submittal register. That is not a procurement log. It tracks whether submittals have been submitted, reviewed, and approved. It does not track whether the approved submittal triggered a purchase order at the manufacturing plant, whether that order is in fabrication, whether it is being shipped, whether it has cleared customs, when it is expected on site, what buffer has been built between delivery and installation, or whether the supermarket has room to receive it.

A procurement log tracks the full supply chain from approved submittal to material in the supermarket ready for installation. The difference between having a submittal register and having a procurement log is the difference between knowing that paperwork moved and knowing that materials will arrive on time to support flow.

The same distinction applies to a buyout log. A buyout log is not a list of contracts in a system. It is a living document aligned to the Takt rhythm of the project, showing for each scope whether the trade partner is identified, whether the scope inclusions and exclusions are defined, whether the contract is drafted and signed, whether bonds and insurance are in place, whether safety and quality plans have been submitted, whether the trade partner is pre qualified, and whether everything needed for them to begin work successfully is complete. All of that aligned to the dates when each scope needs to be ready to support the production sequence.

Why the “It’s in Procore” Response Is a Problem

When someone on a project team responds to a request for a procurement log by saying “we have that in Procore,” what they have revealed is that they do not have a procurement log. They have a submittal register and they believe those are the same thing.

This matters because the supply chain problems that derail construction projects are not submittal problems. They are sequencing problems, lead time problems, customs clearance problems, delivery coordination problems, and supermarket management problems. A submittal register cannot surface any of those. A functioning procurement log can surface all of them before they affect the schedule.

The same is true for the buyout log. Knowing that a subcontract exists in a system is not the same as knowing that a trade partner is fully prepared to mobilize when the Takt plan calls for them. Insurance lapses, unsigned scope addenda, missing quality plans: these things do not appear in a subcontract status field. They appear in a rigorous buyout log with clear readiness criteria at each stage.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

  • A buyout log aligned to the Takt plan shows that a mechanical contractor needs to be fully ready to mobilize in six weeks, and currently their insurance certificate has not been updated
  • A procurement log shows that a long lead specialty item needs to be ordered this week to hit its buffer window ahead of the installation date, but the submittal is still in review
  • A financial projection summary shows that two pending change orders represent significant contingency exposure and a decision about contractor contingency needs to happen before the next owner meeting

None of that visibility lives in a submittal register. All of it exists in the instruments that project teams still need to build and maintain separately.

What This Means Going Forward

Jason is direct about the state of the technology. As of this recording, project management platforms have not built the functionality that would replace a proper procurement log, a Takt aligned buyout log, or a financial projection summary. When they do, the improvement will be in the speed and accessibility of that information, not in the elimination of the information itself.

Until then, running a construction project without a separate buyout log and a separate material procurement log is running a project without two of the most important instruments in the kit. The submittal register tells you what the paperwork is doing. The procurement log tells you whether the materials will be there when you need them. Those are not interchangeable.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

The Challenge for Your Project

Pull up your current procurement tracking for one active scope on your project. Ask whether it shows: the submittal status, the PO status, the fabrication status, the shipping status, the expected delivery date, the buffer window before installation, and the supermarket location on site where the material will land.

If more than two of those are missing, you do not have a procurement log. You have a submittal register. Find out what is missing and build the tracking that will give you visibility into the full supply chain.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum a buyout log needs to include to be useful?

At minimum: scope name, trade partner, contract status, inclusions and exclusions confirmed, insurance current, safety plan submitted, quality plan submitted, and the date by which full readiness is required based on the Takt plan. Anything less than this is a contract list, not a buyout log.

Should the procurement log be a separate document from the Takt plan or integrated into it?

They should inform each other. The Takt plan drives the dates in the procurement log. The procurement log surfaces whether the material will be ready in time to support the Takt plan. Some teams maintain them as separate documents with shared date references. Others build procurement tracking directly into the Takt plan timeline. Either approach works as long as both exist.

How often should the procurement log be reviewed?

Weekly at minimum, with the superintendent leading the review. For projects with significant long lead items or complex supply chains, more frequent review is appropriate. The procurement meeting is a standing agenda item for the weekly project coordination cycle.

Is a financial projection summary the same as a job cost report?

No. A job cost report shows where money has been spent against budget. A financial projection summary projects where the project will finish financially, incorporating not just actual costs but contingency exposure, pending changes, labor gain or loss projections, and fee status. A job cost report is a lagging indicator. A financial projection is a forward looking management instrument.

What is the most common procurement failure mode on construction projects?

Not accounting for lead time against the production schedule. A trade partner is bought out on time and the submittal is approved on time, but nobody has traced the lead time from PO to fabrication to delivery against when the material is actually needed in the field. The procurement log prevents this by making the full timeline visible at every review.

 

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.

MINI-POD – Treat the patient, not the tools!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 16 min

Stop Checking the Equipment and Start Treating the Patient

Imagine you are in a hospital room. Something is wrong. You can feel it. You call for help. A nurse comes in, walks past you to the IV stand, checks the bag, verifies the drip rate, says “IV is functioning,” and leaves. Another person comes in, walks to the heart monitor, checks the readings, says “monitor is working properly,” and leaves. One after another, the medical staff enter the room, verify that each piece of equipment is operational, and exit without ever addressing the fact that you are telling them something is wrong.

That is what is happening on construction projects every day when project managers and project engineers treat their tools as the deliverable.

The Tool Monkey Problem

Jason has been watching this pattern for years. It shows up most often with project managers and project engineers, though it is not exclusive to those roles. The person comes in, checks the submittal register in Procore, confirms it is updated, and considers the submittals managed. They open the financial tracker, see the numbers are in the system, and consider the financials managed. They run a percent plan complete report and consider production managed.

Every tool is functioning. Everything looks fine in the software. And yet materials are arriving late, production targets are being missed, trade partners are losing money, and the project is drifting toward a crash landing.

The problem is not that the tools are bad. The problem is that the tools are being treated as the end rather than the means. Managing the submittal log is not managing submittals. Managing the risk in a software field is not managing risk. Verifying that Heavy Job has numbers in it is not managing production. These tools exist to support a professional who is actively managing a scope of work from start to finish. They are the instruments, not the practice.

The DPR Boot Camp Reframe

Jason describes a project engineer boot camp he ran at DPR Construction, one of the first of its kind. The entire premise was built on a single reframe: project engineers do not submit RFIs. They do not process submittals. They do not enter subcontractor pay applications. They manage scopes.

From the inception of a contract to its completion, a project engineer’s job is to scope out the work, buy out the contractor at the right price with the right understanding, set them up for success, prepare everything needed to begin, conduct a preconstruction meeting, oversee a first in place mockup inspection, perform continuous follow up inspections, close out the scope, and complete any change orders to the owner’s satisfaction.

That is the full arc. The RFI is one instrument in that arc. The submittal is another. Pay applications are a third. None of them are the job. The job is creating flow and delivering value to the trade partner, the owner, and the project team from the beginning of the scope to its end.

The phrase Jason uses is: do not just master the skills, master the scopes. The distinction matters enormously in practice. A person who has mastered the RFI process knows how to submit and track an RFI. A person who has mastered the scope knows when an RFI needs to happen to prevent a field problem, what information needs to go into it, how to follow it until the answer is in the field engineer’s hands, and how that answer needs to flow back to the trade partner installing the work.

Those are not the same skill level. And only one of them produces a finished scope.

What the Hospital Scene Reveals

The hospital analogy is specifically designed to produce discomfort in the right places. When project team members focus on tools rather than outcomes, the person who suffers is the one who needs help.

The trade partner who tells you materials are late needs someone to look at the procurement sequence and figure out where the breakdown happened, not a Procore notification that the submittal log has been updated. The superintendent who says production is off needs someone to look at the Takt plan, identify the constraint, and remove the roadblock, not a report from a scheduling tool showing the completion percentage.

Here is what treating the patient actually looks like in construction:

  • A trade partner is behind schedule. Instead of flagging it in a log, the project engineer sits down with the foreman, reviews the work sequence, identifies what is blocking flow, and drives resolution of each constraint with specific owners and dates
  • Materials are late. Instead of updating a procurement field in software, the project engineer calls the vendor, understands the delay, evaluates the impact on the Takt plan, and adjusts the sequence if needed while escalating to the superintendent
  • An owner raises a quality concern. Instead of opening a punch list item in Procore, the project engineer walks the scope with the trade partner, establishes the standard, reviews the mockup protocol, and builds a follow up schedule that prevents the same issue from recurring

In each case, the tool may be involved. The tool is not the action. The professional using it is.

The System View

Construction professionals who treat tool mastery as scope mastery are producing the same result as checking the IV without examining the patient. The tools are functioning. The patient is declining. And everyone in the room is confident the machines are working.

This is not an indictment of technology. Heavy Job, Procore, Bluebeam, and every other platform in use on construction projects can be genuinely useful. The question is whether the person using the tool is doing so in service of a patient they are actually trying to treat, or in service of keeping the machine running. The former produces outcomes. The latter produces documentation.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The shift from tool focused to scope focused execution is one of the most impactful changes a project team can make, and it starts with a clear definition of what the job actually is.

The Challenge for Every Project Engineer and Project Manager

Pull up the last week of your work activity. Count the hours you spent operating tools versus the hours you spent actively driving a scope from a constraint toward resolution. How many conversations did you have directly with trade partners about their production problems? How many times did you look at your Takt plan and trace a constraint back to a specific action item with an owner and a due date?

If the answer reveals more time in the software than in the work, the reframe is available. Tools serve scopes. Scopes serve people. The patient is waiting.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you know if you are managing a scope versus just managing the tools?

Ask whether your actions are resolving constraints or documenting them. If you close a submittal in the system but the trade partner still does not have the information they need to proceed, you documented something. If you follow the submittal through to the field and confirm the trade partner can proceed, you managed something. The difference is in what actually moves.

Is this problem specific to less experienced project engineers, or does it show up across experience levels?

It shows up across all experience levels, but the cause differs. Newer project engineers often do not yet know the full scope arc and fill the role with tool tasks because it is what they were shown. More experienced project managers sometimes drift into tool management because it is measurable and defensible, while scope management is harder to demonstrate in a weekly report.

What does a good scope management structure look like in practice?

It looks like a project engineer who owns a defined list of trade partner scopes from buyout to closeout, conducts regular direct conversations with each trade partner about their production, tracks constraints and drives their resolution, and can describe at any moment where each scope stands and what the next action is. The tools support that structure. They do not replace it.

How do you make the transition from tool focused to scope focused if the whole team is operating in tool mode?

Start with one scope. Pick the one that is most at risk and assign a specific person to own it fully, meaning from constraint identification to resolution, not just from log entry to log entry. Run that scope differently for two weeks and measure the difference. The contrast will make the argument better than any presentation could.

What role does leadership play in creating a tool focused culture in the first place?

A significant one. When leaders evaluate project engineers on submittal log completeness and RFI response times rather than on trade partner flow and scope delivery, they are incentivizing tool management. The culture follows the metrics. Change the metrics and the culture will follow.

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.

MINI-POD – Production Comparisons

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 16 min

Stop Guessing Where Production Went: The Daily Production Comparison Every Self Perform Crew Needs

There is a gap between knowing your production target and knowing why you hit it or missed it. Most self perform contractors live in that gap every single day. They have systems that tell them where they ended up. They do not have systems that tell them where the deviation happened, why it happened, or what to do differently tomorrow.

That gap is where profit disappears. And it is entirely fixable.

What Tracking Systems Actually Do and Do Not Tell You

HCSS Heavy Job is one of the better tools in the civil construction space for tracking production. It does what it is designed to do: capture production data and help you compare actuals to budget. Many commercial and vertical contractors have equivalent systems. Some have nothing at all.

The problem is not the tool. The problem is what any lagging indicator system shows you. It shows you where you ended up. It does not show you where the deviation happened, what caused it, or how to prevent it tomorrow. You can see that you installed 140 linear feet when the target was 180. You cannot see that you were 20 minutes late starting because the laser was not set up, that you lost another 30 minutes to a crew driving back to the office to use the restroom, and that a pipe delivery arrived at the wrong end of the road closure and cost you 45 minutes of repositioning.

If you want to recover production, you need to know where it was lost. That requires a different kind of analysis.

The Ten Minute Production Matrix

The concept is straightforward. On the left side of an Excel sheet, list your production stations in 20-foot increments. Across the top, list time intervals in ten minute blocks from start to finish of the shift. Then, at each ten minute mark, note where each crew element is in the matrix.

Jason uses a civil water pipe installation as an example. The target is 180 linear feet of water pipe in a road closure from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The crew is a five person pipe crew and a two person grading crew. In the matrix, you can map where the pipe crew is stringing up pipe, where the grading crew is on demo, when the excavation transitions to installation, when backfill begins, when compaction happens.

A skilled superintendent or foreman who does this work in advance will know exactly what the production sequence has to look like to hit 180 feet: pipe installation every 40 minutes through the stations, with time built in for the morning huddle, for lunch, for fixture installation, for transitions between tasks. They can see the plan before the work begins. Everyone on the crew knows where they are supposed to be at every key point in the day.

More importantly: when the actual day runs, you can track where each crew element actually was at each ten minute mark and compare it to the plan. That comparison produces the data you actually need.

From Deviation to Corrective Action

Say the plan called for a specific activity to start at 8:20 a.m. It actually started at 8:40 a.m. When it did start, it took twice as long as planned. That is a documented deviation. Now ask why.

Was the laser not set up before the excavator was mobilized? Were materials staged too far from the work zone, requiring too much transport time? Did someone have to drive a truck back to the office to use the restroom? Was there a survey issue? Were drawings not ready? Was there a conflict in the field that required a phone call to engineering?

Every deviation has a cause. The causes fall into a manageable set of categories: equipment not ready, materials not positioned correctly, survey not complete, drawings not available, crew capacity issues, site access problems, rework from a previous activity, or simple coordination failures that could have been resolved in the morning huddle.

When you identify the deviations and trace their causes, you have a list of corrective items for tomorrow’s morning huddle. Not a vague “let’s do better” conversation. A specific action list:

  • The laser has to be set up before the excavator arrives, not after. That task is owned by a specific person by 6:45 a.m.
  • The morning huddle ran too long. Someone sets a timer. Done in ten minutes.
  • A porta potty has been ordered for the project site. It will be serviced three times a week. No more round trips to the office.
  • The pipe material was staged at the wrong end. Tomorrow’s staging location is marked on the plan. Delivery confirmed to the right access point.

That is the corrective action cycle. Day by day, the deviations get smaller. Flow increases. Production improves. Margin recovers.

Why This Has to Be the Foreman’s Job

A superintendent can set up this system and conduct the morning huddles. But the ten minute matrix only works if someone in the field is tracking in real time. That person is the foreman.

The foreman who understands production planning is not just a crew manager. They are a production system operator. They know the target, they know the sequence, and they are watching for deviation in real time so they can address it before it compounds. A five minute delay caught and corrected at 7:30 a.m. does not become a 45 minute loss by 11:00 a.m.

The foremen and superintendents who do this work are the ones who make money for their companies on self perform. The ones who do not are the ones whose projects bleed margin every day without anyone understanding why, because the lagging indicators only tell them they are behind, not where they lost the ground.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Production comparison analysis is a core component of field operations coaching for self perform contractors, civil crews, and any team where labor productivity is the primary driver of project margin.

The Challenge for Your Self Perform Crews

This week, build the matrix for one upcoming self perform task. Pick a scope where you have a production target and a defined crew. Map the stations on the left. Map the time intervals across the top. Then map what the sequence has to look like to hit the target.

Run the work. Track what actually happened. Compare the two. Count your deviations. Find the causes. Bring three corrective items to tomorrow’s morning huddle.

Do that for 30 days and your production numbers will be unrecognizable from where they started.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this approach work for vertical construction, or only civil and utility work?

It works for any self perform scope where there is a production target and a repeating sequence of tasks. Concrete crews, framing and drywall crews, mechanical and electrical self perform operations: all of them have stations, sequences, and time based production targets that can be mapped and tracked this way.

How do you get foremen to adopt this without it feeling like surveillance?

Frame it as a tool that protects them, not evaluates them. When a foreman can show that the deviation happened because materials were staged wrong or the laser was not ready, the foreman is protected from blame. When there is no tracking, the foreman absorbs the result regardless of cause. The matrix is their documentation as much as it is a performance tool.

What if the foreman does not have the skills to build this kind of plan?

That is the first investment to make. Train the foreman on production planning before asking them to track deviation. A superintendent or project engineer can build the first matrix together with the foreman, walk them through the sequence, and run the first few daily reviews alongside them. The skill develops through repetition.

How granular does the tracking need to be? Does every ten minutes feel excessive?

Ten minutes is a guideline for high production rate scopes. For some scopes, 15 or 20 minute intervals may be more appropriate. The goal is granular enough to catch a deviation before it compounds, not so granular that tracking becomes the work.

Can this approach be used in a pullplan or Last Planner setting, or is it separate from those systems?

It is complementary. The Takt plan and Last Planner system give you the macro production sequence across the project. The ten minute matrix gives you the micro production sequence within a single task or day. Both are needed. The Takt plan ensures the work is positioned correctly. The production matrix ensures the work is executed correctly once it begins.

 

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.

The Right Way to Play Monopoly!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 18 min

Are You Playing the Construction Game to Win? A Monopoly Analogy Every PM Needs to Hear

Over the holidays, Jason Schroeder played Monopoly with his kids. He spread his money out so every denomination was visible at a glance. He organized his property cards in front of him so he could collect rent the moment someone landed on his holdings. And as he circled the board, he would look two or three rolls ahead, check the rents on the properties he was approaching, and assess whether he had enough cash to cover his exposure. He played with data. He played with visibility. He played with strategy.

His kids did not. Money was clumped in a pile. Property cards were half tucked under the board. They did not know what they owned, did not know how much they had, and would miss collecting rent entirely when someone landed on their holdings. Eventually, two of them went bankrupt after buying into positions they could not afford heading into expensive territory. They were playing the game. They were not playing to win.

That distinction is exactly what separates project teams that perform from project teams that survive.

The Three Ways You Can Lose Without Realizing It

Jason’s Monopoly observation is not just a charming holiday story. It is a precise map of how project managers and superintendents operate on real construction projects.

The first failure is not knowing your cash position. In Monopoly, you need to know exactly how many hundreds, fifties, and twenties you have before you make a decision to buy a property or develop one. In construction, that is your financial projection, your cost to complete, your contingency position, your fee exposure. If you do not know those numbers, you are spending money you may not have.

The second failure is not knowing what you own and where you are on the board. Every property card face down is a rent collection you will miss. On a construction project, that is your buyout log, your procurement status, your open change orders, your risk and opportunity register. If those are not visible, you are missing collections and exposures that are happening whether you see them or not.

The third failure is not looking ahead. Jason would scan the properties his piece was approaching, check the rents, and adjust his strategy. That is the function of a Takt plan on a construction project. It tells you where your piece is about to go, what is coming, when materials need to arrive, when contractors need to be bought out, when design needs to be complete, when coordination needs to be finished. Without it, you are rolling the dice and hoping.

The Metrics That Actually Matter

A project manager who had come up through the college route, not through the field as a foreman or superintendent, once told Jason that the questions he was describing were exactly what he did every day as a PM. What is our target for production? What did we actually produce? Where are the deviations and what do we do about them? How are we tracking against our risks? How are we tracking against our opportunities? What do the financial projections say?

Jason’s realization in that moment was clarifying: that project manager was great not because of his field experience, but because he knew how to play Monopoly. He spread the money out. He could see all of his properties. He knew where his piece was and where it was about to go.

The metrics a project team needs to play the game properly are not complicated. They are the instruments that make the game visible:

  • A Takt plan as the foundation for everything else
  • A buyout log that shows what contractors are under contract and what is not yet committed
  • A procurement log that tracks what has been ordered, what has been received, and what needs to arrive and when
  • A risk and opportunity register that names the exposures and the upside
  • Financial projections updated regularly so the team knows where the money actually stands
  • A roadblock removal system that surfaces what is preventing production and drives accountability for clearing it

Without these instruments, a project team is managing by feel. They are playing the game with their money in a pile and their property cards face down. They will miss the rent. They will make purchases they cannot afford. They will roll into expensive territory without knowing what is coming.

The Takt Plan Is Not One Tool Among Many

Jason makes a point worth dwelling on. Every other instrument on the list depends on the Takt plan. You do not have a meaningful procurement log without a Takt plan, because you cannot know when materials need to arrive without knowing the production sequence. You do not have accurate financial projections without a Takt plan, because the cost to complete depends on how the work is actually going to flow. You do not have a legitimate risk register without a Takt plan, because the risks are in the gaps and constraints of the production sequence.

If a superintendent is not referencing their Takt plan multiple times per day on a project, they are not managing production. They are reacting to it. And the difference between those two modes is the difference between playing Monopoly with your eyes open and playing with them closed.

On a project site, the Takt plan answers every time dependent question. When do materials need to arrive? Look at the Takt plan. When does a contractor need to be bought out? Look at the Takt plan. When does design need to be complete? Look at the Takt plan. When does permitting need to happen? Look at the Takt plan. When does coordination need to be done? Look at the Takt plan.

That level of integration is not administrative detail. It is how you know where your piece is, what is coming, and whether you have enough resources to cover the exposure.

What Playing to Win Actually Looks Like

Jason’s daughter Emory eventually wandered off to watch a movie. Jason played for her. She and he both finished the game. Not because Jason is especially talented at Monopoly, but because he had metrics. He could see the board. He knew what was coming.

Two other players went bankrupt because they did not. They bought into positions without looking ahead, ran out of cash heading into expensive territory, and could not recover even with creative deal making to keep them in the game.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The teams that consistently finish their projects on time and on budget are not the ones that work the hardest. They are the ones that can see the board clearly and use that visibility to make better decisions before the consequences arrive.

The Challenge for Your Project

Pull up your current project metrics. Not the ones in your project management software that nobody reads. The ones your team actually uses to make daily decisions. Is your Takt plan current and being referenced multiple times a day? Is your buyout log accurate? Do you have financial projections that reflect what is actually happening? Is there a risk and opportunity register that anyone is actually using?

If the answer to any of those is no, you are playing Monopoly with your money in a pile. Fix the visibility first. Everything else follows from knowing what you have, what you own, and where you are about to go.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Takt plan the foundation for all other project metrics?

Because it establishes the production sequence, which determines when everything else has to happen. Without knowing the production sequence, procurement dates are guesses, financial projections are estimates disconnected from flow, and risk analysis has no timeline to anchor to. The Takt plan converts strategy into a visible, time phased production plan that every other instrument can be built against.

What is a risk and opportunity register and why does it matter?

A risk register names the specific events or conditions that could affect the project negatively, along with the mitigation or contingency plan for each. An opportunity register does the same for events that could improve the outcome, whether through schedule gains, fee recovery, or cost reduction. Together, they make the project team play forward, anticipating what is coming rather than just reacting to what has arrived.

How often should financial projections be updated on a project?

At minimum monthly, and for projects with significant self perform scope or high change order activity, weekly. The projection should reflect actual cost to complete based on current production rates and committed costs, not just the original budget. A projection that is three months old is not a projection. It is a historical document.

What is the difference between a procurement log and a buyout log?

A buyout log tracks which trade partners are under contract and which scopes remain uncommitted. A procurement log tracks specific materials: what has been ordered, what has been received, what is in transit, and what still needs to be ordered. Both are necessary. A contractor can be bought out while their materials are still on backorder, and a procurement log catches that exposure while the buyout log cannot.

How do you build a culture where project teams actually use these tools daily?

Start with the morning huddle. Make the review of the Takt plan, the roadblock tracker, and the financial position a standing agenda item that happens before anything else. When leaders consistently reference these instruments to make decisions, the team learns that the instruments are real tools, not administrative boxes to check. The culture follows the leadership behavior.

 

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.

What I Had Said Wuz….

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 17 min

What Construction Phrases Actually Mean: A Systems Thinking Wake Up Call

There is a Saturday Night Live sketch Jason Schroeder and his wife Katie reference often. A character says something that lands badly, then backtracks with “see, what I had said was…” The humor is in the gap between intention and actual meaning. That same gap exists all over the construction industry, and it is costing projects millions.

This episode is about thinking in systems. Not just taking contract provisions, owner requirements, and field directives at face value, but tracing the feedback loops they create and understanding what they actually produce.

What Systems Thinking Actually Is

The book Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows defines a system as a grouping of stocks, flows, and feedback loops. When a stock changes, or when something affects the inflow or outflow of that stock, it creates a feedback loop that shapes behavior. Some of those loops are reinforcing, compounding in one direction. Others are balancing, pushing back against change. Either way, the system produces consequences that the original decision may never have intended.

The construction industry is full of systems that produce consequences their designers never anticipated or never acknowledged. The danger is not bad intent. It is the assumption that the phrase means what it sounds like, when the actual feedback loops tell a completely different story.

Six Phrases and What They Actually Mean

“We have a fixed fee in a GMP contract.”

On the surface: the contractor will be paid a fixed amount above cost, and costs are capped. Sounds like a reasonable arrangement that aligns incentives.

What it actually means in systems terms: the contractor is incentivized to keep more people on the project longer. If general conditions are chargeable against the GMP and the contractor earns labor gains on management positions, adding two or three people to the team and keeping them there longer generates additional fee. There is no incentive to finish early or run a lean team. There is also an incentive to transfer self performed labor costs from a lump sum concrete or framing scope into the main project budget, increasing reported project cost while reducing their reported self perform loss. The feedback loop rewards staying longer and spending more, not finishing efficiently.

“The designer says: we have a system that works for us. Just fit into it and we’ll release design as we finish.”

On the surface: the designer has an established workflow and wants to maintain it. Sounds like a reasonable request for continuity.

What it actually means: there will be no collaborative design process. The contractor and trade partners will react to design releases with costs, triggering a pinball cycle of the project being over budget, the designer wanting more scope, and the owner being forced through value engineering to reconcile the two. The designer’s feedback loop pushes them to include as much as possible to build a strong portfolio project for future work. The contractor becomes the villain for flagging the cost. Problems that could have been prevented in design get handed to the contractor to absorb in the field.

“We have shared float on the schedule.”

On the surface: both parties have access to schedule contingency and will manage it collaboratively. Sounds equitable.

What it actually means: the owner will consume the float for design changes, leaving none for legitimate contractor delays. The contractor, knowing this, will hide their contingency and maintain two schedules: one for the owner and one for actual project management. This is not dishonesty in isolation. It is the predictable result of a system that eliminates the contractor’s ability to protect legitimate delay claims. You now have policy resistance, tragedy of the commons, performance drift, and rule breaking: four system archetypes created by one clause.

“We need to competitively bid the project and get three prices for everything.”

On the surface: fiscal responsibility, good stewardship of someone else’s money. Sounds like the right thing to do.

What it actually means: selecting based on lowest cost rather than best value. The feedback loop in a lowest cost selection prioritizes the number that looks smallest at bid time, not the partner most likely to deliver on time, at quality, without contingency erosion. The lowest cost trade partner is often the one who missed scope, underestimated risk, or cannot perform at the level required. The contingency that was saved at bid gets consumed executing around failed vendors and trade partners. The system designed to save money costs more than it saves.

“Show me the critical path.”

On the surface: the owner or consultant wants to understand what is driving the schedule. Sounds like informed oversight.

What it actually means: attention is diverted from the actual causes of project delay. Projects do not delay because of a critical path activity. They delay because of broken flow, missing readiness, constrained trade access, and productivity problems at the task level. A focus on the critical path forces contractors to defend a theoretical model rather than address the real production system. It also allows owners to use the absence of a critical path hit as evidence that the contractor cannot claim delay, even when the project is clearly behind due to owner caused conditions.

“You need to add more manpower.”

On the surface: the project is behind, so more people should accelerate progress. Sounds like a logical response to a schedule problem.

What it actually means: the trade partner’s productivity will decrease. Adding workers to a constrained work area increases interference, coordination burden, and overhead. More people competing for the same space move slower, not faster. The escalation archetype takes over: the general contractor adds pressure, productivity drops, more manpower is demanded, productivity drops further, and the trade partner burns through their margin while the GC explains the delay to the owner. What the directive really means in practice: add people so it looks like progress is being made, which slows you down so we can blame you for the delay while your profit disappears.

A Critical Caution

Jason is direct about something important here. These are analyses of systems and their consequences, not accusations of bad intent. The owner who says “show me the critical path” may genuinely believe that is the right tool. The designer who wants to fit contractors into their workflow may not realize they are creating a design bid build dynamic. The GC who says “add manpower” may legitimately want to help.

Assuming negative intent is both unfair and unproductive. The work is to assume positive intent while being clear eyed about negative consequences. When you hear these phrases, the right response is not cynicism. It is a systems thinking question: what feedback loops does this create, and how do we design around the destructive ones while preserving the intent behind the request?

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Understanding the systems underneath the phrases is one of the most powerful skills a construction leader can develop.

The Challenge This Week

Pick one phrase or provision from your current project that you have accepted at face value. Trace the feedback loops it creates. Ask what behavior it incentivizes. Then ask whether that behavior matches what everyone involved actually wants from the project.

As Donella Meadows wrote in Thinking in Systems, “Before you disturb the system in any way, watch how it behaves.” In construction, that watching starts with understanding what the words actually produce, not just what they were intended to mean.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you raise concerns about a destructive system without damaging the relationship?

Frame it around shared consequences, not blame. “I want to flag something about how this provision typically plays out, because I think it creates a dynamic that hurts both of us.” Most owners and designers have not traced these feedback loops themselves. Bringing the conversation as a shared problem to solve is more effective than presenting it as a grievance.

Is systems thinking a skill that can be learned, or is it just how some people think?

It is absolutely a learnable skill. The book Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows is the clearest introduction available. Reading it once will permanently change how you hear construction decisions, contract provisions, and field directives.

What is the most common destructive system in construction projects today?

Based on what Jason observes across dozens of projects and companies: the combination of shared float and lowest cost selection. Together, they eliminate schedule transparency and bring in under resourced trade partners, creating the conditions for a project that crash lands regardless of how well the field team performs.

How do you protect your team from destructive feedback loops you cannot change?

By naming them explicitly in your project kickoff and planning conversations. When everyone on the team understands that a shared float provision will incentivize hiding contingency, they can make a conscious choice about how to respond rather than simply reacting to the pressure the system creates.

Can these same systems thinking principles apply to managing a crew or department, not just contracts?

Yes. Every policy, incentive structure, and communication norm creates feedback loops. A crew culture that punishes people for flagging problems will produce a crew that hides problems. A performance review system that  rewards busyness over output will produce busy but unproductive teams. The principles apply at every level of the organization.

 

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.

Making Elevating Construction Surveyors, Part 5, Feat. Brandon Montero

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 21 min
  • From Technician to Professional: Ten Habits That Define Survey Excellence in Construction

Brandon Monteiro and Jason Schroeder are building a book. Each session of this podcast series adds another layer to what will become Elevating Construction Surveyors, a practical framework for anyone who touches control and layout on a construction project. This fifth session covers ten more principles, ranging from how your stakes look to how you lead the people working alongside you.

Aesthetics Matter More Than You Think

The first principle opens with a thought experiment. Two builders come to meet an owner. One has a clean, organized presentation. The other has coffee stained plans loosely stacked under his arm. The owner cannot yet evaluate which builder has more knowledge. But one of them has already told the owner something important about how they work.

Brandon tells the story of a company where the chainman’s job, after staking any run of curb or utilities, was to walk to the end of the line and check that every stake and lath was in alignment and plumb. A staking job that looks correct tells the client the work was done with care, before they ever check the numbers.

Aesthetics in survey work is not decoration. It is communication. Leaders arranged consistently, lines that do not cross, clutter removed, stakes that stand plumb: every one of these choices tells the client either “this person is a professional” or “this person went through the motions.” The first earns trust. The second erodes it.

Never Accept a Work Order at Face Value

Work orders do not always come from people who understand your methods, your equipment, or the tolerances that make the task possible. Sometimes they pass through three layers of communication before they reach you. By the time they do, the critical context that would have changed your approach may be missing entirely.

Brandon’s challenge is to treat the work order as the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. Ask who is going to use this data. Ask how they will process it. Ask what their tolerance requirements are. Ask whether the current site conditions actually support the planned task. The answers to those questions will change your plan, your method of approach, the level of effort you need, and sometimes whether the task should happen at all.

The person handing you the work order is not always your client. The person who will use your work is.

Communicate on the Site, Not Just About the Site

Brandon describes a pattern that is widespread in construction survey: crews show up, put their heads down, complete the task as written, and leave. The reason is not indifference. It is discomfort. Many field professionals do not feel empowered to have conversations about scope changes, cost, or site conditions that affect the plan. So they avoid those conversations by minimizing contact and maximizing output.

The client’s real need is not always what is written on the work order. Sometimes the ground is not ready. Sometimes a quick walkthrough with the superintendent would prevent a callback three days later.

The professional standard: check in when you arrive, walk the site with the person receiving your work, review the work before you leave, and ask what could be done better. That approach earns recurring work and professional respect.

Challenge: check in and check out on every job site. Walk the site with the person receiving your work.

Be Personally Organized

Brandon tells a story from an early internship. His crew arrived at a job site. The party chief slid open the van door to retrieve the plan set. The trash can positioned by the door tipped over as the door opened, spilling trash onto the ground while the superintendent walked up. The superintendent’s expression said everything.

Personal organization is not about neatness for its own sake. It is about whether you can work efficiently in the environment you have created. Does your vehicle have a place for everything you need? Is your tool belt organized? Do you have a morning routine that clarifies the day’s priorities before the day starts? The person with no personal organization system spends the day reacting. The person with one spends the day executing.

Plan Your Work Before You Begin It

Brandon makes the point that all previous principles come together here. Planning the work means deciding in advance how communication will happen, what the aesthetic standard will be, how the crew will flow, and what the quality checks are.

His training example: when preparing a field engineer for grid line layout, he walks through the full process before touching the equipment. Task, process, note style, data collector workflow. By the time the crew leaves, everyone can see the plan in their mind and knows what done looks like. What is not decided in advance gets decided in the moment, under pressure, with less information. That is how errors enter the work.

Listen to the Site: Future Needs Are Already Visible

Brandon uses the image of a person walking toward an open trench while looking elsewhere. You can either watch what is about to happen or you can intervene. The same principle applies to every project site. The future is written in what is already in front of you, if you are paying attention.

He gives a practical example: a rain event has disturbed the rough grade in an area scheduled for curb staking. The stakes can still be set, but the concrete crew will arrive, find the ground is not ready, and the stakes will be wasted. One conversation before the staking visit changes the entire sequence and saves a full remobilization.

The professionals who become indispensable to a project team are the ones who consistently see what is coming and communicate it before it becomes a problem.

Ask: Does That Sound Right? Does That Look Right?

Brandon describes being on a curb staking job when the person running the data collector handed him a stake description with a cut of half a foot. The previous stake had been two hundredths. The ground was flat. No visible grade change supported a half foot difference. That disconnect was the signal.

He stopped, asked the question, and found the data collector operator had changed his rod height without updating the instrument. A half foot error would have been staked into every subsequent hub.

This is the QC process that lives in the field. Not a formal review step. Not a software check. The professional’s awareness, running continuously, measuring what is being seen against what should be seen, and asking the question when something does not match.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

  • The stake cut does not match the visual grade change at your feet
  •  The offset you walked out does not line up with the adjacent offsets 
  • A residual that was tight yesterday is now loose on the same points

Any of those signals means stop, ask the question, and find the answer before the work continues.

Do Your Mental Checklist

Before leaving the office, before starting each task, at every transition in the field: run the list. Do you have everything you need? Have you reviewed the work order against actual site conditions?

Brandon makes the point that a mental checklist has to start as a written one. You have to know physically what the full scope of the task requires before you can carry it reliably in your head. Write it once. Review it until it becomes automatic. Then use it mentally.

Challenge: write down the big picture of your next task, break it into component checklists, and visualize each one before leaving the office.

Always Consider Cost

The surveyor in the field is often the only person who knows in real time that the scope has expanded or that a task that was supposed to take two hours has turned into six. The professional obligation is to communicate that before it becomes a surprise on an invoice. Flag it: this is outside the original scope, here is my estimate of the additional level of effort. A brief conversation before the work changes is worth far more than an apologetic one after.

Lead the Crew Like a Conductor

The final principle applies to anyone who has been given responsibility for other people’s work. Brandon uses the image of an orchestra conductor to describe what crew leadership actually requires.

A conductor does not just keep time. Their body communicates the emotion they want from the instruments. Their attention is on everything happening across the full ensemble. Everything that comes out of that orchestra is on them.

The crew lead operates the same way. If you want a fast pace, your pace has to be fast. If you want clear communication, you have to be a clear communicator. The crew reflects the leader. Brandon puts it directly: are you leading the crew to the level at which you would put your name on everything they accomplished? That is the standard.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The principles in Elevating Construction Surveyors are not just for survey crews. They are the habits of professional excellence that apply to every person on a construction project site.

The Challenge Across All Ten

These ten principles are not theory. Each one appears in the field every day, either in its presence or its absence. Pick the one on this list where your honest self assessment shows a gap. Then spend the next 30 days deliberately applying it.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does aesthetics matter on survey work if the data is accurate?

Because a well presented deliverable tells every person who interacts with it that the work was done carefully. It also makes the data easier to use correctly, reducing the chance of misinterpretation. Accuracy and clarity are both professional obligations.

How do you handle a work order that is missing critical information without creating friction?

Ask the questions before the task begins, framed as preparation rather than challenge. “Before I start, I want to make sure I understand how this data will be used.” Most supervisors and engineers appreciate a field professional who thinks ahead.

What should you do when you notice a site condition that will affect the task but the work order has already been issued?

Call before you start the work. Describe what you are seeing, what you think it means for the task, and what your proposed approach is. Give the project manager or superintendent the information they need to make a decision. Do not make that decision for them by proceeding without the conversation.

What is the most important signal that a QC error may have crept into the work?

Something does not match your mental picture of what the result should look like. The cut is wrong for the ground you are standing on. The offset is inconsistent with adjacent work. The residual changed without an obvious cause. Any unexplained discrepancy is a signal to stop and investigate before continuing.

How does crew leadership change as someone moves from Rodman to party chief?

The transition requires shifting attention from your own performance to the performance of the whole crew. That means planning so each person knows their role, communicating the standard before the work starts, and staying aware of progress across the whole team, not just the piece in front of you.

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.

The Final Push: Your Close-Out Strategy

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 20 min

Your Final Drive: The Closeout Strategy That Starts Long Before You Think It Should

Most construction projects lose their closeout milestone the same way. The field work finishes, or nearly finishes, and the team turns its attention to documentation, attic stock, training materials, change order closeouts, transmittals, and the commissioning sign-offs that the certificate of occupancy depends on only to discover that all of it takes far longer than anyone planned for, because nobody started it while the project was still in full swing. The last three months become a scramble. The closeout drags. The team is exhausted. The owner is frustrated. And a project that built well ends badly.

The final drive on a construction project is not about pushing harder in the field. It is about starting the documentation and commissioning preparation early enough that everything the building needs to be turned over every manual, every attic stock item, every green card sign-off, every training video, every inspected and balanced system is ready when the field work finishes, not eight weeks after it.

Milestone Thinking: The 1/3 and 2/3 Points

Building a closeout strategy starts with two milestone markers that govern the entire project’s trajectory from structure to turnover. These are not just progress checkpoints. They are decision gates that determine whether the final drive is a controlled finish or a crash landing.

At the one-third point of the project, the structure should be topped out. Building systems should be connected to the entry rooms. All design should be substantially complete. Every known change order should be initiated not discovered later when reconciliation becomes a distraction from commissioning. Coordination for the interiors should be well underway. If those conditions are not true at the one-third point, the second half of the project will be managing design completion and change order discovery while simultaneously trying to commission and close out the building and that is a recipe for a crash landing.

At the two-thirds point, the team should have a solid, detailed plan for getting air on in the building. Permanent power should be confirmed on a specific timeline. Building systems should be coming together as a network, not as a collection of independent scopes. A full commissioning plan should be in place and actively driving the sequence. Interiors should be progressing well and exteriors should be on track. These are the conditions that allow the team to pivot which is the most important leadership move in the entire back half of a project.

The Pivot: Moving the PE and PM Toward Closeout

At the two-thirds point, the project engineers and project managers need to pivot toward closeout. Not gradually. Deliberately. This will feel counterintuitive they are busy, the field still has work to do, and shifting their focus away from active coordination and construction support feels like abandoning the fight in the middle of it. That reaction is understandable and it is wrong.

Here is what the pivot actually means. Move coordination and final design forward so it is complete before the final push, not running concurrently with it. Move all systems integration and commissioning startup forward into the active construction period, so the systems are online and testing is underway before the field crews are done. Move the warranty period documentation and building turnover preparation forward, so that by the time substantial completion is reached, the attic stock is inventoried, the operations and maintenance manuals are collected and organized, the training materials are assembled, and the documentation for every required sign-off is complete.

When the pivot happens at the two-thirds point, the final stretch of the project is a smooth delivery rather than an emergency. When it does not happen when the PE and PM stay focused on active construction coordination right up until the building is done the closeout documentation gets done in a panic, the commissioning sequence gets rushed, and the occupancy permit takes longer than it should because the team is chasing things that should have been finished months earlier.

The Final Drive Is Documentation, Not Field Work

This is the concept that changes how leaders think about the end of a project. The final drive is not driving work in the field. The field will finish on its own rhythm, governed by the Takt plan and the production system that has been managing it all along. The final drive is getting the documentation ready to pass every inspection the building requires and to receive the temporary certificate of occupancy or the certificate of occupancy with the minimum possible delay after the field work is complete.

That documentation includes a lot of specific items that cannot be assembled in a week. The submittal and transmittal log needs to be closed out every submittal reviewed and every transmittal confirmed. The attic stock materials need to be inventoried against the specifications and confirmed on site. The operations and maintenance manuals need to be collected from every trade and organized into the format the owner’s operations team will actually use. The change orders need to be reconciled and closed, not left as open items that become disputes at final completion. The green card sign-offs and the inspection documentation need to be tracked against the commissioning sequence, so they are available the moment the inspectors need them. Training videos and owner training sessions need to be scheduled and delivered in the window between substantial completion and final completion. None of that can happen in the last two weeks.

The Detailed Month-by-Month Map

After the two-thirds point, the project needs a detailed map updated monthly and eventually tracked day by day that shows exactly what needs to happen to get key systems online in the right order. This is not a bar chart summary. It is a specific, sequenced plan for the last five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten months of the project, depending on complexity, that shows the network of dependencies connecting floor commissioning to permanent power, permanent power to the air handlers, and the air handlers to the overall building commissioning sequence.

On complex projects a central utility plant, a major electrical upgrade, a building with multiple interconnected systems this map becomes a full pull plan for the commissioning sequence, tracked day by day because the dependencies are tight enough that slipping one milestone cascades immediately through everything downstream. The people who need to see this map and work from it are the entire project delivery team the superintendent, the PM, the PEs, the commissioning agent, and the MEP trade partners. It should be posted visually, updated regularly, and treated as the main thing the team watches all the way to the final inspection.

Warning Signs That Closeout Is Starting Too Late

Before the documentation scramble becomes a closeout crisis, watch for these signals that the pivot has not happened when it should have:

  • The PE and PM are still primarily focused on active construction coordination at the two-thirds point, with no specific shift toward documentation and commissioning preparation.
  • Attic stock has not been inventoried or ordered, and the specifications have not been reviewed to confirm what is required.
  • Operations and maintenance manuals have not been collected from any trade partner, because nobody asked for them yet.
  • Change orders from three months ago are still open with unresolved pricing, which means the reconciliation effort is growing rather than shrinking.
  • The commissioning network the sequence from floor commissioning through permanent power through air handlers to overall commissioning has not been mapped in detail, and the team is managing it from memory and informal communication.

 

Any one of those conditions at the two-thirds point means the final drive is going to hurt. The earlier each one is corrected, the smoother the landing.

Never Delegate the Complex Commissioning Sequence

One of the most consistent failure patterns in project closeout is delegating the complex commissioning sequence the network of dependencies that ties the building’s systems together to the commissioning agent or the MEP superintendent without the general superintendent and PM maintaining direct, daily ownership of the critical path through that network.

The commissioning agent is expert at testing and documenting. The MEP superintendent is expert at installation and coordination. Neither of them is responsible for the project’s certificate of occupancy or the owner’s move-in date. The general superintendent and PM own those outcomes, which means they must own the sequence that produces them knowing exactly which systems need to be online in which order, tracking that sequence against a day-by-day map, and driving the resolution of anything that is falling behind before it becomes the item that delays occupancy by eight weeks.

Know the intersections. Know the dependencies. Make the sequence visual. Track it as the main event all the way to the end. That is how you drive to the finish without crashing.

We are building people who build things. The project leaders who master the final drive who pivot toward closeout at the two-thirds point, build the commissioning network map, and drive documentation as aggressively as they drive field production are the ones whose buildings get turned over on time, with owners who are ready to operate them. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow including the closeout strategy that starts at the two-thirds point instead of the final week.

A Challenge for Builders

Find your project’s two-thirds point on the schedule and mark it. Then ask three questions. Has the PE and PM pivot toward closeout already started are they actively working documentation, change order reconciliation, and commissioning preparation alongside their construction coordination? Has the commissioning network been mapped in detail, showing the sequence from floor commissioning through permanent power through air handlers to occupancy? And is the attic stock inventory underway? If any of those answers is no, the pivot is overdue. Start it this week. The final drive is won or lost here, not at the end.

As Jason says, “Plan it first, build it right, finish as you go.”

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the “pivot” mean at the two-thirds point of a project?

It means deliberately shifting the PE and PM’s focus from active construction coordination toward closeout documentation, commissioning preparation, and systems integration. Change order reconciliation, attic stock inventory, operations and maintenance manual collection, and training material preparation all need to start at the two-thirds point not after the field work finishes so they are ready when the building needs to be turned over.

Why is the final drive about documentation rather than field production?

Because the field production will finish on the rhythm the production plan established. What determines whether the certificate of occupancy comes quickly or eight weeks late is whether the documentation, inspections, commissioning sign-offs, and turnover materials are ready the moment they are needed. That readiness requires months of preparation, not weeks.

What should the month-by-month commissioning map include after the two-thirds point?

The sequence of dependencies connecting floor-by-floor commissioning to permanent power, permanent power to the air handlers, and the air handlers to the overall building commissioning sequence. It should be specific enough to track day by day in the final months, posted visually for the whole project delivery team, and updated regularly as the actual sequence progresses.

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.

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    faq

    General Training Overview

    What construction leadership training programs does LeanTakt offer?
    LeanTakt offers Superintendent/PM Boot Camps, Virtual Takt Production System® Training, Onsite Takt Simulations, and Foreman & Field Engineer Training. Each program is tailored to different leadership levels in construction.
    Who should attend LeanTakt’s training programs?
    Superintendents, Project Managers, Foremen, Field Engineers, and trade partners who want to improve planning, communication, and execution on projects.
    How do these training programs improve project performance?
    They provide proven Lean and Takt systems that reduce chaos, improve reliability, strengthen collaboration, and accelerate project delivery.
    What makes LeanTakt’s training different from other construction courses?
    Our programs are hands-on, field-tested, and focused on practical application—not just classroom theory.
    Do I need prior Lean or takt planning experience to attend?
    No. Our programs cover foundational principles before moving into advanced applications.
    How quickly can I apply what I learn on real projects?
    Most participants begin applying new skills immediately, often the same week they complete the program.
    Are these trainings designed for both office and field leaders?
    Yes. We equip both project managers and superintendents with tools that connect field and office operations.
    What industries benefit most from LeanTakt training?
    Commercial, multifamily, residential, industrial, and infrastructure projects all benefit from flow-based planning.
    Do participants receive certificates after completing training?
    Yes. Every participant receives a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion.
    Is LeanTakt training recognized in the construction industry?
    Yes. Our programs are widely respected among leading GCs, subcontractors, and construction professionals.

    Superintendent / PM Boot Camp

    What is the Superintendent & Project Manager Boot Camp?
    It’s a 5-day immersive training for superintendents and PMs to master Lean leadership, takt planning, and project flow.
    How long does the Superintendent/PM Boot Camp last?
    Five full days of hands-on training.
    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp curriculum?
    Lean leadership, Takt Planning, logistics, daily planning, field-office communication, and team health.
    How does the Boot Camp improve leadership and scheduling skills?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    Who is the Boot Camp best suited for?
    Construction leaders responsible for delivering projects, including Superintendents, PMs, and Field Leaders.
    What real-world challenges are simulated during the Boot Camp?
    Schedule breakdowns, trade conflicts, logistics issues, and communication gaps.
    Will I learn Takt Planning at the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Takt Planning is a core focus of the Boot Camp.
    How does this Boot Camp compare to traditional PM certification?
    It’s practical and execution-based rather than exam-based. You learn by doing, not just studying theory.
    Can my entire project team attend the Boot Camp together?
    Yes. Teams attending together often see the greatest results.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    Improved project flow, fewer delays, better team communication, and stronger leadership confidence.

    Takt Production System® Virtual Training

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training?
    It’s an expert-led online program that teaches Lean construction teams how to implement takt planning.
    How does virtual takt training work?
    Delivered online via live sessions, interactive discussions, and digital tools.
    What are the benefits of online takt planning training?
    Convenience, global accessibility, real-time learning, and immediate application.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    What skills will I gain from the Virtual TPS® Training?
    Macro and micro Takt planning, weekly updates, flow management, and CPM integration.
    How long does the virtual training program take?
    The program is typically completed in multiple live sessions across several days.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. Recordings are available to all participants.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses for the virtual training?
    Yes. Teams and companies can enroll together at discounted rates.
    How does the Virtual TPS® Training integrate with CPM tools?
    We show how to align Takt with CPM schedules like Primavera P6 or MS Project.

    Onsite Takt Simulation

    What is a Takt Simulation in construction training?
    It’s a live, interactive workshop that demonstrates takt planning on-site.
    How does the Takt Simulation workshop work?
    Teams participate in hands-on exercises to learn the flow and rhythm of a Takt-based project.
    Can I choose between a 1-day or 2-day Takt Simulation?
    Yes. We offer flexible formats to fit your team’s schedule and needs.
    Who should participate in the Takt Simulation workshop?
    Superintendents, PMs, site supervisors, contractors, and engineers.
    How does a Takt Simulation improve project planning?
    It shows teams how to structure zones, manage flow, and coordinate trades in real time.
    What will my team learn from the onsite simulation?
    How to build and maintain takt plans, manage buffers, and align trade partners.
    Is the simulation tailored to my specific project type?
    Yes. Scenarios can be customized to match your project.
    How do Takt Simulations improve trade partner coordination?
    They strengthen collaboration by making handoffs visible and predictable.
    What results can I expect from an onsite Takt Simulation?
    Improved schedule reliability, better trade collaboration, and reduced rework.
    How many people can join a Takt Simulation session?
    Group sizes are flexible, but typically 15–30 participants per session.

    Foreman & Field Engineer Training

    What is Foreman & Field Engineer Training?
    It’s an on-demand, practical program that equips foremen and engineers with leadership and planning skills.
    How does this training prepare emerging leaders?
    By teaching communication, crew management, and execution strategies.
    Is the training on-demand or scheduled?
    On-demand, tailored to your team’s timing and needs.
    What skills do foremen and engineers gain from this training?
    Planning, safety leadership, coordination, and communication.
    How does the training improve communication between field and office?
    It builds shared systems that align superintendents, engineers, and managers.
    Can the training be customized for my team’s needs?
    Yes. Programs are tailored for your project or company.
    What makes this program different from generic leadership courses?
    It’s construction-specific, field-tested, and focused on real project application.
    How do foremen and field engineers apply this training immediately?
    They can use new systems for planning, coordination, and daily crew management right away.
    Is the training suitable for small construction companies?
    Yes. Small and large teams alike benefit from building flow-based leadership skills.

    Testimonials

    Testimonials

    "The bootcamp I was apart of was amazing. Its was great while it was happening but also had a very profound long-term motivation that is still pushing me to do more, be more. It sounds a little strange to say that a construction bootcamp changed my life, but it has. It has opened my eyes to many possibilities on how a project can be successfully run. It’s also provided some very positive ideas on how people can and should be treated in construction.

    I am a hungry person by nature, so it doesn’t take a lot to get to participate. I loved the way it was not just about participating, it was also about doing it with conviction, passion, humility and if it wasn’t portrayed that way you had to do it again."

    "It's great to be a part of a company that has similar values to my own, especially regarding how we treat our trade partners. The idea of "you gotta make them feel worse to make them do better" has been preached at me for years. I struggled with this as you will not find a single psychology textbook stating these beliefs. In fact it is quite the opposite, and causing conflict is a recipe for disaster. I'm still honestly in shock I have found a company that has based its values on scientific facts based on human nature. That along with the Takt scheduling system makes everything even better. I am happy to be a part of a change that has been long overdue in our industry!"

    "Wicked team building, so valuable for the forehumans of the sub trades to know the how and why. Great tools and resources. Even though I am involved and use the tools every day, I feel like everything is fresh and at the forefront to use"

    "Jason and his team did an incredible job passing on the overall theory of what they do. After 3 days of running through the course I cannot see any holes in their concept. It works. it's proven to work and I am on board!"

    "Loved the pull planning, Takt planning, and logistic model planning. Well thought out and professional"

    "The Super/PM Boot Camp was an excellent experience that furthered my understanding of Lean Practices. The collaboration, group involvement, passion about real project site experiences, and POSITIVE ENERGY. There are no dull moments when you head into this training. Jason and Mr. Montero were always on point and available to help in the break outs sessions. Easily approachable to talk too during breaks and YES, it was fun. I recommend this training for any PM or Superintendent that wants to further their career."

    agenda

    Day 1

    Foundations & Macro Planning

    • Introduction to Takt Production System® principles
    • CPM vs TAKT comparison
    • Macro planning, zoning, and density analysis
    • Quantities and production rates
    • Hands-on application to participants’ projects with LeanTakt PM experts

    day2

    Norm Planning & Flow Optimization

    • Review and refinement of Day 1 work
    • Pull planning and sequence optimization
    • Work packaging for balanced flow
    • Project integration session with LeanTakt PM coaching

    day3

    Advanced Tools & Comparisons

    • Macro work packaging and example walkthrough
    • Calculator Norm for production optimization
    • Stacking comparison to avoid trade conflicts
    • Hands-on application to participants’ own schedules

    day4

    Buffers, Controls & Finalization

    • Review of Day 3 implementation
    • Buffer management strategies and placement
    • Takt control principles and steering methods
    • Project plan finalization with expert guidance

    day5

    Control Systems & Presentations

    • Takt steering, control systems, and real project examples
    • Participant project presentations with LeanTakt PM feedback
    • Wrap-up, feedback, and action planning for post-training implementation

    faq

    UNDERSTANDING THE TRAINING

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training by LeanTakt?
    It’s an expert-led online program designed to teach construction professionals how to implement Takt Planning to create flow, eliminate chaos, and align teams across the project lifecycle.
    Who should take the LeanTakt virtual training?
    This training is ideal for Superintendents, Project Managers, Engineers, Schedulers, Trade Partners, and Lean Champions looking to improve planning and execution.
    What topics are covered in the online Takt Production System® course?
    The course covers macro and micro Takt planning, zone creation, buffers, weekly updates, flow management, trade coordination, and integration with CPM tools.
    What makes LeanTakt’s virtual training different from other Lean construction courses?
    Unlike theory-based courses, this training is hands-on, practical, field-tested, and includes live coaching tailored to your actual projects.
    Do I get a certificate after completing the online training?
    Yes. Upon successful completion, participants receive a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion, which validates your knowledge and readiness to implement Takt.

    VALUE AND RESULTS

    What are the benefits of Takt Production System® training for my team?
    It helps teams eliminate bottlenecks, improve planning reliability, align trades, and reduce the chaos typically seen in traditional construction schedules.
    How much time and money can I save with Takt Planning?
    Many projects using Takt see 15–30% reductions in time and cost due to better coordination, fewer delays, and increased team accountability.
    What’s the ROI of virtual Takt training for construction teams?
    The ROI comes from faster project delivery, reduced rework, improved communication, and better resource utilization — often 10x the investment.
    Will this training reduce project delays or rework?
    Yes. By visualizing flow and aligning trades, Takt Planning reduces miscommunication and late handoffs — major causes of delay and rework.
    How soon can I expect to see results on my projects?
    Most teams report seeing improvement in coordination and productivity within the first 2–4 weeks of implementation.

    PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOPICS

    What is Takt Planning and how is it used in construction?
    Takt Planning is a Lean scheduling method that creates flow by aligning work with time and space, using rhythm-based planning to coordinate teams and reduce waste.
    What’s the difference between macro and micro Takt plans?
    Macro Takt plans focus on the overall project flow and phase durations, while micro Takt plans break down detailed weekly tasks by zone and crew.
    Will I learn how to build a complete Takt plan from scratch?
    Yes. The training teaches you how to build both macro and micro Takt plans tailored to your project, including workflows, buffers, and sequencing.
    How do I update and maintain a Takt schedule each week?
    You’ll learn how to conduct weekly updates using lookaheads, trade feedback, zone progress, and digital tools to maintain schedule reliability.
    Can I integrate Takt Planning with CPM or Primavera P6?
    Yes. The training includes guidance on aligning Takt plans with CPM logic, showing how both systems can work together effectively.
    Will I have access to the instructors during the training?
    Yes. You’ll have opportunities to ask questions, share challenges, and get real-time feedback from LeanTakt coaches.
    Can I ask questions specific to my current project?
    Absolutely. In fact, we encourage it — the training is designed to help you apply Takt to your active jobs.
    Is support available after the training ends?
    Yes. You can access follow-up support, coaching, and community forums to help reinforce implementation.
    Can your tools be customized to my project or team?
    Yes. We offer customizable templates and implementation options to fit different project types, teams, and tech stacks.
    When is the best time in a project lifecycle to take this training?
    Ideally before or during preconstruction, but teams have seen success implementing it mid-project as well.

    APPLICATION & TEAM ADOPTION

    What changes does my team need to adopt Takt Planning?
    Teams must shift from reactive scheduling to proactive, flow-based planning with clear commitments, reliable handoffs, and a visual management mindset.
    Do I need any prior Lean or scheduling experience?
    No prior Lean experience is required. The course is structured to take you from foundational principles to advanced application.
    How long does it take for teams to adapt to Takt Planning?
    Most teams adapt within 2–6 weeks, depending on project size and how fully the system is adopted across roles.
    Can this training work for smaller companies or projects?
    Absolutely. Takt is scalable and especially powerful for small teams seeking better structure and predictability.
    What role do trade partners play in using Takt successfully?
    Trade partners are key collaborators. They help shape realistic flow, manage buffers, and provide feedback during weekly updates.

    VIRTUAL FORMAT & ACCESSIBILITY

    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. The training is fully accessible online, making it ideal for distributed teams across regions or countries.
    Is this training available internationally?
    Yes. LeanTakt trains teams around the world and supports global implementations.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. All sessions are recorded and made available for later viewing through your training portal.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses?
    Yes. Teams can enroll together at discounted rates, and we offer licenses for enterprise rollouts.
    What technology or setup do I need to join the virtual training?
    A reliable internet connection, webcam, Miro, Spreadsheets, and access to Zoom.

    faq

    GENERAL FAQS

    What is the Superintendent / PM Boot Camp?
    It’s a hands-on leadership training for Superintendents and Project Managers in the construction industry focused on Lean systems, planning, and communication.
    Who is this Boot Camp for?
    Construction professionals including Superintendents, Project Managers, Field Engineers, and Foremen looking to improve planning, leadership, and project flow.
    What makes this construction boot camp different?
    Real-world project simulations, expert coaching, Lean principles, team-based learning, and post-camp support — all built for field leaders.
    Is this just a seminar or classroom training?
    No. It’s a hands-on, immersive experience. You’ll plan, simulate, collaborate, and get feedback — not sit through lectures.
    What is the focus of the training?
    Leadership, project planning, communication, Lean systems, and integrating office-field coordination.

    CURRICULUM & OUTCOMES

    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction, team health, communication systems, and more.
    What is Takt Planning and why is it taught?
    Takt is a Lean planning method that creates flow and removes chaos. It helps teams deliver projects on time with less stress.
    Will I learn how to lead field teams more effectively?
    Yes. This boot camp focuses on real leadership challenges and gives you systems and strategies to lead high-performing teams.
    Do you cover daily huddles and meeting systems?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    You’ll work through real project schedules, logistical constraints, leadership decisions, and field-office communication breakdowns.

    LOGISTICS & FORMAT

    Is the training in-person or virtual?
    It’s 100% in-person to maximize learning, feedback, and team-based interaction.
    How long is the Boot Camp?
    It runs for 5 full days.
    Where is the Boot Camp held?
    Locations vary — typically hosted in a professional training center or project setting. Contact us for the next available city/date.
    Do you offer follow-up coaching after the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Post-camp support is included so you can apply what you’ve learned on your projects.
    Can I ask questions about my actual project?
    Absolutely. That’s encouraged — bring your current challenges.

    PRICING & VALUE

    How much does the Boot Camp cost?
    $5,000 per person.
    Are there any group discounts?
    Yes — get 10% off when 4 or more people from the same company attend.
    What’s the ROI for sending my team?
    Better planning = fewer delays, smoother coordination, and higher team morale — all of which boost productivity and reduce costs.
    Will I see results immediately?
    Most participants apply what they’ve learned as soon as they return to the jobsite — especially with follow-up support.
    Can this replace other leadership training?
    In many cases, yes. This Boot Camp is tailored to construction professionals, unlike generic leadership seminars.

    SEO-BASED / HIGH-INTENT SEARCH QUESTIONS

    What is the best leadership training for construction Superintendents?
    Our Boot Camp offers real-world, field-focused leadership training tailored for construction leaders.
    What’s included in a Superintendent Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction systems, huddles, simulations, and more.
    Where can I find Lean construction training near me?
    Check our upcoming in-person sessions or request a private boot camp in your city.
    How can I improve field and office communication on a project?
    This Boot Camp teaches you tools and systems to connect field and office workflows seamlessly.
    Is there a training to help reduce chaos on construction sites?
    Yes — this program is built specifically to turn project chaos into flow through structured leadership.

    agenda

    Day 1

    Agenda

    • Intro to Camp
    • Set Expectations
    • Morning Routine
    • Plan Day
    • Explain "Why"
    • Teams Intros + Yells + Expectation
    • Focus, Physiology, Words + Yells
    • Blocks to Leadership
    • 50 Million
    • Biggest Thing
    • Choose Your Word
    • Marketing Exercise
    • Interview for the Project
    • PO Homework and Close the Day

    Outcomes

    • Understand how to get into a proper state to lead
    • Understand how to dig deep to find the confidence to lead
    • Team work and collaboration
    • Understand marketing
    • Understand how to interview for and win a project

    Day 2

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Macro Takt planning
    • Setup jobs + Signs + Logistics
    • Explain the IPCS™
    • Detailed logistics training
    • Team balance & health training

    Outcomes

    • Learn the IPCS™ understand how to integrate the entire project from start to finish with First Planners™ and Last Planners® through the Takt Production System®
    • Learn how to review a project
    • Learn advanced logistics
    • Learn team balance and health

    Day 3

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Review How Big Things Get Done
    • Review IPCSTM
    • Fix (Schedule, zone, logistics, trailer, org & procurement)
    • Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Pre-Con Overview
    • TAKT SIMULATION
    • Recap and Review

    Outcomes

    • Understand why and how to plan
    • Understand the benefits of using a Takt production plan
    • Learn the steps to proper pre-con that sets the project up for success
    • Learn how to review a project in a Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Learn flow from Takt planning

    Day 4

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Opposing Squares
    • Pull Plan
    • Takt Remaining
    • Norm Update
    • Re Zoning
    • Risks & Pre-Con Align
    • Meeting System
    • Problems
    • Recap

    Outcomes

    • Understand the Norm level Takt plan for weekly/daily planning
    • Benefits and outcomes of rezoning strategies
    • Using meetings to feed information through the system and to the Foremen

    Day 5

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Huddle I.D.S
    • Day Plan
    • Worker Huddle
    • Norm Update
    • Team Huddle
    • Lean Systems Recap
    • Feedback Exercise
    • Final & Close

    Outcomes

    • Know what information is needed and how to get it to the Workers
    • Better understand how to give feedback and why it’s crucial for everyone
    • How to problem solve as a team
    • Understand how all systems tie together
    • Know how the information gets all the way to the worker
    • Have perfect clarity on the individual’s personal organization planner