Something not discussed: When you’re an employee and you make a mistake. If I could give some advice to employees. When you make a mistake, have a plan to fix the mistake, and immediately own up to it. Go right to the boss and tell them. “Hey I screwed something up. Take a look at this. Here’s how I can fix it. What do you think.” It’s hard to do at first, but you need to realize that everyone makes mistakes, and barely anyone owns up to it, so by doing this you’ll be the stand out employee. Yes the boss will know you makes mistakes, but they’ll also know that if you haven’t come to them that day or week or month, then you haven’t made any mistakes. When your coworker tries to make you look bad to the boss, and tell them you screwed up, they’ll be able to say yeah I know, now get back to work. When the big boss says, hey did you see that xyz screwed that’s thing up, they can say yes I know and here’s how we’re fixing it. That makes your boss look good. Mistakes happen, but owning up to those mistakes rarely ever happens. Want to stand out? Be honest about your mistakes.
It wasn't discussed because it kinda goes without saying. Employees that don't own up to their mistakes don't stay employees for very long. It's one of those "you don't get thanks for doing what's expected of you, but you will get fired if you don't do it" type things.
@@MFKR696 In some corporate cultures it is not about owning the mistake it is about shifting the blame. If it is not a physical structure but paper or computer work the failures are blamed on software limitations or bugs. Not all corporations do this but remember Enron lying to costumers was company policy.
That's never been my experience. I have seen multiple others own up right away to a mistake they made, and offering a workable fix, and it was cause for termination. It has happened to me, as well. I went to my boss, explained what and why I did what I did, and even explained the fix I made that resolved the situation in a way that was better than what the original, "un-mistaked" thing was, and it cost me the job. I personally have never, not once, ever seen anyone admit to a mistake, and lived to keep their job. Your experience may be different, but I have never seen it otherwise. Ever.
really great discussion, I was working as a layout machinist in an architectural woodworking shop 30 plus years ago , been on the job for 2-3 weeks and trying to prove my self. I got a job cutting out 6 floors of sequence matched and numbed African mahogany floor to ceiling wall paneling ( special lay up just for this job) . i made my cut list and started cutting panels . After lunch i just checked a dimension and to my horror if realized i cut around 2/3 's of the job 1" to short. I walked up to the office to enplane the error and expected to be fired. The Owner Mr.H, told me " i'm not going to fire you and you are not going to quit, get out their and fix this !" I resolved a solution that involved cutting all panels into 3 parts and gluing a 5/32 spacer witch would be covered with trim . I saved the job and saved my job. One of the old hands in the shop told me later" the mark of a great carpenter isn't making zero mistakes, it's make few, and find acceptable resolution in the fix of those that occur". Matt
Indeed, wise words from the ‘old man’. A lot of people know how to do this or that, but the truly valuable person is the one that knows what to do when something goes wrong. 🤜🤛
I got myself onto a boatbuilding project back in 2011 (mid recession, this was a project for out of work tradesmen and other unemployed people to build a replica Longship, a Maine Dory, a striplank canoe, and 2 restoration / refit jobs). My first task was to go over to the 1:1 scale lofting, and make templates for the planks. Which I did. Roll forward 8 months, and the workers have broken into teams for the planking. There were rough-cutters, then shapers, then fitters, all working together to plank out the longship. And sure enough, come to fitting time the planks on the Port side don't fit. Not at all. Not even close. I was the one who had templated the port side, and had obviously screwed up without realising (and no-one had checked my work). About half way through this day, I realised I was the one who had screwed up, and very timidly had to hold my hand up and admit to being the one who done wrong. There was no well meaning words of wisdom or "hey good of you to come forward, let's fix this" just a room full of somewhat annoyed workers who had to junk what they were doing and go back and make new templates and start cutting planks again. It threw a total spanner in the works and the team never got back to that level of intersecting work (other parts of the project were coming on stream so that pulled manpower away, so 4 people were taking the planks from rough to fit rather than 3 teams of 2). And I just had to wear that shame and get on with it. I didn't even get any licks over it, that's how bad it was! The ship got built and the project wrapped up, outwardly everything was fine. It is amazing how one small mistake repeated over an afternoon can totally buck a project 8 months later.
Nate's observation about how many clients have expectations that whatever product they're asking you to build them should be exactly what they get in the end... I think Nate was expressing that in many circumstances builders are honestly projecting what they think is possible to build but then the multiple realities of the site in real time and its demands can bring about challenges and the eventual need to modify the projected outcomes... clients often aren't willing to have the flexibility to discuss these kinds of changes or setbacks. It reminds me of another typical attitude I see more and more as a builder with clients nowadays; I've coined the attitude "The iPhone Syndrome." Basically it's just the expectation that certain clients have that the finishing of a construction, for instance a wood deck, should match the polished accuracy of their iPhones. Nowadays plumb, square and true isn't enough and you find yourself explaining to inexperienced clients that lumber isn't a material that lends itself to 64ths accuracy like plastics and alloys that are manipulated in laboratory conditions. Same is true of certain clients who examine the plaster finishing on drywall expecting it to be something like the polished perfection of their phone screens. I'm the first to recognize the value of good workmanship and clean and accurate work, but many clients just have no clue as to the limitations of various materials or the innate unknowns of certain job sites.
I guess I need to pay closer attention bcz I didn’t realize you guys had another channel. Your stories reminded me of a situation that happened to me years ago. We were building a bunch of 2 story 4-plexs w/block and poured 2nd floors. The bldgs were relatively small so we poured 3 decks at a time. Apparently the scales at the ready mix plant got screwed up one day and the concrete we poured didn’t (and wouldn’t) come up to strength. By no fault of ours, we had to tear all 3 bldgs down. The concrete supplier had to foot the bill but the owner of my company (the GC) was still furious. The property was in a very busy suburban area and my bosses concern was - What does this look like to all the people driving by every day, all day? The optics were terrible! We worked from sun-up to sun-down for a week getting those things down as quickly as possible. -Enjoying the new channel guys. ‘Keep up the good work!’ 🤜🤛
I am so glad I found your second channel. Keep the discussions going. We all make mistakes and when we talk them out everyone benefits. Thanks Scott and Nate.
Replying as I'm listening to this.. In the Wall Being Torn Down Discussion - I think if I had to tear down a 2,000ft wall, I would use the neighbors surveyor to layout the second wall with a written agreement with the neighbor that even if it's surveyed wrong then it won't be disputed. Tearing down $200,000 worth of work shouldn't even begin until you have an plan to make sure it never happens again.
ah yes Stupak's folley! LOL I'll share a personal experience with the construction of the Stratosphere tower. Back in the 90's i was working at a TV repair shop and was on my way back to the shop from a service call. I was on Las Vegas Blvd. driving south coming toward the tower which was under construction at that time. As i approached it, i could see a huge fire way up on the tower where a bunch of wooden scaffolding was burning. As i drove past, and couldn't see the fire anymore, a burning 2x4 about 8 feet long came crashing down about a foot from the passenger side of my truck and turned instantly into toothpicks. If i had been one lane over, i might not be here to tell that story. Love the new channel guys!
Please keep making these! Great info and just love all the knowledge being shared. Im a 30 year old who worked commercial construction ALL MY LIFE!!! From time i was 9-10, my dad had his own company and id pick up trash and eventually was running multi-million dollar jobs while in college. Now that im secure in my life and have some money saved I plan i start building, buying and filliping houses because honestly......I miss the work.
This is a wonderful way to add those extra details that are very interesting, while still keeping the main focus of the Spec House videos into a viewer friendly timeline. Thank you for taking the extra time to produce this content here so that we can share in the wealth of details and opinions that are shown here.
I am just now learning about your podcast and catching up. I am however fully caught up on your RUclips channel and didn’t realize there was an issue with the rock wall. I for one would love a detailed video about what the problem was, how it was discovered, and how it was resolved. Everything on your channel is such a great learning experience and correcting mistakes should always be a learning experience. Thanks for all you do.
I worked as a Union carpenter doing tilt ups. driving home I saw the company I had worked for before had a trailer and sign at a stopped project The floor and footings had been poured and then sat for 10 years. a week later there were guys working overtime and I stopped to talk to the super, I had worked for him before, We walked the job and I looked and said that 20 X 40 set of forms is wrong, A 12 inch wide x 3/4 thick charcter form was on the wrong side of the line. If they had poured concrete a new recess in the wall would have had to be jack hammered out, the wrong location patched. The super said I want you here tomorrow morning at 7 Am. I said I need to give the company I was working for one more day to find a replacement for me before quitting. When we finished a project He would always get me on another crew. never waiting in the Union hiring hall for a job to come up/
Thanks a lot for taking the time to make these videos. You are an endless source of knowledge and I always love to listen to your stories. Love the podcast format.
I am a Millwright apprentice in Wisconsin and I can't express well enough how Scott's insight is valuable to me in so many instances. I didn't listen to the most recent episodes and therefore don't know if you addressed this issue, but I would have some sort of introduction before starting the conversation. Thanks and keep up the good work
Fascinating discussion! I work as a graphic designer and these lessons translate perfectly to client-designer relationships and problem solving. I really look forward to binging all these episodes and keeping up with the podcast!
"If you got to take a loss take it early", LOL so so true! The sooner you take the loss, the sooner you can start making up lost ground. If you delay taking the loss, you will fool yourself into thinking that it won't be that bad and you will waste a lot of time in which you could have made up some of that ground.
When I first started working construction, I worked for an old timer who would say " You didn't have time to do it right, but you have time to do it over" any time mistakes were made. This stayed with me and made me a better worker or so I think. We all make mistakes, it,s human nature, the thing to do is own them and correct them and try not to make the same one more than once,
Great job guys--I truly appreciate you both putting forth the time and effort. I would pass along an alternate view regarding your last comment of entertainment and education being exclusive of each other. Personally, I really enjoy (e.g. entertainment) learning (education) what you put out. Your channel fullfils that extremely well--at least for me! I know you didn't mean it that way, but I just wanted to let you know to keep up the good work. I have really been enjoying the house build!
FYI, the actual slogan you referred to is "Slow is accurate, accurate is smooth, smooth is fast, and fast is deadly.", and it is not limited to SEALs, nor is it limited to the American military. Most nations' militaries have their own variations, including Canada. I've also heard it told in shorter form as a less worry-inducing (lol) musicians' saying, which is "speed is a by-product of accuracy," and personally that's where I'd rather leave it. Perma-Civvies (as in people who've never served and never will [not a pejorative]) who use military sayings that involve lethality (especially gamers and those wannabe-UFC-fighter types) worry me more than a little bit. Not gonna lie.
Just finished listening to all the available episodes in my podcast app. I really enjoyed listening to them. What I noticed though was that episodes 2-5 where dated at sept 18, but episode 1 was dated at sept 19. This makes episode 1 appear in appear between episodes 5 and 6. Not a big deal, but looks a bit odd. To be clear; this is the order that I see in my podcast app (overcast): ECP6 ECP1 ECP5 ECP4 ECP3 ECP2 Keep up de good work.
I remember years ago on one of my first construction jobs an old timer pointed to the structure being built and said to me "Remember, nothin is permanent in on job like this. If a mistake is made you can always tear it down and rebuild it, just costs a lot of money".
19:19 We kind of dodged a bullet there on one job not too long ago. A lady was wanting her kitchen redone (this is in a mobile home in a retirement park), and wanted to keep costs as low as possible, and was always reminding my brother of that. At some point in the job, my brother saw some underbelly was torn up, and he told her about it, warning her that she needed to have it fixed before too long or moisture was going to cause problems with her floor. She, I believe, either decided to do it later, or to not do it, no doubt not wanting to spend the money, but either way, it wasn't done. We finish the job, she's happy, we get paid. A few months later, sure enough, she starts getting sections of flooring buckling because of the poor state of the underbelly, and she calls my brother, pretty much blaming him for it, and claiming that she said she didn't care how much it cost, as long as it was "done right". She pretty much questioned our integrity, which, in the interest of trying to get us out there, was really stupid, considering we were paid and had no motivation to come back. I say we dodged a bullet because she got nasty _after_ we were paid.
Uuhhh.... 2000' - that's nasty! Glad I wasn't the surveyor in charge! Heavy? If about the look of the dormer, siding, windows and columns... I might have made remarks of that nature to the initial design... But the other guy, the architect who helped you out, did a great job on picking up on everything. A keener eye than me, as I remember, though very similar. I'm pretty sure I'm not the one you're hinting at though, but definitely would be cool to meet the both of you. Being on the other side of the pond, right now may not be the time.
Adding a podcast whilst building a house, whilst filming the build, whilst continuing the main channel. You don’t lack for ambition- I’ll hand you that! Good job. Pace yourselves.
I worked on a project where the company I worked is a good sized contractor. We built a warehouse with an octagonal office space in the northeast corner. Unfortunately the company/property owners did the property survey along with the boar testing. But they moved the building 50' east of the boar test. Needless to say, one year later we get called back because their pens and pencils are rolling off the desks. Come to find out two and a half feet UNDER the office footers was a four foot moss bed that was now under compaction. The warehouse was good but 7/8 of the office not good.
Yes ! I thought that was my eyes! I was working there in 94 then one night it burned! The whole town was laughing at stubik! I did union concrete construction! He was a visionary!
I think they touched on that in the house build videos. They had to re-stack the rockery because the engineer or the city inspector, or someone came and said the rocks were stacked too vertically and put too much load on the wall, or something like that.
Really enjoying the 'podcast' and the topics discussed. As a simple RUclips video, the duration(s) are probably just about right. As a podcast, however....just my opinion, but I think they could stand to be a bit longer! Maybe include more guests, like your mechanical contractor, Phil! Thanks! :-)
I framed for a Guy who's favorite thing to say was "Hurry Up" I lost count after 20 houses or so how much work we went back and tore out. Finally, I sat him down and asked him why he liked paying to do something 3 times. He looked at me like I was nuts so I told him you paid for it to be built, then ya paid to have it torn out, and then you paid to redo it and where I went to school that's 3 times. I never heard him say "Hurry Up" again.
The botch you referred to in San Francisco is called Millennial Tower. To date, NE corner has settled 18". Caused by penny pinching foundation engineers who opted not to drill to bedrock for concrete pilings, but rather terminate them in MUD!!! The bone heads in the planning department share culpability as well for signing off on this egregious error. Of course, all parties on the hot seat tried to shift blame towards the transit center which was being built concurrently and abutting M.T., claiming that excavation for transit center undermined tower foundation. Ironically, three weeks after opening of transit center, cracks were found in massive steel beams which caused an immediate shut down and one year delay to final completion. Lotta fat, happy lawyers getting fatter over these two fiascos.
Sounds like something that happened in my home town. A developer decided to build some single family houses in a swamp. An engineer specified pilings driven to a certain spec and the town building department signed off on the plans. Within ten years almost all the houses had serious problems, foundation cracks, floors being several inches out of level. The homeowners banded together and sued the builder, the piling contractor and the town. Fortunately for the piling contractor, he had told the general contractor that the engineers specification was insufficient and must have put it writing because they were the only ones who didn’t wind up owing the home buyers a whole lot of money.
i worked for a company that needed their warehouse floor repaired. when the floor being dug - up there was found a large diesel tank with oil leaking out. the had to dig a 8to 10foot deeper to remove it all.
I remember the Stratosphere under construction and the crooked leg. They faked it in with EIFS so it "looks" right. I also remember when the concrete forms caught on fire; I sat in my front yard and watched it. Bob Stupak ran for mayor, slapped a reporter and eventually lost his casino.
Awesome. Please don’t stop making the podcast videos. The Channel name makes it a little hard to find when you type it in the search bar because there is an Amazon bull**** by the same name, just a heads up on that.
It's the kind of thing you really have to look for to see. I just looked at a picture myself, and the actual difference in dimension and angle is minute enough that you really need to compare all three supports to see the fuckup.
Scott, help my/us understand why nobody would buy a new car if any value without at least a 5 year warranty, but the expectation is that a 1 year warranty on a new house is standard.
I was picking up concrete panels a guy I know was borrowing from me. His foundation was being bulldozed and put into a dump truck. Mistakes were made. He wasn’t called back to do it again.
Well!!!! Let me start by saying "what a dynamic!" Its nice to hear well targeted questions posed respectfully to experience. The setting is great and the exchange is as good but entirely different from your other channel. Great work! Second, good point about the existence of a cats claw!!!! However it's as if some guys seem to never wanna "unfuck" a mistake, like its gonna make their arms fall off or something, even if they know its gonna cause a headache down the road. I don't like working with those guys so much. Third, I would have to say that the answer to who takes the blame lays largely on relationships. I have seen some customers absorb costs if they want to stay on the general's short list. As well, as you mentioned Scott, a good contractor has good contracts. However the higher the cost of the correction, the greater the strain on the relationship, and/or the greater the desire to litigate. Unfortunately the biggest winners in litigation are the lawyers. Its usually best for both parties to stay out of court...usually. You kinda did a full circle there, before talking about corrections, you were talking about cutting a loss early, after a while the conversation went to meeting and getting to know a customer and deciding if you want to work with said person. Walking away from a potential job can be the earliest way to cut a loss. I call that qualifying a customer, some people I have worked for are better at that than some other people I have worked for. One way I identify a boss who is not good at qualifying his customers is if he always blames the customer.
your description of "botch" is the Middle English. the Old English definition simply means green wood, so the true definition of a botch job is something made from green wood, which then shrinks and becomes rickety or falls apart completely.
Content request: The RUclips videos are fine, entertaining and time-worthy infotainment. I'd love for the podcast format to be extended. I watched/listened to this one on youtube because I just found the second channel. If I'm at work listening on my phone, I don't want to have to stop and select the next podcast to continue learning. I am demanding your time, I realize this. If you put out 1-2 hour podcasts half as often that would be awesome for me, maybe not for you. I'm a shlub that hasn't donated/supported the channel so up front, I'm owed nothing. I would have liked to hear what the issue was with the retaining wall and ric-rac boulders again. I kind of remember from the videos but yeah, part of the podcast was just part of the story. Thanks!
Sure look like Carhartt double front to me too. If you work on cars/trucks though, be careful. The metal rivets used to reinforce the corners are right where they will rub/press on the fenders when leaning over the hood.
Something not discussed: When you’re an employee and you make a mistake. If I could give some advice to employees. When you make a mistake, have a plan to fix the mistake, and immediately own up to it. Go right to the boss and tell them. “Hey I screwed something up. Take a look at this. Here’s how I can fix it. What do you think.” It’s hard to do at first, but you need to realize that everyone makes mistakes, and barely anyone owns up to it, so by doing this you’ll be the stand out employee. Yes the boss will know you makes mistakes, but they’ll also know that if you haven’t come to them that day or week or month, then you haven’t made any mistakes. When your coworker tries to make you look bad to the boss, and tell them you screwed up, they’ll be able to say yeah I know, now get back to work. When the big boss says, hey did you see that xyz screwed that’s thing up, they can say yes I know and here’s how we’re fixing it. That makes your boss look good. Mistakes happen, but owning up to those mistakes rarely ever happens. Want to stand out? Be honest about your mistakes.
It wasn't discussed because it kinda goes without saying. Employees that don't own up to their mistakes don't stay employees for very long. It's one of those "you don't get thanks for doing what's expected of you, but you will get fired if you don't do it" type things.
@@MFKR696 In some corporate cultures it is not about owning the mistake it is about shifting the blame. If it is not a physical structure but paper or computer work the failures are blamed on software limitations or bugs. Not all corporations do this but remember Enron lying to costumers was company policy.
That's never been my experience. I have seen multiple others own up right away to a mistake they made, and offering a workable fix, and it was cause for termination. It has happened to me, as well. I went to my boss, explained what and why I did what I did, and even explained the fix I made that resolved the situation in a way that was better than what the original, "un-mistaked" thing was, and it cost me the job. I personally have never, not once, ever seen anyone admit to a mistake, and lived to keep their job. Your experience may be different, but I have never seen it otherwise. Ever.
really great discussion, I was working as a layout machinist in an architectural woodworking shop 30 plus years ago , been on the job for 2-3 weeks and trying to prove my self. I got a job cutting out 6 floors of sequence matched and numbed African mahogany floor to ceiling wall paneling ( special lay up just for this job) . i made my cut list and started cutting panels . After lunch i just checked a dimension and to my horror if realized i cut around 2/3 's of the job 1" to short. I walked up to the office to enplane the error and expected to be fired. The Owner Mr.H, told me " i'm not going to fire you and you are not going to quit, get out their and fix this !" I resolved a solution that involved cutting all panels into 3 parts and gluing a 5/32 spacer witch would be covered with trim . I saved the job and saved my job. One of the old hands in the shop told me later" the mark of a great carpenter isn't making zero mistakes, it's make few, and find acceptable resolution in the fix of those that occur". Matt
Indeed, wise words from the ‘old man’. A lot of people know how to do this or that, but the truly valuable person is the one that knows what to do when something goes wrong.
🤜🤛
This is really great, thanks for sharing!
Ok I’m going to have to steal that last line. Thanks for sharing
I got myself onto a boatbuilding project back in 2011 (mid recession, this was a project for out of work tradesmen and other unemployed people to build a replica Longship, a Maine Dory, a striplank canoe, and 2 restoration / refit jobs). My first task was to go over to the 1:1 scale lofting, and make templates for the planks. Which I did. Roll forward 8 months, and the workers have broken into teams for the planking. There were rough-cutters, then shapers, then fitters, all working together to plank out the longship.
And sure enough, come to fitting time the planks on the Port side don't fit. Not at all.
Not even close.
I was the one who had templated the port side, and had obviously screwed up without realising (and no-one had checked my work). About half way through this day, I realised I was the one who had screwed up, and very timidly had to hold my hand up and admit to being the one who done wrong. There was no well meaning words of wisdom or "hey good of you to come forward, let's fix this" just a room full of somewhat annoyed workers who had to junk what they were doing and go back and make new templates and start cutting planks again. It threw a total spanner in the works and the team never got back to that level of intersecting work (other parts of the project were coming on stream so that pulled manpower away, so 4 people were taking the planks from rough to fit rather than 3 teams of 2). And I just had to wear that shame and get on with it. I didn't even get any licks over it, that's how bad it was!
The ship got built and the project wrapped up, outwardly everything was fine. It is amazing how one small mistake repeated over an afternoon can totally buck a project 8 months later.
Nate's observation about how many clients have expectations that whatever product they're asking you to build them should be exactly what they get in the end... I think Nate was expressing that in many circumstances builders are honestly projecting what they think is possible to build but then the multiple realities of the site in real time and its demands can bring about challenges and the eventual need to modify the projected outcomes... clients often aren't willing to have the flexibility to discuss these kinds of changes or setbacks. It reminds me of another typical attitude I see more and more as a builder with clients nowadays; I've coined the attitude "The iPhone Syndrome." Basically it's just the expectation that certain clients have that the finishing of a construction, for instance a wood deck, should match the polished accuracy of their iPhones. Nowadays plumb, square and true isn't enough and you find yourself explaining to inexperienced clients that lumber isn't a material that lends itself to 64ths accuracy like plastics and alloys that are manipulated in laboratory conditions. Same is true of certain clients who examine the plaster finishing on drywall expecting it to be something like the polished perfection of their phone screens. I'm the first to recognize the value of good workmanship and clean and accurate work, but many clients just have no clue as to the limitations of various materials or the innate unknowns of certain job sites.
Nate did a video talking about idioms. This video reminded me of when dealing with mistakes/problems. "Keep your problems small."
I guess I need to pay closer attention bcz I didn’t realize you guys had another channel. Your stories reminded me of a situation that happened to me years ago. We were building a bunch of 2 story 4-plexs w/block and poured 2nd floors. The bldgs were relatively small so we poured 3 decks at a time. Apparently the scales at the ready mix plant got screwed up one day and the concrete we poured didn’t (and wouldn’t) come up to strength. By no fault of ours, we had to tear all 3 bldgs down. The concrete supplier had to foot the bill but the owner of my company (the GC) was still furious. The property was in a very busy suburban area and my bosses concern was - What does this look like to all the people driving by every day, all day? The optics were terrible! We worked from sun-up to sun-down for a week getting those things down as quickly as possible.
-Enjoying the new channel guys. ‘Keep up the good work!’
🤜🤛
I am so glad I found your second channel. Keep the discussions going. We all make mistakes and when we talk them out everyone benefits. Thanks Scott and Nate.
Replying as I'm listening to this..
In the Wall Being Torn Down Discussion - I think if I had to tear down a 2,000ft wall, I would use the neighbors surveyor to layout the second wall with a written agreement with the neighbor that even if it's surveyed wrong then it won't be disputed.
Tearing down $200,000 worth of work shouldn't even begin until you have an plan to make sure it never happens again.
I know right? It seems like you'd want to check with the neighbor and aim for a written agreement before you even started the first one.
My Father in Law has always said “the first loss is the least.”
ah yes Stupak's folley! LOL
I'll share a personal experience with the construction of the Stratosphere tower. Back in the 90's i was working at a TV repair shop and was on my way back to the shop from a service call. I was on Las Vegas Blvd. driving south coming toward the tower which was under construction at that time. As i approached it, i could see a huge fire way up on the tower where a bunch of wooden scaffolding was burning.
As i drove past, and couldn't see the fire anymore, a burning 2x4 about 8 feet long came crashing down about a foot from the passenger side of my truck and turned instantly into toothpicks.
If i had been one lane over, i might not be here to tell that story. Love the new channel guys!
that is a crazy story - thanks for sharing!!
Please keep making these! Great info and just love all the knowledge being shared. Im a 30 year old who worked commercial construction ALL MY LIFE!!! From time i was 9-10, my dad had his own company and id pick up trash and eventually was running multi-million dollar jobs while in college. Now that im secure in my life and have some money saved I plan i start building, buying and filliping houses because honestly......I miss the work.
This is a wonderful way to add those extra details that are very interesting, while still keeping the main focus of the Spec House videos into a viewer friendly timeline. Thank you for taking the extra time to produce this content here so that we can share in the wealth of details and opinions that are shown here.
Thank you Tyler!
Had to like it when I heard about Darrel's angle on the 3x wall re-build... Haha! Priceless...
I am just now learning about your podcast and catching up. I am however fully caught up on your RUclips channel and didn’t realize there was an issue with the rock wall. I for one would love a detailed video about what the problem was, how it was discovered, and how it was resolved. Everything on your channel is such a great learning experience and correcting mistakes should always be a learning experience. Thanks for all you do.
I worked as a Union carpenter doing tilt ups. driving home I saw the company I had worked for before had a trailer and sign at a stopped project
The floor and footings had been poured and then sat for 10 years. a week later there were guys working overtime and I stopped to talk to the super, I had worked for him before, We walked the job and I looked and said that 20 X 40 set of forms is wrong, A 12 inch wide x 3/4 thick charcter form was on the wrong side of the line. If they had poured concrete a new recess in the wall would have had to be jack hammered out, the wrong location patched. The super said I want you here tomorrow morning at 7 Am. I said I need to give the company I was working for one more day to find a replacement for me before quitting. When we finished a project He would always get me on another crew. never waiting in the Union hiring hall for a job to come up/
Thanks a lot for taking the time to make these videos. You are an endless source of knowledge and I always love to listen to your stories. Love the podcast format.
I think the name of the channel should be the full:
Essential Craftsman 2.
I almost scrolled right over the thumbnail
yeah, this name and logo is straight from GTA Vice City, strip bar or car wash.
I am a Millwright apprentice in Wisconsin and I can't express well enough how Scott's insight is valuable to me in so many instances. I didn't listen to the most recent episodes and therefore don't know if you addressed this issue, but I would have some sort of introduction before starting the conversation. Thanks and keep up the good work
good idea will do thank you!
Great idea having the podcast. Tried finding the audio through pocketcast to no avail. Still I can listen on RUclips. Thanks fellas.
Fascinating discussion! I work as a graphic designer and these lessons translate perfectly to client-designer relationships and problem solving. I really look forward to binging all these episodes and keeping up with the podcast!
Hey guys, I love the podcast format. Looking forward to more episodes.
Thanks Dominick!
Great podcast that I would never have seen if it wasn't a youtube recommendation. Love the comments too, they add much color to these podcasts.
"If you got to take a loss take it early", LOL so so true! The sooner you take the loss, the sooner you can start making up lost ground. If you delay taking the loss, you will fool yourself into thinking that it won't be that bad and you will waste a lot of time in which you could have made up some of that ground.
When I first started working construction, I worked for an old timer who would say " You didn't have time to do it right, but you have time to do it over" any time mistakes were made. This stayed with me and made me a better worker or so I think. We all make mistakes, it,s human nature, the thing to do is own them and correct them and try not to make the same one more than once,
Great job guys--I truly appreciate you both putting forth the time and effort. I would pass along an alternate view regarding your last comment of entertainment and education being exclusive of each other. Personally, I really enjoy (e.g. entertainment) learning (education) what you put out. Your channel fullfils that extremely well--at least for me! I know you didn't mean it that way, but I just wanted to let you know to keep up the good work. I have really been enjoying the house build!
Nice one guys! Your summary at the end hit the nail on the head! Well done.
Great one, rewatch at times to remind my perspectives :)
FYI, the actual slogan you referred to is "Slow is accurate, accurate is smooth, smooth is fast, and fast is deadly.", and it is not limited to SEALs, nor is it limited to the American military. Most nations' militaries have their own variations, including Canada. I've also heard it told in shorter form as a less worry-inducing (lol) musicians' saying, which is "speed is a by-product of accuracy," and personally that's where I'd rather leave it. Perma-Civvies (as in people who've never served and never will [not a pejorative]) who use military sayings that involve lethality (especially gamers and those wannabe-UFC-fighter types) worry me more than a little bit. Not gonna lie.
Love the extra videos. Thank you
A "botch" in UK I've always heard of it as a "bodge".
Same here. I've heard a lot of folks talking about a piece of code (computer magic/witchcraft) that was bodged together.
Good job boys. Looking forward to more of these.
Just finished listening to all the available episodes in my podcast app. I really enjoyed listening to them.
What I noticed though was that episodes 2-5 where dated at sept 18, but episode 1 was dated at sept 19. This makes episode 1 appear in appear between episodes 5 and 6.
Not a big deal, but looks a bit odd.
To be clear; this is the order that I see in my podcast app (overcast):
ECP6
ECP1
ECP5
ECP4
ECP3
ECP2
Keep up de good work.
I remember years ago on one of my first construction jobs an old timer pointed to the structure being built and said to me "Remember, nothin is permanent in on job like this. If a mistake is made you can always tear it down and rebuild it, just costs a lot of money".
19:19 We kind of dodged a bullet there on one job not too long ago. A lady was wanting her kitchen redone (this is in a mobile home in a retirement park), and wanted to keep costs as low as possible, and was always reminding my brother of that. At some point in the job, my brother saw some underbelly was torn up, and he told her about it, warning her that she needed to have it fixed before too long or moisture was going to cause problems with her floor. She, I believe, either decided to do it later, or to not do it, no doubt not wanting to spend the money, but either way, it wasn't done. We finish the job, she's happy, we get paid. A few months later, sure enough, she starts getting sections of flooring buckling because of the poor state of the underbelly, and she calls my brother, pretty much blaming him for it, and claiming that she said she didn't care how much it cost, as long as it was "done right". She pretty much questioned our integrity, which, in the interest of trying to get us out there, was really stupid, considering we were paid and had no motivation to come back.
I say we dodged a bullet because she got nasty _after_ we were paid.
Uuhhh.... 2000' - that's nasty! Glad I wasn't the surveyor in charge!
Heavy? If about the look of the dormer, siding, windows and columns... I might have made remarks of that nature to the initial design... But the other guy, the architect who helped you out, did a great job on picking up on everything. A keener eye than me, as I remember, though very similar. I'm pretty sure I'm not the one you're hinting at though, but definitely would be cool to meet the both of you. Being on the other side of the pond, right now may not be the time.
Sawzall’s are for mistakes!
My carpentry teacher always yelled this at us when we went to get the reciprocating saw.
Adding a podcast whilst building a house, whilst filming the build, whilst continuing the main channel.
You don’t lack for ambition- I’ll hand you that!
Good job. Pace yourselves.
Wow you covered a lot in such a short time I like it.
i use that phrase all the time now "when murphy shows up" i love it because what can go wrong will go wrong usually lol
As a newbie I make mistakes all the time, glad to hear it also happens to experienced builders 😆
For sure, people do not understand that nothing is exact and hitting in tolerances is a miracle.
Thank you for doing these.
Super useful and entertaining content
My first Boss that I had as a young Superintendent called it the "First Loss Principal".
I worked on a project where the company I worked is a good sized contractor. We built a warehouse with an octagonal office space in the northeast corner. Unfortunately the company/property owners did the property survey along with the boar testing. But they moved the building 50' east of the boar test. Needless to say, one year later we get called back because their pens and pencils are rolling off the desks.
Come to find out two and a half feet UNDER the office footers was a four foot moss bed that was now under compaction. The warehouse was good but 7/8 of the office not good.
Yes ! I thought that was my eyes! I was working there in 94 then one night it burned! The whole town was laughing at stubik! I did union concrete construction! He was a visionary!
Sounds like I missed something about the rock wall on the spec house. Did something change?
I think they touched on that in the house build videos. They had to re-stack the rockery because the engineer or the city inspector, or someone came and said the rocks were stacked too vertically and put too much load on the wall, or something like that.
Really enjoying the 'podcast' and the topics discussed. As a simple RUclips video, the duration(s) are probably just about right. As a podcast, however....just my opinion, but I think they could stand to be a bit longer! Maybe include more guests, like your mechanical contractor, Phil! Thanks! :-)
I framed for a Guy who's favorite thing to say was "Hurry Up" I lost count after 20 houses or so how much work we went back and tore out. Finally, I sat him down and asked him why he liked paying to do something 3 times. He looked at me like I was nuts so I told him you paid for it to be built, then ya paid to have it torn out, and then you paid to redo it and where I went to school that's 3 times. I never heard him say "Hurry Up" again.
The botch you referred to in San Francisco is called Millennial Tower. To date, NE corner has settled 18". Caused by penny pinching foundation engineers who opted not to drill to bedrock for concrete pilings, but rather terminate them in MUD!!! The bone heads in the planning department share culpability as well for signing off on this egregious error. Of course, all parties on the hot seat tried to shift blame towards the transit center which was being built concurrently and abutting M.T., claiming that excavation for transit center undermined tower foundation. Ironically, three weeks after opening of transit center, cracks were found in massive steel beams which caused an immediate shut down and one year delay to final completion. Lotta fat, happy lawyers getting fatter over these two fiascos.
Sounds like something that happened in my home town. A developer decided to build some single family houses in a swamp. An engineer specified pilings driven to a certain spec and the town building department signed off on the plans. Within ten years almost all the houses had serious problems, foundation cracks, floors being several inches out of level. The homeowners banded together and sued the builder, the piling contractor and the town. Fortunately for the piling contractor, he had told the general contractor that the engineers specification was insufficient and must have put it writing because they were the only ones who didn’t wind up owing the home buyers a whole lot of money.
Let me guess, imported steel?
16 inches that building settled already compared to the six it was going to over its lifetime wow
I know this is a yr old video but, I was taught the phrase, "slow is fast and fast is slow", all due to mistakes. Cheers :)
Wikipedia has a photo of the Stratosphere in Vegas. You can see the "crook" in the column.
i worked for a company that needed their warehouse floor repaired. when the floor being dug - up there was found a large diesel tank with oil leaking out. the had to dig a 8to 10foot deeper to remove it all.
I remember the Stratosphere under construction and the crooked leg. They faked it in with EIFS so it "looks" right. I also remember when the concrete forms caught on fire; I sat in my front yard and watched it.
Bob Stupak ran for mayor, slapped a reporter and eventually lost his casino.
Awesome. Please don’t stop making the podcast videos. The Channel name makes it a little hard to find when you type it in the search bar because there is an Amazon bull**** by the same name, just a heads up on that.
Yeah just learned about that... bummer, might have to rethink how we named this? Thanks!
I’m enjoying the podcast!!!!
Glad to hear it - thanks Spencer
I have watched the spec house and did not realize you had a wall issue. did you do an episode on it?
I’ve was born in Vegas, been here 26 years, I’m a concrete form setter here, how have I never noticed the botch?!
It's the kind of thing you really have to look for to see. I just looked at a picture myself, and the actual difference in dimension and angle is minute enough that you really need to compare all three supports to see the fuckup.
Scott, help my/us understand why nobody would buy a new car if any value without at least a 5 year warranty, but the expectation is that a 1 year warranty on a new house is standard.
I was picking up concrete panels a guy I know was borrowing from me. His foundation was being bulldozed and put into a dump truck. Mistakes were made. He wasn’t called back to do it again.
Well!!!! Let me start by saying "what a dynamic!" Its nice to hear well targeted questions posed respectfully to experience. The setting is great and the exchange is as good but entirely different from your other channel. Great work!
Second, good point about the existence of a cats claw!!!! However it's as if some guys seem to never wanna "unfuck" a mistake, like its gonna make their arms fall off or something, even if they know its gonna cause a headache down the road. I don't like working with those guys so much.
Third, I would have to say that the answer to who takes the blame lays largely on relationships. I have seen some customers absorb costs if they want to stay on the general's short list. As well, as you mentioned Scott, a good contractor has good contracts. However the higher the cost of the correction, the greater the strain on the relationship, and/or the greater the desire to litigate. Unfortunately the biggest winners in litigation are the lawyers. Its usually best for both parties to stay out of court...usually. You kinda did a full circle there, before talking about corrections, you were talking about cutting a loss early, after a while the conversation went to meeting and getting to know a customer and deciding if you want to work with said person. Walking away from a potential job can be the earliest way to cut a loss. I call that qualifying a customer, some people I have worked for are better at that than some other people I have worked for. One way I identify a boss who is not good at qualifying his customers is if he always blames the customer.
your description of "botch" is the Middle English. the Old English definition simply means green wood, so the true definition of a botch job is something made from green wood, which then shrinks and becomes rickety or falls apart completely.
Content request: The RUclips videos are fine, entertaining and time-worthy infotainment. I'd love for the podcast format to be extended. I watched/listened to this one on youtube because I just found the second channel. If I'm at work listening on my phone, I don't want to have to stop and select the next podcast to continue learning. I am demanding your time, I realize this. If you put out 1-2 hour podcasts half as often that would be awesome for me, maybe not for you. I'm a shlub that hasn't donated/supported the channel so up front, I'm owed nothing. I would have liked to hear what the issue was with the retaining wall and ric-rac boulders again. I kind of remember from the videos but yeah, part of the podcast was just part of the story. Thanks!
content request received: I think you make a good point, we'll see what we can do!
Please make them as long as u can
Alberto - big itialian renasiance architect had a saying, you open the ground to build, may god be with you.
Love it! Keep it up!
Thank you will do!
random thought do concert guys ever use hard pipe for a pump?
👍👍
who is the guy on the left? voice is familiar.
Delays cost contractors and want to be compensated.
and your mistake with the rocks probably helped countless others who are watching your videos from making the same or a similar mistake!
Hint.. perhaps you guys can get Norm Abram on this podcast!
fantastic idea!
what are the pants you both are wearing? They appear to have a double wear pad on the front or something
Joe Phillips Carhartt.
Sure look like Carhartt double front to me too. If you work on cars/trucks though, be careful. The metal rivets used to reinforce the corners are right where they will rub/press on the fenders when leaning over the hood.
Where is the Andrew Camarata episode?
I just found out the best way to tear out concrete, leave the jack hammers at home!!!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Yeah I think that the comment about Donald Trump was pretty dence
4:02 Oh... hold up! Is Scott a Trump hater? That's a deal breaker for me. I hope he's not a Trump hater!
Great podcast But Scott, Donald Trump is NOT cool.
Isnt that what he said? Not cool, no charisma he only has money.
onZampie And I’m betting he doesn’t have as much of that as he wants you to think.
Please explain your seemingly dispariging comment about President Trump.