Episodes
Watch on Youtube. Vince Chapman started his tenure at the University of Texas as a philosophy major.  He didn’t do well in his first accounting course, so like a never fail Longhorn would do, he decided to master that degree.  In the interim, he has become one of the best known auditors of IPD and other construction delivery contracts.  Join us as we explore the three major transparency questions in IPD:  overhead, hourly rates and profit.
Published 12/17/23
Watch on Youtube. Howard Ashcraft is the most recognized and most honoured currently practicing lawyer in the Lean Design and Construction Community.  He has been thinking about and drafting collaborative contracts (most usually IPD) since 2005.  Join us for a thoughtful chat on where he started, where he’s been and where he wants to go.
Published 10/25/23
Watch on Youtube. Luciana Burdi returned to Southern Italy after receiving her masters in Architecture from Instituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) in Venice, Italy.  She had developed a passion for using architecture in the public sector and so turned her attention to the United States.  At the age of 28, with no experience in English, she moved in with family in Chicago and began a career in public service and the built environment that has been remarkably successful. ...
Published 09/02/23
Watch on Youtube. Mark Van Buren came to Queens University in Kington, Ontario looking for a degree in Architecture.  He stayed 8 years and ended up with Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, concentrating on water management.  He spent the next decade or so in California and Milwaukee on large water management projects, largely storm run-off systems.  Turns out the storm was in the contract delivery system and not in the pipes.  Disgruntled with the delivery process, he jumped at the chance to head...
Published 06/01/23
Watch on Youtube. Stuart Eckblad has been thinking divergently since he left home for Kent State to pursue a degree in architecture.  That led him to the University of Wisconsin where he received a masters degree in Environmental Design.  He was particularly interested in the effect of color on human beings.   That kind of curiosity inspired a long career dedicated to moving from traditional delivery to a new vocabulary in the built environment, one that focused on collaboration,...
Published 05/04/23
Watch on Youtube. Jessica Kelley lives in the Pennsylvania farm house she grew up in, and that her Mom also grew up in.  Her two-year-old son is the fourth generation in that house.  While she is obviously honours her traditions, she is also one of the great pioneers and innovators in our lean community.  She participated in the first IPD project with Sutter, helped drive the most successful Community of Practice in Northern California for LCI and worked with mechanical design/build leader...
Published 04/12/23
Watch on Youtube. There is much talk these days about women in construction. How about a woman who’s name is synonymous with thought leadership in construction?  Iris Tommelein describes herself as a secular humanist. She balks at being called the high priestess but she surely is a Grand Dame of lean construction. She leads, and founded with Glenn Ballard in 2005, the Project Production Systems Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.  At Berkeley, she has guided, mentored and...
Published 02/07/23
Watch on Youtube Will Lichtig is Executive VP and Chief of Staff at The Boldt Company. Many know Will by his informal title, "Chief Provocateur."  Will was the author of the original Integrated Form of Agreement and has been central to the development and implementation of lean processes for target value design, lean production planning and control, Built in Quality, lean problem solving, and other key processes that provide innovative approaches to project delivery.  Saying that he is a...
Published 12/08/22
Watch on Youtube. Dr. Andreas Phelps is an original thinker of the first order.  He has a phd in Construction Management from Penn State University and is the CEO of the Collective Potential.  He lives with his talented wife and two incredible kids off the grid in a tiny house in the Bay Area.  His Tiny House Presentation at the 2021 LCI Congress was so popular he was brought back to this year’s Congress to keynote the opening of the Congress, speaking on intentionality and leadership.  Join...
Published 11/13/22
Watch on Youtube. Mike Casten started his construction career as a carpenters’ apprentice before attending Colorado State University as an Industrial Construction Management major.  He was working with Hensel Phelps when he was introduced to time lapse photography and Greg Howell.  He was an early pioneer in the quest for improvement of the productivity of the work at the construction crew level overall as well as overall project performance. Over the last forty plus years he has provided...
Published 10/12/22
Watch on Youtube Gerry McCabe is the Managing Director of Turner and Townsend in Canada.  He was a founding member of his own company that was acquired by Turner and Townsend in 2010.  He grew up in Belfast during the “troubles.”  He came to Canada to visit relatives originally and decided to stay.  He’s a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and one of the most interesting people you’ll meet.  Come join as we chat about how to estimate the cost of something that hasn’t been designed and what to look...
Published 09/09/22
View the PPI website: https://projectproduction.org/ Watch on Youtube. Gary Fischer is currently the Executive Director of the Project Production Institute (PPI). After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University he spent 40 years in Chevron’s capital projects organization. Gary was responsible for Chevron’s project management system and led the group that provided functional expertise across the corporation’s capital projects portfolio. He...
Published 08/07/22
Watch on Youtube. Rex Miller was a successful manager for a major office furniture manufacturer when he got down-sized—as in out of a job.  He knows hard times. He also knows resilience, perseverance, creativity and leadership. Rex has coached hundreds of teams in North America to understand their strengths and deliver on their commitments.  He kicked off a lot of people’s thinking around lean construction when he wrote the Commercial Real Estate Revolution with a team of like-minded...
Published 07/05/22
Watch on Youtube. Jennifer Kahn has been working at Ellis Don for more than a decade, focusing on inclusion, diversity and  people and culture.  In April, she was named Vice President with that same portfolio.  “I am proud to be part of the ongoing education, awareness and real conversations on Inclusive Diversity at EllisDon,” she says. “As a working mother of two boys, a visible minority with immigrant parents, who’s married to a Canadian Muslim, diversity is part of my everyday life and I...
Published 06/07/22
Mark Konchar learned how to collaborate, growing up playing hockey.  He is one of the PhD’s that Victor Sanvido turned out of Penn State that has so influenced our community.  He and Victor collaborated on an early Design Build Study sponsored by the Construction Industry Institute.  He’s a co-author of Change Your Space, Change Your Culture with Rex Miller and others.  Mark served as chair of the Board of the Lean Construction Institute and was Balfour Beatty’s Chief Innovation Officer for a...
Published 05/04/22
Watch on Youtube. The pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine have left all of us in the design and construction industry short of supplies and lack of clarity.  Add to that the labour shortages that are evident in construction and we have a difficult time responding to a very hot construction market.  Dick Bayer talks with Tom Soles, Jim Morgan and Guy Gast about how the mechanical trades are responding to these challenges.  Tom Soles was Executive Director of Member Services for SMACNA until...
Published 04/17/22
Mark Cichy, well-known digital pioneer chats with Dick Bayer about BIM, AI and what’s next in our evolving technological landscape.  Data, information, procedure, and software development will substantially influence work in the built environment. Mark suggests that pre-construction insights and processes can provide consistent and efficient outcomes if we’re willing to make appropriate investments in effective and “smart/intuitive” systems – using tech tools to achieve a defined goal through...
Published 03/06/22
Watch on Youtube Barbara J. Jackson, Ph.D., DBIA is the Director of the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management (RECM) in the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and its Center for Integrated Project Leadership for the Built Environment. Dr. Jackson’s focus is on integrated project delivery, design-build project management, interdisciplinary collaboration, and integrated project leadership. Dr. Jackson spent 20 years in the construction industry working...
Published 01/26/22
Henry Nutt has been in the trades for 35 years as a sheet metal worker, foreman, superintendent, and general superintendent. Henry talks about how to make the trades more attractive to young people, allowing people working in the trades to understand that they are professionals in the same esteem as doctors and engineers responsible for millions of dollars of work. He advocates for helping people find their own journey and discover their own AHA moment. Lean is something that he preaches...
Published 12/07/21
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIzYYIthHiY
Published 11/12/21
Keyan Zandy is a longtime Lean practitioner, enthusiast, and advocate. As Skiles Group’s COO, he has a dual focus on client service and on nurturing a progressive company culture. He is ultimately responsible for the oversight of the firm’s daily operations and ensuring that their Lean processes are continuously improved and consistently practiced. He is the co-author of The Lean Builder: A Builder’s Guide to Applying Lean Tools in the Field, which simplifies and clearly articulates the...
Published 10/26/21
Katherine Copeland has been doing “lean” since she helped organize her father’s shop when she was 10.  She followed her Grandmother to Penn State—her Grandmother was the valedictorian of the class of 1932.  She has followed that pedigree with more—very active in LCI, part of the Southland team at the California Prison Healthcare Receivership and now director of Target Value Delivery with Merck.  Join us as we reminisce and look ahead. Watch on Youtube.
Published 10/11/21
One of Canada's pre-eminent construction lawyers, Geza Banfai worked with the Candian Construction Documents Committee to draft CCDC 30, Canada's first IPD contract.  We visit with Geza to discuss the role of contracts in allowing us to use a full lean design and construction operating platform.  We compare and contrast construction practice in the US and Canada.  And finally we discuss "what's next?" Watch on YouTube.
Published 09/20/21