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Welcome everybody out to podcast number 1159. We have Jen Lacy and we have Josh Young here with us again and we're going to be talking about a special story that affected the, I'll say the client, the customers, the end users isn't what I'm looking for, but the people that the facility is going to benefit and kind of the little buzz that the job site got for such a kind act and it's really indicative of how this job site runs. So I hope you are ready for that.

Stay with us. This is the Elevate Construction Podcast, delivering remarkable content for workers, leaders, and companies in construction wanting to take their next step. Get ready to step out of your comfort zone with Jason Schroeder as he encourages you to do better.

live a remarkable life and expect more. Let's go. Welcome everyone. 

I hope you're doing well. I'll give the first shout out to Ms. Jen. How are you feeling? You want to say hi? Hi, I'm doing good and excited about the story.

Yeah, I am too. It's super awesome. And then Mr. Josh, how are you doing my brother? I'm doing well.

So we, so let me do a little bit of bragging. One more, so we already heard on the last podcast, the introduction, but we're in Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke, Virginia, the, uh, on Karelian Clinic's campus, we're doing a, uh, expansion to their crystal, we're building a crystal spring tower, which is the expansion of the cardiovascular services.

And so, uh, Jen, uh, I invited me to come out here and, um, it was just time to accept the offer cause this is the second or third time. So I flew out here and, and have been out here for the day, uh, touring. We we've already are up to six really neat, lean improvement videos.

Uh, we're going to be getting four podcasts out of this, uh, toured the building, learned many new things, and sitting in a wonderful conference room with just great visuals, uh, Josh is using and it, I'll call it an advanced form of tech planning. I hope that doesn't get him in trouble with anybody, but a visual, visual production planning in, in what's mostly a time by location format with very, uh, visual color coding of trade. So you can see trade flow.

So you can see the overall plan and put the plan in the hands of the people, very nice scaled meeting system where the overall project schedule, the OPS, uh, then transfers to a near term schedule, which transfers to a weekly work plan in the hands of the, the leads and the trade partners themselves and a great lunch area, great, uh, huddle area, just wonderful bathrooms, really clean, beautiful, safe, organized the entire thing. So much kudos and shout outs go to the leadership and the project team. The other thing I want to say is that my main observation, just to give a shout out is that this project has obeyed all three of the major key indicators for a successful project on a higher macro level.

One taking the time to plan the project to creating a production system, not just a schedule and three, making sure that the culture is in place and everyone receives training. So, um, I meant, I forgot this on the last one. Um, so I put something together. 

You had mentioned how you were like culture first process in your second and then, um, and cleanliness. And what I've never thought about this before I learned it, but what I put together in my own mind is without the culture, you can't have the cleanliness because, uh, cleanliness is an aspect of a culture. So that's, that's such a neat little insight.

And that's why it's, so I said this to, um, we had two visitors today, uh, the Adam sent up who over their names again, Evan and Sean, you all are so professional. It comes to remembering people's names, but they were up and I was talking to them and I, they were mentioning the cleanliness and I said, okay, as an owner's rep, cause there are owners reps and construction managers, I said, just know any general contractor can do this level of cleanliness, safety and organization. All they have to do is be challenged and believe they can and step up to the plate. 

And the next thing I mentioned was that the cleanliness is the hardest thing to do. And if it is clean, then you know, the general contractor with the collaborative trades have the project under control and that there's nothing that the job site team can't handle together. And so I just loved the little pieces that you put together that like you, the, the, it is clean because the culture piece is put into place. 

So thank you for teaching me that. And I want thoughts from both of you, please, but there's a really neat from a copyright intellectual property standpoint. Maybe we can't say the name. 

I don't know if you want to or not, but it's like a wares and a name that starts with W. But there's a neat story. Would you kick us off and tell us that story? Yeah. Yeah. 

The guy with the red stripes on a shirt. That's better. Yeah. 

So I think, you know, we were, we were coming out of the ground and I'd seen in a way, this isn't, you know, original of me, but, you know, somewhere on a project somewhere in the country that, that the construction site was doing something special for the patients, especially the children that were, that were, you know, viewing the constructors. I think any of these kids are just curious and love to see what's going on. Hopefully it's some kind of distraction to what they have going on while they're sitting up in the hospital. 

So, um, so we decided, I decided to, um, make a giant eight foot statue of the man in the red stripes and, and every single day, you know, gains that if you, if you listened previously, one of the, um, one of his special duties, I was really proud of was, was taking, taking this giant statue and moving him around every single day. And, and it really became a, I mean, I hear it all the time, not any time I'm in the community. Hey, where's he at? You know, we drove by, where's he at? So, so we're, we've, we've instilled this, this sense of pride within them where they, they come by the site, just looking, looking for, looking for him.

And, and, and that's special to me. I mean, if you look, you're sitting right here, looking at our conditions of satisfaction on the wall, our, our number one up there is, is community, right? And so, so what are we doing to touch, inspire and, and, and be a part of that community? And I don't think, to me, there's no, no better way than, than, you know, finding creative ways to, to engage the children and the public into what we're doing. We don't, when you drive by our sites, there is no windscreening covering up what we're doing.

As a matter of fact, we're building decks high above our site for, for public to come and look at what we're doing. We're inviting them into our, into our world. So, for me, it's just really, it's just really special. 

I think, you know, with the hospital has a big function next week. It's a, it's a, it's a high end art auction where they're, they're trying to get community members to invest in the community. And, and one of the requests was to have, to have them there, you know, at this high, high, hide them somewhere or, or to have them out in the open. 

They wanted it right there in the front end. People are excited. They, they really, they enjoy, they enjoy having them in the community. 

So some of the things that you would, uh, we're pointing out is that the, the existing patient tower has windows that can see the project site, right? And that there are, were patients that would come out and try and find the man in the red stripes. Is that correct? That's right. And, and there was a bit of a buzz. 

Can you tell us about that without, um, uh, somehow fitting into the statute of limitations or getting yourself in trouble, like is there for intellectual property violation, but can you tell me what, what happened there with that buzz, if you don't mind? Yeah. Some, somehow, you know, the, the, the community had talked and, and we'd been, I think it was, uh, the local news station had reached out and said, we need a good story. Can we come out? Can we see what you're doing? And so they, you know, they interviewed me in the, in the, that, that, that video really took off. 

I mean, I think some of the, you know, the, the major networks aired it across the country. I was, I could hear people, you know, Florida, all over the place are going us, why did I see you on the news this morning? Um, that's not always a good thing. So that, that, that was nice. 

Um, and I just, I feel like at a time, this was coming, you know, it's coming out of COVID. People, people needed, you know, it needed a good, a feel good story. And, and, um, so that was the news aspect, but, but to me, um, you know, to go along with that, there, there, uh, another child in the community was, was, um, battling leukemia in, in one of the, um, one of the workers at the concrete plant said, Hey, you know, he's got a view right out of his window. 

It's all glass looking into our construction site. They're 12 stories up at the time where, you know, we're coming out of the ground. So we're 130 feet, um, or further down into the ground. 

And, and he said, my, this kid, he's not my kid, but he's my good friend's kid. He, he just loves being out there. Can you, can you get him some, I don't know, can you do something special? So we, we took, um, an eight foot whiteboard, you know, and said, feel better soon, put balloons on this. 

And they, they sent me a video of showing him from his bed that he could see this message. And that's again, that just, that is, is so much more important to me than the bricks and the mortar and that, and that building standing. I mean, we're, we're able to interrupt his day with a positive message. 

I think it's just, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it makes the whole construction site feel a purpose. That's awesome. And I, you also did a non yet published coloring book for the hospital. 

Yeah. Yeah. That's super awesome. 

Any thoughts from you, Ms. Jen? Yeah. I think even today we were listening through the lunch with the craft workers and just the messaging, not just from Josh, but from the others is that, um, there's not one person on the site, no matter what their task is, that they shouldn't go home and be super proud of what they're well, what they're a part of, not just the building they're putting up, but the lives that they're impacting in the, in the community and the, the relationships that they're building. Cause I mean, that came up today in the conversation. 

I just think those things are bigger sometimes than, um, maybe what was right in front of us. That's awesome. Well, that's a, that is an amazing story. 

So that was the third cry experience for me on the job site. Super connected, super amazing. And, uh, the, uh, uh, plywood cutout is still in good repair, which means that you're still using.

Sometimes there's a good idea and it fades. One thing, and that's a kudos to the whole job site team is that nothing seems to fade. It's all well maintained. 

And, um, I got to take a picture behind the man with the red stripes. So it's a reminder to me that how we build is as important as what we build, uh, any close, I'll start with closing challenges, uh, with you, uh, Jennifer, and then over to you, Josh, and then we'll close this one out. Any closing challenges to the humans out there in the multiverse? Yes. 

Well, for me, it's just, nothing's too small. I think it's just any interaction you have. We had one of them, the total story today about walking to his car and someone just thanked him for, uh, for what they were doing. 

And, you know, he just acknowledged it and stuff, but just remembering that there's nothing too small, just one interaction, one conversation, one, you know, just a word or a kind word sometimes can really impact, um, you know, how people, you know, walk away from that experience and just remember it. That's awesome. And, uh, so Kate just wrote, uh, the CEO of our company and my wife, uh, I should say my, uh, I'm her husband, uh, read this book called unreasonable hospitality. 

Oh, you did. Yeah. Okay. 

I haven't read it yet. It's amazing. It's amazing.

Yeah. And so she was talking to us about it. And that's probably why I noticed that Josh, before we came out here, printed out labels of our names. 

And you can say that it's a Robbins and Morton standard all you want, but this is about hospitality and care. And I praise Robbins and Morton as well, but, uh, our names were on the hard hats, ready to go. And that's a small detail that makes you feel special. 

And it's something I'll always remember. So I definitely can see that throughout the job site. Any closing, uh, or a challenge for the listeners on the podcast? Yeah, I think, um, I think people should challenge themselves to get creative in their, you know, we talk about community and we talk about what we do for the community. 

Um, a lot of times we look at what monetary, you know, donations that we're given and we feel a sense of, and they're, they're important, don't get me wrong. But our mission here and our challenge for everybody out there should be to, how are you truly getting involved and engaged? Is it, there's so many organizations locally. And for those of, those of us that travel and that, you know, all across the country, um, that are making these places our home, how are we involving ourselves and getting truly engaged in the community? I love that. 

And, um, and I, I'll say one quick thing. There's a lot of good that we can do on, uh, mission trips and churches and nonprofits. And I'm really grateful that we probably in many instances have a, uh, times two times 10 opportunity to bless people's lives just at work in construction with the workers and foremen and the people for whom we build these buildings. 

And so I think that's a great message. And, uh, I appreciate you being on this and, uh, for the job tour and for the hosting me. Uh, and I hope everybody's really enjoyed this time, uh, with the project team. 

So on the count of three, one, two, three, on we go. Please join us next time in elevating the entire construction experience for workers, leaders, and companies coast to coast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to share with your construction colleagues and help us spread the word by rating, subscribing, and leaving a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. 

We really appreciate it. We'll catch you next time on the elevate construction podcast.

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