EP18 — Building What's Next at DDS

Built in Boots is back. Here's where DDS is headed.

After a brief hiatus, the Built in Boots Podcast returns for Season 2 with Mike Fallat, President of DDS, and Mark Payne, Director of Training & Compliance. Together, they reflect on the challenges and accomplishments of 2025, discuss the opportunities shaping 2026, and share how DDS continues to invest in its people, culture, and long-term success. 

From staying connected with crews in the field to developing the next generation of talent, this conversation provides an inside look at the company's direction and the mindset driving its continued growth. Midway through the episode, Communications Specialist JuWan Graham joins the discussion to share his perspective as a newer member of the team and what he's learned while experiencing the wide range of work taking place across DDS. 

What we cover in this episode:

•  Why Built in Boots is back and the impact it has had on employees and new hires 
•  Lessons, challenges, and accomplishments that shaped 2025 
•  The opportunities and outlook guiding DDS through 2026 
•  Why staying connected to crews in the field remains a leadership priority 
•  How training, safety, and continuous improvement support long-term success 
•  Developing the next generation through internships and workforce development 
•  Recruiting, retaining, and growing a strong team 
•  The value of collaboration across DDS and the broader Artera family 
•  Why investing in people remains the foundation of the company's future 

If you're part of the DDS team, considering a career in the industry, or interested in learning more about the people behind the work, this episode offers an honest conversation about leadership, opportunity, and building what's next together.

 At The DDS Companies, we don’t just build projects—we build careers. From field workers to office staff, every role contributes to our mission of excellence in the civil construction industry. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take the next step in your journey, DDS offers the opportunities, support, and culture you need to thrive.

Ready to join a team where your skills and dedication are valued? Visit our Careers Page at www.ddscompanies.com/careers to explore current opportunities and take the first step toward building your future with DDS. Your journey starts here! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Welcome to Built and Boots, season two. We've uh we've had a little bit of a hiatus here, but we're uh we're back. I'm joined today with Mike Fallett, president of the DDS companies, and uh we're gonna talk a little bit about what's coming up this year, what we're uh what we're looking forward to, what we're uh what we're excited about, and where we're heading.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

So thanks, Mark. Thanks, Mark. Maybe maybe just give the folks and me a reminder of uh where this podcast started, where built and boots came from, why we do it, you know, all that good stuff since it's been a little bit of a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

It has been a little bit of a while. So, you know, kind of kind of throwing it back a little bit. Jordan Potter and I had uh a talk about this, and you know, we we started to come to you with some of these ideas, and you know, we wanted to showcase the guys in the field. We wanted to showcase the guys that work with us, the guys that they're out there doing it every day and they've got to do it right. It's one of those things where we just wanted to bring that into the limelight and be able to tell their story and and help them out.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Yeah. Yeah, I think there was good reception too. And you know, the first what do we have, 12 episodes down last year?

SPEAKER_03 1:59

We had a few episodes out there, yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

I I was actually surprised and excited to hear that that a lot of people listened to it. And uh one one thing that I don't think anybody anticipated coming out of it, but it was great, is some of the new employees that we hired last year, before they came on board, they got tossed an episode and said, Hey, this is a little bit about us and our group. Take it, take 20 minutes, take a half hour, listen to it. Then after you listen to it, see if it's something that you like, that you think you'd be a good fit. And and it just gives a unique perspective to a team that you're joining that most people don't get before they before they have to jump in and be part of the team. So it's useful in that situation too.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Yeah, I agree. I uh I did run into that, and actually I was surprised how far and wide it went. I wasn't sure what the reception was going to be like. Yeah. Um, but what I found out was throughout the field, throughout my travels in the field, I would get asked about it, hey, when's the next next episode? What are you what are you guys covering next? Where are you going? What are you doing? Yeah. People were people were into it. These guys aren't shy. These girls aren't shy.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

You know, I mean some of you those listening out there were coming to your town soon, so don't be afraid to jump in, throw a mic on.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

That's right. That's right. If uh if you see me calling, you know, just don't be afraid to answer.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

You might even get a burger or a sausage out of it, too. You know, maybe, maybe. Depends on how it goes. Depends on how it goes.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

I I I know I've got a lot of IOUs out there, so you know, I've gotta be careful. Those have been building up. Those have been building up, I hear. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. I've been reminded this week and and materials.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

I'm sure. Yep. I went and saw the Albany crew the first time in too long of a stretch that I haven't been out there, but uh I was sure to bring some hats with me to smooth it over, you know. So hat always goes a long way. Hat goes a long way, and a burger and a sausage. A burger helps.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

So hey, so you know, jumping forward, obviously looking back, we haven't done one of these in quite a while, but uh there's there's really no reason for that other than the excuse of priorities, and we're busy and you're busy and everyone's busy, and and uh but now we're back at it, and and here we are. So 2026, we're halfway through the year already, which is crazy to say out loud, but it is but it's June, and uh what are you excited for this year, Mark?

SPEAKER_03 4:09

You know, I I'm really excited to get back in the field. So we've went through our heavy training season this spring. We uh we've prepared the crews as best we could, and I'm excited to get out and actually see the crews, talk to the guys. That's really I I draw a lot from that from going to the field and seeing what they're going through, and everybody is really willing to show me. You know, um yesterday we were on a on a job site in the southern tier, and we were watching them pull in some some pretty good-sized plastic. It was really cool to see that process and talk to some of the guys that I had in class over the winter, and they're very proud to show me what's what's happening out there. So I'm hoping this year, actually, I've got an open invite to a station project. So I'm I'm excited to go visit that. That's cool. That's cool. How do you get one of those?

SPEAKER_04 4:58

Well, you know. You know some people?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

I think, you know, they they think that the trailer's coming with me, so that was that was probably the thing that got it.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

Well, we'll see. If you show up with no trailer, we'll see if you get an invite back. That's uh I'm a little worried about that. Yeah. No, I'm I'm excited about that too. It's it's been a goal of mine that I I have not uh achieved the past two years, really, is to get get out of this office and get out in the field more and and uh just connect with the crews, even on simple stuff like hey, show us show us what your challenges are today. How can we get better? What can we what roadblocks can we pull out of the way so you can be more productive or more safe or you know, do a better job in a shorter period of time, or whatever it is. No matter what we do in our day-to-day, you know, the work actually happens with hands-on shovels out there in the field, and and that's something that uh this leadership team never loses sight of. But you know, it's important to stay out there, stay, stay visible, stay shoulder to shoulder with the men and and the women. It's just something you can never do too much of.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Yeah, I agree. I think that um getting out there and and being with the guys, and like you said, going out there and talking to them. Hey, what what challenges are you facing? How can we how can we help you help us all the way around?

SPEAKER_04 6:10

Well, we know there's plenty of challenges we face. There's no lack of that. There's there's no lack of that in what we do. You know, I was just talking to a customer about this earlier, though. It's like we're we're never gonna not face challenges. It's it's you know, nine-tenths how you respond to those and how you be a good partner, how you be part of the solution, and uh how you work your way through the challenges is really what matters, not the challenge in and of itself. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

A couple things, you know, you asked what I was excited about earlier, and we're talking about these challenges and things. There is something else, and I've been kind of recording some episodes without you, you know. Sorry about that, but you know, I know you're a busy guy. It's all good.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

It's tough to we're on air, we're on air, so I won't I'll hold my P's and Q's.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

All right, all right. So uh we've got a couple episodes in the tank that I'm excited to to release. We uh we have one in particular where it's an episode with a group of high school students that had a um they were actually at the Skills USA competition in New York State, and now they're currently uh they're in Atlanta competing in a safety competition. Oh, that's pretty cool. And it's national Skills USA. I mean it's really it's really wild to think about. And they came in, they talked to us a little bit, we we had an interview with them, they presented their actual their actual project to us. It was really, really uh high caliber work. Yeah, and I was super excited for them. I think they're gonna do a great job, and I'm looking forward to hearing the results of the stuff. That's pretty awesome. That's pretty awesome. So they were able to share some of their story with us earlier on this spring. And then uh just recently, we uh I I had one that was a little close to home for me. I taught at Alfred State College for 14 years. I had the um I had the pleasure of having a ton of young men and women in my class throughout those years that are all across New York State now. And lo and behold, as I transitioned to DDS, one of my alumni actually filled my seat. And he has actually joined us this summer. I'm excited to you know introduce him on the podcast along with a couple of his students, one of which is uh working with you this summer. Yeah, yeah. I was gonna bring that up. That's and then another thing we're trying. Yeah, another one is working out in Albany. So these guys are coming through and they're uh they're working in the field, getting some field knowledge, and now they're getting that next step, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yeah, no, it's it's such an inspiring story with with Connor, and and we'll we'll get into that. But it's uh it's a new program I'm excited for. You know, it started uh really with with an idea. Um, but once you put two and two together with your background and some of the people that you know in in your past life, we turned it into to something that's reality. And and I think it's gonna be we're kind of building the plane as we go, as we're off the runway, per per se, but uh it's all about the people you're doing it with, and I think we got the right people that are around the table to make it happen. So um super excited to see where that goes.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Yeah, I am too. I think that that's uh that's gonna be a a huge, huge program for the guys. Yeah, they're uh they're gonna gain so much experience, it's gonna be wild.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

Yeah. Hey, we're gonna take a quick pause because we got a special guest here coming in quick. So hang tight for one minute. All right, so we're we're back. We had to take a little pause to get our uh our newest team member, our newest seat around the table for the podcast at least set up here. So Juwan came on board to lead communications efforts, lead um marketing, um, internal and external for recruiting and otherwise, and help put proposals together, which is why he was late, because that takes priority over this for sure. Yes, it does. Uh that pays the bills, right? So Juwan came on board three months ago. He's learned a lot and has become a good teammate and a good partner to us all. So, Juwan, I'll I'll kick it over to you for a brief intro and then we'll just uh we'll just keep it going.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Sounds good. Yeah, I'm um Juwan Graham, communications specialist uh here at DDS. Been here, like Mike said, uh for about three, almost three months, actually. Yeah, five more days. It'll be three months. It's been a whirlwind. It's been a good whirlwind. Yeah, learned a lot from a lot of different people, learned a lot about the crew, saw a really, really cool site today. Probably one of my favorite like projects I've seen so far. It's great. Um yeah, just been learning a lot and just talking to people and getting to know everybody.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Well, there's a lot to learn. I mean, that's one thing about what we do that's continuously astonishing is it's it's like five companies under one roof, right? And that's just us here in Rochester. And then you start to bolt on, you know, our sister companies, Feeney out in Boston, uh the Miller guys out in Indianapolis, SEC, OMS, Ray out in Colorado, you know, like you can ripple affect the layers and layers of of our Terra and what it is that we do and how we do it. Um, but you know, here here our core focus is Rochester, and and even under this roof, there's it's an overwhelming amount of work and an overwhelming amount to learn as a new person. But uh, but you've jumped right in.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, definitely try to, and just the the sheer amount of skill that these crews put in is something that I'm continuously like astonished with. Yeah. The large scope of work that we do. Just seeing like um drone shots of the pipe that we put in. And it's like we did that.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

It's yeah, you know, most people think construction, right? We've I I hope that we're starting to shift this stigma. I know internally we definitely are, but but externally, you know, within the the industry and just our peers. Construction is not the ditch stickers, quote unquote. Like this is this is technicians, you know, and and what we do is is almost like a sport. You know, I relate it to like a a car crew, you know what I mean, in a race. Like you you see a pit crew, and those are specialized technicians in what they do, whether it's the fuel guy or the tire guy or the brake guy or the steering guy, you know, everybody's an expert in their own trade of their own craft, and and we've evolved so heavily towards that. You know, recent times it's been probably enhanced from a visibility standpoint with all the trainings and the OQs and just us getting better with that, and it's it's always been there at our core. But but I think in general, um, it's just rose to the surface on what it is that we actually do and how we do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, for sure. And big shout out to the the training team here, Mark Payne and and his crew, because we take individuals like me who are in the construction field, obviously, individuals like me who don't really know too much, and then they learn and they grow through the field. And we get to see how how well they are able to grow with the knowledge that we give them, that Mark and his crew and everybody else in DDS, uh, the knowledge that they give them to be able to succeed and grow that skill is is truly amazing.

SPEAKER_04 12:52

Yeah, Mark, if you were an ego guy, I'd be afraid to say this. But uh any chance I get to highlight what it is that our training department does and and uh you know, close with a with a close partner of our safety group too, because it's all it's all one attitude, it's one all belief. Anytime I get a chance to highlight that to a customer, a new employee, a friend, whatever it is, I do because because it's such a special effort.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Yeah, the um the compliance side, it never stops. But the the piece that is really important, you know, you you spoke on it's one belief or one vision. We care about the guys. And making sure that they go home the same way they came in.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

At the end of the day, like that's that's what it's all for, right? It's how we how we continue to be the best that we can be, and it is at what we do, right? And if you're not looking in the mirror, if you're not realizing uh where things went wrong, how they went wrong, and then correcting them, you'll make the same mistake twice, three times, four times. And and training is all about one, how do we avoid the mistakes and and be proactive in identifying things that we can solve before it becomes a problem? Uh, but two, when we do make a mistake, let's figure out what went wrong. We know we we're not out there making mistakes on purpose, right? We're all human to some extent. How do we put some some really simple, um, obvious reminders in place to not be there again?

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yeah, 100%. It's uh and it's a constant effort and it's always evolving, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:17

Yeah, it never uh training materials are not stagnant.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

No, no, believe it or not, they are they are definitely a living, breathing thing, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

So, Juwan, where are you from? Originally from Detroit, Michigan. Yeah, and I uh migrated here to Rochester in 2022. Yeah, so pretty new to the area.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

You were in Detroit your whole upbringing, your whole young, young professional career. Cool, cool. What are the what are the biggest similarities of Rochester to Detroit? All four seasons.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, you get summer. Can I say all four seasons? Because I feel like we get a little bit of summer. We get a you know we get a little bit, we get a lot more summer summer than spring. Yeah. You know what I mean? Um but our spring was pretty much a mud season this year. Um so all four seasons. It's a rest belt, kind of like the city. You know what I mean? Really gritty, industrial, you know? Yep. Blue collar industrial. Yep. During the fall, you get your fried donuts, apple cider, you know what I mean? Apple. Did you get a garbage plate yet?

SPEAKER_04 15:18

Oh, we talked about this the other day. This is great. You got to. Oh, I know why. I know why. We'll fix that. Just give it some time. I I have had a garbage plate. Yeah? No, not a fan of this garbage. How about a jenny screamer?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

What is that? Jenny cream ale? Genesee beer? No, no, no. I've had Genesee uh Genesee beer, not the cream ale. Okay. All right, you gotta get yourself a screamer. Okay. That's right. Yeah. Screamer? Yeah. What else? What else I gotta get?

SPEAKER_03 15:48

I don't know. I I think the Detroit pizza game is on point. I like that. The thick crust crust, spiky, spicy sauce, line of size.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

I've been through a lot, Detroit and Chicago, but I've had it on my bucket list to go spend some time along weekend or something with the wife in both of those cities. Haven't made it. Chicago is great, but Detroit it's underrated. Yeah, yeah. Well, if I ever make it out that way, I'll make sure we connect before I go. Sounds good. Point me in the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

I actually I saw before I started here, which was March 9th, I actually saw uh Jody from the recruiting team. Oh yeah, you guys met for lunch, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

She's great. Yeah, she is. She's she's uh she's a bit of a uh hidden treasure that we have, you know. Most definitely. Yep. Yeah, and she actually, I mean, looking back at the team now, she found a lot of people that are like part of our core team today, you know, and she just like her efforts are like just super invaluable. She yeah, she found me too.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, she randomly reached out to me on LinkedIn. She does that.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

Yeah, yeah, watch out for that. Yeah, yeah. She's on LinkedIn a lot.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Yep, yeah. If you're out there listening, hide your profiles. We're gonna we're gonna Joe you'll find them. Jody'll find them. They'll have a DDS head on in no time.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Yep. Let's uh let's kind of talk a little bit about the work and then I'm gonna flip it over to Mike and we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the programs and things that we started to reference earlier. I really wanted to talk about the work a little bit because Juwan's with us now, and uh from your perspective, I mean we talked a little bit about this, but from your perspective, like you had a whistle stop tour of a bunch of different sites this week. I mean, it was and it was fun. Like we had we had everything from a restoration uh crew up through to a telecom crew. We got to witness some uh some pretty deep excavation in some cases where they were trying to look for something and trying to break up some some rock and stuff like that, which was cool. They were they were backfilling when we got there. On top of that, we we witnessed a pretty good size pullback with a directional drill, right? So that was that was in the southern interior. We had a restoration crew and a gas D crew working together in McGraw, fusion training in Cortland, civil job in Syracuse.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah, I'm not I mean a lot happening.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

Well the boys were a little worried about uh going out that way and having a dead leg uh to get to the job and not being able to cover some content, but it looks like we solved all those hesitations.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

We had a little bit of windshield time there um in the evening, but other than that, we were able to hit some different jobs, see some see a lot of people. Yeah, you know, people that we typically don't see. Yeah. So it was it was good.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Yeah, it was good. So before before we look too far ahead into 2026, you know, it's been a while since we've been on this platform and spoken to not just each other, but but the folks listening to I'll put you on the spot and then you two, you can think about your answer first though, because you're gonna hear the question. So 2025, right? Last podcast we probably did together maybe June, July-ish.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

You know, thinking about since that day into the fall, into wrapping up the year, like what are you most proud of from 2025 as the year wrapped up?

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Wow, that's that's something. Yeah. I am really proud of how the team came together. The the final leg of 2025 was really uh heavily set up for planning for early 2026 and rolling out our annual training program. Yeah, 25 was a grind, wasn't it? It was a grind. We it felt like we fought for everything that we got in 2025. Yeah, no doubt. All the way through.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

Yeah. I mean, operationally too. One of the things when I look back, like we scratched and clawed every little bit of small project, medium project, big project, whatever it was to not have a gap. And and man, we had no gaps in terms of of lulls and in the in the operations, in terms of schedule, and and uh we completed all the projects that were in front of us, which is a great thing, but tough, like just tough market in general. Not a lot of big, big, meaty projects to go be on for six months at a time. You know, it was more like a quick hitter here, quick hitter there. And those smaller projects, you know, the hundred thousand to a million dollar ones, they take just as much time and effort and attention as a ten million dollar one, um, from our boots on the ground to the supervisors to the project managers to the executives. So it's it's a grind when you're doing quantity in in terms of project size.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Right. And on top of that, just with operations having to move and us having to set up for a new customer or you know, prep guys for a new task, whatever the case may be, it was it was a lot logistically to uh to lay out.

SPEAKER_04 20:47

So you know and the support staff too, you know, the safety folks, your your group and training, our accounting team, FPA. It's not just one piece of the puzzle that that has to ramp up the effort, it's everybody. We'll talk a little bit more about this uh in a bit too. But 2026 is a different story for sure. The the tides have turned in in that aspect, and and uh even though we're halfway through, still just really pumped on the year, excited on the year, both from a workload standpoint and the type of projects that we're doing, which which we'll talk about. But uh 180 degrees from last year, and it felt good to get on the other side of the grind, but man, it it was uh it was a lot.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

It was tough. Yeah, it was tough.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

Yeah, you know, some of the other things looking back from a recruiting perspective too, like we've attracted some really high quality people in in the door over the past, you know, when I look back a year, I guess. Just just super excited about like the team that we've built here. When I look back at like who who it is that we have in certain places from the field to supervision to management, it's almost like a it's almost like a how can we not win. Right. You know what I mean? It's almost like a how can we not win. And that's what that's all that really matters. I mean, is I say this all the time we're a people company that just happens to do construction and engineering and and without the the teammates in the People uh were just a pile of iron and rubber, you know. So yeah, just excited about setting ourselves up in 2026 and beyond through the the grind second half of 2025 that we experienced.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Yeah, I think that uh I think you're right though. The we have got the right people in the right seats. Oh, for sure. And that's that is key to being able to be successful.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Yeah, and every in and all groups too. You know, it's not just like uh we got one stacked team over here, but we really gotta do some work over here, you know, between our all of our support groups here in the office, back office. Now now Joanne's on board, obviously, so we're not we're not trying to piecemeal, you know, marketing efforts across divisions, and uh it just feels good to have have the team built the right way and then have the market in front of us to be able to go execute because at the end of the day we know we can do that really well. And when we can when we can have uh A players that we're doing it with, it's it's a really fulfilling thing.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Right. And you know, we're talking about having the right people in the right seats. What's what's fun now is we can go out and we can seek out those individuals that we can build our bench with. That's it's really rewarding for us.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Yeah, it's we're we're not reacting, you know. For the longest time it was like, man, we need people, just hire, you know, just hire them and we'll we'll uh we'll train them up, you know, or we'll we'll give them everything they need to do it. And and uh sometimes what you need to do in certain situations, but but man, any day of the week, I'll take being able to be proactive in that effort and and have a solid team, have a solid foundation, and then be able to be selective on how you train somebody or how how you task them with certain responsibilities and have it be more of a of a ripple effect rather than a title wave. Yeah, yeah. Feels good. Feels good. I'd call that a win for 2025, is how we set ourselves up for 2026. Yeah, I think so. I really do. Yeah, and then through that evolution, too, you know, we had uh the first winter here in in Rochester, New York that we've had in probably five years, which was uh that was another grind, you know, just the I mean the wind this winter was brutal. The wind and the cold and the snow. I mean, pretty much, pretty much the three food groups of a trifacta northeastern winter. But uh that kind of set us back on launching 2026 early, you know, because we really weren't able to get going until late March, early, early April. You know, but now we're firing on all eight for sure as as we're approaching June. But yeah, excited to excited to look forward on the year.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

It's uh it's always a great indicator for me when I can go to the lay down yard and I see no iron in the yard.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

Yeah, you can thank Kevin Hippolito for that. Yeah, yep, yep. He does a good job of uh keeping it lean and mean out in the shop.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Yeah, and it it's it's nice. You can see everything that's deployed, you can you know, and as we just wrapped up a travel here uh the last last couple of days. It's nice to see everything out being used, everything is uh up and running. Yeah. And uh seeing some new iron and rental iron and all sorts of other stuff out there, it's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, one more flashback, we'll mention this uh a couple times throughout, I'm sure, but one more flashback to 25, the Dirt World Summit. We haven't been on air since the summit, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

How about some highlights from that?

SPEAKER_03 25:17

That was a whirlwind trip. Yeah, you know, I will say how about how about the team dinner we had? You know? We had a couple of really good team dinners. That was uh that was a great time though. Unique group, unique group.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

So for those that don't know, uh the the Dirt World Summit is is something hosted by the BuildWit team. This year it was out in where was it, Phoenix? No, this year it's in Phoenix. Yeah, we were in the U.S. Last year we were in Texas.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Yeah, up around Dallas.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

It was uh Gaylord. Oh yeah, yeah, it was Dallas. The year before it was San Antonio, yep, yeah. Yeah, they're in a Texas kick. But this year is Arizona, yeah. Yeah, so it's a it's a summit, Juwan, that that essentially is it's about 2,500 people across the industry, project management, um, superintendents, that that style. It's all about construction and how how we make each other better, really, you know, and it's more of uh they have speakers and and educational folks that talk on stage, but it's it's some pretty named people. Who's the Savannah Bananas guy? Jesse Jesse Cole. Yep, he spoke, the founder of the Savannah Bananas. Um man, that guy, high energy. He came flying out of the back of the room. That's awesome. Yeah, wild dude, wild dude. I mean, but great talk. I mean, came from nothing, had this crazy idea to rebuild baseball and make it fun. And and I I didn't realize how large they really were until I looked them up and read his. I think he had a little bit of an excerpt there to read. Man, they're huge. I mean, they sell out stadiums, they're like sold out on the season already in the beginning of the year. We're gonna buy the next year. You gotta, yeah, you're gonna turn a lottery. So, like super cool what what he's done. But yeah, they have some big name folks. The Gashlon Front is is a participant, first form, you know, always has guys there and they participate in different ways. They do a morning workout that they host if you're up for that. I would I always try and peer pressure people into it, but the stories that come to the city. My success rate's been a little bit low. Yeah. But yeah, that was that was a great time. And then this this time was the first one which I wanted to bring it up, where we we went as a group with a couple other opco, sister opco individuals, and we got to go out to dinner and learn a little bit more about each other, of people that didn't know each other before, and uh just had a good time.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

We did, and those relationships that we built during that time have carried on. Yeah, you know, it's nothing to pick up the phone and and talk to one of those folks. That's the important piece. Perfect.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

Even even after the event, we had a what once-a month meeting where we all just get together and and share like hey, what do you what challenges are you running into? This is some some stuff we're running into here, and uh you know, we're not directly like sharing resources to fix those problems, but just putting our heads together collectively as a team and on how we how we do things a little bit different.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Yeah, and I I think that call has been beneficial to everybody. We've been able to share quite a few things and give feedback on some things that we were working on, and I I think that's been very important. Yeah, and I know that some of the things that we've shared have started to work their way into other opcos operations. Yeah. You know, I I get feedback on that occasionally when I run into those folks. So it's it's good.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

Yep. Yeah, and then fast-forwarding a little bit past the Dirt World Summit. So the the elephant in the room, we surpassed a leadership summit this year, you know, which would have been the third in a row, or would have been the fourth. Would have been the third in a row. I believe so. Um really the one reason for that was we had so much going on, both collectively as a team here in the office and individually within our groups, that we felt it would better serve everybody to have smaller kickoffs right within their divisions. And and uh we just had a lot of like changes happening where contracts were flipping or there was training changes, there was there was so much to cover that if we did do a leadership summit where we brought all 120 people here, we would have had to do another one in the divisions shortly after and bring everybody back for another one and then to to get the right messages across interdivisions. So even though it was painful across the board because I really enjoy that, and it's the one time that we get everybody in the room to align on what's our strategy this upcoming year, what are what are some things that we need to work on from last year and just just talk as a group, as one team. Um, and I really enjoyed that the past few years. So this this year we made the decision to kick it back within the groups and and kick things off in a more refined way, more specific way. But but uh that doesn't mean it's going away. We're we're gonna be bringing it back.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Yeah, I think that timing-wise, you hit the nail right on the head. We were all running in different directions, it felt like. However, it was beneficial to do the smaller group this year. And I do see uh a place for it. Again, this year, the smaller group was was the benefit. Yeah. With a little bit more time, I think that we're uh we're gonna have something really fun coming up.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah, for sure, for sure. It was uh it's not something that you can you can half bake either and then launch. Like if we're if we do it, we're gonna do it the right way. I think it was the right call this year to to do to do that within the groups. You know, but I do too. But moving forward, uh stay tuned. Yeah, stay tuned. Yeah. And then kicking off 26, maybe some projects. I'll kick it off and then you guys can can chime in. But one thing that that we're involved in this year that we haven't been involved in in a in a significant way in years past is data center work. Uh there's some things that I can't talk about for confidentiality reasons. We're under NDA on on some projects with specific customers, but we're offering uh uh we're calling it source to site, which is essentially we we start our efforts in the due diligence phases where we're we're working with customers and developers that are seeking to buy land, you know, near natural gas infrastructure, and then with that land to develop the infrastructure with natural gas pipelines, with um other other utility infrastructure to be to make that piece of property marketable to an end user in the data center space. So maybe maybe one step back before I get to why why we're involved now. So data centers in in mid-2025 were all power, right? They're all they were they were all going near the transmission substations, the big transmission lines, and there's really wasn't a space for us in that model. You know, we're not gonna go chase civil work around the nation. We we keep that near and dear here to Rochester. We're not in the power space, obviously, from a from an overhead standpoint. We do do some underground and pads, but there really wasn't a significant um piece of it for us in that industry. But what flipped in 2025 is surprise, surprise, everybody found that the transmission grid was full, right? And some of these developers that need a significant amount of power were were going to these companies with requesting an interconnect, and they were being told, hey, that's that's great, we can power you, but it's gonna be five to seven years, right? And and by the way, it's gonna be a quarter million dollars for you to get put on a study list, you know, to see if we can even power the site from a feasibility standpoint. So when the hyperscalers, XAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft started hearing that, you know, of course they shifted to what's what else is out there from a solution standpoint. And natural gas is that solution. I mean, there's nothing else that's as readily available, that's as clean as it is, and as feasible as it is to convert to power, that natural gas is the clear and definite choice on on uh something to shift your focus towards. So the whole industry shifted towards um where's the natural gas infrastructure? And not only where are the pipelines, but where are the pipelines that can spare some supply for our demand, right? And and where we fit in great is that piece of the puzzle is it's not like transmission lines where even you can look on Google images and find transmission lines, they're all buried, right? So you need to have access to certain systems to be able to even see where the pipelines are on a map, and then two, be able to have the the knowledge and the experience to research how much gas is in those lines and what what the ability is of these companies that own the gas lines to supply it to the site. So um, so that opened up a door for us to be involved from an engineering standpoint, which then opens up a door for us to be involved from a construction standpoint. Kind of our our involvement right now is we're we're partnered with developers on the front end to find sites that are feasible for them to build data centers, and then that's quickly shifting into permitting and then construction of those pipelines from a project standpoint. So, you know, we've been doing this in the in the renewable natural gas market for quite some time, both at landfills and at dairy, with our companies here in Rochester and Mid-South down in Memphis. And and that model, which is really in the RNG space, going from a landfill or a dairy farm to an interconnect, is is basically the same, just bigger in the data center space. Um, and there's a lot more of it going on. So it's a big space, there's a lot of money being spent, there's a lot of opportunity out there, but but excited for us to to bolt that on this year as a as a involvement that we didn't have last year.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Yeah, I'm really excited to uh see one of those projects and see the scale. Me too. Yeah, me too. Yeah, yeah, I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah. That's in one space. Now, what about some of the other projects that we have going on? Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about like Civil and a few others.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh again, from a confidentiality standpoint, I don't want to say too much specific to clients, but um, I'll just say there's some phase twos coming up of some phase ones that we've done in the past few years that were were nice big dirt projects for us, and and we're excited for that. So yeah, that was another division where you know last year Maddie and the team did a great job to keep the projects heel to toe and keep the schedules full and keep all the all the crews going, but but we just didn't have a big runway of market in front of us on like a big, you know, big project we can sink our teeth into. And in this year, I'd say we probably have three or four in in front of us right now that uh are either locked up or or will be, hopefully in the near near term, next month or so. Yeah, that and that's just Rochester, right? I mean, we are we are starting to focus some strategy towards expanding to Syracuse. We're already in Binghamton, we've been in Binghamton for quite some time. Um we're not gonna stretch too too far out past Syracuse, Utica area. You know, we've done the Albany run once before, and and I'm sure we will again, but it but it won't be in 2026. But yeah, there's there's some markets out there that are setting the stage for some added runway as well.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

Yeah, the the scope and the size of some of these projects, even the the stuff that's actually running right now, it's it's a lot of fun. Yeah, it's a lot of fun to see some big earth moving and you know, see the dead.

SPEAKER_04 35:46

The complex hospital work, you know, the deep stuff, the deep shoring, the utility work that's that's both a headache and a feat to see done because you you're not sure what's in the ground there, what you're gonna encounter, how it runs, where it runs. But but I mean that's that's one of the things our civil group is great at is we do all the projects that nobody else can do, or or that maybe only one or two of our competitors can do. It's not the run-of-the-mill peep pickup truck, you know, we're gonna jump in and do a subdivision. We we do all the hard stuff. And and I think we pride ourselves on that, and the men and women in the field pride ourselves on that, that that uh we're the ones that come in when the projects are tough and most people shy away.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Yeah, I think that the uh the folks in the field definitely have that pride. They they know that they're there because it is one of the tougher. As as they should, you know, they're they're the men and the women that are doing it every day. Yep. Talked a little bit about civil, we've talked about energy. How about Gas D?

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Yeah, Gas D. Gas D, we're uh we're we're fired off for the year, I'll say. Um, we've had a little bit of a hiccup early in the year. It was a slower start than we had hoped for. Right. Um, some of it was customer related on how fast they could release work due to some regulatory things going on within the state, but I think we're past that now. And and the good news is what we're hearing is even though it was a slower start, they still plan to execute the full work plan on the year. Right. So that means a busy Q2, Q3, Q4, because it's going to be condensed into three quarters instead of four. But yeah, maybe region by region. I mean, here in Rochester, there's some some good work out on the street from a bidding standpoint, which which we're we're hopefully shortlisted for. There was six projects, I think, that we bid and really, really four that we we have a keen eye towards. Um central New York region, all the crews are headed headed out at this point. Uh, there's some in some remote places that are shoring up some new customers that we've put on the board this year. Um, and that and that's where we felt the slowest start again due to work release, but but uh the future's bright as far as what's ahead of us. Happy to report that we've added a new customer out in the the Massachusetts territory just over the Albany line, which will be a new territory for us this year. And we've had a couple a couple uh of our key folks go travel out there to kick those projects off, and and they've gone really well. Uh the customer has been been great to make sure that we're making good first impressions with customers and local municipalities and and just learning how they like things done. Everyone likes things done a little bit differently from a customer standpoint, but but that's been a really smooth kickoff. Um and then Albany is just doing their thing in a great way. I mean, they're they they're such a good a good crew out there from the field to the supervision, you know, chasing the guys, um Dave Kowleski, uh Frank in the office, Dan Jordan. I mean, the the team, you talk about a stacked team out there, like uh that's it right there. So they're one of my favorite parts about Albany is I was involved when we had a heavy crew count, and then we went through some tough times and we got down to a really low crew count, you know, like two. And now we're back up to like way bigger and better than we ever were before. And and uh we weathered the storm. But the guys that that we built it with are still the core group of guys that were with us the whole time, right? Through that. And some had come and gone, but they're all back now. It's like its own little family of of a workforce. And uh, you know, everyone jokes around, everyone does what they gotta do, but they also work hard and share resources with each other, share equipment with each other, and and uh, but also you know, rub elbows on the weekends and ride four-wheelers together and snowmobiles and all that good stuff. So it's just a tight-knit group of folks.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Yeah, and you know, if you look at that group by and large, they're younger guys, they're having kids, they're yeah, you know, hanging out on the weekends, like you said, riding four-wheelers and stuff. It's it's it's refreshing to see that.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

Oh, yeah, it is. And the same, I don't know, I didn't mean to skip over that for CNY. I think it's the same out there too. I think the tougher part in CNY is we're we're so spread out, right? You know, I mean we could be three hours north, three hours south, three hours west, three hours east, and and uh and everybody works well together, but they're just not as close proximity-wise. So like they don't have the chance to, hey, Jim's gonna come over and work with you guys for a couple hours and then come back, or I'm gonna walk the excavator down, I'll help you guys out for a half hour and then walk back to my job.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Yeah, it was very rare. I was um I was really surprised that Resto was right tight behind uh the gas D crew that was on site when we were there yesterday.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Well, that's a that is a new thing for us this year, is is part of the the contract renewal that we went through in late 25 into 26, is they segregated the restoration and now we have specific restoration crews not only for our own work but for other people's work. So we're we're kind of running around the state in in a whole bunch of different counties uh just restoring trench, and that's a new thing that we're learning kind of in real time and and how that work should be executed in different places and how the administrative things work and all that. But yeah, that's a that's a newer newer scope for us this year.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:34

In terms of how it's structured.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

So do we want to talk a little bit about Syracuse now that that's kind of up and running?

SPEAKER_04 40:39

Yeah, we should. We should. I mean, Syracuse, you know, we we jumped into that office probably a little bit too early, which was a little bit intentional, to be honest. We knew Micron was coming. Normally we'll launch into an area, we'll we'll run a few crews for a season or two, and we'll we'll stretch to where that region is from the closest office. But Syracuse, we kind of went went in there like a bull in a china shop and said, we're gonna rent a place and we're gonna rent a yard and we're gonna fit it out in the whole nine, and we did. It took a season or two for us to be visible and get our name on a billboard, we'll say, but but now that area is humming. Uh, we we took on a new, I guess it's a more of a maintenance contract of proactive meter replacements for national grid. And we've been able to have our fitters out there on the street just just replacing meters as as uh as a program that needs to get done in a regular from a regulatory standpoint, but it's not something that we do regularly throughout our our workforce. Now meters are part of the work that we do, you know, but it's not a core focus of ours. So that that program in and of itself, which has given us the opportunity to keep the fire lit, if you will, has has been helpful to keep the Syracuse region uh where it's got to be.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

Yeah, and I think the the the guys are doing a nice job. They've fit out the shop really well. The construction in there went awesome. They've got a they've got a really nice place.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

And it's and it's a central hub for us being Syracuse. You know, we got our Albany shop, we got Cortland, obviously here in Rochester. We got our things that we're doing out in Massachusetts now where we're not there yet. We're not we're not bowling a China shopping Massachusetts just yet. But but yeah, Syracuse is is a core area, a core city that we really haven't been in. We're gonna put our flag uh in the ground here. Right. With Micron coming and just the overall infrastructure improvements with ID one getting done, just looking ahead like five, 10 years from now, where do we want to be? Where where do we need to be? That's an that's a location that we need to we need to have a bigger presence with.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

And it's geographically, it's super convenient. It's a nice logistical hub for us, and a lot of our footprint, you can be there hour or two depending on where you're at.

SPEAKER_04 42:39

Yeah, and the idea is not, you know, right now it's all gas distribution, and that makes the most sense. But in the future, you know, that could be a civil anchor, it could be an engineering anchor. We're already running energy services assets out of there, telecommunications. It could be a little piece of everything that we do.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Yeah, and it it's been can convenient for my group as well. I mean, we're able to host special trainings there and get everybody centered up in that location. You know, it's not something that's built out for training, but it's convenient when we can pull the trailer in there, set up and and do what we need to do. Yeah. So for sure. Yeah. Yeah, that's been a that's been a great add-on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:16

Yeah. So 2026, a lot different than 2025. Yeah, a lot different than 2025. I mean, it's it's crazy how uh how quickly the market can shift. And someone told me a long, a long time ago, it's not uh how you play the game, it's how long you can play the game. And and we we've definitely been in it for the long game over the past few years of of just keeping keeping ourselves in the right place but waiting for the right time. And 26 feels like the time.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

It does. I think that um you know the market does feel different this year. From my standpoint, we're workforce wise, I think we're probably the most prepared that we've been in quite some time.

SPEAKER_04 43:54

Yeah, I feel it.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

Yeah, I feel it. And that's uh that's a pretty good feeling for me and my team. I know that our team has worked tirelessly to get us there.

SPEAKER_04 44:03

Yeah, because that preparation never stops. No. I mean you you uh you can best prepare the workforce the best that you can but the preparation changes as the demand changes as the how we do things change as the customer requirements change you know preparation is just an evolving an evolving thing.

SPEAKER_03 44:21

Right and you know we we spoke about the work already and as we go out and win new work all of a sudden we get a new book to work from and it it starts all over and you got it in that new book just because it's new doesn't mean that you can be any less good.

SPEAKER_04 44:35

You still have to go out there and execute to a hundred percent uh satisfaction of of the standard both from a regulatory standpoint if it is gas work or what the customer's hiring us to do.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

Yes you're you're 100% correct. Yeah and those customers are they're right there and they're they're they're helping us and a lot of times they're great partners and we learn a ton from them.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

Yeah that's the key. Those are always the best ones when it's a true partnership right and a good deal is where everybody wins. There's also some challenging projects where it's like ah we we hired you for X and we want X, you know, and how you guys get to X is up to you. And and we figure those out too you know but but uh it's much more fulfilling when it's when it's a team effort.

SPEAKER_03 45:15

Yeah I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_04 45:17

Yeah. How about something else in 26 I'm pretty proud of is uh I'm gonna knock on wood. Folks on the on the audio can't see this but there's a wood table in front of us. Zero is across the board right now for safety. Yeah we'll take that we will take that having a goal of zero is something that most people in the industry say like hey our goal is zero on the year. I I think um there's less people that can that can actually do it. We came close in 2024. We had two incidents in 2024 and they both happened late in the year. We were running pretty clean all year long until I think November and then we had one in November one in December and and again 24 I I think feels a lot like 26 where we had some market in front of us it was good. We were very well prepared we were able to focus on the work there wasn't a lot of distraction going on which was a breath of fresh air coming out of the COVID era and and 26 sure feels that way. Like it feels like we're not rushing like everyone knows what they have to do. We're working efficiently we're working effectively we have the tools we need the equipment restructured some things and how we're maintaining the fleet and all that and I think the equipment's in good shape we've replaced a lot of things and we're going to continue to replace equipment that's just tired right so we're so we're not stumbling over ourselves. And and it feels like we're really focused on the work and focused on how we're doing the work focused on how new employees are coming on board how the onboarding experience is and we're transferring knowledge from some of the people that are more experienced to the new guys. I think our results reflect all of that. It's not like you focus intentionally on okay today we're gonna go get zeros for safety. That's just a result an indication that everything else that we're doing along the way is getting done right. Right. So that's what I'm most proud of when when we say things like we're at zero is not not the zero number it's not like we're going in intentionally focusing on this one thing and doing it but it is an indication and a result of us doing a lot of the little things all very very right.

SPEAKER_03 47:11

Yeah and when you say a lot of the little things you know it's the stuff in the background it's the stuff that you know nobody sees it's not the boring stuff splashy it's the boring stuff.

SPEAKER_04 47:22

Yep yeah doing the toolbox talks in a way where it's effective you know not just checking the box um and and it's not about the slip it's about the conversation that you have and actually taking it serious and and talking about the risks are in front of you. It's about caring about who you're with you know asking the right questions if you notice something it's about cleaning up the job site and just general cleanliness and organization and if you're done with a tool it gets cleaned up it gets put back here the same way every time and just a clean and tidy workplace and yeah it's like doing all the all the small boring stuff like making a habit out of doing it really really well. Yeah I would agree with that. Yeah I would we've preached that a lot I feel like you know of just you keep a clean job site keep stuff out of your way like the chances of you tripping over something is are pretty slim if there's not something there to trip over. Right. So it's like how do you how do you set yourself up for success and not set yourself up for risk and incidents and you know all the things that can happen when you're when you're rushing through and when you're when you don't have an organized place that you're working in, right? Even down to like your truck like how does the truck look right if there's just tools tossed everywhere in the bed and you need a you know an adjustable wrench for something but there's stuff all over the place and gasoline cans and everything else you know that's no that's no way to work. That's not who we are. That's not the standard that we hold so the results of efficiency of safety of rework and lack thereof in terms of safety and in and rework are a result reflects the habits that we built.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

It does it sure does yeah we've talked a little bit about you know the safety side of it.

SPEAKER_04 48:53

Anything else that you see in 26 that you're you're really looking forward to there's one about it there's one thing we mentioned it earlier but to get into a little more detail about it we're starting a new rotational internship um we call it an internship but it doesn't need to be an intern of somebody that's still in education it can be somebody that that has graduated and that's that's actually who we're starting with right now it's an individual named Connor Compton. Connor had had worked for us for a few seasons out in Albany as an intern on a gas distribution crew so out in the field as a tradesman and he worked his way through college and and built a relationship with the management out there built a relationship with the men out in the field and and he had reached out to me proactively probably in the fall of of 25 it was a pretty informal ask it was like hey you know I've I know you obviously we've we've seen each other we've talked um at a few of the events that we had in the fall of 25 I'm gonna be graduating in in summer of 2026 how do you feel about a a shadow environment where I'm able to shadow either the leadership here or certain divisional management or you know I just I'm kind of an open book and I want to learn and be on a stable path from a career standpoint. And I give them a lot of credit for doing that, you know, because one it takes some grit and proactiveness uh to put yourself out there with the leadership of the company that you're working for. And two, it shows ambition, right? That that uh no one's gonna come out here and make the path for Connor. Connor's gonna go build the path himself and and and I love that. You know again Connor and I put our heads together on the concept and then we pulled in Eric Tulson and HR to help us put pen to paper and actually get a framework in place that's more of a system that'll live beyond just Connor's experience. But it's gonna be a a rotational internship where it's three months at a time and you spend your three months in different divisions. So like he's with our engineering division to start he's he's with a manager named Randy with Virginia doing some integrity inspections from an engineering standpoint. So he's getting that visibility into an engineering aspect of what we do converse to construction experience that he already has. And then three months uh so he's gonna do three months of that and then he's gonna go into our civil group where he's gonna be on a high profile project here in Rochester a big dirt job big import job in terms of sub-base and parking lot infrastructure and just general utility infrastructure like just a core good good civil job to get him uh experience in what we do. And then from after those three months he'll take what he learned there from a project management standpoint and then he'll go to Energy Services which is another construction division. And we have a an EPC project in Virginia which is design build essentially and uh so he's going to take those project management skills and then push them over to our pipeline division in the transmission world on a CNG storage facility and do that. And then he'll do his fourth three month rotation here in headquarters kind of through the late winter into early spring and see how it is that we plan work for the year, how we kind of plan, communicate, execute like those three things how how we structure our upcoming year around the core functions of what it is that we do. So he'll be shadowing me he'll be shadowing some of the other teammates and then come March of 27 he'll have gone through you know basically those three month rotations and then we'll sit down together and say hey what'd you like? What didn't you like where do you see yourself what are your strengths what are what are some things we need to work on and then find what's the best fit for him as a full-time employee right so so that idea that concept is is something obviously that's gonna be great for Connor and uh I'm excited to be part of that along the way but but also we're gonna take that approach and put it into a framework of something that we offer to people more than just Connor. Right. So there's a few other prospects right now that we've already identified but also we're gonna go partner with an Alfred State with an RIT with a Clarkson with some of these schools where if we're partnered on the front end, right? And this is a unique offering that we have because we have all these divisions under one roof we're gonna attract the top quality people in those classes to want to come get that experience here and and then build our pipeline of of just you know good people.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Yeah I would agree with that. When uh we first met Connor at Alford it was it was awesome. Like he you know his instructors highly recommended him and that was at the point when he was still in the heavy equipment operations class that was before he signed up for the two plus two and you know ahead of a lot of that so it's uh it's really been fun to see him you know spend the time with the guys in the field and to see him grow into this program. And I I gotta say having him reach out to you was you know he he had mentioned that that was a little bit nerve wracking but it was it was one of those things that like you said it showed a lot of grit.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

No it it did and it probably was nerve wracking but then we got in a call and after 30 seconds he was like okay all right you know what I mean we're just we're we're good we're gonna talk it through and we did. You know that's how we run things here. It's not stuffy it's not like oh there's layers here and you can't you can't go there. Right. Uh you know we're all trying to achieve the same thing and we just happen to be different lengths in the chain in and how we get there. I give him a lot of credit for being a young guy fresh out of school in in an industry where it's sometimes tough to color outside the lines you know those are the kind of people that make their own path and and are successful in doing that.

SPEAKER_03 54:13

Yeah I would agree. That's a really cool program. I can't wait to hear Connor report back on that.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Yeah and I'll keep we're keeping in touch along the way you know for sure. But uh but just a just an impressive young kid. He was in the diving space he was on the national diving team and he plays second two years in a row in the whole country which is a a pretty unique I think you know it's something that I I gained a lot of respect for him for because it's not like you're a teammate on a team like a football team or a baseball team. It was all him for himself. And it's and it's hard to hold yourself accountable when it's only you you know like you can you can negotiate with yourself pretty easily but when you have a teammate right and somebody like hey Mark I'll meet you at the gym in the morning if I don't show up at the gym like I'm I'm not gonna feel great about that right now if it's just me and I'm deciding I'm gonna go to the gym in the morning but I don't go well there's no one to really be disappointed right other than yourself. So you know I give him a lot of credit to have the discipline to hold himself accountable through his college career two years in a row to hit the gym every day to do cardio every other day to do all the things that he needs to do again the boring stuff the habits that you build that create success you know that in and of itself was impressive.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

Yeah and you know in a future episode we're gonna hear from Connor and his coach yeah you know at the same time which is which is really cool. That'll be cool. And they're they're working with us this summer. I'm really excited about that too. Yeah. Well I think have we gotten through pretty much everything we asked Mike pretty much everything that's on my mind right now.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

We've really got to listen these are not right these aren't going to be one and done either. These are going to be more prevalent than they were last year. And I want to get out there in the field and record some with the guys even if it's a 15 20 minute one you know get some of the admin support here in the office I want to hear from them you know so last year it was kind of a one and done for me at least and and I want to I want to be more involved in these this year. So this won't be the only one.

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Yeah I would say the same thing I uh I did miss it and I was at the point where a lot of you had asked hey is this thing coming back what's going on was it you know just a flash in the we're back in action back in action we're back and now we got Juwan to hold us accountable.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

You talk about you know like the team yeah now he's he's putting things on our schedule you know it's like scheduled actually scheduled out so yeah instead of just quick and dirty we're we're gonna have a structure and it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_03 56:28

Yeah that's right I love it. All right well hey thanks to everybody for uh joining I mean and thank you all for taking the time today.

SPEAKER_04 56:35

It was great to have you guys appreciate you appreciate all listening and and joan thanks for uh holding us accountable. I know you saved your voice this one you really didn't have to talk much. You know what I mean? You just don't worry we've got to enjoy the ride but next next one Mark and I are just going to show up the whole time and say all right joan it's all yours let's do it perfect perfect appreciate everyone listening we'll uh we'll see you out there and and you'll hear from us soon yep take care everybody