September 8, 2025 • 37 mins
Ted Baumgardner's journey from Marine Corps intelligence officer to construction technology entrepreneur offers a compelling roadmap for veterans seeking meaningful work after service. Growing up in a South Jersey construction family with parents who ran union businesses in Atlantic City, Ted had building in his blood—but first answered the call to serve after 9/11, attending the Naval Academy and becoming a Ground Intelligence Officer.
What makes Ted's story particularly valuable is how directly his military skills translated to construction. As an intelligence officer, his job was "organizing chaos"—collecting battlefield information and delivering it in a synthesized, actionable format to commanders. When he joined his family's glass and glazing business after eight years of service, he discovered the construction industry faced similar challenges with information overload. Estimators and project managers were drowning in drawings, specifications, and communications, often spending half their time just organizing files rather than applying their expertise.
"Building skyscrapers is the closest thing to war in a peacetime environment," Ted quotes, highlighting why veterans find such natural homes in construction. Both domains thrive on teamwork, shared mission, and overcoming physical and mental challenges together. The sense of camaraderie that veterans miss after leaving service exists abundantly on construction sites, where creating something tangible with your team provides profound satisfaction.
Ted offers a philosophical perspective on finding purpose after military service: "When the revolution was over in 1783, George Washington went back to the plow. The whole point of war is to achieve peace. And then, what do we do in peacetime?" The answer lies in building communities. "If it wasn't for folks in construction, we wouldn't have places to live, work, or worship. All of this is done because men and women dedicate themselves to working together and creating things that otherwise wouldn't exist, and there's nothing more meaningful than that."
Connect with Ted on LinkedIn to learn more about transitioning from military service to a fulfilling construction career—he's passionate about mentoring others following this path.
This episode is brought to you buy Aerial Resupply Coffee. Aerial Resupply delivers bold flavor with every sip. Their beans are expertly roasted for peak freshness and a smooth, invigorating taste. Elevate your coffee game by using code CONSTRUCTIONVET10 at checkout to receive 10% off every order. Stay caffeinated with Aerial Resupply Coffee.
If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
- TCV Email: constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com
- TCV YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@constructionvet/featured
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All of this is done because men and women dedicate
themselves to like workingtogether and creating things
that otherwise didn't exist, andthere's nothing more meaningful
than that.
This is the ConstructionVeteran Podcast, connecting and
(00:21):
celebrating veterans inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Now here's your host, Scott Friend.
Welcome back to theConstruction Veteran Podcast.
I'm Scott Friend.
I'm excited to bring you guysTed Baumgardner, a former Marine
Corps officer, turned estimatorand now AI superstar.
Let's dig.
Hey, Ted, how are you sir?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Hey Scott, I'm doing well, I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good man.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
So Ted and I have notofficially met but it's kind of
funny how we run in the samecircles even though he's all the
way in Philadelphia and I'm inDallas.
The construction world is tightknit but we got introduced
through Dan Sampson, who's afriend of mine and Ted.
I'll let you go into kind ofhow you know Dan here in a
(01:13):
little bit.
But Ted man, tell us who youare, where you're from and what
branch you served in.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, of course Scott .
Well, I mean I think first tostart off.
Anytime we've got a PhillyDallas conversation going, I've
got to start off by saying go,birds world champs.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I'm sorry you're breaking up.
I can't hear you.
Yeah, that's my thought.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's my thought.
Oh man, yeah.
So I currently live inPhiladelphia.
As you can tell, I'm from aconstruction family in South
Jersey.
My dad was a Philly carpenterwho started his own GC shop down
in Atlantic City.
My mom is from Indiana andsomehow also made her way to
(01:53):
Atlantic City where she starteda contract glazing business.
So they did union constructionin Atlantic City and
Philadelphia for the past 40, 50years and uh and and that's how
I got into.
That's how I got into theindustry.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So you're, you're okay.
So this is prior to the service.
You got into the industrybecause of them.
So at what age, uh, are you anAcademy guy?
Did you go to the Naval Academy?
I am an Academy guy man, I gotto vet you guys better before I
hit you on the show.
No, so you went to the Academyand you guys get to choose.
(02:33):
So not everybody knows.
You get to choose the Navy orthe Marine Corps and you decided
to go to the Marine Corps.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yep, yeah, exactly, it's funny.
Dan and I were actually at Navytogether.
He was class of 12.
(03:00):
I was 13, but I didn't know himthere.
I didn't know him until we meta couple years ago or a year ago
.
But at the Naval Academy I rodethat I was in fifth grade on
September 11th 9-11, and thatevent had such an important role
in shaping and the country wentto war, and so I felt some sort
of obligation to do my part inthat, and so that's what, but
(03:22):
didn't know anything about themilitary part in that, and so
that's what, but didn't knowanything about the military.
And that's what led me to toapply to and go to the Naval
Academy.
And then, when I was there, itwas like okay, well, now what?
And?
And one of the things thatreally drew me to the Marine
Corps is the autonomy that theygive to junior officers, and I
(03:42):
really appreciated how, as soonas you commission, you go to TBS
, you do your MOS school, andthen you get out and you're in
charge of a platoon and you goout to the field and you go
wherever and you're responsible,and there's no playbook and you
(04:05):
know you've got your team,you've got your senior, uh, uh
staff, non-commissioned officersto rely on, but um, the
autonomy and the decision-makingthat is expected and the
responsibility that's expectedof a second Lieutenant Butterbar
.
I thought was was really cool,and so that's that's what pushed
me in the uh in in thedirection of the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I will hand it to the Marine Corps about that.
Yeah, I mean, you're kind ofthrust into that leadership
position.
Even the enlisted guys likeonce you hit O or, excuse me, e3
, a Lance corporal to me has alot more responsibility than an
E3 and any other branch, in myopinion.
Um so so how was that?
I've never really asked aMarine officer.
How was that at?
(04:45):
Like, I'm assuming you wereabout 22 years old when you
graduated and when you're, youknow, in your early twenties and
you're having to lead guys thatare, you know, could be twice
your age, that have seen combat,what's that like?
Talk me through that that?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, that's a good question, especially for my
generation.
We didn't get to the fleetuntil the wars had kind of died
down and so a lot of our Marineswere combat vets and we were
not.
We were very green and sotrying to figure out we had had
all of this education at theacademy.
(05:27):
And then TBS and the infantryofficer course do an incredible
job of teaching you.
You know the academic side oftactics, but there was a lot of
stuff.
A think.
The thing that the Marine Corpsdoes really well is they train
(05:52):
and establish the position ofthe officer as something that
folks look up to.
The expectations are very highto set the example, to lead by
example.
I mean the famous saying isleaders eat last.
I mean I've known officers ofvarying qualities, right, but
(06:13):
the one thing that I've neverseen an officer do the men come
before us and I think thatreally sets a high bar that the
(06:37):
squad leaders, team leaders,staff sergeants, platoon
sergeants, understand that, hey,we're here to play a specific
role and they really do a goodjob of affording us that respect
and responsibility.
But it comes with it theexpectation that we have that
(06:58):
humility and that we have thatunderstanding of what our job is
and what our lane is, and whatthe expectations is, and and
what the expectations of therest of our team are too, and to
not get those two confused.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, no, I love the humility of Marine Corps
officers and, um, I I might'veshared this on another episode
or not, I can't remember, but somy dad is Vietnam era Navy guy
and I remember when I went in hesaid something to the effect
cause you know, rank in yourdress, uniform on their
shoulders, and then enlisted,obviously wear it on their
(07:30):
sleeves.
And he said something to theeffect of, well, the enlisted
guys are doing the heavy lifting, but all that responsibility is
on the shoulders of theofficers.
And I feel like when I becamean officer later on, I really I
took that to heart.
It's like, hey, man, my jobphysically might be better and
I'm not saying that for you guys, I know it's a little different
in the Marine Corps, but,granted, I served in the
(07:52):
chaplain course, so physically Iwas handing out cigars and
chewies and all that fun stuff,but, yeah, very important role.
But it's like my responsibilitywas more, um, I had the burden
to bear for their, their faithand things like that.
But the responsibility on theofficers.
Cause, man, you're sendingthese guys, especially as you
become a senior officer, you'resending these young men into
(08:16):
flying bullets.
And I know I respect the MarineCorps officers, because as a
junior officer it's like dude,you're going to go through the
grunt work just with these guysas well and once you reach that
staff level of major, I know itgets a little different.
But anyway, kind of rambling Iwant to ask.
So we talked about Dan, so tellme how you know Dan.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So I mean, I think something that's a theme of your
podcast and the community thatyou've started and created is
that there is just such anintersection between the
construction industry and themilitary veteran community.
And I think that there are somany of us who join the military
to serve our country and itimbues us with this sense of
(09:02):
purpose and camaraderie andchallenge, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera.
And then we get out and most ofthe civilian world, most of the
corporate world, doesn't havethat same sort of tight-knit
community.
And it's got connected toanother veteran, jack Hague.
(09:27):
I love technology andconstruction technology.
And somebody was like, hey, youshould talk to Jack, who was in
the army, and talked to Jay,he's up in Suffolk in New York.
And then he was like, hey,you're in Philly, you should
meet this guy, jesse, who's alsoin Philly and in construction.
And so I connected to Jesse andthen Jesse, who is like a
(09:52):
nucleus of connection, just kindof started this group of folks
who have this connection toconstruction and were in the
military.
And so Jack and Dan and Jesseand I just kind of all started
(10:17):
talking Excuse me, jake is thefourth member of the team and
then Jack was the guy whoconnected me with Jesse.
So it's just this weird, um, uhsort of intersection of of
people that have this sharedexperience of of being in the
military and and then transitioninto the the, you know, built
environment.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, I think the fun thing is.
So Jack was an army officer.
Is that correct thing?
Is so jack was an army officer.
Is that correct?
Uh, jack was an army officer Iwould love to be a fly on the
wall in y'all's conversations,because I'm sure the smack talk
still happens.
Do you have an?
Air force guy in there no, no,no no, navy guys no, oh yeah,
yeah it's.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Uh, yeah, it's three, three marines, three Marines
and then an Army guy.
I don't know if this happens inthe regular civilian world, but
I feel so comfortable justtalking I mean, just like we
started this podcast.
You and I have never met inperson, but I feel super
comfortable just talking trashabout the Cowboys, talking trash
(11:19):
on the army.
I feel like that's just such astaple of our upbringing and
something that you know.
It doesn't matter where you are.
You know people.
People always talk aboutMarines and eating crayons,
right, which is a joke that Iabsolutely love.
So true, but you know, absolutelove, so true, but you know,
some things like that justtranscend, transcend boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, and for clarity , I'm not from here originally,
so you can talk as much smack onthe Cowboys.
I grew up about 10 minutesSouth of Cincinnati, ohio, so I
have taken my licks over theyears being a Bengals fan, so
there's nothing you say that'sgoing to offend me in that
regard.
So we didn't really talk aboutwhat you did in the Marine Corps
.
So you're a Marine Corpsofficer, so let's talk about
what you did in the service.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, so I was a ground intel guy and then later
on became a recon officer isthat, as an intel officer
supporting the ground commander,my team and I were responsible
(12:30):
for organizing the differentcollection assets to collect
information from the battlespace, organize it, process it
and deliver it to the commanderin a way that was understandable
and digestible.
I mean, there's so much whitenoise out there and this is kind
of what has informed my currentrole in the current company
that there's so much white noiseout there in the battle space
that to make sense of it youneed a team, you need a process,
(12:53):
and so that's what we would do.
We would collect informationand try and reduce uncertainty
so that the commander couldeffectively make a decision.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So educate me on this , because I'm not 100% familiar
with how you guys choose yourbranch within the Marine Corps.
So is it similar to like WestPoint, where they have like a
big to-do thing where you get toselect your certain branch and
it's like based off of how wellyou do in school?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, I think, I think, like everything they,
they pretend like you have, youhave a choice, but uh, it's
needs of the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, yeah, Um you know.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I think so when you commission, everybody goes to,
uh, the basic school, which isthe.
It's like a six month basicofficer course where you learn
the fundamentals of becoming arifle platoon commander.
And I think the cool thingabout the Marine Corps is that
it doesn't matter what MOS youhave.
As a second lieutenant you aretrained to be a rifle platoon
commander.
And the infantry guys we go tothe infantry officer course
(13:57):
after TBS.
But even the logistics officers, the admin officers, their
first six months are in thebasics of what does it mean to
lead a rifle platoon?
And so at the conclusion ofthat six months of training, the
folks who've got the flightcontracts are ready are slated
to go to flight school, areslated to go to flight school.
(14:19):
And the rest of us who are aground branch, we basically rank
our priorities or requests ofthe 20-something MOSs and the
guy who does, or the woman,whoever is first in the class,
basically gets their pick.
And then after that they kindand and and rank order it based
(14:42):
on, like we said, and these arethe marine corps and and how
people rank stuff.
And uh, ground intel wasactually my second choice.
My first choice was just to bea straight uh infantry officer.
But my uh spc at the time, youknow, realized that I was way
too much of a nerd for that andso yeah, I'm a little shocked
because you would think theywould want to push guys into
(15:04):
that role, into the infantry.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So I'm a little surprised to hear that.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I mean he so being ground Intel it's.
It's a cool MOS because you yougo to the infantry officer
course with the rest of your uh,three, three or two peers, um,
but then you go on and do afollow-on intel course and so
that when you go to an infantrybattalion you're either the
(15:28):
sniper platoon commander or theS2 Alpha obviously S2 Alpha and
then you have an opportunity togo and be a recon platoon
commander, stuff like that.
But we start off and go to theinfantry officer course together
, which was, which was aphenomenal experience, some of
the best training that I've everhad.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
That's awesome.
I didn't know it was intermixedlike that.
Um, okay, so we're going tofast forward.
How, how long did you do in theMarine?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Corps and I always knew like I didn't know anything
about the military when I wasgetting started, and so I just I
didn't realize people did acareer Like I always assumed
that I would get out and go backinto construction, I mean
that's you know what my familydid and what I knew.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And so I did eight years and got out and went to
grad school and started workingfor my mom, actually in the
glass business, so I want totalk about that.
Okay, so you're in a uniqueposition because your family was
involved in that, which noteverybody has that.
So did you feel like a pull ofman?
I don't really know if I wantto do construction or was it
just something that was like,okay, I'm getting out, this is
available.
Not sure if I'm going to stickwith it, which obviously you did
.
We'll get into that.
(16:43):
What was your mindset when youwere getting out?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I think one of the best things about the military
is the GI Bill and the educationopportunities, and so I would
first and foremost recommendanybody who's considering
getting out take advantage ofthose benefits.
And so, because I had lined upgrad school after I was getting,
you know, as I was getting out,I had the opportunity to kind
(17:11):
of explore, like I didn't feelum, pigeonholed, if you will,
into, I didn't feel like I hadto go into construction or had
to go into glass because, youknow, just because that's what
my family did, um, but veryquickly, upon starting school, I
realized that the white collarworld was not.
(17:36):
I didn't want to go to New Yorkand work in finance Not that
there's anything wrong with that.
I got a lot of friends andcolleagues who who enjoy that
and um, but it just it, itwasn't for me.
I got the, the builtenvironment and and it just it's
just different.
I mean the camaraderie, the,the uh, shared sense of mission,
(17:59):
the, the like overcoming, likeboth physical and mental and and
team challenges to likeaccomplish something real.
What was was, you know, Ididn't think there was anything
else like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, and I don't want to put words in your mouth
or make you have thoughts, butdid you feel and I'm kind of
skipping ahead here when you gotback into it, did you feel like
, hey, this is the same sense ofcamaraderie and teamwork that I
had in the core?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I think that I'm I'm very fortunate that I my we come
from a, a union market, and soI think that the um, at least in
our area and in the glassindustry specifically, there's
like a real sense of like peoplefeel like they're a part of
(18:54):
something bigger than themselves, and I mean there's nothing
like the Marine Corps.
Right Like I've got SemperFidelis tattooed on my arm, I
will like always celebrate theMarine Corps' birthday, like
there's no other industry or noother you know job or role or
whatever, where people will wisheach other happy birthday on
the day.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I mean, like you think about how insane.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
That is right.
It's great, but like, but weabsolutely, absolutely love it,
right.
So, okay, you know, understandthat the Marine Corps might be
on a different level Uh, I didfeel like, you know, there was a
sense of camaraderie and and,uh, shared sense of, of, of
mission.
Um, you know, in the glassbusiness and in construction,
(19:37):
Okay, so I'm going to back upagain.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So you, you got out of the Marine Corps and let's
talk about um, we, we talked alittle bit about the transition,
but what did you get into?
So we, we talked about yourfamily being involved in it.
So you went into the familybusiness, correct?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, so I got my, I went to grad school and while I
was working I was workingpart-time for my mom and I went
to grad school.
Um, and I got got my uh,business degree and law degree.
Just because construction hasbecome so litigious and, like I
said earlier, I'm a nerd and Iwant to know.
I dislike when there's a blackbox and the law just felt like
(20:17):
it was something that was socomplex and so I wanted to
understand it.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So I got my JD MBA while I was working with my mom,
or for my mom and my brother,and learning about the
estimating portion of the glassand aluminum business.
Yeah, no, I'm glad you madenote about how litigious it's
gotten, and I was in theindustry for about 14 years and
I've seen it get more and moreas of uh, let's say, the last
five years or so, and somepeople say that's oh well,
everything's CYA now, and I'mlike, no, I think a lot of trade
contractors are becoming wiserabout how to read the contracts
(21:00):
and making sure they're notgetting screwed over.
So I think that was wise of youto do that, so you can pick up
this contract and go hold on asecond.
Mr Mrs GC or owner like I'mgoing to scratch this out, like
you're not going to screw meover, so I think that was wise
that you did that.
Um, and so you were with it'sthe Baumgardner group, correct?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, so my, my, um brothers have.
They've been working in thebusiness, you know, since for
the past 15 years, and and so my, my mom had a glass and glazing
business Guthrie Glass andMetal and my brothers have since
expanded that and startedworking in some other trades
(21:40):
doing flooring, tile, doingconcrete and block and masonry,
and so they kind of wrappedthose subcontracting companies
into the Baumgartner Group andso within that I started working
in the glass and metal portionthat my mom started and she
still runs, and that's thespecific trade that I I you know
(22:06):
decided I wanted to get intoand then I wanted to to really
understand it just so, socomplex, and so I mean I know
every, every tradesman, everytrade says that theirs is the
hardest and the most difficult,but glass is the hardest, glass
is the best.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, no, as you should be loyal to it, um,
but so you took a differentroute, though I mean recently,
like within the last year, youstarted doing something totally
different, I think before lastyear, but you, you're no longer
working there and you startedanother deal.
Let's talk about that.
What are you doing now?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
yeah.
So I think, coming from themarine corps as an intel officer
, like my job was to organizechaos right.
It was to go out and collectall of this information and then
deliver it in a synthesized andclear, concise way so that my
commander didn't have to wastetime flipping through all of
(23:05):
this mess.
And so I get out and I startworking for my mom as an
estimator and she's the seniorestimator.
She's out winning work, butshe's been in the business for
40-something years justincredible in the trade way more
than I am or can hope to be butshe was spending half her time
(23:25):
just downloading drawings andtrying to organize files.
And so I started applying.
Like I mentioned, I'm a nerd.
I got very much into thetechnology side of stuff that I
realized that people just don'thave time to fully utilize the
resources and the assets thatare available to us because
(23:48):
everybody is just so they'retrying to keep up.
And so I was able to take thosestructured analytic techniques
and some of the technology thatis out there and organize
information, basically become mymom's intel officer and really
(24:10):
enable her to do some of thathigher level work that she's so
great at.
And so about a year ago, a yearand change ago, I was like,
okay, can I tackle this from anindustry perspective?
Can I take the skill set thatI've learned as could, um,
(24:55):
really bring a lot of value toother folks who are just are are
struggling with the amount ofinformation that we're being
asked to deal with on a dailybasis.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, and I don't.
I'm going to back up real quick.
I didn't clarify.
So you were an estimatorworking on the glazing side.
Now you're doing this.
What's your take?
And this is me just kind ofshooting from the hip but with
AI and the construction world, Ithink a lot of people are maybe
scared it's not the right wordLike I was pretty confident.
(25:26):
Skeptical is a great, yeah,great way to put it.
Um, I was very confident, likehey, I'm a superintendent,
pretty sure AI is not going totake over my job, because it's
very personal, it's relationshipdriven driven.
Same thing with the projectmanagement team.
I am seeing trades.
I mean there, you've seenrobotic Masons.
Um, you, this kind of stuff.
(25:48):
I don't think it's going tocompletely go away, but what's
your personal take on where theindustry is kind of going with
AI?
Let's say, 10 years from thefuture, if you had a glass ball,
what do you think we would see?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, I think 10 years from now is going to look
totally different from howthings.
At the end of the day,construction is a relationship
business, it is a dynamicindustry, and so you're never
going to eliminate the humanconnection.
(26:22):
The trust of the World TradeCenter said something to the
effect of building skyscrapersis the closest thing to war in a
peacetime environment, and it'sbecause it's so uncertain these
(26:50):
technology tools are going tochange the way in which.
I mean, just like technologyhas changed war and changed
combat I guess changed the waycombat's conducted but it hasn't
changed the fundamental aspectsof it.
I think it's the same thing inconstruction.
(27:12):
Same.
It's the same thing inconstruction.
Ai is going to change the wayin which we build buildings and
the way in which we processinformation, but it's not going
to to to change the underlyingfundamentals that we know are
required to to get things done.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, no, I appreciate that insight.
That's.
That's wise Um.
So I want to talk a little bitabout so we, we've gone through
your career.
Um, now, if you have somebodythat's listening to the show and
thank God, this has happenedquite a bit I mean, there's
people out there that havedecided to get into the industry
cause they've listened to it,which makes me feel really proud
.
And just full disclosure Idon't get paid anything to do
(27:50):
this.
I actually pay to do this.
You know, I pay to host thesite and all the equipment,
everything I use.
So, um, it makes me feel greatwhen I find out people are
listening to your uh, theepisodes and they're going into
the industry.
So if you had somebody that'seither Marine Corps officer, uh
enlisted, or anybody that's in,that you feel, um, would, uh,
(28:12):
how do I phrase this?
What would you say to somebody?
And try to steer them towardsthe construction industry?
Because we need people, likepoint blank.
We still need people.
The industry is retiring abunch of guys within the next
five to 10 years, and so howwould you encourage somebody hey
, look, you've got thisbackground as a Marine Corps
officer, or not even NCO, justenlisted guy.
How do you get them hooked onconstruction?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I think you tell them that you just got to trust the
process.
And I think the thing I'm, myunfair advantage is the fact
that I I grew up in aconstruction family and so I I
could see what that path lookedlike, right Like I knew that.
Okay, if you get into it andyou learn X, y, z, like this is
(29:00):
and I think the military is veryyou've got very clear pathways,
right Like, you've got thisrank structure and so you know
exactly.
But when you transition intothe construction industry, it's
like learning a whole newlanguage.
Right Like a super, what is asuperintendent?
Right Like, what is a projectmanager?
What is an estimator?
Right, how do I become asubcontractor?
(29:22):
What is a glazer?
But if you take that leap offaith and look at folks like
yourself or like Dan or all ofthese other industry veterans
who have made that transition,and you say, okay, I may not
(30:06):
fully lead to something that isgoing to be very meaningful of,
I don't know if it's likephysical accomplishment, of like
being able to walk down thestreet and look at these
structures that wouldn't existif it wasn't for our blood,
(30:27):
sweat and sometimes tears.
Right Like, I think that'sreally cool.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, no, and I think that sense of mission like
everybody I've had on here hastalked about the teamwork that
sense of mission Granted, it'snot the same type of mission
right, we're not like sendingbullets down range but it's that
the goal, and what I'm going tomiss a lot is just the guys,
like being around the guys andI've said it before, it's like
(30:53):
you're in the suck together and,granted, it's not in a middle
Eastern country where you'regetting, you know, mortars
lobbed at you or something, butyou're, and sometimes it's hard
man Like construction is so hardand it's dangerous and it's
very dangerous.
But, you know, I think I couldsee past that, especially as I
was growing up in the industrybecause I, you know, when I was
(31:16):
still swinging a hammer I wasstill doing the physical work.
It's exhausting, but I reallyenjoyed being with the guys and
learning from the guys thatcould, you know, be considered
the senior NCOs of the field.
So I'm personally going to missthat.
So that's why I'm reallypassionate about taking a guy
that's fresh out of the military.
It's like man, if you, if youwant that environment.
(31:39):
Still, I don't think you'regoing to find that anywhere else
except for construction.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's just my two cents.
I agree, and actually I want to.
I want to kind of modify myanswer a little bit and talk
about like when, when the, therevolution was over in in 1783,
george Washington went back tothe plow right.
Like there's this element and Ithink, especially I see it a
lot in in, like my generationwhere they, where we feel like
we've like missed somethingbecause the war, and we're like
(32:02):
searching for this sense of like, how do we contribute?
And it's like, guys, the wholepoint of war is to achieve peace
.
And and then, like, what do wedo in peacetime?
Like same sort of sense ofservice, working in construction
.
If it wasn't for folks inconstruction, we wouldn't have
(32:25):
communities, we wouldn't haveplaces to live, places to work,
places to worship.
All of this is done because menand women dedicate themselves
to working together and creatingthings that otherwise didn't
exist, and there's nothing moremeaningful than that.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Man, you just gave me an awesome soundbite.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
No, man, I've really enjoyedtalking with you, ted man, I'm
looking forward to getting toknow you more.
And it's so crazy how small theconstruction world is.
We talked a little bit aboutthis before we hopped on to
record, but just that there's somany stinking people out there
(33:05):
but the industry is like it'shuge but it's small at the same
time.
And, man, especially within theveteran community, we can so
easily get connected, becomesuccessful, like the group you
guys started, just because andyou know, uh, there's groups out
there that are, uh, you know,naval Academy grads or West
Point grads.
Like there's a really tightknit group of West Point grads
(33:26):
here that I know, um, or likeother CBs.
For me, like there's guys thatI can go out and learn from and
golf with or network with.
I would encourage people to useyour network, whether it's an
academy grad that you went toschool with or a guy from your
battalion or whatever.
It's neat because you're half afreaking country away from me
(33:47):
and yet somehow you're connectedwith these guys within the same
industry.
Here.
It's really neat, and we talkedabout the age of the internet
and how we can do that.
We could not.
When I first got out, I may mayhave been able to do this with
like LinkedIn.
Linkedin was still really fresh, um, but like now, back when my
space was a thing, scott right?
(34:08):
Yeah, I'm not that much olderthan you.
I'm like seven years older thanyou.
But yeah, man, my fricking 11year old daughter, daughter goes
.
What was it like growing up inthe 1900s?
Like, oh, that's a knife to theheart, man uh, it's incredible
yeah, we've seen things, yeah,yeah just pull up, pull up the.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Uh, what was the old internet?
Uh, dial tone, when you, whenyou had, oh, the a well, perfect
, uh, anyway perfect.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Uh, anyway, sorry I got sidetracked, but I
appreciate you, ted.
Um, as we kind of wrap up, isthere any final thoughts on just
people transitioning andgetting into construction and
also how can people get ahold ofyou if they're interesting and
interested in following the samepath you did?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, I mean, you know, reach out to me.
I'm on LinkedIn, my email'sthere, my phone number's there,
just like give me.
I think every now and then I'llget a LinkedIn message from
somebody who either is lookingto go to grad school or looking
to get in construction, and Ithink you know I'm positive.
I respond to a hundred percentof those messages.
(35:13):
It is so.
There've been so many peoplethat have helped me along this
path.
I know it's the same for youthat there's this pay it forward
mentality, where I love nothingmore than being able to provide
that same sort of opinion orguidance or mentorship or
whatever it is, to people whoare interested, people who are
(35:34):
interested in in following thatpath.
So, um, hit me up on LinkedIn,give me a call, shoot me an
email, whatever, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Awesome, Ted.
I appreciate your time, man.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, absolutely, scott was really great to talk
and uh, I'm looking forward touh, to getting together and uh,
and and having a beer.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yes, sir, no beer for me, no beer for me.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
No beer, okay, have a seltzer, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Go back and listen to other episodes.
No more beer for me.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Okay, sorry, no more beer.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
You're good man.
All right, Ted, Appreciate itAll right, see you, scott.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Thank you.
All of this is done because men and women dedicate
themselves to like workingtogether and creating things
that otherwise didn't exist, andthere's nothing more meaningful
than that.
This is the ConstructionVeteran Podcast, connecting and
(00:21):
celebrating veterans inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Now here's your host, Scott Friend.
Welcome back to theConstruction Veteran Podcast.
I'm Scott Friend.
I'm excited to bring you guysTed Baumgardner, a former Marine
Corps officer, turned estimatorand now AI superstar.
Let's dig.
Hey, Ted, how are you sir?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Hey Scott, I'm doing well, I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good man.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
So Ted and I have notofficially met but it's kind of
funny how we run in the samecircles even though he's all the
way in Philadelphia and I'm inDallas.
The construction world is tightknit but we got introduced
through Dan Sampson, who's afriend of mine and Ted.
I'll let you go into kind ofhow you know Dan here in a
(01:13):
little bit.
But Ted man, tell us who youare, where you're from and what
branch you served in.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, of course Scott .
Well, I mean I think first tostart off.
Anytime we've got a PhillyDallas conversation going, I've
got to start off by saying go,birds world champs.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I'm sorry you're breaking up.
I can't hear you.
Yeah, that's my thought.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's my thought.
Oh man, yeah.
So I currently live inPhiladelphia.
As you can tell, I'm from aconstruction family in South
Jersey.
My dad was a Philly carpenterwho started his own GC shop down
in Atlantic City.
My mom is from Indiana andsomehow also made her way to
(01:53):
Atlantic City where she starteda contract glazing business.
So they did union constructionin Atlantic City and
Philadelphia for the past 40, 50years and uh and and that's how
I got into.
That's how I got into theindustry.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So you're, you're okay.
So this is prior to the service.
You got into the industrybecause of them.
So at what age, uh, are you anAcademy guy?
Did you go to the Naval Academy?
I am an Academy guy man, I gotto vet you guys better before I
hit you on the show.
No, so you went to the Academyand you guys get to choose.
(02:33):
So not everybody knows.
You get to choose the Navy orthe Marine Corps and you decided
to go to the Marine Corps.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yep, yeah, exactly, it's funny.
Dan and I were actually at Navytogether.
He was class of 12.
(03:00):
I was 13, but I didn't know himthere.
I didn't know him until we meta couple years ago or a year ago
.
But at the Naval Academy I rodethat I was in fifth grade on
September 11th 9-11, and thatevent had such an important role
in shaping and the country wentto war, and so I felt some sort
of obligation to do my part inthat, and so that's what, but
(03:22):
didn't know anything about themilitary part in that, and so
that's what, but didn't knowanything about the military.
And that's what led me to toapply to and go to the Naval
Academy.
And then, when I was there, itwas like okay, well, now what?
And?
And one of the things thatreally drew me to the Marine
Corps is the autonomy that theygive to junior officers, and I
(03:42):
really appreciated how, as soonas you commission, you go to TBS
, you do your MOS school, andthen you get out and you're in
charge of a platoon and you goout to the field and you go
wherever and you're responsible,and there's no playbook and you
(04:05):
know you've got your team,you've got your senior, uh, uh
staff, non-commissioned officersto rely on, but um, the
autonomy and the decision-makingthat is expected and the
responsibility that's expectedof a second Lieutenant Butterbar
.
I thought was was really cool,and so that's that's what pushed
me in the uh in in thedirection of the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I will hand it to the Marine Corps about that.
Yeah, I mean, you're kind ofthrust into that leadership
position.
Even the enlisted guys likeonce you hit O or, excuse me, e3
, a Lance corporal to me has alot more responsibility than an
E3 and any other branch, in myopinion.
Um so so how was that?
I've never really asked aMarine officer.
How was that at?
(04:45):
Like, I'm assuming you wereabout 22 years old when you
graduated and when you're, youknow, in your early twenties and
you're having to lead guys thatare, you know, could be twice
your age, that have seen combat,what's that like?
Talk me through that that?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, that's a good question, especially for my
generation.
We didn't get to the fleetuntil the wars had kind of died
down and so a lot of our Marineswere combat vets and we were
not.
We were very green and sotrying to figure out we had had
all of this education at theacademy.
(05:27):
And then TBS and the infantryofficer course do an incredible
job of teaching you.
You know the academic side oftactics, but there was a lot of
stuff.
A think.
The thing that the Marine Corpsdoes really well is they train
(05:52):
and establish the position ofthe officer as something that
folks look up to.
The expectations are very highto set the example, to lead by
example.
I mean the famous saying isleaders eat last.
I mean I've known officers ofvarying qualities, right, but
(06:13):
the one thing that I've neverseen an officer do the men come
before us and I think thatreally sets a high bar that the
(06:37):
squad leaders, team leaders,staff sergeants, platoon
sergeants, understand that, hey,we're here to play a specific
role and they really do a goodjob of affording us that respect
and responsibility.
But it comes with it theexpectation that we have that
(06:58):
humility and that we have thatunderstanding of what our job is
and what our lane is, and whatthe expectations is, and and
what the expectations of therest of our team are too, and to
not get those two confused.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, no, I love the humility of Marine Corps
officers and, um, I I might'veshared this on another episode
or not, I can't remember, but somy dad is Vietnam era Navy guy
and I remember when I went in hesaid something to the effect
cause you know, rank in yourdress, uniform on their
shoulders, and then enlisted,obviously wear it on their
(07:30):
sleeves.
And he said something to theeffect of, well, the enlisted
guys are doing the heavy lifting, but all that responsibility is
on the shoulders of theofficers.
And I feel like when I becamean officer later on, I really I
took that to heart.
It's like, hey, man, my jobphysically might be better and
I'm not saying that for you guys, I know it's a little different
in the Marine Corps, but,granted, I served in the
(07:52):
chaplain course, so physically Iwas handing out cigars and
chewies and all that fun stuff,but, yeah, very important role.
But it's like my responsibilitywas more, um, I had the burden
to bear for their, their faithand things like that.
But the responsibility on theofficers.
Cause, man, you're sendingthese guys, especially as you
become a senior officer, you'resending these young men into
(08:16):
flying bullets.
And I know I respect the MarineCorps officers, because as a
junior officer it's like dude,you're going to go through the
grunt work just with these guysas well and once you reach that
staff level of major, I know itgets a little different.
But anyway, kind of rambling Iwant to ask.
So we talked about Dan, so tellme how you know Dan.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So I mean, I think something that's a theme of your
podcast and the community thatyou've started and created is
that there is just such anintersection between the
construction industry and themilitary veteran community.
And I think that there are somany of us who join the military
to serve our country and itimbues us with this sense of
(09:02):
purpose and camaraderie andchallenge, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera.
And then we get out and most ofthe civilian world, most of the
corporate world, doesn't havethat same sort of tight-knit
community.
And it's got connected toanother veteran, jack Hague.
(09:27):
I love technology andconstruction technology.
And somebody was like, hey, youshould talk to Jack, who was in
the army, and talked to Jay,he's up in Suffolk in New York.
And then he was like, hey,you're in Philly, you should
meet this guy, jesse, who's alsoin Philly and in construction.
And so I connected to Jesse andthen Jesse, who is like a
(09:52):
nucleus of connection, just kindof started this group of folks
who have this connection toconstruction and were in the
military.
And so Jack and Dan and Jesseand I just kind of all started
(10:17):
talking Excuse me, jake is thefourth member of the team and
then Jack was the guy whoconnected me with Jesse.
So it's just this weird, um, uhsort of intersection of of
people that have this sharedexperience of of being in the
military and and then transitioninto the the, you know, built
environment.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, I think the fun thing is.
So Jack was an army officer.
Is that correct thing?
Is so jack was an army officer.
Is that correct?
Uh, jack was an army officer Iwould love to be a fly on the
wall in y'all's conversations,because I'm sure the smack talk
still happens.
Do you have an?
Air force guy in there no, no,no no, navy guys no, oh yeah,
yeah it's.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Uh, yeah, it's three, three marines, three Marines
and then an Army guy.
I don't know if this happens inthe regular civilian world, but
I feel so comfortable justtalking I mean, just like we
started this podcast.
You and I have never met inperson, but I feel super
comfortable just talking trashabout the Cowboys, talking trash
(11:19):
on the army.
I feel like that's just such astaple of our upbringing and
something that you know.
It doesn't matter where you are.
You know people.
People always talk aboutMarines and eating crayons,
right, which is a joke that Iabsolutely love.
So true, but you know, absolutelove, so true, but you know,
some things like that justtranscend, transcend boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, and for clarity , I'm not from here originally,
so you can talk as much smack onthe Cowboys.
I grew up about 10 minutesSouth of Cincinnati, ohio, so I
have taken my licks over theyears being a Bengals fan, so
there's nothing you say that'sgoing to offend me in that
regard.
So we didn't really talk aboutwhat you did in the Marine Corps
.
So you're a Marine Corpsofficer, so let's talk about
what you did in the service.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, so I was a ground intel guy and then later
on became a recon officer isthat, as an intel officer
supporting the ground commander,my team and I were responsible
(12:30):
for organizing the differentcollection assets to collect
information from the battlespace, organize it, process it
and deliver it to the commanderin a way that was understandable
and digestible.
I mean, there's so much whitenoise out there and this is kind
of what has informed my currentrole in the current company
that there's so much white noiseout there in the battle space
that to make sense of it youneed a team, you need a process,
(12:53):
and so that's what we would do.
We would collect informationand try and reduce uncertainty
so that the commander couldeffectively make a decision.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So educate me on this , because I'm not 100% familiar
with how you guys choose yourbranch within the Marine Corps.
So is it similar to like WestPoint, where they have like a
big to-do thing where you get toselect your certain branch and
it's like based off of how wellyou do in school?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, I think, I think, like everything they,
they pretend like you have, youhave a choice, but uh, it's
needs of the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, yeah, Um you know.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I think so when you commission, everybody goes to,
uh, the basic school, which isthe.
It's like a six month basicofficer course where you learn
the fundamentals of becoming arifle platoon commander.
And I think the cool thingabout the Marine Corps is that
it doesn't matter what MOS youhave.
As a second lieutenant you aretrained to be a rifle platoon
commander.
And the infantry guys we go tothe infantry officer course
(13:57):
after TBS.
But even the logistics officers, the admin officers, their
first six months are in thebasics of what does it mean to
lead a rifle platoon?
And so at the conclusion ofthat six months of training, the
folks who've got the flightcontracts are ready are slated
to go to flight school, areslated to go to flight school.
(14:19):
And the rest of us who are aground branch, we basically rank
our priorities or requests ofthe 20-something MOSs and the
guy who does, or the woman,whoever is first in the class,
basically gets their pick.
And then after that they kindand and and rank order it based
(14:42):
on, like we said, and these arethe marine corps and and how
people rank stuff.
And uh, ground intel wasactually my second choice.
My first choice was just to bea straight uh infantry officer.
But my uh spc at the time, youknow, realized that I was way
too much of a nerd for that andso yeah, I'm a little shocked
because you would think theywould want to push guys into
(15:04):
that role, into the infantry.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So I'm a little surprised to hear that.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I mean he so being ground Intel it's.
It's a cool MOS because you yougo to the infantry officer
course with the rest of your uh,three, three or two peers, um,
but then you go on and do afollow-on intel course and so
that when you go to an infantrybattalion you're either the
(15:28):
sniper platoon commander or theS2 Alpha obviously S2 Alpha and
then you have an opportunity togo and be a recon platoon
commander, stuff like that.
But we start off and go to theinfantry officer course together
, which was, which was aphenomenal experience, some of
the best training that I've everhad.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
That's awesome.
I didn't know it was intermixedlike that.
Um, okay, so we're going tofast forward.
How, how long did you do in theMarine?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Corps and I always knew like I didn't know anything
about the military when I wasgetting started, and so I just I
didn't realize people did acareer Like I always assumed
that I would get out and go backinto construction, I mean
that's you know what my familydid and what I knew.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And so I did eight years and got out and went to
grad school and started workingfor my mom, actually in the
glass business, so I want totalk about that.
Okay, so you're in a uniqueposition because your family was
involved in that, which noteverybody has that.
So did you feel like a pull ofman?
I don't really know if I wantto do construction or was it
just something that was like,okay, I'm getting out, this is
available.
Not sure if I'm going to stickwith it, which obviously you did
.
We'll get into that.
(16:43):
What was your mindset when youwere getting out?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I think one of the best things about the military
is the GI Bill and the educationopportunities, and so I would
first and foremost recommendanybody who's considering
getting out take advantage ofthose benefits.
And so, because I had lined upgrad school after I was getting,
you know, as I was getting out,I had the opportunity to kind
(17:11):
of explore, like I didn't feelum, pigeonholed, if you will,
into, I didn't feel like I hadto go into construction or had
to go into glass because, youknow, just because that's what
my family did, um, but veryquickly, upon starting school, I
realized that the white collarworld was not.
(17:36):
I didn't want to go to New Yorkand work in finance Not that
there's anything wrong with that.
I got a lot of friends andcolleagues who who enjoy that
and um, but it just it, itwasn't for me.
I got the, the builtenvironment and and it just it's
just different.
I mean the camaraderie, the,the uh, shared sense of mission,
(17:59):
the, the like overcoming, likeboth physical and mental and and
team challenges to likeaccomplish something real.
What was was, you know, Ididn't think there was anything
else like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, and I don't want to put words in your mouth
or make you have thoughts, butdid you feel and I'm kind of
skipping ahead here when you gotback into it, did you feel like
, hey, this is the same sense ofcamaraderie and teamwork that I
had in the core?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I think that I'm I'm very fortunate that I my we come
from a, a union market, and soI think that the um, at least in
our area and in the glassindustry specifically, there's
like a real sense of like peoplefeel like they're a part of
(18:54):
something bigger than themselves, and I mean there's nothing
like the Marine Corps.
Right Like I've got SemperFidelis tattooed on my arm, I
will like always celebrate theMarine Corps' birthday, like
there's no other industry or noother you know job or role or
whatever, where people will wisheach other happy birthday on
the day.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I mean, like you think about how insane.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
That is right.
It's great, but like, but weabsolutely, absolutely love it,
right.
So, okay, you know, understandthat the Marine Corps might be
on a different level Uh, I didfeel like, you know, there was a
sense of camaraderie and and,uh, shared sense of, of, of
mission.
Um, you know, in the glassbusiness and in construction,
(19:37):
Okay, so I'm going to back upagain.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So you, you got out of the Marine Corps and let's
talk about um, we, we talked alittle bit about the transition,
but what did you get into?
So we, we talked about yourfamily being involved in it.
So you went into the familybusiness, correct?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, so I got my, I went to grad school and while I
was working I was workingpart-time for my mom and I went
to grad school.
Um, and I got got my uh,business degree and law degree.
Just because construction hasbecome so litigious and, like I
said earlier, I'm a nerd and Iwant to know.
I dislike when there's a blackbox and the law just felt like
(20:17):
it was something that was socomplex and so I wanted to
understand it.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So I got my JD MBA while I was working with my mom,
or for my mom and my brother,and learning about the
estimating portion of the glassand aluminum business.
Yeah, no, I'm glad you madenote about how litigious it's
gotten, and I was in theindustry for about 14 years and
I've seen it get more and moreas of uh, let's say, the last
five years or so, and somepeople say that's oh well,
everything's CYA now, and I'mlike, no, I think a lot of trade
contractors are becoming wiserabout how to read the contracts
(21:00):
and making sure they're notgetting screwed over.
So I think that was wise of youto do that, so you can pick up
this contract and go hold on asecond.
Mr Mrs GC or owner like I'mgoing to scratch this out, like
you're not going to screw meover, so I think that was wise
that you did that.
Um, and so you were with it'sthe Baumgardner group, correct?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, so my, my, um brothers have.
They've been working in thebusiness, you know, since for
the past 15 years, and and so my, my mom had a glass and glazing
business Guthrie Glass andMetal and my brothers have since
expanded that and startedworking in some other trades
(21:40):
doing flooring, tile, doingconcrete and block and masonry,
and so they kind of wrappedthose subcontracting companies
into the Baumgartner Group andso within that I started working
in the glass and metal portionthat my mom started and she
still runs, and that's thespecific trade that I I you know
(22:06):
decided I wanted to get intoand then I wanted to to really
understand it just so, socomplex, and so I mean I know
every, every tradesman, everytrade says that theirs is the
hardest and the most difficult,but glass is the hardest, glass
is the best.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, no, as you should be loyal to it, um,
but so you took a differentroute, though I mean recently,
like within the last year, youstarted doing something totally
different, I think before lastyear, but you, you're no longer
working there and you startedanother deal.
Let's talk about that.
What are you doing now?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
yeah.
So I think, coming from themarine corps as an intel officer
, like my job was to organizechaos right.
It was to go out and collectall of this information and then
deliver it in a synthesized andclear, concise way so that my
commander didn't have to wastetime flipping through all of
(23:05):
this mess.
And so I get out and I startworking for my mom as an
estimator and she's the seniorestimator.
She's out winning work, butshe's been in the business for
40-something years justincredible in the trade way more
than I am or can hope to be butshe was spending half her time
(23:25):
just downloading drawings andtrying to organize files.
And so I started applying.
Like I mentioned, I'm a nerd.
I got very much into thetechnology side of stuff that I
realized that people just don'thave time to fully utilize the
resources and the assets thatare available to us because
(23:48):
everybody is just so they'retrying to keep up.
And so I was able to take thosestructured analytic techniques
and some of the technology thatis out there and organize
information, basically become mymom's intel officer and really
(24:10):
enable her to do some of thathigher level work that she's so
great at.
And so about a year ago, a yearand change ago, I was like,
okay, can I tackle this from anindustry perspective?
Can I take the skill set thatI've learned as could, um,
(24:55):
really bring a lot of value toother folks who are just are are
struggling with the amount ofinformation that we're being
asked to deal with on a dailybasis.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, and I don't.
I'm going to back up real quick.
I didn't clarify.
So you were an estimatorworking on the glazing side.
Now you're doing this.
What's your take?
And this is me just kind ofshooting from the hip but with
AI and the construction world, Ithink a lot of people are maybe
scared it's not the right wordLike I was pretty confident.
(25:26):
Skeptical is a great, yeah,great way to put it.
Um, I was very confident, likehey, I'm a superintendent,
pretty sure AI is not going totake over my job, because it's
very personal, it's relationshipdriven driven.
Same thing with the projectmanagement team.
I am seeing trades.
I mean there, you've seenrobotic Masons.
Um, you, this kind of stuff.
(25:48):
I don't think it's going tocompletely go away, but what's
your personal take on where theindustry is kind of going with
AI?
Let's say, 10 years from thefuture, if you had a glass ball,
what do you think we would see?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, I think 10 years from now is going to look
totally different from howthings.
At the end of the day,construction is a relationship
business, it is a dynamicindustry, and so you're never
going to eliminate the humanconnection.
(26:22):
The trust of the World TradeCenter said something to the
effect of building skyscrapersis the closest thing to war in a
peacetime environment, and it'sbecause it's so uncertain these
(26:50):
technology tools are going tochange the way in which.
I mean, just like technologyhas changed war and changed
combat I guess changed the waycombat's conducted but it hasn't
changed the fundamental aspectsof it.
I think it's the same thing inconstruction.
(27:12):
Same.
It's the same thing inconstruction.
Ai is going to change the wayin which we build buildings and
the way in which we processinformation, but it's not going
to to to change the underlyingfundamentals that we know are
required to to get things done.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, no, I appreciate that insight.
That's.
That's wise Um.
So I want to talk a little bitabout so we, we've gone through
your career.
Um, now, if you have somebodythat's listening to the show and
thank God, this has happenedquite a bit I mean, there's
people out there that havedecided to get into the industry
cause they've listened to it,which makes me feel really proud
.
And just full disclosure Idon't get paid anything to do
(27:50):
this.
I actually pay to do this.
You know, I pay to host thesite and all the equipment,
everything I use.
So, um, it makes me feel greatwhen I find out people are
listening to your uh, theepisodes and they're going into
the industry.
So if you had somebody that'seither Marine Corps officer, uh
enlisted, or anybody that's in,that you feel, um, would, uh,
(28:12):
how do I phrase this?
What would you say to somebody?
And try to steer them towardsthe construction industry?
Because we need people, likepoint blank.
We still need people.
The industry is retiring abunch of guys within the next
five to 10 years, and so howwould you encourage somebody hey
, look, you've got thisbackground as a Marine Corps
officer, or not even NCO, justenlisted guy.
How do you get them hooked onconstruction?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I think you tell them that you just got to trust the
process.
And I think the thing I'm, myunfair advantage is the fact
that I I grew up in aconstruction family and so I I
could see what that path lookedlike, right Like I knew that.
Okay, if you get into it andyou learn X, y, z, like this is
(29:00):
and I think the military is veryyou've got very clear pathways,
right Like, you've got thisrank structure and so you know
exactly.
But when you transition intothe construction industry, it's
like learning a whole newlanguage.
Right Like a super, what is asuperintendent?
Right Like, what is a projectmanager?
What is an estimator?
Right, how do I become asubcontractor?
(29:22):
What is a glazer?
But if you take that leap offaith and look at folks like
yourself or like Dan or all ofthese other industry veterans
who have made that transition,and you say, okay, I may not
(30:06):
fully lead to something that isgoing to be very meaningful of,
I don't know if it's likephysical accomplishment, of like
being able to walk down thestreet and look at these
structures that wouldn't existif it wasn't for our blood,
(30:27):
sweat and sometimes tears.
Right Like, I think that'sreally cool.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, no, and I think that sense of mission like
everybody I've had on here hastalked about the teamwork that
sense of mission Granted, it'snot the same type of mission
right, we're not like sendingbullets down range but it's that
the goal, and what I'm going tomiss a lot is just the guys,
like being around the guys andI've said it before, it's like
(30:53):
you're in the suck together and,granted, it's not in a middle
Eastern country where you'regetting, you know, mortars
lobbed at you or something, butyou're, and sometimes it's hard
man Like construction is so hardand it's dangerous and it's
very dangerous.
But, you know, I think I couldsee past that, especially as I
was growing up in the industrybecause I, you know, when I was
(31:16):
still swinging a hammer I wasstill doing the physical work.
It's exhausting, but I reallyenjoyed being with the guys and
learning from the guys thatcould, you know, be considered
the senior NCOs of the field.
So I'm personally going to missthat.
So that's why I'm reallypassionate about taking a guy
that's fresh out of the military.
It's like man, if you, if youwant that environment.
(31:39):
Still, I don't think you'regoing to find that anywhere else
except for construction.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's just my two cents.
I agree, and actually I want to.
I want to kind of modify myanswer a little bit and talk
about like when, when the, therevolution was over in in 1783,
george Washington went back tothe plow right.
Like there's this element and Ithink, especially I see it a
lot in in, like my generationwhere they, where we feel like
we've like missed somethingbecause the war, and we're like
(32:02):
searching for this sense of like, how do we contribute?
And it's like, guys, the wholepoint of war is to achieve peace
.
And and then, like, what do wedo in peacetime?
Like same sort of sense ofservice, working in construction
.
If it wasn't for folks inconstruction, we wouldn't have
(32:25):
communities, we wouldn't haveplaces to live, places to work,
places to worship.
All of this is done because menand women dedicate themselves
to working together and creatingthings that otherwise didn't
exist, and there's nothing moremeaningful than that.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Man, you just gave me an awesome soundbite.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
No, man, I've really enjoyedtalking with you, ted man, I'm
looking forward to getting toknow you more.
And it's so crazy how small theconstruction world is.
We talked a little bit aboutthis before we hopped on to
record, but just that there's somany stinking people out there
(33:05):
but the industry is like it'shuge but it's small at the same
time.
And, man, especially within theveteran community, we can so
easily get connected, becomesuccessful, like the group you
guys started, just because andyou know, uh, there's groups out
there that are, uh, you know,naval Academy grads or West
Point grads.
Like there's a really tightknit group of West Point grads
(33:26):
here that I know, um, or likeother CBs.
For me, like there's guys thatI can go out and learn from and
golf with or network with.
I would encourage people to useyour network, whether it's an
academy grad that you went toschool with or a guy from your
battalion or whatever.
It's neat because you're half afreaking country away from me
(33:47):
and yet somehow you're connectedwith these guys within the same
industry.
Here.
It's really neat, and we talkedabout the age of the internet
and how we can do that.
We could not.
When I first got out, I may mayhave been able to do this with
like LinkedIn.
Linkedin was still really fresh, um, but like now, back when my
space was a thing, scott right?
(34:08):
Yeah, I'm not that much olderthan you.
I'm like seven years older thanyou.
But yeah, man, my fricking 11year old daughter, daughter goes
.
What was it like growing up inthe 1900s?
Like, oh, that's a knife to theheart, man uh, it's incredible
yeah, we've seen things, yeah,yeah just pull up, pull up the.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Uh, what was the old internet?
Uh, dial tone, when you, whenyou had, oh, the a well, perfect
, uh, anyway perfect.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Uh, anyway, sorry I got sidetracked, but I
appreciate you, ted.
Um, as we kind of wrap up, isthere any final thoughts on just
people transitioning andgetting into construction and
also how can people get ahold ofyou if they're interesting and
interested in following the samepath you did?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, I mean, you know, reach out to me.
I'm on LinkedIn, my email'sthere, my phone number's there,
just like give me.
I think every now and then I'llget a LinkedIn message from
somebody who either is lookingto go to grad school or looking
to get in construction, and Ithink you know I'm positive.
I respond to a hundred percentof those messages.
(35:13):
It is so.
There've been so many peoplethat have helped me along this
path.
I know it's the same for youthat there's this pay it forward
mentality, where I love nothingmore than being able to provide
that same sort of opinion orguidance or mentorship or
whatever it is, to people whoare interested, people who are
(35:34):
interested in in following thatpath.
So, um, hit me up on LinkedIn,give me a call, shoot me an
email, whatever, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Awesome, Ted.
I appreciate your time, man.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, absolutely, scott was really great to talk
and uh, I'm looking forward touh, to getting together and uh,
and and having a beer.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yes, sir, no beer for me, no beer for me.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
No beer, okay, have a seltzer, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Go back and listen to other episodes.
No more beer for me.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Okay, sorry, no more beer.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
You're good man.
All right, Ted, Appreciate itAll right, see you, scott.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Thank you.
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