The SiteVisit
Leadership in construction with perspective from the job site. A podcast dedicated to the Construction industry. Construction professionals, General Contractors, Sub trade Contractors, and Specialty Contractors audiences will be engaged by the discussions between the hosts and their guests on topics and stories. Hosted James Faulkner ( CEO/Founder - SiteMax Systems ).
The SiteVisit
CLF 2023 D2E2 | The Impact of Sports in Construction with Adam Timler (Metal Building Group) | EP83 (Part 2)
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Day 2 Episode 2 | In this episode, from the conference floor at the VRCA Construction Leadership Forum 2023, James and Christian are joined by Adam Timler, Business Development Manager at Metal Building Group and Emcee, at this year's Construction Leadership Forum.
EPISODE LINKS:
Adam Timler LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtimler/
Metal Building Group Website: https://www.metalbuildinggroup.ca/
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Welcome to the site to the podcaster, leadership, and perspective from construction.
SPEAKER_04Let's get down to it.
SPEAKER_03We have Adam Timmler. Hey guys. MC, auctioneer, extraordinaire. And also handles business development matters at Metal Building Group. That's right. How are you, man?
SPEAKER_02I'm good. Yeah, a little tired. Uh it was a pretty eventful weekend for sure. Um, and great crowd to work with. So, but uh yeah, no, happy to be here and and sad to be leaving. Yeah, no kidding.
SPEAKER_03That was an action pack, 48 hours. And uh Yeah, you did a fantastic job. Thanks, man. Last night at the last night at the dinner in the auctioneer, like you you guys, uh Donna was telling me uh I think last year, you'd probably five X'd your take home.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, yeah. We we we put a couple action numbers or zeros behind those dollars. So uh and I mean that was my job. Uh and so I I forewarned the crowd. I'm like, you know, uh the Adam might have you might have known before this. Uh it's it's a different person stepping up on the stage. Um, but uh but yeah, I mean the the whole idea is just you know, it's it's for the community. We're trying to raise you know some funds to go into a scholarship program. Um, so I'm not gonna be shy, you know, in trying to uh uh ask for your money. And so I think we achieved that last night. No, you you really did.
SPEAKER_01You didn't have to dance either.
SPEAKER_02No, because you know, I was ready.
SPEAKER_01You threatened to dance. Yeah, you got do I have to dance? So how many times have you done that before? That made my first. Holy smokes, that was good.
SPEAKER_03Really good. Yeah. And we chatted uh uh a little bit last night at the dinner, uh, some of the things that you do outside of uh MCing and auctioneering and business. But why don't we just before we get into a few of those tidbits and some highlights, I think, from the conference, maybe just give our audience and our listeners uh the Cole's notes on who Adam is and what you currently do, Metal Building Group. Right.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so uh I'm in a business development role with Metal Building Group, and uh we are a steel contractor, so um we primarily focus on pre-engineered metal buildings. We're full service in terms of supply and install, uh, but we also bring to the table uh a network of fabricators. So we do a lot of conventional steel or hybrid projects as well. Um, mostly in the industrial sector, like energy and utilities. Um, but with pre-eng, I mean there's there's a lot of applications for it, even in commercial. Um uh it's yeah, and so I mean, yeah, part of my job is educating our clientele, whether they're either they're familiar with pre-eng buildings and and the capabilities and the clear spans it can bring and the uh economies that it or the savings, the cost savings you can get out of it. That's a big thing about pre-eng, is it's it's an efficient design system for steel construction for low to mid-rise. And um yeah, hey, everybody wants to save a few dollars on their project as well as time. I mean, it's it uses a bolted connection instead of field welding, so it goes up a lot faster. And uh that sometimes is kind of the the big key that's leading the story of why somebody wants to build a steel building. Um, so yeah, I keep I keep myself busy. We we do a lot of either subcontracting but also prime contracting work for clients that want to turnkey projects. So we we really get a variation of projects, big and small, and a variation of clients as well from private to public. So um I'm pretty fortunate, I think, where I work. It's a family-owned business. Uh, so it's a different environment, um, not as corporate, but um uh they they've given me a platform to thrive and um and they they always encourage me to come to these VRC events. And so I I uh did they put you up to this? Uh no, no, this this is all my doing. I mean, I think once once they threw me in the ring, I've I've just stayed in the ring. That's what you gotta do, man. Yeah, you take it, tough it out. And uh, how long have you been at Metal Building Group for? Uh just under four years. Coming up in about a month will be my four-year anniversary.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, things are going well. Long time. Yeah. And we chatted last night. Uh we had some uh we had Cam at Ram at the table as well. That's right. And uh good great company, great guy. Great guy, great company for sure. And uh he's of course he's a rugby guy, but also learned that you're a rugby guy too. You're a big rugby guy, big rugby guy. Talk a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_02Google me out there, just just Google the tornado and you you'll get some clips of my uh yeah, my past uh efforts there. Um I mean uh I've grown up playing it out here. Um I grew up playing in high school and then playing you know varsity at UVC, and then I had some opportunities with uh rugby Canada when I was a little bit younger. Um but uh yeah, I I mean I I actually took a bit of a hiatus from rugby um while I was uh actually switching careers. I was um working in banking before this, and uh and and so at that time the routine with that kind of structure and that in that work environment worked very well. But um uh for a number of reasons, I just needed to take a break, probably because my body was probably too beat up too, and you just need to dial it back for some time. And so yeah, when I did that, I actually that's that's the time when I started getting into the construction industry. Haven't looked back. Um, but more or less recently, I think I was just finding with all this extra time I still had, uh I was going a little crazy and uh just had to put all my energy towards something. And and honestly, the sport is therapeutic for me. So um yeah, it it it I can show up on Monday to the office and and and you know be re-energized at my job. I might be you know limping here or there or carrying a black eye, but uh uh it's it's a sport that challenges you in so many ways um on and off the field. And and I think there's a lot of mantras you can really take from that sport um that I carry with me every day. And uh and I think I try to do that actually at some of these events here. Um, and it's funny enough, you there's a there's a lot of rugby players in the construction industry. We chouted about that. Yeah, yeah. So Cam even himself, actually, we we went to provincials when we were a little bit younger uh with our uh BC team.
SPEAKER_03So it's very cool. Yeah. Well, the conversation of construction and sport has come up a number of times this weekend. You know, obviously we're in NHL playoffs right now, but and uh this isn't a sports podcast, we're a construction podcast, but sound I like one, but we uh we realize that um, you know, and James and I often talk about uh you know, there's a lot of culture pieces that can also be brought into a construction podcast because we're people and construction people. Men and women are um they have a lot of uh great interests, and one of them being sports. And so I think that that is really cool and to dig into that a little bit more. And um I think that we might just were you gonna say you're gonna chime in on sports, aren't you, James?
SPEAKER_01No, no, I'm not. So what do you think you know after being at the conference like this, and um like what's your what's your sentiment of uh the you know how the conference has gone so forth, and you've been chatting with people and what's the feedback you've gotten?
SPEAKER_02Uh it uh a lot. I mean, um uh uh besides the auctioneering. Yeah, I mean that's yeah I threw a lot of energy into that. You did. Um uh and didn't hold anything back. But I mean, um, I don't know. I mean, I they did a great job with all the panels that we had. I think seeing you know different stakeholders at the table all having kind of conversation like from your trades, your GCs, your your consultants, it it's it's um it's inspiring to see that because it's like it's hard to take or to do that when you're back in the office, like the practicality of it. So when you see it happening here, it just opens your eyes to okay, yes, we can have these tough conversations, or here's how we need to have these uh or address these conflicts and and and not be so combative and and and focus on what you know the real task is at hand. Um so I think that came in a lot of forms from some of the panelists that we had. Uh also just um a little bit of reflection, a little bit of reflection about well, what is it that you want out of your job and your employer, um, and and and and the two-way street between that relationship. So, I mean, if you have a good employer, uh there shouldn't be reasons to be looking elsewhere, right? Like they should be taking care of you and and and making this a prosperous lifestyle career. Um and if not, well, then maybe yeah, there's there's other places you could be looking. Um, but at the same time, you need to be asking yourself, well, what am I bringing to the table? And have I have I have I have I tapped into my potential? Um and and and I you know have I communicated to my mentors or my my you know seniors uh what what what I'm looking to get out of this job? Because nobody knows what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um so it's yeah, it's just about having those conversations. It's amazing how simple it can be, right? And and what you can accomplish just over a conversation.
SPEAKER_01So in terms of what you were just saying there about um you know communication on what you know you want out of your job or what someone wants out of their job. Um do you feel that these days that there is an even exchange of what expectations are and what is delivered, or do you think it's like still inequitable?
SPEAKER_02Uh I probably the latter, like you're saying, but I think that the dial there is slowly changing. Like Eric yesterday was a little eye-opening when he was talking about like the whole conversation about our understanding from one generation to the other. Yeah. It's the same story. Like I was shocked when he threw up that quote from Socrates. I was like, you're kidding. Yeah, I mean back then. Exactly. That that threw me off, but that hit home. Being like, okay, well, clearly doing this for a while. Yeah, yeah. And why why are we getting anywhere? Yeah. So I mean it's it's that that just kind of puts into perspective, I think, being like, okay, well, um, then what how do I need to change my position on this conversation? And it's honestly it's those little cues that can make all the difference. Even even in a sport, even if you're training in the gym, if you have the right trainer and they've given you the proper cues on what to activate, the rest of the system starts to come and fall into place and your performance starts to, you know, uh excel and rather than plateau.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's it's kind of the same, similar paradigm to when you know, if someone is in the restaurant industry, let's say someone works at McDonald's, yeah, and we all still expect the Big Mac to be X amount of dollars. Yeah. And yet the employees are getting paid ridiculous amount compared to the past. Oh, yeah, that could be the bar for many other things. But the well, it's don't they have the Big Mac index or something? Is what Big Macs cost all over the place and what it costs. Like there's some like yeah, there's some um metric that shows you all over the world what it costs. Yeah. Um and you know, and what they charge for it. But yeah, I think that that you know, as as you know, like you know, with we like we run a company and and you know, we're always trying to balance you know what we're uh providing and uh you know what the expectations are, yeah. Um without passing that on to our customer to make sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there's there's always that you know that profitability kind of uh delta or gap that you're trying to manage all the time and keep the thing rocking and rolling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, yeah, managing that expectation, but I think if you're able just to communicate the value, I mean everybody sees value in a different form. Um so I mean just if you're able to tap into that, then I mean it maybe it's an easier conversation and and you know, and you don't yeah, it saves you from a tough conversation or having to we we've chatted a lot about um through the last keynote uh yesterday, which was Eric, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um which was a fantastic presentation and and the conversations we had yesterday uh with some of the panelists as well about communicating certain things and the buzzwords and we said the word value and we there's the culture and the collaboration, all that kind of stuff. But one thing um that we obviously we do with the podcast is a lot of industry advocacy stuff, really promoting and communicating on behalf of the industry to be like, hey, construction is an amazing place to be. We had um Scott Foreign last night. Okay. Are you involved in YCL at all? Not anymore. Oh, okay. It was a little bit in the past, yeah. But in terms of communicating these things, value expectation, generational shifts, everything like that. Maybe what's one thing, and we just kind of tidy up um a conversation around uh that advocacy piece, what's one nugget taking out of this weekend that you would want to leave with the audience or the listeners or anyone that would be chiming into this to really communicate around the value that construction brings, the benefits of the generations working together. Auctioneering, anything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, can you add any tidbits on uh can you re-rephrase that once more for me?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just a nugget that you'd you'd want to leave uh with our audience uh around advocacy of our industry, communicating on behalf of our industry and yeah, well, okay.
SPEAKER_02I I think it might have come up in uh I think the discussion with uh works ABC and Coca there with Dave Bispaldi, who's a fantastic individual. Don't shoot, yeah. Um shouting, baby. Shouting, he he corrected. Okay, good. Um yeah, whereas in like look, we're you know, we got a lot of people here that are showing up to do a job and and and just want to do a good job and then go home to their their families. Um but also about that, like all the pain points that we face in the industry, like just the practicality of you know, any law that comes in for improving uh you know your health and safety on site, it doesn't always play out, you know, properly in the field. And so when we have that feedback loop and and trades or GCs are coming back to the table and saying, hey, this doesn't work, or hey, this is costing us too much, or hey, this is just a barrier that we need to remove. Um, it that just needs that conversation needs to be happening more and more. And um, I can honestly say though, from from the pandemic, I think I've seen an uptick in that. And uh uh it's it's amazing how collaborative actually the industry was and and at being at the forefront of being like, okay, this is a problem we're all gonna deal with, but we're we're we're pushing ahead. I mean, we have to, we got projects, but we also gotta do it in a safe manner. And uh everybody didn't know what the serum was for that. Um, but yet you have everybody trying to or you had GCs sharing their best practices. You had them, you know, uh trial and error and and and essentially just it it just moved the needle so far ahead, and now I you're seeing, okay, well, you know, if we all work a little bit better together, it it can be a little bit easier to do our jobs, right? And so I think there's a little bit of little stress relieved there because I mean every project itself has its issues. So I mean, if we can if we can leave the uh human human you know matters out of it and then more focus on the project, then I think it's it's you know, that's that's that's an ideal situation. No, for sure.
SPEAKER_03And I think that that theme has resonated through all of our conversations this weekend. People, of course, come back to the conversation of the last three years and how construction specifically addressed the challenges that we all faced. We're a real pragmatic, practical bunch of people. Yeah. Right? Yeah. When you're faced with a real challenge, it's like you can either and George Benson from the Vancouver Economic Um Commission. Commission almost said the other commission, um, he kept saying the it's not a thou shalt do or thou shalt not in terms of like what we will do in this. It was more of a um uh bring of people together and being like, how do we actually make a change here? How can we actually get our minds together and have some conversation around this and get pragmatic around it? So I think it's a really good um point to drive home. Yeah. And construction, when we're faced with challenges, really comes together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I mean, you'd be surprised. I mean, how often uh if that approach isn't taken at the beginning of a job uh with an owner and the consultants or any any of the trades that, and and that's why we're, you know, the the whole industry is shifting more towards a design build is because of the benefits of having these discussions up front and avoiding any of these, you know, cost uh implications down the road that just you know, you just shake your head being like, How was this missed? Or why wasn't why didn't somebody just point this out or talk about this? It could have been easily avoided. So it's it's getting better. It is getting a whole lot better. I agree. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well sounds like a good wrap-up. That is awesome. No we keep these things short and sweet. Um to uh we we will continue the conversation about the uh sports in construction uh at some point in time. I got lots more to share there. It'd be great to have you by the studio in Yelp Town. Yeah, that would be awesome. Right on. Right on next down for sure. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it. Great job again. MCI this weekend. I loved it. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01Well, that does it for another episode of this. Thank you for the same.