Inside the Mass Timber Performance Index: Redefining Construction Value Beyond Cost
Release Date: 03/06/2025
LEED V5, Embodied Carbon, and Why 2026 Is Prep Year with Kristin Brubaker, Green Badger
Build Perspectives Podcast
LEED V5 got pushed to June 30, 2027 — and if your team hears "delay" and relaxes, you're going to be underwater. In this episode we sit down with Kristin Brubaker, Head of Sustainable Construction Solutions at Green Badger, to walk the industry through what actually changes and what a smart GC, sustainability director, or building product manufacturer should be doing with the runway. Kristin brings her environmental science background, four years at Whiting-Turner, and a front-row seat to thousands of LEED projects into a conversation that is equal parts masterclass and gut check. We...
info_outline
How EllisDon Decarbonizes Construction: Denyse Von Opbergen on Influence, Not Control
Build Perspectives Podcast
We're joined by Denyse Von Opbergen, Director of Climate and Sustainability at EllisDon — one of Canada's largest general contractors — to work through what decarbonizing construction actually looks like inside a project, not on a slide. Denyse walks us through the influence-versus-control frame she uses to move the needle on scope 3 emissions a contractor can't dictate, the "no silver bullet" filter that weighs Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) against lead time, cost, and constructability, and why the transition to a decarbonized industry doesn't run brown-to-green — it runs...
info_outline
"We've More Than Cracked the Code": 90% Complete Facades Before Moduled Leaves the Factory
Build Perspectives Podcast
Recorded live at Advancing Prefabrication 2026 in Dallas, Tim walks the expo floor with James Haas, who leads modular and prefab efforts at Nichiha. (At the time of recording, Tim was also wearing a Nichiha hat. He's since moved on to a new adventure.) The conversation everyone's having at Advancing Prefab this year? Data centers. But not the windowless boxes of yesteryear, municipalities are now mandating warmer, more inviting exteriors, and grid entropy is forcing data centers closer to urban cores where looks actually matter. That's a facade opportunity hiding in plain sight. ...
info_outline
Prefab Isn't the Future of Construction. It's the Gold Standard! (and Gen Z Just Wants to Know "Why?")
Build Perspectives Podcast
Andrew Layman runs prefab at Enterprise Electrical, and he'll tell you prefab isn't the future of construction - it's already the gold standard. BUT, the line that stuck with us came at the end: this next generation coming into the trades isn't lazy or soft, they just want to know "why". Andrew makes the case that "respect for people" is an actual lean pillar, that the prefab shop is the best classroom we've got, and that the contractors who get both right are the ones who'll actually solve the labor problem. In this one: Why prefab stopped being "the future" and became the baseline, and...
info_outline
Smart Tag It: How Flintco Is Turning the Morning Huddle Into Safety Leadership
Build Perspectives Podcast
Safety leadership isn't about rules. It's about seeing people who've never been seen. Recorded live at Advancing Safety Leadership in Dallas, we sit down with Shane Harris and Lane Smith of Flintco to talk about how a 115-year-old GC is using recorded morning huddles, AI-powered conversation analytics, and a deep culture-change investment to close the gap between the planning table and the frontline crew. This is what happens when you stop treating the pre-task plan as paperwork and start treating it as the tip of the spear. Key Topics Covered: Planning as the tip of the spear — why the...
info_outline
Build Perspectives and Dave @BuildingWorks
Build Perspectives Podcast
info_outline
Your Benefits Package Includes Kindness: "I Just Need Someone to See Me Today"
Build Perspectives Podcast
When Scott Satory started his industrial roofing company 17 years ago with $10,000 and no capital for medical benefits, he made a decision. He'd pay people fairly, give them holidays and vacation from day one, and treat them like human beings. He figured he'd see how that worked out. It worked out. Debt-free. Multimillion dollars. 17 and a half years later. His wife Dr. Colleen Saringer spent that same stretch inside corporate America, consulting companies on workplace mental health and watching them not do it. In 2023 she left to keynote construction companies directly, because...
info_outline
"There Are Plenty of Platforms for Scheduling Software. We're Looking for People Actually Building Things."
Build Perspectives Podcast
What Would It Take to Actually Fix Housing? Tyler Pullen of Terner Labs & UC Berkeley on policy, prefab, and the graveyard of good ideas. Tyler Pullen doesn't traffic in buzzwords. As leader of the Building Innovation Track at Terner Labs, the nonprofit accelerator spun out of UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation, he's spent years separating companies actually building homes from the ones just building pitch decks. Recorded live on the expo floor in Dallas, Tyler gets candid about what it really takes to move the needle on housing affordability: 70 expert interviews in a...
info_outline
Prefab at Scale: Robert Crotty on Building Healthcare's Offsite Ecosystem
Build Perspectives Podcast
Recorded live on the expo floor at Advancing Prefab 2026 in Dallas, this conversation with Robert Crotty, VP of Design & Construction at HCA Healthcare, is a masterclass in what it actually takes to run prefab as a program, not a project. Robert was hired by HCA a decade ago to advance offsite construction, and the timing of this recording, at an event literally named Advancing Prefab, wasn't lost on either of us. We cover how a major health system tests, refines, and scales prefab components across hundreds of in-flight projects, why healthcare is the right proving ground for...
info_outline
Inside UpCodes: Scott Reynolds on AI, Amendments, and Navigating Building Codes
Build Perspectives Podcast
This episode explores how better access to building codes, plus AI, can slash rework, de‑risk projects, and speed up knowledge transfer in an industry facing a looming expertise gap. We walk through the origin story of UpCodes, why fragmented regulations quietly tax every project, and how combining deep domain knowledge with technical talent creates tools that actually match how architects, builders, and BPMs work. Along the way, we get real about code politics, the hidden cost of rework, and what it really takes to become valuable early in your construction career. Key topics below! 🌲...
info_outlineIn this illuminating episode of Build Perspectives, we bring together two mass timber industry veterans to break down the economics, challenges, and future of this growing sector. Erica Spiritos and Roy Anderson to offer invaluable insights into the nuanced world of mass timber pricing and market dynamics.
Episode Highlights:
- Understanding the Mass Timber Performance Index: Discover how the index helps quantify costs in an industry where traditional pricing models don't apply https://masstimberconference.com/report/content/mass-timber-price-index-2024/
- Debunking the "Commodity" Myth: Learn why mass timber is a value-added product rather than a commodity, despite some industry confusion
- Capacity Reality Check: Current manufacturers are operating at under 50% capacity - addressing the "supply stalemate" holding back wider adoption
- Regional Mass Timber Ecosystems: Why building with locally-available species is crucial for sustainability and market growth
- The Complete Value Chain: From raw lumber to fabrication services, understanding the full cost structure of mass timber projects
- Supply Chain Challenges: Issues with lumber thickness, moisture content requirements, and forest management policies affecting the industry
- Future Outlook: Predictions on vertical integration, standardization, and the breaking of the "supply stalemate"
Key Quotes:
"Mass timber accounts for 0.5% of softwood lumber consumption in North America - it's a drop in the bucket."
"I think our climate crisis and our housing crisis together are demanding [standardization] of us."
"In the next couple years... we're going to see a 25-50% increase in capacity in the United States with new facilities coming online on both coasts."
Connect With Our Guests:
- Erica Spiritos: VP at Timber Lab and Director of Washington Mass Timber Accelerator https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-spiritos-7b34051b/
- Roy Anderson: VP at Beck Group and author of the International Mass Timber Report https://www.linkedin.com/in/royanderson1968/
Resources:
- Last year's 2024 Entire Mass Timber Report https://masstimberconference.com/report/
- Use discount code Build-Timber to register for only $995 ($380 savings!) https://masstimberconference.com/register/
- www.Nichiha.com Episode Sponsor
- Advanciwww.AdvancingConstruction.com - Episode Sponsor
A special thanks to Craig Rawlings and Arnie Didier for connecting us and supporting this important industry conversation.
Don't miss our next episode! Subscribe to Build Perspectives and leave a review - as Tim's dad always says, "You can never have too much perspective."