Latest / MountainWest Capital Network: Welcome to the Winners' Circle / Revisiting Layton Construction | Building a Business Through People, Not Projects

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Revisiting Layton Construction | Building a Business Through People, Not Projects · MountainWest Capital Network: Welcome to the Winners' Circle

0:10
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Mountain West Capital Network podcast, your
0:13
Speaker 1: gateway to the Winner Circle. I'm Sherry, the executive director
0:16
Speaker 1: of Mountain West Capital Network, and.
0:18
Speaker 2: I'm Jason, President of the Mountain West Capital Network and
0:21
Speaker 2: managing director at Pertivity. Every episode, we sit down with
0:24
Speaker 2: Utah's most visionary business leaders can cover the ideas, risks,
0:28
Speaker 2: and wins behind the state's fastest growing companies.
0:32
Speaker 1: Mountains Capital Network is best known for the Utah one hundred,
0:35
Speaker 1: our flagship event that recognizes the state's fastest growing businesses.
0:39
Speaker 1: But behind every number is a story, and that's what
0:42
Speaker 1: this podcast is all about.
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Speaker 2: You're not just tuning in to hear what's happened, You're
0:46
Speaker 2: stepping inside the winner Circle to understand how it happened.
0:50
Speaker 1: Today, we have a special treat We are actually going
0:54
Speaker 1: back and revisiting one of our top episodes. We will
0:57
Speaker 1: be replaying our conversation with Dave Layton from Layton Construction,
1:01
Speaker 1: who we had on the podcast back in June of
1:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.
1:05
Speaker 2: We are revisiting this episode because we feel this conversation
1:08
Speaker 2: shows the importance of culture as a differentiator and how
1:12
Speaker 2: it invests in its people. Dave shows us in his
1:15
Speaker 2: conversation that people are worth building up. He is someone
1:19
Speaker 2: who has been able to create millionaires by reinvesting in
1:22
Speaker 2: his people. His leadership at Layton Construction is carried through
1:26
Speaker 2: his chops, demeanor and skill in his work.
1:30
Speaker 1: Dave has a unique approach to life and work, which
1:33
Speaker 1: shows in the success of all he does. He prides
1:36
Speaker 1: himself as a father and having a family to support,
1:39
Speaker 1: and strives to work hard in all areas of life.
1:42
Speaker 2: With that, let's dive into the episode with Dave. We
1:45
Speaker 2: like to kind of kick things off with like an icebreaker,
1:48
Speaker 2: and I'm from southern California, so we're going to go
1:50
Speaker 2: Hollywood on you.
1:51
Speaker 1: Which your favorite movie? Oh?
1:53
Speaker 3: My favorite movie? Uh, probably Meet the Parents. I've watched
1:58
Speaker 3: it a lot and I laugh at the same jokes
2:00
Speaker 3: every time.
2:01
Speaker 1: That's a great one. I love it.
2:03
Speaker 4: That's awesome.
2:04
Speaker 3: We did get a shock, however, when we took our
2:06
Speaker 3: kids to what was the sequel, Meet the Fockers.
2:14
Speaker 4: That didn't turn out so well.
2:18
Speaker 2: That's great.
2:20
Speaker 1: I love it so Dave. Given that Latent Construction was
2:25
Speaker 1: founded by your father, I really love this story of
2:28
Speaker 1: generational influence and I'm excited to hear about you're the
2:33
Speaker 1: baby of the family, is that correct, right?
2:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm the youngest of ten children.
2:38
Speaker 1: Ten kids, Okay, no pressure.
2:39
Speaker 4: The congratulations to my mother.
2:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I'm just wondering. You know,
2:46
Speaker 1: there's a lot of generational families that have businesses, and
2:51
Speaker 1: not all of them go for as long as yours has,
2:54
Speaker 1: and so I'm wondering, at what point in your life
2:58
Speaker 1: were you thinking, hey, you know what, this is something
3:00
Speaker 1: I want to do too.
3:02
Speaker 3: So I've been asked this a lot, and you know,
3:05
Speaker 3: it's it's quite different really than me making a choice
3:09
Speaker 3: because growing up in the family, we were raised very.
3:13
Speaker 4: Traditionally old school.
3:14
Speaker 3: We were constantly working, and even as a young child,
3:18
Speaker 3: I worked doing cleanup and simple tasks on the projects,
3:22
Speaker 3: maybe a Saturday or something. As I became a teenager,
3:27
Speaker 3: I worked summer jobs on the projects. But my father
3:30
Speaker 3: liked a garden, and so we had a two and
3:33
Speaker 3: a half acre vegetable garden near the home, and so,
3:37
Speaker 3: you know, he called it his golf course. I called
3:40
Speaker 3: it something else.
3:42
Speaker 4: We had.
3:43
Speaker 3: We had NonStop work. We had a nice sized yard,
3:49
Speaker 3: so we had you know, flower beds and lawns, and
3:51
Speaker 3: you know, I used to trim the hedges or the
3:55
Speaker 3: edge of the lawn with the little hand clippers.
3:57
Speaker 4: I mean, all we did is work.
4:00
Speaker 3: And so when the construction business continued to grow and expand,
4:05
Speaker 3: and you know, I credit my brother for being involved
4:07
Speaker 3: in that. We were basically raised to be in this business.
4:12
Speaker 3: And I've never had a thought that I would do
4:15
Speaker 3: anything else. Honestly, this was like the family farm, except
4:19
Speaker 3: we're contractors. This is what we do, and you just
4:23
Speaker 3: lean into it and get it done.
4:25
Speaker 4: And so my.
4:27
Speaker 3: Education, my career was all geared towards construction. And I'm
4:33
Speaker 3: still here, Yeah, still going. So that's that's how I
4:38
Speaker 3: got started. And you know, again we're still at it.
4:42
Speaker 1: I feel like you love it. You're not just doing it.
4:46
Speaker 4: I will tell you.
4:47
Speaker 3: It provides a roller coaster of emotions, but the tangible
4:51
Speaker 3: results of what we are able to be a part of,
4:56
Speaker 3: from the earliest concepts with our clients to you know,
5:00
Speaker 3: a ribbon cutting and occupancy is very, very rewarding for
5:06
Speaker 3: me and our employees. You know, we're able to do
5:12
Speaker 3: exciting projects where maybe the community comes together, arts, entertainment, sports,
5:20
Speaker 3: We're heavy in the healthcare world, so we're delivering facilities
5:25
Speaker 3: that are benefiting communities and families who need treatment, so
5:31
Speaker 3: recreational opportunities. You know, it's a broad spectrum and that's rewarding.
5:38
Speaker 3: And we've got a tangible asset that we can point
5:40
Speaker 3: to to say that we were a part of that.
5:43
Speaker 2: Dave, I would love to understand, you know, your thoughts
5:46
Speaker 2: on maybe the secrets to the success. I've seen that
5:51
Speaker 2: in two thousand and four you generate approximately three hundred
5:54
Speaker 2: and fifty million, give or take, and now you're significantly
5:59
Speaker 2: large than that. Since two thousand and four, the growth
6:02
Speaker 2: has been significant. We've recognized you a number of times.
6:06
Speaker 2: And what's been the secret and what's been something that's
6:09
Speaker 2: helped through the challenges as well?
6:13
Speaker 3: I mean, our business, our industry is really a team sport.
6:17
Speaker 3: We have been very capable, successful and work hard at
6:23
Speaker 3: building a team of top talent, motivated, intelligent, capable leaders
6:31
Speaker 3: for our projects and also bringing in subcontractors and suppliers
6:36
Speaker 3: who can be part of that winning team. And our
6:39
Speaker 3: business has really grown from the fact that we have
6:42
Speaker 3: been able to deliver consistently a better outcome than our
6:46
Speaker 3: industry does deliver. For anyone who has built any type
6:51
Speaker 3: of a project including you know, a personal residence or
6:56
Speaker 3: a family cabin or something. You know, construction typically is
6:59
Speaker 3: not high on their list of a pleasant experience. There's
7:03
Speaker 3: a lot of over promises, there's a lot of failed commitments,
7:08
Speaker 3: and it's typically not been enjoyable. We've been able to
7:13
Speaker 3: find a way with great talent, great process and procedure
7:18
Speaker 3: because our team has a game plan. This isn't an
7:21
Speaker 3: all star game, This isn't a freelance run up and
7:24
Speaker 3: down the floor and show your talent. This is a
7:27
Speaker 3: game plan with top talent that allows us to deliver
7:32
Speaker 3: a predictable and positive outcome for our clients. And as
7:36
Speaker 3: they've gotten exposed to us, they've said, hey, would you
7:39
Speaker 3: be willing to go here? Would you do this project there?
7:42
Speaker 3: And during my leadership period, we've always tried to find
7:46
Speaker 3: a way to say yes to those opportunities. That set
7:51
Speaker 3: of performance and the willingness to travel with our customers
7:56
Speaker 3: is what's led to our growth.
7:58
Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking back to when we honored you
8:02
Speaker 1: as our entrepreneurs Year. I was a fantastic event, by
8:05
Speaker 1: the way, and the people that came to speak, we
8:09
Speaker 1: just got some insight into you and and the way
8:11
Speaker 1: you do things, the Layton way, the Dave Layton way,
8:16
Speaker 1: and your team is just amazing. And you've even spoken
8:19
Speaker 1: about him already. So I'm just curious as to what
8:23
Speaker 1: is the secret behind that, because obviously there's good days
8:26
Speaker 1: and bad days.
8:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, Ye, it's not always tough days in
8:30
Speaker 4: our business.
8:31
Speaker 1: It's not always a picnic and so, you know, how
8:34
Speaker 1: do you keep people invested and motivated and hopeful even
8:39
Speaker 1: on the bad days?
8:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sherry, that pretty much echoes back to the roots
8:44
Speaker 3: of our company. You know, my dad was an all
8:47
Speaker 3: state athlete. He ran for student body president at the
8:51
Speaker 3: University of Utah. He ended up as a captain in
8:55
Speaker 3: the army during World War Two. My dad was a
8:58
Speaker 3: leader and he understood the principles of getting those to
9:03
Speaker 3: follow you that need to follow you.
9:05
Speaker 4: He was very loyal to his workers.
9:08
Speaker 3: And took care of them, worked to make their lives
9:14
Speaker 3: and their career successful. And we've followed that same trajectory.
9:18
Speaker 3: We want to be an employer for a career, not
9:22
Speaker 3: a project, and it's quite common in our industry that
9:26
Speaker 3: you might hire and fire based on a project. We've
9:29
Speaker 3: tried to find a career path for our folks. Top
9:32
Speaker 3: talent wants to be able to expand their skills. They
9:37
Speaker 3: want more game time, they want the ball more. And
9:40
Speaker 3: so that's also reinforced our approach to growth, because if
9:44
Speaker 3: we don't grow, we can't provide a long term career
9:48
Speaker 3: path with new opportunities for emerging talent. So growth is
9:55
Speaker 3: intertwined in our ability to retain because the best talent
10:01
Speaker 3: will go wherever there's new opportunity. We have to be
10:04
Speaker 3: the ones to provide that. And then we have brought
10:09
Speaker 3: our employees into an ownership opportunity in the company. More
10:13
Speaker 3: than half our employees currently own shares in our business,
10:18
Speaker 3: and so we've been able to grow their balance sheet,
10:21
Speaker 3: grow their wealth. And it's amazing what a twenty thirty
10:26
Speaker 3: or forty year career of investing has done for our employees.
10:31
Speaker 3: We've brought them in, they've come, they've stayed, they've delivered,
10:34
Speaker 3: they've invested. We've rewarded that, and when they retire, they
10:39
Speaker 3: have a very nice nest egg of wealth that allows
10:43
Speaker 3: them to pretty much have freedom to do what they
10:46
Speaker 3: want to do the rest of their lives.
10:47
Speaker 4: And I take great.
10:49
Speaker 3: Satisfaction that we've been able to buy and large take
10:53
Speaker 3: employees who come to our industry with nothing and transform
10:57
Speaker 3: their lives, the lives of their families, if not even generations,
11:03
Speaker 3: with opportunities they wouldn't have had but for employment with
11:07
Speaker 3: us to you know, have stable housing and vacations and
11:12
Speaker 3: maybe a second home, educational opportunities, the things that we
11:17
Speaker 3: might associate with having a nest egg. And so I
11:21
Speaker 3: think that's really been our key, And of course we
11:24
Speaker 3: try to be an employer that listens and pays attention.
11:28
Speaker 3: You know, I don't have all the I don't have
11:30
Speaker 3: all the answers. I might have a few questions, but
11:34
Speaker 3: we're willing to let our folks lead and manage and
11:38
Speaker 3: do what they need to do to be successful for
11:41
Speaker 3: our clients instead of me calling all the shots.
11:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:45
Speaker 2: I love that, really really good. You mentioned your dad
11:48
Speaker 2: and I saw quote and I think it was brought
11:51
Speaker 2: up in the Entrepreneur of the Year event. But you
11:54
Speaker 2: said he was still teaching me until the end he
11:57
Speaker 2: was ninety two, but he never stopped mentoring, And I
12:01
Speaker 2: think that is just such a powerful principle. So maybe
12:05
Speaker 2: you can elaborate on that, like what is mentoring meant
12:08
Speaker 2: to you? How have you provided mentoring. And you know
12:11
Speaker 2: how is that you know obviously impacted you know, the
12:15
Speaker 2: success that you've enjoyed.
12:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my dad and my brother also were
12:21
Speaker 3: very key in teaching me. And again, as you mentioned, Jason,
12:26
Speaker 3: right to the end, my dad was talking about how
12:28
Speaker 3: to pour concrete and and and get the work done right.
12:34
Speaker 3: That's some of my last conversations with my dad. I
12:37
Speaker 3: have tried to glean just as I meet others, whether
12:41
Speaker 3: that's locally or nationally, I've just tried to understand where
12:45
Speaker 3: they're coming from, what's their style, what's their approach, and
12:49
Speaker 3: try to factor that all in where it makes sense
12:53
Speaker 3: to me. Other than my father and brother, I haven't
12:56
Speaker 3: had a coach or a mentor. My wife does actually
13:01
Speaker 3: help with some of the rougher edges, and she's pretty good.
13:06
Speaker 3: But and it's not that I'm against you know, what
13:11
Speaker 3: has emerged of having executive coaching and whatnot. I did
13:15
Speaker 3: a great three year educational opportunity at Harvard Business School,
13:19
Speaker 3: as you mentioned, that was beneficial, but I haven't had
13:24
Speaker 3: that mentor by my side. What I've tried to do
13:28
Speaker 3: is just learn from others and then try to share
13:33
Speaker 3: and inspire those that I work with and bring out
13:38
Speaker 3: the best in them. Nobody has all the right skills,
13:43
Speaker 3: and again that's the benefit of having a team that
13:45
Speaker 3: works on these projects is we can blend that team
13:48
Speaker 3: and blend the skills to deliver what we need to
13:51
Speaker 3: deliver for our customer. And so I think it's really
13:55
Speaker 3: just for me about paying attention, trying to listen and
14:00
Speaker 3: provide input where it makes sense.
14:04
Speaker 1: I do want to talk about your give back. That's
14:07
Speaker 1: one thing that with the Utah one hundred we always
14:11
Speaker 1: try and highlight that because there is your business and
14:15
Speaker 1: it gives you opportunities, and not everybody goes down this
14:19
Speaker 1: path of okay, so you know what can how do
14:22
Speaker 1: we give back? And listening to the Entrepreneur of the
14:26
Speaker 1: Year event and all the things that they talked about,
14:29
Speaker 1: and even going on your website, there's so many things
14:32
Speaker 1: that you, personally and Latent Construction does to give back.
14:39
Speaker 1: I just want to give you an opportunity to talk
14:40
Speaker 1: a little bit about that.
14:43
Speaker 4: Well.
14:43
Speaker 3: Again, being raised traditionally old school, it's all about paying
14:48
Speaker 3: it forward and doing for others. And so again we've
14:53
Speaker 3: done a lot of that internally with our employees to
14:56
Speaker 3: take care of them but when you look across just
14:59
Speaker 3: this area locally, you can look at significant families that
15:04
Speaker 3: have had major impacts on the community, and there's a
15:08
Speaker 3: lot I could mention. We all know who they are,
15:11
Speaker 3: grateful that they are willing to do big things, but
15:15
Speaker 3: all of us can do something. And that's where we started,
15:18
Speaker 3: is what can we do? And little by little we've
15:22
Speaker 3: had more capacity to do it. But we've held close
15:26
Speaker 3: to the values that we need to give, we need
15:29
Speaker 3: to be givers, and we've been blessed accordingly.
15:33
Speaker 4: You know, you.
15:35
Speaker 3: Get involved in opportunities when you give that you wouldn't otherwise.
15:40
Speaker 3: So some of my closest relationships are as a result
15:44
Speaker 3: of being involved philanthropically. So I would just maybe point
15:49
Speaker 3: out one example that is a great example that everybody
15:54
Speaker 3: can participate in. And we've brought this into our company
15:58
Speaker 3: and spread it beyond just our organization. And that's the
16:01
Speaker 3: five for the Fight that Ryan Smith started. And he
16:05
Speaker 3: started with the whole concept of just crowdsource funding for
16:10
Speaker 3: cancer research. And I think in the early days it
16:13
Speaker 3: was like, can you give five dollars? Everybody could give
16:17
Speaker 3: five dollars, right. We came in as a corporate partner
16:22
Speaker 3: and went to our employees and said cancer has probably
16:26
Speaker 3: touched most, if not all, of us. The only path
16:30
Speaker 3: forward is research. We want to jump behind this initiative
16:34
Speaker 3: and we're asking you to give. And then we spread
16:37
Speaker 3: this to subcontractors and suppliers and architects and engineers around
16:42
Speaker 3: the country. Our team in Arizona runs a golf tournament
16:46
Speaker 3: and that alone brings in a quarter of a million dollars.
16:50
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just like, come with an attitude that
16:53
Speaker 3: you want to give, and you will find areas where
16:56
Speaker 3: you can give. I had a young man who I
16:58
Speaker 3: know his father quite well. He reached out to me.
17:02
Speaker 3: He's a calf roper and he asked if Leyton would
17:07
Speaker 3: sponsor him as a calf roper.
17:08
Speaker 4: He's eighteen years old.
17:11
Speaker 3: And I said, you know, Ben, we don't really do that,
17:14
Speaker 3: but you know what, I'm going to send you some
17:16
Speaker 3: money from me and Julie because we want to help you.
17:20
Speaker 3: And it wasn't at the level that he had hoped
17:22
Speaker 3: to get, but still it was something. And again we
17:26
Speaker 3: just saw it as an opportunity to help this young
17:28
Speaker 3: man pursue his dreams.
17:31
Speaker 4: With what we gave him, he's not going to be able.
17:34
Speaker 3: To go all the way to the PBR, but hopefully
17:39
Speaker 3: it gives him a little bit of entry fees and
17:42
Speaker 3: gas money to get around and pursue his passion. So again,
17:47
Speaker 3: I think it's just back to having the values and
17:51
Speaker 3: saying I am going to find a way to give.
17:53
Speaker 4: Yeah.
17:55
Speaker 1: Well, and it creates that unity I think too, as
17:58
Speaker 1: a word that came up a lot, you know, whenever
18:01
Speaker 1: we talk about David Layton, it's that unity, it's the teamwork.
18:06
Speaker 1: It's I think when a whole, big group of people
18:09
Speaker 1: are behind a common cause beyond just the day to day,
18:13
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty amazing.
18:15
Speaker 3: Well, we can do more as a team than we
18:18
Speaker 3: can as individuals. So find where you want to give
18:21
Speaker 3: and bring others along.
18:24
Speaker 2: I guess you know, Dave, of one thing you know,
18:26
Speaker 2: as you as you take a step back, I mean,
18:28
Speaker 2: obviously you've experienced incredible success and growth, and you've got
18:32
Speaker 2: an incredible team and culture that you've built. Any surprises
18:36
Speaker 2: you know, as you take a step back, anything that's
18:38
Speaker 2: been you know, kind of a challenge that you know,
18:43
Speaker 2: it's it's it continues to be difficult. Anything that comes
18:47
Speaker 2: to mind that you know, any advice on on those
18:50
Speaker 2: you know, those that are listening that are building businesses
18:53
Speaker 2: or are part of a business or founded a business
18:56
Speaker 2: and they continue to are they're challenged with.
19:01
Speaker 1: X, Y or Z either.
19:02
Speaker 2: Are there some things that you can, you know, kind
19:05
Speaker 2: of give advice to those that are listening.
19:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think in the business world, I just say,
19:11
Speaker 3: the rock really never rolls on its own, and in
19:14
Speaker 3: our industry, it's a really big rock and it actually
19:17
Speaker 3: wants to roll backwards. So if you don't keep pushing,
19:21
Speaker 3: you're going to get squished and it hurts. The Great
19:24
Speaker 3: Recession for US of eight and beyond was a tough
19:30
Speaker 3: time because the economy really kind of shut down and
19:34
Speaker 3: we had to find a way through our business to
19:38
Speaker 3: keep going, even though our revenues came off about thirty
19:44
Speaker 3: or forty percent. If you are in business, there are
19:48
Speaker 3: going to be times when you just hit an uphill
19:51
Speaker 3: slope or a headwind and you just got to stay
19:55
Speaker 3: the course. Like, if this is what you do and
19:59
Speaker 3: you're in for it, then you just push and you
20:03
Speaker 3: just stay with it. Don't compromise your values, don't hurt
20:07
Speaker 3: your people. And that's not to say that you can
20:11
Speaker 3: keep everybody employed, because clearly we couldn't, but we tried
20:15
Speaker 3: to find opportunities where they could. In some cases they
20:20
Speaker 3: were looking for a different career path. They weren't with
20:23
Speaker 3: us for a career. They were with us temporarily. So
20:26
Speaker 3: you know, just find a way through it and recognize
20:30
Speaker 3: that on the backside of that curve it's likely going
20:34
Speaker 3: to get better. Construction is cyclical by nature, and so
20:40
Speaker 3: the recession was a big one. But you know, we're
20:44
Speaker 3: looking at what do tariffs mean to our industry, on
20:49
Speaker 3: our customers.
20:50
Speaker 4: Right now.
20:51
Speaker 3: It's a headwind and it's uncertain, but we pushed through
20:57
Speaker 3: and we know at some point it's going to clear
21:00
Speaker 3: up and we're gonna feel better about things.
21:04
Speaker 4: That's my advice.
21:06
Speaker 3: The curve is steep at times, but it also flattens
21:08
Speaker 3: and there's a there's a positive side to that backside.
21:12
Speaker 4: It's great, great advice.
21:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. I've been talking to some young
21:17
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs recently and I just kind of want to bottle
21:22
Speaker 1: that last part and have them be able to listen
21:25
Speaker 1: to this. I'm really grateful that we have this podcast
21:28
Speaker 1: because I really think they're gonna find it useful. What
21:32
Speaker 1: do you do, Dave when things are are you just
21:35
Speaker 1: you just need a mental break. What do you do
21:40
Speaker 1: because it can't be work all the time, you know.
21:43
Speaker 3: The uh, the invasive part of our life is that
21:46
Speaker 3: the business is so intertwined into the personal side.
21:51
Speaker 4: Just a quick story.
21:52
Speaker 3: I took my teenage son years ago to a jazz
21:55
Speaker 3: game and it was a night for me and him
21:57
Speaker 3: to be together.
21:58
Speaker 4: He needed some time with me.
22:01
Speaker 3: And we're standing in line to you know, go through
22:04
Speaker 3: security and scan our tickets, and I see an architect.
22:08
Speaker 4: Start talking to the architect.
22:10
Speaker 3: I see friends inside, you know, and I couldn't help
22:15
Speaker 3: but notice after about four or five conversations I'd had
22:18
Speaker 3: as we got to our seats, but my son was
22:21
Speaker 3: just standing there as a teenager, not able to participate.
22:25
Speaker 4: And even though I introduced.
22:26
Speaker 3: Him, you know, he was feeling the brunt of a
22:31
Speaker 3: night out with dad where the business got in the way.
22:35
Speaker 3: And so it's very intertwined. Certainly in the days of
22:40
Speaker 3: it being a family business. When we were together as
22:42
Speaker 3: a family, business was always a topic of discussion. But
22:48
Speaker 3: I have tried to be diligent of finding a break,
22:52
Speaker 3: and it might just be a moment or two. You know,
22:56
Speaker 3: it might be an afternoon and I take advantage of it.
23:02
Speaker 3: I don't feel guilty, you know, if I have a gap,
23:05
Speaker 3: for example, I've got a clear schedule for four hours.
23:09
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, I may go play golf,
23:11
Speaker 3: and I don't think twice about it, because it's an
23:14
Speaker 3: opportunity for me to, you know, unplug from what I'm
23:18
Speaker 3: doing and just refresh myself.
23:22
Speaker 4: I really like Lake Powell, me too.
23:25
Speaker 3: I will tell you that Starlink has changed our experience there.
23:29
Speaker 1: I was just saying that yesterday. I'm like, I was
23:32
Speaker 1: holdly now how starlink.
23:34
Speaker 4: You know, we brought to you by Starlink.
23:37
Speaker 1: Bless blessing and a curse.
23:40
Speaker 3: And really just going out on the boat anywhere, you know,
23:44
Speaker 3: you're kind of away. Everybody's in the boat, whether it's
23:47
Speaker 3: friends and family. You're really not on your phones because
23:51
Speaker 3: most of the time they don't work. You're just having
23:53
Speaker 3: a great time. So things like that I really enjoy.
24:00
Speaker 3: A few weeks ago, we were back East and I
24:04
Speaker 3: was with two of my executives and we had a
24:08
Speaker 3: gap in our schedule and I said, we are going
24:10
Speaker 3: to play golf. And one of my guys loves to
24:12
Speaker 3: play golf, and the other one hardly plays. And you
24:16
Speaker 3: know what, we had the greatest three hours just hanging together.
24:22
Speaker 4: It wasn't about the golf.
24:23
Speaker 3: It was just about something different, right, My chief operating officer,
24:29
Speaker 3: my vice president of safety, health and environmental, and we
24:33
Speaker 3: just hung out. But it was at the golf course.
24:35
Speaker 3: So you know, find your venue, find your time, make
24:39
Speaker 3: time for it because it's valuable and it's needed.
24:45
Speaker 4: How is your golf game, By the way, my golf
24:48
Speaker 4: game right now is really bad.
24:52
Speaker 3: I honestly, Jason, I don't know where it's going to go.
24:57
Speaker 3: I can't wait to go hit it to see where
24:59
Speaker 3: it is going to go.
25:00
Speaker 1: But I have.
25:02
Speaker 3: Let that lapse through these last several months. But the
25:08
Speaker 3: seasons here and I've got to find a way to
25:10
Speaker 3: get it in tune or I'm going to be highly
25:13
Speaker 3: embarrassed and probably short a lot of cash.
25:19
Speaker 2: So, Dave, with the industry facing rising costs, labor shortages,
25:23
Speaker 2: and pressure to innovate, how do you lead a company
25:26
Speaker 2: through it all?
25:28
Speaker 3: Well, I'm gonna circle back to the team approach. There's
25:32
Speaker 3: no question that when you look at labor, we have
25:37
Speaker 3: lower skilled labor than we've had historically, and we also
25:40
Speaker 3: have relative to the growth that has occurred in our industry.
25:45
Speaker 3: We have fewer numbers, so we're having to do more
25:49
Speaker 3: with less, and unfortunately, what is not well known is
25:54
Speaker 3: that instruction schedules are actually lengthening because it's taking more
26:00
Speaker 3: time to build what we maybe could have built ten
26:06
Speaker 3: years ago. Some of that has to do with our
26:09
Speaker 3: supply chain challenges that still are hungover from the COVID era.
26:16
Speaker 3: There's also a part of this that's based in the
26:19
Speaker 3: labor challenges. We have to utilize technology by and large
26:26
Speaker 3: to ensure that what we're doing is what is right
26:30
Speaker 3: the first time. You know, my dad used to say,
26:34
Speaker 3: we don't get paid to do it right the second time,
26:36
Speaker 3: so we better get it right the first time. Or
26:40
Speaker 3: he would say, what made you think that you had
26:43
Speaker 3: time or money to do it right the second time
26:48
Speaker 3: and not the first time. I mean, my dad had
26:51
Speaker 3: a lot of old school sayings, but he was pretty smart.
26:55
Speaker 3: So we've got to get it right the first time,
26:57
Speaker 3: and technology can greatly aid in that. So we are
27:03
Speaker 3: extensively using modeling, and then we have technology where we
27:07
Speaker 3: can go back through a day's worth of work. The
27:11
Speaker 3: technology will compare the work that is in place against
27:14
Speaker 3: our model and either confirm or invalidate what's been done.
27:22
Speaker 3: We also have the ability to track production this way
27:25
Speaker 3: so that we can understand, Okay, this is the work
27:28
Speaker 3: that's gotten done in this area over this period of time,
27:32
Speaker 3: and in our schedule we had allotted so many number
27:35
Speaker 3: of days and we are either outperforming that schedule or underperforming.
27:41
Speaker 3: Technology drives this information to us that we can then
27:44
Speaker 3: act on, and if we are underperforming, then it calls
27:49
Speaker 3: for corrective action. So this is a combination of all
27:53
Speaker 3: strategies to deal with the challenges of our industry.
27:58
Speaker 1: So, Dave, what major trends are transforming the construction industry
28:02
Speaker 1: right now and how is your company staying ahead?
28:07
Speaker 4: Well, talk about AI.
28:10
Speaker 3: We are we're building basically our database integrated with AI.
28:17
Speaker 4: To drive predictive analytics.
28:21
Speaker 3: Meaning let's take this in the context of safety. So
28:27
Speaker 3: can we predict on a given day or a given
28:31
Speaker 3: time of day when we are likely to have an
28:35
Speaker 3: accident based on all this past data, and then management
28:42
Speaker 3: can take that and say, Okay, the risk at this
28:46
Speaker 3: particular moment is high. Okay, where are we we are
28:49
Speaker 3: out eliminating that risk. Those are the predictive analytics.
28:55
Speaker 4: We're looking for out of AI.
28:58
Speaker 3: And you know, we have have almost three hundred projects
29:02
Speaker 3: running and if we can get our data and buy
29:06
Speaker 3: and large, we're pretty much there.
29:07
Speaker 4: Get our data into a level of cleanliness where it
29:12
Speaker 4: can be analyzed with AI.
29:15
Speaker 3: There's a lot we can learn from just ourselves, let
29:18
Speaker 3: alone what's going on in the industry. So that's the
29:23
Speaker 3: tip of the spear right now is AI.
29:26
Speaker 4: And some of what I talked.
29:27
Speaker 3: About earlier with the modeling and the follow through is
29:32
Speaker 3: you know years, we've been doing this stuff for years.
29:36
Speaker 3: I think you're probably familiar with Domo. You know, we
29:39
Speaker 3: have integrated Domo into our business. Even though it's not
29:42
Speaker 3: a construction application. We can send our data into their
29:47
Speaker 3: technology and then it renders dashboards for our executives to
29:53
Speaker 3: know what's critical. Instead of our leaders pouring through reports
29:59
Speaker 3: or data to find out what the problem is, Domo
30:03
Speaker 3: sends it right to us.
30:05
Speaker 4: That's a time saver and now you know.
30:07
Speaker 3: You're working on the right stuff at the right time.
30:12
Speaker 3: And look, our industry is not known for technology, but
30:15
Speaker 3: there really is quite a bit of technology that is
30:19
Speaker 3: deployed with a tremendous benefit of getting it right and
30:24
Speaker 3: doing it safely.
30:26
Speaker 1: I was just going to say, when you walked in
30:28
Speaker 1: here today, you said, I don't know. We're just a
30:30
Speaker 1: construction company, not tech DA DA DA, And you're a
30:34
Speaker 1: lot you know, you really are. I mean you're relying
30:36
Speaker 1: a lot on the tech that's out there and using it.
30:40
Speaker 3: We intend to be progressive, and yet our industry is
30:44
Speaker 3: not really known to be that way. When you're in
30:48
Speaker 3: for the long haul, you know you're willing to invest
30:52
Speaker 3: knowing that it's going to yield something years down the road.
30:56
Speaker 1: Well, and one thing we didn't actually touch on earliers.
31:00
Speaker 1: Where are you going? I mean, here you.
31:02
Speaker 3: Are, and we're not going to Costa Rica.
31:09
Speaker 4: Just for vacation.
31:10
Speaker 1: I mean it's continued growth.
31:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, we want our growth.
31:17
Speaker 3: In my tenure, our growth has always been about our employees.
31:23
Speaker 3: And you know what the rankings and all that, In
31:26
Speaker 3: all due respect to you folks included, I don't get
31:30
Speaker 3: hung up in that.
31:31
Speaker 4: That's not my scoreboard.
31:34
Speaker 3: We know talent wants a long career, a challenging career,
31:41
Speaker 3: growth in responsibility, and we got to provide it. And
31:47
Speaker 3: if if we don't, they go elsewhere. It's that simple.
31:51
Speaker 3: And so we've we've tried to be that place, and
31:54
Speaker 3: ironically enough, I mean we're right in the middle of
31:57
Speaker 3: bringing in some major league for stars who want to
32:02
Speaker 3: jump on our team.
32:03
Speaker 4: It's awesome and to me, that's part of my reward.
32:09
Speaker 4: Like these folks.
32:10
Speaker 3: Could go work anywhere, and yet they're reaching out to us.
32:13
Speaker 3: They found us. I'll share one other thing that I
32:16
Speaker 3: think is really important, and I may have mentioned this
32:20
Speaker 3: at the Entrepreneur Award, but we've not had many people leave,
32:26
Speaker 3: very very seldom do our senior people leave and go elsewhere,
32:32
Speaker 3: And for me, that's a huge scoreboard.
32:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
32:35
Speaker 3: You know, our people get approached all the time. I
32:40
Speaker 3: had one executive tell me about the CEO who flew
32:44
Speaker 3: in in his jet to pick him up and take
32:47
Speaker 3: him on a tour, and he said, I'm not interested,
32:53
Speaker 3: you know, like I'm happy here. I'm fulfilling my dreams
32:58
Speaker 3: and ambitions here, and so for me to be to
33:05
Speaker 3: be someone where the talent wants to come and stay,
33:10
Speaker 3: that that's meaningful to me.
33:12
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
33:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really is.
33:15
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us today. It was a pleasure
33:17
Speaker 1: to revisit our conversation with Dave and talk about light
33:21
Speaker 1: in construction. We loved hearing his insights and sharing his
33:24
Speaker 1: story with all of you, and we are thrilled to
33:27
Speaker 1: highlight his work here at Mountain West Capital Network.
33:30
Speaker 2: And for our listeners who want to learn more, you
33:32
Speaker 2: can find and connect with Layton Construction at the following socials.
33:36
Speaker 2: Latent Construction website is latentconstruction dot com and then you
33:40
Speaker 2: can find them on Instagram and LinkedIn.
33:43
Speaker 1: And to everyone listening, thank you for joining us. A
33:46
Speaker 1: special thanks to the launch Pod team, Johnny Christine Rachel
33:51
Speaker 1: for producing our show, Zachary Read for his vision and
33:54
Speaker 1: direction as producer, Katie Brown, Operations Specialist for keeping us
33:58
Speaker 1: in line and on track, Garrett Lawson and Kevin Jessup
34:01
Speaker 1: for serving as our Mountain West Capital Network podcast chairs.
34:06
Speaker 2: Don't forget to leave us a five star review and
34:08
Speaker 2: subscribe to stay updated on Utah's fastest growing companies and
34:12
Speaker 2: leaders shaping our business future. There is nothing we appreciate
34:16
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34:20
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Winner Circle.