Built Different

Everyone celebrates winning the bid. Nobody talks about how the work actually gets sourced, staffed, and shipped. Built Different, hosted by Wissam Akra, CEO & Founder of Tough Leaf, brings GC leaders, owners, certified subcontractors, and the agencies and innovators shaping the industry to the same table — same industry, very different realities. Sourcing, compliance, and participation goals sit at the foundation; workforce, technology, and policy are always in the room. If you operate inside construction, you'll leave each episode with real tactics, honest stories, and an operator's view of

Built Different is a general podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 4 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Built Different, a general show with 4 episodes published.

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  Built Different

  Trade contractors outnumber GCs 400-to-1. Why has software ignored them? | Anna Berger

  Jun 16, 202636 minS0

  <p>When one sub submits a bad certified payroll report, payment for every contractor on that job gets held up. Anna Berger, Founder and CEO of Trayd, built her payroll and compliance platform specifically for the specialty trade contractors most software has written off, a workforce that outnumbers GCs 400 to 1 but runs on 2 to 4% margins. She breaks down why construction payroll requires a fundamentally different data model than anything ADP or Paychex can handle, how a single misclassification triggers a $10,000 penalty, and why implementation is where construction software keeps losing contractor trust.</p><p><br /></p><p>Topics discussed:</p><...

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  Built Different

  Modular isn't a product you order, it's a process you run | Randall Thompson

  May 28, 202649 minS0

  <p>On Nibbi Brothers' modular projects, a 100-unit building goes up within two weeks of podium completion, delivering 10 to 15% hard cost savings and 25% faster project timelines. Instead of treating modular as a product you order and wait for, they approach it as a manufacturing process that demands pulled-forward preconstruction, early manufacturer engagement, and full-team coordination before a single module ships. Randall believes the industry hasn't captured the full cost benefit yet because trade partners are still pricing conservatively on the learning curve.</p><p>Randall Thompson, Preconstruction Executive at Nibbi Prefab, tells Wissam how they bring manufacturers on as design-assist...

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  Built Different

  Why your COI is just the cover sheet: what GCs actually check before signing a sub

  May 14, 202635 minS0

  <p>Most GCs have seen it: a certified sub wins the bid, gets the letter of intent, and then spends months in back-and-forth with the insurance department before anything gets signed. Or doesn't get signed at all. Bernardo Flores built a painting company in the Bronx with no construction background and learned this the hard way, navigating four months of endorsement negotiations with Consigli's insurance team just to execute one contract.</p><p>Phil Wilusz spent years on the other side of that table as outside counsel for Turner, reviewing and rejecting sub insurance submissions before moving to Chubb's complex...

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  Built Different

  The real barrier to supplier diversity isn't supply, it's cynicism

  Apr 30, 202634 minS0

  <p>When a $300,000 carpentry package requires the same insurance thresholds as a $40 million foundation scope, small businesses get locked out before they can even bid. At Gilbane, the economic inclusion team built an API integration between their financial system and the state's compliance tracking platform, automating contract awards, change orders, and payment tracking to eliminate thousands of hours of manual data entry on large projects and shift from rear-view-mirror reporting to real-time decision-making.</p><p>John Rooney, Area Director of Economic Inclusion, tells Wissam Akra, CEO at Tough Leaf, how he went from regulator at the NYC Economic Development Corporation...

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