What Teams Are Saying About The Lean Builder Workshops

It is my goal as a company leader to help improve the culture at Kappcon by embracing Lean ideas and the Last Planner System®. I believe it’s a worthy goal because it empowers our field teams. They’re the ones who ultimately reap the rewards through improved day-to-day work and a better ability to get home on time.

One of the challenges in construction is that many field leaders operate as heroes. Their job security often feels tied to working harder and sacrificing more than others. I want our teams to realize that the real protective moat is running an efficient production system and preparing resources well for the next project.

One of the biggest takeaways for our team was recognizing the connection between planning skills and respect for people. We ask a tremendous amount of our field teams and ourselves to meet schedules and deadlines. Asking teams to deliver without equipping them with the right planning tools is not respect.

There is a growing awareness that planning belongs in the field, not just the office. Superintendents have the power to plan collaboratively with trade partners, and that mindset is beginning to shift how we communicate and solve problems.

Visual communication has increased dramatically. We are slowly but surely implementing the Last Planner System, our supers love the Constraint Board, and we’re consulting with trade partner foremen more often.

One of the things that made the day so impactful was how quickly Joe and Keyan connected with our superintendent group. It’s a tough audience to get in front of unless you have the right mindset and can immediately relate to the realities they face every day, and they did exactly that.

The direct project examples still stand out among the most impactful moments of the session. The minute they would say, ‘We’ve all had that sub that…’ the room was instantly engaged because the challenges were real and relatable.

The daily huddles remain the most consistent change across our projects, and teams are seeing real benefits. Coordination issues have decreased, and teams are gaining time back in their day. Pull planning is still an area we are improving, but it has been encouraging to see the teams pushing each other and continuing the journey.

The 8 Wastes have also become a major focus for us as a company and have spread beyond the field into our Project Engineer group. Just-in-time delivery is becoming more standard practice, rather than being used only on tight sites. Someone recently said, ‘The costliest phrase in construction is just put it there,’ and that mindset shift has really stuck with our teams.

It has been a fun journey, and we’re excited to continue growing and adapting Lean processes across all areas of the business based on what we learned through The Lean Builder.

One of the biggest things that stood out was hearing the message from people who have lived it. Instead of hearing it from internal leaders, our team heard directly from Keyan and Joe, who understand the same challenges our field teams face every day.

The Daily Huddles have probably been the clearest example of the learning continuing to show up in day-to-day operations. Previously, our trade partners and supers met separately throughout the week, which ultimately created more work. The Daily Huddles now provide consistent communication and planning, freeing up valuable time to focus on the work itself.

I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the response to pull planning. I facilitate all the pull planning sessions for Primus, and I honestly expected at least one grumpy trade partner to push back and say it was a waste of time. That hasn’t been the case.

One of the biggest lessons over the last year has been learning what works best for Primus specifically. We’ve tailored parts of our pull planning process and updated our 3P Manual to reflect those improvements. For example, instead of having trade partners write all their sticky notes independently, we now build the plan collaboratively as a group. It keeps everyone engaged and encourages more discussion around the activities and constraints.

We’ve also seen great results from having the superintendent lead the ‘walk backward’ process and verbally confirm commitments with the trade partners. It reinforces the idea that this is ‘our project’ and strengthens accountability across the team on the jobsite.

We’re continuing to improve, and I’m thrilled with how far we’ve come and the confidence we’ve gained in our Lean journey.