Construction

154: ‘Construction is Sick’, with Jim Walker

A conversation with Jim Walker.

Jim Walker joins the podcast to talk about the systemic problems plaguing the construction industry and the parallels in architecture and engineering.

Jim brings over 20 years of experience in general contracting and project management across North America from sweeping floors at construction sites to working for major firms like PCL and EllisDon.

Our conversation highlights the industry's evolution towards digital transformation, increasing complexity and, yet in many ways, inefficiency. But more importantly, we discuss the concept of construction being 'sick', the adversarial nature of traditional contract models, toxic work environments, health issues among workers, the value of the blue collar work and the trades, pros and cons of different project delivery models, risk and reward, and more.

Overall, the episode encapsulates a critical analysis of the construction industry's challenges and potential paths forward through innovation and systemic change.

Episode links:

Jim on LinkedIn
EllisDon website
EllisDon on LinkedIn
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About Jim Walker:

Jim started in construction the day after he received his driver's license, and comes from a construction family. His first exposure was in the ICI sector and began working in construction as a superintendent back in the days when the first priority in site set up was where to get a phone line connection for a fax machine.

After working in the family business for 9 years he made the move to PCL to work on large, complex projects. There, Jim learned a great deal about construction leadership, project set-up, and organization, as well as having the opportunity to work with change consultants. From there he began viewing construction as a system, and not a series of tasks linked together through contract, and it was through this lens that shaped his focus to the systemic issues plaguing the industry.

Jim left PCL after almost 15 years to join EllisDon, a Canadian competitor, to take on the challenge of opening a new office in the province of Quebec.
Having participated in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) projects in the past, he’s seen what this contract model can do to solve the root causes of many of the issues construction struggles with. Since then he’s also taken the opportunity to join the board of the Integrated Project Delivery Alliance in Canada.

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