Dirt Talk

Episode 70.5

Driving 1000+ Miles

This week on the Monday edition of Dirt Talk, Aaron and Alex chat about Aaron's upcoming trip through the South and why he prefers driving instead of flying right now.

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Episode 70

Colby Williams

Colby and Aaron talk about Colby's start with photography, why he had to take a break (and why he had to come back), and his love for big trucks.

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Episode 69.5

Do Job Titles Matter?

Aaron and Alex discuss their recent travel and answer questions about photography, job titles and company structure, and two-stick controls vs full joysticks.

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Episode 69

Anthony Garcia

Anthony and Aaron talk about Anthony's commitment to education and understanding elements of the Dirt World, challenges, and good people.

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Episode 68.5

BuildWitt Skid Steer

Yes, folks, it's actually real and not a joke.

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Episode 68

The English Earthmover

Michael was born and raised in England, but has been working in the Dirt World in Australia for years now.

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Episode 67.5

Talk about Money!

This week, the guys talk about some really exciting upcoming travel for the BuildWitt team, and then dig into some questions. They discuss union vs non-union wages and how and when to ask for a raise.

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Episode 67

Bridger Snow

Two years ago, Bridger Snow was still in high school. Since then, he's not only started his career in the Dirt World -- he is the owner of Snow Excavation in Northern Utah.

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Episode 66.5

General Contractors

This week, Aaron take a positive approach in talking about General Contractors (he's actually pretty nice!).

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Episode 66

Nick Schiffer

Nick started NS Builders in 2014 and has gained a lot of wisdom in the triumphs (and failures) of growing a custom home builder.

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Episode 65.5

Stealing Good Company Culture

Listen as Alex tries to casually drop in a question that sounds really formal and Aaron busts him for just making it up.

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Episode 65

Randy Blount

Randy is not a common man. As he says in this episode, "one thing that I know about myself is that I can work hard."

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Episode 64.5

Machines Come in All Sizes

Aaron is in Nashville and Alex is on a Florida beach. A perfect setup for a podcast, no?

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Episode 64

John Schiedeck

This week, Aaron spoke with John Schiedeck of Schiedeck Construction about the owner-operator life.

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Episode 63.5

Ask to Fly the Plane

Aaron and Alex catch up across the TN/AL state line. They check in about BuildWitt stuff happening and answer a few submitted questions.

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Episode 63

Eric Sellman

The best companies truly understand what company culture is. It’s also vital to know what it's not. 

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Episode 62.5

Meeting People in Person

This week's theme is the benefit of finding ways and opportunities to meet people and why it's so important to get face time whenever possible.

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Episode 62

Ben Schwanberg

Ben and Aaron sat down to smoke ribs, drink beer, and talk Dirt World stuff.

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Episode 61.5

The Band is Back Together

The guys answered listener-submitted questions about work-life balance, productivity on airplanes, and the BuildWitt philosophy on photography.

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Episode 61

Alex Burnett

Alex Burnett is an “equipment trainer” in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada… but what that really means is that he knows his way around all kinds of equipment.

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Episode 60.5

From TN to AZ

With Aaron taking the entire week "off work" (technically, though no one can keep him from the Dirt for long), Alex held down the fort in the BuildWitt home-base of Nashville as Aaron traveled the Southwest visiting family and Big Iron.

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Episode 60

Jake Schmidtlein

ake's journey from brick-stacker to CPO at BuildWitt is anything but linear. He's worked in finance, ran a race track, and headed up business development for a John Deere dealership.

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Episode 59.5

School Bus Seat Belts

The guys answered questions on skip loaders, which states Aaron did NOT visit in the past year, and about the land clearing industry. They also discussed the questionable safety of school buses.

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Episode 59

Nick Bezates

Nick Bezates considers himself a utility man. He works on all kinds of projects in the Pacific Northwest, but he’s really made his name with a specific set of skills: welding.

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Episode 58.5

EQUIPMENT-LOADING MIRACLE

HOLY SH!T you guys we saw a flatbed truck drive past with a skid steer, and less than ten minutes later, pass by again but this time, it had a mini excavator back there too.

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Episode 58

Trace Hall

Trace Hall knows his way around a LOT of CAT equipment. He’s been with Thompson Machinery in Smyrna, TN for almost 20 years and is now a Sales Manager. 

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Episode 57.5

Taking on Big Dirt

Alex and Aaron dig into the good stuff. We discuss the recent travel of our BuildWitt team and what it feels like to operate large equipment.

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Episode 57

Ryan Chrisman

Ryan Chrisman made a name for himself online with his warm-hearted early morning greetings, wild blade videos, and educational content on how to use machines and grade control to its fullest potential.

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Episode 56.5

First Monday Episode

A big week in Dirt talk history: we'll begin posting 2(!) episodes per week beginning this week.

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Episode 56

Bobby Frisch

Aaron and Bobby Frisch talk about why so many people want their pools gone, how many trips it takes to fill a pool with dirt, and how they’re training the next generation.

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Episode 55

BuildWitt Q&A 2

In this Dirt Talk episode, Aaron is joined by himself to answer your questions submitted via Instagram. No script and plenty of nonsense.

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Episode 54

Gaurav Kikani

The word "autonomous" is a hot topic for cars, planes, and any other machines that move. While self-driving cars are neat, this isn't Car Talk; this is Dirt Talk.

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Episode 53

Pat Allen

Since we’ve received plenty of feedback about interviewing more people who “do the work,” I finally heeded your advice and sent Pat a DM on Instagram asking if he’d lend me an hour or two of his Sunday morning. He said sure.

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Episode 52

Marty Leum

Marty Leum grew up traveling the country to race dirt bikes. Since he was around tracks so much, he began helping out where he could, whether it was hanging banners, or eventually, running equipment to clean up and build tracks.

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Episode 51

Rebecca McGrew

I recently met Rebecca McGrew, whose formal title is Manager, Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at North American Coal. She was extraordinarily knowledgeable about mining and mitigating the environmental impacts of extracting resources from the earth

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Episode 50

I Don’t Understand Safety?

Thanks to some recent internet criticism (I should know better about going down this rabbit hole, and yet here I am), I decided to take to the podcast to explain my stance on safety, photographs, and the mining world.

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Episode 49

Ron Kellish

In this episode, we talk about the money side of earthmoving, why it's essential to take care of people, and how Bemas structures its benefits to give everyone a lot more than just a paycheck.

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Episode 48

Josh McCahill

After a long career as a Sheriff in Fresno, Josh McCahill took out a second mortgage on his house to buy an old bulldozer to start his ag business.

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Episode 47

BuildWitt 2020 Review

Dan Briscoe, COO of BuildWitt, and I sat down to discuss what we learned and accomplished in 2020. We talk about our business model, how we've grown, and where we're heading into 2021.

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Episode 46

Ritchie Bros

In this episode of Dirt Talk, I was lucky enough to chat with Kari Taylor (President, North America Sales) and Matt Ackley (Chief Marketing Officer) of Ritchie Bros, the infamous global equipment auctioneer.

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Episode 45

Nick Frederick

Nick Frederick is Vice President of Witech Excavating, a mass excavation contractor based in the Chicagoland area.

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Episode 44

Garrett Moss Part 2

Garrett Moss, President of Moss Utilities, has dealt with many general contractors as a utility subcontractor for large development projects around the DFW area.

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Episode 43

Jarryd McNeil

Jarryd McNeil is a 15-time X Games motocross medalist who's traveled the world performing wild tricks on dirt bikes since he was a young kid.

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Episode 42

Dary Langfitt

After being unexpectedly fired from the best job of his life, Dary Langfitt told everyone in his family that he would start a landscaping business. How hard could it be?

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Episode 41

Michelle Walker

In this episode, I talk with Michelle Walker, VP of Finance and Administration of SSC Underground, about suicide prevention in the construction industry.

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Episode 40

Eric Jumper

Eric Jumper and I sat down at my kitchen table last week to discuss his upbringing in the dirt world, why building terrain parks makes for a wild job, and other "dirty" topics.

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Episode 39

The Dirt Ninja

Tom Gardocki, known as the Dirt Ninja online, co-owns a residential excavation company in New Hampshire.

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Episode 38

Garret Wilson

I reached out to Garret Wilson, who's said to be the world's best operator, and asked if he'd like to be on the podcast. He said no, but I managed to get him on anyway.

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Episode 37

Sam Meeker

Sam Meeker is a Caterpillar dozer extraordinaire and is formally a Product Application Specialist for Track-Type Tractors.

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Episode 36

Mike Willhite

I talk with Mike Willhite, owner of Willhite Grading and Excavation, about his past controversies, life lessons, and business experiences.

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