Dan Baker breaks down one of the toughest parts of growing a company—hiring people you can’t technically afford. Sometimes the right person costs more than you pay yourself, but if they know more than you do, that’s exactly the point. Those early hires, paired with opportunities like ACI, shaped the…
Dan Baker explains why a real project review isn’t staring at a PFSR—it’s walking the job. On a high-rise, you start at the top and work your way down, reading morale, quality, schedule, material usage, and customer sentiment in real time. If the yards are off, something’s wrong. If the…
Dan Baker explains why embracing BIM, CRM, and real data isn’t optional if you want to scale. You have to know your costs, your overhead, your margins, and what the market will actually pay. For young contractors especially, understanding the numbers—and reverse-engineering the job—determines whether you grow or stay stuck.
Dan Baker explains why every contractor should run postmortems—not just when things go wrong, but when they go right. What worked? What didn’t? What would you change? He even recalls the early days when the “fix” might’ve been as basic as getting a truck that actually started. The goal is…
Dan Baker explains how the company started with almost nothing—no equity, no bank, no bond, just $500 and a group of young people willing to outwork everyone. The only way forward was to make things right, earn repeat business, and treat people the way you want to be treated. This…
Dan Baker lays out the hard truth: crossing from residential into commercial, industrial, or even nuclear work takes a total mindset change. Standards go up. Expectations go up. Safety goes up. And if you don’t evolve, you stay stuck as a fly-by-night contractor. Dan breaks down what it really takes…
Dan Baker shares the moment he told a top-notch carpenter his vision for the company—even when all he had to offer at the time were edge forms. This conversation set the tone for growing into larger, more complex work and eventually earning major projects with Turner at Ford.
Dan Baker breaks down why Baker moved from pump-place-finish to taking full control of the jobsite—schedule, quality, everything. This is how the “total package” model was born and why it changed the direction of the company forever.
Everyone in the concrete world knows the Baker name, but very few know the real story. This episode finally gets it on record. Dan Baker walks through how the company started with three brothers, $500, and a truck that needed a hill to start — and how it grew into…
Everyone in the concrete world knows the Baker name, but very few know the real story. This episode finally gets it on record. Dan Baker walks through how the company started with three brothers, $500, and a truck that needed a hill to start — and how it grew into…
Dr. Jon says Indiana stands out because its engineers actually care about what comes out of the chute—and it shows. Long before today’s debates, Indiana built one of the best concrete maintenance programs in the country.
Dr. Jon points out that before Type IL ever showed up, Indiana was already producing some of the best concrete in the country. You can literally see the difference driving across the state line.
Seth Tandett points out that in just four years, Type IL cement use jumped from 10% to over 60% of U.S. projects. A massive change in concrete chemistry for an industry that usually moves at a crawl.
In 2021–2022, the PCA (now ACA) told producers to switch to Portland Limestone Cement as the quickest way to claim a 10% CO₂ reduction. Within months, federal agencies made it the default for public projects.
Why? Dr. Jon and Seth question what really caused the massive spike in 2022. Cement consumption didn’t just rise—it skyrocketed to 60% in less than two years. What changed that fast?
Dr. Jon questions where the industry’s limestone is really coming from—and why some piles might have more grass than quality material. When cheap filler meets high expectations, the math doesn’t add up.
Dr. Jon explains why a concrete mix design isn’t that different from baking cookies. You’ve got to know your recipe—chemistry, timing, and feel—if you want consistent, high-performing concrete.
Indiana just told the cement industry it won’t accept any blended cement with more than 10% limestone. That’s a first - and it’s not sitting well with the people who pushed Type IL cement in the first place. For the first time, a state DOT pushed back on Type IL…
Indiana just told the cement industry it won’t accept any blended cement with more than 10% limestone. That’s a first—and it’s not sitting well with the people who pushed Type IL cement in the first place. For the first time, a state DOT pushed back on Type IL cement—and the…
The AI race isn’t just about chips and servers—it’s about concrete. In this clip from the Concrete Logic Podcast, Silverback Concrete explains how concrete—the second most used material on Earth—is central to the U.S. staying competitive in the global push for artificial intelligence. They share how smarter, cooler concrete mix…
What if smarter concrete design could help the grid use less energy? In this clip from the Concrete Logic Podcast, the Silverback Concrete team talks about how conduit placement and three-phase power alignment inside duct banks can reduce heat by another 10–15%. Less heat means less wasted energy—and a more…
Most specs talk about water-cement ratio—but few people measure the real one. In this clip from the Concrete Logic Podcast, Silverback Concrete explains why the true water-cement ratio (not just what’s on the batch ticket) determines whether low rho concrete actually performs. They break down how mix temperature, batching conditions,…
What if your concrete mix could slash a data center’s power bill by 10–12% every month? In this clip from the Concrete Logic Podcast, the Silverback Concrete team explains how low rho (low thermal resistivity) concrete reduces heat, saves wear on electrical systems, and delivers massive long-term savings for owners…
How you cure concrete in a duct bank can make or break its performance. In this clip from the Concrete Logic Podcast, Silverback Concrete explains why density, bleed water, and hydration control are key to hitting low rho values—and why denser concrete equals better thermal performance.