Most concrete looks the way it does for one simple reason. We keep designing around the forms we know how to build. In this episode, Seth sits down with Darren Baldwin, President of PIKUS, to break down the real difference between analog formwork and digital formwork—and why that distinction quietly…
Higher floors had more moisture than lower ones. That alone tells you it isn’t coming from the soil.
In building science, moisture isn’t just “wet or dry.” It shows up in multiple forms, and each one affects buildings differently.
Even in a controlled lab with proper curing, concrete still lost about 20% of performance. The field doesn’t come close to those conditions.
Many vapor barriers are gone long before the slab reaches mid-life. Recycled plastics, soil salts, and weak quality control break them down faster than people realize.
Type 1L was marketed as a drop-in replacement. Same mixes. Same behavior. Same results. That story didn’t hold up for long.
Diffusion and moisture migration are not the same thing. Concrete isn’t an open system, and absorbed moisture doesn’t follow simple rules.
The middle of concrete stays adiabatic. No temperature change. No moisture movement. That breaks a lot of assumptions.
Most people think moisture problems in concrete come from below the slab. Concrete Bob Higgins explains why that assumption keeps blowing up floors. In this episode, Bob Higgins breaks down how moisture actually moves through concrete, why liquid water and water vapor are not the same thing, and how alkalinity…
Most people think moisture problems in concrete come from below the slab. Concrete Bob Higgins explains why that assumption keeps blowing up floors. In this episode, Bob Higgins breaks down how moisture actually moves through concrete, why liquid water and water vapor are not the same thing, and how alkalinity…
Dr. Jon calls out one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry: What everyone calls “Portland Limestone Cement” isn’t actually Portland cement at all — it’s a blended cement with limestone in it. Once you start asking questions, the dominoes fall fast.
Bar charts only show one value — the average. Dr. Jon explains why that hides the real story, especially when compressive strength tests are run multiple times… or sometimes only once.
Dr. Jon explains why he hates “crunched” data and why the industry should focus on the raw numbers. When in doubt, start with the one dataset everyone understands: strength.
Dr. Jon explains why none of us naturally trust new mixes, new admixtures, or new materials — and why data is the only thing that moves people from “no” to “yes.” Data creates the narrative: what happened, why it happened, and what you should do next.
Dr. Jon explains how a simple normalization — dividing every 28-day strength by the control mix — can make concrete admixtures look way more effective than they really are. It’s the same trick Purdue Pharma used: change the frame, change the story.
Dr. Jon jokes that “men spend eight hours a day in the bathroom”… and proves how easy it is to make people believe anything once you put it on a chart. This is how bad data gets past smart people.
Dr. Jon explains one of Purdue Pharma’s biggest data tricks: they changed the timeframe so the absorption spikes disappeared. If you don’t look at the Y-axis, you miss everything.
In this episode, Seth and Dr. Jon talk about a growing problem in the concrete world: if you question Portland Limestone Cement, you get labeled “anti-earth.” Here’s the reality—asking technical questions isn’t political. It’s called doing your job. Watch Dr. Jon lay out why questioning data and assumptions should be…
Most people believe the chart on the screen — Dr. Jon explains why you shouldn’t. If you’ve ever sat in a conference session staring at a chart and wondering whether you’re seeing real data or a dressed-up story, this episode is for you. Dr. Jon Belkowitz breaks down how data…
Most people believe the chart on the screen — Dr. Jon explains why you shouldn’t. If you’ve ever sat in a conference session staring at a chart and wondering whether you’re seeing real data or a dressed-up story, this episode is for you. Dr. Jon Belkowitz breaks down how data…
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…