The Boots on the Ground Approach to Construction—and Tech

Averey Peter
May 27
2 min read

This post was inspired by our DIAL IN Podcast conversation with Tim Capaldi, President of the HBA of Southeastern Michigan and third-generation owner of Capaldi Building Co. His story of learning the trades the hard way—under the watch of his old-school Italian uncle—reminds us why construction culture starts in the field, not the office, and why tech needs to do the same. This is Boots on the Ground construction tech.

You Can’t Learn the Trades from a Desk

When Tim was a teenager, his summers weren’t spent lounging around. They were spent hauling bricks, sweating through T-shirts, and getting yelled at by his uncle.

“He was on me hard, but at the end of the day, he had so much love and appreciation. He was great at his craft… and I got beat down—but it instilled a work ethic in me.” — Tim Capaldi

There were no slideshows. No training videos. Just the grind. And the lessons stuck.

That’s how construction works. You learn by doing. By watching. By getting corrected on-site, not corrected in theory. It’s why builders trust experience over credentials and why the best lessons happen during coffee breaks on the tailgate—not Zoom calls.

So Why Doesn’t Tech Work the Same Way?

We’ve seen it over and over again:

A builder adopts a new software platform.

It takes three months to onboard.

Half the team ignores it.

The other half resents it.

Nobody uses it.

Why? Because most construction tech is designed by people who’ve never set foot on a job site.

We don’t work that way at SCELTA.

What Boots on the Ground Construction Tech Actually Means

We believe construction tech should meet people where they are—on-site, mid-project, covered in dust. That’s where the feedback is real. That’s where adoption actually happens.

Boots on the ground tech is:

Built with trades, not just for them—We don’t guess what’s useful, we ask.
Implemented in person—On-site visits. Pickup truck demos. Walkthroughs in trailers.
Adaptable to the crew—We don’t force a system. We shape it to fit.
Simple by default—Daily log with a photo. Send a note. Keep it moving.
Designed for field + client clarity—So homeowners stay informed, and trades stay focused.

“We asked people on site what they actually needed. Heavy-duty platforms had 3-month onboarding. We wanted one you could learn in 30 minutes.” — David Mill, CEO SCELTA

David Mill onboards an HVAC team on site.

This Is Why Scelta Works

We didn’t build Scelta Portal to be another bloated platform with 200 features no one asked for. We built it from the field—by showing up, listening, and co-creating with the people doing the work.

That’s how you get buy-in. That’s how you get results.

And that’s why our implementation doesn’t start with a product demo—it starts with a job site visit.