Left Handed Hammers

About Left-Handed Hammers

Remember your first day on a job site? Maybe someone sent you looking for a left-handed hammer, a bucket of steam, or striped paint. That moment when you realized you'd been had? That's when the real learning began.

Left-Handed Hammers is where construction professionals share the hard-earned lessons you can't learn from a manual—real talk about risk, safety, culture, and what it actually takes to build safely and profitably in today's world.

Your Hosts:

James Gurule, CLCS, PWCA - From swinging hammers on job sites to advising C-suite executives on complex risk. With 12+ years in risk management spanning underwriting, client advisory, and now specializing in construction and M&A at IMA Financial Group, James knows what it takes to protect both people and profits. A former wrestler and youth advocate, he brings grit, heart, and a servant-leader mentality to every conversation.

Nathan Miller, CSP, CRIS - Risk Control Manager with over 21 years of safety expertise spanning construction, aviation, and industrial environments. As an OSHA Certified Instructor with a Master's in Industrial Safety, Nathan has dedicated his career to keeping workers safe and helping companies build cultures where everyone goes home at the end of the day.

Perry Silvey, CHST (Contributing Host) - Safety Manager at BT Construction and proud NUCA representative who's lived every side of the construction equation—from operating equipment and laboring on sites, to estimating multi-million dollar projects, to leading safety programs across multiple companies. With over 15 years in safety leadership and a background in earthwork and utility construction, Perry brings the voice of the field and the practical reality of making safety work on real job sites every single day.

Our Approach:

James = Business/Risk lens
Nathan = Technical/Regulatory lens
Perry = Field/Practical lens + NUCA specialty

Together, we bring you conversations with the people who know construction best: the C-suite leaders making strategic calls, the safety directors transforming culture, the field workers living it every day, and the industry experts solving the problems that keep us up at night.

What We Cover:

Real incidents and the lessons they taught us
Safety trends and best practices that actually work
The culture shifts transforming our industry
Risk management strategies that protect your bottom line
Stories from the industry
Construction business acumen

Who This Is For:

Whether you're a CEO thinking about big picture and culture trends, a CFO measuring total cost of risk, a safety director building culture, a superintendent managing crews, an estimator pricing risk into bids, or a tradesperson who wants to go home safe every day—this show is for you.

Because in construction, we learn by doing. But the smartest operators learn from others who've already been there, made the mistakes, and figured out what works. Get better every day and move the industry forward.

New episodes twice monthly. Let's build smarter, safer, and stronger—together. 🔨

Contributors

Host

James Gurule

James Gurule, CLCS, PWCA — Co-Host

James started in construction the way most of this industry does — swinging a hammer, not reading contracts. He's spent over a decade since on the other side of the business: underwriting, and now as a Risk & Surety Advisor working construction and M&A risk — what most people would call complex risk. He thinks about insurance a little differently. James operates with the "man in the arena" mentality, all the way. On Left-Handed Hammers, he's the business and risk voice in the room, asking the questions that hopefully add value to the industry.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgurulejr/

Co-host

Nathan Miller

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-miller-ima5656/

Co-host

Perry Silvey

https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrysilvey/

Guests

Guest

Luke Miller

Luke Miller — Owner, Colorado Pavement Solutions

Luke's path into construction ran through politics first. He studied political science and economics at Colorado State, interned on the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign and in the Colorado Legislature, then earned a Master's in Politics and Public Policy from CU Denver — all before landing in the equipment world at Power Motive Corp, where he spent six years across sales, rental management, and quality assurance roles. That mix of policy chops and operations experience eventually led him to co-found Colorado Pavement Solutions in 2017, where he leads sales, estimating, project management, and accounting. He's also Co-Owner of Animas Asphalt in the Durango area and Owner of Colorado Trucking Solutions. As head of NUCA of Colorado's Government Affairs Committee, Luke helped drive HB26-1311, Colorado's new retainage surety bond law, from idea to law.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-miller-b3b36837/?skipRedirect=true

Guest

Rob Slauson

VP of Operations, ESI

Rob's construction roots run deep — three generations deep, in fact. He started on his family's asphalt paving crew in Wisconsin at age 12, went on to earn his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and has spent nearly three decades since on the construction side of the business. Today, as VP of Operations at ESI, Rob oversees field operations, project management, safety, and equipment — bringing the same hands-on instincts from his laborer days to the executive level. He's also President of NUCA of Colorado, where he helped lead the charge on HB26-1311, Colorado's new retainage surety bond law.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-slauson-b953941b6/