Advertise on podcast: Merit Matters

Tammy sits down with Co-Founder and Owner of DadGang.co (and former Merit employee!), Ejay O'Donnell. With over 1 million hats sold and a viral online community of everyday dads, DadGang has grown from a simple idea into a nationally recognized brand built on connection, fatherhood, and authenticity. In this episode, Ejay shares the story behind DadGang’s rapid growth, the lessons he’s learned as an entrepreneur, and how creating a community can be just as impactful as building a business. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about leadership, purpose, and the power of showing up—both at work and at home.

In this episode of Merit Matters, host Tammy Birklid of Merit Construction sits down with Josh Gobel, Partner at Carve Architects, to discuss mindfulness in construction and design. Josh shares how intentional, people-focused design goes beyond aesthetics to create spaces that truly serve their purpose and strengthen communities.

As we wrap up 2025, Tammy and Kasey take a look back at the year. We recap our Built for Growth Campaign, our new branding, the wins and challenges of the year, and preview some exciting things for 2026. Grab a coffee and take a listen!

The City of Federal Way Parks Department is Built for Growth! Tammy and Autumn discuss exciting projects happening in the city, what is on the horizon for the community, and how the city is partnering with contractors like Merit to support the growth.

Tammy sits down with the Dana Leavitt, Chair of the BuildingRenovation Team for United Churches of Olympia to talk about their church renovation project currently underway. They discuss the construction process of renovating a 70-year old "living Church" while upholding the values of the United Churches of Olympia, and why Progressive Design Build was the right choice for their project.

Tammy sits down with Audrey Fueston, former in-house attorney at Merit and current Associate Attorney for Geosyntec Consultants to discuss her career journey, lessons learned, and the unique challenges and opportunities women face in the workplace.

To kick off 2025, Kasey and Tammy sit down to discuss the past 5 years of Merit under Tammy's leadership, what is in store for 2025, and introduce Merit's newest campaign - Built for Growth!

In closing out our all in podcasts, Tammy interviews Alyssa Sullivan, of Sullivan painting. They dive into Alyssa unexpectedly, and suddenly, taking on the role of Acting President. Throughout, the pair discuss what it means to be all in, and how to remain committed even through challenging times.

In our first podcast highlighting our all in campaign, Tammy sits down with someone she considers to be all in, in every area of his life. Scott Seelye has been with Merit over a decade. Listen along as he and Tammy discuss what all in means to him, and the journey he took to becoming the committed individual he is today. They talk work life, family, and what your life can look like when you're truly all in.

Claudia Johnson came to the United States at 14 as a refugee, and has been impacting her community for the better ever since. Her career as a nurse, including time at Western State Hospital, identified her passion for the underserved, and those individuals that the commonplace healthcare system was having difficulty helping. She has channeled that passion into building an enhanced services facility in Lakewood, Wa. Her facility will support individuals struggling within the mental health system to become self sufficient and independent, showing them they’ve had the power to do so all along. Her goal is to fill the gap that currently exists in our community within the mental health field. Merit is honored to be building her facility and help facilitate her cause!

Audrey Birklid sits down with Merit Principal, Tammy Birklid, to discuss all things Merit. They duo go over how the last 65 years has shaped how Merit does business today, as well as look forward to the Merit of the future. Tune in for our first podcast of 2022, our kick off to celebrating 65 years of Merit!

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so. On this episode, our Equipment Manager, Miles Langer, joins Tammy to discuss how he finds ways to cultivate a culture of gratitude within the workplace and in his personal life by getting to know people on a personal level and creating a family oriented environment. Tammy also shares the importance of having gratitude from both leaders and employees.

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so. On this episode, Adam Coleman, Project Manager at Merit, joins Tammy and shares what he's been thankful for this past year as well as hard lessons he's learned that have made a positive impact on his life. Tammy also elaborates on why she believes gratitude plays a pivotal role in workplace productivity.

This month on our Merit Matters podcast we are doing a mini series on gratitude. At Merit, we believe gratitude plays a crucial role in our workplace, at home and as a whole. Merit's Principal, Tammy Birklid, recently sat down with some of our team members to discuss how they find ways to implement gratitude into their work and personal lives, and what benefits they see from doing so.  In this episode we have Merit's Controller, Danielle Welch. Danielle has been with Merit for almost 10 years. Together, Tammy and Danielle discuss how they've found gratitude throughout the years at Merit through the good and challenging times.

"Collaboration early on is the best way to be innovative as a group. It allows you to think through constructability issues that I may not see because I am not on site swinging a hammer." We had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Gobel of TAS in our most recent podcast. Tammy and Josh discussed the benefits to Team-Build and how it is both of their preferred methods of project delivery. It optimizes the product for the Owner and makes everyone's jobs easier. Josh is one of our favorite architects we've worked with, give this a listen and you will understand why!