Jason Ballard | Ten Tons of Concrete by Hand
It was two in the morning, three days before South by Southwest, and the printer was clogged with bad concrete. Jason Ballard and his co-founders were on the ground, done. Jenny Ballard pulled a window screen off the house they were building, set it over a five-gallon bucket, and started sifting rocks out of the concrete by hand. Someone pointed out they were talking about ten tons. She said: what else are we going to do? They sifted all night and finished the first permitted 3D-printed house in the world.
She was the one who told him to start over. They'd spent seven years building Treehouse into a three-store, multi-million-dollar business, and it was finally about to pay, and she said they had to try this instead — because it was the better idea, and that was reason enough. Before that, she'd suggested they move into her parents' basement so he could quit his job and raise money. Every investor said no. He maxed out three credit cards. Today Icon has built hundreds of homes and holds the NASA contract to develop a lunar construction system.
Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28, with no family history and no genetic markers, and lived with it for thirteen years — long enough that all four of their children have never known a mother who didn't have it. Every ninety days, a scan. In this conversation with David Begnaud, Ballard talks about what that does to how you live, and about the last of those scans in October 2024. About sitting in his truck afterward and telling each other they had no regrets and would do it all again. About a priest arriving between services on Christmas Eve, fully vested, to say mass in their living room. And about the night before she died, when he carried her outside and told her stories about their adventures, and thought she'd fallen asleep until she laughed at the funny parts.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Jason Ballard
Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
More description
It was two in the morning, three days before South by Southwest, and the printer was clogged with bad concrete. Jason Ballard and his co-founders were on the ground, done. Jenny Ballard pulled a window screen off the house they were building, set it over a five-gallon bucket, and started sifting rocks out of the concrete by hand. Someone pointed out they were talking about ten tons. She said: what else are we going to do? They sifted all night and finished the first permitted 3D-printed house in the world.
She was the one who told him to start over. They'd spent seven years building Treehouse into a three-store, multi-million-dollar business, and it was finally about to pay, and she said they had to try this instead — because it was the better idea, and that was reason enough. Before that, she'd suggested they move into her parents' basement so he could quit his job and raise money. Every investor said no. He maxed out three credit cards. Today Icon has built hundreds of homes and holds the NASA contract to develop a lunar construction system.
Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28, with no family history and no genetic markers, and lived with it for thirteen years — long enough that all four of their children have never known a mother who didn't have it. Every ninety days, a scan. In this conversation with David Begnaud, Ballard talks about what that does to how you live, and about the last of those scans in October 2024. About sitting in his truck afterward and telling each other they had no regrets and would do it all again. About a priest arriving between services on Christmas Eve, fully vested, to say mass in their living room. And about the night before she died, when he carried her outside and told her stories about their adventures, and thought she'd fallen asleep until she laughed at the funny parts.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Jason Ballard
Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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