Why TerraFirma / David T Phung, Construction Project Manager Application

Why this, why now, why me.

Construction is the last trillion dollar category still built by hand, with clipboards, against weather. The people closest to that problem usually cannot write software. The people writing software usually cannot read a grade stake.

I am one of the few candidates who has done both sides at production scale. I spent five plus years delivering civic and government projects at Gruen Associates in Los Angeles, inside the exact budget band your job description calls out: fifty thousand to twenty million dollars. Then I went and ran a 10 engineer release train for a software platform serving over a million users at 99.98% uptime.

That is the profile this role actually needs. Not a project manager who tolerates software. A project manager who builds with it.

Proof of range.

Pillar 01 / Heavy Civil PM, at your budget band

Five plus years delivering civic work in Los Angeles.

At Gruen Associates I led project management on civic and government work across the LA region. Public contract compliance. Agency coordination. Submittal cycles. Close-out documentation. RFI and change order discipline. Schedule risk calls that actually moved the date.

The range your job description asks for, fifty thousand to twenty million dollars, is the range I have already been working in. Not as a resume claim. As the work.

5+Years Civic PM

$20MTop Budget Managed

LAPublic Sector Range

B.ArchWoodbury

Pillar 02 / Software fluency

I can read a grade stake and a pull request.

Product owner at Entertainment Partners on a payroll and workflow platform serving over a million users. Ran a 10 engineer release train. Led a 12 API consolidation at 99.98% uptime.

I know what a release cycle looks like. I know how to file a bug against a robot. And I know why a Mission Control screen is only as good as the ticket hygiene behind it.

Pillar 03 / Infrastructure policy

Policy range, not just project range.

Congressional advisory work on energy infrastructure and stablecoin regulation. I understand the regulatory terrain your sites will cross, from right of way disputes to environmental review to utility interconnection.

Mass excavation today is mass energy, mass housing, and mass manufacturing tomorrow. I have been writing about that loop for two years.

Pillar 04 / I already think in your framework

EMI: Electrons, Matter, Intelligence.

My research brand NLT143 is organized around a single thesis: every piece of physical world value creation reduces to three primitives. Electrons move energy. Matter holds shape. Intelligence coordinates both.

TerraFirma lives squarely at Matter times Intelligence. The retrofit thesis, the single operator controlling multiple machines thesis, the Mission Control thesis: these are not new to me. They are the exact outline of the future I have been publishing toward.

Pillar 05 / Startup operator, not a corporate PM

I have been living in shipping mode.

Helped scale Happy Friday Coffee physical operations from a small footprint to a repeatable unit. Produced a 25 project submission package for the US DOT Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Challenge. Built a 195 country energy visualization platform. Run a podcast from inside a Tesla on Full Self Driving.

I do not need a playbook. I read the job description on a Tuesday and had a 25 section research deck on TerraFirma by Thursday.

I have been writing your mission from the outside.

Source / TerraFirma, Our Story

At Starbase, the biggest barrier to launching missions to Mars was not building the rocket. It was how slow, expensive, and complex it was to build the infrastructure around it.

TerraFirma / Our Story and Mission

I read that paragraph and recognized my own career. I have spent five years inside the slow, expensive, complex version. I want to spend the next five inside the version you are building.

Retrofit first,
not clean sheet.

Retrofitting the installed base of excavators, bulldozers, and loaders is the right call. The installed base is worth trillions. The fastest path to revenue is partnership with operators like Thomas Randolph Excavation, not displacement. This is the same logic that made Starlink work: retrofit the physical layer of the planet, do not replace it.

Mission Control
is the product.

The differentiator is not the hydraulics. It is a single operator running multiple machines from a console. That is a software problem wearing a construction hat. Running a release train for a 1M+ user payroll product is training data for this role, not a detour from it.

Buda is the
right move.

Relocating HQ to a 40,000 square foot integrated testing facility in Buda signals seriousness about iteration speed. You cannot run a SpaceX style build, test, rebuild loop across three buildings. I want to be on site the day the first retrofit excavator rolls out for a second shift.

Job description, line by line.

Req / Code

Job Description

Evidence

Status

REQ.001

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, or related field

B.Arch, Woodbury University. Architecture sits upstream of both disciplines: licensure coursework covers civil, structural, means, methods, and code.

Met

REQ.002

Minimum 2 years construction PM, with 1 year focused on earthworks or heavy civil

Five plus years at Gruen Associates on civic and government projects, including earthworks, site prep, and grading coordination inside public contract compliance.

Exceeded

REQ.003

Managing projects with budgets from $50K to $20M

Civic and government work in Los Angeles sits squarely in this band. Public sector projects in this range are where I already deliver.

Met

REQ.004

Strong understanding of earthworks techniques, materials, and equipment

Ground up civic delivery. I have written submittals against grading plans, coordinated geotech, and negotiated with subs on excavation and backfill scope.

Met

REQ.005

Proficiency in project management software, scheduling and budgeting tools

Primavera and MS Project from civic work, plus Jira, Linear, and Notion from running a 10 engineer release train at Entertainment Partners.

Met

REQ.006

PREFERRED / Experience with construction automation, robotics, or advanced tech integration

NLT143 research brand. EMI framework. Two years of public writing on the sim to real problem, digital twins, and physical AI applied to construction. Ran a DTP FSD Conversations podcast from inside a Tesla on Full Self Driving.

Exceeded

REQ.007

PREFERRED / Startup or high growth company experience, ownership mindset

Happy Friday Coffee physical operations scaling. NLT143 seed pitch deck, executive business plan, and financial model. Multiple founder direct engagements across deep tech, including Haptic Labs, Radiant, and Vital Lyfe.

Met

REQ.008

Exceptional leadership, team management, mentoring

Leadership team for a men's retreat at Frontier Church of Pasadena. Product ownership across a 10 engineer release train. Cross functional coordination with clients, agencies, and subcontractors at Gruen.

Met

REQ.009

Willing to relocate to Austin, TX if not within commuting distance

Based in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Relocation ready. Can be in Buda within two weeks of offer signature.

Confirmed

REQ.010

Willing to work extended hours and weekends to support critical deadlines

This is the work. I have shipped research deliverables and campaign assets on 48 hour cycles for two years straight. A Robot Ranch shift schedule is a step toward focus, not away from it.

Confirmed

Shipped artifacts, not promises.

ART.001 / Research Brand

NLT143

The EMI framework applied to energy and physical infrastructure. Electrons, Matter, Intelligence. Public research, published over two years.

Visit nlt143.energy

ART.002 / Data Platform

Watt A World

A 195 country energy infrastructure visualization platform. Per capita, per watt, per dollar. Built to make global grid comparisons legible.

Visit wattaworld.davidtphung.com

ART.003 / Data Journalism

Weight of California

Fiscal data journalism platform with ARK Invest style graphics and animated explainer GIFs covering state budget, tax, and infrastructure spending.

Visit weightofcalifornia.com

ART.004 / Federal Submission

US DOT BTIC 25

A 25 project submission package for the US DOT Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Challenge. Renders, spreadsheets, presentation, 300 image prompts.

Portfolio on request

ART.005 / Operator Archive

Bezos Letters

Full archive of Jeff Bezos' annual shareholder letters, readable and cross linked. Built as a study tool for the long memo form of leadership writing.

Visit bezosletters.davidtphung.com

ART.006 / Operator Archive

Stay Hungry

The Steve Jobs archive. Speeches, launches, internal memos. One More Thing, searchable and structured.

Visit stayhungry.davidtphung.com

ART.007 / Design Portfolio

Works Archive

Architectural renderings, interface studies, and spatial explorations from my B.Arch years and beyond. The visual vocabulary behind the EMI framework.

Visit davidtphung.com

ART.008 / Startup Campaigns

Deep Tech Outreach

Tailored application and research packages delivered to Radiant, Haptic Labs, Vital Lyfe, Bedrock Robotics, FieldAI, Physical Intelligence, SpaceX Starlink, Base Power, and more.

References on request

ART.009 / Civic Infrastructure

Gruen Associates

Five plus years delivering public sector projects in Los Angeles. Civic, government, transit adjacent. Where the budget band in your JD was earned.

Resume on request

Let me be on site
the day shift two starts.

I can be in Buda within two weeks of offer signature. I do not need a relocation runway, a ramp up plan, or a corporate onboarding program. I need a job description and a first assignment.

If the resume is useful, it is attached. If it is faster, skip it and give me a trial project. Scope a site visit, a subcontractor negotiation, a submittal review, a grading plan QA, or a Mission Control shift coverage exercise. I will turn it around in 48 hours and you can evaluate the work instead of the words.

The thesis is already written. The candidate profile you are looking for is already a real person. He lives in Highland Park. He moves earth with words and drawings for now. He wants to move it with robots.