I do more construction type work with a knife than bushcraft, so I think the standard EO1 shape will be best for me. Full handle with a 3 inch blade should be perfect. A smaller blade would probably be fine, but for the occasional outdoor work, I'll stick with the 3 inch. I love the pictures of the mud turtle though - might be my second JK purchase....I could always use more pictures if anyone wants to post them!
For that style of work, that would be a good choice I think. I imagine the compact tool would be solid as well for a slightly larger one.
If you're not familiar with the hurley creek, it's a very nice little blade, a little bigger than the bluegill. I think it's a great EDC or bird and trout knife size. It is smaller than the EO1 for sure though and the fuller handle of the EO1 is good and there's good reason that has been one of John's better selling knives.
I honestly don't know what's required of a knife in construction. For the home repair stuff I usually don't need much and find myself using a swiss army knife of multi-tool a lot.
There was a review thread of the mud turtle where I posted a lot of pictures. That was before I bought my own. It's also a pretty fun knife in the kitchen, camp kitchen, or just messing around with around a bonfire. At this point, I don't know that I have a favorite JK model, because I'm fickle with tastes sometimes, but the mud turtle is probably in the top 5 for "if I could only keep 1" knives if finances required that I get rid of my collection.
Lastly, not knowing what construction requires again, but I really like John's heat treat on S30V if you want some pretty solid edge retention and stain resistance. It's a bear to sharpen, especially compared to O1, but in a small blade I love it. I have an EO1 and 2 deluxe hurley creek's in it. I'm not sure if that's a regular offer but when he orders a bar I usually try to get at least one knife out of it.