February 2021 | Volume 84 | Issue 2
Trade News
AWCI, CISCA’s Conventions & INTEX Expo Moves to October
AWCI’s 2021 Convention & INTEX Expo, originally scheduled for this April in New Orleans, has moved to October 17-20.
After monitoring COVID-19 conditions with the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, AWCI leadership has made the decision to move AWCI’s Convention & INTEX Expo to October in order to help ensure the health and safety of all who attend. It will remain in New Orleans at the same hotel and convention center where the April event was to be held.
AWCI is committed to holding this event in 2021 as long as the association can produce a safe and outstanding experience for all involved. To that end, AWCI will be following all state, local and CDC protocols throughout AWCI’s Convention & INTEX Expo, which we expect will include masks, temperature checks, social distancing and other necessary safeguards.
Registration and hotel reservations will open on July 19.
Due to the change of dates for the convention and trade show, AWCI’s Industry Leaders Conference, which was supposed to be held in late September in Hollywood, Calif., will not be held. The association is working to either rebook at that property for a future year or keep the 2021 dates for another “to-be-determined” AWCI event.
For more information and updates, please visit the convention website, as well as contact Karen Bilak or Samantha Riemer.
Likewise, the CISCA convention in April 2021 will be postponed. Therefore, CISCA’s 2021 Convention in New Orleans is being postponed to October 17-20, 2021 in New Orleans. Registration will open in mid-July.
This association will continue to monitor the situation with COVID and re-evaluate if necessary.
The SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 World Championship Roster is Set
Last year proved to be a challenging year but with a lot of planning and hard work the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 Regional Series went into the record books as a success.
Originally slated for 24 events, the company is proud of the SPEC MIX team and its event sponsors for rallying to pull off 16 regionals. For an added twist, this was the first time that the competitions were live streamed on Facebook, which racked up a total of more than one million views.
Now, the 2021 World Championship Roster is set. The best masonry craftsmen in the world will come together in June at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas for the industry’s biggest showdown.
EIMA Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary
The EIFS Industry Members Association is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. Founded in 1981, EIMA is a national non-profit technical trade association comprised of leading manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, applicators, architects and building owners involved in the EIFS industry.
For 40 years, the association has been dedicated to elevating the profile of EIFS, an energy-efficient, opaque exterior wall cladding, in the construction marketplace.
To commemorate this milestone, EIMA invites members to enjoy and be proud of all that the EIFS industry has accomplished. The association encourages its member firms to proudly display and use the special 40-year commemorative logo throughout the year.
For more information, contact EIMA’s Director of Communications Laurie Joseph at Ljoseph@eima.com.
Makita USA Growth Continues With Land Purchase in Atlanta Region
Makita U.S.A. Inc. is continuing its commitment to future growth in the U.S. market with the purchase of 80 acres in Georgia. The land, located northeast of Atlanta in Hall County, is the target for planned future development to address continuing growth in the United States.
“Business continues to grow, and we are continuing to invest in the future,” said Joe Blackwell, senior vice president operations. “With the largest cordless lithium-ion tool system in the world, the adaption of our battery-powered products continues to accelerate from power tools to outdoor power equipment and beyond. This planned expansion will further support our customers, while creating more jobs in the region.”
Over the past three years Makita has made significant investments in the U.S.A. The Atlanta-area purchase follows the August 2020 opening of a new distribution, training and service facility in Reno, Nev., and the 2017 opening of a similar facility in Wilmer, Texas. The manufacturer’s distribution chain also includes operations in Mt. Prospect, Ill., Buford, Ga., and La Mirada, Calif. Additionally, the manufacturing plant in Buford is one of ten Makita manufacturing facilities worldwide.
L&W Supply Adds USG Ceilings Products to Western Locations
L&W Supply has announced that all of the company’s Colorado and Wyoming locations now carry USG Corporation’s ceiling products.
Colorado is home to several big markets for L&W Supply, including Denver, Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs.
The addition of USG’s line of ceilings products marks a significant development for both companies in the Colorado market. This new partnership also gives customers in the area access to USG’s line of ceilings products, including acoustical panels, baffles, and wood panels.
“We are very excited to be able to share this benefit with all of our customers across the entire Front Range, from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs,” said Matt Myers, Heartland District manager. “For the first time, all eight branches in the region will be distributors of USG Ceilings.”
L&W Supply’s presence in the Front Range consists of seven Colorado branches and Cheyenne, Wyo. In September of 2020, L&W Supply expanded its presence in the region with the acquisition of Drywall Supply Inc.
“L&W Supply is honored to now represent the complete USG Ceilings product portfolio in Colorado,” said Mark Sweeney, L&W Supply’s ceilings merchandising manager. “With over 40 years of experience selling USG Ceilings nationally, the opportunity to offer USG Ceilings’ unique product solutions to our customers in Colorado is exciting for L&W Supply.”
NIBS Convenes BIM Executive Roundtable
The National Institute of Building Sciences recently met with an exclusive list of leaders from public and private organizations to discuss the need for a coordinated program to advance collaboration and innovation in the building industry.
The building information management Executive Roundtable included partners from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. General Services Administration and U.S. Federal Highway Administration, along with private sector partners from Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Autodesk, Bentley, Epic, ESRI, HDR, Kieran-Timberlake and WSP.
“Let’s start working on our common challenges and opportunities,” said Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, President and CEO of NIBS. “We seek your time and your talent to help us develop shared standards and processes to improve the built environment and help Build Back Better.”
Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct with Yale School of Architecture Phillip Bernstein said there has been varied levels of adoption across delivery and management processes as well as education and training. The U.S. faces continued challenges with data interoperability.
While NIBS has created a U.S. National BIM Standard, it primarily has been developed through volunteer efforts with valuable content, but little coordination toward a comprehensive standard.
To address this, NIBS is leading the creation of a National BIM Program. The goal is a solution at a national scale to enable digital process standards that will streamline business, accelerate the effectiveness of the supply chain, provide predictable processes, improve project outcomes, and drive efficiency and foster innovation.
Adam Matthews, Head of the International Stream of the Centre for Digital Built Britain, spoke to the UK’s innovation-focused BIM program that is seen as a model for what can be done here. The program came at cost of about $5 million pounds. It has led to 33 percent lower costs through a reduction in the initial cost of construction and the whole life cost of built assets and 50 percent faster delivery.
“We started off looking at how we can drive savings,” Matthews said, mentioning that part of the goal was to drive better procurement practices and construction. “This was not a program just for the sake of technology.”
Construction comprises 13 percent of the global economy. And while the U.S. already plays a tremendous leadership role in delivering innovative technology and design and construction services to a global marketplace, we lack the same leadership to tackle industry productivity and efficiency problems to benefit asset owners.
“The first step is getting the right people to the table,” said Van Woods, BIM program manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chair of the NIBS BIM Council. “We already have an all-star team. I think we need to expand that. We must convene the stakeholders who will benefit from digital transformation.”
Western Specialty Contractors-New York Metro Branch Wins National ICRI Award
ICRI conducts an awards program each year to honor and recognize outstanding projects in the concrete and masonry repair industry. Judging is based on uniqueness, use of state-of-the-art methods and materials, functionality, value engineering and aesthetics. Entries are received from around the world, and the winning projects are honored each year at the ICRI Fall Convention. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the 2020 Fall Convention was held virtually.
In 2018, Western’s crew, alongside Project Architect Kate Groob, RA, and Principal Thomas Fenniman, RA from Thomas A. Fenniman Architect took on the task of restoring one of the prominent structures on New York City’s Upper East Side – Christ Church United Methodist. Located at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and 60th Street, the 86-year-old brick and limestone church was showing signs of wear-and-tear and deterioration. Several of its brick corners had cracked and precariously pulled away from the building; its plaza on Park Avenue needed to be replaced and made ADA compliant; and grout between its limestone and brick was missing or damaged.
Western’s skilled workers performed masonry repairs, repointed all of the stone to stone mortar joints and removed and rebuilt the failing masonry corners, amongst several other repairs. In total, Western performed work on approximately 19,000 square feet of the church’s total 28,000-square-foot Romanesque and Byzantine Revival style façade.
“One of the greatest challenges on this project was ensuring that the new masonry matched the existing. Understanding the historical significance of this structure, we went the extra mile to source masonry samples from several distributors in the Tri-state area and performed loose laid mock-ups on site. After several modifications, we achieved the desired result by utilizing three brick colors with the darker browns removed from the blend and salvaged bricks mixed in their place,” said Western New York Metro Senior Branch Manager James Norberg. “We are honored that ICRI recognized our dedication and expertise on this important restoration.”
In addition to the façade repairs, the church also needed to replace its 580-square-foot plaza. The previous plaza was flat with steps going up to both the front and side door entrances. This required the church to use a temporary metal ramp, which was an eyesore and not an ideal solution.
Western began the plaza replacement by removing the existing plaza down to the concrete deck, then installed the waterproofing system, which consisted of 2-ply Siplast torch down waterproofing, drain mat, rigid insulation board, and filter fabric. Lastly, the setting bed, pavers, limestone planter, ramp, steps and curb were installed to complete the plaza replacement. To match the existing plaza, the same stone material was sourced for the replacement pavers, which was a Crab Orchard stone quarried out of Tennessee.
The $1.8 million project took just over four months to complete.
Western Specialty Contractors-New York Metro Branch was honored virtually on Oct. 22 with a 2020 International Concrete Restoration Institute Award of Merit (Masonry category) for façade restoration of historic Christ Church United Methodist in New York. The project had previously won Project of the Year from the ICRI Metro NY Chapter.
AD Achieves Increase in Distributions to Members Despite Pandemic
AD is reporting total 2020 member sales were $45.1 billion, a 3 percent decrease from 2019, with purchases by member companies from AD supplier partners at $12 billion, down 1 percent. Despite the clear impacts of the pandemic, AD achieved a 1 percent increase in net distributions to its members and was able to offer innovative services and support to help members navigate the rapidly changing environment.
AD also reported 2020 same-store sales by business unit:
- Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Piping divisions remained at 2019 levels
- Industrial and Safety divisions same-store sales decreased by 7 percent
- Electrical divisions same-store sales decreased by 5 percent
- Building Materials grew by 4 percent
By country, same-store sales of members in the U.S. were down 3 percent, Canada same-store member sales decreased by 2 percent and Mexico same-store sales decreased by 15 percent.
“When we look at member purchases from AD suppliers being down only 1 percent from 2019, we see the powerful effects of the partnership we help facilitate,” AD’s Chairman and CEO Bill Weisberg said. “In addition, several months in Q4 were all-time records for the group. In spite of 2021 still being a pandemic operating environment, AD is already seeing solid growth over 2020 and 2019 levels.”
Reflecting on how AD centered its activities in 2020 on maximizing support to members, Weisberg noted, “From successful efforts to preserve rebate dollars, to new initiatives like real-time business intelligence reporting, enhanced market planning activities and increased communications, I’m extremely proud of the way our community adapted to ensure we weathered this storm. I’m looking forward to this new year and a heavy focus on growth for all of AD.”
Spackle by Dave Coverly
People News
PAC International LLC has named Mike Raley to its team as an acoustical engineer starting January 2021.
Mike Griffin has been named national sales director/EIFS of Demand Products.
In addition to Wheeler’s appointment, longtime ASID staff member Susan Chung, Ph.D. has been elevated to the role of vice president, Research and Knowledge.
The American Society of Interior Designers has named renowned designer Gary Wheeler, FASID, FIIDA as its CEO.
KAI Build has announced the promotion of Steve Kizer from director of field operations to vice president of operations – Construction.
JLG has announced that Rob Messina has returned to the company in a new role as senior vice president of Product Development and Product Management.
L&W Supply has promoted Harry Wood to the Trenton, N.J., branch manager and has promoted Shawn Surprenant to the Hampton, Va., branch manager. L&W Supply has also promoted Dave Hovekamp to district manager for Northern California and Evan Jacques to branch manager of the Milwaukee branch.
March 2021 | Volume 84 | Issue 3
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