Material Prices Jump Over 21 Percent 

SwiftWall Establishes Western Regional Distribution and Service Center

AISI Publishes Supplement on Steel Diaphragm Panels

Spackle by Dave Coverly

People News

EIMA Announces Winners of EIFS Industry Project Awards

JLG Expands Manufacturing Footprint into Tennessee, Adds Capacity at Three Plants

South Valley Drywall Recipients of Excellence

L&W Supply Acquires DWS Building Supply 

WSC’s Chicago Branch Receives 2021 ICRI Project of Year for Extra Storage Space Concrete Restoration

EIMA Announces Winners of EIFS Industry Project Awards

The EIFS Industry Members Association announced the winners of the 2021 EIFS Project Hero Awards. The industry program honors outstanding projects clad with EIF systems.

Awards were presented during a ceremony held in March at the 2022 EIMA Annual Meeting in Amelia Island, Fla. The ceremony was hosted by award-winning architect Peter Freeman of Freeman Kennett Architects in High Point, N.C. He is a three-time judge of the awards program, and this year presided as the jury Chair.

“It has been an honor to judge the EIFS projects in this competition for the past three years. I’m always amazed at the architectural versatility of this incredible wall cladding,” said Freeman. “More importantly, EIFS are uniquely positioned to play a critical role in reducing a city’s carbon footprint because they are an energy-efficient and sustainable solution for designers and building owners.”

A total of 50 EIFS projects were judged by Freeman and two other architects: Ron Cooper, of Svigals + Partners and Damon Barda, of c|a Architects. All three jurors were architects on previous Hero of the Year award-winning projects.  The jury created three different award categories and 16 projects were winners. Of the three Hero Award-winning projects, one was awarded the prestigious award, the best-in-class EIFS project.

The award recipients are:

Hero of the Year: Villas on Rio, Austin

Hero Awards:

• Aloft/Element Dual Brand Hotel, Tampa, Fla.
• Christ the King Chapel at Christendom College, Front Royal, Va.
• Villas on Rio, Austin

Awards of Merit:

• Ancient Lore Village by Boyd Hollow, Knoxville, Tenn.
• Resort World Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
• Thompson Hotel Savannah, Savannah, Ga.
• Adena Specialty Surgery Center, Chillicothe, Ohio
• LaPorte Hospital, LaPorte, Ind.
• Here Atlanta, Atlanta
• Louis M. Klein Middle School, Harrison, N.Y.
• Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, Greensboro, N.C.
• Village Park Place, Atlanta
• 207 West 75th Street, New York

Honorable Mentions:

• Honor Health Sonoran Crossing Medical Center, Phoenix
• Grand Concourse, Bronx, N.Y.
• Shannondale Main Street, Knoxville, Tenn.

Details and photographs of the award-winning project are on EIMA’s website.

JLG Expands Manufacturing Footprint into Tennessee, Adds Capacity at Three Plants

JLG Industries, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company and a global manufacturer of mobile elevating work platforms and telehandlers, is pleased to announce an expansion of its manufacturing footprint into Jefferson City, Tenn. This new 60,000-square-foot space, which is being leased from the Oshkosh Defense segment, along with the addition of new lines at the company’s Bedford and McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania-based plants, and its Leon, Mexico manufacturing facility, will support the increased production of boom lifts and scissor lifts, as well as both JLG and SkyTrak telehandlers.  

“We have been pursuing a number of initiatives to establish a more agile and stable business model to support long-term, sustainable growth,” said Frank Nerenhausen, executive vice president Oshkosh Corporation and president JLG Industries. “The investment in additional manufacturing space and technology-rich manufacturing lines is indicative of our commitment to supporting customer needs in today’s dynamic marketplace.”

During the industrial revolution, companies had the option to replace cumbersome, manual tasks with automated processes. Those who didn’t risked obsolescence, while those who did saw the greatest long-term success. Digitization has brought this full circle, offering many new tools and technologies from which to outfit the “Factories of the Future.”

“JLG is leaning in, looking at everything from how to optimize digital twins during the design/engineering process, to regionalizing supply chains, to additive manufacturing, to the autonomous and semi-autonomous solutions required to assist a now five-generation workforce and reduce the load/gap caused by labor shortages,” added Nerenhausen.

Heading into 2022 with a record $3.6 billion in backlog, combined with unprecedented inflationary pressures, labor constraints and supply chain disruptions required JLG to think differently about its manufacturing facilities and processes.

“Expanding and integrating new state-of-the-art technologies into our plants will allow us to optimize operational capacity to better absorb peaks in demand, while improving worker safety and flow management,” Nerenhausen continued. “We are investing in the connected and autonomous solutions that will make it easier to do business with us.”

Digitization has enabled automation and machine learning from the earliest stages of design through the manufacturing and field use of products. JLG foresees that customers will eventually be able to track a machine from its order stage through the end of its lifecycle, enabling a greater depth of insight into each unit's true utilization and ROI.

JLG’s new Tennessee facility and the additional manufacturing lines in Pennsylvania and Mexico are operational and in the process of ramping up to full capacity.

South Valley Drywall Recipients of Excellence

South Valley Drywall Inc., of Littleton, Colo., was one of 13 recipients of the Certificate of Excellence in Ethics from the American Subcontractors Association.

This is the ninth time that South Valley Drywall has received such recognition.

“We are honored to be recognized by ASA and receive such prestigious recognition,” said Travis Vap, CEO of South Valley Drywall.

The ASA Certificate of Excellence in Ethics is bestowed to construction subcontractors for achieving “the highest standards of internal and external integrity for a subcontracting firm,” said an association release.

South Valley Drywall is a Certified Cold-Formed Steel Contractor with the Steel Framing Industry Association. The SFIA Certification Program enables professional contractors and truss fabricators to distinguish themselves by demonstrating proficiency in CFS framing. South Valley Drywall has also been featured numerous times in W&C, notably in the magazine's Top 50 Contractors.

L&W Supply Acquires DWS Building Supply

L&W Supply Corporation announced that it has acquired the assets of DWS Building Supply with two locations in El Paso, Texas, and one in Las Cruces, N.M.    

By acquiring DWS Building Supply, L&W Supply will increase its team of experienced associates and strengthen its presence in Texas and New Mexico. With the acquisition, L&W Supply now has two locations in New Mexico and 18 in Texas.

Founded as a family business in 1974, DWS Building Supply is a distributor of drywall, ceilings, paint, insulation, plaster, stucco and more for commercial and residential contractors. The DWS Building Supply associates will continue to work at the locations, ensuring customers receive the quality products and exceptional service that they are used to.

“This acquisition allows L&W Supply to enhance our services to residential and commercial contractors in the El Paso area and introduce L&W Supply to new customers in Las Cruces,” said Curt Jenkins, vice president of L&W Supply’s Central Region. “We are excited to welcome the DWS Building Supply associates to the L&W Supply family. Their experience and established relationships will be an asset.”

WSC’s Chicago Branch Receives 2021 ICRI Project of Year for Extra Storage Space Concrete Restoration

Western Specialty Contractors, Chicago branch, has received the 2021 International Concrete Repair Institute Chicago Chapter “Project of the Year” Award for its concrete restoration work at Extra Space Storage in Chicago. Western received its award at the chapter’s dinner meeting in February.

“Extra Space Storage was chosen as the ICRI Chicago Chapter ‘Project of the Year’ because it was a unique concrete repair project with multiple construction challenges and historic significance,” said ICRI Chicago Chapter Vice President and Awards Committee Chair Kurt Baron. “The building was required to remain fully operational without displacing the tenants, so creative repair techniques were utilized.”

Originally built in the early 1900s, the Extra Space Storage building at 601 W. Harrison St. in Chicago was once used as the storage location for the Chicago Tribune’s delivery trucks. Consisting of three above-grade supported levels and an on-grade basement with approximately 198,000 square feet of total floor space, the structure was constructed with 14-inch-thick conventionally reinforced slabs and 5-inch-thick concrete ramps to allow vehicle access to all floors.

Western was contracted in December 2020 to address slab underside concrete repairs throughout the facility and slab topside repairs on the building’s ramps and parking surfaces. All repairs were anticipated to be partial depth only, but due to the severe deterioration of the concrete and failing repairs over the years, these repairs turned into full depth in some areas.

Repairs were completed at 52 locations. Each location needed to have a full enclosure built to contain any debris generated. As an added challenge, most of the repairs were located over occupied storage units, so Western constructed elevated work platforms to access each repair. All repairs were completed using the form and pump method.

Western’s crew faced several challenges while repairing the storage facility, which continued to operate near full capacity while the work was being performed. All repair locations had full enclosures built around them to contain any dust or debris that was generated and to keep the employees and tenants safe during the project. The work was also phased so access to the entire facility was maintained for the duration of the project. Minimal disruption to the storage lockers was preserved to make sure the owner’s revenue stream was not disrupted.

In some of the large, full-depth repair locations where it was necessary to have shoring in place, storage units needed to be vacated. This tenant locker relocation process took 60 days (30-day notice, 30 days to relocate), so constant communication with the facility management was necessary to make sure the notifications went out timely as to not hold the project up. Any area where this was deemed necessary had the work expedited so that the units were not taken offline for long periods of time.

“This was a unique and challenging concrete repair project on many levels,” said Western Chicago Assistant Branch Manager Matt Ziesemer. “Our footprint needed to have minimal impact on the building’s tenants due to its continued operation while repairs were being performed; some of the concrete deterioration was more extensive than originally anticipated, and we had to coordinate our work around several other contractors also doing work. Our team delivered on its expertise and the owner and tenants can feel confident in the work that we performed. We are honored to have our work recognized by the ICRI Chicago Chapter.”

The architect/engineer on the project was Klein & Hoffman Inc. of Chicago and RJP Consulting Group of Indianapolis.

Material Prices Jump Over 21 Percent

Prices of materials and services used in new nonresidential construction jumped more than 21 percent from March 2021 to March 2022, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. The association urged the Biden administration to relieve major cost pressures by removing the remaining tariffs on aluminum, steel, and Canadian lumber.

“Construction firms have been burdened with cost increases of 20 percent per year or more since early 2021,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Since contractors can seldom pass along increases on projects that are underway, these extreme price hikes threaten the viability of many firms. Unfortunately, the continuing war in Ukraine is likely to keep input costs elevated for many more months, if not longer.”

The producer price index for inputs to new nonresidential construction—the prices charged by goods producers and service providers such as distributors and transportation firms—rose 2.7 percent from February to March and 21.5 percent over the past 12 months. In comparison, the index for new nonresidential building construction—a measure of what contractors say they would charge to erect five types of nonresidential buildings—rose 0.6 percent for the month and 17.0 percent from a year earlier. March was the 18th-straight month in which the cost index rose more than the bid-price index on a year-over-year basis, Simonson noted.

Prices rose faster than the 17 percent increase in bid prices for a wide range of inputs in the cost index. The price index for diesel fuel leaped 63.8 percent over 12 months. The index for aluminum mill shapes jumped 43.7 percent. The index for steel mill products climbed 42.9 percent. The index for plastic construction products rose 35.2 percent over 12 months.

In addition, year-over-year increases exceeded 17 percent for the indexes covering truck transportation of freight, which climbed 24.5 percent; asphalt and tar roofing and siding products, 22.6 percent; lumber and plywood, 20.9 percent; gypsum products, 20.8 percent; architectural coatings, 20.6 percent; and insulation materials, 17.4 percent.

Association officials said tariffs as high as 25 percent on steel, 18 percent on Canadian lumber, and 10 percent on aluminum have worsened the extreme price increases for these inputs. They urged the Biden administration to remove the tariffs immediately to provide relief for employers grappling with rapidly rising materials costs.

“Given the impact inflation is already having on the economy, it makes no sense for the administration to continue to needlessly inflate the cost of key construction materials,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “Removing these tariffs will take some of the price pressure off of employers grappling to control costs.”

View producer price index data. View chart of gap between input costs and bid prices.

SwiftWall Establishes Western Regional Distribution and Service Center

SwiftWall, a manufacturer of reusable modular wall systems, has officially launched a distribution and installation service center located in Las Vegas in partnership with Glide Installations.

SwiftWall is growing rapidly throughout the country and across multiple markets including airports, tech buildings, warehousing, entertainment, manufacturing, government, design build, and general construction.

“Opening a distribution and service center in Las Vegas strategically positions SwiftWall products to fully serve our customer base in the Western Region. Partnering with Glide Installations provides instant expertise to support our rapidly accelerating growth,” said Joe Asiala, SwiftWall CEO and founder. “Establishing distribution centers throughout the country optimizes transportation and provides service centers that are essential to our mission to make construction sustainable.”

Establishing a network of regional service centers throughout the country is essential to provide local inventory, ready services, and full capability to reuse and refurbish the company’s products. Shipping to customers is faster and accomplished more economically regardless of order size. Individuals and contractors have ordered from four to more than 20,000 linear feet of panels to create space, separate large, enclosed areas such as tents and warehouses, and to enclose construction in public areas.

AISI Publishes Supplement on Steel Diaphragm Panels

The American Iron and Steel Institute has published Supplement 1 to AISI S310-20, North American Standard for the Design of Profiled Steel Diaphragm Panels, 2020 Edition. Supplement 1 clarifies the design requirements for diaphragms filled with structural concrete used in the construction of floors. It also provides direction on calculating the resistance of perimeter attachment fasteners including headed studs, welds, screws and proprietary fasteners. Supplement 1 is available for free download at aisistandards.org.

“This Supplement ensures that AISI S310-20 is a completely integrated resource for the design of floor deck diaphragms,” said Steel Deck Institute Technical Director Thomas Sputo, Ph.D., P.E., S.E. He noted that the changes are included in the Standard’s Section B1, “Safety Factors and Resistance Factors of Diaphragms With Steel Supports,” and Section D4, “Steel Deck Diaphragms With Structural Concrete or Insulating Concrete Fills” and its subsections.