Survey Shows Nation’s Construction Career Preparation Flaws and its Economic Effect

DOL Announces Launch of Apprentice Trailblazer Initiative

Spackle by Dave Coverly

People News

Three Construction Camps for Girls Supported by ATAS

Simpson Strong-Tie Donates to American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for Maui Fires

YKK AP and cove.tool Team Up to Help Architects Easily Reach Sustainability Goals

ACI Foundation Funds 11 New Research Projects

Three Construction Camps for Girls Supported by ATAS

This summer, ATAS International sponsored three Let’s Build Construction Camps for Girls. The camp is a free weeklong program designed for middle and high school-age girls to explore the construction trades, architecture, engineering and construction materials manufacturing through hands-on experiences and field trips. The Greater Lehigh Valley, Pa., camp held its seventh annual event this summer. The Northeast Ohio camp celebrated its second year of camp, and a brand-new camp started in Phoenix. At the camps in Pennsylvania and Arizona this year, the campers toured the manufacturing facilities of ATAS to learn how metal architectural building components are made and about potential careers within the world of manufacturing.

“ATAS was pleased to be involved in the camp again this year, as we have for the past seven years,” stated Lee Ann M. Slattery, sales support manager for ATAS, who has been involved in the planning of the Greater Lehigh Valley camp from the beginning. “It’s exciting to see additional camps forming across the country. ATAS is a strong supporter of the development and training of students within the local community. This camp is a great opportunity to expose these middle and high school age girls to potential careers in architecture, construction and manufacturing. With workforce development being a concern for many local employers within these industries, events like this camp are important for our future as a manufacturer within the building materials industry and the future of others involved in design and construction.”

ATAS is proud to have been involved with the Greater Lehigh Camp since its inception. They have supported the camp with sponsorship, materials and volunteer time, which are all important to achieve a successful camp experience for the girls and for the volunteer staff. This support was also given this year to the camps in Ohio and Arizona.

This year at the Pennsylvania camp, ATAS Technical Services Advisor Tim Coughlan, ATAS CAD Draftsman Kevin Klersy, former ATAS Product Representative in Arizona Minnie Robles and ATAS Technical Services Intern Ryan Starr spent the afternoon with the campers, demonstrating the installation of standing seam metal roof panels, along with metal shingles. This gave the campers the opportunity to apply a peel and stick underlayment to the roof deck and measure the deck to determine the lengths of the trims that needed to be cut. They had hands-on experience with cutting the metal with snips and driving fasteners to secure the panels and trims. The campers also learned about the differences between steel and aluminum metal roofing.

Phil Dorenkott, ATAS product representative for western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, volunteered again at the Northeast Ohio camp, and Robles helped lead the new camp in Phoenix.

ATAS looks forward to its continued involvement and the growth of these events to help build future leaders within the design, construction and manufacturing industries. Each year during camp, these young women experience growth in not only their technical skills, but also in their confidence, realizing they can achieve a fulfilling career as a building industry professional.

Simpson Strong-Tie Donates to American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for Maui Fires

As fires continue to burn in Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, destroying more than 2,200 structures and displacing thousands of residents, Simpson Strong-Tie is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to help with immediate relief efforts.

The Red Cross opened 12 emergency shelters in Maui and Oahu for evacuees, and they have more than 300 trained disaster relief workers who are providing relief supplies, health services, support for finding missing loved ones and more. Residents have been warned about potentially toxic fumes and contaminated running water, and more than 4,500 people still have no power. The Red Cross will continue providing immediate and long-term relief and recovery assistance as they assess community needs.

Simpson Strong-Tie is also encouraging its employees to donate to the relief efforts and double their impact through the company’s Matching Gift program.

“Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by the Maui fires,” said Simpson Strong-Tie CEO Mike Olosky. “We hope our support will strengthen immediate relief efforts and the road to recovery for the island.”

To make a contribution to the Red Cross for Maui fire relief, visit redcross.org or send a donation to your local Red Cross chapter.

YKK AP and cove.tool Team Up to Help Architects Easily Reach Sustainability Goals

YKK AP America Inc., a technology-oriented manufacturer of commercial facade systems and residential doors and windows, and cove.tool, a provider of building design and construction software, announced a partnership to make it quicker and easier for architects to reach their project’s carbon, cost and energy performance goals.

YKK AP is now the first fenestration manufacturer to integrate its products into cove.tool’s recently launched revgen.tool, a cloud-based solution designed to make it easier for building product manufacturers to engage design teams earlier in the process as they select products. By using this tool, which went live on YKK AP’s website mid-summer, architects will be able to best identify and align on which YKK AP-specific products may fit best with their project by using real-time product- and project-specific performance analysis as opposed to generic product data. Architects will walk away with deep analysis and actionable insight around embodied carbon, cost and energy performance to better meet a project’s energy-saving goals.

“As a building product manufacturer, we are focused on ensuring that every product and process we develop helps secure a more sustainable future, with the ultimate goal to reduce carbon emissions to 50 percent by 2030,” said Mike Turner, senior vice president of marketing and sales at YKK AP America. “This makes our partnership with cove.tool a natural fit. We understand how crucial the early collaboration between architects, engineers and building product manufacturers is to meet a project’s energy-saving goals. And now with revgen.tool, architects will have the data they need at their fingertips to make decisions that will benefit their project and ultimately the built environment.”

“YKK AP understands the power of data and the significant role it can play in helping their customers achieve aggressive carbon reduction goals,” said Patrick Chopson, co-founder and chief product officer at cove.tool. “We’re incredibly proud of the world-class, interconnected simulation suite we’ve created to make this partnership possible. Enabling YKK AP to strengthen and enhance customer relationships through accurate and timely data dramatically speeds up the adoption of low-carbon technologies into projects.”

YKK AP and cove.tool kicked off the new partnership with a live announcement at the 2023 AIA National Conference in San Francisco on June 8.

ACI Foundation Funds 11 New Research Projects

The ACI Foundation’s Concrete Research Council selected 11 research projects to receive grants this year. The CRC seeks concrete research projects that further the knowledge and sustainability of concrete materials, construction and structures in coordination with ACI Technical Committees.

The following research projects will receive funding from the ACI Foundation and were awarded based on relevancy and potential impact of the research; supplemental support for the project, such as collaboration with other funders and organizations; overall proposal quality; researcher capability and ACI Technical Committee engagement.

Alternative End-Specimen Conditions to Characterize Compressive Strength of Ultra-High-Performance Concretes
PI: Kinsey Skillen, Texas A&M University

Behavior of Slab-Column Connections under Wind Demand
PI: Christopher Motter, Washington State University

Direct Tension Test Results and In-Situ Response in Reinforced UHPC Beams: Relationship and Design Implications
PI: Sherif El-Tawil, University of Michigan

Evaluating Residual Strength of Corrosion-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Members
PI: Anca-Cristina Ferche, The University of Texas at Austin
Co-PI: Serhan Guner, The University of Toledo

Nano-Modified Calcined Clay-Based Cement Concrete: A High Modulus Concrete with a Low Carbon Footprint
PI: Panagiotis Danoglidis, The University of Texas at Arlington

Novel Concrete Containments for Nuclear Reactors: Delamination Testing of Curved Wall Sections
PI: Christopher Jones, Kansas State University
Co-PI: Thomas Kang, Seoul National University

Proposal to Investigate ICF Wall Construction Meeting the Requirements of NFPA 285 – Phase II
PI: Shamim Rashid-Sumar, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
Co-PI: Douglas Bennion, Quadlock

Rheological Behavior of Fresh Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Enhanced by Nano-Additives and Data-Driven Approaches
PI: Chengcheng Tao, Purdue University
Co-PI: Kamal Khayat, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Strut-and-Tie Design of Disturbed Regions Utilizing Internal Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement
PI: Rudolf Seracino, North Carolina State University
Co-PI: Giorgio T. Proestos, North Carolina State University

Sustainable and Safe Reinforced Concrete Retaining Walls
PI: Luis Fargier-Gabaldon, University of Notre Dame

The Role of Testing Conditions and Concrete Durability Issues in Chloride Binding and Desorption of Cementitious Systems
PI: Mahmoud Shakouri, Colorado State University

The ACI Foundation is committed to progress in the industry by contributing financially to necessary and worthy research. Additional information about each of this year’s awarded projects – including additional funding partners, research team, ACI committee involvement, project details and more – is available at ACIFoundation.org/research.

Survey Shows Nation’s Construction Career Preparation Flaws and its Economic Effect

Few candidates have the basic skills needed to work in high-paying construction careers, forcing short-staffed contractors to find new ways to keep pace with demand and undermining efforts to build infrastructure and other projects, according to the results of a workforce survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and Autodesk. The results highlight significant shortcomings in the nation’s approach to preparing workers for careers in construction.

“The biggest takeaway from this year’s Workforce Survey is how much the nation is failing to prepare future workers for high-paying careers in fields like construction,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “It is time to rethink the way the nation educates and prepares workers.”

Simonson noted that 85 percent of construction firms report they have open positions they are trying to fill. Among those firms, 88 percent are having trouble filling at least some of those positions—particularly among the craft workforce that performs the bulk of on-site construction work.

All types of firms are experiencing these challenges. Largely similar results were reported by contractors that use exclusively union craft labor and by firms that operate as open-shop employers; by firms with $50 million or less in annual revenue and ones with more than $500 million in revenue; by companies in all four regions of the country; and by contractors doing building construction, highway and transportation projects, federal and heavy work, or utility infrastructure.

One of the main reasons labor shortages are so severe, Simonson added, is that most job candidates are not qualified to work in the industry. He said a “shocking” 68 percent of firms report applicants lack the skills needed to work in construction. In addition, one-third of firms report candidates cannot pass a drug test.

Workforce shortages are adding to the impacts of supply chain disruptions that have made it difficult for firms to get materials delivered on time and that are driving up the cost of those materials. While these shortages have recently shown signs of abating, 65 percent of firms report projects they work on have been delayed because of supply challenges and 61 percent have been delayed because of labor shortages.

Supply chain problems and labor shortages are making construction more expensive, undermining demand for certain types of projects, the economist noted. Half the respondents report owners canceled, postponed or scaled back projects due to increasing costs. Meanwhile, 22 percent of firms report projects were impacted due to lengthening or uncertain completion times.

Many construction firms are taking steps to cope with and try to overcome workforce shortages. Eighty-one percent of firms have raised base pay rates for their workers during the past year. In addition to raising pay, 44 percent are providing incentives and bonuses, and 26 percent have also improved their benefits packages.

Firms are also getting more creative when it comes to recruiting workers. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents—up from 39 percent in the 2022 survey—report they added online strategies, like using social media or targeted digital advertising, to connect better with younger applicants.

Contractors are also increasing investments in their internal training programs in an effort to address the fact many candidates lack the basic hard and soft skills needed to be successful. Forty-one percent of firms are boosting spending on training and professional development programs, 25 percent are enhancing their online and video training capabilities and 14 percent are using augmented and virtual reality technology to better train workers.

Technology is also playing an important role in helping firms cope with labor shortages and other challenges they are facing, Simonson added. Ninety-one percent of firms agree that their employees need to possess digital technology skills to be successful as firms adopt new labor-saving technologies. Nearly three-quarters of responding firms say at least half of the people they are hiring possess the technology skills they need. And three out of four respondents agree that using cutting-edge technology helps them recruit talent.

When it comes to two broad categories of technology—artificial intelligence and robotics—on construction jobs in the next five years, almost half of respondents (44 percent) state that AI and robotics will positively impact construction costs by automating manual, error-prone tasks. In addition, 41 percent say AI and robotics will improve the quality of construction jobs and make workers safer and more productive.

“For potential hires, a career opportunity in construction should mean an opportunity to work with advanced technology and perform safe, meaningful work,” said Allison Scott, director of customer experience and industry advocacy at Autodesk. “As firms adopt more digital technologies and create stronger classroom and training pathways, we’ll begin to see a new generation enter the industry equipped with the tools and skills needed to tackle construction’s largest challenges.”

Association officials noted that in virtually every community, there are open construction positions that pay better than the average job and are vital to local economic growth. But they said too few schools offer classes in construction or even expose students to the opportunities that exist in the field.

They added that public officials need to significantly boost investments in programs that expose students to the opportunities and skills needed for careers in construction. This will put more students on a path to professional and financial success and address the needs of local employers.

“Boosting funding for programs that expose students to skills in careers like construction will signal to students that there are multiple paths to success in life, and one is not better than another,” Simonson said.

The construction economist added that the association will continue pushing federal officials to narrow an education funding gap that currently invests five times as much on encouraging students to enroll in college as it does on preparing them for fields in construction. He added, however, that it will take years to rebuild the nation’s career and technical education. In the meantime, the association is calling for immigration reforms to allow more people to lawfully enter the country and work in construction.

The association and Autodesk conducted the Workforce Survey in late July and early August. Over 1,400 firms completed the survey from a broad cross-section of the construction industry, including union and open-shop firms of all sizes. The 2023 Workforce Survey is the association’s 11th annual workforce-related survey.

DOL Announces Launch of Apprentice Trailblazer Initiative

The U.S. Department of Labor issued a press release and accompanying blog post to announce the launch of the Apprentice Trailblazer Initiative, which is intended to create a national network of apprentices and apprenticeship graduates whose stories may inspire others interested in becoming apprentices. The initiative will also provide a platform for apprentices to share their diverse stories and experiences and show how registered apprenticeships increase opportunities for underserved populations.

The first cohort of Apprentice Trailblazers will focus on youth ages 16-24 and recent youth apprenticeship graduates. The Department plans to announce the first cohort of youth Apprentice Trailblazers during 2023’s National Apprenticeship Week, which is November 13-19.