MCAA Regional Report, Region B

Words: Roy SwindalAlabama - Roy Swindal
Florida - No State Chair
Georgia - John Doherty
Kentucky - No State Chair
Mississippi - No State Chair
North Carolina - Calvin Brodie
South Carolina - No State Chair
Tennessee - Brian Proctor
Virginia - No State Chair

Workforce Development

Alabama

Unfortunately we have only one apprentice program operating and it is in the Mobile/Pensacola area.  This program is shrinking also.  All masonry and stone work, including State work, are being performed by Masonry Contractors that hire labor subcontractors to actually install the masonry and stone. Therefore, the workforce is almost exclusively Hispanics and the vast majority of them illegal immigrants.  The General Contractors and Owners do not want to rock the boat because the prices are substantially less performing the work in this manner. We are still the only company actually performing the work with our own forces.

Florida

No State Chair

Georgia

No report as of this writing.

Kentucky

No State Chair

Mississippi

No State Chair

North Carolina

High school vocational programs remain the main systematic means of attracting and training future masons in North Carolina.  NCMCA continues to partner with BIA-SE, the Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association and the North Carolina Masonry Instructors Association to host the SkillsUSA Regional and State Masonry competitions, an event with some one hundred students participating.  North Carolina apprentices won recognition in national competitions during 2013.    North Carolina masonry students claimed both the secondary and the post-secondary Gold Medals at the SkillsUSA National Competition in Kansas City.  The NCMCA Masonry Contractor Certification Program includes an important component for training foremen and superintendents, with hundreds of individuals participating in the program.
  

South Carolina

No State Chair

Tennessee

Training decreased over the past couple of years but there are still some firms dedicated to increasing their employee’s skill sets. Apprentice training in East Tennessee is still handled at the regional training center with funding from East Tennessee Masonry Association, AGC and ABC. In Middle Tennessee Brick Layer apprentice training is being handled by ABC. Current enrollment is low but a marketing effort hopes to improve numbers over the coming months and years.

Virginia

No State Chair

Economic Conditions/Forecasts

Alabama

The amount of work available to bid and negotiate has increased relative to last year but still weak with many unqualified companies being allowed to bid work.  The architects are busy so that is a good sign.

Florida

No State Chair

Georgia

No report as of this writing.

Kentucky

No State Chair

Mississippi

No State Chair

North Carolina

While there are indications of some economic improvement, generally masonry contractors’ performance numbers, especially non-residential, remain flat compared to last year at this time. There is conflicting opinion on what 2014 holds for the economy in general and the masonry business specifically.  While several construction supplier/trade associations are forecasting a significant upswing in construction spending in 2014, a number of Carolina bank forecasters and business leaders are more pessimistic.  Not based on any formal research, the following is my personal observation:  In the Carolinas the uncertainties of the Affordable Care Act and the dysfunction of national leadership is having a chilling effect on economic growth.  A super-competitive environment has aggravated the issue of misclassified employees.

South Carolina

No State Chair

Tennessee

Middle and East Tennessee seem to be trending toward growing markets. Competition is still tough especially on retail, schools, and office building type work. There are however, several high rise apartments and hotel buildings underway and in the design phase. If the majority of them are funded, the near future should prove to be fruitful.

Restoration continues to flourish statewide with a few large projects in the works. We are seeing a large increase in hardscape projects in both the public and private sector.

All in all, things appear to be improving. We have had pockets of improvement the last couple of years, but none of them sustained more than a blip on the radar. This uptick appears to be more substantial.

Virginia

No State Chair

Masonry Marketing Activities

Alabama

Suppliers are the only companies that are doing any marketing.  There is not an interest in improving the market share.  Basically it is bid and whoever is lowest is awarded the contract. 

Florida

No State Chair

Georgia

No report as of this writing

Kentucky

No State Chair

Mississippi

No State Chair

North Carolina

Emphasis continues to be on promoting certified masonry both to owners, and to designers and specification writers.  Also to masonry contractors as potential participants in the NCMCA certification program.  In the fall of 2012, NCMCA began the fifth series of certification classes (11 classes per session) with some 34 students participating.  The effort to promote certified masonry with specification writers has begun to show results with several projects either underway or completed that required the masonry subcontractor be certified.  NCMCA is investigating ways to make the NCMCA and MCAA certification programs more closely aligned.  The leadership of NCMCA remains fully committed to certification as a means to maintain masonry market share by improving perception among not only owners and architects, but also general contractors and masonry contractors themselves.  NCMCA has partnered closely with the Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association in the CCMA’s “Understanding Masonry” initiative, a program CCMA developed with the Masonry Institute of Michigan to dispel misconceptions about the cost and performance of masonry wall systems.  The program has been presented to architects, material suppliers, masonry contractors and construction mangers across both Carolinas.  .

South Carolina

No State Chair

Tennessee

All of the Associations are putting forth a great effort in getting the “Masonry Message” of sustainability, green and cost comparisons into the market place. There is never enough involvement in working with the Associations. As with most, it is a handful of firms doing all the work with the industry reaping the benefits. Some masons are trying to get involved with the early stages of Design-Build. This, for some unknown reason is much harder than one would think. Sadly, most large General Contractors still do not believe what we can bring to the table if we are included early enough.

Virginia

No State Chair

Competitors/Trends

Alabama

We lost only one competitor this year.  We have added two more.  These so called masonry contractors are subcontracting all the labor to Hispanic contractors who are licensed by the state but work 95% illegal aliens.  Payments are made in cash in envelopes W9 (Independent Contractor Status supposedly) issued for probably half of these people, the others are just paid cash and unidentifiable.       

Florida

No State Chair

Georgia

No report as of this writing.

Kentucky

No State Chair

Mississippi

No State Chair

North Carolina

NCMCA and its partner masonry associations in the Carolinas have struggled to maintain membership and financial support as individual members (and former members) face a continuing challenging economy.  Numbers and money are required if the associations are to have an impact on the markets.  The leadership of NCMCA is committed to using financial reserves for the foreseeable future to maintain programs.  Unfortunately, other masonry promotional groups in the Carolinas do not have that option and have scaled back.  Even so, masonry seems to be holding its own as a preferred building system and there seem to be some inroads being made in more accurately and more favorably promoting masonry wall systems in cost comparison to competing wall systems, i.e. the CCMA “Understanding Masonry” program.

South Carolina

No State Chair

Tennessee

The last couple of years saw some competitors fall by the wayside. There are still plenty to go around. Some have found the errors in buying work and brought their pricing up. Others still buy jobs from time to time. We have all but stopped bidding schools that we don’t have to produce a bid bone and P&P bond on. For some reason, the schools seem to go cheaper than any other type of construction projects. EIFS seems to be making a comeback. Glass and metal might be the biggest market competitor currently in our market. There have been a handful of ICF projects but not enough to cry wolf.

Virginia

No State Chair
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