MCAA Regional Report, Region E

Words: Mike Cook, Dick Dentinger, Mike Heitkamp, Jason Thompson, Elena Peltsman, Darrell McMillian, David Biggs, John Myers, Diane Throop, Thomas Walsh, W. McGinley, Phillip Shinn, Andrew StaabIowa - No State Chair
Kansas - No State Chair
Minnesota - Dick Dentinger
Missouri - Mike Heitkamp
Nebraska - No State Chair
North Dakota - No State Chair
South Dakota - No State Chair

Workforce Development Activities

Minnesota

The total bricklayer’s hours worked in the first 11 months of 2015 total 2,162,324 compared to 1,945,435 for the first 11 months in 2014. That is an increase of 11%. According to Mike Cook, President of the Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local Union 1 MN/ND, the number of bricklayers working total 15,126 an increase of 6.66% over 2014.

Bricklayer’s Apprenticeship Director Andrew Staab is organizing and managing a new apprenticeship training center in New Hope, MN which is a western suburb of Minneapolis. The new and improved facility is offering Apprentice and Journey level classes to its members, as well as, hosting workshops for architects, engineers, high school and college students, as well as, community non-profit organizations. The BAC Outreach Programs serve high school youth including general student population and at-risk youth. At-risk can be defined as economically at-risk, criminally at-risk, academically at-risk, and a number of other factors.

Journey level and Outreach Classes total 247 apprentices. 186 apprentices are actively participating at the New Hope Training Center. The remaining 61 are working towards completing their apprenticeship hours out of greater Minnesota sites in Rochester and Duluth.

Missouri

The 2015-2016 bricklayers’ apprentice program has 55 apprentices in the state of MO with another 4 apprentices scheduled to begin in the second semester, which starts in January 2016.

The St. Louis area continues to participate in a pre-apprentice program called Building Union Diversity (“BUD”). BUD provides pre-apprenticeship skills training for minorities, women, and the long-term unemployed residents of the St. Louis region interested in pursuing one of the many available careers in construction. Training includes both classroom and shop training. Students spend a week in each of the participating union apprenticeship programs: bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, iron workers, laborers, operating engineers and the plumbers and pipefitters. The BUD program brings together a comprehensive network of participating joint labor-management construction skills training providers, St. Louis Agency of Training and Employment (“SLATE”), the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council and the Missouri Division of Workforce Development.

Economic Conditions / Forecasts

Minnesota

Union masonry construction, based on bricklayer hours worked, continued to be strong in 2015. Business opportunities look to continue strong through 2016. Marketing contributions from contractors to the association based on bricklayer’s hours worked times five cents remain healthy. The reporting of the hours and contributions are made on a trust relationship. In 2015 the MC&MCA budgeted $35,000 from contractors toward our marketing effort. We expect to reach that budgeted goal. That is the same amount of marketing dollars raised in 2014.

2015 construction growth has been triggered by a major remodeling of the State Capitol, a new state office building next to the Capitol, a new St. Paul Saints baseball stadium that opened in May, and a major new Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis set to be ready for the 2016 season. These four projects have fueled hundreds of jobs for bricklayers, cement masons, and laborers. The new Central Corridor transit system providing light rail service between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis has fostered development and redevelopment projects along the rail both in terms of commercial and residential construction. We have one more stadium to build! This one–for soccer–will be managed by Mortenson. The $120 million stadium will seat 20,000 people and be located a 10-acre site. It is expected to be ready in early 2018.

The Legislature passed a bonding bill in the 2015 session for schools, public buildings, and transportation. The bigger bonding bill is expected to be passed in 2016 providing additional dollars for roads, bridges, light rail transit lines, and bus routes. Residential construction in Minnesota for 2015 remained strong with a lot of the action in the two downtown areas and along light rail lines.

Missouri

As of October 2015, Missouri’s unemployment rate improved from 6.3 percent in 2014 to 5.0 percent which matches the nation’s rate at 5.0 percent as well. However, Missouri is still above the regional unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bricklayer hours for the St. Louis area are 12.25% higher than they were last year at this same time with 726,937 total hours reported as of November 30, 2015.

Both commercial and residential contractors are seeing an increased backlog of work.

St. Louis City is benefiting from a multi-year and billion-dollar renewal project by BJC Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine, who are jointly remaking much of the 16-block campus. Both private and public money is being spent for these projects.

Masonry Marketing Activities

Minnesota

The MC&MCA continued its strong marketing efforts in 2015. With the hiring of new Marketing Director Elena Peltsman, an architect by training and experience, presentations promoting masonry products and workmanship have been delivered to around 50 architectural firms across the state in her first seven months on the job. AIA continuing education credits are provided, as well as, a working lunch to sweeten the deal! Our contractor members are invited and encouraged to attend these presentations if possible. Presentations are also being made to owners, developers, general contractors and schools in an effort to promote masonry construction industry in Minnesota. These efforts are being paid for through members’ dues and contributions.

The MC&MCA remains active in the structural masonry promotional effort working with the bricklayers union, the IMI, Laborers, and LECET. This effort targets structural masonry engineers and engineering firms. The MC&MCA has four representatives on this Minnesota Masonry Coalition (MMC) which also includes four representatives from labor. MC&MCA Marketing Director Elena Peltsman and Mark Swanson of IMI work together through the MMC to coordinate additional promotion and marketing of masonry and union labor throughout Minnesota and the upper Midwest.

MC&MCA and other masonry management and labor organizations feel strongly that the marketing and promotional efforts need to occur in during a strong building market and during slow economic times.

Missouri

The International Masonry Institute’s, Diane Throop, kicked off the 2015-2016 Masonry Institute of St. Louis (“MISL”) seminar series on September 23, 2015 with a presentation on “Tornado & High Wind Sheltering with Masonry”. This informative discussion gave an overview of the new requirements of the 2015 International Building Code (IBC) that will be adopted in the St. Louis area requiring that new schools and emergency facilities to have storm shelters that meet the requirements of the ICC 500, Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters and that designing with masonry provides a safe and affordable solution.

MISL’s 2015-2016 schedule includes:

Darrell McMillian (MISL): Basic Masonry 101
David T. Biggs (Biggs Consulting Engineering): Advancing Construction Through Masonry Prefabrication
Jason Thompson (National Concrete Masonry Association): 2015 I-Codes Update: Masonry Design and Construction Requirements
Darrell McMillian (MISL): Masonry Flashing Update
John J. Myers (University of S&T): Near-Surface Mounted FRP Research
W. Mark McGinley (University of Louisville): Energy Efficient Single Wythe Design
Phillip Shinn (Jacobs): International Existing Building Code (IEBC) — Part III
Darrell McMillian (MISL) BIM-M Phase III Update
Richard Bennett (University of Tennessee): Strength Design Moment Magnifier
Stephan Gantner, Jr. (Cannon Design): Exploring the TMS 602 / Project Manual Relationship
Darrell McMillian (MISL): Structural Masonry Design Software Version 7.0
J. Gregg Borchelt (Brick Industry Association): Thomas F. Walsh Memorial Lecture: “History of Brick Making — USA”
Darrell McMillian (MISL): Masonry Seismic Design for Code Officials

MISL reported that sponsorship of these weekly seminars were quickly snapped up by local mason contractors and area suppliers, since it provides affordable promotional exposure to 150-200 design professionals per session. Attendance for the seminars has continually increased.

The MISL’s 18thth Annual Masonry New Products Show will be held at the St. Louis Masonry Center on February 10-11, 2016; mason contractors are targeted on the first day and then the exhibitors’ focus turns to the design professionals on the second day.

McMillian continues his trifecta of masonry marketing duties: in addition to providing technical assistance to contractors and design professionals and conducting educational programs on and off site, he serves on the National BIM-M Initiative Executive Committee and serves on numerous industry committees such as The Masonry Society, where he is Vice President, the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards, Structural Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri, etc.

The Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (“SIU-E”) Structural Masonry Course was offered again during the Fall 2015 semester. The MISL and the Masonry Institute of Southern Illinois helped finance the initial 2009 course offering and it was so successful that the university was able to provide funding going forward. The current semester enrollment has 38 students and marks the fourth time it has been offered since 2009.

McMillian was also proud to announce that the structural masonry course he pioneered over the last few years at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla) has been added to the permanent course catalog. The course, in its fourth offering, had an enrollment of 25 students. Rolla has also added an advanced structural masonry course.

The MCA / OSHA Partnership continues to flourish, commencing its 11th year of existence. The 9 contractors in the partnership reach over 65% of all industry hours. The partnership’s DART (Days Away Restricted /Transferred Duties) has decreased from its revised baseline of 1.2 to 0.4 as of September 30, 2015, which easily beats the 2.2 national DART for the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Masonry NAICS Code 23814. The partners meet once a quarter with the OSHA Area Director and general contractor safety professionals to discuss best practices.

The newly formed Masonry Structural Coalition continues to focus on builders, owners and designers in the Missouri and Illinois region to convince them that load-bearing masonry can meet their budgets and schedules, all while providing energy efficiency, durability, safety and aesthetic value to their projects. Masonry Institute of Southern Illinois Executive Director Lynn Vasquez, area mason contractors and suppliers participate in these business development meetings.

Competitors / Trends

Minnesota

Our competition continues to be precast. The battle grounds continue to be in big box stores and commercial buildings. Our masonry promotions efforts in Minnesota of working with architects, engineers, developers, and owners is to educate and inform decision makers as to the long term benefits of masonry products and quality workmanship.

Missouri

Open Shop contractors continue to grow. To compete with these, the Bricklayers’ Union Local No. 1 of Missouri and the Eastern Missouri Laborers’ District Council offer market recovery programs, funded by increased union membership dues. Contractors must apply for these grants, subject to approval by the unions’ executive committees, and they can be applied to the hourly wage, material expenses or fringe benefit obligations.

Work continues to be lost to competing trades and steel stud structures have increased. Our agreement with Bricklayers’ Local Union No.1 was renegotiated in July 2015 with a 6-year agreement.

MCAA Regional Report, Region E

Workforce Development Activities

Minnesota

Missouri

Economic Conditions / Forecasts

Minnesota

Missouri

Masonry Marketing Activities

Minnesota

Missouri

Competitors / Trends

Minnesota

Missouri

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