MCAA Regional Report, Region B

Alabama
There are only two formal programs operating in Alabama. There are a few individual companies that are training.

The CEFA (Construction Education Foundation of Alabama) has now requested that the masonry contractors in the area support the Masonry Craft Training Program. This is the next step for CEFA and hopefully in the next year this program will be started complimenting the other trades that are currently being trained. This program has Federal Funding.

Florida
We have over 300 apprentices in 15 registered programs and 1000+ students in 31 pre-apprentice programs in the state. Eight of the pre-apprentice programs are adult programs in the Department of Corrections system. The State of Florida has budgeted monies to recruit and train workers in safety and other employability skills specific to individual construction trades.

Georgia
No report as of this writing.

Kentucky
The workforce development situation is still developing. Our apprentice classes are full. Future legislation regarding the immigration situation is being watched carefully.

Mississippi
No state chair.

North Carolina
NCMCA will again join with the Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association, Brick Southeast and the North Carolina Masonry Instructors Association to provide materials, labor and judging for the North Carolina State and Regional SkillsUSA Masonry Contest in April. More than 100 masonry students are expected to participate. NCMCA's major initiative is the Association's Masonry Contractor Certification program. Some 200 individuals from sixty-plus companies are participating. Coming into 2008, a large number of individuals have completed requirements for their personal certification and some 10 companies are ready to apply for company certification. The first series of eleven classes ended in September and the second series is well underway with the first four classes of the series complete. The Annual NCMCA Apprentice Masonry Skills Contest is May 19, 2008 at Pine Hall Brick Company in Charlotte. Some 40 to 50 Association Apprentices will compete for major cash and tool prizes.

South Carolina
Training has slowed drastically. The vocational schools continue to provide the most training. The downside is that many of the schools have deleted masonry from their curriculum. On a positive note, we have seen an increase in the interest in masonry as a career option. We have not experienced any shortage of masons and look for 2008 to be about the same.

Tennessee
Local #5-BAC and JATC had two new apprentice classes this year due to the quality of the applicants. There are currently a total of 36 Apprentices in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes. We have a full time instructor that is jointly paid by the Union and the JATC. So far this arrangement has worked fine.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Alabama
Commercial construction is very strong. Architects are busy which will translate to bid work in the spring and summer. The slump in the Housing business has been responsible for material pricing stability. If there is going to be a downturn in the commercial market we would expect it to occur in the final quarter of this year or the beginning of 2009. Subcontractor pricing is still extremeiy competitive. Between 80 and 90 percent of the masonry work is being performed by Masonry contractors hiring Labor sub-contractors. There are very few of us left still working our own forces and training new people. Immigration reform will essentially put most of these people out of business thus devastating the iabor force in our area thus creating instability in our market.

Institutional construction continues to be very strong. This year total volume will be about the same as last year. We expect this trend to peak and begin to decline by the end of 2008.

The entire manufacturing business including automobile, steel and aerospace is exploding in the state. Mobile has been awarded a 3Billion plus contract for a steel plant. Numerous other plants are being proposed in this area.

The northern part of the state around the Huntsville aerospace center is growing very fast. The US government is moving approximately 15,000 employees that were in Washington to the area in the next two years.

Florida
Commercial construction remains somewhat steady with only a 10-15% decline. Residential construction is down dramatically. Concrete block production in 2007 was down 40% from 2005.

Georgia
No report as of this writing.

Kentucky
The economic outlook for 2008 is guarded optimism. Housing was down again, a record percentage in 2007 and 2008 is just looking for a stopping point. Brick sales were down residentially for the third year while commercial continues to grow. The private sector was very solid in 07' and indicators are looking for the same or less for 08'. We have several research facilities happinging in both Louisville and Lexington. We have multiple upscale condominiums, a future arena, and multi-use high rise construction in downtown Louisville. Our state government having run a surplus in 07' is now looking at a deficit for 08' with a regime change taking place. There are still good bricks/blocks projects underway and still coming. Ft. Knox has a tremendous amount of work that is all very masonry friendly. Local architectural firms are reporting high activity and have a positive outlook for 2008. Overall our local and state economy is not bad in the commercial construction market however there is concern of a downturn from outside sources of the national economy. Hopefully the economic woes of the nation one reads about on Wall Street do not creep our way.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
Backlogs are down for most everyone. Institutional, education and military construction remain strong, commercial work is down and we expect residential masonry to be off throughout 2008.

South Carolina
Work in South Carolina has slowed somewhat over the iast year. It looks like 2008 will be about the same as 2007. The size of the average projects for the next six to nine months appears to be smaller. Work is available but is becoming very competitive. Several of the big box stores, such as Target and Kohl's continue to build, but the pace has slowed. The support stores that go with the big boxes are also being built. Unit price work continues to take some of the market share of the larger projects. General contractors sometime use several on the larger projects.

Resort work is still the largest work segment. The Myrtle Beach and Charleson areas are still building. The pricing for these areas has seen a drastic change. With the residential market being soft, many of the residential mason contractors have move in on the coastal and resort market. This has cuased the commercial market to soften and margins to be reduced.

One of the largest segments of the masonry work that is available is in the construction of hospitals. Hospital construction is being performed all over the state. Most of them are still using masonry on the exterior skin. New work as well as additions to existing hospitals is ongoing. We are seeing many satellite hospitals being built in smaller markets.

The school market in the state remains about the same. Most of the school work for the next year will be in the smaller towns and in smaller districts. Single schools will be more the norm. Much of this work will be performed by general contractors that perform the masonry themselves or by the unit price masons.

Tennessee
Work Statewide is still fairly strong. All areas of the state, East, Middle and West are all above average busy, although it is not being reflected in their pricing. Overall things are still good. Friends in the architectural community are reporting more work than they can handle. There has been a surge in high rise retail/condo work in our area.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Alabama
Unfortunately nothing currently is happening in the state related to new marketing initiatives.

Florida
The masonry industry in Florida working thru the MAF have formed a special group called "Pro Masonry" to promote masonry as a system. Education is the tool currently being used.

Georgia
No report as of this writing.

Kentucky
The private market is starting to see some of our traditional office veneer work go the way of tiltup. Office building developers have taken a page from the massive warehouse/distribution designs and are putting up cheaper tilt-up shells for two/three story office complexes and still getting their office square foot pricing. They are hideous compared to our traditional brick/stone veneers but they are getting clients to move in. It is a concern in this area.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
Unfortunately, Carolina designers and owners continued their open-mindedness to what are often inferior building systems, underlining the need for the MasonrySystems.org project. The Carolina Concrete Masonry Association's "masonry homes" initiative is well underway and enjoying some success. NCMCA advocates and supports their promotional efforts.

South Carolina
OSHA continues to be more and more active. Fall protection and Competent Person citations have risen over the last year. Employee exposure to sound and dust look to be on their watch list. Several contractors have been inspected for sound and dust exposure that exceeds the acceptable limits. Also, the written report for hazard communications and company safety manuals are getting attention.

We are seeing the use of outside consultants looking over the building envelope. These consultants are working with each of the players to insure that all parts of the envelope work together and prohibit water intrusion into the building.

Tennessee
Tilt up construction in the retail sector has hit our area in a large way. Most of the retail is being designed and built by out of town contractors and we do not get a chance to offer possible material changes in the design phase. Schools are still all masonry but even they are starting to look at ICF construction.

Contractors signatory to BAC Local #5 Tennessee have a contract through May of 2008. Middie Tennessee is the only area that still has several Contractors signatory as an Association.

In Tennessee the TOSHA inspection rate depends on which area of the state you are located. Eastern TOSHA visits almost every Commercial jobsite of any size; while Middle and West inspections are down from previous years. Inspectors are looking hard at fall protection hazards, regulations, and silicosis. Safety training and request for documentation of it has seen great increases in recent years. Dollar amounts of fines have risen in recent years. Fines have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled the amount of what they used to be. Most large general contractors are requiring on site masonry supervision to attend the 30 Hour OSHA course and proof of certification before you can start work.

Bidding trends remain the same in the Tennessee area with a mix of Design-Build and Open\Competitive Bid Projects. The Federal has gone Government 90% Design-Build at Ft. Campbell, and it seems to be the way they will continue to do business on the base. The use of Type 5 Buiiding Construction continues to be the government's new building trend. This allows for use of wood studs and lap siding, although we haven't seen any such designs so far. There are very few projects that can be negotiated anymore; contractors/owners want to see at least three bids.

Employers are required by law, as of January 2, 2008, to verify every new employee you hire is authorized to work in the US. If you get caught working illegal immigrants you can lose your license. The law does not however say to go back and check employees hired before that date. The process for checking requires a representative from your company to take an online tutorial and master test to certify them with the e-verify system the government is using. The state government also passed a law that requires background checks on all employees that will be working on or visiting a site at an existing school whether it's daycare, elementary school, middle school, high school, or college. The purpose of the checks is to identify any sex offenders. The checks are costly and time consuming, but no one objects to the added security measure for our children.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Alabama
Concrete tilt-up construction is strong and getting stronger. It is being promoted on an architectural level and is being positively received by the community. School construction has been targeted along with the box retail stores.

Florida
Tilt-up remains strong with precast and brick clad precast panels continuing to gain market share. Factory manufactured housing has dropped off with the rest of the residential market.

Georgia
No report as of this writing.

Kentucky
The private market is starting to see some of our traditional office veneer work go the way of tilt-up. Office building developers have taken a page from the massive warehouseldistribution designs and are putting up cheaper tilt-up shells for two/three story office complexes and still getting their office square foot pricing. They are hideous compared to our traditional brickistone veneers but they are getting clients to move in. It is a concern in this area.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
No real change from a year ago. The masonry market remains strong but competing systems continue to erode market share. Unfortunately, Carolina designers and owners continued their open-mindedness to what are often inferior building systems. MasonrySystems.org needs to be brought up to speed quickly. A very vaiuable tool in addressing this challenge. Also, NCMCA is supportive of the Carolina Concrete Masonry Association's "masonry homes" initiative, which seems to be enjoying some success in the Raieigh and Charlotte markets.

South Carolina
OSHA continues to be more and more active. Fall protection and Competent Person citations have risen over the last year. Employee exposure to sound and dust look to be on their watch list.

We are seeing the use of outside consultants looking over the building envelope. These consultants are working with each of the players to insure that all parts of the envelope work together and prohibit water intrusion into the building. We have seen several big box projects use tilt up panels. We have worked with several General Contractors to convince the owners that tilt up is neither cheaper nor quicker. This will be an on going situation.

Tennessee
I.C.F. (Insulated Concrete Forms) continues to be a force to be reckoned with. I.C.F. distributors are targeting school superintendents and state facility mangers. The sales pitch is an R value of 27 for their product along with cost effectiveness and speed of construction. There is a plan in the works to start a counter marketing offensive using the benefits of foam insulation and cavity insulation to combat the R value sales pitch, as well as focus on the maintenance free product that our industry provides.

In Tennessee the TOSHA inspection rate depends on which area of the state you are located, Eastern TOSHA visits aimost every Commercial job site of any size; while Middle and West inspections are down from previous years. Inspectors are looking hard at fall protection hazards, regulations, and silicosis. Safety training and request for documentation of it has seen great increases in recent years. Dollar amounts of fines have risen in recent years. Fines have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupied the amount of what they used to be. Most large general contractors are requiring on site masonry supervision to attend the 30 Hour OSHA course.

Bidding trends remain the same in the Tennessee area with a mix of Design-Build and Open/Competitive Bid Projects. The Federal Government 90% Design-Builds at Ft. Campbell and it seems to be the way they will continue to do business on the base. The use of Type 5 Building Construction continues to be the government's new building trend. This allows for use of wood studs and lap siding, although we haven't seen any such designs so far. There are very few projects that can be negotiated anymore; contractorslowners want to see at least three bids.

State Legislative Issues - One of the latest issues we have been fighting and trying to change is having to use the low bidder on state funded projects. Many times the government goes with the low bid instead of the best bid. We are in the process of changing that.