MCAA Regional Report, Region B

Words: Roy SwindalAlabama - Roy Swindal
Florida - Jerry Painter
Georgia - John Doherty
Kentucky - Paul Clements
Mississippi - No State Chair
North Carolina - Gary Joyner
South Carolina - David Hill
Tennessee - Brian Procter
Virginia - Bruce Sieling

Workforce Development


Alabama
There is only one working apprenticeship program in Alabama. The apprenticeship program in Pensacola, Florida has a few Mobile masonry contractors involved. At present there are only a couple of contractors that are not using subcontract labor for their work force.

Florida
No report as of this writing.

Georgia
The apprenticeship program of the Masonry Association of Georgia has 20-25 apprentices. MAG has also established and "Masonry Academy" with a local high school. In this academy, the program has 15-17 students being taught masonry 5 days a week totaling about 12 hours a week.

The Construction Education Foundation of Georgia (CEFGA) continues to push its Career Expo. The expo this year will be held April 16th and 17th at the Georgia International Convention Center. 5 to 6 thousand high school, technical school, teachers and counselors will be in attendance. Two hundred companies are taking part in this in some form.

Kentucky
No report as of this writing.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
The NCMCA Masonry Contractors Certification Program continues to be a primary focus. A large percentage of NCMCA member firms are participating. The series of eleven classes begins its third run in February. NCMCA continues to partner with BIA-SE and the Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association in supporting and promoting high school masonry vocational instruction programs, recruitment and state apprenticeship contests. Some 100 students are expected to compete in the NC SkillsUSA Masonry Skills Contest at the end of April.

South Carolina
Training has slowed if not stopped. Many of the vocational schools have dropped their masonry programs. A few contractors are still training within their own companies. Several of the contractors that still do their own training have been forced to reduce their workforce due to the economy. Unfortunately, this usually means the recently trained masons are the first to go. The Hispanic workforce has filled any gaps in needed manpower.

Tennessee
Local #5-BAC and JATC had one new apprentice class this year. There are currently a total of 59 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.

Contractors in Middle Tennessee have decided to negotiate their contracts with the Union individually. Some signed 1 year contracts and others 2 year deals. Everyone that was previously a member has remained one. Tennessee is a "Right Too Work State" and there are several merit shop contractors statewide. Middle TN and East TN are the only areas of the state that still have several contractors signatory.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Economic Conditions/Forecasts


Alabama
The second half of 2008 showed a dramatic slowdown in overall building construction in Alabama. 2009 does not look any better everyone is concerned that the trend will continue at an even greater rate. The residential market is down approximately 30 to 40 percent. The larger General contractors are in the process of reducing their workforce. All of their backlogs are declining. The only area that seems to be holdlng steady is the Military Market. The BRAC realignment is helping the northern part of the state.

Florida
No report as of this writing.

Georgia
2008 saw a 30% decrease in construction in Georgia over 2007. The largest share of that was residential and not commercial and industrial. The forecast for 2009 is a further 4% - 5% drop in commercial and industrial The problem with this forecast is that in the last few years, the forecast ended up not accurately portraying reality in that the declines ended up greater than the forecast. Architects seem to be laylng off employees and GC backlogs are all down.

Kentucky
No report as of this writing.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
All segments down considerably. Residential construction all but stopped. Military construction is an exception, but very competitive. There is surprising optimism however, that things will turn around before the end of 2009 and that needed corrections in the financial community will ultimately be healthy for all business.

South Carolina
A couple of the work segments in South Carolina have remained steady over the last year. Schools and healthcare are fueling the commercial masonry work. Work in the other segments has slowed dramatically. Work is still available in the school and healthcare segments, but it has become ultra competitive. Masonry contractors from surrounding states sometimes bring the bidders on a project to seven to ten masonry contractors. Retail work has all but stopped. The big box stores, such as Target and Kohl's are not expanding.

Resort work has slowed down greatly. The Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas are building, but at a much reduced rate. The margins for our work have become very thin. We are seeing a lot of projects in the public and private sector being put on hold or cancelled.

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.

Tennessee
We all know what has happened in the economy. Residential work has dropped off significantly, and with banks being as stingy with their "BAILOUT MONEY" it probably won't turn around anytime soon. The silver lining has been that commercial work didn't take the same hit that residential did. The majority of work coming out, however has been government funded, i.e. schools, justice centers, jails, and some institutional work. The state overall is pretty lucky that we haven't been hit as hard as other areas of the country.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Masonry Marketing Activities


Alabama
A few of CMU producers are working hard to improve their market share. A cohesive effort does not exist in Alabama.

Florida
No report as of this writing.

Georgia
Efforts are belng made with the leadership of NCMA to restore masonry to many designs where it has been supplanted by other materials in recent years. This is an attempt to retain market share lost to perceived cheaper, quicker products.

Kentucky
No report as of this writing.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
NCMCA plans to continue significant financial support of the MasonrySystems.org initiative. NCMCA Is a financial contributor to the Carolina Concrete Masonry Associations' Residential Masonry/Masonry Framed Homes promotion. CCMA has successful introduced a number of masonry framed homes to several major Carolinas markets in all price rangesof homes. A number of builders are now specializing in promoting and constructing masonry framed homes, including several NCMCA masonry contractor members. In 2009, NCMCA will begin a systematic promotion of NCMCA Masonry Contractor Certification to architects, specification writers and owners.

South Carolina
The Upper South Carolina Mason Contractors are in the planning stages for a joint meeting with the masonry contractors and the local Architects. This meeting will include a social gathering as well as an informational sharing time. The use of masonry, design of masonry and advantages of masonry are a few of the highlighted topics. The awarding of continuing educational units is also being planned. The meetings will be shouting the advantages of masonry over other wall systems. We will be focusing on the overall life cycle of the building.

Tennessee
The Masonry Institute of Tennessee has been very busy in the architectural community. MIT offers a minimum of 4 Certification courses each year MIT's masonry online course is up and running and looks to be a great success so far. Our membership has grown by some 25%. MIT is currently courting several university's construction management students. MIT sent three University Professors to a workshop in Louisville, KY hosted by The Masonry Society. The workshop was a success and was enjoyed by the professors I talked to.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.

Competitors/Trends


Alabama
The majority of the work that is being performed by Masonry contractors is being performed by subcontractors that work directly for the Masonry contractor therefore there is not a requirement for a true workforce. The true Masonry contractor is almost a thing of the past in our state. The bidding of projects now has just as many out of state masonry contractors as local. They are coming from South Florida, Louisiana, and Georgia. Prices are presently lower than they were 10 years ago.

Florida
No report as of this writing.

Georgia
Masonry contractors in Georgia are more and more voiding themselves of employees and subcontracting their work. Masonry contractors are becoming brokers rather than contractors. Those of us with our own employees are skeptical of the commitment to the industry of the brokers.

Kentucky
No report as of this writing.

Mississippi
No State Chair.

North Carolina
Competing building systems continue to claim masonry market share. NCMCA considers MasonrySystems.org to be an effective tool for reversing the trend.

South Carolina
The residential market has ail but dried up. Very few, if any, new developments are on the horizon. Residential masons are trying to move into the commercial market. This further deteriorates the commercial pricing.

Tennessee
The first school in Tennessee is currently being built using ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms). There are others in preconstruction and it seems to be a growing trend in our state. ICF construction is more expensive but school boards are buying into the pitch that they are going to make that money up as quickly as the first year.

In Tennessee the TOSHA inspection rate depends on which area of the state you are located. Eastern TOSHA visits almost 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 due to state government underfunding. 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. It seems that in these tough economic times the only building going on is government funded. Retail seems to have slowed quite a bit and the mixed use developments have halted all together. Coverage for bids has seen as many as 10 to 12 masonry bidders, proving the harsh realty of an economic downturn.

The background check system is a year old and seems to be functioning fairly well. There is a project at the University of Tennessee that has "work to be performed by a pre qualified masonry contractor" in Division 4 of the specifications. We have been fighting for this in our state for a number of years and hopefully this will be a stepping stone to the Certified Masonry Contractor spec we hope to see in the future.

Virginia
No report as of this writing.
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