Fallecker Receives 2010 AMCA Master Mason Award

Words: Dave Endres, Vince Fallecker/Public/News/20110226120000-1.jpg" width="600" height="338" border="0" alt="AMCA Treasurer Dave Endres (left) presents Vince Fallecker (right) with the AMCA Master Mason Award." />

AMCA Treasurer Dave Endres (left) presents Vince Fallecker (right) with the AMCA Master Mason Award.

The winner of the 2010 AMCA Master Mason Award is Vince Fallecker with Sun Valley Masonry in Tucson.

The AMCA Master Mason Award is a recognition given by the Arizona Masonry Contractors Association to masonry industry contractors or foremen. The recipient is a man or a woman whose company is a current member of the AMCA.

Following are examples related to each category that address the reasons Vince is deserving of this award.

Quality of Work: Quality has several meanings, including meeting the expected level of material, maintaining level of workmanship and earning general customer satisfaction. Vince has proven that he is a master craftsman.

He began the trade in 1969 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Over the past 41 years, Vince has managed many challenging projects. This presentation includes photos of only a few in the past five years: the U of A Medical Research Building, U of A Sixth Street Dormitories and Drachman Hall pictured here. Drachman Hall was a Gold Trowel Award Winner in 2007.

His eye for what is acceptable and what is not, is held by only a few craftsmen in our trade. Vince holds the people he works with at their highest standard which assures a quality project and a happy end user every time.

Leadership Skills: Remote projects are managed separately from business operations and require strong leadership from the management team and
crew which can influence the profitability of a project. Vince not only holds his crew to their best, but is constantly challenging himself to be better.

He is a team player and a leader. If the general contractor or architect has questions or lacks knowledge in what he is doing, Vince is quick to educate them. For these reasons and more, Vince is “the guy” the general contractor wants on their job site.

Problem Solving Skills: Problems will inevitably arise on a job site. Each problem needs to be solved immediately and correctly. As we all know, each jobsite presents its own unique set of challenges. Any delay in solving problems can result in work delays. Vince is always up to any challenge and has the rare ability to keep his cool under extreme pressure.

When problems arise on the jobsite, Vince utilizes his communication skills by going to the other trades involved and ensuring they are all part of the solution. The Santa Cruz Justice Center is a recent example of his abilities. It was built on a hillside from the bottom of the hill up. Regular CMU blocks were integrated with Astral Glaze Block in the kitchen, bath, showers, etc., both were part of the building structure, and the architect was taking longer than expected to select the Astral Glaze color. Instead of delaying the project and waiting for the architect’s decision before proceeding, Vince built the first story of that project with the CMU, while going back and adding the Astral Glaze later. It was literally like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and it worked beautifully. Due to Vince’s ingenuity and creative problem solving skills, the floor pours were not held up and the project remained on schedule.

Time Management Abilities: Planning and scheduling construction activities enables the project to complete on a finite date. Proper time management and the use of a scheduling tool can increase jobsite productivity. Communication is also vital. Vince has excellent time management skills. He starts every job by looking at the overall job schedule and then looks at the production figured to see how he needs to adjust his crew to meet daily and weekly goals on the job. Vince then takes random hourly counts to ensure he is on track. He not only manages his own time, but he communicates often with the other trades to ensure they are managing theirs as well.

Safety Management: Safety management is characterized by the implementation of safety plans, the application of safety procedures and the proper use of equipment in work tasks, with the goal of preventing all accidents on the jobsite. Vince runs some of the most challenging work in the industry. His safety record is exemplary. Vince will literally make his crews go to daily safety meetings until he is completely comfortable with the job conditions and the crew’s performance. At the U of A Dormitory project he had an onsite OSHA inspection that lasted for 23 days straight. The jobsite included conventional scaffolding set up for hundreds of lineal feet, 60 - 70 feet in the air; there were multiple decks working in multiple areas, doing waterproofing and Tyveck, putting on wall ties, laying brick, erecting and dismantling the scaffold and setting precast, etc. Despite all of the activity and exposure to potential problems and safety issues, Vince did not receive one citation.

In conclusion, Vince is a man of few words, but if Vince is talking, you better be listening or you may miss out on some of the best knowledge in the business.

Congratulations, Vince.

Fallecker Receives 2010 AMCA Master Mason Award

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