Masonry Magazine December 2000 Page. 25
Problems are aesthetics. For whatever reason, if the customer doesn't feel that they are getting a quality project, then we, as an industry, have a problem.
CO: The problem exists for one clear reason, price. Price means everything in the bidding process. Where price is not the only determining factor on jobs, you will rarely have a quality concern.
EG: The majority of the problems exist because certain contractors will not take good solid training programs seriously. Fortunately, this does not seem to be the case in my area. This year we have 130 apprentices actively employed by our contractors, a significant increase compared to seven or eight years ago.
LN: The contractor selection process is often at fault. If general contractors are awarded projects because they have the lowest price, they, in turn, are forced to award sub-contracts to contractors with the lowest priced proposal. That's how the GC got low in the first place. The "low-bid" selection process too often awards work entirely on the issue of price and does not take into consideration other critical qualifications.
MM: What can we do about the quality concerns?
JC: First of all educating the inspector is one of the quickest ways to address quality issues. The inspector has the power to insist that mistakes are avoided and that good projects are not red tagged. They just need proper education. Educating designers and owners about quality masonry is what I believe to be one of the most rational solutions. However, an educated customer is always preferred above all else. If they understand quality, then they can ensure for themselves a quality project. Obviously, educating mason contractors and the masons themselves about quality masonry construction is preferable, but one that will take a great deal of time and industry resources to implement. Education is one answer that is already underway.
GD: Better training of our workforce. We must resist the temptation to shortcut our quality training for the sake of getting a worker on the wall producing. One of the advantages of our system over other competitive systems is the unique design capabilities of masonry. We can build an architects dream. If we shortcut our training...
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MASONRY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 2000 25