Masonry Magazine December 2000 Page. 28
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After all, we know that hiring a quality contractor can save the customer money in the long run. Unfortunately, that's a tough sales job to make to the customer.
JB: I think that the time may be right for customers to buy into certification as long as the certification has merit. Unfortunately, unless we develop a certification program that our customers believe in it won't work and we will only succeed in making reputable mason contractors add greater expenses to their bottom line by adhering to a certification program.
CO: No. The bottom line is what the customer is after. They will go with the lowest bid in most cases. Certification may be a part of specs, but will it be enforced?
EG: Low-bid still seems to rule. Certification does not seem to mean a lot. I feel that customers are preferring to use design/build solutions. I feel that this is a direction that we, as an industry, will need to strive toward in the very near future. The design/build process is not nearly as flawed as the low-bid process. Low bid has inherent problems.
LN: The only way certification will work is if the construction customer is educated on the reason why they need to use a certified masonry contractor. Customers need to be able to identify cons savings with certified contractors. If it mean ultimately getting their building quicker with fewer problems, they might accept slightly higher priced certified contractors.
MM: What about licensing, will that address quality?
JC: Licensing is like certification. It would take an exorbitant amount of time to implement. The unfortunate thing is that it's a state issue. You would have to go state by state to get licensing implemented, and you might have to fight organizations that may be opposed to mason contractors becoming licensed.
GD: Undoubtedly, licensing will go a long way towards addressing quality, especially in the residential segment. I don't think that I can identify a quality residential mason contractor, and I have been in this industry for twenty years! How can our customers select a quality residential mason contractor? Regulating the residential mason contractors will ease the guessing game of selecting a quality mason contractor. Unfortunately, licensing is a battle that we must fight state by state.
JB: We have State licensing through our Registrar of Contractors. Unfortunately, non-licensed contractors also operate in the state. That's where most of the quality issues are coming from.
EG: I think that licensing would be more acceptable to our customers as long as the state is regulating the license. Clearly, if anyone can get a license by filling out a form and paying a fee, it will not mean a lot. LN: A lobbyist and former legislator from our area told me that without a clear consensus from the industry itself, licensing would never pass in North Carolina. That is clearly not the case, and I believe his reasoning is sound, so I do not think licensing is presently a plausible alternative.
MM: Will our industry's customers eventually select the most qualified contractor even if their price is higher?
JC: I believe that the designers want quality and expect quality. I think that our educational efforts need to be directed to the end user. I believe that as an industry, we have been out-marketed by our competition, but if our focus