Masonry Magazine January 2001 Page. 20
CONTRACTOR
# TO CONTRACTOR
A Member's Perspective
Contractor to Contractor is submitted to bring contractors closer together. By sharing thoughts and ideas, mason contractors will find that we all have common bonds and can benefit by sharing with each other. Contractors featured in this column are all members of the MCAA and vary in size, type of masonry performed, and operations style. The purpose of the column is to bring out the common problems, concerns, and positive experiences in the industry. If you would like more information about having your company featured, please contact Jeff Buczkiewicz at 1-800-536-2225.
# What is your biggest challenge that you face as a mason contractor?
The biggest challenge we face as a masonry contractor is recruiting mason tenders. With the unemployment rate below 4% and a younger generation that has fewer people interested in pursuing a career in the construction industry, it has become difficult to employ people that are interested in tending masons.
Over the past several years we have increased wages significantly, added to the benefits we offer such as, Health Insurance, 401(k), Paid Holidays, and Vacation time to help in our efforts to attract new recruits and retain existing employees.
Between those employees that decide they are not interested in a career in the construction industry and those that we promote to our apprenticeship program, we find ourselves constantly struggling to maintain trained tender crews.
We maintain 4 to 6 apprentices throughout the company, which provides us with the bricklayers we need. We could increase the number of apprentices and expand our operation if we could employ the tenders required to support the expansion.
This past May we added a Human Resource position to help improve our recruiting and retention of employees. This position also provides employees with a person they can talk to in confidence about any problems they have. Although it is too early to know how well this position is working, we have seen favorable results that provide us with a great deal of optimism for the future.
# If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
If there were one thing I would change about our industry it would be the quality of bid documents we receive. As a result of the strong economy and the increased number of projects being built over the past few years, we have experienced a significant decline in the completeness of the bid and construction documents we receive.
The inability of the designer to have adequate time to provide a complete set of documents prior to going to bid adds considerable risk and cost to the projects. It becomes an additional burden to the contractor who has to spend a great deal of time searching out all of the designers omissions, notify the designer of those omissions and wait for him to provide the corrections. In many cases the problem becomes much more significant as the information required to complete the drawings is not forwarded in a timely fashion which creates weeks or often times months of delays in the project.
# What do you like most about being a contractor in the masonry industry?
What I like most about being in the masonry industry is that we construct brick buildings.
Brick is one of the oldest manufactured building materials known to man and even today it represents a quality project.
Over thousands of years, brick has withstood the test of time. Its durability along with its flexibility for design produces a project of lasting quality, and with the simplest of designs stands out as an aesthetically pleasing project.
# What project are you most proud of?
Picking a project that we are most proud of is a very difficult task. Over the past 32 years there have been many projects that we are very proud of. The new Academic Building at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine is one of those projects. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott of Boston, Massachusetts designed this project. The general contractor was Pizzagali Construction Company of South Burlington, Vermont. The exterior wall system was constructed of 8" block backup with brick veneer including Limestone banding, sills, and lintels. The major pieces of equipment used on this project were a 1044 Lull, Mayco grout pump, and Hydro scaffolding.
# The most innovative thing about my company is?
The most innovative thing about our company is our employees. Over the past 32 years we have built our company on the philosophy of teamwork. Our office staff, project managers/ estimators are provided with well equipped office facilities and computer systems to manage our business efficiently. Our crews in the field are provided with up to date and well maintained equipment to fit the needs of the projects they are doing.
Although we provide our people with the best equipment available for the task at hand, the many years of success we have enjoyed can be attributed to the innova-