Masonry Magazine December 2001 Page. 10
CONTRACTOR
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 do you feel is the biggest misconception about the masonry industry? That it is a trade in which if someone has a crew of workers and some equipment that they are qualified to perform on a project. Although there has been some positive progress in this area, especially in the upper end of the market, there is still too much emphasis placed on pricing and not enough on performance, proven track record, quality control, and ability to manage the entire package. There is a lot of emphasis on many of our projects today to provide design assistance, be involved with engineered solutions and work through three to six months of scope and design revisions to meet an owners budget requirements.
What would you do to change that misconception? Most owners and architects do not want poor workmanship on their projects at any cost savings. Knowledgeable owners and architects are aware that what appears to be a price advantage on the front end of a project often turns into a quagmire of poorly installed details, leaking walls, terminated sub-contractors, etc. I do not believe the answer lies in government regulations or licensing but rather in better and consistent education from all sectors of our industry to utilize only pre-qualified subcontractors on their projects. This will require the owner to not accept a general contractor substitution which is invariably done for short-term price advantage, not in the interest of the project's long-term performance.
What are the three biggest concerns that affect your firm's short term success? The main factor which impacts on our ability to be successful is a strong and vibrant economy. If we are fortunate enough to have that then the other factors which affect our success are generally controlled by us: 1) ensuring that our project superintendents exhibit professionalism and consistency to the projects we construct; 2) maintaining a quality workforce of craftsmen and masonry laborers who take pride of ownership in the work they are installing to ensure a project which meets or exceeds the quality guidelines we are striving to achieve; 3) to maintain a safe and efficient work environment to provide long-term employment opportunities to our workforce. It is our belief that if we price our work competitively within the framework of achieving our goals, then we will maintain a reasonable level of success.
What is our industry's greatest challenge for the future? The usual answer to this question in the last five years has been the training of new bricklayers to replace an aging and experienced workforce. While I concur with the statement, I believe our challenge is greater than just training masons and superintendents as we have known them to be over the last 20 to 30 years. It is going to be the challenge of having our workforce and companies trained in both masonry and technology skills which will become an increasing challenge. We are already having to computerize at the jobsite level on larger projects and I believe the de-
PRESIDENT'S NAME: David Jollay
FIRM NAME: Jollay Masonry Contractors
LOCATION: Avondale Estates, Georgia
YEARS IN BUSINESS: Company founded in 1959
SALES VOLUME: $4-18 million
David Jollay, President