Masonry Magazine March 2006 Page. 20
Contractor
The people in our industry—architects, engineers, specialty contractors—we get it. We understand. To us, there is no misconception. It's mainstream America that owns companies, which decide whether masonry is going to be a component of their new facility. Those are the people it would help to influence over time.
Likewise, and probably more importantly, we really need to change the misconception for the young men and women who are getting ready to enter the workplace and trying to make some career decisions. They can have this perception that they either fit or don't fit into a construction person's mold, or they think it's an unsophisticated industry, we've got to change that. The MCAA should target that demographic and we'll all benefit from it.
Masonry: What are your three biggest concerns in keeping your company successful?
Whistler: We're a union contractor. We've made a choice to complete our masonry work using the union workforce, so with that in mind, I would say remaining competitive as a union masonry contractor in a blended marketplace.
The second thing is the ability to continue to recruit young, skilled craftsmen in the industry in order to replace an aging workforce... Also, the ability to recruit competent, well qualified and legal Hispanics in our workforce. We are all about finding that legal immigrant who has come to this country trying to do better for himself or herself and their families, and who are out in the marketplace working for less than a living wage. We are all about finding those people and getting them paid the wages and benefit packages that they have the potential to earn. And also to be able to integrate them into a mostly non-Hispanic workforce and do that seamlessly; there are a lot of challenges to that. ... We are actively working on it everyday. We know in our hearts that there are a lot of people working in this country who are legal, well skilled and can do the work to help us on a daily basis.
Masonry: What do you feel is the industry's biggest challenge in the near future?
Whistler: I touched a little bit on the integration of Hispanics in the workforce, but another concern is the protection that brick manufacturers provide to their local or area dealer reps. We work in a free market society, but what we find is that there is one company, and one company only, who can sell us the brick on one particular job.
When people know they don't have any competition, price, service and the ability to agree to what we feel are reasonable terms and conditions for delivery and payment can be negatively influenced. You can lose any negotiating power that you have on behalf of your company and your client if there's not a good market competition in each component of the project..... If we can change that, we can do our project and our client a service.
Masonry: Where do you think the masonry industry is going to be 10 years from now?
Whistler: I think we'll continue to see more and more technical innovation to offset the labor demands. We're going to continue to struggle to get good, qualified craftspeople in our industry. We'll also see more and more companies working to reduce that pressure through technical innovation, so we're going to see a lot of changes in the tools and equipment we use to do our work.
Masonry: What do you think will be the masonry industry's biggest competitor in 10 years?
Whistler: I'd say, without a doubt, it's precast wall construction. The precast industry has become very innovative and has done a much better job with their product in terms of offering varied looks and textures and materials they incorporate into their wall panels. I truly think that the best way to compete is to continue to offer the flexibility that our product offers.
Many times, you'll talk to clients about their decisions to go with a precast or composite construction. When it gets down to it, if it's a cookie-cutter design, the precast wall panel is probably going to win. If it's something that has a lot of variation to ita lot of ins and outs and not a lot of repetition - I believe masonry is always going to win, not only on a first-cost basis, but also on an overall cost basis.
Masonry: What do you feel are the most critical issues you'll face with future government regulations?
Whistler: One that we see in our local market is removal of prevailing wage requirements on state work. Feder