Chairman's Message: Recent Updates

Words: Paul OdomFrom MCAA President, Jeff Buczkiewicz: This month I have the honor of guest writing for our [caption id="attachment_20094" align="alignright" width="164"] Travis and Paul Odom[/caption] Chairman Paul Odom. I would like to extend my condolences to the entire Odom family on the loss of Travis Odom, Paul’s father. Paul will be back with his column next month.    It’s September, which can only mean one thing: the MCAA mid-year meeting is coming up later this month in Austin, TX. We will kick it off with our golf outing on Monday morning, followed by the MCAA Committee Chair meeting, which everyone is invited to attend.  There, we will have Robert Garbini, President of the National Ready-Mix Concrete Association who will be discussing the “Build with Strength” program NRMCA developed. It is a fantastic marketing program which promotes and pushed the need for our building codes to tighten up and encourage responsible construction. Monday night, we will have a great evening and barbeque in downtown Austin and finish it off with a fun show at the infamous Ester’s Follies.  Tuesday, we will have our Speed Dating event which will expose contractors to the latest and greatest in the industry and offer a unique way to gather that information.  Wednesday, we will have our board meeting and contractor roundtables where we share ideas, methods, practices, with one another and learn directly from other contractors from all over the country.  We will finish that evening with our closing dinner and dessert reception which gives us more time to share with each other. I have to share with everyone a very exciting class we are rolling out this year at the World of Concrete. You will actually read some pieces from XYZ University, who is developing the program, in this issue. The January program will be about the modern job-site and how leadership can more effectively communicate across generations to help appeal to and increase the productivity of future employees.  It is designed specifically for any of your supervisory staff, particularly in the field. I would also like to plug to our on-boarding videos, which should be released at the end of this month. These new videos will be safety-related videos for new hires.  They will be free for MCAA members, and available in both English and Spanish. The video topics will be PPE, HAZCOM and Silica.  Compliance attorneys who specialize in OSHA rules and regulations developed the content for us.  The MCAA plans to add additional videos every year in order to build a library of safety tools for our members.  A shoutout to Tom Clark who will be hosting the English version of the videos. Since early April, we have also been working on developing an Association Heath Care Plan. These plans would allow our members of the MCAA to group our healthcare insurance together as a large company and get rates based on a large company.  It will give more access to hospitals and doctors, and for anyone with less than 50 employees in a plan this would offer significant savings over their current plan. This MCAA Association Health Care Plan would remove those companies from ACA exchanges, which add a lot of costs to administer. We anticipate more details later this month, and then hopefully rolling out the start of these plans on January 1, 2019. I hope to see you in Austin later this month, it will be a great event for our industry.  
About: Chairman’s Message
La Maison Franchère: How Masonry Turns Functional Buildings Into Timeless Beauty

La Maison Franchère, or the Franchers’ House, stands as a notable relic of stone architecture in Saint-Mathies, a small Quebec town on the edge of the Richelieu River. Unlike the neighboring homes, this towering, two-and-a-half-story mansion immediately c

By: Vera Autushka
Read More
MASONRY STRONG Podcast Episode 5 Recap: Zach Everett

Welcome back to another insightful episode of the Masonry Strong podcast! Today, we have a very special guest, Zach Everett, sharing his journey and experiences in the world of safety within the masonry industry. From humble beginnings to becoming a vital

By: Justin Stengel
About: Featured
Read More
What Is Crisis Management?

Crisis management is a process that employers use to respond to, and recover from, unplanned events. The best time to develop a crisis management plan is before a crisis occurs. A crisis management plan can help companies maintain business continuity, pro

By: Michael Rosser
About: Featured
Read More
Cost Management and Efficiency in Masonry Projects

With masonry being a piece count trade, the more units that are laid in the field that surpass the quantity figured in the estimate, the more profit that is made. Masonry crews in the field need a good foreman that is capable of organizing the crew, posit

By: Domenic Livoli
About: Featured
Read More