September brings a familiar, energetic rhythm back to our industry. Across the country, shop doors are rolling up, fresh pallets of block are being delivered to high school courtyards, and a new cohort of students is picking up a trowel for the very first

Do you struggle to get key employees to accept more responsibility? It is frustrating when your team looks to you for guidance on every decision. And when you empower them to decide, mistakes can occur. How do you foster greater accountability without com

The word “flaw” carries more weight than most people realize. Call a crack in a wall a flaw and everyone immediately starts looking at the wall differently. They stop seeing the rest of the structure. They stop noticing what is straight, strong, and worki

A few years back, I was walking a job site when I overheard a guy blowing off steam. He went off about the company, the schedule, the customer, his marriage; there wasn’t much he left out. The guy working next to him was a stanch company man who didn’t sa

Masonry restoration is a big business. Masonry restoration can also be more fun to perform than constructing from the ground up; the key here is “can also be.” When you have a true restoration or conservation project, and you have to repair existing, in-p

There’s an old adage in Washington, D.C.: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” After moving to Washington, D.C., in January of 2001 for what I thought would be a fun two years working for a Member of Congress while I figured out what I really want

High above Granada, Spain, the Alhambra offers masonry professionals something more than an architectural landmark. It is a working lesson in how relatively simple building materials, placed by skilled craftsmen and maintained over generations, can create

There is a story around Huntley Brothers that some of our guys simply call “The Wall.” I’ve told it enough times over the years that when I start telling it to one of our younger guys, I can see a few of the older ones rolling their eyes. They’ve heard i

Masonry is one of the oldest trades in the construction industry, yet it continues to evolve. While the principles of laying brick and stone have remained largely unchanged for centuries, the equipment supporting masons has undergone a dramatic transforma

As building envelopes become tighter and more performance-driven, clarity around moisture management in masonry applications is more important than ever. In masonry wall assemblies, where water penetration is expected and managed rather than eliminated, t

Masonry, as most of us in the trade know and appreciate, remains one of the most durable and time-tested structural systems in the built environment. Structures built throughout Europe and other parts of the world demonstrate that a masonry building is mo

Concrete masonry units (CMUs) have long been a mainstay of construction. They are well known as a “tried and true” material with a long history of high-strength structural performance, affordability, ease of assembly, and a long lifecycle. CMU constructio

The real cost of equipment ownership isn't what you pay on day one. It's what happens over the years that follow. The purchase price of a new mortar mixer, grout pump, material handling system, or masonry saw is only part of the investment. What happens

Some of the most expensive masonry installation problems begin long before crews arrive onsite. By the time a project reaches the field, many coordination decisions have already been made. Dimensional conflicts, congested reinforcement, specialty materia

In masonry construction, change orders are not occasional events; they are guaranteed. Drawings do not always match field conditions, specifications can conflict, and real-world construction has a way of exposing gaps in design. At DRP Masonry, we operat

In construction, any project starts with drawings. Plans. Schedules. Specifications. Whether we're talking about new construction, additions, or restoration, there is a plan, there is design intent, and a way every piece of a project needs to fit together