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Hi there. The Chamberlin Man here.This Thanksgiving, take a moment to breathe in the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and count your blessings. Now, imagine me, The Chamberlin Man, tipping my hat and raising a glass in gratitude to you, our clients and colleagues, for trusting Chamberlin with the blessing of your business for yet another year. From all of us at Chamberlin, I’d like to offer a very sincere Thank You.We feel like it’s a great time of year to take stock of all the good in our lives at home and at work. One of the things we’re most grateful for at Chamberlin is the opportunity to give back to the communities where we live and work. In fact, Chamberlin employees collectively volunteered nearly 400 hours for a good share of nonprofit organizations in 2016. since 2007, Chamberlin is excited that WorkFaith's job readiness program is celebrating its 200th graduating classChamberlin also raised funds for Seven Loaves Community, which will result in over 200,000 meals served to those in need.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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This is another in a series of games we see on construction projects. Have any of you seen this one?Most of us have heard that term applied to plumbing systems or negative feedback on our projects. Being at the end of the line usually means that you catch everything that falls apart above you in the job. This is especially relevant for this game on construction projects and schedules.This game usually begins when the architects have incomplete construction drawings or the contractor can’t build something that the architects have detailed, and it has to be redrawn. It can also be caused when the owner’s rep, engineers, or GC doesn’t approve shop drawings for an order, delivery and install on time.
November 21, 2016
At Construction Citizen, we’re always interested in exactly how various projects are completed through the hard work of skilled craft professionals. One cool way to observe that is through time lapse videos like the one that was just sent to us from the folks at Work Zone Cam.
November 18, 2016
This is another in the continuing series spotlighting the games that general contractors and subs play. This one is called, “Sub Sub,” and it is found in a broad range of project types from residential to commercial and institutional. It happens in both the private and public sector. In other words, it is a widespread practice by subs who want to maximize their profit, minimize their risk and overhead, and who do not much care for the well-being of the workers on the job.What is it? The Dictionary of Construction defines it as: “One under contract to a subcontractor for completion of a portion of the work for which the subcontractor is responsible.” Sounds reasonable enough, but like the other games we will talk about, this one is regularly gamed in a variety of ways.For example, take a hard bid or low bid job where a company with little or no field labor force wins a bid and then hires another sub contractor to do the work under the original contract and then that sub contractor hires 1099s or independent contractors from a “labor broker” to do the work that the original sub is responsible for.
November 17, 2016
The memorial service for Paul Gervais Bell, who died on October 31, 2016, held at St. Martins Episcopal Church, was perfect – brief, traditional, and reverent. It reflected his respect for ritual and protocol. The magnificent sanctuary structure added dignity and relevance. It reflects the very best of construction craftwork and construction company leadership, two areas that were of major importance to him throughout his life.Those of us from the construction industry called him, “Paul;” those from his other walks of life “Gervais.” By whatever name, we all know he was as fine a person as we have ever known, so the church was predictably full. The Right Reverend Pittman McGehee’s eloquent homily, replete with poetry, movie lines and reflecting his Jungian mastery, portrayed Paul as a “fully individuated individual,” a man who achieved “all that he was born to be through baptism,” and, “as one of the Easter People, Paul would move to an afterlife having been a Good Man and Good Leader here.”
November 16, 2016
Voters pass numerous construction ballot and bond measures; job openings riseEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.Voters approved several long-term measures to increase local sales taxes for public construction and operations on Tuesday. Los Angeles and San Diego voters each approved measures to raise the sales tax rate ½-cent in 2017 to generate $120 billion and $18 billion, respectively, over 40 years. In Los Angeles, construction would begin on $2.5 billion each in 2018 and 2019 on projects including local street improvements. Spending in San Diego would include transit and road projects. Atlanta-area voters approved varying amounts of sales tax increases for expanding and improving mass transit and other transportation.
November 15, 2016
During construction of the Partnership Tower, the Greater Houston Partnership demonstrated their commitment to developing a qualified and skilled workforce by following the principles of C3.
November 14, 2016
Economic and political uncertainty call into question the durability of this week’s Wall Street rally, but the election of Donald J Trump as the next President of the United States has not inflicted the kind of damage to markets that many analysts expected.That is in large part thanks to Trump’s tone on election night.In the early morning hours of Wednesday after Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton called the Republican candidate to concede, Trump gave a victory speech in which he thanked his former political opponent for her service and even said the nation owes her a debt of gratitude.“I mean that very sincerely. Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get together,” Trump said. “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”“I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me,” Mr. Trump said. “For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.”
November 11, 2016
Recently at the annual Kiley Advisors Update Conference for construction industry owners in Houston, keynote speaker Christopher Daum, the President and CEO of FMI Corporation, discussed the ownership succession issues facing those current owners of construction companies, especially private family-owned sub contractors, as they come to the end of their careers and begin to wonder what will happen to their companies after they are gone. Though no one in the room would admit to it, many are at the end of the road looking for succession options at a time when we are all living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world made even more so by the cyclical nature of the construction industry and the demographics of the workforce that contains their future partners or owners.Daum explored and examined a number of possibilities for ownership succession in detail, but he made one point that hit several of the owners in the audience right between the eyes.
November 10, 2016
Hi there. The Chamberlin Man here.Won’t you excuse me just a moment while I toot the horn of our company? To be a braggadocio isn’t my nature or my intent. However, I am so sincerely honored, I am compelled to share some special Chamberlin news with you.Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing has once again received the highest honor available from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP). STEP Diamond status is achieved by a select few in our field and the fine gentlemen and ladies at Chamberlin have achieved it two years in a row. What are the keys to success, you ask? ABC says a world-class safety program must include a commitment from leadership, an empowering top-to-bottom safety culture and systems and processes that focus on prevention. We’ve got it all at Chamberlin!
November 09, 2016
