A few years ago we began conducting an annual goals workshop at my company. In many ways this workshop is really about communication. Our office has approximately 80 folks. Having a meeting with 80 people can be a bit challenging. But we persevere because we have our own goal: learning how to ask.“What do you think we should focus on in 2012? What are the things that are keeping you from doing your job? What can we do to help you achieve your goals?”The goal setting meeting affords us an opportunity to listen and learn. This is not as easy as it sounds. Our leadership team is comprised of folks who are used to getting things done. No time to talk about why we “have always done it this way”. But our goal setting meetings have changed that.I should clarify here that this process did not come quickly. We still have a few folks that are uncomfortable being asked, and a few cynics who are hard to convince. But again, we persevere because we know that
Reshaping the Construction Industry
Succession planning for family-owned construction firms is fast becoming the elephant in the room as owners age and the chances of successfully addressing the issue diminish with each generation.According to the business law firm Jordan Ramis PC, 95% of all construction companies are family owned or closely held. Many of those owners are 60 and above and that is where the issue lives. Many owners have no idea how to address the issue. Their families are dysfunctional, their kids don’t want to be involved in the business, and many of them have done little or nothing to create a succession plan for the possible leaders in their firms who might take over and continue the company into the future. The chances for success are against them.
April 05, 2012
Join SER's 47th Anniversary Gala in Houston on April 20, 2012.A few months ago the Construction Citizen team toured the offices and training facilities of SER – Jobs for Progress and wrote about this Houston organization which helps people from low-income neighborhoods turn their lives around by finding careers in a variety of fields including construction. In the video below, Executive Director Nory Angel walks through the facility explaining room by room many of the services SER offers.She talks about the variety of clients who come to SER and the steps a client takes when coming to SER for help getting a job. These include evaluation, working with a “career coach”, and “business etiquette training”, which goes beyond job-readiness skills such as resume writing and includes tips for building rapport with interviewers. Client/students also take different training courses, depending on their interest. These courses include classroom training as well as “hands on” training. Some of the products which have been produced such as traditional rustic wooden ice chests and Adirondack chairs may be available for purchase online next year.
April 04, 2012
An article by Matt Warman in the United Kingdom’s newspaper The Daily Telegraph last month reported that Intel, the giant chip maker, has announced a $100 million fund to support the development of the chips and technology necessary to make it a reality.“Next Gen” kids are already more tech savvy than most of us and even one year olds, according to the blog post are expecting every device including their parent’s cars and trucks to be “iPad ready.” On the online forum Big Think, Orion Jones quotes Intel representative Staci Palmer:“In the US, the average driver spends the equivalent of two months of every year in car; it’s impractical for us to give up connectivity inside of the vehicle. The car is the mobile device of the future.”Just last weekend I caught a glimpse of the future when a 2½ year old was able to turn on the Mac, two TV sets, and the dvds at his parent’s house without any help from the adults around.
April 02, 2012
Workers who helped build the new international terminal at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta were finally paid thousands of dollars which they were owed in overtime pay. In the television report, investigative reporter Richard Belcher of Channel 2 News in Atlanta, Georgia explained that the workers were misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees, and were given a “ten ninety nine” form instead of a W-2 by their employer, Colt’s Drywall Inc.The injustice came to light when some of the employees informed Jimmy Gibbs, a troubleshooter for the carpenters’ union, that they were not being paid as employees. Gibbs alerted the US Department of Labor who then discovered that not only were the workers not having taxes withheld from their pay, but they were also working more
March 29, 2012
The winners of the 2012 Global Skyscraper Competition held annually by eVolo Magazine have been announced and they are quite amazing in both form and content. The contest was started in 2006 and seeks to recognize young design talent from around the globe for their designs and the concepts that they propose.We have seen a tremendous shift in proposals as the creative clients, engineering, and super materials have made previous proposals possible to build. These designs will stretch not only your imagination , but they will really stretch the contractors and subs who might build them in the future.
March 28, 2012
The issues of Wage Theft and payroll fraud were highlighted in Houston, Texas last week when two leaders on the issues spoke before the Houston City Council. This was part of the effort to garner support against those contractors and business owners who continue to cheat their workforce by not paying them overtime, benefits or by misclassifying them as Independent Contractors and not paying unemployment insurance, federal income taxes or medical benefits.Kim Bobo, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice and author of the book Wage Theft in America, and Stan Marek, CEO of the Marek Family of Companies based in Houston, aimed a shining a bright light on those abuses with their testimonies, and made the Council members aware of how Wage Theft can occur on their construction projects even though they might not be aware of it.Cindy Gutowski, a worker in the floral industry, testified about her losses when she was defrauded of overtime pay. Kim Bobo testified about how widespread the issue is across the United States in a number of businesses, and Stan Marek spoke of the impact of the issue on the construction industry in Houston and around Texas. They each spoke of losses of wages, competitiveness and taxes and how those actions were damaging to workers, their families and our communities.
March 27, 2012
Armstrong World Industries Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of floors, ceilings and cabinets, has a unique and interesting vehicle that they use to educate customers about their products. Recently the Armstrong Ceiling and Wall Systems Mobile Training Solutions Center stopped at Kirksey Architecture for a day of demonstrations and education.The Armstrong Ceiling and Wall Systems Mobile Training Solutions Center is a customized trailer for a semi-trailer truck which has been converted into a travelling product showroom and classroom. Armstrong representatives bring the trailer to the office parking lots of construction companies and offer training and demonstrations to employees of those companies.
March 22, 2012
Kerrick Whisenant, the president of the American Subcontractors Association, in his February newsletter to the membership, told of a meeting recently held in his offices with a group of ASA leaders who were asked to take a look into the future of the industry. This is his account of that meeting and the findings.“The ASA Rap Council – ASA ‘s ‘think tank’ that develops innovative ideas for consideration by the association – took up the difficult but fascinating challenge of ‘peering into the future’ last month while meeting at my company’s offices in Alabama. Here is what members of the council foresee for the next 10 years:Differences between high-end and low-end specialty trade contractors increase, as high-end is quality/skill-driven and low-end is price-driven.
March 21, 2012
This month, the Engineering News Record Technology column (subscription required) featured a Q & A with Shawn Pressley VP of IT at Hill International, an engineering firm headquartered in New Jersey.Pressley, a 13 year veteran civil engineer makes the case that the next technology to be used on the jobsite will be the tablet in what ever form it takes, iPad, iPhone, tablet pc or other iteration. He makes a cogent case that one of the major issues to overcome as these tools enter the construction process is the change that its use will require.The demographics on the site where most Project Managers and supervisors are in their 50s and 60s will be a factor. The older generation is reluctant to make the change while the younger workers use the technology everyday.
March 19, 2012