The lunch whistle has sounded at ABC's 2015 National Craft Championship, signaling to craft professionals that it is time safely secure their workstations and proceed to lunch.This morning, a similar whistle sounded, signaling the beginning of the skills portion of the craft competition. Within...
This Week's Second Look
Reshaping the Industry
Three actions are necessary to build a thriving, profitable and durable construction industry:
- Acceptance. Recognize current situations and challenges and accept they are real.
- Leadership. Embrace core values and principles as innovators and leaders.
- Solutions. Collaborate among owners, contractors and workforce for solutions.
State funding for college campus construction projects has been described by many around Texas as “long overdue.” Leaders in the Texas legislature have agreed on the fundamentals in recent years but have been unable to come to a consensus on the details of a solution.This year, various...
Known for his unusually creative designs that have been built at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Frank Gehry’s latest design, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, is about to open at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Some critics have...
Earlier this month I had a chance to speak with Miguel Lopez, Roofing and Sheet Metal Superintendent at Chamberlin Roofing and Waterproofing. I wanted to learn about his craft and how he learned about the trade.Before he came to Chamberlin, Miguel worked installing track for a railroad...
One major roadblock to creating a sustainable workforce in the Texas construction industry is rampant wage theft by unethical businesses in our state. Many of them are the very same companies that routinely misclassify their workers. As Construction Citizen has reported over the...
I love the construction industry and I speak from experience when telling you it has to be saved from itself. Since 1938, our family business has helped build the monuments of this city and this state. More importantly, our companies – like many others over the past 75 years – have helped tens of...
Editor’s note: This is the first in Kollaer’s four-part series about the Wilshire Grand Center.The main stream media isn’t well known for covering construction stories, especially in depth, but Thomas Curwen and his colleagues at the LA Times did an outstanding report on the construction of...
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama announced that he was going to propose a plan to Congress which would make “the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it.” He stated the importance of education not just for kids, but also to offer the...
Educators will tell you there was a time, not all that long ago, when folks in higher education had very little interest in working collaboratively to address the workforce needs of businesses in their communities. Those days are over. The needs are so great that there is now a recognition that...
