CISCA Monday Newsletter
 
Industry News
The fundamentals of the commercial construction industry are strong and industry leaders are largely optimistic about the future of the sector, according to the latest USG Corporation + U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index (CCI). Contractors report a healthy pipeline of new business and more than 50% expect to hire more people in the next six months.
 
Best practices are aspirational, but don’t necessarily exist for any single industry or, for that matter, any single company. They vary based on a number of factors (e.g., by the size, scope and contract type of the project), and “best” practices may even vary during the course of preparing for a project (i.e., as design and engineering progress ).
 

CISCA has changed the email address and the display name used for marketing emails that come from the association. Please whitelist CISCA Member News (display name) and members@cisca-news.org (email address) to continue receiving our emails.

Emails from staff sent to one person or a small group of people will continue to be sent from @cisca.org. This should greatly help reduce spoofing and being blocked by some systems as spam.

 
9Wood
Home builders continue to retain confidence in the single-family housing market even as concerns about building costs increase. According to the August National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), confidence in the market for single-family homes rose one point for the month to 66, maintaining the steady 64- to 66-point level seen over the past four months.
 
Budget structures vary by the type of construction a contractor performs. For example, subcontractors typically have a significant amount of their costs allocated to direct labor and materials while general contractors’ budgets are likely to have more subcontracted work on their books. However, despite the differences in where the budget is weighted, every contractor, no matter its specialty, is vulnerable to cost overruns.
 
Even with a lot of focus recently on diversity in the workplace, construction is still a male-dominated industry. According to recent surveys, women make up less than 10% of the construction workforce. There is a higher percentage of women serving in Congress (currently 23.7%) and in the active duty military (14%). Women do, in fact, make up 47% of the total civilian workforce. So, as the construction industry looks for ways to hire and develop skilled labor, diversity has become more important than ever.
 
Safety is only one aspect training needs to cover. When you think about it, training involves so many aspects including operator skills, business processes, customer interaction, jobsite skills, and the list goes on. When you sit down and think about it, the idea of training your employees can seem overwhelming. Even so, training needs to happen.
 
Few other industries go through seasonal rises and falls on the same level as the construction sector. It isn't safe for contractors to send their employees out in rain, snow, hail or other unruly weather. This isn't as much of an issue in regions with temperate climates year-round, like southern California, Texas and Florida. In areas with harsh weather in the winter and early spring, construction businesses can only get most of the work done in the span of a few months.
 
By its nature, technology “aggressively seeks out inconveniences,” says Bill Wagner of Penta Technologies. And where there is a solution to an inconvenience or inefficiency that results in better productivity and profitability, there are plenty of people with money to throw at it for the inevitable payoffs it will bring, he says.
 
Member News
With a little less than a month to go, now is the time to register for the CISCA Fall Conference if you haven't already! Set for Sept. 18-20, 2019, the conference will feature speaker Brent O'Bannon, Gallup-certified Strengths Coach, as well as a Product Showcase and our Annual Business Meeting.
 
As a founding partner of Offsite Integrated Structures Inc., Brent Horton brings 25 years of executive leadership, business ownership, and consulting experience to the Offsite Integrated Structures Team. On Thursday, Sept. 19 at CISCA's upcoming Fall Conference in Nashville, Horton will speak on "Prefabrication and Modular Construction: Trends, Outlook and Impact on CISCA Members."
 
When long-term care is needed, there are only a few options available to pay for those types of expenses. Genworth Life Insurance Company and CISCA are working together to provide members with access to long term care insurance protection.
 
Three common construction contract provisions — hold harmless, indemnification, and duty to defend — are often found together in project contracts. Most contractors find them hard to understand; they assume the terms are interchangeable and have the same meaning, and therefore do little to push back thinking that’s just the way it is. In reality, however, these provisions are not the same, and each one has different and serious implications.
 
Remember when "brick and mortar" were tools of the trade instead of a way to refer to a building? As the internet takes over increasing areas of daily life, it’s getting harder than ever for contractors to compete in such a broad landscape. For instance, someone who’s never held a hammer can now create a profile on any free or paid online platform, cut their price and book jobs within the hour.
 
Producing an adequate supply of housing that is affordable to low-, middle- and high-income renters is one of the most significant housing challenges currently facing the country. The number of rental households in the United States is rising - up from 35.7 million in 2000 to 43.8 million in 2016, per a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau housing data - and an increasing number of renters, 46% to be exact, already struggle to afford rent. 
 
 

 

Advertise

We would appreciate your comments or suggestions.
Your email will be kept private and confidential.