Doug Herbert President of Herbert Construction Co. Chairman, CFA Board of Directors

“Wait, say that again,” I asked.

My contractor friend explained again what he was doing in his business that was different from what we are doing in ours.

I quickly pulled out my phone and punched some numbers into the calculator.

I wanted to see how much we could reduce our costs by doing it his way. I pushed the “equals” button and couldn’t believe what it said…

$100,698.49

One hundred thousand dollars?! For a better safety initiative at our company?!

Holy cow. This is huge.

I stood there in shock for a moment. I was with a group of CFA members touring my friend’s Maryland facility during the CFA Spring Executive Retreat this past April.

We had all come from different parts of the country to visit Jim Bartley’s company, Bartley Corp., in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, we toured the facilities of Modern Foundations, led by Bruce, Jason, and Michael Neale.

During the two-day event, we also held our quarterly Board Meeting, took an incredible tour of the U.S. Naval Academy, and ate great food.

But the main reason for all of us to attend was to learn about fellow CFA members’ businesses to help our own.

And here I was, halfway through the first company tour and I had already found a way to save $100,000 per year at our company. It was awesome!

Ideas to Implement

At Herbert Construction, we’ve been learning from CFA members like this for over 30 years. Constant improvement is a big thing at our company. We will often travel to fellow members’ offices to tour and dissect their company.

I’ll admit, we don’t often find a $100k idea. But we always walk away with something that can improve our company. And, hopefully, leave them with something that’ll improve theirs.

A Small Bracket for a Big Project

At the Fall Executive Retreat in Oklahoma City last year, CFA members toured some job sites of contractor member Mike Hancock of Basement Contractors. At one job site, Mike showed me a special bracket he made for forming tall walls.

A tour of the U.S. Naval Academy was the surprise networking event.

With Mike’s permission, I snapped a bunch of photos and took the dimensions of the bracket for our use. In the next two weeks, we’ll use a variation of Mike’s bracket on a $1million+ foundation with 32’-0” tall walls. Thanks to Mike’s bracket, we won’t tie up as many forms while the project is underway. And, we’ll finish the project faster. Cha-ching!

Four Yearly Events

The CFA hosts four main events each year. The largest event is the Convention. Held in the Summer at a different location each year, this is the place to be for residential concrete contractors. It is filled with terrific speakers, valuable vendors, and fun activities. This year’s event will be held in Puerto Rico and it’s going to be outstanding. (FYI: If you haven’t already reserved your room at the resort, then do it now because it’s going to sell out early.)

During the World of Concrete Convention in Las Vagas, the CFA hosts its Winter Social. If you’ve attended that event recently, you know how exciting it is.

Then, in the Spring and Fall, the CFA invites members to its Executive Retreat. Each event takes place near a member’s facility. This can be an associate member who can host a plant tour. Or, it can be a contractor member who will open up their business and share what they are doing for the benefit of the attendees.

Founding member of the CFA and of Bartley Corp, Buck Bartley regales the history of the Association.

A record attendance for CFA Executive Retreats as the group wrapped up the US Naval Academy tour

As you can tell from my experiences, these Executive Retreats are incredibly valuable.

I’d encourage you to get involved in any or all these four CFA yearly events. Meet new members. Ask dumb questions. Keep your mind open to alternative ways of doing things. And share what you know.

You’ll be amazed at what you can get out of it.

And just maybe, you’ll get a $100,000 idea.

Michael Neale of Modern Foundations and MFI Concrete holds court during a tour of facilities to explain their quality control requirements for precast operations