YOU NEED TO BE THINKING CERTIFICATION RIGHT NOW…

Imagine yourself on the phone tomorrow bidding for a foundation contract, but you tell the general contractor “I am a CFA Certified Contractor”. His response will be one of surprise and admiration.

Ten years from now his response will be “I only hire Certified CFA Contractors.”

Get in on the ground floor of a new industry program to certify foundation contractor firms in the residential cast-in-place industry. Your registration gives you access to a six-part series program that will benefit your company and market. The goal of certification is to unify the industry with a common measurement of competency for concrete foundations and the companies that install them.

Certification of companies or individuals is a topic you hear in all aspects of the construction market as builders and code enforcers attempt to establish competency and accountability in construction. The market is becoming increasingly complicated with small and large companies vying for the same business at the risk of the client. A system whereby builders and building officials can ensure customers that the types of businesses they employ are competent is a growing priority.

CFA’s Certification Program provides the assurance that companies are devoting resources necessary to remain current with the science and technology of their industry. It also provides assurances that companies are properly managed, insured, and that they provide a safe environment for their workers. The program is designed, administered and enforced by companies and individuals who are knowledgable about the industry they regulate.

The CFA decision is proactive and the result is a comprehensive, but contractor-friendly program that can be used by jurisdictions and businesses seeking certification of residential foundation contractors.

WHAT DOES IT ENTAIL? 

The program consists of:

• a pre-qualification exam for a company representative(s)
• continuing education
• and annual audit reviews of company operations.

A certification board, separate of the established CFA structure oversees the program.

The program contains:

• Basic Knowledge of Concrete and Foundations
• Minimum Insurance Requirements
• Continuing Education (Annual Requirement)
• Safety Program Requirements
• Financial Soundness of the Business Entity
• Related Certifications or Verifiable Training for Specialty Equipment
• Experience

Continuing Education:

Twelve hours of annual continuing education will be required of at least two individuals in the company.

HOW DO I APPLY? 

Check the CFA website at www.cfawalls.org for future certification events.

HOW DO I PREPARE? 

The information needed to study for the examination is available from the CFA. To get a ‘Certification Reference Package’, visit www.cfawalls.org or contact Jim Baty at jbaty@cfawalls.org.

The Road That Lies Ahead

2013 CFA Convention Theme

The Road That Lies Ahead

‘The Road That Lies Ahead’ is the theme of the CFA Annual Summer Convention this year. Hopefully you have already made your plans to attend because this year’s event promises to be the best line-up for education we have ever presented. To use Scott Smith’s words, “I don’t spend money to attend a summer meeting, I make money attending.” What he is referring to is the common message we hear from each of our attendees that you return home with enough essential information to change your business in a positive way.

While the Convention will present information to prepare you for what’s ahead you are probably wondering what really lies ahead. I’ll give you my impressions in the next few paragraphs. These are based on experience from the past 20 years as Executive Director of the CFA and from information I have read, learned, and listened to over the past year.

The first observations come from Ed Sullivan, the chief economist for the Portland Cement Association. Sullivan points to the huge backlog of residential construction that has developed during the past recession as one basis for optimism. This backlog needs to be filled and it is just waiting for a “trigger” to release the pent-up demand. He feels this will happen sometime in the second half of 2013. Sullivan predicts double-digit growth for the next two years and feels that we are positioned for continued growth for many years to come.

On the economic indicator side, the cost of housing has recently logged its largest increase in recent years. While we hate to see housing prices increase, it points to the fact that demand is greater and the inventory of repossessed or “underwater” properties has diminished to the point where new construction can begin to grow. This will impact your businesses.

Interest rates continue to be at near record lows. This won’t continue forever, in fact as the economy recovers the Fed’s – and as result the lenders, will increase mortgage rates. This will likely dampen a recovery somewhat but a mortgage at even 5% or 6% shouldn’t slow the growth much.

As always, there is another side to the picture. The biggest hindrance to growth is the lack of consumer confidence that recovery will continue. That causes people to proceed with caution. Some caution, of course, is warranted. It’s the unabashed, full speed ahead, nothing can go wrong attitude that got us in our current situation.

 

Those fears are based partly on lack of confidence in the government; an impression that is well founded regardless of what party is currently in power; and, the unmentionable possibility of another unforeseen event such as 911. The failure of government to bring Wall Street speculation under control (they are back at it, just with a different approach) is another possible glitch.

The need, however, is there and it is strong. Buyers can’t sit on the fence forever. All you can do is position yourself to take advantage of the growth when it occurs and you need to do it early in the recovery before all the cut-rate competition jumps back in the market. The return will probably be sporadic and it will impact different regions differently but it is coming. It is already here. Our discussions with members reflect cautious optimism. It is “measured” speed ahead.

Come to the CFA summer meeting and network with your peers. Find out what they are doing and why. See you there.

 

Ed Sauter, Executive Director, CFA 

esauter@cfawalls.org 

Why Concrete Beats Wood

by JAMES R. BATY II

As published by Concrete Contractor Magazine.
Created: June 26, 2013

The Concrete Foundations Association explains why concrete foundations outperform wood in the majority of residential applications.

The art, science and profession of residential concrete is centuries old, yet the farther we get from its origin the more complex the industry around us tries to make it. Understanding the basics, the strengths and the performance characteristics is the key to benefiting from and continuing to advance the industry. I will be taking a look at some of the common and bizarre questions that are brought to our attention at www.cfawalls.org in this new column.

Q: A few subdivisions around me have wood foundations and I am being challenged in my belief that concrete is better. Is there a reason why? – Realtor

A: It seems this question comes around once each decade. It varies in its regional location and the popularity of the opinion but nevertheless returns. Wood foundations are simply the wrong construction solution for any condition combining varying soil pressures, water content and non-homogeneous structural elements.

For the complete article, visit the article at www.forconstructionpros.com.

For more information on the codes affecting this issue or the research, contact Jim Baty, CFA Managing Director.

William L. “Bill” Esker (61) of Teutopolis Passes – J.B. Esker

William “Bill” L. Esker, 61 of Teutopolis, passed away on Monday, May 27^th surrounded by his family at Barnes Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri.

Funeral services will be held at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Teutopolis.  The visitation will be Thursday, May 30^th from 3-7 PM.   A parish wake service & rosary will follow at 7 PM.  Funeral mass and burial will be Friday, May 31^st at 10:30 AM.  Bill was born on July 17, 1951 in Flora, IL the son of J.B. & Dolores Esker.  He married Mary Lou Schumacher on June 30, 1973 at St. Michael’s Church, Sigel, IL.  Together they raised 6 children:  Jammie (Brian) Schaer of Elmhurst, IL; Jackie (Jay) Zerrusen of Norwalk, CT; Matt (Kristi) Esker of Teutopolis, IL; Josh Esker of Teutopolis, IL; Billi (Aaron) Jansen of Effingham, IL;  Ashlie (Brian) Shaffer of Annapolis, MD.  He was blessed with 13 grandchildren: Nolan, Caden, Gavin & Warren Schaer; Justine, Jaclyn & Jenna Zerrusen; Benjamin & Stella Esker; Louis, Noah, & Freddie Jansen; Violet Shaffer.

Bill was President  & CEO of J.B. Esker & Sons Concrete Construction of Teutopolis, IL.  Bill was known for his innovative ideas in the construction industry.  He served twice as President of the Concrete Foundation Association and was a member of the organization for 35 years.  Bill was also President of Mid-Illinois Concrete.

Added by CFA:  “The concrete foundations industry has lost a great innovator and friend,” states Ed Sauter, CFA Executive Director.

Bill was a member of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Teutopolis, IL.  He served on the Parish Council, the Cemetery Board, and the Parish Grounds Committee.  He was also a member of the Teutopolis Knights of Columbus.  Bill was a volunteer fireman for 37 years and assistant fire chief for 25 years.

In his free time, Bill enjoyed spending time on his “Ranch”, and refurbishing and riding golf carts.  His favorite golf cart riding companions were Mary Lou and his 13 grandchildren.

Bill’s brothers and sister are Larry (Sue) Esker, Joe (Angie) Esker, Kathy (Aaron) Wellbaum all of Teutopolis, Steve (Sandy) Esker and Greg (Rosina) Esker all of Dieterich.

He was preceded in death by his father J.B. “Barney” Esker.

Bill was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in 2004.  Memorial donations may be made in honor of Bill to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

AT A GLANCE: Six tornado rumors corrected

BY CARRIE COPPERNOLL, As posted to the Oklahoman.com

 

In the chaotic hours and days after the tornado Monday, rumors spread. Firsthand information became third-hand information, and facts were lost in translation. Misinformation was broadcast and printed. Here are six rumors you probably heard this week and the correct information.

CFA Now Offers Members a Hot Line

Have you ever wondered how other contractors attack a problem, find a solution or answer a question that has been puzzling you?  Are you interested in testing your company structure, logistical systems, insurance policies or other business culture issues against respected peers?

You’ve asked and we’ve listened.  Although there are two different online forums available through LinkedIn, the private CFA Members group and the public Concrete Foundations group, we realize that this may be more difficult to use than you prefer.

Following the CFA Board Strategic Planning effort in Minneapolis this Spring, CFA Staff have been able to create a new CFA Email Hotline for active CFA members to use and communicate thoughts on problems.  In order to participate, TRY IT OUT by sending an inquiry or simply email hotline@cfawalls.org with the subject of “Add Me”.

 

Hotline is a members-only information resource from the Concrete Foundations Association.  For more information on joining the CFA and uncovering the potential of this and the many other member-based information resources, please visit our website.

Basements scarce in tornado-prone Oklahoma City area; here’s why

By Tom Watkins, CNN (as posted to http://www.cnn.com/)

Country star Toby Keith tours the damage in his hometown of Moore, Oklahoma on ‘AC360’ tonight, 8pm ET.

(CNN) — It’s one of the most familiar pieces of advice from authorities to people in the path of a tornado: Get into your basement. Yet few homes in the Oklahoma City area have them — even though that state is hit by far more powerful tornadoes than most others.

“Probably less than one tenth of one percent” of the houses in Moore are built with basements, said Mike Hancock, president of Basement Contractors in Edmond, Oklahoma. “There’s just such a misconception that you cannot do it.”

Why?

Hancock cited the area’s high groundwater levels and heavy clay as among the reasons some people believe — wrongly, he said — that basements are tough to construct.

But improved waterproofing methods can obviate the first; and the second, too, is surmountable, according to Hancock, who said he has built more than 600 basements in the Oklahoma City area over the past 15 years.

“We do ’em all day long,” he said. “I’ve got 32 basements to put in the ground right now.”

The city of Moore was the epicenter of an EF5 tornado Monday that decimated neighborhoods in the Oklahoma City area, leaving at least 24 dead.

In Moore, other issues can dissuade new home buyers from investing in basements, Hancock said. One is that there are so few other such houses that comparable values are tough to estimate, “so appraisers don’t give you any credit.”

In fact, basements are so rare in the area that real estate listings do not include “basement” as an option under foundation types, he said.

“You can list it in the comments section, but that’s not a foundation type.” That means it’s hard for house hunters to narrow their searches to houses with basements, which makes it harder still for sellers who have built houses with basements to recoup their investments, he said.

Mike Barnett, a custom homebuilder in the area for 37 years, estimated that some 2% of residents have basements, and 10% to 15% “have some kind of cellar.”

None of the homes in his partially completed, 51-house development, called Autumn Oaks, has a basement, he said. Though it was spared Monday’s storms, “a block north of us it looks like Bosnia,” he said. He plans to build a community shelter that would accommodate all of its residents.

Alternatives exist: An above-ground shelter runs $8,000 to $10,000; a small basement would cost $15,000 to $20,000; and a concrete cellar built during new-house construction would cost as little as $2,200, said Barnett.

Accessibility an important element

Basements provide good protection if equipped with a suitable door and a concrete roof, but basements of pier-beam houses would leave their occupants exposed and vulnerable if the structure above them were blown away, said Ernst Kiesling, a former professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech.

Kiesling created the concept of the above-ground storm shelter after a tornado swept through Lubbock, Texas, in 1970, killing 26 people and demolishing scores of homes.

In addition, it is difficult to make basements compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Kiesling, who is on the research faculty at the school’s National Wind Institute.

Above-ground storm shelters are easy to make accessible to those who are physically challenged, “and I would say that accessibility is a very important element,” Kiesling said.

Specially reinforced safe rooms provide “near absolute occupant protection from even the worst-case tornado,” he said.

Other products include steel, concrete and plastic shelters; above-ground and below-ground shelters; indoor and outdoor shelters; and shelters that fit underneath the garage slab.

The extra cost of incorporating a basement into plans for a house depends on where it is being built. “If you’re in the colder climates, then one has to put the foundation walls several feet deep to get below the frost line,” Kiesling said.

A region’s frost line marks where the ground no longer freezes and is an important variable when installing pipes. The added cost of digging down the extra couple of feet needed to make a basement for a house in the Northeast is relatively small, he said. “If you’re that deep, you’re pretty well along forming the shell for the basement.”

But in the Southwest, where the frost line is only about 18 inches below ground, the added incremental cost of digging out a basement would be far steeper, said the Texan.

“Here, houses are typically built by placing a slab on the surface and building above it.”

Lessons to be learned

Kiesling is also executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association, a nonprofit group that focuses on improving the quality of storm shelters.

He was planning Tuesday to organize teams to travel to Moore to study which structures failed and which performed well. “There’s a lot of lessons we can learn from this,” he said.

Kiesling said he had heard news reports citing underground shelters as the only safe places Monday in Moore. “That causes my blood to curdle, because I’ve spent my career developing safe places above ground,” he said.

Monday’s disaster is expected to lead to renewed calls to ensure that new houses are equipped with some sort of protection, said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.

But don’t count on them to effect change.

“What happens is that time and fading memories are the worst enemies,” she said. “People think it can’t happen twice, but in the case of Moore, Oklahoma, the tragedy here is this is the third strike — 1999 to 2003.”

After each of those strikes, homebuilders pledged never again to build homes without including safe rooms, she said. Though many followed through on their vows, more work remains, she noted.

OSHA extends compliance date for crane operator certification requirements

WASHINGTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced that it will propose to extend the compliance date for the crane operator certification requirement by three years to Nov. 10, 2017. The proposal would also extend to the same date the existing phase-in requirement that employers ensure that their operators are qualified to operate the equipment.

OSHA issued a final standard on requirements for cranes and derricks in construction work on Aug. 9, 2010. The standard requires crane operators on construction sites to meet one of four qualification/certification options by Nov. 10, 2014. After OSHA issued the standard, a number of parties raised concerns about the qualification/certification requirements. OSHA is considering addressing these concerns through a later separate rulemaking. The agency will propose to extend the compliance date so that the qualification/certification requirements do not take effect during potential rulemaking or cause disruption to the construction industry.

OSHA held three stakeholder meetings on operator certification/qualification issues in April 2013 and posted detailed notes of the meetings at http://www.osha.gov/cranes-derricks/stakeholders.html, a Web page devoted to the stakeholder meeting. The agency also plans to post a list of frequently asked questions on its Cranes and Derricks in Construction Web page to provide additional clarification and address some comments and concerns raised by stakeholders.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternative format upon request (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.

Free Webinar on OSHA’s New Hazard Communication Requirements

The July 25 event is designed to answer some of the most common questions OSHA has received in the first year of Hazard Communication 2012 implementation

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revised its Hazard Communication Standard to align with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). By December 1, 2013, all employers with hazardous chemicals in the workplace must conduct new training for workers on the new label elements and safety data sheets format to facilitate recognition and understanding.

OSHA’s new Crane Regulations Become Effective May 23rd

 

Are you aware that on May 23rd, the final ruling by OSHA (August 2010) takes effect for underground construction and demolition? “It is important that construction workers in these sectors receive the same safety protections as other construction workers,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Extending this rule to demolition and underground construction work will help save lives and prevent injuries.” Perhaps the more important question is how does this impact my business? Is it a regulation that my company will need to follow? This final rule applies the same crane rules to underground construction and demolition that are already being used by other construction sectors, and streamlines OSHA’s standards by eliminating the separate cranes and derricks standard currently used for underground and demolition work. The rule also corrects errors made to the underground construction and demolition standards in the 2010 rule-making. One of the ways we are preparing you for impending regulation is through the CFA Annual Convention. At our 2013 Convention, July 10-13 at the Hyatt Tamaya north of Albuquerque, New Mexico, CFA member, Joan Ausbury of Cranes and Equipment will be on hand to update you on the work transpiring with these final rulings. Joan will offer one of the many key presentations during this event that center on the theme THE ROAD AHEAD and highlighting the risks you continue to face in both today’s and tomorrow’s construction industry. We sat down with Joan to understand the presentation a little better. Joan described her presentation by stating: “Crane safety is not just for crane operators. The owner of a boom truck also has specific responsibilities related to crane safety, many unbeknownst to them. During this presentation, I will review the owner’s responsibilities related to the ASME B30.22-2-2010 and the OSHA 29CFR1926 regulations. If time permits, I will also get into the operator crane safety.” Concrete Facts featured an article on this subject for CFA members back in the Fall of 2010 in volume 18 issue no. 3. “It is our intent to keep you informed on the vital issues for your business and industry,” states Jim Baty CFA’s Technical Director. “Convention this year will bring you five of the most significant issues facing your company from a business management perspective as well as our complement of education topics on the latest relevance to your concrete product.”