Letter from the Director – It’s Convention Time!
IT’S CONVENTION TIME! The flurry of emails, the flashy new mailer, the social media blitz and even the new App signal that it is Convention time. In actuality, it is never not Convention time around this office. Convention is what we think about all year long. We begin planning next year’s event even before we […]
Letter from the President: Times, They Are A Changin’
I have attended meeting after meeting over the last few years and the two things I hear most often are: How different all of our markets are How much effort employers spend making their office more efficient Everyone’s market, no the matter location, is essentially the same. The real difference lies in the portion of […]
Safety Really Is Job #1
by Levi Schrock, chair of CFA Safety Committee Throughout the years, safety has been a subject of conversation at the CFA. We confess, however, that it has usually been brought up as a reaction to a hot topic posed by OSHA. Today, we hope to be advanced enough in our thinking to be talking about […]
Tricks of the Trade: “Droopy Tie Syndrome”
from Dennis Purinton, Purinton Builders, East Granby, Conn. This issue’s Tricks of the Trade is shared by a CFA member (the current president) in the spirit of continuing to share great ideas and to challenge you, the reader, to consider the ways you overcome annoying details and situations to be more effective and economical […]
Twisted Steel Micro-Rebar in Load-Carrying Concrete Walls
by Samhar Hoz, Jeff Novak, Luke Pinkerton Concrete walls are widely used in building construction. Concrete is strong in compression; however, its tensile strength is only 8 to 15 percent of the compressive strength. Thus, plain concrete does not have good tensile properties. Cracks can develop due to loads, restrained shrinkage, or temperature changes […]
3 Tips from a Seasoned Concrete Contractor
Follow these ideas to become a more profitable contractor. In the Farmers Insurance commercials, the tagline is: “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.” I feel the same way about the concrete construction industry. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry, as well as noticing that […]
Letter from the Director: Endings Really Are New Beginnings
Over the last few months I have been reminded time and time again of the impact companies and leaders in this Association have had on the blueprint for this industry and the legacy they have left behind. I have such vivid memories of leaders like Ron Colvin (p.17, 19), a former president of the CFA, […]
Letter from the President
For many of us the usual winter weather has generated scheduling problems, loss of work volume, and many unproductive days. On the brighter side, we have all been blessed with the ability to be profitable by the plentiful volume of work during the nicer seasons of the year, I call this “inside the box work” […]
Letter from the Director: OSHA Regulations Bring Increased Relevance
Just from the title, I presume you have already slid to the edge of your seat or crossed your arms in frustration or defiance for what you might read in this letter. After all, in the marketplace there are more real cases now than ever before of contractors and projects impacted by the increased attention […]
Letter from the President: Business Does Not Change Effectiveness
It has been a very busy year for both our company and the association. We left the summer meeting with renewed enthusiasm for our business and, equally important, enthusiasm for subject areas the CFA needed to address. We live in an ever-changing world, and I have come to realize and understand the need to […]
