A publication of the Concrete Foundations Association
Concrete Facts Magazine Online
Feature
CFA Regional Conference A Success in Pennsylvania
The Western Pennsylvania Concrete Foundations Association (WPCFA) hosted the second Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) Regional Conference on Saturday, September 17, at the Embassy Suites Hotel Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, PA. The daylong event was compact with concurrent tracks for management/owners and construction employees in the morning.Then attendees for the construction track went outside for […]
CFA Introduces Marketing Presentation
Have you ever had the need to make a sales pitch to a builder, but didn’t have a prepared presentation? If so, CFA may be able to help. The Association has introduced a new tool called “Why Poured Walls” “Why Poured Walls”is a multifaceted Power Point presentation that addresses a wide variety of issues that […]
CFA Enters New Dimension of Education
Yes, the Internet can be a rather intimidating arena for people looking for information and services to improve their businesses. Fortunately, there are opportunities that exist to help break down the many barriers and intimidating factors. This issue, we would like to introduce you to one of the newest ways we at CFA are working […]
CFA Members Working On Concrete Homes Progress
For more than 30 years, CFA members have been making it their priority to construct durable, superior basements, but recently many of these individuals have begun taking concrete construction to the next level— concrete homes. Sharing a mutual love and respect for concrete, CFA members want to stay on the cutting edge of their industry […]
CFA Awards Gary Bromley of ABI Corporation
Gary Bromley of ABI Corporation was awarded the Robert D. Sawyer Distinguished Service Award at the CFA annual awards luncheon July 8, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in San Francisco, CA. Bromley, founder of ABI Corporation, is recognized for his dedication to the industry for over three decades. Founded in 1968, ABI was […]
Alaskans Learn About Cold From the CFA
Until April, Anchorage, Alaska’s building department required a contractor to tent and heat foundations for 72 hours after placement when night time temperatures were below 35 degrees. This usually meant between October 15th through April 15th. For an average 2,000 square-feet two story house, this would cost $2,500 – $3,500 for sheet plastic, heat, and […]
Magazine Issues
OSHA Rescinds Fall Protection Exception for Residential Construction OSHA RESCINDS FALL
This past December, the rules for safety have changed significantly for all residential construction. The statement below summarizes the movement made to rescind a significant rule exception that exempted residential foundation contractors from fall protection requirements. We at CFA have just been alerted to this information and are researching it further to identify any further opportunities that may limit the exposure of our industry to this change […]
CFA Member Gene Gore
Daniel “Gene” Gore age 51 of Bellevue, Ohio, passed away Tuesday, December 07, 2010. He was born September 3, 1959 in Bellevue the son of Billy & Darlene (Ridings) Gore. Gene was the owner of Solid Foundations in Bellevue. He was a member of Providence Baptist Church where he was a Sunday school teacher and headed up the buildings and grounds committee, a member of the […]
I Can Hear You Now! (Tech Bit 49)
Cell phones have become an integral part of society… There are over 200 million cell phone users (that’s two out of every three people in the United States). When I sold the family rep agency in 2000, I decided to use my cell phone as my primary business phone number. With as much traveling as I’ve done since, it […]
What’s Keeping You Awake?
by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. The other day on the radio I heard these lyrics from the Shinedown song, If You Only Knew “It’s 4:03 and I can’t sleep… I toss and turn like the sea.” I thought, “Yeah, why is it always 4AM that I wake up when I’m worried about something?” The singer of this top 10 pop rock song […]
Achieving Greatness: The Value of Association
By Don Yaeger “You’ll be amazed by what you can achieve when you surround yourselves with those headed in the same direction.” Association leaders and corporate executives have long recognized that great lessons – lessons in leadership, team building, handling adversity, and managing success – can be learned from their peers in the world of sports. This explains why some of the most sought after […]
Only the Remarkable Thrive
by Mike Foti A crowded marketplace. Hyper-competition. Trying to do more with less. The competitive treadmill has not just been taken up one notch, it’s been cranked up to full-blast! How do you not only survive, but more importantly, thrive in this environment? What are the winners doing to get results in this “full-blast” world? Recently, before a speaking engagement I delivered to a group of fast-growing companies I […]
Membership = 1000x Return
“There is a disease – an enemy – that is eating away at your knowledge, wisdom and professionalism each and every day. This disease – known as commoditization – reduces your offerings to the lowest common denominator, the competitive bid. A stinking price.” F. Scott Addis Here I sit in front of a blazing fire relaxing after a wonderful Christmas weekend spent with family and […]
CertainTeed(R) T-Roc(TM) Thermal Laminate Foundation Insulation System Achieves ICC-ES Approval
Leading North American building products manufacturer, CertainTeed Corporation, has received an evaluation report from ICC Evaluation Services, Inc. (ICC-ES), confirming that T-Roc(TM) Thermal Laminate Foundation Insulation System is building code compliant. T-Roc enables building professionals to bypass several costly, time-intensive tasks involved with turning foundations into finished walls in a livable basement space. Through the analysis of T-Roc, including testing, […]
Industry Loses Pioneer Marion Myers
Poured wall and aluminum forms pioneer Marion Myers passed away July 5th, 2010. Marion was 89 and had lived in Middletown, Ohio. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Corps during WWII. He established Myers Construction Company and ran a successful business for twenty years. In 1970 he bought the first aluminum forms in the state of Ohio. After his retirement he moved to […]
Dream Once Again
And “there was a man named Jabez…” In 1916 Anheuser Busch produced over more than one million barrels of beer. Production was up and the market bursting. But storm clouds were on the horizon. The Temperance movement was gaining political clout; World War I brought rationing and anti-German sentiment, which sent production downward drastically. By 1919, sales had dropped to 218,000 barrels. Then came prohibition. Events […]
CFA Elects New Board Members
Parrish Assumes Presidency CFA has announced the newest terms for its Board of Directors as well as a new President to direct its next two-year period. During the CFA Annual Convention, held earlier this year at Chateau on the Lake in Branson, Missouri, the attending members elected Van Smith of Smith Brothers Concrete in Alden, New York to a one-year term to replace Jim Rowe […]
CFA Moves On Insurance Captive
The CFA Board of Directors voted at the summer board meeting to take the next step in the CFA self-insurance program. Business may be slow but if you are doing business, you are still buying insurance. The CFA program will be modeled after the highly successful CSDA (Concrete Sawing and Drilling Association) insurance captive. That program, which suffered a setback […]
