A publication of the Concrete Foundations Association
Concrete Facts Magazine Online
Feature
Responding to an OSHA Inspection (Part 2)
By Mark A. Lies, II & Elizabeth Leifel Ash INTRODUCTION In Part One of “Responding to an OSHA Inspection,” the focus was determining whether OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) had the right to conduct the inspection and, if it did, the proper scope it should have. As anyone who has ever experienced […]
6 Mistakes Concrete Contractors Make When Hiring People
By Doug Herbert As spring arrives, so do the opportunities for concrete contractors to do more work. We emerge from our winter slumber to finally see more bidding activity and orders from customers. Before we know it, we will be sweating it out in June, wondering how to find enough laborers to get all the […]
Finding a Concrete Housing Authority
By David Pfanmiller, CONCRETE HOUSING INSIGHT It does not take long in any conversation around the concrete industry for the focus to turn toward the concrete house. Invariably, someone will ask the question, “Why is it that we aren’t building houses out of concrete here in the U.S.? I mean, look at Europe – they’ve […]
My Key to Success -Tim Upton
CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR, 2018 By Lindsey Bloomquist The Contractor of the Year, presented annually by the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA), demonstrates the service, technology and knowledge needed to advance the use of poured wall construction. The recipient is acknowledged for unselfish commitment to peers, to the association and to the industry, both at their […]
Mark Lentzkow Becomes Content and Brand Manager for the Concrete Foundations Association
Mount Vernon, Iowa— The Concrete Foundations Association (CFA), the voice and recognized authority for the cast-in-place concrete industry, is managed by the firm Sauter, Baty & Bloomquist, Inc. (SB2). SB2 was established by the former executive director for the CFA, Ed Sauter, along with his partner, James Baty, the current executive director. SB2 has added […]
How to Remove Concrete Buildup
By Destry Kenning, Forming Market Segment Manager, Nox-Crete Products Group We have reached the end of this series, and this final article is timely, as this time of year many contractors are burdened with hardened concrete buildup on their forms. The hardened concrete makes forms heavier and can lead to more buildup. Stripping the forms […]
Magazine Issues
CFA Members Exhibiting at WOC 2015
The Concrete Foundations Association is a co-sponsor for the World of Concrete. We are also an information and network hub for a vast amount of education and information available in seminars and throughout the show floor. Interested attendees can register at the lowest attendance rates for WOC through the CFA and our unique link of […]
Cold Weather Slab Testing
EARLIER THIS YEAR, A CONTRACTOR AND A TEAM OF MANUFACTURERS AND INDIVIDUALS, PERFORMED A SERIES OF COLD WEATHER TESTS ON 15 DIFFERENT PANELS TO REPLICATE 15 DIFFERENT FIELD CONDITIONS. HERE ARE THEIR PRELIMINARY FINDINGS. As seen in Earlier this year, a contractor and a team of manufacturers and individuals, performed a series of cold weather tests […]
Reflection & Farewell
This month’s letter from the CFA Executive Director: Reflection & Farewell It has been nearly twenty-two years since I took the helm of the Concrete Foundations Association at the suggestion of Larry Clark. We now live in a different world. The country, the industry, and the Association have undergone great change in that period. We […]
Letter from the President: What My Toolbox Looks Like…
This month’s letter from the CFA Board President: What My Toolbox Looks Like David Martinson Martinson Construction davem@martinsonconstruction.com If your company is like mine, the start of the new year, while certainly not a surprise, brings forward a list of what we didn’t get accomplished last year compared to what we did manage to achieve. […]
OSHA UPDATE: NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS STARTED JANUARY 1ST
As of January 1, 2015, there is a change to what covered employers are required to report to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Employers are now required to report all work related fatalities within 8 hours and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye within 24 hours of finding about the incident. […]
Beating the Boomer Bust
YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE FACTORS THAT CREATE THE MOST COMPETITIVE SELLING ENVIRONMENT IN HISTORY. UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE IS A CRITICAL FIRST STEP IN THE PROCESS. By John F. Dini More than 60% of US business owners are over 50 years old, and many of them are looking toward retirement and the process […]
Setting A New Standard for Leadership
CFA Professional Awards CFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS BESTOWS THEIR HIGHEST HONOR ON DOUG STAEBLER OF CUSTOM CONCRETE, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. The Robert D. Sawyer Award is named for the CFA’s first Executive Director, whose commitment and diligence wove together a vital network of information, experience and togetherness that has perpetuated to shape the future of this industry. […]
Perseverance in the Face of Adversity
CFA Professional Awards CFA RECOGNIZES TIM PARRISH, FORMERLY OF CORNERSTONE FOUNDATIONS AND NOW CFI ENTERPRISES, AS CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR The most frequently awarded recognition for individuals from the CFA is the Contractor of the Year award. This recognizes the contributions of a poured wall contractor to the industry and often evidences the excessive efforts […]
CFA Undertakes Industry Survey on Cold Weather Practices
ACI Committee 306 and the Concrete Foundations Association are committed to improving the conditions for directing and implementing state-of-the-art technology for better performance in cold weather concreting. The combination of professional contractor experience and this technology is proving the production of quality concrete at a broad range of placement and curing temperatures and conditions. A […]
Now is the time to clean out the spray unit tank!
Kim Terry’s tips, techniques and practices for waterproofing contractors. Maintaining equipment operation using a flushing process: No doubt about it using asphalt products can be quite frustrating at the least and at worst complete shutdown of the spray unit costing hundreds of dollars in loss time, not to mention a possible customer lost when a […]
Understanding Concrete Maturity for Curing Cold Weather Concrete Pours
Originally published by Concrete Contractor Magazine, a ForConstructionPros publication on December 22, 2014 by James R. Baty II, F.ACI, F.TCA Question: The onset of cold weather has complicated our project schedules tremendously. One of the municipalities we work in is requiring us to leave forms on the wall for three days and telling us to […]
Los Angeles Blaze Calls Building Codes into Question
Concrete Industry Opposes Further Relaxing of Codes SKOKIE, Ill.— The fire that ruined buildings and snarled traffic in downtown Los Angeles this week may not have happened ten years ago. However, loosening of the building codes and the increasing importance on low-cost construction is putting Los Angeles and other areas at risk. “Taller and larger […]
