A publication of the Concrete Foundations Association
Concrete Facts Magazine Online
Feature
Anderson Awarded for his Contributions to the Industry
Dennis “Hap” Anderson was awarded the Robert D. Sawyer Distinguished Service Award at the CFA annual awards luncheon Saturday, August 9, 2003, at the Kingston Plantation Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC. Hap, president of Anderson Construction Inc, is recognized for his contributions to the industry over the past four decades. A founding member of the […]
BEP Big Panels – Saving Time and Manpower for Martinson Construction
“They pour nice walls – straight and square,” said Dave Martinson of Martinson Construction in Waterloo, Iowa of B.E.P. Forming System Inc.’s new Big Panels. They also allow Martinson to do work in less time with fewer workers. Martinson Construction used the Big iPanels and power ties to construct a data center for Team Technologies, […]
Concrete Above-Grade Wall Systems: What are Homebuilders Thinking?
A summary of the PCA market research’s The 2003 Homebuilder Report The Portland Cement Association (PCA) Market Research surveyed homebuilders across the United States in 2003 to assess the awareness and use of concrete above-grade wall systems and competing systems, as well as to measure the attitudes and perceptions of homebuilders toward these systems. In […]
CFA Website – Accessing and Working with Documents Online
Over the past couple of issues we have spent time together investigating the use of our member/non-member site access and dealing with the issues of membership maintenance and event registrations. This time around, I am taking you on an educational trip on the interaction with this site to view documents that we are providing to […]
Getting the Most Out Of Your Cylinders
Dr. Heather Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Concrete Industry Management Program Middle Tennessee State University What could possibly go wrong? The better question to ask when talking about accurate cylinder breaks is what can’t go wrong. 6” by 12” concrete cylinders are the standard of checking in-place compressive strength for job performance, acceptance, checking mix proportion […]
Testing Concrete
The concrete testing process garners little attention from the construction industry – until a problem occurs. At that point, everyone is intensely interested and all the parties involved become, for the most part, adversaries. Here’s a true example from a personal experience. A commercial project with a lot of structural concrete allowed the general contractor […]
Magazine Issues
Introducing ‘Management Moves’
Over the past year, our Management Committee has been working hard to develop the content for a new series of information products that deliver tips and tricks we all use for the management of our businesses. Attend one CFA event and the first thing you realize is how much collective business expertise exists between the […]
We Are Built of Concrete
Preparing for each issue of Concrete Facts, I have discussed with CFA Staff ideas on the Association calendar and the state of the industry.” Looking at the final issue for 2007 was no different and the message I received from them was one to perhaps offer an inspirational letter about staving off winter and the […]
Concrete Homes Council
The CFA recently went through the strategic planning process during which it mapped out its goals for the future. The Concrete Homes Council recently went through a similar, though less rigorous, self-analysis. The above grade market for concrete homes continues to expand but at a slower pace than anticipated. The consensus, however, is that there […]
Jim Niehoff Is New CHBC Chair
Since 1997, Jim Niehoff has served as the program manager for residential promotion at the Portland Cement Association. He has played an integral part PCA’s success in the growing residential market. While at PCA, Jim has served as the residential media spokesperson and as a liaison to NAHB and The New American Home. He also […]
Passing On Your Business
Look around today and your are likely to quickly see many discussions on transitioning your business to the next generation. Face it, the management minds that established the control of the residential industry by cast-in-place concrete are nearing retirement and the second or perhaps third generation of leadership now must take up the reigns. This […]
Eskers Celebrate 60 Years
CONGRATULATIONS Stay around the CFA long enough and you will meet some truly unique companies. We look no further this issue than the great town of Teutopolis, IL (some know it as Esker-ville) where the Esker family has celebrated 60 years of continual family-run business with their company, J.B. Esker & Sons, Inc. It’s hard […]
Marketing 101
It was once written, “These are the best of times, these are the worst of times…” and truly the residential industry feels that pain right now. Returning from the last two meetings we can truly say we’ve never heard such wide spread diversity to the message of the state of the industry. Places are busier […]
CFA Strategic Action Plan 2007
This past October, the CFA Board of Directors and several interested CFA members met in Salt Lake City, Utah for a daylong strategic planning workshop. This was the first such effort since 2003 when a similar workshop was conducted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The beginning of this effort identified one primary motivator for the theme of […]
It’s All About You!
Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next several years, how it is going to get there, and finally determining a system to evaluate and measure the progress. At the recent Strategic Planning Session held in Salt Lake City, the Executive staff, Board of Directors, and numerous other members began […]
CFA Plans For The Future
The Concrete Foundations Association spent an entire day last month locked in a room brainstorming about the future of the CFA (actually we were free to come and go as needed). Some great ideas were put forth and we feel the initiatives will help invigorate the Association while preparing it and the members, for future […]
Crisis Communication Plan Crucial to Successfully Surviving the “What Ifs” in Today’s Marketplace
One element of a communications plan that is often overlooked is the all important crisis communication plan. While the construction industry is accustomed to having a written plan for a jobsite accident, such documents also are essential to guide your firm should the media call you and put you in a reactive position for a variety of other scenarios, ranging from layoffs to a disgruntled employee or a […]
GPS Management Tools That Work
The costs of running a business, any business, are rising. Talk with any owner and you are not likely to find any argument to that statement. So as the rising costs of operation tighten the hold on profitability—what are the options to fight back? What are proven means you can employ to improve your chance of maintaining margins or possibly […]
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