• Board of Directors Announce New Management for Association and Celebration Strategies for 50th Anniversary

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Mount Vernon, IA (date) – The Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) Board of Directors has announced a management change for the organization, which coincides with its 50th anniversary. Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, CFA will be managed by the AOE Team – an association management and marketing consulting firm with headquarters in Farmington Hills, Mich.,  after more […]

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  • Using Decorative Concrete to Refresh Outdoor Spaces

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    In both residential and commercial construction, decorative concrete is gaining popularity as a transformative element that revitalizes outdoor spaces. No longer reduced to just a functional, utilitarian solution, decorative concrete now serves as a versatile canvas for architects and designers looking to create aesthetically pleasing, durable, and cost-effective environments. The adaptability of decorative concrete allows […]

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  • New Identity for Central Wisconsin CFA Member

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Dane, WI – With a 77-year history of building trust, excellence, and strong foundations, Wisconsin-based concrete contractor Hottmann Construction, Inc. announces a rebranding initiative that reflects the company’s evolving vision, values, and commitment to the future. “We are excited to re-introduce ourselves to the marketplace in mid-December as Cru Concrete,” states company president, Ken Kurszewski. […]

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  • Caught-In-Action

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Timing on jobsites is not always precise, yet, as quality firms recognize, good crews always find a way to be productive. This photo was captured and sent in by CFA member, Bartley Corp, showing team members, who were waiting on forms to arrive to the site, capitalizing on available time. “This job was run by […]

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  • 2024 PROJECTS OF THE YEAR

    Thursday, December 19, 2024

    The Rest of the Best The last issue of Concrete Facts presented the top-voted project and each of the respective category winners from the 25th annual competition for the Concrete Foundations Association. Two ways to revisit these project awards are available in the toolbox accompanying this article. The feature image from each project can be […]

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Feature

Magazine Issues

Jun
3

Durand Forms Appointment Enhances Company’s Position

Durand, Michigan, December 16, 2002— Durand Forms, Inc., a leading aluminum form manufacturer in Durand, Michigan, has announced the appointment of Philip W. Fearnow as Vice President, Sales & Marketing, as well as three new regional manager positions. Fearnow’s experience includes manufacturing, corporate sales and technical services in the area of chemicals, explosives and pre-cast concrete. Fearnow’s initial efforts will be working and visiting with Durand distributors and customers to enhance their poured […]

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Jun
3

Outsourcing Services – A Practical Alternative for Any Business

Large and small companies alike are seeing more value in outsourcing services as the demand for professional expertise increases and employee base and payroll budgets decrease. “Outsourcing” as defined by the Outsourcing Institute of New York is “the strategic use of outside resources to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff and resources.” A premier building products company executive says “we outsource services because they specialize in areas that we don’t and […]

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Jun
3

New Control Joint System Available

MAR-FLEX® has announced the introduction of a new system to reduce random cracks in concrete foundations. This is accomplished by creating vertical control joints on both sides of the foundation wall. Shrinkage cracking is confined to the control joint area and the outside control joint is sealed to make it waterproof and watertight. MAR-FLEX offers this economical and easy to use system with an additional cost estimated to […]

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Jun
3

2002-2003 Residential Construction Market Outlook

Condensed from FMI Annual Construction Outlook Publication The U.S. single family residential construction sector of the construction market increased from $235.9 billion in 2000 to $246.5 billion in 2001. This 4% growth is the lowest annual increase in single-family construction since 1997. The value of construction put in place was expected to decrease 1% in 2002 and increase 3% in 2003. Forecasts are more optimistic for 2004 with […]

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Jun
3

Foundation Contractor Wall Survey

The CFA Questionnaire received an excellent return with 53 of our contractor members responding. It will take quite some time to sort through all of the results but some of the easier to-tabulate summaries are listed below. These are based on the 53 returned questionnaires – not on the full membership. Number of basements poured in 2002: 12,467 Number of basements in past 10 […]

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Jun
3

Saldana Concrete Profile

As the first poured wall contractor in the St. Cloud, Minn. area, Mark Saldana quickly realized the battle his company would face in changing perceptions and battling the region’s traditional construction methods. But, through ingenuity and persistence – as well as assistance from fellow CFA members – Saldana has quickly built a market for poured walls in Minnesota. Originally a block foundation company with roots dating back to 1987, Saldana Concrete, […]

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Jun
3

Sign-Up for Spring Foundation Fundamentals

The Foundation Fundamentals seminar will return to the Midwest for the Spring of 2003. The Holiday Inn Select in Strongsville, Ohio (near Cleveland) will host the seminar on Saturday, April 12, 2003. A seminar for building officials will be held on Friday, April 11, concurrent with the CFA committee and board meeting. If you have a building official you would like to attend, let us know and we […]

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Jun
3

CFA Unveils Web Site Improvements

A visit to the Internet today doesn’t take very long before you see a myriad of ways companies are reaching out to their visitors to make their websites more user friendly and efficient. The Concrete Foundations Association has initiated steps to make significant improvements to the CFA web site, www.cfawalls.org, over this past year. If you haven’t visited in a while, I encourage you to do so. Over the […]

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Dec
17

CFA Loses a Founding Father

Erwin “Buck” Sweet, a founder, long-time member, and past president of the Concrete Foundations Association passed away Sunday, November 10, 2002 at his residence in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. He was 75 years of age. Buck owned and operated Perma-Structo Inc. from 1965 until his retirement earlier this year. He gave of his time to his community […]

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Dec
17

PCA 2002 Homeowner Survey

Impressive Increase in Consumer Awareness for Concrete Homes Awareness of concrete homebuilding returned to its high of 68% in 2002 after dipping in 1998 (52%) and in 2000 (55%). It also increased in all nine regions of the country and in all eight target states. Awareness increased of all above-grade systems between 2000 and 2002. […]

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Dec
17

CFA Cold Weather Testing

A Progress report At the Summer Board meeting in Mt. Hood, the Board of Directors allocated funds from the Education and Research Fund for an in-depth study of cold weather and how it affects the concrete mixes our members typically use. Following a series of physical meetings and conference calls as well as idea refining […]

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Dec
17

Spanish Foundation Fundamentals a Huge Success

The Foundation Fundamentals seminar held in Richmond, Virginia on October 19th was a huge success. What made this seminar unique was that it is the first time it has been offered in both Spanish and English. The CFA decided to offer the popular seminar in Spanish at the suggestion of area CFA board member Tim […]

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