Masonry Magazine May 1970 Page. 32
About Masonry Contractors
Another very successful program conducted by NCMA concerns our educational courses. Schools are offered throughout the country to our members for personnel in each supervisory job category. For example, there is the top management school for owners and general managers as well as for salesmen and foremen. Other schools teach block-making and autoclaving. All are designed to improve the caliber of personnel and the efficiency of operation of our members plants.
At a recent planning session of NCMA, it was agreed that there is the immediate need for a special Task Force Committee for the purpose of developing a meaningful research and development program. We are firmly convinced that we have not even scratched the surface of R & D. If we are going to be the great industry we all feel we are capable of being, then we must do the proper job in this field. The goals we hope for will not be met overnight, but we need to get started.
Funds needed for research and development
If we can raise $100,000 and get the right kind of a research and development program together, we will be on our way. Success will surely generate future successes and increased securement of funds. This may be only a dream, but better a dream than the nightmare that could follow if our industry is left far behind the advancements in competitive materials which may be brought about by the expensive R & D programs conducted by the wood, steel, and similar industries which have the resources and are conducting such programs.
When I spoke before the Mason Contractors Association of America Convention in Chicago last February, I told them of a prediction I would like to make. I wish I could predict that the mason contractors would become prime contractors, such as electrical or plumbing, rather than remaining as subcontractors. I have never been able to figure out why there hasn't been more of a demand on the part of mason contractors as well as our industry to secure this privilege.
If I were a mason contractor this is certainly something in which I would be interested, particularly where the masonry portion of the work is equal to or greater in dollar volume than the electrical or plumbing work. A mason contractor working under one general contractor often can do a job for, say, 10 to 15 percent less than he can for another contractor. Also, a general never lets a sub's bid go by without tacking on some overhead and profit.
This means that, in competition with other materials, if the masonry were under a prime contract instead of a subcontract, our in-the-wall masonry products would be even more competitive and hence be used in greater volume. Other advantages I feel would accrue to the mason contractor are that the low masonry bidder would be more assured of securing the job under a prime contractor, and it would also eliminate the negotiation aspect of reducing the first bid of the mason contractor by the general after the general contract has been let.
It is further anticipated that the periodic draws would be expedited and simplified, thereby allowing the mason contractor to more readily meet his own financial obligations, which most certainly affects directly the supplier or manufacturer. In any event, I feel that the prestige of the mason contractor operating as a prime contractor would be of benefit to the entire masonry industry.
Another subject which has always interested me is retainages. Here again I have wondered why it would not be possible to convince the powers-that-be to either pay retainages in full to subcontractors when a subcontract has been completed and accepted, or to at least reduce the percentage of the retainage so that the subcontractor might benefit for having done a good job in good time.
Changes urged in Retainage system
The mason contractor is generally one of the first contractors to complete his contractual commitment and hence is required to wait, generally for a long period of time, before receiving the retainage. If there is a 10 percent retainage involved, why not encourage the payment of all but, say, 3 percent when the work has been accepted? I realize this is being done in some cases, but I'm sure it is the exception and not the rule.
I believe we have a very promising future in concrete masonry providing we have the fortitude and the conviction of our desire to serve the needs of the construction industry. The economy and versatility of concrete masonry just can't be matched by any other structural materials. I predict the future will see the following:
* An ever-increasing use of high-strength, load-bearing concrete masonry in high-rise construction, which could prove to be the greatest boon ever to our industry.
* An ever-widening and continuing demand for special design units that will provide eye-appealing walls for the architect and the owner.
* The need for more sophisticated equipment and continued capital investment in automation and research that will bring about a lesser number of concrete masonry products but an increase in the average size of the plants that remain.
* Concrete masonry plants will become more diversified and handle other products or materials associated with masonry or the construction industry. In my own plant, for example, in addition to concrete masonry we now distribute clay facebrick, natural stone, tile, and anything else that relates to masonry.
The National Concrete Masonry Association is pledged to strengthen our common industry through the development of better concrete masonry products and the promotion of wider use of such products through improvement in our marketing techniques and quality of production and distribution. I hope we will continue to work more closely together for a common good in the future.
Service Introduced Offering
# Small Deliveries of Cement
A new service for concrete contractors who need a small quantity of cement for pouring patios, erecting posts or laying sidewalks has been introduced by the Western Company's Research Division.
"Western Custom-Crete service will be available to individuals who require quantities of concrete too large to mix by hand, but too small to be efficiently served by the ready-mix industry," said Paul E. Reinhart, manager of the division's construction products branch.
Delivery of concrete to persons who need less than a truckload has been made possible by the Concrete-Mobile, a specialty truck suited for small jobs, Reinhart said.
The Concrete-Mobile is both a transporter of dry construction materials and a mobile concrete mixing plant. The equipment is built by the National Concrete Machinery Division of Irl Daffin Associates Inc. at Lancaster, Pa.
Western's Research Division, headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, is the equipment's distributor in Texas and Oklahoma.