Masonry Magazine March 1975 Page. 13
1975 MCAA Convention Report
(Continued from page 10)
Zotollo indicated that there is a "tremendous interest" on the part of architects, designers and builders in receiving technical information and guidance from the Metropolitan Brick Masonry Council.
He outlined the various promotional programs being produced by his office and felt that the technical seminars were among the most significant and effective. "Most of the professionals who attend our meetings are impressed with the general know-how of our people and with our thorough understanding of the problems of the architect and the builder," Zotollo said. "The general impression left is that we are as proficient in our field as they are in theirs, and that if they want a job to go smoothly, the thing to do is specify masonry and have a reliable mason contractor do the job."
A half-hour question-answer period followed the three presentations, with representatives of IMI spin-off promotional groups, delegates from local and national masonry associations, and IMI executive director Neal English participating in the program.
The general session of the convention, with MCAA President Charles F. Velardo presiding, began at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, February 21. The opening of the meeting featured the traditional presentation of colors by a U.S. Navy color guard, the pledge of allegiance, and invocation. Convention chairman Jack Cook delivered the welcome address.
The standing-room-only audience heard Arthur F. Sampson, David Brinkley and George A. Christie address themselves to the critical economic issues of the nation as well as the construction industry.
Following an introduction by John Chapman, former regional administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration in the Midwest, GSA administrator Arthur F. Sampson described GSA's new policies in dealing with construction projects.
The GSA is the multi-billion-dollar business arm of the federal government employing some 40,000 persons. As one of the main construction areas of the government, it leases, owns and maintains 10,000 buildings and procures more than $2 billion annually in supplies and services.
Sampson explained that the GSA now is using two new techniques in its building approach-phase construction and construction management. Phase construction would allow sequential construction of buildings from the ground up and would use separate contractors for separate phases of work. Project management would involve the use of construction managers more fully in areas of building costs, materials and labor. He believed that these techniques could change the construction industry.
In essence, this means that the mason contractor would no longer subcontract from general contractors on different projects but would be able to contract a total job with the government.
"This offers you (the mason contractor) the chance to contract directly with the government, and that is where the growth is," Sampson said. "That is where the big business is. That is where the profits are. And this is your chance to head that way."
Sampson said that the GSA now includes in its contracts provisions for weatherproofing constuction sites. "And we will pay for it," he said, "when we think it is in the best interests of the government."
He urged mason contractors to build new capabilities and to secure bonding, sources of credit and more managerial expertise in their firms. "Most important of all," he emphasized, "you will have to be responsive-respon-
masonry • March, 1975
News commentator David Brinkley addresses a standing-room-only audience during the general session of the convention.
GSA administrator Arthur F. Sampson preceded his talk with a chiding of Brinkley by presenting him with a toy lawnmover.
MCAA executive vice president George A. Miller narrates a slide show depicting pictorial highlights in MCAA's 25-year history.
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