Masonry Magazine February 2007 Page. 27
THE MOVE TO FICATION
BY DAVID HILL, CHAIRMAN
MCAA EDUCATION COMMITTEE
NOTHING can hurt our industry more than to have unqualified mason contractors selected by construction customers simply because they are the lowest bidder. The result is often poorly constructed masonry buildings, poor service and an unhappy client who may not select masonry for their next project.
The industry and Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) have dealt with this problem for decades. Quality contractors always have had to deal with low-bidding, less-than-stellar contractors who compete against them for good jobs. How do you deal with this problem? Some members of our industry feel that we should just leave the situation alone and let the economy deal with sub-par contractors; eventually, they will not be able to find work and disappear. Some choose to try and low bid the unqualified contractor in an attempt to "buy" the work. However, these methods have always resulted in high-quality contractors either losing good jobs or having to walk away from a reasonable profit.
As the only national association representing the industry's contractors, the MCAA has studied this national problem for several years. The Association concludes that the only realistic way to stop low-bidding, sub-par contractors from lowering our industry's standards and weakening our future is to raise the level of professionalism and convince our customers that buying quality ultimately will benefit them. Thus, in an effort to curb any further loss to our industry's market share, the MCAA has proposed the idea of certifying the industry's 20,000 contractors.
A Measure of Quality
WITHOUT CERTIFICATION, construction customers do not have an objective, measurable method for determining who qualifies as a quality mason contractor. Oftentimes, the only basis they can use to select a contractor is through the lowest bid, Certification gives clients an objective basis to select a contractor and, in most cases, specify a quality contractor. Certification gives our industry the opportunity to promote and provide a quality measure.
We have heard some complain that certification will make the industry's contractors go through the steps and the expense of gaining certification with no guarantee of gaining any more work or greater profit. Others complain that their ability to stand out would rest solely on their capacity to pass a certification exam. However, what guarantee does the