Archives: News Items

Want Your Field Leaders to Become Business and Results-Oriented Managers? This Conference is for Them!

Read why Keith Atteberry, President/CEO of Marelich Mechanical, a large contractor in California, finds the MCAA training a must for his employees.

“Being a mechanical contractor in today’s market is as challenging as it has ever been. Technology and innovation are evolving at a rapid pace and it is imperative that we make every effort to assure all of our people are trained and educated to keep pace. This particularly holds true for our field personnel who are on the front lines daily.

As a large mechanical contractor, we provide a high level of training for our people on a consistent basis, but we are constantly looking for a program that helps take that training to another level. The MCAA Field Leaders Conference fits that need perfectly.

Not only does this program provide the highest level of education and training for our field personnel, it also allows them to interact with their peers throughout the country. This interaction is invaluable and stimulates our people with new ideas and energy. Besides providing everyone with great training, they come back highly motivated to take what they have learned and push it down throughout the organization. It is truly remarkable.

I cannot recommend this course enough and, if you want to take your team, and your company to the next level, make sure you take advantage of this course. We have sent a significant number of people to previous sessions and will continue to do so as long as they are offered.

Don’t miss out. Get your people signed up today!”

Learn more about the May 16 -18, 2018 Indianapolis conference and register your team today!

Your Business is the Best…Tell the World!

Your business provides the highest quality mechanical, service and plumbing services to all commercial establishments in your market area…but are you getting the word out? With help from MCAA’s Management Methods Bulletins, your company could be the first one called when a project or service is needed.

Public Relations: An Important Marketing Tool for the Mechanical Contractor offers a wide variety of ideas to help you reach out to existing and potential customers about the range of services your company provides. Direct advertising ideas range from television and radio ads to fliers, circulars and newspaper inserts. Your involvement in the community through civic groups, sponsorships of special events and contributions to local charities increases your company’s name recognition and broadens your prospects for new business.

Social media has added to the possible avenues for business marketing.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and others have become popular venues for advertising because they reach a huge audience. Guidelines to Using Social Media in Your Business helps you sort out the best options for your company and issues you should consider when choosing them.

Another tried and true way to connect with your customers is with a newsletter.  A well-written and designed company newsletter keeps your customers—old and new—up to date on project developments, changes to your services, staff, equipment and much more. Creating a Readable Corporate Newsletter provides valuable tips on how to produce an attractive, informative publication that your customers will want to read.

Less tangible but equally important marketing tips suggest ways for you and your staff to promote your company’s name as a service- and people-oriented business. Listening to Our Customers and Why Mechanical Contractors Should Furnish Equipment will help you build your company’s positive reputation and spread the word about its “customer first” culture.

These and many more valuable Management Methods Bulletins, designed to help your company address and overcome a myriad of business challenges, are available for download at no charge as an MCAA member benefit.

And, for complete information about branding, advertising and how to design your own promotions, take a look at Guide Marketing Your Business. It’s also available as a free download to MCAA members.

Looking for Another Management Methods Bulletin?

You can find them on our Management Methods Bulletins page. There, you’ll find the bulletins listed by category with links to help you get what you need quickly.

GO THERE NOW

Or, find them in the Resource Center, where you can use the blue Refine Your Search bar to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

VISIT THE RESOURCE CENTER

Registration for Growing and Developing Service Supervisors is Now Open!

MSCA’s Growing and Developing Service Supervisors program, scheduled for April 19-20, 2018 and to be held in Brookfield, WI, is a two-day hands-on program that uses real world exercises and relatable video recorded role plays that engages participants. Your Service Supervisor will be able to easily incorporate the skills learned from this program into their everyday responsibilities.

Every participant who completes the program will receive a Certificate of Completion and a comprehensive workbook to use for day-to-day responsibilities in areas such as safety, operations, training, tools and vehicles. This valuable workbook contains more than 100 sample forms, procedures, checklists and reports that field supervisors use daily. Sign up for this program by clicking the button below.

Don’t Miss Out On the Benefits of Attending MCAA’s 2018 Safety Directors’ Conference

Register now for MCAA’s 15th Annual Safety Directors’ Conference.  Join us January 23-25, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis, San Diego, California, for this “must attend” conference for all safety professionals. The 2018 conference theme is “Not on Our Watch,” where attendees will get even better at helping our fitters, plumbers, and service technicians protect themselves for workplace hazards.

Not only will attendees receive world class industry-specific education on emerging safety issues, applicable safety regulations, best safe work practices, and new safety technologies, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from  motivational speaker Neil Pasricha who will leave them feeling highly motivated and energized.

This conference continues to grow each and every year. For fourteen consecutive years the number of conference attendees has increased in large increments. We are already on target to set a new record for attendance in 2018.

Registration is $735 for members, $75 per guest and $900 for Exhibitors.

Please contact MCAA Director of Safety & Health, Pete Chaney at pchaney@mcaa.org if you have any questions.

Emily Murphy Confirmed to Lead the U.S. General Services Administration

Emily Murphy, a former procurement policy consultant for the MCAA Government Affairs Committee and daughter of former MCAA President Jim Murphy and Mimi Murphy, was confirmed by the Senate as the new leader of the U.S. General Services Administration. The GSA is the lead civilian agency focusing on procurement policy and government operations.

Ms. Murphy’s confirmation hearing was held on October 18, 2017. She was introduced by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were supportive of Ms. Murphy’s appointment and exceptionally strong credentials for the position.

Watch the confirmation hearing

Workplace Violence Prevention and Protection Safety Training Video & Materials Now Available

MCAA’s new worker safety training video, Workplace Violence Prevention and Protection, and its accompanying materials are now available to members. The video teaches viewers to identify warning signs and take appropriate action to prevent workplace violence. It also shows viewers how to protect themselves and others if they find themselves in an active workplace violence situation.

Download or play the video

There’s More…

Accompanying materials are also available to assist you in highlighting key training points, documenting worker training and confirming that workers understand the training concepts:

Highlight key training points

Download the Pocket Guide

Document worker training

Download the Documentation Sheet

Confirm that workers understand the training concepts

Download the Test

Download the Test Answer Key

Want Even More Safety Resources?

MCAA has you covered, with a full range of resources to help you protect your workers from injury and comply with applicable safety regulations. Here’s where to find them:

On our Direct Links to MCAA & MSCA Safety Resources page, where they’re listed by category with links.

Go there now

In the Resource Center, where you can use the blue Refine Your Search bar to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

Visit the Resource Center

Have questions or need personal assistance?

Contact MCAA’s Pete Chaney.

Find the Latest from Project DocControl, Mitsubishi Electric and More in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:

Project DocControl MCAA Virtual Trade ShowProject DocControl
Created by and for specialty contractors, Project DocControl helps you increase productivity, reduce risk, enhance company image and improve accountability with our Cloud or Server project management.

Learn More


Mitsuibishi Electric Kumo Cloud - MCAA Virtual Trade ShowMitsubishi Electric
Personal comfort just got smarter. Mitsubishi Electric’s kumo cloud™ app helps you provide more value and services to your customers with anytime, anywhere smart control of their HVAC system on almost any smartphone or tablet.

Learn More

Need Something Else?

Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!

Visit the Virtual Trade Show

Speaking of Smart Solutions

Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

MSCA CONNECT 2017 Featured in the NEWS (ACHRNews)!

MSCA CONNECT 2017 is featured in the current issue of the NEWS, the HVACR Contractor’s Weekly Newsmagazine. Under the title, “MSCA Connect – Where Everybody Knows a Trade”, the article is a well-written summary of our action-packed, education-filled, exciting and fun four-day conference at the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida this past October!

Read the article by clicking the button below!

Soldering Lead-Free Valves Takes Added Practice

Plumbing manufacturers have made great efforts to remove as much lead as possible to comply with regulations established under the Safe Drinking Water Act. In order to meet these requirements, most manufacturers have used brass alloys containing small amounts of silicon or bismuth to improve machability. In the following years, most plumbers learned how to effectively make joints with the new alloys, but sometimes it is not apparent how complete the fill is in joints unless they are tested.

A recently released NCPWB technical bulletin demonstrated how joints that appear to be correctly soldered could often be frayed. The bulletin’s author, Walt Sperko, provided examples of incorrect joints and guidance. Pre-heating the tube more than the casting is critical for no lead copper alloys. This is because casting’s thermal conductivity is much lower than copper.

Incomplete fill from under-heating

When the plumber does not spend enough time on heating the tube, the solder has a tendency to only partially fill the joint. While silicon-based alloys were found to be more difficult to wet properly, both proved insufficient with poor technique.

NCPWB members can also download the Soldering Procedure Specification resource SPS-107-1 to better understand the welding procedures for brass and lead-free alloys.

A Thank You from Our Family Members Devastated by Hurricane Harvey

Hear from some of those affected by the Houston floods earlier this year. Your donations to the MCAA Disaster Relief Fund are making a difference for them and other UA and MCAA family members whose lives have been turned upside down by natural disasters.

If you would like to make a contribution to our Fund you can easily do so via a check made out to the “MCAA Disaster Relief Fund.” Checks can be mailed to the attention of MCAA CEO John Gentille at the MCAA National Office, 1385 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.

Get Profitable Results and Improve Performance with MSCA’s Sales Basecamp!

Have you recently added new sales staff to your team? Could your current sales team members benefit from taking a refresher course? If your answer is “Yes”, register them now for MSCA’s Sales Basecamp, February 5-6 to be held in Phoenix, AZ. Class size is limited and fills up fast so don’t miss out!

This popular, in-demand, two day program will provide your sales team member with the skills needed to build long-term customer relationships, efficiently and effectively prospect for results, understand the MSCA Sales Cycle, prepare for that first critical meeting and handle objections professionally during the proposal presentation.

Click on the buttons below to register or learn more!

Planning a Joint Venture? Read All About it First!

Entering into a joint venture with another company on a project can bring many benefits—sharing of costs, spreading the risk, pooling equipment, increasing labor, among other advantages. Like most other business arrangements, however, there are issues that may complicate a joint venture. Two Management Methods Bulletins bring these to light.

Basic information that you should know when you consider a joint venture arrangement is laid out in Joint Ventures. Along with the many pluses that come with a joint venture are some suggestions about how to approach the arrangement, when and how to organize and finalize the agreement and the protections that are necessary to ensure a productive and profitable relationship.

Becoming involved in a business arrangement with another company that’s not in the state where your company is incorporated can be complicated. State laws consider out-of-state companies to be “foreign corporations” and therefore must meet certain qualifications to legally transact business. Failure to do so will bring severe penalties to your company as well as the other company in your joint venture. Failure of One Corporate Member of a Joint Venture to Qualify as a Foreign Corporation May Penalize All Venturers alerts you to the issues that you may face when you embark on an out-of-state joint venture.

Joint ventures can be very beneficial business arrangements for all parties involved, but make sure you are fully aware of all the issues involved in such agreements before making a commitment.

Looking for Another Management Methods Bulletin?

You can find them on our Management Methods Bulletins page. There, you’ll find the bulletins listed by category with links to help you get what you need quickly.

GO THERE NOW

Or, find them in the Resource Center, where you can use the blue Refine Your Search bar to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

VISIT THE RESOURCE CENTER

MCAA Technology Conference Brings Real Solutions to Members

MCAA went to Austin, Texas for the 2017 Technology Conference.  Over three days, members learned about the latest and greatest hardware, software and process innovations in the industry.

If you missed out on the conference, watch the recap video to see some of the conference highlights and interviews.

The success of the conference came from a blend of the best industry speakers with real-life contractor case studies.  With a dozen breakout sessions that all involved roundtables, contractors were able to expand their network and learn how other contractors were innovating and facing some of the exact same problems.

To get attendees talking and sharing, the conference began with a different sort of panel discussion.  Bluebeam’s Sasha Reed led a panel discussion that was gamified.  To encourage participation, a competition was held with the panelists as well as the attendees themselves.  Josh Bone, James Benham and Nathan Wood attempted to give their best answers to technology questions that contractors faced.  As the questions were being answered, the crowd voted on the best answer.  In the end, Josh Bone, playing on behalf of the charity World Central Kitchen, won the competition.

The next morning, the conference started the day with Nick Espinosa, a white-hat hacker and cyber security specialist with Security Fanatics.  The lively presentation mixed in lessons to avoid exposure to hacking with practical solutions for software and business practices.  Recommendations included spam filters, firewalls and site check software.  If you missed Nick’s presentation, he is speaking at the MCAA 2018 Convention in San Antonio.

Throughout the day, breakout sessions on more specific topics took place.  Each of these sessions featured best practices and roundtable discussions so that contractors could not only learn from their instructors, but from their peers as
well.  From these breakouts, attendees learned about 3D scanning, BIM practices, service software, fabrication technology, augmented reality and more.   It gave the contractors a chance focus in on a narrow set of topics and dive deep on solutions.

One of the breakout sessions highlighted a new tool developed through MCERF funding.  Brett Young, CEO of BuildingSP joined Nathan Wood from Spectrum AEC to discuss the new MCERF Complexity Measurement Tool (CMT).  The CMT is a Revit Add-in that takes the BIM project you are designing and analyzes it for complexity.  With the way that buildings are designed through BIM today, it is possible to build a system that is so complex that in either can’t actually be built or maintained.  The CMT performs a volumetric analysis on a designed space to determine how full a space is with not only MEP materials, but also materials from other design partners like structural.  The MCERF CMT is a free tool developed for the entire industry to use so that buildings can be designed better with more understanding of how complexity impacts the spaces that contractors build in.

For more information on the MCAA Technology Initiative and upcoming programs, visit the MCAA Technology site or contact Sean McGuire.

 

Want to Teach Your Workers to Prevent Jobsite Fires? Check Out this Video!

MCAA’s Fire Safety Training Video will teach your workers to recognize common causes of jobsite fires and how to prevent them.

Your workers will learn about:

  • Health effects of smoke inhalation and burns
  • Common causes of jobsite fires
  • Proper fire prevention techniques
  • Safe fire response, including knowing when to fight the fire and when to get out and leave it to the professionals

Download or play the video

There’s More…

Accompanying materials are also available to assist you in highlighting key training points, documenting worker training and confirming that workers understand the training concepts:

Highlight key training points

Download the Pocket Guide

Document worker training

Download the Documentation Sheet

Confirm that workers understand the training concepts

Download the Test

Download the Test Answer Key

Want Even More Safety Resources?

MCAA has you covered, with a full range of resources to help you protect your workers from injury and comply with applicable safety regulations. Here’s where to find them:

On our Direct Links to MCAA & MSCA Safety Resources page, where they’re listed by category with links.

Go there now

In the Resource Center, where you can use the blue Refine Your Search bar to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

Visit the Resource Center

Have questions or need personal assistance?

Contact MCAA’s Pete Chaney.

Discover the Latest from SIEMENS, QuoteSoft and More in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show

MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:

SIEMENS ZCUSIEMENS
Siemens ZCU is pre-engineered and factory-fabricated to reduce installation costs. It includes the VAV box with all controls & hydronics preassembled & leak-tested as a complete package. Guaranteed leak-free operation & warranty.

Learn More


QuoteSoft BIM & Estimating Software MCAA Virtual Trade Show
QuoteSoft
QuoteSoft BIM and Estimating Solutions – Increase Takeoff speed and bottom line with cost and labor estimating software for mechanical and HVAC contractors. Call for web demo today!

Learn More

Need Something Else?

Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!

Visit the Virtual Trade Show

Speaking of Smart Solutions

Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

Soldering Lead-Free Valves? Beware!

Are you planning to solder in a couple of dozen 1-1/2 inch brass control valves in that heating system you are installing in that high-rise building? Brass valves, of course, are castings and all the castings you buy today are lead-free. Does your journeyman who can solder a wrought 1-1/2 inch copper coupling with ease make the same quality joint when one side is a heavy-wall cast valve body? How about if the castings you bought are alloyed with silicon for machinability improvement rather than with bismuth?

Learn more

Anderson, Rowe & Buckley Shaves Hours, Speeds Up Cash Flow With MobiliForms From iBusiness

Anderson, Rowe & Buckley (AR&B) deployed MobiliForms from iBusiness Technologies, cutting labor costs and going paperless painlessly. “Our 100+ field techs are shaving time each day, and I’ve personally recaptured eight hours per week,” said Darin Sheridan, HVAC superintendent, who is tasked with overseeing the solution.

LEARN MORE

Looking for More Smart Solutions?

Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website! You’ll see how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with productivity-enhancing and cost-saving applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.

Plus, you’ll find tips and ideas on other ways you and your company can save money and enhance your productivity.

VISIT SMART SOLUTIONS

Enforcement of OSHA’s Electronic Reporting Requirements for Workplace Injuries/Illnesses Delayed to December 15, 2017

Enforcement of the electronic reporting requirements in OSHA’s recently revised recordkeeping rule has been delayed to December 15, 2017.

Enforcement Dates:

Employers of 250 or More Employees (large employers) – Electronically submit to OSHA 2016 OSHA 300 A Summary information by December 15, 2017.  Going forward, large employers will be required to electronically submit to OSHA information from their OSHA 300 Log, OSHA 300 A Summary, and OSHA 301 Incident Report Forms once each year. The 2017 information must be submitted by July 1, 2018. However, starting in 2019 and each year thereafter, the information from the preceding year must be submitted by March 2nd.

Employers of 20 to 249 Employees (small employers) – Electronically submit to OSHA 2016 OSHA 300 A Summary information by December 15, 2017.  The 2017 information must be submitted by July 1, 2018. Starting in 2019 and each year thereafter, the information from the preceding year must be submitted by March 2nd.

Electronic Submittal Information and Portal – Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries/Illnesses

MCAA Safety BulletinImprove Tracking of Workplace Injuries/Illnesses

OSHA Final Rule – Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries/Illnesses

Is a Project Giving You Headaches? Management Methods Bulletins Can Help!

When a project goes off-track or your plans for a new project hit a snag, where or who do you turn to for help? One resource is MCAA’s Management Methods Bulletins. A series of bulletins are available to help you solve troublesome project management issues.

The Job Management bulletins cover a wide range of issues from organizing and managing a project team to scheduling to controlling project costs to pre-project planning, just to name a few. For example, several bulletins are designed to help you organize and plan your project more efficiently and effectively at the outset.

Pre-Job Conferences lists the people and items that you should pull together to discuss project design, scheduling issues, equipment needs and crew coordination. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Design-Assist Project Delivery and Why Contractors Should Do LEAN describe project management strategies that have resulted in more trouble-free, efficient and productive projects.

The information contained in these bulletins may just have the answers you’ve been looking for to solve your project management challenges.

Want The Rest of the Job Management Bulletins?

You can find them under the Job Management category on our Management Methods Bulletins page. While you’re there, browse the other bulletins, all listed by category with links to help you get what you need quickly.

GO THERE NOW

Or, find them in the Resource Center, where you can use the blue Refine Your Search bar to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.

VISIT THE RESOURCE CENTER

ALI Course 17 Graduates 33 – ALI Course 18 Applications Available

NOTE: The dates for the next Advanced Leadership Institute, which will be ALI Course 18, are September 23-27 and November 4-9, 2018. For an application, contact MCAA’s Dennis Langley.

The 33 graduates of MCAA’s Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) Course 17 reflect the culmination of 16 years of intense ALI program design, attendee evaluation/selection, and precise execution by MCAA’s partner, Babson Executive Education. It was, according to Keith Rollag, Babson’s ALI Faculty Director, “…a program where the faculty, the curriculum, and most of all, the goals and chemistries of the attendees, just all seemed in sync. It was remarkable!”

This incredibly cohesive group also attacked their final team projects, developing new or updating existing Management Methods Manual topics with the same energy, intelligence and humor they applied to everything else in Course 17.

The six projects the teams undertook were:

Team 1   “Video Conferencing”

Team 2   “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – Are They Needed in Your Business?”

Team 3   “Value Engineering”

Team 4   “Retention of Professional Staff”

Team 5   “Fleet Maintenance – Effective Prevention to Keep Your Vehicles Running & Your Team Working”

Team 6   “Construction Contract for Cost of Work Plus a Fee”

In 2015 (Course 15), MCAA’s ALI Committee decided to challenge this once-a-year assembly of some of the sharpest minds in our industry to use their final class projects to bolster and improve our industry’s preeminent body of knowledge, MCAA’s Management Methods Manual. The results continue to get better as MCAA better defines the project goals and as attendees learn more by standing on the shoulders who have graduated before them.

MCAA’s Management Methods Committee will review each topic and will decide which get added immediately to the Manual and which may need a bit more development. Those accepted will make it into the next update of the Management Methods Manual.

The dates for the next Advanced Leadership Institute, which will be ALI Course 18, are September 23-27 and November 4-9, 2018. For an application, contact MCAA’s Dennis Langley.