Your participation at the National Issues Conference can put the union-signatory sector of the highly-skilled specialty construction industry in the lead with the new Congress and a re-energized Administration. What will the tension between fiscal restraint and job creation mean for the construction industry? The new political and policy dynamics between the Administration and Capitol Hill require your active involvement to move our industry’s agenda forward.
This conference will provide foremen and other supervisory-level field personnel from geographically diverse locations an opportunity to exchange ideas. During the event, they will gain an understanding of what their employers expect and what they should be doing as leaders. They will also have an opportunity to network with their peers regarding the opportunities and challenges they encounter.
Take advantage of the visionary point of view and cutting-edge educational offerings that characterize the only industry conference specifically for mechanical service contracting companies. The conference features current issues and trends in service and service sales management, personnel, finance, marketing, training and recruiting.
Conference sponsors and exhibitors display new and state-of-the-art products of special interest to mechanical service: automated systems, products promoting sustainability, supporting software, aids to unique service solutions and more. Educational sessions and unique peer-group communication opportunities invigorate attendees, preparing them for the year ahead.
Come SOAR with us at MSCA18! At the conference you will have a unique opportunity to gain a better understanding of our ever-changing world and its impact on you and your business. The education session lineup, keynote speakers and peer group forums have all been designed to accelerate your growth, transcend your climb and open your mind to rise above and scale new heights.
Join us in beautiful oceanfront Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa, in Huntington Beach, CA to truly experience the limitless opportunities that are available to you – game-changing technology, astounding business innovations, important peer connections, and valuable supplier partnerships – all designed to help you SOAR above the competition.
MCAA’s premier event provides you with an opportunity to learn, get involved and renew relationships with fellow MCAA members while enjoying exceptional educational workshops, riveting special sessions, outstanding exhibits, heartwarming major events, and social functions that never fail to amaze and delight.
Find out all of the details of MCAA18 at our convention website.
Six years ago, when I looked at my friend’s brand new first generation iPad, I was skeptical. I thought that this new tablet was going to be a big version of the iPhone that came out a year or two earlier. At that point, I still hadn’t bought into the usefulness of the iPhone that everyone was so crazy about and I was still plugging my way through a two-year contract on my existing “smart phone” from Verizon. I wasn’t about to pay a few hundred dollars to get out of my cell phone contract just to hop on this new fad.
When he handed it to me to just try out, my skepticism vanished immediately. Unlike the touchscreen on my “smart phone”, it was responsive. I could touch and zoom and interact with a computer in ways that I could never do before. I could see the immediate potential. After getting my first iPad, I realized it could do about 85% of what my computer did in something that was drastically lighter and more portable. It changed the way I worked. I ditched the laptop when I traveled and always spent some time on the couch at night checking on work.
I also thought about how contractors could immediately find the benefit. This new device had the potential to extend computers to the jobsite like never before. It would be able to store project files, drawings, and document conditions. Information from the office could reach the field and empower field supervisors.
It just couldn’t do it yet. In 2010, most field foremen, safety supervisors, and project managers were heavily reliant on cell phones and most didn’t have a smart phone yet. Some were still annoying their coworkers and family with the infamous Nextel chirp. It took some time for the software to catch up with the hardware potential of tablets, but we are far beyond that point now.
Six years later, mobile phones are more or less texting devices while tablets are able to do so much more. In a recently released research study, the research team from JB Knowledge took an extensive look at the software that has is connecting the office to the field. They evaluated over 20 mobile tools that contractors are already using and put simply, the software that they looked at is doing things that was unimaginable six years ago.
In the companion webinar, the study’s lead researcher, Josh Bone, said, “We are entering a really exciting time here. Getting BIM in more hands and more people, and carrying that communication all the way out to the field is helping to democratize BIM.”
It is also changing the skillset and the mindset of field personnel. For many foremen, getting a tablet is almost considered a perk. It is not anywhere near a “buck and a truck”, but more like a prestige item. This is due to the design and positive perception created around the product. A lot of this has to do with Apple’s marketing and design efforts. People begin loving their tablets even before they know how to use them.
What most field supervisors don’t realize is that a new tablet should be thought of as the latest tool. It is a phone and computer all wrapped up in one with more features and potential than any power tool. Tablets hide the conceit of productivity in the glitz and polish of a new toy. When fully enabled, field supervisors can use tablets in ways that they could never use their phones.
Some of the software evaluated in the BIM to Field Research report unlocks the potential of mobile devices in ways that were never thought of six years ago with the first tablet came out. There are programs that can overlay BIM designs in an augmented reality. Programs can track work in the fab shop. Apps that can let field foremen reshuffle the fabrication queue. Software that can get the latest designs, revisions, RFI’s, specs, and labor hours to the field and back so that design and communication is two-ways without picking up a phone.
The days of the mobile phone on the jobsite are not over yet, but what is becoming clear is that their importance is diminishing. Today, if contractors had to choose between providing either mobile phones or tablets to their field supervisors, the choice is not as clear-cut as it used to be. One argument is that nobody would bring his or her personal tablet to the job site while everyone would bring their personal phone. The other main argument is that making the investment in tablets has greater value right now. With a six-month payback period, some contractors are choosing to deploy tablets while subsidizing personal phones. They are making that choice because tablets can increase their productivity in ways that mobile phones just can’t. In a few years, you might stop seeing phones on construction sites at all. R.I.P. chirp.
Sean McGuire is the Director of Construction Technology at the Mechanical Contractors Association of America. Follow him on twitter at @mcaageek for regular tech updates.
Please check out the Research Report and our recorded webinar, free as a benefit of MCAA/MSCA membership.
MCAA Construction Technology Research Series Report on BIM Software
Companion webinar featuring Josh Bone, lead author of the report with JB Knowledge.
This annual conference is designed to connect future professionals with MCAA members and future internship and full-time employment opportunities. Set in Indianapolis, the forum gives MCAA Student Chapter members the opportunity to network with industry leaders and learn about the ongoing changes in the field and the advantages of working in mechanical contracting.
MCAA’s 2017 GreatFutures Forum will open with the best recruiting opportunity anywhere for MCAA members—a Career Fair. Participating members will each have a booth with facilities to display company information and to welcome visiting students with job and internship opportunities.
PCA Chairman and MCAA Board of Directors member Armand Kilijian joined the Plumbing Podcast to discuss the importance of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to plumbing contractors.
The podcast covers plumbing contractors’ increasing use of BIM on job sites, strategies for starting and optimizing a BIM department within a company and how to leverage the data from the BIM model through fabrication, project coordination and total stations.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has raised civil penalties for violations of its rules. OSHA raised the penalties to account for the rate of inflation, which has increased since penalties were last raised in 1990.
The new Interim Final Rule, which was published in the Federal Register on July 1, will take effect on August 1, 2016 for violations that occurred after November 2, 2015.
The differences in the penalties are shown below:
Type of Violation Previous Penalty Amount New Penalty Amount
Willful or Repeat $5,000 to $70,000 $8,908 to $124,709
Serious $7,000 $12,471
Other-Than-Serious Up to $7,000 Up to $12,471
Failure to Correct Up to $7,000 Up to $12,471
Violation of Posting Up to $7,000 Up to $12,471
This conference will provide foremen and other supervisory-level field personnel from geographically diverse locations an opportunity to exchange ideas. During the event, they will gain an understanding of what their employers expect and what they should be doing as leaders. They will also have an opportunity to network with their peers regarding the opportunities and challenges they encounter.
This conference will provide foremen and other supervisory-level field personnel from geographically diverse locations an opportunity to exchange ideas. During the event, they will gain an understanding of what their employers expect and what they should be doing as leaders. They will also have an opportunity to network with their peers regarding the opportunities and challenges they encounter.
Disruptive technology, robotics, drones, 3D printing, cloud computing and storage, BIM and much more were the hot topics at the MCAA Construction Technology Conference in June in Indianapolis. BuiltWorlds, MCAA’s technology partner that presented the exhibit of new construction devices and products at the conference, captured all the speakers and their presentations in a detailed article that not only described the technologies but also how contractors are using them in operations, such as fabrication shops, and projects to improve productivity, efficiency and profits. Read the article.
JBKnowledge’s latest research report in the MCAA Construction Technology Research Series – BIM Software Analysis – was featured in a webinar on June 23.
Josh Bone, the report’s principal author, led the webinar and offered insights into the study findings, explained the differences in the software tested and answered questions about BIM and virtual design and construction processes and systems.
If you missed this chance to learn more about the software available for these technologies and how they can help improve your business operations and projects, and you’re an MCAA or MSCA member, you can listen to the archived webinar as a benefit of membership.
You can listen to the webinar here and download the BIM Software Analysis Report here in our Resource Center. Questions about the study? Contact Sean McGuire.
If a unique management idea helped your company overcome an office or project challenge and improved its bottom line, consider nominating that innovation for the E. Robert Kent Award for Management Innovation. Winning the award brings well-deserved industry accolades and publicity to the nominating company in MCAA and industry publications.
As important, however, the innovation becomes part of our industry’s culture, providing companies that may have been struggling with the same issues and challenges with a way to overcome them.
Last year’s winner was honored for PIPES (Process Information Portal Enabling Success) – developed by The BP Group (Glendale, N.Y.) and ATX Advisory Services. PIPES is an innovative tool that allows a company to easily view the entire workflow of its business while drilling into specific processes to see each step in the flow, the resources involved, the systems used, business policies, systems, procedures and links to forms, reports and other business intelligence used during the course of business.
It is essentially an online “how to” for the business with links into all its operations’ details for employees to use. Built on the foundation of MCAA’s “Planning for Profitability – Step by Step,[link to resource center doc]” PIPES is a template that MCAA members may use to map their business operations. It uses Microsoft® software products, including VISIO, is available in two forms to accommodate all versions of the software and comes with a Users’ Guide to assist with its installation. PIPES is available to MCAA members at no charge as a benefit of membership, so request your copy here..
Nominations for the next E. Robert Kent Award to be presented at MCAA 2017 in San Diego are due to MCAA by October 3. Commercial products are not eligible for this award. Click on the link below for more information and the nomination form.
If you are considering hiring an intern for this summer and you haven’t yet lined up candidates, go to MCAA’s website, MCAAGreatFutures.org.
Over 200 resumes of well-qualified students from across the U.S. and Canada are posted and they’re eager to work for a mechanical, mechanical service or plumbing contractor to learn the business.
And, once you’ve hired someone, you can apply for a Student Internship Grant from the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF). The grants are $1,200 each and you may apply for up two grants (if you hire two interns).
MCAA’s premier event provides you with an opportunity to learn, get involved and renew relationships with fellow MCAA members while enjoying exceptional educational workshops, riveting special sessions, outstanding exhibits, heartwarming major events, and social functions that never fail to amaze and delight. An extensive menu of educational sessions will help you see new possibilities and opportunities in your professional and personal life, and will enrich the quality of both.
This annual conference provides world-class, industry-specific occupational safety and health education for contractor and local affiliate safety professionals. Presentations and discussions focus on time-sensitive mechanical industry safety and health issues.
The MSCA Sales Institute is the first and only focused training program specific to service sales in the HVACR and plumbing industry. The Sales Leadership Symposium is a “must” attend for anyone who manages or supervises sales personnel and is responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, on-boarding and coaching. Presented by in-the-field industry experts, this program will teach sales leaders how to drive revenue growth and enhance profitability through a structured sales approach as well as enhance sales team productivity and ensure employee retention. This course is a pre-requisite for any company considering sending a sales employee to the MSCA Sales Masters program.
For additional information and to download a brochure, click here. Registration is now open for the December class.
Learn negotiating techniques and constructive approaches to labor negotiations that will improve workforce performance along with contractor and industry competitiveness.
The seminar will help members and local association executives improve their understanding of the bargaining process to assist in preparing properly for negotiations, and to make bargaining a constructive event for management and labor. Topics covered will include: collective bargaining innovative terms; labor law; work conditions and productivity improvements; labor contract cost/benefit analysis; and planning successful approaches in the bargaining relationship.
