Mike Holland's blog

I attended the Bisnow – Office of the Future breakfast on Tuesday, April 3rd, and was once again impressed with the overall quality of the event and the information.  I was part of a fairly large Marek contingent, as we were partnering with Office Furniture Innovations (OFI) and Modular Architectural Interiors (MAI).  We had an exhibit highlighting our Novawall and Mecho Shade systems for the design and brokerage communities.  This was not my first Bisnow experience as I had attended several previously.  The crowd at this event was a little different due to the “Office of the Future” theme, and consisted of a significant number of design professionals, as well as those brokers who were interested in the office of the future theme.  The Marek exhibit drew considerable interest and several quality leads were generated.  In addition, we held a drawing for an iPAD based on business cards dropped in our box.  Read more »

On November 17th, the Houston Chapter of the American Subcontractors Association held its monthly membership luncheon at the HESS Club.  The topic for the meeting was a panel discussion covering the Construction Career Collaborative (C³) initiative.  Panelists were Peter R. Dawson, AIA, Senior Vice President, Facilities Services, Texas Children’s Hospital; Joe Savala, Associate Vice President, Facilities Administration, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; Jim Stevenson, CEO, W.S. Bellows Construction Corporation; and Tom Vaughn, CEO, Vaughn Construction.  I served as the panel moderator, leading the panel through a series of questions  Read more »

As a specialty contractor with a significant hourly workforce in the commercial construction industry, I am deeply concerned about a disturbing trend that has developed over the past thirty years and has recently escalated to a new level.  Beginning with the 1980s economic decline in Houston and Texas, and continuing over the last three decades, employment practices in the commercial construction industry have deteriorated to the point that, for the most part, the employee/employer relationship is almost non- existent.  Except at the more responsible companies, the once valued partnership between employer and worker has been replaced by the hiring of independent 1099 contractors, “pieceworkers” and temporary staffing companies.  Read more »