Jim Kollaer's blog

John Killin, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter and executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon, published an interesting article in Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce on the future of the skilled workforce.

He issues a call to action that now is the time to begin the hiring and training of the skilled workforce for the future.  He writes:

“Years are required to prepare people for the leadership roles they will fill in the future. In licensed trades, years are needed to simply move someone from entry level to license-in-hand, full journey-level status.

“Contractors that are beginning to add workers should be sure apprenticeship is at the top of their hiring priorities. [node:read-more:link]

According to a report released last fall by the Money Service Business Facilitated-Workers’ Compensation Fraud Work Group in the State of Florida, “Workers’ compensation fraud is a serious problem.”  Not just in Florida, but in any state where there are folks working for cash in the underground economy and where there are check cashing services willing to play the insurance premium fraud game.  According to the report,

“This type of fraud is most prevalent in the construction industry where a high percentage of the labor force is transient.  The costs to the system for this type of fraud include unreported payroll taxes, unreported premium taxes, and higher costs to insurance carriers who must process workers’ compensation claims for uninsured workers.  It is estimated that the costs of this type of fraud could cost the state upwards of $1 billion annually, and places tremendous pressure on law-abiding businesses to absorb the costs of premium avoidance.” [node:read-more:link]

Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken was right on target about our skilled workforce crisis in a speech he recently gave at the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Waco, Texas.  Pauken stated:

“The time has come to return to an educational model which recognizes the value of career education and encourages the young people of Texas to have such learning opportunities at the high school and post-secondary school levels.  It really is just a matter of common sense.  We have accepted for too long this misguided notion that everyone should go to a four-year university.  That flies in the face of reality and human nature.  We have different talents and different abilities.  Let’s design a school finance and accountability system which recognizes that and re-establishes the importance of skills training to provide young Texans with terrific career opportunities. [node:read-more:link]

Recently we wrote about the long odds of succession in family-owned construction firms.  Basically, there is a 1 in 10 chance of a family-owned or closely held construction firm staying within the family until the 3rd generation takes over.  Those are long odds, and a successful transition will not happen without some mindful planning work and the willingness of each generation to enable a hand-off to the next generation.

The elephant in the room is that many first or second generation owners don’t want to talk about succession whether within the family, inside the firm or even with other owners.

That is especially the case during lean times in the economy like we have had over the last 4 or 5 years. [node:read-more:link]

CareerCast, an online career search firm, released its 2012 rankings of the Best and Worst jobs in the United States.  Construction jobs have climbed out of the basement where they were 2 years ago and are now showing steady improvement.  That is a good indicator for the industry and for those who are considering construction as a career.

The annual survey ranks the top 200 jobs on the basis of five factors: environment, income, outlook, physical demands and stress.  This year’s rankings show that construction jobs are steadily moving up the ladder.

The 2012 listing shows that Brick Masons rank 72 on the list, higher than Electrical Engineer at 73, Elementary School Principal at 74, Stockbroker at 77 and Attorney at 87.  Plumber were ranked 75th on the list.  Electricians were 81st.  Construction Foreman ranked 86th on the list above Teachers (92), Clergy (93), and Airline Pilots (104).

The job of Construction Worker was ranked at number 173, a marked improvement from 2010 when the same job was listed in the 10 worst jobs at 193. [node:read-more:link]

Each year about this time over 400 species of birds that migrated south for the winter begin their Spring journey northward across the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Coast flyways.  Those of us in the Houston Region get the pleasure of watching them arrive just in time for the blooming of our trees and azaleas.

Early bird watchers have reported that this year they have seen one of the rarest bird species to visit the region since the last business cycle, the German Climbing Crane.  They are magnificent and are easily recognizable to anyone who is lucky enough to see them on their migration northward.  They are tall and move with incredible grace as they peer over the landscape.

They usually are fairly short when they land, but they grow to towering heights in a short span of time.   [node:read-more:link]

According to an article in today’s Denver Post, “The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield metropolitan area added 6,300 construction jobs from February 2011 to February of this year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Associated General Contractors of America.”

That puts the Denver Metro area on top of the list of areas that created new construction jobs in February.  That is good news for skilled construction workers in the Denver area who have had a long cold winter – and I am not talking about the weather.  Several new large projects are creating the need for project superintendents and foreman. [node:read-more:link]

Succession planning for family-owned construction firms is fast becoming the elephant in the room as owners age and the chances of successfully addressing the issue diminish with each generation.

According to the business law firm Jordan Ramis PC, 95% of all construction companies are family owned or closely held.  Many of those owners are 60 and above and that is where the issue lives.  Many owners have no idea how to address the issue.  Their families are dysfunctional, their kids don’t want to be involved in the business, and many of them have done little or nothing to create a succession plan for the possible leaders in their firms who might take over and continue the company into the future.  The chances for success are against them. [node:read-more:link]

An article by Matt Warman in the United Kingdom’s newspaper The Daily Telegraph last month reported that Intel, the giant chip maker, has announced a $100 million fund to support the development of the chips and technology necessary to make it a reality.

“Next Gen” kids are already more tech savvy than most of us and even one year olds, according to the blog post are expecting every device including their parent’s cars and trucks to be “iPad ready.”  On the online forum Big Think, Orion Jones quotes Intel representative Staci Palmer:

“In the US, the average driver spends the equivalent of two months of every year in car; it’s impractical for us to give up connectivity inside of the vehicle.  The car is the mobile device of the future.”

Just last weekend I caught a glimpse of the future when a 2½ year old was able to turn on the Mac, two TV sets, and the dvds at his parent’s house without any help from the adults around. [node:read-more:link]

The winners of the 2012 Global Skyscraper Competition held annually by eVolo Magazine have been announced and they are quite amazing in both form and content.  The contest was started in 2006 and seeks to recognize young design talent from around the globe for their designs and the concepts that they propose.

We have seen a tremendous shift in proposals as the creative clients, engineering, and super materials have made previous proposals possible to build.  These designs will stretch not only your imagination , but they will really stretch the contractors and subs who might build them in the future. [node:read-more:link]