This is my first chance to chat with you as President of the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry. I must thank everyone who made it possible for me to be your president. I am honored. My gratitude also goes out to the Northern California Drywall Contractors Association’s board of directors and its recently retired executive director, Ron Becht. I represented them on the AWCI board when we became a charter chapter. The experiences and the friendships developed there have truly been invaluable in my personal and business growth.
Being my first column, I want to make note of some of the significant resources available to AWCI members. The educational seminars, annual trade show, Industry Executives Conference & Committee Week and AWCI’s Construction Dimensions magazine are all top notch. Make use of them. They can help you run your company more effectively.
Here’s a personal example: When I became a contractor, I wanted to compare my business with others. I will never forget the sage words former AWCI President Ron Brady wrote in this very same space years ago about how a company should make $100,000 in sales for each employee it had. In my experience, he’s been dead on. So was Norb Slowikowski at an AWCI convention seminar on budgets. Other AWCI seminars have helped my business as well.
I read this magazine from cover to cover every month because it is chock-full of helpful information. My foremen get copies of Norb’s column, SuperVision, and the columns on management, estimating and the Southern Ontario construction scene are always worth a read. So is Laura Porinchak’s editorial, What’s Inside. Believe it or not, I look at the photos last.
A final word of thanks to Ron Becht for delaying his retirement as executive director of the NCDCA until we found a replacement. We expect great things from Chris Urling (see Construction Trends), the new executive director. He has a big pair of shoes to fill. The merging of the NCDCA with four plastering associations is a key issue. We lost another giant of industry when Tom Daniels announced his retirement. He’s been NCDCA president twice and served every other office at least once, helped negotiate numerous labor contracts and always had sound advice for young contractors. We owe Tom a big thanks.
