Guess what? “Triple S” (also known as S.S. Saucerman) has returned as one of our writers. Mr. S provided us with many feature articles—both informative and often humorous—over the past decades, but he took a break from writing after retiring from commercial construction. He then focused on his many other hobbies, which include incredible woodworking, amazing photography and bird watching. But the writing bug recently bit him again, and I hope you, our readers, are as happy as I am to have him back with us. In this issue, his article appears on page 42 and discusses the pros and cons of alternative dispute resolution. Welcome back, Stephen!
This month we at the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry welcomed our new president, Travis Winsor, whose term began July 1. As you will see when you read the article on page 36, Travis is an exceptional leader with a career that has taken him from being an attorney, to a construction estimator, to now being president and CEO of one of the leading commercial contracting companies in the western United States, The Raymond Group.
Among his many goals as president of AWCI, Travis is looking to continue the work set in motion by his predecessors, and that includes keeping safety and health matters at the forefront—including mental health. He also knows he would not be where he is today if not for the mentors who guided him through his construction career in the early years, so he will continue to monitor and develop AWCI’s Emerging Leaders Program. In the article Travis also addresses the current challenges of being a construction contractor, many of them the same things facing our readers. I for one am very much looking forward to seeing the differences that Travis will make in the coming year—for both AWCI and the industry.
Finally, AWCI’s director of technical services, Don Allen, wrote the article that begins on page 26. I must admit that much like arithmetic, the subject of codes and standards can make my eyes glaze over and lead to some form of daydreaming. But I learned quite a lot from this month’s piece from Don, and I bet you will too.
This article puts the spotlight on resilience in the building codes. I know that building codes tell us how to build structures that are safe and solid, but I never really considered the community surrounding the building itself. When a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake strikes, which building is more important to the well-being of the affected community: the local hospital, or the barn down the street? How “strong” do buildings have to be, and how soon after a disaster can you expect it to be functional? Don delves into this subject, and with his welcoming tone, you can’t help but read the article from beginning to end, and then realize you may have learned something you didn’t know before.
Happy reading!
