Fresh Coat Painters, a leading national residential and commercial painting franchise with over 170 units, is pleased to announce the appointment of Wayne Scherger as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Tips to get customers to pay you on time.

Meeting code without sacrificing design

Prefab construction is here, and it’s happening. The combination of a severe labor shortage and extreme shortfalls in housing supply is driving a renewed interest in prefabricated construction as a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional building.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Ft. McMurray, which is located about 300 miles north of Edmonton, in Northern Alberta, Canada. It’s not the northern most point on the road but you can see it from there. The area is a phenomenon because it contains the largest known cash of petroleum in the world. You didn’t know that? Well, neither did I until recently. The amount of oil sand in Alberta is enough-at their current rate of consumption-to provide Canada all of the petroleum it would need for the next 475 years. It’s enough oil to meet the needs of the entire planet for the next 15 years.

I met Kevin Moyer at the national plastering contest held last year in Long Beach, Calif. I listened as he spoke of the future of the plastering industry and the need for skilled plasterers to meet the expected demand of a trade once in decline, but now on the eve of a renaissance. I asked him then if I could have the opportunity to interview him for Walls and Ceilings and recently our schedules permitted us to get together.

My journey through the inner sanctum of the USG Research & Technology Innovation center continued through one testing laboratory after another, each with its own specialty… With over 100 years of innovation and leadership in the walls and ceilings industry, there is no aspect of the business that has escaped the purview of the USG scientists.

Created in the 1960s by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration as part of the “War on Poverty,” 40 years later, Job Corps continues to enjoy strong bi-partisan support in Congress. It continues its mission to help young men and women fulfill their life’s potential, and it may just be part of your solution to meeting the demand for skilled labor in today’s transitional labor market

Since the early 1980s the percentage of the construction industry that has been dominated by unionized companies has decreased, that is until the last few years. Something has changed. Unions offer training programs, a ready supply of skilled labor, and a level playing field of wages and established fringe benefits.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 6 million citizens or legal residents of the United States between the ages of 18 and 64 who are actively seeking work, but who are unemployed. What happened?

It is estimated that there are over 24 million U.S. Military Veterans. More than 2 million of them are under 35 years of age, and many of those are in need of good paying jobs.

I recently had the opportunity to revisit Chicago, the home of one of my personal heroes, Byron Dalton. To most in the industry today, the name Dalton has little or no significance. But to some of us older die-hard plastering fanatics, Dalton could be considered the American patriarch of the plastering trade.

I was 14 years old and the tool I held uncomfortably in my hand had long ago been relegated to the bottom of a pick-up truck tool box; the dark and dusty graveyard where old trowels with rusted blades and popped rivets go to die. You see plasterers very rarely throw away their old trowels; they just put them out to pasture. A quality built trowel will serve its purpose for many years, even decades if cared for properly.

Online Blogs, Chat Rooms, and Community Forums; these cyber communities have become the modern version of the neighborhood bar, the office water cooler, and the campus coffee shop...

Have you ever been to an industry trade show? I usually attend several each year; the INTEX Expo, World of Concrete, and this year I had the opportunity to attend the Remodeling Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders at the Convention Center in Baltimore. You can always tell when a trade show is in town. Local restaurants and hotels are filled with small groups wearing matching shirts.

Plastering being one of the oldest of occupations, or as I am fond of calling it, the second “oldest profession” is represented in the United States and Canada by the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, which was chartered in 1864 and is the oldest of all the active building trades unions in North America.

“Some men must follow, and some command, though all are made of clay” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I stood along the rail of an upper tier at the Nashville Convention Center, home of the 2009 AWCI Convention and Intex Expo trade show. I watched two middle-aged men approaching each other on opposing escalators, one going up, the other going down.

I know that it has been a while since I was a small remodeling contractor, but has the state of the art really fallen this far?

When I first began to learn how to plaster, if someone would have told me then that it would one day become necessary for me to learn to speak Italian, I would have chuckled and turned away.

As the director of a national training program for plasterers, I help develop and implement training criteria and curriculum materials for young people just entering the trade. So, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to witness young men and women, who’ve got a few years under their belt, excelling at the craft-especially in a down economy! 

Are contractors who pay their employees cash or who misclassify their workers as “subcontractors” for the purpose of avoiding taxes, worker compensation insurance cutting into your business?

Dimitris Spiliadis’ great-grandfather once owned a hotel in Constantinople, which was lost when the Turks invaded the magnificent and historic city (now known as Istanbul).

We’ve all watched and enjoyed the Discovery Channel television show “How It’s Made” and maybe even had a passing thought about how great it would be to have such a program showcase and explain to the general public what it is we do.

The plastering trade has, for thousands of years, passed down the knowledge and skill of the trade from one generation to the next. Except for the inclusion of modern machinery, the way and manner plaster is applied to a wall really hasn’t changed much since before the time of Christ.

Back in the 1980s, the term “Trickle Down Economics” was coined to describe a theory that if we gave incentives to business owners, they will in turn invest and expand their operations, thereby creating new jobs and greater opportunity for all. Economists and politicians are still debating if the policies of the ’80s helped or hurt the country.

He was born in a dusty little town in nowhere New Mexico, coming of age during the height of the Great Depression.

Architect, Dan Wells, builds children's home in Cambodia.

The EIFS Industry Members Association announced that Georgia-Pacific Building Products has rejoined the association as its newest associate member. Georgia-Pacific brings decades of expertise and innovation to EIMA, strengthening the association’s efforts to promote the benefits and applications of EIFS in the construction industry.

The programme has supported 72 inactive Welsh charities to become operational again, the commission says

Honeywell Global Corporate Headquarters at Legacy Union in Charlotte, North Carolina, is recognized as one of the most sustainable and technologically advanced office buildings.

The Lester Group announced the appointment of Thomas Hartman as the new general manager of Custom Builder Supply. With an impressive 17-year track record in the building materials industry, Hartman joins Custom Builder Supply from The AZEK Company, where he excelled as a divisional sales manager.

The corporate and community partnerships manager at the leprosy charity talks to Third Sector about innovation in corporate partnerships and not being able to switch off

Bowel Cancer UK is no stranger to making fundraising asks of people in difficult circumstances. With so many potential supporters struggling financially this year, Rebecca Cooney asks how charities should handle these conversations

Third Sector speaks to the finance director at Dogs Trust

Tempe, AZ — A recent study indicates that many welding workers believe some of their tasks don’t warrant the use of personal protective equipment.

The Digital Infinity Series Welding Helmets feature a 13.4-square-inch viewing area to eliminate tunnel vision, adjustable head gear that includes an oversized comfort cushion, and multiple sensors and modes for greater performance.

The Optrel Weldcap combines the lightweight wear, comfort and fit of a baseball cap with the protection of an auto-darkening welding helmet.

The Deluxe Welding Shield is a lightweight (less than 14 ounces) full-size helmet that covers the wearer’s head, neck and ears.

The VIKING 3350 Series Helmet features a Steampunk graphic theme.

The T94 Series Welding Helmet is designed to reduce neck strain and fatigue while improving operator comfort, visibility and productivity.

Classic hot rod cars inspired the latest VIKING 3350 Series helmet design, Hot Rodders.

MSA and Miller Electric Mfg. Co. are joining forces to manufacture welding shields and adapters for use with MSA hard hats.

The Panoramaxx Welding Helmet allows for brightness and clarity of the welder’s view from setup through inspection.

Uniquely constructed of single-layer flame-resistant cotton, the AH1630-GS Flame-Resistant Welding Cap provides lightweight protection from sparks, with less heat trapping.

The Z4 Welding/Grinding Respirator is the lightest professional flip-up in the world, weighing only 1.77 pounds.

The crystal2.0 Welding Helmet with Crystal 2.0 Lens Technology (CLT2.0) delivers 31 percent visible light transmission in its light state (Protection Level 2.0).

Swarm A10, A20 and A30 helmets make it easier for welders to use the correct eye protection. The A10 has an auto-darkening filter fixed to shade 11. The A20 and A30, featuring a shade range from nine to 13, have an external shade selector knob and full internal dial controls, respectively.

Honeywell announced a new training and certification program to help integrators become proficient with the company’s Pro-Watch® Integration Kit, a software development kit designed to create smarter buildings that fold security into building management functions.