Welcome to “If Walls Could Talk” where Walls & Ceilings magazine is out to discover just that.
Listen as W&C talks with influencers in the industry who are making an impact. We are helping educate and entertain the wall and ceiling industry as only W&C can do. What brought these people to the industry? What’s in store for the contractor? And “If Walls Could Talk,” what stories would they tell? Find out all of this and more on each episode.
The mid-term election means a barrage of political ads will take over most major media streams. Art Unlimited CEO Anna Anderson explains how contractors can rise above the noise.
For those who have been following along with the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test rule legal drama, the latest developments might come as a surprise.
On Jan. 26, the administration withdrew the rule that would’ve required employers with 100 or more employees to vaccinate their workers or regularly test them for COVID-19. In this latest Legal Insights episode, Trent Cotney, CEO of Cotney Attorneys & Consultants called the development a “pretty big exclamation point.”
But, Cotney warns, contractors may want to continue tracking the vaccination status of their employees. OSHA did indicate that it is pursuing its Emergency Temporary Standard as a proposed rule.
"We're not out of this yet," Cotney said. "I'd love to think that this is over, but I don't think it is, and there may be different ways they go about trying to enforce vaccines on employers and employees."
Matt DiBara was born into the masonry industry. His family has been doing masonry and construction for four generations—102 years—and it all started when his great grandparents came to the states from Italy. Dibara serves as the owner of DiBara Masonry, Founder of the Undercover Contractor, Co-Founder of Contractor Consultants, and host of the Confident Homeowner podcast.
Associate Editor Hannah Belloli sat down with DiBara to learn more about career opportunities within the industry and how DiBara hopes to help advance the industry further.
“We help contractors grow their business and utilize a lot of the things I’ve been fortunate enough to learn test and see firsthand over the last 15-20 years,” DiBara said.
DiBara started to study his dad’s company as they expanded and did great business, yet the problem was always that the business could never run itself, it was too hard to find good workers they could count on and cared as much as they did. And now, he thinks he has something that can really help combat the labor shortage.
“I thought to myself, ‘It can’t be impossible, there are companies with hundreds if not thousands of employees in all different industries including construction.’ So the last three years I became obsessed with this question: ‘Who is running your business if you’re the owner and you’re not there?’”
For contractors who want to take a vacation, or spend time with their family, or even go to bed a little earlier one night, this is a fundamental question.
Three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, DiBara and his coworkers have tested every recruiting method, every outreach method you can think of, and they found a system that is predictable, and can absolutely give you the best shot at finding talented workers that care.
In this episode, Cotney Attorneys & Consultants CEO Trent Cotney gives an update on the latest happening with federal mandates that affect contractors. Cotney provides a refresher of each mandate and its current status for those who just can’t keep these ever-changing legal matters straight. Recently, the OSHA ETS was blocked by the Supreme Court, while the health care standard which requires vaccinations if you work in a place such as a hospital is still standing. However, there’s one more that has yet to be resolved: the Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate, which required not only workers that are working in federal jobs have vaccines, but anyone who is working on that project including anyone working from home. Cotney says that contractors can expect additional legal arguments over this mandate. Cotney reminds contractors that they are not out of the woods yet. It’s important to stay aware and up-to-date to what mandates will affect our industry and how. Luckily for you there’s an easy way to do that. Just tune into this episode and our others with Cotney.
Steve Farkas, director of business development with CEMCO, sat down with WC for a long overdue conversation.
Farkas gives us the latest news with CEMCO and how they have changed their business model within the past two years, such as changing the way they do business to more national level based relationships opposed to regional or local.
“Because of the changes within the domestic steel mill having dropped a lot of capacity…has really caused us to strengthen our bonds with domestic steel manufacturers,” Farkas said.
In the midst of the current economic conditions, Farkas says CEMCO is focused on strengthening and building relationships and technological advancements in software.
Without giving away any secrets, Farkas shares with listeners what they can look forward to from CEMCO. He talks developing and altering product lines, trends he’s seen throughout his time in the industry, and how those give him an insight into the future of the industry.
And what does Farkas/CEMCO think the next decade of the construction industry looks like? Unfortunately, they foresee the labor shortage continuing to be a huge pressure.
“What we have seen as an initial response is an increase in panelization, modular type building…requiring a lot less labor on the jobsite.”
You can look forward to seeing Farkas and the rest of the CEMCO team at INTEX this April in Texas.
By now we are sure you’ve met Walls & Ceilings’ Contractor of 2021, California Drywall. Headquartered in San Jose with satellite offices in San Francisco, Livermore, Santa Clara and Atwater, California Drywall definitely keeps busy. W&C Editor John Wyatt and Associate Editor Hannah Belloli talked with President and Owner of California Drywall, Steve Eckstrom, on what this honor means to him and his team.
“To be named the best of the year…I feel a lot of pride in that,” Eckstrom
tells W&C.
As Cal Drywall celebrates its 75th anniversary, Eckstrom
discusses what it means to stay up-to-date as a contractor after all that time. And being in Silicon Valley as Eckstrom
is, there is tremendous pressure to stay ahead of the curve.
Not only do you need to be on top of your game or the latest technology, you have to be on top of your trade and your craft, or you’ll get left behind. And when that happens, Eckstrom
says, it’s hard to catch back up.
Eckstrom
also shares some of Cal Drywall’s exciting prospects and plans for 2022, the construction tech he is currently excited about, and what he thinks the future of the wall and ceiling contractor looks like.
The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the vaccine mandate ETS proposed by the Biden Administration, and more legal challenges are likely ahead. Trent Cotney, CEO of Cotney Attorneys & Consultants, breaks down what contractors need to know in this episode.