Time for self examination!

I happen to belong to an industry that has been hit really hard by our current economic down-turn. I have heard that the construction industry is at or near 50% unemployment as we enter 2nd Qtr 2010. The time to panic for many is either upon them or is about to be.

There seem to be several constants that I have noticed lately; the first being a marked increase in inquiries that have lead to several preliminary designs and project budgets. The second constant is a less appealing one, and that's the overnight disappearance of customer loyalty.

So even though activity has increased, the prospect of being the sole source for a project are virtually none existent as potential clients seek multiple bids for everything. And can you blame them for this, no way, not in this economy, not with the unknowns surrounding the new universal health care bill, and most definitely not in the tax hell that is Wisconsin.

It's time for some serious self examination if you ask me. Take my company for example, we have been doing business virtually the same way for over 50 years. In that time we have seen little reason to change the basic business model because we made money. But all that's changed as we have started finding ourselves competing for jobs that in the past we were the sole source for. Like others I have talked too, this simple competitive test has made it necessary to start the self examination process.

This "self examination" needs to go beyond the construction industry if you ask me. It's time for our Federal Government to do some "self examination" instead of trying to "level the playing field for all," or "ram through legislation that creates outrageously high energy standards by applying cap's on carbon emissions," or "regulate the banking industry." Am I the only one that has noticed how hard it is for a company to get a business loan anymore?

Local municipalities need to do some serious "self examining" and decide if this is the time to continue to apply "strict architectural guidelines to industrial parks," requiring "four sided architecture to buildings that back-up to conservancy's, and corn fields," or "to require 8 different bonds andor letters of credit replete with mountains of paperwork," or "to require that new construction projects follow 20+ pages of landscape requirements," or "to employ outside consultants that bill on an hourly basis thus creating mini profit centers by constantly request "more information" on the plans they review."

It would suggest that banks do some self examination but i think they have done that with thanks to our fearless leaders in Washington. Nowits the end user and ultimately my industry that end's up on the raw end when financing cannot secured.

And while I'm at it, what's wrong with Union's doing a little self-examination? I have plenty of examples I could suggest but I don't want to go swimming with the fishes at the bottom of Lake Michigan, so I will leave that one to your imagination.

Without some humble self examination by everyone, I'm afraid that the current state of our economy will at best stay the way it is today, and at worse.....well I don't want to think about what it would be like if it got worse.

How to "go green without spending it"

I have been touting for the past couple of years that Anderson-Ashton, Inc. can help business owners and developers to “go green without spending it”. From those I hear back from, this statement generates two reactions. The first is that of intrigue, the second is to disregard outright. Part of the reason that I started blogging is to satisfy both camps with information and examples, especially to those who would disregard or dismiss the possibility that our approach could actually same them money.


When I am meet with those who are quick to disregard my claims, I am quickly able to interest them by explaining how easy it is to take a new building project, or tweak an existing building, and make it perform more efficiently than a typical building in an affordable way. I am able to quickly and clearly explain to them that by following Anderson-Ashton’s simple approach to going green that we can significantly save them money on their operating expenses, improve the quality of their employee’s work environment, and position them for the day when our current State and Federal bureaucrats pass more sweeping legislation in the form of Cap and Trade.


NEW CONSTRUCTION SO SIMPLE IT’S SCARY
For this particular blog posting I will focus on new construction. You can see some simple things that can be done to an exist building by check out my blog post called “Making old look new again” http://bit.ly/bpbAFI To quote the musical group the Talking Heads, “you may ask yourself, how do I work this” into my building plans. Our approach is so simple it’s scary, but it requires a leap of faith and a willingness to open up to some very basic construction principals that have been around since World War II. If that doesn’t convince someone then consider this:


IS MASONRY ABOUT TO DIE?
Depending on who you talk to, on July 1st of 2010 the federal government will be enacting changes to Wisconsin’s building code that will include the raising of the ASHRAE standards for thermal performance in new construction. If adopted by Wisconsin, this increase in thermal performance will render single wythe masonry load bearing walls useless. As a result design professionals will need to explore alternative building envelop solutions on all future.


THE SOLUTION
Whether a building is Industrial, Commercial, Municipal, Institutional the answer lies in the use of a pre-engineered metal building system. Now before you jump into the dismissive camp you need to consider the following. A pre-engineered metal building system is predominantly comprised of recycled content, 70% in the structural frames, up to 40% in the roof and wall panels. Concerned about metal wall panels, not to worry, we have several wall solutions that replace “wrinkled tin” wall panels that have thermal properties light years ahead of masonry, precast, or even cavity wall solutions.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO CONSIDER A PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING SOLUTION
It is easy to argue that Industrial building projects that are pre-engineered are the poster child for going green without spending it. But perhaps our most successful green construction project happens to be a commercial retail center that is our most energy efficient and it happens to be pre-engineered. Qdoba Plaza in Mt. Pleasant was constructed using a pre-engineered metal building system with clear spans allowing for the developer total flexibility with demising walls with the 15,000 sq. ft. retail shell. The building has the best standing seam roof in the industry with life cycles pushing 40+ years. Exposed white vinyl faced blanket insulation was easily painted to match tenants interior décor packages and offers fantastic acoustical properties versus an exposed metal deck. The wall system is a state of the art product called Koreteck which we have the exclusive rights too. Koreteck comes with either an R-26.2 or an R-33.6 rating and is completely thermally broken. Independent studies have shown that the Koreteck wall system can reduce heating and cooling bills up to 60% over conventional construction and as a result, a properly designed HVAC system factoring in Koreteck can reduce cooling tonnage up to 35%.

Another example of why going with a pre-engineered building solution would be a wise decision is the following outstandaing example. The Willis A. Smith construction offices in Sarasota FL. is a very attractive building that is both pre-engineered and also happens to be Florida's first privately held LEED Gold facility. Following the link above to the back story on this building and you will quickly see that to go green the pre-engineered way can be both affordable and attractive.