Category: Articles

Innovation has played a huge role in the settlement of our country and in how well we live, work and play. More than a century ago, westward expansion was improved with the Conestoga wagon, steamship and railroad. Farmer productivity soared with John Deere’s singing plow and Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper. The Industrial Revolution brought innovation to machines for quarrying and cutting stone. There are those who say the concrete masonry unit (CMU) revitalized the industry, and productivity and safety have been enhanced with advancements in mortar, saw blades, ergonomic design, protective gear and cordless tools. Steve Jobs once quipped:...

Building codes are a strange combination of perceived confliction. In one respect they are constantly changing, forcing the collective construction industry to re-educate themselves under the new provisions every three years. This process is expensive and frustrating, leading to descriptors such as ‘change for change sake’. Yet they are concurrently perceived as being slow to react and resistant to the adoption of new technologies – and when those ‘significant’ changes are implemented, they are generally met with near hostility as designers, contractors, and owners alike struggle to understand why ‘the way things were’ no longer work. I’m generally not...

Last year, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) launched Build with Strength, a multi-million dollar coordinated industry campaign to educate the building community about the benefits of concrete and concrete products for building construction. The campaign is designed to reverse 10 years of market declines for concrete and concrete products in the low- to mid-rise building market, especially for apartments, hotels and dormitories. Communications, direct project promotion, education and building code advocacy are the key strategies behind the program. The program is based on significant market research undertaken by NRMCA to better understand the that a great majority...