Between new economic realities and the demand for smarter, greener buildings, International Masonry Institute officials note, the construction marketplace
Between new economic realities and the demand for smarter, greener buildings, International Masonry Institute officials note, the construction marketplace has changed, requiring masonry contractors to know more than how to lay brick or set stone. IMI offers potential contractors the professional skills they need to get started, plus strategies for meeting today’s challenges in sustainability, high performance buildings, and Building Information Modeling.
The Institute has launched the New Contractor Start Up Program to help develop motivated union craftworkers into what organizers note are the professional contractors that today’s marketplace demands. Classes in estimating, project management, quality assurance and marketing provide candidates tools to get started.
Competition among professional contractors serves the union masonry industry well by raising the bar, says IMI Co-Chair James Boland, president of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. As a labor-management alliance of BAC and its contractors, IMI promotes quality masonry construction through craft training and technical assistance to the design and building communities.
IMI continues to support contractors through Contractor College courses that offer the latest technical information and business management strategies, ranging from New Products and Technologies to Quality Assurance. The group also helps contractors compete in the green marketplace through the Sustainable Masonry Certification Program, which educates them on sustainability practices and their role in the LEED certification process.