Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff Associated Builders and Contractors Technology and Innovation Director Patrick Scarpati opens the fourth annual ABC Tech Report noting how artificial intelligence, by applying machine learning, computer vision and data analytics, “is revolutionizing the construction industry by enhancing efficiency, safety and decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. The possibilities may sound endless, but…
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Producers – August 2024
Richard Szecsy, P.E., PhD, one of the best traveled executives and experts in Texas concrete production and broader technical circles, has been named chief executive officer of Big Town Concrete, a ready mixed producer with Dallas and Fort Worth plants. He arrives with 25-plus years in management, operations, safety, environmental, quality control and engineering roles at Alamo Concrete Products, (pre-SRM…
Read MoreWilbert Precast ushers fifth generation leadership
Sources: Wilbert Precast, Inc., Spokane, Wash.; CP staff Wilbert Precast Chief Executive Officer Dan Houk has stepped aside from day-to-day duties, passing the baton to son T.J. Houk while retaining the chairman of the board post. The underground and utility precast producer has grown from one plant and 17 employees in 1981 to three plants and 140 employees since Dan…
Read MoreABC members uphold 10-digit workforce development investment
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C. The Associated Builders and Contractors 2024 Workforce Development Survey indicates member investments totaling $1.6 billion to provide craft, leadership and health and safety education to more than 1.3 million course attendees nationwide in 2023, up from $1.5 billion the prior year and matching the 2021 outlay. Construction-wise management consultant FMI conducted the survey…
Read MoreLabor observer sees continuing slide in unionized construction workforce
An Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of 2023 union membership data published by UnionStats.com finds at least 90 percent of workers in the private construction industry do not belong to a union in 29 states, up from 26 and 24 states in the prior two years. North Carolina, Mississippi, Maine, South Carolina and Texas lead the current list of states…
Read MoreABC: Unionized construction workforce slide continues
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C. An Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of 2023 union membership data published by UnionStats.com finds at least 90 percent of workers in the private construction industry do not belong to a union in 29 states, up from 26 and 24 states in the prior two years. North Carolina, Mississippi, Maine, South Carolina and…
Read MoreABC, Texas chapter seek federal court relief from Davis-Bacon rule rewrite
An Associated Builders and Contractors and the ABC Southeast Texas lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division to vacate the Department of Labor’s Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations (DBA) rule, implemented in October and applicable to federal or federally assisted construction projects. Plaintiffs challenge the new rule’s prevailing wage definition, wage…
Read MoreABC, AGC uniformly harsh in federal project labor agreement rule critiques
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General Contractors of America, Washington, D.C. Merit shop and union contractors’ top national representatives will seek court action in response to a final Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council rule, Federal Acquisition Regulation: Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects. Effective December 2023, it implements an early-2022 White House executive order requiring federal construction…
Read MoreABC challenges Labor Department’s Davis-Bacon rule updates
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff An Associated Builders and Contractors and the ABC Southeast Texas lawsuit states a case for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division to vacate the Department of Labor’s Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations (DBA) rule, implemented in October and applicable to federal or federally…
Read MoreMerit shop contractors report $1.5 billion in workforce development expenditures
Associated Builders and Contractors member contractors invested more than $1.5 billion to provide nearly 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2022, according to the 2023 Workforce Development Survey, down from $1.6 billion in 2021. The annual assessment quantifies the scope of ABC members’ workforce development initiatives to advance their employees’ careers in commercial and industrial…
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