I recently was asked to speak to the Youth Build program students on where the construction jobs would be in the near future. To answer that question, I did some research into construction employment and markets. What I found was quite revealing.

Get a diverse group of contractors together and ask how business is and it seems that some think times are great and others are about ready to close the door. So how can this be? The answer is in the construction market data – and this also partially answers the students question on where construction jobs will be. We track monthly Dodge Construction volume information for the Chicagoland and SE Wisconsin areas. The total Chicagoland market was down 18% over $3 billion from 2006 to 2007. But over $2.5 billion of this loss was the result of the residential housing collapse. Between 2006 and 2007, housing construction dropped from $8.5 billion to $5.9 billion! The loss was even worse in Lake County which saw the market drop from $927 million to $460 million – a 50.4% decline! You can see how a contractor heavily tied to the residential market would be feeling pain right now. But what about the other markets?

Overall, the Commercial Building market dropped from $5.9 billion in 2006 to $5.5 billion in 2007 - a modest 6.7% loss. And during the same period, Lake County Commercial Building jumped 68.8% from $398 million to $672 million. No wonder contractors in this market are singing “Happy Days Are Here Again!” And this increase is nothing compared to the Heavy, Highway, Underground market that climbed 237% from $171 million in 2006 to $406 million in 2007 in Lake County. For the Chicagoland area, even Heavy, Highway, Underground work fell, but just 9.1% to just over $3 billion.

Is this a good indication on where the jobs will be? Yes and no. Yes we expect commercial and especially highway work to continue to outperform residential in the near future. And no, this will probably not be a long term trend – especially for commercial building. Typically, commercial building follows the residential market by 12-15 months which would indicate a slowdown toward the end of the year. Highway should continue strong if the funding bodies can get their act together.

With this information in hand, you can see that carpenters and other heavy residential trades will suffer in the future. Meanwhile, Laborers, Operators, and others heavily represented in the highway, heavy industry should stay steady or actually increase. A good place to look for your first construction job!

Superior Paving
122 Sayton Rd.
P.O Box 98
Fox Lake, IL 60020
Phone: (847) 587-1292
Fax: (847) 587-1380 
    CONTRACTOR
Jay Barber, President
Kevin Dombrowski, Project Manager/Safety Director
Asphalt Paving
    Sponsor: Mike DeNinno, Lake County Grading

Assurance Safety Consulting
1750 E. Golf Rd.
Schaumburg, IL 60174
Phone: (847) 463-7224
Fax: (847) 440-9132
http://AssuranceAgency.com 
    ASSOCIATE
John Schumacher, CSP – Vice President
Eric White – Safety Consultant
Safety Consulting
    Sponsor: Dave Petersen, Hard Rock Concrete Cutters

LCCA’s March 27^th Trade Show was a resounding success. Exhibit Space sold out and , in spite of the snow, we had over 150 people in attendance. To increase the networking opportunities for everyone, area contractors, engineers and architects were provided complimentary registrations.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to our exhibitors who sponsored the evening and made it all possible:

Associated Professionals Inc. Assurance Safety Consulting Baker Corp. The Blue Book Burris Equipment Co. CISCO Chicagoland Construction Safety Council         Corporate Imaging Concepts ITT Industries Flygt Corp. John Sakash Co., Inc. Kapur & Associates Lance Construction Supplies Lee Jensen Sales McCann Industries, Inc. McDonald Modular Systems Manhard Consulting

Metrolift, Inc. NorStates Bank Northern Illinois Mack Palatine Oil Co. Peterbilt Northern Illinois Positioning Solutions Co. Rockenbach Chevrolet Rock Solid Stabilization Saf-T-Gard Int’l Thatcher Foundations, Inc. U.S. Cellular VanderBloemen Group Vazcom Communications Waukegan Roofing Waukegan Steel Sales Zeigler Associates, Inc.

President Lyle Ehlers is putting together a Task Force to look into potential problems caused by the AIA 312 construction document.

Bill Krumm, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, will chair the Task Force. If you are interest in participating, please call Gary at the LCCA Office.

LCCA’s 2008 Membership Directory is at the printer and should be mailed within the next couple weeks. Additional copies will be available until our supply runs out. To get extra Directories, just call Sherry at the LCCA Office. A special thanks to the advertisers in this year’s directory.

Air Con Refrigeration & Heating BakerCorp. Ragnar Benson, LLC Blue Boy Portable Toilets, Inc.          Bornquist, Inc. Burris Equipment Company Chicago Area LECET Crissie Insurance Group Hard Rock Concrete Cutters Happ Builders, Inc. Hilb Rogal & Hobbs I.B.E.W. Local 150 Lee Jensen Sales Co., Inc.

McCann Industries, Inc. Municipal Marking Distributors, Inc. NorStates Bank Ogletree Deakins Osco Oil, Inc. Ernie Peterson Plumbing, Inc. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Roughneck Concrete Drilling & Sawing Wm. Schwartz & Co. TFW Surveying & Mapping, Inc. The VanderBloemen Group Waukegan Roofing Co.

We Have A Contract – MARBA and the Operating Engineers have finally published the Heavy, Highway, Underground contract negotiated last year. Copies have been sent to all members who assigned bargaining rights for the negotiations. If you did not get a copy but would like to see the contract, just notify the LCCA Office.

We still have not received the Building Agreement!

Carpenters Top Construction Employment – According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more carpenters working in the Chicagoland Metropolitan area than any other trade. All together, there are about 195,000 employed in the construction industry out of a total working population of 4.3 million. Here are some other trades. Remember, this included union and non-union workers.

Pipe Fitters 597 Creates Welding Program – The demand for good welders is increasing faster than the supply and the Pipe Fillers, Local 597 Apprenticeship Program has created a special “Hybrid Welding Program” to find and train welders for the future. There are several things unique about this program.

1. The training will be done at the Plumbers, Local 93 Training Center in Volo.
2. It is a full time maximum 16-week school with no financial subsidy.
3. The student must pass tests at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks to remain in the program.
4. Upon passing the 16 week program and passing all the tests, they will be placed in the apprenticeship program as a 3^rd year Apprentice.

Next week Tim Staples, Camosy, Inc., and Gary Dowty will be at the High School Tech Campus to interview graduating seniors who are interested in pursing a career as a Carpenter, Laborer or Welder. After the interviews we will assist the students we identify with good potential and help them get into the apprenticeship programs.

For students interested in becoming Laborers, we need for you to help us out. If you can use a good, motivated Laborer Apprentice, call Gary at the LCCA Office and get your name on the list. Last year we identified two outstanding candidates and both went to work in June.

In the October 2007 Newsbrief, we reported on the new construction standard documents that were being developed by ConsensusDOCS, a coalition of many of the national construction trade associations. Recently, ConsensusDOCS launched a new website http://www.ConsensusDOCS.org that will have the 72 documents that cover everything from the delivery methods to contractual terms and conditions.

ConsensusDOCS still has formidable competition from the AIA documents that have been the documents of choice for many years. According to the Associated General Contractors, “The idea was to replace traditional contracts that tended to be slanted towards one party or another.” Unfortunately, as long as the architect is recommending to the owner the construction documents to be used, AIA documents will not be going away soon.

Springfield still seems to be running in neutral with very little significant legislation moving. The deadlock between the Speaker, Senate President and Governor continues with little hope for a quick resolution. And unfortunately, the looming budget and need for a capital program will probably force the extension of the session into the summer like last year.

Among the pending bills being considered, several are effectively dead since they have not been called. These include:

HB 4608 – An amendment to last years Drug Testing bill to change the testing required from a 9-panel to a 5 panel test used by DOT and to make this the minimum requirement no matter what is in a labor contract.

HB 4729 – This would create require that any contractor that caulks pipes running through walls and floors (among other things) be licensed.

HB 4794 – A bill that would limit retainage to 5% up to 50% completion and 2.5% thereafter on LOCAL government construction projects.

HB 5060 –Removed owner-operator truck drivers from the recently passed Employee Classification Act.

HB 5161 – This bill would have required the Department of Labor to provide employers will legally binding rulings when asked for their opinion. Currently, they can tell you anything and it is not binding.

HB 5571 – This would have allowed a business owner impacted by an IDOT project to sue the contractor for economic losses for a failure to complete on time.

HB 5772 – This would have required a tax on the sale or registration of vehicles with diesel engines not equipped with Level 3 controls (most of them).

SB 2262 – A bill to require Workers Comp premiums to be based on “hours worked” rather that “dollars paid”.

SB 2510 – The bill that would permit negotiated workers compensation.

While no bill is really ever “dead” until the conclusion of the session, the chances are good that the bills above will not move this session. You might wonder just what our lobbyists do in Springfield and as much as anything they keep bad bill from becoming law. Many of the bills above required intensive lobbying efforts from many groups to keep them from a vote.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED certifications are available for new and rehab construction. It recognizes performance in: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

To introduce the LEED program to LCCA members, Dan Harmon, Turner Construction Company, will provide a brief overview of the program and how you might be impacted by the program. He will provide:

• An introduction and history of Green Building/LEEDS
• The LEEDS Rating System
• The Contractors Role in the LEEDS Evaluation
• LEED Resources and Trends

All levels and types of commercial contractors will be affected by the LEED program. This is an opportunity to see just how you fit into the program and what requirements you need to prepare for to work on a LEED Building.

This seminar was suggested and is sponsored by the LCCA Future leaders Committee co-chaired by Matt Happ, Happ Builders, and Kevin Schwartz, Wm. Schwartz Insurance.