**NEW** The 2010 Calendar! Please mark your calendars for these must-attend events! Please click here to get registration packets for these events!
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Are your foremen up to date with the most current leadership and jobsite skills? If they aren’t we hope you will consider enrolling them in this very beneficial two-day seminar; and even if they are, we hope you will register them so they can brush up on crucial skills. Foremen who come will learn important planning skills, ways to improve productivity, their role in project documentation, tips for managing labor, essential management skills, among many other important aspects of being a successful foreman. The seminar will be taught by MCAA-NEI representative, Mr. John Koontz who is a highly demanded educational asset. Mr. Koontz is the national director for project management and advanced supervisory education. He is known for bringing a good balance of academic and practical experiences to his courses. The UMCA will be delighted to hear from Mr. Koontz this weekend, on March 5th and March 6th at the University Park Marriott. The seminar will run both days from 8:00am to 4:00pm. Registration costs $250.00 per person and includes attendance at the seminar for both Friday and Saturday, as well as all meals at the seminar. Although the registration deadline has passed, the UMCA still has a few spots available at this seminar and would love to get your foremen registered as we strive to make our member foremen the most successful in the industry. If you would still like to register, download the registration form here and return it to the UMCA Office as soon as possible.
Although documentation can be quite a hassle for subcontractors, the UMCA understands the importance of getting these documents right. To help you stay current on the legalities of the documents, the UMCA is pleased to have John L. Young, of Young Hoffman Strassberg & Ensor, LLP, presenting his seminar “Construction Contracts and Legal Concerns.” Mr. Young’s practice focuses on construction law, surety law, and civil litigation. He represents specialty contractors and subcontractor clients in arbitration and mediation proceedings, and in litigation and administrative claims, regarding private and public projects, in State and Federal Courts and Agency Boards of Contract Appeals. The UMCA as well as many UMCA members are among Mr. Young's clients. His class will focus on the most recent developments and current issues facing Subcontractors in the documents used daily for construction projects. He will also cover necessary project management methods and outline steps to be taken to help participants understand project management concerns. The seminar will be held on March 25, 2010 from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at the Little America Hotel. There are no registration fees to attend this seminar, and lunch is included. To register, please download the registration form here and return it to the UMCA Office no later than Thursday, March 18, 2010.
The UMCA would like to remind all Contractor Members of the $1,000.00 Education Credit they have been given to be used toward any UMCA or MCAA educational event. The UMCA hopes that the $1,000 credit will increase incentive to attend one of the many fabulous seminars left in our education series as well as encourage our members to stay current on their continuing education for license renewal. To use your $1,000 credit, please fill out a regular registration form for the seminar you wish to use it for and simply indicate that you would like to use the credit as payment for the seminar. If you have any questions at all regarding the credit, please don’t hesitate to contact the UMCA Office.
The legislative session is in the final stretch with less than two weeks to go and things are getting hectic. We have had some early victories with several legislative items of interest passing early and a few that we were opposed to being tabled... at least for now. Our priority legislation got out of the gate really late in the session and we have elected to have it assigned to a summer interim committee so that all “interested” parties can have a hand in developing a consensus bill that could be beneficial for the entire construction industry. Watch for the April eNews for a comprehensive review of all legislation affecting the construction industry.
February was a productive month for many UMCA members who attended two outstanding education programs. The first was “How to Survive a Recession in the Construction Industry and Prospering in Cyclical Markets” presented by Dr. Thomas C. Schleifer. Dr. Schleifer’s theory is that, “a construction organization that has prospered during its growth already possesses the knowledge and blueprint for how to make money in a declining market; they either don’t recognize it or consider it ‘dismantling’ their organization.” Dr. Schleifer covered; Timing of Recovery, Timing of Margin Recovery, Impact of Stimulus, Measuring Staying Power, Recognizing Risks at Stages of a Construction Company’s Growth, Operational Performance Versus Financial Performance, and more. The second program in February was “Project Managers Impact on Financial Outcomes” by David Ashcraft. Mr. Ashcraft’s topics included; how project managers impact the company income statement and balance sheet, how the work in process (WIP) can affect year end profits and cash flow, over-billings and under-billings and the impact of each, the difference between gross profit % and mark up %, a WIP case study, and what percentage of completion accounting is and why it is used. Both programs were very well received by those who attended. Please note the UMCA still has several great programs scheduled this spring that you won’t want to miss.
Some of the best events of the year are the UMCA Social/Sporting Events. Due to the high popularity of these events, we are pleased to have dates locked up so that you can add them to your calendars and plan to attend. The below list is of the most current dates for our upcoming events. **Please note that the UMCA Trap Shoot will take place in September (as opposed to the usual November time) per member requests. **
Monday, June 28, 2010 UMCA GOLF OUTING
Wasatch Mountain State Park 1:30pm Shotgun Start
Thursday, September 16, 2010 UMCA TRAP SHOOT
Great Salt Lake Gun Club 4:00-9:00pm
Monday, December 6, 2010 UMCA HOLIDAY PARTY
Location TBD 6:30pm*
*subject to change
Construction industry unemployment reached 19.1% in October (62,000 jobs lost), nearly double the country's overall unemployment rate of 10.2% (190,000 jobs lost) and close to double the industry's 10.7% jobless rate of one year ago, according to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The construction industry's job loss rate is down from its 67,000 job loss per month average over the past six months, still better than the 117,000 average monthly job loss rate for the industry logged in the previous six-month period.
_READ_MOREThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced a new National Emphasis Program on recordkeeping that will test its ability to assess whether employers are under reporting workplace-related injuries and illnesses. The program, which became effective September 30, directs OSHA inspectors to scrutinize all 2007 and 2008 injury and illness records for a sampling of employees at selected workplaces in historically high-risk industries. OSHA said that the program was prompted by several recent academic studies that have asserted underreporting of injuries.
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