Hanson Worldwide Photo caption Buffeted by soaring transportation costs, a residential market on the skids and shrinking reserves, aggregates producers have faced their share of challenges in recent months. But as they sidestep those difficulties thanks to voraciously hungry infrastructure and commercial markets, their next worry is how to keep those markets fed. Difficulties in the aggregates arena drove an 8% price hike for the material over the past year. Aggregate producers say fuel costs are mostly to blame, but they also point to increased shipping distances as reserves are lost to expanding metropolitan areas. “Fuel costs have been incredibly
While much of the Gulf Coast region remains in ruins following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, area construction unions are gearing up for an active collective-bargaining season. But the promise of large-scale reconstruction efforts may not trigger significant wage hikes for union construction workers in the immediate future. In Louisiana, 56% of collective-bargaining agreements tracked by the Construction Labor Research Council, Washington, D.C., are set to expire in 2007. In Alabama, 73% of the pacts will expire, according to CLRC. Labor leaders in the region are optimistic about their chances at the bargaining table, but remain realistic about the circumstances.
The overall U.S. construction market is starting to defuse three years of explosive materials price escalation. But the damage has been done, with higher costs for many materials taking on the air of permanence. Some state highway departments are exploring ways to deal with the new higher cost structure, while estimators are turning their attention away from materials and toward escalation stemming from other sources. These include lack of competition in the overheated nonresidential and civil works markets and corresponding labor shortages. “The volatility of the materials market is settling down, which is helping escalation because people are not putting
Michael Goodman/ENR Executives of CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd. like to show off “the little yellow book,” a 4 x 5-in., 15-page illustrated pamphlet of “core values” that has been a corporate operating manual since former chairman Jim Howland wrote it in 1982. Handed to new employees and subcontractors, translated widely and displayed prominently in a headquarters corridor, it zeroes in on what defines the firm, even now as a global engineer-constructor with some 20,000 employees and $4.5 billion in 2006 revenue. The pamphlet may seem dated but it still energizes Denver-based CH2M Hill’s push for people, projects and profits, as
...and on time. “From a client standpoint, the contractor met its commitments,” says Jim Harlan, Eastman’s vice president of worldwide polymer operations. “We feel good about the plant we got and are doing additional business with the firm.” London 2012 Managing London 2012 construction is a challenge, with cost in flux and schedule tight. The broadened focus also has turned CH2M Hill into a market force in the federal arena, particularly nuclear waste services. The firm’s technical and financial success in expediting the $7-billion Rocky Flats cleanup in Colorado for the U.S. Energy Dept. was a key market catalyst (ENR
Gray Construction The same clear thinking and drive for perfection that will soon position Toyota as the world’s largest car manufacturer has long been a factor in the success of Gray Construction, a burgeoning family-run firm located in Lexington, Ky. Gray’s penchant for kaizen, continuous improvement and a total team concept, have helped it land over 250 exacting projects for Japanese firms and another equally demanding 500 projects for American, European and Korean firms. After the untimely death of founder James Norris Gray in 1972 left the firm in the hands of his widow, Lois and their two oldest sons,
Photo: Using Extended Enterprise, Sacramento projects came in $23 million under budget. In an increasingly cutthroat construction market, the words partnership and alliance often become meaningless corporate buzzwords. Now Raleigh, N.C.-based consulting firm FMI is showing contractors and owners that the best way to turn profits for both parties is to stop the bloodshed. Many partnerships between owners and contractors are comprised of little more than a partnering meeting during the planning stages of a project, says Bill Meloche, FMI consultant. Rarely are common goals set and followed. Without a shared vision, the two sides quickly revert to trying to
Gray Construction Pilgrimages are a global phenomenon. There is something satisfying in the act of seeking, to be constantly looking for answers or just experiencing new horizons on the road traveled. A journey is a trip toward personal growth and for many, the journey is the destination. So it is with agencies like the U.S. General Services Administration and firms such as Gray Construction and FMI. They are constantly seeking a better way to do business. Podcast George Heery: Building Contractual Bridges Related Links: Teamwork and Innovation Drive the Quest for Success Innovative Federal Agencies Push Home-Grown Methods Success Means
GSA A bridging contract shaved about eight months off a very tight schedule. It can be said that the bureaucratic halls of federal government agencies traditionally are not places associated with innovative change, especially in today’s hyper-paced construction markets where owners in both the public and private sectors must live by the mantra “evolve or die.” But the U.S. General Services Administration is an exception. GSA is the procurement arm of the federal government and is responsible for the construction, repair and alteration of all federal buildings. Change at GSA has come in the form of a gradual break from
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