MCAA Regional Report, Region I

Words: Steve BormanAlaska - No State Chair
Idaho - No State Chair
Montana - Zack Anderson
Oregon - Darrell Evenson
Washington - Jed Olafson

Economic Conditions/Forecast/Competition

The Pacific Northwest is still waiting for the dream to resume. 2012 was a continuation of economic challenges that have become a culture since 2009. Only very slight improvements have been seen in architecture design hours.

Eastern Washington/ Northern Idaho

Union bricklayer hours were down 15% in 2012 versus 2011 in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. 2013 looks to be similar to 2012 with no big bounce in sight. Architects in are a little busier, but it has not translated into more work for the masonry industry.

Montana

Montana’s remain slow. There are some indicators that 2013 will be a slight improvement.

Oregon

2012 was a very slow year, down another 30% from 2011. In 2013 we look for an upturn later in the year that will hopefully regain the 30% we lost in 2012.

Washington

Western Washington finally saw a slight uptick in masonry construction towards late fall, 2012. However, significant rain made that short lived and winter construction hours returned to their 2010/2011 lows.

Alaska

No Report available.

Marketing Efforts

Regionally

The MIO, MIW, Northwest Concrete Masonry Association (NWCMA) and the Washington State Conference of Mason Contractors (WSCMC) met in Seattle in December 2012 to coordinate and plan regional activities for 2013. We continue to share resources and programs that benefit the industry regardless of borders. We will be creating joint webinars and Lunch & Learn programs directed at the design community that can be utilized for continuing education credits.

Washington

The Masonry Institute of Washington joined with AIA Washington in 2012 for nine programs, including our Bi-annual Awards of Excellence; in 2012 and a day-long architectural symposium focused on the environment and masonry. Both organizations recognized the benefit of the program and although a bit of tweaking was needed, agreed to co-produce 10 programs in 2013.

Oregon

The MIO continues to sponsor the college engineering course's at Oregon State, Portland State and Oregon Institute of Technology. The Hammurabi awards program held in February was well received. One project, the Oregon State Kirkbride building received a TEAM award from the MCAA and a small lunch reception to present to the design construction team. This project has been featured in the Daily Journal of Commerce newspaper.

MIO continues our presentations for AIA CE credits and the golf tournament for architects and engineers continues and is a highlight of the successful programs in Oregon. Marketing and literature distribution and consultations on masonry design and inspections of product instillation continue to be a staple of the MIO programs..

The MIO continues education activities of college courses and CE units. With funds permitting there will be an update and expansion to the internet presents.

Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho/Montana

28 years strong, the MPG will continue with the masonry design competition and structural engineering classes at Washington State University and Gonzaga.

Alaska

No Report available.

Legislative Update

Washington

In 2012, the masonry industry spent the year attending and participating in a state mandated study looking at product lifecycle/Embodied Energy. The end result was deemed a success in that no direct recommendations are being made to the State Legislature regarding legislative directives.

The remainder of the year was spent attending and testifying at State Building Code Council hearings to protect the utilization of the single-wythe wall in Washington. An initiative to increase the R-values to such an extreme that it would have eliminated this system all together was avoided. Additional pressure from the wood industry for claims of an unfair advantage ate up significant time and resources. However, in the end, Washington will only see an increase in R-Values that can be met without significant damage to the industry.
 
Our 2013 charge will be participating in the Green Technical Advisory Committee with the State Building Code Council and assuring options for performance base consideration for masonry systems as well as defending market share grabs from other industry products at the state legislative level.
 

Oregon

We headed off another attack from the wood products industry in early 2012. We are working on the new Oregon energy code for mass walls. We will be concentrating on the Oregon energy code battle this year.

Montana and Alaska

No report is available.
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