Masonry Magazine July 2006 Page. 21
Naturally Beautiful, Durable
and Easier to Install. and I don't know if they're going to get covered. I think that means that the industry needs to step up their education, and that's where the contractors groups come in.
Masonry:
What do you think will be the masonry industry's biggest competitor in 10 years?
Johnson:
I guess faux masonry in some form. EIFS and pre-cast-all the alternatives we have to masonry-always hype themselves in what they look like. Our challenge is to be capable of giving them the real thing. I think we're there, but it's kind of interesting how most of their ads say "looks like brick" or "looks like stone." In the long term, though, they will run their course. The real thing is the best way to go.
Masonry:
What do you feel are the most critical issues you'll face with future government regulations?
Johnson:
That would be practicality. Our government regulations are for our own good, and I really want to believe that, but they really need to work with the people and the entities for the solutions and not create hurdles. We are the government, so we should be able to work together and make our companies the standard for the world and our products the best. You see that more now than you did 15 years ago. But they really do need to go to the crafts and the entities involved and work out the regulations.
Masonry:
What do you like most about being a member of the MCAA?
Johnson:
The fact that you're part of a greater force in this industry that represents us. On a daily basis, they're knocking on the doors at local and national levels, striving to improve the business as an industry. It's a great source of information for everybody, and you get to put input in, too. It's a fairly simple deal. You just need to join, and I guess the rest is up to the individual. You can get out as much as you put in. It's the standard you achieve and the professionalism that you see.
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CIRCLE 338 ON READER SERVICE CARD
July 2006
Masonry 19