Crossing the Divide

Speed Fab-Crete, a precast manufacturer as well as a general contractor, is a one-stop shop for buildings and bridges.

by Ron Hyink

For decades, entrepreneur Dave Bloxom captured the attention of television viewers in and around Fort Worth, Texas, with his commercials touting the virtues of his general contracting business. It was a time when TV commercials were an attractive, effective and affordable option for even small businesses to promote their merits to the public.

The cost of TV broadcasting has skyrocketed so much since then that his company, Speed Fab-Crete, eventually backed off from the airwaves. But the commercials definitely had a lasting effect, as people will still call today to say they saw Dave in a TV commercial and decided to give Speed Fab-Crete a call.

“We haven’t done commercials on television in 20 years,” said Carl Hall, part-owner of Speed Fab-Crete. “People still remember those commercials – we did a lot of them.” Dave continued to build a successful business, however, in turn surviving and then thriving in the busts and booms of the decades that followed. By 1998, David Bloxom – the founder’s oldest son – along with a management team bought out Dave’s business. Read More »

Dogged Determination

By Ty Gable
President, National Precast Concrete Association

Last month we lost one of our former chairmen, Wes Dicken, who passed away at age 81. Wes, who chaired the NPCA Board of Directors in 1998, was universally loved and admired by nearly all who knew him, a fact that was reinforced by those who eulogized him at the funeral service held in Fort Thomas, Ky.

One of the stories told about Wes has stuck with me these past few weeks, because it serves as a parable for anybody who’s struggling to survive and keep a business going through this prolonged recession. Read More »

ASTM C1227 – Home, Health and Environment: Why Septic Tanks Matter

By Michael Hines, M.S., P.E.

Great news: You’re buying a new house! You’ve dreamed of a beautiful family home surrounded by open space, fresh air and a healthy environment with children running barefoot on the grass in the sun. And now your dream has come true. Today, for 40% of us who invest most of our lifetime earnings in this dream, our new home will come equipped with a septic tank system to process human waste.

Please don’t be put off by the term “human waste.” As a homeowner or local regulator, you need to know about human waste and how to properly treat it for one very important reason: Improperly treated human feces are the prime breeding ground of potentially deadly diseases (see the online-only sidebar “Where Cholera, Typhoid, Polio & Hepatitis Breed” on NPCA’s website at www.precast.org/ASTM-C1227). This means that septic tanks are critical issues – they can be buried but should never be forgotten. Read More »

Technically Speaking: Vacuum Testing Backfilled Manholes

By Claude Goguen, P.E., LEED AP

Have you ever found yourself on a project where local codes or requirements specify that vacuum testing of manholes must be done after backfill?  We’ve received many calls from producers and contractors or installers faced with this same situation. Can’t really blame the owners.  Testing after backfilling provides them with a degree of certainty that a watertight system has been installed. There are three major disadvantages when proceeding with this test:

1. There are no existing industry standards for vacuum testing the structure after backfill.
2. It is often difficult to determine the cause or locate and repair a system breech once the manhole has been backfilled.
3. If done without taking into account the additional pressures involved, system failure can occur.

So we thought we would take this opportunity to briefly explain the risks and considerations involved. Read More »

Why a Precaster’s Best Friend is the ASTM Standard

The long history of ASTM International proves that its standards are the basis for settling disputes over product performance and testing.

By Claude Goguen, P.E.

Picture this: A sunny day along Maryland’s Atlantic coast grows warmer as an upset homeowner nervously listens to a serious discussion among the local inspector, her defensive project designer and a concerned precast producer. Standing around a recent excavation, their discussion grows into a heated argument over the architect’s demand for an on-site watertightness test on the precast concrete septic tank for the owner’s $2 million oceanfront home. The wealthy homeowner has the ability to pay for the best septic treatment system money can buy, but she can’t decide whom among the sparring trio to believe. Read More »

Safety Speak: Stress and the Precast Worker

Worker stress is insidious, because although it is reportedly widespread and increasing dramatically, it is often unreported. Whether a precast employee is worried about job stability, potential layoffs or lack of job incentive, research tells us that exposure to high levels of stress can result in low morale and decreased productivity. Unresolved stress can adversely affect health at both the worker and the administrative levels.

In this Safety Speak article, precast professionals offer a frank discussion about stress in the workplace. Rob Bundy, safety manager with C.J. Pink Ltd. in Dorchester, Ontario, and Blackie Ochremchuk, group health and safety manager with Expocrete Concrete Products Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta, share their viewpoints. Read More »

How Safe (and Legal) is Your Concrete Form Release Agent?

Become familiar with the safety standards and regulations to help protect your workers, plant and environment.

By Bob Waterloo

My grandfather used to show me a trick: He would strike a match and throw it into a pail of gasoline. (I do not suggest that anyone attempt this “trick.”) Because the oxygen supply was so quickly diminished, nothing happened except for the match going out.

Does that mean gasoline is “safe”? Not by a long shot.

We can also make some comparisons with concrete form release agents. Safety rules, both from an employee and environmental perspective, must be observed carefully to ensure we are not dealing with materials that are harmful, or potentially harmful, to our employees and environment. Read More »

Green Piece – Life Cycle Assessment: Valid Measurements of Environmental Impact

By Kyle Kerstiens, ASSOC. AIA, LEED AP

Whenever one looks to improve upon something, a baseline is needed to measure that improvement. When you start a weight loss program, your current weight becomes the baseline you continually measure against.

Our industry wants to spread the word that precast concrete products are sustainable. We also want to refine materials, equipment, processes and practices to become more sustainable. How do we measure improvement? Set a baseline. What is our baseline in terms of our impact on the environment? That’s where a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comes in. Read More »

Deciphering the Healthcare Bill – Part 2: Blocking and Tackling

Part 2: Blocking and Tackling

By Bridget McCrea

The Healthcare Reform Bill (officially titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) that was signed into law in March 2010 left a lot of businesses wondering exactly how the sweeping law would affect them. With new rules, regulations and requirements, “basic” health care plans will no longer be enough to satisfy Uncle Sam.

We’re here to help. In Part 1 of this two-part series “Rules of the Game” (Precast Inc. Nov/Dec 2010), we investigated the new law and showed you what’s changed. We also helped you figure out what those changes mean for your firm. Now, in Part 2, we offer some solid tips on blocking and tackling: how to deal with the changes and stay on the right side of the law without sacrificing too much time or money in the process. Read More »

New Tax Breaks for U.S. Precasters?

A new tax package for small businesses may save you money.

By William Atkinson

It’s tax season, and as you work with your tax professional to file your 2010 return, it may be helpful to know a few details of the Small Business Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2010.

Last fall, Congress passed the $42 billion package of loan expansions and tax breaks for small business. There are four major loan expansion elements of the law:

• It provides an extension of successful Small Business Administration (SBA) recovery loan provisions, immediately supporting loans to more than 1,400 small businesses.
• It more than doubles the maximum loan size for the largest SBA programs.
• It establishes a new $30 billion small-business lending fund that provides capital to small banks with incentives to increase small-business lending.
• It creates an initiative to strengthen innovative state small-business programs, supporting more than $15 billion in lending. Read More »