More from the economy side

I got tons of e-mails and response to last week’s post on the economic condition of our industry. Probably the most interesting one was this one below that was left on the site. It really does hit the target pretty well:

Max,
I think you hit it right, the major curtain wall contractors are very busy. The projects in their line of sight are awarded based upon design intent and not full blown multiple bidding wars. The shortage in 2008 is not glass and metal, its capable glazing contractors and engineering. Old school general contractors will pay dearly for this as they have lost touch with the marketplace. Suppliers will be challenged to assist small contractors that have been pulled upstream to tackle these high $$ projects. It will be a very interesting 2008.
The smaller project market has plenty of capacity and thus lower margins everywhere. The hurdle for all of us is to keep our heads on straight and not bite on the "this is the last best project" and "I have to have this one" mentality.

BAM! It’s a great take that also plays off the angle of people leaving their home markets in search of work. And that’s whether you’re a glazier or fabricator. No matter what anyone says, the small project market or the “everyday” stuff is getting tighter. That will truly force people into scenarios that they are not comfortable or capable. I’ll be curious to see what the flavor on this is at BEC.

Elsewhere…

-- Ah BEC is just about here… and so is Glassweek. For folks that do not know, Glassweek is a tremendous technical event. Years ago it used to be the network event, but quite frankly that mantra has been passed to BEC. Glassweek now is where the work really gets done. The amazing technical brains of our industry are there and they all work to the betterment of what we do. It truly is a sight and all of us should be appreciative to the volunteers who spend countless hours on these efforts.

-- As for BEC, the numbers for this year are astounding. And the people expected to attend seriously look like the “Who’s who” of our industry. If you are missing this one, your missing a dandy. Obviously you’ll get full reports from USGlass editor Megan Headley and the USGNN crew as well as some possible blogs from me…

-- Hey anyone up for “Global Cooling?” After spending the first part of the week in miserable Michigan… I believe in it… and so does this article… which is now taking the opposite track of the whole Global Warming trend…. Can you imagine if we go to a reverse of the LEED program? Now that would be a fun one to spec for.

-- Baseball is right around the corner and this week, some interesting pieces on the new stadium for the New York Yankees were out. A good one with pics and detail is RIGHT HERE. And I gotta say I have a feeling the IG in that stadium is gonna look mighty fine…

-- Congrats to the gang at ACH… also known as Ford.. or Visteon Glass… according to THIS newspaper article, (and be sure to read the comments- wild stuff )the union accepted the contract which means, ACH will get sold and become a new stand alone company. The main hope here is that the people at ACH that are there now, will still be there when the new folks take over, since some of the industries finest people work there and losing them would be a disaster to the new company and would probably hurt our industry if they did not end up somewhere else within.

-- Do you watch Friday Night Lights on NBC? Chances are if you do, you love it. And if you enjoy it, then you probably have to fight to keep it on the air, since amazingly not many people watch the show. Man, great TV, and it goes basically un-noticed. Makes no sense… Anyway, the blog BEST WEEK EVER is trying to do their part with petitions and so on. So if you like, you may as well join in, you never know what could happen… CLICK HERE to sign on.

The video of the week is in honor of the keynote speaker at BEC… Mike Eruzione. Captain America scores the goal, the Miracle on Ice is made and man, you can NEVER get tired of seeing stuff like this. Can you imagine being there during this? Wow! Seriously, its 57 seconds of pure chills!