A word of caution

Being diverse is a good thing. Adding on new avenues to your business is also good. But taking on business that you know little about and stepping all over your subcontractors, well that is bad. And it has potential to be dangerous too. Recently there’s been a trend in our world where general contractors are deciding that they don’t need professional glaziers; they can just install the glass and framing themselves. This maneuver is becoming more prominent as job bids get tighter and people get more desperate for work. However this does upset not only the proper natural order of things (which surely would be debated by some) but the fact that you are working with products that can be very dangerous to not only the installers but the general public as well. In the last few weeks in the northeast, we had such a situation raise its ugly head. A general contractor was able to buy glass direct from a fabricator and then installed it. Except that it was annealed glass and they went into doors… at a hospital no less. Luckily no one got hurt when the first piece broke in large shards no one got hurt and situation addressed. But at the end of the day, fabricators that sell a GC direct are being complicit with a poor and most likely dangerous business practice, and the GC cutting out the glazier is absolutely shameful. I know “desperate times call for desperate measures” but these sorts of moves are not good for anyone and it actually stains us all as an industry. So go ahead and be diverse, but think twice before you step into a scenario that could have serious long lasting and devastating effects.

Elsewhere…

-- Can we backcharge Standard & Poors because of their calculation mistake? What a miserable week on Wall Street.

-- Props to Jenni Chase and the gang at Glass Magazine. Last week in e-Weekly yet another tremendous interview, adding to a really stellar list of people being profiled here. (And more to come!) Glass Magazine and e Weekly has become the place people come to be heard and is the home for in-depth insights of every big story in our world. It is just very exciting to be a part of that.

-- Good news for the “Dynamic” window world with the release mid last week from Lux Research. The world is moving that way and will continue to embrace that technology because it is good… VERY good for our world. Congrats to SAGE and Soladigm for their mentions and don’t sleep on the gang from RavenBrick. They are absolutely in the discussion too. No matter how you slice it, good things are coming and it’s great for our industry.

-- My alma mater, Ohio University, finally won something…. The Princeton Review named OU the #1 party school in the country. Amazing. I wonder if they still do quarter beer night like they did when I went there.

-- You know I like lists, and this week a cool one came out with the Top 10 cities that will be THE places to live in 2020. Boomtowns is what they are calling them… so I guess if you own land in these areas, the boom is coming according to Proximity One.
1. Raleigh, NC
2. Richland, WA
3. Austin/Round Rock TX
4. Provo, UT
5. Hinesville, GA
6. Logan, UT
7. Grand Junction, CO
8. McAllen, TX
9. Idaho Falls, ID (Once upon a time ISU hall of famer Dave Michaeli of AGC surely roamed this area!)
10. Charlotte, NC

I have been to most of these places and could see the allure. You wonder though if they grow too much will they still be as nice?

-- Last this week; did you make your plans yet for GlassBuild America? Show is coming up quick and well worth the time and minimal cost to be there so you can network and advance your business.

LINKS of the WEEK

-- Trying to figure out this guys motive… stealing toilet lever handles. How many would you have to take to make cash?

-- Really cool piece on “you are what you eat” a look at random people and what is in their fridge. Site loads kind of slow but very interesting.

-- Las Vegas is talking about cracking down on street performers and panhandlers… I guess we’ll see if that actually happens. In the meantime, don’t buy the “bottled” water from anyone on the street…

VIDEO of the WEEK


We have lots of dogs at home- but none as cool as this one… great video of it “talking” -- very creative!