Sunday, January 01, 2017

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and you are ready to roll into a very exciting year ahead!  But before we look forward into 2017, it’s time to look back at 2016 and see how everything shook out with regards to my predictions at the front of the year.  I made 5 predictions and I don’t believe I was far off…

#1 - Go Big or Go Home.  – The fact that I was talking about the trend of going bigger and that it was not ending anytime soon.  Well with Guardian and Vitro putting in jumbo coaters (and Viracon which announced last year) and more oversize coming from all parts of the world, I’d say this was dead on. 

#2-  Security Focused- I talked about the need for security glazing.  It did not take off like I thought it would but by no means do I think this area was a dud.  I’d give myself ½ credit here and quite frankly I think I may put this on the 2017 list too. 

#3-  Greenfielding is back and new players emerge.  The new players emerging were surely a trend in 2016, but only a few greenfields and I was shocked that very few established fabricators did it.  Plus none of the bigger folks from overseas jumped in yet with facilities in North America.  They may still do it by acquisition or wait until the American dollar value changes.  This is a failed call by me at this point.

#4- Codes and Certifications.  No major issues on the code side thanks to a mellow year but also tremendous work by those who represent us at that level.  (Visit my MVP articles to see those names.)  However the certification side did get its feet down, and the work and advancement from groups like the NACC cannot be denied.

#5- More focus on birds- This was on the list in 2015 as well and the focus without a doubt continued to grow.  While there are still too many new buildings being built without bird protection in mind, many more are.  With more products than ever available, I believe this is an area of concern that will continue to be addressed and the usage of the right design and products utilized.

So overall not that bad- surely better than my sports predictions (sorry Panther and Bengal fans!)  Next week I will have my predictions for 2017…

Elsewhere….

--  The new year has begun and somewhat shockingly to me a few of the deals that I was told that will be done by year-end, still are not complete.  So I guess we’ll see if the 1st quarter breaks anything loose on that front. 

--  The Sota/Apogee deal that closed right after my last blog of 2016 is a good one for both sides and surely is a great addition to the already powerful Apogee group of companies.

--  The November Architectural Billings Index hit positive levels again with 50.6.  That is basically unchanged from the previous month.  The interesting news was new project inquiries were up sharply to 59.5.  That’s an area to watch, as with a new presidential administration this would be the first area to see any change- positive or negative.

--  Congrats to good friend and excellent rep Margaret Brune- she continues to land excellent clients, most recently curtain wall manufacturer FreMarq Innovations.  Good match of talent there and good to see!

--  Last this week- the coolest buildings of 2016 according tothe folks at Construct Connect.  4 of the 5 are on North American soil- which I am not sure has happened a lot in recent years.  Take a look and if you had anything to do with these amazing structures drop me a line!  Would love to give you proper credit for being involved in something so “cool.”

Next week- predictions for 2017, Glass Magazine issue review, a great video and more!

LINKS of the WEEK

This cracks me up… plane load of people drinks the trip dry!

My alma mater is mentioned in this article on “Jerry Maguire” and being a sports agent.  Interesting piece- and being an agent of any kind- not an easy gig.

I’m not a big fan of BuzzFeed but this list of things we were doing in the 90’s vs now is classic.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Well here it is… the end of 2016… so the final video of the year?  Funniest live TV bloopers of the year.  Enjoy…



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