Yes on the Future, Meh on the Current

Lost in the mega TEXpo recap from last week was the latest release of the Architectural Billings Index. That metric has been on a roll lately and the latest score continued that trend with a mighty score of 57.9 which is one of the highest ratings of all time.  That is a giant number showing a ton of confidence in future work.  The immediate analysis pointed to pent up demand AND to retrofit.  I have been hammering the retrofit side for a while as a huge growth area and it’s great to see the experts agree.  The only bad news here is this is future based, so we’ll get to enjoy this run later this year and into next but right now for the areas that are soft- and there’s a bunch- this doesn’t help.  Next week I am going to dive into that situation and give some clarity of why we’ve now hit that center of the donut (in my year preview blog I explained 2021 was going to be like a donut with a hole in the middle- looks like we are here). In the meantime, this trend is our friend, so let’s ride…

 

Elsewhere…

 

--  GlassBuild America registration opens this week!! Yes, it is time to get BACK to the largest glass show in North America and maybe the biggest one in the world in 2021.  This year also they are doing a cool promotion- register early and become eligible to get on the show floor early!  No more waiting for the clock to strike 10 on day 1- you’ll be able to skip that line come in ahead of the rush.  But you gotta sign up early- so get to it!!  I’ll post registration details when they open on my social media accounts.

 

--  The latest Glass Magazine is out and it’s one of the more popular issues of the year featuring the “Top 50 Glaziers” and more.  Nothing gets our industry going like a list like this and congrats to everyone on it! Norah Dick and Katy Devlin did an amazing job with their coverage of the list and players. (Tons of stats and benchmarks- really good deep dive!)  Plus as always so many other good pieces of content in here.  Check it out!

 

--  The ad of the month… tough one with a bunch of advertisers I have not seen a lot of but the winner is someone I see pretty much monthly but this effort caught my eye!  CR Laurence gets the nod for the best of the month for their Bi-Fold door ad and the use of color and shapes.  Really sharp ad that passes my test of “did it make me stop and read?” and the answer is absolutely YES. Congrats to Barbara Haaksma and the team at CRL on a job well done!

--  You know if you read this blog I love good info being shared (other blogs) and we have a few to link to this week.  First from Glass 3 Enterprises a smart rundown on the benefits of designing with laminated glass.  I love lami and I think it’s still an underrated product out there.  Excellent piece.  Next one of my all-time favorites Rick Alexander of Tom Brown posted another tremendous blog on VHB tapes with an ode back to 1980 when Rick was probably a pre-teen glazier maybe?   Rick always delivers!  And last was this outstanding piece from Kensington Glass Arts on interior design trends and using our favorite product.  I’m bullish on the interior space and this helps cement that!  Nice work everyone!

 

--  Not a company blog like the above but via LinkedIn I caught a super read on Solar Heat Gain Co-efficient. Thanks to Seth Madole at Viracon for tagging me in on it as otherwise no way I catch it.  Excellent read on this subject and what it’s true effect is on the building design, how you tune it in, etc.  Deep dive and a good one! Nice work Brandon Andow!

 

--  Last this week… I think with regards to travel we are back to pre-pandemic standards.  Airports are busy and feeling normal.  Planes are packed again (RIP the empty middle seat on Delta, man I loved you!) and parts of airports that were shutdown are back. So now that we are seemingly back here’s a great link of some of the best airport interiors in the world.  I usually call ones out here when I see them and now that things are normalizing expect that to be back… but until then this awesome photo essay will have to do!

 

LINKS of the WEEK

Crazy story- 4 different car accidents into the same house?  Yeesh.

 

Hey a party goes crazy viral- let’s do this for GlassBuild! LOL (No, please)

 

Pretty cool “flight to nowhere” but even with the views, I fly too much as it is….so I’d pass.

 

PROJECT of the WEEK

A new company for me gets the honor this week!  Congrats to East Coast Glass of Greenville on this sharp Farmville Library job.  I just love the look and feel of it and the glass and glazing look tremendous.  Tubelite on the framing, Trulite on the glass.  Great job by the East Coast Glass team and all others involved!