This and That

I hate being the one to deliver bad news, but right now, it is what it is… and you can’t just bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away.  This week, the latest Construction Stress Index was released, and it was ugly. Private work is getting abandoned at record levels, and the index is now 22.8% above the baseline set in 2021.  To read in more detail- go HERE.  Then, get back to the basics to continue riding it all out.  Note I remain confident that once we get some stability things will start to break free… but the question of when that happens is a big one.

Elsewhere… some quick hits as I am trying something new at the end of this section

-- The NeoCon show in Chicago got very positive reviews. Nice to see, especially since the interior space has had its challenges. 

-- Congrats to my friend Nathan Seaman on his new gig at Form Metal Systems.  Nathan is a remarkable talent and person, and a big key in the formation of the California Glass Association.  I appreciate his drive and desire to work for the best of our industry.

-- Got word that John Aiello Sr. will be retiring at the end of this month. 60 years in our industry, and took part in some iconic jobs in the Pittsburgh area and beyond.  His contributions to our space were immense.  Congratulations, John, on your retirement. Go enjoy some serious fishing!

-- I know most of you reading are commercial players, but I do have a batch of residential folks, so this is for you. Window + Door Magazine is running a poll about the potential effects of eliminating Energy Star.  Would you mind going to this link and casting your vote?  Thank you

So, last this week… since summer is light on news, I am going to bring back some quick Q&As to the blog.  I had done this in the summers- way back before the podcast- so here we go again.  This time, a salute to Mike Willard, CEO/Owner of Salem Fabrication Technologies, as this past week, after 40 years, he’s hanging ‘em up.  A very good man with a strong career, one that started at Pilkington and lasted 13 years before going to Salem. I caught up with him this week to talk about the past, the industry, and what he’s going to do next.

Max: What are you most proud of in your career?

Mike Willard: I came to Salem in June 15th, 1999. But I would say what I'm most proud of is the ESOP that we have here at Salem, and it's just a great wealth building tool for our employee owners, and it's been very satisfying for me to see the account balances grow for these employees. And of course, with an ESOP, they're not putting any of their own money into it, much like a 401k. So, it's all company generated, and we've had employees retire and they've got additional wealth that they didn't count on along with their 401k and personal investments and social security. So yeah, I'm just very proud of that. And Salem is a very well-known company within the ESOP world. We go to conferences and people know us, they know who we are, and they know myself and our CFO, Gail Marett, and it's just been very satisfying, 

Max: What will you miss the most about our wonderful Industry?

Mike: Oh, clearly people like you. I mean, just all the people. We got great customers, great suppliers. I'm going to miss that a lot. I'll miss not going to GlassBuild later this fall. Miss going to Dusseldorf every other year. So, I've enjoyed the travel, enjoyed meeting with our vendors as time progressed. I've been in sales all my life. Customers were always number one, but as I matured through my career, suppliers were number one. Just the value of having great suppliers and delivering great products to us was very important to me. So, all supplier development was important to me. So yes, I'll miss all that 

Max: Salem is in great hands, Dan Reinhart and the other owners there, rowing in the right direction. It's got to make you feel good as you retire that you've left the company in really good shape. 

Mike: As you know, Terry (Hessom) and Mike (Synon) retired last December. And selfishly, I could have retired at the same time, and I would get my first ESOP payout probably this month, actually. But I didn't think the optics on that were going to be very good. People will make up their own stories about the whole executive team leaving at the same time. So decided to stay on until now. And so I just said, well, I joined the company June 15th, 99. I'll depart the company on June 15th, 2025. But yes, we have left the company in good hands. I worked on succession plans for about three years, and so vetted out people to replace Mike and Terry. I think we have some great replacements to fill their roles. And yes, Dan's going to be a great leader. He's been with us for 14 years, and he'll do a fine job. 

Max: What's next for you? You mentioned Terry and Mike, and I know Terry went onto a boat and started fishing. 

Mike: My wife was a middle school principal, and so as I traveled throughout the world, she couldn't leave school. So yes, I'm going to take her on a lot of places that I've been to and experienced. We'll be doing a lot of traveling. We're going to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary on the 29th this month. We're going to Key West later this month. And then she's got four sisters and we’re going to a family reunion up at Cape Cod. That's August and then September, we have a southern Caribbean cruise. And I'm going to start planning a trip to Italy probably September, October. So probably go over there for a couple weeks and just hang out. 

Max: Any final words of advice for the industry you're leaving behind? Any words of wisdom from you? 

Mike: Gosh, I would love to see more innovation. I think the Europeans are far ahead of us as far as innovation. I think the industry needs to get into more automation, which we're starting to slowly see.  I guess that would be the biggest. But it's great industry. I've been doing it for 40 years and have really, really enjoyed my experience. 

Thank you, Mike, for all that you have done. Enjoy the next phase of your life!

LINKS of the WEEK

A runaway pet Zebra named Ed… was on the loose this week.  A pet zebra….

https://apnews.com/article/runaway-pet-zebra-captured-tennessee-54669b2fc2c1dffb87a09f4081d6c135

Incredibly cool- middle schoolers designing a prosthetic for a paralyzed labradoodle.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/06/12/Valley-Catholic-Middle-School-prosthetics-dog/9191749748577/

Guess we’ll make this an all-animal edition of the links…. This one... a bear casually walking the streets in Connecticut. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/black-bear-spotted-casually-roaming-155510284.html

PROJECT of the WEEK

I’m a fan of Daniel Capen on Noble Custom Glass & Mirror, and I usually see him heavy on the shower door side.  But this recent commercial one caught my eye and I decided it deserved this week’s spotlight.   Nice work on this structure, and it was good to see Daniel recognize Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope and Skyreach Equipment for their collaboration on it all.  Kudos to Daniel and the great team at Noble on a job well done!!