Surprising Stat

((Note- I am posting on LinkedIn as well- Follow me there to get these each Sunday))

I was pretty surprised this week when I came across this line in a story from The Wall Street Journal. “There were almost 500,000 more sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in April, according to Redfin.” Everything I see and hear is that places go up for sale, and they are snapped up immediately and usually for over asking.  (My niece sold her house in one day and for much more than the listed price) So seeing this didn’t compute with me. The story noted that interest rates are keeping people away, and this may not be the case where I live, as the story also pointed out that some markets in the Northeast and Midwest still favor sellers.  The takeaway is that it is interesting where perspective and reality meet.  Like seeing the stock market go crazy and thinking the economy (especially in our space) is going well.  Anyway, food for thought for this week- the whole article, if you are interested, is HERE.

Elsewhere… again quick hits with the Q&A at the bottom.

--  Mark your calendar for the latest NAGMA webinar, coming your way this week. It features Eric Zieger from Clear Motion Glass talking about Smart Glass Tech.  I am not super familiar with Eric and his group, so I’ll be checking it out.  It is free and happens on Wednesday, June 25th at 2PM EST.  To register, click HERE.

-- Good people end up at good companies.  The latest? Steven Acker has joined up at Harmon as Preconstruction Service Executive at Harmon Inc., located in the New York City office.  Great for both sides!! Congrats to all.

-- And a tough one for our space- the great Casey Anderson announced she was leaving ICD.  While I'm not sure where Casey goes next, I can say she made a significant impact in our industry, and it was a pleasure and honor to be in her orbit.  Best of luck, my friend, and hopefully you’ll stay in touch!

-- Did any of you follow the Karen Read trial/re-trial in Massachusetts?  It just concluded this past week and was one of the wildest, over-the-top sorts of adventures ever.  It was a case where you alternated between guilt and innocence, almost constantly.  It also had a community that was passionately divided too.  If you are unaware, start with watching a great doc on it, “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read” on HBO Max, and go from there.  And if you're aware and have thoughts, please share - I'm always open to other insights!

-- Last this week… the summer Q&A series continues.  The feedback from last week was great, and I have now lined up a few weeks of interviews.  This will help pass the summer by with good content.  This time out… I check back in with recent podcast guest Ty Clem of Window Outfitters.  The current state of immigration in the US is something Ty is extremely passionate about. It hits close to home for him.  You may not agree with his opinion or approach, but he’s absolutely sincere and hopes for a more realistic plan out there.

Max: You are very deep into what’s happening on the immigration issue both personally and professionally- I know this is something that is huge in many ways. 

Ty: On the personal side, my grandma and grandpa were born in Mexico. My great-grandparents are from full blood Indians, and my great-grandmother was from Portugal. I know other people that work in the industry that have immigrant parents that came over here and have done all right. So being in the glass industry, the last 20 years, mostly 90% of the guys I've worked around are the Latino community. A lot of these guys have been here a long time. They work hard. They do it right. They're good people. I hang out with 'em. I go to dinner with 'em, my kids hang out with their kids. A bunch of these guys have worked for me for years and they have their work visas. The problem now is that they're telling 'em they're not going to renew the visas.   And I don't understand why. I get it, let's get the criminals and the drug dealers and the gang bangers and all those people out, but with this happening you are removing a great percentage of your workforce in construction. We're going to be in big trouble here.

Max: And on the subject of workforce in construction, we’re already seeing it.  This article from Construction Dive discusses the impact, and you have your own perspective. https://www.constructiondive.com/news/ice-raids-jobsites-impact-construction-workers/749786/

Ty: You’ve got people saying let’s get rid of all the immigrant workers, but I say who will do these jobs? Some say Americans will, but immigrants have always done these jobs. I don’t see kids out of high school lined up to go into concrete or Sheetrock. I don’t hear parents saying son or daughter you should look at being a glazier after you graduate for a great career or go into the highway department. I’m not saying Americans won’t do these jobs but now it’s like I’m almost wanting to say white people won’t do these jobs and mean Americans. That’s the big problem with how the government is approaching this issue with legal immigration. They are hunting people down based off the color of their skin. How else do you drive onto a job site or pull into a factory and say who’s American or not! That’s crazy. Yea I voted for a secure border but I also voted for less government control. 

Max: For those that aren’t in it day-to-day, like you, they don’t have any idea of the journey here.

Ty: Everyone says we need new legislation and our immigration laws are broken but you don’t hear any more than that. First, I don’t blame people for coming here to give their families the best opportunity. Did they break a law and cross our border, yes, but I would have done the same thing for my family if I had to. The past administration said doors open to the land of the free and opportunity, so like any smart person living in tyranny or under cartel rule or living in a country with terrible living conditions they did what I would think every dad and mom would do for their family. They risked it all to get here and lots of them died on the journey. “Americans “ say well they should have done it right! Do they even know what that means? Probably not. It’s actually a long process (5-1/2 years) and hard to accomplish but we all think yea I woulda done it right and don’t get me wrong lots of immigrants do, very commendable.  The whole world wants to come here so the process has probably gotten a lot harder and longer than we realize. Point is we don’t even want to go to the DMV, we don’t want to stand in line at Walmart , we get impatient waiting for our meal to come out but we think that we’d all go through the immigration process step by step like we’re supposed to . I highly doubt that. We can’t even get our kids off their phones to eat dinner. Well, I can at least say not my kids. They aren’t being raised like that. 

Max: Keep at it - your passion here is truly appreciated.

Ty: We all bleed and sweat together. We all (me and my crew) went to dinner last night. I'm going to stand by them. People may want to hate me for that. That's fine. But we're going to do the right thing.

Thank you, Ty, for fighting the good fight here.  One that surely will have an impact. Next week, catching up with a strong fabricator who’s made some big moves since we last talked.

LINKS of the WEEK

-- I’m a sucker for Dogs that do the job of a batboy in a baseball game. https://apnews.com/article/nationals-bat-dog-bruce-35e1dfb0993cdecbda8d6258021c7d7d

-- Great work from these guys at the Pittsburgh Airport- finding a lost diamond.  Tremendous. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/06/18/Pittsburgh-International-Airport-diamond-ring/5541750267020/

-- Dressing up as a bear to commit insurance fraud. Really?!?https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5191741/bear-costume-insurance-fraud

PROJECT of the WEEK

My guy, Dan Plotnick of Vitro, is a superstar, and I was thrilled when he submitted this amazing project because it hits a ton of things I like. Among them, I love the use of VIG, and, of course, I am a huge fan of Mike and Joyce Cully and the team at United Plate Glass. (Goal for me is to get Mike and Joyce on my podcast.) Plus, it is a stunner.  The job is the Pittsburgh Glass Center Expansion, and kudos to all involved.  Aside from the Vacumax (still love that name) VIG, there’s Solarban® 72 on Starphire as well.  Tremendous design from Indovina Associates and was installed by Southwest Aluminum & Glass Co., and as mentioned above, fabrication by United Plate Glass (UPG) in Butler, PA.  CONGRATS to all and thanks again, Dan for dropping this one in my lap.  

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!!

AIA, Milestones, & More

AIA Boston took place this past week, and I received a mixed bag of feedback.  Some said that traffic was solid on the first day, while others said that, although there was traffic, it was the wrong kind, meaning students, other vendors, and so on—basically, people who could not specify what you were selling.  That’s always been an issue with AIA: the architects who attend avoid the floor like the plague. In some cases, more people benefit from walking the floor vs exhibiting.  I’ll note that for some day 2, with less traffic, did garner a few more quality leads.  As for the vibe check among all there, including vendors, it’s a cautious optimism and preparing to ride a longer storm than expected.  That’s not a surprise as well. So, not much more to report other than the glass industry, which showed up looking great!  I saw many pictures and videos of exhibits from our world, and we stood out, so kudos there.  Now bring those to GlassBuild in November and let’s go!  Next up is the NEOCON event in Chicago, and given its different overall focus from AIA, it will be interesting to see what the attitude is and how people are feeling about the future.

Elsewhere…

-- ICYMI! The latest “From the Fabricator” podcast is racking up the listens, and so if you’ve missed it, you may want to add it to your playlist.  Brian Risinger of Country Glass & Mirror and the Texas Glass Association, and Tom Caldicott of Unity Search were the guests, and the energy and insights they provided were truly tremendous.  Thank you to all who have checked it out, and thank you in advance to those who will do so soon!

VIDEO

AUDIO (or search “From the Fabricator” wherever you get your podcasts- Apple, Spotify etc)

Thank you as well to FHC- Frameless Hardware Company for the sponsorship of this episode!

-- Two significant anniversaries featuring some of the best people in our space have recently occurred.  First up, Brin Glass is celebrating 113 years in the industry.  That is epic, and that organization is poised to continue for another century or more!  Kudos to Priscilla “PK” Koeckeritz and the team there on this milestone.  To hear more about Brin, I have had both PK and former CEO Bill Sullivan on my podcast.  You can listen to PK’s here and Bill’s here. 

Meanwhile, Steel Encounters turned 40! Tom Jackson and the team have done an incredible job not only in their markets but for the industry overall.  Tom has always been at the forefront of promoting our industry and leading the way in recruiting and workforce development.  Steel Encounters has been a part of some fantastic projects that truly showcase the excellence of our industry.  Congrats to Tom and the team on this anniversary, and I wish them many, many more!  Also on this a very nice article here- https://www.utahcdmag.com/40-years-of-aiming-high on the journey Steel Encounters has taken. 

Plus, I also had Tom Jackson on my podcast too- you can listen to him here.

As noted above, you also search “From the Fabricator” on your podcast app and grab these or any of the other 67 podcasts I have done to date!

-- BIG NGA Thirsty Thursday is coming this week.  We have a Bluebeam session with the ultimate Bluebeam guru Troy DeGroot.  Those of you who saw Troy at BEC can attest to his presentation and skill set.  For many, he unlocked Bluebeam, enabling people to go further and deeper than they thought.  This Thursday, he brings his mastery to us via a free webinar!  Learn more and register today! https://www.glass.org/event/thirsty-thursday-bluebeam-and-beyond-how-improve-your-project-workflow

-- Private equity is slowing down, but one company is not- Thoma Bravo.  The Wall Street Journal has a great story on Bravo and what appears to be a massive glut of private equity companies battling the headwinds of our current rough economy.  Worth the read and noting there is actually a lot of money sitting on the sidelines waiting for the muck of our current situation to clear up… (If you can’t access the article and want to read, let me know!) https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/thoma-bravos-34-billion-fundraising-haul-bucks-private-equity-slowdown-dd33bb56?st=WjvZgz&reflink=article_email_share

-- Last this week… Guess what is coming to the “Tiny House” scene?  The all-glass Tiny House!  These look pretty cool, especially if you’re in an area with a view. Glass rules, folks - the more it can be used, the better!  Nice stuff here! https://www.autoevolution.com/news/this-triple-axle-tiny-house-is-wrapped-in-glass-for-a-one-of-a-kind-living-experience-252108.html

LINKS of the WEEK

Using ice to cool a building- pretty interesting! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/innovative-ice-battery-system-cool-buildings-lower-energy-costs/

A new style of magnifying glass? https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/etsy-co-founders-new-startup-is-making-what-really-looks-like-a-mixed-reality-magnifying-glass-224247515.html

Every year, I think I post about some hidden door found during remodeling.  Here’s this year's entry. https://www.newsweek.com/family-rip-down-wall-reveal-245-year-old-door-shock-where-leads-2079708

PROJECT of the WEEK

Got this one from the fabulous Marion Pynn of Walker Glass.  Her comments were:

This is a personal favourite. The original bank building is an Art Deco icon, and it's been renovated to improve sustainability and occupant comfort. Glass nerds like us will especially enjoy the new bronze mirror covering the lobby walls, echoing the gold accents from the original Art Deco design.

Architect: B+H Architects

Fabricator: Imagic Glass

Glazier: Redspire Architectural Glass

Thank you, Marion!  This is an excellent use for acid-etch mirror, and it's beautiful.  Kudos to the team at Walker, as well as my friend Adam Shearer at Imagic Glass, on the fabrication. (Adam still may be dealing with the Maple Leafs loss, so maybe this project spotlight will cheer him up!)