This past summer, leaders from six trade associations and the Metal Construction Association came together to find the best way to bring their collective resources together to grow the metal construction market.
The Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association (DASMA), the Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association (MBCEA), the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA), the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA), the National Frame Building Association (NFBA), and the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) agreed that to grow this industry is to focus primarily on education over the course of the next year and beyond.
How will it be done?
There was agreement that the target audience be architects, specifiers and engineers. With education currently being done on a project-by-project basis, industry leaders believe readily available, widely accepted educational tools on these issues would be useful to their own association members and the entire industry.
“We’ve done one-on-one education, taking pictures of jobs that show that metal is attractive and pointing out [limits to] their codes,” said National Frame Building Association Chairman Elect Ken Gieseke, “Getting tools to help us as an industry would be huge.”
NFBA has more than 700 members, including contractors, suppliers, and design professionals. The association seeks to expand the use of post-frame construction, educate builders and decision makers on post-frame construction, provide technical research, and market the benefits of post-frame construction.
Getting out messages like this to influencers of construction and consumers is key to growing the industry.
However, all the groups promote professionalism and provide education and training to their members, and some provide accreditation.
The 52-year-old NCCA, which has about 100 members, promotes the growth of pre-painted metal. It serves as the voice of the coil coating industry for technical, promotional, education, and regulatory matters. The 46-year-old MBCEA provides, among other things, national standardized testing and apprenticeship and accreditation programs. It has seen a 30% jump in its membership of metal building contractors and erectors over the past year, according to MBCEA President Gary Smith.
To find out more about how GET, LLC, through our metal building partners can help with your next steel building or aluminium roofing project, give us a call at 671-483-0789 or our website at www.get-guam.com for more information.