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| Founding MAF Members |
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Contractor Members
Advanced Masonry Systems
Allan Spear Construction
BBA MCI
Berard Creative Concepts
Blockbusters
Carlton-Walker Masonry
Central Broward Construction
Coastal Masonry, Inc.
Cocoa, Inc.
D Lenn Masonry
David Nelson Masonry
Falcon Contractors
GBL Group Inc.
General Masonry
George Lenze Construction
Ginty Construction
Henley Concrete & Masonry
J.A.M. Construction
Jim Fox, Inc.
Masonry Arts, Inc.
Mike Flynn Masonry
Oceanside Masonry
Overberg Masonry
Painter Masonry
Pyramid Masonry
Red Brookshire of Florida
Ron Kendall Masonry
Southern State Masonry
Sunchase Construction
Suncoast Builders Development
Target Masonry, Inc.
Tucci Masonry,Inc.
Turley Construction & Restoration, LLC
Van Goettling Masonry
Associate Members
Adrian Engineering
Bar-Fab of Florida
Brick America
Brick Industry
Association -SE Region
Buddy's Transport
Carolina Stalite
Cast Crete
Florida Silica Sand Company
Form Block - Florida
Gordy's Equipment of Broward
Grace Construction Products
Heartland Payment Systems
Holcim (US) Inc.
Lott's Precast
M.I.T.
Masonpro
Master Construction Products
Medallion Financial Services
MortarNet USA
Oldcastle Coastal Distribution
Powers Steel, Inc.
Quality Pre-cast
Southern Foam Insulation
Spring Lock Scaffolding
Supranos Systems
Tailored Foam of Florida
The Euclid Chemical Company
TNT Equipment
W.R. Grace Construction Products
Producer Members
A-1 Block Corporation
Block USA
B.E.T - ER Mix
Bell Concrete Products
Cemex Construction Materials, LLC.
Commercial Concrete - Lakeland
Florida Block & Ready Mix
Oldcastle Coastal
Prestige Concrete Products
Tarmac America, Inc.
Vulcan Materials - Florida Rock
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| MAF Central Chapter Golf Tournament |
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April 15, 2009
Forest Lake Golf Club
Ocoee, FL 34761
407-654-4653
Help Support Apprenticeship! |
| Codes Questions & Answers |
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Executive Director |
Pat McLaughlin
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MAF Membership |
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| Joyce Rivas
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MAF Marketing |
Deb Bartolucci |
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Chairman's Comments
A Member benefit short story
A member of a Masonry Association of Florida, previously a regular participant, had recently stopped going to meetings. After a few months, the chairman of the local association decided to pay the member a visit. It was a chilly evening and member was at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for the visit, the member welcomed the visitor, directed him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The visitor made himself at home but said nothing.
In silence,they both contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the visitor took the fire tongs, picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The member watched this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The visitor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the visitor reached the door to leave, the member thanked him for his visit and especially for the 'fiery' industry conversation and promised to return to the association meetings.
We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the words that make the biggest impact are those left unspoken. PARTICIPATE and benefit from the warmth of the fire-as we 'sell' masonry systems in Florida CLICK HERE to JOIN the new 'maf' TODAY! | |
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Director's Diary
Patrick J. McLaughlin - Executive Director - Masonry Associaiton of Florida, Inc. - Pat@mafl.org
Your association continues to grow! My month's highlight occurred when Charley Haggas of Haggas Masonry (Hobe Sound) stood up after the March 25th Treasure Coast MAF meeting and said "Masonry Contractors have to stick together for the brotherhood!" It was really refreshing that Charley got it!
I'm sure you have heard mottos such as "No Pain, No Gain;" "The More Pain, The More Gain;" and "Pain is the Touchstone of Change." After meeting with this industry's leaders and discussing their pain and frustration with their "brothers", I now know we are on the right track.
We are receiving positive indication that the engineering community in this state really does know how to design with masonry. Don surveyed engineers who completed our Structural Masonry Design Course and found that they "get it." The engineers also told us that we need to educate the architectural community, and that masonry is the "BEST" building system. We are now working on the architects - our next audience to "get it."
The opportunity for the masonry industry is endless. However, to capitalize on this opportunity, we need to stick together for the brotherhood. This will, unfortunately, require some growing pains as we undertake what this industry has never done before - band together for the good of the industry! As we say in our association presentation: "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."
Thank you, Charley, for standing up for our industry!
Let's survive - and thrive - another great month!
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Founding Members Drive
Where are we in our Membership drive?
That's the big question. Early on March 31st, the 'new' MAF membership committee had it's first quarter teleconference.
Included in the agenda was a review of membership statistics:
- 34 contractors, 34% of Goal of 100 total contractors
- Average contractor contribution is $2,514
- 30 Associates with an average contribution of $2,178
- Total $148,300 dues from Contractors and Associates, 99% of goal of $150,000
- 10 Producers representing 75% of the industry cavities and 91% of the producer goal of 80% industry cavities.
This is pretty good for the first quarter. Although, there is a lot more to do to build our membership, the local chapters have certainly done a terrific job rallying together during the complexities of the marketplace. According to our strategic plan there were initially 43 contractor members, 12 block producers and 45 suppliers. With the downturn of the marketplace, we've got our work cut out to get new members involved in our new 'sales' and 'promotion' of masonry systems. |
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ProMasonry Propaganda
Platform Update:
The revised platform for 2009 was reviewed at the April 1st meeting in Orlando. The new paltform and minutes will be posted on the ProMasonry page of www.mafl.org for reference. |
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Engineering Elements
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 Promotional Activities Update
During the CSI Exhibit last month, Keith Colter of Dooley and Mack, a General Contractor, headquartered in Sarasota stopped by the the table. Keith called Dave Luebs and mentioned that Dooley and Mack were having an educational venue for their Project Managers and estimators and asked Dave to do a 15 -30 minute overview on MasonrySystems.org.
So good news - it's working!!!--- a direct spin-off from the efforts at CSI! Dave brought SMDS, info plus handouts on the workshop. WOW! The 'new' MAF's primary goal is to 'sell' masonry systems in Florida...great job to all involved!
Please contact myself or any Masonry Association of Florida PROMASONRY team members with your ideas on regaining market share don@mafl.org |
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Openings in Masonry Walls for Residential Construction - What's New for the Mason
The Florida Building Code, 2007 Edition, contains several new items related to the openings in masonry walls for fenestration openings. New provisions to the Florida Building Code, Building (FBCB) and Residential (FBCR) mandate inspectors verify the dimensions of rough openings and specify rough opening tolerances. The mason can expect increased scrutiny of rough opening dimensions during framing inspections where the inspector is required to verify the dimensions are within tolerances. A question has arisen regarding the reason the industry sponsored the code changes.
Please watch the www.MAFL.org CODES section for further updates, new information and enhancements. The Codes Message Board is up and running...submit your queries!
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Foundation Footnotes
The Foundation has been very active in the past few weeks with many different activities related to apprenticeship and training.
Some 2009 1st Quarter Activities Include:
Upcoming Seminars:
- April 22 - Structural Masonry Design Seminar - Fort Lauderdale, Fl Register Here
- April 24 - 25 - Masonry Construction & Inspection Certification Workshop - Clearwater, FL Register Here
- May 11-14 - OSHA 500 Training - Orlando, FL
Registration will be available soon on www.masonryeducation.org
Please feel free to contact me at 904-838-6531or al@masonryeducation.org if you have questions. |
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Member Benefits
James Ball - Medallion Financial Resources - medallionfr@verizon.net
Q & A :
Dear Jim,
Should an individual set up a traditional or Roth IRA?
Sincerely,
Floundering in Florida Masonry
Dear Floundering,
With March coming to a close we are finally getting some relief in the market. Hopefully this uptick will stick. In most cases the small tax deduction available in the traditional is not worth the value of all the money coming out tax free at retirement. In fact, for many it is much more worthwhile to get a life insurance policy. You can get tax free lifetime income and provide a benefit to the family in a premature death situation. In any scenario it is critical to do something. Today 94% of people retire to a substandard level of living. It's your choice. Do you want to be a 94%er or a 6%er? If you have questions or want clarification, please give me a call@ 941-486-0305 or E-mail Medallionfr@verizon.net.
Thank you for the opportunity to do business with your association. . Please do not hesitate to contact me either through www.mafl.org /Member Benefits section or call me with any financial questions or challenges. There is absolultely no charge or obligation for consultation for Masonry Association member companies, employees or families. I am available to attend your local chapter meetings for presentations on any benefit topic! Write to " Dear Jim" for all of your financial questions
Registered Principal of and Securities offered through National Planning Corp. (NPC) MemberFINRA, SIPC, Medallion Financial Resources and NPC are separate and unrelated companies.
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Member communications | Heartbeat Team
John Rehrer | Website Committee Chairman | jrehrer@titanamerica.com
Lisa Pelham | Co-chair | lisa@a1block.com |
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The www.mafl.org website has been getting updates daily and really becoming a fully functional tool f or all members of the MAF to use. We hope that everyone has had a chance to explore the site and see all of the information offered. In last month's newsletter we requested volunteers to join our 'Heartbeat' team and have gotten a great response. Thanks to all of you who have volunteered your time to help make the www.MAFL.org website a success.
Last month you were invited to take part in a webinar to introduce you to a partner website that is a new and exciting tool to promote masonry to architects and engineers, www.masonrysystems.org . For those of you who do not know www.Masonrysystems.org is a nationwide website that other masonry associations like ours across the country have joined together to promote our time tested product. You can find a link in the design center section of our website. Masonrysystems.org has all of the technical information that an engineer would need to help him or her design a beautiful masonry building that we can all be proud to have in our cities and towns.
Over the next few months the 'heartbeat' team members should be giving presentations on the www.masonrysystems.com website to the different chapters across the state. Please check out this new tool , which is being promoted to architects and design professionals. Coming soon.... www.floridamasonry.com which is the gateway to 'everything---related to our masonry industry.
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| Masonry Construction & Inspection Certification Workshop
 April 24 & 25, 2009
St. Petersburg College Corporate Training 13805 58th Street No. Room 1-324 Clearwater Fl 33760
MAF Members:
First time Attendees $349
Re-certification $199
Non-MAF Members:
First time Attendees $399
Re-certification $249
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| Structural Masonry Design Seminar
Date: April 22, 2009
Time: 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM (Lunch Served)
Location: Fort Lauderdale
Price: $199.00
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| MasonrySystems.org
Inspiration. Information. Interaction.
A comprehensive industry website and a gateway to all of the best information that exists about masonry wall systems. A single resource that pulls together all of the pieces of the masonry puzzle and all the sources of information about it in one user-friendly place. A unified source of information, inspiration and interaction for everyone who uses masonry.
As an industry, it is our job to provide you with information that will make it easier for you to comfortably, safely and cost effectively design with masonry.
This research tool has been developed by the Masonry Executives Council, an informal coalition of nearly three dozen state and regional masonry associations that work together to promote the use and understanding of brick, block and stone wall systems.
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