Find a contractor Buyer's guide Partner with us
MCAA Logo
Log in Sign up Join Hi, there Account
2026 Midyear Registration is OPEN
Find a contractor Buyer's guide Partner
Log in Sign up Join Account

Success story: Matthew Demery

Words: Jason AderholtThe Tender Training Program offered by the Arizona Masonry Guild and the Arizona Masonry Contractors Association may seem, to some, too good to be true. Six days (48 hours) of intensive, hands-on training resulting in a new career option — all for free? You bet.

Just ask Matthew Demery, who was at a point when he was ready to take a risk and build a better life for himself. Demery credits the program with putting his life and future on the right course.

“I saw a listing on Craigslist that said I could show up for a free training program,” Demery says. “It said they’d provide the free training and explained how to be prepared, and to be ready to work hard.

In addition to learning how to build scaffolding, mix mortar, set up a station and more, Demery left the program with his OSHA training card. He is particularly proud of that accomplishment and says it helps him on the jobsite during day-to-day activities.

“The program was great,” he says. “They gave us tools, they provided us t-shirts, the fed us…and in six days, I felt really prepared to go on a jobsite and work.”

As a football fan, Demery calls the hiring process that occurs at the end of the program “ingenious.” Contractors watch the students perform their different tasks in a “tender combine” of sorts, and then are able to “draft” the workers they want.

Two months ago, Demery and one of his teammates during the combine — who is now his friend — were hired by Sun Valley Masonry in Phoenix. “I owe Sun Valley a huge debt for hiring me and want to be a good employee. I feel 100 percent comfortable doing the work. I work with guys with good hearts who feel more like friends than coworkers.”

Becoming a mason is Demery’s next goal. After all, it runs in the family: He only recently found out from his uncle that his own grandfather — who he only saw about three times — had been a mason. What a happy coincidence.
 0
PPE That Workers Actually Wear: Building Buy-In Through Education and Smart Selection
August 2026

In masonry construction, personal protective equipment (PPE) is often the last line of defense between a worker and an injury. Yet despite its importance, PPE compliance remains one of the most common challenges on jobsites across the country. The realit

Greg Brown
Safety Library
Read More
Zero Laydown: Navigating the Logistics of Tight Urban Job Sites
August 2026

In modern commercial construction, spatial real estate has become just as valuable as the materials themselves. The industry shift toward high-density, urban projects means that the sprawling job sites of the past have been replaced by tight footprints wh

Shayne Sanders
MAP Partner
Read More
Why "The Software Can't Track That" Is Finally Going Away
August 2026

For as long as specialty contractors have used field software, most of them have kept a workaround somewhere: a spreadsheet on a foreman's laptop, a whiteboard in the trailer, or a text thread where crew leads send block counts at the end of the day becau

Erin Koets
Build Smart
MAP Partner
Read More
Monadnock Building
August 2026

Chicago’s Monadnock Building doesn’t dominate the skyline the way it once did. Surrounded by steel-and-glass towers, the dark brick structure can seem almost understated. But for anyone in the masonry industry, it remains one of the most important buildin

Cass Stern
American Treasure
Brick Clay Brick
Read More