FIND A CONTRACTOR BUYER'S GUIDE
BECOME AN INDUSTRY PARTNER
MCAA Logo
MEMBER LOGIN JOIN
NEWS
Join Us For The 75th Anniversary Midyear Meeting Sep 7-11 ↗

MCAA Regional Report, Region A

Words: Michael SchmerbeckConnecticut - No State Chair
Delaware - No State Chair
Maine - No State Chair
Maryland - Steve Sullivan
Massachusetts - Jim McEttrick
New Hampshire - Kerry Gagnon

The entire Northeast Corridor has been working off backlog for the past 12 months as new projects are scarce and this backlog is beginning to vanish. Speaking only for the PA, NJ and NY Markets which I know very well (but I believe the same holds true for the entire Northeast).

Bidding during the calendar year 2009 has been fairly bleak but there has been a very slight increase in activity during the last 6 weeks in both private and public work. Most of the large Construction Managers are reporting a slight increase in pre-construction activity during the last few months but the majority of this work will not translate into trowels in the field until 2011 at the earliest. We are anticipating 2010 to be the worst year of construction in the past 25 years or so! We anticipate sales volumes to drop to below 50% of previous years, even greater for many. But the silver lining to 2010 will be the increase in bidding activity that we anticipate to occur during the last half of the calendar year that will at least give us hope for 2011.

I wish I could offer better news or something inspirational but this is surely better than my first attempt which was simply “It Sucks!”
 0
From Bikes to Buildings: Part 2
September 2025

As rainscreen wall designs become increasingly prevalent in today’s construction environment, there have been questions regarding their design. How wide should the capillary break be? How do we create this capillary break? Can the same methods be used i

Keith Lolley
Technical Talks
Read More
Vibing Masonry #8: CMU’s Durability and Maintenance Value
September 2025

Heading to Spokane, WA, I found myself riding the airport tram at O’Hare in Chicago. Looking out the window at a part of the 26-year-old International Terminal 5, I spotted a painted structural steel beam in front of a concrete masonry unit (CMU) wall. Th

Steve Blye
Technical Talks
Read More
Keeping it Clean: Lifecycle Maintenance for Manufactured Stone Veneer
September 2025

One of the many benefits of manufactured stone veneer is that it’s a robust, durable product that requires little maintenance over the course of its life span. In fact, its irregularity in shape and color helps hide minor dirt and dust. But like any build

Jeff Tew
Technical Talks
Read More
MCAA's Wall Evaluator: The Future of Masonry Training and Assessment
September 2025

MCAA Wall Evaluator, Masonry Training, Masonry Assessment, 3D Scanner, AR Glasses, Digital Twin, Digital Mesh, Point Cloud, Infrared VCSEL, Vocational Technology, EdTech, Standardized Assessment, Objective Evaluation, Data-Driven Feedback, Portable Traini

Dan Kamys Jason Blake Jeff Buczkiewicz Jordan Van Leeuwen
Read More