Message from Doug

Betting on Atlanta

When I decided to run my first marathon a
couple of years ago, I read somewhere that
only 25% of all people that complete the
26.2 mile race do so in less than four hours. 
I made my mind up at that moment to be
one of those in the top 25%.  I’m happy to
say that I finished the Miami Marathon this
past February in 3 hours and 43 minutes.

This is shaping up to be an interesting year for Metro Atlanta as well as the nation.  People are often skittish during an election year.  Some people hold off on major purchases until after the election, while others move forward through the uncertainty.  We’ll see how this year plays out. 

For many of us, the thought of Hillary winning the Presidential election is unbearable.  Nearly half of republican voters feel only slightly less afraid of Trump being elected to the top post on the planet.  With potential Supreme Court appointments, the future of Obamacare, geopolitical instability, and economic troubles in China and elsewhere, this is shaping up to be the most important election of our time.

In spite of the gloomy issues I just mentioned, we at Herbert Construction Co. are bullish on Metro Atlanta.  Atlanta continues to add new jobs as it attracts great companies to the area.  New job creation is the driver of any free-market economy.  Residential and commercial construction follow quickly behind.

Herbert Construction Co. is betting on Atlanta’s future.  We recently invested in a new Robotic Total Station layout instrument to layout our foundations with even higher efficiency and accuracy.  We also purchased a concrete pump truck and hired the best operator in the South to run it (see page 3 for more info). This will improve our scheduling and responsiveness.  And, our system for hiring and training new laborers is constantly being refined.

We also continue to invest our time and money educating ourselves on the latest codes, industry changes, and concrete contractor best practices. For example, I am the Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Concrete Foundations Association. And, through our activity within the American Concrete Institute, Barry Herbert and I are helping to shape future building codes. 

Part of that education and networking with our peers takes place annually at the World of Concrete convention in Las Vegas.  You can read more about the largest annual gathering of concrete contractors in the world on page 2.

Our company is taking the necessary steps to continue moving forward.  To be the most valuable subcontractor to our existing clients, and to add more new clients throughout this coming year.

Goals for the Year

We are well into the third month of the year already.  In a week or so, we will be a quarter of the way through 2016.  If you set goals at the beginning of the year for yourself and your business, you should be almost 25% along the path of attaining your goals.  I am a little behind on some goals that I set, and on track with others.  It’s not too late to set goals for what you want out of this year.

To Your Success,

Recent Referrals - Thank You!

We have made it through the winter and have landed safely into spring. This is planting season for a lot of us in Georgia and soon the Azaleas and the Iris’s will be in full bloom. Preparations for Easter are being made and we are all still getting used to the longer days that accompany Daylight Savings Time. It’s a great time of year to be thankful for nature and the truly beautiful things that surround us during this season. We would like to thank a few of our readers for promoting our work and sending their friends and associates our way. You guys are GREAT!

James Baty, Concrete Foundations Association – Director  www.CFAwalls.org

Steve Frey, Due West Builders – Homebuilder   www.DueWestBuilders.com

Jackie Cope, Cope Builders – Homebuilder  770-386-2242

Vote for the Project of the Year

Voting Made Easy

If you would like to vote for one of the projects that we submitted to the Project of the Year competition for the CFA, it’s very easy to do! Just go online to www.CFAwalls.org and cast your vote from their website. 

Project # 6 is in the Single Family (greater than 5000 Sq. ft.) category.   

 

Project # 9 is in the Commercial/multi-family category.

World of Concrete Convention

By Doug Herbert

Concrete contractors and suppliers from around the world gather to discuss and
view innovative products and strategies that are currently available to our industry.

“How do we make our company an irreplaceable part of our clients’ business?”

“How do we continue to make ourselves more and more valuable to our clients?”

Those are some of the questions I had in mind as I attended the World of Concrete convention in Las Vegas last month.  I was searching for answers to these questions while walking the convention floors, as well as during my discussions with our peers in the industry. 

I was also looking for technology and equipment innovations that would save money, reduce manpower requirements, and speed up productivity.  While chatting with our contractor friends, I was listening for tips, tactics and strategies that could help us find and train new employees, and reduce labor costs.

As Treasurer of the association, Doug Herbert attended
the Concrete Foundations Association Board of Directors
meeting while in Las Vegas.

The World of Concrete convention is the largest annual gathering of concrete contractors in the world.  Attendees come from all over the globe.  This year’s event was the largest in seven years, signaling an overall improvement in the U.S. economy.

While at the event, I was able to find some answers to those questions.  I learned a few tools and techniques that will make us a better company.  These are things that will provide more value to our clients, improve our ability to hire and train laborers, be more productive, and remain the most professional foundation contractor in the southeast. 

Speaking Engagement

I was also at World of Concrete to give two presentations.  The organizers of the

The gold lot at the World Of Concrete is teeming
with vendors demonstrating many of the new
advancements in our industry on a sunny
Las Vegas afternoon.

massive event hired me to speak for two education sessions. 

During the first presentation, I showed 300 attendees how to create systems within their business for repeatable, predictable results.  For the second presentation, I shared effective marketing techniques that concrete contractors can use in their businesses.

This was the third year that I’ve been asked to speak at the event.  It was a great experience.  It is true that the teacher always learns more than the student.  This year was no exception to that.

Project of the Year Entry

Two Atlanta projects were on display at the convention.  Herbert Construction Co. completed the projects and entered them into the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) Project of the Year competition.

The CFA is the voice and recognized authority of the residential foundation industry.  Our company is a long-time member of that great organization.  Each year the CFA holds its Project of the Year competition for the finest foundations constructed in North America.  Any of the 60,000+ attendees of the World of Concrete can vote on the Project of the Year entries during the convention.  Our company is a five-time winner of the award.

This year we submitted two projects for that competition.  The first project is an enormous single-family residence foundation that we constructed for Brody Dernehl of the Dernehl Company. 

The second project we submitted was in the commercial category.  That project includes a beautiful architectural concrete wall and building foundation at a shopping complex for Glenn Gilbert of Outsource Construction.

The voting for the competition ends in a few weeks.  Wish us luck!

New Client Spotlight—Gunderman Construction

Rich Gunderman (left) and Keith Bost (Right) speak to Ashley Hollifield
about their recent experience working with Herbert Construction Company.

Welcome Rich Gunderman of Gunderman Construction. Rich is a homebuilder based in Calhoun, GA with many years of experience in building new homes. He obtained his contractor’s license at the young age of 20 after becoming inspired by a teacher that mentored him in high school. He started his career as a builder with America’s Home Place and in 2008 he decided to start his own company. Gunderman Construction focuses primarily on residential and light commercial new construction.

Recently, Rich had a project he was working on for an organization called Homes For Our Troops. This is an organization that builds homes for service members who have been critically injured overseas and require modifications to be made to their homes for better accessibility.

Keith Bost, the estimator for Gunderman Construction, called us to construct a safe room for one of these homes. This particular home was to be built on a slab foundation, so the safe room was constructed directly on top of the slab. This will provide easy accessibility to protection in case of an emergency for this recovering veteran.

Speaking to Rich and Keith after we poured the safe room, they were very pleased with the job we did. Keith stated, “Herbert was the most professional poured wall company I have ever worked with. I felt like we got a fair price and we were very satisfied with the work.” Rich then added, “We will definitely be sending more work your way, and will send others any time we get the chance. We really were impressed with how easy the process was.”

We enjoyed working with Gunderman Construction on this project and hope to work with them on many more in the near future.

Homes For Our Troops is a charitable organization that has built 290 homes for severely disabled veterans nationwide since 2004. All of these homes have been presented to each veteran 100% mortgage free. Homes for our troops receives 70% of its’s funds from individual supporters and community groups.

If you would like additional information on how to donate please visit www.hfotusa.org.

Raising the Bar — New Pump and Exceptional Operator

We are very happy to welcome Stony Moorhead to our company! Stony is now our fantastic and highly skilled concrete pump operator. Stony is a past winner of the “Pump Operator of the Year” award from the American Concrete Pumping Association. Having Stony join our team is momentous not only because he has been a family friend for a very long time, but he comes to Herbert with over 30 years of concrete pumping experience. His skills are very beneficial to our company due to his ability to operate our pump truck on various inclines and tight situations - all while accounting for the safety of our men.

Stony will be operating a 40 meter pump that we recently purchased. This 40 meter pump replaces our older 32 meter pump truck. Stony and the larger pump will help us tremendously in the production of our work. They will allow us to be more flexible and more responsive to our customers’ schedule.