Taking on Technology

Less than three dozen concrete industry professionals converged on the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency, May 6 through 8, braving rainy weather to attend the 2007 Concrete Home Building Council’s (CHBC) Concrete Technology Tour. But despite the fewer-than-expected numbers participants got their money’s worth.

Visiting as many cement-based building materials and concrete-related equipment manufacturing facilities as possible in the three-day event was the goal. Tours of facilities included prestressed/precast manufacturer Molin Concrete Products Company, concrete pump manufacturer, Schwing America, Inc., decorative concrete materials manufacturer Becker Architectural Concrete, cement manufacturer Holcim (U.S.) Inc., block maker Anchor Block Company and regional ready mix supplier Cemstone Products Company. An unscheduled stop at an insulating concrete form (ICF) home under construction, arranged by tour co-sponsor Reward Walls, added spice.

“We created the tour to see facilities that you can’t see any other way, and from the feedback we have received, it seems we succeeded” says Kate Driscoll, Senior Program Manager, CHBC. “We were really grateful so many industry leaders allowed us to visit their operations.”

Despite the small numbers, the tour was a “who’s who in concrete home building” event, with many of the major form manufacturing and concrete promotional groups represented, as well as small and mid-sized builders looking to grow and innovate during this transitional period in construction.

But seeing and being seen was not on the minds of most attendees; they were there to learn. The tour offered lessons on just about every hot topic in concrete construction, from precast bridge beams to concrete pump and concrete mixer truck manufacturing, ready mix design development, step-by-step how-to creation of colored and stamped decorative concrete slabs, and the sustainability of masonry block in a green building environment.

But concrete homeowners Gary and Jan Sotebeer were the real highlights of the tour. Speaking from the site of their 5,000 square foot ICF home under construction by Kyle Smith, Polar ICF, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the Sotebeers so passionately praised concrete’s advantages—such as no mold growth in walls, quietness and structural integrity—in an unsolicited testimonial that the couple’s enthusiasm clearly left attendees speechless.

“Everything about this home is so superior to a stick-built house that I simply can’t say enough about it,” Sotebeer, an advertising and marketing executive told the group. “If you build these kinds of homes, you are sitting on a gold mine.”

Humbly referring to himself as a “mover, although not necessarily a shaker,” who came on the tour specifically to network with other builders, Mike Van Haren, Van Haren Construction, Faribault, Minnesota, agrees. Despite the languishing basement market nationwide, the concrete home market is flourishing, he says.

“We’ve been doing insulating concrete forms since 1989 and we have a pretty good clientele built up,” says Van Haren, who built 15 concrete homes in the past year. It continues to show promise. “2007 is looking to be a pretty good year,” he says. “I’m only here to sharpen the saw.”

Indeed, taking time to sharpen the saw was strategy for many of the attendees. “A bit of a slowdown—as long as it doesn’t really damage the economy—allows builders to look at new technology as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition,” says Mike Weber, director, residential program, Portland Cement Association. “Comparing apples to apples, concrete wall systems are by far a superior choice.”

Currently the CHBC, sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders, offers nine how-to-build-with-concrete educational programs provided to and taught by local home builder associations. “There is everything from how to properly design basement wall to installing fiber cement siding, disaster resistance mitigation, and how to build with the different systems,” says Weber. “All a builder has to do to is ask.”

Is the program affecting the overall market? “We’ve taken the concrete home construction market from 3% in 1993 to 17.5% in 2005,” answers Weber. That is a strong statement but it becomes even stronger when you consider the market has been its most robust in the residential market place. Times have been very good. Weber’s theory is that concrete will continue to make advances in market share because in a slowdown builders have time that they didn’t have before to learn new technologies.

“With no hyperbole whatsoever, the Concrete Tech Tour is a must attend event for builders who recognize that—in order to be successful and grow—they need to evolve from a stick-building organization to a cement-based material, but are unsure how,” says Weber. “The caliber of the companies participating and the presenters—mainly executives who have “been there and done that”—made this tour well worth the registration fee.”

A tour highlight on Monday was the keynote address, delivered by home plan design firm Design Basic’s director of business development, Paul Foresman, who addressed the group by pointing out the major influence women have in the purchase of a new home. He urged builders to explore how to reach women in the design and building phases and be cognizant of their requirements for comfortable, environmentally sound dwellings.

“When you talk to women, the message is clear, says Foresman. “It’s not just a house they care about anymore, it’s a sustainable environment. They don’t just want to live somewhere, they want to create it, because a house is gone in about 15 to 30 years, and a sustainable environment lasts forever.” It’s finding a way to connect with this up and coming generation of consumers that is a concrete builder’s real challenge, he says.