Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

4 ways to grow a construction business in 2023

Everyone wants to see business growth and it generally becomes a focus for organizations as we wind down one year and gear up for a new one. As you are planning for 2023, we want to offer you four practical ways to grow your business and brand in construction. 
1. Grow your sales pipeline
2. Keep existing customers coming back
3. Form strategic partnerships
4. Diversify your offerings

Grow your sales pipeline

For companies just starting on their business journey, the sales pipeline is the priority. No sales means no business. But how important is this for a successful company just wanting to grow? It is still a priority. If you rely on the existing customer base alone, you will not continue to see growth. New customer relationships must be fostered regardless of how successful your company is currently. When thinking about how customers decide to buy with you consider who they are and what they want from you. Next consider, what they see when they first interact with you because first impressions are important, and what motivates them to buy with you. Doing this research will help you to understand the sales funnel that leads to successfully closing the deal.  

Tips for finding new pipelines

Getting your foot in the door requires that someone is out pounding the pavement. This could be someone out passing out marketing materials or hosting a booth at a tradeshow or it could be a business development strategy that places your company at the same events as your target company. Whatever way you choose to seek new contacts and customers, keeping track of what you learn, who you talk to, and action items are key to follow-up and eventual successful conversion to being a happy customer. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems offer a lot of helpful ways to track this interaction and make more strategic decisions. 

Keep customers coming back

Nothing is better than repeat business. It doesn’t take as much work to find or cultivate an existing customer as it does to find new customers. But it does take creating a brand that is known for its excellence and delivery of high-quality products. It is also critical to realize that customers have a relational bond with those from whom they procure services. We all know that we are on some bid lists and not others. Keeping your company in the mix is also about maintaining relationships as well as product delivery. Having that CRM will help you realize who you might need to go see because they haven’t sought you out on bid day.  

Form Strategic Partnerships

A strategic partnership can be many things. It could be a way to align your company with another to accomplish a larger project, like a joint venture or acquisition. It could also be becoming an industry expert that strategically aligns with community or educational programs to assist in bringing new talent or projects to the industry. It might even include aligning with a non-profit or community initiative to fund or receive funding for programs that give your brand a quality stamp for corporate social responsibility. Whatever the strategic goal for your business it may be more easily accomplished in partnership. 

Current strategic partner opportunities

Across the nation, construction science and management programs rely on strategic partnerships with companies to provide internships and professors to train the next generation. Additionally, with the rise of career and technical education programs, public and private schools are seeking similar partnerships with builders. Often the builders who are in partnership with an educational organization may end up with contracts for service or installation in existing buildings and new capital campaigns. Maybe you don’t want to teach or have time for an internship, but you have other ideas about boosting your company’s brand through social responsibility. Try a strategic partnership with a local food bank, Habitat for Humanity, or another charity that shows your commitment to creating a better tomorrow. Socially responsible employers have better engaged employees which leads to longer retention and better productivity. 

Diversify your offerings

Don’t rely on what has always worked without also exploring what might work as well. When seeking to diversify never give up what you are already great at doing, simply add to it with things you can do equally well. Diversification could be adding new services to existing product lines, creating a loyal customer program, expanding to a new product line or service, or moving into a new construction vertical or geography. But in our current environment, it could also be diversifying the people that work with you and for you. An inclusive and diverse workforce will often create new synergies and thought patterns that challenge the status quo and force us to move into the future. However, you diversity do it with intention and strategy and most definitely accountability. Nothing feels less successful than starting the same something new each year because it didn’t get the attention and accountability it needed to thrive the previous year. 

Growth is achievable in 2023. If you are seeking to expand your current capabilities take a look at the C3 website to see if we are offering programs or continuing education that might help. Looking for a strategic partnership, we have a lot to offer in the way of committees to showcase your business and expertise while you help us grow. Want to find a new customer pipeline come visit us at events and fundraisers throughout the year or take us with you to your events and introduce us to your peers. Let’s grow better together. 

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​C3 Advocate,

In my dream world where we can track and measure everything relevant to the success of our workforce, there would be a lengthy list of additional metrics to capture. But in reality, gathering just the raw data of how many laborers or entry-level workers were needed over the next 12 months, and whom we believed was the best resource to attract and prepare them for placement with C3 Accredited Employers would be an enormous leap forward for C3’s ability to impact our talent pipeline. But it isn't enough to just attract we have to retain all those who come to us and help them to build careers in the industry.

Attracting people to join the industry is just the first step of a two-step equation. Converting them to career employees who possess skills that create longevity for them in the industry is step two. At the basic level C3 tracks which organizations are equipped to upskill, reskill, and continuously improve their employees through our Craft Training Endorsement. However, we are not currently able to track retention of the workforce over the long term. 

As we all know, construction is cyclical and requires companies to size up and down based on the ebb and flow of work. Sometimes moving workers from one company to the next, doing similar or even nearly identical work for a season. Sometimes they come back and other times they don’t. It is the fast-paced “slip seating” of people from a seat at one company to another that illustrates how important having all commercial contractors engaged in the development and retention of employees through training and career pathways becomes. If employees grow their skills at more than one company in their career it is imperative that all companies are providing continuous improvement training. I remember fondly a conversation that I had with Charlie Mogab before he retired from SpawGlass about how it was okay if someone else took his trained employees because at least they were safe, knew their trade, and would make a positive contribution at the next contractor. 

It is a great philosophy to have, and we want our workforce to raise the bar for the industry with their skills. It does complicate the way we look at retention, however. When they stay in one company, we can easily see how long they have been in the industry and how far they have come. But what about when they move from company to company? Queue the lights and red carpet, C3 has a solution. We call it the C3 training database and while it does not currently help us to track who we are keeping and who is falling out of the ranks of the commercial construction industry, it can help us capture this data. As a matter of fact, we are working on fine-tuning what our database can track and making sure it is a viable resource for us to keep the positive story of C3 moving forward. We are looking at a variety of options for how we increase the items we track and know about each craft professional on our jobs and allow them to build their own training and work history in our systems. But we can’t do that without y’all as well. So join us on our design task force. If you have a passion for software development let me know. 

But I digress, metrics will always be something we are examining at C3 and using to tell our story. We want you to be part of the group that moves us toward a more measurable impact on our mission. Are you tracking something you think we would want to know about – let us know. Are you interested in mapping out the metrics that matter for C3 – join our metrics community of practice. Want to just know more – book a call with me to chat. Together we can tell the story of how “C3 is doing good” in the industry and we can have the data to make it more than just a gut feeling.

Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​C3 Advocate,

While C3 continues to gain ground and we can see our contractor count growing along with our owner base and project total, we cannot effectively map metrics to program and are left to believe “C3 is doing good” and achieving its mission.  But the thing that keeps me up at night is the question – how can I demonstrate our progress more directly? What makes me think we can track impact and improvement on the talent pipeline? Because we aren’t the only ones solving this equation and there is help out there. 

We are at the beginning of a long journey to re-orient the contracting community to the best talent management practices and make construction competitive with other industries. Our foundation is in the Craft Training Endorsement. To achieve even the lowest level of certification from C3 a company must be tracking training. The key word in all that we are going to discuss in the next two installments is tracking. We don’t want any company to stop tracking training, but we also need to track two key metrics for staffing – turnover and retention. Let me quickly clarify two words that many of us believe are the same but, are quite different: attrition and turnover. Attrition refers to a job that is vacated and not filled again. For example, if a company hires a project manager and that position becomes open due to layoff, retirement, or discharge, and the company no longer needs the same number of project managers and does not refill the position. Turnover is the churn in our system of people leaving for other positions and us replacing them each time.

There are organizations that can reactively tell us about unemployment and the changes in the labor market. The Department of Labor or workforce board(s) can look back over the last month’s numbers or even the last few decades and tell us that the shortage is there, or it might be less for a month or more for a year. What they can’t tell us is if Houston still has a problem in commercial construction. To really understand the impact, we are making we need to look at some key performance indicators for Talent Management at the company level and then at the collaboratively level. 

At your company level, you should be looking to see if you have enough workforce to manage your current job demand as well as grow your business to take on new projects, scopes of work, or any other growth path you are seeking. One question you need to ask yourself consistently is, “is my workforce capacity or quality a limiting factor in my bidding or winning of bids for work?” This number tells us if the current workforce is sufficient to do what we need to generate strategic business results for the company. Next, we need those turnover rates and maybe a root cause analysis to tell us why we have the levels of turnover we do. People might leave for money, culture, skills mismatch, performance, or attendance, or possibly they found another opportunity. If the impact of turnover is limiting your ability to bid, complete, or win projects it is important to determine what pieces of that you can impact and set plans in motion to reduce turnover. When you have an idea of workforce needs coupled with your normal turnover rates you can then create a forecasted demand for the next six, 12, or even 24 months.  

But how does this impact C3’s ability to demonstrate that we are impacting the industry’s talent pipeline? Good question! When contractors anonymously report individual demand for key positions that span multiple types of trade partners (laborers, foremen, helpers, etc) we can create a full picture of the need inside Houston’s commercial market. For example, if Company A knows that they have a 6-month forecast of 10 apprentice electricians, they go to the local high school that offers an electrical program. The school has only 8 students graduating this year and they all have job offers at Company B, Company C, and Company D. Had all these companies worked together to forecast the need they could have leveraged other schools to teach an electrical program or worked with one of the community colleges to create a boot camp that generates basic electrical knowledge and construction safety. Then all four companies could have been fully staffed to produce high quality and safe work throughout Houston. When we report together (keeping individual companies' needs anonymous) we are able to create scale in our recruiting, training, and hiring practices. It puts contractor collaborations like C3 in the driver's seat with regard to the talent pipeline. We are able to leverage key relationships with “vendors” like ISDs, community partners, and colleges to create a stronger pool of candidates that meet our collective needs. It becomes much like managing our supply of materials to ensure that we aren’t relying only on one relationship to get the job done. 

I get it, collaboration like this might be risky and feel sort of hard at first. But it is what C3 was founded to do and what drives our mission forward. It is more than just a number, we have to create a community of contractors that speak the same language and have defined a base level of threshold competency that is required for common job roles. While one may call someone an apprentice, another a helper, and still another a laborer if the basic duties of the day include the same thing we can begin to create a forecast and job profile that assists our vendors in creating a solid line of people to our doors. As we begin to work together to define and articulate need we will finally be able to measure not just the gap between current labor needs and workforce but our ability to attract and retain new people to the industry. So I’m hopeful that you are ready to learn about how you can start collaborating with other contractors in our community to create some synergy propelling C3 forward. Collaboratives are being started in January of 2023 get your company to the front of the line by joining here.

And don’t miss our final installment on metrics in two weeks “But did they stay?”

Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Advocate,

Metrics! In one news brief article? It can’t be done y’all. That is the conversation I had with the marketing team, and they smiled and said great make it a series – so here we are a 3 part series on how we can measure the impact we are having on the industry. And more specifically how we are making a difference and achieving our mission of strengthening the safe, skilled, and sustainable craft professional talent pipeline.

Part 1 – what you are reading today will cover our current metrics
Part 2 – publishing on July 27thwill talk about how we prepare individually to track the talent pipeline
Part 3 - publishing on August 10th will talk about the collaborative impact of C3 on the pipeline and how we can create sustainability together.

We could do the traditional jump in the deep end but in all honesty, we are still wading on the splash pad when it comes to our current C3 metrics. Even though our mission is about the workforce our metrics are about largely about the projects. When we first rolled out our three pillars, safety was the low-hanging fruit and we made it part of our DNA at C3. So appropriately it is part of what we are currently measuring on projects. In case you did not know, C3 projects are required to submit the following things at the beginning of each month, and we report on them the following month in our news brief in a spotlight called C3 by the numbers.

The items reported are:
1.     Who has signed into the project and received the C3 orientation,
2.     What C3 safety refresh module was delivered and how many people attended the delivery
3.     Total manhours worked on the project in that month
4.     TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate)

So, here is our current state. Data is nothing without interpretation so what does it tell us about our progress? These data points demonstrate the C3 participants (Accredited Employers and Project Participants) are actively receiving ongoing safety training on job sites and that overall C3 participants produce safer jobs that the industry standard for US non-residential construction.

These measures are quantitative but not substantive enough to tell us that C3 is accomplishing its mission of attracting and retaining top talent and strengthening the pipeline. Additional quantitative data can be seen through our C3 Craft Training Endorsement. This show the number of Accredited Employers who have completed the endorsement process and the level to which their internal training programs are endorsed. We track these Accredited Employers for retention and conversion of Project Participants to Accredited Employers annually. Our final qualitative piece of data is how many individuals and companies have received training in OSHA 10, 30, Driving Business Results, Construction Workforce Development Professional, and Mentoring for Craft Professionals. Still not enough to definitively prove we are achieving our mission.

This leaves us looking at some qualitative data points. These come from testimonials of individuals and companies that tell us they can see a significant difference in the quality and productivity as well as safety of a C3 jobsite. Additional feedback has shown that the perception is a C3 jobsite has better collaboration and professionalism among the trades as they work together to create the building program with the GC, design professionals, and owner.
For as much work and as many manhours as C3 has completed, this isn’t a lot of data and it is hard to directly correlate the impact on the industry to specific C3 programs. This means we are currently going a bit with a gut feeling of “C3 is overall doing good.” While we continue to gain ground and can see our contractor count growing along with our owner base and project total, we cannot effectively map metrics to program but we believe that we are making a shift in the industry and working toward fulfilling our mission.  But the thing that keeps me up at night is the question – How can I demonstrate that progress more directly?

Next time – tapping into Angela’s dreams for talent pipeline tracking


Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Advocate,

When it comes to solving our workforce sustainability problems Ryunosoke Satoro had it right all the way back in 1824, individually we are just a drop but together we are the ocean. That is the basic premise of C3 and our collaboration between owner, GC, specialty, and design professionals. Collaboratively we make a bigger wave. It is why currently we are working on three new key initiatives to make for a stronger pipeline.

1. Design Build - Construction Industry Education Foundation - C3 is excited to be serving on the advisory board for this program as it enters the Texas market. Taking career exploration at high schools one step further, CIEF works with career and technical student teams to compete in a design and building competition that showcases real work environments over a two-day job. The program distributes safety awards, design and construction awards, and scholarships to pursue further certification in the industry. Launching in 2023 in Houston and Dallas, now is the perfect time to join in the efforts to build up our pipeline with these young people in cooperation with this is 40+year old California foundation.
2. Volunteer Houston -With growth comes the need for more people to join the ranks of C3 without leaving their day jobs. Volunteer Houston, a collaboration between United Way and Interfaith Ministries, will be hosting volunteer opportunities for all C3 outreach events with ISDs. Creating greater reach and brand recognition as well as momentum for our mission, we are recruiting you and those who have never even heard of C3 to support the mission of career-ready as a viable route to success. Watch for more about how to sign up for events and get yourself involved in the first wave of C3 volunteer orientation.
3. Talent Pipeline Management - US Chamber of Commerce and UpSkill Houston - Working to further educate C3 staff and prepare us to operate as a unified industry voice, we will be convening our first collaborative in 2023. The collaborative will be working towards outlining our actual workforce need for 2023-2025 in critical roles. Along with demand, we will be charging the work group to create and define competencies that are needed for success in each role.

Look for more great partnerships outlined in future issues of the newly rebranded "Priming the Pipeline" newsletter on workforce sustainability. In the meantime, if you hold a degree in Human Resources or Workforce Development and would like to join our team - head to our LinkedIn profile to apply for our open position. Can't find that email your resume and interest to me directly. Together we can form the wave that changes the industry.

Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Hello Friend,

A few years back Diane Aguilar, Chuck Gremillion and I started working with
Debra Haney, Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocesan Schools in Galveston-Houston. She had a great big dream to convert a currently closed elementary school into a career and technical high school that gave students the opportunity to pursue career readiness alongside their Catholic faith.

Here are a few quick notes on what the progress looks like from a brief Q&A between C3 and the superintendent.

C3: Superintendent Haney, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Can you start by telling us about St. Peter Catholic?

SH: St. Peter Catholic – A Career & Technical High School is for students in Houston! This new technical high school will support career readiness in various career paths along with formation in the Catholic faith. It will be located in the Third Ward, very close to Downtown Houston, The Texas Medical Center, University of Houston, Texas Southern University, and the Museum District.

C3: With all the options and opportunities for students in Houston already, what was the vision for St. Peter?

SH: The vision is that students can come to this school and have more future opportunities than ever before! They can earn certificates and find a career path that suits them as they can go directly into the workforce after high school graduation – skilled, educated, and certified if they so choose. St. Peter Catholic will serve as a state-of-the-art educational training facility. The facility will emulate business/industry and college environments. Students will use business and industry-standard technology, software, and equipment while learning in a setting designed to promote personalized, differentiated learning and maximizing student engagement and success. Students will gain interpersonal skills that are critical in the workplace – communication, time management, goal-setting, problem-solving, and team building. 

C3: What types of programs will St. Peter offer when it opens?

SH: Curriculum offerings and program areas or job paths will be in four main areas: Architecture & Construction; Business, Marketing, & Finance; Education & Training; and Information Technology Support. Those focusing on Architecture & Construction may find jobs in architecture firms, construction companies, real estate, building inspection companies, cities/state entities, surveying companies, insurance companies, or a myriad of other corporations. Those focusing on Business, Marketing, & Finance will likely end up working in banks, marketing firms, accounting firms, audit companies, corporations with accounting, payroll, marketing departments, small businesses, churches, or schools. Those in the job path or programming for Education & Training can certainly work in our Catholic schools, daycare, any elementary school, hospitals, preschools, Mothers’ Day Out programs, or other places. And those focusing on Information Technology Support will follow career paths in any technology department across a plethora of industries or in companies such as BP, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and the like.

C3: Well since C3 helped with the curriculum along with marketing and fundraising I am pleased to see some emphasis on Construction and Architecture. It is clear that St. Peter is really trying to appeal to a new demographic in the church. Can you tell me about that?

SH: Our goal is to provide a low-cost, Catholic-centered, technical education for students who are looking to develop job-ready skills that will allow them to enter the workforce directly out of high school with an in-demand skill set. St. Peter will provide a high standard of education while focusing on character building and faith formation. St. Peter will produce highly qualified and motivated young adults, ready to engage the world.

C3: Well Superintendent Haney, St. Peter sure sounds like a great addition to our career-ready talent pipeline. What can C3 participants do to further support you as you launch your programming?

SH: As you know Angela, no institution has been more successful than the Catholic school system in leading generations out of poverty to bright, promising, and fulfilling lives. Catholic schools are an important source of strength, hope, and opportunity for our families and their children. For those interested in learning more or supporting either through volunteering or financial assistance we encourage you to reach out at www.stpeterhs.org.

Career readiness from high schools plays a big part in the success of students to launch into careers as they exit the halls of schools and enter our workforce. We appreciate the efforts of programs like St. Peter Catholic and the local ISDs for working to build with us a pipeline of talent.

Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Hello Friend,

Something I have learned in my career is that there are certain times when it is critical to manage your assets and resources. One such time is when you are hiring new employees. You cannot impact your workforce more than during the period between a job offer and onboarding. Nothing else is more impactful! At that point, they learn your company’s communication style, how you do culture, how you handle interactions. They learn if you will be proactive in managing their expectations and if they believe you can meet those expectations or if you are just going to be MIA. When you are missing in action you lose the opportunity to create loyalty and brand identification before they even start. Chances are that if they accepted your offer they are excited about working with you and for you. Don’t squander that enthusiasm by not having a plan!

If you know it takes 2-3 weeks or even a month to get from offer to onboard, make sure you set that expectation with them. Give them these four things

1. Communication – Tons of Communication! Tell them what they should wear and the normal dress code, what benefits are available to employees, how they can get involved, what are the things we do as a company, and what is our core value(s). What is our primary goal and what does my job look like? How do I fit into our primary goal? Do I report to the same place I interviewed, or am I going somewhere else? Is there anything I should know before the day I arrive other than I will have to do paperwork?
2. Pre-Employment Checklists – Make sure to have a separate communication about what needs to be done before arrival. Paperwork, testing, health screenings, and drug tests should be explained and completed as best as possible before their first day. What can they do to assist you in completing this process, and what forms do they need to supply you? These are especially true items when we are working with younger hires who may be entering their first professional work experience with us. Even if your process is faster for those in the field keep this checklist for them as well. After all, they are professionals at their craft too. Don’t limit this checklist to just before the day – include what to bring with them the first day, whom their point of contact is for questions on forms, and returning paperwork beforehand or on day one.
3. Single point of contact – Keep this person as close to the new hire as possible- possibly a mentor or direct supervisor So does that mean everybody has to be an expert at everything in the company – well of course not, I can’t be an expert on a what to have in your toolkit if I am the HR professional but I also can’t be an expert on HR if I am an outstanding project superintendent. It is important that everyone knows the contacts or has a list of them. Nothing would be worse than being the HR person who says I don’t think I know your superintendent or the superintendent who says I’ve never seen the name of our HR person so I guess I can’t help. We need to know who can help them and then make sure to follow up and ensure that our experts are following through. They want and need one person to “own” them from start to finish and when that person is someone they work for or with it builds relationships and fosters employee engagement 
4. Culture introduction – If you can SWAG them out before they arrive. Let them show up with some company pride on day one. Invite them over for a tour, or to attend an event. Having a safety stand-down or by craft toolbox talk? Include them. Have employee resource groups like young employees or women in construction they can be part of? Introduce them to leaders or invite them to an event. No event happening before they start. No worries, get the connections on their calendar and make sure they know how to find out about future events and opportunities. If you don’t have formalized events take them to lunch or to a jobsite. Nothing is easier than finding my way to a location like a jobsite in the middle of the day without traffic than trying to find it in the dark on day one.

None of this is rocket science or even really hard but I believe life is really about the little things. It is these little things that make it that much easier to manage your workforce and keep you moving forward. At least that is what I’ve learned.

Collaboratively,

Angela Robbins Taylor
C3 Executive Director

​Reba Taville
Your Learning &Development Business Partner

​Hello Friend,

If you are anything like me, you have most likely seen, read, or heard about how COVID has changed the workforce, changed the way we work, and modified employees’ expectations of employers. The reality is that in the construction industry, we were already amid a workforce shift and COVID simply accelerated it.
When Construction Career Collaborative (C3) was formed more than 10 years ago, there was already a strain on talent in the Houston Commercial Construction Industry, and we knew something had to change. As you may know, C3 was the brainchild of multiple construction leaders collaborating to shift this industry back to a more desirable one for up-and-coming talent. We were born out of an industry need, hence our last name ‘Collaborative’. Since our formation, we’ve worked to identify and provide the Houston Commercial Construction Industry with programs and services that will help elevate the craftsman and elevate the desire of the next generation to enter the trades.

If you are receiving this newsletter, that leads me to assume 3 things about you:

•  One - you are a part of the Houston Commercial Construction Industry
• Two - you have already interacted with us in some way in the past ten-plus years, so you know we are passionate about elevating this industry in the talent marketplace
• Three - you believe that elevating your organization's workforce practices is key to positively impacting your talent pipeline  

I very much hope that all assumptions are correct! If they are, you are exactly whom I look forward to meeting at the Houston Commercial Construction Workforce Development Conference on September 29th. That’s right, you don’t have to go far to learn what your peers are doing to help elevate the workforce in our industry and network with them to dive deeper. Plus who doesn't love a conference followed by networkin

There is an old proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” One consistent practice that I have found to be true in my life, is that I have gone so much further when I collaborate, ask questions, and explore new ideas.

We need more of the next generation to become curious and interested in what we are building, literally and figuratively. And just as our name indicates, we must collaborate to positively impact the industry workforce challenges, so, we are excited to present this conference in conjunction with AGC Houston. Together, we are creating a space for you to explore best practices and network with your peers to find better solutions.

I look forward to connecting with you at the Conference! If you want to meet before then to discuss how you can sponsor or get involved, drop me a line at Reba@c3.org.

Sincerely,
Reba Taville
Your Learning &Development Business Partner

Angela Robbins Taylor, MHRM
Executive Director

​Hello Friend,

It is such a pleasure to be part of this organization and I really look forward to our golf tournament each year as the main place I get to see many of you. So as you can imagine when we first open up our golf registration, I am watching closely to see who is joining us. We opened our registration just a couple of weeks ago and already we are pleased to say that the event will have the following underwriters all of them returning from previous years.

McCarthy Building Companies
MAREK
Texas Exterior Systems
TDI

We also have Camarata Masonry Systems coming back to sponsor Dinner and Peckar & Abramson hosting Happy Hour.

I’ve also seen over a dozen teams register so far. You all will help us sell out again this year and that means I get to connect with people and see your smiling faces soon!

But this year I have a new place to visit and network with all of C3’s wonderful participants, our 1st Annual Workforce Development Conference. Not sure what this one is - think of it as a safety conference but for training and workforce professionals. Reba will be telling us all about it in a future news brief but I wanted to share a few of the great companies that are going to be joining us and whom you should be joining as well.

The Diamond Sponsors are
Tellepsen Builders and Chamberlin Roofing and Waterproofing

And Platinum Sponsors are
McCarthy Building Companies and MAREK

So are you joining us? I really want to see your face, hear your workforce stories, and enjoy a few good moments of golf and learning with those who are the most active and engaged in our mission. Plus with over 500 participating companies I haven't even come close to meeting you all. Come on out and let’s get to know each other better and simultaneously move our industry forward in the pursuit of a safe, skilled, sustainable craft workforce.

Can't make our events? They aren’t the only way to connect with C3. Our team will be all over the place this spring and summer collaborating with and supporting other associations and events. Grab a photo with you and a C3 staffer at any industry event and send it to me via email (angela@c3.org) I'll put your name in the “I found C3 roaming in the wild” raffle being held at the end of our golf tournament on October 25, 2022! Prize to be announced on social media next week!

See you soon,

Angela Robbins Taylor, MHRM
Executive Director
Angela Robbins Taylor, MHRM
Executive Director

James’ granddaughter
Angela Robbins Taylor, MHRM, MAPC
Executive Director

​Hello Friend,

In 1948, James Johnson and his wife Bonnie sold the family farm in rural Alabama to make a better life for their four children. They moved the family north to Indianapolis and restarted building a life. James had a 3rd-grade education but was a hard worker and was good with his hands. Bonnie had made it to 6th grade and was willing to try anything to make certain that her kids would have a high school education. They could be said to be good parents who were making hard decisions to move their family forward. It kind of reminds me of something I overheard at a conference a few weeks ago. "A good owner is one who makes decisions." It resonated with me as being the very crux of what we do at C3.

We are about making decisions from the owner level down that impact the livelihood and well-being of craft professionals. Construction Career Collaborative is about making the same decision that James and Bonnie did in 1948. They sold a piece of land that had been in the family for nearly 80 years to make a better way for the next generation. C3 is combating the generations of deterioration of our industry and its reputation. Knowing that change has to happen at the top, C3 works to engage owners to make decisions to move us forward. But owners can't do it alone. It takes all of us working to create a better path that provides for those that produce our built environment. Like James Johnson, we have to make a decision to change with no guarantee that it will in fact get better.

At the very least we owe these men and women the same respect and working conditions that we are given by their buildings that house our offices, places of worship, and schools. They build so we can flourish and yet we have created a world where they work in less than desirable situations and our industry is seen as a job, not a lifelong career. We often talk in these quick articles about the ways we benefit the contractor through our programming and how C3 can help you build your business through quality talent management. However, the crux of our why is because craft professionals deserve to be treated as professionals. They deserve to be employees who receive fair and livable wages in return for their quality work. They deserve to be protected against injury and provide the opportunity to grow their skills within their trade. At the very least they deserve to be in a career field that is respected for the amazing feats of engineering they bring to life.

Even without guarantees that it will get better, we have to continue to be good owners and good stewards of our construction family. Pushing our industry forward requires everyone to make the decision to do what is right simply because it is in fact the right thing to do for the craft professional.

Just in case you were wondering what happened to James and his family, he started working in a factory and eventually made his way to the masonry trade. James found a way to sustain the family at a middle-class level and see his two boys graduate high school and enter the trades themselves. His two girls also graduated and one went on to college and end up in real estate. Jumping forward to 2022, his grandkids, of which there are 10, all graduated high school and between them, they hold 7 Bachelor's degrees, 6 Master's degrees, and 2 PhD's. It could be said that his family's success was built on his ability to build. Their success was a direct impact of his being employed, valued, and allowed to achieve mastery of his trade but more importantly, their lives are testament to doing what you believe is right with no guarantee it will change anything. Making a decision to do it just because you know it is the right thing to do!

Collaboratively,

James’ granddaughter
Angela Robbins Taylor, MHRM, MAPC
Executive Director