After a one-week delay, my fearless predictions for 2022 are here. Let’s go…
2022 Predictions
Glass dominance
I called for glass to be more dominant than ever in 2021 based in part to major design shifts to the interior using more glass. Unfortunately, the delay of returning to any sort of work also delayed this growth. Well, I am going for it in 2022, interiors with tons of glass will take off.
More 8-millimeter glass
The trend really started to push with more 8-mm glass in insulating glass units then the traditional 6-mm, and I think in 2022, it’s going to become more standard than ever. Bigger sizes are demanding this, and the quality options improve too. (Though some tempering ovens will need upgraded and there will be a bigger need for quality tracking because of this for sure.) The days of 6 over 6 as the only go to are coming to an end.
Rough waters for some
We are going to lose some businesses this year. I hope not, but my fear is the amount of crazy pricing, supply chain issues, and plain old bad luck will doom some folks. This is one prediction I hope is wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this mostly because some businesses were not as organized as they needed to be or funded as well as they needed to be for them to ride out a monumental mess that certain things became. We will see.
Code crunch
The various code and guideline bodies have been pretty mellow lately, which means I think we are about to see them raise up. What will it be though? Less glass, or calls for higher performing glass options? I am confident that the brilliant NGA Superhero Code team will do all they can to keep glass flowing but I think they’re going to be awfully busy this year battling other construction segments.
Some big deal(s) are coming
We know there are a few massive companies for sale in our industry, and I think in 2022 more than one will actually get sold. One of these deals will turn the industry on its head too, either in who it is sold to or how it is broken up/restructured. This is just a guess, I don’t have any intel yet, just a feel is all. I just hope whoever makes these deals wants to do right by the industry as a whole. Be involved with the NGA, GlassBuild, etc. We need to keep that rolling to keep our overall industry healthy and headed in the right direction.
Elsewhere…
ICYMI: From the Fabricator Podcast Ep
If you missed my podcast from last week- please check it out. Three incredible guests in Nicole Harris, Tara Brummet and Andy Russo and all with tons of insight and angles.
Higher-than-expected ABI
I am happy to say I was wrong on my prediction that the latest Architectural Billings Index would be underwater this month. The latest came in at a winning 52.0, actually up one point from last month. So, despite the bad “feel” out there, the metrics came together on the positive side. The analysis of the report showed some concern with staffing and holes in the market but otherwise hard to quibble with this streak we are on.
New Website Alert
Congrats to the team at International Revolving Door (led by Whitney and Josh Kratochvil) on the launch of their tremendous new website. Love the headline “You know where to turn” when it’s on a revolving door site; cool. Well done team!
Two Experts Talk
I really enjoyed seeing two of my favorite people combined on a cool blog post; John Wheaton and Matt Verderamo go back and forth on fasteners and engineering, so for me, who is clueless on so many things technically, it was an intriguing dive into the minds of two really brilliant engineers. Good work guys!
Supply Chain Conversation
Last this week; the Daubmann family (MY Shower Door and D3) was back in the news as they met with United States Senator Rick Scott on the state of the supply chain. I love that these folks consistently getting in the conversation at high levels and elevating our industry along the way. The report on the meeting can be found here and I am sure this is just the start of more dialogue that our world will be a part of thanks to the efforts of folks like Bill and Keith.
