Industry News and Notes
Glass Events & NEW Data
So this week it’s a true “grab bag” of stuff to cover with news happening from Toronto to Texas and pretty much everywhere in between, so let’s get it all out!
First up, great to see the new Board of Directors installed at the Texas Glass Association. Tremendous organization and top-notch people leading the way. Congrats to Kyle Sharp of Sharp Glass, President, Jody Hilton of Floyds Glass Company, Vice President, Brian Risinger of Country Glass & Mirror Inc, Treasurer, and Scott Theut of Theaut Glass Company, Secretary. I have had the extreme honor of getting to know Kyle and Brian over the years and they do it the right way as I am sure Jody and Scott do as well. The TGA is in great hands, and I look forward to seeing them at all TEXpo in May!
BEC
This week’s note on BEC focuses on a couple more sessions. The Facades of the Future session with Dan Sutton of Vitro, Matt Price representing Deceuninck and moderated Adrian Lowenstein of Skyline will be very strong. Good guys talking about products that are here today but will absolutely disrupt the space going forward. This is huge for truly understanding where our space is and can go. Great speakers too!
Also a big one is “We Will Overcome” where we are lucky enough to have Matt Kamper of Woodbridge, Dave Ferret of Bagatelos, and Coleman Jones of Pioneer Cladding talking about instances where they had to work through obstacles, that we all usually encounter, to be successful on projects. Sessions like this is how we learn and I am grateful for these guys for sharing. So will you be joining the hundreds and hundreds of glazing pros in Vegas? There's still time to register here.
Top Glass Canada
Another favorite event of mine is coming up quick. Top Glass in Toronto is on tap for April 19th. I had the awesome thrill of speaking there last year and I am excited to attend this year to hear the fresh mix of presenters on tap.
Architectural Billings Index
The next Architectural Billings Index is due this Wednesday. The last three months have been under the break-even mark of 50 posting scores of 47.7, 46.6, and 47.5. Most analysts are expecting this lull we are currently in to last eight months, so if we are down again, and I expect that, then we are pretty much at the halfway point. It will be interesting to see what comes out but also what happens under the new business inquiries. Will that number remain on its current flat line, that is above average, or move? More on this on my post next week.
Commercial Building Starts
Did you see the list of “Top 10 Metro Areas for Commercial Building Starts” that was recently released? Good quick read here with some helpful insight. No surprise for me except for the fact that Southern California was not in the Top 10 and neither was Nashville.
Service Station
I got to learn about a new service called “Service Station” and I think this one is worth diving into if you are glass and glazing shop. Basically, Service Station is a glass-specific call answering and estimating service that takes your calls and turns them into orders, and the key is this isn’t just some off the shelf answering service, they are using glass professionals who will be trained to understand your specific business and get on the same page as you. In our labor tight world, this could be a nice breakthrough. I was impressed by what I saw and learned.
2023 Super Bowl
Another Super Bowl in the books and yes for the third straight year I did predict the winner at the start of the playoffs. This blind squirrel keeps finding those acorns!
Anyway, now to what everyone truly cared about, the commercials! As I noted last week, I had heard that Breaking Bad would be involved and their commercial did not disappoint. My favorites were the two with dogs in them, both had me emotional, and I really liked the Ben Affleck Dunkin Donuts commercial. Simple and funny, especially when he tells JLo in the drive through “Stop it you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends” Perfect. In the middle for me, the Workday “Rock Star” commercial was cool but sorry Paul Stanley of Kiss, I will still use that term for people I am a fan of.
In the bad section, first can someone tell me what M&M’s was doing? What a mess. Obviously when I made my lifestyle change in 2019 and didn’t eat them by the gallon anymore, it's caused some bad decision-making right? And last, I chuckled over Weathertech making a big deal over having a manufacturing plant in America. They made it sound like it’s very rare. Obviously, those folks haven’t been to our industry where we are manufacturing glass and curtain wall and windows all over the place and every day of the week, and new places and expansions continue to happen. So nice try folks but that’s a nope from me. Overall, I thought the commercials were better than last year so there’s hope going forward! Also big to notice after a ton a crypto commercials last year, none this year!
