CGA Gets the Spotlight
Upcoming California Glass Association meeting
This week, the industry focus will be in Southern California with a massive California Glass Association (CGA) meeting at the new campus of FHC. A ton is on the docket for this meeting, with some of my favorite presenters taking center stage. NGA Chair Rick Locke is kicking things off, and then three speakers I am a huge fan of take center stage. Nathan Seaman, Nick St. Denis, and Kevin Carrasco will cover info from their specialties. Kevin’s piece on HR and Immigration is especially pertinent these days.
Obviously, the chance to see the FHC Campus and product demos is a huge draw, too. People from all over the US and Canada are coming in for it, making it a bigger deal than just a typical chapter meeting. Can’t wait! Kudos to the CGA Board for making it happen and Andrew Haring for ramping it up, as only he knows how!
Elsewhere…
New pod
In case you missed the latest From the Fabricator podcast… two interesting guys joined me to talk shop and more. Led off with Pat O’Connor of the Glass & Metal Alliance. They have a big show coming up on April 30th, so we covered that and we ran a range of topics including Pat getting booed and cheered by 65,000 people. Then Ty Clem joined me and we dove into his world, latest moves, and his very classy approach to Women in Construction week. Links are below, please give it a whirl! A new episode is coming next week with two powerhouse companies being represented. Excited for it. Thank you for your continued support!!
Watch on YouTube, or listen here, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Dodge Momentum Index
It’s been such a quiet and easy run out there on the financial markets that I decided I need to bring some action to the space with the latest Dodge Momentum Index. LOL. The DMI did get released this week, and while the overall number was rough, there were some silver linings. The index dropped 6.9% from the previous month. This is the first shoe to drop with the initial turmoil fiscally. So I’d expect next month to look very bad.
The silver lining? Commercial planning is hanging in there and is up 32% year over year. That has been what the analysts were counting on, with forecasts of a strong 2nd half into a solid 2026. However, the timing is a little later though, and until some of the financial markets settle, jobs will continue to be delayed. Still, it’s a positive (I’m always digging for them), and the report noted some acceleration in hotels and offices, and any “plus” news on offices is good news. Day by day, we go…
Division 8 vs Division 10
My guy Travis Nevins of IUPAT has been on an absolute heater lately. He is a must-follow on LinkedIn with really insightful articles, and now he’s got a must-read piece at Glass Magazine on a significant issue for our space. His piece is on interior work and the Division 8 vs Division 10 discussion. Travis lays out why we in Division 8 need to get active and get into that work on the interior that historically was going to installers from out of our realm. Check it out. Really strong and helpful stuff.
Accessory Dwelling Units
Last this week…two years ago, I pinged the very in-tune James Esver and asked him about what new trends he was seeing in his backyard. He told me the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) were gaining steam. After all, these smaller units made sense because of housing shortages and costs, and kids either stayed longer or moved back in with Mom and Dad or older parents moving in with their kids. ADUs can go up in the backyard (think of a livable Shed-like structure), and now you have a space for others to have privacy, etc.
Two years later, these are hot commodities, and I think they will only go further. So when I saw this post from Tyler Suomala (an excellent follow on LinkedIn, too) featuring incredible stats like 20% of all new residential permits in LA are for ADU’s I just had to share and give James his props! And by the way, where does it matter to us? It may be small, but these structures are using glass, and these days, anything new that we can get our core products in is a good thing.
