The MCAA’s “Factors Affecting Labor Productivity” can be an invaluable tool when attempting to prove labor productivity loss, a process that has always been one of the most difficult aspects of change management. John Koontz explores how to practically apply the MCAA factors to estimate and price losses of labor productivity. He discusses the dos and don’ts of applying these factors, bridging the gap between theoretical percentages and actual job site impacts. When used correctly, the MCAA factors can be an invaluable resource in both forward pricing change orders and retroactively determining cumulative impacts. This webinar explores best practices for making these factors work for you, helping you to account for additional labor costs resulting from the scope changes and disruption of workflow that occur on jobs far more often than we might like.
Titan Mechanical presented Colton Battin with an MCAA Internship Grant at the start of his summer internship. The grant, which is funded by the John R. Gentille Foundation, will help subsidize his expenses while he gains valuable work experience this summer.
Colton is a senior at Bowling Green State University, where he is studying Construction Management. He will be graduating in December 2020. Colton is a member of the new student chapter at Bowling Green State University, sponsored by the MCA of Northwestern, Ohio, Inc.
This is Colton’s second year interning with Titan Mechanical. He has been successful in the office setting since the impacts of COVID-19, simultaneously social distancing while effectively fulfilling responsibilities as an intern. His work involves estimating, assisting project managers. Some of his duties will be reaching out to sub-contractors, vendors and assisting in implementing Titan Mechanical Inc.’s new estimating software.
John E. Gray, President of Titan Mechanical, had this to say, “Colton will be an asset to any organization moving forward, he really has a thirst for knowledge and wants to be apart of the industry moving forward.”
About the MCAA Internship Grants
Having MCAA interns working at member companies is a win-win for the mechanical contracting industry. Employers get top talent and build a pipeline of future employees. Students gain experience, create connections, develop skills and further their interest in mechanical contracting. In paying the student instead of the employer, MCAA’s goal is to increase the overall number of interns and drive the overall number of talented employees accepting full-time positions after graduation.
How the Grant Application Process Works
The MCAA member company will first ensure a prospective intern is in good standing at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or technical school. While MCAA encourages its members to give priority to students from the MCAA Student Chapter Program, this is not a requirement to receive a grant.
Each MCAA member company can submit up to two internship grant applications per year. Once an application is reviewed and accepted, MCAA will send a $500 gift card to the member company so it can present the Gift Card to the student at the start of their internship.
MCAA will follow-up with each company and intern to ensure the process and overall internship was successful.
Start Your Search for Top Talent Today
MCAAGreatFutures.org gives members access to student profiles and resumes. The profiles are searchable by university, desired location, and even a specific skill set, like BIM or AutoCAD. A keyword filter allows users to zero in on students who fit the bill.
Not finding a match? Try reaching out to our 60 MCAA Student Chapters. The chapter advisors are a great resource to help find the right person. And, MCAA members have exclusive access to post job openings on our job board.
Help build our industry’s GreatFuture – apply for a grant!
MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:
E.H. Wachs E.H. Wachs manufactures portable weld prep machine tools used in construction and maintenance to cut, bevel, face and counterbore pipe and vessels. Available for purchase or rental.
Sunbelt Rentals, Inc. Take the guesswork out of selecting the right temporary cooling equipment for the job – download this comprehensive guide to cooling equipment to find the perfect solution for all of your cooling needs.
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!
MCAA’s manufacturer/supplier members have worked tirelessly to shorten lead times and provide needed equipment and expertise throughout the COVID-19 crisis. SIEMENS, for example, supported the transformation of the Westchester County Center and a portion of its parking lot into a 110-bed temporary field hospital for COVID-19 patients in White Plains, New York.
SIEMENS worked diligently with their partners at Haugland Energy Group LLC (a division of Haugland Group LLC) to support the State of New York and meet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) timeline, which called for substantial completion of construction in 21 days. SIEMENS submitted their proposal to the USACE within 12 hours and began work immediately following notification of the project award.
The collaboration enabled a 110-bed temporary facility in the Center and across four tents in the facility’s parking lot with the power distribution and building technologies needed to care for patients affected by COVID-19 and protect hospital staff.
To get products on-site as quickly as possible, lead times were cut from weeks to days. SIEMENS designed, built and shipped the custom switchboards in only two days. Russelectric, a SIEMENS company, delivered the automatic transfer switches in less than five days.
To ensure reliable power across the site, SIEMENS supplied several critical power infrastructure technologies including panelboards, custom-made switchboards, circuit breakers, load centers and automatic transfer switches. Many components were custom-built and shipped within days from SIEMENS’ U.S. manufacturing sites in Grand Prairie, Texas; Spartanburg, South Carolina and Hingham, Massachusetts.
“Everybody understood this was an emergency situation and went above and beyond to deliver the supplies and services that were urgently needed,” said Matt Martinez, technical director at Siemens Government Technologies. “With the support of our CEO Tina Dolph and the extended leadership team, who removed barriers every step of the way, we were able to get this project done in record time and ensure that the USACE and the State of New York had the support they needed on the frontlines of our nation’s fight against COVID-19.”
In addition to optimizing the spaces for specialized care, SIEMENS supplied:
Pressure monitoring systems for every patient room to ensure negative air pressure and minimize further transmission of the virus
Nurse call stations in each room that feed back to master stations
Building automation controls for the tents
Behind the scenes, the SIEMENS team worked strategically across business divisions focused on manufacturing and operations, distribution, customer support and sales to meet the healthcare facility’s unique needs. Pressure monitoring systems were prefabricated at a local branch office for quick mobilization to the site. Additional safety mechanisms were incorporated to provide control over the air handling units in the tents.
“Undertaking a healthcare project of this magnitude is incredibly complex and to complete it within weeks under today’s unprecedented circumstances is truly a testament to the dedication of our employees, partners and suppliers,” said Dave Hopping, President and CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure USA. “I thank Governor Cuomo for his leadership in this response effort. We’re proud that our technology and know-how will not only help New Yorkers affected by COVID-19 but also continues to support hospital environments and other critical infrastructure across the country.”
Continuing COVID-19 Support
SIEMENS continues to combat COVID-19 by supporting critical infrastructure and helping state and local governments address urgent healthcare needs. The company’s employees are maintaining essential operations to support hospitals, power plants, government facilities, military sites, manufacturing locations and data centers. We are all in this together.
Alston & Bird have released their June 8 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.
The PPP Flexibility Act was signed into law on Friday, June 5. Over the last few weeks we have covered many important components of the Bill, our latest article covers more of the salient points as well as the nuances that all borrower need to be aware of. The topics in the article include:
The 60/40 Rule (replacing the 75%/25% rule) appears to include a “cliff” effect, providing no forgiveness if you do not spend 60% of your proceeds on payroll.
New ways to be exempt from the FTE reduction calculation, including if a borrower can document an inability to return to the same level of business activity as it was operating at before February 15, 2020, due to compliance with requirements or guidance issued by the CDC, OSHA or HHS during the period from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
Extension of the Covered Period – Important considerations borrowers should contemplate which may lead them to elect to keep an 8 week period as it is now otherwise automatically extended to 24 weeks.
Extension of Loan Maturity Date – New terms for borrowers who received a loan after June 5th, however a potential window to extend maturity for borrowers who received loans prior to as well.
Reminder Section: (what should I be doing):
Call your payroll company about claiming the payroll tax deferrals and employee retention credits that were made available in the CARES Act.
Talk to your payroll company about the Sick Pay Bill (passed prior to the CARE Bill).
Consider speaking with your bank to discuss changes to terms of existing debt facilities. The banking system remains strong.
If you have already applied for the PPP, start forecasting how you intend to spend the funds and how to qualify for the highest amount of forgiveness possible.
In light of COVID-19-related restrictions and in the best interests of our members and the students, MCAA has made the decision to cancel the in-person GreatFutures Forum scheduled for October 1-3 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The MCAA Career Development Committee is currently working on the GreatFutures Virtual Education Program that will be scheduled throughout the fall. All students, faculty advisors and MCAA members will be welcome to participate. The annual MCAA Student Chapter Competition project, will not be impacted by this cancellation. The MCAA Student Chapter Competition will be released virtually to the student chapters during the Virtual Education Program.
The MCAA Career Development Committee’s ultimate goal is to continue to create programming and education that will help cultivate the next generation of mechanical contracting industry leaders.
With that in mind, we are trying to gain a better understanding of our contractors’ hiring needs for the next year. Please take a few minutes to let us know your plans.
While an in-person job fair is not currently feasible, members can visit MCAAGreatFutures.org for access to student profiles and resumes. The profiles are searchable by university, desired location, and even a specific skill set, like BIM or AutoCAD. A keyword filter allows users to zero in on students who fit the bill.
Not finding a match? Try reaching out to our 60 MCAA Student Chapters. The chapter advisors are a great resource to help find the right person. And, MCAA members have exclusive access to post job openings on our job board.
Please contact Megan Walsh if you have questions about the GreatFutures program and any of our student activities.
The PPP Flexibility Act is on its way to the White House for signature. A few observations that we wanted to make today that borrowers need to consider:
Cap on Forgivable Salaries: The cap on salaries has been a simple formula ($100,000/52 X 8), resulting in $15,385 of maximum forgivable cash compensation during the covered period. The bill would extend the covered period to 24 weeks, and that should mean that the maximum forgivable salary amount would be $46,153 ($100,000/52 X 24). Once the bill is passed, Withum believes the SBA will issue guidance to this effect to ensure clarity to Borrowers. Borrowers would need to incorporate the new cap into their calculations, but this change would be favorable and enable most borrowers to obtain full loan forgiveness.
8 Weeks vs. 24 Weeks: The bill would extend the covered period to 24 weeks; however, a borrower could elect to retain an 8-week covered period if they wish. The bill does NOT provide flexibility to have a covered period between 8 and 24 weeks, it appears to be one or the other.
Timing of Forgiveness: With a 24-week covered period, borrowers would need to plan for the fact that it is highly likely that their loan will not be forgiven during 2020 based on the length of the covered period and the amount of time banks have to render a decision on forgiveness. Borrowers may need to consider if that is meaningful to them from a financial statement perspective or a loan covenant perspective.
Tax Deductions for Forgivable Expenses: If forgiveness has not been granted to a borrower before it files its 2020 federal income tax return, then the borrower will have to decide whether to claim deductions on such return for the expenses that ultimately will give rise to loan forgiveness. The IRS has stated that the expenses relating to forgiven PPP loan amounts are not deductible, but until a borrower receives a loan forgiveness decision from its lender, it would seem appropriate to claim the deduction. This is something we will monitor closely as borrowers will need additional guidance on how to deal with this – it appears to be an unintended snafu.
Reminder Section: (what should I be doing):
Call your payroll company about claiming the payroll tax deferrals and employee retention credits that were made available in the CARES Act.
Talk to your payroll company about the Sick Pay Bill (passed prior to the CARE Bill).
Consider speaking with your bank to discuss changes to terms of existing debt facilities. The banking system remains strong.
If you have already applied for the PPP, start forecasting how you intend to spend the funds and how to qualify for the highest amount of forgiveness possible.
The Coronavirus is asking employers and employees to make unprecedented and rapid changes to their behavior in order to prevent the spread of disease and the closing of their facilities. The good news is that 71 percent of employees have confidence that their employers can bring them back to work safely. But 58 percent say that hinges on the availability of protective equipment like masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. What happens if some of your employees are not consistently using this protective equipment? When 54 percent of U.S. employees say they are worried about exposure to COVID-19 at their job, it can mean constant complaints, employees refusing to work and lawsuits about the company risking their employees’ health. You need a way to quickly and effectively influence your employees’ behavior. Join Sharon Lipinski, CEO of Habit Mastery Consulting, on what you can do when employees ignore or push back on the company’s Coronavirus safety procedures. She shares the 6 reasons employees fight these types of guidelines, 3 tactics that make the situation worse, and 3 steps you can take to get employees to want to follow your guidelines. You’ll leave this presentation with insights and strategies that work for influencing your employees’ behavior— not just in following Coronavirus safety procedures, but in other areas, too.
Alston & Bird have released their June 4 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.
PPP Flexibility Act Passes the Senate! This evening the Senate passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. The PPP Flexibility Act was passed by the House last week with bipartisan support. The Senate had a competing bill called the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act. that ultimately never made it to the floor. The PPP Flexibility act was passed by the senate in its entirety without change, the details of the changes to the PPP are included in this article. The article showed a comparison between the two pieces of legislation that is now no longer relevant, borrowers can just focus on the Flexibility Act. The Act now heads to the President for signature, he has indicated that he is supportive, so we can expect this to pass into law within the next few days.
The changes will be significant and will open the door for many borrowers to have their entire loan forgiven. Withum recommends you review the article which breaks down the changes so you can begin planning out the impact on your loan.
Reminder Section: (what should I be doing):
Call your payroll company about claiming the payroll tax deferrals and employee retention credits that were made available in the CARES Act.
Talk to your payroll company about the Sick Pay Bill (passed prior to the CARE Bill).
Consider speaking with your bank to discuss changes to terms of existing debt facilities. The banking system remains strong.
If you have already applied for the PPP, start forecasting how you intend to spend the funds and how to qualify for the highest amount of forgiveness possible.
MCAA members continue to play their part in helping communities cope with the impact of COVID-19, and MCA of Colorado member U.S. Engineering is no exception. The company is leveraging its fabrication capabilities for projects that will serve communities in both Colorado and Tennessee.
Colorado Convention Center Alternative Care Facility
In partnership with Hensel Phelps and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Engineering transformed the Colorado Convention Center into an Alternative Care Facility for COVID-19 patients.
Within two weeks, the empty convention center, the size of six football fields, was filled with functional hospital rooms, built out with 1,242 beds, and with the oxygen system infrastructure to complete another 766 beds, for a total of 2,008.
The building required cleaning facilities to support both the patients and the staff. For this, U.S. Engineering fabricated four 7-stall modular showers for patients, two 11-stall showers for staff and 72 dual sink stations strategically located throughout the areas. Additional sinks and modular units originally built for the facility were delivered, but will be used at other Alternate Care Facilities instead. For the staff, locker areas were created at the loading dock, and a 20,000 cfm temporary heating/cooling system was installed for comfort.
John Marlow, Associate Vice President for U.S. Engineering Construction, says, “what this team accomplished in less than 14 days is nothing short of miraculous. The entire construction team met on April 6th and by the 17th, a liquid oxygen plant and O2 piping were installed and certified for 591 beds and another 651 beds on April 24th. This was truly a team effort from all trades involved. Not only did our office and field forces meet the challenge, but our vendors, suppliers and subcontractors did as well.”
Memphis Alternative Care Facility
U.S. Engineering again partnered with the USACE for an Alternative Care Facility in Memphis, Tennessee. That project involved a 7-stall Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant shower trailer, a 100-piece custom fin tube order and 16 designed-from-scratch, turn-key restroom pods. The products were designed and fabricated at U.S. Engineering Metalworks’ shop in Colorado and shipped to Memphis in a 14-day period.
The Memphis Alternative Care Facility will have the capacity to accommodate over 400 patients and will be used if Memphis-area hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. U.S. Engineering Innovations, Metalworks and Construction teams combined efforts to fast-track the project.
The team adapted to challenges presented by the pods, Jeff Kiblen, General Manager of U.S. Engineering Innovations, explained, saying, “One of the challenges of this project was that the pods were scheduled for installation on the fourth floor, and no walls or windows could be removed to install them. So our team—and I emphasize team—designed the pods to fit in the dimensions of a freight elevator.”
The U.S. Engineering team designed the pods with removable ceilings, then boat-wrapped the lids and pods separately, four per truck, for the 1,100 mile journey to Memphis. When the pods and lids arrived at the Alternative Care Facility on May 9, the onsite crews unloaded them, packed them into the freight elevator, snapped the roofs into place and installed them on the fourth floor.
MCAA thanks U.S. Engineering for their efforts in helping our communities cope with the impact of COVID-19. We will get through this together.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Mechanical Service Contractors of America and the United Association have jointly agreed to extend the termination date of the current National Service and Maintenance Agreement, dated August 1 2015 – July 31, 2020, until July 31, 2021. All current signers remain bound to the terms of the Agreement. Click the button below for a copy of the jointly signed memo extending the term of the Agreement.
Southland Industries and the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team at Penn Medicine shaved 15 months from the construction schedule for a portion of a new hospital tower in University City, Pennsylvania, to prepare for the potential influx of COVID-19 patients.
Operationalizing the newly-constructed Pavilion took the team two weeks to bring 120 patient rooms and associated support spaces online. Southland installed a temporary med-vac system, medical gas piping, electric water heaters, medical air manifolds, hot water heaters, temporary plumbing fixtures, and temporary piping and ductwork.
Jim Meacham, Southland’s Mid-Atlantic Division Leader, explained that Southland teams were able to tackle the challenge of accelerating such a critical project through an IPD approach, clear and consistent communication, the willingness to step up, and dividing up the workload between engineers, project teams, and superintendents.
“The IFOA IPD contract method allowed for immediate collaboration amongst all the IPD partners to develop the right design solution to temporarily activate the hospital, with realistic jobsite condition awareness followed by instant decision making,” said Meacham. “Co-location and the collaboration developed early on during the formation stages of this project really paid off with the ability to expedite a solution that met Penn’s and the city’s needs.”
The facility was recently connected to the existing hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) via a tunnel, which creates a pathway for hospital staff to bring low-risk non-COVID patients over from the existing hospital. Moving the patients prevents existing cases from being exposed to new COVID-19 admissions.
Jim Meacham says, “we are faced with a real crisis and the majority of the state has suffered restrictions and closures. The PennFIRST team did an amazing job bringing this facility on line in the time required. The high level of confidence amongst the entire project team resulted in complete and timely execution, where everyone acted very quickly and decisively, while outlining and tracking each level of detail and associated sequencing required.”
Southland Industries continues to collaborate on COVID-19 facilities. They contributed to the surge facility project at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center that was facilitated in just over three weeks. We are all in this together.
Status of the PPP Flexibility Act: So far there is no news on the status of the changes to the PPP program other than the fact that Mitch McConnell confirmed that the Senate would “take up the bill.” This is significant and we expect to see movement in the next few days. It also seems there may be an effort to merge the two pieces of legislation. The PPP Flexibility Act was passed by the House and the PPP Extension Act originated in the Senate but has not come to a vote. There are subtle differences, but all of them are borrower friendly. Stay tuned.
Status of the Program: The SBA released new statistics on the status of the program via a PowerPoint as of May 30th. The document shows various statistics with respect to the type of borrowers, the average loan size, etc. Notably, it also shows that the program itself still has over $80B of funds available, and apparently negligible remaining demand.
Reminder Section: (what should I be doing):
Call your payroll company about claiming the payroll tax deferrals and employee retention credits that were made available in the CARES Act.
Talk to your payroll company about the Sick Pay Bill (passed prior to the CARE Bill).
Consider speaking with your bank to discuss changes to terms of existing debt facilities. The banking system remains strong.
If you have already applied for the PPP, start forecasting how you intend to spend the funds and how to qualify for the highest amount of forgiveness possible.
MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:
Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co.® a Member of Morris Group International Due to Shelter-In-Place and Stay-at-Home orders around the world, many buildings are sitting empty. Those vacancies mean your drains are being used infrequently, if at all, and are likely to emit sewer gases. We have an easy and affordable fix that takes just a minute or two to implement, and no special tools are required.
Seton Since 1956, we’ve been providing contractors with quality service and products designed to meet your critical project requirements. Our complimentary services allow you to free up resources to work on other critical aspects of the project.
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!
In this Beyond the Classroom video, you will meet Harry Bederian, a Senior Project Engineer at ARB, Inc. The past MCAA Student Chapter President talks about how his involvement with both CPMCA and MCAA helped open the door to his career.
He also discusses how MCAA GreatFutures can be a pathway for other students’ careers and helps showcase the vast opportunities available in the mechanical contracting industry.
Alston & Bird have released their June 1 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.
