Construction + TheEconomy

Construction Unemployment Hits14-Year Low

First-half Regional USConstruction Starts (RCD)

‘Flurry of Design Activity inRecent Months’ (AIA)

Mid-August ‘Economic Nuggets’(RCD)

NEMA Index: July UP, AugustDown A Bit

Cincinnati Baseball:Honored Tradtion ForDELTA Electrical'sScheidt Family

Not many good things came out of the Civil War, but one was that Baseball became“the American pastime.” Soldiers (on both sides) had played the game in theirencampments, as a diversion.

Fresh home from the marching and the battles, numerous former soldiers beganplaying the game for fun – all over the country.

Then, in 1869, a lightning bolt hit: The Cincinnati Red Stockings became a team ofprofessionals. Their players were actually paid to play, the first time this had everhappened. Their opponents were amateurs.

Were paid players a good idea? The team’s record in that year was 57-0.

Fast forward to the 21st century: The Cincinnati Reds remain in business, acompetitive baseball team. People who grow up in the Cincinnati area seem to have“baseball in their blood” . . . with names including Dave Parker and Pete Rose.

There are many more people in Cincinnati for whom baseball is, if not a religion,then the next best thing. One local family is the Scheidts – who also happen to runan electrical contracting company.

All this came together beautifully for the company (DELTA Electrical Contractors

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Training Dates

STANDARD CLASSES

Sept. 16-18 (Arizona) Sept. 16-18 (Maryland)Oct. 21-23 (Arizona)

ADVANCED CLASSES

Oct. 29-30 (Arizona)

OSE PRO ONE-DAYCLASSES

Sept 21 (Arizona)

“ESTIMATING BYHAND” CLASSES

Nov. 19-20 (Arizona)

PLUMBING &MECHANICAL

Ltd.) recently, when it performed the electrical construction on the Reds’ UrbanYouth Academy. Take a look at a video (on ElectricTV.net) profiling the Academy,what it does, how it was built . . . and with a few segments featuring Eric J.Scheidt, project manager, on camera

A project to chase

DELTA was founded in 1998 by Dale Scheidt (Eric’s father) and business partner EdHulefeld. Dale and his partner had earlier been part of another partnership, datingback to 1985; Ed Hulefield has since passed away.

Local customers of importance form the base of DELTA’s business, including thecity of Cincinnati (DELTA does street lighting and more) and the giant corporationProcter & Gamble (Cincinnati is that company’s home). The company also works onlocal schools, handles parking garages in the area, and more.

No, the Urban Youth Academy job is not the biggest or most lucrative project thecompany has ever tackled. When it was let out for bid, though the Scheidtsdetermined it was something they just had to have.

“We’re a baseball family,” Eric relates. “My dad played baseball. I played baseballhere in high school, and also when I was in college at Texas A&M."

“As a result of that, we became involved – a few years ago – when the Reds wereinvolved in construction of Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Field. That’s in Fairfield(OH), where we worked with IBEW Local #648 on that job."

“That led to our company getting an invitation to the groundbreaking for theAcademy. We became very interested in the project. We waited for the plans andspecs, as we had to of course – but we submitted a very aggressive price (to theconstruction manager involved).”

Construction on the project peaked at eight electricians (DELTA normally runs 35 to40 skilled professionals, working with IBEW Local #212). There was nothingunusual involved, beyond putting LED fixtures into the high ceilings (28 feet fromthe ground).

Additionally, there has been some follow-on work: The Academy has added aconcession stand and a press box to one of its two fields; DELTA was called in tohandle the electrical.

CLASSES

Dec. 16-18 (Arizona)Click here for thecomplete list ofupcoming 2015 trainingdates

Training can be "suit-cased" to your facility.We can tailor ourtraining to your needs.Ask us about customizedtraining at your site!

Call to register for anyof the above classes,including those inMaryland: 1-800-444-4890.

We've posted trainingdates, directions to ourtraining facilities, andregistration forms on ourWeb page. Click the"Education" button onour home page, or clickhere.

The latest McCormickverison is:

V11.72with a release date of

4/20/15If you are on an olderversion, just fill out thisform and send it in!

Company Hours

Switching

DELTA Electrical became a McCormick user three years ago, after using anothersystem. “We switched because it offers us greater efficiency,” Eric Scheidt says.“We liked the way the system handles assemblies. They are easy to build, easy toadd or subtract."

“In our approach, project managers do the estimating, so I’m ‘hands-on’ with theMcCormick system. It has made it much easier for me, and for our two otherestimators, to do our work.”

Included there is On-Screen Estimating Pro. “It’s also very easy to use, and wemake great use of it,” he says. “After we work on them in OSE Pro, we send thedrawings to the job. With this software, we can put the number of fixtures, boxes,and other materials right on the drawing."

“Our foremen get the whole picture in one place. We couldn’t do that before, atleast not routinely and so easily.”

Pride

Recently, Scheidt took his wife and three-month-old son for a tour of the UrbanYouth Academy. He, his dad, and the rest of the company are proud of what theywere able to accomplish in the new facility.

“We were excited to be involved in any way with the Academy,” he notes. “Thisfacility is going to be great for the city of Cincinnati, for the young people whowant a place to play baseball."

“It’s a place they can go to play ball any time – even in the rain, even if we havetwo feet of snow on the ground. And it’s a chance to get the youth more involvedin the game of baseball. The city of Cincinnati is synonymous with baseball.”

It's Barely 6+ Months Away:March 9-12 = User's Conference

Location: Chandler AZ Highlight: This will be your first and best in-person opportunity to become fullyinformed and updated on the exciting enhancements in V12 and new capabilitiesadded to OSE Pro.

Details coming soon . . .

6am-4pm Arizona Time

Visit the McCormickWebsiteUnsubscribe

Visit McCormick Systems in Our Booths. . . At These Industry Shows

Las Vegas NV, Sept. 20-24 – BICSI Fall Conference:Booth #426

NECA Booth #1905

IEC Booth #213

Estimator's Corner

Create Your Own Square Foot Pricing

I believe that square foot pricing has a place in estimating. Important note:Using square foot pricing to create a final price usually is dangerous. However, a square foot price can be used for budgeting (or to check yourestimate). McCormick has “ti work per sq. foot” assemblies for both light andpower in their database. When used, a material list and current material pricing isavailable.

Idea: Use hours per sq. ft. At one time I took the “McCormick Suites Office” job we use in class off as anassembly. Then I built another assembly called “McCormick Suites Office Sq ft cost”and transferred 1/6500 (Sq ft) of the first McCormick Suites assembly into it. This gave me a square foot cost for the McCormick Suites Job with a prettyaccurate bill of material.This same effort could be pursued with Condos, Offices, Apartments, etc., to comeup with a square foot cost for budget purposes.For any job you estimate, the McCormick systems can give you the price per

square foot and hours per square foot. These prices may be compared with jobs ofsimilar types to check an estimate. Note: With the vast changes in material pricing, I would be more comfortablecomparing the hours per square foot.

Added: Tools for you to use Think about how you can use square foot and the tools available to you with yourMcCormick Estimating system.These features have been available for years. Now, additional tools have beenadded. The Trainer’s Tips article “Using the Job Details” (which follows below)shows you how to bring the square foot information from the Bid Summary to theJobs window. Now that information can be used instead of opening the Bid Summary.Obtaining the square footage of a Job or any area of the Job has been difficult inthe past, but now can be easily obtained using OSEPro. As shown below OSEProhas Highlights, Regions, or Jumps that can mark and area and show the squarefootage and perimeter. – Richard Manrod

If you have any questions about the things in these areas - Please feel free to giveus a call - 800-444-4890

Using The Job DetailsThe Users that came to McCormick Systems yearly Conference asked that the Jobscreen and Job Details be able to do more. McCormick has listened. Now the User can send Information from the Bid Summary to the JobDetails and show that information in the Jobs window.

If the User clicks “Details” in the Jobs window, and nextclicks the “Setup” button in the Job Information window, thenclicks the “New” button on the upper right side,

. . . the “Setup Job Detail Item” screen appears. If the “Bid Summary Details” tab is then clicked, a Bid Summary Field may beselected from the list of Bid Summary Fields by using the pull down arrow. If Square Feet is selected from the list, it may be added to the “Job InformationDetails”.

Note the added Job Details shown below.

Once Job Details are linked to the Bid Summary they may be updated from the BidSummary by clicking the “Update Job Details” button in the Bid Summary as shownbelow.

When the Job Details are updated from the Bid Summary they may be linked to the

Jobs window.

If help is needed to setup your system click on the “Help” Ribbon, Help Contents,and Jobs: or call McCormick Technical Support at 800-444-4890.

Estimating Plumbing & Mechanical Systems

Estimating & Tracking Change Orders:

Change Order Labels are added as needed as shown in the example below. Thenthe takeoff is done using the same takeoff tools you’ve used on the main estimate

Higher Material prices and Labor units are available to use when extending theChange Order – as shown below:

Material prices and Labor hours may be adjusted in the Bid Summary by dollars,hours, or percentages to give the ability to make those last minute changes.

McCormick also has available a program that tracks change orders keeping youaware of the condition of the Change Orders. Have the Change Orders beensubmitted, approved, completed, etc. The Change Order may be created as a Stand-Alone Change Order orLinked to a McCormick’s Estimating System Job.

Nonresidential Construction Spending Continues to GrowThrough Mid-Summer

From ABC’s economist.

“Nonresidential construction spending expanded 0.5 percent in July andis up 12.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to a Sept. 1release by the U.S. Census Bureau. This represents the strongest year-over-year percentage growth in spending since April 2008.”

Advanced Wireless Lighting Controls: Study Shows Great Opportunity

From the LCA.

“The greatest potential to save energy is with advanced lighting controlsystems that feature three capabilities. First, all applicable controlstrategies can be layered in a hierarchy of control zones. Second, zoningcan be precisely matched to the application, potentially resulting in a mixof larger zones with zones as small as individual luminaires, whichincreases responsiveness while allowing personal control of overheadgeneral lighting. Third, these systems provide a central mechanism forcalibration, sophisticated programming, measuring and monitoring.”

Utilities 'Mixed' On Home Technologies

From Black & Veatch

The Nations Healthiest Housing Markets

From WalletHub via Builder magazine.

Cost of Solar Has Dropped 'Significantly' For Five Years, DOE Reports

From US DOE.

Another Opinion: Peak Construction SPending?

A warning of sorts from the website ZeroHedge

From the post:

“Construction spending grew at 13.7% YoY in July. It has only grown ata faster pace than that once - at the very peak of the idiocy in Q1 2006.”

149 W Boston Chandler, AZ 85225

Toll Free (800) 444-4890Phone (480) 831-8914 Fax (480) 820-2422