By Chase
Any day now, spring will arrive. That is what I keep telling myself, waking up to grey days. Warmer weather means the construction industry steps up production and many projects will be wrapping up over the next few months.
From my nine years in the industry, I know not many projects wrap up between December and February each season but come March completion dates start to fall into place pretty quickly. Luckily, with a warmer winter and low snow falls, not many projects are left with a sense of urgency to make up time due to work stoppages.
If you have a project wrapping up this spring, send me details and we can cover your grand openings and completed buildings. As Canadians, sometimes bragging is seen as a bad thing to do, but why not share the details about the great work your business has done? These projects can be residential, commercial or even industrial.
The biggest thing I have taken on here in Niagara is joining the Niagara Construction Association’s strategic planning committee. Our first two-hour meeting was held in late February and we discussed the role the association will play for the local industry and the value we provide to members. It was good to reflect back on the first three years of my time spent as a director and recap what the association had accomplished in 2015. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the ongoing process with once a month meetings and homework sent via email. The committee is made up of several past presidents and executive members.
Last up this month is reflecting back as I celebrate my ninth anniversary with the company. The publications have evolved from traditional print only to a nice hybrid of digital editions, enewsletters and web pages. Social media is one area that needs to be developed and I am hoping we can resolve that with a mid-year planning session, while ensuring we continue to reinforce what we are doing right and continue to evolve. It is nice to see online revenue increasing each month and more readers getting access electronically. I still recall the planning session in the fall of 2008 when I pushed for us to publish online and fighting the publisher on the idea of making the publications more accessible. Oh how times have changed.
Chase is the director of marketing and client relations for the Construction News and Report Group as well as the associate publisher for the GTA Construction Report, Ontario Construction Report and the Canadian Design & Construction Report. He can be reached at (905) 228-1151, by email chase@cnrgp.com or visit www.gtaconstructionreport. com online.
