text: NUCA News for March
  Leadership at Lunch Series
  sherinowlan
  FREE to Members, LEADERSHIP AT LUNCH SERIES: Addressing Our Current Workforce: Thoroughbred, Fence-Sitters & Carp
  It's not too late to join in on this highly engaging and informative NUCA member benefit! In partnership with "The Contractor's Best Friend" Brad Humphrey, we're offering a LEADERSHIP AT LUNCH series of 20 minute, live Zoom call webcasts with content you'll find brief yet valuable filled with how-to advice to help contractors of any size - in any industry - improve the management and operation of their business.
  Just an example of the tidbits of knowledge Brad will be sharing:
  "........When looking to fill your crew, consider a few surprising places when seeking new recruits for your discerning eyes.
  Tap into not only your local churches but look for those churches that are quite influential to reaching many people through ministries they may have in place to help those in need, including looking for full time employment.
  Hold your own "Get to Know Us" Saturday fairs where you send invites to local schools and social gatherings frequented by younger workers.
  Regularly contact government and/or military bases where workers might be looking to leave/retire and would be interested in staying in area.
  Also, and this is a big one, take off the paradigm blinders to only looking for men to recruit. There are more and more women proving that they can be, and are, fantastic workers in our industry.
  Finding workers through our more traditional avenues will not be enough to keep the number of applications coming in to find and hire the needed number of workers. So, don't be afraid to seek out some new and surprising places to find what you need.."
  To see how you can register for the remaining series and catch up with recorded sessions, Email sheri@nuca.com for more details!
  Next Session #2, Tuesday March 16th @ noon
  Enterprise Risk Management for Construction in 6 steps
  By: Jim Majeskey, CPCU, AFSB, CRIS
  Casey Lund, J.D., CPCU, AFSB, ARM, CRIS
  If you manage your risks they turn to profit. How do we do that?
  As an industry construction is full of risk. Risk to liability and injury, risk to operations, risk to finances and risk to the overall economy. Risks can be dealt with in a combination of three ways, Avoidance, Transfer or Retention. Avoidance is simple, we do not do that so we do not have the risk. Transfer is done with insurance products or contractually transferring responsibilities to other parties. Retention is we choose to hold and managing the risk ourselves.
  The key to an effective risk management strategy is to build it from the ground up creating a cost effective program that not only protects your business but also helps you achieve targeted revenue and growth goals. This process should involve your Insurance and Surety agent, Your CPA, Your Banker and Your Attorney.
  Step 1: Evaluate the Enterprise
  a. Review the history, mission, purpose and future plans
  b. Evaluate the current business cycle
  c. Review hazard risks and safety programs
  d. Determine risk appetite and risk tolerance
  e. Determine uninsurable risks
  f. Conduct risk control and safety review
  Once you have completed Step 1 you should request input from your business partners (Agent, CPA, Banker, and Attorney). They should be able to give you broad answers and help tailor the plan to your company's specific needs in order for you to get the desired results. As we continue the process, we cannot stress how important it is that your business partners are construction experts. Your Insurance/Surety agent, CPA, Banker and Attorney all need to be specialized in construction so you are getting the best possible advice in managing your company. If they do not know the industry you can easily miss some important issues which can be detrimental to your company.
  All construction has risk. The better you understand and evaluate your approach to risks the better the overall results will be for your company.
  Equipment Dealers Face High Demand
  Construction equipment need in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, despite national economist concerns, are booming! This is mainly due to the continued strong housing market with a limited inventory and the continued need for new build. The growing housing market then pushes for an emphasis on additional infrastructure and utilities in our area. The biggest challenge for equipment dealers to overcome for the upcoming 2021 season will be supply and demand for new and used. While the opportunities for new equipment sales is up, the equipment manufacturers are behind and lead times continue to push further out. For local dealers, having equipment in stock and in their current inventory will be a big plus to fill the needs. In addition to that, used equipment values will be up this year based once again on supply and demand. So what I am hearing, construction in the Inland NW will continue to climb, which will boost our economy even though we may see the country, as a whole, flatten or decline. Good news for NUCA of Eastern WA & North ID Associate Members!
  "My thoughts from the 2021 NUCA National Convention:
  Before I attended my first convention, I was told to get 1 NUGGET that could help my business. Each year, I've taken that advice to heart and since this was the first convention since COVID, attendance was down (as was to be expected) but that didn't mean there were not nuggets to be had!
  Damage Prevention: NUCA has been hard at work requiring SUE in the Dig Laws; For those of you who don't know what that is, you need to.
  Trenchless Technology: The NUCA trenchless technology manual is almost updated. Since many old technologies are referenced in current bid specs, this will hopefully help alleviate much of the confusion that we see today - ie: ""Jack and Bore"" specs.
  Economic Forecast: I was skeptical at first since Mark Bridgers from Continuum Capital would not be speaking (his dad is a long time NUCA member and he earned his economics degree while laying sewer pipe!) but the speaker in his place was engaging and relevant in regards to our industry and this year's outlook.
  NUCA WINS is a app recently rolled out that is used for incident reporting. It has a Dropbox storage location so your crew can upload pre-construction videos, maintain pictures in the cloud, and take care of the required dirt reporting. It can also be used for OSHA incidents and documentation.... I personally took onboard training in February and am excited to learn all the ins and outs of how to use it!
  NUCA Products: UTILITY DAMAGE MITIGATION ""CAP"" is for contractor assistance in finding the overages that the utilities bill for damages and to help our members fight erroneous claims. As a NUCA member, we get 4 hours FREE! This was a very informative presentation and I urge you to familiarize yourself with the program here.
  TOM OLSON is a great legal resource used by the top national dirt contractors to help counter agencies who try to put all risk back on the contractors and he specializes in Type 2 Changed Conditions.
  In conclusion.... The sunshine was great, cigars were awesome, and plenty of knowledge was gained! And don't forget to watch for gators....."
  NUCA Opposed Increase in Truck Liability Coverage
  In February, NUCA joined a trucker's coalition in opposing any increase in the existing minimum liability coverage mandated by federal regulations. Not only is such an increase unnecessary, it will do nothing to improve highway safety and would significantly increase costs. Increasing this coverage would affect all businesses transporting property, including those in the materials industries.
  Scot Hattenburg - M&L Construction scot@mlnorthwest.com
  Lauren Atwell Elected NUCA Chairman
  Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Contractor's COO was sworn in as NUCA's new Chairman during the Feb. 6 Annual Meeting in Naples, Fla. One of his top goals will be to continue the successful NUCA+1 membership program, and involve membership involvement in the 32 NUCA Chapters and 12 standing NUCA Committees. A lifer in the industry, Chairman Atwell is challenging each NUCA member to get more involved in our association this year. Read more here.
  NUCA WINS is a tool that should be on every supervisor's or superintendent's smartphone or tablet to facilitate on-the-spot accurate and comprehensive workplace incident reporting. NUCA WINS is an incident recording app that employees' can easily operate on their mobile device to document the situation at the point-of-occurrence. For more information, click here
  The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) continues to make progress with its COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration efforts.
  As of Feb. 15, more than 1,201,120 doses of vaccine had been given across the state. This is nearly 83% of the 1,453,425 doses delivered to our providers and long-term care programs. Washington is currently averaging 26,204 vaccine doses given each day. This information can be found on the DOH data dashboard on the vaccines tab.
  NUCA National Gives Their Perspective On Biden Admin. Infrastructure Policies On January 4th, NUCA National sent a letter to the Biden transition team offering our industry's perspective on the many issues and policies related to underground utility construction. Issues such as financing programs for water and wastewater infrastructure improvement, increasing funds for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) and Clean Water SRF. and seeking changes to federal laws that invite more private investment such as tax-exempt facility bonds, known as "private activity bonds." NUCA also addressed job creation, essential workers receiving COVID-19 vaccines, natural gas systems, damage prevention, and fiber optic/broadband infrastructure requirements. Our government affairs team will begin working with the new USDOT officials as soon as they take office later this month. Read NUCA's entire letter here.
  Snapshot of NUCA National 2020 Accomplishments
  While it may have been a year filled with challenges, NUCA's work over the past 12 months on behalf of the membership showed value, especially our lobbying to keep our "essential industry" working at the height of the pandemic in spring 2020. A look back at what we accomplished for you, our valuable NUCA members can be seen here.