A letter from the president

By Rick Murphy
Olympic Wall Systems Inc.

Rick Murphy Olympic Wall Systems Inc.

The American Subcontractors Association of Greater Milwaukee is pleased to again take part in this special section of The Daily Reporter. Chartered in 1986, our Greater Milwaukee Chapter represents more than 100 subcontractors, suppliers and service providers.

We are one of more than 50 ASA chapters nationwide.

Our mission is to promote professionalism, education and fair business practices within the construction industry. The adage that "the past is prologue" is our theme for this special section.

It's no secret that the only constant is change.

Subcontractors are increasingly expected to compress their services into shorter and shorter timeframes without any compromise in quality. To perform up to our customers' and team members' expectations, we must avail ourselves of the latest and best resources and techniques available.

The new frontier

Construction has entered the electronic age. The national ASA Web site is regarded as a leading-edge source for members to obtain information, tools and documentation quickly and effectively. The Subcontractor newspaper, long the publication for the professional subcontractor, will now be succeeded by a quarterly journal, The Contractor's Compass. Moreover, The Contractors' Knowledge Network will add management tools ("Depot"), fact sheets and documentation ("Bank") and industry research ("Quest") in the months ahead.

In the "Members Only" section, you will now find the national business practices interchange (NBPI) and sublocate.com. The NBPI continues on a national basis the information exchanges that are so valued at the chapter monthly meetings. Sublocate.com provides a unique marketing tool so that your own company's services can be located on-line instantly by prospective customers.

Our chapter Web site is a convenient way to reach ASA members and to learn firsthand how to improve your company's bottom line.

This fall, we begin our second season of General Contractor Forums -- a service both to our members and to our general contractor friends. These forums helped to increase attendance by more than 50 percent, and, in the new season, we expect to continue this growth.

Capitol gains

Legislatively, our past year has built a foundation for passing positive measures in the January 2003 session. A consensus has been reached to reduce the retainage percentage on public work to up to 5 percent.

Also, a growing base of support is developing for Wisconsin to restore limits on risk-transfer clauses. In the coming year, we are optimistic that both of these bills will be enacted.

In addition, we plan to aggressively support industry efforts to simplify the sales-tax laws relating to purchase of construction materials by tax-exempt entities, and we plan to fine-tune our construction lien law.

We are proud of our recent accomplishments, yet mindful that much more awaits to be done. We know full well that a growing membership is essential to achieving our chapter and industry goals.

As ASA's 2002/2003 chapter president, I encourage you to browse this special section, do business with our members and, if you have not done so already, join ASA. Your company will benefit and so will our industry.

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