by Cyndi Walker, G&S Architectural Products
Our first meeting of our 2019 – 2020 year featured Mr. Ron Wiese, VP at Alberici; Mr. Frank Kutilek, FCPE (Fellow Certified Estimator) a founding member of our Chapter in 1976; scholarship winners Ms. Megan Spaunhorst and Ms. Samantha Wickes; and our new board members. Not a cast of 1,000 but a good start to our new year of activities.
Ron presented his topic “Tariffs – How they affect Construction projects from the perspective of Owners, General Contractors, Subcontractors, Suppliers and especially Estimators”. He made a lot of good points, gave people in attendance a lot to think about and used graphs and charts and everything.
Before Ron’s presentation, Frank performed the swearing in ceremony of our recently elected new board members. Even though the board has been meeting over the summer to plan our meetings and events for this year (more to follow in this article, I promise), they are now official.
The 2019 – 2020 Chapter officers include second term President John Smith, CPE of The Lawrence Group; second term 1st Vice-President Everett Myers, CPE of McCarthy; a new position for Mary Rotter of Golterman & Sabo, Inc. as 2nd Vice-President (moving up from a Director position); our longtime Treasurer, Jim Stukenberg will continue in that position as will the Chapter Secretary, Cyndi Walker of Golterman & Sabo.
The six newly elected Chapter Board of Directors include Jason Emerick of Hallmark Stone (2nd year on the board and the developer of our new and improved website www.aspe19stlouis.org and master of our EventBrite reservation service); Rich Ullrich, Lifetime CPE and owner of Everest Estimating (also 2nd year on the board – and in charge of developing our future Estimating Academy); experienced longtime board members Diane Rinck, Senior Estimator for Paric and Fred Waldrop, FCPE, Business Development for Clay Pipe; and new board members Kevin Suiter of Murphy Company and Jeff Judge of Charles E. Jarrell Contracting Co., Inc.
We presented checks to our 2019 Scholarship award winners. We had two such outstanding applicants we decided to provide two scholarships this year instead of our usual one award. Ms. Megan Spaunhorst, now in her junior year at Bradley University studying Civil Engineering, was presented a check for $1,000.00 and Ms. Samantha Wickes, a senior at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, was presented with a check for $500.00. These two women are well worthy of receiving our scholarship awards as they have accumulated great grade averages, are active in their campus lives, industry organizations, and charitable endeavors. We wish them well in their future and are glad we could contribute a little financial aid.
Now, as promised, back to our plans for upcoming meetings and events.
October’s monthly meeting (October 18th at McCarthy’s office) will be presented by Mr. Ryan Molen on how McCarthy assembled and developed their design build team for the NGA project. Click here to register.
On November 15th, Mr. Steve Gantner of Cannon Design will talk to us about UNI and MasterSpec Specifications.
On January 17th, we plan to host an Open House/Job Fair for students from area colleges and trade schools to meet representatives from contractors for possible internships/employment.
February 17th and March 20th meetings will be a 2-part topic on 3D – 3D Models for Estimating and 3D Printing.
On March 7th we will hold our 2nd Annual Trivia Night with proceeds to help fund our scholarship for 2020. At last year’s Trivia Night we had lots of fun and had a really good turnout – we hope to see you there.
April 17th we will hear about legal issues in our industry as presented by Mr. Dan Gabris, a St. Louis lawyer who knows about Change Orders, Liens, Contract disputes, etc.
The May 15th meeting will be presented by members of the SAK/Goodwin team about their tunneling project.
We will also have a Night at the Races at Fairmount Park, always a good time, with the date to be determined once the track’s schedule is announced and reservations opened.
We are also working on planning an “Estimating Academy” which will be held in four ½ day classes. Rich Ullrich is chairing that undertaking. If you would like to help, please email your contact information and willingness to help to cyndiw@golterman.com.
The American Society of Professional Estimators serves construction estimators by providing educational programs, fellowship, and the opportunity for professional development. The certification program can lead to the ultimate goal of personal growth and professionalism. We hope you will join us and become active members in our Chapter to better our St. Louis construction industry.