THE GLASS AND GLAZING AUTHORITY • GLASSMAGAZINE.COM MAY/JUNE 2020 TOP 50 GLAZIERS ADAPT TO A COVID-19 WORLD BUILDING MULTI- A FUNCTION, NEW FIRE-RATED GLASS BARRIERS NORMAL STOP VIRUS SPREAD OFFICIAL PUBLICATION NATIONAL GLASS ASSOCIATION with GANA GLASS.ORG TOP 50 GLAZIERS BUILDING DURING COVID-19 write this as I work from home, one of the many members of the I workforce who is doing so as office spaces are closed, and stay-at-home “I DON’T THINK orders are still in effect for most states WE’LL EVER GO as of late April. Construction field BACK TO WHAT work, which cannot be done remotely, WAS NORMAL has proceeded with safety measures BEFORE. I THINK in place in states that deemed it an IT WILL BE A essential service, though some states, NEW TYPE OF like New York, shut down all but the NORMAL.” most essential construction work as the coronavirus continued to spread. For those firms still operating, with reduced business or not, field work delayed projects, and seven percent has posed new challenges. “We do cancelled projects. daily cleaning of work stations, check Business closures have resulted in people’s temperatures―using an in- furloughs and layoffs across industries, frared thermal unit―promote frequent and historic levels of unemployment. This year’s Top 50 Glaziers cleansing and washing of the hands, March data from the Bureau of Labor survey, which opened in mid-March, cap- social distancing, and we have our Statistics shows that total nonfarm tured responses from an industry facing project management meetings outside,” payroll employment fell by 701,000 in unprecedented challenge and uncer- says Ray Crawford, president of Craw- March, and the unemployment rate tainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ford-Tracey Corp., a Top 50 Glazier. rose to 4.4 percent, the largest over-the- Results from the survey, collected over Many companies reported difficulty month unemployment increase since a month, show the cascading effects of acquiring PPE for workers to wear on 1975. Nonresidential building construc- the coronavirus on the glazing industry, the jobsite, which pushed glaziers to get tion lost 11,000 jobs in March. including increasing concern for worker creative. Giroux Glass leadership, for While lack of cash flow and worksite safety, cancelled and delayed projects example, created its own face shields for closures put pressure on many business- and supply chain disruptions. field staff, says Lomedico. es to furlough or lay off workers, Lomed- Despite the disruptions, and some- Though some construction has persist- ico recommends keeping workers if at all times because of them, companies ed, many companies have faced jobsite possible. “You should be trying your best have adapted and innovated, blazing closures. Data from the Associated Gen- to keep your talent, because the work will trails and moving forward into unchart- eral Contractors of America surveys in return,” she says. “It takes a long time to ed territory. “I don’t think we’ll ever go March and April paint a picture of rolling find the right people, and to have to lose back to what was normal before,” says closures as the pandemic spread. The them because of a short-term situation Nataline Lomedico, CEO and president, AGC survey, published April 3, compiling would be devastating. I would recom- Giroux Glass, a Top 50 Glazier. “I think responses from March 30-April 2, record- mend doing everything in your power to it will be a new type of normal.” ed that 53 percent of contractors reported find different ways to use your team.” 44 GLASSMAGAZINE.COM ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ooking ahead to recovery, econo- U.S. Commercial Building Starts mists warn that the landscape has (in millions of square feet) changed, and that construction L 2019 recovery will take time. “I think the trend 832 toward having less work is going to contin- 2020 ue,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors, in an early April presentation. “I think that even if businesses start to reopen, if the ex- 703 treme orders to stay at home are lifted, just getting businesses up and running again will be [owners’] priority. And so many businesses are not going to have either the immediate cash, or the expectation that they will need a project that they have been contemplating.” Forecast data from Dodge Data & Analytics suggests that commercial con- struction starts will drop by 16 percent in 2020. “We are in recession, full-stop, no Source: Dodge Data & Analytics question about it,” says Richard Branch, chief economist for the organization. Branch projects a “short U” shape reces- sion, meaning a more gradual recovery, U.S. Commercial Building Starts: by Segment 2019 rather than a quick rebound. 2020 Branch says that not every market segment will rebound in the same way, 400 or on the same timeline. He predicts that retail and hospitality will be the 300 hardest-hit sectors, with projected 2020 declines of 33 percent and 31 percent respectively. Meanwhile, health care 200 will be the strongest sector to recover. Branch forecasts a 5 percent rise in 100 2020. K-12 building will continue to ease, as will college and university building, the latter due to current 0 financial strain, he says. Warehouses Parking Office Retail Hotels and garages motels MAY/JUNE 2020 45 TOP 50 GLAZIERS BEYOND THE PANDEMIC Online View a gallery of notable projects from Top 50 Glaziers at GlassMagazine.com. t may be hard for companies to plan because we won’t know the impact of companies, on the development side, for the future when it is difficult to how it will trickle down to us through are working at a rapid pace to customize I predict labor and market realities a the different industries we work in,” she what we need. We’re all going to reap the week, let alone a month, in advance. says. “We’re taking a better look at the benefits of that,” she says. However, some in the industry feel that owners of the projects in our backlogs, Jeff Sample, director of strategic ac- the current situation is an opportunity and asking, ‘Will they still have the counts at eSub, a construction software for glaziers to pause, plan and prepare. funding? What is their financial strength? firm, also says this could be a “Big Bang” Here are a few potential ways that busi- What else are they investing in?’” moment for glazing firms to digitize. “I ness could change after COVID-19. think we won’t go back to business as DIGITIZATION usual across the board,” he says. “I think PREFABRICATION Another result of the pandemic may also it will fundamentally be the digitization The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the be increased use of technology and soft- moment, the adoption in usage of tech- potential use of prefabricated materials ware, both on and off the jobsite. Many nology and remote work ... We’ve just not and modular building. Sixty-four per- companies, across industries, have had had a reason to change the way we do cent of Top 50 Glaziers report fabricating to set up remote work situations, some things. And I feel like now we have one. curtain wall in-house. “Prefab could be for the first time and in short order. And it’s on us now, as an industry, if we a trend going forward―it’s a no-brainer “This could change [the use of] don’t embrace it.” with regards [to] the efficiency, and the technology; the face-to-face and social quality control,” says Crawford. Dodge aspect of [work] might lessen, and many INDUSTRY RANKING AND MARKET Data’s Commercial Construction Index of our people are now learning how REPORT for Q1 2020 reports that the top sector to work from home,” says Crawford. The following report includes a ranking for the use of prefabricated materials Crawford-Tracey already had a remote of the Top 50 glazing firms serving the is health care, which, given the like- desktop set up for workers before the North American market, organized by ly stability of the health care market COVID-19 pandemic, a system that al- 2019 gross sales information. For the segment, may further push adoption of lows employees to access files from their industry ranking, see pages 48-51. prefabrication. office workstations at home. The report also includes in-depth Lomedico also feels that this marks a market analysis of the state of the U.S. MARKET DIVERSITY turning point in the adoption of technol- glazing market, based on statistics sup- Given the likelihood that the profitability ogy. “We are all becoming accustomed plied by reporting companies. The report of some industries will change temporar- to ever-changing information, and when presents sales and growth information, ily, and possibly permanently, Lomedico this is over, we’ll be used to that,” she an early look at how COVID-19 might says that the company is reconsidering says. She characterizes this as an oppor- affect construction in 2020 and beyond, what kinds of market segments to seek tunity for glaziers to get the kind of sys- as well as product and technology trends. work in. “Some diversity is needed, tems that will work for them. “Software For market information, see pages 52-57. 46 GLASSMAGAZINE.COM TOP 50 GLAZIERS $ Rank Previous Company U.S. Full-time Total Rank Locations Employees Employees Over 01 Permasteelisa North America 5 - - $200 01 permasteelisagroup.com, Windsor, CT THEmillion LIST 02 Enclos Corp. 14 550 550 02 enclos.com, Eagan, MN 04 Harmon Inc. 18 598 599 03 harmoninc.com, Bloomington, MN 03 Benson Industries 6 725 725 04 bensonglobal.com, Portland, OR $100-200 07 W&W Glass LLC 1 55 200 million 05 wwglass.com, Nanuet, NY 08 Walters & Wolf* 7 - - 06 waltersandwolf.com, Fremont, CA 06 Crown Corr Inc.