Articles by Rick Damato

This column is commentary and contains some opinions rather than complete details of the topic being covered. The topic is OSHA’s amended Part 1926 Subpart CC - Cranes and Derricks in Construction. 

A lot to be thankful for as I sit on the deck overlooking our 110 acre backyard. Working here for the first time this season. Been too hot and humid up until this very day, the eve of Labor Day 2010. Thankful for some cool, dry weather. 

Some weeks are more interesting than others. And some just move fast, and you get to the end and wonder, “Did I actually accomplish anything?” For me last week was the former and this week the latter.

Are we about to encounter some new labor challenges in the face of what many describe as a “jobless recovery”? The evidence is gathering that it may well happen. And the roof-contracting industry may be among the first affected.

My blog posting was going to be about how I keep hearing depressing stories from contractors and manufacturers about how awful business is going to be into 2011.

I recently received a flurry of e-mails with news reports about a roofing contractor and his foreman in California being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2008 death of one of their workers. These charges were announced by the San Francisco District Attorney in April 2010. Co-workers and associates expressed shock at the news. 

Swore I would quit whining about the antics of our federal government and get back to more topical roofing issues but the hits just keep on coming. 

I was not going to do this. Rant about the government, that is. But they just will not stop, so what else can I do? 

Recently we bore witness to a couple of major events in the supply-chain sector of the roofing industry. Beacon Roofing Supply, the first consolidator of roofing distributors to go public, was called out by NASDAQ (where their stock is traded under the symbol BECN) and recognized in a bell-ringing ceremony. 

Well the party is over (for now) with the $8,000 new-homebuyer credit. Many expect the small burst in new-home construction will drop and we will return to the doldrums. I do not think so.