Demolition Association Outlines Plan for Future

Saying it was “time for demolition contractors to take their rightful place in the construction industry,” Michael Taylor, executive director of the National Demolition Association, outlined a plan of action the association would take in coming years. He made his remarks at the association’s recent Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

Chief among those moves is to expand the association’s membership to include all companies involved in the demolition process. He specifically named architects, general contractors, and C&D recyclers as targets.

Architects are important, Taylor said, because of their role in the design process of buildings. General contractors do about 20 percent of all demolition work now, especially interior renovation, and “we have to show them we can do it better and faster,” he says. Finally, C&D recyclers handle the material the demolition industry generates.

Taylor also described how the association’s recent name and logo changes fit into this plan. Dropping the word “contractor” from the name, while painful for some members, was necessary because the name was exclusionary. “To expand in the 21st century, we had to lose that word,” he says. The new logo, with its swoosh design to denote progress, also has the association’s tagline, which describes it all: “Preserving the past, preparing the future.”

He also talked about the opportunities the industry faces, such as brownfields work and becoming certified to be first and second responders to natural and man-made disasters. Finally, Taylor outlined an aggressive marketing campaign to construction magazines to promote the industry’s services and capabilities.

At the NDA’s board of directors meeting during the same event, that marketing program was one of the points discussed. It will be a two-year project that will also help to roll out the association’s name and logo change.

Other action taken by the board was a discussion on being first responders to disaster sites. Not every demolition contractor is qualified to handle this usually dangerous and sometimes controversial duty, and one possible goal is to have certified disaster site workers. Indeed, many cities ask demolition contractors to pre-qualify for many duties anyway, and this should be another one.

Another lengthy discussion centered on the demolition education program being developed at Purdue University in concert with NDA. There is no textbook for demolition now available, and it is expected the program will generate one.

In 2006 the NDA will meet in Nashville, TN, and 2007 and 2008 in Las Vegas.