California is a global leader in the effort to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that affect our climate.
Improving energy efficiency is a key strategy to help cut down on GHG emissions.
Dual-energy design, with natural gas and electricity working together to exceed green building standards and Title 24 code requirements, can be an effective way to achieve energy efficiency in a new home.
For today’s builder, constructing next-generation new homes with dual-energy design can both appeal to customer preferences for natural gas appliances and be a part of California’s GHG reduction strategy.
Plus, rebates and incentives are available now to builders of new single-family and multi-family homes who equip their projects with qualifying energy-efficient natural gas appliances through the Energy Efficient New Homes Program.
For more information, visit socalgas.com/EENH
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Connect with BIASC Director of Membership Tyler Bennett at TBennett@biasc.org.
As we begin 2024, we honor the remarkable tenure of Dave Bartlett, our past Chair, whose leadership, and dedication have been a beacon of excellence for our organization. Last year’s Centennial celebration was a year of gratitude, reflection, and anticipation, which our members will never forget.
As this year takes shape, our journey ahead as an industry has its challenges, particularly the ongoing housing policy crisis. Yet, BIASC remains steadfast in its commitment to providing our builders and associate members with better strategic pathways so we can continue to build, network, and advocate for our industry.
This month, we will launch two new programs designed to increase builder engagement on advocacy and networking platforms. One is the formation of our BIASC Energy Committee, which will act as a strategic action committee for our builders and associates to plan within the new and changing energy policies proactively. The second program is a new version of a regional in-person ‘Meet the Builder’ event, which will now include a business and social networking component. Both programs will serve as part of a new types of programming we will introduce this year.
Our membership will always be our organization’s lifeline, so we must continuously explore and implement new ways to serve our members effectively. By fostering a culture of change and innovation, BIASC aims to solve problems creatively and strategically, ensuring that our members have the tools and knowledge to navigate the complexities our industry continues to face.
To help accomplish this task, BIASC will begin its Long-Term Planning (LTP) program this year to help evaluate and redefine BIASC’s value proposition for its members. This LTP approach ensures that our advocacy, membership benefits, events, and educational models are relevant and viable solutions that provide unparalleled value to our members.
Like always, as we continue to navigate through this year, our commitment to serving our members has never wavered. As we navigate the future, BIASC will continue to lead with advocacy and resolve, ensuring that our members’ voices are heard and that we collectively progress and strive as one industry, one association.
Thanks to our members’ support, we look forward to a year of innovation, change, and progress for a successful 2024.
Recently I was thinking about adjectives that describe the Building Industry Association’s strengths when a funny thing happened. I realized that all those adjectives applied to our CEO, Jeff Montejano, as well. Just take the three adjectives in the headline to my letter this month, leadership, innovation and engagement, and it becomes instantly obvious that the face of our Association has the same characteristics and qualities of our Association itself. This works with other adjectives as well – take “fun” and “strategic” as just two examples!
In the six years since Jeff became CEO of BIASC, it is leadership, innovation and engagement that rise to the top, and which best explain why he is on the cover of this month’s issue of Southern California Builder. Our former CEO, Mike Balsamo, handed over a strong Association when he left for a senior position at Rancho Mission Viejo, but Jeff rejected any temptation to be complacent and instead poured all his leadership skills into creating a new BIASC that was more innovative (think Magic Johnson and Sammy Hagar at successive BIS shows) and more engaged (think the incredibly effective one-two punch of BIASC’s Perfect Storm educational series and its digital advocacy program).
So, rather than taking all this for granted, we decided to feature our CEO on the cover of this month’s Southern California Builder magazine and get Jeff’s thoughts about the last six years and what’s ahead for our association.
Having a strong CEO at the helm has been critical over the last few years as the industry was buffeted by COVID, supply chain disruptions, and interest rate hikes. All of us were wondering if better days might finally be ahead, which explains why this year’s Outlook 2024 Economic Outlook event with John Burns such a success was. John’s comprehensive overview of market conditions and housing forecast for the coming year rewarded attendees with good news, as reported on page 33.
Another great opportunity to look into the future is coming up shortly, with the BIASC Summit on the Future of Real Estate and Sustainability, an all-day event in downtown Los Angeles on March 7 featuring, amazingly, nearly 30 CEO’s, visionaries, innovators,
Craig Foster Chief Operating Officer/ Executive Vice President
legends, investors, tech wizards and entrepreneurs. This conference offers such an incredible list of speakers that it’s impossible to highlight just one… so call this a “can you believe that,” not a highlight. Can you believe that one of the speakers is named Astro? That’s Astro Teller, who has a title that millions would love to have, Captain of Moonshots. He works for X, which hails itself as “a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people.” And that’s just one of the speakers! Tickets and sponsorships are still available, and you won’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to benefit from the thoughts of so many experts. For more information, see page 34.
You will find the first preview of the 2024 Building Industry Show on page 10. This September, BIS will be returning to the always popular Pechanga Resort Casino, and as always, we’re working hard to step up our BIS game. This year’s show will offer unprecedented opportunities to engage with industry leaders, learn and be inspired by the best, and have a good dose of fun. Here are just two examples: We are committed to making this year’s Meet the Builder the biggest and most successful ever, and we will be moving last year’s highly successful Builders vs. Associates golf tournament to the Pechanga golf course. Will the builders be vindicated after their trouncing in 2023? Finding out the answer to that is reason enough to mark off September 18 and 19 on your calendar.
Finally, please join me in welcoming BIASC’s new membership director Tyler Bennett to our team. Many of you already know Tyler, since in recruiting him we recruited one of our most enthusiastic and engaged members. He attended at least five dozen events last year, so chances are good that you have sat next to him or had a conversation with him at one of our regional or chapter events. Tyler has big plans for membership that focus on making the Association more responsive to the needs of its members, so if you haven’t met him already, you can meet him on page 13.
As you can see, this issue of Southern California Builder is easily one of the most exciting we have published to date, which is just another indication of the leadership, innovation and engagement that drives BIASC under our CEO Jeff Montejano.
September 18th & 19th, 2024
• Over 100 exhibitors expected
• Perfect Storm Educational series
• Special Keynote Speakers to-be -Announced
• Builder Roundtable
• Builder vs. Associates Golf Tourney II at Journey Golf Course
• 2024 Hall of Fame Luncheon
• Exhibitor/Builder Load In Party
• IE/Regional Installation Dinner
• Hotel Packages will be available
• Casino
• Spa
• Wine Country AND MUCH MORE!
Stay tuned for more details. Registration and Sponsorships coming soon.
Even before the fond memories of partying on the deck of the U.S.S. Midway and the biggest Meet The Builder event ever at last year’s BIS show in San Diego start to fade, it’s time to get excited about the 2024 BIS Show. Why?
We will be returning to the home of legendary fun, the Pechanga Resort Casino in the wine country of Temecula. This venue has so much to offer: Wine tasting tours, exceptional golf, a superb spa and, of course, the #1 casino in California. Hotel packages will be available, so you will be able to pick the perfect package to align with your interests.
When it’s time to get down to BIS-ness, you’ll find over 100 exhibitors on the Pechanga Resort’s massive show floor. And of course there will be a Meet the Builder session, special keynote speakers (Remember Magic Johnson the last time we were at Pechanga?), the Builder Roundtable, and an informative Perfect Form Educational Series event.
Expect the Builders to be looking for vindication when they take to the greens and fairways of Pechanga Resort’s golf course for the second annual Builders vs. Associates Golf Tournament. That 11-3 loss to the Associates at the first annual tournament must still smart! Also on the schedule is the Exhibitor/Builder Load In Party, the 2024 Hall of Fame luncheon, the Inland Empire/Regional Installation Dinner… and whatever other craziness the party-planning fanatics on the BIS team cook up.
All this will unfold on September 18th and 19th, so block out your calendar now. Tons more exciting information about BIS 2024 will follow as the event draws near.
For more information, please contact lbarber@biasc.org
BIASC’s new Membership Director is not new to BIASC. Tyler Bennett has worked for builder, developer and associate members alike and has been an avid attender of BIA events. He spoke with Southern California Builder on his second day in his new position.
Southern California Builder: Welcome to the BIA family. What goals have you set for yourself on this, your second day?
Tyler Bennett: The first thing I want to do is reach out to every single one of our members to introduce myself and let them know that I’m going to help in any way that I can. That’s a large undertaking, but I need to know about their business, their issues and what they’re struggling with. I already know quite a few of the members, being a member myself who has been really active – last year, I went to about 60 or 70 events.
SCB: When you talk to potential new members, what will your selling proposition be?
TB: It’s a different message for a builder or a developer or an associate or a drywall guy or a consultant, but it’s always about what BIA can do for them, which is a lot. The smaller and medium sized builders and developers who are doing one-off projects may not know that we provide advocacy in support of their business and their projects, and that we can help them move their project along. And for the Associates, it’s that this is the industry’s hub, where everybody is, where you go if you want to get to know the people here. I also plan to go to a lot of other associations as well, like NAIOP and ULI, to see if people there are having some of the same issues where our platform could be beneficial to them.
SCB: Is member retention a big part of your job?
TB: Yes, it’s a really high priority for me. When I meet
with our members, I want to know about the return on the investment they’re making in the Association, and what we can do to maximize it.
SCG: What got you interested in this industry?
TB: I didn’t start in it. My first experience was working for a political campaign company, doing a lot of city council and county supervisor campaigns, and working on different PACs and outreach efforts. That is very tumultuous, so when an opportunity opened up with one of our clients, The Lewis Group of Companies, I decided to jump over there. They have such a great reputation placemaking, for creating communities, which was extremely interesting to me, and it was just as exciting when I worked for Warmington Residential. I’m very happy that my path led me to this industry.
SCB: Your previous position at Murow Development Consultants had to do with client experience. If you were responsible for creating the ideal BIASC experience for its members, what would it be?
TB: That is a very complicated question because everybody desires a different experience, right? We have different member profiles, with some looking for business development opportunities, some looking for places to grow their personal and professional networks, and some looking for an advocacy ally. So, it really has to be an “all hands on deck” approach, trying to get everybody on the same page, to support and grow the industry and the companies and people in it.
SCB: What are your first impressions of the staff?
TB: They’re amazing. They’re all incredible, compassionate and professional people who are dedicated to the industry and the Association’s members. It’s great working with them.
Chris
been
California since 1993.
Innovation - is defined as the process of bringing about new ideas, methods, products, services, or solutions that have a significant positive impact and value.
Leadership is defined as: An effective leader has the following characteristics: self-confidence, strong communication and management skills, creative and innovative thinking, perseverance, willingness to take risks, open to change, levelheaded and reactiveness in times of crisis.
BIASC’s leader, Jeff Montejano, has been at the helm of the Association for six years. Southern California Builder spoke with him about the state of Association as it enters the first year of its second century of service to the homebuilding industry.
Southern California Builder: Tell us about how your career path leading up to your appointment as CEO prepared you for the work you’re doing now.
Jeff Montejano: I started as an intern for a state assemblyman, Phil Hawkins in Long Beach, and ended up on the campaign of a young man that was running for
Jeff Montejano BIASC Chief Executive Officer
State Assembly whose name was Rich Lambros, who as you know went on to hold this position. When he lost, I was looking for a job and they said there was a job for me out in Corona and I thought, “Corona del Mar, that will be great,” and they said not that Corona. I didn’t know where Corona was because I was a San Gabriel Valley kid, but that job for Assemblyman Rod Pacheco was the right way to begin my work in politics and policy. He said I had to live in the district, which was Corona, Riverside, Moreno Valley, all that area, so my big start was in the Inland Empire. I met Ali Sahabi and Borre Winckel and others because I went to BIA events as a representative, handing out certificates and things like that.
I did that for three years and worked in the Capitol, then came back and worked for Patrick O’Reilly’s public affairs firm, where my first big account was local government. I worked with Riverside County on their multispecies plan, their general plan, their housing element and transportation plan, and I was working with the state and federal agencies, the electeds in the cities, and
the coalition groups. That’s when I met the leaders of BIA and the environmental groups, because we were all on this committee that I had to manage. After three years, I got a job working for the New Majority Political Action Committee in Orange County, which included The Irvine Company, George Argyros, Bill Lyon, all the big developers, and I started working for them politically. After that, I went out on my own as a consultant doing land use community politics, public affairs, crisis communications, lobbying, all these different things for clients in many different industries.
When the BIASC position came up, a friend said maybe I should apply for it, which I would never have done because I’d been doing my own thing for so long, but I had two daughters at the time that were six and nine years old and I wanted to be home for them. I was tired of living out of a suitcase so I threw my hat in the ring and got in, and all that government, public affairs and communications ended up being pretty good prep for me.
SCB: How was the transition?
JM: I had always appreciated the BIA, but I had no idea what the issues were for the building industry itself. I had to learn on the run because when I took the job, the
chapters were having difficulty with each other. I had worked in the Inland Empire, was and working in Orange County, and had grown up in LA, so I know the differences between them all, so I feel like I was prepared to take that challenge on. I had no predisposition, so my position was that the whole point is that the fight’s not in here, it’s out there. My motto in my first year was that we were going to lead by example, which meant I was going to treat the regional office like we were just a chapter. We were never going to pull rank, we were not going to operate in red, and if a chapter ever asked for help, we would help them.
SCB: Last year was our 100th anniversary. What are your highlights and takeaways from 2023?
JM: Starting the year with the Rose Parade was amazing because of the past, with what BIA had done with the parade back in the day, and the future, with the young kids that came up with a design concept, and then making it real by actually decorating the float – and that was just the first day. It took a year of preparation just to get to day one of our anniversary, and the year was special, and also extremely difficult because we had a housing policy crisis going on. Still, it was very special because we created our first Hall of Legends class, and
the Junior Builders, and holding BIS for the first time in San Diego, and our all-in-one Installation Gala. That event was particularly important because when we brought everybody up on stage and swore them all in at once, people suddenly realized the enormity of what they were a part of, that we are so much bigger and stronger than they thought. Bringing everyone together is something we will continue because with the issues we’re facing, the chapters have to work together and the members need to work together and broaden their networks.
SCB: What are your goals for the Association as we enter 2024?
JM: In terms of our influence, we’re probably stronger than ever, so going into 2024, we really want to focus more on membership, the value proposition of being a BIA member. We’re going to go through some longterm planning to look at what people like about the membership, what they want to get out of it – a really deep dive. We want to adjust to the market because BIA has had membership in the thousands, up to two thousand, back in the day, but with people leaving the state, leaving the industry, shifting their target areas so they’re no longer all in California, but are in other states besides California we are no longer at that level. It’s our goal to keep our industry members here, which is why the
advocacy is so important. I want to make sure that we’re catering not just to the big companies, but the small companies, because they are the ones that struggle the most. So, we’re going to have an emphasis on how we can give them more value in all of their struggles so that they can continue doing business in the state.
It’s also an election year, so that’s our second priority. We have a lot of races that we’re going to play in. Our third priority is to reinforce our advocacy, because the housing policy crisis that was here six years ago when I started is still here. The one thing we’ve learned is that despite all of the legislation that’s being passed and all the recent efforts by our state, we’re not getting where we need to be. It’s getting worse.
SCB: What are the big housing policy crisis points you see in 2024?
JM: In the region, it’s the Climate Action Plans. BIA wants to support these plans – they are important and we have to do that – but we must make sure that we’re doing the right conservation, that it’s reasonable and equitable so we can continue to build. LA County’s Climate Action Plan is our priority because I think we’re entering into a new a whole new paradigm shift about how climate action needs to be implemented. These plans could
be very anti-growth so we need to make sure they’re implemented in a way that doesn’t end up stifling growth.
SCB: How’s the digital advocacy effort going?
JM: It’s doing great. It has evolved over the last three years to where it is resonating with local electeds because the numbers are outstanding. We’ve gotten hundreds of thousands of letters into elected officials supporting or opposing a policy or action. The SCAG Greenprint was the guinea pig and in our first few months of digital advocacy, we had about 30,000 emails go to our local elected officials. The technology has been a blessing, and now whether it’s supporting a veteran bill or opposing a bad housing bill, we get thousands of emails generated from our folks. This year we will make it easier, simplify it more, through our app, which we’re going to use for mobilization on advocacy projects. We’re the only BIA that I know of that has an app, and since launching it last year we already have about half the membership on it.
SCB: You mentioned earlier the elections. What are your priorities?
JM: From a statewide perspective, we have to go all in for the school bond. BIASC will do all we can to support that, starting with an awareness campaign with our own membership on the importance for our landowners and builders of building the schools through the school bond. The other priorities are in the county and city
races, where we are going to protect the candidates that support pro housing legislation, and we’re going to play in races for people that oppose it. We have factions within Southern California that are running on no-growth platforms with a Nimbyism mindset – those are the ones that we really have to go in heavy on because we have to send a message to the candidates that actually want to build communities and give them the support, so they know there’s a good workforce of people that support them. Our PAC is doing well. It’s probably been the most highly subscribed in the last five to seven years in terms of donations. And we’ve done a good job of prioritizing and localizing our candidates in terms of where we need to put resources in to make sure that we have city councils and counties that are ready to put together prohousing policies so that we can continue to build. I’m very confident that we’re going to have a really good election year with the resources and the talent that we have.
SCB: What about the “cruise ship?” What kind of activities will we have in 2024?
JM: The cruise ship term is something that we use internally to distinguish between our events and our advocacy the aka Battleship. For our cruise ship, we push ourselves to try to take it to the next level. I mean, we’ve had a president, a rock star, Magic Johnson and fireworks, and we are really engaging our veterans more, which is great. This year, we’re going to bring BIS back to Pechanga, which is a very popular venue that offers lots in the way of events and networking. We are going to put a lot of emphasis on Meet the Builder at BIS, trying to make it the largest Meet the Builder ever, and adding some type of social aspect to it. We have a couple of things that are in the works, so stay tuned, but big picture, we’re doing fewer events. We used to do about 80 to 90 events, and we’re going down to 67 this year because we want the events to be more impactful, so when someone comes to an event, it’s an experience. Behind the scenes, we are looking at ways we can connect people, so they don’t get lost in these large-scale events, and so we are doing a better job of connecting the people with the builders. The other thing is that we will be adding a layer of advocacy or information on the matters at hand out on the cruise ship. You will continue to see a lot of creativity in our event planning because the cruise ship is important that our members have a memorable experience and that we sell enough tickets to pay for our advocacy battleship since it doesn’t pay for itself.
SCB: Can you wrap all this up in terms of your goals for 2024?
JM: One of our big builder members recently said to me, “We always give to the BIA because we’ve always done that, and we’ll continue to do that.” That doesn’t work for me. I want someone to want to renew, be a fan, and have a fan base that says they’re proud to be a part of the advocacy we do, or I’m proud of what the industry is doing for the community. I want people to be proud of the industry and push back against the negative perceptions. Southern California Builder is a reflection of that – my initial thought about bringing the magazine back was that no one else knows how great, how good these people are. And so now elected officials, even those that demonize the industry, take this magazine and they look at all this and go, “Wait a minute, these are good people. Look what they’re doing for veterans, look at the women in leadership, look at these stories. These are not bad people.”
Another important goal for 2024 is to engage the chapters and the membership on a whole different level, a personal level. We are going to be meeting with them all on a continual basis and ask them how we’ve been doing and what we can do better going forward, now that we’re 101 years old.
Is there anything
JM: Yes. Last month I spoke to the Orange County Forum and OC Realtors, and they had no idea what the state’s mandates were imposing on housing. Some people blamed us, not the state’s housing policies, for the high-density projects in their neighborhoods, so I told them about the housing policy crisis. After some great discussions, both organizations not only understood our dilemma as builders they actually now have joined our coalition to provide support. To date, they are important allies in our battle to solve this housing policy crisis.
A turning point when I speak to organizations is when we tell them that a housing crisis is generated by bad policies, not builders. Our builders know how to build in a quick and cost effective manner if you let them – they are the best in the world, they’re like Greek gods in other states. Builders elsewhere are taking what we did here, master-planned communities, and they’re duplicating them in their states because they know it’s the best way to do it. Yet we’re stuck pretty much with urban in-fill only because some people in Sacramento have decided no one wants greenfield development any more. All of us have to tell this story because people do not know how well revered our builders are, how good they are, and how they will solve the housing crisis once we can solve the housing policy crisis.
Alan Boudreau, CEO of Boudreau Pipeline Corporation, is a long-time board member of the Orange County Chapter and treasurer of BIASC. We talked to him recently about why BIA membership has been so important to this company.
Southern California Builder: To start, tell us how you got into the pipeline and wet utilities business.
Alan Boudreau: I started off doing plumbing with my dad who had a plumbing company and I naturally gravitated towards the shovel in the ditch. Eventually I learned how to run a backhoe and started doing more of the underground versus the building plumbing. But then in 1996, he closed his doors. There I was with four kids and a house we’d just bought, and I had thought I’d never have to look for a job. I ended up taking the one backhoe we had and became an owner-operator. About a year later, I was working for a pipeline guy who’s a competitor now, and he asked me if I could take a job off his hands that he didn’t have time to do. It was the underground utilities for 51 houses in Santa Margarita, and I ended up getting the job and hired a few guys, and that started everything off.
SCB: You’ve been very enthusiastic about BIA. How did that come about?
AB: I joined BIA in 2006 and around 2008, I was asked if I’d like to join the Orange County board as a trade partner, and I’ve been on that board ever since. Now I’m on the BIASC board as treasurer, which is the only position on the Executive Committee that doesn’t have to be a builder. I view BIA membership this way: It’s the BIA and the builders who put food on my table, so how can I support them? Plus, for me, especially when I was just starting, I needed to get where the builders were. My competitors had been in the business forever and knew everyone. I had to go get all my relationships from scratch, and it seemed like if I joined BIA, I could get in there and figure this out. And then, when I was offered a board seat, it was like, “Wow! I get to sit
Alan Boudreau CEO of Boudreau Pipeline Corporation
and learn from all these people and have conversations with the Bob Yoders and Paul Johnsons.” And when I got on the BIASC Executive Committee, I’m the only trade contractor in the room, and I was just listening to all these guys and thinking “What am I even doing here? How did I get here?” Well, I got there by joining BIA, getting engaged, making myself useful. To be a part of this is a privilege, an opportunity to make a difference.
SCB: As an underground utility contractor, you are one of the first trades working on a new home project, and you’re the treasurer of BIASC as well, so you must have a good feel for what’s ahead. What are your thoughts?
AB: Everything seems to point to a soft landing. It is set up well for the homebuilders because they used to represent 10% of the home sales market with resale being 90%, and now they’re 30% of the market – that’s huge. And being on the Board with the builders, I see how they all have a positive outlook for the next couple of years, and listening to some of their stock market calls, they’re all positioned so much better financially than before the Great Recession –they are totally different companies now. It’s impressive. As for jobs in our pipeline, it’s very good. We’ve got our biggest backlog we’ve ever had, so that even without getting any more work this year, we’ve got the year pretty much filled.
SCB: Are you able to find the labor that you need?
AB: The labor shortage is a very real problem, but for whatever reason we’ve been able to pick up some good people here lately. We have a good reputation for treating our people well, so that helps.
SCB: You’re employee owned – does that help attract employees?
AB: I want to say it does, and it certainly helps with retention. Most of our workforce has had no previous
experience with employee ownership, so I go out to the job site and talk to them about what it’s all about, so they get more engaged and feel like an owner, having an owner’s mindset.
SCB: Tell us about the services Boudreau Pipeline provides.
AB: As the name implies, for the multi-family or singlefamily homebuilder, basically if it’s underground, we can do it for right for you. Homebuilding is our history. Until the Great Recession it was 95% of our business, and it remains an important component of our business even the recession taught us the importance of diversification. We’ve since grown successfully into other areas, primarily commercial and public works jobs, and more recently, we added a division that does mobile home parks, a division that does potholing to confirm the presence of underground utilities, and in 2020 we started the telecom division in Las Vegas and San Diego.
SCB: You’ve been going into BIS for years. Why does it remain a significant part of your marketing effort?
AB: You know, I sometimes question myself if I’m really getting the bang for the buck out of BIS, but at every show, I
end up talking to a few people that make the show a win for me. Plus it’s fun watching people try to work the excavator simulator we bring to the show. Everyone wants to try it and a few of them look like they may have what it takes to be an equipment operator.
SCB: We probably shouldn’t ask, but have you ever had one of those “Work Fail” events like we see on YouTube?
AB: Unfortunately yes, but it worked out OK. It was in 2002 or so when we were working in San Clemente on the Forrester Ranch project for John Lang Holmes. I just happened to be there that day, walking the street with an inspector. We were running sewer line down the middle of the street, and there was a fiber optic line that crossed the excavation. I told the guys to hand dig that section, and the inspector and I walked on. Coming back, I saw everyone standing around and there was this loop coming out of the ground. My heart sank because it was obvious they didn’t hand-dug, and then the guys from the fiber company said it was lucky it didn’t break because that line connects LAX to the San Diego airport and it’s probably a million dollars a minute when it goes down. We were able to just put it back in the trench, thank God. Lesson learned.
BIA Riverside Chapter Golf Tournament
BIA Riverside Government Affairs Workshop
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Chapter Golf Tournament
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Monday, June 12, 2023 To Be Announced
BIA Orange County Government Affairs Workshop
Friday, March 22, 2024
BIAOC NextGen Event
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
BIA Orange County Chapter Whiskey Tasting Event
BIASC Greater Sales & Marketing Council Networking Event
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Margarita Madness
Thursday, June 15, 2023 Dacor Kitchen Theater in Irvine
Thursday, March 28, 2024
BIA Riverside Annual Golf Tournament
Friday, April 5, 2024
BIA Riverside & San Bernardino County Chapter Joint BBQ Networking Event
Temecula Creek Golf Course
Thursday, July 13, 2023 To Be Announced
BIASC Special Evening with Industry Leaders
BIASC Greater Sales & Marketing Council Breakfast
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
BIAOC NextGen Government Affairs Workshop
BIA Orange County Annual Baseball Night
Thursday, April 11, 2024
BIASC Council on SAGE Awards
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 Angels Stadium of Anaheim
Thursday, April 25, 2024
BIA Orange County Annual Golf Tournament
BIA Orange County Chapter Golf Tournament
Monday, May 6, 2024
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Chapter Top Golf
Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club
Thursday, July 27, 2023
BIA LA/V & BIASC GSMC Chili Cook-Off
Top Golf in El Segundo
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
BIA Riverside & BIA San Bernardino Mid-Year Economic Forecast
BIA Riverside County Chapter Annual Wine Event
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Thursday, August 17, 2023 Wilson Creek Winery
Wes May BIASC Director of Labor Relations
Wes May, BIASC’s newly named Director of Labor Relations, is a down-to-earth kind of guy. Like how he decided to go take a job selling concrete industry instead of going into copier sales because he liked how stable concrete is compared to the ever-changing tech business. The relationships he’s built from that decision to join the construction materials industry, along with the leadership and initiative he learned as a Marine, have perfectly qualified him to be BIASC’s new Director of Labor Relations.
Southern California Builder: In your new position, what are some of the big issues you see that BIA members are facing on the union front?
Wes May: There’s not one big issue; there are lots of elements, some large and some small. On the larger side, every two or three years the trades will bargain for a new Master Labor Agreement, or MLA, and right now it’s the cement masons. BIA is the lead on cement mason negotiations, so I will work with other associations representing the companies, so we are ready when the masons come in with what they want in the new agreement. When the negotiations start, my background will come in handy. I know just about everybody everywhere – union and contractor – and relationships help, because sometimes the real progress is made in the hallway during a break, not at the negotiating table.
Then there are the issues that come up every day for our BIA members. For example, the administrator of one of our concrete contractor members asked me if she had to pay sick leave to her people. The answer is that California does not require that you have paid sick
leave, but the federal government does. So, if a job her company is working on is getting any money from the feds, then she will have to let her workers know about their sick pay benefits. That will go into one of the BIASC Labor Bulletins we produce on a routine basis.
There also will be emerging issues because of technology, like something that’s come about because of the use of drones. Before drones, you would have a crew go out and survey the site, then come back in with the specifications to lay it out so the planners would have what they need. With drones, you launch them up, they shoot the site, and if you’ve got a known benchmark on the site, you can get all the readings you need from that fly-over, which raises the question, who gets that work? Is that the operating engineer or the laborers? Does it depend on the project? I’ll be helping the unions wrestle through that so BIA members won’t have to.
SCB: What is the most exciting aspect of this position for you?
WM: Well, of course I’m looking forward to putting my experience to work to improve relations between our trade members and the unions, but there’s something else that comes from my history in sales: I’m really excited by the membership aspect of my job. Membership isn’t in my job title, but obviously membership is important to BIASC and its chapters, and that means looking for ways we can bring value to companies that are considering joining or renewing their membership. I’m going to do all I can to make BIA membership valuable to them and am setting up meetings with all our trade members to make sure they’re getting value out of their membership.
BIA Riverside Chapter Golf Tournament
BIAOC NextGen Event
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Chapter Golf Tournament
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Monday, June 12, 2023 To Be Announced
BIA Orange County Annual Women’s Conference
Friday, May 31, 2024
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Annual Golf Tournament
Monday, June 3, 2024
BIA Orange County Chapter Whiskey Tasting Event
BIASC Greater Sales & Marketing Council Networking Event
Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort
Thursday, June 15, 2023 Dacor Kitchen Theater in Irvine
BIA Orange County Baseball Night - Angels vs. Padres
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Angels Stadium
BIA Riverside & San Bernardino County Chapter Joint BBQ Networking Event
BIA San Bernardino County Top Golf
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Thursday, July 13, 2023 To Be Announced
BIASC Special Evening with Industry Leaders
BIA Riverside Government Affairs Workshop
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
BIA Orange County Annual Baseball Night
BIAOC NextGen Event
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 Angels Stadium of Anaheim
BIA SBC & BIA RC Joint Summer Event
Thursday, July 11, 2024
BIA Orange County Chapter Golf Tournament
BIAOC NextGen Mentorship Wrap-Up
BIA Los Angeles / Ventura Chapter Top Golf
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Thursday, July 27, 2023
BIA Orange County Tequila Tasting
Top Golf in El Segundo
Thursday, July 18, 2024
BIAOC NextGen & BIASC Council on SAGE Joint Happy Hour
Thursday, July 25, 2024
BIA Riverside County Chapter Annual Wine Event
Thursday, August 17, 2023 Wilson Creek Winery
SCB: Is keeping things calm and smoothing things out a big part of your job?
WM: Yes, that’s a lot of it – being the go-between between a union contractor and the unions, or a nonunion contractor and his workers. For example, one of the first things I did upon coming to BIA was to help a member company that was having issues with one of the unions. Because they were signatory through BIA, I represented that contractor, meeting with the union’s guy and we already have worked our way through a good part of the issue.
SCB: Tell us about your pathway to this position.
WM: Going way back, I enlisted in the Marines in 1966. As an enlisted man in Vietnam, I was stationed with the Air Wing in Chu Lai from 1968 to 1969, which wasn’t a dangerous posting, but we did get rocketed and mortared and did have some fatalities. After four years I got out as a Sargeant, then got a business degree from Northern Arizona University under the Officers Candidate School program, where they’re looking for initiative and leadership. After graduating I decided to go back on active duty for four years as an infantry officer. I was a platoon commander, then a battalion personnel officer, then an intelligence officer in Okinawa, and commander of a 200-man rifle company. Finally, I was the Executive Officer of a heavy equipment company at Camp Pendleton.
Later, after I started my career outside the military, I was called up as a Reserve officer, first during the First Gulf War, where I was sent to Honduras as a backfill for the 18th Airborne Corps when they went to the Gulf. Then I was posted to the Third Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company in Long Beach, which called in close air support and naval gunfire for our forces. After 9/11 I was called up again, becoming the operations officer and later the chief of staff for Consequence Management, which mitigated the consequences of a chemical, nuclear, biological or radiological attack in the 24 countries in the Central Command areas of operation for Desert Storm. We forward-deployed into Kuwait, and even though it was a secret operation, we made sure Saddam Hussein knew that there would be a counter to anything he might think about throwing at us.
Before those call-ups started, I went to work as a stockbroker in downtown LA. After the company I was working for closed I got a job in the construction materials industry working in sales for City Concrete and eventually became its operations officer. I selected City Concrete over selling copiers because with any technology product, everything changes so much, but that’s not the case with concrete. I worked in construction materials sales until I was hired by the Engineering Contractors Association, ECA, in 2011. ECA has 200 members that do heavy underground installation of water and sewer lines in Southern California – most of them union, a few non-union. I represented our contractor members to the unions, so that’s where I got to build my relations with all the union guys until last year, when ECA was absorbed into UCON (United Contractors) from Northern California.
SCB: It sounds like ECA was good prep for what you’re doing now at BIASC.
WM: Absolutely!
SCB: What’s on the horizon for BIA-labor relations for the next year or two?
WM: I’m looking into the interest that the crafts unions have in getting into homebuilding. The industry has always been concerned about unionization because for the trades, cost-competitiveness is important, and it costs more to hire a union laborer or operating engineer. The business decision can end there, but there are other things to consider. For example, one of the biggest costs in development, besides land costs, is getting a project passed through all the regulatory hurdles. If you use union labor, the union guys can help through their active support if you’re a signatory company. We have members that are using union labor and are seeing those benefits, and we have others that aren’t. Unions are more positive than some portray them. Besides entitlement support, they offer us other benefits, like the rules and the disciplines their workers have to follow, and the grievance procedures they have in place. If a worker complains about something, if you’re a signatory company it’s not your problem. The union will tell him, “Tough. It’s in the contract.”
Following tradition, the Annual Economic Forecast Dinner featuring housing analyst John Burns drew a sell-out crowd. Not following the tradition of the last few years, Burns had some good news for the homebuilding industry this year: a soft landing following several tumultuous years.
As usual, every attendee had an input device they could use to answer questions John asked the audience. Last year’s results showed that BIASC members should keep their day jobs, as 55% of them felt new home prices would fall – but prices actually increased by 5% nationally and were up 11% in Orange County, 8% in Los Angeles, and 5% in Riverside and San Bernardino. In fact, Orange County, along with San Diego, enjoyed the highest average new home price increases in the country, at 11%.
This year, attendees at the dinner were much more positive, with strong majorities thinking home prices and home sales would both increase. Burns agreed with them, characterizing his outlook for the industry in 2024 as, “A soft landing now looks to be the case as big builders and the exceptional home designs coming from Orange County will continue to lead the way” towards a better year. To explain this, Burns looked at housing demand, housing supply and housing affordability.
The demand for new homes is strong in large part because of the tight housing supply situation, but also because among the “haves” – those who own homes – price appreciation has created, in his words, “tremendous wealth.” Fortunately for homebuilders, the “haves” represent 66% of Americans, and their wealth is driving the economy, including the for-sale housing market. Total U.S. home equity has exploded from less than $10 trillion in 2012 to nearly $35 trillion in 2023, creating an average of $365,000 in home equity per household.
Further pushing up demand for new homes, Burns said, is the dearth of resale homes on the market, as only 1.1% of homeowners nationally are selling their homes, primarily because they want to hold onto their older mortgages with lower interest rates. That’s why 29% of U.S. home sales last year were new homes, against an historical average of 14% and a Great Recession low of 5% in 2011.
As to supply, Burns said the housing shortage is so profound it would take 17.1 million new homes being built between 2020 and 2030 to return it to normalcy. While Orange and Los Angeles counties are only modestly undersupplied, the Inland Empire is the most undersupplied market in the nation. There’s little relief in site
because although builders in every other U.S. market plan to expand their actively selling communities in 2024, California builders are not, Burns said. The number of actively selling communities in Orange County fell by half since last spring, from 42 to 21, and in the Inland Empire new home inventories remain low with only 215 actively selling communities.
So, demand and supply are both exerting upward pressure on prices and sales, but affordability, Burns said, “Is the worst in 40 years and still lingers over our heads.” A return to historic levels of affordability will require a drop in interest rates to the 3% range from the current rates of about double that, or a massive 47% growth in personal income, or a 30% decline in home prices, an option that had little appeal to the audience. He showed how builders are responding with about three-quarters offering some kind of mortgage assistance and less than one-quarter offering no mortgage incentives.
With affordability dragging down the positiveness of demand and supply, why is Burns predicting a soft landing? It’s because the economy is the strongest indicator of how new home sales will perform, and job growth is strong, unemployment rates are low, and the big lay-offs are occurring elsewhere.
What could go wrong? A recession, and just as there is a consensus that a soft landing is ahead, there is also a consensus that the risks of a recession (and a resulting hard landing) remain strong. Driving recession fears among leading economists are more government debt and higher deficits than ever before, more debt per person, an oil price spike, more adjustable-rate private equity, and a few more troubling warning lights.
Barring a recession, the outlook for 2024 is good, with Burns seeing a slight but positive pick-up in sales, and builders agree. He shared quotes from KB Home (“We have experienced a meaningful sequential increase in our net orders”) and Lennar (“We believe the pent-up demand will be activated”), with other builders noting good traffic, sales that have picked up, and plans for higher prices. As for products, Burns noted some that could do particularly well: high density detached (“like pulled-apart townhomes”), three-story single-family homes, duplexes (if they look like large single-family homes), a mix of townhomes and flats (as an alternative to threestory townhomes), and multi-story buildings with single-level flats.
Burns closed with a wish that we have a wonderful 2024. If his predictions are true, we will.
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STRATEGY | BRANDING | CREATIVE | MEDIA | DIGITAL | SOCIAL | WEBSITES
Introducing the Builders for Better Communities Foundation (BBCF), a new charitable nonprofit that will serve to promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness on behalf of the Building Industry Association of Southern California within the Southern California region.
Designated as a 501(c)(3), the Builders for Better Communities Foundation is a new charitable nonprofit that will serve to promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness on behalf of the Building Industry Association of Southern California within the Southern California region.
Supporting AFFORDABLE HOUSING opportunities for U.S. Veterans and their families is a cornerstone of Builders for Better Communities Foundation (BBCF).
California’s housing crisis continues to have a significant impact on the most vulnerable, including our veterans. BBCF will advocate to improve the HOUSING AVAILABILITY and AFFORDABILITY for those veterans. Learn more at buildersforbettercommunities.org.
Your SAGE Board of Directors has kicked off 2024 by planning exciting Education events, Senior Living Community tours and of course our annual SAGE Awards! The volunteers that make up your Board are excited to continue the success of 2023 and will continue to have Marisia Feliciano’s leadership in her new Past President role and well as welcoming Michael Stone and Cassie Cherry to the executive Leadership team. Our entire Board of Directors is people you know and love who work tirelessly in our industry to ensure ALL Senior Housing issues are being talked about!
Please help me Welcome your 2024 Board of Directors:
Melissa Auten
Michael Stone
Gina Nixon
Robin Robinson
Andy Bowden
Ann Brozéy
Cassie Cherry
Valerie Hardman
Shaun Guertin
Dana Kovach
Stephanie Lucero
Manju Pai
Marisa Feliciano
Doug Pancake
Dave Pintar
Felesia Dailey
Registration for The Council on SAGE first event of the year is open! Please join us on Thursday February 22nd for a site tour of the new Clearwater in Newport Beach as they show us Senior Living being redefined with luxury residences.
After you register for our upcoming site tour, please take a moment to review the SAGE Award categories and nominate a person, place or a space TODAY! The entry deadline of March 18th will be here before we know it so nominate today! We can hardly wait to gather together and celebrate all our awards winners on April 25th, 2024.
Thank you,
Melissa Auten
Unscripted Interior Design
2024 Council on SAGE President
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Grow their network by attending members only networking events including Meet the Builder
Grow their network by attending members only networking events including Meet the Builder
Grow their network by attending members only networking events including Meet the Builder
Access the BIASC Membership Directory containing all 900 member companies and 4,800+ contacts
Access the BIASC Membership Directory containing all 900 member companies and 4,800+ contacts
Access the BIASC Membership Directory containing all 900 member companies and 4,800+ contacts
Join a specialty council such as GSMC, Council on SAGE, UCC, and more
Join a specialty council such as GSMC, Council on SAGE, UCC,
Join a specialty council such as GSMC,
Receive email updates, advocacy alerts, event reminders, and chapter communications from all chapters
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November 23, 2023 - February 16, 2024
20/20 Plumbing & Heating Inc.
Ackerman Law PC
Advanced Drainage Systems
Aera Energy, LLC
Albert A. Webb Associates
Alliance Land Planning and Engineering Inc.
Allied Construction Services
Arizona Tile
Barbosa Cabinets, Inc.
BASF Corporation
Beazer Homes
Belgard Commercial
BHE Management Corporation
Boise Cascade
Bomel Construction Co Inc.
BORM International
Bosch, Thermador & Gaggenau
BrightView
Brookfield Residential
Buccola Landscape
Cannon
Casc Engineering and Consulting
Cell-Crete Corp
CementPro LLC
Century Communities
Champion Window Inc.
Chapman, Glucksman, Dean, Roeb & Barger
Citadel Roofing and Solar
Clarity Real Estate Advisors
Coast Recreation
Collins TruWood Siding | Trim
Conceptual Design & Planning Company
Construction Planning Services
Cooley Construction Inc.
Corman Leigh
Cornerstone Real Estate Consulting, Inc.
Cosentino Los Angeles
Crowd Theory Consulting
Crummack Huseby Property Management, Inc.
Dag Wilkinson, Counsellor
David Neault Associates, Inc.
Delta Q Inc.
Denis Wolcott - The Wolcott Co.
Developers Edge LLC
Development & Public Finance LLC
Di Cecco Architecture, Inc.
Diamond W
Diversified Pacific Development Group, LLC
DR Horton LA Holding Co. Inc.
Elite Earthworks & Engineering Inc.
Engeo Incorporated
Eriksson Tile & Stone, Inc.
Express Contractors Inc.
Fiber Fast Homes
First American Title Homebuilder Services
Fusion Sign and Design
GE Appliances - Apache Jct
Generations Escrow
GeoTek, Inc.
Go-Staff, Inc.
Gothic Landscape
Grandway Residential
Great Western Home Loans
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County
Forty-year members of BIA are rare, but ones that are just as involved in the Association and just as passionate about homebuilding after four decades are something to behold – which describes 40-year BIA member Renee Serkin-Leshner, president of Sign Image Inc., to a T.
Renee joined BIA fresh out of college in 1984 because, “I didn’t want to be on the outside looking in. I wanted to be on the inside because BIA was the place to meet all the industry leaders and all my potential mentors, and where I could grow and demonstrate my talents and establish relationships and friendships that are still here today. Also, it was the place where I could participate and become a part of homebuilding, which is something very special.”
Participate she did. She has served on the Board of Directors of the LA/Ventura chapter for more than 30 years, is the former president of the LA/Ventura Sales & Marketing Council, and continues to serve on numerous committees today because, she explained, “I feel that with a third generation of people coming into the Association it’s important to still stay connected, to learn how they see things and to be available to mentor from your experience.”
She was named the National Association of Home Builders’ Associate of the Year after running a marathon for leukemia that she re-imaged using her skills in branding, signage and PR so it became an image-building exercise promoting the industry. As president of the BIA/Ventura Sales & Marketing Council in 2001, her goal was to win Best Council of the Year honors from the National Association of Home Builders as a way to honor all the past presidents of the Council – and she did. It’s no wonder she is in the Sales & Marketing Council’s Hall of Fame.
Her company, Sign Image, was shaped be her engagement in the Association. “The Association shaped the direction of me as the owner of Sign Image. I am the company, and BIA gave me the opportunity to know the industry and grow with it so I could showcase my skills in a way that was supportive of the industry, that came from an understanding of the industry. I even became a Realtor so I could better understand every aspect of what’s involved in selling homes.”
Sign Image works with both multifamily and single-family residential clients in addition to commercial. “We can provide all the signage for a community – on-site, off-site, marketing, outdoor, monument, wayfinding, ADA code-compliant, electrical, even public art and hand-painted murals – plus branding and marketing. Basically, anything the builder needs.”
When talking to Renee, it won’t be long before you hear her talking about passion – for her work, for her mentors, and most of all for the homebuilding industry. “I am so awed by the greatness of the builders,” she said. “They have this vision and the tenacity to stick to it as it takes so many years to get that vision to the reality of a living, breathing community. I’m so proud of what we provide together, and you’re not really a partner of the builders in all that wonderful accomplishment unless you’re really involved in the Association, doing the work that fosters the industry and supporting BIA’s grassroots efforts that advocate for homebuilding.”
Thank you for 40 years of passionate support for BIA, Renee!
November 23, 2023 - February 16, 2024
Harris and Sloan
Highridge Costa Housing Partners, LLC
Holland & Knight LLP
Huitt-Zollars
Incompli
ISE Structural Engineers
Jamboree Housing Corporation
James R. McDaniel, Inc. dba
Hillcrest Construction Company
JES Engineering Contractors
JLTM Designs
JWilliams Staffing Inc
JZMK Partners
Kana Pipeline, Inc.
KASA Construction, Inc.
KB Home
Knitter Partners International
Kovach Marketing
KPS Alarms, Inc./KPS Fire Sprinklers, Inc.
KTGY
Lakebridge
Land Concern, LTD.
Landscape Development, Inc.
Larry Jacinto Construction, Inc.
Latham & Watkins LLP
Launch Development Finance Advisors
LB3 Enterprises, Inc.
Lee & Stires, Inc
Lewis Management Corp.
LGC Geotechnical, Inc.
Manning Homes
McCarthy Companies
Melia Homes
Merit Framing, Inc.
Meritage Homes of California
Miller Starr Regalia
MJK Construction Inc.
Moen, Inc.
Moote Companies, LLC
Murow Development Consultants
National Community Renaissance
New West Designs, Inc.
Newmeyer & Dillion LLP
Next Phase Construction
Nissho of California, Inc.
Noritz America Corp
NOVA Services - San Clemente
Oakridge Landscape Inc.
OPR Communications
Option One Consulting Engineers
Orange Coast Title Company
Outfront Media
Pacific Advanced Civil Engineering, Inc.
Pacific Communities Builder, Inc.
Park West Landscape, Inc.
Parker Rose Design
Power Chord Utility Consultants
Prime Association Services
Professional Cabinet Solutions
Psomas
PulteGroup
Quality Built, LLC
Rebuild SoCal Partnership
November 23, 2023 - February 16, 2024
Richland Communities
Richmond American Homes of CA
Rufus Builder Services, Inc.
Ryan Young Interiors
SARES-REGIS Group
Saunders Property Company
Schamber Electric Inc.
Schlage Lock Company
Sign Image, Inc.
Silverwood Development Phase 1 LLC
Silverwood Landscape
Site Maintenance Services Inc.
SiteOne Architectural
Smart Systems Technologies Inc
Soil Retention Systems, Inc.
Soltis & Co.
Specialty Steel Post-Tensioning Inc
Spring Meadows Homes LLC
Starpointe Ventures
Strategic Sales and Marketing Group Inc
Stratham Homes Inc.
Superior Masonry Walls, LTD
Taylor Morrison, LLC
Tellus Land & Capital, Inc.
The Henderson Law Firm
The Land Stewards
The Larson Group
The Musella Group
Thomas James Homes
TM Grady Builders Inc.
Trammell Crow Residential
Utility Specialists Southwest
Valued Engineering, Inc.
Ver Designs
Visual Comfort
Warmington Group
WD Land
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
West Helm Construction Inc.
Western Municipal Water District
Whitenack Consulting, Inc.
Wilson Mikami Corp.
Womble Investments
Woodside Homes of California Inc.
Zonda
