Flashings

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EPA policy rewards small businesses

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revised its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) form, which will reward U.S. small businesses for environmental stewardship. According to Thomas S. Sullivan, the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy's chief council for advocacy, the incentives of using the shorter TRI form and less burdensome analysis will encourage small businesses to recycle hazardous chemicals instead of discarding them into the environment.

"Every year, small businesses with zero emissions or discharges of hazardous chemicals still are required to fill out the long TRI Form R that can take two weeks or more to complete," Sullivan says. "This chemical handling data is separate from reports required for spills and accidents, and the Form R takes more than a year to be incorporated into the TRI database. Small-business environmental stewards should be rewarded for superior environmental performance rather than be punished by being required to complete the long form."

EPA's TRI reform will help the environment and small businesses by reducing the amount of paperwork small businesses are required to complete. Research from the Office of Advocacy shows small businesses are disproportionately affected by federal regulations. For the smallest firms, the annual regulatory burden in 2004 was $7,647 per employee, which is nearly 1 1/2 times greater than the $5,282 annual regulatory burden for larger companies. Additionally, the research shows small firms spend more than 4 1/2 times more per employee for environmental compliance than larger businesses.

Rohm and Haas increases prices

Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas Co.'s Paint and Coatings Materials business has increased prices for its products sold in North America. The price increase includes all acrylic and styrene-acrylic emulsions, solutions and solid-grade acrylic resins, vinyl-acetate-based emulsions and additives. The price increase of up to 10 percent took effect Nov. 1.

Rohm and Haas cites increasing raw material, energy and transportation costs as the primary reasons for the price increase.

New association promotes high-performance roof systems

NRCA has established the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing, a separate 501(c)(6) organization that will promote the development and use of environmentally responsible, high-performance roof systems.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing will serve to benefit the roofing industry in a number of ways, including:

• Coordinating and encouraging objective roofing-related environmental research
• Serving as a repository for information pertaining to energy, the environment and roofing
• Expanding market opportunities for roofing materials manufacturers, contractors and design consultants
• Participating in science-based advocacy on behalf of the roofing industry
• Coordinating standards and codes in the U.S. and abroad

North American and global expenditures on green building technologies are representing an increasingly larger percentage of construction purchases in the public and private sectors. Expected to be fully operational by February 2008, the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing's purpose is to establish a forum that will draw together the entire roofing industry into the common cause of promoting and learning about environmentally friendly, high-performance roof systems.

For more information about the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing, contact Craig Silvertooth, the center's executive director, at (800) 323-9545, ext. 7598 or csilvertooth@nrca.net.

GAF-Elk integrates product offerings

Wayne, N.J.-based GAF-Elk has completed the integration of its GAF Materials Corp. and Elk Corp. product lines and contractor programs.

GAF-Elk's product line now includes ventilation systems, roof deck protection, leak barriers, specialty self-adhering underlayments, starter strips, low-slope membranes, ridge cap shingles, skylights and roof accessory paint.

"Most of these categories now include two or more product options for contractors, giving them true good-better-best flexibility in the selling process and the opportunity to increase revenue and profit," says Dave Harrison, GAF-Elk's chief marketing officer and senior vice president.

Additionally, GAF-Elk has expanded its certified contractor program by adding additional business-building programs. GAF-Elk's contractor certification program includes programs focusing on generating leads, closing sales, creating professional images, increasing capabilities through training and reducing costs.

The GAF-Elk merger was announced Feb. 9.

DETAILS

Don Hines
President of Central Kentucky Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc., Campbellsville, Ky.

What is the most unusual roofing project you've performed?
The Food and Drug Administration building in Atlanta. It was a mess. There were so many penetrations that there didn't seem to be 3 squares of actual roofing material.

Why did you become a roofing contractor?
My father was an HVAC contractor. My brother and I had the idea to expand into the roofing business.

What was your first roofing experience?
Mopping coal-tar pitch on the roof of a library in Hardinsburg, Ky., when I was 15.

What is your favorite item on your desk?
My computer.

What do you consider your most rewarding experiences?
My three children, Jared, Stephen and Kacey.

What was your first job?
Working with my dad at Custom Heating and Air Conditioning, San Diego, when I was 5 or 6. I would clean up the shop each Saturday morning.

What is your favorite vacation?
Playing golf in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

What do you consider a waste of time?
Submittals—just giving back what the architect already has.

What are your best and worst habits?
My best is I show up for work every day. My worst is I show up for work every day.

What is your favorite stress reliever?
Golf.

If you could invite any three people to dinner (dead or alive), whom would you invite and why?
President John F. Kennedy—I just really admired him, and I wish he'd had the opportunity to finish his term(s); Warren Buffet—for stock tips; and Tiger Woods—golf is his passion and my passion, too.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
Finding good employees, then finding enough profitable work to keep them busy.

What are your biggest pet peeves?
Architects and insurance agents. Both are going to get you in the end!

What is your roofing industry involvement?
I'm a member and current president of the Kentucky Roofing Contractors Association.

People would be surprised to know …
Babies love me.

Owens Corning must divest operations

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning's proposed acquisition of Courbevioe, France-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain's fiberglass reinforcements and composite fabric assets. FTC has charged the deal would reduce competition in the North American market for continuous filament mat (CFM) products.

FTC has issued a consent order addressing the competitive concerns in the North American CFM market raised by the proposed acquisition. Under the consent order's terms, Owens Corning must divest its U.S. CFM business to Aiken, S.C.-based AGY, a fiberglass materials manufacturer, within 10 days after acquiring certain Saint-Gobain fiberglass reinforcements and composite fabric assets.

"Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain are direct and significant competitors in the North American market for CFM products," says Jeffrey Smith, director of FTC's Bureau of Competition. "Absent the relief provided by the commission's consent order, the combined entity would have control of more than 90 percent of the CFM market in the U.S."

FM Global announces membership credit

FM Global will credit an estimated $380 million to its clients when they renew their policies in 2008. With this most recent membership credit, FM Global will have credited a total of $1.3 billion to its policyholders since 2001.

Eligible policyholders will receive the 2008 credit in the form of a premium reduction at the time of their policy renewals. The credit each client will receive will be based on client tenure.

FM Global clients holding policies for less than five years will be eligible for a 5 percent credit; those holding policies for five to 19 years will be eligible for a 10 percent credit; and those holding policies for 20 or more years will be eligible for a 15 percent credit.

"This client benefit demonstrates that, as a mutual company, FM Global is obligated and committed to its policyholders," says Shivan S. Subramaniam, FM Global's chairman and chief executive officer. "It also reinforces the benefits of mutual ownership, rewards client loyalty and further demonstrates the close alignment of our clients' needs with those of FM Global."

Small-business facts

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses account for about 99.7 percent of all employer firms. Following are more small-business facts:

• They employ half of all private-sector employees.
• They pay more than 45 percent of the total U.S. private payroll.
• They have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs each year for the past decade.
• They create more than 50 percent of nonfarm private gross domestic product.
• They supplied more than 23 percent of the total value of federal prime contracts in fiscal year 2005.
• They provide 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
• They employ 41 percent of high-tech workers, such as scientists, engineers and computer workers.
• Fifty-three percent of small businesses are home-based, and 3 percent are franchises.
• They made up 97 percent of all identified exporters and produced 28.6 percent of the known export value in fiscal year 2004.