LiveWire
March 2022
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Harry Caray's Steakhouse
Lombard, IL
Greetings!

Please review this month's LiveWire newsletter. We hope you enjoy the local and national industry updates. As a reminder, every Monday we send an e-mail to the membership concerning upcoming events and every Thursday, we send an Industry Update e-mail. Also, we invite you to join us on Facebook and LinkedIn!   
Thursday, March 3, 2022 – NEW DATE!!!
Maggiano's Banquets
Oak Brook, IL

March 7 - 8, 2022
Oakbrook Terrace, IL

ECA Regular Membership Meeting
Maggiano's Banquets
Oak Brook, IL
March 11, 2022
Maggiano's Little Italy
Schaumburg, IL
 
March 11, 2022
Chicago Hilton & Towers

March 14 - 16, 2022
Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay
Tampa, FL
March 28 - 31, 2022
Oriental Hotel
Washington, D.C.

April 4 - 9, 2022
Hotel Pullman Eiffel Tower
Paris, France
ECA Membership Meeting
February 16, 2022

The Electrical Contractors' Association of City of Chicago (ECA) held its February Membership meeting on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at Carmine's Restaurant in Rosemont, Illinois. The event featured updates from Association Committees, joint Trusts, NECA activities, various industry updates and a guest presenter, James Farrell, NECA Government Affairs Director.

Mr. Farrell updated the attendees on NECA legislative activities, as well urged all to attend the NECA Legislative Conference to be held March 28 - 31, 2022 in Washington, D.C. The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration Fee, Transportation costs and Hotel costs for each attending ECA member for the NECA Legislative Conference. All stipends / reimbursements are made after each conference with registration confirmation(s) and applicable receipts forwarded to ECA.

We thank James for his time at the meeting!
Pictured is James Farrell, NECA Government Affairs Director,
as he began his presentation.
April 12, 2022
Drake Oak Brook Hotel
Oak Brook, IL
  
April 20, 2022
Chicago Department of Aviation
Commissioner Jamie Rhee - Guest Speaker
Truluck's Restaurant
Rosemont, IL
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Registration is open for the ECA Membership Meeting -
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
 
Please join us for the ECA Regular Membership Meeting. The luncheon program will feature industry updates, and guest presentations from Josh Bone, Executive Director, ELECTRI International and Jessica Cardenas, NECA Executive Director, Development and Engagement.
 
This luncheon event is scheduled as follows:

ECA Membership Meeting
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Maggiano's Banquets
240 Oakbrook Center
Oak Brook, IL

Registration / Networking|
12:00 pm

Lunch
12:30 pm

Business Session
1:15 pm

Event Concludes 
2:00 pm
Pictured is Josh Bone, Executive Director, ELECTRI International
Pictured is Jessica Cardenas, NECA Executive Director, Development and Engagement.
"Prefabrication and Preplanning for Construction" Seminar
February 17, 2022

The Electrical Contractors' Association of City of Chicago (ECA) Research and Education Committee was pleased to have presented a seminar called, "Prefabrication and Preplanning for Construction." The seminar had over 30 registered and was conducted by Mark Federle, Marquette University. The program was held on Thursday, February 17, 2022 from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. at the Drake Oak Brook Hotel.

Following this course, participants will be able to:
  • Discuss the importance of preplanning
  • Identify planning strategies to improve productivity
  • Identify activities at each phase of the construction process to preplan
  • Utilize the benefits of activities such as prefabrication, lean construction, and building information modeling on preplanning
  • Identify tactics that can increase the amount of prefabrication you do

We thank Mr. Fedele for his time and expertise with the program!
Pictured is Mark Federle,
Marquette University
CISCO Annual Meeting
The Construction Industry Service Corporation (CISCO) will be holding their Annual Meeting on Friday, March 11, 2022 at Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant, 1901 E. Woodfield Road in Schaumburg, IL. The event is to feature the presentation of the CISCO’s Pride in Construction Awards. In addition to the awards, two individuals and one entity are to be recognized as Educator of the Year, Public Body of the Year and Labor Advocate of the Year. Three of the six project winners included two ECA member firms and another NECA member firm. 

These are the project winners with the ECA / NECA members highlighted:

·        New Construction - Chicago (+$20m): Midway Security Checkpoint Expansion; GC - F.H. Paschen; Cook County.

·        New Construction - Suburbs (+ $20m): Forester Hotel; GC - William A. Randolph; Lake County.
·        New Construction - City/Suburbs (Under $20m): Kane County Multi-Use Facility; GC - R.C. Wegman; Kane County. Kane Co. facility – Scheffler Electric (NECA member)

·        I-294 Mile Long Bridge; GC - F. H. Paschen; Cook County. -- John Burns Construction (ECA)

·        Queen Bee School District Additions/Renovations; GC - Riley Construction; DuPage County.

·        Residential: Westerly; GC - James McHugh Construction; Cook County. – Aldridge Electric, Inc. (ECA)

Congratulations to all the award winners! 

We hope you register, soon, for this event. Please click the link below for the CISCO website.
IMSCA Legislative Reception
IMSCA’s next Board and Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 22nd from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Sangamo Club in Springfield, IL. The Board and Membership meeting will be held the same day prior to IMSCA’s 2022 Legislative Reception from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Sangamo Club. This event will be co-hosted with the Illinois Construction Industry Committee. All IMSCA members are encouraged to attend this important event to discuss issues important to the Illinois construction industry with your legislators. Please click on the link for the 2022 Legislative Reception registration form. Please return the registration form by email to [email protected]. The deadline to register for the reception is Friday, March 11, 2022. All Legislative Reception attendees are invited and welcomed to attend IMSCA’s Board and Membership meeting earlier in the day.

If any questions, please contact Jessica Newbold Hoselton, Executive Director, Illinois Mechanical & Specialty Contractors Association (IMSCA) at (217) 523-4361.
NECA IIT Student Chapter Update
 
The ECA Student Committee would again, like to thank, Mike Block, Vice President, Block Electric Company, Inc. who made a presentation for the students on February 3, 2022. Mr. Block serves on the ECA Student Committee. Mike discussed in much detail, "Bid Proposals / Presentations to Clients" to assist the students working on the Electrical Contracting Innovation Challenge. This year’s challenge focuses on creating a bid proposal for a design / build electrical system for a new university center.

The ECA would also like to thank Mike Schwarz, Allied Universal Technology Services, ECA Executive Committee member who discussed Security issues, among other areas with the students on February 10, 2022.
 
Also, the ECA would like to thank Rocco Bartucci - Contech The Fire Alarm Company who discussed Fire Alarm issues, among other areas with the students on February 17, 2022.

Mr. Block discussed in detail a number of issues that focused on components for a successful Bid Proposal, including the following:
 
-Qualifications
-Creating a Proposal
-Take-Offs
-Working with Estimating Software programing
-Understanding Allowances, Incidentals, Bid Alternatives,
Finalizing Pricing
-Creating a Schedule
-Deliverables
-Review of a General Scope
-Bid Form
-Working with Addenda

Mr. Schwarz discussed in detail Security issues that could be applied to the student's project. Topic areas included:

  • Technology
  • Security Requirements
  • Surveillance
  • Access Control
  • Burg Alarm
  • Intercom, Emergency Call Station & Mass Notification Systems
  • Turnstiles
  • Specifications Review, Drawing Review, Take-Off Summary, RFIs Response, Proposal Focus

Mr. Bartucci discussed in detail Fire Alarm issues that could be applied to the student's project. Topic areas included:

  • Design-Build Proposal must consider Occupancy Classification, Chicago Construction Codes, Fire Alarm protection.
  • Specifications must be thoroughly reviewed
  • Drawings must be reviewed: architectural, fire protection, mechanical, air handling units, etc.
  • Schematics must be reviewed: food service, low voltage (card access/security system tie ins), fire alarm devices (systems drawings / reflected ceiling drawings / power drawings), notes on any electrical drawings to tie into other systems)
  • Installation considerations: pricing on equipment, conduit for fire alarm in Chicago, pricing from electrical supply house, installation pricing, phasing, labor rate increase, OT / testing, schedule impacts

We thank Mike Block, Mick Schwarz and Rocco Bartucci for their time with the students! The students look forward to continue working on the ECIC 2022!
Safety Update
CSC Update
For a listing of coursework available through the Construction Safety Council (CSC) for the month of March 2022, please visit:  www.buildsafe.org.

CSC - ASA Construction Expo. & Safety Conference
Please click on the link below for registration discount information for the Construction Safety Council (CSC) - Association of Subcontractors and Affiliates (ASA) 2022 Construction Expo & Safety Conference being held on March 7 - 8, 2022 in Oakbrook, Terrace, IL.

 
Stipend Available:
The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration fees for up to two representatives of participating ECA member firms for the CSC / ASA Construction Expo. and Safety Conference on March 7 – 8, 2022.

NECA Safety Recognition Program
NECA's Safety Recognition program include two categories, Safety Excellence, and the Zero-Injury Achievement. NECA’s Recognition of Safety Achievement program is an elite safety recognition focused on recognizing thriving companies that excel in multiple areas of their safety and health programs. Member companies that consistently have OSHA recordable injury and fatality rates at levels lower than the industry standard, and implement internal company safety practices above and beyond basic compliance will receive the recognition. The Zero-Injury recognizes those member-companies that have worked a full calendar year without recordable incidents. The Safety Excellence is the association's premier recognition program, and acknowledges member-contractors safety performance. When registering, contractors will automatically be entered into two Safety Recognition Programs; Zero Injury and Safety Excellence. Winners are selected based on their comparison to BLS data and electrical contractors. Registration closes on March 1, 2022!


Industry Statistics
Stay on top of monthly data for our industry: number of contractors active, quantity of people employed and total hours worked.
ECA 50th Annual Spring Conference
June 8 - 9, 2022
The American Club
Kohler, WI
The Electrical Contractors’ Association of City of Chicago (ECA) 50th Annual Spring Conference will be held on June 8-9, 2022 at The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin. The American Club is one of the premier resort hotels in the country. It is the only AAA Five Diamond Resort in the Midwest. We’re sure that this is reason enough to attend this Conference. Wednesday night’s reception/dinner meeting will provide you with the latest information regarding industry events. The Thursday morning Business Session is to be determined. This conference is a great opportunity to catch up with what’s going on in this constantly changing industry.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION
Please plan to attend the Electrical Contractors’ Association 50th Annual Spring Conference. Listed below is a tentative schedule of events and a link to Register. You may also visit the ECA website at: www.ecachicago.com to register. In order to ensure room availability, please Register no later than April 29, 2022.
 
Please be aware that if you confirm for the one night’s stay and then cancel beyond the cut-off date you will be invoiced. The Association has had too many cancellations in the past and is then forced to pay for unoccupied rooms. Also, if you desire a night’s stay prior to or after the Conference, please contact the ECA, as soon as possible. Since rooms are based on availability, the ECA is unable to guarantee any extra date(s). You will be invoiced for any additional day(s). We remind you that this Conference is intended for the accredited representatives of all Association members. There is no fee to be paid for the golf outing, the meetings or the accommodations at The American Club. We do appreciate your understanding in these matters. We look forward to seeing you at the Electrical Contractors’ Association 50th Annual Spring Conference.

GOLF OUTING
If you’re registering for the golf outing, be sure to list your golf foursome request and starting time request. Tee times are to be confirmed at a later date.
 
DIRECTIONS (From Chicago : 144 miles)
The American Club, 419 Highland Drive, Kohler, Wisconsin 53044 ( 800) 344-2838
  • Take I-94 West to Interstate 43 North (89 miles).                                           
  • Take Interstate 43 North to Highway 23 West (53 miles to Exit 126).            
  • Take Highway 23 West 2/3 mile to County Trunk Y (once in Kohler, also known as Highland Drive). 
  • Exit South for just over a mile to the American Club.
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The tentative schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
 
Breakfast
8:30 A.M. -
Blackwolf Run Clubhouse
Wolfpack / Bearclan Room
1111 West Riverside Drive
Kohler, WI 53044
 
Golf Outing
Tee Times are from 8:30 A.M. - 12:10 P.M
Meadow Valleys Course
 
Hotel Registration
4:00 P.M.
 
Reception
7:00 P.M. - Great Bay Foyer

Membership Dinner Meeting
7:45 P.M. - Great Bay Ballroom
Thursday, June 9, 2022
 
Breakfast
8:00 A.M. - Appley Theatre Foyer
The Appley Theatre is located
in the Carriage House
102 Orchard Road
Kohler, WI 53044
 
Business Session:
TBD
8:30 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.
Appley Theatre
 
 
Hotel Checkout
12:00 P.M.