February 2023

On January 26th, the Arizona Builders Alliance (ABA) installed Suntec Concrete President and CEO Derek Wright as Board Chair for 2023. In his role, Wright will facilitate discussions with the board of directors, utilize their direction and support to ensure consensus on industry issues and challenges, and help the organization achieve success in 2023. read more

Through the Arizona Builders Alliance (ABA) annual toy drive, the local construction industry came together to provide a memorable Christmas for hundreds of children in need. Approximately 150 construction companies, including Rosendin, McCarthy Building Companies, Hensel Phelps, Kitchell, and Sundt, and their employees, donated three 18-foot trailers’ worth of toys and over $40,000 to the 13th Annual ABA Community Service Board’s 2022 Toy Drive, which benefited five nonprofit organizations serving over 2,000 underprivileged children in the Phoenix Metro area. read more

Students at a Mesa school had a happy holiday party thanks to Rosendin, the nation’s largest employee-owned electrical contracting company, that provided 19 children with over 55 gifts as a part of its Adopt-A-Classroom event.

The second-grade classroom at Sequoia Elementary received thoughtfully packaged gifts on December 16 donated by the electrical contractors. read more

Ask just about any contractor in the Valley about the state of their current business and projects and they’ll tell you this: Business is booming! But, as fruitful as the Arizona construction and development market is throughout Metro Phoenix, it’s not without its challenges.

Right now, Arizona’s contractors are like a little brother who just got a major score of LEGO kits — build your own Death Star, T-Rex and Batmobile. But, the little brother discovers a catch — his older sibling wants all projects completed in the usual allotted amount of time, yet several essential LEGO pieces are on back order for double the price as normal and his two best friends are working on their own projects. Another buddy is able to help build, but he’s charging 30% more for his labor than the best buds would have.  read more

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, upwards of 47 million workers quit their jobs in 2021. Many have coined the disruption of the U.S. labor market “The Great Resignation.” Others — more recently — refer to the state of labor as “The Great Reshuffle,” as hiring rates outpace quit rates (since November 2020). In the construction realm, these semantic terms don’t quite capture the current labor market. If it had to be given a moniker, perhaps “The Great Disparity” would adequately represent the construction workforce environment. read more

It is with great sadness that we announce that John Francis Krecek passed away unexpectedly on December 26th at the age of 64.

John leaves behind his wife of over 40 years, Deb Krecek, son and daughter in law, Brandon and Cody Krecek, and daughter, Ashley Krecek. As well as his mother, Kathy Krecek and siblings, Lynn Strohecker (Jerry), Julie Velasquez (Abe), Mary Lou Cloonan (Rob), Bob Krecek (Robin). John loved Deb’s sisters as his own, Donna Meeker and Mary Jo Heyman (Tim). John had a large family he enjoyed spending time with, including his many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his father Francis J. Krecek and his beloved great uncle Monsignor Michael Nestor. read more

The construction industry in Arizona continued to deliver high-quality projects during the first half of 2020 and it looks like that momentum will continue all the way through the year. AZRE Magazine asked Arizona Builders Alliance members to send in projects that have been recently completed or are currently under construction. Below are those projects, along with information about each one: read more

The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity found that from November 2021 until November 2022, the construction workforce increased year-over-year by more than 5%. Still, commercial developers and builders need to actively recruit and invest in outreach to staff all the projects in the pipeline.