Anyone here involved in the formation of a trade association or industry association–something akin to the ACI or Polyurethane Foam Mfg Assoc, etc? I’ve been asked some questions about that kind of thing recently and don’t know where to even suggest that they begin in their plans to create such a beast. I imagine there’d need to be a charter and bylaws and a bank account and a trademarked name and a web site and of course t-shirts. Gotta have t-shirts.
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Well, it starts out like a club; a group of people get together and decide what to do with it and MOST IMPORTANT at this time. . . What happens to the money if we flop???
First question in any building project. . . What's the budget?
Second question. . . What are we building?
Third question. . . How big and fancy do we want it?
Fourth. . . Will the budget cover it? If not, how do we get more money?
You have to consider the use the building will be put to, then you can design it. Get the engineers(lawyers) approval, THEN, you can start building it. Don't forget you have to get permits (charter) before you get too far involved. What is the budget? Will it meet expenses?
They elect some officers, then pool some money for operating and legal expenses, and start writing rules. Right now their expenses should just be coffee and donuts, and Kinkos, but they need to collect serious money.
The charter members may have to loan funds to the org. untill normal membership can cover expenses
Collect more money.
They have got to decide on the language of the corporate charter first.
This is sort of a broad mission statement. Figure out what the bylaws will be. These are the operational rules. Add meeting regulations like Roberts Rules Of Order.
Figure out operational expenses as if they were big and successful.
Have a membership drive. Collect more money.
Rent an office, hire a secretary. Might be in an extra room at an officers home and the secretary is a wife/son/answer machine, etc. Got to have an address to incorporate.
Hire a lawyer and finalize the charter/Articles of Incorporation. Pay their money ($5K to $10K by this time) to the State and lawyer, and collect more money.
Have another membership drive and by now they should have some activities lined up. Speakers, training, films, barbeques, etc.
Collect more money.
Sorry about the rambling sort of way this came out.
SamT
Cloud, good luck. In the past roughly 6-7-8 years I’ve tried to get a new national organization comprised of the best in the industry. TAC - Team of American Contractors, was my temporary name for it. It was to have everything you mentioned and much more.
I even has a few financial sponsors lined up and a game plan for getting more. I also had three customers call me who misunderstood when I talked to them about it and thought it was already in place. When I talked to them I stated that these members would command a premium price for their services, but as I ticked off the various benefits to the public, they are apparently already sold. One of them needed a local plumber. One needed a roofer in their northern house and the third wanted a remodeler, again for their northern home.
The interest from the initial contractors waned and eventually it died. Each time I brought it up afterwards it was never mentioned again.
I figured it died because far to many of us are stuck in a deep rut thinking as trades people and not a business people. Here were three local customers of the public willing to pay for premium price for premium services and from only talking to then, no advertising; no marketing, nothing - but alas, no takers.
I guess it’s easier to complain about not making enough money than it is to do something about it. It’s called “self-conditioned complacency.†Go figure!
so dammit Sonny ... let's do it!
email me ...
and others ..
I'm in for the Pgh contingency ...
Yer not gonna stop the ball rolling after a little rough spot are ya?
I got a few fellows around here I could recommend for charter memberships too ...
Just don't let Steve have all of PA ! .....
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Sonny
I too am interested, just not sure what I can do right now. But soon, soon.
SamT
Don't forget to structure it as a tax exempt organization. The attorney you retain should help do it right and fill the IRS application for that. That is what brings the donations in.
We have a local builders association that is very active and part of a national one, I think. The fellows I have been getting bids from are officers in that association and go regularly to national meetings, representing the local builders.
I can ask them if they want you to contact them if you need some leads in that direction.
Thanks, Ruby but that's not necessary. Three attempts at getting this off the ground was enough for me. I can be a persistent person, but only if a possilility exists. If anything, I'd contact our many trade magazines and organizations to see if they would put a small article in their mags., but since it would have to be an org. with high restrictive entry qualifications, I doubt that to many would be interested. Yet to be effective in teh "perception" of the buying public, the qualificatons would have to be high since they would be what we would be touting as the difference (as in "caliber) of TAC members vs. those at large. I guess it's got to be the right time and the right place kind of thing.
---"...the qualificatons would have to be high since they would be what we would be touting as the difference (as in "caliber) of TAC members vs. those at large..."---
I didn't think about it in that way, but have you checked the qualifications the local building associations in your area have? The ones here seem to require the builders to go by a tight code of ethics and have an absolute guarantee on any house they build for ten years. They may have other requirements I am not aware of, but that alone seems high to me. Then, what do I know about the building industry?
Unfortunately Ruby, I've been a member of NARI, NAHB and our local association which automatically includes membership to the Florida HBA and NAHB.
The all talk about "ethics" but some how, that isn't a big priority. TAC would also have to have some sort of financial basic qualifiers to tightly minimize the possibility of members filing bankruptcy. Possibly semi-annual financial audits done by members CPA locally and kept private. All we would require is a letter from the CPA that our financial requirements were met. For some potential members, that requirement would evoke a comment like: "My financials are no body else's business." Which of course is not true. Not true because of how going under would effect customers, subs, venders and employees. So one's financial status, IS other people's business to that degree.
Very interesting. I will ask our builders in detail about their association's requirements.
I know of one builder right now that is having trouble with a concrete floor over a basement that is caving in, two years after building it. He is doing "something" about it. I will ask what the association would want to see that he does and what will happen if he doesn't.
That requirement of confidential financial accountability is common on the cattle industry and a selling point of the better operators. Still, sometimes you hear of failures even then that leave investors/banks hanging.
All the paperwork won't keep crooks from trying to get around it and cheat to make a penny. I consider "unethical" and "dumb" to be close to the same and you will find some people that fit those labels in any place.
That is a good idea you have. Maybe some other time you will feel like pushing for such again.
As a HO I would sure check for names of local builders belonging to it, if I knew that such well run association existed.
Thanks, Ruby. I agree with your assessment. Nothing is fool proof, but if we make those requirements tough, while not warranting a fool proof organization, it should out of necessity come close to fool proof.
Such an org. would virtually by it's services to be renders and caliber of it's members, slightly increase overhead, but I still contend that the majority of the public would rather spend a few bucks more for the opportunity of dealing with what will amount to as the cream of the crop so to speak.
Both lenders and suppliers would rather deal with and recommend a contractor whose ethical standards have been "proven" as opposed to just another guy flapping his/her lips. That many less bankruptcies for both lenders and suppliers. Less contractors returning a cracked toilet stool or base saying: "Gee. It was like that when I opened the box."
I'd even so so far as to contact Lloyds of London or similar insurance company to offer a policy whereas if a client did get into a financial dispute with a contractor, TAC would be able to guarantee that the project would be completed based upon contractual obligations. That alone would allay many anxieties of the public.
Anyway, the entire concept must grow out of intense interest by it's members, not one person. All I can do is provide the idea and throw it out for discussion. As I stated earlier, been there; done that.
Edited 11/16/2003 7:40:12 PM ET by Sonny Lykos
It sounds like to want to create some form of association but just aren't sure which type. Have you checked out the web for definitions of trade or industry? Definitely get a lawyer schooled in creating associations, that's a must. He/she then can lead you in the right direction regarding finances, IRS, federal and state laws, PR and generally your best resource as he/she will hope to serve as the association's lawyer. And, yes, to one of the other posters, associations usually start out in a person's home with two employees, you and the secretary/treasurer etc.
Here's a question: Are you a member of any trade or industry association? If you are, that could be a good resource as how that organization was created. Just a thought.
Good luck, hope you make your dream come true.
Cloud ...
email me about what you're thinking ..
I have a close local contact that's heavily in the politics of all the local/national building associations. This guy lives for this kinda thing ...
He may have some helpful ideas ... I'd happily out the 2 of U in contact.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
I belong to two trade orgs......the types composed of contractors and suppliers, rather than the big industry ones. I was a charter member of one (regional chapter of a national org for commercial cabnetmakers), the other is a regional one for wood products manufacturers. I'm also on the organising committee to look into setting up a provincial chapter of that one; just did a big mailing for that for an organising meeting early in December.
The process for small orgs like that is a lot like Sam described it; the cabinetmakers group took us about a year from first meetings to being formally adopted by the national structure. The lawyer part is critical, but it doesn't have to be very expensive....the organisation of the board, bylaws, reporting etc. are pretty generic and can be easily adapted from existing ones, and hamered out over coffee....then, in our case, it was a matter of one of the firms running it by their lawyer for for conformance to provincial law. No need to reinvent the wheel; just get a wheel and cutomise it to your needs. Not very expensive in my limited experience, if you do a lot of the groundwork. I was also on the board of a rehab centre where we had to go through a similar process.....boilerplate or examples seem to be very easy to come by, or maybe we've just been lucky that way.
What it is going to come down to, is how committed are people to the cause.....if there aren't enough willing hands to go around, then one or a few people are going to be landed with a huge amount of grunt work (I know one example where the thing is surviving primarily because of the committment....time and money....of one person). If there aren't enough people willing to join,and pay, you're in trouble......so at the heart of the question is, what's in it for them? Being able to put 'member of' on staionary or whatever probably isn't enough.
Anyone, my experience is on the small scale....but it's doable, for sure.
cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Just want to add two things: the reason I was mentioning regional groups, rather than national, is because they are feasible to start without a lot of priming money for directors, staff, etc....also, some of the larger groups grew out of consortiums of regional ones, when the time was right. You can also keep the focus on the stuff that is important to you.
Also, I'm involved to some extent in some larger national orgs....new member of an American one, also served on some review and advisory committees for the Canadian sector council that deals with HR issues for advanced wood manufacturing. plus a couple of other ones, and there are more I'm going to get involved in at some time down the road.....anyway, I really believe in these groups as a way to get things done. And, again based on my limited experience, you'llbe spending your time with other people that are as passionate about things as you are. I've found being involved very rewarding on a personal level, and I really like a lot of the people I deal with whithin the orgs.cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S