LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.
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Industry Interview: AFA���s Rick Church By Michelle Medaris, LCDBM Left: Rick Church has been the Executive Vice President of the American Fence Association (AFA) since 2002. He is also Head Coach of CM Services, Inc., which provides professional services and staff to AFA and many other trade associations and professional societies. Mr. Church has been in the association management business for more than 20 years. Q: How would you compare the fencing industry in 2012 Photo courtesy of the AmericAn fence AssociAtion T to the previous year? Our members, who contribute to a monthly fence industry ecoAbove & Right: According to Church, ���Access nomic publication called FenceSense, said 2012 was slightly better control will continue to have the most growth for fence contractors because it���s a newer part of the than 2011. There were increases in bidding activity and modest increases in sales; in fact, 55 percent of our members reported an inindustry for many of them.��� (Specrail) crease of income for 2012, by at least five percent. he fencing industry is a growing landscape contractor niche, estimated to reach more than $10 billion in sales by 2014. Founded in 1962, the American Fence Association (AFA) is currently the largest organization representing the fence, deck and railing industry, with 31 chapters across the United States and Canada. LC/DBM recently sat down with AFA���s Executive Vice President, Rick Church, for a Q&A; on the fencing market���s recent past, and his predictions for the future. 32 LC DBM Q: What types of fencing materials are your members talking about, and what products are selling? Access control products seem to be the most talked about products in the marketplace. Many fence contractors have recently (in the last few years) added access control to their product mix. The AFA offers an annual school on access control called Operator Installer School (OIS), to train fence company employees in the art of access control installation. We have also partnered with other leading industry organizations like DASMA, IDA and IDEA to develop a certification program for operator installers called the Certified Automated Gate Operator Installer (CAGOI). Q: What trends do you see for the 2013 fencing marketplace? It���s going to remain challenging for fence companies to find and secure jobs. Competition will remain fierce. It���s not clear what impact the federal government���s economic challenges will have on the industry, but we don���t anticipate huge growth. From a product standpoint, there are some new products and tools in the marketplace that will be shown at FENCETECH (February 25 ��� March 1 in Houston, Texas). Some of them include access control products, new easier to install gate designs, design and operating software and applications, and even screws that can be installed with a nail gun.