2020 Year in Review: Our Finest Hour
By Phil Crone, Executive Officer
Dallas Builders Association
What will you tell people when they ask you to describe 2020? What will your story be a decade from now?
I suspect in either case you’ll recall the uncertainty, fear, tragedy and turmoil that gripped the world. Also, how your business adapted and overcame some of the most disruptive events in modern history.
When it comes time to write this chapter of the Dallas Builders Association’s history, my hope is that they’ll say, “This was our finest hour.”
The two months of normalcy that started the year seem like a decade ago. If mentioned at all back then, the various names assigned to what would ultimately be called COVID-19 were nothing more than a punchline.
The world became a much different place in March.
On Wednesday, March 11, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic; two days later the White House declared it a national emergency and on Monday, March 16, my wife and I left a generous tip for a bartender who was minutes away from unemployment due to a county-mandated shutdown. My head was spinning.
Being deemed essential meant everything, and, sure enough, the time to make our case came the following week. The timing, for me, could not have been worse. I was battling a fever of 102 and it felt like a truck had hit me.
I snuck in a Teladoc visit between members and the media calling for insight on the rumored construction shutdown. Then I saw an ominous email, “Please be available to speak with the County Judge at 4 p.m. today.”
I was still in disbelief. “Surely they can’t shut down the housing industry when they are telling everyone home is more essential than ever,” I thought. After the call, however, I had no idea what would come next.
On one hand, I was just happy to get through it without coughing. On the other, I knew what could be deployed on a residential job site paled in comparison to what the large commercial contractors promised they would bring to theirs.
One day soon, I’ll hopefully be able to tell you the full story about how the housing industry stayed open and remained essential in our area. Many of the key players are those you’d least expect. They come from all parts of our community and all sides of the political spectrum.
A player I can reveal is Rob Matuga, Assistant VP of Labor, Safety and Health Policy at NAHB. Rob led NAHB’s initiative early on in March to publish what was then and still remains the most comprehensive jobsite guidance for COVID-19 through the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC). Had that resource not been available for me to offer during those crucial conversations, we could have had a vastly different outcome.
Another incredible resource was my friend Lake Coulson, NAHB’s Vice President of Government Affairs. Lake was constantly working the phones with members of Congress to ensure construction was included on the Department of Homeland Security’s Critical Infrastructure Sectors list. Including construction on that list gave the Texas Association of Builders the leverage needed to ensure Governor Abbott’s March 31 Executive Order kept housing open and essential throughout Texas.
Two days after the Governor’s order, fatigued and sleeping 10 hours a night yet feeling a bit better, I got a phone call from the doctor saying my test results had finally come back. I was positive for COVID-19.
In order to keep housing essential, we needed to keep construction safe. I didn’t want anyone to have to go through what I did. Watching the scenes in New York at the time, I was keenly aware that many were having a much worse outcome than me.
Thankfully, Dallas BA and TAB Past President Tim Jackson was already a step ahead on the safety front. With the help of Tiffany Acree with StrucSure Home Warranty, he was able to secure a vital supply of hand sanitizer.
At the time it was hard to come by and was a required component on job sites. Tim spent many hours in our parking lot loading gallons of sanitizer into the cars and trucks of eager members. All told, we put more than 1,600 gallons of sanitizer onto area job sites this year.
It was also critical to keep everyone informed. The rules were changing daily, and critical building processes were quickly adjusting to a socially distant world. On March 17, we launched an online COVID-19 resource page and two days later hundreds tuned in for the first of several video updates we provided.
For a while it seemed like everyone visiting our website was hitting the resource page and staying there for quite a while. The page logged more than 4,600 viewers, each spending nearly 4 minutes there on average.
Staff Communications Director Barcie Vilches and Creative and Marketing Coordinator Holly Pemberton were the architects of that website and so many other crucial communications throughout the year. They were joined by Director of Member Services Misty Varsalone, who helped craft our “essential, safe, professional” campaign.
This initiative included coordinated messaging across several mediums emphasizing that Dallas BA members are an essential business, that we are working safely, and in a professional manner. With help from Tom Sadler and Associates, our team created an informative and moving video that drove our efforts home.
Transcending this challenge on the communications front was a complete team effort. Director of Government Affairs David Lehde and I did everything we could to provide updates in real time and make sense of every new order and rule that was issued. It took every bit of Barcie’s 37 years of experience to ensure those updates were professional and precise while anticipating the next challenge.
It took Misty’s intellect and innate ability to connect with our members to repurpose our message consistently through every channel and to every audience. Misty stepped in with communications and on membership retention while also realigning our special events and divisions and councils to the new normal.
Holly’s creativity and tenacity helped produce one of the most useful resources of all. She was able to combine our operational guidance regarding local orders with the aforementioned CISC materials to create an all-encompassing COVID-19 toolkit for Dallas BA members. I’m not sure how she did it, but she was able to make incredibly detailed and mundane material relatable and easily deployable on any job site.
A huge part of keeping the industry operating involved ensuring members had access to key government services and untangling supply chain disruptions. Here is where David Lehde played a crucial role.
As city and county offices transitioned to a socially distanced world, David reached out to dozens of offices for operational updates and posted them in real time on our resource page. He called county tax offices and reopened processes that had stalled several development projects.
Lumber was and arguably still continues to be the largest of many supply chain disruptions. There again David’s initiative was the catalyst for national progress.
His call to a local Congressional office led that influential representative to formulate a letter that came to include hundreds of other lawmakers calling for administrative action to reduce lumber prices. Weeks later, tariffs on Canadian lumber were reduced from 20 percent to 9 percent. I doubt David will ever get the credit he deserves for this massive accomplishment nor would he ask for it.
While we were doing everything in our power to keep you working, we also needed to keep the Association in business. We had to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Education Director and Executive Administrator Sheena Beaver and Accounting Manager Becky Warner worked proactively with Treasurer Stephen Puckett to secure a loan and line of credit to ensure we were prepared. Sheena was an executive officer for a builders association in Nevada and Becky has over 25 years of experience at the Dallas BA. Together they were able to put our operations on solid ground and attend to numerous things that I was not able to during that time. Steve’s efforts earned him the Clyde Anderson Associate of the Year Award in September.
As the incredible demand for housing led to record months for many builders and suppliers, the Dallas BA’s trajectory was much less certain. So much of what we do in terms of networking, education and events were not possible or prudent in their traditional forms. We had to adapt.
Again our staff and member volunteers delivered with innovation and creativity. With more than 400 entries and over 60 categories, our McSAM Awards went virtual, hosting more than 150 viewers. The event was masterfully produced and was emulated by other associations around the nation.
The same thing occurred with our leadership installation. With all of its history and traditions, this event was perhaps the hardest to do virtually. In true 2020 fashion, the board was installed virtually via a recorded Zoom meeting and presenters took their turn at the studio teleprompter.
Thanks to a strategically placed candid camera, we were still able to capture the event’s best moments live. This included Michael Turner receiving the Hugh Prather Award for his passionate commitment to developing the next generation of the construction trades where his own career in the industry began.
Installation also included the traditional transfer of power from the outgoing president to the new one. In this case it was bittersweet in both regards.
Justin Webb’s steady hand, assured demeanor and financial prowess epitomized the best qualities of the office at a time when they were needed the most. I wish we could have properly celebrated his leadership and new President Matt Mitchell, who knows how to throw a party. However, I’m optimistic we can make up for it in 2021.
Not everything was virtual this year, however. Thanks to some great weather, we were able to hold several events outdoors at our office and at Brookhaven Country Club, where more than 280 golfers participated in a sold out Dallas BA Open.
Our education program seamlessly brought the classroom to our members. More than 650 industry professionals attended the 31 classes held in 2020. The program developed an on-demand library containing more than 100 hours of locally-created content.
Our visibility in the media combined with the tireless work of Membership Director Coleman Yates made the Dallas BA one of the few builders associations to grow membership this year. This, combined with several successful events, great partners and solid planning by our directors, officers and staff enabled us to exceed even our pre-COVID budget expectations.
We grew to serve more than 1,100 builder and associate members, a level we have hit only three times in the last five years. With Coleman’s persistence and the fact that he’s never met a stranger, I’m sure he and the Membership Committee will reach new heights in 2021.
Coleman will continue to get help from Donnie Evans who, once again, won the Shorty Howard Award for the most members recruited. Donnie, a past Dallas BA President, was also elected to TAB’s leadership ladder as Vice President Secretary in November.
In a year marred by so much despair and inequality. It was incredibly heartening to see how Dallas BA members stepped up to serve our community.
In lieu of their annual Cars for CASA car show, members of the Metro East Division held a “cruise around” the City of Rockwall that included nearly 100 cars and raised more than $41,000 for the local Court Appointed Special Advocates program. The division continued to support the construction trades program at Naaman Forest High School, as it has for more than 30 years, by donating $3,600.
The Multifamily Builders Council donated a total of $8,600 throughout the year to the Samaritan Inn homeless shelter from funds raised at their very successful golf tournament. Many of those same members also contributed to the Dallas BA’s drive through toy drive that collected 232 toys and more than $700 for Toys for Tots in December.
Operation FINALLY HOME (OFH), the Dallas BA’s preferred charity, received three additional lots from the City of Irving. Plans are underway to begin the Association’s eighth OFH project in early 2021 just two blocks away from the seventh project recently completed for Major Eric King.
2020 would not have been successful without our partners. A total of 223 companies partnered with us on events, publications, advertising and so much more. This was actually up from 213 the year prior. None are more important than our eight industry investors Hotchkiss Insurance Agency, StrucSure Home Warranty, BGE, Fox Energy Specialists, DuPont, FACETS Appliances, Kitchens & Baths, L&S Mechanical and Bravas. In addition, almost 40 companies elected to support the Association on an increased level by becoming Sustaining Members.
As much as I wish it would, turning the calendar will not brush away our numerous remaining challenges. Permit delays in Dallas, a state legislative session, the deployment of safe and effective vaccines, along with when and how we make the slow return to normalcy are topics for my 2021 Year in Review.
That said, I’m beaming with pride and filled with gratitude in ways words cannot properly express for the volunteers, directors, partners and staff who made 2020 our finest hour.
Stay safe and let’s continue to find opportunity in every difficulty.