What is it about Boston that makes it such a construction-friendly town? Well, in the first place, the construction market in Boston has developed a new norm. This new normal is especially important when measuring the city's growth and opportunity. Some of the brighter spots for construction, with some of the biggest growth opportunities exist in downtown Boston and Cambridge. However, the further you get from downtown Boston, the less new construction exists.

Private Sectors Pushing Construction

Construction growth opportunities basically stem from projects in the private sectors of Boston. Some of these private sector jobs in construction include healthcare sector, industries in life science, private user developers and residential and school projects that are high density. Comparative to what was seen with the construction boom in the pre-recession days, there has still been steady growth from 2009-2011, with investments continuing in both the education and healthcare sectors.

General Contractors Also Coming Back

Construction and general contract work have made comebacks. That is because many have made it through the hard economic times and are in better shape than they have ever been before. The contractors that fell by the wayside before have essentially helped create a healthy market for those construction survivors.

Yes, it's true. After that hard year of 2008 and the financial struggles of many general contractors. Many Bostonians are surprised at the roaring comeback for residential construction. Boston is incredibly hot for construction, with a rebound that has can best be called a mixed bag.

Not Such A Surprise for Some

For Boston, what it really depends on is the type of construction that is going on. Even though there seems to be an increased payroll for construction workers as well as sales, some have deemed the construction rebound as modest at best. For example, the apartment sector has been doing very well for the last couple of years and continues to operate strong.

Another hot area for construction in Boston is colleges and universities. Expecting to see growth in such areas as biotech, hospitals or pharmaceuticals, the construction business is consistently strengthening. The construction insurance market continues to remain stable.

For Boston's property side, there could be a lot of potential but it also depends on the risk. It boils down to those construction companies that have stayed well managed and good safety policies and loss history still have the range of options when it comes to the insurance. Those general contractors that did survive the recession are much wiser today than they were five years ago.

In Closing

So if you are a contractor in the Boston area you should have already seen an increase in business, if you plan on moving your business or looking for business in the Boston area, check it out, you might like what you see.

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Whether you're planning your next construction project or are right in the middle of preparation, one of the most important factors that you always have to consider involves the specific type of drywall that you're going to be using. Due to the fact that drywall is commonly used to make interior walls, ceilings and other properties in a building, it is actually one of the most common types of material in the entire structure. Drywall in general has a wide variety of different benefits that can't be ignored - chief among them is their success at acting as a passive fire protection item to keep everyone in a building safe. One of the unfortunate downsides is that due to the thin nature of the material, it often gave way to noise pollution - especially in buildings where units are designed closely together.

That is, until now. QuietRock Drywall is a high quality product that has been designed to both offer the same benefits that contractors have come to depend on, as well as fix a number of the issues and complaints that people have had over the years.

One of the major benefits of QuietRock Drywall is that it is the first drywall in history that has been designed specifically for noise control in buildings. As a result, it holds benefits across a wide variety of different types of projects - regardless of the intended use of the finished building. If your next construction project is for an apartment complex, for example, QuietRock Drywall can be used to create a much quieter and intimate environment in each unit.

The owner of the building can then use the fact that the walls have been made with such a material as a marketing tool. Single individuals who move in next to a family of four don't want to have to worry about whether they'll hear kids crying at all hours of the night. The reverse is also true - families who would normally be upset to learn that a group of college students have moved in across the hall won't have to worry about loud parties disrupting their important sleep or even daytime activities. By using QuietRock Drywall, everybody wins - from the contractor to the building owner to residents and more.

The same is also true of buildings in other types of industries. If your next construction project is for an office building in and around the Boston, Massachusetts area, for example, you'll want to create the quietest environment possible for each unit so that one business does not disrupt any others in the same area. Office buildings tend to be confined spaces, but the types of businesses may vary wildly from one unit to the next. A certified public accountant could operate right next to a day care facility, for example. With QuietRock Drywall, those businesses won't have to worry about noise pollution from other areas of the building interrupting the important activities that they have going on daily.

To get an example of just how successful QuietRock Drywall is at keeping out sound (and how important sound treatment is in general), consider the Lollipop Lounge. Located on the Upper East Side in New York City, New York, it is a high energy Tapas Bar and Lounge that is incredibly successful. Because of the area where the Lollipop Lounge is located, however, sound pollution is a very real concern. Not only could the lounge potentially be sued by area residents in close proximity if things get too loud, the business could also be shut down completely.

After contractors used QuietRock Drywall during the construction of the Lollipop Lounge, the issue evaporated practically overnight. The owner of the establishment has reported no complaints about noise from area residents, despite the fact that he has a $100,000 sound system installed on the premises.

For maximum success regarding noise prevention and control, it is recommended that QuietRock Drywall be used with the associated acoustical sealants that are also on sale. These sealants will prevent noise leaks in the most efficient way possible, making sure that the occupants of the building in question don't have to worry about a thing when it comes to noise. Also available are various glues and coatings like QuietGlue Pro that will easily adapt to any type of condition or requirement that your specific construction project may involve. These types of solutions make QuietRock Drywall ideal for every situation.

When you begin researching building materials for your next construction project in the Boston, Massachusetts area, it will quickly become clear that QuietRock Drywall is the right choice for you. As the first drywall in the history of the business that has been specifically designed for noise control in buildings, it is an ideal solution for everything from nightclubs to apartment complexes and everything in between.

Not only that, but you still get all of the same great benefits that you have come to expect and depend on from commercial drywall materials. To find out more information about what QuietRock Drywall can do for your next project, don't hesitate to contact us today.

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The New England states are well known for their extreme winters, while climate change is leading to some record-breaking summers. How do you keep your crew working during these extremes? By pre-planning your work and using creative problem solving, you can get a lot done in even the most demanding of conditions. Here are some tips to keep in mind when planning a job in poor weather or environmental conditions.

Focus on developing safety measures that are specific to the project.

If you're in a rapidly-shifting environment, it may make sense to hold a daily safety meeting and hazard analysis before the day's work begins.

Minimize how much work is done on-site in poor conditions when possible.

If you know that you'll need a certain number of electrical conduit assemblies with 10/3 wire at a particular length, cut and put together with wire as much of the assembly as possible, leaving one end unadhered and able to be cut to a shorter length if necessary. This allows you to make last-minute adjustments while minimizing exposure time.

Include down time, waste material and additional set-up and tear-down time in your quote to ensure you've covered all your bases.

When the environment is tough to work in, you'll end up spending more time getting your crew moving and demobilized as well as having more job site waste.

How will you get there from here?

If there's difficult access to the work site, you'll need to account for that. Can your equipment and material fit on a boat if the site is on an island or inaccessible by land? Will you need to cross delicate environments that will require the use of construction mats for equipment or around the construction site? Be sure to include that in your job costing.

What health problems can you expect for your employees in that environment?

Cold, wet conditions lend themselves to hypothermia and frostbite. Enclosed areas will require proper ventilation to prevent suffocation. Hot weather requires a close watch for heat-related illness, sunburn and dehydration. Make sure your crew takes regular breaks when working in extreme environments.

Will housing on site make the project go more quickly?

If you need to spend a couple hours every day just getting to the site and the same amount leaving it, it may make sense to see about setting up a bunk room on site to stay in while the project is underway. Keep in mind that this will also require setting up sanitary services, food preparation areas as well as dining and down-time areas to unwind.

Take advantage of local talent.

If you're working on a resort or recreation area where the employees are familiar with the weather and road conditions and are already trained to deal with them, see if you can employ them to help with hauling in and out as well as monitoring upcoming weather conditions that could stall the project.

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Can ceiling tiles enhance the acoustical characteristics of a room? Most definitely. When shopping for a new ceiling tile, it?s best to evaluate the whole package.

Builders and interior designers who are searching for an affordable method to lower the height of a modern room as well as deaden ambient noise turn to acoustic ceiling tiles. Using this method, cooling as well as heating ducts can be hidden behind these ceilings, alone with unsightly wires used in overhead lighting and pipes for plumbing fixtures.

Consider this before purchasing:

The phrase ?acoustical ceiling tile? not only has as much to do with marketing as it does with making a difference in the sound environment within a given room. Originally, conventional drop ceiling tiles were used because they were easy to install and provided convenient access to the areas above the ceiling and were inexpensive. They were not the prettiest tiles and weren?t first purchased for their acoustics.

A conventional room has, at a minimum, six surfaces which include four walls, a floor and a ceiling. Sound moves equally in all directions. Sound also has the potential to be reflected, to pass through, or to be absorbed by all surfaces. Not all tiles are rated in all three categories. Please note that each persons results will be different, due to where you are using the tiles and how.

Noise Reduction Coefficient

Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) is a rating which informs how much sound surface will absorb. The higher the decimal or percent of rating, the more sound the tile will absorb.

Sound Transmission Class

Sound Transmission Class (STC) this type of rating is used to learn what the ability to block sound is. This is helpful, but does not tell you what will happen to sound once it is blocked, and it is usually used for walls.

Ceiling Attenuation Class

Ceiling Attenuation Class (CAC) is really a completely separate rating system. It does deal with sound absorption but it is a bit more specific. This rating is commonly misunderstood as a rating that describes how much sound reflects off the face of a tile.

When looking for a ceiling tile, consider the following: if a tile completely absorbs about 50% of the sound it contacts (NCR), the other 50% has got to go somewhere. If the tile has a good STC, most likely most of the remaining sound will bounce back into a room.

It is important to think about ratings when shopping for tiles. Hard surfaces tend to reflect sound, while softer surfaces absorb sound. There are many various companies which carry acoustic ceilings such as CertainTeed. CertainTeed ceilings carry a variety of styles for all your needs.

Why We Carry CertainTeed Products

In addtion, CertainTeed provides Health Product Declarations (HPDs) and continues its commitment to transparency with its Environmental Product Declaration (EPDs.) They offer 5 EPDs encompassing 23 different ceiling panels and 7 HPDs encompassing 30 ceiling panels. CertainTeed is also a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and they lead the way in the effort to provide solutions that promote sustainable design. CertainTeed incorporates sustainability in every step. From the products raw material content to how it?s handled through manufacturing and shipping as well as throughout life of the product.

If this has sparked an interest in CertainTeed's product lines, be sure to download our free CertainTeed Acoustical Ceilings Product Guide below. It's full of data for engineers and is a great resource for those looking at acoustical ceiling solutions.

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When you're in construction and you need a specific piece of equipment, you usually have just a few options available to get the job done. You can rent the equipment, and then have to deal with the rental's shortcomings that have developed from abuse by other renters. You can buy the equipment, and have to lay out a large chunk of change or arrange financing. You can lease the equipment and be a nervous wreck that every time it's going to be used, something will happen that will cause problems with the lease. But there's a new option that has come into the playing field recently, called peer to peer equipment rental. What is it and what can it do for your business? Read on for more details.

In its most basic form, peer to peer equipment rental is similar to the sharing industry business models set up by Uber and AirBnB. It essentially provides a marketplace for you to connect with people who want to rent equipment from or to you. Industry giants like Caterpillar have even gotten into the game, investing in California's Yard Club as part of their strategy to avoid disruption in the market from digitization. But how does it work?

Much like AirBnB, a peer to peer equipment rental platform allows construction businesses to list their idle equipment between jobs, providing them with an additional income stream while ramping up or down from a big project. A contractor who needs the equipment can then rent it through the platform and make arrangements to obtain access to the equipment, either through the platform itself or by working with the contractor renting the equipment to them. Both parties are vetted as part of the account setup process to ensure safe transactions.

But how much can you make from renting your equipment during your down time? One California company saw an additional $100,000 in revenue from equipment rentals their first year trying the program. Other peer to peer equipment rental models are using sensors and telemetrics to track equipment performance and location, providing additional security and a better way for the owner to track the rented equipment and what's being done with it.

What does this mean for your business? Instead of having to invest in expensive equipment, you can rent the equipment you need, when you need it. This helps lower your overhead, especially during down times when the equipment may otherwise sit idle instead of earning its keep. If you have equipment available to rent, it can provide you with additional revenue streams when you need it most.

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