Lost Decade? Not In The Metal Construction Industry
By Shawn Zuver, editorial/content director
The Lost Decade. The Oughts. The Noughts. We’ve all read the recent clever newspaper and news magazine headlines, and maybe even chuckled the first time or two that we heard a TV news commentator offer up these descriptive catch-phrases to depict the U.S. during first decade of this millennium. One of my personal favorites is The Decade Of Zeroes.
While the descriptions were not always original—most already having been widely used in conjunction with the Japanese economic malaise of the 1990s—I have to admit that they may seem appropriate in their description of some elements of the U.S. economy. For example, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index was actually 23% lower on December 31, 2009 than it had been on January 3, 2000. And many other economic factors led to the pessimistic assessments, including dramatic increases in the annual federal budget, burgeoning national debt, rising home foreclosures and questionable inflation-adjusted wage gains during the decade.
Despite some of those gloomy indicators, it hardly seems fair to declare the 2000s as The Lost Decade because that implies that nothing worthwhile took place during those 10 years. In my opinion, especially as it relates to the metal construction industry, that’s far from the truth.
Let’s start with the growing recognition of metal products in the move toward green building practices. Back in 2000, we rarely heard references to “Green” in the metal construction marketplace unless it was preceded by “Hunter”, “Kelly”, “Forest” or some other adjective to describe a particular hue of metal roof or wall panels. Since then, the environmental movement has been heartily embraced by nearly everyone in our industry—including designers, contractors and suppliers of everything from buildings to roofing to wall systems to insulation to a boundless selection of related products. In many cases, metal products meet Energy Star requirements and can also contribute points toward LEED certification of buildings.
Cool coating technology for metal panels, solar collection systems for metal roofs and walls, and rainwater harvesting products are among the many offerings that were introduced in the past decade. All of them are sure to help shape the future of construction as more emphasis is placed on sustainability.
Research projects also saw strong advances in the 2000s. The Metal Building Manufacturers Association, Metal Construction Association and Steel Framing Alliance continued their efforts on many important topics, as did other trade groups allied to the industry. Some of this work included improvements in design and construction methods that have already influenced building codes.
As producers of electronic media featuring daily updates of news, projects and product information, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the dramatic changes in the way that information is being distributed and used. For example, product brochures and technical data can now be distributed the same day, without using paper and ink, rather than waiting a month or longer for printed distribution methods. New technology also allows designers, building owners and contractors to run through project design ideas—including color modeling—by using intuitive functions on supplier websites or sophisticated Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools.
These are just a few examples of the many positive contributions that were made during the past 10 years. A Lost Decade? I strongly disagree.
So, while it’s understandable that many people may tend to dwell on some negative, typically economically-driven, factors as they refer to the 2000s as a Lost Decade, I’d prefer to honor those years for the many good things that happened in metal construction—and for strengthening the foundation for the future.
Shawn Zuver is editorial/content director for DesignandBuildwithMetal.com. He has been covering the metal construction industry, including residential and non-residential construction, since 1985. To contact Shawn, call (419) 581-2051 or email shawnz@designandbuildwithmetal.com.
To view other columns by Shawn or other columnists, click here.