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AGMCC reports steady growth at annual conference

Mike Spence of Kraus Anderson, a founding member of AGMCC, retired from the board and was presented with a plaque by (from left) Jeff Dalaba, Terry Schaefer and Ben Beeler.

The Architectural Glass and Metal Certification Council held its annual meeting in Denver, Colo., Oct. 26 and 27. AGMCC runs the North American Contractor Certification and Architectural Glass and Metal Technician progams that certify glazing contractors and installers as adhering to best practices and having high degrees of competency in the trade. The meeting was hosted by AGMCC managers Scott Kennet, Jeff Dalaba and Ben Beeler.

Dalaba set the tone at the start of meeting by explaining the NACC’s mission is nothing less than changing the culture of the industry. He related a story about his father, a decorated WWII veteran of the Marine corps, for whom there was “the right way, the wrong way and his way.” In that spirit, Dalaba says the NACC has not always taken the easy or obvious path in its pursuit of a rigorous standard for glazing contractors to meet. Dalaba said he feels word about the value of the program is spreading, with 57 contractors now certified and enough in the application pipeline that he predicts the number will be 75 by the end of 2023. Gatineau, Que.’s, Verval became Canada’s second certified contractor in late 2021, joining Ferguson Neudorf in Beamsville, Ont. The AGMT has now certified over 1,000 individual glaziers.

Beeler went over a change to the NACC standard that calls for written quality checklists for installation. He said the organization wants to continue to tighten standards where reasonable to drive quality improvement with certified members. He related discussions he’s had about the benefits of the program working with members: they unanimously report big improvements to quality and process in their companies. NAC-certified members love the program once they are in it and appreciate what it does for them. Where there is still room for improvement is on the awareness side. Members are not reporting increased sales from certification yet. The organization is pursuing many paths to try to improve this including ongoing marketing and education efforts; inclusion in specification programs such as MasterSpec; pursuing recognition from insurance providers; and possibly even having NAC policies and procedures turned into an official industry standard recognized by the International Standards Association. Some progress has been made on getting specifiers to request the certifications. Dalaba reported they have identified 1,029 projects that mentioned NACC and/or AGMT certification this year, with a big surge of 540 in the 90 days before the meeting.

AGMCC board members were introduced: president Rodney Harvey (CDC), secretary treasurer Jon Kimberlain (DOW), AGMT committee chair Chad Dalton (IUPAT), vice-president Jim Maggiore (Royal Glass) and NACC committee chair James Bringle (Empirehouse).