In this latest episode of “If Walls Could Talk,” W&C’s Group Publisher Jill Bloom speaks with Anna Anderson, CEO/owner of Art Unlimited. For this round, Bloom speaks with Anderson regarding Women in Construction and the attributes of having a feminine workforce.

How does a company know how to promote Women in Construction? “Are you capturing imagery that has diversity within it? Are you presenting a company that has women in it,” Anderson said, adding that are these women in prominent roles. Some of these roles aren’t adequately covered.

This is just one way of showcasing a company with a diverse workforce.

What is your ideal customer? In this episode of If Walls Could Talk, Publisher Jill Bloom met with Anna Anderson, CEO of Art Unlimited, to talk about why you should know and understand your ideal customer.

In order to know your customer persona, you have to take a step back and go into the data to understand everything you know about your customers. “I think that’s that mind shift that business owners need to say, ‘Okay, I just can’t look at ROI, but I need to look at who the customer is, create a great experience, then I get ROI,’” Anderson says.

After you know your customer persona, Anderson says the next step is to measure data so you can market to the correct audience.

The construction industry largely applauded the infrastructure incentives and public works earmarks backed into the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. W&C Legal Insights expert Trent Cotney continues to take a closer look at the expansive and expensive legislation and offered up an exclusive report to W&C.

“When you do a deep dive into the IRA, there is a chance to really create some revenue,” said Cotney, partner with Adams & Reese, in this brief video chatwith RC Editor-in-Chief Art Aisner. He said that within the thousand or so pages of the federal legislation passed last August are incentives for community solar energy projects, and grant money set aside for disadvantaged neighborhoods–whether urban or rural. Roofers already dabbling in solar and that can deliver projects at scale could have a distinct advantage in their market.

In this latest episode of If Walls Could Talk, W&C Editor John Wyatt speaks with Sean Browne, Manager, Codes and Standards, at Armstrong on acoustics. As Manager, Codes and Standards, Browne discusses how that relates to acoustics, how codes and standards change and what’s new in acoustic codes and standards.

Browne outlines why do acoustical ceiling and wall solutions matter in the built environment. He also touches on the key acoustical codes and standards to pay attention to for typical Education, Office, and Healthcare buildings. This is the first of two parts with Browne.

In this episode of if Walls Could Talk, Jill Bloom speaks with Michael Kwart, executive director of the Insulation Contractors Association of America. The association will hold its Annual Trade Show in Dallas, September 27-30. In this talk, Kwart outlines some exciting plans coming up with the ICAA.

“We’ve instituted two big changes this year: we ran a survey with our members and what we heard overwhelmingly is only having one day of the trade show, vs. two days, as we’ve typically done in the past. And then the other change is two days of strictly educational sessions,” Kwart says. “This really puts the focus on education.”

Getting marketing data that you know is accurate can be difficult for small businesses. We met with Jessica Rayna of Kill Your Competition to discuss how contractors and other businesses can find easily verifiable information and make sure their revenues match with marketing results. In this episode of “If Walls Could Talk,” Jill Bloom speaks with Rayna on these marketing initiatives.

You never know when a natural disaster is going to strike, but you can be prepared in case it happens. In this episode of If Walls Could Talk, Publisher Jill Bloom sat down with Steve Slepcevic, CEO of Strategic Response Partners, to discuss how you would go about putting a disaster response plan together.

Slepcevic said the key to the disaster response plan is making sure your employees have everything they need for them and their families. “If you are the company that, day one, has a temporary shower setup, a temporary laundry service setup … the people are able to do their laundry there, they’re able to take showers there, you have a catering service that is serving your people, feeding them three times a day, your employees are showing up,” he said.