For ATMI Precast, it is that time of year when cold weather plays an immense role in the procedures, requirements, and practices that encompass concrete production. Winter conditions present a huge challenge for the construction industry. Pouring concrete is difficult when temperatures drop to near freezing. Placing concrete in cold weather can be impossible once frost sets in unless you take a lot of precautions. Frigid winter conditions not only raise construction costs significantly, but they also slow schedules and reduce worker safety.

Being in the Midwest we are affected by winter weather, yet construction projects can continue year-round. That’s because many architects, engineers, and builders know that cold weather construction can easily be completed on time, within budget, and safely by using precast concrete in winter months. Precast concrete makes it possible to complete construction projects even during the extreme weather that comes in cold winter months. Cold weather practices need to be addressed for precast manufacturers, like ourselves, to product quality products that meet specifications.

Depending on the year, we can be affected by cold weather conditions in calendar months from October through April. That is over half the year where construction projects could be delayed or halted due to frost, ice, snow, or chilling winds. Builders plan for this and look for subcontractors like us to provide precast concrete solutions.

Concrete has helped build ever imaginable structure from skyscrapers to bridges and roads. But for all its benefits, it does have downsides. It cannot properly cure when it is too cold when poured outdoors. That is quite the restriction for on-site concrete pours. With concrete projects that are cast-in-place, forms are set, and concrete is mixed on the job site or trucked in from ready-mix plants.

Low temperatures cause concrete that is curing to go inert or stop setting. Freezing during the initial cure before it reaches 5,000 psi compressive strength will cause curing concrete to fail entirely. Either way, casting concrete outside of its temperature tolerance can be a financial disaster.

Luckily, ATMI Precast provides the perfect remedy to eliminating all the problems associated with cold weather pours which is precast. Precast concrete components are carefully constructed inside factory-controlled environments that remove all the risks. This results in regulated units that meet high standards in quality, strength, and design. No matter what the weather condition is outside.

There are many benefits of using precast concrete. The first is that it is designed by knowledgeable engineers. The engineers have had years of training and hands-on experience in casting all types of structural concrete. They work with the architect, project engineer, and construction manager to make sure the right concrete mixtures and additives go into the precast pour.

The second is factory conditions. This means that temperatures are artificially controlled to ensure optimum conditions exist when a component is cast. All concrete casting and curing are done in these conditions which eliminates volatile job variables like unexpected weather drops when a pour has been scheduled and must proceed. This will also save time on the job site. While bad weather can stall cast-in-place projects, this is not a factor for precast as we arrive ready to erect.

The third is quality control. Precast concrete is produced in an environment that allows for superior consistency and quality control. This is ensured by an internal batch plant where the precise aggregate, powder, water, and other additives are mixed at a consistent temperature. There is no guesswork or taking a chance. Consistent labor force daily contributes to the repeatable quality of our precast concrete.

The fourth is strength and durability. Precast concrete provides a long-lasting solution as it grows stronger over time. While other materials deteriorate, studies have shown that precast concrete can provide a service life of more than one hundred (100) years, requiring little or no maintenance.

Lastly, concrete is environmentally friendly which is extremely important in an increasingly eco-conscious world. After water, concrete is the most frequently used material on earth. Made of all-natural materials, it is safe for the environment and can be recycled. Concrete can also incorporate recycled materials.

By choosing precast concrete, you will keep your next project on budget and on time even in those winter months.

Similar to our blog post from August 2021, the vacancy rate for Chicago-area industrial properties has hit an all-time low. If your business needs warehouse space today, you better move quickly when you find it. What is going out there is going fast!

The vacancy rate for Chicago-area industrial property dropped to 4.91% in the first quarter, down from 6.68% a year earlier and an all-time low for the local market, according to Colliers International. E-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, and other companies continue to gobble up warehouse space faster than developers can build it.

The industrial real estate market, already strong before the COVID-19 pandemic, has soared to new heights since the early days of the health crisis, emerging as the hottest sector in the commercial real estate market.

No company has had a bigger impact on the market than Amazon, which went on a real estate binge to expand its distribution network and speed up delivery times. The Seattle-based online retailer, now the Chicago area’s biggest private-sector employer, signed the two (2) biggest industrial leases in the Chicago area in the first quarter for warehouses totaling one (1) million square feet each in Joliet and Kenosha.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it is launching a national emphasis program focused on heat-related illnesses and injuries. Under the National Emphasis Program (NEP), OSHA aims to eliminate or reduce worker exposures to occupational heat-related illnesses and injuries in general industry, construction, maritime and agriculture industries. This new initiative is now an OSHA standard, and it is meant to enforce prevention. OSHA will focus on heat hazards through the NEP, which will be the employer’s responsibility to provide policies and procedures for OSHA’s targeted enforcement efforts to protect employees.

As part of the program, OSHA said it will proactively initiate inspections in indoor and outdoor work settings when the National Weather Service issues a heat warning or advisory for a local area. Furthermore, on days when the heat index is 80 degrees or higher, OSHA inspectors and compliance specialists will engage in outreach and technical assistance to keep workers safe. This new program allows an inspector to stop at any worksite, indoor or outdoor, whenever the temperature is above 80 degrees outside.

Companies will need to ensure they have current Heat Safety and Prevention policies. A Health Prevention Plan is a proactive process to help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers are hurt. Eliminating workplace hazards enables employees to stay invested in their work and do their best. Safety is the most important aspect of your company’s plan for the future.

Rates of inflation are increasing rapidly. There is no escape from the impacts of inflation. Construction companies are feeling the effects – not only are essential materials and skilled labor significantly more expensive, but supply chain pressures and shortages are making it harder to secure needed construction materials. The cost of concrete production, delivery to job sites, and the price for for the finished product are on the rise.

Lumber, steel, and many other materials critical for construction projects have experienced skyrocketing increases in pricing. While the root of the problem was supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges continue to put pressures on pricing. At the same time, the available workforce is shrinking.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power so here are a few tips to help prepare for the effects of inflation according to World of Concrete 360.

1. Inflation rates for consumer and producer price indexes continue to rise.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found the inflation rate for the consumer price index (CPI) to be 9.1% for the twelve (12) months ending in June – the most significant increase seen since November 1981.

“A more compelling number along with that is the producer price index (PPI) that went up 11.3%” said Dr. Martin R. Cantor, director of the Long Island Institute for Socio-Economic Policy. That index includes concrete. “The PPI for construction materials was up 51% since January 2019, pre-pandemic”.

“Compared to January 2019, the latest numbers from April 2022 from the BLS and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show that gasoline went up 72% and crude oil went up to 76%, and both are involved in the cost of diesel delivery of the component parts of concrete to where it is manufactured and sites where it is used”, Cantor said. “Unfortunately, there is little that producers and purchasers can do. The delivery cost has gone up because you have a supply chain issue that impels inflation, and you have fewer drivers to deliver the product where it is needed”, said Cantor.

2. Wages are increasing due to related growth of minimum wage requirements and gas prices.

Cantor noted, “there is an increase in wages due to inflation and an increase in minimum wage and gasoline prices. There is nothing the businesses can do about it except pass it on unless they become more efficient. This is why there are increased costs in construction projects to pay for concrete. Concrete producers and general contractors are at the receiving end of goods and services.”

3. The Fed is likely to continue increasing interest rates.

Cantor believes that the Federal Reserve System will increase interest rates by 75% and, at the same time, take $95 billion per month out of the economy in cash. “They are decreasing liquidity in the marketplace, which makes construction costs more expensive while decreasing the number of buyers for real estate – both commercial and residential”, Cantor said.

4. Stay informed and ride out the storm.

Cantor stressed that purchasers of concrete are just as stuck as producers, nor does he see any relief soon.

“We are going to be in a recession, and right now, we are in a jobless recession because we still have plenty of jobs”, he said. “Once the Federal Reserve interest rates and tightening of the money supply start taking hold, which will probably be felt in September, we will see some impacts. But I do not see things changing until 2023.”

Cantor’s analysis was backed up by New York-based Peter Scalamandre & Sons, Inc. – in addition to being a respected general contractor, produces concrete via Seville Concrete Mix, a ready-mix concrete business providing high quality service to the New York City metro area for over forty (40) years.

“Our hands are tied right now”, said company president Peter Scalamandre. “Prices for materials and fuel have gone crazy. Cement is up 25% this year, aggregates – sand and stone – are probably up 20%, and fuel is up 100%”.  End-users for concrete have no choice but to pay the market price.

Did you know that concrete consists of five (5) components? These include cementitious material, large aggregate, small aggregate, water, and admixtures.

At ATMI Precast, we use multiple different cements, aggregates, and admixtures to produce concrete that benefits the safety, quality, and cost of our product that is outlined below.

Cementitious Materials:

• Type IL Cement
  • Blended cement that contains 5% – 15% limestone
  • Reduces the carbon footprint
  • More cost effective
• Type III Cement
  • Ground finer than Type I
  • Achieves high early concrete strength
• Slag
  • Improves workability
  • Easier to finish
  • Higher long-term compressive strength
• White Cement
  • Used for architectural finishes

Aggregates:

• 3/4″ Limestone
  • Typical large aggregate
• 3/8″ Limestone
  • Large aggregate used for architectural mixes
  • Used to increase flowability with a self-consolidating concrete
• Mason Sand
  • Small aggregate
  • Finer ground sand used for architectural mixes
• Torpedo Sand
  • Small aggregate
  • Typical sand used for both structural and architectural mixes
• Screenings Sand
  • Small aggregate
  • Crushed limestone used for architectural mixes

Admixtures:

• Superplasticizer or High Range Water Reducer
  • Simulates water in the mix to reduce the amount of water needed
  • Less water = higher concrete strength
• Viscosity Modifier
  • Prevents the mix from segregating
  • Suspends the aggregate in the concrete matrix
• Entrained Air
  • Adds micro air pockets to the mix to combat the freeze thaw in the Midwest region
• Retarder
  • Slows down the initial set of the concrete to allow for longer workability

In September 2022, the Chicago Chapter of The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) hosted its fall Speaker Series. The discussion focused on the state of capital markets in commercial real estate. Key takeaways include:

• Interest rates have taken a toll on underwriting in all asset classes.
• Multiple banking relationships have never been more important, as many non-traditional lending sources have evaporated and the CMBS market is frozen.
• Most active buyers today are all-cash or low levered.
• The large transaction market is non-existent.
• Re-trading deals has been common this year, typically 10-30%.
• Auction sites are seeing some success with the rapid speed of execution.

Cap rates in the single tenant net lease sector increased slightly for all three (3) sectors in the third quarter of 2022. For the first time the past two (2) years, cap rates increased for two (2) straight consecutive quarters. Single tenant cap rates increased to 5.86% for retail, 6.80% for office and 6.61% for industrial in the third quarter of 2022. As the Federal Reserve continues to increase rates in an attempt to curb inflation, debt costs have increasingly put upward pressure on cap rates for buyers of net lease properties.

As economic pressure mounts, formerly opportunistic sellers removed properties from the market that were attempting to take advantage of the historically low cap rate environment. In the third quarter of 2022, the supply of net lease properties decreased by more than twelve percent (12%) when compared to the prior quarter. Furthermore, buyers and sellers have yet to agree on pricing levels given the current environment and a period of price discovery continues.

The rising rate and inflationary environment impacted acquisition criteria for net lease buyers. Investors demand properties with rent growth or the ability to increase rents in the near term are in the greatest demand. Investors expected cap rates to widen for non-core net lease deals with short term leases, lesser tenants or secondary markets. This has yet to occur on a wider scale, causing a wait and see approach for many investors.

The capital markets will continue to impact the overall net lease market. Investors will be carefully monitoring the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, and its impact on their borrowing costs.

ATMI Precast would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our customer, Mortenson Construction, for our participation in the Facebook Data Center in DeKalb, Illinois. Mortenson Construction has been a solid construction partner throughout the project. This project began with our Sales/Estimating department in 2020 and ultimately a project award for Buildings 1 and 2. Subsequently, we were awarded Buildings 3, 5 and 6 in 2022.

Our ultimate project included manufacturing and erecting thermally broken architectural precast panels that were non load-bearing clad to a steel frame. This panel ultimately performs as the exterior wall panel barrier for the Data Centers and Link Buildings. These panels include an architectural concrete mix with a light abrasive blast, nonconductive glass fiber wythe connectors, fully insulated, multiple electrical embeds, and numerous openings for mechanicals.

ATMI Precast is proud of our Engineering, Project Management, Erection, and Production personnel for their commitment to quality throughout this three (3) year period.

In order to provide prospective of this project, here are some specific details:

• 423,000 SF of insulated precast wall panels
• 1,617 precast panels
• 2,133 electrical embeds
• 1,508 truck loads
• 120 days of erection
• 16 separate mobilizations
• 187,042 LF of caulk
• 67,208 wythe connectors

Mortenson Construction is the General Contractor, Sheehan Nagle Hartray are the Architects, and this project was erected by our sole erector, Waubonsee Development. Full completion of this project is expected by late 2023.