Estimating
We are still marching ahead with the GoodLife Fitness Club in North Bay. We had a conference call with Square Feet Design and the Owners Rep, Bill Van Haeren. We finalized some of the design issues and North Bay Hydro issues. Bill wants us to get in gear ASAP and would like the new club opened by October. A tall order considering that we don't have drawings and we are still not sure what the exterior wall design will be. Our "Super Sid" will be our secret weapon.

Mike has given the secret island resort project (Fantasy Island) to Tom and Clinton; Mike's schedule is a little too full at present. Clinton is now busy getting depth charts and trying to figure out exactly how we have to do this job. The Owner from Georgia is quite anxious to get started this spring. Our next big hurdle is with the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans. They have big concerns about the local fish spawning grounds and this may become an issue for us. "Our" Derek Rice from BDO, who is the Manager of IS Audit and IS Services, says that he has been to this remote island and it is absolutely amazing. Derek wants first choice on any future villas that might be put on this island; Fern's purchased a temporary villa for Derek and Mia constructed of nylon and aluminum framing.

Mike was supposed to fly to Toronto to meet with Tom Quirk from Praxair regarding the T-900 plant on February 14th (Valentines Day) but he came down with the an extremely bad cold (which appears to be rampant on our jobsites) and could not make it. Tom Q. will be sending a tender package to us in early March.

Our Tom is confident that the Nobel project will proceed this spring and has been in discussions with our client. Tom has also been asked to provide the budget pricing for the same project in South Porcupine and Kirkland Lake. These two projects are looking very good and coming on a bit quicker than we thought. Hopefully they would most likely go ahead in 2009.

Tom is still waiting to hear about the Bent Foundations for ASI. They are taking a lot of time to decide how they want to route the service lines. Tom has submitted "heaps" of prices for various tenders for ASI as well as several for Tenaris Algoma Tubes.

The Mini Storage complex is still on track, final zoning approval should take place in March and Mike should have the final price to the Owner shortly. We anticipate that this project will proceed.

Ken submitted the tender for the East End Husky Station. We have heard that there was one out of town bidder that was about $1 million low! Bet he has pulled his price. Ken has had several conversations with Husky and we may just be in the running. Ken has also been working quite closely with one of our clients on a major restaurant renovation and has attended many meetings with the Owner; he loves the Saturday breakfast meetings.

We had a meeting with PGG in February and things are starting to move forward on this project. We thought it might be slowing down, but Mike and Tom met with PGG and their finance partners and things are definitely moving forward. We hope to receive their schedule shortly.

Mike has yet another secret project he submitted pricing for. There are two buildings involved, one is just over 400,000 square feet and the second one is about 230,000 square feet. That is about 14.5 acres; maybe we should give a budget price per acre! This would be an extremely nice project if it were to become a reality. We are just in the budgeting stage right now. MM is also working on a turn key Potato Storage facility in Sudbury as well as a proposed RV building in the Sault.

Manpower is going to become a real issue for us very shortly if some of these projects go ahead.

New Employees
Amazingly enough, Dwayne and Fern have not hired anyone this month! If our estimating department gets even 50% of what they are working on, we will still need a small army of employees. Are you two up for more interviews?

OPP Forensic Lab

Wayne and Donnie, along with some help from Sid, Jerry C and Jorge are trying to get this project completed. Trouble is that ORC has not stopped giving us more contemplated change orders. We may never get out of there. All of the subtrades, including Henderson Metal, McLeod Bros. Mechanical, Phase 4, Nova Steel, Mobile Glass, ADT Security and a few others would all like to be completed as soon as possible. The finished painting is almost complete along with the flooring, commissioning of all of the equipment has started, the millwork, doors and hardware are all just about complete and the floor mounted car hoists are installed. The famous generator has been delayed for delivery again and we hope it will get here soon. We had hoped to be complete by the end of February, but it does not look like that will happen. Once we stop the continuous flow of changes, we may be able to finish up and move on, we hope.

Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3 | Photo #4 | Photo #5 | Photo #6

Collegiate Heights Retirement Home Addition

KC and Randy along with Andy M and Lance B. have been installing windows, wood blocking and fire stopping. The Building Department held us up for a while well they discussed the fire stopping methods with the Architect but that was finally sorted out. The engineering at the tie-in link is now holding us up. MJM Roofing has completed the roofing. Citywide Electric, DNM Plumbing and Henderson Metal are completing their rough-ins. Spira Fire Protection is on site doing the sprinkler rough-ins. Ideal Colour has just about completed all of the insulation and vapour barrier and have now starting the drywall. CB Home Installations is working on the exterior siding and shingling the mansard roof. Despite the cold weather and heavy snow that we have been experiencing, this project is moving along.

Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3 | Photo #4 | Photo #5

AELP Co-Gen Foundations

John M. and his crew consisting of Mike M, Bob H, Gerry B, Craig T, Chris M, Wayne M, Nick M, Scott G, Andy B, Dan M, JR S, Jeff R, Calvin D, Jake M and Jake K have been working towards completing the formwork for the turbine table top. They had hoped to pour this in late February. They are now over 1,144 cubic meters of concrete poured. They have also been working on misc. curbs, sumps, piers, slab bulkheads and manholes. Ontario Concrete Finishing has been on site to pour several floors. Our crew formed and poured the table top haunches in preparation for the big pour. Most of the work in inside but John tells me it is at least 15 degrees colder inside than outside. The completion date for our work is still some time in June.

Sorry no pictures this month!

Kenworth Truck Centre Building, Sudbury
Jason, Ryan, Len, Justin and Tyler have completed this project. David Vitone and Jay did a walk through and David signed off. We don't have a lot of good pictures as Jason was having computer problems, he couldn't get his wireless card to work. Marty did the trouble shooting and spoke to Dell Reps; they sent us a new card and when Marty went to install it he discovered that the existing card had come loose and was not plugged in. Turns out that Jay had dropped the laptop off of his bed and that did it. Fern and Mike were in Sudbury in early February and stopped in for a site inspection along with coffee and doughnuts. Fern, Mike and Jason were invited out for dinner by David Vitone and we had a great time. Thanks David!
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3

Howard Avery Construction Building
Phil is our man in charge on this project now and he has Trevor, Scotty M, Glen, Jeremy, Tyson and John B for his crew. They have completed the entire wall siding. The roof liner, insulation and standing seam roofing is 99% complete. We have to wait for two extra roof panels that were damaged in one of our recent blizzards. The cold weather and excessive snow has slowed us down a bit but most of the exterior work is now complete. Hope that Keith gets the heat on soon. They are now installing the wall insulation and interior liner panel.
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3

Tenaris Algoma Tubes Oil Storage Building
Terry is now the foreman of this project; we have had to make several switches on the fly in order to send the crew to Hearst in late February. Terry's crew consisted of Cris P, Paul D, John D, Ryan, Tyler S and Justin who were on site helping out from time to time. The structural steel has been erected and they have started the siding; we had a bit of a delay with the insulation delivery. The roof has been completed. Bob and Nick started forming the interior concrete walls which have to be completed before we can finish the interior liner panel. Terry lost the majority of his crew to Deep River job on March 2nd; he's now acquired Phil and John B from the Howard Avery site.
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3 | Photo #4 | Photo #5 | Photo #6 | Photo #7

Miscellaneous Algoma Steel Projects
Our Superintendent, Ken McL., has been working inside ASI for the past few weeks providing supervision in the venue as a Technical Consultant on various projects; Tom is the PM on this project(s). We think these projects must be "top secret" because we haven't seen Ken on a regular basis for quite some time. Ken, are you alive and well in ASI or have you moved to Timbuktu?

CTC Store Erection, Hearst
Dwayne, Jason, John D and Len travelled to Hearst on Sunday, February 17th to unload the Steelway building. They unloaded four transport loads and stacked it on the ground. The foundation contractor is a wee bit behind due to the minus 35 degree Celsius temperatures. They left Sunday and were back home Tuesday night. Jay, John D, Tyson D, Tyler S, Justin S, Ryan C, Len B. and our very own Sid left on Sunday, February 24th for Hearst and have begun erecting the steel. Jason tells us that it was -37 Celsius on February 28th and he hoped that Dwayne was having fun in Punta Cana at +30 C. Jason is such a caring guy, Dwayne taught him well!
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3 | Photo #4 | Photo #5 | Photo #6 | Photo #7 | Photo #8 | Photo #9

CTC Store Erection, Deep River
Scott M, Trevor M, Tyler M, Glen M, Paul D, Jeremy L. and Jeff R. will be leaving on Sunday, March 2nd for Deep River. The Steelway building will be delivered on Monday and they will unload it and start erecting the building. Dwayne, our new beach bum, will be flying home from vacationing in Punta Cana and driving to Deep River on the Sunday. He will have to climatize himself again for the great white north AND we are certain that Dwayne has missed his native climate.

A couple of announcements first, before we discuss training.

The Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association will be hosting its 1st Annual Health & Safety Conference on Thursday, March 27, 2008 at the Holiday Inn and Conference Centre. Cost is $60/person (GST included) covers lunch, seminar materials and access to the booths and displays. Please check the attachments for the agenda/topics and the registration form. Thank you to all our sponsors and the Construction Safety Association for your support. If you would like to sponsor part of this conference please contact the SSMCA at 759-8830 or Ken James at 759-3173. Come out and help us make this a huge success for the Algoma construction industry.
H & S Conference Agenda
H & S Registration Form

From April 21-25, 2008, the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association will be hosting its 2nd Annual Training Week which will make various training venues available to the construction firms in our area. Everything from First Aid, WHMIS, H&S Orientation, Fall Arrest, to Aerial Manlift. We are in the process of developing and lining up facilitators and locations. Please get your training requirements and needs in to the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association so we can fulfill your needs. Many courses are free and some do have a cost to them. Many agencies are donating space and/or facilitators. Help us make this a success once again.
Hats off to the Construction Safety Association of Ontario for all there assistance.

I would like to challenge the other 12 industry-based safe workplace associations to help or assist us, the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association Safety Committee in providing course material, trainers, etc. for our training week this spring? You can contact me by phone or my e-mail. Thank you in advance.

We have trained three more men in Health & Safety Rep, Part One, six more men in aerial lifts, and four more in forklift and propane handling and storage.

Training is necessary and it is also very expensive for the construction firms that pay for it. This can encompass the cost of the course or training, the employee's wages and lost production in the field while this takes place. The training can be from a couple of days to weeks.

The certificate or training card then belongs to the worker, which it should, but in many cases the worker decides to quit or leave for other places and there goes all the money that the employer has invested in this person (Thank goodness most employees are not doing this). Then there is the question of the quality of the training was it thorough or was it basic to simply comply? We have not even touched on the employer supplied safety equipment yet, that will be for another time.

I believe this (training) should be looked at and reworked, by the powers to be.

How about anyone wanting to work in construction, should they be taking a week long course at a college with the Construction Safety Association supplying the content and facilitators at the expense of the worker for the basic things like aerial lifts, propane, fall arrest, Hilti guns, fork lifts, etc.? Another thought might be to look at some type of term commitment to the hiring employer. Are there any other thoughts out there?

I believe we need to dialog with the powers that be and one more thought, why when there is a shortage of trades are we not offering and teaching the trades (technical) in high school anymore?

""Team Safety, It's just good business"

Congratulations to Justin, Scott G and Jerry C who completed the 5 day CSAO Construction Health & Safety Rep, Part One in February. This now gives us 20 employees with Part One training. Although there is no cost from CSAO for this training, we pay our employees wages to attend and these three guys were a cost of about $3,900.00. A bit expensive but money well spent.

We also intend on sending three more men to the Part Two Sector Specific course as soon as CSAO schedules it. They are trying to arrange this course for late April, so again if you have anyone who requires this, please let the CSAO know.

Congratulations to Calvin D, John B, Paul D, Jeremy L. and Glen M on successful completion of their Manlift Training course with Rick Wilson of Construction Equipment on February 8th. We still have about six more guys to schedule for the next course.

Congratulation to Len, Sid, Ryan and Tyler M. on successful completion of their Forklift Training course on February 21st. This course was also put on by Rick Wilson of Construction Equipment.

Our February Safety and Workplace Training budget took a bit of a beating this month. We still have First Aid & CPR courses and refresher courses coming up soon. As quoted in SafetyXChange, "Proper workplace training routinely returns between $3.00 to $8.00 for every dollar invested." Mike Moore & Sons is a firm believer in workplace and safety training and we expect to invest a great deal of money each year in this training. Does your company?

The SSM Construction Association is trying to arrange for a Boom Truck Certification 0-8 tons. The course would normally be held out of town at a cost of $1,000.00 per person plus travel, room, board and in some cases wages. Rick Thomas has lined up the course locally for $800.00 per person and we will be sending one employee. Rick needs a minimum of 8 people so if you have anyone to send, let him know. The anticipated course date would be in early April.

Conventions & Social Events
The SSMCA Curling Bonspiel will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 10:00 AM until 7:00 pm at the Tarentorus Curlers Club. We are hoping that some of our employees will put together a couple of teams. Fern and I will be out of town and will not be able to join in on the festivities. Always a great time and good food.

Dwayne and Kim attended the Steelway Builders Conference in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from February 23 to March 1st. They were with Senor Corona (Bryan Hernandez) and Senorita Sue. Dwayne's blackberry didn't work down there, nor would his laptop so we had to send our emails to Senor Corona who passed them on. We heard a rumour that Dwayne and Kim were parasailing. . . . . . .
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2 | Photo #3 | Photo #4 | Photo #5 | Photo #6

Our two newest employees (who have not started working for us yet) Gill James, Director of Human Resources and Dr. Cameron (Cam) Gelder, Director of Medical Aid, were two lucky people. Brenda from Lafarge had two tickets for us to the Toronto Maple Leafs game on Tuesday, March 4th in Lafarge's luxury box. Since no one else could attend, we sent the two new employees. Sure hope they had fun.

Fern and I will be attending the OGCA Annual Symposium in Collingwood along with Jason and Nancy, Sid and Michelle and Clinton and Tessa. Special thanks to Steelway Building Systems for stepping up to become one of our sponsors at my request. Thanks Jason and Bryan. I have inserted the Symposium seminar schedule for you to pursue, it is an extremely informative few days and you should really consider sending some representatives next year. It is only getting bigger and better. The accommodations, food and entertainment are exceptional.
Symposium Sessions

Congratulations To:
Congrats to Robert (Bob) Mah on his recent award of a Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Plaque, recognizing those individuals within our community who've contributed time and who are dedicated to making our community a safer and better place to live. I tried to get a picture of Bob holding his plaque, but he informs me that he is far too shy. Guess that's why he drives a Ford, shy people don't drive Chevy's!

Once again, Mike Moore & Sons Construction was awarded the Steelway Building Systems "District Performance Award For Northern Ontario." We just missed out on the Millionaire's Club. Dwayne was presented the award in the Dominican Republic.

Congratulations to Norm Jaehrling and Luc Duschene of Forest BioProducts (SITTM) on their recent award from the Honourable Jim Prentice for a Canadian Innovation Leader Certificate. This award was for their development of their Greenstar Biodiesel System which is a machine that can turn pretty much any waste oil into clean burning biodiesel. Quite an honour guys!

Congrats to Mayor John on completing his 2,000 length of the YMCA pool, only 3,000 more to go! Mike Moore & Sons Construction supports Mayor John's fund raising efforts and donates a fixed amount per length. If you don't support John's fund raising effort as yet, please call the YMCA (949-3133) and ask for a pledge form. If John has made this huge commitment, surely you can support him.

Condolences To:
Tom Kulmala and his family on the passing of his Mother.

The March Birthday Club:
Sharon Dearing (Jerry) March 1st
Bobby Wood March 2nd
Tom Kulmala March 3rd
Tiffany Seibt March 4th
Jodie-Lynn Gillespie March 6th
Tyson Derasp March 9th
Samantha Gauvreau March 18th
Natasha Court (KKC) March 30th
Mary Wademan (OGCA) March 15th

Mike Moore & Sons Construction's Final Donation Status

2008 Donation Goal	100
Donations to Date	N/A

I have been speaking with Genevieve Battams, my girl from Canadian Blood Services and she informs me that we are going electronic any day now. We will then have current up to date donor status and our company will be posted in a new section of their website called Northern Ontario. We will most likely be the only company there. I will be trying to change that, so expect my call or visit to try and sign your company up to Partners for Life.

March CLINIC TIMES
Tuesday, March 11th, 4:00 PM to 7:45 PM
Wednesday, March 12th, 12 noon to 2:30 PM and 4:00 to 7:45 PM
Thursday, March 13th, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Tidbits
A joke from Fern's Mother, Marion

Tetanus Shot
The old man in his mid-eighties struggles to get up from the couch then starts putting on his coat. His wife, seeing the unexpected behavior, asks, "Where are you going?"
He replies, "I'm going to the doctor."
She says, "Why are you sick?"
He says, "Nope, I'm going to get me some of that Viagra stuff."
Immediately the wife starts working and positioning herself to get out of her rocker and begins to put on her coat.
He says, "Where the hell are you going?"
She answers, "I'm going to the doctor too."
He says, "Why, what do you need?"
She says, "If you're going to start using that rusty old thing, I'm getting a tetanus shot!"

This newsletter is our 60th one; I can't believe that we have been producing them for five years now. Our first edition was published on April 1, 2003 and was to be a quarterly thing, but that never happened, it has always been monthly. Originally our newsletter was only meant to inform our employees what we were bidding and where their co-employees were working. It sure has grown and has a tremendous group of readers. The first edition was two pages long and had a Safety Corner written by me. Ken James has since taken over this part of it.

I just have to get my two cents in regarding the MNR appeal in the Boniferro Mill Works lawsuit. I can't believe that they would even consider an appeal. An editorial in the Sault Star asks "Who exactly does the MNR work for?" but my question would be who do they answer to? I believe that the MNR is totally out of control. How can they dispute the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision and waste more tax payers money appealing it? Shouldn't the taxpayer have a say in this disgraceful stunt? Even Jim Boniferro says they may regret the decision as it may open up a province wide ruling and cost the MNR (us taxpayers) a whole lot more. Dalton McGinty needs to get the MNR under control right now. This entire stunt is unbelievable and slaps the struggling forestry industry right in the face.

Ken James, Safety Director extraordinaire, has a new toy. Ken has finally started using our new camcorder on our jobsites and he thinks it is just the greatest thing ever. He hopes to produce a few short safety movies for our upcoming all-employees safety meeting. Break out the popcorn!

Fern and I met with Barry Rushon, Don McBain, Mike Prentice and Steve Roberts of the Champion Sault Steelers Football Team in February to discuss their short and long term funding problems. They are National Champions from Sault Ste. Marie and they are struggling, this does not seem right to me, is this how we treat our National Champions? We are trying to come up with a plan to arrange for some long term funding and some short term advertising. If you are interested in sponsoring the team, please give me a call at the office otherwise, I may be calling you! I have attached their advertising and Sponsor rates for your consideration.
Steeler Advertising

Barney and Storm (our beagles) have been running around the house with an attitude lately. They watched the 2008 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on TV on February 12th. The Westminster show is one of the premier dog shows in the world. They were watching the show because a beagle called "Uno" was in the running. Uno won the "Best of Breed" in the Hound group and went up against 8 other breeds for "Best in the Show" and guess what, he won the whole howling thing! This is the first time in 132 years that a beagle has won and he got a standing ovation from the crowd. Barney and Storm are quite thrilled and won't let us forget it.
Photos:
Photo #1 | Photo #2

I couldn't help but include this new Revenue Canada pencil sharpener picture that someone sent me. AND yes it is income tax time!!!
Photos:
Photo #1

While I was in Toronto for my OGCA meetings, I was sitting in my room writing some of this newsletter on my new laptop with remote hookup using my desktop in my office in the Sault. I was not too interested in getting a laptop or having remote hookup, but I am really glad I have it now, it is quite amazing. I can get a lot more work done at home after work and while I am on the road, so now you have to ask yourself, or I have to ask myself, is this a good thing? When Fern and I get home from work after 10 or 12 hours, we both get out our laptops and start working again! No rest for the wicked and I don't really think we are wicked, just driven (or perhaps a bit stupid).

Also used my blackberry to book my return flight and seat, no need for a boarding pass, I just use my blackberry screens to check through security. I am now totally high tech! Pretty neat and an amazing job by Air Canada.

I attended the OGCA Education Committee Meeting on Thursday, February 21st in Toronto. We discussed and planned the final schedule for the Symposium in Collingwood in April. I have to be the moderator for the seminar with ORC, wow, could I ever have fun with that one! I also volunteered Sid or Clinton to be a witness in the Mock Trial on Saturday. Our meeting was very informative and I certainly enjoyed the meeting. Fern and I will also be panelists for one seminar, more on this below.

I then attended the OGCA Board meeting on Friday morning. It was quite a good meeting and I always acquire additional knowledge there. I sat with Tim Smith from Ellis Don and the Safety Guru, Doug Chalmers. There are some revisions to the Construction Lien Act coming that I think everyone will be pleased with, more to follow on this item.

After having lunch at the OGCA, I then attended the Safety Committee meeting. We had a lively discussion on the updating of the OGCA Safety Policy and Reference Manual and made several major changes. We then discussed the possibility of mandatory drug and alcohol testing in the Ontario construction industry. It is coming and I think it is long overdue.

We have a new OGCA Safety Committee member who is Steve Riddell, the Regional Safety Director for Ellis Don. I had a discussion with Steve and we both agreed that our EdgeBuilder software has to get the Safety module in gear. I will be hounding Lisa Baker from Econstruction to make this happen and I am sure that Steve and our Ken James will help. Hey Lisa, here we come. As Steve tells me, he sends you emails like, LLLIIISSSAAA? (Steve calls himself the Ghost emailer.)

Gowling & Associates in conjunction with OGCA have developed a "Health & Safety Risk Management for General Contractors" course that the OGCA will be running from May 5th to the 9th, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM at their offices. Cost is $850.00 per person and I bet it will be an excellent course, too bad we can't get it in the Sault. Trust me; I will be working on this one!

As I mentioned earlier, Fern and I have been invited to sit on the "Presidents Panel" at the OGCA Symposium in April. We will have some heavy weights on the panel with us. Geoff Smith from Ellis Don (Best Employer in Canada), Paul Cocker of MacKay Cocker and Francis Pomerleau of Pomerleau. We are honoured that we have been asked to participate on a panel with such distinguished guests. It will be a question and answer panel discussion about how each of us started our business and how we run them. Fernie and I will be the classic "husband & wife" team.

I am scheduling a Strategic Planning Workshop for our company in the near future. Our facilitator will be Bill Therriault of Kaizen Resources. I have been involved in several strategic planning workshops and I am looking forward to ours. It will give everyone in attendance a chance to bring up their thoughts on where our business is right now, where we want to be in three years, what obstacles we will face in getting there and our action plan to make it happen. We will also make our Mission and Vision Statements for the Company.