The dawn of a new year is always a great time to reflect on the year past and look toward the year ahead. Below is just a sampling of the major news from 2010.
Our World
Several of our biggest news stories this past year were heart breaking, like the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti as well as the gulf oil spill. Others were heart warming; the Chilean mine rescue is certainly an unbelievable tale that had the whole world watching.
Some new handheld devices entered the market this year. The iPad is one that I am a big fan of, although my cautious side won’t let me buy one until the second version is released. A new device to the US market that I am not thrilled with is the vuvuzela. Anyone that went to a high school football game this year recognizes that Vuvuzelas are not just a menace at African sporting events anymore. Continuing on the sports theme, LeBron James’ “The Decision” was possibly one of the worst individual PR efforts of the decade. while the off the field issues of my beloved Jets, can be described as a joint effort PR debacle.
Our Industry
The building envelope industry had a number of news stories this year. The 7th cycle of New York City’s facade ordinance (Local Law 11\98) began with several new major revisions; while the first cycle of Philadelphia’s facade ordinance (PM 304.10) was introduced.
In 2010, two catastrophic building envelope accidents occurred; the balcony railing failure in Manhattan as well as the garage collapse in Hackensack. These two tragedies are vastly different on many levels; however a comparison can be drawn between their sources. Deteriorated concrete balconies and railings as well as water infiltration into garage structures are both issues that are often dismissed or minimized.
Sullivan Engineering
This past year was a very exciting year for Sullivan Engineering. Our first year in business was a very positive experience. It has been a pleasant surprise to observe the number of people that will go out of there way to help a newly established business. To those people we will be forever grateful.
As many of the entrepreneurs reading this newsletter will agree new challenges arise on a continual basis during the first year. Two that remain top of mind for us are business registration and marketing.
The paperwork involved in establishing and registering a business could wipe out a small forest. From our experience, registering a professional services firm in several states is an incredibly frustrating and archaic process. I guess Al Gore never let state governments know about the internet that he invented. If only he had, they might be able to streamline this process. Kudos to the state of Delaware who have a good system in place. They were actually a pleasure to deal with.
I have developed a whole new respect for marketing professionals. Creating content, or “copy” as I now know it is referred to, for the website, marketing material and monthly newsletters has been the source of many late nights\early mornings. Of course having an English major on our team helps significantly. In fact I recommend that all engineers have at least one English major in their organization.
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