Bay Breeze

By Andrew Tuckman, Vice President Membership in charge of Events, Achievement Awards, and Communications for the SFBA Chapter

On Wednesday March 1st at 11am, the State Membership Committee met via Zoom to discuss 2023 plans to increase membership throughout California and to keep the association relevant. At a time when attendance and renewals are low across many large groups, it’s important to continually be innovative and to ultimately drive membership, objectively and systematically.  As a result, CLCA hired a third-party company to drive numbers and keep a struggling operating budget in the black.  Over the last six months, Intrigue Media from Ontario Canada began a campaign through email marketing and social media to generate brand awareness, drive traffic to the website and persuade non-members (contractors) to sign up via an electronic application.

Here are the recent stats from September thru February which Intrigue Media provided: 

• Reach: 102,956 (the number of people seeing the ad)
• Impressions: 347,968 (the number of times the ad was on the page)
• Link clicks: 3,389 (the number of times a person clicked on your ad)
• Application Page Views: 2,882 (the number of times a person clicked on your ad link and landed on your application page)
• Membership Application Thank You Page Views: 194 (number of form submissions)
• Total new members: 6 or one per month

On the call it was decided to extend the contract with Intrigue Media through April so that the State Board could vote whether to keep the third-party company aligned with the association.  Committee members on the call thought it wise to give Intrigue more time. They thought the reach and impressions results were favorable and wanted to allow the board another month to check its budget and finances.

Here locally, the SFBA chapter is having membership drives, educational events, and social mixers to keep the yearly program fresh and relevant. For 2023, I am strongly recommending putting support for the C27 license as one of the most prominent benefits of the organization and the chief reason to become a member. According to Sandra Giarde the Executive Director for CLCA

“In 2020, CLCA fought hard to keep the landscape industry open and essential during the early stages of the pandemic. In 2017, CLCA defeated a legislative proposal that would increase the minimum value of a project requiring a licensed landscape contractor from the current threshold of $500 to a new threshold of $25,000. In 2011 the association successfully fought to include the design and installation of commercial and residential rainwater capture systems used for landscape irrigation, fountains, ponds, and decorative water features as work authorized by the C-27 license. In addition, CLCA sponsored legislation in 2007 that allows landscape contractors to sign prime contracts for the construction of outdoor kitchens and fireplaces if they are part of a landscaping project. CLCA sponsored and passed a 2003 bill allowing landscape contractors to execute prime contracts for landscaping projects that include a swimming pool, spa, or hot tub. Against very long odds, CLCA led a coalition to pass 1997 legislation reversing a court decision allowing general contractors to execute direct contracts for single trade specialty work, including landscaping.”

Our chapter should promote itself in a more direct, creative, and inventive way. In the CLCA there are important advantages or “benefits” that are inherent in joining an association. Sure, the most obvious are networking and education. And with legislation, friendships and community comes success and prosperity for the entire community.

After the next membership call, I will report back with an update on renewals, new sign ups, whether Intrigue Media retains its contract and the overall health of the association.

Andrew Tuckman is a Key Account Manager with SiteOne Landscape Supply living in Santa Cruz California and a board member of the association since 2010. He is past president and events director for the Central Coast Chapter.

Peninsula Building Materials Celebrates 100 Years

March 2, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Mountain View, Calif……….

Building Blocks of the Bay Area

Family-Owned – Peninsula Building Materials Celebrates 100 Years Strong with an Open House & Celebration of History

Contact: Michelle Young (michelle@beeyoungcomms.com)

To the CLCA Community:  Long time member Peninsula Building Materials is celebrating 100 years on Saturday April 29 from 12-5pm with an Open House and party for the Bay Area industry at their showroom in Mountain View. To RSVP email: social@pbm1923.com

Peninsula Building Materials Co. (PBM) continues to beat the odds of many family-owned businesses. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the Morey family has been devoted to providing materials for masonry contractors in Northern California for over a century. PBM began as a niche building materials supplier and today has extended to include four generations across five Bay Area locations. 

At the outset, Harry B. Morey and his sons Harry Jr. and John W., began contracting as “Harry B. Morey and Sons.”  In the 1920’s, the founders saw a real need to supply base rock to construct roads and infrastructure.  Quality roadways were necessary to meet the demands of new motorists and the rising industries.

With this in mind, they opened their first yard on El Camino Real in Menlo Park in 1923 and renamed the company what it is today: Peninsula Building Materials. From its inception, they supplied many of the materials that built Stanford University, St. Patrick’s Seminary and Sacred Heart Convent as well.

Later, with the end of World War II and a growing national highway system, PBM saw a surge in demand for building materials. The South Bay was transforming from orchards to blossoming neighborhoods and technology parks, later coined “Silicon Valley”.  To accommodate these needs, PBM opened four more locations from 1968-2008.  The four yards call Redwood City, Santa Clara, San Martin and Livermore home today.

In 2006, Marty Morey wanted to build a showroom to showcase the art of masonry, a craft that has been around for thousands of years.  In addition, PBM wanted to showcase the vast product lines it offered in a finished state to make it easier for buyers to visualize products installed. Marty visited showrooms, mostly on the East Coast, to collect inspiration to build ‘the crown jewel of ‘showrooms’. 

This spring PBM’s celebrating its 100th Anniversary in their grand Masonry Showroom 2490 Charleston Road, Mountain View, CA.  Joining them will be long-time customers, vendors and business associates.

For generations, the Morey family has owned and operated a business that values dependable service, quality materials and strong relationships with vendors and customers.  They credit their indispensable staff and customers whose loyalty, friendship and commitment have been major keys of success to a company that has continued to defy odds.