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The 25th
Annual User's Conference |
Here's the schedule for this
year's User's Conference, to be held April 16-21 in Phoenix, AZ.
Look to next month's newsletter for full details of what we have
planned (specifics on content):
| Date |
Event |
Time |
| Mon. 4/16 |
Standard & Advanced Windows Training (separate classes) |
7am-4pm |
| Tues. 4/17 |
Day 2, Standard &
Advanced Windows Training Classes |
7am-4pm |
| Wed. 4/18 |
McCormick Masters Golf Tournament |
tee off: 7:30am |
| Wed. 4/18 |
Welcoming Reception |
7pm-9pm |
| Thur. 4/19 |
Registration |
7:30am - 8am |
| Thur. 4/19 |
Conference Sessions |
8am - 5pm |
| Thur. 4/19 |
Computer Lab |
8:30 - 5pm |
| Fri.
4/19 |
Conference Sessions |
7am - 4pm |
| Fri. 4/19 |
Computer Lab |
7am - 5pm |
| Fri.
4/19 |
Dinner |
6pm |
| Sat. 4/20 |
Computer Lab |
7:30am - 12 |
To register or ask questions:
800-444-4890.
Award From
Electrical Products & Solutions Magazine
Introducing McCormick’s ABS Product Line 
McCormick Systems’ award winning line of estimating products now offers a complete line of products designed specifically for ABS Contractors. Whether your business focus is Voice, Data, Fiber Optics, Fire Alarm, Audio, Video, Paging, CCTV, Card Access, Surveillance, Low Voltage, HVAC Controls, Nurse Call, Cable Tray, Security, Intercoms, Lightning Protection, Electrical, or a combination of them all, McCormick has the estimating package to satisfy your needs.
We're Working With Autodesk Subcontractor
Did you know that Autodesk -- the company that dominates the
CAD market -- recently purchased the Subcontractor software line from
Constructware? It's now known as Autodesk Subcontractor, and McCormick Systems
is already working closely with this operation.
What do you, the customer (of either or both companies) get
from the close working relationship? Hand-in-glove software integration. Your
McCormick estimating software (whether electrical or ABS -- or both) will work
seamlessly with Subcontractor.
If your question is, "What is Subcontractor?," here's a fast
answer: It's a project management solution. Subcontractors can use it to create,
store, and track RFI's, transmittals, change orders, purchase orders, and much
more -- electronically, of course.
For details and more (including an animated Demo), see www.autodesk.com/subcontractor.
What's In The News
How Savvy Contractors Boost
Their Estimating Productivity
Contractors who use software from McCormick Systems to estimate and manage electrical and automated building system's projects will gather April 18-21 in Phoenix, AZ for the company's annual User's Conference.
This year's conference will be our 25th annual. The event includes two full days of meetings plus access to an on-site computer "lab." Users can use the lab to try out ideas they hear during the conference, with or without help from McCormick staff. Networking with other users in the lab to learn new techniques from other day to day users is a great side benefit.
"Our customers tell us they want to be able to do more estimates, faster, and more accurately, with the same resources – in terms of people and equipment," says Todd McCormick, the company president. "Our agenda this year primarily focuses on those concerns."
An additional agenda item is a popular annual segment, "What You Have On Your Computer That You Aren't Using." Many elements included as "standard" items in the estimating software can be overlooked by contractors, including:
- Options for keeping current pricing
- Project Documentation
- Accessing your estimating system remotely
- And, of course, an abundance of information on Estimating
For more information, see www.mccormicksys.com.
About McCormick Systems
Privately owned McCormick Systems, of Chandler, AZ, is the nation’s leader in software used for electrical and ABS estimating and project management. The company’s products enable contractors to produce consistent, profitable estimates for electrical and voice-data-video work, and more.
More information: www.mccormicksys.com or 800-444-4890.
Industry Viewpoint
Joe Salimando, who works on
marketing with McCormick Systems, also has a "web log" on the
electrical construction industry -- The EleBlog. Here's what he had
to say in December after Hubbell Inc. surprised Wall Street
analysts:
What's really happening? I try to follow
stuff in the electrical market VERY closely. Writing about
it is how I earn my bread. I've been wondering about
"things" in general lately -- and in the past week, I
received two direct answers.
First, here's what I've been wondering:
a. There are a number of LARGE electrical, datacom, and
electrical/datacom distributors. They have names like
Graybar, Anixter, Wesco, USESI, Rexel, Crescent, Sonepar,
Home Depot Supply . . . and more. Most of these companies
(all of them, except Graybar) have been buying other
companies. So you can't take the results of any of these
companies over a period of time (say, since 2000) and
compare the numbers. Except for Graybar, they don't compare.
Yet the sales of many of these companies are UP -- the
result of acquisitions AND the impact of higher prices for
raw materials (i.e., copper, and some other stuff).
b. What about Graybar? It appears the company is headed for
almost $5 billion in sales in 2006. That's the figure the
company achieved in 2000. As we all know, $5B isn't worth
the same in 2006 as it was in 2000. It's also notable that
Graybar is the only company that hasn't gone crazy buying
other distributors.
c. There are two electrical contractors of any size that are
public. One of them is Integrated Electric Services; it has
spent a good part of the past two years shedding operating
subsidiaries (selling them back to the people from which IES
bought them). It's impossible to get an apple-to-apple
comparison with IES. The other is EMCOR Group. EMCOR's sales
haven't been soaring. My back-of-the-envelope computations
say EMCOR's sales are up maybe 25% since 2002.
d. Then there are the suppliers. There's consolidation on
the supplier end. And there are two types of supplies: There
are suppliers whose products include a lot of copper and
plastics (and nickel and tin, etc.) . . . and those who sell
stuff (like lighting fixtures) that doesn't necessarily
include a lot of those materials. From my reading of what's
gone on, it appears that some suppliers aren't going
gangbusters.
e. I want to come back to materials prices, especially
copper. Copper was 65 cents/pound in 2001, and now it's
$3.00/pound. In the interim, it actually got to $4/pound
this past spring. Yike! Remember: A lot of what's sold in
the electrical market is copper. I recently saw data from an
international electrical distributor on its sales through Q3
of 2006: Copper goods sales were up 68%, everything else was
up in the mid-teens. Yike!
So what I want to know is this: If you take the acquisitions
and the copper OUT of the figures from the distributors
(which is where the rubber meets the road, you know) . . .
are volumes UP, FLAT, or DOWN in the electrical biz?
- - - - -
As I said, I got two answers.
1. Recently, I had a sit-down with a guy who knows the
industry -- all off-the-record. I trust this person -- to
tell me the truth AND to know what's gong on AND to tell me
he doesn't know if he, indeed, does not know. I laid the
above scenario out for him. His answer was a simple
sentence:
"Oh, yeah -- volume is down."
2. Also in the past week, the folks at Hubbell were forced
to "fess up" in public. They issued a press release (read
it here) lowering 2006 sales and earnings
projections . . . just two months after providing
expectations*. According to the release:
residential is down.
nonresidential (40% of Hubbell's sales) is down, and
utility sales are down.
THIS IS A HUGE WOW. Hubbell's ops are widespread; the
company is in every market. Read that Hubbell release
carefully; the boss, Tim Powers is an honest guy.
What was interesting to me was not only the news itself --
which qualifies as shocking -- but the reaction. If you go
to this page on
the Yahoo! Finance site, you can get access to news reports
on the Hubbell release of 12/11 (at least, I hope they are
still there). Read the analyst opinions embedded in these
reports. They basically cover 2 items:
a. The news is
unique to Hubbell, and doesn't mean anything for others
(i.e., other electrical giants, or other companies that
produce goods used in the construction industry).
b. Hubbell is only going to have a temporary problem here,
and all will be great in 2007.
I don't necessarily know that the analyst opinion is Wrong.
But it sure as heck looks like a knee-jerk reaction, not
analysis. The obvious answer to the question -- what's
REALLY happening -- might be, at this point . . . we don't
know . . . but we have suspicions!
- - - - -
* What Hubbell has officially said, 55 days apart:
From the 10/19
Hubbell release: "Total revenues for the full year 2006
should finish the year closer to a 15% increase over the
prior year. We are also narrowing our previously provided
guidance of earnings per diluted share to $2.80--$2.90 for
full year 2006."
From the 12/11 Hubbell release: "The Company expects sales
for the year ending December 31, 2006, to be approximately
$40 million below its previous expectations while earnings
per diluted share are anticipated to be in the range of
$2.53 -- $2.58."
A 27-cent to 32-cent earnings haircut as the result of a
shortfall in one quarter seems pretty goshdurn serious,
doesn't it?
It's actually MORE serious than it looks. Through 9 months
of 2006, Hubbell posted earnings per share of $2.10 (fully
diluted). With an end-of-year goal of $2.80, that means it
was expecting 70 cents of Q4 earnings (on the low end). It
has now trimmed that to 43 cents (on the low end). That's a
38.6% shortfall. Pretty goshdurn serious, no?
Where You Can See Us In 2007
Mark your calendar for the McCormick Systems User's
Conference -- April 18-21 in Phoenix, AZ.
Here are our scheduled appearances at industry events this
year:
Jan. 22-25, Orlando, FL -- BICSI Winter Conference.
Feb. 21-23, Long Beach, CA -- Electric West
May 2-4, Las Vegas, NV -- ABC Electrical & Mechanical
Education Conference
Sept. 10-13, Las Vegas, NV -- BICSI Fall Conference
Oct. 6-8, San Francisco, CA -- NECA Convention & Show
Oct. 24-27, Houston, TX -- IEC Convention & Expo.
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