The GTA Construction Report – April 2009 – PAGE A7
Heavy equipment show rolls into Mississauga
MATTHEW DESROSIERS – The GTA Construction Report Editor an upcoming need for the
machines over the coming
When someone says the something to mention be-
months.
word ‘construction’, the first cause it’s a bit off the beaten
Breaking up the shop-
thing we all think about are path.”
ping was a regular event at
the big machines used to put This yeah, Hall five was
the NHES, which was also
up a building, or pave a home to the a new feature at
held in hall five. The Back-
road. the show: the gravel pit.
hoe Rodeo pits operator
The National Heavy This area is home to those
Equipment Show (NHES) is
against operator, as they try
within the aggregates and
to complete obstacles with
an event where those ma- road building industry.
their large machines. This
chines are celebrated, as the “The buzz on the floor
year’s winner was Octavio
biggest and best manufac- was so positive due to all the
Miranda.
turers of heavy equipment infrastructure spending
The thrill of standing so
showcase their newest prod- that’s going to happen this
close to these machines
ucts. The bi-annual show year because of the budget,”
even brought out families,
was held in Toronto this she said. “People are look-
as fathers brought their sons
year, on March 5 and 6. ing at new equipment be-
to get a closer look.
“It went really well,” said cause there’s going to be a
“I saw so many men with
Denise Miller, publicist with lot of work being created, so
their children there,” Miller
Masters Promotions, who they’re going to need it.”
said. “There’s obviously in
own the show. “We had big- Unlike some events that
that business, but they
ger numbers than the event attract window-shoppers,
brought their children too
two years prior.” Miller said the floor was full
because the children were so
With over 10,000 regis- of people who were coming
excited to see the big trucks
tered visitors to the NHES, to shop. And these aren’t
and the tractors.”
the 325 exhibitors were small money purchases.
The NHES was held at
pleased with how it all went “There were contacts
the International Centre in
down, she said. made, and I made believe
Mississauga, in halls one,
“They were so pleased,” there was retail on the
three and five.
said Miller. “The crowds floor.”
“This show definitely
were there, everyone was in Many of Ontario’s mu-
happened at the right place
a good mood. Hall five had nicipalities stopped in to see
and the right time, just be-
really good traffic, which is the latest, as they anticipate
cause of the budget.”
The Change Order boat: An Internet hit from Misssissaga – Who owns it?
STAFF WRITER – The GTA Construction Report Coast Guard registration in the name of
Paul Frazier, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Misssissaga management consultant Frazier, president of Bronze Construc-
Brian Ernest didn’t expect to create an In- tion, indeed owns a boat named Change
ternet viral hit when he snapped a photo in Order – but it isn’t the same vessel. “I’ve
July 2007 of a large yacht named “Change heard about it – in fact about 20 people
Order” moored next to a tiny dinghy named have sent me pictures of the other boat,” he
“Original Contract” while travelling in said.
Ohio. Frazier’s office forwarded photos of his
He sent the image to a few friends in the “Change Order” boat, generally moored on
construction industry, and they sent it to a Lake Pickwick, on the borders of Missis-
few more, and soon, thousands of copies of sippi, Tennessee and Alabama.
the image were circulating in emails be- So who owns the other Change Order
tween architects, engineers, contractors, boat – the one circulating throughout the
and consultants throughout North America. Internet? This is still a mystery.
Mark Buckshon, president of the Con- “I was on assignment in Vermillon,
struction News and Report Group of Com- Ohio, in late July 2007 eating at the Red
panies, first noticed the image in Clay on the River restaurant patio over- bow of the boat just entering the picture on sissaga, Brian Ernest said: “The interest-
September, 2007, and posted it on his Con- looking the water,” Ernest wrote. the lower left. ing part of this story is that I had no idea
struction Marketing Ideas blog. “I noted the boat and tender moored in “I have no idea of who owns the boat the image would resonate as it has.
“Almost immediately, I saw a surge in a slip across the water and given my con- other than that he appears to be a success- “I found that you can Google the picture
visitors to my blog from Google keyword struction background thought the boat and ful contractor with a great sense of hu- and find it which is how I happened on
searches for the ‘change order boat’,” tender names highly funny. (So I) shot the mour.” your (Construction Marketing Ideas) web-
Buckshon said. “The image seems to cap- picture with a digital camera that I carry, In Tennessee, Frazier says most people site. I know the power of the Internet but
ture one of the big issues of the construc- (and) sent some copies to a few close who see his boat, unfamiliar with the con- had never really experienced how things of
tion industry.” friends and associates who I thought would struction industry, wonder what ‘change interest can travel so widely in cyberspace.
(Change orders are controversial. Some appreciate the humour. order’ means. He said it started as a joke. There is a small part of me that wishes I had
owners say that requests for change orders “This year (March 2009), I was with a People in the construction industry, of 10 cents for every computer this picture has
inflate the profits of general contractors and client in New Jersey, who had the picture course, understand the story. “Our com- been sent to. I might be in Tahiti with a
sub-trades; while many contractors and sub in his office and said ‘See my boat’,” pany, we’re developers and site contractors, beach house, etc. Oh well.”
trades say they have trouble being paid for Ernest wrote. “My immediate answer was and we do a bunch of third party work,” he “But I am happy that many others seem
their true costs in implementing changes that it wasn’t his boat since I shot the orig- said. Change orders are part of the business, to have enjoyed it,” he wrote.
from the original project plans.) inal image. I knew it was my original from and can be a good source of revenue, he in- Frazier, meanwhile, is thinking of pur-
Buckshon tried to find the Change the girl in black in the picture, the place- dicated. chasing a new boat. He’s planning to name
Order boat owner, and discovered a U.S. ment of her leg behind the piling and the Several thousand miles away, in Miss- it: “Divorce Papers.”
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