GVCA - Grand Valley Construction Association

Building a solid future

Faced with a shortage of apprentices, the masonry association bands with Conestoga College for an innovative solution - a new program and a new building

BARBARA AGGERHOLM

(May 14, 2007)

They're artisans who change the landscape forever with buildings that stand the test of time.But Ontario's masons are getting older. Their average age is about 55.There aren't enough apprentices moving up through the ranks to replace them when they retire.Concerned about the trend, the Ontario Masonry Contractors' Association is taking action.

In August, the association will break ground on an intriguing building on Conestoga College's Waterloo campus.The association and its partners are donating labour, materials and supplies. Conestoga is providing the land.The building has many facets.It will be a showcase for masons' talents, the range of materials they work with and the innovative ways they use them.

It will be a training centre for future masons. Interestingly, the 10,000-square-foot building will be constructed by existing masonry apprentices. A retired master mason will be project manager.

"We're bringing masonry back to the forefront again," said Gary Kappeler, president of the Ontario Masonry Contractors' Association.

"In my father's day, if you worked as a mason, you wore the same outfit. People knew who you were.

"We don't have that same identity today, and now we're getting it back."

The free-standing building, worth an estimated $1.2 million, is designed using some of the same principles that built the Egyptian pyramids.It marks the beginning of a new partnership between the masonry trade and colleges.

"We hope this will be a model for colleges across Canada," said Boehmer Block president Paul Hargest, whose national group of concrete producers is assisting.With the building's construction, the Ontario Masonry Contractors' Association is joining forces with Conestoga College to attract young people to the craft, and provide pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training.The partnership is a coup for Conestoga, which does not now offer masonry training.While the provincial government is providing more operational dollars to increase apprenticeship training, there is no money for "the bricks and mortar to build the infrastructure," Conestoga president John Tibbits said.Among other partners, the project is supported by the Cement Association of Canada, the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association, and Hanson Brick North American and Brampton Brick Limited, two of Canada's largest brick makers.

In 2008, there will be a total of 100 students at the Waterloo campus taking pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training in the first two levels.Students will learn from curriculum developed by the industry's Mississauga-based Ontario Masonry Training Centre, where they'll go for the higher levels.Eventually, they'll also train in specialties related to refractory work, (brickwork associated with lining of industrial kilns and furnaces); stone cutter/restoration; and the industry/ commercial/institutional sector.About 30 students will begin late this year or next January.After finding a company to take them on as an apprentice, they'll come to the classroom for 24 weeks -- eight weeks at a time -- and work with the employer, accumulating thousands of hours of school and on-the-job training before writing certification exams.If they don't have a willing employer, they're advised to call the college for help making the link. Typically, it's a three-year program, with three intakes, though it depends on how long it takes students to get through it and how steadily they work, said Sandra Skivsky, marketing and development director with the association.Masons need to raise their profile, Kappeler said.They haven't marketed their craft like other trades have, he said. Young people are getting trained in other materials, like steel and wood.

But "masonry is becoming more prevalent in the marketplace again," said Kappeler, who is also president of Kappeler Masonry Corporation in Waterloo.

By teaming with Conestoga, masonry students also have a chance to tap into other programs leading to diplomas and applied degrees.

"Kids want careers. They don't want sporadic hourly wage jobs," Kappeler said. "Continuing education leads to higher-level supervisory positions."

Ontario masons aren't required to be certified, but the association is lobbying to change that.Masonry is a demanding craft, requiring people who like working outdoors and who have good math and communication skills. Masons are "systems installers," Kappeler said.They get components to a construction site and build the structure with a view to esthetics. Behind that wall, there are air vapour barriers, insulations, mechanical and electrical work.

"We set the pace for other trades."Masons are proud of their work, and are keenly aware that it will likely outlast them.

"You want to leave something behind that's going to be there many, many years after you're gone," said Dick Kappeler, a retired master mason who is volunteering as project manager for the new training centre.He is also Gary's father and general manager of Kappeler Masonry Corporation.

"You've got to be proud, be able to tell your children and grandchildren you worked on this building and it's still in perfect condition," he said.

The training centre's budget isn't finished yet, but the association is committed to $828,000 worth of supplies, equipment and labour so far. The building would cost more if the industry wasn't constructing it.Hargest said the concrete-block industry will donate concrete and other materials.

"It's going to be a wonderful building," said Hargest, president of the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association.

The cement industry is also donating $10,000 for scholarships, Hargest said, adding there may be more money coming from other partners to attract students.

"There is a demand now for good, young masons," he said.

A drive with Dick Kappeler was never just a drive when his children were young.Whenever they were out in the car, Kappeler, a master mason, would point out the Kitchener buildings where he had plied his trade.

"I told them: 'This is the building I worked on before I was on my own,' " recalled Kappeler, 69.

Eventually, he didn't need to say it anymore.

"They'd say, 'Dad, we know,' " Kappeler said, chuckling.

"Even today, I admire buildings I worked on," he said. "They are still there."

Kappeler says he's now retired, though he's general manager of the company he began in 1967. He has been involved in many committees dealing with apprenticeship training.He will be project manager of the new masonry training centre at Conestoga College, working with masonry apprentices and other tradespeople to build the unique school."My heart is with apprenticeship," said the soft-spoken, humble mason who came to Canada from Germany when he was a teenager.

"If someone hadn't seen something in me when I was young, and had patience and determination, I wouldn't be where I am today."Kappeler was 14 when his uncle, a mason, took him under his wing. He taught him everything he knew.Kappeler spent two days in school and three days on the job. "It was very, very challenging.

"He convinced me to stick it out, and it paid off." He was a mason at age 17.Kappeler grew up in Germany after the Second World War when masons were in demand to help rebuild the country.He came to Canada with a mason friend in 1956 when he was 18. The pair had already worked in France and Switzerland.

"We had no money and great ideas to see the world."

He hadn't intended to stay, but Kappeler fell in love with Wanda, to whom he will be married 46 years this year.At first, he and his friend worked as mason's helpers, because they were considered too young to be fully qualified.Today, Kappeler tells apprentices to stick with it, and shows them how paying attention, listening, and good communication skills can serve them well.

"I tell apprentices that the apprenticeship years aren't the best years of your life. You're told every step of the way what to do."

But in the end, they're rewarded.

"It's a fantastic profession."