AGCW Northern District Report: Retro honors for District firms | Phased opening may remain paused

Safety counts: Exxel Pacific Inc.
leads AGC Group Retro awards
AGC’s Group Retro program celebrated its highest combined refund ever of $85,119,965. In all three years in cycle, top performers are exceeding 50% net refunds (59% net refunds in our 26th year). Leading the way in the Northern District was Exxel Pacific Inc. as they earned Top Performer for their 24th consecutive year of refunds (leading AGCW) and also the top EMR in AGCW with an EMR of .53 with 3+ years with no time-loss claims.
Other notable Northern District Members recognized by the AGC Retro:
Franklin Pacific Construction had the second-most improved EMR for 2019 to 2020 with a 41% reduction. Interwest Construction was a new member to the $1-million in cumulative refunds.
The following Northern District members had top EMRs at .60; most are “as low as you can go:”

Andgar Corp
BOSS Construction
Carmona Construction
Colacurcio Brothers
Credo Construction
Dahl Electric
Ewing Electric
Exteriors Plus NW
Exxel Pacific
Fisher Construction Group
Franklin Pacific Construction
Goldfinch Brothers
Haskell Corp
Interwest Construction
Jansen Inc.
KLB Construction
Landed Gentry Development
Pacific Building Envelope
Pacific Glass & Door
Pederson Bros.
Penny Lee Trucking
Plastering Plus NW
PowerTek Electric
Salinas Construction
WaterTechtonics

Congratulations to all Retro program award winners!
If you’re interested in seeing if you qualify to participate with this great group of contractors in our Retro program and increasing your L&I premium refund, then click here and complete the form to receive your confidential and free analysis by scanning and emailing Lauren Gubbe, AGC’s Retro program director.

Phased opening may remain paused
if cases continue to climb
(Association of Washington Business) Counties may have to stay at their current level of reopening if statewide COVID-19 numbers continue to go up. A two-week pause may be extended, health secretary John Weisman said last week.
“The rates are going up in most counties in the state and that is not where we want to be,” Weisman said during his most recent weekly state update on COVID-19. “And if they continue to go up, moving out of this pause of a phase really doesn’t seem very likely." Read more…

Barron Heating awards scholarships in founder Dan L. Barron’s name to boost education in trades
(Whatcom Talk) For nearly 50 years, Barron Heating & Air Conditioning has provided professional heating, ventilation and air-conditioning services. From its origins in outfitting new homes to its current mission of improving the comfort, health and energy efficiency of existing homes, Barron has always had a need for skilled workers. And recently, as they started to see the number of new workers entering the trades fall, they created a trades scholarship to help turn great students into great technicians, electricians and plumbers. Read more…

Culture of CARE
2020 Awareness Week a success
Thank-you to all who helped celebrate the first Culture of CARE Awareness Week, July 6-10! AGC had 214 member firms make the commitment to improve safety, productivity and retention of skilled tradespeople by supporting diverse & inclusive workplaces. The response from across the chapter was simply fantastic. Supporting program materials and resources will continue to be available, of course. Click here to learn more!
Photo: TRICO Companies

Changes in Washington
overtime rules take effect July 1
(Wash. State Dept of Labor & Industries) Updates to Washington’s rules that spell out what type of workers don’t have to receive overtime pay take effect July 1. The rules establish the criteria for certain workers to be considered exempt from getting overtime pay and other protections under the State's Minimum-Wage Act.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced the changes last December after a lengthy public process. It involved numerous public hearings and taking comments and input from more than 2,400 people. Read more...

Unemployment taxes could nearly triple
in 2022 due to COVID

(Association of Washington Business) By 2022, employers could be paying almost three times as much into the state unemployment trust fund to help make up for billions in payments to record numbers of jobless workers during the pandemic. The average 2020 unemployment insurance (UI) tax of $317 could increase to an average of $936 per worker in 2022, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by the Employment Security Department (ESD). Read more…

AGC: Construction spending declines 2.1%; private work outweighs public pickup

(Construction Superintendent) Construction spending declined for the third month in a row in May as a sharp slowdown in private projects more than offset a rise in public work, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data. Association officials warned that the pickup in public projects is likely to reverse soon unless the federal government acts quickly to invest in needed infrastructure and shore up crumbling state and local budgets. Read more…