President's message: Looking back as we look forward

Two and a half years seems like plenty of time to accomplish big things. In the life of an association, however, it goes by quickly. I should know - it's been my privilege to serve as president of the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts for the past two and a half years. Back in April 2011 it was hard to know what the next two years would bring, with the economy still so uncertain, and membership in the association still taking a hit. But we began with a sense of optimism and a commitment to embrace change and move forward. Today, cranes dot the Boston skyline, with big projects of all types breaking ground and rising up, and many contractors now as busy as we were before the recession. At ASM, we are growing and remain as busy as ever. Over the past two years, we've added value to membership, and helped promote subcontractor success. Breaking new ground, we became one of just a handful of associations to win state approval to form a group health purchasing cooperative; ASM's Health Co-op opened its doors in April this year, offering members significant savings not available anywhere else. We have helped save on education, vehicle leasing, and other business services - as well as on legal advice, through our legal hot line. In the legal arena, we have worked closely with state officials on proposed reforms to public construction - being ever vigilant to the interests of our members; and we won a legal appeal to protect subcontractor bond rights on public work. Perhaps most important, we have invested heavily in advocacy, with a determination to build on our 2010 Prompt Pay victory, and pass legislation to set limits on retainage, and speed up the release. In just two years, we made great progress with our retainage bill - and we won't stop until a new law is signed. So it has been a short two and a half years, but productive, where "big things" happened, with promise of more to come. I am proud to have been part of it, and I extend my best wishes to our new ASM leadership team who will take the helm later this fall. David Cannistraro is president of the Associated Subcontractors of Mass.