WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION – CONCRETE PUMPING INDUSTRY
American Concrete Pumping Association (ACPA)
Advocating for safety, training, and
fair taxation and business success
Florida Construction News special feature
T he American Concrete Pumping
Association (APCA) provides year-
round support, advocacy and leader-
ship for the concrete pumping
industry. The approximately 500-member as-
sociation, which also has members
representing Canada and Mexico,
says its mission is to “promote, ex-
pand and improve the concrete pump-
ing industry through progressive
leadership, communication, education
and advocacy.”
Throughout the year, the ACPA
schedules other programs and activi-
ties including a biannual fall educa-
tional conference and programs at the
World of Concrete show.

Last year’s conference in Nashville
in September included a variety of ed-
ucational and networking opportuni-
ties, in connection with the National
Ready Mixed Concrete Association
(NRMCA)’s annual ConcreteWorks
event. ACPA developed its certification
program in the early 1980s. “It has re-
ally progressed . . . with substantial
increases in the education require-
ment and operational evaluation for
first time certification,” Christi Collins,
ACPA executive director, said in an
earlier published report.

“Contractors are also increasing
their demand for the use of certified
operators on their jobs, and as a re-
sult, this year we will process more
certifications than ever before,” she
said “The ASME standard is basically
about increasing safety on the job,”
Collins said in the article published in
Construction Today. “If the concrete
pumper, ready mixed provider and
concrete contractor each adhere to
their assigned responsibilities, the job
site with a pump will be much safer.

18 – SPRING 2017 — Florida Construction News
But in the unfortunate situation of an
accident or an incident on the job,
that’s also where the standard will
come into play. Each party will be-
come accountable for their responsi-
bilities.” Operators must be recertified
every two years.

Approximately 3,000 operators
have been certified in the last two
years, Collins said. “That doesn’t nec-
essarily mean that all of our members
have certified operators, but clearly,
we’re moving in that direction,” she
says. ACPA members receive a signifi-
cant certification fee reduction com-
pared to non-member rates – from
$225 to $60 per operator.

The association also advocates for
its members’ interests. There have
been initiatives to revise taxation rules
to make it fairer for concrete pump
operators, including success in elimi-
nating the retail excise tax on concrete
pump chassis.

“That was probably the biggest
feather in our cap since I’ve been
here,” Collins said in the interview.

“The IRS wanted to change the classi-
fication of concrete pumps from mo-
bile machinery to ordinary over the
road highway vehicles because in
their opinion, a concrete pump chas-
sis can be reconverted to a vehicle
which can carry a load across the
highway. Not only is this not possible,
but clearly it’s just not feasible.”
Removing the tax, for which mobile
machinery is exempt, saves about
$14,000 per chassis. The association
also succeeded in ending the over the
road use tax, averaging approximately
$550 per vehicle.

“It was several years of fighting
back and forth, but last year, we were
able to prevail, and by doing so saved
our members million of dollars every
year,” Collins said.

The APCA has also initiated a pro-
gram to establish benchmark con-
crete pumping business financial
data. Information from members’ fi-
nancial statements,
processed through a third party accountant, al-
lows them to understand which oper-
ations are most profitable and the
typical expenses to expect, enabling
the companies to see how they are
performing and where they can im-
prove. Collins is optimistic about the asso-
ciation’s future.

“(Our members are) very passion-
ate about what they do,” she said.

“They’re very involved. They are going
to make the association succeed.

They do what they can. They all pitch
in and work very hard at making sure
the industry continues to progress
and is a success.”




WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION – CONCRETE PUMPING INDUSTRY
ACPA president Beth Langhauser
discovers dynamic opportunities
in concrete pumping industry
Florida Construction News special feature
B eth Langhauser, the first woman
president of the American Con-
crete Pumping Association (ACPA),
says she had a somewhat unconven-
tional start to her construction indus-
try career. However, Langhauser,
owner of Midwest Placing, says the
dynamic nature of the business and
the people she has met along the way
have cemented her to the industry.

“I had a degree in communication
and came to Midwest as a temp 20
years ago while I looked for my future
career,” she said. “I started in the of-
fice and have been here ever since.”
Langhauser says the owner of the
company at the time opened the
doors to the business and future op-
portunities. She says she began at-
tending seminars, learning about the
industry from jobsite to operations,
and took classes to fill in what she
needed to know.

She says she was never treated
poorly at any point in her career. How-
ever, in her early years, she appreci-
ated she was working in a male
dominated field, where women were
unexpected. “There has not been a significant
change in this but where before I
would attend a conference and be the
only woman present, now there may
be several women in the room,” she
said. She indicates she is happy to see
younger people are entering the in-
dustry. “Our industry is made up of a
lot of family businesses and we’re
starting to see the (millennial) sons,
and daughters, taking over, which is
great.” She says the concrete pumping in-
dustry gets in your blood – both be-
cause of the customers and the tight
knit community. Working with heavy
equipment and complex mixing sci-
ence can be challenging depending
on the job, but the work is also re-
warding when you succeed, she said.

Langhauser said the concrete
pumping industry is a great industry
for any woman because of its oppor-
tunities and potential. She has a niece
currently considering her career op-
tions. “Construction is an opportunity
often ignored by women but there is
so much potential,” and she hopes
the young woman will consider the
career. The best way to get started is “look
into internships, find a way to get into
the field to see what it is really all
about,” she said.

Florida Construction News — SPRING 2017 – 19