Industry Interview: AFA's Rick Church

By Michelle Medaris, LCDBM

Rick Church has been the Executive Vice President of the American Fence Association (AFA) since 2002. He is also Head Coach of CM Services, Inc., which provides professional services and staff to AFA and many other trade associations and professional societies. Mr. Church has been in the association management business for more than 20 years.
Photo courtesy of the American Fence Association

The fencing industry is a growing landscape contractor niche, estimated to reach more than $10 billion in sales by 2014. Founded in 1962, the American Fence Association (AFA) is currently the largest organization representing the fence, deck and railing industry, with 31 chapters across the United States and Canada. LC/DBM recently sat down with AFA's Executive Vice President, Rick Church, for a Q&A on the fencing market's recent past, and his predictions for the future.

Q: How would you compare the fencing industry in 2012 to the previous year?
Our members, who contribute to a monthly fence industry economic publication called FenceSense, said 2012 was slightly better than 2011. There were increases in bidding activity and modest increases in sales; in fact, 55 percent of our members reported an increase of income for 2012, by at least five percent.

According to Church, "Access control will continue to have the most growth for fence contractors because it's a newer part of the industry for many of them." (Specrail)

Q: What types of fencing materials are your members talking about, and what products are selling?
Access control products seem to be the most talked about products in the marketplace. Many fence contractors have recently (in the last few years) added access control to their product mix. The AFA offers an annual school on access control called Operator Installer School (OIS), to train fence company employees in the art of access control installation. We have also partnered with other leading industry organizations like DASMA, IDA and IDEA to develop a certification program for operator installers called the Certified Automated Gate Operator Installer (CAGOI).

Q: What trends do you see for the 2013 fencing marketplace?
It's going to remain challenging for fence companies to find and secure jobs. Competition will remain fierce. It's not clear what impact the federal government's economic challenges will have on the industry, but we don't anticipate huge growth. From a product standpoint, there are some new products and tools in the marketplace that will be shown at FENCETECH (February 25 – March 1 in Houston, Texas). Some of them include access control products, new easier to install gate designs, design and operating software and applications, and even screws that can be installed with a nail gun.

Church sees commercial fencing as a possible bright spot for the landscape contractor in 2013. He said, "Businesses have become more profitable in 2011 and 2012, so they may spend money on needed and postponed improvements in 2013." (Master Halco)

Q: Where do you see the most growth potential?
Access control will continue to have the most growth for fence contractors because it's a newer part of the industry. Personal security and safety will continue to be a growth area as consumers look to protect their assets. As a result, safety products, including fencing, automation, gates and more will be opportunity areas for fence contractors.

Q: Do you see more growth potential in residential, commercial or municipal markets?
It's an interesting predicament – municipalities have less and less money to spend on improvement projects. With continuing pressure on the federal government to reduce spending, federal projects will likely be more difficult to come by. Lending has loosened during 2012, but may become tighter again in 2013 depending on how the US deals with spending. Businesses have become more profitable in 2011 and 2012, so they may spend money on needed and postponed improvements in 2013. Residential will likely continue to be a difficult market as virtually all consumers are dealing with increased tax burdens from the federal, state and local governments.

Q: What challenges are AFA members facing?
The last few years have been challenging for everyone; the AFA is no exception. There are fewer fencing contractors in business today than there were at the beginning of 2008. As a result, AFA's membership has declined, though not as significantly as many construction industry organizations.

"Personal security and safety will continue to be a growth area as consumers look to protect their assets. As a result, safety products, including fencing, automation, gates and more will be opportunity areas for fence contractors," said Church. (Alumi-Guard)

Q: What benefits do AFA members receive from the organization?
We have positioned AFA as the leading industry organization delivering education, knowledge and networking. The more value we provide to our members – helping them learn to do their job better and more efficiently, helping them differentiate themselves versus their competition in the marketplace, showing them new products and helping them make industry connections, the more they will recognize they have to be members of AFA in order to be as successful as possible.

Q: How many members have joined the AFA? How many are Certified Fence Professionals (CFPs), and how many are CAGOI-certified?
Nearly 1,000 companies are now AFA members. About 250 of the individual people that work for those companies are CFPs, and roughly 350 of the individual people employed by those companies are CAGOIs.

Q: What are the benefits of certification? How do you become a CFP or CAGOI?
Certified professionals have demonstrated their commitment to excellence. They are truly the cream of the crop in the industry. Being certified helps you to be more efficient as a fencer. It also helps you differentiate yourself among your competition.

Becoming a CFP requires completing an application to demonstrate qualifications, and passing a CFP exam. The AFA provides a study guide, but the exam is quite challenging and covers general business, the fence industry and technical information. CFPs must demonstrate understanding of these categories as well as industry standards. Fence and access control professionals can be certified by meeting the two years' field experience requirement, and passing a rigorous exam after completing a self-study course.

Q: How do industry professionals join the AFA?
Becoming a member of AFA is very easy, simply go to www.americanfenceassociation.com and complete the online membership application, or call the office at 800-822-4342.

In addition to those mentioned earlier (education, training, knowledge, networking) we also provide access to business and industry products and services at deeply discounted rates, including credit card processing, car and truck purchasing/leasing, website/marketing development, and more. We also annually publish "coupons" from leading industry suppliers, available only to AFA members.