In the beginning, the mission was to promote good workmanship, integrity, and honorable practice in the trade or business of building and/or civil engineering contracting; to settle disputed points of practice; and to support the interests of those who are involved. Those tenets continue today. The Association employs a good amount of advocacy to promote its aims and objectives, and also conducts seminars and training for tradesmen, supervisors, engineers, managers, etc. From time to time, government asks for representatives to sit on various committees, so IMAJ makes certain members available to serve in that capacity. The creation of the Association has brought professionalism to members of the industry and provides a forum for the industry to speak in a unified voice. Since its inception, the Association has secured benefits and implemented policies in the best interest of its members. Originally, IMAJ had 13 founding members. Today, membership numbers have grown to about 150 in tiered categories – based on a company’s capacity to undertake work and conforming to the government’s National Contracts Commission that rates contractors. In addition to corporate members, there are also associate members, including electric contractors and suppliers of materials. Mr. Lenworth Kelly, President of the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica, relates,“We are a small island so contractors do everything – commercial, residential, public sector. You may be challenged, business-wise, if you restrict yourself to one area or another, so most people do a mix. At least three things, some will do residential, commercial, and also infrastructure work. And the ones who do infrastructure, are more likely to do all types, whether it be the ports, airport, roads, marine… they pretty much cover the range.” One of the biggest challenges facing the construction industry in Jamaica is financing, particularly for bonds. Kelly explains, “You can get financing from a bank facility, depending on the assets you have, and as you grow you can increase that. But access to financing for bonds is tricky. Let’s say, for example, there’s a $10 million U.S. job – the bond would be 10 percent. So the bank would tell you that you need to have that $1 million bond in assets or cash. Most people don’t have that, so we have what we call a developed bond market, where you pay a premium just like insurance. But we don’t have premium-based bonds available locally. Every bond you get, you have to collateralize it 100 percent. So that makes it very challenging for our contractors, especially when contractors who come from other places with larger resources, like China and Southeast Asia, are backed by their government when they are working overseas.” 15 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 11, ISSUE 08 THE INCORPORATED MASTERBUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF JAMAICA (IMAJ)
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