Texas Builder, Jan/Feb 2016

Acme Brick Company is providing funding for the new Brick Block

Masonry Certificate course offered through the University of Texas at

Arlington, at facilities in Grand Prairie and Houston.

Acme Brick has donated $50,000 to start the schools. Additionally Acme

has offered to match another $10,000 for scholarships that the university

hopes to raise from other businesses and corporations. Contractors and

manufacturers from across the state, along with the Waco-based Texas

Masonry Council, have donated money and in-kind contributions including

Acme’s investment totaling more than $225,000 to kick-start the schools

The Brick & Block Masonry Certificate course is the first comprehensive,

hands-on training program to be offered by the new UT Arlington Trade

Education Center. The Brick & Block Certificate course consists of a single,

8-week course that runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Courses are now underway. Brick & Block courses will run in both Houston

and Grand Prairie simultaneously and are taught by bilingual instructors.

The curriculum was developed with the assistance of the Texas Masonry

Council to address a critical shortage of skilled masons that now exists

in the industry. With only 11 students per course, masons-in-training will

receive personalized help with course tasks and projects from a mason

instructor with years of contracting, construction, and teaching experience.

In recent years the lack of skilled masons and other builder trades workers

has become an acute problem as these workers have left the construction

industry during the severe housing downturn. Dennis Knautz, President and

CEO of Acme Brick Company said, “as the industry leader,Acme believed it

needed to help initiate a program to provide the training necessary to move

interested job-seekers into a career in masonry. The staff at UT Arlington

has been extraordinarily receptive, helpful and creative in putting together

this program that should help ease our industry’s shortage of masons by

developing candidates who will be qualified for these good-paying jobs.

We are excited about partnering with UTA, and we hope others in our

industry will follow our lead and help support this effort.”

Students who successfully complete the program will graduate as Level

1 Masons accredited by the Texas Masonry Council. “Graduates of this

program should have no trouble finding a number of companies eager to

put their skills to work”, said Knautz. The TMC has also collected letters

from industry members and potential employers confirming starting

wages of $14-$16 per hour for students that complete the course.

Acme Brick Company, founded in 1891, is the nation’s largest brickmaker.Acme

owns 26 brick plants and has 70 company-owned sales offices across 15 states, plus

a nationwide network of independent distributors. Other Acme operations include

American Tile & Stone; Featherlite Building Products; Innovative Building Products;

and Texas Quarries.Acme Brick Company has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. since 2000. For more information visit

Acme Brick Company Backs New Masonry

Schools in Grand Prairie and Houston