A Boom Year for EIFS Education and Certification
IMI/BAC Bilingual Training Offered

Increased demand for EIFS, along with greater awareness of liability issues and the need for quality installation, has spurred a boom in education and certification programs. Leading the pack is IMI and the BAC District Council Training Center in Addison, Illinois.

IL District Council Plaster Programs Coordinator Steve Nelms, above, standing far left, conducts a session of the new EIFS training for BAC plasterers.	Local 74 IL journeyman plasterer Mario Roman takes the AWCI EIFS certification exam.

This spring, in a joint effort with the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industries International (AWCI), a groundbreaking EIFS Training and Certification Program was conducted. A key feature of the program, was its delivery in both English and Spanish to nearly 200 participants.

The core program was developed by the AWCI, which then certified BAC and IMI instructors trained by IMI. The 2003 session was offered to all BAC plasterer members—apprentice and journey level—as well as BAC contractors and their employees.

The new EIFS certification training features bilingual delivery and testing.

The three-week training included six separate classes, delivered in both Spanish and English, by IMI Instructors Cesar Beltran, Robbie Marshall, Mike Hooper and Plaster Programs Coordinator Steve Nelms.

Bilingual testing, proctored by the AWCI, assured better comprehension among the industry’s diverse workforce.

The AWCI Training and Certification Program is now a permanent component of the plaster curriculum at the District Council Training Center, and IMI is working with other BAC regions to make it available. AWCI officials say that architects are increasingly specifying such certification, and predict formal adoption of it in the AIA MasterSpecs later this year.