AGC will host its 8th Annual HR Professionals Conference and 3rd Annual Training & Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia from October 27–29, 2009. Help make these conferences successful by lending your expertise as a presenter or forwarding this on to other qualified individuals.

We're looking for eager, knowledgeable, dynamic individuals and panels to submit proposals for consideration in the specific content areas of interest. This is a great opportunity to share your knowledge with the construction community and give back to the industry. 

Click here to go directly to the Call for Presentations for more information, including:
• Attendee Information
• Content Areas of Interest
• Session Information
• Criteria for Educational Sessions
• Submission Instructions & Deadline
• Selection Process & Notification

Act today, submission deadline is Tuesday, March 10, 2009!

All proposals should be submitted electronically to Joanna Zaffaroni at Zaffaronij@agc.org.

This half day program covers estimating, designing and building sustainable construction. Participants learn the importance of an integrated design process and review what items may be, “no cost,” “minimal additional cost,” and “significant additional cost.”

Program learning objectives:
    • Describe environmentally friendly strategies for sustainable building design and
       construction
    • Discuss LEED® standards
    • Compare the bidding and estimating procedures of green vs. traditional construction
    • Review the LEED® Rating System and identify its impact on design, project planning and construction
       strategies
    • Examine the importance of integrated design and its effect on costs
    • Apply the Life Cycle Analysis to cost estimation

2009 Upcoming Dates and Locations:
February 19, 2009- Waco, TX
April 1, 2009- Edison, NJ

For more information on this program, please contact Carrie Harper at harperc@agc.org.

A signed photo montage of the members of the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing, Michigan, using their Build Up! kit.

Members of the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing, Michigan, and the Brentwood Boys & Girls Club of Raleigh, North Carolina recently sent AGC of America handwritten notes, thanking AGC and Shelco, Inc. for sponsoring a Build Up! educational resource for their clubs.

According to Director Pepe Caudillo, the Brentwood club serves an average of 70 kids a day and has plans to complete every activity in the toolkit. “All of these kids are going to be benefited by using the Build! Up Kit,” he wrote.

Brentwood club members, ranging in age from 9 to 13, also wrote individual letters to AGC. All the young people expressed excitement about using the kit.

The Lansing club sent a signed photo montage of members using the kit, which was sponsored by AGC of Michigan.

AGC is still receiving requests for Build Up! kits from clubs around the nation. Currently we have more than 300 outstanding requests. AGC of America is asking our chapters and members to sponsor kits for these deserving young people around the country.

Please visit our interactive map to see if there’s a club in your area looking for kits. This map is updated weekly with new requests being added and fulfilled requests being deleted.

Boys & Girls Clubs serve nearly 5 million youths from more than 4,000, primarily inner-city, clubhouses.

Each kit costs $199 plus shipping and would be shipped directly to the requesting club or to your firm if you’d like to deliver the kit in person. Additionally, AGC will send to the club a letter telling the club the name of the sponsoring AGC member or chapter.

Training centers, community colleges and high schools nationwide will have clearer guidelines to help train future construction workers thanks to a new “competency model” released January 9, 2009 by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Associated General Contractors of America.  The framework will give educators a clearer picture of the skills required to succeed in construction careers.

“The best way to prepare tomorrow’s construction workers is to improve today’s training programs,” said Steven Sandherr, chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, in announcing the new framework.  “We want to make sure that new workers have the complex mix of skills and expertise needed to thrive in the modern construction industry.”

The competency model, which was developed by the AGC Workforce Development Committee and the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration, is needed to help ensure that new construction workers are adequately prepared for the demands of the jobs.  Construction companies are growing increasingly concerned about how difficult it is to find qualified applicants to hire, Sandherr noted. 

The new guidelines will make it easier for educational facilities like training centers, community colleges, and high schools to develop curricula that actually meet the needs of modern construction firms working in the heavy and highway sectors of the industry.  According to Sandherr, without the guidelines, many instructional programs can vary in content and quality.

“The better prepared the workforce, the easier it will be for construction companies to deliver high-quality, low-cost projects that will get our economy moving in the right direction,” Sandherr said.

Click here to view the new Heavy/Highway/Civil Construction Competency Model.

The National Center for Construction Education and Research is searching for proud craft professionals who exemplify craftsmanship to be featured in its Cornerstone of Craftsmanship campaign. NCCER is looking to feature individuals who possess a commitment to craftsmanship and the construction industry; craft professionals who have leveraged education and experience to reach the upper hierarchy of their profession, use their skills to give back to the community, and share their knowledge with others; and/or individuals who have followed a family member (or members) into the industry. Basically, individuals who are role models for other craft workers.

The campaign is designed to help revive the meaning and importance of craftsmanship and reinstill pride, professionalism, and respect to the construction industry. This campaign spotlights organizations and craft professionals for their commitment to craftsmanship and the industry, while also educating the general public about the construction industry.

The campaign consists of print advertisements, profiles of craft professionals, and promotional items. Craft professionals from AGC members Holder Construction and Zachry Construction, as well as an instructor from the Construction Industry Training Council in Washington, have been profiled so far.

Learn more about the campaign, see the ads produced to date, and read the profiles.

Interested individuals should fill out the profile form and submit a recent photo.For questions, please contact the NCCER marketing department at 352-334-0911 or marketing@nccer.org.

Attend Constructor Expo 2009 to see the latest equipment, tools, products and services you need to operate your company more efficiently and effectively!

Meet with over 140 top equipment manufacturers and service providers, showcasing the newest:
    • Labor saving equipment
    • Innovative building materials
    • Safety programs and equipment
    • Insurance and surety solutions
    • Required contractor services
    • Specialized hardware
    • Contractor focused software and technology solutions

Constructor Expo will feature Product-Specific Pavilions, including:
    • Information Technology Pavilion featuring business, equipment, materials, and process management
       software, products services and systems.
    • Green Pavilion showcasing environmentally friendly technologies, materials and products.
    • Safety Pavilion highlighting equipment and technologies to improve jobsite safety.
    • Network with thousands of your industry peers
    • Contractors
    • Specialty Contractors
    • Subcontractors
    • Construction managers
    • Engineers
    • Other industry professionals

View the current list of exhibitors!
Learn more and register for the AGC Convention.

The AGC’s Supervisory Training Program offers aspiring, as well as veteran, supervisors, an opportunity to develop new skill sets and enhance existing competencies.  Over the past several years, I’ve had the opportunity to facilitate STP Units across the United States and the common thread I find most gratifying is the thirst for knowledge that participants bring to class.  That desire is key to the success of STP graduates, which provides “value added” to their companies. 

While each of the twelve Units contain vast amounts of solid, usable information there are two that I particularly enjoy and believe are the foundation upon which all the others should be built.  Unit 1: Leadership and Motivation stands at the core of successful supervision.  Without these competencies, the construction supervisor has little chance of long term success.  Our industry has changed – no longer do we have an endless workforce of men and women who come to the construction industry looking for a job. 

In generations gone by, many supervisors ruled their employees – sometimes with fear, sometimes with disrespect and often with threats.  Today, the most successful construction firms engage, empower and value their greatest assets – the people who make it happen, everyday on every job site.  The ability to lead and motivate “your people” can be enhanced through a variety of relatively simple and straightforward concepts that are the basis of Unit 1.

Awareness of  different  motivational factors and how each impact various generations within the workforce, is a key element.  Observation techniques that help you, the successful supervisor and leader, to understand which style of leadership is most suited to you and your team are often a breakthrough moment for class participants.  Mastering these “soft skills” goes a long way towards effectively implementing the more “task oriented skills” taught in many of the other STP units.

On a similar note, Unit 2: Oral and Written Communication is a wealth of information for supervisors.  The ability to effectively communicate both up and down the management ladder is a critical step in successful leadership.  The fallacy that we all know how to communicate, either through words, actions or body language is discussed at great length in this unit.  The concept of “perception is reality” has been used with great success in many unit facilitations.  A key factor in long term improvement of participants’ communication skills lies in the commitment to review, practice and actively seek feedback from their peers regarding the skills discussed in class. 

In each of the units, interaction and class participation is vital, the STP Units are not lectures.  They are not lessons to be taught from the front of the room, nor to be delivered as a laundry list of “what to do” and “how to do it” rather, the participants share challenges, experiences and successes they have had or seen on real life projects.  The facilitator uses these as learning opportunities to bring full circle the concepts and techniques each unit is designed to impart. 

I believe in the benefit of the Supervisory Training Program.  It is an investment that we all must make, to ensure our continued success in the construction industry.

Paul Flentge is the Safety Director for Pepper Construction Company and Chair of AGC’s Supervisory Training Committee. Paul regularly facilitates STP courses for AGC of America, AGC Chapters and the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters.

It can be lonely at the top – especially in tough times.  How can CEOs gain 24/7 access to other, non-competing CEOs who are facing the same difficult challenges they are?  How can contractors cut costs without cutting capacity?  Where can you find benchmarking data which will show you how your operating efficiency stacks up to other contractors?  If you’re experiencing negative operating trends, how can you turn them around?  Who are your truly essential people – and who are not?  Where should you as CEO be focusing your attention right now for maximum payoff?  How can you survive these tough times and emerge with a more prosperous company in the long run?  How can you survive these tough times and emerge with a more prosperous company in the long run?

To help answer these questions, the AGC now offers access to The Performance Roundtable Program where non-competing CEOs meet and work to build not only better companies but better lives.  Learn more during this free one hour webinar on January 28, 2009 at 2:00 PM ET.

Learn more about The Family Business Institute.
Register for this free webinar today.

Questions about the webinar can be directed to education@agc.org.

Please join us for the 2009 Market Insights Series webinar presented by AGC of America and Reed Construction Data on January 27, 2009 at 2:00PM EST. Speakers Ken Simonson, Chief Economist, AGC of America, and Jim Haughey, Chief Economist, Reed Construction Data will present the most up-to-date information on current economic construction conditions. Analysis from industry experts will include a look at current trends and a forecast of residential and nonresidential construction activity including the institutional, commercial, industrial and heavy engineering sectors.
Topics include:
    • The recession
    • U.S. construction market
    • Key market trends
    • A look ahead

Registration for this event is FREE*. Register today!  For more information, please contact Carrie Harper at harperc@agc.org.

*By registering for this webcast, you are agreeing that Reed Construction Data may share your registration information with sponsors currently shown and future sponsors of this event.