November 11-13, 2009 - Phoenix, Arizona

AGC's acclaimed Building to LEED-NC: Overview and the Impact on Construction Practices course examines LEED for New Construction with a focus on the means and methods of construction. This course will be featured on Tuesday, November 10, as part of Greenbuild's pre-conference educational program. Attendees will learn which prerequisites and credits have impacts on construction practices.

The course details the ways in which major impacts will affect decision-making related to estimating, scheduling, documentation, contracts and more. Updates for the new LEED v. 3.0 will be included in this course. Learn more and register today!

November 9-11, 2009 - Madison, WI

AGC’s Safety Management Training Course (SMTC) provides intensive instruction on the basic skills needed to manage a safety program within a company.

General and specialty contractors, AGC Chapter staff and other professionals involved in safety training, supervising and on-site construction receive instruction and training that will allow them to return to their firms with readily applicable new skills.

Lessons include:
     • Employee Orientation/Safety Training/PPE
     • OSHA Inspections
     • Subcontractors & Multi-Employer Relations
     • Job Safety Analysis/Hazard ID
     • Heavy Equipment Management
     • Steel Erection Safety
     • Electrical Safety Management
     • Accident Investigation
     • Excavation Management
     • Concrete Safety
     • Fall Protection Management
     • Bi-Lingual Issues

Who Should Attend?
General and specialty contractors, AGC Chapter staff and other professionals involved in safety training, supervising and on-site construction.

Click here to learn more and register.

Contact Raj Vohra at vohrar@agc.org or (703)837-5409 with any questions.

November 5, 2009 | November 12, 2009 | November 19, 2009
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM ET

You have identified an attractive potential federal government project. Now what do you do? There are a myriad of rules and regulations, not to mention the resolution of disputes, governing these projects. Meanwhile, the federal market has changed dramatically over the last year.

This series of webinars will provide a detailed overview of some of the most critical challenges both new and experienced federal contractors will need to know to successfully navigate this new landscape.

November 5 - Protests and Debriefings: How to Protect Yourself
November 12 - Small Business Contracting: Opportunities Gained & Challenges Identified
November 19 - Cost Recovery & Claims: Obtaining Fair Compensation and Avoiding Pitfalls

Click here to register and learn more.

AGC’s Supervisory Training Program (STP) is a construction-specific training curriculum developed, updated and field-tested by and for contractors. STP has been the professional development resource of choice for more than 122,000 construction supervisors and managers and provides an unmatched learning experience for participants.

Unit 6: Understanding and Managing Project Costs fifth edition, was released today and has been extensively updated to provide the most up-to-date information for construction supervisors. The learning objectives for the new unit are to:
     • Apply basic management ideas, principles, and skills that will enable participants
        to immediately manage the crew on your construction project more effectively
     • Apply important project cost management principles
     • Recognize how cost reporting can improve the overall success of a project
     • Recognize the process of estimating and pricing, from concept through detailed estimate
        to change orders
     • Prepare supervisors to manage project costs
     • Prepare supervisors to manage various risks/potential delays that could impact your project

Preview the new unit with this free webinar on November 3, 2009 from 2:00-3:30 PM EST. Registrants will also have the opportunity to purchase copies of the new fifth edition of Unit 6 at a discounted rate of only $90 per book (plus $5 shipping and handling).

Copies of the fifth edition of Unit 6 will be available for purchase in the AGC Bookstore beginning today (at this time the fourth edition will no longer be available for purchase).

If you have any questions, contact Stephanie Mullins at mullinss@agc.org or (703) 837-5387.

For the second year in a row, AGC awarded the student chapter at Boise State University with first prize in the 2009 AGC Outstanding Student Chapter Contest. This contest recognizes the top three student chapters for their remarkable work in the community. Boise State was rewarded for its work overseeing a complex project to relocate one of the oldest Abraham Lincoln statues west of the Mississippi. This project demonstrated excellent skills in estimating and project management.

Taking second place, Kansas State University was recognized largely for its work helping to build a memorial in Chapman, Kansas, dedicated to the local victims of a tornado that struck the town in June 2008. The group brought together over 40 volunteers to invest over 750 hours building the memorial park.  Awarded third prize, California State University, Chico was commended for its work supporting fire-ravaged Concow, California. Students oversaw the construction of climate-controlled storage buildings for residents’ belongings while repairs were made to fire-damaged houses. 

AGC student chapters exist to encourage and support student interest in the professional construction industry. AGC, in conjunction with local chapters, supports over 125 student chapters nationwide. Congratulations to all the winners!

For more information, contact Carrie Harper via email at harperc@agc.org.

The National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) will hold its annual conference November 1-3, 2009, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel with more than 70 sessions organized around the National Standards of Practice.

The NCAC’s mission is to create and support a national network of career academies. This conference will provide opportunities for dialogue, exploration and networking so that everyone - educators and industry - involved in high school academies can help shape and move academies to the highest level.

This year’s conference includes a special celebration of the first career academy, Edison High School in Philadelphia, which opened its doors forty years ago.

Registration is available online for everyone interested and working with career academies.
The conference costs $480 for NCAC members; $600 for non-members. There is an additional $150 cost for the pre-conference sessions.

All events will be held at the Loew's Philadelphia Hotel.

The Joint Highway and Utilities Contractors Issues Meeting will be held November 12-14, 2009, at the PGA  Resort in West Palm Beach, Florida.

This meeting is the premier gathering for contractors and related businesses involved in every aspect of highway and utility construction to hear about and discuss issues and trends in these markets. Not only is this meeting new to the fall schedule, it will also have individual highway and utilities informational tracks!

Learn more and register today.

AGC and the Electronic Information Systems Committee (EIS) would like to invite general contractors and specialty contractors to present at the 2010 AGC Convention in Orlando, Florida. Share your reasons for implementing SharePoint, your implementation plan, pitfalls, successes and how it has or hasn’t met your expectations.

Representatives from three AGC contractor member companies will be chosen to share the details of their SharePoint implementations at the Convention. Each representative will receive a complimentary registration to the Convention.

For more information or to apply for the showcase, visit http://www.agc.org/techshowcase.

The deadline to apply is November 30, 2009.

Make plans to join members of the Construction Leadership Council from across the nation as they discuss and learn about issues relevant to young- and mid-career construction industry professionals at this year’s Working Weekend, to be held Nov. 19-21, 2009, in Nashville, Tennessee. This event is co-sponsored by the AGC of America Construction Leadership Council, the AGC of Tennessee, and the AGC of East Tennessee.

This two-day event will include the best of all worlds: professional development sessions, networking opportunities, a construction site tour, and two social receptions.

Highlights include:
• Construction Leadership & Management Seminars by Bill Krausen of Messer Construction Co.
• Construction Economics Seminar by Ken Simonson, AGC of America Chief Economist.
• Managing the Risks Associated with Green Construction Seminar by a  member of the team that wrote the recently released green building addendum to the ConsensusDocs contracts.
• Welcome night reception hosted at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville by the AGC of America CLC.
• Friday night reception at the Wild Horse Saloon, hosted by AGC of Tennessee and AGC of East Tennessee.

Most events will take place at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville, downtown Nashville. Guestroom rate: $119 plus taxes. Cut-off date for hotel reservations is Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009.

There is a $50/person registration fee for AGC members and their guests; $150 for non-members and guests.

Chapter staff involved with CLCs are welcome to attend. Please plan to join your peers for an exciting, educational experience. Registration and a brochure are available online.

For more information, please contact Liz Elvin at elvinl@agc.org, 703-837-5389.

Chapter Spotlight

AGC’s two Nebraska Chapters recently created a Construction Learning Center at the 2009 Nebraska State Fair. Over the course of 10 days, the center offered an entertaining, educational, and hands-on experience for fairgoers of all ages.

About a week later, the Kansas Construction Careers Coalition (KC3) - a partnership between the Associated General Contractors of Kansas, Inc., the Kansas Contractors Association, and the National Association of Women in Construction – hosted its award-winning Construction Learning Center for the third year at the Kansas State Fair.

Both centers received tremendous industry support for their efforts. Members from the Nebraska Chapter and the Nebraska Building Chapter of AGC provided more than 100 volunteers, as well as equipment simulators, heavy equipment, tools, and materials for various competitions.

The Nebraska center’s Block Kid building contest and step stool-building activity were staffed by AGC student chapter members from Southeast Community College-Milford Campus throughout the duration of the fair. Other learning center activities included heavy equipment simulators, a mini excavator competition, Building Information Model (BIM) demonstrations, Lego building center, brick wall-building contest, static construction equipment display, and more.

“The Nebraska members of the Associated General Contractors are pleased and excited to join with the Nebraska State Fair in providing an informative and educational experience for the citizens of the state. Our contractors are proud of the highways, sewers, water systems, schools and other buildings they construct and are used by everyone in our state,” said Curt Smith, executive director of the Nebraska Chapter.

The Nebraska Chapters posted a video on YouTube that shows the various elements in the 7,000-square-foot Construction Learning Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piqWoRWHTPg

Much more information on the Nebraska Chapters’ efforts, including the layout of center and fair, and the activities broken down by age group, can be found here and here. 

For more information on the Kansas Construction Careers Coalition’s center, please see an archived article and the coalition’s website.