Six amazing UVU Construction Management students attended the annual National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Competition in Las Vegas. The NAHB student competition is a three-day event where universities from all over the United States compete on a residential construction management problem.

 

“In our area there were 32 different schools. Locally, BYU and BYUI competed against us. There were also other schools like University of Florida and Penn State,” said Associate Professor and Competition Teams Coordinator, Eric Linfield.

The competition requires students to apply their knowledge gained from the classroom to real-life situations. They identified a building lot and created a full proposal for a custom home project. Students designed the floorplan with elevation and architectural drawings, proposed a marketing and sales plan, calculated the rate of return and profitability of the project, and created a project schedule and estimate as part of the competition requirements.

“Students often comment that they learn more from the competition preparation and the competition itself than they did in all four years at UVU,” said Linfield. “The reality is that what they learned in the last four years is applied in preparation for the competition.”

 

UVU’s team members included: Mason Sumsion, Stephen Boekweg, Cesar Orrego, Mark Murdock, Triston Barr, and Eric Odell. The six worked hard on their proposal for four months, managing the financial risks of the project and any other challenges before submitting it to a panel of six industry professionals who acted as the competition’s judges.

At the event, the group had 10 minutes to present to the judges, and 10 minutes to answer any questions regarding their project proposal. After all teams presented, an award ceremony was held on Wednesday, Feb 28th where UVU placed 12th out of 22 teams.

 

Those in attendance also had the opportunity to experience the International Builders’ Show (IBS) held in conjunction with the student competition. It is the largest gathering of residential suppliers, builders, and subcontractors from all over the world to network, improve the residential industry, and showcase new products.

 

“The competition was a great experience because it occurred during the builders show,” said team captain, Mason Sumsion. “There were thousands of companies who attended

to promote and advertise the latest and greatest technological advances in the industry.”

 

The NAHB and IBS convention is a great opportunity for UVU Construction Management students. When asked about the most important takeaways from the event, Linfield said, “One of the most important things they learn is to work as a team to solve a real-world problem and to present to professionals in the industry…I also think the experience of learning how to receive positive feedback is important to becoming a better builder in the industry.”

To learn more about UVU’s Construction Technologies Program please visit: https://www.uvu.edu/ct/

And for more information on the National Association of Home Builders: https://www.nahb.org/

By: Jenna Berndt