The ABC club also has its own Project Management competition team which is separate from the ASC competitions. They compete in a national competition every year at the ABC national convention. This national convention last about 5 days and consists of the Project management competition, trade competitions, ABC national meeting, socializing/networking events every day, and tons of other activities. This past year the convention was in San Diego, CA and there were 28 different colleges from across the nation that competed. The CSU ABC Chapter had an excellent improvement over previous years and is going to be at the top this coming year! The competition will be held in San Antonio, TX and will be a part of the ABC National Educational Convention which means more learning opportunities for students and industry involvement. There is also talk of a career fair taking place at the convention to give companies the opportunity to meet the top construction students from the top construction school from across the nation.

Competition Project 

Every year the format for the competition changes, this produces an equal playing field for all teams. The project usually consists of full plans and specs. The team will then do a full estimate of the project and prepare a bid package for the project all before leaving for the competition. When the team arrives at the competition they will turn in the bid package with a final number. Day 2 is usually a bid day. The bid day is 8 hours long and it is set up to be as real life as possible. Everyone will be locked into a room with no outside contact including no internet. While you are in there you will have to put together another bid package but this time with subcontractor bids. Every 15 minutes the judges will hand everyone a stack of 6-10 bids for the project. You will have to quickly decide to accept the bid or throw it out. After 6 hours your final bid price is due. With the remaining 2 hours you will need to finish the rest of you bid package so that you have a complete and qualified bid. From there the judges review each team’s package and pick the top 5 to present an owner presentation. The judges are individuals from the construction industry and try to make this as close to the real thing as they can and will make it very intellectually challenging. This competition takes all the things you will learn in the CM program and combines them into one. Being a part of the team is a great way to get construction related experience, meet tons of industry, and give you something to set yourself apart from the rest of the students as well as being a stepping stone for future classes.