Students build on reputation for
excellence at construction competition

Student participates in construction competition.

Sacramento State students went to Sparks, Nevada Feb. 14-16 and came back with something extra–three first-place finishes at the annual Associated Schools of Construction Student Competition.

The three six-person teams from the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Construction Management Department took first in the design-build mock construction competition, the mechanical competition and the commercial competition, beating out schools in the Western region.  

Teams were not required to build facilities or mockups, but had to develop design solutions, estimates, schedules, site logistics plans, design development and construction management plans for proposed multi-million dollar projects. 

“We were given a request for proposal for a $20 million, 150,000-square foot office building,” says Isaac Dye, a senior construction management student. “We met all deadlines, handed in six copies of a 75-page proposal and gave a 45-minute oral presentation to a panel of judges and a room full of construction industry representatives.”

“The completion represents exactly what happens in the real world,” says professor Mikael Anderson, faculty advisor for the team. “In fact, all the projects students worked on came from drawings and specifications of projects the construction company sponsors had actually built.”

Two of the teams will continue on to the Associated School of Construction-Associated General Contractors of America National Student Competition in Las Vegas March 9-12. The third team, mechanical division, was the national competition’s first-place winner.

Of the more than 30 schools participating in the competition, Sacramento State had the most first-place finishes in the various events. Anderson credited the partnership between the Construction Management Program and private industry for the teams’ success. The teams were sponsored by the Sacramento Construction Management Education Foundation and coached by faculty in the Construction Management Department and members of local construction companies.