Students challenged at national competition

The Fitchburg State College construction management program continued its strong showing at the annual National Association of Home Builders Residential Project Management Competition in Orlando.

Construction management students finished in 21st place during the competition. The group ranked in the middle of competing teams for the third year in a row. Fitchburg State competed against 33 other teams, and the University of Arizona took first place.

"Each year the teams have gotten better, but each year the competition gets tougher," said the group's adviser, James Andrews, associate professor of construction technology.

The team includes students Adam Blais, Sean Cruise, Brad Nelson, Kevin Neville, Shane Perrault, Craig Saad, and Robert Sanford.

The competition challenged construction management students over a two-month period to estimate total cost to construct a 192 single-family home subdivision to be built in Windermere, Fla., schedule the build out, and complete the financials for the project, which was estimated at $54.4 million. The subdivision includes six different models; each model had three different versions of a home. The 350-page business plan from the Fitchburg State team included sections on market analysis, a marketing plan, management strategy, financial analysis, a construction schedule, an operations plan and a customer service plan.