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YSU students test skills in preparing estimates
Youngstown
Six students gathered in a fourth-floor classroom in Youngstown State University’s Moser Hall. Some stood, eyes scanning over large white papers spread over the classroom tables. Others sat, heads bent down, pencils writing in a race against time.
The students were members of the winning team in a construction-estimating competition hosted Friday by the Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
Team members were Tony McCoy, Steve Opperman, Frank Pulice, John Sweeney, Zach Miles and Majdy Salman.
During a dinner ceremony at 5:15 p.m. Friday in Youngstown State’s Kilcawley Center, the students were recognized. The university got a plaque on which their names will be engraved.
Nineteen students from the university’s Civil and Construction Technology Engineering program participated in the second-annual competition.
The students were split into four teams to work on a bid proposal for the Tod Hall entrance renovation, a campus administration building that had its entrance replaced last year.
The students had received their project specifications at 8 a.m., attended a pre-bid meeting at 9 a.m. and spent five hours after that preparing their bid proposals for the judges, said Kevin Reilly, executive vice president of the Builders Association and a judge in the competition.
The other judges were: Ed Van Dusen, Van Dusen Construction Company; Dan Terreri, Daniel A. Terreri & Sons, Inc.; and Ken Black, Connell Inc.
The judges tallied up scores based on the bid submittal, the completion schedule, the bid items and team participation. The team with the highest score won.
In the case of a tie, the team whose bid was closest to the actual cost of the project would have won, Terreri said.
Reilly said the competition offers students real-world experience in construction estimating.
“In the classroom, they’re learning about it. Here, they get the opportunity to compete against another team, much like contractors compete against each other for a bid,” Reilly said.
Because the students were working on a real-life project that had already been completed, Reilly said they were not allowed to leave the building and were not allowed Internet access, cell phones or any other contact with the outside world once the competition began.
Carol Lamb, coordinator for the Civil and Construction Technology Engineering program at YSU, said the university partners with the Ohio Contractors Association for a roadway bidding competition each year, and a few years ago, her students wanted to do something similar.
“But my students are more interested in buildings than in roadways,” she said.
Lamb added that the program has led to job offers for students.
As part of the competition, students spend five weeks with a professional mentor, Reilly said.
The amount of time they spend together depends largely on the schedules of the team members and the mentor, but Reilly said they meet for roughly two hours once a week.
“I think it’s a positive program. I think the students like the fact that they can mentor and be mentored by a professional,” Lamb said.