Monday, March 30, 2015
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Six students from Youngstown State University are this year’s winners of the Builders Association’s sixth annual estimating competition.
Jim Bayer, of DeSalvo Construction Co., mentored the winning team of Brett Cash, a senior from Columbiana; Ashley Ganyard, a sophomore from Niles; Kevin Schofield, a freshman from Warren; Adam Vincent, a sophomore from Canfield; Reynaldo Colon-Garcia, a sophomore from Edinburg, Pa.; and Matthew Wright, a sophomore from Youngstown.
The six students represented one of three teams participating in the competition for civil and construction engineering technology students at YSU.
Teams were given a real-life construction project to analyze and prepare a construction bid just as they would if they were working in the actual industry.
They were mentored by association members for months before the event, but on the day of the competition, students were on their own to create an actual bid for a construction project.
Each team received a set of plans and specifications, a partially complete bid worksheet, labor costs and unit costs.
Teams each presented a written, complete estimate, including pricing and quote sheets, and then conducted a 20-minute bid defense discussion with judges.
This is the sixth year for the competition, an idea that was originally suggested by YSU students.
Each year, the builders association awards scholarships to YSU students who are studying for a career in construction.
At the 2008 award ceremony, scholarship recipients expressed a desire to work on an actual building project. The competition has occurred every year since.