In conjunction with the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC), the Associated General Contractors (AGC) sponsors annual construction management oriented student competitions. The competitions involve teams consisting of four to six full-time students enrolled in construction related majors. As part of the competition, teams must complete a construction management related project in one of three available categories: heavy/highway, design-build or commercial. Contractors from industry sponsor each of the categories and prepare problem statements using drawings and bid documents from actual projects. Once given the project statement, teams are given a very limited time (10 to 14 hours) to prepare a proposal for the project including a detailed cost estimate and schedule, bid documents and an oral presentation of the results. Teams are then judged by the industry sponsors on the quality of their presentations and deliverables and winners from each category determined. Winning teams from regional competitions are invited to compete in the national competition held in conjunction with the annual AGC convention. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte) launched a brand new construction management program in the fall semester of 2006. In an effort to strengthen the program's development, program faculty made the decision to enter a team into the 2006-07 regional competition which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although the University has a well established civil engineering technology program, this represented the first time that a student team had participated in such a competition. This paper discusses some of the lessons-learned by the faculty and students in preparing for and participating in a competition for the first time.
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