A team of five Illinois State construction management students recently competed in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Chapters’ Residential Construction Management Competition in Orlando.

The team included Eric Adkins, Chris Schiller, Alan Avitia, Marc Kurdas and Stephen Kuta, guided by Department of Technology faculty advisor Richard Boser. During the International Builders’ Show this month in Orlando, the students presented and defended their business plan and feasibility study to a panel of construction company executives who act as the competition judges.

Since 1990, the NAHB’s Residential Construction Management Competition has been one of the highlights at the International Builders’ Show. The competition gives student members of NAHB the opportunity to apply the skills learned in the classroom to a real construction project. Teams compete by developing a business proposal and feasibility study for a specific project site somewhere in the United States.

This year’s project, sponsored by Pulte Homes, was a 30-acre infill site about 10 miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Thirty-five teams from four-year university construction management programs across the United States, including Illinois State, participated in the competition. Illinois State’s team completed its proposal during the fall 2016 semester.

The team’s travel was partially funded by the Bloomington-Normal Area Home Builders Association and a travel grant from the National Association of Home Builders National Housing Endowment.