Builders Club Competes in Orlando

Five members of the HVCC Builders’ Club recently traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the Residential Construction Competition, despite verbal financial commitments that fell through about two weeks before the trip.

Radu Moldovan, Joshua Loccicano, Mike Robertson, Pat O’Connor and Chris Webber had been working on their project since last October, supervised by advisor, Professor Timothy Dennis.

The Local Home Builders Institute had given $2,000 to the team, said Dennis, but other businesses were not able to help due to the downturn in the current housing market. When team leader Moldovan found out they did not have enough money, he said, “I was shocked. We’d been working for months, sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays. The project was big.”

Then a colleague told Dennis that the Student Senate might be able to help. At a meeting on Feb. 11, Dennis explained what his team had been working on and asked for financial assistance. The senate voted unanimously to provide special funding to the club.

Sean Burton, Vice President of Student Senate said, “This was something they planned for, that they really earned and were excited about, and then last minute because of a market problem, they were really short.”

The next day the team arrived in Orlando and immediately began working on their speeches, said Moldovan. There were meetings, featured speakers, and seminars that kept them busy, said Dennis, definitely no time for theme parks.

They also walked the four miles of building exhibits at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders’ Show, said Dennis. He added that the 1900 vendors showcased the latest in building products, services and technologies, and came from all over, as far as China. “I had blisters on my feet from walking so much, and by the time we got back to our motel, we were exhausted,” said Moldovan.

Dennis explained that the team had been given specifications for a 2700 square foot, two-story, Florida-style residence that the company sponsoring the competition, Pulte Homes, wanted to build in Orlando.

“We drew the house, estimated it, scheduled it, and the judges compared our numbers with the real estate numbers. That’s how they were graded,” said team member Loccicano. “The estimate had to be 50 percent of the retail price.”

The last step of their project was to make an oral presentation to a panel of judges at the show, and field some very difficult questions, said Dennis.

The HVCC team placed sixth out of 12 community colleges, and Dennis said he was very pleased with the top 50 percent finish for their first trip. “I was not only proud of the job they did, but the way they handled themselves,” he said. “They represented the school very well.”

If next year’s students are interested, he said he would do it again. He has a better idea of what the judges are looking for, and how to tweak the presentation, he added. Although he is graduating this year, Moldovan said he would love to come back and coach the next team so that he can pass along what he learned.

Team member Loccicano said, “The trip was a valuable experience because I got to incorporate all my classes. I’m probably going to go back to the builders’ show every year. I picked up information for myself, the company I work for and for the school.”