Building Blocks

Skanska USA Building Teaches Bronx Smaller Firms How to Compete

By Debra Wood

Skanska USA Building in New York—teaming up with a local community college and an economic development council—brought its Construction Management Building Blocks program to the Bronx, empowering minority, women and small-business contractors to compete and secure work on major projects.

“It benefits not only the contractor but Skanska as well,” says Rufus Van Thompson, Skanska project manager responsible for the training. “We can reach out to contractors that we develop and we know can handle certain types of work. It increases our database for MWBE (minority and women business enterprise) contractors.”

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Thirty-two adult students completed the eight-week program in the fall at Bronx Community College. They attended classes two evenings per week and learned about marketing, estimating, project start-up and close-out, scheduling, building green, accounting and dealing with contracts.

“It was helpful in terms of the make-up of running a business,” says Leonard Goodlowe, president of Omega Plumbing and Heating in Queens, one of the participants in the Bronx program. “Just because you are in business doesn’t mean you are doing it right. A lot of the time if you have a skill, you think you’re OK. But that’s only part of it. The part that makes a business successful is what we learned.”

Ozzie Brown, a general contractor and chair of the Bronx Community Board 7 land use and zoning committee, says he found the technology and fiscal responsibility components valuable.

“It’s fundamental things but explained by people who are primary sources,” Brown says. “Skanska is not the average Joe, running up and down trying to make a buck. They’re international and embracing doing something that can have a transformative impact on the lives of the people in the communities where they are doing business.”

Bronx Building Blocks begins

Skanska developed Building Blocks in 2006 as part of its diversity outreach program, offering it in Brooklyn and in 2007 at the City College of New York in Harlem. The company’s goal is to eventually offer it in all of the boroughs.

Brown says he attended the program at City College to vet it and because he thought the Building Blocks program could prove beneficial to Bronx contractors.

“There is a lot of work being generated though major projects, such as a water filtration plant and Yankee Stadium and the Gateway (a redevelopment project),” Brown says. “Often, [major contractors holding these contracts] say, ‘We cannot find qualified people in your community.’ We are trying to change that landscape.”

Skanska USA Building recently brought its Construction Management Building Blocks Program to Bronx-area small and MWBE firms, teaching them how to be more competitive when bidding on major projects.

Brown told Community Board 7 he planned to pursue a partnership between the borough and Skanska and approached the public and private entities. He also met with contractors to determine what they wanted to learn. He convinced the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. and Bronx Community College to join Skanska and offer the education at no cost. The economic development corporation recruited contractors to the program.

“It puts contractors in a position to understand the construction field and how to bid on contracts,” says Rome Birkett, technical assistance and real estate coordinator for the BOEDC.

The community college has offered Project Hire, a trades training program, for more than 20 years, so welcoming Building Blocks was a natural next step, says Glenda Self, project director at Bronx Community College.

“A lot of people are interested in estimating, project management and how to get on contracts,” she adds. “Many of the attendees were laborers, electricians and other tradespeople.

“If you are at the journeyman level, you know your trade,” Self says. “Now they are interested in becoming owners of small companies.”

Skanska leaders taught most of the classes, but a minority contractor and officials from local government agencies, including the Department of Design and Construction and the Economic Development Corp., also presented sessions.

After completion

“It worked out really well,” Self says. “Students can use the skills to move to the next level. Some of the folks who attended the classes are already beginning to think about moving to construction management or to become bidders on contracts with major construction companies.”

Brown says many graduates have applied to the city to become certified contractors. “They can begin to get on a roster and be notified about contracts they could bid on,” he adds.

The graduates also have an opportunity to work with Skanska and prequalify for consideration. On smaller jobs of less than $250,000, that requires providing some basic information.

“When you want to go to the next level, larger-scale jobs, you have to give more information and you have to have better references and a track record,” Thompson says.

After completing a small job, Skanska leaders will meet with the minority contractor and share with him or her what the firm exceeded at and what areas need more attention, perhaps paperwork.

“The more contractors we can pull from, the better prices we can get, so it’s important for us to work with the contractors after the job to make sure they develop,” Thompson says. “It works for the community as well. At the end of the day, you are working with better contractors.”

Thompson adds that his company’s program trains people to work with any large contractor because most of them depend on many of the same subcontractors.

“If we can increase the pool of quality contractors, it works well for everyone,” Thompson says.

While good for Skanska and the other big players, the program also gives smaller firms “access, so they at least have a chance to get into the arena and compete,” Brown says.