Address before the American Council for Construction Education
Mid-Year Meeting | Thursday, February 19, 2002 | Scottsdale


The American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the accrediting agency for four-year baccalaureate degree programs in construction, construction science, construction management, and construction technology, and as the accrediting agency for two-year associate degree programs of a like nature. It was established in 1974 as a joint effort of the Associated General Contractors, the American Institute of Constructors, and the Associated Schools of Construction and now accredits the programs of more than 60 schools. Some of the largest programs accredited by the ACCE are Arizona State University, Clemson University, Purdue University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Florida at Gainesville.

The ACCE is also an active partner in the International Association for the Professional Management of Construction (IAPMC), which was established to set international standards for construction education. IAPMC will meet in Chicago from May 30-31, 2002. Previous meetings of IAPMC were held in Great Britain, Washington DC, Spain, Australia, and South Africa.

The following is an address given by T. J. Ferrantella, CPC. Mr. Ferrantella is a principal of the Engineered Companies, which are based in Hammond, Indiana and concentrate on the design and construction of heavy, civil, and railroad projects, primarily for industry and government agencies.

Mr. Ferrantella is also Chairman of the Constructor Certification Commission of the American Institute of Constructors, which administers the professional examinations for construction industry. The examinations are a part of the process that leads to the professional credentials of Associate Constructor (AC) for recent college graduates and Certified Professional Constructor (CPC) for experienced professionals in construction.

I would like to begin by telling you a story that I first heard at my church about young boy who was moved from foster home to foster home. Like many who come from this lifestyle, he didn’t receive the care and attention of his natural parents. He was a discipline problem. He was a behavioral problem. He wasn’t a good student. And he was unchurched.

He drifted from foster home to foster home, never thriving anywhere. When he was in fourth or fifth grade, he was moved to another foster home and his new foster parents, unlike each of the others, enrolled him in a parochial school.

These new foster parents were patient people who tried to guide him and show him how to do things the right way. In his new school, his grades improved but none so much as his math grades. In math, he became a stellar student. Sure, there were the occasional discipline problems, but not like before. His grades in his other subjects improved, too, but not like his math grades.

His caseworker was pleased. Who wouldn’t be? But she wanted to reserve judgement. After a few grading periods, she saw that he was able to reproduce the same academic results in his new school grading period after grading period.

When the caseworker finally asked the child what was the key to his newfound success (and especially in math), she was really surprised by the answer.
The boy said:

“Look I knew there was something different about this school from the minute I walked into the door. I knew that this school was serious. I knew that it had a completely different system from all those other schools I went to. I was confused but I knew one thing right away.”

“When I sat down in the front row on my first day at school, looked up, and I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew these people were serious about their math!”

With a little modification, this is what I want for your schools. I want to see our schools of construction become more parochial on one issue: professionalism. I want professionalism in the construction industry to become a religion!

(I’ve been searching for a compelling visual image that will really drive my point home, something you can hang in your classrooms like that guy on the plus sign, but I’m strapped to find one that isn’t sacrilegious.)

  • No one is more capable of indoctrinating young minds to this new religion of professionalism than those of you who are their teachers. I’ve seen your students. I’ve seen how the good ones flock to you and I believe real change in any profession begins with the formal education that emerging professionals receive. We must use these students as the catalysts for change.
  • I believe that we can change the course of the construction industry by instilling a sense of professional pride in young constructors. We must go beyond developing their technical knowledge and in these young constructors; we must also develop a commitment to the industry and to each other.
  • We must move this industry out of the wilderness of litigation, bankruptcies, and catastrophes. If constructors are to be recognized as professionals, it will be only when professional standards become an important part of our industry and its work.
  • Just as young lawyers, for example, are schooled in ethics and professional practice, so must young constructors. There is no better place to do this than in our schools of construction and I ask that you integrate the concept of professionalism into every area of your curriculum.

I believe that Constructor Certification is an important step in the long road to professionalism. Indeed, I believe it may be the final step that follows so many visionary actions of the past. Actions that led to the establishment of the American Institute of Constructors and to the establishment of the American Council for Construction Education, and all of which started with the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and its Education Committee.

I know that there may be some of you who have a tough time with the idea of the “Constructor as Professional” and this may be particularly true for those of you who come from a strong engineering bent.

  • I’ve heard the argument that construction is just a trade. Call it what you will. But being a successful tradesperson doesn’t lead to being a successful, professional constructor. That mentality is what gets so many new construction company owners in trouble and drags down the reputation of the entire industry.
  • I’ve heard the argument that constructors are just business people. The fact that many of your universities grant Masters Degrees in Business Administration is the strongest counter argument that I can give you as clear evidence that the body of knowledge needed to run a business of any magnitude demands a professional.

Don’t buy these arguments? OK, so we may still disagree of the idea of “Constructor as Professional”

  • If this is the case, then you and I can respectfully disagree on this point. We’ll disagree as two professionals and proceed with respect for the work of the other. I’ll continue my work striving to have Constructors recognized as professionals and you’ll continue your very important work educating young constructors.
  • However, even if you disagree with this idea of “Constructor as Professional”, you must agree that our clients, our students, schools, and society at large will be served well by the commitment to higher professional standards for construction.

Let’s face it. Those of us in construction are often looked down upon. You may even find this problem exists with your college of construction.

  • Your college or program may not enjoy the same revered status as other programs at your university, particularly, say, those sacrosanct programs that may have been a big part of your School’s culture as it existed twenty, thirty, forty or more years ago.
  • If you are in a school where this is a problem, think about why this problem exists. I submit that much of this results from the poor image that the public holds of the construction industry.

None of these attitudes serve us well. Worse, they don’t serve society at large.

Nowhere, however, will high professional standards effect greater change than in our relationships with owners and buyers of construction services. When the constructor is recognized as a professional, then he or she will have the firm footing that is needed to stand up against a client and say what is needed when the owner is considering a position that may place the success of the project at risk.

Our relationships with owners and buyers of construction services can be so unfortunate and I think it may be time for a call to 9-1-1. How many stories do we need to hear about the owner who doesn’t understand or accept his responsibility to a construction project and the ill effects that has on the construction company that is trying desperately to serve the owner’s poorly planned project?

And with the status quo, why shouldn’t this occur? Too many in this industry are more than willing to clamor over one another to get a job when an owner is looking for nothing other than the “cheapest price”.

Now consider how much the “cheapest price” escalates when the cost of litigation is factored in? That’s why we’re seeing a growth in alternative project delivery systems and services such as design/build and agency construction management. But there is no better way to prevent costly litigation than through a commitment to high professional standards.

Those of you in this room who are involved in educating young constructors are doing a remarkable job. Much of the hope for the future of our industry lies in your students and in our ability to reach these students. But the challenges that confront us are great. A commitment to professional standards is not easy. Such a commitment requires a long-term perspective and the personal integrity to do what is right and these traits aren’t in great supply in our society today. This is why the message of professionalism must be delivered with an almost religious zeal and passion.

While today’s students may be more used to quick gratification and short-term thinking, in today’s students lie all kinds of unusual skills and abilities:

  • Your students think independently. They ask questions. They question the answers.
  • When they leave your schools, they have depth and breadth of knowledge. They can assess risk instead of waiting for risk to rear its ugly head, sneak up from behind, and bite them when they’re not looking!

Because of the tremendous successes of your programs, we now have the first and second wave of professional constructor. We must support these people. We cannot simply give lip service to the idea of the “Constructor as Professional”. Each of us has an obligation to really believe this concept. We have to “get religion”. And the cornerstone of that religion is high professional standards for the construction industry!

DIFFERENCE IN PESPECTIVE

I’d like to turn your attention and talk about something that I’ve sensed in the relationship between the ACCE schools and the Constructor Certification Commission. Remember, we’re descended from the same family. I look at ACCE as the much older sibling to the Constructor Certification Commission. Today, the Commission is emerging from its childhood and moving toward adolescence. The ACCE went through its adolescence years ago.

We who are involved with Certification, on the other hand, are in a difficult place along the path of our development. We need your help, support, and guidance to move successfully from one phase of growth to another.

I suggest that this is the best way to look at a developing program such as Certification. I’m concerned, however, that we may be looked upon as a test vendor – like ETS. OK, if not Educational Testing Service, then we may be compared to the National Society for Professional Engineers and from that comes the belief that we should be able to “deliver” in the same manner as a much more mature, well-established program.

While we must measure up to the same standards for quality, integrity, and security as ETS or the NSPE, we don’t have the same resources and we don’t administer the same number of exams. One day, with your help and support, we will. Until then, we must continue our path toward growth along the same financially conservative means as we have in the past.

When we meet tomorrow, we’ll be able to talk about your concern for shorter application deadlines and for faster return of test scores. Believe me, we want to be able to provide these for you just as earnestly as you do. But the reality is that those of us who are involved in Constructor Certification are crusaders, of sorts.

At this point in time, every time we administer a single Associate Constructor exam, we lose money. Is this foolish? Some may think so. But we don’t. We believe that a full Certification process, comparable is depth and scope to any other professional certification program is the only way to move this industry out of the wilderness.

I’d like to contrast the perception of the Commission as a test vendor to our perspective of the Commission as a catalyst toward change. Certification isn’t only the Associate Constructor exam or the Certified Professional Constructor exam. It also involves verification of an individual’s experience, a commitment to continuing education, peer review of the entire process, and so many other factors. Certification is a life-long commitment for Constructors. It’s not just one or two eight-hour examinations.

We believe that Constructor Certification will change the industry. I have proof and I’d like to tell you about some of the people who are changing the face of construction through Constructor Certification. I’d like to tell you about several people who are taking the message out to the rest of the industry and to society at large.

THE PEOPLE OF CERTIFICATION

  • The first person I’d like to tell you about works for one of the country’s largest privately held construction companies, as ranked by ENR and by Fortune magazine. When he first heard of Constructor Certification, he decided to sit for the CPC exam and, at the time, he was the only person in his company with guts enough to sit for it cold, no review course, no other prep work.

    Well, he sat for the exam and he passed. When he received the folder that explained the requirement for Continuing Professional Development, he decided to pursue teaching as one component of his CPD, so he called someone else in his office who also teaches.

    Originally, he thought that he might teach at a local community college. Today, however instead of teaching at a small community college, Jim Kline CPC, of Pepper Construction in Chicago teaches a course in Construction Process at the Evanston Campus of Northwestern University’s School of Civil Engineering.
  • Now, let me tell you about two PEs who admit they are PEs only because they previously believed it was about to demonstrate some creditable knowledge in the construction industry. Neither one had any interest in practicing as an engineer. They always and only wanted to be involved in construction.

    The fact that really impressed both of these people about the CPC designation is that, unlike the PE requirements for their States, they are required to pursue on-going education and other continuing professional development.

    Who are they? Well, next month, Anne Bigane-Wilson, PE CPC, of Bigane Paving in Chicago will become the President of the American Subcontractor’s Association. And next year, Jack Kelly, PE CPC, of Nickerson and O’Day in Bangor, Maine will become the President of the Associated General Contractors of America.
  • The last person I’ll tell you about heard of the Certification Process through an industry newsletter that crossed his desk one day in 1997 and he decided to sit for the exam. There weren’t any test locations that were that close to his home in Chicago and his company was doing a project near Texas A&M. A died-in-the-wool Midwesterner, he stuck out like a sore thumb in a room full of Aggies. And today, I am the Chairman of the Constructor Certification Commission.

Jim Kline, Anne Wilson, Jack Kelly, and T. J. Ferrantella. We are some of the people of Certification. We believe that Certification is of critical importance to the future of the construction industry. We’re willing to put our beliefs to the test. We talk the talk and more important, we walk the walk. And we want you to be there, right next to us, working just as hard as we are to improve the standards for professionalism in our industry.


Before I conclude, I must extend my thanks to all of you.

  • To the educators who are here, I want you to know that I so respect the work that you are doing that I consider this a real privilege to be with you today.
  • I’d especially like to thank Dan Dupree, Gordon Marshall, Dave Mattson, and Bill Normand for thinking of me and inviting me here today.
  • My job is easy by comparison to those who went before me and plodded through the path that got us where we are today: To Ozzie Pfaffmann, Ted Benning, Bob Dorsey, and so many others, Thank You!
  • To the members of the Constructor Certification Commission who are here today (and even those who aren’t here), Thank You!
  • And finally, thanks must go out to one person who makes all of this happen. She does this with the same zeal and commitment as the rest of us who are mounting this crusade for professional standards. She is able to take the complicated discussions we have as a Commission, capture the essence of these discussions, and translate them into action. She’s all ours and she’s Cheryl Harris.

To each of them and to all of you, thank you again.

 
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