Nearly 200 construction professionals participated in the 36th annual Associated Builders and Contractors’ National Craft Championships Feb. 26 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
Nevada faces a construction workforce shortage, which is mirrored nationally. The Associated Builders and Contractors reports the need for more than 400,000 workers just in order to meet demand for construction services across the country.
NCC celebrates and recognizes upskilling in construction, drawing some of the country’s most talented craft professionals and highlighting the important role that craft skills training plays in the construction industry.
In addition, the ABC’s annual Construction Management Competition had 35 teams of undergraduate students from colleges and universities with leading construction management programs nationwide put their project management skills to the test.
At NCC, craft students and apprentices from across the country travel to Las Vegas to demonstrate their superior skills and safe work practices and compete for top honors. The NCC features 15 competitions with skills on display in 11 crafts. NCC also featured a team commercial competition with journey-level craft professionals from different trades working to complete a joint project. The competition included a two-hour online exam and a six-hour practical performance test.
ABC’s all-of-the-above approach to workforce development has produced a network of ABC chapters and affiliates across the country that offer more than 800 apprenticeship, craft, safety and management education programs — including more than 450 government-registered apprenticeship programs across 20 different occupations — to build the people who build America.
CMC gives the nation’s top construction management students a glimpse into the real world of construction, as well as an opportunity to showcase their talents and provide them valuable, resume-building experience. In addition to creating a significant learning opportunity, the competition fosters an environment that will bring out the best in each team, encourages dialogue among the students, builds team spirit and heightens problem-solving skills as students rise to meet this challenge.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2025, Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 that represents more than 23,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 67 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit abc.org.
