Construction Expo Was a Huge Success

The last weekend in March San Diego had its own Construction Expo. For those that are not aware the Construction Expo is one of the largest construction events of the year. This year's event had contractors, apprenticeship programs, unions, vendors, construction equipment providers, construction associations, construction education providers and public agencies. It felt like a who's who in the construction San Diego community.

Mike and Sandy Caples, who write the Contractor News and Views, put together and promote the event. This year there were three major focuses:

• San Diego Rebuilds, which provided resources for victims of the 2007 fires
• Building Careers in Construction or BCIC, which is helping to promote construction careers
  
• Educating the Educators, brought teachers in to learn about the construction trades and provide real world examples for students.

While I was there I had an opportunity to speak with representatives from the Joint Apprentice Committees the IBEW, Carpenters and the Laborers Union. Many people do not know that there is an apprenticeship program for the Laborers. As construction is a competitive business the Laborers have found it prudent to expand their training as the other crafts have. Information about the Southern California Laborers Apprenticeship program can be found here.

I am going to look for other events like this throughout the state and if there are not then other communities should look at this as a great way to collaborate.