Two teams of UALR construction management students took first and second place in a regional competition sponsored last week by the Associated Schools of Construction Region V.

UALR won the Commercial Building competition, beating out John Brown University in second and Texas A&M University in third. Twelve teams competed, representing Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Institute of Technology, University of Oklahoma, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Texas Tech, North Texas State University, Texas State University, Texas A&M-Commerce, and Austin College.

A second UALR team won second place in the Heavy-Civil competition with Oklahoma University winning first and Louisiana Tech University placing third. Eight teams competed, representing Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, University of Louisiana-Monroe, and North Texas State University.

The students were asked to plan a $5 million, 17,000 square-foot new construction and 10,000 square feet of remodeling work for the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity. The competition problem was an actual construction project by J.E. Dunn Construction Co.

“The main issue was privacy and security for the monastery nuns and the remodeling of the commercial kitchen,” said Mike Tramel, chair of UALR’s Construction Management department and coach of the commercial building team. “The nuns bake bread for distribution, and a temporary kitchen had to be in place before the existing kitchen could be remodeled. The security issues were predominate since men were not allowed on the second floor, and the site had to be secured at all times.”

The UALR team’s schedule was within one day of the actual schedule, and their estimate was within $100,000 of J.E. Dunn’s actual cost. The UALR contest bid was within $1,000 of the actual bid, and their insurance and bond cost was within $100 of actual cost. The UALR students had only 16 hours to do what the professionals did in seven days to estimate and schedule the project.

Larry Newkirk of Little Rock; Krystal Handy of Scott; Jessica Jeffries and Kevin Sullivan, both of North Little Rock; and Caleb DeWoody and James “Trey” Hefley, both of Conway; made up the winning team.

In the Heavy-Civil competition, the contest mimicked a real work project by McCarthy’s Texas Civil Division – a $63 million elevated railroad bridge with two rail lines for the new DART transportation system in Dallas. The UALR team’s estimate for the entire project was closest to the actual estimated cost with the other teams missing by more than $10 million.

The team, coached by UALR instructor Larry Blackmon, included Mark Gernhart of Jacksonville; Jay Lewis of White Hall; Chris Meyer of North Little Rock; and Josh Morris, Chris Baxter, and Malcolm Jeffers, all of Little Rock.

The Arkansas AGC Highway Committee sponsored UALR’s Heavy Civil Team, and Thompson Electric Inc. sponsored the Commercial Building team.