13 Feb 2013
Staff Writer
Jennifer Zhang / Intern
UNT’s National Association of Home Builders chapter recently sent five students and mentors to the International Builder’s Show in Las Vegas, Nev. that was held Jan. 22-25. There, the team placed ninth among 31 other teams.
Intensive English Language Institute junior Mahsa Mahdavian, graduate student Brad Tatum and construction engineering technology seniors David Olsen, David Keane and Lee Pelton all went to the competition.
“The basic idea is NAHB selects a real piece of land or property in the U.S. and we have to make a project of how we would build homes on it,” Pelton said.
Pelton said the team had to turn in its project on Jan. 3.
The competition also incorporated financing, cash flow projections, risk analysis and development plans. At the competition, the team also had to give a 15-minute presentation.
Pelton attributes his team’s success to the team dynamics and mentors.
“Three of the members of our team were part of last year’s team, so it was nice to have them there to guide the rest of us through the presentation,” Pelton said.
The group spent the entire first semester and winter break working on the project.
“The group tried to meet every week to brainstorm and to see how everything was going,” Mahdavian said. “But other than that, the last few weeks before the project was due, we worked very hard to get everything together. And we even worked over Christmas break.,” Mahdavian said.
The NAHB emphasizes building homes by participating in many community service projects such as Hearts for Homes, Pelton said.
“A lot of schools make this project an actual class or graduation requirement,” Pelton said. “At UNT it is completely voluntary. We raised our own money and put our own free time into this.”
Mahdavian said the project and the competition helped him with leadership and time management.
“In the end,” she said. “The NAHB competition allowed me to have a better understanding of what I will be doing in the future and taught me the basics of how to put a bid together and the process of how to begin an actual project.”
