Certifications

The AGC Education Center Safety Certification Program’s primary goals are to:

• Provide participants with best practices for specific hazards on new or existing job assignments.
• Provide safety task training involved with completing, overseeing and evaluating specific tasks in the field.
• Provide the necessary knowledge on how to implement and administer a company safety program.
• Provide exam preparation for the Council on Certification of Health, Environmental, and Safety Technologists’ (CCHEST) Safety Trained Supervisor (STS), Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST), and Occupational Health and Safety Technologist (OHST) certifications.
• With completion of the 100 hour program participants will receive a mounted Certificate of Completion from the Inland Northwest AGC and the AGC EDUCATION CENTER.
• Participants completing modules 1, 2 and 3 of the program will receive a Construction Site Safety Technologist (CSST) certificate from the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).

The AGC Safety Certification Program is made up of 4 modules totaling 135 hours.

The AGC Education Center Online Construction Estimating Certification Program is designed to prepare participants for the competitive construction estimating and bidding arena.

Certificates of Completion will be issued for each course completed with a passing grade. Upon completion of our program participants will receive a mounted Certificate of Completion from the Inland Northwest AGC Education Center. To receive the certification participants must pass five of the following courses within a 2 year period. Courses may be taken individually by participants that do not desire the certification.

• All of the courses are endorsed by the American Society of Professional Estimators.
• Cost per class includes the required text book.
• Each course, made up of 10 lessons, requires approximately 5 hours of seat time per week or 50 hours total, depending on experience.
• Self-paced courses may be started anytime but must be completed within 10 weeks of start date. The class may be completed anytime within the 10 week period and there will be no weekly goals or student interaction.
• Paced courses will have a specific start and completion date. Specific assignments and discussions by bulletin board must be completed weekly and the class will move to the next lesson as a group every Monday. Within these parameters students can still choose their own class hours and log in at their convenience.

Choose Two Of The Following Courses:

• Introduction to Construction Estimating*
• Essential Construction Math*
• Construction Blueprint Reading

Required Courses:

• Estimating and Bidding 1
• Estimating and Bidding 2
• Construction Materials and Processes

*Denotes self-paced course.

American Society Of Professional Estimators (ASPE)

The ASPE is developing an Estimating Proficiency exam for entry-level estimators to show employers that they have the required skills to perform as an estimator. They also offer the Certified Professional Estimator exams for experienced estimators. For more information on these exams please visit their website at www.aspenational.com

Brought to you by the Associated General Contractors of America, the Project Manager Development Program (PMDP) is a set of highly-interactive coursed that provide participants the essential skills to advance their careers as project managers. The five-module program covers the basics of project management and provides tactics and strategies for ensuring project success.

• Module 1 - Estimating and Job Costing
• Module 2  -Contract Administration
• Module 3 - Project Administration
• Module 4 - Risk Management
• Module 5 - Leadership

The Supervisory Training Program (STP), created by AGC of America, is a construction-specific training curriculum developed, updated, and field-tested by and for contractors. The program consists of 12 comprehensive courses (including two overview courses) that focus on the knowledge and skills that every supervisor must have to be an effective manager of people, time, equipment and materials.

Supervisory skill - or the lack of it - directly affects every company's bottom line. Each day, decisions made by every foreman and superintendent are crucial to the success or failure of every construction project. You make your money in the field, and STP can help you improve your organization's bottom line.

Course Content

The STP curriculum creates an unmatched learning experience for participants.Each STP course has a Participant's Manual and an Instructor's Guide.Every STP course is activity-based, with discussions, case histories, problems, and exercises.Participants in STP courses draw upon their field experience and learn by interaction with others from all areas of the construction industry.

Unit 1: Leadership and Motivation

This course will teach the value of effective supervision of workers and improve the construction supervisor's ability to lead and motivate others. Unit 1 explores:

• Dollars and sense of people in construction
• The role of the construction supervisor
• Helping people perform better
• Motivating others
• Leading others
• You get what you expect
• Positive feedback
• Training and orienting crew members
• Teams and team building
• Leadership skills in action

Unit 2: Oral and Written Communication

This course presents a body of knowledge and skills that today's construction supervisors need in order to be effective communicators on their job site. Unit 2 explores:

• Effective communication
• Supervisors as effective communicators
• Learn to listen
• Carrying on conversations
• Persuasion, negotiation, and confrontation
• Communicate with your crew
• Put it in writing
• Meetings that work
• Electronic communication
• Improving communication

Unit 3: Problem Solving and Decision Making

This course will help construction supervisors identify problems and how they occur and learn techniques for solving them in the construction industry. Supervisors will learn how to use the decision making process and the important considerations to take into account. Unit 3 explores:

• Problems in the construction industry
• Establishing a problem solving environment
• Human performance problems
• The problem identification process
• The decision making process
• Labor costs and subcontractors
• Effective production planning
• Production process improvement
• Project-wide applications
• Risk, emergencies, and crisis situations

Unit 4: Contract Documents and Construction Law

This course will provide information about contract documents and construction law to help supervisors recognize the roles and responsibilities of all contracted parties, to develop an understanding of how contract documents can be helpful to solve problems and resolve conflicts, and to develop positive relationships between all parties in the construction process. Unit 4 explores:

• Introduction to contract documents and construction law
• Creating a positive environment through partnering
• Contractual relationships
• Contract forms and documents
• Managing general conditions
• Good documentation practices
• Changes
• Differing site conditions
• Time impacts
• Negotiation of resolutions

Unit 5: Planning and Scheduling

This course will help construction supervisors understand the important role that planning and scheduling plays in the successful completion of a construction project. Unit 5 explores:

• Introduction to planning and scheduling
• Preparing the project plan
• Communicating the plan
• The critical path
• Computer use in scheduling – part 1
• Computer use in scheduling – part 2
• Using the schedule on the jobsite
• Updating the construction schedule
• The schedule as documentation
• Using planning and scheduling

Unit 6: Understanding and Managing Project Costs

This course covers understanding the pre-construction process and how project estimates are compiled, how to compare actual project costs with those estimated, and how to control costs to meet the estimate. Unit 6 explores:

• Introduction to understanding and managing project costs
• Construction estimates
• Who controls project costs
• Reporting and analyzing actual costs
• Planning for cost control
• Cost control strategies
• Labor cost variances
• Managing risk and loss potentials
• Working with project partners
• Post-project evaluations

Unit 7: Accident Prevention and Loss Control

This course will cover the roles and responsibilities of a construction supervisor in accident prevention and loss control. Unit 7 explores:

• Introduction to site safety and health management
• Safety leadership, motivation, and empowerment
• Planning for site safety
• Site safety management
• Site security and protection
• Multi-employer safety
• Construction risk management
• Safety and Human Resources
• Regulatory procedures, record keeping and documents
• Using and understanding reference material and advisory resources

Unit 8: Managing the ProjectundefinedThe Supervisor's Role

This course is intended to assist supervisors in understanding the relationship between the roles and responsibilities of project managers and project supervisors. Unit 8 explores:

• Understanding project delivery systems
• Managing information
• Understanding and managing risk
• Planning the work
• Working the plan
• Managing methods and materials
• Understanding finances
• Working with project partners
• Understanding people
• Understanding corporate polices/procedures

Unit 9: Productivity Improvement

This course details how productivity is measured, how the supervisor plays a major role in increasing jobsite productivity, and how a small increase in productivity can have a significant impact on the time and cost of a project. Unit 9 explores:

• Benchmarking construction productivity
• Improving productivity through pre-planning
• "MORE" - Four new skills for effective supervision
• Personnel management
• Equipment management for productivity improvement
• Jobsite productivity, planning, and scheduling
• Managing subcontractors
• Quantifying lost labor productivity
• Record keeping, control, changes, and defect analysis

Unit 10: General and Specialty Contractor Dynamics

This course studies the role construction supervisors play in construction systems. Unit 10 explores:

• Construction systems
• Contractual relationships
• Value, impact, and quality of specialty contractors
• Selecting a specialty contractor
• Importance of open communication
• Plans and specifications
• Mobilization
• Time management
• Productivity
• Project closeout