Pamela Charles got her foot in the door for a construction trade that pays twice what she earned as a lab technician in Port Arthur, Texas. Boyd Worsham wants to show high school students not planning on college how they can still progress into the industry’s executive suite, just as he did. Defense contractor Carole Bionda needs to hire trained craft specialists who are ready to fill project spots now, and Jonathan Yarbrough’s schedule to finish his fast-tracked mega-refinery doesn’t leave much time to verify the skills of his contractor’s workers or train them over again.

National Center/Construction Education & Research Officials of Bechtel’s open-shop unit, an NCCER supporter, take students to jobsite.

Today’s construction industry participants have vastly different makeups and motives, but more of them are linked to the efforts of one little organization with big ambitions: the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). The Gainesville, Fla.-based developer of national craft training curricula is affiliated with a major construction-education program at the nearby University of Florida, but it doesn’t do any actual training.

NCCER, founded in 1996, grew out of need to standardize, improve and even create craft training for nonunion contractors to compete with organized labor’s more established apprenticeship programs. Although it still largely serves the nonunion sector, NCCER is ramping up a broader mission across both sectors to lure sorely needed craft recruits to fill projected staffing needs in still-growing construction markets. “We’re nowhere near the capacity of our training programs today,” says NCCER President Don Whyte, a former ironworker and industrial arts teacher. “We need the bodies.”

WORSHAM

NCCER officials tout the group’s success in filling craft-labor training voids. It now has relationships with nearly 600 accredited industry and education facilities to train workers in 45 craft areas, from entry-level masonry to journey-level hydroblasting technician. Sales of training materials, through an outside vendor, netted $15 million in revenue. NCCER noted completion of more than 4 million training “modules” in 2007. The group has now developed assessment materials for 42 crafts, helping to measure and cerify the skills of workers who cannot document past training. It reports that more than 125,000 workers hold one of its journey-level craft certifications. In 2007, the group implemented a new system that fosters worker mobility by allowing on-line updating and verification of training credentials through individual bar-coded plastic cards.

National Center/Construction Education & Research

National Center/Construction Education & Research NCCER accredits training sponsors and keeps a student competency database.

The group’s training network now includes 40,000 craft instructors and 4,000 master trainers, with secondary and post-secondary schools making up the biggest growth area. “When we began, 85% of our training was contractor-based,” says Steve Greene, NCCER vice president and a former Fluor Corp. executive. “Now, 55% is in the schools.” The post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort in the Gulf Coast has been a boon to the program, but Greene acknowledges that finding instructors is getting tougher as craft veterans get busier with high-paid industry work.

NCCER also is pushing for needed craft diversity, with new materials geared specifically for women and Spanish speakers. In July, NCCER also teamed with Virginia Tech University to develop new green construction materials and revised its project-manager training to include segments on “interpersonal skills, issues and resolutions and continuous improvement,” according to a July announcement. It also has developed new ways to measure worker skills in communication, employability and “good judgement,” NCCER officials say.

The training organization touts its efforts to keep materials current and encourage user and sponsor feedback, as well as ensure that protocols are met. Training sponsors are reviewed by outside auditors after three years of accreditation, says Daniele Stacy, NCCER’s director of product development.

National Center/Construction Education & Research Laborers’ union mobile training in Louisiana may include NCCER modules.

NCCER’s board of directors and affiliates are still steeped in open-shop roots, but the group has courted a larger group of contractors and owners who are growing concerned about looming craft shortages. Current board members and sponsors push to play down political differences.

“Union versus open shop is yesterday’s debate,” says NCCER Chairman Steven T. Halverson, CEO of design-build firm The Haskell Co., Jacksonville, Fla. Adds Carole Bionda, legal counsel at Nova Group, Napa, Calif., an open-shop contractor and...