Meet Our Leadership Program Participants

2026 BX Membership Directory mailed

Watch for your 2026 BX Membership Directory!

With more than 4,000 member listings of industry products and services, the BX Directory has been mailed to nearly 2,300 local area architects, engineers, government agencies and industry buyers throughout central Ohio.

Make sure to include the next BX Directory in your marketing budget!

Take time to recognize a deserving industry leader

Do you know someone who exemplifies long-term, outstanding service and commitment to the local construction industry and the community? Nominate them for the 2026 BX Cornerstone Award!

2026 CORNERSTONE NOMINATION
Deadline: Friday, Jan. 23

This award is one of the most prestigious awards given in the central Ohio construction industry. Since 1954, when the BX and its members honored Ralph H. Anderson (Anderson Concrete Corp.), one individual has risen to the top each year and been named the BX Cornerstone Award winner.

Eligible nominees will be evaluated by the BX Cornerstone Review Committee on the following criteria:

• BX involvement
• Community and industry involvement
• Industry impact
• Years of service to the industry
• Professionalism and ethics

After the selections committee narrows the nominee list, the Cornerstone Award winner will be confirmed by the BX board of directors and honored at the BX Annual Meeting in November.

Help the Builders Exchange honor those individuals who deserve recognition and nominate someone today. Nominations for the 2026 award will be accepted until Friday, Jan. 23.

For more information on nominating someone for this prestigious award, contact Pam Austin.

Past BX Cornerstone Award Recipients:
Recipient and company names reflect status at the time of the award presentation.

Are You Building Effective Schedules?

Prepare your team to build and maintain efficient schedules that work well for everyone. Register for Scheduling 101 and learn to solve one of the biggest challenges facing project leaders today – creating an effective schedule.

Open to anyone interested in learning about project scheduling, this course will be most beneficial for project engineers, administrators, managers and superintendents.  

Course topics and scheduling methods to be discussed include:

• Evolution of planning and scheduling
• Bar chart principles and practices
• Work breakdown structure
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Arrow Diagram Method (ADM)
• Precedence Diagram Method (PDM)
• Program Evaluation & Review Technique (PERT)
• Using the schedule as a tool

For more information about this course, contact Kelly Stover.

Master the Basics of Blueprint Reading

Blueprint reading is a fundamental skill crucial to the industry, and it's important that your entire staff understand the basics. During Construction Drawings 101, industry veterans will share their knowledge of reading and understanding blueprints through lecture and interactive work with commercial drawings—providing attendees with the basic skills needed for interpretation of construction plans.

This course is ideal for office personnel, field employees, new hires or anyone who is looking to learn and refine their blueprint reading skills.

Upon completion of this class, attendees will:

• Have a basic knowledge of reading plans and specifications
• Understand general terms in the design process 
• Know where to find information in a set of plans 
• Further understand how trades work together 

For more information about this course, contact Kelly Stover.

Meet BWC Requirements & Build Substance-Free Jobsites

Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (SUPR), formerly known as the Drug-Free Safety Program (DFSP), is the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) voluntary safety program developed to address workplace use and misuse of alcohol and other drugs. 

The Builders Exchange of Central Ohio is a BWC-approved provider of SUPR employee education and supervisor training sessions, and these courses meet the annual training requirements.

The employee education course builds understanding of the written SUPR policy and explains the safety, security and health risks—as well as productivity impacts—associated with alcohol and drug use in the workplace. Supervisor training focuses on detecting, confronting, documenting and referrals for potential drug use or abuse.

Ensure your entire team understands their part in keeping your jobsites substance-free.

For more information about BX SUPR training or to schedule a company-specific class, contact Sean Cooper.

Smart Tech, Real Risk: AI’s Impact on Construction Contracts

Join the BX Law & Finance Group for an interactive Q&A session exploring the growing intersection of AI and Construction Law—a topic quickly gaining relevance across the industry. This session will feature a brief live demonstration showing how AI tools like ChatGPT can review select publicly available construction prime contracts. Attendees will see firsthand what AI does well, where its limitations exist and what those insights mean for contract evaluation moving forward.

The discussion will also dive into how emerging technologies are influencing construction contracts, risk management and legal compliance. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives and gain practical insight into how AI may support (but not replace) legal and project decision-making in the construction industry.

For more information about this presentation or the BX Law & Finance Group, contact Kelly Stover.

Member News: Columbus Forestry Permitting to Change

The City of Columbus is changing Forestry’s permitting system in 2026. Any work on or in the Critical Root Zone (CRZ) of a public tree requires a Forestry permit. There is no application fee for the permit, but it is required before work begins. CLICK HERE for the official notice.

A ‘public tree’ is any tree located on property owned by the City of Columbus, which includes parks, right-of-way and other City-owned land. Companies and individuals applying for a Forestry permit can access the City’s permit portal to create a profile which can be found here: https://portal.columbus.gov/Permits/Default.aspx.

For questions, or to request virtual or in-person training, contact the department at Forestry@columbus.gov.

Conference Registration Opens Soon!

For 20 years, the Ohio Construction Conference has offered high-level professional development, industry education and networking opportunities. Registration for the March 18 event opens later this week at bx.org.

Construction owners, design professionals, contractors, suppliers and service providers will gain leading-edge information and receive practical business solutions during the full-day event at The Ohio Union.

Program topics include:

• The Transportation & Zoning Connection
• Practical Applications for using AI
• Economic Indicators for the Industry
• Unique Workforce Development Programs
• and much more!

The Conference features full- and half-day registration options with early bird pricing through Feb. 27. Firms who send multiple employees for the full day will be eligible for discounted rates if all participants are registered as a group.

For more information about the Conference, contact Deb Murphy.

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Meet Our Leadership Program Participants

Get Financial Support For Your Education

If you know someone pursuing a construction-related degree, encourage them to apply for a Builders Exchange Scholarship!

2026/27 Application
Deadline: Feb. 20 | 4 PM

Rising college costs place a growing financial strain on students and families. Since 1959, the Builders Exchange has helped offset these expenses through its scholarship program. 

High school seniors, individuals pursuing a two- or four-year undergraduate degree, or students enrolled in an Ohio Technical Center certificate program are encouraged to apply for the 2026/27 school year. Applications, along with all required documents, can be submitted online. Applicants will be notified of their award status in May.

Applicants are evaluated on the following criteria:

• Academic achievement
• Community and school involvement
• Financial need 
• Relationship of the student’s field of study to the construction industry
• Potential future impact of the student on the central Ohio construction community
• Quality of the application

For more information about BX scholarships, contact Pam Austin.

2025/26 BX Scholarship Recipients.

OSHA Posting Requirements Reminder

Just a reminder that employers subject to OSHA recordkeeping requirements must ensure that copies of their completed 2025 Form 300A Summary are posted in each of their establishments from Feb. 1 through April 30. The form must be displayed in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted.

Your information must also be entered electronically on the OSHA website by March 2. For more information regarding the posting requirement, visit the OSHA website at www.osha.gov/recordkeeping.

For information about BX safety classes, contact Ashton Chapman.

Constructing Connections: A Night at the Rink

Networking gets a fast break this hockey night! Join BX Young Professionals for a pregame happy hour at Hansen Distribution Agency, then head to the arena as Columbus faces Dallas. It’s a high-energy evening designed to spark connections, strengthen relationships and bring the construction community together.

Your registration includes a game ticket, two drink tickets and heavy appetizers at the pregame happy hour.

For more information about this event, contact Kelly Stover.

Jan. BXYP Event: 
Columbus Blue Jackets Game + Happy Hour
Jan. 22 

• Pregame Networking | 5 - 6:30 PM
  Hansen Distribution Agency
  383 N. Front St. (43215)
• Game | Begins at 7 PM
  Nationwide Arena
  2300 W. Nationwide Blvd. (43215)

REGISTER NOW

$75 BX Members | $85 Non-Members
When registering online, be sure to log in to receive the member rate.

PLATINUM SPONSOR &
HAPPY HOUR HOST

 

Are You Ready for Bid Day?

Preparing an accurate estimate can be challenging. The BX course Estimating and Bid Preparation can help you master the basics and provide the organizational tools needed to meet today's short deadlines.

Experienced industry estimators share the fundamentals of job cost estimating - from beginning to end - and cover the steps needed to prepare a clear bid quickly and efficiently. Night four of the program  includes an interactive bid-day simulation that puts the course work into action, complete with true-to-life deadline frustrations.

For more information about this course, contact Kelly Stover.

Start the New Year off Right!

Don’t miss your opportunity to kick off 2026 with the BX safety community. This member-only meeting will feature in-depth discussions on current safety challenges, regulatory updates and emerging technologies, with a strong focus on sharing real-world solutions and best practices.

In addition to the roundtable conversation, attendees will have the opportunity to network with peers, build valuable industry connections and strengthen collaborations that support safer jobsites.

Whether you're a safety manager, site supervisor or industry stakeholder, this is a unique opportunity to learn, contribute and grow within a community committed to continuous safety improvement.

Contact Ashton Chapman with any questions or suggestions for discussion topics.

HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO CONFLICTS ON THE JOBSITE?

Communication skills are vital to your success as a construction professional. They are also potentially the biggest obstacle you will encounter at work. 

In this interactive presentation, M.J. Clark (Integrated Leadership Systems) will provide participants with the tools needed to manage conflict and confrontation. She will share the communication challenges we all face, provide tips for mediation, demonstrate emotional control and outline understanding bias in conflict.

Here’s what BX members have said when asked if they would recommend this program to others in the industry:

• “There’s plenty of conflict in construction & everyone could do a better job of handling confrontation.”
• “I would especially recommend this program to field managers.”
• “These skills are a good reminder to put yourself in another person’s shoes when faced with a conflict.”
• “This program is for people at every level in construction – we can all use this information!”

For more information about this course, contact Deb Murphy.