In 2020 and 2021, during his junior and senior years as a civil engineering major at the University of Pittsburgh, Anthony Gansor successfully competed in the Student Estimating Competition. At the 2020 competition, Gansor and his team, the Benedum Builders, took first place.
The competition provided Gansor with real-world construction experience and career growth while a student. Here, Gansor shares his experience and insight for competitors.
What was the most challenging aspect of the competition for you and how did you work to overcome it?
The time crunch- you have a short amount of time to wrap your head around the plans and the bid tabs to understand what exactly you are building and bidding on. The best way to be ready to tackle such a tall task in a short amount of time is to practice and prepare by meeting as a team each week throughout the fall and early spring. Our mentors did a tremendous job preparing us for the competition. We had all the tools and training necessary to put a quality bid together in a short amount of time.
As a team, we pulled together each year and were able to allocate various parts of the bid process to different team members. This allowed our team members to perform tasks that each of us was comfortable with or strong at, and at the end of the day, each of us contributed to the final product.
What were the most challenging and rewarding parts of working with your team?
The most challenging part was pooling together 5+ people’s work to put one deliverable together. Everyone has their own means, methods, and styles, so you have to put each team member’s work into one consistent packet for the judges to review.
The rewarding part of the competition was hearing the judges’ comments and critiques. Plus, having to answer questions about your means and methods provides a good opportunity for growth.
What did the competition teach you about the highway construction industry?
The two years on the competition team helped me learn a lot of the basic processes that surround a project– from estimating to actually building the job. I gained valuable experience that is hard to find while still in college.
What advice would you give students participating in this year’s competition?
Have fun and learn from this competition. This is a great chance to get away from studying for a long weekend and go compete with friends- enjoy it! At the same time, it is a great chance to show your skills in the construction industry (estimating/operation logistics), impress some of the local companies, and the potential job opportunities available at the end of the competition.
What is your current position and how did the competition help you get and/or prepare for this role?
I am currently an Assistant Superintendent with Independence Excavating. This competition allowed me to go through two trial runs involving building a job on paper and putting a real dollar amount to it while being judged and critiqued at the end by some of the best in the industry in the southwestern Pennsylvania region.
I learned a lot from the judges’ comments and critiques, which allowed me to gain real-world construction knowledge while still in college.
