Association: Building Contractors Association of Northeast Indiana: Building better together

The Building Contractors Association of Northeast Indiana (BCA) has been serving the commercial construction industry of northeast Indiana for more than 90 years. From its headquarters in Fort Wayne, the BCA serves its diverse membership through networking, training, and education opportunities, as well as tracking industry trends and their effects on the local industry.
Executive Director, Lori Harvey, spearheads the BCA's initiative to drive forth its mission statement: "to serve our members by providing opportunities to be more effective participants in the commercial construction industry."

Membership
The BCA represents all types of companies and firms involved in a building project from concept to completion. Their vast membership of approximately 250 companies in the northeast Indiana marketplace consists of contractors, architects, engineers, and professional service providers, amongst others.
Members of the association can partake in networking opportunities, education and safety and OSHA compliance training. The BCA also assists its members with economic and workforce development programs and events. Their annual BCA Construction & Design Expo is a reoccurring event (most recently in March 2009) well-known throughout the region for its high quality attendees and exhibitors and for being an optimal showcase for services and supplies.

Strength in Numbers
The BCA has established seven committees to serve its membership. These committees include volunteers from a variety of companies and firms throughout northeast Indiana and are formed to create progress in such areas as economical development, governmental affairs, safety, workforce development, and education.
Committee members meet with representatives from Fort Wayne and Allen County, sponsor regular safety forums, and coordinate such events as the Construction Career Academy.

The Region
In addition to strongly supporting their members, the BCA also puts forth extensive efforts to strengthen the region of northeast Indiana. According to their website, www.bcafortwayne.org, the BCA has invested in excess of $340,000 into the local region, including the Fort Wayne-Allen Economic Development Alliance and the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership.
With no affiliation to any state or national association, the BCA is able to work independently and stands alone as the only trade association that devotes 100 percent of its work and revenues to its local industry. BCA is working to protect its local contractors from the barrage of outside contractors who are heating up the competition fiercely for the limited supply of new, local construction projects by promoting its local contractors to local construction buyers.
BCA is proud to represent many of the contractors and suppliers who are now working on major local projects such as Parkview Field, Parkview Hospital, and renovations to the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) campus, and hopes that these are just the tip of the iceberg for future commercial work in the northeast Indiana marketplace.