The National Building Institute has been created from collective minds consisting of several associations in the West Coast. The NBI gathered to investigate how they could work together to find solutions for mutual needs of their interior and exterior subcontractor members. The institute is a contractor-driven and -directed organization focused on increasing access to more market share for the member contractors. This collective will benefit from one another by having access to each other’s technical resources and together developing specific construction system designs.

The NBI was founded by members of the Northwest Wall & Ceiling Contractors Association, the Associated Wall and Ceiling Contractors of Oregon and SW Washington, Wall and Ceiling Alliance and the Western Wall and Ceiling Contractors Association.

Its proposal was drafted by the Walls & Ceilings’ Editorial Director and WWCCA’s Executive Vice President Mark Fowler.

NBI’s Executive is Neil O’Connor. Its Board of Directors are:

• Rick Harris and Jim Taylor, representing NWCCA
• Vaughn Grubaugh, representing AWCC
• Jim Watson and Greg Brady, presenting the WACA
• Robert Klugh, Daryl Wimberly and Todd Heimerl, representing the WWCCA

“NBI has no intention of being some heavy-handed organization of outsiders trying to force our ideas on to a local population,” O’Connor said from an article he wrote introducing the institute. “Rather, we intend to work with local contractors, local tech experts and local designers to elevate the standards and building a new and better perception of our industry.”