Published August 2003

Builders group launches school of its own

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties has been on the move this year, leaving its former Bellevue headquarters of 20 years for a more visible site in the city and launching MBA University, a more extensive education venue for its members and the public.

Formed in 1909, the 3,100-member trade association is the country’s oldest and the second-largest local home building association affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders.

As the Puget Sound area’s residential market expanded over the past two decades, swelling the MBA’s membership, its 7,670-square-foot MBA Housing Center in Bellevue became more and more cramped.

So last fall’s purchase of the former, 32,000-square-foot City University building in Bellevue for $5 million, well under its $6.5 million assessment a year earlier, has meant major changes for the organization.

The previous building, which sold this spring for $1.6 million, had become painfully inadequate. At board meetings, directors had to sit around the small conference table in rows two-deep. Parking was limited to 24 spaces. And it was often difficult for people to find the off-the-beaten-path offices at 2155 112th Ave. NE, according to MBA officials.

The new building’s signage is easily visible on I-405, the parking lot has 110 spaces, and there are more and larger rooms to house the association, including a banquet room seating 136, a catering kitchen, the Presidents’ Board Room, offices for membership staff and space for the sales and marketing department.

But one of the most exciting changes, especially for this year’s MBA president, Todd Bennett, is having room for MBA University classrooms, one of his longtime dreams. Bennett, chairman of Bennett Cos. LLC, has been active since the early 1980s in building single-family homes, apartment communities, office buildings and retirement centers.

His focus on developing the university approach for MBA training programs is spurred by his eagerness to help the group’s members achieve success in their businesses.

Coursework will include classes necessary for obtaining National Association of Home Builders certificates in building, remodeling and home sales. The university offers 12 major departments of study, including Built Green; business management; computer and Internet; consumer education; design and architecture; government affairs; human resources; land development; leadership development; project management, codes and regulations; safety; and sales and marketing.

“The MBA University concept will be a way to organize and increase the educational offerings of the association,” Bennett said.

To increase the MBA’s emphasis on education programs, the association has restructured its former education department to create a model similar to a community college, including the distribution of an educational course catalog three times a year that will focus attention on classes, seminars and workshops about the home-building industry.

The first printed catalog was made available July 23, the same day it was added to the MBA Web site. MBA University formally opens for classes Sept. 2.

Bennett said more than 70 classes will be offered this fall, as many as the MBA used to offer in an entire year — and they’ll be open to the public, too.

For more information, call the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties at 800-522-2209 or visit the group’s Web site, www.masterbuildersinfo.com.

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