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VTalk Radio Spotlight
Today's Guest: Ruth Nunnelley of Builders Exchange of NW Michigan in Traverse City, Michigan
Today's Host: John Bentley

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Builders Exchange of NW Michigan
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ANNOUNCER:  Welcome to the VTalk Radio Local Business Spotlight and now here's your host, John Bentley.

JOHN:  Today on VTalk Radio Local Business Spotlight we have the Ruth Nunnelly. She is the Executive Director of the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan. Welcome to the program, Shane.

RUTH: Thank you, John. It’s nice to be here.

JOHN: We appreciate you joining us. Now tell us what is the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan?

RUTH: The Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan in essence is a plan room. We have a 24/7 plan room that all the members have access to, and we have all the plan specs for currently bidding commercial projects. So when a member joins, they can either come and see a project or they have access to them online.

JOHN: Ok. You say 24/7 plan room. So in the middle of the night if you want to go in and look at something they can?

RUTH: Everybody gets a magnetic key so they can come in and the first thing they’ll notice is a list of what the projects are and where they’re located. And then they can come in and do their take offs. A lot of these are smaller contractors who work hard all day and then have dinner, and then they come in and do their take offs looking to bid on their next project.

JOHN: Now, Ruth, who else besides contractors would be interested in a service or membership like this?

RUTH: Well our members are any contractors, sub-contractor, or supplier that is working in commercial construction. It can be anybody from those who are putting in underground piping all the way to landscaping and painting, you know, any part of any commercial project.

JOHN: Now I understand there is a board of directors involved in this?

RUTH: Yes. We are a member based association. We are a non-profit association and we have a nine member board of directors. They hold three year terms and this year our current president is Devon Hill who works at Great Lakes Gypsum Supply. 

JOHN: Now how long have you been involved in the Builders Exchange, Ruth?

RUTH: Well I worked for one of the large contractors here in town for a few years, and this opportunity came available two years ago, and my experience is from civil building industry. I’ve been association manager for Home Builders Association, and now I have this fabulous opportunity to work in commercial construction.

JOHN: Now do you find…is this just for the Traverse City community or is this for the surrounding counties and the greater Northwest?

RUTH: Our territory really is the northwestern eleven counties even though we have members that are in the Upper Peninsula. We have members over in Alpena, and we have members in Grand Rapids, Saginaw, and Kalamazoo. So we service our memberships. We focus in on commercial projects that are up in our area; however, because our membership will work anywhere in Northern Michigan, we still report on jobs and projects that are in other counties.

JOHN: How large is the organization?

RUTH: We have 300 member companies, and we have a staff of four here in the office. We have two recorders and we have a land coordinator. That’s what we do. We are sort of a medium size Builders Exchange.

JOHN: Now anybody in the building trades line of work can be involved in this. This isn’t limited to a certain amount of masons or a certain amount of pipefitters, or anything like that is it?

RUTH: No. We could be an association of all one sub-contractor, but no. We are not limited at all.

JOHN: Now what are some of the benefits of joining up with the Builders Exchange?

RUTH: If you’re familiar with commercial biddings and commercial construction, a lot of times the suppliers and sub-contractors need to purchase a set of plans and a spec book which keeps things apples to apples. So when a mason is putting a bid in on a project, they go by what is in the spec book and on the plan sheets. That way one mason is bidding the same as another mason. So instead the sub-contractor is purchasing your own set of prints, they can come in here or online and do their take off from the community set of prints so it’s number one in saving them a lot of money. And also we do the recording. We have two women who are constantly searching and seeking projects that are out for bid and also projects that are coming to bid. They read Minutes from Planning Commission Meetings, they clip newspaper articles that talk about projects that are coming in. They search architect and engineer websites so they’re always out there looking for projects to put online for the membership. So consequently the membership doesn’t have to spend their days looking and seeking projects.

JOHN: Ruth, what is the website for the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan?

RUTH: It’s www.bxtvc.com

JOHN: Great. We are in the studio with the executive directors of the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan, and we’ll be right back after these important messages. Do stay tuned.

 

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ANNOUNCER:  VTALK RADIO.

ANNOUNCER:  We now return you to the VTalk Radio Local Business Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.

JOHN:  Welcome back to VTalk Radio’s Local Business Spotlight.  We are in the studio with the Executive Director of the Builders Exchange of Northwestern Michigan, Ruth Nunnelly. Welcome back to the program, Ruth.

RUTH: Thank you, it’s nice to be back.

JOHN:  Now we've been talking about your non-profit plan room that you have at the Builder’s Exchange of Northwest Michigan. I noticed one thing when I was on your website that you have two levels of the plan room. Can you tell me what the benefits of the first level and the second level are?

RUTH: Yes. We have one level of the plan room. Everybody has access to the plan room, but we have two levels of membership and that refers to the website. When you as a member go online and are looking at a project, you can see all the detail of the project including who is bidding it, when the bid is due, who the bids go to, and the scope of work. That’s the standard membership. Everybody has access to all of that information. They also have access to pre-bid projects, they have access to the…we have 3,000 plans and specs projects and the archive projects. So they have access to everything. The upgraded membership is where you can actually see the plans or see the contents of the spec book. And the reason there is two levels is so we can keep the costs down for people who are in the area who live in the area who can come in and look at plans in the plan room. There are some members who are outside of our area who like to have access to see the plans and spcecs, but they live too far away. This way if they have their own plotter or they’re own printer, they can download that information from the website.

JOHN: Now I understand you guys also a notary service. 

RUTH: We have a notary here on staff. So if anyone needs liens or waivers signed, or they need their bid documents notarized they can just bring them in here and it’s a free service we offer to our membership.

JOHN: Now did I see that correctly on your website that you also offer insurance to your member?

RUTH: We don’t offer insurance, but we do participate with the Michigan Industry Construction Insurance which is MICI and it’s a self-insured workers’ compensation fund. They don’t have to be a member to have this available to them, but it is available to the members here.

JOHN: What other special benefits do you offer?

RUTH: We have a leasing program that is offered through Cincinnati Insurance. We have general meetings that we hold seven times a year where the membership gets together and we enjoy the networking and also some educational programs. We hold a workshop every month, the first Wednesday of every month, which teaches our membership how to access more fully the website so that they’re getting the most out of their membership.

JOHN: Is there any kind of email bulletins or anything like that that are sent out to members.

RUTH: We periodically send out updates to the plan list as to what projects are online; however, all of that information is readily available to them just be getting on the internet. They can download their own list of all the plans that are online. But we do weekly faxes, because we a few committees We have our annual golf outing which is in July this year and it is usually sold out by March and its’ one of the things that most of the members enjoy. We have a ordinance committee that meets once a month that talks about creating coalitions and better relationships with code officials and architects and they meet just to make sure that we are right on track and creating better relationships.

JOHN: Well, Ruth, we’re coming to the end of the program. I certainly enjoy you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us on the VTalk Radio Local Business Spotlight.

RUTH: It’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for including us.

JOHN: Sure. Now before we let you go, why don’t you give the website and contact information.

RUTH: Alright. They can call us at (231) 946-5531 or they can get online at their website which is www.bxtvc.com

JOHN:  Wonderful. We've been in the studio via the telephone with the Executive Director of the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan, Ruth Nunnelly, and you've been listening to the VTalk Radio Local Business Spotlight. I’m your host, John Bentley.  Thank you for tuning in.  Everybody have a great afternoon.

ANNOUNCER:  You have been listening to Urban Diversions Radio at www.urban-diversions.com.  Urban Diversions radio is powered by VTalk Radio and Vertio.net.  Talk radio for the 21st century.

 



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