New association head wants more Hispanic construction owners

Sergio Terreros wants extra Hispanic staff To Wind up to be enchancment house personalers. And he has some huge ideas on The biggest Method to make that happen.

As a Outcome of the mannequin new head of the Nationwide Hispanic Contractors Affiliation, Terreros conveys a marketer’s perspective to an enterprise that has struggled to promote itself to a youthfuler period. 

Earlier than taking the helm of the Houston-based mostly group in August, he labored with corporations Similar to Bobcat and Caterpillar on Hispanic advertising initiatives by way of his promoting agency, 11/11 Media.

A former tradesworker, his objective is To assist Hispanic contractors transition from the jobwebsite to the entrance office. 

Whereas 33% of enchancment staff are Hispanic, Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, simply 14% of GCs fall into this class, Based on profession website Zippia. Construction Dive spoke with Terreros about his imaginative and prescient for tackleing that disparity. 

Editor’s Notice: This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: What do You want about enchancment? What drew you to the trades?

SERGIO TERREROS: I tried concrete, I tried framing And that i truly appreciated framing. You’re constructing. Everytime you drive by a constructing That you merely constructed In any other case you made, You are feeling exactly proud about your previous work. I nonetheless do it.

What are your goals for the Nationwide Hispanic Contractors Affiliation?

My objective is To assist create extra Hispanic-personaled enchancment corporations Infacet the enterprise.

Typically, for Hispanic tradesstaff, In the event that they’re on the labor facet, they maintain there.

Or In the event that they do have Their very personal agency, they set it up After which retire. Nobody is there To maintain it alive, so it shuts dpersonal and We now have fewer Hispanic enchancment corporations On the market. 

At NAHICA, We now have packages To assist Hispanic tradespeople understand extra of the enterprise facet of enchancment.

Sergio Terreros

Courtesy of NAHICA

 

Hispanic contractors have been looking for that information Prior to now few yrs. So we developed a program to prep them on The biggest Method to bid on tasks, The biggest Method to estimate, The biggest Method to do a takeoff. 

Principally, everyfactor They Want to know So as that They’ve A greater alternative For fulfillment. 

What made empowering the labor strain your No. 1 precedence?

Everytime you converse to our members, They’re hungry for information.

They Want to be enchancment professionals who know The biggest Method to be aggressive, not get ripped off and make exact money. 

And We now have members Who’re doing that. We have a member in San Antonio who recently went from making A million dollars a yr To creating A million dollars 1 / 4. 

The enchancment enterprise wants extra widespread contractors, particularly extra Hispanic widespread contractors. That’s Definitely one of many factors Which will make a distinction Inside the enterprise.

How will your group assist tackle the labor scarcity Inside the enterprise?

Properly, we encourage extra people to joInside the enchancment enterprise. One completely different factor is that We have to Get entangled Inside The fedperiodl authorities. Immigration reform Goes to be needed if We’d Want To Carry on monitor with completely different tasks. So we’ll be advocates for that. 

We Want to convey extra youthful people into the enchancment enterprise.

The message in society is Do you have to Want To understand success, You’d like to be A doctor or a lawyer.

However an electrician or plumber, they’re making $150,000 a yr, Further money than people assume.

We Want to get that message out there, To permit them To Search out out To hitch enchancment.

This story was up So far To incorporate demographic knowledge on widespread contractors.