Imagine yourself as an accomplished professional who's successfully completed hundreds of construction projects and who's now being called as an expert witness. Imagine, too, that the judge discounts your testimony because he recognizes the architect and the engineer as the only "professionals" who testified. That unfortunate experience happened to Walter Nashert, founder of Nashert Constructors Inc., and the founding member of AIC.
How did he respond? By laying the groundwork for the courts to recognize constructors as members of a profession. Nashert recruited the support of colleagues on the construction education committee of the Associated General Contractors of America.
Together they formed the American Institute of Constructors in 1971. Like the American Bar Association or American Medical Association, AIC exists to establish and maintain standards for a profession. Today, as constructors decide for themselves whether to become professionals in the formal sense of the word, they might consider this history.
The term "constructor" may be confusing to some people, since the term "contractor" is used more widely in the industry. A contractor is the person or entity that enters into a contract. In our industry, we have prime contractors, general contractors, subcontractors, specialty subs and others. But a constructor, who's always an individual, is a designated professional with the skills to carry out a construction contract.