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CGA Will Turn Your Associate Into a Beneficial Partner

Building is a complicated business. When you choose subcontractors, suppliers, architects, attorneys and other associates to work with, don’t you want them to understand what you do, how they fit into the project and the day-to-day issues you face?

Participants in the Certified Graduate Associate (CGA) program have taken the time to learn about your business so they can serve you better. They have learned about the issues and obstacles you face and have demonstrated a commitment to learning how to help you succeed. Through CGA classes, they have become “beneficial partners.”

CGA classes help broaden your associates’ knowledge and understanding of your business. These professional education classes give associates a view of the big picture. What’s more, individual courses like Scheduling and Introduction to Business Management help tie in how particular elements of the business affect others and how everything is interrelated.

As a CGA, I also can say that spending hours sitting with builders and discussing the situations they have used both successfully and unsuccessfully was among the best educational experiences I have ever had. Now that I’ve earned my CGA, when I meet with builders, I now know I can get

I wear my CGA designation badge at meetings with builders and other industry professionals and can’t tell you how many people have stopped and noticed. It’s a great conversation starter.

But it all starts with you, the builder. If you encourage your vendors and suppliers to get involved in CGA the program, they will. Have you ever asked your vendors or contractors if they are a CGA? If you ask, your best partners will take the time to learn how they can participate, and once they have, you both will benefit.

By the way, my husband, Nelson, is a custom builder. I believe that now that I’ve earned my CGA, I will be able to understand his business a little better, too.

Robin S. Newhouse, CGA, is vice chair of NAHB’s Associate Members Committee and has been an employee of Dominion Virginia Power for more than 19 years. She is an active member of the Fredericksburg Area Builders Association, the Home Builders Association of Virginia and NAHB.

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