ABC of Wisconsin commercial construction team earns gold at National Craft Championships

ABC OF WISCONSIN ELECTRICAL APPRENTICE EARNS SILVER; CARPENTRY APPRENTICE EARNS SAFETY AWARD

ORLANDO, Florida – Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin announced several employees of its member companies earned awards at the 34th annual National Craft Championships (NCC) during ABC Convention 2023 in Orlando, Florida, March 15-17.

Charlie Earle of Milestone Plumbing Inc., Matt McGrath of Sure-Fire Inc., Eric Munz of PDC Electrical Contractors/A-1 Electric, and Tyler Odegard of Royal Construction, Inc., took the gold award in the competition’s team-commercial contest. The team members didn’t know each other until the week of the competition. The four craft journey-level professionals worked as a team to complete a series of craft-specific tasks focused on electrical, plumbing, sheet metal/HVAC and carpentry in a six-hour period.

“It was so awesome to meet such a great group of guys. We all immediately got along really well,” said Charlie Earle of Milestone Plumbing Inc. “We were able to work like we’ve all worked together for years after only meeting for the first time the day before the competition. It was a super enjoyable experience and I felt proud of the work we accomplished. I was nervous during the awards ceremony but was relieved to hear we won. The news took a couple hours to finally sink in.”

The NCC showcased the skills and expertise of nearly 200 of the nation’s top-performing craft professionals, including carpenters, electricians, pipefitters, plumbers, welders and more, all vying for top honors in 16 competitions with skills on display in 12 crafts. NCC also featured a team competition with journey-level craft professionals from different crafts working to complete a joint project. The competition included a two-hour online exam and a six-hour practical performance test.

In addition to the team competition, Wisconsin was represented in the NCC competition by Hayden Oestreich of Lyons Electric in the residential-commercial electrical division, Alex Rodriguez Vazquez of Dave Jones, Inc. in the plumbing division, and Ali Gordee of Northcentral Construction Corp., in the carpentry division.

Hayden Oestreich, an electrical apprentice for Lyons Electric, took the silver award in the competition’s residential and commercial electrical contest. Oestreich had advanced to the NCC after receiving the top score in electrical during ABC of Wisconsin’s Skill Competition on Jan. 27 in West Bend.

Ali Gordee, a carpentry apprentice for Northcentral Construction Corp., received the safety award in the competition’s carpentry contest. Gordee is only the second female from ABC of Wisconsin to compete at the NCC. Gordee had advanced to the NCC after receiving the top score in carpentry during ABC of Wisconsin’s Skills Competition on Jan. 27 in West Bend.