Q&A with Dick Cattanach: Dick Cattanach has been the executive director of the Alaska chapter of the Associated General Contractors for four years. Cattanach has worked in the construction industry for more than 20 years.

• Author: Campbell, Melissa
• Position: Interview

ABM: What is the mission at AGC?

Cattanach: We try to represent our members, help people understand the importance of the industry to the state of Alaska.

ABM: How do you do that?

Cattanach: We concentrate primarily on elected officials; try to become very visible in the legislative process so that at least when they are considering laws they will consider our position. For the most part, if they consider our position-and we try to be reasonable-we can usually work something out.

We're also actively involved in schools, trying to improve the perception of construction as an industry and as a career. That's a formidable task. Most parents raise their kids to go to college; I did. Construction is a blue-collar profession, and there is room for college graduates: you have architects, engineers, construction managers. But most of the work is done by blue-collar workers and most parents don't raise their kids to become blue-collar workers.

It's one of the highest-paying career opportunities other than going to college, but it isn't as glamorous as computers and things like that.

ABM: I've read there's a shortage of construction workers nationwide. Is that true in Alaska, too?

Cattanach: Definitely.

ABM: What's causing that?

Cattanach: Perception is a large part of it, but it's also a fundamental statistical problem.

The baby boomers are looking to retire. There are a lot of construction workers in that age group. That group is much bigger than the group now in their late teens and 20s. You have a much larger number leaving the work force than are entering it to replace them.

Then you have the perception of construction: it's a dirty, hard job. And people want their kids to start off as a doctor, a lawyer.

We're making efforts into elementary schools just to get people's perceptions toward construction to change. If you go into a fifth-grade class and ask what the kids are going to do, probably 90 percent say they are going to go to college. When you get to middle school, you get the same percentage. But when you get to high school, you'll find about 30 percent of those kids say they are going to college. Somewhere between middle and high school, kids are choosing not to go to college.

We're trying to make sure they don't deselect construction; that they understand construction is a viable career and that they look positively on that as a career.

ABM: About the school programs, you start in elementary schools?

Cattanach: We start in fifth and sixth grades for the Build Up Program. It's fun, group learning. They build bridges and other...