154 years of the same job.
Collect what is being built across Central New York, and put it in front of the people who could build it. The methods have changed completely. The job has not.
- founded in Syracuse
- April 1872
- oldest builders exchange in the US
- 1st
- largest in New York State
- 1st
What the Exchange is
The Syracuse Builders Exchange is a membership association of construction industry employers — general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, architectural and engineering firms, and the insurance, legal and financial businesses that serve them — across eighteen counties of Central and Upstate New York.
What it does is old and simple. Owners, architects and construction managers hand it a project. It indexes that project by trade and puts it in front of every member who could bid it, then reports back what happened — the addenda, the bid dates, the apparent low bidders and the awards. Everything else the association does grew out of the fact that several hundred construction employers were already in one room.
It is not a union, a licensing body or a regulator. It does not bid work and it does not build. Membership does not certify a firm, and a listing in the Buyer’s Guide is not a recommendation.
The mission, as the association states it
To further the best intentions of the building and construction industry in Central and Upstate New York; to uphold wholesome relationships among all constituents of the industry and the public they serve; to foster just and equitable principles for the conduct of business within it; and to acquire and disseminate information and materials useful to the building and construction industry.
How it got here
- 1872
The Builders Board of Trade
Founded in Syracuse on April 30 by Laurence Ryan, at a point when the city's building trades had no common place to exchange information about work coming up.
- 1895
Building Industry Employers of New York State
The statewide association the Exchange is affiliated with is founded, giving Central New York's employers a voice beyond the county line — and, much later, the negotiating weight behind the retirement and insurance programmes members use today.
- 1900
The Syracuse Builders Exchange
The organization takes the name it still carries.
- Today
The oldest in the country, the largest in the state
Roughly 950 member firms across an eighteen-county Central and Upstate New York footprint, a plan room carrying the region's commercial bid documents, and a Buyer's Guide listing 681 firms across 764 trades.
The Exchange is affiliated with Building Industry Employers of New York State, founded 1895.
An association is judged on what it does for people who are not in it.
Construction Career Day puts more than five hundred Central New York high school students on real equipment every October. The Exchange partners with the Syracuse City School District’s Career and Technical Education programme, runs a mentorship programme for contractors new to the industry, awards scholarships each year, and stands behind David’s Refuge and Make-A-Wish Central New York.
