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Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Wins 2025 DBIA National Design-Build Student Competition

Teams from the University of Florida and Alfred State College came in second and third in this year’s airport expansion challenge

DBIA 2025 award winners — DBIA

DBIA ED/CEO Lisa Washington (left) poses with 2025 National Design-Build Student Competition winning team D&T Construction from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at the Design-Build Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Nov. 7, 2025.

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, has won the 2025 National Design-Build Student Competition, presented by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). The team’s innovative response to this year’s airport expansion challenge earned top honors among 33 participating teams from across the nation.

The annual competition challenges student teams to apply Design-Build Done Right® principles to a real-world project scenario, testing their ability to collaborate, innovate and deliver solutions that balance cost, schedule and quality. Seven regional winners advanced to the Request for Proposals phase, and the top three finalists presented their proposals live during the Design-Build Conference & Expo in Las Vegas on November 6 before a panel of industry experts.

Winners:

1st Place: D&T Construction – California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
2nd Place: Cypress Construction – University of Florida
3rd Place: Pioneer Design-Build – Alfred State College
Best Individual Presenter: Asa Richards, University of Florida

The Best Individual Presenter Award recognizes the student who demonstrates exceptional communication, professionalism and mastery of their project during the final presentation round.

DBIA thanks Parsons Corporation for sponsoring this year’s student programming and HCSS for providing its cost-estimating platform to participating teams.

“What we see in this competition each year is the future of our industry taking shape,” said Lisa Washington, DBIA Executive Director/CEO. “These students already understand how to align teams, manage complexity and deliver value. These are the skills that will make them immediate assets in a market demanding design-build leadership.”