20 April 2016 - Business View Caribbean
Orlando and Tampa; another one is in the Dominican
Republic developing housing. So, even though it’s a
local association, a lot of our developers are actually
working elsewhere.”
There are three tiers of membership in the Associa-
tion: builders, developers, and investors; associates,
who are those who have some relationship with the
construction industry, such as suppliers, etc.; and
professionals – licensed architects, lawyers, brokers,
and accountants, or others who are involved with the
industry via their professional services. “Our revenue
comes from membership, from seminars, from lun-
cheons, from annual conventions, from golf tourna-
ments,” Diaz explains. “And a big part of our revenue
comes from sponsorships from suppliers and different
members of the industry.”
“We have over 100 members, right now,” adds Diaz.
“Those numbers have dwindled quite a bit because
of what happened in 2008 and the fact that we be-
gan the recession in Puerto Rico in 2006. But we are
starting to see some serious growth. In the last year,
we’ve seen 15 percent more members either coming
back again after they left, or new members. These new
members are mostly international people coming from
different places – Canada, the U.S. – wanting to invest
in Puerto Rico and they feel that the first place they
need to invest is to become a member of the Associa-
tion.”
Diaz says that the Association keeps in touch with its
members via a monthly newsletter, the Association’s
website, and a weekly email. “We also have Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Facebook; so we’re active in social me-
dia,” he says. Updating its communication platforms
has been a key focus of the Association lately, since,
according to Diaz, there is an undeniable “changing
of the guard.” “The Millennials are slowly taking over,”
he says. “The sons and daughters of family companies
are taking leadership of them. So, we’re in an exciting
time because of the generational change – the new
energy and the confidence that we perceive within the
membership.”
The Association’s staff is quite small – there’s only an
Executive Director, an Assistant Director, and a recep-
tionist. That is because the Board of Directors, which
according to Diaz is “one of the most respected boards
of any association on the island for the quality of peo-
ple we have and their importance within the industry
and the economic development of Puerto Rico,” has
decided to farm out much of the Association’s day-to-
day responsibilities. For example, lobbyists are under
contract and press and social media people work out
of a public relations company. “So, we’ve been able to
maintain with a limited, slim amount of people, while
offering very accurate and efficient service because
we contract a lot of it,” he says.
As the Association looks ahead, Diaz says that Puerto
Rico’s construction industry is being challenged to re-
spond to the changing needs of the island. “We have
to be creative,” he says. “We have to come up with dif-
ferent options – a new vision when it comes to build-
