1923 Building Contractors Association formed.
1938 Reorganized under the same name to become a “State” organization with chapters in various communities.
1939 Orange County Chapter chartered.
1945 OC charter revoked but replaced with three separate chapters: Central OC, North OC and South Coast Chapters.
1946 Builder-Developer Chapter withdrew from the BCA and formed a Home Builders Institute charter which became the Home Builders Association of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties.
1958 Central and North OC chapters merged to Orange County Chapter
1960 South Coast merged with Orange County Chapter.
1967 Official consolidation of HBA and BCA into Building Industry Association of California, Inc.
1978 Changed name to Building Industry Association of Southern California.

Other points of interest:

Laguna Beach actually had its own Home Builder Association from (1939-1954).

In 1942 the Federal Government issued an order restricting building and use of building materials. Construction stopped in many areas, a good number of contractors were put out of business, others joined the armed forces or took government work. Because of this, ten chapters (not OC) became inactive in the 1940s.

In 1968 the OC Chapter had about 20 Board members and 125-150 members. The Executive Director (Royce Colm) was paid by BIA/SC and he worked from the Title Insurance and Trust Co. Gwen Rosebeary was a secretary for the Title company and they donated her services to the BIA. Gwen was eventually hired by BIA/SC but was almost terminated because SC did not want to pay for two staff members. Thus began event fund raising. Gwen was hired by BIA/OC making $25 a day. Gwen continued to work for the BIA for 29 years before retiring, and today an award that recognizes member volunteerism is presented annually in her name.

Today – The OC Chapter represents over 600 member companies and over 100,000 employees within the building industry. Your involvement is what makes BIA strong.

For a complete history of BIA/Southern California, please click here.