Juli Bacon is the founder and president of JB Consulting Systems. With more than two decades of human resource and business experience, she has developed both a strategic and practical approach to HR within the residential building industry. Bacon is also the immediate past National Professional Women in Building chair.

We appreciate Darylene Dennon and Juli Bacon for being such motivational leaders in our Professional Women in Building Council.

Learn more about PWB and get involved at mbaks.com/pwb or facebook.com/groups/MBAKSPWB

Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBKAS) has once again partnered with Gelotte Hommas Drivdahl Architecture (GHDA) to produce a project for Gingerbread Village—on display now through January 1, 2025 at the Sheraton Grand Seattle.

This year’s theme is Iconic Destinations. Our project is “Vive La Paris." The display showcases many recognizable Paris landmarks and offers a few special surprises you won’t want to miss.

Project lead Eric Drivdahl designed and constructed this year’s gingerbread project with help from his talented team at GHDA and a dedicated group of volunteers.

Special thanks to MBAKS’ Mike Pattison and Allison Butcher who contributed many hours to the project and Amber Snellgrove for crafting fondant characters for the display; Joe White of Corner 2 Corner Builders Llc for building the bases for our project; MBAKS 1^st Vice President Jennifer Tennyson for volunteering during the construction phase; and our Breakthrough T1D Elf Lina and her family for their help and support from developing the design to the reveal day ceremony.

Support Breakthrough T1D and Diabetes Research
While this event is free, a $5 donation is recommended, and all proceeds go to Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF). You can donate online by voting for your favorite project. Please vote for Paris, France/Elf Lina to help support this great cause.

Visiting Gingerbread Village
Add to your holiday fun list by visiting our project! Viewing hours are 9am to 9pm Sunday through Thursday, and 9am to 11pm Friday and Saturday between now and New Year’s Day.

By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

Construction employment in Washington state reached 227,900 in December 2019, according to preliminary numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is the highest statewide construction employment number recorded by BLS for Washington in the past decade. Last month’s increase of 1,200 construction jobs in our state was led by a gain of 700 specialty trade contractor jobs, according to the Employment Security Department..

The Builder's Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report: