The lucky winner

The Daily Reporter just celebrated a milestone of sorts. One of our construction data reporters registered the 30,000th bidding opportunity recorded in our Jobtrac database since we began keeping computerized files back in 1996.

The reporter was Pat Pups, one of our junior-most staff members with only 18 years' experience reporting on bidding prospects. With only a little less than two decades building the sources that make The Daily Reporter the best place to find construction bidding opportunities, Pat deferred to her more experienced colleagues. Those 25-year-plus veterans told Pat this was a big deal, even if balloons and confetti didn't fall from the ceiling.

We celebrated with a company lunch. (OK, so I ordered pizzas.) That's when we started talking about how many construction jobs we've reported over the last century. We don't have computerized records, but it must number in the hundreds of thousands in the 102 years since this newspaper began posting public bidding notices and reporting on jobs. We've actually recorded the building of this state. That's definitely worth celebrating.

Of course, we probably had fewer reporters way back then. We didn't have faxes, e-mails and all the other technology that gives us rapid access to the latest news. But the whole world moved at a slower pace.

In 10 years, a database of 30,000 records might look a little anemic thanks to all that is becoming available to us. We're positioning the newspaper to take in all that information and to dig deeper for jobs you won't find elsewhere.

In the coming weeks, we'll be telling you about how our increased commitment to stay ahead of all that new bidding information.
Among our commitments, we intend to continue working in partnership with Wisconsin's builders exchanges - the people who collect all those blueprints for the jobs listed in the pages of our newspaper.

The following plan-room profiles should give you ideas about the options available. As we researched, we learned that there's something for everyone, from the most sophisticated service offering plans electronically, to the smaller builders exchange offering a bargain in blueprints. You can even bid the night away at the region's only 24-hour contractors exchange.

So go ahead and scour through the pages of today's - and every day's - Daily Reporter for bidding opportunities and contact the builders exchange of your choice for the details.

- Liz Oplatka