HBAJC to BASO

Building the Future by Brad Bennington

In 1965, a group of local builders got together and talked about the future of housing for Southern Oregon. At the time, Oregon didn’t have a statewide building code, (and wouldn’t until July 1974) let alone a planning code. Just about anyone could build just about anything, just about anywhere, with any materials they could find.

It’s a testimony to the craftsmanship of those early builders that we have as many buildings as we do from those days of “anything goes” construction. The building community looked forward and saw that the Rogue Valley was going to grow so they formed the Home Builders Association of Jackson County (HBAJC) to create that important framework for the growth on the horizon.

For over 50 years the Home Builders Association of Jackson County served our local residential construction industry. The HBAJC is the reason that home construction in Southern Oregon is safe, comfortable and sustainable.

In the past few years, the HBAJC began working with commercial construction contractors as well to keep up with changing times and the regulatory zeal of our legislators.

In 2015, we saw that our work and our reach had outgrown our original mission. We needed a new plan that recognized the expansion of our services to commercial construction firms and their partners. This new expanded scope of operation required the re-branding and renaming or our organization. This past August we officially changed our name and brand from HBAJC to Builders Association of Southern Oregon (BASO). BASO is the primary source for construction related education, advocacy and policy in Southern Oregon.