In the debut episode of Inside the Envelope, host Benjamin Scales sits down with Bill Coltzer, Jr., founder of Zero/Six Consulting and the driving force behind NABCTA, for a conversation about where the organization came from and why the building envelope industry needs it.
Bill walks through the origin story: NABCTA was modeled after Barry Cope‘s BCTA in the UK and was originally meant to be a six-company consortium. When that fell apart, Billy found himself holding a legal entity and a big question. The answer was training. By separating the educational arm from Zero/Six Consulting, NABCTA became neutral ground where even direct competitors can show up, learn together, and write a check without feeling like they’re funding the competition.
The conversation covers what makes NABCTA’s approach different: unbiased, experience-based curriculum with no product pushing or hidden agendas. Whether you’re an architect, a glazer, a project manager, or a building owner, the four-day program has something for you.
Bill and Ben also tackle the difference between consulting and commissioning, a distinction that gets blurred constantly. Billy’s definition is simple: commissioning is a process to verify performance, period. They also dig into the Building Enclosure Risk Manager (BERM) certification, which grew out of a rising tide of building envelope litigation and the need to think about risk across the whole building.
Bill closes with his vision for NABCTA’s future: an organization that outlasts him, grows beyond Zero/Six, and creates real career pathways for tradespeople while raising standards across the industry.