BERT HOWE
  • Nationwide: (800) 482-1822    
    condominium building expert Seattle Washington parking structure building expert Seattle Washington mid-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington retail construction building expert Seattle Washington townhome construction building expert Seattle Washington custom home building expert Seattle Washington hospital construction building expert Seattle Washington low-income housing building expert Seattle Washington high-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington multi family housing building expert Seattle Washington Medical building building expert Seattle Washington condominiums building expert Seattle Washington production housing building expert Seattle Washington housing building expert Seattle Washington tract home building expert Seattle Washington structural steel construction building expert Seattle Washington industrial building building expert Seattle Washington custom homes building expert Seattle Washington concrete tilt-up building expert Seattle Washington Subterranean parking building expert Seattle Washington institutional building building expert Seattle Washington casino resort building expert Seattle Washington
    Seattle Washington defective construction expertSeattle Washington delay claim expert witnessSeattle Washington stucco expert witnessSeattle Washington building consultant expertSeattle Washington architectural engineering expert witnessSeattle Washington window expert witnessSeattle Washington structural concrete expert
    Arrange No Cost Consultation
    Building Expert Builders Information
    Seattle, Washington

    Washington Builders Right To Repair Current Law Summary:

    Current Law Summary: (SB 5536) The legislature passed a contractor protection bill that reduces contractors' exposure to lawsuits to six years from 12, and gives builders seven "affirmative defenses" to counter defect complaints from homeowners. Claimant must provide notice no later than 45 days before filing action; within 21 days of notice of claim, "construction professional" must serve response; claimant must accept or reject inspection proposal or settlement offer within 30 days; within 14 days following inspection, construction pro must serve written offer to remedy/compromise/settle; claimant can reject all offers; statutes of limitations are tolled until 60 days after period of time during which filing of action is barred under section 3 of the act. This law applies to single-family dwellings and condos.


    Building Expert Contractors Licensing
    Guidelines Seattle Washington

    A license is required for plumbing, and electrical trades. Businesses must register with the Secretary of State.


    Building Expert Contractors Building Industry
    Association Directory
    MBuilders Association of King & Snohomish Counties
    Local # 4955
    335 116th Ave SE
    Bellevue, WA 98004

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Kitsap County
    Local # 4944
    5251 Auto Ctr Way
    Bremerton, WA 98312

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Spokane
    Local # 4966
    5813 E 4th Ave Ste 201
    Spokane, WA 99212

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of North Central
    Local # 4957
    PO Box 2065
    Wenatchee, WA 98801

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    MBuilders Association of Pierce County
    Local # 4977
    PO Box 1913 Suite 301
    Tacoma, WA 98401

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    North Peninsula Builders Association
    Local # 4927
    PO Box 748
    Port Angeles, WA 98362
    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Jefferson County Home Builders Association
    Local # 4947
    PO Box 1399
    Port Hadlock, WA 98339

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10


    Building Expert News and Information
    For Seattle Washington


    Rooftop Solar Leases Scaring Buyers When Homeowners Sell

    EPA Rejects Most of N.Y.’s $511 Million Tappan Zee Loan

    Finding Highway Compromise ‘Tough,’ DOT Secretary Says

    Gilroy Homeowners Sue over Leaky Homes

    Housing Starts in U.S. Surge to Seven-Year High as Weather Warms

    Be Proactive, Not Reactive, To Preserve Force Majeure Rights Regarding The Coronavirus

    Colorado’s Federal District Court Finds Carriers Have Joint and Several Defense Duties

    Beam Fracture on Closed Mississippi River Bridge Is at Least Two Years Old

    Trio of White and Williams Attorneys Named Top Lawyers by Delaware Today

    Construction Firm Settles Suit Over 2012 Calif. Wildfire

    Orlando Commercial Construction Permits Double in Value

    Insurer's Motion to Dismiss Complaint for Failure to Cover Collapse Fails

    New York City Dept. of Buildings Explores Drones for Facade Inspections

    Less Than Perfectly Drafted Endorsement Bars Flood Coverage

    CDJ’s #2 Topic of the Year: Ewing Constr. Co., Inc. v. Amerisure Ins. Co., 2014 Tex. LEXIS 39 (Tex. Jan.17, 2014)

    The Power of Planning: Four Key Themes for Mitigating Risk in Construction

    Coverage Under Builder's Risk Policy Properly Excluded for Damage to Existing Structure Only

    Canada Cooler Housing Market Boosts Poloz’s Soft Landing

    Payment Bond Claim Notice Requires More than Mailing

    Georgia Local Government Drainage Liability: Nuisance and Trespass

    Texas exclusions j(5) and j(6).

    Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (08/30/23) – AI Predicts Home Prices, Construction’s Effect on the Economy, and Could Streamline Communications for Developers

    San Francisco OKs Revamped Settling Millennium Tower Fix

    Remodel Gets Pricey for Town

    Wildfire Is Efficient Proximate Cause of Moisture Reaching Expansive Soils Under Residence

    Developers Celebrate Arizona’s Opportunity Zones

    Did the Court of Appeals Just Raise the Bar for California Contractors to Self-Report Construction-Related Judgments?

    Appraisal Panel Can Determine Causation of Loss under Ohio Law

    Construction Litigation Roundup: “Apparently, It’s Not Always Who You Know”

    Time is of the Essence, Even When the Contract Doesn’t Say So

    A Few Green Building Notes

    Conspirators Bilked Homeowners in Nevada Construction Defect Claims

    Blueprint for Change: How the Construction Industry Should Respond to the FTC’s Ban on Noncompetes

    Ahlers Distinguished As Top Super Lawyer In Washington And Nine Firm Members Recognized As Super Lawyers Or Rising Stars

    Colorado House Bill 20-1290 – Restriction on the Use of Failure to Cooperate Defense in First-Party Claims

    New York Court Rules on Architect's Duty Under Contract and Tort Principles

    New York’s Lawsky Proposes Changes to Reduce Home Foreclosures

    Home Builders and Developers Beware: SC Supreme Court Beats Up Hybrid Arbitration Clauses Mercilessly

    Zetlin & De Chiara Ranked in the Top Tier for Construction Law by Legal 500 USA

    Nevada Senate Minority Leader Confident about Construction Defect Bill

    #1 CDJ Topic: McMillin Albany LLC v Superior Court of California

    Mitsui Fudosan Said to Consider Rebuilding Tilted Apartments

    2017 Colorado Construction Defect Recap: Colorado Legislature and Judiciary Make Favorable Advances for Development Community

    President Trump Repeals Contractor “Blacklisting” Rule

    Ahlers & Cressman’s Top 10 Construction Industry Contract Provisions

    Largest Per Unit Settlement Ever in California Construction Defect Case?

    Benford’s Law: A Seldom Used Weapon in Forensic Accounting

    Insurer's Motion to Dismiss Complaint for Collapse Coverage Fails

    West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar Announced for 2014

    Five Actions Construction and Energy Risk Managers Can Take to Avoid the Catastrophic Consequences of a Cyber Attack
    Corporate Profile

    SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT
    DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

    Leveraging from more than 7,000 construction defect and claims related expert witness designations, the Seattle, Washington Building Expert Group provides a wide range of trial support and consulting services to Seattle's most acknowledged construction practice groups, CGL carriers, builders, owners, and public agencies. Drawing from a diverse pool of construction and design professionals, BHA is able to simultaneously analyze complex claims from the perspective of design, engineering, cost, or standard of care.

    Building Expert News & Info
    Seattle, Washington

    An Expert’s Qualifications are Important

    January 28, 2019 —
    An expert’s qualifications are important. Please remember this the next time you retain an expert to analyze documents or data and render an opinion based on that information. An expert must be qualified to render an opinion. Otherwise the expert will not be allowed to render the opinion you may be looking for or need for purposes of trial, as discussed below. A recent personal injury case, White v. Ring Power Corp., 43 Fla.L.Weekly D2729a (Fla. 3d 2018), involved a crane operator that became severely injured when operating a leased crane. The case proceeded to trial against only the equipment lessor of the crane based on the plaintiff’s contention that there were deficiencies with the crane. The plaintiff intended on using expert witnesses to interpret the crane’s load movement indicator (referred to as LMI) and render opinions that the LMI data showed prior overloads of the crane which resulted in the injury to the operator of the crane. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
    Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

    Colorado “property damage” caused by an “occurrence” and exclusions j(5) and j(6) “that particular part”

    August 11, 2011 —

    In Continental Western Ins. Co. v. Shay Construction, Inc., No. 10-cv-02126 (D. Col. July 28. 2011), general contractor Milender White subcontracted with insured Shay for framing work.   Shay in turn subcontracted some of its work to others.  When Shay?s subcontractors filed suit against Shay and Milender White seeking payment for their work, Milender White cross-claimed against Shay for breach of contract alleging that,Milender White notified Shay during construction that some of Shay?s work was defective and that when Shay repaired its defective work, it damaged work performed by others.  Shay’s CGL insurer Continental Western filed suit against Milender White and Shay seeking a judicial declaration of no coverage.  The federal district trial court granted Continental Western?s motion for summary judgment.

    Read the full story…

    Reprinted courtesy of CDCoverage.com

    Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    Court of Appeal Holds Only “Named Insureds” May Sue for Bad Faith Under California FAIR Plan Policy

    May 10, 2021 —
    In Wexler v. California Fair Plan Association (No. 303100, filed 4/14/21), Brooke Wexler’s parents insured their residence, which was located in a mountainous high-fire risk area, with a California FAIR Plan Association owner-occupied dwelling policy. The policy only listed Wexler’s parents and did not name Wexler, their adult child, under the policy’s “Insured Name” section. The FAIR Plan expressly disclaimed coverage for “unnamed people,” referred to by the court as the “no-coverage-for-unnamed-persons clause.” FAIR Plan was created by the Legislature in 1968 and is a joint reinsurance association created to give homeowners in high risk areas access to basic property insurance and is a self-described “insurer of last resort.” Reprinted courtesy of Valerie A. Moore, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP and Kathleen E.M. Moriarty, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP Ms. Moore may be contacted at vmoore@hbblaw.com Ms. Moriarty may be contacted at kemoriarty@hbblaw.com Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    Finding Insurer's Declaratory Relief Action Raises Unsettled Questions of State Law, Case is Dismissed

    November 05, 2024 —
    The federal district court for the District of Hawaii dismissed the insurer's action for declaratory relief because it raised issues that were unsettled by Hawaii courts. Association of Apartment Owners of Lahaina Residential Condominium, et al., No. 1-24-cv-00075-JAO-BMK, Order Granting AOAO's Motion to Dismiss (D. Haw. Aug. 29, 2024). The case addressed whether a property damage exclusion barred coverage over an owner's claim that a condominium association and its property manager failed to obtain adequate insurance before the condominium's property was damaged by the Maui wildfire in August 2023. Great American filed suit seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify the Association and the property manage, Quam Properties Hawaiiana, Inc., in connection with a demand for mediation submitted to the Association and Quam on behalf of one of the owners. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
    Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

    Contractual Setoff and Application When Performance Bond Buys Out of its Exposure

    July 02, 2024 —
    The theory of “setoff” is an important theory in construction disputes. Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal recently provided worthy discussion on contractual setoffs:
    Setoffs in contract claims are governed by [Florida Statute] section 46.015(2), which provides that if a plaintiff has released “any person in partial satisfaction of the damages sued for, the court shall [setoff] this amount from the amount of any judgment to which the plaintiff would be otherwise entitled at the time of rendering judgment.” The setoff statute intends to prohibit plaintiffs from getting double recoveries.
    A setoff requires that settling and non-settling parties be jointly and severally liable. The settled damages must also be the same damages for which the setoff is sought; stated differently, a setoff is not proper where the trial damages to be setoff are separate and distinct from the settled damages.
    Close Construction, LLC v. City of Riviera Beach Utility Special District, 49 Fla.L.Weekly D1184d (Fla. 4th DCA 2024) (internal citations omitted). Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
    Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

    U.S. Homeownership Rate Rises for First Time in Two Years

    October 28, 2015 —
    The homeownership rate in the U.S. rose for the first time in two years as sustained job growth and low borrowing costs fueled demand for housing. The share of Americans who own their homes was 63.7 percent in the third quarter, up from 63.4 percent in the previous three months, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2013. The pool of eligible buyers is expanding as U.S. employment improves and families who lost properties during the recession repair their credit and seek another chance at owning. Sales of existing homes rebounded in September to the second-highest level since February 2007. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Prashant Gopal, Bloomberg

    Washington Supreme Court Interprets Ensuing Loss Exception in All-Risk Property Insurance Policy

    May 20, 2024 —
    The "ensuing loss" clause is a provision that restores coverage for property insurance claims that are subject to certain policy exclusions, such as “faulty workmanship” and “faulty design.” It applies in cases where there is damage from a covered cause of loss that ensues, or results from, the excluded cause of loss. Courts across jurisdictions have grappled with interpreting the breadth of this clause, leading to varying conclusions regarding its scope and applicability. One of the primary challenges in interpreting “ensuing loss” lies in determining the ultimate cause of damage. Courts must ascertain whether the ensuing loss is sufficiently distinct from the excluded event to warrant coverage under the policy. This analysis often hinges on whether the cause of loss is thought to constitute a separate and independent occurrence or is merely a continuation or exacerbation of the excluded event. Reprinted courtesy of David G. Jordan, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. and William E. Phillips IV, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. Mr. Jordan may be contacted at DJordan@sdvlaw.com Mr. Phillips may be contacted at WPhillips@sdvlaw.com Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    How Long Does a Civil Lawsuit Take?

    August 14, 2018 —
    How long does a civil lawsuit take? One common question among parties to a civil lawsuit, whether a plaintiff or defendant, is how long will it take to reach a resolution? The answer is tricky. The time it takes to resolve a civil lawsuit is highly dependent on various factors including the complexity of the matter and the parties’ willingness to settle. At the outset, parties to a civil case may resolve the matter at any time by mutual agreement (i.e., settlement). In that case, the parties draft a Stipulation and Order outlining the terms of the agreed settlement and submit the document to the judge for approval. Absent of any glaring inequity in the terms of the Stipulation, the judge will typically approve of the parties’ settlement, and the matter will be deemed resolved (either in whole or in part, depending on the case, the terms of the settlement and indemnity agreement). Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara