BERT HOWE
  • Nationwide: (800) 482-1822    
    parking structure building expert Seattle Washington multi family housing building expert Seattle Washington townhome construction building expert Seattle Washington condominiums building expert Seattle Washington office building building expert Seattle Washington institutional building building expert Seattle Washington structural steel construction building expert Seattle Washington mid-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington hospital construction building expert Seattle Washington custom home building expert Seattle Washington high-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington custom homes building expert Seattle Washington casino resort building expert Seattle Washington condominium building expert Seattle Washington housing building expert Seattle Washington Subterranean parking building expert Seattle Washington production housing building expert Seattle Washington tract home building expert Seattle Washington landscaping construction building expert Seattle Washington low-income housing building expert Seattle Washington Medical building building expert Seattle Washington retail construction building expert Seattle Washington
    Seattle Washington construction expert testimonySeattle Washington roofing construction expertSeattle Washington expert witnesses fenestrationSeattle Washington construction defect expert witnessSeattle Washington window expert witnessSeattle Washington construction expert witnessSeattle Washington ada design expert witness
    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


    What is Bad Faith?

    Appropriation Bill Cuts Military Construction Spending

    Traub Lieberman Partner Bradley T. Guldalian Wins Summary Judgment

    Hawaii Federal District Court Denies Title Insurer's Motion for Summary Judgment

    Energy Efficiency Ratings Aren’t Actually Predicting Energy Efficiency

    Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Asbestos Exclusion in Alleged Failure to Disclose Case

    The Case For Designers Shouldering More Legal Responsibility

    Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans for Contractors: Lessons From the Past

    OSHA ETS Heads to Sixth Circuit

    Review your Additional Insured Endorsement

    The Relevance and Reasonableness of Destructive Testing

    Insurer Wrongfully Denies Coverage When Household Member Fails to Submit to EUO

    SIGAR Report Finds +$15 Billion in “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” in Afghanistan

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

    2017 Construction Outlook: Slow, Mature Growth, but No Decline, Expected

    No Escape: California Court of Appeals Gives a Primary CGL Insurer’s “Other Insurance” Clause Two Thumbs Down

    Federal Courts Reject Insurers’ Attempts to Recoup Defense Costs Expended Under Reservation of Rights

    AEM Pursuing ISO Standard for Earthmoving Grade-Control Data

    Eighth Circuit Affirms Judgment for Bad Faith after Insured's Home Destroyed by Fire

    Draft Federal Legislation Reinforces Advice to Promptly Notify Insurers of COVID-19 Losses

    Mental Health and Wellbeing in Construction: Impacts to Jobsite Safety

    Hunton Insurance Coverage Group Ranked in National Tier 1 by US News & World Report

    New York's Highest Court Says Asbestos Causation Requires Evidence Of Sufficient Exposure To Sustain Liability

    Despite Increased Presence in Construction, Women Lack Size-Appropriate PPE

    Deadly Fire in Older Hawaii High-Rise Causes Sprinkler Law Discussion

    Sometimes You Get Away with Unwritten Contracts. . .

    How is Negotiating a Construction Contract Like Buying a Car?

    Homebuilding Continues to Recover in San Antonio Area

    Design Professionals Owe a Duty of Care to Homeowners

    Nebraska Joins the Ranks—No CGL Coverage for Faulty Work

    Kentucky Court Upholds Arbitration Award, Denies Appeal

    New Spending Measure Has Big Potential Infrastructure Boost

    CA Supreme Court: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) is the Exclusive Remedy for Residential Construction Defect Claims – So Now What?

    Colorado Passes Construction Defect Reform Bill

    Texas Supreme Court Cements Exception to “Eight-Corners” Rule Through Two Recent Rulings

    Wood Product Rotting in New Energy Efficient Homes

    North Carolina Supreme Court Addresses “Trigger of Coverage,” Allocation and Exhaustion-Related Issues Arising Out of Benzene-Related Claims

    Products Liability Law – Application of Economic Loss Rule

    Opoplan Introduces Generative AI Tools for Home-Building

    District Court Allows DBE False Claims Act Case to Proceed

    Property Damage, Occurrences, Delays, Offsets and Fees. California Decision is a Smorgasbord of Construction Insurance Issues

    North Miami Beach Rejects as Incomplete 2nd Engineering Inspection Report From Evacuated Condo

    Bad News for Buyers: U.S. Mortgage Rates Hit Highest Since 2014

    Meet the Hipster Real Estate Developers Building for Millennials

    Fla. Researchers Probe 'Mother of All Sinkholes'

    Federal Court Ruling Bolsters the “Your Work” Exclusion in Standard CGL Policies

    HUD Homeownership Push to Heed Lessons From Crisis, Castro Says

    Home Building Up in Kansas City

    Defective Panels Threatening Profit at China Solar Farms: Energy

    Gilroy Homeowners Sue over Leaky Homes
    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

    Man Pleads Guilty in Construction Kickback Scheme

    November 06, 2013 —
    Mark M. Palombaro, a former vice president at Simon Property Group, a development firm, has plead guilty to receiving $766,000 from the head of a construction firm in payback for the projects. Robert E. Crawford at Fox Chapel then overbilled for these projects, which were located in Seattle, Washington and Laguna Beach, California, in order that he and Mr. Palombaro would profit. The total value of the projects, overbilling included, was $15 million. The two men settled a civil suit brought by Simon Property Group by paying $3.3 million. Mr. Crawford plead guilty in June. He admitted to bribing Mr. Palombaro. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    Las Vegas Sphere Lawsuits Roll On in Nevada Courtrooms

    October 02, 2023 —
    Big concerts have yet to start at Las Vegas’ distinctive new ball-shaped entertainment venue, but the legal noise over its construction has been heard in Clark County courtrooms for more than two years. Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, Engineering News-Record Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    Chinese Billionaire Sues Local Governments Over Project Payment

    January 28, 2015 —
    The billionaire founder of closely held China Pacific Construction Group sued six local governments in a bid to force payment of 900 million yuan ($144 million) his company is owed for infrastructure projects. Yan Jiehe said today he was trying to prove a point and winning the lawsuits wasn’t his main goal. Courts in Hebei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Shandong provinces accepted the cases, he said in an interview. “We cannot let the governments work without any supervision anymore,” Yan said. “The results of the lawsuits are not that important to me and I care more about rule of law.” Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg News

    Include Materials Price Escalation Clauses in Construction Clauses

    December 26, 2022 —
    The construction sector has been in a bull market for an unprecedented period of time. With the novel impacts from the coronavirus—and all the associated side effects, such as government moratoria, shipping delays and materials availability—we are now in a market of extreme volatility in pricing, inflation and increasing capital finance rates. And yet the construction sector continues to plow forward despite uncertainty, producing critical infrastructure, and much necessary housing, among other projects. The signs are that this trend will continue at least through Q1 of 2023, and likely beyond that, especially when you factor into the equation the many billions of dollars being placed into the market through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It is not surprising, therefore, that the number one issue in construction contracts in 2022 is how parties handle inflation and materials cost escalations in existing contracts and in the negotiations for new contracts. There is no other issue more heavily negotiated, often disputed and hotly debated in the construction sector today. Reprinted courtesy of Robert Alfert Jr., Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of
    Mr. Alfert may be contacted at robert.alfert@nelsonmullins.com

    Breach of an Oral Contract and Unjust Enrichment and Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

    December 23, 2023 —
    In an ideal world, parties would have written contracts. In reality, parties should endeavor to ensure every transaction they enter into is memorialized in a written contract. This should not be disputed. Of course, written contracts are not always the case. Parties enter transactions too often whereby the transaction is not memorialized in a clean written agreement. Rather, it is piecemealing invoices, or texts, or discussions, or proposals and the course of business. A contract can still exist in this context but it is likely an oral contract. Keep in mind if there is a dispute, what you think the oral contract says will invariably be different than what the other party believes the oral contract says. This “he said she said” scenario gets removed, for the most part, with a written contract that memorializes the written terms, conditions, and scope. A recent federal district court opinion dealt with the alleged breach of an oral contract. In Movie Prop Rentals LLC vs. The Kingdom of God Global Church, 2023 WL 8275922 (S.D.Fla. 2023), a dispute concerned the fabrication and installation of a complex, modular stage prop to be used for an event. But here lies the problem. The dispute was based on an oral contract and invoices. The plaintiff, the party that was fabricating the modular stage prop, sued the defendant, the party that ordered the stage prop for the event, for non-payment under various claims. The defendant countersued under various claims. 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

    Construction Litigation Roundup: “Sudden Death”

    October 17, 2023 —
    It’s not football, though. Rather, just when you thought it was safe in Louisiana to wait to file a garden-variety construction contract payment claim, an appellate court slams the door on it – applying a statute of “repose” to your claim. “Personal actions” – such as an action on contract – are generally subject in Louisiana to a 10-year “liberative prescription,” the applicable statute of limitations pursuant to Louisiana Civil Code article 3499. Like some other states, Louisiana has a statute of “repose” – imposing “peremption” rather than prescription for claims having to do with construction projects – limiting those claims (generally speaking) to five years post-completion. Like other statutes of “repose,” Louisiana Revised Statute 9:2772 provides that claims on construction projects may not be filed after five years, a duration which is not subject to interruption or extension. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
    Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com

    Aarow Equipment v. Travelers- An Update

    January 16, 2024 —
    Previously here at Musings, I discussed the application of pay if paid clauses and the Miller Act. The case that prompted the discussion was the Aarow Equipment & Services, Inc. v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. case in which the Eastern District of Virginia Federal Court determined that a “pay if paid” clause coupled with a proper termination could defeat a Miller Act bond claim. However, as I found out a couple of weeks ago at the VSB’s Construction Law and Public Contracts section meeting, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded this case in an unpublished opinion (Aarow Equipment & Services, Inc. v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Co.) In it’s opinion, the 4th Circuit looked at some of the more “interesting” aspects of this case. One of these circumstances was that Syska (the general contractor) directed Aarow to construct sedimentary ponds and other water management measures around the project (the “pond work”), which both agreed was outside of the scope of the work defined in their subcontract. Syska asked that the government agree to a modification of the prime contract and asked Aarow to wait to submit its invoice for the pond work until after the government issued a modification to the prime contract and Syska issued a change order to the subcontract. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
    Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

    Tokyo Building Flaws May Open Pandora's Box for Asahi Kasei

    October 28, 2015 —
    Japanese real estate investment trusts are joining apartment owners and regulators in pushing Asahi Kasei Corp. for answers on an apartment building sagging sideways on the outskirts of Tokyo, as concerns are mounting that it may not be an isolated case. REITs including Advance Residence Investment, Nippon Accommodation Fund Inc., Daiwa House Residential Investment Corp. and Japan Rental Housing Investment Inc. have all asked Asahi Kasei for details on what other buildings might be flawed, according to the trusts. Asahi Kasei disclosed on Thursday the names of prefectures where the company has undertaken work in the past 10 years on more than 3,000 buildings, after the land ministry requested the data. The sites include 342 schools, 257 medical and health-care facilities, 696 housing complexes and 217 office buildings, the firm said. Asahi Kasei, the subcontractor of the project, said a unit didn’t properly install foundation piles at an apartment building in Yokohama, and the division falsified data on the work. The scandal has sent Asahi Kasei’s shares down more than 21 percent since Oct. 13, when news of the flawed building first emerged. Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co., the contractor, plunged 25 percent and those of Mitsui Fudosan Co., which sold units at the Yokohama project in 2006, have tumbled 5 percent since then. All three companies said that the impact of the incident on their earnings is not yet clear. Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg reporters Kathleen Chu, Joji Mochida and Katsuyo Kuwako Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of