BERT HOWE
  • Nationwide: (800) 482-1822    
    condominium building expert Cambridge Massachusetts housing building expert Cambridge Massachusetts industrial building building expert Cambridge Massachusetts custom home building expert Cambridge Massachusetts casino resort building expert Cambridge Massachusetts low-income housing building expert Cambridge Massachusetts mid-rise construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts hospital construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts townhome construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts retail construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts custom homes building expert Cambridge Massachusetts tract home building expert Cambridge Massachusetts parking structure building expert Cambridge Massachusetts structural steel construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts production housing building expert Cambridge Massachusetts institutional building building expert Cambridge Massachusetts high-rise construction building expert Cambridge Massachusetts Medical building building expert Cambridge Massachusetts concrete tilt-up building expert Cambridge Massachusetts Subterranean parking building expert Cambridge Massachusetts condominiums building expert Cambridge Massachusetts office building building expert Cambridge Massachusetts
    Cambridge Massachusetts construction scheduling and change order evaluation expert witnessCambridge Massachusetts ada design expert witnessCambridge Massachusetts concrete expert witnessCambridge Massachusetts OSHA expert witness constructionCambridge Massachusetts reconstruction expert witnessCambridge Massachusetts construction expert testimonyCambridge Massachusetts construction expert witness consultant
    Arrange No Cost Consultation
    Building Expert Builders Information
    Cambridge, Massachusetts

    Massachusetts Builders Right To Repair Current Law Summary:

    Current Law Summary: Case law precedent


    Building Expert Contractors Licensing
    Guidelines Cambridge Massachusetts

    No state license required for general contracting. Licensure required for plumbing and electrical trades. Companies selling home repair services must be registered with the state.


    Building Expert Contractors Building Industry
    Association Directory
    Builders Association of Central Massachusetts Inc
    Local # 2280
    51 Pullman Street
    Worcester, MA 01606

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    Massachusetts Home Builders Association
    Local # 2200
    700 Congress St Suite 200
    Quincy, MA 02169

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    Builders Association of Greater Boston
    Local # 2220
    700 Congress St. Suite 202
    Quincy, MA 02169

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    North East Builders Assn of MA
    Local # 2255
    170 Main St Suite 205
    Tewksbury, MA 01876

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Western Mass
    Local # 2270
    240 Cadwell Dr
    Springfield, MA 01104

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    Bristol-Norfolk Home Builders Association
    Local # 2211
    65 Neponset Ave Ste 3
    Foxboro, MA 02035

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod
    Local # 2230
    9 New Venture Dr #7
    South Dennis, MA 02660

    Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert 10/ 10


    Building Expert News and Information
    For Cambridge Massachusetts


    ICYMI: Highlights From ABC Convention 2024

    Governor Ducey Vetoes Water and Development Bills

    Construction Defect Not a RICO Case, Says Court

    Homebuilding on the Rise in Nation’s Capitol

    #7 CDJ Topic: Truck Ins. Exchange v. O'Mailia

    KY Mining Accident Not a Covered Occurrence Under Commercial General Liability Policy

    Contractor Jailed for Home Repair Fraud

    Build, Baby, Build. But Not Like This, Britain.

    Recommendations and Drafting Considerations for Construction Contingency Clauses Part III

    Single-Family Home Starts Seen Catching Up to Surging U.S. Sales

    As Laura Wreaks Havoc Along The Gulf, Is Your Insurance Ready to Respond?

    Does Stricter Decertification Mean More “Leedigation?”

    Whether Subcontractor's Faulty Workmanship Is an Occurrence Creates Ambiguity

    The Brooklyn Condominium That’s Reinventing Outdoor Common Space

    Denver Airport Terminates P3 Contract For Main Terminal Renovation

    Insured's Motion for Reconsideration on Protecting the Integrity of Referral Sources under Florida Statute s. 542.335

    Tiny Houses Big With U.S. Owners Seeking Economic Freedom

    Louisiana Court Holds That Application of Pollution Exclusion Would Lead to Absurd Results

    Court Narrowly Interprets “Faulty Workmanship” Provision

    Increases in U.S. Office Rents Led by San Jose and Dallas

    Account for the Imposition of Material Tariffs in your Construction Contract

    San Francisco House that Collapsed Not Built to Plan

    Federal Contractors Should Request Debriefings As A Matter Of Course

    Construction Employment Rises in Half of the States

    Hawaii Federal District Court Compels Appraisal

    Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Insurance Recovery Practice, Andrea DeField and Cary D. Steklof, Recognized as Legal Elite

    Public Contract Code 9204 – A New Mandatory Claims Process for Contractors and Subcontractors – and a Possible Trap for the Unwary

    Can a Home Builder Disclaim Implied Warranties of Workmanship and Habitability?

    Texas Walks the Line on When the Duty to Preserve Evidence at a Fire Scene Arises

    Builder Survey Focuses on Green Practices of Top 200 Builders

    Neither Designated Work Exclusion nor Pre-Existing Damage Exclusion Defeat Duty to Defend

    Federal Lawsuit Accuses MOX Contractors of Fraud

    Alabama Federal Magistrate Recommends Dismissal of Construction Defect Declaratory Judgment Action Due to Expanded Duty to Defend Standard

    Condo Building Increasing in Washington D.C.

    Mandatory Arbitration Provision Upheld in Construction Defect Case

    Construction Defect Class Action Lawsuit Alleges National Cover-up of Pipe Defects

    Suspend the Work, but Don’t Get Fired

    Haight Brown & Bonesteel Ranked on the 2017 "Best Law Firms" List by U.S. News - Best Lawyers

    Discussion of History of Construction Defect Litigation in California

    Hunton Insurance Coverage Partner Lawrence J. Bracken II Awarded Emory Public Interest Committee’s 2024 Lifetime Commitment to Public Service Award

    Florida Federal Court to Examine Issues of Alleged Arbitrator Conflicts of Interests in Panama Canal Case

    Contract Change # 10: Differing Site Conditions (law note)

    CEB’s Mechanics Liens and Related Remedies – 2014 Update

    Buildings Don't Have To Be Bird-Killers

    Defeating the Ten-Year Statute of Repose For Latent Construction Defects

    Eleventh Circuit Affirms Jury Verdict on Covered Property Loss

    Land Planners Not Held to Professional Standard of Care

    Is Drone Aerial Photography Really Best for Your Construction Projects?

    Construction Continues To Boom Across The South

    Another TV Fried as Georgia Leads U.S. in Lightning Costs
    Corporate Profile

    CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS BUILDING EXPERT
    DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

    The Cambridge, Massachusetts Building Expert Group is comprised from a number of credentialed construction professionals possessing extensive trial support experience relevant to construction defect and claims matters. Leveraging from more than 25 years experience, BHA provides construction related trial support and expert services to the nation's most recognized construction litigation practitioners, Fortune 500 builders, commercial general liability carriers, owners, construction practice groups, and a variety of state and local government agencies.

    Building Expert News & Info
    Cambridge, Massachusetts

    Florida Condo Collapse Victims Reach $1 Billion Settlement

    May 23, 2022 —
    Victims of the South Florida condominium collapse that killed 98 people last year reached settlements totaling almost $1 billion with defendants including the developer of an adjacent luxury tower, engineers and a law firm for the condo association. The massive deal was cobbled together through multiple agreements before a state court hearing Wednesday in Miami, according to Harley S. Tropin, one of the lead plaintiffs’ lawyers who had sued on behalf of survivors and victims’ families. He said he disclosed the settlements in court. “We are pleased to have resolved this case with the defendants to get what we think is a very fair recovery to help end the litigation and allow the victims to attain some means of attempting to move forward from this horrific tragedy,” Tropin said in an emailed statement. The 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed June 24, triggering multiple lawsuits and prompting state and federal probes. A focus was the development of the Renzo Piano-designed Eighty Seven Park high-rise next door to the Champlain Towers. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Erik Larson, Bloomberg

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

    November 15, 2022 —
    Today’s guest post is by one of my favorite construction lawyers and friends, Burr partner Ned Nicholson in our Columbia, SC office. Ned regularly represents clients in construction defect and compensation claims, manufacturer/dealer disputes, and insurance coverage lawsuits. He is also a South Carolina certified mediator. Ned can be reached at nnicholson@burr.com or (803) 799-9800. If you are a homebuilder, residential housing developer, construction industry insurer, or any one of the many participants in the industry providing affordable and decent housing for the citizens of South Carolina, you are already aware that South Carolina courts have for decades prioritized the promotion of consumer (i.e., home buyer) rights, usually at the expense of the providers of housing. There is nothing inherently wrong with that; the goal is laudable. But as in so many things, the implementation has been extremely costly for the residential construction industry as a savvy plaintiff’s bar has taken advantage of grey areas that are inevitably created in our judicial system. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Matthew Devries, Burr & Forman LLP
    Mr. Devries may be contacted at mdevries@burr.com

    Under Colorado House Bill 17-1279, HOA Boards Now Must Get Members’ Informed Consent Before Bringing A Construction Defect Action

    April 11, 2018 —
    Last year, I wrote a post calling attention to stalled efforts in the Colorado legislature to pass meaningful construction defect reform. Shortly thereafter, the legislature got it done in the form of House Bill 17-1279. This bill creates an important pre-litigation notice-and-approval process whenever an HOA initiates a construction defect action in its own name or on behalf of two or more of its members. Before May 2017, the pre-litigation requirements that an HOA had to fulfill before bringing a construction defect claim under the Colorado Construction Defect Action Reform Act (“CDARA”) were generally minor. For example, while many declarations required majority approval from the community prior to initiation of claims, in practice, what the industry was seeing is that some HOAs were making it so that only a majority of the HOA Board had to approve bringing the claim, rather than the majority of interested unit owners. It was also common that, even where the majority of owners were involved, they were often voting in favor of filing a lawsuit or arbitration without fully understanding the risks and costs. This practice presented a risk to developers—it is easier to get approval from a small group than from a larger group, and it is easier to get approval when the voting owners do not fully appreciate the risks and costs inherent in filing a claim. Colorado House Bill 17-1279, which was signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper in May 2017 and is codified at C.R.S. § 38-33.3-303.5, lessens these risks by amending the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”) to add certain pre-litigation requirements. Section 38-33.3-303.5 applies any time an HOA institutes a construction defect action its own name on behalf of itself or two or more unit owners on matters affecting the common interest community. C.R.S. §§ 38-33.3-302(1)(d), -303.5(1)(a). Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Luke Mecklenburg, Snell & Wilmer
    Mr. Mecklenburg may be contacted at lmecklenburg@swlaw.com

    Attorney-Client Privilege in the Age of Cyber Breaches

    October 18, 2021 —
    Investigations and forensic reports relating to a cybersecurity breach may not always be protected by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection. Companies seeking such reports after a data breach must take caution to protect them from a possible waiver of privilege in the event of subsequent litigation relating to a data breach. The following recent cases highlight the potential waiver of privilege in light of the preparation of a forensic report.
    1. In re Capital One Consumer Data Security Breach Litigation, 2020 WL 3470261 (E.D. Va. June 25, 2020)
    • After a data breach occurred, Capital One retained a law firm that later entered into an agreement with Mandiant for various cyber-related services (including incident remediation), which required that Mandiant provide deliverables to the firm, rather than to Capitol One. In re Capital One Consumer Data Security Breach Litigation, 2020 WL 2731238, at *1 (E.D. Va. June 25, 2020). Plaintiffs sought release of the report created by Mandiant (regarding the factors leading to the breach), arguing that it was prepared for business and regulatory purposes and therefore was not privileged, while Capital One argued that the report was privileged because it was prepared in anticipation of litigation. Ibid. The Court determined that Capital One did not carry its burden of establishing that the report was protected by the attorney work-product doctrine and ordered that Capital One produce the report. Id. at *7. In its reasoning, the Court stated that the fact that there is litigation does not, by itself, provide prepared materials with work-product protection. Ibid. The work-product protection applies when a party faces a claim following an event that may result in litigation, and the work product would not have been prepared in a substantially similar form but for the prospect of that litigation. Ibid.
    Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Shaia Araghi, Newmeyer Dillion
    Ms. Araghi may be contacted at shaia.araghi@ndlf.com

    Do You Have the Receipt? Pennsylvania Court Finds Insufficient Evidence That Defendant Sold the Product

    December 23, 2024 —
    In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Coway USA, Inc., No. 22-cv-3516, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192849, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (District Court) considered whether the plaintiff produced sufficient evidence to establish that the defendant sold and/or marketed a product and, thus, could be held liable for an alleged defect in the product. The plaintiff, a subrogating insurance carrier, brought strict product liability and breach of warranty claims against the defendant—the installer of a bidet in its insured’s home—claiming that the defendant also marketed and sold the bidet. The sole evidence to support a finding that the defendant sold the bidet was the homeowner’s testimony that she bought the product from the installer. The court found that the insured’s testimony, without any documentation or other corroborating evidence, was insufficient to establish that the defendant sold the product. Since proof of a sale is a required element for strict product liability and breach of warranty claims, the District Court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing the case. This case involved a water loss to the Pennsylvania residence of Mikyung Kim and her husband Adrian Kim (collectively, the Kims) that was discovered in April 2021. An investigation revealed that the water loss originated from the failure of a bidet for a toilet in the second-floor bathroom. The Kims alleged that defendant, Coway USA, Inc. (Coway), sold the bidet and installed it around 2010. An employee of the plaintiff’s liability expert, a materials engineer, opined that a T-connector—a plastic valve that regulates the flow of water to and through the bidet—failed due to overtightening of the connector during the manufacturing process. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Gus Sara, White and Williams
    Mr. Sara may be contacted at sarag@whiteandwilliams.com

    Hirers Must Affirmatively Exercise Retained Control to be Liable Under Hooker Exception to Privette Doctrine

    September 12, 2023 —
    Don’t drink and drive people. I mean seriously. It’s been over 40 years since California native Candace Lightner formed Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 1980 after her 13-year-old daughter, Candace, was killed by a drunk driver who later served just 9 months in jail before getting out and getting into his sixth (yes, sixth) drunk driving accident. It hurts the victims and their families, makes a mess for the offender (and their family), and, as the next case, Marin v. Department of Transportation, 88 Cal.App.5th 529 (2023), illustrates, can needlessly draw out the pain as the victim’s family seeks financial recourse for their emotional loss from others. Miguel Angel Rodriguez De La Cruz, a highway construction worker, was killed by a drunk driver. I’m not sure what his family did on the legal front after his death – perhaps sued the drunk driver – but among possible others they sued the California Department of Transportation. And they lost. Although there is no such thing as “winning” and “losing” in these types cases. It’s just losing and losing. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
    Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

    Congress Addresses Homebuilding Credit Crunch

    May 20, 2011 —

    The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that Representatives Gary Miller (CA), Brad Miller (NC) and twenty-nine cosponsors have put forth a bill with bipartisan support to “address the severe credit crunch for acquisition, development, and construction (AD&C) financing.” They report in addition to more than 1.4 million construction workers who have been “idled since 2006,” the housing slump has cost 3 million jobs and $145 million in wages.

    NAHB reports that they worked closely with lawmakers on the bill. The association had members meet with legislators both in D.C. and in their home districts. They state that HR 1755 would help homebuilders “find the credit they need to move forward with new or existing projects.”

    The bill would allow lenders to use the value upon completion when assessing loan collateral and ban the use of foreclosed or distressed sale properties in assessing values of projects. The would bill would also lessen restrictions by banking regulators, which the lead sponsors said “have hindered federal and state chartered banks and thrifts’ ability to make and maintain loans to qualified small home builders that have viable projects.”

    The NAHB is urging members of Congress to cosponsor the bill and is urging the Senate to introduce a companion bill.

    Read the full story…

    Read HR 1755

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

    The New York Lien Law - Top Ten Things You Ought to Know

    December 23, 2023 —
    Over the course of my career, I have had the privilege of working with and representing numerous construction lenders (and borrowers/developers) in the financing of some of the largest commercial projects in the United States. A number of these projects have been in New York, where one encounters the New York Lien Law (the “Lien Law”). Many of my clients, particularly those lenders, borrowers, and their counsel, located outside of New York, are often perplexed by my advice regarding the Lien Law and the loan structuring requirements which result. In the hope that it would be helpful (especially for non-New York counsel), I have compiled a “top ten” list outlining, in my view, the most critical (and most perplexing) aspects of structuring New York construction loans under the Lien Law. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Ralph E. Arpajian, White and Williams LLP
    Mr. Arpajian may be contacted at arpajianr@whiteandwilliams.com