Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Home Builders Wear Many Hats

May 10, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
George McMahan, the president of the West Texas Home Builders Association, writes in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal about what it takes to be a home builder. He notes that “a home builder guides dozens of skilled artisans and professionals,” and must “understand all of the home’s complex systems and know enough about each contractor’s trade in order to coordinate this skilled team to build and sell a quality product.” Additionally, home builders must “serve as liaisons with their communities and local government officials.” After the site is selected and homes are being built, “a home builder acts as an inspector.” McMahan notes that “a professional home builder will make certain the home meets both code and warranty guidelines long before and after the officials show up.” “Home builders,” he says, “are schedulers and record keepers.” They have to “tackle multiple tasks simultaneously in order to keep the construction process moving forward.” They “wear many, many hats,” so that they can “deliver a home where the new owners can hang their own hats, raise a family and build lifelong memories.” Read the court decision
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Five-Year Peak for Available Construction Jobs

December 11, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
There are more job openings in construction now than there have been since 2008. The October jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 124,000 job openings in construction. With the demand for workers, some builders have experienced labor shortages, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB expects the trend to continue into 2014, “if firms can find workers with the right skills.” Read the court decision
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Several Wilke Fleury Attorneys Featured in Sacramento Magazine’s 2023 Top Lawyers!

October 30, 2023 — Wilke Fleury LLP
Wilke Fleury is extremely proud of its incredibly talented attorneys! Congratulations to Steven Williamson, Islam Ahmad, Matthew Powell, Adriana Cervantes, Daniel Foster, Neal Lutterman, Aaron Claxton, George Guthrie, Trevor Stapleton, David Frenznick, Michael Polis, Daniel Egan, and Stephen Marmaduke, who are all featured in Sacramento Magazine’s 2023 List of Top Lawyers! Reprinted courtesy of Wilke Fleury LLP Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Texas School System Goes to Court over Construction Defect

December 30, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
The Zapata County Independent School District filed a lawsuit against Satterfield and Pontikes, claiming construction defect in two schools and two gyms that the company built for the district, according to the Laredo Morning Times. The company built two elementary schools, Zapata South and Fidel & Andrea Villarreal, and the gyms were built at Zapata North and Arturo L. Benavides. The case is scheduled to reach the courtroom in January, 2014. Read the court decision
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Arctic Roads and Runways Face the Prospect of Rapid Decline

July 19, 2021 — Tony Frangie Mawad - Bloomberg
Melting permafrost across Arctic regions has already caused highways to buckle and homes to sink. A new study conducted in the north of Alaska helps explain why rising temperatures are hitting roads, airports and other infrastructure particularly hard. Researchers who monitored temperatures and melting near Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope documented how the thawing of frozen ground beneath a highway tended to spread laterally to the side of the road, with the melting process accelerated by snow accumulations and puddling. Those interactions led to more rapid thawing than in areas of undisturbed permafrost. Researchers also found that melting in their test area, alongside a highway that runs atop permafrost, followed a two-phase process — a gradual initial thaw, followed by an accelerated process once warming exceeded a critical point. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tony Frangie Mawad, Bloomberg

Visual Construction Diaries – Interview with Jeff Sassinsky of Fovea Aero

November 30, 2017 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
Jeff Sassinsky, President of Fovea Aero, gave me a live demonstration on Fovea Aero Vision – an app that allows you to a get a fully immersive visual construction diary of your project. The idea for the development of Fovea Aero Vision came from discussions with general contractors, owners, and other construction industry professionals. They were talking about the use of smartphones, particularly phone cameras, in construction. The photos, for example, of a fitting that does not look right end up in a folder on a server or goes back and forth in email messages. “The lack of any structure behind both the collection and the storage and sharing of the photos is hampering their usage,” Jeff said. “We wanted to solve the problem by creating a full record of everything that takes place on a construction site, on a regular basis, sharing it among the stakeholders, and making it super easy to use.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at info@aepartners.fi

First-Time Homebuyers Make Biggest Share of Deals in 17 Years

February 22, 2018 — Prashant Gopal – Bloomberg
Millennials are playing homeownership catch-up. First-time buyers rushed into the market last year, making 38 percent of all U.S. single-family home purchases, the biggest share since 2000, data released Thursday by Genworth Mortgage Insurance show. The 2.07 million new or existing homes bought by first-timers was 7 percent more than in 2016, according to the insurer, part of Genworth Financial Inc. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Prashant Gopal, Bloomberg

Contractors Board May Discipline Over Workers’ Comp Reporting

November 06, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
California recently passed AB 1794, which authorized the Employment Development Department to share information it received on new hires with other agencies. The bill also allows the Contractors State License Board to audit members based on this information to determine if contractors are engaging in workers’ compensation fraud. Writing on the Cumming & White construction litigation blog, Iman Reza notes that “the new law is intended to deter contractors from cutting corners in underreporting employees.” The CSLB will be able to discipline contractors who seek to gain an illegitimate competitive advantage by circumventing the law. Read the court decision
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FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES