Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Labor Shortages In Construction

December 04, 2023 — Jason Feld & Chris Bates - Kahana Feld
Similar to other industries, the ongoing labor shortage crisis in the United States is detrimentally impacting construction activities in both the residential and commercial sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the turnover rate for the construction industry since 2021 has risen to 56%. And while the national unemployment rate ranges between 0.4% to 7.5%, the unemployment rate for construction is roughly four times the national average (See, Associated Builders and Contractors, Markenstein Advisors Report dated July 28, 2023). 73% of workers preferred to stay in a remote work environment, and another 40% of the global workforce has elected to voluntarily remove themselves from the workplace. (See, 2021 Microsoft Work Index). In particular with the construction industry, employment rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels hovering around 12% unemployment in 2020 to 6% in 2022. (See, Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, Carlos Martin). So where did all the workers go? During the height of the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic and for the next few years, the county experienced what most people are calling “The Great Resignation”. May people took jobs with better pay and better alignment with their values. Approximately 40% stated a new business. Many elected to become stay-at-home parents forgoing a paycheck to raise their families while the other spouse works, especially due to the rising costs of childcare. About 1 in every 4 baby-boomers retired. Others took part-time employment, entered military service or left the workforce due to disability or injury. (See, Bloomberg Businessweek). Reprinted courtesy of Jason Feld, Kahana Feld and Chris Bates, Kahana Feld Mr. Feld may be contacted at jfeld@kahanafeld.com Mr. Bates may be contacted at cbates@kahanafeld.com Read the court decision
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Condo Collapse Spurs Hometown House Member to Demand U.S. Rules

July 19, 2021 — Parker Purifoy - Bloomberg
A Florida congresswoman called for stricter federal building-safety standards on Thursday to prevent a repeat of the condominium collapse that killed at least 60 people and left dozens more missing in her state. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat whose congressional district includes the condo development in Surfside, said more buildings could collapse or break down as they age and the federal government needed to have a “minimum floor” of safety requirements. “We do have standards that are tangentially related at the federal level and so I do think it’s important to look into what standards should be adopted at the national level, at a minimum, because this is a tragedy of epic proportions,” she said on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” with David Westin. “We can’t allow this to ever happen again.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Parker Purifoy, Bloomberg

Rhode Island Closes One Bridge and May Have Burned Others with Ensuing Lawsuit

October 07, 2024 — Bill Wilson - Construction Law Zone
The state of Rhode Island recently filed a lawsuit against 13 companies that provided design, construction, and inspection services over the past ten years (the extent allowed by the applicable statute of limitations) to the Washington Bridge, which carries I-195 between East Providence and Providence. The bridge was abruptly closed in December 2023 following the discovery of alleged fractured steel tie-downs critical to the bridge’s stability and additional deterioration in cantilever beams throughout the bridge. Before the closure, approximately 90,000 vehicles per day traveled over the bridge. The complaint alleges that the defendants, the majority of which are experienced, industry-leading firms in their respective fields, were negligent and breached their respective contracts with the State. The State contends that every company that worked on the bridge over the past ten years missed the serious structural conditions alleged. The lawsuit also claims that the State has suffered millions of dollars of damages since the bridge was closed and seeks indemnity and contribution from all defendants to the extent that the State may be liable to third parties in the future. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bill Wilson, Robinson & Cole LLP

ConsensusDOCS Updates its Forms

October 21, 2015 — Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law Musings
As reported recently in ENR Magazine, among other publications, the ConsensusDOCS folks have updated their contract forms. Why is this news? First of all, it’s only been around three and a half years since these documents were officially released and this release is about 18 months sooner than anticipated (the original revision cycle was to be 5 years). Why the revision? According to my friend and counsel to ConsensusDOCS, Brian Perlberg, one major rationale is that “the economics of the construction industry today looks nothing like it did [in 2007.” Among the changes are several terminology changes (“constructor” instead of “contractor” for instance), the addition of mandatory green building design as a basic service (these forms already have a Green Building Addendum) if included in the Owner’s plan and the ability to provide for prevailing party attorney fees (before both sides of a dispute bore their own fees). Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Climate Change a Factor in 'Unprecedented' South Asia Floods

July 18, 2022 — The Associated Press (Aniruddha Ghosal & Al-Emrun Garjon) - Bloomberg
Sylhet, Bangladesh (AP) -- Scientists say climate change is a factor behind the erratic and early rains that triggered unprecedented floods in Bangladesh and northeastern India, killing dozens and making lives miserable for millions of others. Although the region is no stranger to flooding, it typically takes place later in the year when monsoon rains are well underway. This year's torrential rainfall lashed the area as early as March. It may take much longer to determine the extent to which climate change played a role in the floods, but scientists say that it has made the monsoon — a seasonable change in weather usually associated with strong rains — more variable over the past decades. This means that much of the rain expected to fall in a year is arriving in a space of weeks. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg

COVID-19 Response: Environmental Compliance Worries in the Time of Coronavirus

April 20, 2020 — Karen Bennett, Jane Luxton, William Walsh & Amanda Tharpe - Lewis Brisbois
Earlier this week, a rumor made the rounds that a forthcoming Presidential Executive Order would impose a nationwide mandate that all employees work remotely. While the rumor proved baseless, it raised questions about manufacturers’ abilities to comply with environmental permit obligations in the event of a COVID-19 precipitated operational shutdown due to federal or state mandates or workforce depletion resulting from widespread illness. Previous emergencies offer some insights on what to expect as companies and their counsel assess environmental business risk. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, several bills were introduced in Congress that would have allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive or modify requirements, issue emergency permits, or expedite permits as needed to respond to disaster and recovery needs. In the end, no new legislation was enacted, because existing emergency powers under environmental statutes proved sufficient to allow for waiver of regulatory requirements or exercise of enforcement discretion. Key provisions include the following:

The Clean Water Act’s (CWA) affirmative defense for “upset” conditions. This provision excuses non-compliance with technology-based permit effluent limitations due to factors outside the permittee’s control. Criteria for establishing the defense include: 1) the upset occurred and the permittee can identify the cause, 2) the permitted facility was at the time being properly operated, 3) the permittee submitted notice of the upset (24 hour notice), and 4) the permittee complied with any remedial measures required under 40 C.F.R. §122.41(d).

Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith attorneys Karen Bennett, Jane Luxton, William Walsh and Amanda Tharpe Ms. Bennett may be contacted at Karen.Bennett@lewisbrisbois.com Ms. Luxton may be contacted at Jane.Luxton@lewisbrisbois.com Mr. William may be contacted at William.Walsh@lewisbrisbois.com Ms. Amanda may be contacted at Amanda.Tharpe@lewisbrisbois.com Read the court decision
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Defining Constructive Acceleration

March 22, 2021 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
When it comes to the definition of “constructive acceleration,” the case of Fraser Const. Co. v. U.S., 384 F.3d 1354 (Fed.Cir. 2004) is a cited case and contains an instructive definition, quoted below, for proving a constructive acceleration claim. In a nutshell, a constructive acceleration claim is when the contractor incurs added costs for trying to complete the contract on time when it should be provided extensions of time to perform based on excusable delay (i.e., delay not caused by the contractor). These added costs could be bringing in additional supervision to manage the work, adding manpower to perform the work, working overtime, working weekends, adding more shift work, stacking trades, etc. However, just because a contractor claims they have been constructively accelerated does not make it so. The contractor has to actually ask for an extension of time based on an excusable delay and the owner either denied the extension or unreasonably sat on the request for an extension of time; thus, the contractor incurred significant costs to accelerate in order to finish the project on time because it was deprived of a requested time extension for excusable delay. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (12/4/24) – Highest Rate of Office Conversions, Lending Caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Affordability Challenges for Homebuyers

December 23, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, infrastructure-related ballot initiatives, U.S. Green Building Council’s success stories, support for sustainable building, and more!

2024 is expected to see the highest rate of office conversions since CBRE began tracking them in 2016. (Nish Amarnath, SmartCities Dive)
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has established lending caps of $73 billion each for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, allowing them to purchase a total of up to $146 billion in multifamily loans in 2025. (Leslie Shaver, Multifamily Dive)
A number of infrastructure-related initiatives with the potential to impact facilities managers were on the ballot during the 2024 U.S. presidential election. (Joe Burns, Construction Dive)

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Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES