Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Times Square Alteration Opened Up a Can of Worms

January 26, 2017 — Nadine M. Post – Engineering News-Record
Compared with some of its Manhattan neighbors, a high-rise on the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 47th Street looks standard. Like many buildings in Times Square, the 41-story retail-entertainment-hotel development, nearly topped out, has a tower springing from a boxy base that will sport a flashy billboard. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Nadine M. Post, Engineering News-Record
Ms. Post may be contacted at postn@enr.com

'Taylor Swift Is an Economic Phenomenon': CE's Q1 2024 Economic Update and Forecast

April 29, 2024 — Grace Calengor - Construction Executive

On March 27, Construction Executive presented its "2024 Q1 Economic Update and Forecast," hosted by ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. If you've attended previous versions of this webinar, you're familiar with Basu’s pragmatic approach to the economics of the construction industry and his penchant for predicting recession. But this quarter, he opted for an almost-optimistic approach and hinted at walking back his thoughts on recession. Read the most quotable moments, new poll results and top takeaways from the presentation below.

POLL RESULTS: Q1 2024 vs. Q4 2023 Poll 1: Which of these is the leading challenge for your company today?

Supply chain and/or materials issues

Skills/worker shortage

Insufficient demand for construction services

Availability of financing for projects/project work

None of the above

December 2023	March 2024
10%	7%
57%	60%
11%	11%
19%	17%
3%	6%

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DOJ to Prosecute Philadelphia Roofing Company for Worker’s Death

June 17, 2015 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
While Construction Dive reported that it’s rare for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute employers for on-the-job deaths, the DOJ “plans to prosecute the owner of a Philadelphia roofing company for alleged crimes that the government claims led to the death of a construction worker.” According to Construction Dive, James J. McCullaugh, owner of James J. McCullagh Roofing Inc. has been accused of lying to US. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators “in an attempt to cover up his company’s failure to provide required fall protection for a man – Mark T. Smith – who died after falling 45 feet from a church roof in 2013. Two other workers said no fall protection was provided.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

Why Is It So Hard to Kill This Freeway?

April 18, 2023 — Benjamin Schneider - Bloomberg
Keith Pete remembers what Claiborne Avenue was like before the interstate. As a child in the early 1960s, the native New Orleanian would come to Claiborne Avenue with his dad to buy chickens from the local grocers. Sometimes, as a treat, father and son would get hamburgers on French rolls and pineapple juice and picnic on the neutral ground — the avenue’s wide, grassy median, which was thick with live oak trees and azaleas. “People used to sit and enjoy the weather,” Pete, 68, recalls. “There was beautiful grass all the way down. It was gorgeous.” At the time, Claiborne Avenue coursed through the heart of New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood and a major center of Black commerce and culture. “It was safe; it was thriving,” Pete said. “It was mostly wiped out.” In 1966, workers began removing the avenue’s oaks and driving the pilings that would transform 18 blocks of the tree-lined boulevard into a viaduct carrying Interstate 10. While plans for a Robert Moses-designed waterfront freeway through the French Quarter were halted in 1969 after intense resistance from historic preservationists, the state- and city-backed Claiborne Expressway proceeded. The elevated highway and its tangle of off-ramps destroyed some 500 homes and 326 Black-owned businesses. The once-thriving corridor became a dark, noisy netherworld, unsafe for pedestrians and unhealthy for anyone who breathes. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Benjamin Schneider, Bloomberg

As the Term Winds Down, Several Important Regulatory Cases Await the U.S. Supreme Court

September 03, 2019 — Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel
The Supreme Court will be deciding some very important regulatory law cases in the new few weeks as the term winds down. CERCLA Circled Last week, the Court granted a petition to review a significant CERCLA case, Atlantic Richfield Company v. Christian, et al., decided by the Supreme Court of Montana on state law grounds. This case involves state litigation which could result in a cleanup whose scope is allegedly inconsistent with an ongoing and expensive federal CERCLA cleanup at the Anaconda Smelter site. CERCLA basically provides that no one may challenge an ongoing Superfund cleanup, yet this state common law proceeding seeking a cleanup of the plaintiff’s homes and properties arguably threatens the EPA-approved cleanup remedy. ARCO filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court, which the Court has now granted despite the Solicitor General’s brief which argued that the Court should wait to see the results of the Montana trial. (It is unusual for the Court to reject the advice of the Solicitor General.) Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Anthony B. Cavender, Pillsbury
Mr. Cavender may be contacted at anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com

Not in My Kitchen – California Supreme Court Decertifies Golden State Boring Case

November 26, 2014 — Roger Hughes – California Construction Law Blog
On November 11, 2014, the California Supreme Court rejected the recent California Court of Appeals decision Golden State Boring & Pipe Jacking, Inc. v Eastern Municipal Water District, 228 Cal.App.4th 273 (2014) which we wrote about earlier by “decertifying” it (meaning that lawyers cannot cite to the case as legal precedent) The decertification removed a decision that added substantially to the confusion as to when an action on a payment bond is timely filed. Even though the decision was determined in accordance with pre-2014 statutes, the case was relevant precedent for construction attorneys when determining time deadlines for filing a claim on a bond. Background In July of this year, the California Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District upheld a trial court’s granting of summary judgment against a project subcontractor Golden State Boring & Pipe Jacking, Inc. (GSB) who sued Safeco Insurance Company (Safeco) for unpaid contract amounts on a project payment bond issued by Safeco. Both at the trial level and on appeal Safeco successfully argued that GSB’s action on its payment bond claim was time barred by former California Civil Code Sections 3249 (now Section 9558), because it was filed more than six month after the period in which stop notices may be filed as provided by California’s Civil Code Section 3184 (now Section 9558). Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Roger Hughes, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Hughes may be contacted at rhughes@wendel.com

Protect Your Right To Payment By Following Nedd

August 03, 2022 — Denise Motta - Gordon & Rees Construction Law Blog
In order to preserve your right to payment, you must satisfy the contractual requirements supporting a change order for the increased costs or time due to the delay. The key to the successful presentation of change order claims is educating your team on the following: 1. NOTICE

Review the change order and notice provisions of your contracts. Make your contract searchable and insert the term “Noti” and look for the items listed below.
Who: Check the designated representative for notice.

It may not be the project manager.
Confirm who can authorize the change order.

Is owner approval required?
Ensure that the party approving the change order has authority to do so.

What: Check for specific information required by the contract.

Provide ALL information available.
If certain information is not yet available, state that the information will be provided when available.
Reserve all rights to amend and submit additional information.
Request both an increase to the Contract Sum and Contract Time.

Make the request even if you do not believe the delay or time necessary will cause a significant impact.

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Reprinted courtesy of Denise Motta, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP
Ms. Motta may be contacted at dmotta@grsm.com

My Top 5 Innovations for Greater Efficiency, Sustainability & Quality

October 25, 2020 — Cristina Savian - AEC Business
As a construction professional and British citizen, I genuinely could not have been any prouder and humbled to have opened UK Construction Week Virtual last week. 2020 is the year of disruptions, and we are all looking for this “New Normal”, and while this newfound regularity may have opened new opportunities, as we are now broadcasting to a much wider audience than previous in-person events, and indeed we have to thank technology for that. For us construction professionals, this pandemic has put our industry further under pressure, however, it has also taught us something extremely important. The pandemic has shown the world how vital the construction industry is. The world cannot function without it. This new extraordinary experience has given us the prospect to turn our industry around and transform it into one of the most productive industries in our society. How are we going to do it? I think you can guess what I am about to say, of course by leveraging technology! The panel discussion with leading construction experts across the UK with representatives from Skanska UK, Bryden Wood, and Innovate UK, focused on our top 5 innovations for greater efficiency, sustainability and quality in construction. Here are my top 5. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Cristina Savian, AEC Business

SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES