Create a Culture of Safety to Improve Labor Recruitment Efforts
September 12, 2022 —
Grant Robbins - Construction ExecutiveThe commercial construction industry must rely on skilled labor to survive. Skilled labor, however, is hard to come by. In fact, many construction firms report projects being delayed because of shortages in the workforce.
Part of the problem is training. Few companies have the time, resources or opportunities to train new construction workers. But the biggest reason for the labor shortage in the construction industry is simply a lack of people joining the trades. Decades ago, construction was a respected career choice. Over the years, however, the pressure to get into a four-year college has created negative perceptions of working in the trades.
Some commercial construction companies choose to work with fewer crews as a result of the lack of skilled labor, therefore limiting the number of jobs they can handle. The labor shortage in the construction industry has simply made it nearly impossible to find subcontractors to adequately staff upcoming projects (one survey found that 35% of contractors had to turn down jobs due to a lack of skilled laborers). This then leads to hikes in construction costs and delays in scheduling, which can take a major toll on business.
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Grant Robbins, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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#10 CDJ Topic: Carithers v. Mid-Continent Casualty Company
December 30, 2015 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFCraig Martin of
Lamson Dugan and Murray, LLP on his
Construction Contractor Advisor blog used the Carithers case to demonstrate how “[w]hen you are involved in construction litigation, you have battles on several fronts, including those against subcontractors, owners, insurers and the court. Shoring up your defenses on each of these fronts is imperative, or you may lose the battle or, worse yet, the war.” Martin discusses the various “battle fronts” including the “Claim Against Contractor,” “Where Are You Litigating,” “Claim Against Insurance Company,” and “Damages.”
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In the article, “Duty to Defend Construction Defect Case Affirmed, Duty to Indemnify Reversed In Part,” attorney
Tred R. Eyerly also covered the Carithers case. Eyerly explained, “Determining whether there was coverage for the damages awarded required the court to decide which trigger applied. Examining the policy language, the court determined that property damage occurred when the damage happened, not when the damage was discovered or discoverable. Therefore, the district court did not err in applying the injury in fact trigger.”
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Best Lawyers Recognizes Hundreds of Lewis Brisbois Attorneys, Honors Four Partners as ‘Lawyers of the Year’
September 19, 2022 —
Lewis Brisbois(August 18, 2022) - Best Lawyers has selected 149 Lewis Brisbois attorneys across 46 offices for inclusion in its list of 2023 Best Lawyers in America. It has also recognized four Lewis Brisbois partners on its "Lawyers of the Year" list: Chairman & Founding Partner Robert F. Lewis (Insurance Law); Portland Managing Partner Eric J. Neiman (Litigation - Health Care); Akron Managing Partner David Kern (Tax Law); and Roanoke Partner Paul C. Kuhnel (Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants).
Please join us in congratulating these four partners and the following attorneys on their Best Lawyers recognition.
- Nashville Partner Tara Aaron-Stelluto:
Copyright Law
- Pittsburgh Partner Andrew F. Adomitis:
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
- Fort Lauderdale Partner Vincent F. Alexander:
Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Miami Partner Seth Alhadeff:
Litigation - Insurance
- Seattle Partner Randy J. Aliment:
Commercial Litigation
- Phoenix Partner Dina Anagnopoulos:
Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants
- Madison County Partner Charles S. Anderson:
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
- Reno Managing Partner Jack G. Angaran:
Insurance Law, Litigation – Construction, Litigation - Real Estate
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Lewis Brisbois
A Quick Virginia Mechanic’s Lien Timing Refresher
February 27, 2023 —
Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law MusingsAs those who read Construction Law Musings on a regular basis know,
mechanic’s liens are a big part of my construction law practice. These
tricky and strictly enforced statutory collection tools are very powerful when correctly recorded and utterly useless if they aren’t recorded in a timely fashion and with the correct information contained within them. Couple that fact with recent
changes to the mechanic’s lien form in 2019, and I feel the need to give a quick refresher.
If you’ve kept up with Musings, you know about the two big numbers for Virginia mechanic’s lien timing, 90 and 150. These should be kept in mind for every general contractor, subcontractor, or supplier on any construction project in Virginia.
Virginia Code Section 43-4 sets out the reasons to keep these numbers in mind. The code section sets out why you need to know these numbers.
The 90 refers to the deadline for recording a lien. This number affects the right to a lien in Virginia. In order to preserve lien rights, a construction contractor must record the lien within ninety days of the last day of the last month in which the last work was performed or no later than ninety days from the date of completion of the project or other termination of work. The short version is that most general contractors on commercial projects have 90 days from the last work in which to record their lien and most subcontractors have 90 days from the last day of the last month of work. However, the best practice is to simply calculate the 90 days from the last work performed or material supplied to avoid issues and arguments between attorneys regarding timing.
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The Law Office of Christopher G. HillMr. Hill may be contacted at
chrisghill@constructionlawva.com
The Housing Market Is Softening, But Home Depot and Lowe's Are Crushing It
February 26, 2015 —
Patrick Clark – BloombergTwo monthly reports that track the strength of the U.S. housing market offered dour assessments this week. And yet the companies that sell homeowners appliances, building materials, and power tools are thriving.
Home Depot reported strong sales growth yesterday, and Lowe’s did the same today. That follows news that existing home sales dropped 4.9 percent in January, according to the National Association of Realtors, and results from the S&P Case/Shiller index that showed the growth of home prices is slowing in major U.S. cities.
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Patrick Clark, BloombergMr. Clark may be contacted at
jclark185@bloomberg.net
BWBO Celebrating Attorney Award and Two New Partners
July 14, 2016 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFCongratulations is due to Nicole Whyte of Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara LLP (BWBO) for being recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Attorneys by America’s Top 100, which identifies the top 100 attorneys in each state. In an email release, the firm stated, “We are pleased to celebrate this lifetime achievement and it is an honor to have Ms. Whyte listed alongside her esteemed peers.”
Furthermore, BWBO announced that two of their attorneys have been promoted to partner: Alex Giannetto and Benjamin Price. “Mr. Giannetto believes that hard work, dedication, caring about clients and work product, and surrounding himself with good people, has helped him become successful in his profession,” as stated in an email release. “To be successful you have to surround yourself with successful people,” Mr. Price stated. “A combination of humility, confidence, and hard work is also important.”
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ASCE Statement On White House "Accelerating Infrastructure Summit"
October 17, 2022 —
Maria Lehman, President-elect - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)WASHINGTON, D.C. –We thank the Administration for convening the Accelerating Infrastructure Summit, which highlighted the possibilities stemming from the bipartisan infrastructure law. Nearly one full year since it was passed into law, this transformative legislation is beginning to kickstart vital infrastructure projects nationwide that will improve the country's economic efficiency and prioritize public health and safety.
We know that together, builders, engineers, planners, and those entrusted with infrastructure projects must meet the moment and deliver projects on time, on task, and on budget for communities to make the most of these new resources. This generational investment in infrastructure is much needed - the 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure assigned the nation's infrastructure a cumulative grade of "C-" across 17 categories of infrastructure.
ASCE is ready to help optimize these investments for communities across the country and make sure all will benefit, whether it is providing contract templates to expedite the process or offering peer support to smaller and rural agencies.
ASCE is also focused on education in our industry to better equip civil engineers with the knowledge and expertise to execute alternative project delivery methods with a March 2023 Construction Institute Summit in St. Louis, which will provide a dedicated track to highlight innovations that help reduce the time for construction projects.
The bipartisan infrastructure law has provided us the opportunity to transform America and bring our infrastructure into the 21st century, and we will need diverse perspectives, innovative technologies and processes, and a robust workforce to make the most of this once-in-a-generation investment.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 150,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.
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Pacing in Construction Scheduling Disputes
September 14, 2017 —
Luke Mecklenburg - Snell & Wilmer Real Estate Litigation BlogOn a high level, construction delay litigation involves sorting out the impacts to the critical project path and determining which party is responsible for those impacts. One of the more difficult elements of this process is determining whether a delay would have occurred regardless of one party’s critical path impact due to a separate, independent impact to the critical path by the other party. For example, a contractor cannot collect delay damages for delays caused by the owner if the contractor itself was causing independent impacts that would have pushed off the completion date anyway.
However, the concept of “pacing” provides a potential defense for a party who is not on pace with the as-planned schedule for noncritical activities, even where those activities are still ongoing after the planned completion date. “Pacing delays” are a type of concurrent delay that occur when one party makes a conscious decision to decelerate or slow down the pace of noncritical activities to keep pace with the critical delays of another party. A more formal definition would be “deceleration of the work of the project, by one of the parties to a contract, due to a delay caused by the other party, so as to maintain steady progress with the revised overall project schedule.” Zack, Pacing Delays–The Practical Effect, Construction Specifier 47, 48 (Jan. 2000). A party to the construction process may decide to slow down its performance of noncritical activities to keep pace with the delayed progress. For example, contractors may adjust the pace of their work in light of delays in owner-furnished equipment, delays by other multiple prime contractors, delays in permits, limited access, or differing site conditions. Owners may slow down their response time to requests for information or submittals, or postpone the delivery of owner-furnished equipment or the processing of change orders. Id. at 48.
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Luke Mecklenburg, Snell & WilmerMr. Mecklenburg may be contacted at
lmecklenburg@swlaw.com