BERT HOWE
  • Nationwide: (800) 482-1822    
    low-income housing building expert Seattle Washington industrial building building expert Seattle Washington condominium building expert Seattle Washington structural steel construction building expert Seattle Washington retail construction building expert Seattle Washington custom homes building expert Seattle Washington landscaping construction building expert Seattle Washington concrete tilt-up building expert Seattle Washington hospital construction building expert Seattle Washington townhome construction building expert Seattle Washington institutional building building expert Seattle Washington high-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington Medical building building expert Seattle Washington casino resort building expert Seattle Washington production housing building expert Seattle Washington office building building expert Seattle Washington custom home building expert Seattle Washington condominiums building expert Seattle Washington multi family housing building expert Seattle Washington tract home building expert Seattle Washington housing building expert Seattle Washington mid-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington
    Seattle Washington structural concrete expertSeattle Washington construction expert testimonySeattle Washington construction expert witnessesSeattle Washington consulting architect expert witnessSeattle Washington roofing and waterproofing expert witnessSeattle Washington expert witnesses fenestrationSeattle Washington construction expert witness public projects
    Arrange No Cost Consultation
    Building Expert Builders Information
    Seattle, Washington

    Washington Builders Right To Repair Current Law Summary:

    Current Law Summary: (SB 5536) The legislature passed a contractor protection bill that reduces contractors' exposure to lawsuits to six years from 12, and gives builders seven "affirmative defenses" to counter defect complaints from homeowners. Claimant must provide notice no later than 45 days before filing action; within 21 days of notice of claim, "construction professional" must serve response; claimant must accept or reject inspection proposal or settlement offer within 30 days; within 14 days following inspection, construction pro must serve written offer to remedy/compromise/settle; claimant can reject all offers; statutes of limitations are tolled until 60 days after period of time during which filing of action is barred under section 3 of the act. This law applies to single-family dwellings and condos.


    Building Expert Contractors Licensing
    Guidelines Seattle Washington

    A license is required for plumbing, and electrical trades. Businesses must register with the Secretary of State.


    Building Expert Contractors Building Industry
    Association Directory
    MBuilders Association of King & Snohomish Counties
    Local # 4955
    335 116th Ave SE
    Bellevue, WA 98004

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Kitsap County
    Local # 4944
    5251 Auto Ctr Way
    Bremerton, WA 98312

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Spokane
    Local # 4966
    5813 E 4th Ave Ste 201
    Spokane, WA 99212

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of North Central
    Local # 4957
    PO Box 2065
    Wenatchee, WA 98801

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    MBuilders Association of Pierce County
    Local # 4977
    PO Box 1913 Suite 301
    Tacoma, WA 98401

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    North Peninsula Builders Association
    Local # 4927
    PO Box 748
    Port Angeles, WA 98362
    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10

    Jefferson County Home Builders Association
    Local # 4947
    PO Box 1399
    Port Hadlock, WA 98339

    Seattle Washington Building Expert 10/ 10


    Building Expert News and Information
    For Seattle Washington


    U.S. Supreme Court Weighs in on Construction Case

    Ill-fated Complaint Fails to State Claims Against Broker and FEMA

    Court Confirms No Duty to Reimburse for Prophylactic Repairs Prior to Actual Collapse

    U.S. Home Prices Climbed 0.1% in July as Gains Slowed

    Justin Clark Joins Newmeyer & Dillion’s Walnut Creek Branch as its Newest Associate

    My Construction Law Wish List

    Court Affirms Duty to Defend Additional Insured Contractor

    New Case Alert: California Federal Court Allows Policy Stacking to Cover Continuous Injury

    The Texas Supreme Court Limits the Use of the Economic Loss Rule

    Liquidated Damages: Too High and It’s a Penalty. Too Low and You’re Out of Luck.

    The Biggest Trials Coming to Courts Around the World in 2021

    Several Lewis Brisbois Partners Recognized by Sacramento Magazine in List of Top Lawyers

    Caterpillar Said to Be Focus of Senate Overseas Tax Probe

    No Subrogation, Contribution Rights for Carrier Defending Construction Defect Claim

    Where Did That Punch List Term Come From Anyway?

    PSA: Latest Updates from AGC-VA on COVID Rules (UPDATED)

    Homeowner may pursue negligence claim for construction defect, Oregon Supreme Court holds

    No Indemnity After Insured Settles Breach of Implied Warranty of Habitability Claims

    Insurer Prevails on Summary Judgment for Bad Faith Claim

    The Prolonged Effects on Commercial Property From Extreme Weather

    Newmeyer & Dillion Announces Three New Partners

    Renovation Contractors: Be Careful How You Disclose Your Projects

    The Court-Side Seat: FERC Reviews, Panda Power Plaints and Sovereign Immunity

    The Metaphysics of When an Accident is an “Accident” (or Not) Under Your Insurance Policy

    CRH to Buy Building-Products Firm Laurence for $1.3 Billion

    Title II under ADA Applicable to Public Rights-of-Way, Parks and Other Recreation Areas

    Manhattan Vacancies Rise in Epicenter Shift: Real Estate

    Randy Okland Honored as 2019 Intermountain Legacy Award Winner

    Staying the Course, Texas Supreme Court Rejects Insurer’s Argument for Exception to Eight-Corners Rule in Determining Duty to Defend

    How Retro-Commissioning Can Extend the Life of a Building—and the Planet

    When Do Hard-Nosed Negotiations Become Coercion? Or, When Should You Feel Unlucky?

    Previously Owned U.S. Home Sales Rise to Eight-Month High

    Colorado Homes Approved Despite being Too Close Together

    Good News on Prices for Some Construction Materials

    You Can Now Build a Multi-Million Dollar Home via Your iPad

    Coverage for Faulty Workmanship Denied

    Illinois Court Addresses Coverage Owed For Subcontractor’s Defective Work

    Construction Contract’s Scope of Work Should Be Written With Clarity

    Idaho Construction Executive Found Guilty of Fraud and Tax Evasion

    Reminder: Your Accounting and Other Records Matter

    Thank You for Seven Years of Election to Super Lawyers

    CA Supreme Court: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) is the Exclusive Remedy for Residential Construction Defect Claims – So Now What?

    BHA Attending the Construction Law Conference in San Antonio, TX

    New Jersey Construction Worker Sentenced for Home Repair Fraud

    Unqualified Threat to Picket a Neutral is Unfair Labor Practice

    Unfinished Building Projects Litter Miami

    Toronto Contractor Bondfield Wins Court Protection as Project Woes Mount

    Learning from Production Homes of the Past

    A Guide to California’s Changes to Civil Discovery Rules

    Claims for Breach of Express Indemnity Clauses Subject to 10-Year Statute of Limitations
    Corporate Profile

    SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT
    DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

    Leveraging from more than 7,000 construction defect and claims related expert witness designations, the Seattle, Washington Building Expert Group provides a wide range of trial support and consulting services to Seattle's most acknowledged construction practice groups, CGL carriers, builders, owners, and public agencies. Drawing from a diverse pool of construction and design professionals, BHA is able to simultaneously analyze complex claims from the perspective of design, engineering, cost, or standard of care.

    Building Expert News & Info
    Seattle, Washington

    Oregon Construction Firm Sued for Construction Defects

    July 31, 2013 —
    Home Forward, the housing authority in Multnomah County, Oregon, is suing Tom Walsh & Company over allegations of construction defects in low-income housing projects the firm built for the county. Walsh’s firm was hired about ten years ago to construct apartments in Portland and adjacent Gresham. But the housing authority claims that the buildings are suffering water damage. The authority requested that Tom Walsh & Company repair the problems. Walsh claimed that the problems were not due to construction defects, but to the agency’s failure to maintain the properties. Home Forward has gone forward with lawsuits of a combined $3.8 million. If the case goes to trial, according to Walsh, it will be only the second time for him in 50 years of business. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    Largest Per Unit Settlement Ever in California Construction Defect Case?

    October 28, 2011 —

    BusinessWire reports that the Chelsea Court Homeowners Association has settled their construction defect case for $5.4 million. That works out to $169,000 per unit, which BusinessWire describes as “California’s largest per-unit recovery known to be on record to date.”

    Most of the money in the settlement is coming from insurance companies for the builder and thirteen subcontractors. Issues included roof and window leaks, deck failures, and unsafe walkways.

    Read the full story...

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

    Latin America’s Biggest Corporate Crime Gets a Worthy Epic

    January 04, 2021 —
    As much as pouring cement and building towers, Brazilian construction dynasty Odebrecht was famed for its political panache. “I get down in the mud with the pigs but come out the other side clean in my white suit,” Norberto Odebrecht, founder of the legacy contractor, liked to boast back in the 1970s and 1980s. The catchphrase was shorthand for what became a patently Brazilian way of doing business – the art of buying influence and coming away unsoiled, or at least unincarcerated – among porcine politicians and bribe-truffling officials. In half a century and over three generations, the family firm from northeast Brazil grew into a multinational engineering colossus, hurling up grand public works from the Andes to Angola. Shady pacts with political grifters and bagmen were just part of the deal behind the build-up and seemingly nothing a little Brazilian bonhomie and contract skimming couldn’t tidy up. Until it didn’t. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Mac Margolis, Bloomberg
    Mr. Margolis may be contacted at mmargolis14@bloomberg.net

    Ortega Outbids Pros to Build $10 Billion Property Empire

    March 19, 2014 —
    Amancio Ortega Gaona, already the world’s fourth-richest person based on the success of his Zara fashion retail stores, has quietly amassed a real estate empire worth as much as $10 billion and is emerging as a formidable competitor for prime properties from London to Beverly Hills. Relying on all-cash offers, he has outbid the world’s biggest institutional funds and professional property investors, such as Tishman Speyer Properties LP. “He’s at the very highest levels of high net worth investment and competing with some of the biggest sovereign wealth funds for the primest properties in the market,” said Joseph Kelly, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics in London, a real estate research firm. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Jesse Drucker, Bloomberg
    Mr. Drucker may be contacted at jdrucker4@bloomberg.net

    Why Construction Law- An Update

    May 07, 2015 —
    Back in 2009, only a year or so after my first post here at Musings, I posted on why I’m in the field of construction law. Well, a lot has happened in the over 5 years since then, not the least of which is my move to solo practice in July of 2010 and the later certification as a mediator. As I sit here, I look back at the passage of time and the events between my last thoughts on this subject and now and wonder if my thoughts have changed? Frankly, not much has changed as far as my attitude toward the practice of construction law. Despite my kids occasionally rolling their eyes when I talk about a case of interest to me and their sometimes moniker for me as a “dirt lawyer,” I continue to find the representation of the construction professionals that I call clients and friends to be fulfilling and worthwhile. Even in the face of criticisms that we lawyers cause more problems that we solve, I firmly believe that I and other good construction lawyers can and do help avoid and anticipate more problems than I cause. As one of the few solo construction attorneys here in the Richmond area, if anything, I am more involved in the construction community. Between my continued and even increased involvement with the AGC of Virginia and my more recent appointment to the board of the Virginia State Bar‘s Construction Law and Public Contracts Section, I have gained even more insight into the workings of the legal and business landscapes of construction. With each new piece of information gained by such involvement, I see another side to the business of construction that I may not have thought of. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, Construction Law Musings
    Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

    Ambiguity in Pennsylvania’s Statute of Repose Finally Cleared up by Superior Court

    October 17, 2023 —
    In an unpublished opinion from the Pennsylvania Superior Court handed down on August 31, 2023, a long-standing disagreement about the wording of Pennsylvania's Statute of Repose was finally resolved. In Pennsylvania, “a civil action or proceeding brought against any person lawfully performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision or observation of construction or construction of any improvement to real property must be commenced within 12 years after completion of construction of such improvement” to recover most forms of damages that are sought in these kinds of cases. A statute of repose is different than a statute of limitations. A statute of repose is a hard line that does not shift. There is no discovery rule with a statute of repose. Most, if not all, states have statutes of repose for construction. The Pennsylvania statute of repose is among the longest in the country. It can be even longer – up to 14 years – if the injury (including property damage) or wrongful death “shall occur more than 10 and within 12 years after completion of construction.” Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Mark L. Parisi, White and Williams LLP
    Mr. Parisi may be contacted at parisim@whiteandwilliams.com

    TARP Funds Demolish Homes in Detroit to Lift Prices: Mortgages

    March 07, 2014 —
    In Flint, once a thriving auto-industry hub, excavators with long metal arms and shovels have begun tearing down 1,500 dilapidated homes in an attempt to lift the housing market. The demolitions in this Michigan city of about 100,000 people are part of the stepped up efforts by officials in several Midwestern states to rid their blighted neighborhoods of decayed housing that’s depressing prices. The funding for the excavator work comes from a surprising source -- the Hardest Hit Fund of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, created in 2008 to stabilize to the financial system. The $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund was intended to help troubled property owners avoid foreclosure and keep their homes. As foreclosures fall in most parts of the country, the fund is using the unspent $3.2 billion to remedy the crisis of abandoned homes. In Detroit alone, 70,000 dwellings, or about 19 percent of the total, may need to be torn down, according to the city. Mr. Louis may be contacted at blouis1@bloomberg.net. Mr. Green may be contacted at jgreen16@bloomberg.net. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Brian Louis and Jeff Green, Bloomberg

    Congress Considers Pandemic Risk Insurance Act to Address COVID-19 Business Interruptions Losses

    May 18, 2020 —
    The draft legislation, entitled the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020 (“PRIA”), would establish a Federal Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Fund and Program (the “Program”), that is intended to provide a system of shared public and private compensation for business interruption (“BI”) losses resulting from a pandemic or outbreak of communicable disease. PRIA, in its current draft form, is modeled after and in many ways mirrors the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act that was enacted to address catastrophic losses resulting from acts of terrorism. PRIA effectively mandates that participating insurers provide coverage for any business interruption loss resulting from an outbreak of infectious disease or pandemic that is declared an emergency or major disaster by the President and certified by the Secretary of Treasury (the “Secretary”) as a public health emergency. PRIA would be triggered in the case of certified public health emergencies upon the aggregate industry insured losses exceed $250 million dollars, and include an annual aggregate limit capped at $500 billion dollars. The draft bill provides that the Secretary would administer the Program and pay the Federal share of compensation for insured losses, which would be 95% of losses in excess of an applicable insurer annual deductible, once the Program is triggered. The compensation would benefit those insurers that elect to participate in the Program in exchange for a premium paid by the participating insurer for reinsurance coverage under the Program. Reprinted courtesy of Richard W. Brown, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. and Andres Avila, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. Mr. Brown may be contacted at rwb@sdvlaw.com Mr. Avila may be contacted at ara@sdvlaw.com Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of