BERT HOWE
  • Nationwide: (800) 482-1822    
    tract home building expert Seattle Washington parking structure building expert Seattle Washington mid-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington office building building expert Seattle Washington condominiums building expert Seattle Washington retail construction building expert Seattle Washington housing building expert Seattle Washington structural steel construction building expert Seattle Washington industrial building building expert Seattle Washington landscaping construction building expert Seattle Washington hospital construction building expert Seattle Washington custom homes building expert Seattle Washington institutional building building expert Seattle Washington Medical building building expert Seattle Washington casino resort building expert Seattle Washington high-rise construction building expert Seattle Washington Subterranean parking building expert Seattle Washington concrete tilt-up building expert Seattle Washington townhome construction building expert Seattle Washington low-income housing building expert Seattle Washington custom home building expert Seattle Washington multi family housing building expert Seattle Washington
    Seattle Washington construction claims expert witnessSeattle Washington expert witness commercial buildingsSeattle Washington construction expert witness consultantSeattle Washington defective construction expertSeattle Washington construction code expert witnessSeattle Washington forensic architectSeattle Washington ada design expert witness
    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


    Cooperation and Collaboration With Government May Be on the Horizon

    Triple Points to the English Court of Appeal for Clarifying the Law on LDs

    New York Signs Biggest Offshore Wind Project Deal in the Nation

    Engineer at Flint Negligence Trial Details Government Water Errors

    Ex-Turner Exec Gets 46 Months for Bloomberg Construction Bribes

    New Law Impacting Florida’s Statute of Repose

    Insurance Broker Stole NY Contractor's Payment, Indictment Alleges

    Colorado Construction-Defects Reform Law Attempt Expected in 2015

    Design-Build Contracting for County Road Projects

    Now Available: Seyfarth’s 50 State Lien Law Notice Requirements Guide (2023-2024 Edition)

    ASCE Statement on House Passage of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

    Documenting Contract Changes in Construction

    Pandemic Magnifies Financial Risk in Construction: What Executives Can Do to Speed up Customer Payments

    Lenders Facing Soaring Costs Shutting Out U.S. Homebuyers

    Additional Insured Is Covered Under On-Going Operations Endorsement Despite Subcontractor's Completion of Work

    AI Systems and the Real Estate Industry

    Drafting or Negotiating A Subcontract–Questions To Consider

    Issue and Claim Preclusion When Forced to Litigate Similar Issues in Different Forums: White River Village, LLP v. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland

    How Concrete Mistakes Added Cost to the Recent Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge Project

    Land a Cause of Home Building Shortage?

    California Case Is a Reminder That Not All Insurance Policies Are Alike Regarding COVID-19 Losses

    ADP Says Payrolls at Companies in U.S. Increase 200,000

    Solar and Wind Just Passed Another Big Turning Point

    Lending Plunges to 17-Year Low as Rates Curtail Borrowing

    Nine ACS Lawyers Recognized by Best Lawyers®

    Loss Caused by Theft, Continuous Water Discharge Not Covered

    New York Developers Facing Construction Defect Lawsuit

    Gibbs Giden is Pleased to Announce Four New Partners and Two New Associates

    Notice and Claims Provisions In Contracts Matter…A Lot

    The Comcast Project is Not Likely to Be Shut Down Too Long

    When Can a General Contractor’s Knowledge be Imputed to a Developer?

    Claim Against Broker for Failure to Procure Adequate Coverage Survives Summary Judgment

    White and Williams Announces Partner and Counsel Promotions

    Effective Allocation of Damages for Federal Contract Claims

    Court Addresses Damages Under Homeowners Insurance Policy

    Understanding Liability Insurer’s Two Duties: To Defend and to Indemnify

    Denial of Coverage for Bulge in Wall Upheld

    Canada Housing Surprises Again With July Starts Increase

    Ninth Circuit Holds that 1993 Budget Appropriations Language Does Not Compel the Corps of Engineers to use 1987 Wetlands Guidance Indefinitely

    Building Amid the COVID Challenge

    Is Ohio’s Buckeye Lake Dam Safe?

    DE Confirms Robust D&O Protection Despite Company Demise

    Homeowner Has No Grounds to Avoid Mechanics Lien

    City of Sacramento Approves Kings NBA Financing Plan

    Hail Drives Construction Spending in Amarillo

    Antitrust Walker Process Claims Not Covered Under Personal Injury Coverage for Malicious Prosecution

    California Supreme Court Rights the “Occurrence” Ship: Unintended Harm Resulting from Intentional Conduct Triggers Coverage Under Liability Insurance Policy

    Better Building Rules Would Help U.K.'s Flooding Woes, CEP Says

    Will a Notice of Non-Responsibility Prevent Enforcement of a California Mechanics Lien?

    Dorian’s Wrath: How Event Cancellation Insurance Helps Businesses Recoup Losses from Severe Weather
    Corporate Profile

    SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT
    DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

    The Seattle, Washington Building Expert Group at BHA, leverages from the experience gained through more than 7,000 construction related expert witness designations encompassing a wide spectrum of construction related disputes. Leveraging from this considerable body of experience, BHA provides construction related trial support and expert services to Seattle's most recognized construction litigation practitioners, commercial general liability carriers, owners, construction practice groups, as well as a variety of state and local government agencies.

    Building Expert News & Info
    Seattle, Washington

    Seven Former North San Diego County Landfills are Leaking Contaminants

    April 07, 2011 —

    Deborah Sullivan Brennan of the North County Times reported that seven former dumps in San Diego are leaking contaminants into the surrounding groundwater. John R. Odermatt, a senior engineering geologist for the California Regional Water Quality Control Board s San Diego region, told the North County Times, “the risk to most county residents is very small or negligible, while local water supplies located in more rural areas may be at a somewhat elevated but unquantified level of risk.”

    This issue is causing heavy scrutiny of a new proposed landfill in Gregory Canyon. The landfill would be located on 308 acres of undeveloped land near Pala, alongside the San Luis Rey River. The group “Save Gregory Canyon” has been speaking out against the landfill, stating that “the project threatens major detrimental impacts to both surface and groundwater, as well as a potential compromise of the two major San Diego Water Authority pipelines nearby.” Richard Felago, a Gregory Canyon Ltd. Consultant, told the North County Times that the 8-foot-thick liner, composed of layers of gravel and synthetic material, would not leak.

    The appeal hearing is being rescheduled later this month after one of the three panelists recused himself due to having a competing interest in the property, according to the article by Gary Warth in the North County Times.

    Read the full story (link 1)...
    Read the full story (link 2)...

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

    Harrisburg Sought Support Before Ruinous Incinerator Retrofit

    September 20, 2017 —
    When former Harrisburg, Pa., Mayor Stephen Reed (D) and his aides set out to retrofit the city’s aging incinerator in late 2000, the project spun out of control over the coming years, enlarging the debt the city owed on the facility to $300 million and sinking Harrisburg into financial ruin. Reprinted courtesy of Jonathan Barnes, ENR and Richard Korman, ENR ENR staff may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of

    No Duty to Defend Suit That Is Threatened Under Strict Liability Statute

    July 09, 2014 —
    The Washington Court of Appeals found there was no duty to defend the insured under a strict liability statute for alleged contamination when no action was threatened by the agency. Gull Indus., Inc. v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 2014 Wash. App. LEXIS 1338 (Wa. Ct. App. June 2, 2014). Gull leased a gas station to the Johnsons from 1972 to 1980. In 2005, Gull notified the Department of Ecology (DOE) that there had be a release of petroleum product at the station. DOE sent a letter acknowledging Gull's notice of suspected contamination. In 2009, Gull tendered its defense to its insurer, Transamerica Insurance Group. Gull also tendered its claims as an additional insured to the Johnson's insurer, State Farm. Neither insurer accepted the tenders. Gull then sued the insurers, arguing they had a duty to defend. Gull contended that because the state statute imposed strict liability, the duty to defend arose whether or not an agency had sent any communications about the statute or cleanup obligations. The insurers moved for partial summary judgment. The trial court ruled in favor of the insurers. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
    Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

    NYC Design Firm Executives Plead Guilty in Pay-to-Play Scheme

    June 18, 2019 —
    Two former top executives of New York City-based engineer HAKS pleaded guilty in city court May 13 to bribe charges related to efforts to gain municipal water infrastructure contracts, according to court filings, an attorney for its ex-chief financial officer and plea agreements provided to ENR by the Manhattan district attorney's office. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Engineering News-Record
    ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com

    No Friday Night Lights at $60 Million Texas Stadium: Muni Credit

    March 26, 2014 —
    Pervasive cracking has shuttered the $60 million home of a high-school football championship team in Texas after less than two years. Investors in the tax-free bonds that paid for the stadium are unscathed. Taxpayers in Allen Independent School District north of Dallas and the $29 billion Texas Permanent School Fund, a state bond insurer, are responsible for $119 million of debt that paid for the venue and other facilities, leading officials to find a new site for graduation and possibly games after closing 18,000-seat Eagle Stadium last month. The development suggests the fund, created in 1854 to help pay for education, shouldn’t be used for stadiums, said Colby Harlow, president of hedge fund Harlow Capital Management. The Permanent Fund has top credit ratings and secures about $55 billion of bonds, according to the Texas Education Agency. The pool has at times reached the limit of debt it can back, preventing districts from accessing it. The guarantee is still a boon to bondholders. Mr. Merelman may be contacted at smerelman@bloomberg.net; Mr. Sillup may be contacted at msillup@bloomberg.net Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Darrell Preston and Aaron Kuriloff, Bloomberg

    Introducing Nomos LLP!

    December 30, 2019 —
    We’ve been quiet lately we know. We’ve been nesting. Not the alien popping through your stomach kind of nesting, although, there have been a few white knuckled “what the heck did we get ourselves into!” moments. Rather, we’ve been quietly building something we think is pretty great. Not just for us, but for our clients. Our own law firm. So here’s the 411: What’s with the name Nomos LLP? We’ve gotten a few questions about that. We wanted to create a client-centric law firm not a lawyer-focused one. Hence, no last names. Plus, we don’t have cool last names like Low, Ball & Lynch or Payne & Fears. The name “nomos” is Greek for “law.” And, of course, it’s from the Greeks that much of modern Western legal system is derived. Simple. Opa! Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
    Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

    Changes and Extra Work – Is There a Limit?

    October 09, 2018 —
    Design and construction changes can be a challenge for everyone involved in a construction project. Designers and contractors endeavor to deliver a project that meets the owner’s needs, budget, and aesthetic considerations. As a project comes to fruition, the project frequently changes, and the parties must address and resolve the financial considerations of those changes and implement the changes at the project level. Often times the most critical aspect of a contractor’s financial success or failure of a construction project is its ability to manage changes. Contractors are sometimes faced with changes that are beyond the reasonable expectation of the original undertaking and have significant planning, scheduling, and cost implications that may not be considered or addressed in the contract’s changes clause. Changes of this magnitude may be considered “cardinal changes” and provide the contractor with recourse beyond restrictions imposed by the contract’s changes clause. But cardinal change is a risky basis for a contractor to refuse to perform additional or changed work. Even major changes can probably be more safely handled within the terms of the contract’s changes clause. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Joseph R. Young, Smith Currie
    Mr. Young may be contacted at jryoung@smithcurrie.com

    U.S. Building Permits Soared to Their Highest Level in Nearly Eight Years

    June 17, 2015 —
    Through all its ups and downs, the U.S. homebuilding industry is making slow progress. While housing starts declined 11.1 percent in May to a 1.04 million annualized rate, it followed a revised 1.17 million pace the prior month to cap the best back-to-back readings since late 2007, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday in Washington. Permits for future projects climbed to the highest level in almost eight years. The stop-and-go nature of the rebound, which has been exacerbated by the inclement weather that brought construction to a near standstill at the start of the year, masks a steady recovery in the industry at the center of the past recession. While residential real estate has yet to fulfill its typical role as a pillar of this economic expansion, gains in hiring and bigger paychecks are brightening Americans’ moods and could lift home purchases in the second half of 2015. Read the court decision
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Michelle Jamrisko, Bloomberg