As construction company owners shift their thoughts to a new year, it should not be forgotten that the recently enacted Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA) may offer impressive cost savings to qualified firms. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Enacted in September, SBJA essentially provides various tax changes – most of them beneficial to company owners – and $30 billion for community banks to lend to small businesses. Because most Texas construction companies qualify as a small business, the law has a lot of appeal. Companies that aren’t certain about their status can go to the Small Business
You’ve just submitted your bid to the owner and discovered your estimator’s mistake that caused you to bid 10% lower than you otherwise would have. Can you obtain relief or withdraw your bid?
Construction of the new 1,200-seat sanctuary and administrative offices at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Nassau Bay, Texas, required careful planning because the new construction was added onto the existing facility, which had to remain in full use during construction. Photo: John C. Lindy Related Links: Best of 2010 Awards Work was carefully sequenced throughout the fast-track project so that the worship space was never out of commission. Hurricane Ike hit in September 2008 when the structural frame of the building was being completed. The project is located 12 mi from the point where the hurricane made landfall,
With the Florida Dept. of Transportation poised to start an estimated $170 million in civil construction work with the first of more than $2 billion in federal dollars for America�s first high-speed rail system, the agency�s High-Speed Rail Industry Forum Nov. 8-9 in Orlando drew more than 1,500 attendees, many of whom were interested in winning future contracts. The purpose of the two-day forum was to inform interested parties about the contracts to be let, the bidding schedule and requirements. Photo by Debra Wood Attendees to the forum could board a Siemens high-speed rail train. Image courtesy FDOT On the
Bulldozers may soon be pushing dirt in the Everglades following the issuance Sept. 3 of new marching orders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the State of Florida to improve the quality of water entering the Everglades Protection Area. The agency was acting in response to pressure from an April U.S. District Court decision ordering EPA and the state to begin enforcing the water quality standards mandated by Florida’s 1994 Everglades Forever Act and the Federal Clean Water Act. Work is under way on the 2,000-acre Lakeside Ranch Stormwater Treatment Area, but EPA has ordered Florida to create 42,000
Alamo Iron Works in San Antonio announced the appointment of Francis “Duffy” Shea as president of the company. In this position, he will be responsible for all aspects of AIW’s steel and industrial supply business. Shea has over two decades of experience in the industrial marketplace and supply distribution. LJA employees earn Professional Engineer�s Licenses from the state of Texas. LJA Engineering Inc. announced that five employees in the firm’s Houston office recently received Professional Engineer’s License from the State of Texas. They are: Jared Ciarella, PE, Sean Wallace, PE, Mehdi Nezami, PE, Jeff Ebersole, PE and Amanda Carriage, PE,
As the year draws near its end, construction company owners and their fiduciaries should keep a close eye on an accounting change recently proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ( or FASB). Depending on the industry’s response this year, the change could go into effect in 2011. The focus of the change is leasing, including equipment leasing. If enacted it likely will have a sizeable impact on construction companies, and here’s why: Under current standards, leases are split into two categories: capital leases, which must be reported on balance sheets, and operating leases, which are allowed to stay off
Bidding on public projects for state or local governmental entities involves a number of issues not necessarily present in the private sector. For example, confidentiality concerns exist when submitting information to a governmental entity. When submitting a bid or proposal, a contractor may be required to provide sensitive information, including but certainly not limited to financial information. Additionally, a contractor may have invested time and money in determining the best manner of presenting a bid or proposal. The contractor generally has an interest in keeping this information private and out of the hands of its competitors. But the Texas Public
It takes a certain savvy to build collaboration in a hard-bid environment. If the team is committed to quality, it can happen. However, every project needs good processes. Hard bidding makes those more valuable. Having worked for an architectural firm for 11 years, and as a staff architect for a hospital for 19 years, I am sharing lessons learned I hope will be useful. Building Owners: Be Committed to Pre-Planning Every owner with continual construction is well served to maintain a professional staff that is current, knowledgeable and well-seasoned in the development of buildings and facility systems. The staff can
Balfour Beatty Construction of Plantation, in partnership with James A. Cummings of Fort Lauderdale, was awarded a contract to manage construction for the Terminal 4 Gate Replacement at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Valued at approximately $100 million, the project is part of the Broward County Aviation Dept.’s $1-billion expansion program. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Intended to make room for the extension of the south runway, the project represents the first of two phases that will replace the existing concourse and alter its orientation from north-south to east-west. Preconstruction for the project is slated to begin in the fall,
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