Newnan Convention Centre Authority Photo from the website of the Newnan Convention Center, which is under construction. Related Links: Takeover Agreement Between Ohio Casualty and Alabama Schools Newnan Centre subcontractors getting paid through bonding firms account A mid-size building prime contractor in Georgia and Alabama has defaulted and requested help from its surety.Columbus, Ga.-based D. Dean & Associates Inc. also had an office in Birmingham. Founder and President Danny Dean could not be reached for comment, but his company has apparently run into financial problems.According to a version of a takeover agreement with the Alabama Public School Authority, the Shelby
Related Links: Anniston, Ala. Star: Work on Parkway Still Stalled After being removed from an Alabama state parkway section that was more than 80% complete, the contractor says the root of the problem was design errors that couldn’t be resolved with the state department of transportation. “The state’s description was we were behind schedule. We differ on why we were behind schedule,” says Dan Cordell, general manager of Hernando, Miss.-based L&T Construction. "When all things are considered—we presented the state with some scheduling changes we wanted them to consider—we were ahead of schedule.” The Alabama Dept. of Transportation removed L&T on
Office of Councillor Steve Desroches The Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge in Ottawa is designed with three arched trusses. Related Links: Receivership Legal Documents on the Grant Thornton website Project photo on website of Councillor Steve Desroches, Gloucester-South Nepean When a Canadian bank pushed Concreate USL Ltd. into receivership March 16, dozens of projects in eastern Canada and the U.S. stopped dead or slowed down, leaving cities and subcontractors in limbo.The biggest is the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge in Ottawa, for which Concreate USL Ltd., is the prime contractor. The receivership also applied to a related company, Triwest Construction, whose parent, Triwest Capital Partners, had
Trained as an accountant, Ed Littleton started his career with Arthur Andersen & Co. After a stint at an industrial contractor, he joined the big brokerage Willis, where he held various positions. Later, he became vice president of risk management for Skanska and then construction practice leader for Wachovia Insurance Services, Atlanta. With Balfour Beatty, where he has worked since 2006, Littleton is based in Dallas. We talked with him about his career, the trust between a client and a broker, and how Balfour Beatty manages its risks.What is your background, and how did you begin working as a risk
Related Links: Arena Subcontractor's 'Untimely' Default Delays Enclosure Are capital-intensive subcontractors with substantial fabricating operations the most likely not to make it through to the end of the construction recession?That’s a question prime contractors could ask in light of the latest major subcontractor default.Austin Industries, the big commercial and industrial contactor, says of its four projects on which Trainor Glass Co. was serving as a subcontractor, three were nearly completed and are running on schedule and the fourth is in a very early stage and is unlikely to be affected.Based in Farmers Branch, Texas, Trainor Glass shut its doors at
The global economic slowdown, coupled with rising public debt in the eurozone, has wreaked havoc with construction markets across Europe.Construction companies across the European Union are paying the price with dwindling order books and bankruptcies. In weaker countries, such as Greece, the market has collapsed, having boomed unrealistically for some years. The middle-ranking countries are building at steady levels.Towering over all of them, however, is Germany, Europe's largest construction market. Having avoided the worst excesses of the credit boom while maintaining its manufacturing sector, the country is enjoying a construction bonanza."At the moment, Germans are very optimistic about the future,"
Related Links: Marsh's Surety Report Arch Insurance Groups surety practice XL Surety Group Berkley Surety Group Surety capacity was increasing at the start of 2012, says Marsh Inc., the big brokerage.Driven by new and expanded surety underwriting firms, new underwriting approaches and increased limits from existing sureties, the trend could mean that obtaining surety bonds actually becomes easier this year. Among the companies that have entered, re-entered or are expanding their work in contract surety are XL, Arch and Berkley Surety Group.While most forecasts about surety in 2012 focused on increasing contractor defaults pasting higher losses on sureties, the surety
Courtesy Las Vegas Paving Don't overlook contractor's liability, Esposito says. Las Vegas Paving Corp. is a 54-year-old, privately owned heavy-highway contractor with roughly $400 million in annual sales. ENR contributor Tony Illia recently talked to Lou Esposito, the company's risk manager, about how he got started in risk management, what difference the recession has made in his approach and where insurance is heading. What is your background, and how did you begin working as a risk manager? Lou Esposito I began my career in 1980 as an adjuster trainee with Republic Claim Services. I handled small claims for The
The default and temporary shutdown just before New Year's Day of ASI Ltd., a principal subcontractor on the $825-million Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., has delayed completion of the arena's enclosure and forced extra effort by the project's prime contractor, Hunt Construction Group, to keep on track for scheduled completion later this year.For Hunt, the default “is making their life a little difficult,” says Robert P. Sanna, director of construction for Forest City Ratner Cos., the developer.ASI's default “is untimely, to say the least,” Sanna says. But he adds that he is gratified to see all the parties involved cooperating
Related Links: Appeals Court Decision in Engineering and Construction Innovations, Inc., vs. L.H. Bolduc Co., Inc. Problems continue to grow with indemnifications—contractually making one party responsible for another’s damages.They can be difficult enough to understand if one is not well versed in legal or insurance issues, but sometimes they even stump lawyers.And as a case moving through the Minnesota state justice system illustrates, liability in construction contracts is an increasingly contentious and confusing issue.The case, Engineering and Construction Innovations, Inc. (ECI) vs. L.H. Bolduc Co., Inc., arose from a water and sewer infrastructure project for which Bolduc served as a
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