JEREMIAH When project funding finally comes through, owners and contractors alike are eager for shovels to dig in. Owners resist what they see as time-consuming contract negotiations, and contractors fear that resisting unreasonable contract terms will result in the work being awarded to a competitor. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Not so fast. While an owner’s threat to hand a project to the next hungry contractor may be real, a contractor should never sign a contract without understanding key terms and should never, never begin a project without preparing proper legal notices. Even a contract involving a nominal work
The Federal Acquisition Regulation�s mandatory disclosure provisions require contractors to timely disclose �credible evidence that a principal, employee, agent, or subcontractor of the Contractor� has committed either (i) �[a] violation of Federal criminal law involving fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations,� or (ii) �[a] violation of the civil False Claims Act.� (Emphasis added). In theory, this language appears straightforward and easy to follow. In practice, however, it can be difficult to determine whether a violation has occurred and whether the evidence of such violation is �credible.� The fact that neither the FAR councils nor the Courts or Boards
When project funding finally comes through, owners and contractors alike are eager for shovels to dig in. Owners resist what they see as time-consuming contract negotiations, and contractors fear that resisting unreasonable contract terms or taking the time to prepare proper preliminary notices will result in the work they want being awarded to a competitor. There�s not a moment to lose! Not so fast. While an owner�s threat to hand a project to the next hungry contractor may be real, a contractor should never sign a contract without understanding and negotiating certain key terms and should never, never begin a
DARAEE Integrated Project Delivery is a construction project delivery framework by which the owner, designer and general contractor put the success of the project ahead of each member’s individual well-being on the project. The hallmark of IPD is the core belief that because a construction project consists of hundreds of parts and systems, all of which have to come together in concert, each member will achieve greater professional and economic success if the project success is maximized through focused efficient construction and dispute avoidance. Put simply, IPD subscribes to the notion that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The concept
RERICK In the Pacific Northwest, we’ve been spoiled with abundant and relatively cheap energy. This allowed us to become lackadaisical about our buildings’ energy consumption over the past several decades. Now, with rising energy prices and climate change concerns, building performance has jumped to the top of our aging buildings’ to-do list. Power Myths With active coal plants in Boardman, Ore. and Centralia, Wash., the Pacific Northwest’s clean power reputation is partly a myth. Oregonians still get around 40% of their electricity from coal and only 40% from hydro. Washington utility customers’ electricity is slightly cleaner with only about 17%
Tight construction budgets make it difficult to overcome first cost increases even when coupled with reasonable payback periods. Thankfully, there are a myriad of entities with dollars aimed at encouraging better building practices. These incentives take on a variety of forms, from tax breaks to grants to loans. Seed money is available for new and remodeling projects from large scale commercial all the way down to single family houses. Monies available depend on location, client and project type. Federal and State Incentives Vary Federal incentives in the United States are fairly limited. The U.S. government generally focuses its investments on
It may seem that everywhere you turn there is some sort of breaking news about social media. By now, you or your company may have even gotten involved in some capacity. But to what end? Whether it’s managing your own personal online identity or that of your organization, here are some guidelines to get you started. Setting Goals There are many benefits to creating a social media plan. The key is identifying goals and then using online social networks to achieve those goals. For example, a Seattle-based company recently wanted to increase the number of votes it was getting in
The residential real estate market is making gains as sales increase in many areas. We have witnessed this as we have sold out of our finished home inventory in several communities and we are starting to see many of our communities enter into presale agreements to build homes for delivery in 2010. While pre-sales are just beginning to pick up, this is an important indicator in terms of economic recovery, along with the stronger home sales. This is all good news for homebuilders, and it�s important to take note of what the return to pre-sales could mean for the real
The U.S. Congress is considering whether to enact a “cap and trade” program that would enable the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Policymakers are seeking to enact a comprehensive energy and climate change bill that aims to increase energy efficiency, address the risk of global warming, and transition the economy to the carbon-constrained future that many have come to expect. AGC is concerned that new federal legislation and/or regulations intended to control GHG emissions could deter new construction and directly affect contractors’ operations. Obstacles to Construction 1. Using the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate GHGs could
OAs LEED has developed into the norm, some of the sustainable elements employed have become so common as to be pedestrian and expected, such as alternate refrigerants, better filtration, and low-flow fixtures. The team-based ‘design charette’ process within LEED often leads to some very creative solutions. The most interesting sustainable element we have installed is an ice thermal storage system where ice made at night is used the following day to cool the building. Our design went one step farther, using the heat rejected from the making of ice to heat another building in the off-hours. The process came to
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