How bad is the flooding, Joe? That's what I wanted to know during a cell-phone call in the days after Sandy hit. I was talking with a long-term tenant of mine, a retired fire chief, about the condition of the small apartment building I own in Ventnor, a hard-hit New Jersey shore town."Two feet," Joe answered. The building sits on high ground, but when the electricity died, so did the building's sump pump. Two feet of water is one foot beyond the threshold to flood our elevated boiler system, which likely would deprive my tenants of heat and hot water—that
Related Links: ENR: Fresh Hope for Homebuilders ENR Mountain States Multifamily construction is booming despite the slow economic recovery for commercial and single-family markets, but it is a very different market than it was 10 years ago. Like other segments of construction, the increasing number of firms in multifamily has driven profit margins down. As a result, bidding errors or unanticipated project costs, which were once part of doing business and could be absorbed within the contract price, can now wipe out all profits on a project and even threaten a company's overall financial strength.Multifamily's healthy backlog of work has
Related Links: Special Report: Social Media in Construction Bold Brand Book's Website What do architecture, engineering, accounting, legal and other professional services firms have in common? Most of them are "horrible marketers," says management guru Mark Zweig in the foreword to "Bold Brand," a new book that serves as a tool kit for firms looking to make a statement and build up their bank of business.Professionals such as architects and engineers working in business-to-business companies tend to think of their services differently than pros working in the business-to-consumer world, which is intensely competitive and places a higher value on brand
ENR Research Related Links: Will Proposed Anti-Bullying Laws Bring a Wave of Lawsuits? What Companies Do to Fend Off Abuse Lawsuits The rooftop was getting hotter. All day it was the same with Bob, the chief of our four-man crew, who barked orders for materials: "Nails!" "Shingles!" He yelled at everyone, especially me, the low man. I was a 20-something student on a break from college, earning money for school. We were putting a roof on a suburban home on a hill overlooking Coraopolis, northwest of Pittsburgh. Bob's shouting punctuated the days."Water! Where the hell is that kid with the
Photo By AP Wideworld Weak, underdesigned wood power-line poles are a common point of failure in extreme-weather events, such as Superstorm Sandy. The national election and the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy provide a double measure of poignancy to this week's issue—the fifth in ENR's critical-infrastructure series of special reports. This installment, planned months ago, focuses on the electrical grid. Although infrastructure had not been part of the political conversation prior to this storm of storms, we hope the disaster in the Northeast U.S. refocuses public concern.With its twin assault of wind and storm surge, a tempest of this size and
Related Links: Federal Government Bonding Basics: Individual Sureties Do federal contracting officers have the time and wherewithal to check the validity and worth of assets pledged by an individual surety to back a contractor? The National Association of Surety Bond Producers doesn't think so, and it has in the last year succeeded in winning passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill that tightens up requirements so that individual sureties must back their guarantees witha Treasury bill or some other easily liquidated asset. Winning passage in the Senate will require more hard work and could make it harder
Related Links: Download ENR's Free Mobile News App Foundation Flaws Make Kentucky's Wolf Creek Dam a High-Risk Priority The field of ground engineering and construction often is characterized by unknown conditions, a high level of uncertainty and risk. In the difficult economic conditions we see around the globe today, it seems as if the entire construction industry is on shaky ground, too. As the CEO of Soilmec, a heavy equipment manufacturer in the ground engineering sector based in Italy, I would like to offer my insight into how the European economic crisis is affecting the worldwide construction industry.In Europe, stronger
Related Links: A Critique of Romney's Transportation Record From Former Mass. Gov. Dukakis FactCheck: Romneys Clean-Energy Whoppers During the 90 minutes of the first 2012 presidential election debate, neither President Obama nor Gov. Romney managed even a brief mention of the "I-word": Infrastructure—roads and bridges and water systems—never came up. In their exchanges, the candidates almost completely sidestepped public works, treating the subject like a distant dream in our national consciousness. A more substantivedebate would have discussed infrastructure, prioritizing types of public works and proposing ideas on how to pay for them.To be fair, Obama has, in the past, put
Related Links: FIDIC Report Focuses on Obstacles to Sustainability FIDIC 2012 Video: Why Are You an Engineer? Corruption flourishes in the world of construction and international development, but there also are prolific efforts to stamp it out. This past year, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, or FIDIC, updated its anti-corruption measures for companies. In light of the problems involving overseas agents at engineer SNC-Lavalin, these measures are worth reviewing. Double-checking a firm's anti-corruption practices is a good idea any time, especially when it comes to agents who represent your company overseas.The corruption solution that FIDIC has championed since the
Related Links: U.S. Commercial Services website with additional details Under Secretary for Trade Francisco J. Sanchez explains the mission (video) On Nov. 11-17 of this year, the U.S. Commercial Service of the Dept. of Commerce’s International Trade Administration is leading a trade mission of U.S. companies to explore Vietnam's and Indonesia’s infrastructure markets. Together, these countries are undertaking billions of dollars' worth of projects in sectors such as environmental, construction and engineering, aviation and energy—all of which hold great promise for U.S. exporters looking for growth opportunities. Sarah Kemp and David Gossack, senior commercial counselors with the U.S. embassies in
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