With the start of the second half of 2010, it appears that experts were correct in predicting that recovery from the current recession would be a long, slow climb rather than a quick leap. Declines in project starts, which started four years ago, have created a murky marketplace complete with bidding frenzies, razor-thin profit margins and an unemployment rate over 20%. But, along with the bad, there is some good coming out of the current recession. The editors of Mountain States Construction magazine have compiled a list of 10 things that are getting better in 2010. We Built This City:
In 2011, residents of Daybreak, a 4,200-acre master-planned community in South Jordan, Utah, will drive, bike or walk across the $2-million Brookside Bridge, which is made almost completely out of recycled materials. By then, project officials hope an environmental rating system for infrastructure will exist to quantify the bridge�s eco-friendliness. Photo Courtesy Of Kennecott Land Precast arches made out of recycled concrete were built on site, not shipped. Photo Courtesy Of Kennecott Land Builders of a Utah community bridge want a green rating. This June, contractor Ralph L. Wads-worth Construction, Salt Lake City, took two days, 500 worker-hours and twin
The 2010 session of the Colorado legislature passed a law requiring that automobile insurance policies be written in plain language not exceeding 10th-grade reading levels. Rather than doing the same for construction professionals� insurance policies, the legislature, in the very same session, passed laws relating to those complex policies on how they should be interpreted and applied by the courts. The term �construction professionals� means architects, contractors, subcontractors, developers, builders, builder-vendors, engineers and inspectors performing or furnishing the design, supervision, inspection, construction or observation of construction of real property improvements like houses, buildings, etc. Those industry members are commonly insured
What happens to subcontractors when owners can’t pay their general contractors? If their subcontracts have “pay-if-paid” provisions, the subcontractors may be out of luck. Those provisions mean that if the general does not get paid, it does not have to pay its subcontractors. While there are a number of courts in other states that have declared pay-if-paid clauses to be unenforceable, that is not presently the rule in Colorado. The last time the Colorado Supreme Court addressed the question, it suggested that pay-if-paid provisions would be enforceable in Colorado if (1) they clearly state that payment to the general contractor
Merger and acquisition transactions can be a viable alternative for accomplishing a number of strategic objectives in the context of building and realizing value for emerging growth and middle-market companies (those from startup to several hundred million dollars in revenue). Let’s take a high-level view of the buy-side and sell-side processes, and a framework for thinking about and planning each. Exits In many instances, the distinction between selling a company and raising capital is measured by the amount of equity sold and the contractual rights obtained by the buyer. Financing growth raises the issue of long-term shareholder objectives, which many
As the state of the economy remains stagnant and with predictions of even more hard times ahead, the construction industry continues to take a hit. Revenues are down and competition for work is stiffer than ever, which means many contractors are looking at ways to minimize operating costs—including the option of reducing their workforce. Short-term gain versus long-term value We’ve been through tough times before, and we know things will eventually turn around. While Colorado lost more than 31,000 construction jobs last year (almost a quarter of the state’s construction employment), as a small business owner, I know I can’t
ColoradoWindsor-based McCauley Constructors Inc. added Jerry Grandt, Lindsey Crisanti and Scott Ready as superintendents and Tonya Deter as a project coordinator. Rendering courtesy of Architectural Nexus Architectural Nexus� new design center houses staff and offers a place for those seeking practical knowledge and applications for sustainability and preservation. Photo courtesy of Hunt Electric Jay Behunin, right, accepts Skanska USA�s March 2010 Safety Team Award from Cullen Copenen, Skanska Safety Superintendent. Grandt has more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry. In that time, he has completed the Bioenvironmental Research Building for Colorado State University and several assisted-living facilities.
Bank financing is beginning a slow return to the commercial real estate market as healthy financial institutions resolve existing credit issues and �right size� their balance sheets. Banks that have worked through their credit issues will re-enter the construction financing market when demand for space demonstrates a renewed need for construction. Those looking for financing will find underwriting standards that reflect banks� lower-risk tolerances. Developers will need to adjust return expectations in response to new underwriting requirements. Healthy banks initiated proactive loan-loss reserves beginning in early 2009. This, in addition to high levels of real estate exposure, created capital issues
Related Links: University Hospital Plans a $400-Million Expansion In June the Regional Transportation District�s Board of Directors voted unanimously to award its single-largest FasTracks contract, a public-private partnership known as Eagle P3, to the Denver Transit Partners consortium. The group will design, build, operate and maintain the commuter rail lines to Denver International Airport, Arvada-Wheat Ridge and south Westminster for the next 40 years. Denver Transit Partners� proposal came in at $2.085 billion�$300 million lower than RTD�s estimate of $2.385 billion. The proposal also included opening the central line between Denver and DIA by January 2016, 11 months ahead of
Construction completed in April on a new solar-powered meetinghouse for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Farmington, Utah, its first in the Northern Hemisphere. Photo courtesy of Jacobsen Construction The 20,000-sq-ft Farmington Meetinghouse is one of five prototypes developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is only the second LDS building to achieve LEED-Silver certification. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The 20,000-sq-ft meetinghouse is one of five prototypes developed by the church to showcase its environmental stewardship, according to church officials. The church is constructing four similar LEED-certified prototypes in Utah, Arizona
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