ConstructionAdvisorToday

From Bruce Jervis, Esq

Claims administration can be tedious. And many personnel view the activity as “unproductive.” This does not mean, however, that it is unimportant. The careful administration of the claims process protects a contractor’s rights under the contract and preserves the profit margin on a job. The claims procedure under federal government contracts is particularly formal. Failure to comply will deprive a court or administrative board of jurisdiction to hear an appeal from the denial of the claim by a government contracting officer. The contractor is essentially left without a remedy. One contractor recently faced dismissal from court because the contractor had revised the amount of its claim (reduced it, in fact) without recertifying the accuracy and completeness of the claim.

The contractor in question survived the challenge, but there is a lesson here. A contractor must

Recent Developments in Design-Build Case Law: June 3rd Webinar

The promise of Design-Build has been shorter schedules with fewer disputes. In theory, having the contractor and designer on the same team should eliminate the bulk of construction disputes: contract interpretation, design clarifications, RFIs and coordination issues, and reduce others such as differing site conditions.

In addition, the owner should realize other benefits by having contractor input during the design stage, the elimination of the contractor selection phase and the ability to start construction before 100% design completion. Has the reality measured up? Is design-build the way to go? What are the caveats? Where are the crevasses and sinkholes?  Join Mike Loulakis on June 3rd at 1:00 EPT for this exclusive webinar to get answers to these intriguing questions:  Click Here for Details.

Mike Loukakis, author of Design-Build: Lessons Learned, reviews the case law landscape over the past 15 years of design-build. He will reveal his findings based upon more than 500 design-build cases to show you the way to successfully navigate a design-build project:

Project Governance: A Best Practices Primer In Risk Assessment

One bad project can bring down a company,” said Harold Dorbin, senior vice president of Marsh’s Construction Consulting Practice, at last week’s Project Management Institute College of Scheduling (PMICOS) conference.  This explains why Marsh, a construction insurer, is so big on risk assessment and analysis. The company has developed formal procedures and metrics to help contractors and owners develop risk management programs, as well as assist Marsh in its own review and contract oversight.

What is Project Governance?
Project Governance is the measured capacity of executive management to have a positive influence on the outcome of a project.  Good Project Governance provides predictability in how management's project adjustments will affect the outcome of each project management process. Project governance begins in  It starts by asking some simple questions:

First Remodeled Home Certified to the National Green Building Standard

A recently completed remodeling project in Munster, Ind., is the first home remodel to earn certification under the National Green Building Standard, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced today.

The 1,100-square-foot ranch home built in 1974 was renovated by Lyng Builders, a custom home building and remodeling company, after floodwaters filled the basement as well as two feet of the first floor.

Working within a tight budget to repair substantial structural damage, Lyng Builders also persuaded the home owner to make improvements that can help save on utility bills by decreasing energy and water

From Bruce Jervis, Esq

“Notice of claim” requirements are found in almost every construction contract. Typically, the contractor must provide written notice within a certain number of days of any event or occurrence giving rise to a claim for a price adjustment. Frequently, the notice must include a statement of costs.
These notice requirements are awkward for contractors. To begin with, the other party is probably well aware of the problems causing increased costs. It seems adversarial or litigious to be constantly serving written notices of claims. Additionally, the contractor may be uncertain of the actual increased costs that will be incurred. What is the contractor supposed to do, serve weekly notices with an

PMICOS Identifies Five Essential Elements for Successful Construction Projects

At the sixth annual conference of the Project Management Institute College of Scheduling (PMICOS) in Boston last week, five activities emerged as the essential components to every successful building project in the not-too-distant future:

1)   Project controls
2)   Building Information Modeling (BIM)
3)   Risk analysis
4)   Lean construction
5)   Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

Convention participants sat through a number of sessions on these various topics and it is clear that while each component is important in its own right, collectively, these process tools span the interests and concerns of every member of the building team.  When implemented in a shared environment, whether through informal team meetings or a signed IPD contract, the processes become valuable problem-solving tools that can lead to significant savings in project cost and time.

Clearly, the common element facilitating these processes is project data.  Building Information

Sandia National Labs Earn Five LEED Certifications

In 2008, Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico was awarded LEED-NC (new construction) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for five major buildings, more than any other entity in the state.  Not only do the more than 600,000 square feet in these five buildings represent more than 10 percent of the square footage in the 700 buildings under Sandia's management; these buildings are unlike most LEED-rated buildings.

The MESA Microsystems Fabrication (MicroFab) Facility, for example, is the nation's first microchip fabrication facility to achieve a LEED certification.  "For the MicroFab, as for most of the buildings at

Construction Advisor Today

WASHINGTON, May 14 /PRWeb/ -- Today, WPL Publishing Co. (www.wpl.net) welcomes the launch of its new Beta Site Construction Advisor Today (www.constructionadvisortoday.com), a complimentary online news source that will share commentary and provide news and insight as it relates to legal construction, green building, project controls, building information modeling (BIM), scheduling and more.

“By leveraging the editorial excellence of Construction Claims Advisor, we believe Construction Advisor Today will become an important information service to organizations making increasingly larger bets – especially with the economic stimulus flow and fluctuations in the stock market,” said Paul Levin, President of WPL Publishing.

Best Practices in Bidding

The federal government’s economic stimulus plan will soon unleash a flurry of publicly funded construction projects. Some contracts will be awarded directly by the federal government, but the majority will be awarded by state and local entities. The one thing these projects have in common is that the contracts will be awarded through the competitive procurement process. Therefore, it’s a good time to review the fundamentals of sound bidding. These are concerns that should be addressed

Empire State Building Pursues LEED Gold Retrofit

A $20 million package of retrofits will make New York City's Empire State Building stand as a landmark for sustainability. Building upgrades are to include chillers, controls, ventilation and glazing and are designed to decrease energy use and carbon footprint while increasing occupant comfort. The project team includes Johnson Controls (JCI), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). The energy savings should amount to $4.4 million per year and reduce energy use by 40 percent. The Empire State Building will serve as a test case and model for