ConstructionAdvisorToday

Certificate of Workers Comp Insurance for Prime and Sub Contractors

Just as a contractor purchases insurance to protect itself, a contractor must insist that the parties down the contractual chain maintain appropriate insurance coverage. This protects the contractor with regard to potential liability to the project owner, as well as, possible responsibility for injuries to employees of subcontractors.

The only way to assure that coverage is in place is to obtain a certificate of insurance. In a recent case, a prime contractor received a certificate of workers’ compensation insurance from a subcontractor. The certificate form was incomplete. There was a job site injury to an employee of the subcontractor. The sub had no comp coverage. The prime contractor argued that its reliance on the

LEED Awards Extra Credit For Regional Considerations

The LEED rating system now offers up to four bonus points if a project meets prescribed environmental benchmarks for its geographical locale. For years, Bruce S. Fowle, FAIA and senior principal at FX FOWLE in New York City, recommended that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) add regionalization as a weighted part of its LEED rating system. “Roof-mounted photovoltaics (PVs) in New York City are not as meaningful an energy saving feature as they are in the desert. Likewise, conserving water in Nevada is much more important than in other lush areas of the country,” Fowle said. This is not to say that PVs or water-saving devices should only be used in certain regions, he points out. Rather, both LEED and Fowle recognize that projects should reflect the unique environmental needs of its climate and population locale.

Extra Credit
Following up on discussions with regional councils, chapters and affiliates throughout the United

Building Information Modeling (BIM): Multiple Models, Multiple Players

On the same day that the Boston Globe published an article on the benefits of "Building Image  Modeling," subscribers in the know listened to the third iteration of WPL Publishing's BIM Roadmap 2009 Series:  Multiple Models, Multiple Players: The Model Exchange Challenge. The dichotomy between the well-intentioned (but incorrect) article is germane because the first few years of BIM implementation focused on improved visualization. Now, in 2009, dubbed the "Year of the Contractor" by McGraw-Hill's SmartMarket BIM Report, BIM has moved beyond improved visuals from design offices

Construction Contracts and the Owner's Approval of Materials

Commentary from Bruce Jervis, Esq.
Editor, Construction Claims Advisor

Construction contracts frequently call for the owner’s approval of materials prior to incorporation into the project. Samples must be tested to establish conformance to the specifications. This raises two issues. Are there objective standards by which to measure compliance? And in the event of noncompliance, what are the procedures for bringing the materials into conformance with the specifications?

Repeated test failures can strain the patience of project owners. This was seen in a recent case where an asphalt mix failed four successive tests. The owner’s engineer ordered the highway contractor to shut down its batching plant and redesign the mix. But was this procedure authorized under the terms of the contract?

Channeling Wind Power the European Way

When the European Parliament ratified the E.U. Economic Recovery Plan on May 6, €3.98 billion of the Plan's total €5 billion funding was earmarked for energy projects, including €565 million for offshore wind energy projects. Additional funding directed at interconnecting the continent's power grids is expected to give additional speed to development of wind development.

"By including offshore wind and electricity grids in the Plan, E.U. decision makers have chosen the right areas to make a difference long term," said Christian Kjaer, chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). "The European Parliament's approval of the Plan should give a real boost to the burgeoning offshore wind sector."

Integrated Project Delivery Contracts, Scope, Risk and Reward: A Webinar Review

Howard Ashcraft and Patrick O'Connor presented "Integrated Project Delivery Contracts, Scope, Risk and Reward" in the fifth and final webinar in WPL Publishing's BIM Roadmap 2009 webinar series. Both are contributing authors to the AIA 2007 version 1 of the Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide, and are considered experts on Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).

Their presentation and discussion was comprehensive and easy to follow. It was right on the target for an audience of design and construction professionals. This is important for a complicated new topic such as IPD. Ashcraft and O'Connor began first with a clear definition of Integrated Project Delivery and its role in projects using Building Information Model (BIM).

Weathering the Storm: Industry Leaders Discuss the Economic Stimulus Package and the Future of Construction

A cumulative D grade -- that’s the score the nation earned in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) annual Report Card for the Nation’s Infrastructure. With a projected $2.2 trillion worth of work needed over the next five years to bring the nation’s structural backbone up to passable levels, it’s no surprise that infrastructure was a key topic at McGraw Hill’s recent Construction Business Forum in Arlington, Va.

This third annual conference, “Embracing Change: The Impact of the New Administration on Construction,” offered a candid venue for project owners, contractors and association leaders to discuss the economic state of the construction industry, as well as the implications the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or ARRA, will have on the industry. Since President Obama signed the bill into law

From the Editor: Bruce Jervis, Esq

Drawings and specifications purport to be logical and categorized. Generally they are. A particular drawing depicts a certain aspect of the work. A section of the specifications describes the requirements for a particular type of work. One might assume that these drawings and specifications offer “one-stop shopping” for determining the work requirements. That assumption can prove dangerous.

It is important for contractors to bear in mind that project owners and their designers have no legal obligation to organize or segregate drawings and specifications by trade. It is not their responsibility to provide contract documents which facilitate or accommodate subcontracting. It is the prime contractor’s responsibility to award subcontracts which accomplish completion of the full scope of work.

House Passes 21ST Century Green, High Performing Public Schools Facilities Act

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Green, High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act on May 14 by a largely partisan vote of 275 to 155. H.R. 2187 would invest billions of dollars in school repair and renovation projects to create safer, healthier, and more energy-efficient learning environments for students.

The legislation makes schools part of the effort to revive the U.S. economy and fight global warming by creating clean energy jobs that will help put workers in hard-hit industries back to work. The bill also makes investments to rebuild schools in areas recovering from natural disasters, including Gulf Coast area schools affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

From Bruce Jervis, Esq

The use of standard, preprinted contract forms offers a convenience. The agreement is comprehensive and addresses the essential issues that might arise on a construction project. If the agreement is an industry standard, such as the AIA contract documents, it has been widely interpreted by the courts. There should be few surprises.

Problems arise, however, when parties misuse preprinted contract forms. A recent example involved the AIA contract documents where the project architect is assigned numerous administrative responsibilities under the contract. This includes an initial decision on claims or disputes – a prerequisite to arbitration. When no project architect is designated or hired, how is the contract to be read? Is the arbitration clause enforceable?