Even when you believe you’ve done everything right the results may surprise you without expert help. As our second contractor learns as well, complex rules make every word count in how they apply. ‘Expect’ a surprise before the end and ‘at least’ a good lesson in licensing rules…Q: We recently filed to replace our Qualifier, [...]
The holiday season is supposed to be a time of traditions, togetherness and fun. We are inclined to go a bit overboard in trying to make the most of every minute of the season and to maximize the joy it's supposed to hold. In our haste to embrace the spirit of the holidays we [...]
A total of 6,645 planned and ongoing construction projects by the world’s megacities, valued at US$4.2trn and fueled by the increase in population, are sparking interest in residential and infrastructural developments, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The United Nations predicts that, between 2016 and 2030, the percentage of the world's [...]
Before a full house of guests, dignitaries and colleagues ECA’s 31st Annual DIG Awards celebrated Pat Duffy of Monteleone & McCrory, and the late Ed Vadnais of Edmond J. Vadnais Corp. for their careers of Dignity, Integrity and Generosity - DIG - in the construction industry. This year’s awardees were honored for their lifetime [...]
United Rentals, the nation's largest equipment rental company is spending a lot of time, money and brainpower trying to discern what the future of our industry looks like and how and what their business will deliver. They see drones laying bricks, surveying solar fields and providing progress photos for a fraction of the previous [...]
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.—from an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet first published in 1981. We hear that quote usually attributed to Albert Einstein, but he had been dead since 1955—and there is no proof that it belongs to Einstein, Mark Twain, Richard [...]
For the past decade or so it has been a general practice for private law firms or non-governmental organizations (NGO) to sue companies or the government itself for violating federal environmental regulations, with no intention to go to court, but use the suits as a form of legal extortion. This expensive game is called “sue [...]
State Controller Betty T. Yee has appointed a civil engineer to the peer review group that oversees planning, engineering, and financial plans for the nation's first high speed rail system. Bijan Sartipi, a civil engineer and 36-year veteran of two California agencies, is Controller Yee's second of two appointments to the California High-Speed Rail Authority [...]
Unless they are just playing with our emotions, it looks very much like the amount of money available for states and local agencies for drinking water projects under the federal loan program known as the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) will nearly double in the next two years. We finally see sustained growth in [...]
I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled, Kodak's Downfall Wasn't About Technology, and the author did a great job of getting to the core of Kodak's true problems. If you're like me and many other others, you accepted the narrative told by most in the media about Kodak being fat, [...]
