Online Exclusives

BY TOM OSBORNE PRESIDENT AND OWNER, FLOOD PANEL LLC The historic rainfall that devastated parts of Houston earlier this year exposed the nation’s vulnerability to flooding that can destroy homes and businesses in an instant. In addition to death and injury, flooding can cause extensive infrastructure and property damage, social instability and economic disruption. According to the National Flood Insurance ...

Fourteen years have come and gone by since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City. While we remember that day, we recognize that our country has only grown stronger and more united in the years since this devastating event took place.

BY NATE BUDDE CHIEF LEGAL AND PRODUCT OFFICER ZLIEN The construction industry is unique in many ways, one of which is the numerous amount of legal options a construction party has to get paid. Filing a mechanics lien is the obvious and most powerful option, but not the only one. There may be simpler ways that could also result in ...

BY JAY OLSEN On a busy jobsite, there are subcontractors everywhere — from carpenters and glaziers to bricklayers and ironworkers — all getting along with their own jobs. The carpenters don’t know the ironworkers, and the ironworkers don’t know the bricklayers. They might have seen each other around on other jobs, but they’re not on first-name terms with one another. ...

BY VINEET JAIN CEO, EGNYTE America’s skilled labor workforce is suffering and before we know it, the skilled labor pool might run dry. According to a recent AGC survey, 80 percent of construction firms indicate they plan to increase their payroll this year. The 2012 Current Population Survey revealed that nearly half of the construction industry’s workforce was over the ...

BY JEFF WITT, CPA PEDER JENSEN, MANAGER MOSS ADAMS LLP A construction cost audit can turn a project sideways if you aren’t prepared. There are many different compliance issues that arise during the contract audit process. However, almost all of these can be boiled down to four root causes: Contract. It all begins here. We have seen how a lack ...

BY JOHN BALITIS FENNEMORE CRAIG LAW FIRM With summer in full swing, businesses that engage seasonal interns should review their internship programs to ensure compliance with applicable wage and hour laws. Under these programs, unpaid interns can gain important experience, and employers often receive valuable free labor in return. But recent developments show that the intern arrangement is not that ...

BY CHARLIE KIMMEL KIMMEL & ASSOCIATES You think you’ve got problems now? Consider your construction workforce situation five years into the future. The great recession smacked the construction industry like a bat on a ball several years ago, but current projections show a slow but steady rebound. In a recent AGC survey, 80 percent of construction firms indicated they plan ...

TerraFirma Earth Technologies, an AGC of Texas, Highway, Heavy, Utilities, Industrial was selected by general contractor GE Johnson, an AGC of Colorado Building Chapter member, to install a groundwater control system and innovative groundwater collection and treatment system designed by Terracon in the heavily travelled Cherry Creek business district. When ground was broken in February 2014, neither GE Johnson, 100 ...

COMMITMENT TO PROJECT EXCELLENCE LANDS GRUNLEY AN ALLIANT BUILD AMERICA AWARD By Katie Kuehner-Hebert The feat of transforming part of an historic hospital more than a century old into the new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — ahead of schedule and under budget — has earned the St. Elizabeths Adaptive Reuse Phase 1B Project in Washington, D.C. ...