The costs of arguments and feuds on construction projects is significant, a recent study shows.According to research published late last year by the Center for Construction Research and Training, 41 incidents of conflict on construction projects each cost, on average, about $11,000 and 161 hours of work time.Those 41 incidents were part of a total of 86 conflicts that were analyzed. The 41 had enough details that the costs involved could be assessed.The results of the research come from interviews with 74 construction superintendents, project managers, foremen, supervisors, journeymen and fifth-year apprentices across Michigan’s lower peninsula.“The most interesting, to me,
Related Links: Bankrupt Jefferson County, Ala., Raises Sewer Rates Jefferson County Files for Bankruptcy After Talks With Creditors Break Down Jefferson County, Ala., will wipe out more than $1.2 billion of sewer debt and residents will face smaller sewer rate increases if the plan to exit its historic $4.2-billion municipal bankruptcy is approved later this year.The plan, filed on June 30, will be submitted to Judge Thomas Bennett in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Alabama in August and go before creditors for a vote before another hearing in November.Final approval would free the county to start issuing
PensionDanmark is investing $200 million in Cape Wind’s planned 468-MW offshore wind farm, which is sited off the coast of Nantucket Sound. The project has drawn sustained opposition during its 12 years of development.The Danish investment, announced on June 16, will help secure project financing, says the owner. “This important investment is a milestone in the Cape Wind project,” says Jim Gordon, Cape Wind president.The goal is to finalize construction of North America’s first offshore wind farm, which is also one of the largest planned, with 130 3.6-megawatt turbines, the statement noted. The investment, in the form of a mezzanine
Related Links: A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Coal-Backed Bonds are Rock Solid Clarity Needed on Individual Surety Assets Half of sureties see market conditions for contract surety softening later in 2013, but only one surety broker in five agrees that it will happen, according to surveys of both companies and brokers by the National Association of Surety Bond Producers.The difference in perspective was evident in more ways than one at the NASBP's annual convention in San Francisco on April 21-24. Mark McCallum, NASBP's chief executive, said the association's survey of some 65 companies and individual brokers showed that producers
Saying that it recognized revenue from change orders on demolition work too soon, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. is restating its financial results for 2012, negotiating with lenders after breaching its credit agreements and parting ways with Bruce Biemeck, its president and chief operating officer, the company said.Biemeck’s departure “was not for cause,” said Jonathan Berger, the company’s chief executive, during a teleconference March 15 with stock analysts who follow the company.William Steckel, who replaced Bruce Biemeck as chief financial officer in August 2012, remains with the company.Great Lakes (GLDD-NASDAQ) says it is the biggest dredging contractor in the
AP Photo/Jorge Sanchez Supporter of Hugo Chavez holds a poster of the late Venezuelan president during a parade in Asuncion, Paraguay. Chavez died on March 5 after a two-year bout with cancer. Related Links: Mexican Cement Maker Cemex Settles for Half Value of Seized Assets in Venezuela Venezuela’s new socialist leader hopes to continue the ambitious construction programs initiated by the late President Hugo Chávez, and the nation’s vast oil and mineral reserves will likely enable much—but perhaps not all—of the work to go on, said sources familiar with the political and economic conditiions in Venezuela.“The construction programs of the
Montgomery County, Md. The Silver Spring, Md. transit center as it appeared in April 2011. Team members building the Silver Spring Transit Center, a major mass transportation hub in the heart of Silver Spring, Md., a Washington, D.C., suburb, continue to point fingers at each other as the project remains in limbo.Project contractor Foulger-Pratt, Rockville, Md., has filed numerous notices of claims against Montgomery County, the owner, for unnecessarily delaying the project.The most recent of those, filed on Jan. 18, contends that the county owes the contractors $7,525 per day if the project continues to be delayed after Feb. 26.
Tony Illia for ENR The SkyVue project has shed its liens but still faces delays. Related Links: SkyVue Financial Troubles Mount SkyVue project website Until the developer of Las Vegas' newest attraction had filled in the gaps in the project's finances, the contractors' legal bills seemed to be climbing higher than the structure.Now, according to developer Howard Bulloch, his steel observation wheel and retail complex "is approaching a period of huge momentum" as construction financing has been finalized, tenants sign up and parts for the wheel arrive from around the world.One of two observation wheel projects being built in Las
Baybutt.com Nantucket Memorial Airport was one of the first projects on which Baybutt Construction Co. was terminated. This photo is from a gallery of project photos on Baybutt's website. Clients are cutting ties to Baybutt Construction Corp., the Keene, N.H.-based general contractor that has been doing business in New England since 1964. Most of the contracts are small but the apparent failure of Baybutt may signal another, more perilous year for recession-weakened construction companies, say people familiar with contracting and Baybutt's troubles.Commissioners of the Nantucket Memorial Airport in Massachusetts voted to terminate Baybutt Dec. 11 from a $4.5-million contract to
Related Links: First Sealord Surety Fought Numerous Legal Battles in Last Years The fallout continues from the liquidation of First Sealord Surety, Inc., which was suddenly shut down last year by Pennsylvania insurance regulators. The shutdown forced small contractors served by First Sealord to scramble for replacement bonds.Then, last September, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Considine filed a complaint against the Villanova, Pa. company's former directors, accusing them of diverting funds from First Sealord and using fraudulent and reckless reserving practices. The insurance department held the officers responsible for $7.87 million of the company’s losses.The complaint alleges that First Sealord's former
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