Jim Kollaer's blog

The economy in California might be on the upswing, but the construction industry falls short regarding the underground economy and wage theft and insurance fraud for one of the bandit firms that we are ferreting out all over the country.  Doherty Painting and Construction in Millbrae is neither responsible or honest.

According to an article on National Underwriter’s website Property Casualty 360, Frances Ann Doherty, owner of Doherty Painting and Construction in Millbrae, is accused of stealing from her workers over $600,000 of wages.  Not only did she withhold wages owed, she reported to her clients, the city of San Francisco and a number of school districts, that she had paid the prevailing wage to her workers.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!”  According to the California Department of Insurance, Doherty is accused of misreporting over $600,000 in wages and over $100,000 in insurance premiums to her insurance companies. [node:read-more:link]

Last weekend in Tomball, Texas, a group of construction industry volunteers worked on building a new home for Lance Corporal Daniel Peterson, a Marine veteran who lost both legs in the war in Afghanistan.  The construction team, organized by SpawGlass under the auspices of Homes for our Troops, included volunteers from Marek Brothers Systems and Ryder Insulation Incorporated, who all contributed time and materials to help make this home a reality for this 22 year old hero.

Here is the story of the amazing veteran who gave so much for our freedom.

“While on his second deployment, Marine Special Forces, Lance Corporal Daniel Peterson was left a double amputee after an explosion in the Southern Helmand Province of Afghanistan on July 24, 2010. [node:read-more:link]

New Wage Theft and Payroll Fraud Study Released in Florida

According to a recent report in the Florida Independent, wage theft and payroll fraud are rampant in Florida, and the state enforcement mechanism is overwhelmed and grossly understaffed.  They cite a recent report from the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) at Florida International University entitled Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida – How Millions of Dollars are Stolen from Florida's Workforce that illustrates the nature of the wage theft and payroll fraud issue in Florida, specifically in 5 industries: Accommodation and Food Services, Retail, Construction, Healthcare and Social Services and Administrative Support. [node:read-more:link]

It is Oscar season and while this wasn’t the event itself, last Friday night members of the Construction Citizen team attended the ASA-Houston Chapter’s 15th Annual Excellence in Construction Awards in Houston.  The annual ceremony is held to recognize those outstanding companies and individuals in 8 categories: General Contractor of the Year, Architect/Engineer of the Year, General Contractor Safety Award, Project Manager of the Year, Project Superintendent of the Year, Project of the Year Over $15 Million, Project of the Year between $5-$15 Million, and Project of the Year Under $5 Million. [node:read-more:link]

First of all I have to tell you that I think that the subcontractors who hire day laborers, work them 12-14 hours a day, and then don’t pay them their base pay or even the overtime that they are due are bandits.  They steal from the workers, they steal taxes from the state, they steal from the IRS, and ultimately they steal from you and me.
I don’t much care for that at all.

On top of that they expose the workers to unsafe jobsite conditions, and they take the chance that the construction is not high quality, so that you and I get exposed to the possibility of injury or worse when we occupy those unsafe buildings and apartments.

In the down economy when jobs are scarce, bids only ring the bell when they are much lower than the   [node:read-more:link]

You’re driving down the freeway at 65 mph when you look over and the person next to you is reading their email and texting on their smartphone.  Worse yet is the person on the other side who is driving down the freeway with the latest edition of the Wall Street Journal stretched across the steering wheel and they too, are driving at 60 or 70 mph.  Scary to say the least.  I have personally seen both of those in the last 30 days.  Scary and really dangerous.  But that is changing and will be common place over the next decade if not sooner.

I have told a number of my clients and audiences that the next generation of cars will have to drive themselves because the “next gen” folks will have to have that robotic help to survive the freeways.  Many of us have already read of the Google-owned driverless cars that have racked up over 140,000 miles in Nevada and California.  You might have read of the autonomous car in China that drives the 177 miles between Changsha and Wuhan.  True, that is not the 405 freeway in LA, but still it is 177 miles.   [node:read-more:link]

According to a recently released Global Metro Monitor published by the Brookings Institute, an analysis of per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product, i.e. income) and employment changes in the 2010 to 2011 period for 200 of the world’s largest metropolitan economies revealed that Houston, Texas was the fastest-growing Metro economy in North America.  That is good news for the Houston construction industry.

The study ranks 200 global metro areas by their GDP output and their job growth, and found that “90 percent of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies among the 200 largest worldwide were located outside North America and Western Europe.”   [node:read-more:link]

The January edition of The Red Bulletin has an article about men who build bamboo construction scaffolding in Hong Kong.  The article talks about the “whys and how” of using bamboo scaffolding to build structures that reach over 250 meters or 820 feet into the sky.  The spidermen who do this work are known as “Taap Pang,” Cantonese for bamboo scaffolder.

The advantages of bamboo scaffolding include the fact that they are light weight, recyclable, and found in most Asian climes.  The poles are selected for their size and strength, and are held in place with long plastic ties.  The spidermen are very skilled and in demand in Hong Kong and other major cities where scaffolding is needed.

There is a growing shortage of skilled spidermen.  Even though there are around 4,000 active spidermen, only 50-60 candidates have entered the craft in the last year.  The training is extensive and candidates are taught the art of the selection and erection of the poles to create the spider web for the construction crews.   [node:read-more:link]

Loren Steffy, in his Sunday column for the Houston Chronicle, spells out the impact of payroll fraud and worker misclassification on the US deficit.  He says that two things are happening that are symptomatic of the situation.

First, by misclassifying workers as independent contractors or 1099 workers, the employers in the construction industry and in other labor intensive industries like hospitality and food service are not paying the taxes or benefits on the workers they hire.  Steffy states:

“For every $1,000 employers pay in wages, they are supposed to collect from employees $14.40 for Medicare and $42 for Social Security.  In addition, employers are supposed to contribute $62 themselves to Social Security, another $14.50 for Medicare and $25 [node:read-more:link]

One of the biggest safety issues on the complex jobsite is to know where the workforce is at any time without walking the site and visually identifying each individual.  Technology can solve that issue, and it is not somewhere out in the future.

The future is here according to an article in Constructech that talks about using radio-frequency identification chips, or RFID chips, in the nametags for workers on any jobsite.  Companies like ADR Software are providing that service for over 15,000 workers on jobsites around the country.  Then, according to the article, if an accident occurs on a jobsite, the superintendent can immediately see where everyone is located on the site, and can make [node:read-more:link]