Jim Kollaer's blog

According to the latest industry figures from the Associated General Contractors Association (AGC):

“The construction industry added 5,000 jobs in April while the industry’s unemployment rate declined slightly to 17.8 percent, nearly twice the national average, according to an analysis of new federal employment data released [earlier this month] by the Associated General Contractors of America.  Association officials said the figures continue a year-long trend of little change in construction employment after years of steep declines and predicted the stagnation is unlikely to change soon.”

In a press release from the AGC, their chief economist, Ken Simonson, states:

“The construction industry may have stopped bleeding jobs, but there is no sign that employment [node:read-more:link]

In the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process, one core idea is that there is shared risk and responsibility for the delivery of the project.  This has made it difficult on the companies who insure these project teams as the normal approach is that each player on the project has their own liability insurance.  That approach is based on the suspicion by team members that one of their partners might be intentionally negligent leading to a loss of life or shoddy construction.

According to Green Source Magazine, “The $385 million Owensboro Medical Health Center project in Owensboro, Kentucky, is using IPD and has a single-project insurance policy that covers the entire team, in addition to the [node:read-more:link]

A draft executive order was released from the White House that will require contractors bidding for federal work to disclose every political contribution that the directors, owners and officers have made before they would be considered for the projects.

Let’s see, does that smell a little fishy to you?  Well, it does to me.

We already know that the White House can issue executive orders that can turn our industry upside down.  We saw it in the executive order on PLAs that favored the labor unions on Federal projects.  This one is even more political and holds the possibility that if you didn’t contribute to a certain party or candidate, you would not be considered [node:read-more:link]

Houston based Linbeck Group, LLC won an Associated General Contractors (AGC) Aon Build America Award for the 2010 best building under $10 million for the Mary Wright Admission Center on the campus of Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth.  The AGC awarded Aon awards to 20 firms from around the country.  According to a recent press release:

“The Mary Wright Admission Center, which won for best new building project under $10 million, is a 13,000 square foot facility that serves as an undergraduate recruiting center.  The project was completed 23 days early, despite record-breaking heat and rain and mid-project changes to the design.   [node:read-more:link]

Editor’s note:  In our final post relating to the workforce development meeting held at Marek Brothers Systems in Houston this year, Jim Kollaer writes about the process he used as facilitator of the meeting.

My approach to this session was based on these premises:

1. Do no harm – I know that it is corny, but it is important to the work that I do to make the sessions as productive as possible.
2. Positive actionable results – The session is not an end into itself.  It was designed to leverage their current state and help them develop a direction towards the future state.
3. It’s their company – The key reason to bring in an outside facilitator to lead these sessions is that we can ask the hard questions, drill down on the uncomfortable areas, put the owners or leaders on the spot without worrying about our jobs, poke the box and generally get it done.

  [node:read-more:link]

The use of the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process is growing a slow rate around the country, possibly because of the requirement for shared risks and rewards and the form of contracting and insuring those teams.  However, owners are beginning to push for new forms of delivery and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently surveyed their members to see what the current status of IPD is within the profession.  As the use of IPD within the industry expands, architectural firms will be a likely signpost of that expansion.

Here is that survey as reported in GreenSource magazine, a collaboration of Architectural Record, McGraw-Hill Construction, and BuildingGreen, LLC.   [node:read-more:link]

Texas based commercial contractor SpawGlass is not only changing CEOs at the end of this year, but according to Mobile Enterprise, the firm has deployed Motion Computing’s Motion F5v Tablet PCs into the field as part of their Building Information Modeling (BIM) efforts.  One of the first projects where the tablets are being used is at the construction site of the new University of Texas Student Activities /Liberal Arts Building at the UT campus in Austin.

According to Chris Tisdel, BIM technologist at SpawGlass, “Our goal is to create a tight connection between design intent and field activities, and then provide the owners with the same level of coordination and visibility throughout the lifecycle of a structure.”

Motion Computing is an Austin, Texas designer of tablet computers for industry including healthcare, government and field personnel.  Their website offers a 13-minute webinar which explains how Tablet PCs in Construction can improve job site productivity, as well as some information about specific tablet PCs used in construction (free registration required).   [node:read-more:link]

The pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding last week were magnified by the scale and construction of Westminster Abbey, a building that has stood for over 700 years at a location which has been a Christian worship site for over 1000 years.

My first visit, over 25 years ago, seared into my mind the import of the building, the flying buttresses and the lightness of the structure created by the three Master Masons who designed and built it.

Even though I had studied Westminster as a student in architecture school, I was hardly prepared for my first visit.  The height of the nave was a number to me until I craned my neck to look up at how high it really was – 102 feet, the height of a 10 story modern building.  I was awestruck, probably more so by the fact that I had flown overnight on my first overseas trip from Houston.  I was on my way to Saudi Arabia to work on the master plan for the University of Petroleum and Minerals (Now the King Abdul Aziz University in Dhahran), and had stopped for the day to see the Abbey and several other sites in London.  Today, after numerous visits, I still stand in awe of the Kings, Queens and Abbots who brought the Master Masons to the site to build [node:read-more:link]

The good news for owners who are bidding their work is that there are more companies bidding for that work.  One example of that is shown in a news video posted yesterday by WSAZ/NewsChannel3 in Huntington, West Virginia about a renovation and repurposing of a building in the Cabell County School District.  They have been flooded by bids for the job.  They received about 4 times as many bids as they expected for the demolition portion of the project alone.

In this case, a local firm won a bid over larger national and regional firms who are looking for work anywhere they can find it.  That is good news for the local firm, but bad for the other firms.   [node:read-more:link]

According to a story last week in Syracuse.com, the online connection to The Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse, New York,

“The owners of a Pennsylvania construction company face up to 10 years in prison, a fine up to $250,000 and other penalties for using illegal aliens on a theater reconstruction job at ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse reported that the contractors pled guilty to “conspiracy to conceal, harbor and shield illegal aliens from detection for commercial advantage and private gain”.   [node:read-more:link]