New Provisions of the AIA’s Consensus Documents Shift the Claims Burden onto the Contractor. Owners commonly use the American Institute of Architects’ documents as the blueprint for construction contracts with contractors. Yet, the blueprint continues to change and those changes appear more and more slanted against contractors, as demonstrated by the newest AIA 2007 documents….
Category Archives: Construction Law News
Construction Law – Riskier Business
Big Dig Settlement Shows How Changes to Construction Contracts Have Unexpected Consequences. Beginning with the 1987 set of construction documents, which were generally viewed as acceptable to most contractors, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) began a process of revising its construction documents every 10 years. Each revision has yielded more provisions that were unacceptable…
Construction Law – Safety Insured
Safety, Insured Balancing Insurance and Indemnification Agreements Can Mitigate Risk in Utility Projects. The wireless revolution is in full force, and to meet growing demand for cellular phones and data devices, wireless companies are scrambling for new cellular tower sites. Power companies are also scrambling to keep up. The surge of new construction related to…
Construction Law – Immigration Labor Laws
Seeing Both Sides: When It Comes to the Work Force Shortage, Is Immigration Reform a Viable Solution? The construction industry has a long and true history of promoting minorities in the workplace. Despite troubled economic times, many areas of the construction industry continue to expand rapidly and some estimates suggest that construction constitutes 10 percent…
Construction Law – Public Private Partnerships
Neglected Infrastructure Is Taking Its Toll. Could Public-Private Partnerships Offer a Fix? We may use other, less academic terms to refer to them, but we all deal with infrastructure problems on a daily basis. We all hate sitting in traffic or driving on deteriorating roads. How many times have you thought, “If only the public…
Construction Law – Preventing Safety Non-compliance through a Team Approach
The single largest cause of safety non-compliance is inattention to safety details on the part of the individual worker. This inattention generally results from the repetitive nature of most work performed by the worker and the natural comfort that comes from repetitive action. Even for the experienced worker, such comfort is false at best, as…
Construction Law – Labor Relations
Do You Understand Labor Organization and What Unions Can or Cannot Legally Do? Unions are an integral and important part of the modern construction landscape. You don’t need to be a project owner, general contractor or construction attorney to comprehend the impact they can have on a construction project. Instead, look at recent examples in…
Construction Law – All in the Family
How Mixed Generations Can Sustain Business is a Challenge Many Family Owned Companies Face. Those who own their own business know better than anyone that planning for the future survival of the company may seem challenging and distant when looking at the present state of affairs. Whether it is a sole proprietorship started from the…
Construction Law – Safe Game Plan
Mitigating risk goes well beyond a simple plan at the outset and requires a commitment to ongoing training and communication throughout the project. Countless opportunities for accidents on the job site arise daily, as evidenced by the fact that more than nine million construction workers build and maintain houses, highways, workplaces and general infrastructure systems….
Construction Law Case in Atlanta, Georgia changes everything for General Contractors
The latest construction law case of Plaintiff A v. Defendant B will drastically change the rules for all Sub-Contractors in Georgia. Here’s why…