We are pleased to share the exciting news that just shy of our one-year anniversary in our office, we are moving again. I say exciting. Maybe I should say nerve-wracking? We are excited about the new office, tense about the actual move. We aren't going far. In fact, we have been so pleased leasing from Rick Howe at Metro Office Park that we are moving to a larger office in the same complex. Our address has changed from 4110 NW 37th PL Suite C to 4140 NW 37th PL Suite D. We will be spending the week shifting and setting up. We have scheduled with the Gainesville Chamber an open house/ribbon cutting for April 23rd. More information to follow.
On that note, we are looking for a few good men/women. Do you know anyone who has a sales or advertising background that might be looking for all the benefits of entrepreneurship but not the risk? We are looking at filling three spots in Gainesville. Our next move will be to hire a tremendous person in Ocala and one in Lake City. Eventually, we will have offices in all three markets to best service you. If you know someone who might be looking for a career change, or a step up, have them contact me. If they get hired and stay three months, you will get a free ad in any one issue of one of our magazines.
The great news regarding the recovery of Marty McFall continues. On Saturday, Marty was discharged from Shands, and transported to his new temporary home at Select Specialty Hospital. He starts PT, OT and speech therapy today. Considering that it was only a month ago that he fell through a skylight, and about 25 feet down into the building below, this is indeed wonderful progress for the owner of Martin P. McFall Builders, Inc. To learn about Marty's continued progress, go to www.caringbridge.org, and type in 4martymcfall. We continue to hope and pray for Marty's full recovery.
One last note regarding the Habitat for Humanity Signature Event 2008. Scheduled for March 28, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., at the Haile Village Hall, This is the perfect event for people in the building industry. There are opportunities available for sponsorship and donations.
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www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our March issue has been delivered, and is online. The cover story is on Jay and Randy Robinson with G.W. Robinson Remodeling, LLC. The National Feature is on Windows: Style, efficiency, architecture, and glass technology. You can also view it online at www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our April issue, with its annual spotlight on the Builders of the Parade of Homes™, is in production. This issue continues to grow. This year, we were able to spotlight 42 builders! The National Feature is on kitchens. Our Developer Spotlight in this issue is on Deltona Corporation. We will be covering the parades in Alachua and Marion counties. This issue will also include the inaugural Buyer's Guide. Once we finish producing the guide, it will be available through this email and online, as well as in print.
Our May issue is open. It will feature, The Enclave Apartments developed by Collier Enterprises, and constructed by Davis and Sons Construction. The National Feature will be on Outdoor Living: decking, landscaping, fencing, outdoor lighting, retaining walls, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces. We will also recap the Columbia County Showcase of Homes and the BANCF Home Show.
In June, we return to Ocala, and feature Claeys Construction. The National Feature will be on Doors: entry, interior, patio and overhead. This will be the issue that we recap the Spring Parade of Homes™.
We are excited about these issues, and look forward to your participation.
Our Winter 2008 Commercial issue, featuring Trunnell Construction, is online.
The Spring 2008 issue of Commercial Building Edge is in production. 2007 Marion County Small Business of the Year Stentiford Construction Services, led by Paul Stentiford is our cover story. Look for this issue to arrive the 3rd week of April. We are also in the process of developing a website for Paul and his team with a hopeful launch date right around the time this issue is published. Next week we hope to have the temporary site up and running. Please call us for details.
In the Summer, we will feature Brian Crawford, owner of Concept Construction of North Florida. Brian is also the president of the Columbia County Builders Association.
In the Fall, we will feature Nathan Collier and Collier Enterprises.
HOME™: Living in the Heart of Florida:
We are in production now on the Spring issue of HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida. Distribution is at over 450 locations, including the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, Ocala Marion County Chamber of Commerce, Newberry/Jonesville Chamber of Commerce, Williston Chamber of Commerce and the Gainesville Regional Airport. If you would like to view the Winter issue online or subscribe to the magazine, please view us at www.LivingintheHeartofFlorida.com. The Spring issue should arrive the middle of April.
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East Gainesville Businesses Honored
Developer Ed Dix said the number of businesses tells the story of east Gainesville: one grocery store, zero banks, seven liquor stores, three graveyards and one Wal-Mart that opens in May. He said Thursday that these and other numbers show the challenges faced by a community that saw no major residential development from the mid-1970s until 2001. He recalled rarely venturing out of the community as a child growing up there and said he wanted more for today's youth. "We've got to have these kids see more than one Wal-Mart," he said at the East Gainesville Development Corporation's 11th Annual Meeting and Business Awards Ceremony. The event included awards presented to local businesses and nonprofits and speeches by Dix and Gainesville City Commissioner Scherwin Henry. The corporation was formed in 1997, after more than 200 residents met to discuss development on the city's east side.
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GRU Offer Energy-Efficiency Workshop
Learn how to increase your home sales, reduce construction cost, and improve home quality. GRU is hosting a Building Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Training workshop designed to help general contractors, sub-contractors, developers, architects, realtors, lenders and other construction related trades with solutions specific to energy-saving goals set by the Department of Energy. Take advantage of this free training and tour before you invest thousands of dollars for certification and training for your company. See the attached invitation for more details. Remember to RSVP by March 18th.
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Gainesville's Infinite Energy Expands; Holds Ribbon Cutting
It may have been damp and cool, but spirits were soaring Friday as Infinite Energy cut the ribbon on its fourth building at its headquarters on Southwest 24th Avenue in Gainesville. Several hundred people gathered under two large tents to open this building which will allow the company, which markets wholesale and retail energy products, to bring all its local employees to one location.
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MTPO Rejects Four Proposals for North-South Connector Routes
Each of four routes proposed for a north-south connector road had its chance at approval Thursday evening, but none of them passed. When the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization - a joint meeting of Alachua County and Gainesville city commissioners - meets, items require not only an overall majority vote, but also a majority separately among county commissioners and city commissioners. That proved elusive Thursday. After voting down each alternative route individually, the MTPO voted to postpone selection until the next meeting on April 10.
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Alachua County Commission Oks Limerock Roads
Surfacing an initial set of five limerock roads to reduce maintenance costs and improve safety and health should start by July, following the Alachua County Commission's narrow approval Tuesday night after a lengthy debate about how to rank these roads. The surfacing will be a treatment that is less costly and less durable than pavement but will reduce maintenance costs and eliminate the dust problems of unpaved roads. The list pleased residents who live on the roads that will be surfaced this year.
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Search for Traffic Flow
Although no funding exists for a proposed multimillion-dollar north-south connector road east of Interstate 75, the project is on track for design in 2010. This week city and county officials will narrow future study of the road to one of four possible paths it could take from Archer Road near Butler Plaza through an area of wetlands and residential development to connect with Newberry Road near The Oaks Mall. "We are looking to get their approval of an alternative for further study and then design," said Jennifer Spagnoli, a county project engineer.
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Hiring Stays Strong in Gainesville
Gainesville employers will be hiring, but not widely, during the next three months. That's the report from the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released Tuesday. Manpower Inc. surveys 14,000 public and private employers in the United States each quarter about their intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce. According the the survey results, 33 percent of the Gainesville-area companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 30 percent plan to reduce their payrolls between April and June. Another 27 percent say they will maintain current staffing levels and 10 percent are not certain of their hiring plans.
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Marion County Commission to Stream Meetings Live to Web
Within a few months, the Marion County Commission will join the ranks of Britney Spears - sort of. That's right: The commission will be on the Internet. Last Tuesday, the County Commission approved a contract with Granicus, Inc., of San Francisco, to stream commission meetings live on the county's Web page, www.marioncountyfl.org. Right now, the commission's regular meetings, which start at 9 a.m. the first and third Tuesday of the month, are broadcast the same evening on the Marion Education Channel, county public information officer Judge Cochran said.
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Public Works Gets Accreditation
Gainesville's Public Works Department has been awarded national accreditation after a nearly five-year process and in-depth evaluation. "We were delayed because of the hurricane in 2004 and then the yearlong recovery process," said Teresa Scott, director of public works. Only 47 other cities in the nation have achieved accreditation from the American Public Works Association since its inception in 1995. "If my recollection is correct, this is the first time that all 343 management practices have been completely 100 percent in compliance," said Noel Thompson, president elect for the association.
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Cities in Lake's Golden Triangle Plan to Join Forces
Saying it's time to work together, the leaders of three bordering cities -- Mount Dora, Eustis and Tavares -- plan to meet next month to discuss how they can cooperate on important issues, including economic growth, transportation corridors, water use and trails. The three-city summit will include commissioners and city council members from the communities known as Lake's Golden Triangle. It likely will be in Tavares during the second week of April.
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Levy Nuclear Plant Proposed
Progress Energy Florida said Tuesday it needs to build a nuclear plant in southern Levy County at an estimated $17 billion to meet the growing demand for electricity, and customers would see their bills go up for nine years to cover the cost. The state's second-largest electric utility said more than a year ago that it was considering building the facility. But Tuesday's regulatory filing with the state Public Service Commission officially signals that the company wants to go forward with the plan to build Florida's first new nuclear generating facilities since 1983. The two reactors would be just north of the company's Crystal River nuclear and coal-fueled plants.
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Purdue Students Building Habitat Homes in Ocala
Another spring break, and another batch of college students from all over the country descends on Florida. The Daytona Beach Welcome Center estimates that 300,000 students will head to its oceanfront town. Thousands more will visit Panama City and Siesta Key. But a couple dozen "Boilermakers" from Purdue University in Indiana set their sights on Ocala. Tuesday morning, they walked about their destination, where gray fill dirt replaced white sand and the only water came from a garden hose. This was no beach, no island, just a half block of northwest Ocala real estate. But this is right where the group of Purdue students wanted to be: a build site for Habitat for Humanity of Marion County.
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MCBIA Calendar of Events
BANCF Calendar of Events
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USGBC Heart of Florida Chapter
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Real Estate Sales Seeing Some Positive Signs
The local real estate market could be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the economic tunnel. Realtors report a slight increase in residential home sales, compared to recent months. "Everyone from the president on down says real estate is an economic engine," said Bill Dryburgh, president of the Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port Association of Realtors. "The engine is starting to move here in Charlotte County (and North Port)."
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Homeowners Insurance Proposals on the Table
A special Senate panel investigating how insurers set homeowner rates delivered a broad set of recommendations for the current legislative session and beyond. Several recommendations delivered Thursday to Senate President Ken Pruitt by the Senate Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability cover how insurers can calculate profits and forecast losses in their rate filings and how they should account for the cost of back-up insurance coverage. The senators, who took testimony from insurance company officials, reinsurers and regulators, were surprised to learn that although the computer models insurers use to help estimate future losses have to be approved by the state, some companies modified the models with data that hadn't been approved.
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Crist Signs Budget With $512 Million in Cuts
Gov. Charlie Crist signed $512 million in cuts to this year's budget into law on Friday. As promised, he did not veto any of the items included in the revised budget, which lawmakers already slashed by about $1 billion in the fall. Now lawmakers will be forced to ax another $2.7 billion from next year's spending after economists this week lowered their expectations of how much money the state will bring in from tax collections. Crist is urging the legislature to dip into reserves as a temporary bailout because he says he believes Florida's economic recovery will begin as early as next year.
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Builders Say Palm BeachCounty Codes Thwart Affordable Housing
Palm Beach County's affordable housing plan is less than two years old, and home builders who say it hasn't worked want to see it gutted. Hit by a soft real-estate economy, leaders of the Gold Coast Builders Association, with 1,000 construction-related firms in their ranks, are asking county commissioners to weaken a long list of land-use codes. Topping their agenda is a request to tame the county's "inclusionary zoning" rule. It's the housing ordinance that requires builders to make, on average, 16.5 percent of new homes affordable in developments with 10 or more houses.
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Citizens Discounts Millions
The state-run insurer has taken an $88 million write-down on the value of securities tied to the problems in the mortgage-backed securities market. The securities were purchased for Citizens Property Insurance through a short-term investment fund managed by the State Board of Administration. The value of these securities plummeted last summer as the issues were downgraded. But Citizens, which is the largest insurer of homes, condos, apartments and mobile homes in the state, hasn't realized an actual loss on these investments yet because it still owns them. Originally valued at $271.6 million, the securities' current market value is about $183 million, Citizens estimates.
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Is Impact Fee Committee Killing Construction Industry?
Some business people claim Highlands County's impact fees, added on top of a poor local economy, have created a vicious one-two punch combination that has knocked the local building industry against the ropes. If that is the case, though, others say the creation of the Highlands County Citizens Advisory Committee On Impact Fees was the knock-out punch that has crushed the building industry completely. At the end of its first meeting Wednesday, the 11-member committee, appointed by the county commissioners, elected Jack Richie as its chairman and learned that the committee itself is killing what little was left of the reeling building business.
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Manatee, Builders Agree on Permit Fees
The Home Builders Association of Manatee County and Manatee officials on Tuesday walked away with a set of permitting fees both parties found surprisingly agreeable. Under a unanimously approved fee schedule, the permitting cost for an average-sized Manatee home will rise from $914 to $1,440, or from 28 cents to 45 cents per square foot. It was part of a deal brokered late Monday with a building industry that had been strongly against any increase more than about five cents per square foot. The new fees will take effect March 31. The county's original proposal would have raised fees 93 percent to 54 cents per square foot. As late as Friday evening though, the HBA rejected an offer of 45 cents per square foot. But HBA Executive Vice President Mary Dougherty-Slapp said the group softened its stance upon learning other permit fees would be rolled into the county's proposal.
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Charlotte County to Research New Impact Fee System
Charlotte County could become the first municipality in Florida to utilize an impact fee system that rewards residential development near existing public services. The commission wants to gather additional information about tiered impact fees, a concept which bases the rates on proximity to provided services. "I think this is something we need to do," said Commissioner Adam Cummings. "It's a given."
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Martin Gives Developers 3 More Years
In an effort to discourage the construction of new buildings that will remain vacant because of the declining real estate market, the Martin County Commission decided Tuesday to give developers three more years to finish their projects. The commissioners voted 4-1 to extend the timetable of all development orders by three years, if requested. Several developer representatives and business leaders said the new rule is needed so developers are not forced to construct new buildings that will remain vacant, or face a second run through Martin County's strict development review process.
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Builders Mad as Lee Fees Stay the Same
Impact fees will not change in the short term, and building industry officials are incensed. Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to expedite a road impact fee study that may show fees need reducing. But it could be late August or September before a consultant completes the study of the county's most expensive impact fee. The study had been scheduled for 2009. The decision irked industry officials who said a temporary fee reduction until the study is complete would have been appropriate.
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It's a Parade Of Homes - Affordable Ones
Even in a slower real estate market, finding homes priced from $79,000 to $225,000 can be challenging but a local mortgage company is making it a little easier. The phones have been ringing all week at CTX Mortgage of Bradenton as more and more potential home buyers hear about the Affordable Parade of Homes the company is hosting on Saturday. "We didn't know what to expect since it was the first time doing this thing, but the response has been great. It's staggering," said Pete Minarich, vice president of the company. Almost 135 homes are in the parade and included are listings from 20 different real estate companies.
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Slower Growth, But No Recession - Forecast
The U.S. economy will suffer as the slumping housing market eats away at job creation and consumer spending, but the nation should avoid slipping into a recession this year, according to a new economic report. A recession could still happen though, if the credit crisis that has stifled the housing market deepens, preventing consumers from buying big-ticket items like cars and businesses from spending on equipment, according to the quarterly Anderson Forecast by the University of California at Los Angeles. "We don't see that happening," said Edward Leamer, director and co-author of the forecast released Tuesday. "This is a tough call, but I will be very surprised if this thing actually precipitates into recession."
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Arson at 'Green' Homes Points to Environmentalist Divisions
The carbon footprint of the big house on 214th Street is no longer a matter of chatty conjecture. Black ash laced with gray defines the perimeter of the $2 million home, "built green" as a showcase in this emerald corner of America that has long set the pace for the environmental movement -- and last week burned to the ground in an arson fire that threw a whole new light on the competition to be greener-than-thou. "Built green? Nope, BLACK!" read the spray-painted bed sheet firefighters found draped over a fence in the cul-de-sac where two other model homes were also aflame, each 4,000 square feet and dubbed green.
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Subprime Alternative: FHA Reform Deal Close
By early April, both chambers of Congress are likely to tie the bow on a bill that would expand the reach of the Federal Housing Administration, which aims to provide safe loan alternatives to subprime mortgages and make homeownership more accessible. Different versions of the FHA modernization bill passed in the House and the Senate last year, and both Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said last week that the differences between the chambers could be resolved in short order.
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Fed Hopes to Ease Strain on Economic Activity
Impelled to take extraordinary measures for the second time in less than a week, the Federal Reserve moved on Tuesday to subdue the deepening crisis in credit markets by stepping up as lender of last resort. In an action that sent stock prices soaring, the central bank offered to let the biggest investment banks on Wall Street borrow up to $200 billion in Treasury securities in exchange for hard-to-sell mortgage-backed securities as collateral. And the Fed made clear that it was prepared to do more as needed.
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Green Energy Is Making Big Money
The alternative energy business is starting to make real money. Worldwide sales for companies specializing in biofuels, wind farms, solar panels and fuel cells grew 40 percent in 2007 to reach $77.3 billion, according to an annual report issued Tuesday by Clean Edge, a research firm that studies the green technology industry. That's significant revenue for an industry crowded with startups, many of which don't yet have finished products to sell. But other companies - including major corporations such as General Electric - have waded into the field, selling their wind turbines and solar panels around the globe.
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How BIM and Green Tech Will Change the Construction Industry
The terms "cleantech" or "green technologies" have been applied to a wide array of processes, technologies and services. Within this overall market space, there exist a number of specific target market segments for green technologies -- transportation, energy development and manufacturing are just some examples -- that are undergoing an innovation boom as a result. The buildings and facilities segment ranks as one of the largest potential markets for cleantech, and shows the kind of changes that new technologies can bring about, changes both beneficial and disruptive. Given the size and projected growth of the market for green buildings around the world, there are plenty of opportunities and potential players seeking ways to leverage new technologies for use in new construction and renovations.
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Redistribution Center Ready to Roll
Chuck Fraser has been preparing for this for three years. As head of a Sysco subsidiary's new Alachua food supply redistribution center, he has been in training at a similar facility, overseeing the construction of a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and hiring of what will be a 200-employee operation by year's end. On Monday, Baugh Southeast Cooperative Inc. starts ordering product. Loads start coming in within a week and shipping is scheduled to start April 7.
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Kohl's Close to Taking Over Store
The long-vacant Winn-Dixie shopping center on Archer Road is one step closer to becoming a Kohl's department store. Preliminary approval was given Monday night for demolition of the old Winn-Dixie structure and construction of a 90,000 square-foot department store. The City Commission approved the plan with little discussion. "I'm really excited to see that area redeveloped," Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said. "That side of that particular shopping plaza has not seen as much development."
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School Board OKs Construction to Begin on $15 Million Elementary School
The Columbia County School Board, during its meeting Tuesday night, approved construction to begin on the new elementary school, which will be located west of town. The project will cost no more than $15,131,147. The school, currently called Columbia County Elementary School "AA," could begin construction as early as the end of the month and could see completion by April 2009. The school will be located on Birley Road. The project, which has been under way for more than a year, was brought to a head at the school board meeting Tuesday night. David Wood, with PPI, the construction management firm hired by the school district for pre-construction activities, gave a presentation to the board outlining the costs, timetable and layout of the first phase of the structure.
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Westside Story: Lake City Continues to Expand With New Hotels, Shopping Centers
Visitors to the west side of Lake City have seen sizeable expansion during the past two years. Two new shopping centers have opened their doors, a new all-suites hotel has been announced and all signs point to a new Food Lion grocery store which could open in the next year. Until recently, much of the expansion around Lake City has been confined to areas east of Interstate 75 and west of the old Kmart shopping center. But because of the exponential population growth during the course of recent years, business owners have expanded their horizons, opening new stores west, east and south of Lake City.
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Seeing Price Tag, Belleview Says Complex May Need to Shrink
City leaders want plans for new police and public works buildings to be scaled down on the 27-acre government complex property on County Road 484. On Monday, the architectural firm of Starmer Ranaldi, of Oviedo, met with the City Commission at a workshop to talk about the company's space analysis. The company, hired by the city in November, is also designing a new Marion County fire station for the same site. The analysis cited a need for a 11,000-square-foot building for the police department and a 17,000-square-foot public works building. Construction costs for the police department building would be roughly $2.4 million while the new public works building is projected to be $3.4 million.
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Half the Battle: Yalaha Demolishes Old Community Center
Workmen began to tear down the old Yalaha Community Center on Monday to make room for its eventual replacement. This marks the first project in Lake County's Community Enhancement Area. Leaders in this community say it's a needed upgrade in an area that has few gathering places for kids after school and community members as a whole. It remains to be seen when the new center will go up, considering the dearth of funds to even get architectural plans ready. Yalaha is the first community in Lake County to work with county government in the Lake County Community Enhancement Area Partnership Program. Altoona, Ferndale and Paisley also have partnerships.
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Niagara Bottling Finds Lake County Location to Take Wastewater
A new agreement could allow a controversial bottling plant to send thousands of gallons of wastewater each day -- possibly by the truckloads -- to irrigate golf courses at the Mission Inn resort several miles away. California-based Niagara Bottling LLC has struggled for months, against immense public opposition, to open a new water-bottling facility at Lake County's Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park off State Road 19 north of Groveland. The plant would pull an average of 490,000 gallons of drinking water out of the ground daily, but company officials have said they also would waste more than 96,000 gallons a day as a result of the water treatment and bottling process.
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Trade Group Says Commercial Loans Safe
Investments backed by commercial real estate loans have avoided the problems socking the home loan market, an industry group said Monday. The Mortgage Bankers Association's 2007 statistics show that investors in commercial real estate loans -- which finance purchases of properties like apartments, office buildings and malls -- have escaped the kind of defaults that have soared among home loans over the past year. The group expressed hope that the statistics should ease worries about the industry, which has seen investment dry up in recent months due to the global credit crunch.
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AGC Members Honored for Building Nation's Premier Construction Projects
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) today announced the 2008 Aon Build America Awards, the highest and most sought-after awards in the construction industry. Seventeen projects were selected as winners and seven were selected for merit awards at AGC's 89th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. "The Aon Build America Awards recognize the nation's premier projects, large and small, from across the country," said AGC CEO Stephen E. Sandherr. "The Build America Award winners embody the industry at its best and truly illustrate how AGC contractors are building America's quality of life."
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National Student Competition Prepares Future Contractors for Real Life
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) continued work building a talented work force with the 2008 ASC-AGC National Student Competition at AGC's 89th Annual Convention in Las Vegas. One hundred and twenty-six future contractors prepared for real life construction projects by working in teams in the divisions of Commercial Building, Design-Build and Heavy-Civil. As part of the Competition, 21 teams were critiqued on estimating, bidding, planning, scheduling, presentation skills, creativity, understanding of sound construction techniques and thoughtful methodology throughout a two-day simulated construction project. The students presented both oral and written presentations to a panel of judges, and first, second and third place awards were given for each division.
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Groundbreaking Contract First to Address BIM
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) today announced its approval of the addition of a groundbreaking contract document - the Building Information Modeling (BIM) Addendum - to the ConsensusDOCS catalog. The ConsensusDOCS BIM Addendum is the first and only industry standard document to globally address the legal uncertainties associated with using BIM. The 21 leading associations representing owners, contractors, subcontractors, sureties, and designers that are actively supporting ConsensusDOCS have endorsed or are anticipated to endorse this consensus standard document. "ConsensusDOCS are fair and innovative contract documents that add value to our members' bottom line and move the industry forward," said AGC's Chief Executive Officer Stephen E. Sandherr at AGC's 89th Annual Convention in Las Vegas. "The BIM Addendum further establishes ConsensusDOCS' reputation as a leader in innovative construction contracts."
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Construction Faces Tumultuous Year for Projects, Prices, Labor, Says AGC Economist
Nonresidential construction will experience wide variance in demand, materials cost and labor availability, according to the Construction Inflation Alert released today by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). "In 2008, some nonresidential segments will continue to grow, including power and energy, but others such as lodging will slow or decline," said AGC's Chief Economist Ken Simonson. "Diesel, copper and steel are among materials costs likely to accelerate, while others remain benign." The large increase in diesel fuel prices compared to a year ago, along with the importance of diesel fuel to highway construction, makes it likely that highway costs will go up even more. Conversely, the slumping demand and rising supply of gypsum products may mean nonresidential and multi-unit residential building costs go up a little less than 6 percent.
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USGBC Targets Lodging Industry with LEED for Existing Buildings
When the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced revisions to its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings Rating System late last year, it was good news for hotel owners and operators. Now called LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (O&M), the system is a better fit for hotels and is attracting the interest of many of the leading hotel companies. There are now approximately 200 hotel projects registered with USGBC. Most are seeking LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC) certification but the number of U.S. building owners pursuing LEED for Existing Buildings: O&M is expected to accelerate quickly. Getting owners of existing hotel buildings to participate is important. According to USGBC, the existing building market is some 80 times larger than the new construction market and the potential for energy and water savings is huge.
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Industry Scrambles to Find a 'Greener' Concrete
We drive our cars on it, we build skyscrapers with it. But concrete, one of the most common building materials in the world, has an ugly secret: It's a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which contribute to global warming. Roughly 5 to 10 percent of global CO2 emissions are related to the manufacture and transportation of cement, a major ingredient of concrete. With cement production expected to grow exponentially in coming decades, the industry is trying to address its environmental challenges. "There is not one single cement company on this planet that is not thinking about how to [reduce emissions]," says Franz-Josef Ulm, a professor of civil engineering who researches concrete at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
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AGC Announces 2008 Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award Winners
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) today presented the 2008 Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Awards to the construction companies that best exemplify the spirit of partnering. Partnering is the collaboration of contractors, owners and other stakeholders. Partnering promotes innovation and provides best practices among all team members for the achievement of mutual goals and objectives helping projects finish on time and within budget. "This year's winners comprise the nation's best projects. AGC developed these awards to recognize exceptional projects for their ability to achieve a common goal, honor all stakeholders, perpetuate partnering, resolve conflicts, improve communication and incorporate team-building activities," said AGC CEO Stephen E. Sandherr.
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ABC Testifies Before National Ombudsman on Davis-Bacon Enforcement
ABC March 12 testified before the Small Business Administration's (SBA) National Ombudsman and Regulatory Fairness Board on the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) unfair implementation and enforcement of Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rules. During the National Regulatory Fairness Hearing, ABC Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs Bob Hirsch explained that the burdens and difficulties associated with implementing and enforcing the Davis-Bacon Act impose are significant adverse financial impact on construction contractors across the country and on small business construction contractors in particular.
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OSHA Renews Grant For Abc Safety Training Program
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has renewed its $154,900 Susan Harwood training grant for ABC's industry-leading Strengthen Training Infrastructure and Competency for Construction Safety (STICCS) training program. The renewal marks the 8th time since 2000 that OSHA has awarded a Harwood training grant to support the STICCS program, which is administered by ABC's Trimmer Education Foundation and provides safety training for construction industry employees through various ABC chapters.
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AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
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