Server Based Construction Software - Like Running an Old Tractor
Montana Contractors Feel Stimulus Funds Slowing Down
by Marnee Banks (KXLH-Helena), 07.19.2010
More than $300-million dollars in federal funds has poured into Montana since the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed. But those funds are now running out, which could have a big impact on the construction industry.
The Montana Contractors Association estimates that its members have 90% of the stimulus work across the state, and that work is running out and construction unemployment is sitting at 22%.
Cary Hegreberg, executive director of the association, noted, "It's been a God-send to our industry to have these federal funds pouring into Montana."
Hegreberg continued, "These stimulus funds really have been buoying the market. We are concerned, we are fearful about what is going to happen to our industry when the federal funds run out, because we are not seeing private investment step up and filling that gap."
Helena Sand and Gravel had about $5-million dollars in stimulus projects last year, and now those projects are gone and work is declining.
Scott Olsen, vice-president of the company, said, "The work that is out there, we are seeing a lot more bidders, a lot more contractors that are looking for that work. We are all after the same amount of work and so it's definitely tougher to pick those projects up."
Typically, Helena Sand and Gravel has jobs lined up eight months in advance; currently its backlog is only four months. They also are now competing with out-of-town and out-of-state business for local work..........read more
Skanska USA Named "Contractor of the Year" by New York Construction
“Sleeping Giant”
“We were always kind of a giant that no one ever knew much about,” says Richard Cavallaro, president of Skanska USA Civil, one of the Swedish construction giant’s four business units in North America. “People would ask us, ‘Where do you work?’ and when you’d say Skanska, they’d say, ‘Who?’ ”
For a while, it made sense. Once the firm entered the U.S. market in 1971, it began acquiring firms both small and large throughout the region and continued operating them under different names. By the time they were all brought under the Skanska brand in the 1990s they had four unique business units – Skanska USA Building, Skanska USA Civil, Skanska Commercial Development and Skanska Infrastructure Development – and a growing reputation.
Now they’ve become impossible to miss.
If you do a quick rundown of the New York region’s biggest construction projects, chances are, Skanska’s logo is on the site somewhere.
New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford? Check.
2nd Avenue Subway and 7 Line Subway extension in Manhattan? Check.
The $500 million Brooklyn Bridge Rehabilitation? Check
United Nations renovation? Check
In 2009 Skanska USA’s Northeast operations did nearly $2.4 billion worth of business in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, more than any other contractor in the region. There are only a handful of billion-dollar jobs left in the New York region and, within the last year, Skanska has completed, started work or been awarded large contracts on 10 of them. For their dominant year, which occurred in the most challenging economic environment the industry has experienced in nearly 20 years, Skanska has been named New York Construction magazine’s Contractor of the Year...........read more
Trench Collapse - Builder Lacked Permit
The Sea Cliff construction site where a worker was trapped in a collapsed ditch for four hours did not have the proper building permits, San Francisco officials said Wednesday.
The Building Inspection Department ordered construction suspended at the home at 38 W. Clay St. after part of a deck collapsed just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, pitching the worker into a trench of sandy soil that then collapsed and buried him up to his neck.
Twenty-five firefighters spent four hours digging out the man, who officials said is in his 30s. He was treated at San Francisco General Hospital and was released Tuesday evening. His name was not released.
Inspectors halted construction after determining that a building permit issued in March to Brian Mac Namara Construction of San Francisco did not include approval for a trench, said Bill Strawn, spokesman for the Building Inspection Department. The company also will have to pay a fine of about $1,000.
Company representatives did not return calls seeking comment.
City records show that the company planned to complete $500,000 worth of renovations to the home, including installing a deck above the garage and building a retaining wall in the backyard.
Cal/OSHA also is investigating the accident.
Empire State Building Going Green. Really?
That's because Anthony Concepcion does windows — lots of windows.
He's working at the Empire State Building. As part of an effort to become certifiably green, the office tower is removing, retrofitting and replacing each of its 6,514 double-hung, dual-pane windows. That's 26,056 panes of glass.
"It's a lot of glass," says Concepcion, 39, work crew supervisor for the contractor, Serious Materials of Sunnyvale, Calif. "It's all part of going green."
The building, for four decades the world's tallest and still the tallest in New York, is spending $13 million on windows, insulation and other upgrades to cut energy use by 38% and save about $4.4 million a year.
Never has a structure so old and so tall gone so green. "It's the most recognizable building energy retrofit in the world," says Arah Schuur, director of a conservation program at former president Bill Clinton's foundation
If you can retrofit the Empire State Building, you can retrofit anything, says Kevin Surace, president of Serious Materials.
The building has earned a score of 90 (out of 100) from the Environmental Protection Agency's "Energy Star" program. That means a building constructed at a size (102 stories), a time (1930) and a pace (about 14 months) not known for energy efficiency now ranks in the top 10th of commercial office buildings.
Tony Malkin heads the company that runs the tower. He says the goal, in addition to cutting costs and making the building more attractive to green-minded tenants, is to give other office building owners a model.
The Clinton Climate Initiative, created by the former president's foundation, says buildings can account for three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas. But, Malkin says, "we're not talking about 'doing the right thing.' … Extra energy efficiency makes you money."
The Empire State Building project has aroused interest among other high-rise owners, Schuur says, "but nothing far enough along to mention." Malkin says projects like his soon will be announced.............read more
World's 10 Largest (and Most Amazing) Construction Projects
Saadiyat Island Entertainment and Leisure Destination
1. South Valley Development
Egypt
$90 billion
2. Jubail II
Saudi Arabia
$80 billion
3. Dubailand
Dubai
$64 billion
4. International Space Station
Space
$60 billion
5. South-to-North Water Transfer Project
China
$58 billion
6. Yas Island
Abu Dhabi
$39 billion
7. Songdo International Business District
South Korea
$35 billion
8. Sellafield Nuclear Site
England
$30 billion
9. Saadiyat Island
Abu Dhabi
$27 billion
10. Great Man-Made River Project
Libya
$27 billion
Dubailand will be three times the size of Disneyland and contain the world's largest man-made harbor.
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Parody on Energy Independence by Jon Stewart
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U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces $293 million for New Transit Solutions, Economic Development
A $293 million investment announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood means that residents in dozens of communities nationwide will soon enjoy major transit improvements, including new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities.
The nearly $300 million investment is part of the Obama Administration's livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities. It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program.
"This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation's communities will create jobs, boost economic development and recovery, and further reduce our dependence on oil," Secretary LaHood said. "Our goals are to provide cleaner, safer, and more efficient ways to get around."
Secretary LaHood, along with Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff, announced the winners of the two competitive grant programs during a press conference call in Washington. Six new streetcar and bus rapid transit projects will be funded with $130 million from the Federal Transit Administration's Urban Circulator Program, and 47 additional projects aimed at upgrading bus services and facilities are slated to receive more than $163 million from the FTA's Bus and Bus Livability Program.
"Streetcars are making a comeback because cities across America are recognizing that they can restore economic development downtown - giving citizens the choice to move between home, shopping and entertainment without ever looking for a parking space," said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff. "These streetcar and bus livability projects will not only create construction jobs now, they will aid our recovery by creating communities with the potential to be more prosperous and less congested." ............read more
Debate: Does the world need nuclear energy?
Construction Trailer Achieves LEED Certification
