Green Construction and Sustainable Design Articles
June 28, 2010
Houston Neal "Cash for Caulkers” is nearly here. Last month the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5019 – also known as the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010 or “Cash for Caulkers” – to kick-start construction, create jobs and cut back carbon emissions. While the bill still needs to clear the Senate, supporters predict it will pass this summer.In the meantime, homeowners and contractors need to do their homework. There are 13 types of retrofits eligible for funding under the Home Star bill. Each has unique requirements and rebate amounts. Fortunately Software Advice makes it very easy to wade through the legislation...In their post, "Cash for Caulkers - The Definitive Guide to the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010", Software Advice explains how homeowners can qualify for Home Star bill rebates. They have created an easy-to-read table that breaks down the 13 retrofits of the bill, along with the requirements and rebate amounts for each. But first, let's review the program details. Full Story
June 25, 2010
Mark Wierman - Smith, Currie, & Hancock LLP Owners commonly provide subsurface soil data and other site conditions
reports as part of the bid documents provided to prospective bidders.
Fearful of assuming liability for the accuracy of plans, borings, and
other subsurface data provided to contractors, owners traditionally
include exculpatory clauses that purport to shift the risk of inaccurate
data away to the contractor. These clauses typically state that the
data is provided for information only, the owner makes no warranties as to
the accuracy of the data, and the contractor expressly assumes all risk
that the conditions encountered differ from the conditions described in
the reports. Full Story
June 25, 2010
John Livengood, ESQ, AIA and William Broz, P.E., LEED A - ARCADIS U.S. There seem to be four stages (so far) of the green building movement in the
U.S. First there was Green for Green’s sake: the altruistic goal of
environmental improvement. Then there was Green for Greenbacks: when it
became stylish to be green and there was a market premium in selling
green. Full Story
June 25, 2010
Andrew Peterson, Phil Rosen, Thomas Walsh, and Harold Wei - Jackson Lewis LLP Shortly after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he signed an
Executive Order authorizing federal government agencies to require every
contractor or subcontractor on a large-scale construction project to
negotiate or become a party to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with one or
more labor organizations. The Defense Department, General Services
Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which
together maintain the Federal Acquisition Regulation council, have
published a final rule, amending the FAR, to implement the Executive
Order. Full Story
June 25, 2010
Nicholas Tomlinson - Baker Donelson Last month, the IRS began its first comprehensive audit of employment tax
issues in over 25 years. The IRS will audit 6000 companies in total over
the next three years. The main issues to be examined in these audits are
worker classification, executive compensation and taxable fringe benefits. Full Story
June 21, 2010
David Harvey - Baker Donelson Federal contractors and subcontractors are now required to post information
in the workplace regarding workers' rights under the National Labor
Relations Act (NLRA), according to Executive Order (EO) 13496 issued by
President Obama in January 2009, and implemented into a Final Rule by the
Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) on May 20, 2010. Full Story
June 21, 2010
Andrew McBride - Smith, Currie, & Hancock LLP Contracts based on unit prices typically contain provisions for adjustment
of those prices if actual quantities differ substantially from those
estimated. These so-called “variations in quantities” clauses
afford some measure of protection to both the contractor and the owner if
quantity estimates are off and the actual costs incurred are either higher
or lower than anticipated. It is important that the parties to the contract
understand and follow the procedures set forth in such provisions or they
may not be able to enjoy that protection. Pavers, Inc. v. Board
of Regents of the University of Nebraska, 276 Neb. 559, 755 N.W.2d
400 (2008), provides a cautionary tale of what can happen if such a
contractual procedure is not followed. Full Story
June 21, 2010
G. Fritz Hain and G. Scott Walters - Smith, Currie, & Hancock LLP On December 1, 2009 the U.S. EPA issued a longanticipated final stormwater
rule, which impacts nearly every construction and development project in
the United States. EPA promulgated the rule, titled “Effluent
Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Construction and Development
Point Source Category”, pursuant to authority delegated it under the
federal Clean Water Act. Now, for the first time, construction
professionals are faced with an
enforceable numeric limit on stormwater discharges
from largeconstruction sites, and must monitor stormwater
discharge to ensure compliance with the numeric limit. Full Story