Guest Post Friday – Page 49 – Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA

Looking at Construction Cases “De Novo”- An Apellate Perspective

For this week’s Guest Post Friday here at Musings, we are happy to get appellate lawyer, Jay O’Keeffe‘s perspective on construction cases. Jay (@jayokeeffe on Twitter) practices business and appellate litigation with Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in Roanoke, VA. He can reached at 509-983-9459 or at his blog, De Novo.

I was psyched when Chris offered me a shot at Guest Post Friday. At Gentry Locke, we’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to work on a number of construction appeals over the past few years—some from cases that our own construction guys handled (holla, K. Brett Marston, Esq.), but increasingly from cases that we’ve seen for the first time on appeal. Coming in late in the game has given us a chance to think about construction cases from a different perspective. As such, here are an appellate lawyer’s thoughts on construction cases:

Wow, that’s a lot of paper. Construction cases tend to be document intensive. That makes it particularly important to manage the record at trial, in order to ensure that all of the your evidence is available on appeal. Organization is therefore at a premium. Binders, checklists, and a second chair or paralegal at trial can prove invaluable.
Specialized expertise adds value. I like to think of myself as a reasonably bright person. I can say without shame that I have no idea how to file a mechanic’s lien, where to find the latest AIA form documents, or how the VPPA works. Construction law is its own discipline, with its own weird little shibboleths and doctrinal idiosyncracies. It is very helpful to have a specialist on your team. And I’m not just saying that because I’m on a construction law blog. When we get a construction appeal, we always review it with one of our construction lawyers. With the benefit of hindsight and the ability to review the full record this way, we’ve identified several recent cases where the result at trial was primarily or exclusively the result of a lawyer’s lack of familiarity with construction law.
Give damages their due. Here’s something else that’s easier seen in hindsight than in the heat of the moment: Defense lawyers sometimes focus on liability to the detriment of damages. That can be a problem on appeal if you wind up losing, because it is extremely difficult to get a damages award reversed or set aside when liability is clear or otherwise unassailable.
Keep your options open. What looks at first blush to be a straightforward breach of contract case can wind up having layers and layers of complications. As you work your way through them, keep in mind that litigation is a process that begins before the complaint is filed and does not necessarily end at the close of trial. Take care to preserve key issues for appeal, in order to keep you options open.
Mediation works. Chris nailed it in his post the other day. I’d just add this: Juries are unpredictable. Judges are unpredictable. Sometime, even justices can be unpredictable. There is a lot to be said for certainty and negotiated resolutions.

As always, please join the conversation with a comment below. Also, I encourage you to subscribe to keep up with this and other Guest Post Friday posts.

Virtual Assistance for Construction Companies? Absolutely!

For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Musings takes a slightly different, yet great, perspective on the world of construction business and welcomes a good friend, Tina Marie Hilton (@tmariehilton on Twitter). Tina provides virtual assistance services to legal professionals and business creatives through her company Clerical Advantage. She’s proud to be part of the faculty at Solo Practice University, teaching solo attorneys how to successfully work with virtual assistants. You can also find her as contributing editor at Home Office Warrior in the Virtual Assistant section, at Blog for Profit, providing tips, hints and information on having a successful business blog and helping Baby Boomers reminisce and connect at My Boomer Community, the official blog for the North Carolina based Baby Boomer News magazine.

The current economic conditions have had an effect on the majority of businesses in some way, shape or form. But perhaps one of the hardest hit industries has been construction. According to a recent article on CNN.com, initial construction of homes in the U.S. rose far less than expected in September 2009. That means that more and more companies are looking to cut costs in order to survive this economic downturn.

For many, that might mean cutting back on administrative help and going the ‘do it yourself’ route. On the surface, it seems to make sense, it means fewer paychecks you have to cut and how hard is it really?

You may be surprised.

Many business owners assume that the clerical aspects of their businesses are easy. It is shocking for them to realize the amount of time these ‘simple’ tasks actually take. When you add fumbling around with unfamiliar software to the mix, it can eat up extremely large chunks of time. Trying to juggle those administrative tasks with running your business gets overwhelming fast. Not to mention that it can end up costing you money if certain tasks are going undone and deadlines or due dates are being missed.

That’s what makes teaming up with a virtual assistant a wise choice for construction companies looking to cut costs, yet still perform at the level customers have come to expect.

A virtual assistant (or VA for short) can be hired for specific tasks or for a set number of hours per month to handle just about any administrative help your construction company might have need of. Yes, even if it’s only 2 hours a month. You pay only for the time spent on your tasks, no taxes or benefits. The cost savings can be substantial.

One can find a virtual assistant to do just about any task or project you may be in need of.

Need someone to do payroll? There’s a VA for that. How about someone to handle phones, e-mail or correspondence? There’s a VA for that. Need help with your website or a blog? Yup, there’s a VA for that too.

In fact, there are virtual assistants that have extensive experience in the construction industry and can handle industry related tasks like:

· Materials and services pricing and inventory analysis

· Statute and regulation research

· Document preparation including, but not limited to, bid proposals and lien claims

· Subcontractor background checks

· Project planning/time management support

Our current economy requires that construction companies think outside the normal business box. Cutting costs doesn’t mean you have to cut corners. By integrating new technologies and service options like a virtual assistant you can give your company the edge it needs to not only survive but grow in a down economy.

As always, please join the conversation with a comment below. Also, please subscribe to keep up with Guest Post Fridays and other Construction Law Musings.

Don’t Believe The Hype (or Typeface)

For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Musings welcomes another Build2Sustain fellow traveler, Yahya Henry. Yahya (@yahyahenry on Twitter) currently serves as founder and Director of Business Development for The Aribra Group, LLC a developer and think tank that promotes best practices in the built environment. Yahya is an entrepreneur, traveler and avid blogger, and has built his career around his passions for people, the planet and equitable development. He is active in his community and serves on the Sustainable Committee for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Triangle (Raleigh, NC). He was previously Membership Committee Chair and founding member for the Young Leaders Group and apart of the Executive Committee for ULI Hampton Roads. He was also active in Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) Hampton Roads Regional Group, the Smart Growth Network, International Council of Shopping Centers and the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Yahya previously posted this here at the Build2Sustain Blog.

Depending on who you ask and what the latest headlines are, sustainable, by definition is not universal. Looking up a definition for the word, I viewed at least 10 sub-definitions; no wonder there is some confusion as to what it is and what it is not. The built environment is flawed in this instance. Pressure is on developers and general contractors to deliver a ‘green’ project and to help curb our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Therefore, anything is being done in the guise of “sustainability.” This model is not sustainable.

What attracted me most about Build2Sustain was that they clearly laid out their mission as to how sustainability was to work and be applied specifically to commercial renovations – that speaks volumes. Confusion (and the learning curve) can be lessened by a clear mission among its project practitioners. More often than not, the majority of people that make those claims of sustainability don’t know what it actually means or how it relates to what they are trying to accomplish. Claims that a project is sustainable, green or has green elements, has no benefit to the end-user if they can’t be articulated in a way that makes sense in application. The built industry has its share of greenwashing as well.

Globally, a shift is taking place and if the momentum is harnessed, great environments will be created. I’m afraid that if it’s not channeled in a manner that seeks to create a more equitable future, we’ll be repeating this cycle in another generation. Awareness will play a significant role in this process to differentiate what is green, sustainable or hype. While I applaud the USGBC on what it has done to bring awareness to the importance of green building and their LEED program, they too are finding inefficiencies in measuring true building performance and sustainability claims. An invisible tipping point exists. Unless there is a resource to draw from, we will continue to see similar results to the USGBC; in other words, too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. I’m hopeful that Build2Sustain will serve as a prototype of what can be achieved when a bottom up approach is taken.

Both YahYa and I would enjoy hearing your comments below. Also, please subscribe to keep up with the latest Guest Posts and Musings.

The Stimulus- Virginia Projects

For this weeks Guest Post Friday, Musings is lucky enough to have Chris Cheatham of Green Building Law Update as the guest of the week. Chris is kind enough to share his take on the Virginia specific aspects of the stimulus package. Be sure to check out GBLU and follow Chris on Twitter to keep up to date on his latest green related topics.

This week, in preparation for my “Green in the Stimulus” presentation, I have been providing what I hope is interesting and useful information about the stimulus. Today we are briefly going to review a new website in Virginia, Stimulus.Virginia.gov , which is vitally important to anyone expecting to take part in Virginia projects resulting from the stimulus.

According to Stimulus.Virginia.gov, the “website is a forum for citizens, localities, and others to submit project proposals to be considered when federal stimulus funds become available.” In its current iteration, the most interesting aspect of the website is the “Reports” section . This section lists projects that have been submitted to the website by municipalities and individuals.

I have skimmed this list and was amazed to see that the very first project was a school seeking LEED certification.

Do you realize the opportunity that Stimulus.Virginia.Gov, along with FedBizOpps.gov, provide? Through these two websites, you can inventory all of the potential projects you would want to bid on and begin preparing for these projects now. Plenty of other states have similar stimulus websites (Ohio and Michigan, for example) so these actions aren’t limited to Virginia.

How do you prepare for these projects now? What are the risks that have to be accounted for and what should your contracts look like? You will have to come to my presentation on Tuesday to find out! (Or check back on my website when I make my slideshow, and possibly the video of the presentation, available). Related articles:

“The Stimulus: Now for the Hard Part” (GBLU)

The Stimulus: Green Building Provisions (GBLU)

The Stimulus: “LEEDS”ing the Way (GBLU)

The Stimulus: FedBizOpps Has Green (GBLU)