News and current information for our surety bond clients.
Recent construction surveys have expressed a cautiously optimistic look at the industry’s prospects for the next year or so, but there appears to be a growing consensus that the seemingly unfettered growth that the industry has enjoyed during the last several years will soon slow. For example, Engineering News-Record’s second-quarter “Construction Industry Confidence Survey” showed that, construction executives, while upbeat …
Two construction executives were charged with fraudulently obtaining public contracts worth millions of dollars by stealing the identities of two minority-owned businesses, and failing to pay more than $400,000 to more than 50 employees, the state attorney general’s office said today. One of the executives, Michael Martin, 47, of Latham, formerly owned Eastern Building & Restoration Inc. in Albany. Read …
It’s been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. If so, general contractors throughout the country may soon be taking on more responsibility for the unpaid wages of the workers on their construction projects than they might have expected. As of January 1, 2018, Assembly Bill 1701 makes general contractors liable for the unpaid wages of any employee …
Construction 1st Class CEO April Malloy discusses how she went from living in the back seat of her car to becoming the boss of her own construction company. “I was sleeping in my car and I would answer ads and I was working and pounding the hammer and just pounding the pavement and making it happen. I started reading plans …
The thought of seeing more crews working on Ulmerton Road is probably enough to give some commuters nightmares. It took more than five years for construction on the road to finish last year after the project suffered numerous setbacks, including the original contractor defaulting on its obligations and bailing on the job. Largo engineers say that contractor, Conalvias USA, likely …
At the tail-end of the 2018 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed Senate Bill 853, making construction general contractors jointly and severally liable for the failure of their subcontractors to pay their employees in compliance with Maryland’s wage and hour laws. This new law will become effective October 1, 2018. California recently passed a similar measure, AB 1701, which …
The case involved a dispute over final payment of retainage between general contractor Woodrow Wilson Construction, LLC (WWC) and owner of the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) in connection with a project for the construction of a new school. Upon substantial completion of the project, WWC submitted its application for final retainage payment. OPSB refused to issue final payment, claiming …
Lily Thompson laughs when she hears that women can’t handle themselves on a construction site. “That’s a societal thing as much as anything,” said Thompson, a journey-level carpenter with Local 336 of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. “If a mother can pick a sleeping child out of bed 2,500 times, there’s no reason she can’t pick up metal …
Commercial surety in the US is a recipe for success if you understand the intricacies and complexities of the market. The product is booming as an alternative in lieu of traditional letters of credit (LOC) and there’s ripe fruit for the picking. “The US commercial surety market is experiencing growth that’s faster than the overall insurance market and faster than …
About 20% of the construction workers who built the Hilton Cleveland Downtown hotel on The Mall were minorities, and 6% were women. That’s a big improvement for an industry that used to have the reputation of lacking a diverse workforce. One reason for the change is a joint effort by contractors and the construction trade unions to build a pipeline …
