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Who is Working for You? Consider These Three Items Before Hiring in your A/E Firm (guest post)

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black shadow of a womanToday, a tale of caution before you make your next hire, from guest blogger Jane Smith.  Jane is very familiar with personal information screenings and online background checks, and regularly writes about these topics in her blogs. Feel free to send her comments at janesmith161@gmail.com or leave a note in the comments section, below.

 

I watched my parents build a small landscaping store into a bustling business for over twenty-five years. Though the rewards were great, my mother and father worked tirelessly every day of the week. I often wondered if it was really worth all the anxiety and stress they carried around with them.

I once overheard my father saying, ‘It’s not the work that’s tricky. That’s always been easy. It’s managing the fifty employees that gets me.’ For years, I never understood what he meant. Whenever I visited them at their company, everybody seemed to be busy as a bee causing no trouble. I later learned that my parents always had one or two employees they had to keep their eye on. It sounds easy, given that two out of fifty is hardly anything. Yet, as I later learned through my own career, even one person can derail an entire successful operation.

Knowing who works for you is a vital part of running any business. If you don’t know who is stepping on the job each day, you may find yourself in a bind, a liability – or worst of all – a lawsuit. As I’ve learned through my own work experiences, it’s vital to know who you are hiring before you bring them on the job. Consider these three items before hiring anyone to join your staff:

Word-Of-Mouth-Referrals are the Best

As the old saying goes, “It’s all about who you know.” It may seem unfair, but it’s true: It’s best to go with somebody you know as opposed to a random person who walks through the door looking for a job. Whenever you are hunting for new talent to join your team, ask those you trust most – fellow employees, family members, business colleagues, etc. – to help you track down your next hire. I’m not saying that an unknown applicant is unacceptable; however, searching through a web of referrals is usually the best way people find astute, reliable employees. Sticking to this formula will help you in transitioning a new employee to your team.

Run a Background Check – Always

It would be wonderful to think that every person who came to work for you was a saint with no problems, no past, and no trouble. Unfortunately, we don’t live in such a world. It’s best to have your guard up, especially when hiring new people. A background check reveals a lot about a person: their past, their problems, and, likely, what they are capable of doing. If a person comes to you with poor credit and an extensive criminal record, what does that say about the person? I’m not saying that the world isn’t full of second chances, but you need to ask yourself what this person is capable of doing to your business. Are you willing to take a risk on that? That’s up for you to decide.

If it Smells Fishy, It Probably is

Let’s say you’ve hired a new employee and things seem to be going great, but then all of the sudden job materials start disappearing. The first one or two don’t really bother you, but the third and fourth burn. What’s going on? Well, here’s the unfortunate truth: If stuff starts to turn up missing and it didn’t before there was a new employee in the ranks, you might have a problem on your hands. No, don’t accuse anyone of anything without hard evidence, but keep your eye out for more occurrences. I give you this wisdom because I watched this very thing happen to my parents. They hired someone to manage their business on the weekends and one day $400 turned up missing from the register. My father quietly looked into his new employee’s past and discovered that he had stolen money from a number of businesses. You can imagine how much longer he was employed after that.

Hiring new employees can be an exciting process, but it’s always best to proceed with caution. If you find yourself needing some extra help, consider these three tips when hiring anyone and everyone.

Thanks Jane!  Questions, comments, stories to share of your own hiring problems?  Leave a note below.

When is a Construction Project truly “Complete”? That depends. (law note)

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Crossing the finish line

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Long-time readers of the blog may remember my earlier post on substantial completion.  However, in looking over my blog stats to see what search terms lead people here, it looks like this is hot topic.  The blog searches came in two general categories:

1.  Those searching strictly for a definition of substantial completion.  Some examples:

  • What does “substantial completion” mean?
  • when does a building achieve substantial completion
  • contracts “substantial completion”
  • substantial completion undefined
  • when is a project substantially complete

For those of you who want a definition, I refer you to my earlier post.  Essentially, however, the term is not always defined, which can be part of the problem.  If you are using AIA contract documents, there is a built in description that defines it as when the Owner can occupy or use the building.  Even the AIA definition, however does not state that there must be a permanent or temporary certificate of occupancy before substantial completion can occur.  While some might presume that a certificate of occupany is required, better practice would be to include language that specifically states that substantial completion also requires that the Contractor deliver to the Owner a certificate of occupany. This leads to the second major category of blog search terms related to substantial completion:

2.  Those looking to compare substantial completion with certificates of occupancy.  Examples include:

  • certificate of substantial completion vs certificate of occupancy
  • substantial completion or final completion
  • completion vs substantial completion
  • construction certificate of substantial completion

This can be a confusing distinction, but in reality the two are generally unrelated to each other [unless you state that a Certificate of Occupancy is part of the Substantial Completion process.] A Certificate of Occupancy is issued by the Building Department official when the building fulfills all requirements to be safely occupied.  In contrast, a Certificate of Substantial Completion is requested the contractor and granted by the architect.  Sometimes things that need to be completed before the architect can issue a certificate of substantial completion do not prevent the building of receiving Certificate of Occupancy.  [Unless, that is, you are in an odd jurisdiction, where a Building Inspector will demand a Certificate of Substantial Completion before issuing a Certificate of Occupancy.] A final note:  for those who were wondering about Final Completion, this occurs after the final inspection; i.e., after the architect verifies that the punch list is complete and all contract terms have been met.   [The punch list work can be conducted while the Owner has beneficial use of the building.]  At Final Completion, the final Certificate of Payment is issued. Confused yet? Drop me a line.  And, share below:  what has been your experience with certificates of occupancy and whether or not they relate to substantial completion?

Photo (c) Euromotorworks. 

 

Should You Guaranty Performance on a Green Project? (Law note)

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guarantee sealBy now, I hope you know me well enough to know that I’d never, ever say you should make a guaranty of performance, period, let alone guaranty the green performance for a new building.  However, sometimes caution has to be thrown to the wind to get the job– at least in the case of a recent GSA design-build project in Seattle.

There, the design-build team agreed that the GSA could withhold 0.5% of the original contract amount, or $330,000, pending the achievement of energy goals.  As writer Suzanne H. Harness, J.D., AIA, noted recently:

The GSA’s approach is diametrically opposed to the recommendations of the American Institute of Architects, which advises both architects and contractors not to guarantee or warrant the achievement of a sustainability goal.  The AIA’s 2011 Sustainability Guide explains the obvious:  contractors and architects can design and construct a building, but the owner operates it, and the owner’s actions are beyond the control of the design and construction team. If the owner operates the building differently from the assumptions used during design, performance goals will likely not be met, even if the building is perfectly constructed. [Emphasis added].

Ms. Harness also correctly noted that professional liability insurance would not cover such a guarantee of performance.  So beware to the design team who takes such a project on: they can be held contractually liable, but there will not be insurance to cushion the fall out from any lawsuit.

Just DON’T do it!

 

 

Funny Friday (Jokes for Engineers & the folks who love ’em!)

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Engineer = good with mathIn an effort to send you off for the weekend in “jolly good spirits,” as my new British sister in law might say, I give you a few engineering jokes, courtesy of the Funny Junk site.  Bonus: there is a lawyer joke contained in this post as well.  Enjoy!
The Design of the Human Body

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body.

One said, “It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.”

Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous systems many thousands of electrical connections.”

The last said, “Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?”

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Engineer In Hell
An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, “Ah, you’re an engineer — you’re in the wrong place.”

So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they’ve got air conditioning, flush toilets, and escalators, which makes the engineer a pretty popular guy.

One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, “So, how’s it going down there in hell?”

Satan replies, “Hey, things are going great. We’ve got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next.”

God replies, “What??? You’ve got an engineer? That’s a mistake — he should never have gotten down there; send him up here.”

Satan says, “No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I’m keeping him.”

God says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue.”

Satan laughs uproariously and answers, “Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?”

_______________________

The Engineer and the Red Rubber Ball

A mathmatician, a physicist, and an engineer were all given a red rubber ball and told to find the volume.

The mathmatician carefully measured the diameter and evaluated a triple integral.

The physicist filled a beaker with water, put the ball in the water, and measured the total displacement.

The engineer looked up the model and serial numbers in his red-rubber-ball table.

_______________________

Ba dum dum!  This concludes our programming day.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

 

Understanding & Modifying Key Construction Contract Terms

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As I mentioned, I  was one of three amigos who spoke on a Construction Contract webinar last week.  We had a good turn out and lots of very astute questions during the Q&A portion.  While you will miss all of my witty insightful helpful commentary, you can check out the slides for my portion, on understanding and modifying key terms, here:

Drafting Construction Contracts

My comrades’ presentations can be found by visiting Chris’s blog (for payment provision issues) and Craig’s blog (for damages and dispute resolution issues).  Happy viewing!