Tag Archives: design professional

One Stop Shopping: the Green Building Directory (Tue Tip)

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design of green lighthouse in France

A green lighthouse. Literally! 

 Wouldn’t it be nice to have a handy resource of “green” builders, tradesmen, and material suppliers when you are designing your next project or writing your next set of specifications?  Check out the Western North Carolina Green Building Directory, where you’ll find all this and more.

Know of a resource for design professionals?  Drop me a line and I’ll feature it in an upcoming “Tuesday Tip.”  And, sign up for email delivery of all blog posts to your inbox (through the subscription box at the top of the page) so you’ll never miss out on practice tips!

Photo:  (c) Olivier French via Creative Commons license.   Post updated 3/9/2017.

A turn-around in the business of Architecture?

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Architecture Buildings looking up

Architectural billings are up, according to the AIA Architectural Billing Index (ABI).   The ABI was up slightly in February to 50.6 (compared to 50 in January), marking the fourth straight month at 50 or higher – after nearly three years of almost uniformly decreasing billings.  As Mike Purdy notes on his Public Contracting Blog, the increase in architectural services usually foreshadows increases in all downstream construction activity.

Visit Mike’s post for links to more detailed information relating to the ABI.

How is your Firm’s net profit?  Are you holding steady?  Seeing an uptick?  Drop me a note and tell me your biggest legal challenge holding you back, and I’ll address it in a future post, so you can concentrate on doing what you do best.

 Photo (c) Dennis Mojado via Creative Commons license.

Certificate of Merit to sue architects or engineers? (Tue Tip)

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You know how they say the best laid plans can go awry?  Just as unforeseen issues pop up in construction, they also pop up in the practice of law.  So, while it is still Tuesday, I apologize for the late hour of my post.

I bring you good tidings, despite my lateness.  Right now, in the North Carolina General Assembly, is a proposed bill that would require a Certificate of Merit to be filed in civil litigation against an architect, engineer, or a design firm.  If it passes, this would require that an unbiased, third party (who is also a licensed professional) has reviewed the claim and believes it has merit.  

boy holding certificate of merit

This boy has his certificate of merit: will lawsuits against architects and engineers require the same?

Such a pre-lawsuit requirement  has long been a right that doctors enjoy.  Now, there may a chance for architects and engineers to also enjoy protection from otherwise frivolous lawsuits. 

The bill has been introduced, had its first reading, and has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.  While the bill is a long way from passage, it is a good sign that the public recognizes too often professionals are the targets in lawsuits simply because of their “deep pockets” (really!) or their insurance coverage. 

You can keep track of the progress of Senate Bill 435 here. 

(h/t to Kathryn Westcott, ACEC-NC Executive Director)

Photo: (c) John Dolan via Flickr/Creative Commons License.

EJCDC Document Training (Tue Tip)

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Document Updates sign

Photo (c) EJCDC

We’ve talked previously about Form Construction Contracts, including ConsensusDocs, AIA, and even shown a comparison chart between the two.  Now it is the Engineer’s Joint Contract Documents Committee’s (EJCDC’s) turn. 

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is holding a training seminar on key parts of the EJCDC form contracts.  The seminar, entitled “Critical Design-Build Contract Provisions: Understand Legal Issues That Can Put Your Firm in Hot Water“, is scheduled to address several topics and the EJCDC take on those issues, including:

  • Errors and Omissions–Handling of E & O under design-build is complicated due to inability to invoke the betterment rule.
  • Licensing Laws–Since the Design-Build entity holds itself out to be both the “designer-of-record” and the “constructor-of-record”, appropriate professional registrations and business licenses need to be in place.
  • Protests of D-B Bids and Proposals–What to do with protests of design-build procurements includes practical lessons for engineers
  • Design Reviews–Conduct of design reviews under design-build may differ from traditional periodic reviews, because an owner can place itself in a responsible position by dictating changes during the review process rather than relying on the D-B entity to deliver an end-result in conformance with the design.
  • Performance Guarantees–In some instances, owners seek to tie the design-builder to some strict performance standard.
  • Who Owns the Design–On some government design-build contracts, the owner is insisting on owning the design product.
  • Teaming Arrangements–There are many ways for engineers to participate in design-build contracts. Is your risk tolerance such that your firm can go “at risk” or would it be advisable for the firm to retain its agency status?

The Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20th from 1:30 to 3:00 PM, Eastern Time.  Fees are $199 (members) /$299 (nonmembers).  Click here to register.

Upcoming on the blog:  a guest post discussing one practitioner’s use of each of  three main form documents.  Stay tuned!

Micropiles for bad soil: a Tar Heel victory

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Kenan constructionDespite foundation challenges, construction is almost complete on the expansion at University of North Carolina’s Kenan stadium.  The project started with a deep foundation system from design-build contractor GeoStructures.  Known as the Carolina Student-Athlete Center for Excellence, the addition was built on a parcel with a knotty mix of fill soils, subsurface boulders and varying depths to rock.   To achieve uniform foundation support, GeoStructures designed a Micropile system (also known as a Mini pile system) which could be drilled into the variable ground conditions.

After an pre-production load testing program that provided an optimized design, GeoStructures proceeded with installation of 265 micropiles ranging in capacity from 80 tons (160 kips) to 175 tons (350 kips) each. Although most were designed for compression loading only, designs in some areas called for tension resistance due to lateral loading. All of the micropiles were cased to rock with internal reinforcement and socketed into hard bedrock present at the site.

For a video peek into the various construction phases, check out UNC’s  “Hard Hat Hits”.

Do you have experience wiht micropile systems?  Foundation or soil tales of woe?  Just love the Tarheels?  Drop me a note in the comments section, below.

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Photo (c) GeoStructures