Risky Business Blog

Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly planning to unveil its long-promised infrastructure proposal in January, according to The Wall Street Journal. Trump administration officials spoke about the plan’s release as early as March of this year. The president himself said it was largely completed in May, announcing it would be coming in two to three weeks. A themed Infrastructure Week at the White House in June came and went without mention of any details about the plan. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao then said it would be released sometime in the fall. Read more here >>>

A Pittsburgh-based non-profit corporation claims a bonding company has neglected to pay it more than $150,000 in contributions and wage deductions, and has initiated litigation to recover that amount. Operating Engineers Local 66, AFL-CIO & Construction Industry Combined Funds, Inc. of Pittsburgh filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 27 versus Allegheny Casualty Company, of Newark, N.J. Tell me more >>>

In mid-October, California passed a bill which will make general contractors liable for any unpaid wages and fringe benefits owed to employees of subcontractors. The ruling will go into effect on Jan. 1, and will apply to all private construction projects entered into after that date. Needless to say, the bill was met with resistance on the side of contractors who argued that it would further inflate costs which would ultimately be borne by buyers. While the bill does provide ways for contractors to seek indemnity from subcontractors who do not pay their employees, it does not offer possibilities to avoid the liability altogether. Read the bill overview >>>

It’s very easy to make a mistake when exchanging lien waivers on a project, and a lien waiver mistake can be very costly. Most commercial construction companies deal with lien waivers in some form. General contractors must request, collect, and track lien waivers from everyone below them on a project. (And when we say “below them,” we’re not talking about just the subcontractors. We mean everyone working on the project including sub-subs, material suppliers…everyone.) Find out more >>>

Michael S. McGavick, the chief executive of insurer XL Group Ltd., delivered the keynote speech at the International Risk Management Institute construction conference earlier this month in Indianapolis. A former chief executive of Safeco Corp. and a former candidate for the U.S. Senate in Washington state, McGavick predicted in his speech and in a later interview that construction insurance would evolve as the construction industry adapts to a changing world of risk and liability. “The reputation of our industry as being slow to change is just going to end,” he predicted. Here are a few of his key points, as recorded and edited by ENR Deputy Editor Richard Korman. Read the article >>>