Philadelphia Construction Law Blog

Waterfront Development Partners, L.P., presented its plan for a waterfront project in Allentown to the Allentown City Planning Commission recently. The project, which is being called The Waterfront, is slated to convert approximately 26 acres of industrial property along the Lehigh River inside the city limits into a large scale mixed use development. Office, retail, restaurant, residential, and commercial space are all envisioned as part of the project.

Contractors who wait too long can lose their right to file a mechanic’s lien.

As lawyers, our clients look to us for answers. But we also learn from our clients. Winning strategies come from a combination of legal know-how and a clear understanding of the problems our clients face and the trends in the construction world. To this second point, the following is an article entitled “Out Educate, Out Build, Out Innovate” posted on the Metal Construction News website by one of Kaplin Stewart’s clients. It’s author, Gary Smith, is currently the president or Thomas Phoenix International and will be the president of the Metal Building Contractors and Erectors Association in 2013. ____________________ “Out Educate, Out Build, Out Innovate” was the title of a recent National Education and Action Summit I attended organized by the U.S. Department of Labor. Its focus was to reflect on the important contributions of registered apprenticeship programs on the 75th anniversary of the signing of the National Apprenticeship Act. I was thrilled to participate in this important summit. Since I returned from Washington, D.C., I’ve been thinking about the title and how it applies to my company, Thomas Phoenix International. With regards to “Out Build,” I would pit my Thomas Phoenix crews against any in the world. I know my men are superior: they are highly skilled, highly professional and committed to their trade. They are skilled craftsmen who know how to deliver complex pre-engineered buildings. The Thomas Phoenix team all subscribe to a code that Jim Owen, author of “Cowboy Ethics,” calls the “Code of the West:”  Live […]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of the Bricklayers of Western Pennsylvania Combined Funds v. Scott’s Development case, a move that could determine whether the Pennsylvania Mechanics’ Lien Law will be strictly or liberally interpreted.

The General Assembly passed changes to the Pennsylvania Steel Products Procurement Act that Governor Corbett recently signed. The legislation (HB 1840), which will go into effect this month, effectively creates an exemption from the law’s requirement for certain listed items and directs the Department of General Services to issue a list on its website for those in the construction industry to check. The Steel Products Procurement Act requires that steel being used in public works projects in the Commonwealth be made in the U.S. To qualify as “made in the U.S.A.”, 75% of the cost to mine, produce, or manufacture the product must be incurred in the United States. The statutory definition of “public works” is broad and includes construction of all types as well as maintenance. The changes to the law create a range of exceptions to the “made in the U.S.A.” requirement for certain machinery and equipment. To be exempt, the DGS must certify in writing that an item qualifies for the exemption list because there are insufficient amounts of the steel product made in the U.S. to allow contractors to meet the requirement. The new provisions also charge the DGS with conducting an annual review of the list and the industry to update the list and to subsequently post that list on a publicly accessible website so that those putting in bids for public works projects can access it. Contractors involved in public works projects should be aware of this statute and not assume it can be […]

As a construction lawyer, I am involved in two of the biggest paper generating professions the world has known. When done correctly, construction projects result in paper being used by the ream. From notices to bid, to plans and specifications, to change orders and applications for payment: everything is documented. Then lawyers fighting over construction project issues create even more legal documents for filing in the court system using copies of the same project documents. It is not any wonder that construction firms and their lawyers’ offices are bursting at the seams a good deal of the time. Enter Electronic Data Management, or EDM.

After years of doing little to change the Mechanic’s Lien Law, it seems the Pennsylvania Legislature now can’t leave it alone. Significant changes have gone into effect in the last several years, and the legislature has continued to dabble in it regularly.

Northampton County executive John Stoffa and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan recently announced their support for a feasibility study that would eventually lead to the construction of a convention center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The projected site for the new large convention and exposition center would be near the Sands Beth Works site. Northampton County has awarded $50,000 to the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority to open the funding for the feasibility study. Increased revenue from the county’s hotel room rental taxes will be used to seek proposals from consultants to complete the study in the near future. Those involved with the potential project estimate that the privately owned center would have between 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of usable space and would be capable of hosting large scale conventions and conferences.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration extended its temporary enforcement measures in residential construction until December 15, 2012. By offering, and now extending, priority free on-site compliance assistance, penalty reductions, extended abatement periods, and other measures to increase outreach and ensure consistency, OSHA is trying to decrease the number of fatal falls on residential sites. Falls are the number one cause of fatalities on residential construction projects.

The doctrine of caveat emptor – or buyer beware – has long been a guiding principal in the law. The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently decided a case that marks a significant change in that approach though. In Conway v. Cutler Group, 2012 Pa.Super. 242, the Superior Court held that a builder can be liable to subsequent home buyers beyond the initial purchaser for breach of the implied warranty of habitability.