Philadelphia Construction Law Blog

The State of Delaware has passed legislation that revises the statute governing construction contracts in Delaware. Signed into law by Governor Markell on June 25, 2012, the newly named Building Construction Procedures Act contains several significant changes worth noting.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in conjunction with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has issued a hazard alert in order to encourage employers to protect workers from excessive silica exposure during hydraulic fracturing activities. The warning follows the completion of a joint study by OSHA and NIOSH on exposure to high levels of silica.

Contractors may want to think twice before attempting to negotiate the terms of a Request for Proposal. You may face the risk of having your bid rejected in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Green Building Council has elected to delay implementation of its LEED 2012 rating system due to the high volume of comments it received to the proposed new standards. Both the name and the date to vote on the proposed changes have been changed. The new standards will now be called LEED v4 and it will be voted on in 2013.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its unemployment numbers for June. While the overall picture remains uninspiring, there was a slight bump in construction employment. This increase was driven mostly by an increase in hiring for specialty contractors in the multi-family residential sector.

This being an election year, immigration policy is being debated again in national politics. It is an especially hot topic given the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Arizona’s immigration law and President Obama’s announcement that he will no longer prosecute illegal immigrants in certain demographics. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has now become part of the debate.

On Friday, June 29, both the House and Senate approved legislation that included an extension of the federal surface transportation reauthorization bill. The legislation provides for an estimated $105 billion in federal funding for highway, transit, safety, and related transportation programs through the end of September 2014.

Some new numbers compiled by Battelle and R&D Magazine suggest that construction spending is on the rise in the research sector of the economy. It seems lab owners in all disciplines are interested in building new facilities or renovating existing ones in order to keep up with ever changing technological advances and to meet certain “green” goals or safety concerns.

Alvin H. Butz, one of the Lehigh Valley’s largest construction companies, has broken ground on a new project in Allentown. Phase II of the Butz Corporate Center is a $10 million building located on Hamilton Street. The 6 story, 50,000 square foot Class A office and retail space will bring approximately 150 jobs to the Allentown area. It follows on Phase I of Butz’s corporate center project, which opened in 2006 and is estimated to have created 200 jobs in the city.

Does a contractor’s insurance company have a duty to defend the contractor in a lawsuit for faulty workmanship where the contractor has evidence that it did not cause the property damage? A Pennsylvania Court recently held that an insurer had no duty to defend under these facts.