Articles Posted in Construction Generally

UPDATES: Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento Republic FC adds to ownership roster (Oct. 6, 2014); The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento’s new soccer stadium will be named after Bonney Plumbing (Apr. 21, 2014); The Sacramento Bee, Five questions to ponder as Republic FC begins its inaugural season (Mar. 28, 2014); Sacramento Business Journal, Work begins on soccer stadium (Mar. 18, 2014); 2014 Season Tickets Deposits

Inaugural game at Hughes Stadium on Saturday, April 29, 2014:

It was recently confirmed that the Cal Expo Board of Directors voted unanimously for the agreement between Ovations Fanfare LLC (Ovations), a food service company that is a subsidiary of national sports and entertainment giant Comcast Spectacor, and Cal Expo to construct an 8,000-seat multi-use sports facility. Sacramento Republic FC, the recently formed professional soccer team, will be one of the groups hosting its home matches at the facility.

The facility will be located on the California State Fair grounds, approximately 2 miles from downtown Sacramento. It “will feature a soccer-specific full pitch or field with dimensions for international soccer (120 x 80 yards), and serve as the home pitch for the Sacramento Republic FC soccer club. Plans include using it for other events such as concerts as well.

Construction of the facility is expected to take 2 to 3 months. Although the USL PRO schedule includes 14 home matches, the Sacramento Republic FC’s first five games are away games, starting with a March 29 game in Los Angeles against LA Galaxy II. The Sacramento Republic FC’s home opener versus the Harrisburg City Islander is scheduled for April 26. If the facility has not been completed by then, a few home games may be played at Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College.

It was reported that Ovations “will operate the stadium for the Republic” and “will pay rent of whichever is more: 20 percent of revenue or $75,000 annually, until the $3 million investment is recouped.” When it has recovered its investment, the facility will be owned by Cal Expo.

Additional Resources: Sacramento Business Journal, Cal Expo board approves stadium for Sacramento Republic (Feb. 28, 2014); Sacramento Republic FC, Cal Expo Multi-Use Facility Update and Its Impact (Feb. 28, 2014); The Sacramento Bee, Tentative deal reached to build Cal Expo soccer stadium (Feb. 20, 2014); KCRA, Sacramento professional soccer team reveals name (Jul. 18, 2013)

Photo: Matt Rickard, Taken Apr. 29, 2014; Jarrett Campbell, Taken Mar. 28, 2007 – Creative Commons

Today, Pillsbury attorney Ray Sweigart posted his advisory titled English Contract Law: Your Word May Still be Your Bond. The advisory discusses English law on oral contracts and the English courts’ willingness to find that binding contracts have been made despite the lack of a final writing and signature.

Not only is the government out to sting contractors (as noted by G2G’s Amy Pierce here), now Hollywood is too. Rima Suqi’s New York Times interview, “Getting Contractors to Man Up” (subscription required if you’ve used up your free articles) notes that SpikeTV has a new show about bad apple contractors. Hosted by Adam Carolla (who you may remember from “Loveline” and “The Man Show”), the show is geared toward helping homeowners who have hired contractors whose work has been sub-par. The show lures unsuspecting contractors to a decoy house on the premise of providing a bid, and then surprises them with a camera crew. The contractors are then offered a choice–fix the work under the show’s supervision, return the money they were paid by the homeowner, or face a court battle with the homeowner in which the show will assist the homeowner. Not surprisingly, according to the interview, most contractors choose to finish the job.

“To Catch a Contractor” premieres this Sunday, March 9, at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central. You can find out more about the show at Spike TV’s site here. Am I the only one hoping at least one contractor will choose the court option?

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, 2014 Women in Construction Week (Mar. 2, 2014) — “NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terence R. McAuliffe, do hereby recognize March 2-9, 2014, as WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION WEEK in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.”

Today, Pillsbury attorneys Lawrence L. Hoenig, Craig A. Becker, Richard E. Nielsen, Dianne L. Sweeney, Matthew F. Burke and Breann Robowski posted their advisory titled 70 Days and Counting: Clock Is Ticking to Claim Embedded Software Tax Exemption. The advisory encourages companies to review California’s embedded software exemption, an established (but underutilized) exemption that may enable companies to enjoy substantial property tax savings in this and future tax years on their personal property assets. Most businesses have until May 7, 2014 to file their annual Business Property Tax Statements (Forms 571-L) with California counties. The advisory recommends that companies act now so they that may claim the benefit of such exemption in preparing these filings, and thereby seek to reduce the amount of their property taxes due this tax year.

Recently I’ve come across a number of articles reporting on what I will refer to as the “bliss” factor for employees, measuring, for example, happiness with their current career path, with the city in which they work, etc. CareerBliss has published a number of bliss lists, evaluating what it considers to be the “key factors” which affect work happiness, including, for example: “one’s relationship with their boss and co-workers, their work environment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, their daily tasks, and job control over the work that they do on a daily basis” to come up with an overall “bliss rating” or “bliss score.” A number of you with careers in the construction industry have reported that you are blissfully happy.

Recently, CareerBliss posted its list of Top 20 Happiest Jobs for 2014:

• Research/Teaching Assistant
• QA Analyst
• Realtor
• Loan Officer
• Sales Representative
• Controller
• HR Manager
• Software Engineer/Developer
• Intern
• Team Leader
• Construction Manager
• Facilities Manager
• Marketing Consultant
• Contractor
• Designer
• Finance Manager
• Network Engineer
• Property Manager
• IT Consultant
• General Manager (Retail)

CareerBliss also recently posted its list of Top 10 Happiest and Unhappiest Cities to Work in 2014.

Top 10 Happiest Cities to Work in 2014:

• San Jose, California
• Washington D.C.
• San Francisco, California
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Houston, Texas
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• San Diego, California
• Charlotte, North Carolina

Top 10 Unhappiest Cities to Work in 2014:

• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Orlando, Florida
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Denver, Colorado
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Tampa, Florida
• Columbus, Ohio
• Sacramento, California
• Miami, Florida
• Arlington, Virginia

Additional Sources: CareerBliss, Top 10 Happiest and Unhappiest Cities to Work in 2014; CareerBliss, Top 20 Happiest Jobs in America for 2014 (Feb. 5, 2014); Forbes, The Happiest And Unhappiest Industries In 2014 (Feb. 24, 2014); CareerCast, The Least Stressful Jobs of 2014; CareerCast, The Most Stressful Jobs 2014; CareerCast, Jobs Rated 2013: Ranking 200 Jobs From Best to Worst; Pillsbury, Surprisingly, California Didn’t Make The Top Out-Bound Or In-Bound States Lists … But, You Might Be Surprised By Which Did
Photo: Charles Henry, Aug. 23, 2011 – Creative Commons

UPDATE: Chief Executive Magazine, Best & Worst States for Business (May 2014) — In the 10th annual survey of CEOs, over 500 CEOs across the U.S. graded states with which they were familiar on a variety of measures, including the tax and regulatory regime, the quality of the workforce and the quality of the living environment. Texas continues its 10-year historical position as the best state overall.

Where is everyone going and why? In its recently-published article titled The States People Are Fleeing in 2014, Forbes discusses United Van Lines’ — the big St. Louis-based moving company — 37th Annual Migration Study of where Americans are moving. United Van Lines analyzed “a total of 125,000 moves across the 48 continental states and the District of Columbia in 2013 and came up with a picture of migration patterns across the U.S.”

Forbes’ article explains that, “[a]ccording to Professor Michael Stoll, chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a consultant to United Van Lines who studies American migration, the moves reflect long-term shifts in the U.S. economy and the hit to employment in many states resulting from the slow recovery.” Another explanation given is Americans’ desire to leave the frigid states in the north for warmer climates. Reportedly, “[o]ver the last 20-30 years there has been a general shift of the population from the Midwest and Northeast to the South and West, which we think of as a move from the frost belt to the sun belt.” Not surprisingly, another reason given is the high cost of living, for example, in New York. Americans apparently are being drawn to other states by “[b]usiness incentives, industrial growth, and relatively lower costs of living,” according to Professor Stoll.

According to the Study, the top out-bound states are New Jersey, Illinois, New York, West Virginia, Connecticut, Utah, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and New Mexico, and the top in-bound states are Oregon, South Carolina, North Carolina, District of Columbia, South Dakota, Nevada, Texas, and Colorado.

Additional Resources: Forbes; United Van Lines; Atlanta Construction on the Rise

You can never be 100% sure of what you will find below the surface when you begin excavating on a construction project. But I’m willing to bet construction workers in Seattle, Washington never anticipated finding a very rare 10,000 year old mammoth tusk.

An employee of a plumbing subcontractor uncovered the tusk with a shovel and immediately stopped digging to contact the general contractor. The amateur archeologist’s boss said “it was more exciting than the time they found a jar of money someone had buried in a backyard.”

The careful excavation of the mammoth tusk will no doubt delay construction of the residential building being developed by AMLI Residential. Nevertheless, AMLI Residential Senior Vice President, Scott Koppelman, said “the scientific and educational benefits of this discovery clearly outweigh the costs and delay. This is an exciting discovery for our local Northwest history.”

Find the whole story, with photos, here.

Today, Pillsbury attorneys William M. Sullivan, Jr., and Benjamin J. Cote published their advisory titled Feds’ Reliance on Environmental Activism Underscores Need for Lacey Act Compliance. This advisory discusses the search warrant recently executed by U.S. Customs and Fish and Wildlife Service agents on a Virginia-based flooring wholesaler premised on allegations that the company had illegally imported wood in violation of the Lacey Act, 16 USC § 3371 et seq. This development bolsters three significant trends in Lacey Act enforcement that companies engaged in the purchase, manufacture or sale of wood products should take note of.