Blogs

Construction

Modular Homes: Wave of the Future, But Currently Risky

Modular home construction presents significant potential improvements to home construction: significantly reduced construction time; less material waste; and reduced expense. If not handled appropriately in terms of contracts and risk, modular homes can translate to a gigantic headache for both the designers, contractors, and the owner. Last Thursday, Lisa Rein of the Washington Post wrote…

March 8, 2010

Construction

Holding the Zoning Administrator Accountable: The New Vested Rights Bill

Can you imagine going to your local zoning office, asking for a formal determination from the Zoning Administrator as to whether you are permitted to build a building on your property, receiving a formal written determination that you may do so legally, providing the written opinion to your bank who then provides the financing, then…

March 5, 2010

Construction

Speaking at the Green Legal Matters Conference in New Orleans, April 26-28

I am very pleased to report that I will be speaking on April 27, 2010 at the Green Legal Matters Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event includes a large number of talented folks, including good friends of ours from twitter and blogs such as Christopher Hill, Shari Shapiro, and Scott Wolfe. A number of…

March 4, 2010

Construction

HUD Announces New Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities

I don’t know how many people out there tracked the events at the sustainability forum out in Portland a few weeks ago, but one of the notable take-aways from the event was that HUD Secretary Donovan used the event as an opportunity to announce that HUD was launching it’s new Office of Sustainable Housing and…

March 3, 2010

Construction

Stimulus Funds, Dripping not Pouring, in Virginia??

The Commonwealth of Virginia has been slow to apply for, award and perform contracts funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, better known as the Stimulus bill). As the construction industry has suffered through plummeting bidding numbers and 25% national unemployment, Virginia has lagged in even qualifying its projects for funding, let…

March 1, 2010

Construction

The Line Between Maintenance and Modification: What Constitutes an “Improvement” under Virginia’s Statute of Repose

In a recent Fairfax Circuit Court case, Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Simpson Unlimited, Inc., the court wrestled with the issue of what exactly constitutes an “improvement” under Virginia’s statute of repose found in Virginia Code Section 8.01-250. Three Flint Hill Partnership, RLLP designated Simpson Unlimited Inc. to act as in independent contractor on a building…

February 26, 2010

Construction

Affirmed! The Fourth Circuit Upholds Judge Martin’s Ruling in the Granby Tower Litigation

The Fourth Circuit has just issued their decision upholding the district court’s ruling in Universal Concrete Products Corporation v. Turner Construction Company, the topic of a December 2009 blog post on the Granby Tower litigation. The parties agreed that the pay-when-paid clause in the Turner-Universal contract was unambiguous. However, just as it did at the…

February 24, 2010

Construction

Urbanism: One Size Does Not Fit All

Land use policy is the fulcrum in the tug of war between the property rights of individual owners and the regulatory interest of communities in establishing and enforcing a vision of their own community. Three separate conversation and analysis threads bring home the reality that the cookie cutter approach to development and even to the…

February 22, 2010

Construction

How Not To Get Sued

My friend Vickie Pynchon recently posted at Chris Hill’s blog, Construction Law Musings, on “How to Get Sued“. On the flip side, there are some simple pointers that all individuals and entities can follow that will dramatically reduce the chances of being sued. These tips apply across a spectrum of businesses and are certainly not…

February 19, 2010

Construction

Urban Planning, the “Retail Everywhere” Doctrine and Mixed-Use Development

A recently completed study by Arlington’s Retail Task Force outlined some interesting conclusions for ground floor retail, suggesting something contrary to the status quo of conventional urban planning thought . Traditionally, in Arlington County, as well as other urban jurisdictions, it has been a moot argument that good urban planning require ground floor space to…

February 17, 2010