Author: agcnews

Meet Rachel! Rachel has over 20 years in the areas of customer service, sales, and management experience. For the past 9 years she has dedicated her career to United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest rental equipment company where she currently works as a branch manager for one of their middle Tennessee locations. She serves on the AGC of Middle Tennessee Construction Leadership Council as active sitting President as well as active Director on the AGC of Middle Tennessee Board of Directors. Why did you choose to get involved with your local Construction Leadership Council? My commitment for continuous professional development…

With the addition of two new federal bid protests, AGC is aware that four AGC-member construction firms have now filed federal bid protests objecting to project solicitations that require a project labor agreement (PLA). All four protests have led the government to voluntarily suspend the contract awards for the procurements while the protests are still pending. As reported recently in this article, the protests utilize a legal theory that AGC helped create with outside counsel at Fox Rothschild. All four protests are pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In at least two of these cases, the government is now…

Once again, top contractors and subcontractors in Western Pennsylvania stepped up to support an important cause in their community. Fundraising was spearheaded by Jamie Gildersleeve, director of human resources at Mascaro Construction Company, LP, and Naley McKamish, director of marketing & business development at McKamish, Inc. In addition to contributions from Mascaro Construction Company and the McKamish Family Foundation, they received support from Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania (MBA) and many of the Association’s members. Both companies are MBA members, and Naley is also a member of the MBA Marketing Committee and the Young Constructors Committee. In recognition of…

On August 2, 2024, AGC of America filed an amicus brief in a case concerning the scope of the “building and construction industry” exemption from multiemployer pension fund withdrawal liability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The case, Walker Specialty Construction, Inc. v. Construction Industry & Laborers Joint Pension Trust for Southern Nevada et al. is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The brief supports Walker Specialty Construction’s (Walker) argument that demolition and abatement work fall within the exemption. Case Background Walker, a small, family-owned company based in Washington state, had been performing asbestos…

Construction employment increased in 39 states in July from a year earlier, while 29 states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between June and July, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. Association officials noted that demand for projects—and the workers to execute them—remains robust in most states but there is a pressing new to prepare more people for careers in construction. “Construction employment gains remain widespread, thanks to steady or increasing demand for data centers, manufacturing plants, energy and infrastructure projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist.…

When choosing between the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ConsensusDocs design-build contract documents, owners and contractors must understand how each will yield vastly different results on critical issues such as managing timely and sufficient design services. Both ConsensusDocs and the AIA publish coordinated families of standard design-build contract documents. This article explores why ConsensusDocs offers more balanced provisions that better protect design-builders and owners, making it a more favorable choice for managing design services effectively. Design-build has become well-established as a project delivery method. While AIA standard documents are more commonly used for design-bid-build projects, the ConsensusDocs contract documents…

Here is the background. The Inflation Reduction Act empowered the federal agencies to explore the use of construction materials that have a lower embodied carbon (lower emissions associated with their life cycle). On August 7, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new carbon labeling program for construction materials. AGC provided feedback earlier this year on the draft. What construction materials does this apply to? The new labeling program is intended to help federal agencies identify and source lower embodied carbon construction materials. EPA has identified four initial materials based on the amounts purchased with federal funds: steel, glass, asphalt, and concrete. Do I…

In the last few years there has been a lot of action on environmental review and permitting reform. Whether it is new rules issued by the Biden Administration or reforms pushed by Congress, AGC has all of the details to help you understand them. The Latest Rule: On July 1st, the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ’s) final rule implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Phase II regulations went into effect. The rule elevates climate and community impacts to the NEPA permitting process – requiring extensive review of effects, alternatives analysis, and mitigation on top of an already protracted…

With the addition of two new federal bid protests, AGC is aware that four AGC-member construction firms have now filed federal bid protests objecting to project solicitations that require a project labor agreement (PLA). All four protests have led the government to voluntarily suspend the contract awards for the procurements while the protests are still pending. As reported recently in this article, the protests utilize a legal theory that AGC helped create with outside counsel at Fox Rothschild. All four protests are pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In at least two of these cases, the government is now…

Get started with Lean Why should you adopt Lean Construction? Learn more from these quick start guides authored by the Lean Construction Committee. The Committee encourages all to share it with their colleagues and print a few copies for site offices to spark conversations. Why Should YOU Adopt LEAN? – How Do I Start? Why Should YOU Adopt LEAN? Develop expertise in Lean Below you will find a list of books curated by the Lean Construction Committee aimed at furthering your journey in Lean Construction. The Lean Builder: A Builder’s Guide to Applying Lean Tools in the FieldBy Jesus D…