Author: Jeanie Clapp

AGC ADVOCATES FOR EXTENDING THE EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT Contractors that have struggled over the past two years due to the pandemic shutdowns and project delays because of supply chain shortages can seek relief with the federal Employee Retention Credit. This and other federal and state tax incentives can help contractors substantially, experts say. EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT When the pandemic began, Congress moved quickly to create two incentive programs for businesses — the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), says Jay Woods, founder and president of Omega Accounting Solutions based in Laguna Niguel, California.…

NO MATTER THE PROJECT LOCATION, A ROBUST SAFETY, STORM AND DISASTER READINESS PLAN IS A MUST BY LISA KOPOCHINSKI Whoever said that life, death and taxes are the three things in life that are certain forgot to include weather as the fourth. Just ask anyone in the construction industry, and they’ll tell you that Mother Nature has her own ideas. This is why disaster preparedness is more vital than ever especially if you live and work in an area prone to hurricanes, floods and flash floods. EXTREME WEATHER Christopher Diaz is vice president of environmental, health, and safety for Balfour…

STREET SMARTS AND CAREFUL PLANNING CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESSFUL PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS BY STEVEN H. MILLER The first riddle you ever heard, very likely, was about a chicken crossing the road. Traffic’s incompatibility with pedestrians has led to the invention of traffic cops, stop signs, traffic lights and various other methods of temporarily halting the road. But in cases where the traffic can’t be stopped, there are ways around it, either below or above. Pedestrian tunnels under roadways have been common for decades, and increasingly, walkways have been built overhead. These walkways and bridges for bipeds present interesting challenges in construction A…

AGC MEMBERS SHARE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING TOMORROW’S CONSTRUCTION WORKFORCE BY NICK FORTUNA When recruiters from Crane Industry Services (CIS), an AGC Georgia member, show up to a job fair, they know that their company’s booth will be among the most popular at the event. That’s because several dozen young jobseekers typically signed up the day before for a 10-minute session on one of the company’s construction equipment simulators, giving them a realistic snapshot of life at a jobsite. Amid a stubborn labor shortage, recruiting and retaining workers is serious business, but that isn’t stopping CIS from appealing to the kid…

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT Contractors are far more upbeat about this year than they were at the start of 2021 — though tough challenges still exist. AGC experts, contractors and vendors, on a January webinar and in interviews with Constructor, share their insights on the opportunities as well as challenges for 2022. “Contractors are overall very optimistic about the outlook for the year,” says Steve Sandherr, CEO, AGC of America. “They expect demand for most types of projects to increase, and as a result, most firms plan to add staff. Contractors also continue to invest…

READY TO BRING THE INDUSTRY TOGETHER FORWARD BY A.D. THOMPSON Dan Fordice was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, but — he points out on the heels of his first ever adult trip to Disney World — he’s not entirely sure he’s officially “grown up.” Maintaining that humor and whimsy is quite wondrous, given the leadership and management experience amid which Fordice, a third-generation construction professional and AGC member, essentially came of age. “Every family vacation began as an AGC convention,” he recalls. “If we were in Washington, D.C., my mother would take us up the…

BY JOHN WALLENVICE PRESIDENT AND WISCONSIN CONSTRUCTION PRACTICE LEADER HUB INTERNATIONAL, A MEMBER OF MULTIPLE AGC CHAPTERS Mental health has been in the spotlight over the last year, with stay-at-home orders and school closures keeping many Americans at home more than the usual. But even before that, a mental health epidemic was already raging across America. Suicide has increased 40% in the last two decades. It’s the second leading cause of death among young adults aged 15 to 34. Among a young population already prone to fragility, extra job stress can be enough to push an individual over the edge.…

THE LINBECK GROUP OF TEXAS TAKES TOP PRIZE AT AGC’s CONSTRUCTION SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS BY NICK FORTUNA In an industry where large projects often take several years, success rarely comes down to a single 15-minute window, but such was the case for Michael Kleinpeter and the Linbeck Group of Texas at the AGC of America’s annual convention in September. Prior to the big event in Orlando, Kleinpeter and the Linbeck Group’s executive team had rehearsed their presentation time and again, trying to cram all the good details about the company’s data-centric safety program into the five-minute limit. That part, they…

BY DEBRA WOOD Digital tools from Procore Technologies give contractors the ability to collaborate on jobsites to ensure everyone is working off of the latest plans, reducing rework. “Procore was an amazing advancement for the industry,” says Todd Wynne, chief innovation officer at Rogers-O’Brien Construction in Dallas, a member of multiple AGC chapters. Rogers-O’Brien has relied on Procore for several years. “It helps in many ways. It is our one truth of information for our projects.” Wynne reports everything was paper based and color coded 10 years ago, creating challenges finding the correct information in a timely fashion. “Paper on…

BY STEVEN H. MILLER Size matters. The components used to build wind farms are very big, and that affects everything about constructing them. The current generation of wind farms are bigger and more spread out, too, and they are growing in number. Wind turbines are an important tool to slow global warming — generating electricity sustainably and reducing the use of fossil fuels in power plants. Energy companies are investing increasingly in wind. The industry has developed a way of setting up wind farms on other people’s properties, across farmland and forests, sometimes involving multiple landowners. The towers are spread…