Author: agcnews

For more than two years, the U.S. construction industry has been buffeted by unprecedented increases in material costs, supply-chain bottlenecks, and a tight labor market. AGC’s Construction Inflation Alert is intended to help owners, public officials, and others understand what contractors are experiencing. The July 2022 edition—the 8th since early 2021, outlines steps owners and contractors can take to adjust to the fast-changing market conditions. Chapters and members are encouraged to forward the latest information about conditions, such as supplier newsletters and “Dear Valued Customer” letters, to Chief Economist Ken Simonson at ken.simonson@agc.org. AGC will continue to update the Alert as needed. 

In this episode, AGC’s own Jimmy Christianson, Vice President of Government Relations, and Deniz Mustafa, Program Coordinator for the Building Division take a dive into what Buy America/n requirements are, why we have them, and what we may be able to expect from new Buy America Build America Act regulations that come with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. As government agencies work through their individual processes and procedures, AGC would like to prepare members for imminent changes involving material procurement. Guests:Deniz Mustafa, Program Coordinator, Building Division, AGC of America, deniz.mustafa@agc.orgJimmy Christianson, Vice President, Government Relations, AGC of America, jimmy.christianson@agc.org Resources:Made in…

Construction employment in June continued to trail pre-pandemic levels in more than one-third of the states despite record job openings, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. Association officials called on government officials to allow employers to sponsor more foreign-born workers and support more career and technical education to broaden opportunities for workers to gain construction skills. “Construction employment has stalled in many states, even though contractors have plenty of projects needing more employees, due to a dearth of qualified workers,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Only half the…

According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting 2022 construction staff wages to increase an average of 4.17%, as reported by over 340 companies in the 40th edition of the Construction / Construction Management Staff Salary Survey.  For pay increase comparison, according to the WorldatWork, across all industries exempt professionals saw 2021 actual increases of 3.0% and they are projecting 2022 increases of 3.3%.  For construction WorldatWork reported a 3.4% increase in 2021 and an early projection of 3.4% for 2022.  PAS offers AGC members a special AGC discount to access PAS products. For more information, contact PAS…

Employers Have Until July 31, 2022, to Update I-9s DHS adopted the temporary policy in response to the difficulties many individuals experienced with renewing documents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that document-issuing authorities have reopened and/or provided alternatives to in-person renewals, DHS ended this flexibility May 1, 2022, employers must only accept unexpired List B documents. If an employee presented an expired List B document between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, employers are required to update their Forms I-9 by July 31, 2022. See table below for update requirements. If the employee’s Form I‑9 was completed between May 1, 2020 and…

Price escalation and supply chain disruptions continue as top issues in construction. Getting a price escalation clause that adjusts prices and payments up or down based on an objective index like the ConsensusDocs 200.1 standard price escalation clause is the fairest and best way to combat this problematic issue. However, there is not a magic bullet or one-size-fits-all approach on this issue – it is an all-of-the-above approach. The early procurement of supplies is a common-sense approach that subcontractors, general contractors, and even owners employ to keep projects running on budget and on time. However, early procurement of supplies raises another issue:…

Employers that test workers for COVID-19 should review their policies to ensure they comply with updated guidelines released July 12 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In prior guidance, the EEOC broadly allowed employers to screen workers for COVID-19 without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to the state of the pandemic. In revised guidelines, however, the agency said the employers may continue to administer viral tests as a condition of entering a worksite, so long as they can show that the testing practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity. The update “makes clear that going…

The Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) has developed a new customized report titled Contractor’s Cost Conundrum designed to explain some of the difficult economic and staffing challenges faced by contractors. The report, customized by location, compares the cost of living (CPI) to the extremely large increases in the commodities (materials) purchased by contractors. Those increases dwarf the CPI, showing one big challenge faced by contractors. The report goes on to clearly explain another lesser known but critical difficulty, variability. It shows the extreme variability over time (which really means unpredictability) in the cost of construction commodities, spending on construction and even employment,…

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a company incurs withdrawal liability when it withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan. In its recent decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that this liability must be calculated using an interest rate that is based on the anticipated future rate of return on the fund’s investment asset portfolio. The D.C. Circuit joins the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH,…

Jeff Forbes is the Dallas Regional Director for The Beck Group’s Dallas office. Throughout his 40-year tenure at Beck, his technical knowledge, practical approach, and helpful nature have been refined and now play a key role as he oversees all construction and architectural operations for the Dallas region. Jeff is a caring person with a passion for giving back and he serves on various boards and committees for TEXO, the construction association of North and East Texas and AGC of America. He contributes his time to CityLab Foundation Board, Watermark Church, Dallas AIA Architecture and Design Foundation, co-chair for the…