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New DOL Final Rule Regarding the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Will Have Significant Impacts on Contractors

POKPAK05 By Sarah K. Carpenter of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP Key Takeaways The Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced its long-awaited final rule updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. The new rule will have significant impacts on many industries and businesses, particularly federal construction contractors and subcontractors. Regulated parties have 60 days from publication of the final rule in the Federal Register ...

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New EJCDC CM At-Risk Documents Help Address Increased Prices and Lengthened Project Schedules

ISTOCK.COM/MILEPOST430MEDIA EJCDC’s new Construction Manager At-Risk documents enable owners and contractors to take advantage of the benefits of the CM At-Risk project delivery method. Construction delivery systems have been evolving for decades as owners and contractors continue to search for ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs on their projects. One strategy that has been gaining in popularity with both ...

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Bringing Communities Together One Baseball Stadium at a Time

Sponsored Content from Old Republic Surety America’s love of baseball is about so much more than the game itself. It’s also about the overall ballpark experience. From youth Little League fields to Major League Baseball stadiums, communities across the country invest significant resources into creating facilities where people can enjoy America’s pastime. Building or renovating a local baseball field can ...

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Practical Advice to a Surety to Protect Collateral in Bankruptcy

ISTOCK.COM/PATPITCHAYA By Elliot Scharfenberg It borders on the cliché to begin an article by musing that suretyship is among the most ancient contracts known to law and that undertaking a suretyship contract has been fraught with risk ever since its inception. While this is undeniably true, I assume that everyone reading this article is no stranger to these well-trodden platitudes. ...

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Contractors Can Help Ensure Their Success by Heeding Five Lessons Learned from the Pandemic

ISTOCK.COM/RELIF By Robert S. Posner of Grassi As the construction industry emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, new realities continue to impact contractors’ plans and strategies. Unlike past years, however, contractors in 2022 have the advantage of the many lessons the industry has learned over 2020 and 2021 as it battled the impact of pandemic losses and overcame unique challenges. To ...

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Five Industry-Unique Concepts in Navigating Construction Company Work-Outs—Scenarios that Allow a Contractor in Default to Meet its Debt Obligations

ISTOCK.COM/VECTORINSPIRATION By Kevin Hamernik of BKD Working with a company struggling or bordering on the edge of insolvency is difficult enough, but any seasoned turnaround professional who has worked with construction companies knows this industry presents additional, unique challenges. Why? Although there are many reasons, this article will focus on examining five major elements. 1. Lien Impacts In general, contractors, ...

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A Contractor’s Line of Credit Can Affect the Firm’s Bonding and Banking Relationships

ISTOCK.COM/GUSTAVOFRAZAO By Richard P. Higgins of McCarthy & Company Building a solid foundation for good relationships with sureties and bankers is important for every contractor, impacting growth and profitability. Sureties and bankers rely on your credit history, payment record, credit score, and performance when making a credit decision. Sureties also factor the three C’s into their decision to issue a ...

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Three Recent Cases Strike Down Liquidated Damages Clauses in Settlement Agreements: Trend or an Aberration?

ISTOCK.COM/ZOLNIEREK By Adam M. Tuckman of Watt Tieder Hoffar Fitzgerald LLP Beginning more than one century ago, owners and contractors generally have adopted the convention of including liquidated damages in their contracts to fix potential liability for delay (and other losses) at the inception of the project. The proliferation of liquidated damages clauses in modern contracts can be attributed to ...

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NASBP Partners with SFAA to Offer Free Online Course – Introducing a Surety Bond Education Curriculum With Personality

Learning about the ins and outs of qualifying for surety bonds as a construction contractor may sound like a dry course of study, but contractors may find those expectations defied when they tune into the new Contractor Bonding Education and Mentoring Program (www.contractorbondinged.org) for construction firms. It’s a sleek, engaging, and streamlined production of The Surety & Fidelity Association of ...

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Extending the Value of Surety—NASBP’s 5-15 Committee Trains New Industry Leaders

When visionary business leaders take action, they always have their eye on the future. The problem is that it takes broad industry knowledge and experience to gain the perspective for making the best decisions. If the marketplace always stayed the same, that wouldn’t be the huge deal it is today. But with change the only real constant in today’s world, ...

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