Construction Law Update
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 CONSTRUCTION L AW UPDATE 19-09-06_PDP_Ad_BreakingGround.pdf 1 9/6/19 1:24 PM 11 Theaters 215 Restaurants 130 Retailers 300+ Free Events 47 Acres of Parks C M Y 1.9 Billion Invested(2009-2019) CM MY CY 5,270 Residents CMY K 1,700 Residential Units in Development 80,000 Business Professionals 2/3 City's Commercial This could be your Office Space finest moment. It’s everything you could ever want and everything you never knew you needed. From historic architecture and world-class amenities to unparalleled transit services and unrivaled views, it’s all right here in Downtown Pittsburgh. Elevate your business at dwntwnpgh.com Everything points you here. One business-critical issue can have a dramatic effect. TURNING OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS INTO RESULTS From project conception through financing to close out, Cohen & Grigsby’s Construction team represents clients at every stage of construction. Our team includes both experienced business counsel as well as trial lawyers who prepare and defend complex claims, litigate matters in a variety of venues, and defend our clients against regulatory enforcement and inspection citations. Our attorneys represent and advise construction managers, contractors, subcontractors, material and equipment suppliers, engineers, developers, owners, and financial institutions. Consult directly with senior partners. Profit from efficient representation. Experience a culture of performance. 412.297.4900 • www.cohenlaw.com C&G_Breaking Ground Ad_8.375x10.875_v4.indd 1 3/13/19 3:19 PM Quality. Excellence. Integrity. For 68 years, A. Martini & Co. has been providing construction management and general contracting expertise to meet your project needs. www.amartinigc.com | 412.828.5500 Western PA School for the Deaf - Red Wing Candidly Yours Photography rn 2 0 1 Contents 9 PUBLISHER Tall Timber Group www.talltimbergroup.com EDITOR Jeff Burd 412-366-1857 [email protected] PRODUCTION Carson Publishing, Inc. Kevin J. Gordon ART DIRECTOR Carson Publishing, Inc. GRAPHIC DESIGN 321Blink CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anna Burd Eckert Seamans Cherin Mellott offices. Photo by Denmarsh Photography. Used courtesy A. Martini & Company CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHY Master Builders’ Association Constructors Association of Western PA Candidly Yours Photography Massery Photography NAIOP Pittsburgh Turner Construction Denmarsh Photography 05 PUBLISHER’S NOTE 47 MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE Facing Construction’s Suicide ADVERTISING DIRECTOR 07 REGIONAL MARKET UPDATE Epidemic Karen Kukish 412-837-6971 11 NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE 52 BEST PRACTICE [email protected] Environmental Considerations in 17 WHAT’S IT COST? the Claims Process MORE INFORMATION: BreakingGroundTM is published by 18 FEATURE Tall Timber Group for the Master Construction Law Update 57 INDUSTRY Builders’ Association of Western & COMMUNITY NEWS Pennsylvania, 412-922-3912 or 33 PROJECT PROFILE 63 AWARDS & CONTRACTS www.mbawpa.org Porter Wright Morris & Arthur Office Tenant Improvements Archive copies of BreakingGroundTM 67 FACES & NEW PLACES can be viewed at www.mbawpa.org 40 FIRM PROFILE 69 2019 BUYER’S GUIDE McCrossin Foundations LLC No part of this magazine may be 88 CLOSING OUT reproduced without written permission by the Publisher. 42 LEGAL PERSPECTIVE David Daquelente Executive All rights reserved. Best Practices for Contractors Director, Master Builders’ Riding the Roller Coaster of This information is carefully gathered Association of Western and compiled in such a manner as to Construction Material Tariffs Pennsylvania ensure maximum accuracy. We cannot, and do not, guarantee either the 45 FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE correctness of all information furnished Give Your Workforce the Financial nor the complete absence of errors and Correction: omissions. Hence, responsibility for Tools to Manage a Successful same neither can be, nor is, assumed. Bea Spolidoro, AIA was incorrectly identified Project as an associate at Rothschild Doyno Keep up with regional construction Collaborative in the feature article of the and real estate events at July/August edition of BreakingGround. She www.buildingpittsburgh.com is an architect at the firm. BreakingGround September/October 2019 3 WESTERN PA ELECTRICAL NATIONAL ASSOCIATION CONTRACTORS WE PROVIDE OUR MEMBERS WITH EDUCATION•INNOVATION• •SUCCESSION PLANNING•LEADERSHIP TRAINING•BRAND GROWTH• •GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS•INDUSTRY EXPOSURE•MEDIA STRATEGY• AND MUCH MORE WE POWER PENNSYLVANIA • 5 HOT METAL STREET, SUITE 301 • PITTSBURGH, PA 15203 • • 412.432.1155 • • WWW.WPANECA.COM • @WPANECA @WPANECAGovAffrs @NECAMEDIA CHECK OUT OUR DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM AT WWW.NECAMEDIA.COM PUBLISHER’S NOTE “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” - Henry VI, Part II, Act IV “A guy calls his lawyer. He says, ‘Can I ask you two questions?’ Lawyer says, ‘What’s the second question?’” - Henny Youngman rom Shakespeare’s time, and probably before, lawyers that changes in how construction law is practiced will also have been a good literary foil. Everyone seems to change how construction is done, or at least documented. have a lawyer joke. None of them are particularly There was, as you might imagine, a certain amount of anxiety flattering to lawyers. There’s some basis for that, of about what the practice of law might be like in 25 years. Older course. Most people are only hiring lawyers when they are in attorneys were less anxious, of course, but most of the lawyers Fa bit of trouble. And once engaged, lawyers get paid for their expressed some concern that there would be a time when time, whether you ultimately prevail or not. Of course, if it’s the current supply of lawyers would exceed the demand. I the latter, then somebody else’s rotten lawyer beat you. think there is a real possibility that we will need fewer lawyers Kristin Bogaard, the designer for the Porter Wright Pittsburgh in 25 years, but the upside of that forecast is that those office (the Project Profile for this edition of BreakingGround), practicing are more likely to be doing the things that lawyers echoed this point when explaining the rationale behind the might rather do, like counseling their clients about potential more informal design for her client’s law office. Saying, “No problems before they occur. one really wants to hire a lawyer,” Bogaards told of how the Proponents of automation and AI call this moving up the value WESTERN PA more open layout and informal style of the Porter Wright chain. Much like the industrial revolution moved humans up office was intended to help reduce the stress of Porter Wright’s ELECTRICAL the value chain by multiplying the labor that mostly produced clients, putting them more at ease. subsistence living, the next revolution in productivity will allow Construction is like most industries in having its share of humans to do work that has higher value than a machine can NATIONAL attorneys. Most companies don’t have the need for counsel on provide. For construction attorneys, that would be counseling staff, but the construction practices of Pittsburgh law firms have their clients about the potential risks of their activities, plenty of attorneys for hire. It seems predictable for Pittsburgh reducing the need for legal services after the problems that there are more than enough construction lawyers in town, arose. Of course, that may be the most value construction at least according to the attorneys who practice here. As attorneys can provide today too, without AI. I’ve never heard with virtually all other aspects of the Pittsburgh construction a contractor complain that his attorney’s fee was too low. ASSOCIATION industry, construction law is hyper-competitive too. Maybe the best remedy is to make use of the attorney’s time I interviewed quite a few lawyers for this edition of the when it has the most value. You’ll be billed either way. magazine. I was interested in hearing, in their words, what Pittsburgh’s construction lawyers envisioned were the CONTRACTORS most impactful trends in construction law and in the future of practicing law generally. It seems logical that lawyers would be looking to the future in the same way all other Jeff Burd WE PROVIDE OUR MEMBERS WITH EDUCATION•INNOVATION• businesses do. Perhaps it’s the nature of attorneys that this sort of forecasting tends not to be shared with the public. In a •SUCCESSION PLANNING•LEADERSHIP TRAINING•BRAND GROWTH• profession chock full of disclaimers, lawyers would seem to be among the least likely to want to document their predictions. •GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS•INDUSTRY EXPOSURE•MEDIA STRATEGY• The responses I got were, therefore, fresher than forecasts I AND MUCH MORE get from construction professionals. The practice of law is one of those that is predicted to be highly impacted by artificial intelligence, or predictive analytics. Law is built upon precedent and AI is built upon the ability to review massive amounts of information to deduce future behavior. That would include dispassionately reviewing the facts of a dispute to decide the likelihood of a client’s success in pressing a claim, or to review complicated contracts to red flag potential problems. And it’s presumed that this analysis would be done at a cost that is less than $300 per hour. Technology advancement like AI is but one of the future trends that the attorneys saw changing how construction law WE POWER PENNSYLVANIA will be practiced. The forward-thinking attorneys also noted • 5 HOT METAL STREET, SUITE 301 • PITTSBURGH,