Ethical, Legal and Professional Responsibilities of Engineers to Owners and Contractors
Engineers are under legal, professional, ethical and moral duties to protect owners, contractors and third parties, including the general public against injuries and deaths and economic...
Sandbridge Virginia Oceanfront Seawall Arbitration Hearing: Some Lessons Learned for Coastal Engineers
A group of beach property homeowners claimed that their new oceanfront seawall was defective in design. A beefed-up design cost about $1.3 million more and they sought this amount from...
A New Fast Track for Public Works
Most public contracts are still awarded to the lowest bidder, but some states are experimenting with other approaches for complex projects. In Oregon, officials facing a tight deadline...
Howdy, Partner
Litigation has long been a nemesis to the construction industry. In recent years, contractors and owners have used innovative alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques, such as arbitration,...
Life in the Fast Track
Through innovative financing and skillful construction management, Oklahoma is proving that transportation megaprojects are still possible, even during an economic downturn. The result...
Motown Tunneling
When finished in 1993, Wayne County Michigan's $69 million wastewater treatment/sewer project will link outlying areas such as Dearborn with sewage treatment facilities in...
Project Management: Keys to Success
Successful construction projects can be traced to several key factors observed by the owner, the AE and the contractor. They include: 1) Goals and commitment of the managing partners agreed...
Construction Approach to Denver International Airport
The new Denver International Airport, a $2.7 billion project, is being designed and constructed under the oversight and guidance of a Program Management Team (PMT) led by the City and...
Cranes, Concrete, Construction...and Computers
Computers are already firmly entrenched in the design process. Now, they're touching all corners of construction. Applications range from traditional project management tasks...
Agricultural Option Contracts
A plan for developing and implementing option contracts on agricultural water supplies by municipalities in Northern Colorado is presented. Two water supply projects - the Colorado-Big...
Advancing Anchorage Technology
An overview of earth anchorage technology, with emphasis on current U.S. corrosion protection practice as compared to that used in Europe. Comments from U.S. practitioners involved in...
Realistic Specifications for Steel Bridge Painting
Specifications play a vital role in a steel bridge painting contract. They not only can ease problems with painting construction, but can also provide a common standard for all parties...
Proper and Improper Use of Specifications
The contractors have an obligation to the clients to provide a product that meets their requirements. In order to accomplish this, these requirements must be properly translated into the...
Overhead and Profit on Change Orders
Have you ever wondered how many change orders it took to build the Egyptian pyramids or the Great Wall of China? The concepts of overhead, profit, and change orders have been around for...
Engineering Pre-engineered Buildings
Pre-engineered buildings have become more sophisticated. There are several manuals and guides on how to engineer the so-called pre-engineered structures, but none are complete. There are...
Improving Specifications
Ambiguous and unclear specifications cause confusion, disagreements, and, often, lawsuits. All too frequently the writer is at fault for not making clear exactly what he or she means....
Rethinking the Competitive Bid
Concern that the U.S. construction industry is losing its competitive edge is nothing new. Ironically, the problem is not so much rooted in foreign technical expertise as it is in our...
Rebuilding an Illusion
A dam that controls the level of Fall Lake, a major entry to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northern Minnesota had to be rebuilt, but federal agents barred constructors from...
When It's Time to Sell
Although ownership transition is sometimes achieved through an internal or management buyout, in many scenarios, the retirement of a shareholder or partner will result in a sale to an...
The Standard Contract's Delivery Commitment Schedule Process
The Standard Contract for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste specifies various activities necessary for the eventual acceptance of spent nuclear fuel...
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