This AGC-sponsored webinar will address the risk that general contractors have as the interface between design professional providing services directly to project owners, and specialty subcontractors and their designer on projects where the design is distributed throughout the process of putting a capital asset in place. To learn more or to register, click here.

Bolger Center

CRISP
2220 Bevis St., Houston, Texas 77008

Dallas, Texas

Sheraton Downtown Phoenix

4th Annual C3 Golf Tournament at Wildcat Golf Course

11 a.m. - Registration 12 p.m. - Shotgun Start (Lunch Provided)

4:30 p.m. - Awards Reception and Dinner

San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk
San Antonio, Texas

Register today for the CLC Leadership Development Conference. This year’s event is co-hosted with the San Antonio Chapter of AGC and will take place at the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk. Highlights of the program include keynote speaker George "The Iceman" Gervin, former San Antonio Spurs player; Chuck Greco, Linbeck Group, LLC, and Senior Vice President of AGC of America; and a roundtable session that will allow attendees to learn best practices from CLC groups from across the country.

Caesar's Palace

Cooper Guest Lodge

The ACE Mentor Program of Houston invites you to join in The Third Annual Build It Forward Event. This event brings together students involved in the ACE Mentor Program and industry-wide professionals. For more information and to learn how you can get involved, please click here.

Understand how basic contracts are structured, how different types of contracts are used, and how project documentation relates to effective contracting. Learn how different project delivery methods use different contracting strategies, and gain insight into contract law and language in relation to project risk.

Do you understand the difference between certificate holder and additional insured? Learn how to comply with contractual obligations concerning insurance and to assure compliance of other involved parties. Everything you need to know about insurance certificates will be covered.

AGC Houston - Frontline Leadership is a six-session training program designed to equip new, current, or aspiring supervisors with the tools they need to effectively manage and develop their people and projects. The format consists of six half-day modules that can be taken as stand-alone courses or as part of the series.

Need BIM training for your employees? BIM Unit 1 is designed specifically for construction professionals eager to learn the essential concepts of BIM. The full-day (8-hour) course explains the benefits of improved visualization on a construction project through the use of 3D, 4D, and 5D models, establishes a knowledge base of BIM terminology and outlines case studies showing successful BIM implementation. Register by September 19 here.

AGC Houston - Frontline Leadership is a six-session training program designed to equip new, current, or aspiring supervisors with the tools they need to effectively manage and develop their people and projects. The format consists of six half-day modules that can be taken as stand-alone courses or as part of the series.

Completion of this course meets the requirements of OSHA Paragraph 1926.50, and participants will receive an American Heart Association Heartsaver First Aid and CPR/AED wallet card valid for two years upon course completion.

This course is designed for healthcare professionals who want to plan and present safety and health content to their employees/colleagues.The program covers topics specific to making safety and health training engaging, relevant and impactful for all healthcare workers. 

This course is designed to provide Spanish-speaking entry-level construction workers with a general awareness on recognizing and preventing hazards on the jobsite. Participants will learn about the safety requirements contained in 29 CFR 1926, review specific OSHA requirements and gain tips on how to keep a construction jobsite safe.

BlueLine Construction Equipment & Services

2015 Membership Directory updates are due Friday, September 19! We've emailed all member companies the information as it currently appears in the AGC Houston Chapter database. Please take a moment to complete and return the form to AGC Houston. If you have not yet received it, please look in your spam and junk Outlook folders or contact AGC Houston at 713-843-3700.

We're excited to announce new AGC Houston emblem stickers available to all members!

Show your AGC pride. Contact AGC Houston today at (713) 843-3700 and get hard hat stickers while they last. They're free for members!

"The AGC Alternative," the first of its kind, nationwide private insurance exchange to serve the commercial construction industry, begins offering firms belonging to the Associated General Contractors of America quotes today.

Enterprise Fleet Management provides AGC members cost-effective and comprehensive fleet management solutions in the areas of: vehicle acquisition, maintenance management, risk management programs, vehicle disposal, fuel programs, license and title renewals, and monthly reporting. If your business has between 15 and 125 vehicles, Enterprise Fleet Management can help you start improving your cash flow today.

Benefit from financial strength and superior loss control program. It is managed by a board comprised of CompGroup AGC members—general contractors and subcontractors from all parts of Texas are represented. It is a TDI-approved Workers' Compensation Purchasing Group.

Benefits Include:

• Discount - the benefit of the purchasing power of millions of workers' comp dollars to give you the best premium discount.
• Claims Management - aggressively managed claims ensure that injured employees are paid promptly and fairly and fraudulent claims are dealt with accordingly.
• Loss Control - Safety plays a large role in this program. Members receive jobsite loss control visits to assist in controlling claims.
• Dividends - available to members based upon a Program then Individual loss ratio. Under Texas law, dividends cannot be guaranteed until they have been declared.

Learn more about membership benefits in the CompGroup AGC, Inc. today! Contact your insurance agent and tell them you want a CompGroup AGC quote or contact Program Administrator Roberts & Crow at 800-406-9614 - ask for Julie Schatz.

A final rule announced September 11, 2014 requires employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. The rule, which also updates the list of employers partially exempt from OSHA record-keeping requirements, will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015 for workplaces under federal OSHA jurisdiction.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration released its annual report, which tabulated the number of fatalities and catastrophes nationally. OSHA’s report found that the Houston metropolitan region had the highest number of workplace fatalities in the country, with 20 deaths between October 2013 and today. Although Texas' construction injury rate has declined by half during the past decade according to the Associated General Contractors of America, this report shows that there is still room for improvement.

Architect-engineer-contractor (AEC) professional liability insurance policies typically cover negligent wrongful acts, errors and/or omissions as long as the AEC is found negligent by a court of law for the wrongful or erroneous service provided to the client. However, it is yet to be fully determined if some forms of negligence related to green construction are actually covered under typical professional liability insurance policies.

The Obama administration recently announced a series of measures to help shore up crumbling U.S. infrastructure, including half a billion dollars in loans for the electric grid. The moves are part of the administration’s efforts to address what it says is a $1 trillion funding gap for transportation, water and electricity needs in the next six years. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said investing in infrastructure has historically been one of the best ways to create jobs and boost economic growth, but spending has fallen during the past decade, as two-thirds of roads are now in disrepair, and one out of nine U.S. bridges have structural deficiencies.

On August 8, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if implemented, will require covered federal contractors and subcontractors to submit an annual Equal Pay Report on employee compensation. On an annual basis, contractors would have to submit on the new Equal Pay Report summary employee compensation data by sex, race, ethnicity, and specified job categories, as well as other relevant data points that would include hours worked and number of employees.

During the past several months, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Green Building Certification Institute have been forging new relationships as well as strengthening existing ties with other organizations. Those working on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and other green projects (such as Sustainable SITES) will be impacted by these developments. The unprecedented cooperation aims to create a comprehensive framework for jurisdictions looking to implement and adopt green building regulations and codes and/or provide incentives for voluntary leadership programs such as LEED.

Marek Sawing & Drilling, LLC  recently surpassed 350,000 Man hours of Direct Labor without a recordable safety incident. Dating back to May 2010, this impressive record shows Marek's attention to detail on the job and their dedication to maintaining a safe work environment. They attribute their safety successes to their "No One Gets Hurt" safety culture and by encouraging operators to pause and reflect on how to go about a task safely. Congratulations on reaching this milestone!

Construction spending reached its highest level since 2008 in July, according to the Census Bureau, and industry economists are forecasting similar spending patterns in the future. Spending on both private and public construction increased in July, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $981.3 billion. The report "provides further evidence that a vigorous nonresidential construction recovery is finally at hand," said Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors. "Increased job growth, booming energy production, expanding industrial production and normalizing capital markets are all contributing to nonresidential construction's renewed momentum, and confidence among developers and other significant consumers of construction services is high, signaling ongoing recovery."

The increased coverage around Obamacare and the state’s strong economy has led to more people being covered under employer insurance, which has played a role in bringing the number of uninsured down. However, due to Texas' lack of a comprehensive Medicaid program,  Texas has seen a much larger drop in the percentage of uninsured. This will begin to affect employers, especially those who hire low-income, uninsured workers. Employer penalties for uninsured employees will start in 2015. Dr. Vivian Ho of the Baker Institute states, "If these workers aren't insured, it’s more people these employers will have to take a penalty for because it’s expected the employers should provide insurance for uninsured people."

The Texas Supreme Court just issued a blockbuster opinion affirming the limited scope of no-damages for delay clauses. The Court recognized the traditional exceptions to the enforcement of no-damages-for-delay clauses. These include an owner’s "active interference" with a contractor "or other wrongful conduct," including "arbitrary and capricious acts."  The Court reasoned that the purpose of such exceptions is to "preclude a party from insulating himself from liability for his own deliberate, wrongful conduct." No longer is there uncertainty about the applicability of the traditionally recognized exceptions to no damages clauses. Texas now falls in line with the majority of states.

The demographics of the state are changing in ways that impact the workforce head on. According to State Comptroller Susan Combs, "unskilled" jobs are becoming a thing of the past, and the workers of today need to be adaptable to the point that they are lifelong learners. She argues that lawmakers need to tackle several issues including increased funding for adult education programs, multimedia information campaigns to promote industry-based certification, and economic incentives for companies to create apprenticeship programs. She also urges the state to make more money available for programs in order to streamline the process to reduce waiting lists for training programs.

There are more than 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. that generate more than $1.4 trillion in revenues, employ 7.9 million people and account for 30% of all enterprises. The number of women-owned firms continues to rise at rates exceeding the national average, yet women-owned businesses still have fewer employees than the average firm. Although several industries are continuing to see a large increase in women-owned businesses, the construction industry ranks at one of the lowest with just 7 percent of businesses being women-owned.

The last three months have shown steadily increasing demand for design services and the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) is now at its highest level since 2007. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending.  

Sam Houston State University

The Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M has reached out to AGC in the search for an assistant professor, tenure track. The department is seeking a new, full time faculty member to teach and conduct research in the project controls area, particularly estimating, scheduling, project controls and the technology involved with them, including Building Information Modeling [BIM]. The department is also seeking a lecturer or an assistant instructional professor.