North and South Carolina Building Divisions Newsletter

CAROLINAS AGC – MARCH 18, 2008

JULY 17-20 BUSS MEETING IN SAVANNAH

Registration forms for our upcoming BUSS meeting will go out in the next couple of months for a meeting that promises to be good for your business and lots of fun. The meeting will be July 17-20 at The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, with the theme of "Staying Alive in the Ever-changing Green, Techno Construction Industry.

We'll have a strong lineup of speakers. The keynote speaker will be Ken Futch, an internationally known humorous and motivational speaker who will focus on how to make successful presentations in the construction industry. There will be presentations on how to maximize IBuild services, improving jobsite safety, the importance of using the ConsensusDOCS and a contractor/ subcontractor panel on how to improve relations with both groups. On a lighter side, we will have a surprise brunch speaker for the guests who is guaranteed to be a hit as well as outstanding golf on the Harbor Course, and a dinner/dance on Saturday night to cap everything off.

NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

NC Legislative Outlook: The NC General Assembly will convene its short session on May 13, 2008, largely to fine-tune the second year of the budget and take up pending bills. CAGC's top legislative goal will be continuing to focus on the state's infrastructure crisis, particularly involving transportation, building, and water and sewer needs.

CAGC also will work to help pass pending legislation to crack down on job-site vandalism. Other issues apt to surface should involve alternative delivery systems on public projects, including lease-back legislation for public schools; environmental regulations, such as a proposal that is too stringent for new coastal development; immigration; not allowing convicted sexual predators on some job sites; workers' comp reform; bad legislation sought by unions and trial lawyers; and capital improvements.

State Legislative Races: With the close of the candidate filing period on Feb. 29, 14 Senate candidates and 42 House candidates will face no opposition in the May 6 primary or Nov. 4 general election. In addition, 77 seats in the legislature have already been decided when it comes to party control, with the Democrats already controlling 33 of the 61 seats needed to keep their hold on the House, while Republicans have captured 11 of the 26 seats needed to take over the Senate.

With Democrats enjoying a significant fundraising advantage, look for them to continue to control the state Senate, where they now have a 31-19 edge as well as the House, which has a 68-52 Democratic majority. For a look at House candidates, go to:  www.cagc.org/advocacy/files/NC_house_candidates_2008_primary.cfm.
For Senate, go to: http://www.cagc.org/advocacy/files/NC_senate_candidates_2008_primary.cfm.

Meantime, in the race for governor, on the Republican side, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is considered a favorite, followed by state Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton, a CAGC member. For Democrats, polls suggest that Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue currently holds an edge over State Treasurer Richard Moore.

Retainage Reform: The new retainage legislation became effective for all contracts entered into on or after Jan. 1, 2008. The legislation – which CAGC was a leading player in helping to pass last year – applies to local and state building and utility projects for such owners as school boards, municipalities, counties, universities and community colleges. Effective this year, those public owners no longer will be able to withhold more than 5 percent retainage on building and utility projects.

State Construction Conference: The Annual State Construction Conference, held Feb. 18-19, drew over 1,000 participants at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Ken Simonson, chief economist for AGC of America, was the keynote speaker, giving a construction forecast for North Carolina that was positive for commercial growth. Charlotte architect Bill Monroe and Markus Hill of Rodgers Builders also gave a Building Information Modeling (BIM) report and NC Building Director Dave Simpson participated in a presentation on the new retainage legislation.

SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Legislative Outlook: 2008 brings about an election year for the six U.S. House seats and all 170 members of the S.C. General Assembly. Beginning March 17 candidates have two weeks to file to run for a state office, and this year’s elections in June and November could bring significant changes. At least 13 House seats will be open as lawmakers retire or resign their seats to run for the six state Senate seats that will be left open by retiring senators. The results could be significant and the faces at the state house will be very different come November.

Immigration Legislation: The immigration reform bill, S. 392 http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/392.htm, at the time of this report was currently being considered by a conference committee made up of three members from both the House and Senate to hammer out a final proposal. The Senate conferees are: Sens. Jim Ritchie, Chip Campsen and Vincent Sheheen and the House conferees are Reps. Jim Harrison, Greg Delleney and Thad Viers. The bill, which initially applied only to state projects and the contractors and subcontractors who perform state work, was expanded by the Senate to apply to all employers in South Carolina. While the amendment brought in private employers, it also added an additional verification process, the federal I-9 form. Carolinas AGC has been calling for the inclusion of this verification option for well over a year now and is pleased to have this added among the other verification options which are E-verify and drivers licenses. Federal law currently requires employers to verify using I-9’s, and this inclusion will not only be a process most are familiar with, it will keep employers from being in violation of federal law while trying to comply with state law.

Alternative Delivery Methods Legislation: S. 282 is a bill that would amend the current procurement code in South Carolina by expressly stating in the code that alternative delivery methods such as Design Build, Construction Management at Risk and Design Build Finance Maintain are allowed to be used to procure state construction work. The bill does not require the use of these methods and still maintains the Design Bid Build procedure as the default method; but it allows for the use of other methods and if the State Engineer approves the use of an alternative method, that method can legally be used in South Carolina. Carolinas AGC worked closely with the Architect, Engineer and Subcontractor associations and staff from the Budget and Control Board on the creation of this legislation. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Mark Sanford on Feb 4

REGISTER NOW FOR AT-RISK CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SEMINAR

Get the ins-and-outs of positioning your company for at-risk Construction Management on public work in North Carolina by attending a seminar to be held April 2 in Durham. For more information and to register click: http://www.cagc.org/contractors_bldg/files/construction_mgmt_seminar_durham.pdf.

REGISTER NOW FOR CONSENSUSDOCS SEMINAR IN RALEIGH

Owners, general contractors, subcontractors, sureties, insurers, and engineers have jointly developed ConsensusDOCS -- a comprehensive series of more than 70 collaboratively drafted contracts and forms that employ best practices and fair risk allocation for all parties, resulting in better project results and fewer disputes. If you are interested in attending a seminar on April 10 in Raleigh to learn more, click: http://www.cagc.org/edu_training/files/consensus_DOCS_raleigh_041008.pdf.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO…EIGHT WAYS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IBUILD FOR GC’S

1.   Sign up for “live” online training delivered right to your screen: Choose from 5 scheduled demos every week for either beginner or advanced users on looking for work, or sign up for a “general contractor’s tour” of IBuild. See our demo schedule.

2.   NEW! Online Chat Option: Click “Live Support” at the top right corner of any IBuild page. In seconds you’ll see a prompt to begin your personal online “chat session” with Jeffery, Travis or Dave in Charlotte.

3.   Call toll free 877-AGCHELP (242-4357). Ask about our “general contractor’s tour” of IBuild, for either finding work or getting subbids or both.

4.   E-mail help@carolinasagc.org.

5.   In-office Training: Having a staff meeting? What better time to have a CAGC staff person come to your office for in-person group training or demonstration.

6.   Prefer a personal touch? CAGC will come to your office for your own “general contractor’s tour” of IBuild, for either finding work or getting subbids or both. Contact Roddy Craft 704/372-1450, ext. 5224.

7.   Show up for a scheduled workshop in a local CAGC plan room: We schedule “IBuild support tours” across both states every few months. In February and March we’ll visit Fayetteville, Greenville, SC and Charleston.

8.   Walk-in Training: When you’re in Charlotte, support staff will be happy to pull up a chair and help you get comfortable with IBuild. If visiting another CAGC plan room, staff will be happy to give you a ‘nickel tour’ as well.

QUOTES OF THE QUARTER

"Live every day like it will be your last because one day it will be."

"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like it's heaven on earth."

- Old Irish Toast

HAPPY EASTER !