Some worksites may look like a scene from one of the Terminator movies soon if construction firms adopt widespread use of bionic suits for some of their skilled craftsmen and women.As far as we can tell, no one in the industry believes the exoskeletons will be widely adopted until the year 2020....
This Week's Second Look
The Piedmont at River Oaks is a four-story luxury apartment complex comprised of 80 residential units and a parking garage. Located in Montrose, also known as “The Heart of Houston”, the residents are minutes from restaurants, parks, museums, retail and running trails. Built in 2006, time and...
Off-site production of modular of apartments, pods of bathrooms for hospitals and a number of “production line” construction techniques are once again showing up in some interesting places and being used by some traditional builders. This production technique, borrowed from the modular unit or...
The following article originally appeared in the January newsletter to clients of FMI Corporation. Reprinted with permission.The war for talent continues and exacerbates. Many industries seek the logical, orderly minds that are the hallmark of our industry’s best project managers and...
Here at Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing, there is only one thing that our clients pay us to do for them. They don’t pay us to do estimates, nor do submittals, nor send them invoices, nor answer our phones, nor send them advertising materials or a whole host of other things that we all spend...
According to Meredith Watassek, Director of Career and Technical Education at Fort Bend Independent School District, “A sustainable workforce starts by educating the middle and high school student and their parents and counselors to the viable career options in construction and other career and...
In the construction industry, there are many terms that attorneys have written into modern-day contracts to confuse contractors with legalese and intimidate them into agreeing to terms they do not fully understand. Learning these terms is essential to the survival and success of construction...
This new $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill has many contractors thinking about trying their hand at Federal Projects. Bigger doesn’t always mean better though. Especially if this means that there is more risk involved. It’s important to truly think first before you jump and educate yourself on what...
On a recent episode of NPR's 1A, they delved into the real world consequences of stepped-up immigration enforcement in the form of recent workplace raids. From the show notes: "The raids came as the U.S. is experiencing a nationwide labor shortage. While the raided poultry plants held job...