onstruction contract disputes across the world are getting longer, more complex and more expensive, according to the “Global Construction Disputes Report 2018” from design and consultancy firm Arcadis. The value of North American disputes — or total costs added to a project for the additional work being claimed — dropped for a fourth consecutive year to $19 million in 2017, compared with the $43 million global average, the report found. Meanwhile, the average length of North American disputes increased from 15.6 months in 2016 to 17.7 months last year, exceeding the global average of 14.8 months.

Anybody who has seen Gov. Andrew Cuomo give a speech in the past few years knows that New York is in the midst of a building boom.

There are marquee projects like the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson River or the renovation of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, and there are smaller projects like street enhancements in downtown Watkins Glen or a proposed Metro-North station at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.

These projects are mostly publicly financed and built by private contractors – and in the midst of this building boom, some state legislators are hoping to clarify what those contractors should be paid.

Hello all… how about a quick blog on PVC pipe and UV protection? 

I am often asked about the effects of UV exposure caused by sunlight on PVC sewer pipes and how to provide protection. Many people in the civil engineering industry have concerns with UV exposure and polymeric-based sewer materials (e.g. thermoplastic, PVC, HDPE, other plastic pipe) and believe that these materials, basically, disintegrate under long term exposure. This is not what happens. Like other polymeric materials, PVC pipe can experience some forms of slight degradation, but not disintegration, as a result of long-term UV exposure. A test and study performed by the PVC Pipe Association (formerly known as Uni-Bell) was completed in 1997 called “The Effects of Ultraviolet Aging on PVC Pipe, UNI-TR-5-97”. The report’s findings, after two years of extreme sun exposure in the 12 locations across the US, showed no considerable change to the modulus of tensile elasticity and the tensile strength of the PVC pipe used.