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Industry Watch: AI in Construction Disputes Is Only the Beginning
The construction industry rarely moves first with new technology. It waits.It watches.Then it adopts, carefully, and usually late. That’s why a recent announcement from the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) deserves attention. Not for what it solves today, but for what it signals next. AI is no longer staying on the…
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Industry Watch: Employment Compliance Is Becoming a Procurement Risk — Not Just an HR Issue
Employment compliance has quietly moved from the back office to the jobsite. Owners are starting to feel it.Contractors are starting to worry about it.And procurement teams are increasingly being asked to manage the consequences. New employment verification requirements, combined with heightened enforcement activity, are changing how commercial construction projects should assess risk before contracts are…
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Industry Watch: How CCDC 5B-2025 Signals a More Modern and Collaborative Construction Contract
I’ve spent years treating pre-construction as its own phase of work. On many projects, that simple distinction improved clarity, reduced friction, and strengthened owner–contractor relationships. So when I reviewed the 2025 update to CCDC 5B, I recognized familiar territory. Many of the contract revisions reflect practices I’ve used for a long time. They aren’t perfect,…
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Industry Watch: Why Every Owner Needs Clear Building Rules and Regulations
Earlier this year, I was engaged to review the capital program of a large technology company.What I found surprised me. There were no owner-side building rules.No construction conduct standards.No documentation of expectations—formal or informal. The team relied on a single preferred vendor who “knew how things were usually done.”All of that institutional knowledge lived inside…
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Commentary: When Owners Lose Their Delay Protections — A Cautionary Tale in Design Discipline
I’ve seen this pattern far too many times.An owner pushes hard on schedule, accelerates design, and assumes the team will “figure it out in the field.”Then the project hits a wall of changes, delays, and finger-pointing. All of this could have been prevented with a more disciplined design phase. A recent New York Appellate Division…
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Commentary: Professionalism Isn’t Optional — Even for the Biggest Owners
I still remember the phone call.The owner on the other end was furious — loud, profane, and looking for someone to unload on. I happened to be the unlucky junior architect who picked up the phone that day. I had nothing to do with the issue he was upset about, but I let him speak.…