Construction Materials Price Index Steady in June
According to a recent article from Reed Construction Data, construction material prices have been rising for the beginning of 2010, but remained steady in June. The previous months reflected an annual increase of 8%. Despite June’s pause, prices are expected to rise again soon.
Educating Clients About Insurance
Insurance is the transfer of pure risk from one party to another, for a price, through a legal contract that spells out the terms of the contract as well as the perils both covered and not covered. For design professionals, a key set of professional and business risks arises from the possibility of causing harm because of their negligence in performing professional services. These negligent acts, errors, or omissions may cause damage to clients, contractors, or other third parties, and the firm may find itself liable for these damages.
In buying a professional liability insurance policy (sometimes inappropriately called errors and omissions or E&O insurance), the firm is asking a broader financial entity—the insurance company—to absorb a portion of the costs of claims in exchange for a premium paid to the insurance company.
BIM: There’s an App for That
For only $5.99, design professionals can have building information modeling in the palms of their hands, literally (as reported in the June issue (page 36) of Civil Engineering, the monthly magazine published by ASCE). Ian Keough, an associated and technical designer in the New York City office of Buro Happold, recently finished his development of an application called goBIM. While the app doesn’t allow for intensive design of a full-fledged BIM system, users can view BIM models on their iPhones. Keough claims that the motivation behind developing this app, something he did on his own outside of his normal job with Buro Happold, was to allow design professionals to view their rich BIM models anywhere, instead of paper drawings and specs.
Small Businesses Carving Out Space in Abandoned Detroit
Anecdotes surrounding recessions often say something like, “This is usually the best time for innovation.” Some say it’s because people are more willing to take bigger chances on their ideas since the old ones may have stopped working. And some say it’s usually out of necessity, with old careers and business models wrecked when the economy took a turn for the worse.