| Greetings!
ECA Newsletter 1-30-18 There is a lot of news that is pertinent to your businesses right now so, for brevity, I will forsake my “editorial” comments to just bring you some of the issues that are in front of us: SB-1 And the California Budget; Last week Governor Brown unveiled his 16th, and last, proposed budget for California. Our good friends at ACEC have written a nice summary of what is included because of the historic passage last June of SB-1. Here is the ACEC summary- Governor Brown has advised major spending on transportation projects with newly available SB 1 funding. The budget proposal includes $2.8 billion spending on “fix-it-first” investments to repair neighborhood roads state highways, and bridges. Additionally, $556 million are allocated for key trade and commute corridors to support economic growth and $200 million to match locally generated funds for high-priority transportation projects. There is also a $721 million investment in passenger rail and public transit modernization and improvement. These projects are the direct result of last year’s historic transportation plan. ACEC California was a proud supporter of that plan and will continue to defend it from politically-charged repeal attempts. Our State’s transportation networks need maintenance and new capacity, and ACEC California members are ready to get to work! SB-1 And Requesting Dollars from the California Transportation Commission; Although most of what the ECA does for advocacy is at the County and City levels, occasionally the State level is appropriate for the ECA to voice our opinion. Now that Brown has proposed SB-1 expenditures, the time is right to request some local funding from the “effective keeper and distributor of those SB-1 funds- “The California Transportation Commission”. If you click on this link, you can read the letter I am sending on behalf of the ECA to request funds from SB-1 for the Marin-Sonoma Narrows Segment C2 HOV Lanes Gap Closure Project. As part of SB-1, there are funds allocated for “Solutions for Congested Corridors Program (SCCP)” that are available to solve regional congestion. Our Marin Narrows is estimated at $121 Million and we have local funds of $37 Million on hand. The ECA, as well as the SCTA and several other organizations, are requesting $85 Million from the SCCP and we are one of five projects that have requested funding from the SCCP. The timing is right, and the ECA is requesting that our Marin Narrows should be the best of the five projects submitted for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is, that our request is the only one for a “closure” project that would close out a much larger and proven record of projects that have widened Highway 101 since 2004’s Measure M Sales Tax was enacted. Wish us luck! Regional Measure 3 Going To Voters On June 5; If you attended the General Membership Meeting in November of 2017, you will recall Jake Mackenzie (Chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission) talking about the likelihood of putting a ballot measure to the voters in June of 2018 that could raise $4.45 Billion for traffic congestion relief in the Bay Area. Here is an update voted on January 24, 2018 by the MTC- On June 5, voters will decide on a $4.45B package of congestion relief projects that in the North Bay would include upgrades to improve Highway 37; complete widening of U.S. 101 to three lanes in each direction through the Narrows; and extend SMART to Windsor and Healdsburg. It would be paid for by a $1 increase in tolls on Bay Area state-owned toll bridges beginning Jan. 1, 2019, with a $1 increase in 2022 and another $1 increase in 2025. If you would like to read more about this, please click on this link to the MTC- City of Santa Rosa Active Measure M Projects; Yesterday, I attended the Sonoma County Transportation Authority Citizens Advisory Committee meeting and was able to hear from the City of Santa Rosa about the status of several projects long discussed. More information can be found by going to the SRCITY.org website and going to the Measure M link. * Hearn Avenue Interchange Phase 3-this project would add a turn lane Southbound on Highway 101, construct a new bridge over Highway 101 to carry 2 lanes in each direction, and redo the off ramps and approaches to the interchange. The project is estimated to by $23.85 million and the timeline is to be “ready to list” for construction in September of 2019. * Fulton Road Improvements-this project would go to bid in Phases and the first phase is from Wood Road to Piner Road. No construction estimate is available yet, but the Project is scheduled to be constructed beginning in August of 2020. That’s All Folks! John ****************************************************************** Army Corps Of Engineers Crews have finished a milestone-Coffey Creek is completed-click here for the Press Democrat article.
ACOE last week announced there were currently 130 crews working in Napa, Sonoma and Mendo Counties on debris cleanup. The crews were expected to grow to 150 crews as of this week. ECA Spec Committee-Rebuilding Houses-Coffey Park and other areas will need substantial regrading before contractors can start constructing the houses so needed. Last week at our ECA Specifications Committee meeting, we discussed the details of what is going to be needed to be ready for either a beam and pier construction or a post tensioned slab construction. Because of Code changes, slopes of 5% must be accomplished for pervious (earth) slopes away from the edge of the foundation, and a 2% slope from back to front must collect that runoff from the edge of foundation and carry it out to the front curb. Many of the homesites do not have the needed elevation to accomplish this so fill will have to be brought in. Other complications are the grading needs to cross over property lines or potentially some retaining walls need to be constructed. Also, fencing lines were discussed and there are complications for building fences on property lines that have two different elevations. ECA Spec Committee also discussed preliminary plans being submitted for underground utilities being run under sidewalks and in the streets of Coffey Park in the next year. Needless to say, the debris cleanup is not the end of our ECA Member’s work that needs to be done.
|
January 19, 2018
1-19-18
ECA NEWSLETTER
John’s Soapbox
Proud to Be in the ECA
I had the honor of serving on a speaking panel Wednesday evening in front of 175 victims of the fire that are in the “Sonoma County Medical Association (SMCA)”. Once again, I was moved by the victims and their stories of escape, loss, resilience and frustration. I think it is appropriate that I share with you the points of view and message that I continue to deliver in public on behalf of the ECA and its membership.
The ECA has members participating in both the government assisted public debris cleanup, and the “opt out” private business and homeowner debris cleanup. In both cases, the ECA highly recommends that all workers treat the debris as if it were hazardous regardless of what the OSHA rules allow. Because of the uncertainty of what was burned, and the “hit and miss” nature of how the debris piles are tested for hazardous materials, and that digging around in the debris pile can expose materials not picked up by the initial survey for hazardous materials, the ECA recommends fitted respirators and appropriate personal protective equipment be worn at all times in the affected areas by workers. Gloves, Tyvek suits, boots with plates and steel toes are all recommended to be worn by workers.
The ECA encourages property owners and the Contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers to engage “local hire” for the debris cleanup. Although we all acknowledge this cleanup was bigger than we could all handle with our local crews, the local workers should be turned to first before out of town and out of area workers are utilized. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that the ECA feels property owners will receive more understanding and compassion and probably a better value by employing folks that live here as well as work here. We need to be conscious of what a great reputation we have developed over the past 10-15 years, and we should do nothing to jeopardize that reputation. Our members are generous, and although there is nothing wrong with making a profit, we are not known as “greedy contractors trying to cash in on the unfortunate victims”.
Encouraging proper licensing is also part of my message. I encourage property owners to contact the ECA for “vetted” and licensed contractors who can test and or perform the work needed for debris removal. We also will actively send notifications in to California State License Board when I come across unlicensed subcontractors. Remember-even on a Federal Contract, if you are doing contracting work in California, you need to be licensed in California. The only exception to that rule is if you are working on Federal land and none of the debris cleanup or rebuilding is on Federal land. So homeowners need be aware that hiring an out of state licensed contractor is not legal.
My last part of each “elevator speech” I give, is that the ECA is available to any property owner to utilize us as a resource all the way through the debris cleanup and rebuild process. If an owner calls and has a question as to how to find a good contractor to rebuild their home, we try to guide them to our members or the NCBE members that have vetted and properly licensed folks that can help them. Whether it is for soils testing, haz mat testing, structural concrete testing, or something else, we stand ready to assist for no charge any fire victim as best we are able. It is the least we can do!
That’s All Folks!
John Bly
Newsletter 12/28/2017
ECA Newsletter 12-28-17
More Updates On Debris Removal
Bits and Pieces:
- Many of you are aware that the ECA, along with several of it’s Members and some residents of Coffey Park, celebrated Christmas a few weeks ago with donations of Christmas trees amongst other things to bring some cheer into the neighborhood. About 80 Christmas trees in all were donated and decorated and we have some responsibility to clean up those trees and recycle them. To that end, I have contacted Dustin Davis who generously agreed to take the trees after January 8 at his site off of Todd Road. Now here is what we need:
- I will contact Ronnie Duvall and ask him if he and his helpers can get the ornaments and lights off of the trees by January 8, 2018.
- I hope someone reading this Newsletter can offer an end dump to haul the trees from Coffey Park to Todd Road. I think we might get all the trees in one load, but it might take two trips.
- I also hope that readers of this newsletter can offer their time to go out and gather all the trees in Coffey Park and get them to the curb and have the end dump travel through the area with some “volunteers” to toss the trees into the truck.
If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact myself or Mary at 707-546-5500. Thank you!
- The debris cleanup for Army Corps of Engineers is nearing 35% complete over the four Counties affected by the fires (Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Sonoma). Sonoma is the biggest cleanup and is the least percentage completed so far. Sonoma is at around 27% cleaned up (by counting properties).
- The Army Corps has asked for “Best and Final” pricing for the new contract to perform the debris cleanup. We are expecting the Contractor, or Contractors, to be announced any day but certainly before January 2, 2018. The ACOE promises a “surge” once the Contract is finalized.
- We need a “surge” as things seemed to have slowed down a bit on the ACOE side of the cleanup operations. I brought to the attention of the ACOE that Local should mean “local workers and contractors from the affected areas” not local meaning if the Contractor is based in California. It seems we have too few of our local crews and trucks working while lots of out of area trucks and contractors are staying busy. All along we, and the property owners, have been promised local hire would be a priority. I am doing all that I can to assure our local elected and the ACOE do not forget those promises. While we can all agree that this is a monumental job that the ACOE has undertaken, and we appreciate their help, we want the opportunity to clean up our family properties, our friend’s properties, and our community first. Let the out of towners do the work that is too much for us, but if we have guys sitting on the sidelines while out of towners are working, THAT AINT RIGHT!
Newsletter 12/22/2017
ECA Newsletter 12-22-17
Updates On Debris Removal
For the past several weeks, I have attended weekly meetings with FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), CALOSHA, CALOES, and the EPA in order to get apprised of the latest developments and status of debris removal in Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendo Counties.
I would like to share some Facts that have come out-for brevity, I have shortened the explanation provided by FEMA:
Task Orders were issued by USACE based on “pre-disaster Advanced Contracting Initiatives” Current debris removal task orders have financial limits. ECC, which started debris removal first, is approaching the limit of its task order. AshBritt has also received a task order and will continue to conduct debris removal until their task order reaches its financial limit sometime around January 5, 2018. AshBritt will work in all four counties in which USACE manages debris operations.
- Removal of fire-related debris from structures destroyed by fire in Lake, Mendo, Napa, and Sonoma Counties is managed by USACE and EPA under FEMA direction. The work related to removal of fire-related debris is considered “service related work” in accordance with the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation)
- Debris removal contracts are only subject to the Davis-Bacon Act where the debris removal is to be followed by the construction of a public building or public work at the same location by a Federal agency or with Federal grant funds subject to the Davis-Bacon Act. The Davis-Bacon Act does not apply to debris cleanup operations.
- Wages are set in accordance with the Service Contract Act-in the short version of this, wages are developed based on available data that demonstrate the prevailing rates in a specific locality.
- Safety-Level C protective attire will be required on each site. Air monitoring is done continuously. A “Site Safety and Health Officer” is on site at all times. Any concerns with safety or environmental health can be addressed by USACE on their Debris Removal Information Line 877-875-7681
To date, 1185 sites have been cleared in Sonoma County and 557 sites have been “returned to the County” by ACOE. 447,005 tons of debris have been removed in Sonoma County. 4540 Right of Entry forms have been filled out in Sonoma County with 4072 of those processed.
No work will be done on Christmas Day or New Years Day.
That’s All Folks!
Licensed Contractors and Subcontractors:
I have participated in a seminar with the FBI, the District Attorney, and the head of the California State License Board amongst others. We have followed up that original meeting with a telephone conference call on Thursday, 12-22-17. Some of the issues discussed:
- Contractors must possess a valid California Contractors License to do debris cleanup
- A license is required, or C-21 or a B license if and only if the same B license contractor is going to build or rebuild on the property being cleared.
- There are many folks out there looking for unlicensed contractors.
- It is likely we will see more agents from California State License Board, Department of Industrial Relations, CalOsha, and the Labor department checking for compliance and following up on leads given to those agencies about possible licensing violators.
- Some “Sweeps” have been done, and some “Stings” are being planned to catch out of state and improperly licensed folks posing as legitimate contractors.
AB 1701 Goes Into Effect 1-1-18 What does it mean? For private works contracts entered on or after January 1, 2018, a “direct contractor” (i.e., prime contractor or contractor who has direct contractual relationship with an owner) must assume and be liable for any debt which its subcontractor or a lower tier subcontractor incurs “for [a] wage claimant’s performance of labor included in the subject of the contract between the direct contractor and the owner.”
ECA Newsletter November 2, 2017
Greetings!
ECA Newsletter
11-2-17
Fire Debris Removal Information
There has been a lot of information and misinformation out there to sift through. The ECA will try to handle information in two parts. This Newsletter will only give you information regarding how to go to work if you are wanting to be involved in the State Sponsored Consolidated Debris Removal Program. Another Newsletter will come out in a few days addressing how to provide your clients the option of performing the work on an “opt out” basis (i.e. that is the property owner does not want the State to come in under the Right of Entry form and do the “free” debris cleanup). I will say that if you want to participate in the “opt out” debris cleanup, you will need to get your guys certified with a 40 hour haz wop class that the ECA is putting on with Eric Peterson from Mill Creek Safety. Those 40 hour classes will be M-F the next few weeks and the cost per employee through the ECA is $800 per employee. All employees on the ground will need this 40 hour Haz Wop cert. If you are interested in this, please call Eric Peterson directly at 707-292-1405 or Mary at 707-546-5500 or email mary@nceca.org. There is room for the next class starting on Monday, November 6 at 8am right now.
To go to work under the State Sponsored Consolidated Debris Removal Program, here is the information needed.
Clean-up Work under Cal OES
• Due to the size and scope of the fire damage, the Cal OES has contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers to administer the clean-up effort. At this time, the Corps has selected one prime contractor, ECC, a multinational environmental contractor based in Burlingame, to perform and oversee all clean-up work. ECC has partnered with UCON member Pacific States Environmental Contractors, Inc. to perform the work and oversee the subcontractor selection process.
• Currently, the plan is to divide the work into 2 week task orders through the duration of the clean-up effort. The terms of the full terms of the task orders and how contractors will be selected to perform the work are still being worked out.
• If you are interested in performing any of the wildfire clean-up work, please reach out to the following:
o Please note that only contractors the meet the following criteria should apply:
Possess a Class A or Class C21 License
Employees should possess or will shortly receive HAZWOPER certification
HOW TO TRAIN AND RECERTIFY YOUR WORKFORCE
Due to the increased demand for HAZWOPER certifications and training, the Laborers and OE3 have their access to offerings.
OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 3
Operating Engineers Local No. 3 (OE3) will be offering three (3) 40-hour Hazmat trainings starting over the next month – Yuba City (1) and Rohnert Park (2), in October and November. Additionally, they are offering a number of HAZMAT recertification trainings across Northern California through April 2018. The current training calendar and the flyer for the HAZMAT re-certifications are attached – you can also find them on the OE3 Training website, https://www.oe3.org/training-california/
For further questions and information, please contact the Rancho Murieta Training Center at 916-354-2029.
LABORERS
Laborers Local 185 covering Sutter, Yuba, Butte and Nevada Counties · Training @L185: Hazardous waste 40 hour (Haz Woper 40) at Sacramento Hall – Saturday & Sunday on November 11 & 12, and 18 & 19.
• For information on scheduling additional training for your employees contact: Doyle Radford, Jr., Vice President & Business Agent – doylejr@laborerslocal185.org or 916-765-1277
Laborers Local 324 covering Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake Counties
• Training @L324: Hazardous waste 40 hour (Haz Woper 40) at Santa Rosa Hall – Starts Monday, November 6th – Friday training in Martinez (five/8 hour days)
• For information on scheduling additional training for your employees contact: Larry Proctor, Business Agent – proctor.larry@ymail.com or 916-710-5195
Laborers Local 67 covering Asbestos, Lead and Mold Abatement in 46 counties in Northern CA
• Training @L67: Asbestos/lead Removal Training schedule information available on website at: http://laborerslocal67.org/Calendar.html
• For information on scheduling additional training for your employees contact: Victor Parra, Business Manager – victor@laborerslocal67.org or 510-566-8698
That’s All Folks!
John Bly
Facebook Post
Disclaimer-this is a fluid situation and not all information is available yet. Please excuse the lengthiness of this post-it is unavoidable.
Here are some things to consider in the decision of opting in vs opting out for property owners.
First-Phase 1 is mandatory and is an EPA sweep of each property for collecting and disposing of Household Hazardous Waste. This needs to be completed prior to any debris removal. Phase 2 is the debris removal. Property owners do have a choice to opt in to the State Sponsored debris cleanup or opt out.
If you opt in to State Sponsored Cleanup-you full out the Right of Entry form by Nov 13 and assign your insurance benefits specific for debris removal over to the State. The State will, on Nov 14, implement a work plan based upon the number and location of the submitted and qualified ROE’s. Army Corps of Engineers will direct crews to cleanup residential fire debris and foundations. They will not remove pools, driveways, non-dangerous trees, or retaining walls. They will remove water from Pools and punch hole in bottom of pool. (This is being confirmed, have had word that they might not punch holes in the pools) They will install erosion control mitigation on your property. They will not lien your property for difference in actual cost of cleanup vs insurance coverage for debris cleanup.
If you opt out by Nov 13- you will not receive and government assistance for your debris cleanup. Property owners will pay for cleanup themselves and with their insurance company. Property owners will have to fill out a form by Nov 13 identifying a work plan, their testing firm, their contractor, and they will have to, presumably, be responsible for their own erosion control install on their property. Property owners opting out will have to remove their foundations or hire structural engineers to test and approve the integrity of those foundations not removed. At this time the application form needed has not been made public and both the County and City have made it clear they are not “enthusiastic” about the opt out choice. There are other constraints on those that opt out regarding where debris can go that will likely add to the cost of opting out.
I understand the deadline of Nov 13 is imposing. Property owners, in order to make an informed decision as to opting in or out, would need to have a certified testing consultant survey their debris to determine how much, if any, debris was able to be transported to landfills that would accept it. There is no way to accurately estimate the costs of private cleanup without testing and reviewing the analytical info from those tests prior to Nov 13. The Nov 13 deadline has been set by FEMA, they say, in order to deal with the health hazard the debris presents in an efficient and timely manner.
I have voiced the property owner’s concern to the County that the deadline does not allow enough time to make their decision. If property owners do not opt in or out, their property could be deemed an abatement problem and Army Corps crews could clean up the property and assess those costs against the property owners along with other costs of abatement. That process could cause problems and delays in rebuilding or selling the property.
I hope this is helpful. Again, the ECA is very sympathetic to the property owner’s plight. The decision to opt in or out is a personal one that property owners should discuss with their insurance companies.
Time is short folks-
John Bly, ECA
September 25, 2017
Greetings!
ECA Newsletter 9/25/17
John’s Soapbox
The Long Run!
As I talk to folks around our industry, I keep hearing the same thing-“we cannot find any more workers or equipment to take on additional work”.
Not that the above scenario is a bad one-if everyone is busy and hitting their budgets on projects, the collective sigh we all can let go is “IT’S ABOUT TIME”!!
But we have to consider the long run (right after we put out all the brush fires that deal with the present). In order to sustain this work load, we are going to have to get more young people to choose our industry as a career. How can you be expected to attract young people to the industry when you are already so busy you cannot find an extra 5 minutes in a day? That’s why you belong to the ECA. That’s what we do!
The first step towards this goal is to support the efforts of The Construction Corps.
At this year’s annual ECA Auction, “The Days of Wine and Dozers”, the ECA will hopefully see lots of support and lots of drunken, belligerent, and carefree bidding on the fabulous items we have to offer this year. But at some point, the evening should get slightly serious, as we should hear from one of the students that just graduated from the Construction Corps and what that program meant to him. Whether you can attend or not, we hope you can support the good things we are doing at the ECA by putting in a bid on an item. You do not have to be there. You can opt for a “Buy It Now” option and purchase a dinner, or a trip, or something else that you can put to good use by inviting your loyal suppliers or employees to enjoy with you.
So we can keep doing the good work we are doing, and so we can continue to support the future workers of our industry through the Construction Corps, please contact Mary and ask about her “Buy It Now” items and buy an auction items to support us! For those that can attend on Saturday, we are happy to see you and hope you have a great time at the event.
That’s All Folks!
John
*******************************************************
Miracle League Is Taking Shape-
Thanks to great support from Peterson CAT, BoDean, Soiland Company, Ghilotti Construction, Team Ghilotti, Sonoma Reinforcing, Pace Industries, Shamrock/Vulcan, V Dolan Trucking, PG & E, and many others, the playground portion of the Miracle League broke ground on September 5 and Team Ghilotti and Ghilotti Construction finished up the surface work in time for the playground equipment to be installed this next weekend.
Many thanks to all who have helped out. The kids will forever be enriched by your generosity!
ECA Newsletter 8/24/17
ECA Newsletter 8/24/17
John’s Soapbox
It’s A Miracle!!
The largest Community Relations Project in the history of the ECA is underway. Our Board of Directors have directed me to get fully involved in the Miracle League facility for handicapped children and I hope I can count on some of the ECA membership to assist us in the building of this project in Petaluma.
For those who do not recall what this is about, I have included the link to the promo video here for a short review of this worthy project-click away!
As a matter of introduction, let me give you a status update:
- Lucchesi Park is the site of the Project in Petaluma
- A generous donor and many significant donors have gotten the fundraising total to over $600,000 to date (the rough estimate of the overall project is around $1.5 million to $2 million).
- The City of Petaluma has waived all encroachment fees and has been working closely with the Engineers and our Project Champion Willie Ghilotti to get us to the point where we are ready to break ground on the first phase of work in September, 2017.
- Jeff Bordessa and Stuber Stroeh have gotten us to the point where Ghilotti Construction has been able to do a takeoff of the first phase of work.
- The ECA is coordinating the “ask” to get the first portion of work completed. The “street value” of the first phase of work is around $178,000.
- Because of grant funding, we are under a time constraint to get the playground grading work done in time for the playground equipment company to coordinate the installation of the playground equipment by September 30, 2017.
The first phase (see attached Plan sheet) includes the grading and preparation of the Playground area that will have handicapped access as well as handicapped playground equipment for these challenged youngsters.
The short version of what is needed to do is as follows:
*The first week of September, the City of Petaluma will cap the irrigation lines at the project site.
*The first week of September, the site (which is about 10,000 sf), needs to be mass excavated and compacted to subgrade elevation and there will be approximately 250 cy of offhaul.
*The second week of September, we need to place about 10,000 sf of stabilization fabric
*The second week of September, we need to procure, deliver, spread and compact approximately 350 tons of baserock.
*The third week of September, we need to form and place concrete for a concrete bench/header (approximately 13 cy). We can use some help with form release oil, rebar, form cure spray, ready mix concrete, etc.
*The third week of September, we need to procure, deliver, spread, and compact approximately 150 tons of “Mayacama Red” imported surfacing.
We can break these items of work down further, but if you can assist in providing any or all of the needed components to any of these items of work, please let us know as soon as possible. We have supervision being provided by Ghilotti Construction Company for overall coordination of the work items and we have tremendous support being provided by Team Ghilotti and V Dolan Trucking as well. It will take a lot of small and not so small contributions by many companies to pull this off, but the ECA is committed to getting this done. Many details are in place (such as insurance forms naming additional insured, etc. for companies to do on site work, etc.).
Remember-if you can provide any of these items, even if you have to charge something for the items, please let us know what you might be willing to get involved with. Our time is short!
That’s All Folks!
John
August 9, 2017
ECA Newsletter 8/9/17
John’s Soapbox
Look Ma, No Hands!
We have all read with amusement, trepidation, and wonderment about the move some companies are making in the area of driverless vehicles. We read about UBER testing extensively, we read about Google’s vision of becoming a huge fleet owner of electric vehicles that will not need drivers to operate them, and we have read about this futuristic concept impacting our driver habits and car ownership needs.
Think about the impact the movement towards driverless cars might have on our society:
- It is estimated that self-driving autonomous vehicles, when fully adopted, will reduce traffic congestion by 80%
- and increase green space in cities by 30%, as road lanes and parking spaces are taken out of service,
- and take away 90% of the production of GMC and Ford vehicles as the shift will be towards not owning your own cars, but rather calling for a ride and having a driverless electric vehicle show up at your location to haul you to where you want to go, and
- and the impact on gas and oil companies is already being considered and planned for as the giants in oil and gas are heavily investing in alternative energy platforms as well as the driverless vehicle firms that are on the cutting edge.
Will driverless vehicles kill the oil and gas sector? Some big companies are betting big money on the driverless vehicle movement. Just this spring, Giant ChipMaker Intel, bought a firm that has 663 employees working on driverless technology for $15.3 billion.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-driverless-cars-will-kill-the-oil-business-2017-03-30
Many analysts thought Intel was “nuts” for paying that much for a heretofore unproven company that is not making money yet, but I think Intel was pretty damn smart for getting in on the ground floor of an industry that is coming at us hard and fast-the electric vehicle industry. We just read about Tesla being worth more than either Ford of GMC despite having a small fraction of their market share.
Here are some of the discussion points being talked about: if driverless vehicles continue developing and are able to deal with the “fear factor” of trusting your safety to a robot, some projections have car ownership phased out by 2030. Only those that have to haul their tools with lumber racks will still be buying vehicles and driving them. Everyone else will be riding in a car that will be able to travel on the highway at much faster speeds than a “normal” car and do so with another driverless vehicle inches off their front bumper as well as their rear bumper. The big “shift” for our ECA industry might be from “expanding” our roadway capacity, to maintaining our roads in a much smoother surfacing state.
Whichever way the driverless vehicle goes, our industry looks very solid for many decades to come. The other place to consider putting your investment money to good use? Buy parking lots in big cities as they will not be needed in another 20 years. If they are not needed in 20 years, they will be very valuable for building much needed infill housing on. After all, you can jam a lot of housing into a parking lot if you do not need a garage!
That’s All Folks!
John
Why Don’t We Trust Government?
SB-1 passed which increases California State spending for road and bridge projects, yet, here comes CALTRANS hiring 1100 new workers before any new projects go to bid. No wonder we do not trust Government.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/08/07/caltrans-hiring-jobs-employment/
ECA Newsletter 6-26-17
ECA Newsletter 6-26-17
John’s Soapbox
Sword Rattling
As many of us are aware, the project that Bay Cities tackled in Healdsburg has some of the worst soils conditions of any area in Sonoma County. Add to that the wettest winter in the history of Sonoma County and mix in tight quarters and lots of traffic control constraints, and you have a recipe for a project that is going to be finished later than expected.
In a recent Healdsburg Tribune article, the City spokesperson is seemingly trying to present, judge, and sentence the Contractor all at once. Click here for the article-
At $1,000/day Liquidated Damages, being a year past the anticipated finish date indicates there will be great difficulty in amicably working out who owes what to whom. Most of us Contractors have had one or more jobs like this that just seem to suck the life right out of your crews, your relationship with your bonding company, and with your shareholders too. Although Bay Cities is not an ECA member, I don’t wish a conflict like this seems likely to be on anybody!
I have neither reviewed the Healdsburg Contract Docs, nor held extensive interviews with anybody closely associated with the project, but I have had several of these types of project when I was a contractor. Sometimes the conflict or dispute is unavoidable, sometimes it is avoidable. I always sought to avoid the dispute if possible. But in reading this article on Bay Cities and Healdsburg, I thought it might be best to use my soapbox for my opinionated “rant”.
I always got the absolutely best outcome in any disputed delay or performance claims by doing the following:
- Being brutally honest about the causation of the time delay. We had a schedule to begin with, and trust me on this one, you are not going to get the City or Municipality to just hand you delay days if the delay was caused by a bad schedule to begin with, or a bad plan, or delays caused by anticipating you could do things in the wet months that are unrealistic. You have to ascertain if you are being delayed by your own failure, or if the owner has somehow not performed their duty and that has put your work into the rainy season or into an out and out delay. If it is your fault-FIX IT. Let the Owner know your plan to fix it by submitting your “crashed” schedule and then do not wait for the Owner to approve the schedule. It is ultimately going to be you spending the money, so “own it”.
- If you find the owner has caused the delay, you need to document and prepare the extra work backup to withstand court scrutiny. Too many times we tried to be the “nice guys” and give the owner a break by sharing in the costs and not spending the dollars to properly prepare a Claim. You are far better off “building your binder” and making sure you are including all that you are entitled to. If the owner directs you to do something that is not in the Contract, you say “yes sir, I will get that done for you” but you also make sure the owner knows, in writing, that you consider his/her request to be extra work and you may be entitled to additional compensation. “Stack” them up and you can always “horsetrade” at the end of the project. It doesn’t have to be adversarial. You are just doing your job and accommodating the owner’s requests.
- Never, ever, stop work. Stopping for a few hours is ok, but never demobilize and suspend the work. That is really bad for your pocketbook!
- If the job had subcontractors and suppliers involved, you need to make sure you wrote good subcontract agreements and purchase orders and tied them to reasonable performance timelines that they themselves have agreed to at bid time. If they were supposed to get submittals in to you within 4 weeks, and they take longer, put your foot down. You never know if the Owner is going to change their mind about that scope of work and you want to make sure the Sub or Supplier doesn’t use up all the “float” by you not demanding that the Project owns the float.
- Finally, do not hide the extra costs. Give them to the Owner as soon as you can. Be transparent. Be honest. Get what you deserve. And remember-if the delay was your fault, fix it. Do not be the “sword rattler”.
That’s All Folks!
John
ECA Newsletter 6-14-17
ECA Newsletter 6-14-17
John’s Soapbox
IT’S ALWAYS SUMPIN?
We keep reading about housing prices going up, Cities considering some sort of rent control to put some cost restrictions on rental prices, and now we are starting to hear that new home buyers should pay an “inclusionary housing fee” to fund “affordable (make that subsidized) housing” for the homeless and less affluent. At a time when we should be looking to cut housing costs and stimulate and incentivize developers to develop and buyers to buy, this seems to run contrary to what is needed. Let me be clear-this Soapbox “rant” is about the fact that if housing does not get built, it is going to affect my friends at the ECA. There will be less work for contractors to sitework subdivisions, and there will be less housing for your workers. It is my job, I believe, to point out things that might both positively affect your businesses, and/or negatively affect your businesses.
I have written before about what has caused the housing shortage that has led to an increase in price (supply and demand-when supply is low, demand is high, what do we think happens to the price?). We keep hearing that Sonoma County workers cannot afford to live here so they are opting to take jobs elsewhere. In the private sector, many firms cannot fill open positions without paying a big premium to the skilled workeer due to the high cost of living. What could possibly alleviate this “perfect storm” that we find ourselves in?
Build more housing. Duh.
So—
What are our local agencies doing to spur housing starts? One local City recently hired a consultant to explain to the electeds that they could, by virtue of a State allowance, include “inclusionary” housing fees up to $81,000 (plus) for a typical 1800 sf new home purchase. I cannot tell you if the City will adopt that new fee. But surely you all reading this can recognize that there is a distinct possibility that some local electeds would like the concept of, in their minds, putting a fee on the “greedy” developer to make it seem like they are trying to solve the problem of a lack of affordable housing in our area. This has been a “tried and true” philosophy over the years to add all kinds of fees to new housing. The fallacy of this thinking is that the developer is not going to “eat” that extra cost. He is going to build it into the price of the home he is contemplating building and price it accordingly. Whammo! You are starting to see why this is a “bassackwards” approach to building more affordable housing aren’t you?
If the City issued zero permits for single detached housing starts in 2016, and they then add an inclusionary housing fee to the cost of the developer to absorb into the housing price, how many housing starts would they “encourage”? I am guessing they would go from zero to a “hell no zero” real quick!
How do you potential new home buyers feel about this? A typical home buyer will finance their mortgage over 30 years. The inclusionary housing fee would be made a part of that home price by the developer. Typically, financing a cost over 30 years is going to ultimately cost the home buyer three (3) times what the price was at the time of purchase. So if the local City that decided to impose the maximum allowable State inclusionary fee on housing starts of $81,000 for that “typical 1800 sf new home, well that would cost that buyer $243,000. As Roseanne Rosannadanna from SNL would say “It’s Always Sumpin”.
- I can hear you now. What can I do about this? Here is what you can do. Continue to support your little ole ECA so we can continue to let you know about these things. If you really want to do something else, talk or write to your local elected officials and tell them that trying to stimulate housing starts by putting fees on new housing in order to generate some sort of subsidized housing will not work. Subsidizing housing should be a community based problem to be solved. Do not try to put the fee on a new home buyer alone in order to solve the inequities of high priced housing. The builder will simply pass the fees on to the buyer, and then the only person paying for the affordable/subsidized housing is the new buyer.
Not fair.
That’s All Folks!
John
*******************************************************
Follow Up On Project Labor Agreements:
On Tuesday afternoon, I attended the Santa Rosa Junior College Board of Trustees meeting where they were being asked to vote on directing their staff to begin negotiations for a Project Labor Agreement on a specific building as part of the $410 million worth of Measure H funded taxpayer monies. The vote passed 4-3 after lots of drama. The Press Democrat has the story of how it unfolded right here–
*********************************************************
Followup On Sonoma County Budget Hearings For Road Funding
This is what you pay me for! After several months of discussions and emails and phone calls and collaboration with our Board of Supes in Sonoma County, the County Transportation and Public Works proposed their $20 million budget proposal for 2018-2019 and it passed unanimously. Our five Supervisors, have gone from hearing a report from Phil Demery some 7 years ago that stated “we will have to let many of our County roads just deteriorate back to gravel due to a lack of funding”, to a declaration that in 5-10 years we might “have the best roads of any County in the State”. I am proud to say that all five Supervisors are firmly on board for continuing to make fixing our roads a main priority. If you have the time, an email would go a long way towards cementing the relationship between these Supes and our Association and members. I would urge you to say something like this:
“Dear ________: I want to thank you for keeping your “eye on the ball” of fixing our County roads for the last few years. I recognize your commitment by the fact that Sonoma County spends more of its General Fund on fixing roads than ANY other County in the State! Keep up the good work! We appreciate your efforts and the results as we all can see nice newly surfaced roads more and more in the County. It is also obvious, that those newly paved roads held up very well in the last huge winter that we just experienced.
Good Job!
Sonoma County is comprised of 5 supervisorial districts.
1st District
District Supervisor: Susan Gorin—Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org
2nd District
District Supervisor: David Rabbitt—David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org
3rd District
District Supervisor: Shirlee Zane—Shirlee.Zane@sonoma-county.org
4th District
District Supervisor: James Gore—James.Gore@sonoma-county.org
5th District
District Supervisor: Lynda Hopkins—Lynda.Hopkins@sonoma-county.org
Please email the Supes and thank them for fixing our roads!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Future Workers
Is there any company out there that has plenty of workers right now and a future supply of workers to support their growing business?
I doubt it.
For years, we have been lamenting the aging workforce and the lack of young people opting for a career in the General Engineering Contracting Industry. We kind of got serious about it then the recession of 2008 hit and most firms were struggling to find work, rather than workers. Times have changed!
With the adoption of SB-1, our roads industry will see a steady infusion of dollars that will make a career in road building very stable in our area. Career! Not just for a few years, but an entire CAREER! We have a golden opportunity to attract young people right now.
So, what to do? Well, luckily, the Career Technical Education (CTE) for Sonoma County has teamed up with the North Coast Builders Exchange and local high schools, to institute the “Construction Corps”. High School age young people are currently finishing the first ever Construction Corps Class and are about to graduate! Eleven young people have gone through 18 sections of classroom and hands on field training to get to this week. Monday, June 12 started the 1st of 10 days of “Boot Camp” where the students go out in the field and work on a Habitat for Humanity project tearing down a deck and cover and rebuilding the same for an elderly couple in Santa Rosa. Many thanks to Ghilotti Construction, Mike Brown Electric, and Team Ghilotti for providing skilled craftspeople to lead these young people during this period.
A special thank you to Doug Hamilton and the crew over at OakGrove Construction for taking the lead in guiding this program from its inception, to the cusp of its first graduating class. I know Gail Cochran was instrumental in keeping this program going in its early stages as well with the folks over at RCX. I think it is time the ECA tacked on to their program an optional 40 hour training that we call the “Marv Soiland Academy” that would provide training and education to those Construction Corps graduates who want to pursue our industry. Then companies also need to step up and hire these graduates!
The ECA has helped this year. But we want to expand this program. And for that, it takes an investment from you good members. More to come. If you are interested in investing in your future workers in this manner, consider sending in a separate donation to the ECA that clearly states it is for the “Marv Soiland Academy” and let’s get the future workers coming our way!