While the coronavirus outbreak originated in China, it has the potential to become an international crisis. Design firms whose employees are in China, have traveled to China, or are in contact with anyone from an infected area need to take immediate precautions for employee safety. OSHA requires that employers maintain a safe workplace. Beyond the... Continue Reading →
Over the last few years we've heard the term "big data" bandied about as a development that will change the economy. It is easy to see why. We are living in an era where the processing power of everyday devices is enormous. A cell phone often has as much raw processing power as a laptop... Continue Reading →
A recent article from David Roberts on Vox resurfaces the benefits of using mass timber (aka, “cross- laminated timber” (CLT)). Over the last century, the design and construction industry has leaned away from wood, especially for non-residential construction, and moved toward more manufactured materials, such as steel, concrete, and iron, in the name of safety.... Continue Reading →
We’re Big The design and construction industry in the US is big, totaling over 6% of the US GDP and around 12% of global GDP. In 2018 alone, $1.29 trillion was spent on construction, and more than 700,000 firms employed over 7 million people. And we are the largest consumer of raw materials of any... Continue Reading →
Schinnerer's Annual Large Firm Conference Highlights Keeping our policyholders informed about emerging risks is a priority for Schinnerer. In case you missed the announcement last month, we hosted our third annual Large Firm Conference in Denver to cover trends and best practices in the design and construction industry. Among the topics discussed were project delivery,... Continue Reading →
“Democracy is messy, and it’s hard” said Robert Kennedy, Jr. about the political landscape. Current trends in the built environment may doubly merit that observation. In a democracy where everyone has a vote and a say on a wide variety of issues, decision-making can get complicated. In a very similar way, technology is democratizing how... Continue Reading →
We have blogged in the past about the arbitration vs. litigation debate. One of the issues with arbitration is that arbitrators are not constrained by statutory and case law and a trial that is governed by established rules of evidence. This has led to a perception that arbitration often leads to decisions where the arbitrator... Continue Reading →
During the unveiling of the HoloLens 2 at the Mobile World Congress on February 24, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about how the device will allow construction workers to create, view, and interact with holograms that appear as part of the physical world. The HoloLens 2 is an augmented reality headset that Microsoft is developing... Continue Reading →
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on March 4th that copyright owners must wait for registration before pursuing infringement claims in court. The decision settles a circuit court split wherein certain courts had previously held that merely applying for registration was enough to satisfy the statutory prerequisite for a lawsuit. Although the opinion will have... Continue Reading →
