While we wait for federal lawmakers to pass a comprehensive infrastructure package that may integrate clean energy infrastructure and a sustainable framework for climate change and resilience in the face of continued severe natural disasters, there’s another federal resource worthy of attention. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) launched a new program, Building Resilient Infrastructures... Continue Reading →
From Risk to Profit: Benchmarking and Claims Studies is Victor's comprehensive benchmarking and risk management resource for design and construction firms. Below is an excerpt from the book, which is only available to Victor/CNA policyholders and brokers. One of the most important attributes of a professional education, and running a successful design firm, is the... Continue Reading →
Issue For a number of reasons, including budgetary cutbacks, lack of skilled workers, and staffing demands caused by disasters or emergency situations, local building code entities sometimes seek to transfer their administrative responsibilities to certify design compliance with codes or construction compliance with design and regulatory requirements to design firms. Challenges and Opportunities Stepping into... Continue Reading →
Working from home (if you're able) and staying on top of the hour-by-hour updates on pandemic issues exhausts time and resources and sometimes feels overwhelming. By prioritizing your information sources and bookmarking certain websites, you can be "in the know" with more efficiency and less anxiety. Of course, you will want to add local sources... 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 →
Blockchain technology continues to spark imaginations in every sector of the economy, including design and construction. About a year ago, I wrote an initial thought experiment into the possibilities. Later, I began to explore more deeply the applications of blockchain technology. And now, while cryptomarkets continue to self-correct the over-speculation of 2017 [Tech talk: crypto... Continue Reading →
While the conventional wisdom around blockchain is that it’s a technology only affecting financial markets, design and construction stakeholders ought to pay attention to new developments, too. If you don’t, you risk falling behind on an important trend that potentially presents a competitive challenge for your firm, but also missing the opportunity the technology presents... Continue Reading →
