At Victor, our professional liability underwriters and risk managers are often asked how risk and professional liability changes for design firms using advanced digital technologies (such as generative design, DfMA (Design for Manufacturing & Assembly), VR/AR, BIM, Digital Twins, etc.). The simplest answer is that humans manage all technologies and the liability question and associated... 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 →
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 →
The Mississippi Board of Professional Engineers and Surveyors (Board) sued Vizaline in September 2017, alleging that Vizaline is offering services that require a surveyors license. Vizaline’s computer program takes the metes and bounds description of property and draws the polygon on a map for banks that need accurate property descriptions. The Board is alleging that... 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 →
Introduced recently in the U.S. Senate was a bipartisan bill: the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2017. What this legislation would do is expand the definition of “energy property” in the tax code to include “equipment which receives, stores, and delivers energy using batteries, compressed air, pumped hydropower, hydrogen storage (including hydrolysis),... Continue Reading →
Although design and construction professionals rarely keep large amounts of intellectual property, personal information, trade secrets, and client lists on their internal computer systems, they are still targets for mercenary hackers and disgruntled former employees. Often, it is because of a lack of recognition that sharing information digitally can also allow entry into computer systems... Continue Reading →
Drones are coming to construction. They are not legally in use yet, but the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has been moving forward on granting exemptions and there is a collective push from commercial entities to tap into the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The hesitancy of the FAA to authorize drone use is... Continue Reading →
Confidentiality concerns constitute one of the biggest risks to a professional services firm. While often a business exposure or contractual obligation, the need to keep client information confidential also can transform into a professional liability claim depending on the circumstance. And now early-adopters in design firms could be coming to work with Google Glass wearable... Continue Reading →
