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Showing posts with label residential construction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label residential construction. Show all posts

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Several Indicators Show Construction Spending Improving.

A USA Today article dated January 2, 2014 "Construction Spending:Strongest Pace In Years" reported that United States (U.S.) construction spending rose in November at the strongest pace since 2009.  Construction spending increased 1% in November (annually adjusted rate of $934.4 billion).

Residential construction rose 1.9% in November.  Home building last exceeded the November pace shortly before 2008.  Spending on single-family homes has increased 18.4% year over year, while spending on apartment buildings is up 36.3% during the same period.  More than 2/3's of the residential construction market comes from single-family homes.  According to the National Association of Home Builders each new home creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue.

Construction Work on a New Dock for Lake Champlain Ferry
Commercial projects also increased 2.7% in November.  Though Government construction spending fell 1.8%.  Declines in expenditures on roadways, health care facilities, & sewer systems led much of the decrease.

According to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Press Release, November's year-over-year construction employment figures show that employment in the construction industry rose in 211 of 339 metropolitan areas between November 2012 and the same month in 2013.  According to a separate AGC Press Release, construction in November totaled $934 billion, up 5.9% since November 2012.  With private residential construction spending rising 17% and private nonresidential spending rising 1.0% since November 2012.  Public construction dropped 0.2 percent since November 2012.

While the Associated Builders and Contractors's Chief Economist Anirban Basu said the following in their Press Release, "Construction activity bounced back in November, due in part to the end of the federal government shutdown and an accompanying return to normalcy.  Nonresidential construction spending was up 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to September, which makes a better comparison because October was so unusual."  "The recent acceleration in economic activity sets the stage for a much better 2014, both for the broader economy and the nonresidential construction industry," said Basu.  "We can expect nonresidential construction spending to expand during the first half of the year."
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Monday, August 01, 2011

NYS Senate Considering Asbestos Notification Fee Changes

ALBANY, NY - JUNE 16: The New York State Senat...Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe New York State Senate is considering changes to the notification fees paid by residential homeowners.  These changes are being considered, because currently, a very small percentage of asbestos project notifications are received from projects involving owner occupied one or two family structures.  The NYS Senate believes that so few of these notifications are received because the current fee structure is cost prohibitive, which results in homeowners either doing the abatement project illegally themselves or not doing the project at all.  If home-owners are charged a fee of no more than five hundred dollars ($500) for the project notification it will result in improved compliance and an increase in the number of homeowner asbestos project notifications received by the NYS Department of Labor, since it would become more economically feasible to comply with the law.   For more information S748-2011 can be found at: http://m.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S748-2011.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

OSHA Acts To Protect Residential Roofing Workers

Fall Protection established for this roof project.
On December 22, 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new directive withdrawing a former one that allowed residential builders to bypass fall protection requirements.  The directive being replaced, issued in 1995, initially was intended as a temporary policy and was the result of concerns about the feasibility of fall protection in residential building construction.  However, there continues to be a high number of fall-related deaths in construction, and industry experts now feel that feasibility is no longer an issue or concern.
"Fatalities from falls are the number one cause of workplace deaths in construction.  We cannot tolerate workers getting killed in residential construction when effective means are readily available to prevent those deaths," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.  "Almost every week, we see a worker killed from falling off a residential roof.  We can stop these fatalities, and we must."
The National Association of Home Builders recommended rescinding the 1995 directive, as did OSHA's labor-management Advisory Committee for Construction Safety and Health; the AFL-CIO; and the Occupational Safety and Health State Plan Association, which represents the 27 states and territories that run their own occupational safety and health programs.
According to data from the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 40 workers are killed each year as a result of falls from residential roofs.  One-third of those deaths represent Latino workers, who often lack sufficient access to safety information and protections.  Latino workers comprise more than one-third of all construction employees.
OSHA's action rescinds the Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, Standard 03-00-001.  Prior to the issuance of this new directive, Standard 03-00-001 allowed employers engaged in certain residential construction activities to use specified alternative methods of fall protection rather than the conventional fall protection required by the residential construction fall protection standard. With the issuance of today's new directive, all residential construction employers must comply with 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1926.501(b)(13).  Where residential builders find that traditional fall protection is not feasible in residential environments, 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13) still allows for alternative means of providing protection.
Construction and roofing companies will have up to six months to comply with the new directive.  OSHA has developed training and compliance assistance materials for small employers and will host a webinar for parties interested in learning more about complying with the standard. To view the directive and for more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/doc/residential_fall_protection.html.

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That Time of Year! Conferences, Posting Requirements, and OSHA Violations Increased!

It's that time of year again. We're between conferences.  February 15-16, 2024 was the Professional Abatement Contractors of New Yor...