Construction Defect Claims And Trial Conference

Introduction

Pete Fowler was invited to speak at the Construction Defect Claims & Trial Conference in Las Vegas on June 21st, 2018. All in-house counsel and insurance professionals receive complimentary attendance at Perrin Conferences live events.

He will sit on a panel alongside other construction professionals to discuss issues and information surrounding construction defect claims and trials.

Event Details

When: June 21st, 2018

Where: Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, 3960 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Price: $895 (price includes: private website access to course materials, all conference networking events)

All in-house counsel and insurance professionals receive complimentary attendance at Perrin Conferences live events, which includes private website access to the course materials and all conference networking events

Green Building and Construction Defect Claims 10:00 AM

• Alex M. Chazen, Esq., Kahana & Feld LLP

• Peter D. Fowler, President, Pete Fowler Construction Services, Inc.

• Richard Glucksman, Esq., Chapman Glucksman Dean Roeb & Barger

• Mary Lou Hutson, Claims Manager, Chubb

Program Outline

1. Overview of Green Building and LEED

2. Professional Accreditations

3. Changes in Solar

4. Green Building and LEED Risks & Claims

5. AIA Contract Documents for Sustainable Projects

Overview of Green Building and Why We Care

We have a not-so-scientific research method that generally yields some amazing results. It's called PFCS Proving The Obvious Using Google Method. I began by searching "Green Building Summary" and received these results. 

HERE IS A LIST OF THE RESULTS

1. Green building From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. Summary of Green Building Programs by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center, Inc

3. EPA's Web Archive on Green Building

4. Energy-Efficiency Standards and Green Building Certification Systems Used by the Department of Defense for Military Construction and Major Renovations (2013)

5. A Green Building Overview by HGTV

6. ASSESSING GREEN BUILDINGS FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES from The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference, Tokyo, 2005

7. What is a green building? by Sunpower

8. GREEN BUILDING STANDARDS AND CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS from Whole Building Design Guide

9. LEED Cost Analysis Summary by Green Building Solutions

10. WHAT IS A “GREEN” BUILDING ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT TOOLS? from Department of Technology and Built Environment, University of Gävle, Sweden

WHY WE CARE

The risks of building problems increases for green construction projects due to:

• More complex building envelope

• Use of new material technologies

• High performance and more complex mechanical systems

• Additional warranty requirements

• Increased performance targets

A TIGHT, "GREEN" BUILDING ENVELOPE

Energy efficiency is great! But it has it's risks. The tighter building envelopes required by green building standards remind me of the "Sauna Exercise Suit" I remember my grandmother wearing around the house when I was a small child. She would vacuum and dust and sweat like crazy, thinking it was helping her to get more fit. She lived a long happy life, so it appears to have done her no harm, but buildings constructed of moisture sensitive materials, like engineered wood (including oriented strand board or OSB) often don't fare as well. 

OTHER INTERESTING RESOURCES

• PFCS Case Study: Leak Investigation Involving Solar Panel Installation. PFCS was working for one of the largest solar companies in the world to solve leakage problems on a rooftop installation.

• PFCS Case Study: Plumbing Leaks in High-Rise Condo. Complex investigations that require development and testing of hypotheses

• PFCS Case Study: Construction Defect Claims related to condensation. Moisture is very dangerous in tight building envelopes and moisture management and diagnosis of moisture problems can require understanding of physics and building science. This is a project where PFCS applied knowledge of both in solving a potentially expensive problem. By conducting a months-long hygrothermal (the movement of heat and moisture through buildings) study, which led to a much better solution for the Owner's (we were working for the developer, the unrelated claims were then easier to settle.

• Green Building: What are the Risks? 2011 document by Zurich Insurance

• California Becomes First State to Order Solar on New Homes (Bloomberg): In May 2018 the California Energy Commission decided that most new homes and and multifamily units under 4-stories built after 2019 will be required to include solar systems. They estimated the systems and complying with energy-efficiency measures will add $9,500 to the cost of a new home, which would be offset by $19,000 in energy and maintenance savings over 30 years. California is already the nation’s largest solar market and Governor Jerry Brown’s has an effort underway to slash carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. This will exacerbate the issue of high housing costs, seen as a drag on the economy and contributes to rising social tensions. The state only adds about 80,000 new homes a year, and the state issued permits for fewer than 480,000 new residential units in the last 5 years, yet California’s economy added 2.3 million jobs over the same period, which is about one home for every five additional workers.

• Hidden Risks of Green Buildings from RCI's Interface Magazine