News
Court Decision Creates Boon in Construction of Culverts - 997 of Them
The U.S. District Court recently ordered the State of Washington to fix or replace nearly 1000 fish culverts determining that existing culverts are blocking salmon from reaching important spawning grounds and are therefore infringing on tribes treaty-protected fishing rights.
The decision certai...
Posted on 04/25/2013
AGC Says MATOCs Can Limit Competition, Recommends Changes
Although not opposed to federal agencies use of Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOCs) and Multiple Award Construction Contracts (MACCs) generally AGC of America is concerned that these contracts can limit competition for federal construction projects are not always structured and administe...
Posted on 04/25/2013
AGC Group Retro Refunds are Highest Once Again
Workers comp Retro results are in and once again AGC Group Retros premium refunds exceeded those of our competing plans.
Van Hardy Chairman of AGC Retro said “Results like this are a combination of our stringent underwriting which helps ensure peak performance member’s commitment to safety and t...
Posted on 04/25/2013
Take Action for New Transportation Projects and Preservation
Please contact your Representatives -- even if you recently did so -- urging support for the transportation funding bill. Click Take Action below to easily send messages to legislators as the bill has moved out of the Transportation Committee (thanks to many of you who responded to the earlier c...
Posted on 04/23/2013
AGC of America Position on Federal Contracting
With the South Sound area being so federal facility heavy when AGC of America produces a formal position on federal contracting we bring it to you. Several months ago AGC of America put together a task force of large medium and small federal contractors that produced a formal document stating th...
Posted on 04/18/2013
Haskell Named Contractor of Year for Alaska Safety
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Alaska District selected Haskell Corporation as the Contractor of the Year during its 14th Annual Celebrate Safety ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Haskell Corporation was among 10 contractors and two individuals honored for their safety performance i...
Posted on 04/15/2013
Construction Safety Day in Puyallup May 8
As construction activity continues to rebound staying focused on workplace safety and preventing injuries is more important than ever. Construction industry workers owners and supervisors have an opportunity to focus on industry-specific training at the sixth annual Construction Safety Day on Wed...
Posted on 04/15/2013
Check out Projects in Capital Budget Proposals
AGC is working hard to have a new 2013-2015 State Capital Budget passed that will positively affect every segment of the construction industry. Current proposals include hundreds of projects like Edmonds fishing pier renovation Yakimas Toppenish family housing project Enumclaws water system repl...
Posted on 04/15/2013
AGC Continues Fight Against PLA at Bates
AGC is considering legislative options in light of the Department of Enterprise Services decision to proceed with a project labor agreement (PLA) on the new Communications Tech Center at Bates Technical College in Tacoma.
As reported previously in AGC Works AGC protested the use of a PLA for the...
Posted on 04/15/2013
Public Works Trust Fund Under Attack in Olympia
Tell Your Senator to Preserve Current Funds for Local Construction Projects
Its crunch time in Olympia as the Legislature is taking action on many fronts that will impact funding for all types of construction. Todays focus is the Public Works Trust Fund.
Click the Take Action link below to eas...
Posted on 04/12/2013
Employers Still Vulnerable to City Second-Guessing Hiring Decisions
The Seattle City Council will soon consider updates to proposed legislation that affects employers’ ability to use criminal background checks when hiring. The legislation being sponsored by Councilmember Bruce Harrell will:
“Ban the Box” to get rid of “Have you been convicted” checkboxes on ap...
Posted on 04/09/2013
Fast Bid 3 (FB3) Online System
At the next meeting of the American Society of Professional Estimators Builders Exchange of Washington (BXWA) will present their all-new FastBid-3 viewing and takeoff tool which has a number of new features and collaborative functions as well as support for a much wider variety of browsers and de...
Posted on 04/09/2013
CIRC: Construction Industry Research Conference
Join us for lunch…stick around to experience the future! Please join the University of Washington Department of Construction Management and College of Built Environments for an exciting afternoon of applied research presentations and demonstrations at the Pacific Northwest Center for Construction...
Posted on 04/09/2013
National Safety Awards for Multiple AGC of WA Members
One more bit of evidence of the commitment to safety made by AGC of Washington members: Of 29 first place winners of national AGC-Willis Construction Safety Excellence Awards presented at the recent national convention five are AGC of Washington members!
Congratulations to Mowat Construction Co....
Posted on 04/02/2013
New Policy to Help Speed Retainage Release
AGC applauds the recent announcement by L&I regarding efforts to speed up the release of retainage on public works projects. L&I said that beginning April 1 it will implement a new policy designed to distribute money more quickly to contractors for projects for which L&I receives comp...
Posted on 04/01/2013
Governor's Proposal Cuts Funding for Local Public Works
Gov. Inslee released his state budget proposal last week. The Governors Budget Priorities for a Working Washington significantly increases funding for education -- as required via the State Supreme Courts McCleary decision -- and includes new revenues to pay for it. Click here for more info fro...
Posted on 04/01/2013
Bill Cracks Down on Metal Theft
Last weeks brazen yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt by thieves to yank copper wire out of ten street lights along a busy Olympia highway -- causing $5000 worth of damage -- was one more reminder that metal theft continues to be a significant problem for contractors utilities government agencies...
Posted on 04/01/2013
AGCEF and Partners Promote STEM in Seattle Public Schools
It’s not just industries that need students to be more proficient in science technology engineering and science – it’s also kids who need to see the promise of careers in science technology engineering and science.
That’s the message that members of the STEM Industry Partnership including the AG...
Posted on 04/01/2013
AGC of WA Wins National PR Award
Congratulations to AGC of Washington staff and members! From among AGC chapters AGC of Washington received the Best Individual Public Relations Campaign award from AGC of America during the recent national convention.
Heres the write-up of the campaign from AGC of America:
AGC of Washington fo...
Posted on 04/01/2013
Advanced American, Flatiron, Kiewit, Walsh, Lydig Among National AGC Winners
Several AGC of Washington member firms received awards during AGC of Americas national convention. Congratulations to all these winners:
Alliant Build America Awards
These awards recognize excellence in the construction industry. Criteria include state-of-the-art advancement; excellence in proj...
Posted on 04/01/2013
CWU, WSU, UW Students Take Honors at ASC Competition
Congratulations to construction management students from Central Washington University University of Washington and Washington State University who won awards at the 2013 Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Competition Region 7 in Sparks Nevada. The AGC of Washington Education Foundation pr...
Posted on 04/01/2013
Volunteers Needed to Repair SLU Wooden Boat Center
As its Community Service project for this year the AGC Seattle District has picked a series of small repair projects to help our neighbor the Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) located at the south end of Lake Union. CWB is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving maritime heritage for f...
Posted on 03/25/2013
Tunnel DBE Open House
Meeting held by Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) contractor for the SR 99 Tunnel Project will include info about future contracts and one-on-one discussions with contractor team members. Click open house.
Posted on 03/19/2013
Prices for Construction Materials Jump
Click here for latest PPI tables and price trends for asphalt steel products lumber etc.
Prices for construction materials jumped in February driven by extreme increases in items used in new housing and nonresidential building renovations according to an analysis of new federal figures released ...
Posted on 03/18/2013
L&I Drops Proposed Change to Fringe Calculation
In response to concerns raised by AGC and other industry groups L&I will not be proceeding with a proposed change to how it calculates employer fringe benefit contributions on prevailing wage jobs. The proposal had it taken effect would have increased payroll costs and taxes for many contrac...