Michele Stropoli   

 Executive Director

Georgia Tech Builds Carbon-Neutral Lab

By building a research laboratory to develop technologies to reduce the earth's carbon footprint, the Georgia Institute of Technology hopes both to help solve a nagging environmental issue and to provide a construction industry model for the production of "no-frills" net-zero energy-use buildings. Read More  

 

Concrete masonry has many proven sustainable benefits including low maintenance requirements, long life cycle, high recyclability, high reusability potential, and lower energy cost over life span. The concrete masonry industry could... Read More  

 

Next-Gen Concrete Could Last for 16,000 Years

Civil engineers at MIT are currently exploring ways to create concrete with reduced creep that will be able to last for 16,000 years. Concrete is one of the most frequently used and widely produced man-made building materials on earth, with over 20 billion tons produced per year globally. The use of new ultra high density concrete will... Read More   

EPA Competition for Stormwater Management Innovations The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new design competition called the Campus RainWorks Challenge to encourage student teams on college and university campuses across the country to develop innovative approaches to stormwater management. Stormwater is a major cause of... Read More  

Florida Home Sales Steady: Prices Up, Backlog Down

Florida home sales fell slightly in April, but state Realtors were quick to say Tuesday that median price and pending sales rose dramatically during the month. Figures compiled by the Florida Realtors also showed the inventory of homes available for sale... Read More 

 

Data Supports Optimism in the Housing Sector

There appears to be some life returning to the housing sector although analysts are more cautious than usual as they have been through some of these enthusiasms before only to see another slump a month or two later. Part of the challenge now is... Read More   

 

 

Wells Fargo: Florida's Economic Recovery Stronger This Year 

Florida's recovery from the Great Recession picked up steam last year and "all indications" point to even stronger gains this year, according to a statewide economic outlook released Thursday by Wells Fargo Securities. Among positive signs... Read More  

 

Survey: Florida Ranks No. 2 Among Best States for Business 

Florida ranked second among best states for business in Chief Executive magazine's annual Best & Worst States Survey. The Best & Worst States Survey measures... Read More

Sustained Growth: Not Enough to Satisfy? 

"Growth in the coming year will remain modest," so we stated on the cover of our annual Outlook back in December. "There is no double-dip or V-shaped recovery. Every economic recovery is a new normal." This economic expansion has indeed lived down to our modest expectations. Read More      

 

What Can We Expect for the Remainder of 2012? 

The thing about economists is that we are called upon to do what we have a fairly miserable track record for. Somewhat like the meteorologist in the middle of an event changing weather pattern - only without the cool weather maps. The old joke is... Read More 

When serving a copy of the filed construction lien to the property owner per F.S.S. 713.08(4) (c) don't forget to send a Demand for Copy of Contract and Statement of Account per your rights under F.S.S. 713.16(1), as well. If the party served does not reply within 30 days after the demand is made, they would lose the opportunity to be awarded their attorney's fees from you should they be deemed as the prevailing party in a construction lien case F.S.S. 713.16(5) (b).  

Floridians Right-to-Work

FHBA Action News reported in the May 21, 2012 edition that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg declared invalid a new rule proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that would have accelerated the union representation process.

 

"At issue was the 'ambush' election rule that would dramatically shorten the amount of time for an employer to organize a response to attempts to employees to unionize. Where previously an employer would have up to six weeks to prepare for a union election, the NLRB's new procedure would compress the current average time from moving from petition to organize a union down to as little as 10 days."

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a legal challenge seeking to overturn the NLRB rule, which went into effect on April 30, 2012.

 

HB 897 Becomes law October 1, 2012

 

Legislators Most Influenced by Personal Stories  

Going to see legislators in person with a personal message about how a bill affects their home districts is still the best way of influencing what happens in Florida's Capitol, according to an insider survey of House and Senate staff members. The staff survey by Kevin Cate, a governmental public relations and campaign adviser, shows that... Read More    

 

Should Officers Exempt Themselves from Workers' Comp Coverage?

"If an owner of a business excludes himself from WC coverage and his is injured on the job, will his or her medical insurance respond?"

 

Of course, without the health insurance policy it would be difficult to answer this definitely. The policy might have an occupational exclusion or excluded loss that should be covered by workers' compensation. Initially, the health insurer interpreted "eligible" to mean... Read More 

Dr. Z's Suggestions Regarding Business E Mail    There are many days that I get a big kick out of the e-mails I receive. Some of them educate and motivate me...as indeed I hope the "Tuesday Tip" does for you. And some of the e-mail gives me a laugh, such as this one I received recently, entitled... Read More