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1. Florida's New Construction Claims Statute 558
2. Engineered Building Maintenance
3. Creating Reliable Project Budgets
4. The Owner's Duties in Construction
5. Design-Build Contracting: How & Why

Florida's New Construction Claims Statute 558
By: John A. Jones, PE, CBO
President & CEO, Dart Engineering, LLC
©2007

1. Technical Requirements of the Claim

A. Location and Nature of the Defect

Florida Statute 558 (the Statute) requires the claim to have "reasonable detail sufficient to determine the general nature of each alleged defect." Clearly specifying the location of each defect, the characteristics of the defect, how it was identified, and what the effects are, will expedite resolution of the problem by enabling the Respondents to promptly understand and deal with the essence of the claim.

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Engineered Building Maintenance
By: John A. Jones, PE, CBO
President & CEO, Dart Engineering, LLC
©2002

Buildings represent a major investment for any organization. Today's buildings are complex and require proper maintenance to operate efficiently and to provide a long and useful life. Unfortunately, most buildings only receive attention from their Owners when something fails. Until then, maintenance simply means keeping the grass cut and the windows washed. Engineered Building Maintenance (EBM) programs provide building Owners with a comprehensive approach that minimizes hassles, surprises, outages, and unnecessary emergency repairs. The following are provides an outline of how EBM works.

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Creating Reliable Project Budgets (as published in Florida Real Estate Journal, Dec. 2000)
The "Ten Commandments" for avoiding major budget busts
by John A. Jones, PE, CBO, President & CEO
©2000

After ten years of planning, the City Commission of a major Florida city last year approved a total capital budget of $6 million to build what was actually a $14 million city maintenance facility. This year, a different Florida city approved a $500,000 budget to build a $1 million industrial facility. Although avoidable, these major "budget busts" have become so common that the public has become distrustful, cynical, and hesitant to believe preliminary project budgets, which in turn makes it difficult to pass bond referendums at the polls for new public works projects.

So how do these "disasters" happen? And why do they happen so often? Usually the budgeting errors are not caused by cost overruns but by "under budgeting". Before we review the "Ten Commandments" for avoiding this type of under budgeting, let's review what happened in the examples cited above.

The Owner's Duties in Construction (as published in Southeast Real Estate Business, Dec. 2000)
An owner's performance seriously impacts project outcome
by John A. Jones, PE, CBO, President & CEO
©2000

Four years ago, a contract was signed for a 26-story condominium to be constructed in South Florida. At the signing, the head of the ownership group stated that the next time he wanted to meet with the constructor was to receive the keys to the building. In the end, this statement cost the owner more than six months and almost two million dollars.

So, how did this happen? And what are the owner's duties in construction? After reviewing this case study and detailed descriptions of an owner's responsibilities, it should be clear how the owner's performance has as much impact on project outcome as the performance of the architect and the constructor.

Design-Build Contracting: Why & How
by John A. Jones, PE, CBO, President & CEO
©2000

WHY DESIGN-BUILD?
Public entities have been authorized by Florida State Statute 287.055 to negotiate Design-Build (DB) construction contracts as professional services, much like the process used for years in Florida for hiring architects, engineers, and surveyors. What this means is that public entities are no longer required to use the "traditional" construction delivery approach. To fully appreciate the value of this new project delivery option, you must first understand the traditional delivery approach and its weaknesses. Only then is it possible to evaluate the benefits of design-build and determine if it is the correct approach for your next project.

PE 0030393 • CG CA17835 • CM C036764 • PX 1913 • BN4290 • BU1333

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