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    Building Consultant Builders Information
    Seattle, Washington

    Washington Builders Right To Repair Current Law Summary:

    Current Law Summary: (SB 5536) The legislature passed a contractor protection bill that reduces contractors' exposure to lawsuits to six years from 12, and gives builders seven "affirmative defenses" to counter defect complaints from homeowners. Claimant must provide notice no later than 45 days before filing action; within 21 days of notice of claim, "construction professional" must serve response; claimant must accept or reject inspection proposal or settlement offer within 30 days; within 14 days following inspection, construction pro must serve written offer to remedy/compromise/settle; claimant can reject all offers; statutes of limitations are tolled until 60 days after period of time during which filing of action is barred under section 3 of the act. This law applies to single-family dwellings and condos.


    Building Consultant Contractors Licensing
    Guidelines Seattle Washington

    A license is required for plumbing, and electrical trades. Businesses must register with the Secretary of State.


    Building Consultant Contractors Building Industry
    Association Directory
    MBuilders Association of King & Snohomish Counties
    Local # 4955
    335 116th Ave SE
    Bellevue, WA 98004

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Kitsap County
    Local # 4944
    5251 Auto Ctr Way
    Bremerton, WA 98312

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of Spokane
    Local # 4966
    5813 E 4th Ave Ste 201
    Spokane, WA 99212

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    Home Builders Association of North Central
    Local # 4957
    PO Box 2065
    Wenatchee, WA 98801

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    MBuilders Association of Pierce County
    Local # 4977
    PO Box 1913 Suite 301
    Tacoma, WA 98401

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    North Peninsula Builders Association
    Local # 4927
    PO Box 748
    Port Angeles, WA 98362
    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10

    Jefferson County Home Builders Association
    Local # 4947
    PO Box 1399
    Port Hadlock, WA 98339

    Seattle Washington Building Consultant 10/ 10


    Building Consultant News and Information
    For Seattle Washington


    Emergency Paid Sick Leave and FMLA Leave Updates in Response to COVID-19

    ASCE Statement on EPA Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan

    Cyber Security Insurance and Design Professionals

    Limiting Liability: Three Clauses to Consider in your Next Construction Contract

    Policing Those Subcontractors: It Might Take Extra Effort To Be An Additional Insured

    Construction Litigation Roundup: “Stuck on You”

    Resolve to Say “No” This Year

    PSA: Latest Updates from AGC-VA on COVID Rules (UPDATED)

    Project-Specific Commercial General Liability Insurance

    Court Requires Adherence to “Good Faith and Fair Dealing” in Construction Defect Coverage

    Five Reasons to Hire Older Workers—and How to Keep Them

    University of Tennessee’s New Humanities Building Construction Set to Begin

    Construction Litigation Roundup: “Sudden Death”

    More Hensel Phelps Ripples in the Statute of Limitations Pond?

    Court Grants Partial Summary Judgment on Conversion Claim Against Insurer

    The Cross-Party Exclusion: The Hazards of Additional Named Insured Provisions

    The CA Supreme Court Grants Petition for Review of McMillin Albany LLC v. Super Ct. 2015 F069370 (Cal.App.5 Dist.) As to Whether the Right to Repair Act (SB800) is the Exclusive Remedy for All Defect Claims Arising Out of New Residential Construction

    Parking Garage Collapse May Be Due to Construction Defect

    Vaccine Mandate Confusion Continues – CMS Vaccine Mandate Restored in Some (But Not All) US States

    Voluntary Payments Affirmative Defense Does Not Apply in Contract Cases

    Environmental and Regulatory Law Update: New Federal and State Rulings

    Hail Drives Construction Spending in Amarillo

    Georgia Legislature Passes Additional Procurement Rules

    Sellers' Alleged Misrepresentation Does Not Amount To An Occurrence

    A New Lawsuit Might Change the Real Estate Industry Forever

    Notice and Claims Provisions In Contracts Matter…A Lot

    Collapse Claim Dismissed

    Sioux City Building Owners Sue Architect over Renovation Costs

    Nancy Conrad to Serve as President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association

    The G2G Year in Review: 2019

    Newmeyer & Dillion Attorneys Selected to the 2016 Southern California Super Lawyers Lists

    New York’s Highest Court Reverses Lower Court Ruling That Imposed Erroneous Timeliness Requirement For Disclaimers of Coverage

    Pennsylvania Modular Home Builder Buys Maine Firm

    Court Finds That Split in Underground Storage Tank is Not a Covered Collapse

    Michigan Supreme Court Concludes No Statute of Repose on Breach of Contract

    Appraisal Panel Can Determine Causation of Loss under Ohio Law

    How a Robot-Built Habitat on Mars Could Change Construction on Earth

    Lumber Drops to Nine-Month Low, Extending Retreat From Record

    Reconciling Prompt Payments and Withholding of Retention Payments

    Haight’s Sacramento Office Has Moved

    Contractor Sues Construction Defect Claimants for Defamation

    Balfour Taps Qinetiq’s Quinn as new CEO to Revamp Builder

    Real Estate & Construction News Round-Up 01/26/22

    The Burden of Betterment

    Ex-San Francisco DPW Director Sentenced to Seven Years in Corruption Case

    Connecticut Court Finds Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause Enforceable

    Poor Record Keeping = Going to the Poor House (or, why project documentation matters)

    Plaintiffs Not Barred from Proving Causation in Slip and Fall Case, Even With No Witnesses and No Memory of Fall Itself

    The ‘Sole Option’ Arbitration Provision in Construction Contracts

    5 Impressive Construction Projects in North Carolina
    Corporate Profile

    SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING CONSULTANT
    DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

    The Seattle, Washington Building Consultant Group at BHA, leverages from the experience gained through more than 7,000 construction related expert witness designations encompassing a wide spectrum of construction related disputes. Drawing from this considerable body of experience, BHA provides construction related trial support and expert services to Seattle's most recognized construction litigation practitioners, commercial general liability carriers, owners, construction practice groups, as well as a variety of state and local government agencies.

    Building Consultant News & Info
    Seattle, Washington

    Hawaii Supreme Court Finds Climate Change Lawsuit Barred by “Pollution Exclusion”

    November 05, 2024 —
    On October 7, 2024, the Hawaii Supreme Court answered the question of whether an “accident” includes an insured’s reckless conduct in emitting harmful greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) and whether such emissions are “pollutants” as defined in a general liability policy’s pollution exclusion. In Aloha Petro., Ltd. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pitt., PA, No., 2024 Haw. LEXIS 179 (Oct. 7, 2024), the Hawaii Supreme Court answered in the affirmative as to both certified questions from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, holding that an insured’s reckless conduct can be an “accident” and that GHGs are “pollutants” under the policies’ pollution exclusions. In the underlying case, the County of Honolulu and the County of Maui (the “Counties”) sued Aloha Petroleum, Ltd. (“Aloha”) and several other fossil fuel companies for climate change-related harms. Namely, the Counties alleged that the fossil fuel industry knew that its products would cause catastrophic climate change, and rather than mitigating their emissions, defendants concealed such knowledge, promoted climate science denial, and increased their production of fossil fuels. Aloha was allegedly on notice that its products caused harmful climate change through its former parent company, Phillips 66, and its current parent company, Sunoco. Given this knowledge, the District Court determined that the Counties allegations constituted reckless conduct by Aloha. Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Jason Taylor, Traub Lieberman
    Mr. Taylor may be contacted at jtaylor@tlsslaw.com

    Historical Long-Tail Claims in California Subject to a Vertical Exhaustion Rule

    December 03, 2024 —

    California’s complex saga of long-tail injury coverage under general liability policies took an interesting turn in the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Truck Ins. Exch. v. Kaiser Cement.1 In Truck, the court made it clear that Insureds can access excess policy limits without first exhausting all triggered underlying primary coverage, provided the underlying limits for the same policy period have been exhausted.

    A Brief Summary of the History of Coverage for Long-Tail Claims in California2

    Understanding the contextual significance of Truck requires a brief survey of California’s gradually developed case law with respect to long-tail progressive injury and damage claims. A “long-tail claim” typically involves progressively manifesting damage, injury, or disease that develops over a period of multiple years. Because general liability insurance is traditionally triggered based on the timing of when bodily injury or property damage occurs, the progressive nature of these claims has led many courts to analyze when injury or damage occurs in these claims. In doing so, California courts have generally found that these injuries occur across numerous years, thereby triggering numerous policies.3

    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Will S. Bennett, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
    Mr. Bennett may be contacted at WBennett@sdvlaw.com

    Corrective Action Protest Grounds for GSA Schedule Federal Construction Contractors

    September 09, 2024 —
    A contract awarded, protested, terminated, appealed, then reinstated. It’s no secret that federal construction procurements are plagued with uncertainty. From delays, constructive suspensions, compromised supply chains, the litigation-laden critical path method, and the mandate for all construction materials used in federally funded projects for infrastructure to be produced in the United States under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) (to name just a few traditional and emerging favorites), just one of these issues could fill the rest of anyone’s month with substantive research. To add one more, which is entirely unique to bid protests, federal contractors–including construction contractors–listed in a General Service Administration (GSA) Schedule may have new grounds to have a contract award reinstated that was terminated by a federal agency pending a GAO decision. GAO Protest An initial GAO protest filed by Deloitte & Touche LLP (Deloitte) argued that the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency (Agency) wrongfully made an award to Kearney & Company, P.C. (Kearney) when the Agency: (1) improperly evaluated quotes; and (2) failed to conduct a proper best-value tradeoff analysis. At issue was a competed task order with Kearney under a GSA FSS multiple-award contract. Before the GAO issued an opinion, however, it held an unrecorded predictive-outcome conference with Deloitte and Kearney where the only mutual consensus was the likely ineligibility of all offerors for the relevant award. The Agency subsequently elected to take corrective action, terminating Kearney’s contract award for convenience, amending the solicitation to avoid issues (including undisputed issues) addressed in the GAO protest. After the Agency adopted their corrective action, the GAO protest was dismissed as academic and moot. Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Marissa L. Downs, Laurie & Brennan, LLP
    Ms. Downs may be contacted at mdowns@lauriebrennan.com

    Construction Litigation Roundup: “D’Oh!”

    August 12, 2024 —
    The U.S. DOL found itself on June 24 on the wrong end of a preliminary injunction concerning recent changes to the Davis-Bacon Act. The lawsuit, initiated in Texas federal court by the Associated General Contractors of America and other concerned citizens, sought a preliminary injunction barring implementation and enforcement of “specified portions of § 5.2 and § 5.5(e) of the DOL’s ‘Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations’” – the “Final Rule,” published August 23, 2023. After determining the appropriateness of the “standing” of the plaintiffs based upon the plaintiffs being “adversely affected” by the Final Rule, the federal court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the Final Rule. In noting its disagreement with the Final Rule, the court stated:
    “… the Final Rule amends the DBA [the Davis-Bacon Act] by imposing a stealth selfimplementing DBA requirement in the contract by an operation-of-law provision that contradicts the express statutory language of the Act [the court bristling at the idea that contracts might exclude with impunity the otherwise mandated DBA clauses]. Further, the Final Rule amends the Act to extend the DBA to apply to workers who are not mechanics and laborers, and to extend the scope of the work covered by DBA to include work is not performed ‘directly on the site of the work.’
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
    Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com

    Key Legal Issues to Consider Before and After Natural Disasters

    November 25, 2024 —
    While legal considerations are often the last thing on the minds of project owners and contractors during an emergency, construction industry stakeholders should bear in mind the impact of natural disasters on their legal rights, remedies and potential exposure to claims. For all stakeholders, two of the most pressing considerations are: (1) what provisions in their contracts are impacted by a natural disaster and (2) do they have any potential exposure to price-gouging claims? Reprinted courtesy of Patrick Kelly, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...
    Mr. Kelly may be contacted at pkelly@grayreed.com

    Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (8/14/24) – Commercial Real Estate AI, Hotel Pipeline Growth, and Housing Market Improvements

    September 23, 2024 —
    In our latest roundup, nonresidential spending drops, realtor payment structure changes, office vacancy rates soar, and more!
    • A decline in mortgage rates and a drop in housing prices are giving buyers a potential path to securing homeownership. (Omar Mohammed, Newsweek)
    • Starting August 17, new rules will roll out that overhaul the way Realtors get paid to help people buy and sell their homes. (Samantha Delouya, CNN)
    • Spending dropped in almost half of nonresidential subcategories in June with the decrease stemming from higher interest rates, tighter credit conditions and a softening economy. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)
    Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

    Will AI Completely Transform Our Use of Computers?

    July 22, 2024 —
    Last November, I received a newsletter from Bill Gates titled “AI is about to completely change how we use computers.” Gates begins his letter with a prediction: “Five years from now, you won’t have to use different apps for different tasks. You’ll simply tell your device, in everyday language, what you want to do—whether it’s drafting a document, making a spreadsheet, scheduling a meeting, analyzing data, sending an email, or even buying movie tickets.“ Gates dives deeper into the topic in his blog post. Revolution in Computing Gates discusses the revolutionary impact of AI on computing, comparing it to the transformative effects of mobile phones and the Internet. Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
    Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

    Water Alone is Not Property Damage under a CGL policy in Connecticut

    July 22, 2024 —
    The Connecticut Appellate Court recently provided guidance on what does not constitute property damage under a typical contractor’s Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy in Westchester Modular Homes of Fairfield County, Inc. v. Arbella Protection Ins. Co., 224 Conn App. 526 (2024). In this case, the contractor defended construction defect claims brought by an owner and then sued its insurer to recover $500,000 in defense costs for failing to provide a defense under the contractor’s policy. In Connecticut, an insurer is obligated to provide a defense based on what is alleged in a complaint and if it has actual knowledge of any facts establishing a reasonable possibility of coverage. The contractor provided extrinsic evidence for two defects claimed by the owner: (1) windows were installed improperly such that water was collecting and will continue to collect in the window soffit areas and eventually rot the wall, and (2) the vapor barrier was not installed in the second-floor ceiling which will result in water condensation and water damage to the roof structure if not remedied. The insurer relied on typical provisions included in most CGL policies. The insurer has no duty to defend the insured against any suit seeking damages for property damage to which the insurance does not apply. The term “property damage” is defined as “physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property.” Under well-established Connecticut law, the phrase “physical injury” unambiguously connotes damage to tangible property, causing an alteration in appearance, shape, color, or some other material dimension. It is also well-established that claims for property damage caused by defective work are covered under a CGL policy but claims for repair of the defective work itself are not. The insurer denied any duty to defend because no coverage was triggered under the liability policy. Both parties moved for summary judgment. Read the full story...
    Reprinted courtesy of Bill Wilson, Robinson & Cole LLP
    Mr. Wilson may be contacted at wwilson@rc.com