Category: Construction Company

How Carbon-Based Fuel Regulations Will Affect Construction
March 20, 2023

How Carbon-Based Fuel Regulations Will Affect Construction

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Renewed Emphasis on Elimination of Greenhouse Gas Emissions The Biden administration is engaged in ongoing rulemaking intended to move the U.S. ever closer to zero emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) that have played a major role in global warming and climate change. This involves the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposing rules that reverse the previous administration’s rollbacks of fuel efficiency and emissions standards. Every sector of the economy is under scrutiny to determine the greatest opportunities for improvement and set priorities for reducing the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere. Strategies for Reducing Use of Carbon-Based Fuel President Biden signed an Executive Order including a schedule for developing standards governing fuel efficiency and multi-pollutant emissions for light-duty vehicles through model year 2030, with standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles starting with model year 2027. In December 2021, the EPA issued final gas emissions standards for passenger cars and...

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Benefits of Adopting a Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy in Construction
March 20, 2023

Benefits of Adopting a Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy in Construction

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Potential Impact of Construction Supply Chain Disruptions The integrity of a contractor’s supply chain is critical to timely project completion with no cost overruns. Unfortunately, supply chains are vulnerable to disruption for a number of reasons and lead times can be difficult to predict. Supply chain management became more difficult during the pandemic, and while the situation is improving with regard to some construction materials, recovery is ongoing. External Causes of Supply Chain Problems The lingering effects of the pandemic are not the only challenges, either. Any number of factors can affect how long it takes for materials to get to a construction site. Some lead time problems stem from a supplier’s problems in obtaining raw materials for their own production processes. Labor shortages and labor disputes involving strikes and work stoppages can also cause problems, both for companies producing construction materials and for transportation carriers. Materials ordered from companies in some parts of the world may be delayed...

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Will Construction Costs Go Down in 2023?
March 15, 2023

Will Construction Costs Go Down in 2023?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. A Burning Question It’s only natural for contractors to worry about the possible erosion of their profit margins due to unanticipated increases in construction costs. Bids based on today’s construction costs that would yield a certain profit today can turn out to be less profitable a few weeks or months down the line if those costs increase. So, it’s understandable that contractors, from independent operators to the owners of large construction firms, are eager for any information on the direction and magnitude of likely movements in construction costs. Questions such as will construction costs go down in 2023 are on everyone’s mind. Construction Cost Components In putting together estimates and budgets for potential construction jobs, contractors must include both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are the cost of labor and the cost of construction materials. Contractors have little control over these. Sure, they might be able to negotiate supplier discounts here and there. And some might try to...

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Why More Women Are Joining the Construction Industry
February 22, 2023

Why More Women Are Joining the Construction Industry

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Why Are Women Increasingly Seeking Employment in Construction? This question has a one-word answer: opportunity. More specifically, women are attracted by the range of career options, income potential, and opportunities for advancement in construction today. Additionally, societal attitudes toward women in traditionally male occupations have changed significantly in recent decades. Let’s take a closer look at these factors and how they have led to the current influx of women in the construction industry. Employment Opportunities With the billions of dollars the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is pumping into the construction industry, a 2022 estimate places the 2023 demand for skilled workers in the construction trades at 590,000 in addition to the normal pace of hiring. The aging of the U.S. construction workforce and a decrease in the number of young people choosing a career in construction is making it hard for construction companies to recruit enough new workers. The number of construction workers between the ages of...

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Why Are Women Important in Construction?
February 22, 2023

Why Are Women Important in Construction?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. The Construction Labor Shortage The current labor pool for construction jobs is too small to meet the demand for construction workers. With nearly twice as many job openings as people seeking employment in the construction industry, recruiting more women to meet that demand makes good sense simply from a numerical standpoint. It will take about 590,000 new construction workers to meet the demand anticipated for 2023. Women can certainly help to make up for the shortfall. Benefits of Increasing Gender Diversity in Construction The current labor shortage is only one of the reasons why it’s important to have more women in construction. There are other significant benefits. Creativity and Innovation Gender diversity adds another point of view to any discussion, which in turn increases creativity and innovation. Research has shown that groups that include women are better at collaborating and innovating than male-only groups. Effective Communication Nature has given women an advantage when it comes to communicating. Research reported...

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What You need to Know—2023 Women in Construction Conference
February 22, 2023

What You need to Know—2023 Women in Construction Conference

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. When and Where Will the 2023 Conference Be Held? The 2023 annual conference of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) is scheduled for August 9-12 in Portland, Oregon. This will be NAWIC’s 68th annual conference. NAWIC’s stated purpose is to strengthen and amplify the success of women in the construction industry, and its annual conference plays an important role in carrying out that mission. NAWIC Membership To join NAWIC, you must be a woman working in some capacity in the construction industry for 20 or more hours per week. That includes project management, administrative, legal, insurance, or financial work or employment in any of the construction trades. The only other requirement to join as a voting member is to hold membership in one of NAWIC’s chapters. Currently, there are more than 115 chapters spread across 47 states, divided into eight regions: Northeast, South Atlantic, Southeast, North Central, Midwest, South Central, Pacific Northwest, and Pacific Southwest. Women who...

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What Percentage of Construction Workers Are Female?
February 22, 2023

What Percentage of Construction Workers Are Female?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. What Percentage of Construction Workers Are Female?: 2022 Statistics In September 2022, approximately 7.7 million people were employed in the U.S. construction industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 14% of construction workers in October 2022 were female. Both the number of women working in the construction industry and the number of construction-related companies owned by women have increased since 2014, despite some disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As of 2020, Hispanic women outnumber White women working in construction in the United States. This segment of the construction workforce grew by 117% between 2016 and 2020. Most Hispanic women entering the construction workforce do so in job site positions, not office jobs. States with the Most and the Least Women in Construction Though not technically a state, Washington, D.C. has the most women employed in construction (17.6%). In order, the remaining states in the top five are Arizona, Florida, Washington, and Oregon. This can be useful...

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What is the National Association of Women in Construction?
February 22, 2023

What is the National Association of Women in Construction?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bond needs. Origin of the National Association of Women in Construction Historically, construction has been male-dominated. In 1953, the relatively small number of women working in construction in the Fort Worth, Texas area felt a need to support and be supported by their female peers. That need for networking and support resulted in the formation of Women in Construction. It soon became apparent that all over the country, women trying to make a place for themselves in the construction industry would benefit greatly from an organization like Women in Construction. And in May 1955, Women in Construction revised its charter to add chapters throughout the U.S., changing the organization’s name to The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). There are now more than 115 NAWIC chapters located in 47 states, organized into eight regions: Northeast, South Atlantic, Southeast, North Central, Midwest, South Central, Pacific Northwest, and Pacific Southwest. NAWIC is affiliated with NAWIC organizations in other countries, including Australia, New...

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August 8, 2022

Remote Construction Management Trends

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your bonding needs. Continue reading to learn more about remote construction management trends. For a very long time, construction management meant spending all day on a single job site or traveling from one site to another to check on progress and stomp out small fires before they could become big ones—not exactly an efficient approach to project management. In an industry slow to embrace digital technologies, it only became widely apparent that the physical presence of a project manager onsite might not be necessary when the pandemic turned the way Americans work upside down. Increasingly, digital technologies used to improve construction processes are being deployed as project management tools, and many construction project managers spend far less time onsite than previously was thought necessary. Top Remote Construction Management Trends Digital Time Tracking At the most basic level, construction project management is about making sure that people show up to work when and where they’re supposed to and remain as long as they are...

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August 8, 2022

Protective Gear: Construction Trends

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your bonding needs. Continue reading to learn more about protective gear construction trends. The range of protective gear (personal protective equipment, or PPE) available for use in the construction industry continues to expand with new developments in PPE technology and enhanced safety requirements imposed by government entities, employers, project owners, and insurance companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the need for additional PPE (for example, N95 masks) to help in disease prevention when infection rates are high. Top Protective Gear Construction Trends Fit and Comfort Proper fit plays a big part in the effectiveness of construction protective gear. There is a direct correlation between the comfort of PPE and compliance with rules and regulations regarding the use of PPE. Comfort goes hand-in-hand with fit as PPE design criteria because workers may not wear PPE properly or adjust the fit properly if the item is uncomfortable. So, there is ongoing research and development to come up with PPE that can be adjusted for...

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