Make Working from Home Work for You

Make Working from Home Work for You

Author: Holly Uverity, Microsoft® Office® Specialist — Outlook® , Office Organizers  You may be a work from home pro or this may be new for you but regardless, you are undoubtedly impacted in some way by COVID-19.  Your clients may cancel or your company work may halt so I invite you to look at this as…

MILESTONE: First Look at the interior layout of the Texas High-Speed Train

MILESTONE: First Look at the interior layout of the Texas High-Speed Train

Times are changing for travelers moving between Texas’ two largest regions, Houston and North Texas. What was once either a tireless slog or a hurry-up-to-slow-down frisking is being replaced by the best travel experience the world has to offer.   In short, nothing that exists today in the United States can come close to matching the…

Jobsites’ most universal hazard: personal cellphones

Jobsites’ most universal hazard: personal cellphones

The use of mobile phones for wireless streaming of music, podcasts or other entertainment is everywhere. Walk down any street in the country and you’ll often see more people wearing headphones than those that aren’t. Some of these listening devices even come equipped with sound-canceling features that completely block off noises from the outside world….

The Top 7 Mistakes Small Contractors Make While Visiting the Permitting Center

The Top 7 Mistakes Small Contractors Make While Visiting the Permitting Center

Going to the Permitting Center sucks time from small contractors’ busy days that are often filled with worries about construction tasks and budgets.  Many contractors will call us voicing their frustrations about delays in permitting and the challenge of going back and forth talking with Plan Reviewers that seem not to hear what they are…

Daily Reports – The Swiss Army Knife of Project Documentation

Daily Reports – The Swiss Army Knife of Project Documentation

Project “Daily Reports” are some of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of a construction project. These reports serve many beneficial roles such as holding parties accountable to their obligations, providing the basis for an as-built schedule, recording manpower, documenting site conditions, and recording any other important and relevant information that happened on the job…

Autonomous technologies can help alleviate the labor shortage

Autonomous technologies can help alleviate the labor shortage

Robots, machinery and software promise to aid with the skilled labor shortage, or at the very least free up managers’ and other workers’ time so they can focus on more important tasks.  In the next three decades, as many as 2.7 million construction jobs could become automated, according to a report from the Midwest Economic Policy…

Embrace the Human Enterprise

Why are so many digital transformation efforts stalling? Because leaders remain fixated on technology, at the expense of humanity. The pressure to radically reshape organizations is only accelerating: industries keep converging, new competitors appearing, and societal and stakeholder expectations rising. Yet digital transformation efforts at many organizations are stalling. The reason? Transforming in a way…

WHAT AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT WORLD LOOKS LIKE

In 2017, the world used 562 quadrillion BTUs of energy in the form of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewables. But most of us don’t understand how this statistic is reflected in what we do each day. That staggering number – 562,000,000,000,000,000 – represents the countless decisions made by the individuals, companies and communities…

Five tips for meeting the 2030 Commitment

The AIA 2030 Commitment provides a considerable challenge for any firm willing to sign on. This is especially true for larger firms, which must find ways to reduce predicted energy use across a wide spectrum of clients, building types and climate zones. LPA was an early supporter of the 2030 Commitment, but energy efficient design…

How America’s largest African American-owned firm is planning for the future

How America’s largest African American-owned firm is planning for the future

In January 2020, Jonathan Moody, AIA, officially became CEO of Moody Nolan. They were big shoes to fill. His father, Curtis Moody, FAIA, was awarded the Whitney M. Young Jr. award in 1992 and AIA Ohio’s highest honor, the Gold Medal, in 2007 — among other honors. Today, Moody Nolan is the largest African American-owned…

First African-American woman appointed to Port of Houston Authority board

Mayor Turner and City Council approved historic nomination   HOUSTON – Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Houston City Council voted yesterday to approve the nomination of Cheryl Creuzot to serve as a member of the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority. Creuzot, a highly respected business and civic leader, will be the first…

RHCA’s Mission to Give Contractors the Skills for Success

RHCA’s Mission to Give Contractors the Skills for Success

The Regional Hispanic Contractors Association was founded on the principle of helping the little guy and on being the helping hand that young businesses need to excel, and 25 years later, RHCA is still holding strong to that foundation. What started out as a committee of the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has grown…

Houston’s Hobby Airport Starts 2020 With New Airline, Maintenance Facility

Houston’s Hobby Airport Starts 2020 With New Airline, Maintenance Facility

Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport is marking the start of the new year with a couple of big announcements. Earlier this week, Allegiant announced it added Houston as one of a few cities it’ll begin serving in 2020. According to its press release, the new seasonal nonstop routes from Hobby Airport include Knoxville, TN, Asheville, NC, Savannah,…

OSHA letter: Portable headphones could be “safety hazard”

OSHA issued a letter of interpretation in response to an employers question regarding the use of headphones to listen to music on construction sites. The employer stated that some headphones are advertised as “OSHA approved” and asked whether OSHA had any specific regulation that prohibits the use of headphones to listen to music on a construction site….

The PEER Initiative: Protecting Employees, Enabling Reemployment

The PEER Initiative: Protecting Employees, Enabling Reemployment

Each year, Federal civilian employees sustain work-related injuries and illnesses. In 2018, Federal workers filed almost 107,000 new claims and received approximately $3 billion in workers’ compensation payments. Many of these work-related injuries and illnesses are preventable, and executive departments and agencies can and should do more to improve workplace safety and health, improve efficiencies,…