National construction cost index records 'up' for 22nd month

The Engineering and Construction Cost Index (ECCI), compiled by IHS Inc.and the Procurement Executives Group, went above its 50 mark in January 2012 and hasn't looked back.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 26, 2013

Engineers, contractors can help building owners spot operational anomalies

By offering a chance to include measurement and monitoring capabilities in building systems, contractors can deliver buildings that owners can operate at lower costs.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 25, 2013

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Top 5 stories from Construction Dive

Construction Dive editors curate some of the industry’s top stories from this year.

By Construction Dive staff

Philly workers observe church's rules while building Mormon temple

Prayer is optional, but bans on caffeine, nicotine and cussing are just part of the job for construction workers on the 60,000-square-foot project.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 25, 2013

Developer plans a 1,000-foot observation tower for Miami waterfront

If all goes according to plan, Tishman Construction and Coastal Construction will start work next year on a tower that will have a ballroom, restaurant and other tenants.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 25, 2013

Flint's tallest building to be imploded as its twin thrives

The sister buildings, hundreds of miles apart in Michigan and Tennessee, were constructed in 1968.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 24, 2013

No injuries in San Francisco construction collapse

Part of a building under construction in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood crashed to the ground Saturday morning along with scaffolding around it.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 24, 2013

Discipline, coordination, practice work in sports or business

The behaviors that good coaches demand of their players and the spirit they instill in them have a lot in common with business success.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 22, 2013

Contractors say labor is tight, national statistics notwithstanding

There appears to be a contradiction between what U.S. surveys say the construction job market is like and what AGC members say is happening to them.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 22, 2013

Pinnacle Construction simplifies subcontractor compliance

The company's project management arm developed a system that spans a range of requirements.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 21, 2013

Broad materials price index for October down from 2012

Prices for lumber, concrete products and fabricated structural metal products still rose.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 21, 2013

'GoldieBlox' toy line tells girls they can be engineers with viral hit

A Stanford engineering graduate who wants solid encouragement for girls to go into technical fields has a building toy called GoldieBlox and a YouTube-sensation commercial.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 20, 2013

Mass. development hits brakes for redesign as construction costs rise

The proposed 15-story high-rise in Quincy has already become a six-story mid-rise.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 20, 2013

U.S. charges N.J. contractor skipped millions in personal, workers' taxes

The U.S. attorney in New Jersey said Frank Chimento Jr. did not collect federal and state taxes from workers, did not make union benefit payments and dodged his own taxes.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 20, 2013

Big projects kick Oct. construction starts up 5%

The value of construction begun last month hit an annual pace of $585.6 billion, but McGraw-Hill Construction attributed some of the jump to one-time starts.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 20, 2013

Braves plan to play ball outside Atlanta, starting in 2017

The National League franchise will be in a new stadium in Cobb County if the public-private project being pitched to county commissioners is approved next week.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 20, 2013

Crews spend two hours freeing worker after Mass. trench collapse

A man who was with a crew constructing a sewer-line extension in Ipswich was partially buried in sand, dirt and asphalt.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 19, 2013

New offering applies BIM to road design and construction

Taking building information modeling on the road as a design tool for highway and bridge engineers made perfect sense to software company Autodesk.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 19, 2013

Third-quarter construction backlog mostly holds steady

Associated Builders and Contractors' average backlog of work for all nonresidential construction held fast at 8.2 months from the second quarter to the third, but some sectors were up and others continued to decline.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 19, 2013

Survey: Construction faces skilled-labor shortage

Consulting company FMI said its 2013 survey of managers at contracting firms found more than half saying they were having difficulty getting the workers they need.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 18, 2013

Nature huffs, puffs and blows down building's facade in Wisconsin

Officials in Racine, Wis., say strong winds Sunday night pulled the brick facade of a building from 1920 to the street and onto a car.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 18, 2013

Despite recovery, construction's 'good old days' not expected

Business is certainly better than in the post-bubble years, but no one who writes insurance policies for the new buildings is expecting the old days to return.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 18, 2013

Construction, programming pros come together in hackathon

Team construction people with computer people and turn them loose on a problem, and the solutions can quickly become highly creative.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 18, 2013

Partnership aims for clarity and certainty about materials' LEED status

The environmental division of Underwriters Laboratories and the U.S. Green Building Council have undertaken an effort to assure correct LEED information.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 18, 2013

Cover your site, yourself and your workers with a written safety plan

Before scaffolding goes up or equipment rolls in, create a written safety plan specific to the job at hand and make every worker acknowledge getting a copy.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 17, 2013

Contractors likely among owners of Ram trucks in 1.2 million-vehicle recall

Chrysler will begin a three-phase recall to find what it thinks may be 453,000 Ram trucks in the 1500 through 5500 series with misaligned tie rods.

By Ron Gallagher • Nov. 17, 2013