Attention Contractors and Consumers Who Contract for Services-New Lien Law Forms and Procedures to Change Starting Jan 1, 2010

Hey I bet you were so busy this year that as a contractor you didn't evn know that the mechanic's lien law forms have changed!

There's new rules about liens and notifying owners about their property being lien'd. Tell the truth, I was busy too and didn't know, til I read about it in my local Builders Exchange Bulletin.

Download the new forms, review the new law and get your self in compliance at Porter Law Group's website by clicking here.

This is important! You will lose your rights to collect your money if you don't follow the letter of the law in noticing clients about liens on their property...

Who Do You Want on Your Job? A Guy Working Out of the Back of a Car That Should Have Gone to Cash 4 Clunkers?

So last week in my journeys through Thousand Oaks, I went by an HOA I had bid on for some deck work. I wanted to see if the competitor who got the job had started and see if what I predicted (dry-rot and other issues) had come true...

so as I drove through the complex, I didn't see any trucks or other construction related activity, until I rolled around a corner to see the BMW pictured above with the trunk open. I saw someone working on a deck nearby so I stoppe dto see what was up...

Sure enough, this worker is working on the deck, and he's working out of his trunk of his car...with cans of Life Deck in the rear that he had just bought at the store...

I'm ok with Associations hiring companies like this...it assures my future with a hack like this.

Consultant Dave Gobis Predicts "there is no end in sight to leaky decks..."

This month's Tile magazine just hit my mailbox today. On the cover is a question "Is it Really Waterproof? pg 16".

So I go right to page 16 to read consultant Dave Gobis' article about waterproofing for tile showers, decks, tubs, and steam room applications.

I was delighted to read his statement " I have yet to see a product failure, however, it was alleged that there was a failing product on every job. So far all have been inappropriate material selection and/or poor workmanship." Yes, yes and yes...

Better yet is "Decks and patios are fraught with obstacles to a successful installation. Most typical failures occur due to unskilled or semi-skilled labor, use of inappropriate products, railing penetrations, failure to allow for thermal and moisture movement, lack of counter flashing and poor drainage provisions." Yes, yes, and yes... Any questions? You get what you pay for folks, go cheap, get cheap. Then you can pay a whole lot more to fix all the dry-rot and termite damage.

Thanks Dave for telling it like it is. I agree with Dave and his assement and in this economy, all it means to me is that our future incomes and work loads are assurred...

READ DAVE'S ARTICLE AT TILEMAGONLINE.COM BY CLICKING HERE

Great Tile Waterproofing Display by AVM Industries

I think this display for a tile deck system by AVM Industries is a great presentation and certainly presses other mfg to step up.
Bill leys

Railing Base Rusted Out

here lies the remains of a railing base on a ocean facing condo in ventura ca. rip ole friend!
Bill leys

65 Million Dollar Construction Defect to Be Blown Up

Talk about a construction defect; the leaning tower of South Padre Island, or as it was known, Ocean Tower, will be blown up in a controlled fashion and 65 million dollars worth of concrete, steel, glass and DECKS (sniff)will become recycled materials after it was determined that the building can't be saved. Read the article from The Brownsville Herald below...

Leaning condos on South Padre Island to be demolished
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September 21, 2009 5:03 PM
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

(AP) — Touted as the Texas Gulf Coast's most luxurious tower and later ridiculed as the "leaning tower of Padre Island," an incomplete 31-story condominium project on South Padre Island will be demolished, its developer announced Monday.

The Ocean Tower, a 151-unit luxury project slated for a spa and other amenities, started construction in 2006, but stopped last summer when it became obvious the tower was sinking more rapidly than attached parking garages, causing cracks in beams and columns.

A lawsuit filed by developer Ocean Tower LP last year said the tower's core had sunk 14 to 16 inches, while the attached garages sank less than half that amount. Ocean Tower is seeking $125 million in damages from two engineering firms.

"Unfortunately, multiple engineering studies have led us to the conclusion that it is not economically feasible to complete the building and to provide the caliber of condominium tower that we intended to build," a prepared Monday statement from Ocean Tower LP said.

Demolition was a difficult decision, said Michael Caddell, a lawyer for Ocean Tower. He estimated the developer invested some $65 million in the project.

"There was really not a good way to fix the building economically," Caddell said. "Even if it were repaired there would always be a stigma attached to that building."

Ocean Tower LP had maintained until late last year that the problem would be remedied. It estimated in the lawsuit filed last summer that repairs would cost $20 million to $25 million.

Named in the lawsuit are geo-technical engineers Raba-Kistner Engineering and Consulting of San Antonio and structural engineers Datum Engineers of Austin and Dallas. Zachry Construction's subsidiary Coastal Constructors, the project's general contractor, was dismissed from the lawsuit.

Matthew Cano, an attorney representing Raba-Kistner, said he could not comment while the case was ongoing, but said "I do think that we have both factual and legal defenses."

Greg Ziegler, lead counsel representing Datum, also declined to comment beyond saying that Datum stands by its design.

The Ocean Tower was structurally complete and the interior work was under way when construction halted last summer. By November, developer Tony Domit told those who had made deposits for units that they would get their money back.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE