Category: Construction Company

Modular Construction: The Change to How Structures Are Built

What Is Modular Construction? In modular construction, prefabricated structures are manufactured in a factory using assembly line methods and transported elsewhere to be assembled on a building site. Much of construction work may be completed in the factory—walls, floors, roof, doors and windows, plumbing, wiring, ductwork, heating and cooling systems, fixtures, finishes, etc. Cranes are used to load modules onto flatbed trucks and then to offload and position them on a foundation already constructed at the building site. Once the individual modules are joined together, they form one building that meets all building code requirements. 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. Are Modular Buildings Permanent? Some modular buildings are permanent once installed, and others are designed to be partially disassembled and moved to another location. Permanent modular construction is typically used for residential structures, from single-family homes to multi-story apartment buildings. Relocatable modular construction is used when the need for a structure is temporary, for example, to provide extra space for schools or hospitals while...

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Living Building Materials: The Newest Innovation

What Are Living Building Materials? The term “living building materials” conjures up images of 19th century sod cabins, or “soddies,” built by settlers on the treeless American plains and prairies. However, the term, abbreviated as LBM, actually refers to building materials that mimic the behavior of a living organism. Such materials may be self-replicating or self-mending, emulate biological processes such as breathing, or copy the structure of certain organic structures or components, such as spider silk or abalone shell nacre. Living building materials have the advantages of being eco-friendly and sustainable, but sometimes the downside is an unaffordable price tag.  Some living building materials currently in use include self-mending materials, air cleaning bricks, passive cooling ceramics, mass timber, self-cleaning paint, and thermobimetals. 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. Self-Mending Materials Self-mending materials pay homage to the human body’s ability to heal itself. Self-mending concrete is the most common example. Water-permeable capsules filled with living but dormant dry spores are mixed into wet concrete. The spores...

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Virtual Design and Construction Markets See Rapid Growth

What Is Virtual Design and Construction? Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) originated at Stanford University in 2001 in an effort to increase productivity in the construction industry, which was lagging behind all other non-farm industries in terms of productivity improvement. VDC leverages the power of digital technology to integrate multiple information systems, processes, disciplines, and workflows, in a strategic, holistic approach. This can be used to design, model, plan, budget, schedule, and manage construction projects. Though much of the buzz centers on the virtual modeling of designs, virtual design and construction is as much about the information flows between and among project personnel as it is about 3-D modeling. 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 Rapidly Growing Virtual Design and Construction Market The rapidly growing demand for virtual design and construction–which is expected to accelerate–is due in part to increase demand for residential and commercial construction. It is also driven by the increasing complexity of customer demands and building processes. The impressive growth of...

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Enbridge Line 5: Great Lakes Tunnel

Enbridge Inc., a multinational pipeline company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is embroiled in a decade-long controversy over the construction of the Great Lakes tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  The company’s intent is to route a segment of Line 5–part of a system of Enbridge pipelines carrying oil from western Canada to eastern Canada–through the proposed tunnel. The segment of Line 5 that passes through the environmentally sensitive Straits of Mackinac consists of two 20-inch diameter pipes running parallel, about 1,000 feet apart, for 4.5 miles at a depth of up to 270 feet. These two pipes carry a total of 23 million gallons of crude oil and petroleum products per day and are known as the Great Lakes Tunnel or Enbridge Line 5. 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. Great Lakes Tunnel: A Controversial Project They completed construction on Line 5 in 1953 but, despite its age, Enbridge states it’s in good condition other than the outer...

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What to Know When Hiring Employees

Your construction business is off the ground and running. Even the Wright Brothers are impressed at how you’ve taken flight! But a company is only as strong as its workers. It is important to surround yourself with people who have faith in your business.  It is also important that these people believe in your company’s virtues and philosophy. In today’s blog, we’re going to touch upon topics that are important for any small business owner: Do you know your EIN? To begin with, your employees will be filing taxes and claiming they work for you.  In year’s past, employers sometimes used their social security number as their Tax Identification Number.   This is a big no-no! You should NEVER give out your social security number! Instead, you should apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can get this from the IRS. You can do this online or through your accountant (definitely make sure you have an accountant!). In addition, any and all tax records should be kept for at least four years, for auditing purposes. Oh, but the numbers! Someone who you should work rather close with is your accountant. Don’t just call your accountant around tax season. Stay in...

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