Construction Recordkeeping

Reality Bites – Caught “Lead Handed” on TV

Do TV contractors poison their real world customers? According to an EPA press release dated June 5, 2018: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Magnolia Waco Properties, LLC, which does business as Magnolia Homes, have reached a settlement to resolve alleged violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP Rule), related to home renovations conducted without adequate lead paint protections as depicted on the television program Fixer Upper. Under the terms of the settlement, Magnolia will take steps to ensure compliance with lead-based paint regulations in future renovation projects, address lead-based paint hazards at high-risk homes in Waco, Texas, and educate the public to lead-based paint hazards and appropriate renovation procedures.” Allegedly, according to a November 29, 2017 administrative complaint, Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” and owners of Magnolia Waco Properties, LLC (d/b/a Magnolia Homes), “did not comply with all of the requirements of the RRP Rule in renovations it performed in 33 properties in the Waco, Texas.“ Getting caught “lead handed” on national TV is sort of the opposite of demonstrating competence in the building industry. Who would have thought that the RRP applied on television or …

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Create a Legally Defensible Document Retention / Destruction Policy

My February 2015 NARI Legal Corner guest blog titled Build a Record You’ll Be Proud Of, addressed the importance of recordkeeping for contractors and provided practical guidelines for creating project records.  It showed that the successful management of construction projects requires proper management of a company’s records and other “information assets.”  Information asset management should be viewed as a key component of every contractor’s overall risk management program. The article concluded by recommending that organizations develop and implement a document retention policy and legal retention schedule, which together allow old records to be destroyed in a legally defensible manner. This article describes an approach to managing and retiring (destroying) information assets that is based on industry standards and best practices. A document retention policy is really a document destruction policy Information as Assets Broadly defined, information assets include not only project records, accounting records and official documents but all other information holding any value or representing any risk to the organization.  Information assets include anything that is recorded or stored such as email, instant messaging, voicemail, databases, digital photos or any type of document, whether printed out or not.  Assets in the form of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) also include …

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Build a Record That You’ll Be Proud Of

Coliseum

The management of construction projects involves the management of information. Frequently, decisions need to be made on-the-fly, before the written information necessary to document the decision is available.  Under time pressure and with no reliable systems in place, project documentation (building a record) is regularly neglected. Unfortunately, a poorly built record can have serious negative legal, and financial consequences. Why Build a Record? One good measure of the success of a construction project is whether the completed building meets the needs and vision of the owner. Even small projects require a written proposal containing references to plans and specifications.  Without good documentation, there is a greatly increased risk that the customer’s vision may not be converted to reality, leading to a dispute.  A key attribute of project documentation is the extent to which it enables any given stakeholder (general contractor, subcontractor, designer, supplier, owner, lender, insurer) to protect its own legal and financial interests during the course of, and after the project. A poorly built record can have serious negative, legal, and financial consequences. If a dispute arises for any reason (payment, workmanship, change orders, etc.) the first thing that lawyers need to see is the record – for the …

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