Monday, July 27 - 4:00-5:00pm ET Join AGC and The Family Business Institute for a free webinar and learn how you can better your business and life through lessons learned from a case study done by the Harvard Business Review.In this one hour webinar, gain insight from other CEOs on: Business Development - from hiring the right people to setting and achieving goalsMarketing Planning - a subset of your overall business plan and what works best for the construction marketSupporting Business Development and Marketing - what else should be top priorities in a tough marketTo learn more and register for this free webinar click here!

Nearly 100 attendees participated in the AGC Building Contractors Conference held June 10-13, 2009, at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va.  This Conference brought together many of the top building construction firms, specialty contractors, service and supply companies and owners to focus on the theme "Guiding Your Firm Through Challenging Economic Times" through informative presentations, interactive panels and dynamic discussions.  Many presentations from the conference are now posted at www.agc.org/homestead. Presentations included:The Current Health and Future Outlook of the Capital and Credit Markets-Rob Nichols, The Financial Services ForumStrategy in the Eye of the Storm-How Contractors Can Weather the Storm-Scott Winstead, FMI CorporationEconomic Stimulus: Impact and Implementation-Chuck Hardy, U.S. General Services Administration & Paul Parsoneault, U.S. Army Corps of EngineersTools for Tough Times PanelWhat Contractors Can Do To Reduce Their Carbon Footprint-Christopher Gorthy, DPR Construction, Inc. Not Business as Usual-Changes to Labor Laws are Here...With More on the Way-Steve Shapiro & Dirk Haire, Holland & KnightBuilding Information Modeling: An Owner's Perspective-Allen Ware, Intel Corporation &  Mike Pape, University Mechanical & Engineering Contractor (UMEC) Prepared for the Worst: Contingency Planning for a Project Shutdown and/or an Owner Default-Milton Smith, McGriff Seibels & Williams, Inc.The Current State of the Surety Industry-Todd Loehnert, Wells Fargo Insurance ServicesUtilization of the JA Biz Town to Enhance the Construction Industry's Education Alternatives-Tom Weise, Intel (Retired) & Joyce Richards, Junior Achievement, ArizonaAttendees also had several opportunities to participate in committee meetings and network with their colleagues at evening receptions, continental breakfasts, a keynote luncheon and the golf tournament.  Be sure to save the date for the next AGC Building Contractors Conference taking place January 20-23, 2010, at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  More information and registration will be available soon.AGC would like to thank the following Platinum and Associate Sponsors for their support of the AGC Building Contractors Conference: CMiC, National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Advenser, Akerman Senterfitt, Bama Painting and Wallcovering and SkySite Aerial Photography.For more information, contact Mike Stark at (703) 837-5365 or starkm@agc.org.

"Turning Points in Construction" - July 23, 2009 - 2:00-3:30pm (EDT)The 2009 Market Insights Series, presented by Reed Construction Data, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is a free quarterly webcast series delivering the most up-to-date information on current and forecasted construction activity.Join expert economists Jim Haughey, Ken Simonson and Kermit Baker for "Turning Points in Construction," a free 90-min. webcast focused on the key factors affecting the recovery of the construction industry. Register here!

On June 10, 2009, ConsensusDOCS released 11 new standard construction contract documents, including a Federal Subcontract (bringing the catalog total to 90+ documents addressing all project delivery methods).  In direct response to customer feedback, the new release also incorporates a software feature allowing users to choose whether or not to print the ConsensusDOCS endorsing organization logo box on their contracts.  The new ConsensusDOCS documents are listed below:235 Standard Short Form Agreement Between Owner and Contractor725 Standard Agreement Between Subcontractor and Subsubcontractor752 Standard Subcontract Agreement for Use on Federal GovernmentConstruction Projects481 Design-Build Certificate of Substantial Completion482 Design-Build Certificate of Final Completion781 Subcontract Certificate of Substantial Completion782 Subcontract Certificate of Final Completion812 Trade Contract Interim Directed Change813 Trade Contract Change Order814 Trade Contract Certificate of Substantial Completion815 Trade Contract Certificate of Final CompletionSubscribers can upgrade for FREE to ConsensusDOCS powered by DocuBuilder version 6.3. AGC Members receive a 20% discount when purchasing through the AGC Bookstore (www.AGC.org/Bookstore).

AGC's State Law Matrix has been updated and is now available!  The update includes new information on immigration and statute of repose issues.  AGC's State Law Matrix is the most comprehensive, definitive and concise publication available regarding a wide range of state law issues that can affect your public or private construction project.  State Law Matrix is an essential resource you should use before completing any construction contract to improve compliance and enforceability under state law.  State Law Matrix is available as a complete subscription package or by region.  The complete package includes all regions listed below:   Northeast Region: CT, DE, DC, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, WV   Midwest Region:   IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI   Southern Region:  AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, PR, SC, TN, TX, VA   Western Region:   AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WYAGC Members receive special pricing:Complete Package (All Regions):Retail Price: $295.00     Member Price: $195.00Individual Region:           Retail Price: $145.00     Member Price: $95.00To purchase or find more information about State Law Matrix, please visit www.AGC.org/Bookstore.

AGC of America, Airports Council International-NA and the Airport Consultants Council successfully held the Airport Project Delivery Systems Summit IV on June 3-4, 2009 in Savannah, Ga.  Airport owners, contractors and designers gathered to hear the latest on project delivery and airport construction issues such as APDS contracting, GMAX contracting tactics, challenges and solutions for FAA grant projects, academic vs. real life approaches to choosing an APDS and emerging trends in airport construction.  Speakers included representatives from major airports, FAA, general contractors, design firms and law firms.  This two-day summit has been held for the past four years, and planning for the 2010 summit will be underway soon.

July 9, 1:00 - 2:00 pm ETFederal contracting isn't easy and neither are the contracts. The ConsensusDOCS 752 is the first and only standard subcontract agreement for federal construction projects that is compliant with the most recent contracting requirements and practices found in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). ConsensusDOCS 752 will be used as a guide to help explain:E-VerifyEthics complianceFederal Prompt Pay ActFAR flow-down provisions Learn more at  www.agc.org/FARwebinar.

On May 19, AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson was invited with a handful of other members of the National Association for Business Economics to brief Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Governor Dan Tarullo on the state of the economy. Ken told the governors that respondents to his 12,000-reader Data DIGest have begun to report receiving some stimulus contracts and have seen an improvement in the state and local bond market, but no loosening of credit for developer-financed construction projects. Ken also referred to the change in materials costs in the year since he had given Chairman Bernanke a copy of the Construction Inflation Alert at the last Fed briefing he attended.Ken spoke later in the week to Austan Goolsbee, a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, offering to supply information on stimulus contracts and hiring. Ken also met with chief statistician of the U.S. and the directors of business statistics at the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, providing each with suggestions of data that would be useful for the construction industry and for public agencies concerned about construction costs or jobs.These are among the many recent examples of AGC's interactions with senior officials in all sectors of the federal government.

The leaders of the building construction industry participated in the AGC Building Contractors Conference held June 10-13 in Hot Springs, Va.  This Conference brought together many of the top building construction firms, specialty contractors, service and supply companies and owners to focus on the theme "Guiding Your Firm Through Challenging Economic Times" through informative presentations, interactive panels and dynamic discussions.  Attendees also had several opportunities to network with their colleagues at evening receptions, luncheons and the golf tournament.  Don't forget to save the dates for the next AGC Building Contractors Conference on January 20-23, 2010 at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico.For more information, contact Cassia Griffin at (703) 837-5408 or griffinc@agc.org.

AGC has posted new fact sheets about construction in every state at www.agc.org/factsheets, including the estimates of the impact of $1 billion of construction spending on a state's economy and the percentage change in construction employment from May 2008 to May 2009.  Also, AGC has compiled fact sheets with metro-level construction data that complement a June 4th AGC press release that contained a complete set of construction employment statistics for the nation's metropolitan areas. To view the press release and report click here.For more information or to make any suggestions on the effectiveness of the fact sheets contact Ken Simonson at simonsonk@agc.org.