22nd ANNUAL TRADE SHOW OCTOBER 10, 2002 (Go Top)

Business owners and managers involved in the commercial construction industry who wish to learn about the latest in construction products and services will have the opportunity to engage in some one-stop shopping when NESCA hosts its 22nd Annual Trade Show on Thursday, October 10, 2002 at the Century House in Latham. The Trade Show, which will be held from 4:00 - 8:30 p.m., will expose subcontractors, general contractors, design professionals, manufacturers, and public owners to a wide variety of products and services in virtually every trade category. Rigging equipment, power tools, lifts and ladders, acoustical products, windows and doors, insurance and bonding services, welding equipment, temperature controls, fasteners and fencing products are among the many products and services which will be on display at the Trade Show.

It is anticipated that all available exhibit space will be sold out with approximately 45 exhibitors on hand, and total attendance at the Trade Show is expected to top 500. Those NESCA members who have attended the Trade Show in the past know that it is much more than just a trade show, it is an industry event calculated to bring the various segments of the commercial construction industry together for an evening of business networking……..and fun! While taking in the exhibits, attendees will be treated to a variety of hors d’oeuvres, carving stations and other great food at the International Food Bazaar. Lots of door prizes will be given away by exhibitors, and a “Super 50/50” drawing will be held, with a guaranteed payout of at least $1,000 to the winner!

NESCA’s condensed 4 1/2 hour format, unlimited food and bar, exciting prizes, networking with construction industry professionals and the chance to see the most complete line-up of commercial construction products and services available in Northeastern New York is sure to make this event one that NESCA members will not want to miss. Once again this year, the admission fee for the Trade Show is $20 per person for advance registrations and $25 at the door. To register to attend the trade show, contact the NESCA office at (518) 869-9800.

ESSA’s LIEN DISCHARGE BILL SENT TO GOVERNOR (Go Top)

An Empire State Subcontractors Association (ESSA) bill that would set the amount of an undertaking required to discharge a public or private improvement lien at 110% of the lien amount, has been sent to Governor Pataki for his consideration. Currently in New York State, undertakings to discharge liens, which are usually in the form of a bond issued by a surety, are required to be set by a judge or justice with or without a stipulated agreement between the surety providing the bond and the lienor. The time and expense (for both parties) of this procedure can be eliminated by statutorily setting the amount of the undertaking at 110% of the lien amount. This procedure for discharging liens is currently utilized in the State of New Jersey. This ESSA bill was sent to Governor Pataki on September 12^th, which means he has until September 22^nd to either sign or veto the measure. If signed by the Governor, it will represent ESSA’s 32^nd legislative success since 1975.

22ND ANNUAL NESCA TRADE SHOW

CENTURY HOUSE, LATHAM

OCTOBER 10, 2002 - $20 PER PERSON

Exhibits Open

4:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Food Bazaar & Hors D’oeuvres

4:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Open Bar

4:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Super 50/50 Drawing

8:00 p.m.

Silent Auction

4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (Go Top)

NESCA’s first membership meeting of the 2002-2003 year was held September 12, 2002 at the Century House, and those members who attended received some very important and useful information about New York State’s new prompt payment law. NESCA legal counsel Terry Burke presented a practical overview of this new law and provided many handy tips on how members may take advantage of its provisions. Terry also compared and contrasted the new private sector law with the existing public sector prompt payment statutes. NESCA members who did not attend the meeting missed out on some fantastic information. And more specifically, Bellevue Builders Supply missed out on receiving a crisp $100 bill when we conducted our monthly attendance drawing.

If you HAD been at the meeting, you would have learned:

· This new law will become effective on January 14, 2003.

· The new prompt pay provisions principally apply to commercial projects valued at $250,000 or more.

· Owners will be required to approve or disapprove invoices within 12 business days.

· Contractors will be required to pay subs and suppliers within 7 days after receipt of payment from the owner.

· Upon written request of the subcontractor, owners will be required to notify the sub within 5 days of making payments to contractor.

· Owners (and contractors) will be required to pay interest of 1% per month for late payments.

· Upon 10 days written notice, contractors and subcontractors will each have the right to stop work for non-payment.

· Owners will be required to release retainage no later than 30 days after final approval of the work.

· The venue for dispute resolution will be New York State.

The new prompt payment law will arm subcontractors and suppliers with some additional tools you may use to help you receive timely payment for work performed and materials furnished. Over the next several months, NESCA will be developing for member use a series of sample notice letters and other sample letters you may use to educate owners and contractors about the provisions of this new law.

NESCA will not hold a regular membership meeting in October, but instead will host our 22nd Annual Trade Show at the Century House on October 10th. We expect approximately 45 exhibitors will be on hand displaying a large variety of commercial construction products and services. The NESCA Trade Show is the premier commercial construction industry event of the year in Northeastern New York, so you won’t want to miss it! All members were recently mailed registration information about the Show. If you have any questions about the Trade Show, please contact the NESCA office. I look forward to seeing you on October 10th!

Jim Elacqua

President

COURT SUPPLIES MISSING NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECT PAYMENT BOND (Go Top)

On May 6, 2002, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, Second Department, decided the case of Willets Point Asphalt Corp. v. R.L.I. Insurance Company. In this case, the general contractor on a public improvement project with the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation obtained a payment bond from the Defendant, R.L.I. Insurance Company. The bond had a two-year statute of limitations but was silent as to the notice requirements. The plaintiff, Willets Point Asphalt Corp., was a supplier of asphalt materials.

State Finance Law §137(3), provides that a person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor of a contractor furnishing the payment bond but no contractual relationship expressed or implied with such contractor shall not have a right of action upon the bond until he shall give written notice to such contractor within 120 days from the date on which the last of the labor was performed or when the last of the material was furnished to which the claim is made. The plaintiff failed to give the required 120 days notice. The plaintiff contended that the payment bond in question was not furnished pursuant to State Finance Law §137(3) and there were no notice requirements contained in the payment bond. The court in dismissing the plaintiff’s claim held that the payment bond was furnished in connection with the public improvement project and must be deemed to have been furnished to satisfy the statutory requirements of State Finance Law §137(3). Therefore, the 120 day notice provision was applicable to the payment bond notwithstanding that there was no mention of notice provisions in the bond itself.

Subcontractors should take note of this case and realize that the provisions of State Finance Law §137(3) with respect to payment bonds will be applicable to any payment bond provided for such public improvement projects and the statutory requirements of that section will be made applicable to such payment bonds.

Terence J. Burke, Esq.

NESCA Legal Counsel

IMPROPER DESIGN DELEGATION STILL AN ISSUE (Go Top)

Subcontractors who are required to provide design services in connection with specific segments of a construction project are alerted to the fact that some architects and engineers continue to routinely violate the NYS Board of Regents Rules governing the delegation of design responsibility adopted in June of 1996.

One recent example involves the AOL Time Warner Center in New York City where the engineer of record stamped the shop drawings submitted by the steel fabricator with the following language: “Reviewed only for Capability of Structure to Sustain Loads Imposed by Equipment Shown….”

The above represent classic weasel words, which fortunately are no longer permitted by Regents Rule 29.3(b)(2), which states in part:

(e) The delegator shall be required to review and approve the design submitted by the delegatee for conformance with the established specifications and parameters and such determination shall be in writing.

(f) The delegator shall be required to determine that the design prepared by the delegatee conforms to the overall project design and can be integrated into such design and such determination shall be in writing.

Clearly under this Regents Rule, the delegator (engineer of record) is required to approve (and not just review….sort of) any design submitted by a contractor or subcontractor. So what can a subcontractor do who is faced with an architect or engineer who refuses to approve shop drawings?

Well, an informal administrative procedure was developed by the Education Department pursuant to adoption of the Regents Rule. This informal procedure first involves contacting the designer of record and directly requesting compliance with the Regents Rule. If that fails to result in compliance, the subcontractor may then contact the Education Department’s Licensing Boards for Architecture or Engineering directly and lodge a complaint. This will result in a letter from the Department to the design firm advising the firm that a concern has been raised, and if there is indeed a violation and it is not corrected, an investigation by the Office of Professional Discipline may be commenced. Members who encounter a design delegation problem may contact NESCA for assistance in utilizing this procedure.

WELCOME NEW MEMBER (Go Top)

Albany Pipe Insulators, Inc.

P.O. Box 332

Voorheesville, NY 12186

(518) 765-2432; Fax (518) 439-1577

Contact: Joseph Swick

CALENDAR OF EVENTS (Go Top)

October 1, 2002

NESCA/GBC/ECA Seminar

The New NYS Building Code

Building Industry Center, 8 am

October 3, 2002

Board of Directors Meeting

Century House, Latham, 6 pm

October 3, 2002

NESCA/GBC/ECA

STP Unit #8 Course Begins

Managing the Project

Building Industry Center, 6 pm

October 10, 2002

22nd Annual Trade Show

Century House, Latham, 4 pm

November 7, 2002

Board of Directors Meeting

Century House, Latham, 6 pm

November 13, 2002

NESCA/GBC/ECA Seminar

Notary Public

Building Industry Center, 12 Noon

November 14, 2002

NESCA Membership Meeting

Century House, Latham, 6 pm

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES MEMBER GET A MEMBER CAMPAIGN

NESCA’s membership committee has launched its 2002-03 membership recruitment campaign, a program that will reward each and every member who recruits and sponsors a new member into the association. The “Member Get a Member” campaign is designed to get as many NESCA members involved in recruiting a new member as possible – and then rewarding you for your efforts.

Membership Committee Chairman Mark Woodward outlined the new membership campaign to the Board of Directors on September 5^th, and explained that NESCA’s strength and ability to improve business conditions for all subcontractors and suppliers has always been vitally dependent upon having as many subs and suppliers “on board” as possible. If every member recruited just one subcontractor or supplier per year, NESCA would have the strength in numbers and the resources to accomplish even more.

To kick off the Member Get a Member campaign, the membership committee simply requests that all members provide the name, address and phone and fax numbers of at least one non-member subcontractor or supplier to the NESCA office. Enclosed with this Newsletter is a form that can be used for this purpose. You will be listed as the sponsor for each prospect you provide. The NESCA office will mail an information packet to your prospects and will work with you to recruit them as a new member of NESCA.

Members will also be encouraged to bring your prospects to a future NESCA membership meeting. As an incentive, all prospects that attend a meeting will receive dinner free of charge, and the sponsors who bring a prospect to a meeting will receive 10 free 50/50 tickets.

And now the best part. For every subcontractor or supplier you sponsor as a new member of NESCA, the Committee has doubled the prize from last year, and will reward you $100 cash!

Members are reminded that NESCA is a full-service organization committed to serving the needs of commercial, industrial and institutional subcontractors, specialty contractors and material suppliers located in the Capital District, Hudson Valley, North Country and Binghamton areas. NESCA concentrates exclusively on the payment and other business issues commonly affecting all specialty trade subcontractors and material suppliers. All members are encouraged to participate in the Member Get a Member campaign and help NESCA to grow and accomplish even more!

At NESCA’s September 12^th Membership Meeting, Bellevue Builders Supply, Inc. was pulled in the monthly attendance drawing. Had a representative from this firm been in attendance, he/she would have received $100 cash! Better luck next time!

Vol 21, No. 4

(518) 869-9800

October 2002

NESCA/GBC/ECA

STP Unit #8 Course Begins

October 10, 2002