Industry News, trenchless people
June, 2019 (Pella, IA) Ring-O-Matic is pleased to announce that Dave Langenfeld has joined the company as the Director of Engineering & Product Development. Dave comes to Ring-O-Matic with over 30 years of experience in the construction equipment industry at Vermeer Corp and most recently at Weiler. With a unique and experienced skill set in all aspects of engineering, Dave will provide fresh leadership to the engineering team and add significant value to the entire operation located in our Pella, Iowa location.
Dave has a proven record of not only leading new product develop, project timelines, efficiency improvements, and understands the changing climate of our industry, but most importantly has a proven ability to coach, mentor and drive for daily improvement across an organization
“Frankly I’m honored that someone with Dave’s experience, technical skills, and desire would entertain joining our Ring-O-Matic team.” stated Brian Metcalf CEO/Owner of Ring-O-Matic. “His background, experience and knowledge in product development within our industry is just not easy to come by, so we’re excited to have Dave’s leadership!” Metcalf said.
Ring-O-Matic is a leading provider of trailer and truck mounted vacuum excavation equipment and car wash pit cleaning machines. Founded in 1960, Ring-O-Matic products are known for their proven performance, innovation, reliability and built to last the rigors of job sites in the underground utility, municipal and water and gas markets. Headquartered in Pella IA, Ring-O-Matic employs a Sales, Engineering and Production team dedicated to building the industry’ s most productive vacuum excavation machines. Ring-O-Matic products are sold worldwide through independent equipment dealers.
Industry News, trenchless people
It is with deep sadness that The Robbins Company announces the passing of Richard James Robbins, President and CEO from 1958 to 1993. Dick passed away surrounded by family on Thursday May 30, 2019 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He is survived by his wife Bonnie, son Jim and daughter Jennifer.
Dick Robbins was widely regarded as a titan of the tunneling industry and built The Robbins Company into an industry leader, from the first Double Shield machine to modern-day disc cutters for hard rock, to his notable TBM innovations at the Channel Tunnel connecting the U.K. and France. In total he filed 11 U.S. patents and 56 foreign patents in the field of underground mechanical excavation, and ultimately won the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering for his contributions. He accomplished all of this after taking over the company at the age of 25 following the untimely passing of his father James S. Robbins in a plane crash.
“In 1968 when I first had the chance to work for what was then known as James S. Robbins Co., I did not fully appreciate that I was getting a chance to work with the greatest innovator in the tunneling industry,” said Robbins President Lok Home. “Dick was a great mentor as a boss and as a person. He was always pushing the limits of what could be done with TBMs. Dick’s integrity, energy, and passion improved the worldwide tunneling industry, and his creations set many of the industry standards. It has been an honor to further the great name of Robbins in the industry.”
“Dick unselfishly gave back to his industry and to his community,” said consultant and former ITA President Harvey Parker, a long-time friend of the Robbins family. “He was very active in our industry’s professional associations both here in the United States and internationally. I was honored to work closely with Dick during his significant involvement in the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) where he served on the Executive Council for years, was elected First Vice President, and was a leader for the ITA Working Group on Mechanized Tunnelling.” Dick’s many awards garnered over the years included numerous honorary degrees, memberships and directorships in a wide variety of organizations ranging from Virginia Mason Medical Center to the Board of Trustees at his alma mater Michigan Technological University. In 1999, the Engineering News-Record selected him as one of the “125 Top People of the Past 125 Years,” an equipment innovator who “helped shape this nation and the world.”
He was well-known in Seattle for his active contributions in community organizations and sports. “Dick was a wonderful family man,” said Parker. “He was a great personal and professional friend who was always charming and pleasant. He designed and lived in his own innovative floating home (houseboat) on Lake Union in Seattle. He was an avid and very competitive sailor who designed a state-of-the-art sailboat in which he raced worldwide in races such as the famous Sydney-Hobart race. Dick was also very active and competitive in water sports, particularly in rowing crew races. Dick will be sorely missed, not only by those of us in the tunneling industry but also by those in the many other fields of endeavor that he touched during his active life.”
Industry News, trenchless people
THOMPSON, CONNECTICUT USA, May 1, 2019:
Numa, the world’s leading drilling technology provider, has announced the appointment of Mark Stickney to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mark will succeed Joe Tokarz, who served as CFO for over 30 years and retired in April 2019.
Mark is a finance leader with a proven track record of driving performance and process improvements in highly diversified manufacturing businesses. He brings over 25 years of top level financial experience and leadership to the organization. This is Mark’s second stint with Numa as he was previously a Senior Cost Accountant for the company in the late 1990’s.
“We are very pleased to welcome back Mark as our new CFO,” said Numa President, Ralph Leonard. “Mark’s past experience with Numa and his deep expertise in operational finance makes him uniquely qualified for this role. We look forward to him joining our leadership team and helping us execute on our growth plans while maximizing profitability.”
Prior to joining Numa, Mark served in various finance and accounting management roles for Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc. (Euronext: ISIN FR0000125007), a multinational corporation that produces a variety of construction and high-performance materials. In his most recent role, he was Director of Finance Worldwide where he supported a multi-million dollar manufacturing division with multiple global locations. His responsibilities focused on business outcomes and efficient and effective business processes. He holds both a MBA and Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting from the Nichols College.
“I’m very excited to re-join Numa,” Mark stated. “Numa is well known for its industry-leading products and service, which make it possible for its customers to quickly solve complex drilling challenges. I look forward to applying my experience to help drive growth and profit for the business.”
ABOUT NUMA
Numa is the world’s leading drilling technology provider, dedicated to ongoing product innovation and results-oriented consistency. We’ve built a strong legacy of high quality, U.S. made hammers and bits for drilling holes 3½ – 50½ inches (89 -1283 mm) in diameter. With over 100 hammer and bit products serving 11 different industries, our products are capable of drilling vertical, horizontal, and reverse circulation holes in hard rock and unconsolidated formations.
Industry News, trenchless people
Jason Dewitt joins the Vermeer team with 12 years of experience of various equipment industry roles
GREENVILLE, South Carolina, May 28, 2019 — Vermeer MV Solutions is building upon its already strong customer service in the drilling industry with the addition of Jason Dewitt as the new west coast regional sales manager based out of Exeter, California. In his new role, Dewitt will manage sales activities within his region and provide quality support to the dealers in those territories by determining dealer sales and marketing needs.
Over the years, Dewitt has held various equipment sales roles with increasing responsibilities — including previous positions with Vermeer Pacific and Vermeer Rocky Mountain. He has also served in the United States Air Force and as a police officer in Billings, Montana, and Visalia, California.
“Jason’s previous roles in equipment sales and his career as a police officer have molded him into an efficient leader with a team-oriented mindset,” said Vermeer MV Solutions director of sales Brian Showley. “We have no doubt that he will be able to hit the ground running with his passions for building strong relationships and providing quality customer service.”
Learn more about Vermeer MV Solutions by visiting Vermeer.com.
Industry News, trenchless people, trenchless projects
The Northeast Chapter of NASTT has launched a magazine that will be beneficial to the gas industry across the United States.
The inaugural issue of Trenchless for Gas Infrastructure magazine is now available as a complementary download. Trenchless for Gas Infrastructure magazine provides understanding, knowledge and technical innovations regarding the specific application of trenchless technology methods for gas distribution and transmission networks.
Trenchless for Gas Infrastructure is focused on the utility and application of trenchless methods in gas distribution pipeline repair and new construction programs. Content includes articles and case studies demonstrating the benefits of using trenchless technology to repair replace and upgrade gas distribution networks.
The magazine is distributed to senior gas operations and construction executives, engineers and consultants, reaching gas utility LDCs across the US. It is also available as a free download on the NASTT website.
Blog, Industry News, trenchless people, trenchless projects
Today’s blog post is a guest post from Ted Roberts. Ted is a Minnesota-based attorney and NASTT member focused on helping contractors steer through project disputes and other legal obstacles. He welcomes feedback about this article and may be reached at ted@tedrobertslaw.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/hddlawyer. His website—www.directionaldrillinglaw.com—is currently under construction.
In this article I share five rules for getting paid faster with fewer objections. The five rules are distilled from my experience litigating lawsuits stemming from horizontal directional drilling projects. Reflecting on what the parties were fighting about in those cases, I tried to come up with a set of “best practices” that, had they been followed in the cases I handled, might have prevented a lawsuit in the first place or at least reduced the time and expense needed to resolve it.
Any contractor who implements these practices will see three benefits. First, the contractor will encounter fewer objections to payment. Second, any objections will be resolved sooner without the need to resort to a lawsuit. Finally, any payment disputes will be resolved on better terms—that is, the contractor will see more money sooner. While there exist additional ways to avoid claims on a project, I have focused on actions contractors can take without much trouble or expense.
As detailed below, the five rules are:
- Write down the important stuff.
- Treat your contract as a rulebook, not something to be signed and filed away.
- Thoroughly document any extras now, not later.
- Preserve your lien and bond rights.
- Make sure the contract you want is the contract you get.
Write down the important stuff.
Easy to remember and easy to do: document important communications and events in writing, when they happen. I do not think I exaggerate when I say that many lawyers would be out of a job if more contractors lived by this principle: “If it’s not in writing, it never happened.”
While most of us know that contracts should be in writing, many contractors still find themselves fighting over incidental agreements and commitments made during the project’s performance. Because these are often the result of a conversation or meeting, no one bothers to make a record. While I am not suggesting that someone transcribe everything said on the job site, my own experience suggests that many disputes could be avoided had the parties documented their agreement in writing.
Here are some examples of the types of discussions and agreements that should be documented:
- Agreements about the cause or mitigation of any defective work or property damage.
- Commitments to pay for extra work or changes in the work.
- Agreements to accept non-conforming work or a substitute performance.
- Agreements to modify the original contract, including agreements to ignore (that is, “waive”) any contract requirements.
- Agreements to modify the schedule or project deadlines.
Unless the contract requires something different, written documentation need not be lengthy or formal: a quick email can be enough, or a hand-written note signed by both sides.
Treat your contract as a rulebook, not something to be signed and filed away.
Good construction contracts anticipate and address the issues most likely to cause problems on an HDD project. These include what are commonly known as “project risks” or “construction risks”: delays, frac-outs, and unexpected subsurface conditions, for example.
All of these risks can negatively impact the project by either increasing either the time or costs required to complete the work. The occurrence of any of these events should trigger an immediate review of the contract. Chances are, the contract will provide specific instructions on how the contractor should respond, especially if the contractor intends to ask for additional time or money as a result. More often than not, the contract will require written notice and other documentation within a short period of time. A contractor who ignores these requirements is at risk of losing any rights to additional time or money.
Events that impact a project’s schedule and cost are not the only reason to take a second look at your contract. Refer to your contract whenever:
- The parties want to modify the contract’s terms or the scope of work.
- One of the parties has defaulted—that is, failed to perform—on one of its obligations.
- One of the parties wants to terminate or abandon the contract before completion.
All of the above assumes that your contract actually has something to say about these issues. Good construction contracts will address these issues and most do.
Some contracts, especially lower-tier subcontracts, do not. I have encountered more than one subcontract limited to a one-page proposal, without much else. If you are dealing with such a contract, then proceed with caution and consult a lawyer.
Thoroughly document any extras now, not later.
It is not uncommon for a contractor to incur additional, unexpected costs on a project through no fault of its own. Delays, contract changes and extras, and differing site conditions may all negatively impact the bottom line. And a contractor may have the right to be reimbursed for these costs. But a right to payment is only half the battle. The legal right to be paid means nothing if the contractor is unable to show what its actual costs were.
You may have heard this in math class: “Show your work.” This is also a good rule to follow when documenting any extras on a job. A contractor who is incurring extra costs should keep two goals in mind. The first goal is to segregate the extra costs so they can be easily distinguished from costs related to the work under the contract. The second is to show that the extra costs were the result of a specific cause; for example, extra costs attributable to delayed site access.
Detailed contemporaneous documentation can only help your cause. Paper the file. Was your work or equipment damaged? Assign a separate job-cost accounting code and document the damage and repairs with photographs and daily work records. Did you attempt to limit or contain your costs? Document that. If your schedule was impacted, make any necessary changes to your schedule. Was the matter discussed? Any discussions, agreements, and resolutions should be noted in writing when they happen.
Here’s what NOT to do. Do not wait until the end of the project and attempt to “guesstimate” your extra costs. Back-of-the-envelope cost calculations are rarely acceptable, either to those paying the bill or to a judge and jury sitting in a courtroom.
Preserve your lien and bond rights.
Mechanic’s liens and payment bonds are among the most valuable tools available to an unpaid contractor. This is so for two primary reasons. First, lien and bond claims allow a contractor to recover its attorneys fees in most cases. Second, both offer another source of payment—a second set of pockets—to pursue when your customer is either unwilling or unable to pay. And if your customer is insolvent, or declares bankruptcy, a lien or bond may be your only way to get paid.
Liens and payment bonds are often not treated with the respect they deserve. The leverage and power of a lien or bond claim should not be underestimated. A contractor with a valid lien or bond claim is a lot harder to ignore and a lot more expensive to fight. The threat of attorney’s fees, or the pressure exerted by the owner of property that has been liened, may be enough to motivate the other side to drop its objections and resolve a payment claim sooner.
Here’s a rough guide for contractors wanting to keep these two weapons in their arsenal. Before starting work on a project, a contractor should, either by itself or with the help of a lawyer, answer these three questions:
- Do I have the right to file a lien or a payment bond claim if I am not paid?
- If so, are there any notice or filing requirements I must satisfy before starting the work?
- If I am not paid, what are the notice and claim requirements I must follow after completing the work?
Of these three, the third is the one most often bungled. Know this: many lien and bond laws impose strict deadlines upon a contractor wanting to assert a claim. Many contractors allow these remedies to lapse as they continue to negotiate with their customer. For this reason, I suggest that contractors know what they need to do before starting the work and, as they close out their project, calendar any deadlines for filing a lien or taking action against a payment bond.
Make sure the contract you want is the contract you get.
Expensive claims and lawsuits do not happen simply because something goes wrong on a project. Even if a project’s costs suddenly increase because of the unexpected—bad geotechnical conditions, for example—an expensive lawsuit is unlikely if the issue has been addressed by the parties’ contract.
The seeds of a lawsuit are often planted before the work is even started, when the contract is formed. This can happen when both sides believe they have entered into a contract but harbor different understandings about their rights and obligations. Unfortunately, many contractors do not fully appreciate the risks posed by the contract formation process until it is too late.
In my experience, this problem—both sides having conflicting ideas about the nature of their agreement—is present in a lot of disputes that end up in litigation. Common scenarios include Here are three ways I’ve seen this happen on HDD projects:
- In the middle of a project, Contractor A subcontracts with Contractor B to complete some HDD crossings. Contractor A’s contract with the project’s general contractor incorporates the project’s specifications. Contractor A’s subcontract with Contractor B is silent on this issue. After things go wrong, the two contractors litigate the question of whether Contractor B and its work is, like Contractor A, bound by the project specifications.
- In the middle of a project, Contractor A hires Contractor B to complete some HDD crossings. After a telephone conversation about the conditions that Contractor A has encountered so far, the parties sign a contract consisting of little more than a description of the work and price. After mobilizing to the project, Contractor B discovers that neither water nor lodging is available within 60 miles. To make matters worse, Contractor B encounters geotechnical conditions inconsistent with what Contractor A had described. After things go south, the parties litigate the issue of whether Contractor A had misrepresented the project’s subsurface conditions and whether Contractor B had a right to assume that water and lodging would be nearby.
- Contractor provides Owner with a price proposal for HDD work. The proposal includes a term sheet that includes provisions that entitle Contractor A to be paid for stand-by time and to adjust its price upwards if the geotechnical conditions are different than those indicated. Owner asks Contractor to sign a contract that reflects Contractor’s price but does not include the contractor’s term sheet. If Contractor signs the contract, there is a substantial risk that its term sheet has been nullified. As a result, the Contractor has effectively agreed to take on greater risk during the project, without an increase in its price.
Here’s the point: a contractor’s mishandling or misunderstanding of the contract formation process can be financially disastrous if things go wrong. Contractors can manage risks they know about and price their work accordingly. But unknown risks are more difficult manage effectively and as a result more costly if they occur.
Here are five ways to make sure the contract you want is the contract you get:
- Anything important to you or your price should be in writing, in your contract. “In your contract,” means the written documents that both sides have agreed to. It does not mean your bid or proposal, unless the contract expressly says it does.
- Do not rely or depend upon agreements and statements that precede your contract, unless they also find their way into the written contract.
- Do not rely on industry “customs” and “practices” to get what you want. A judge or jury will not care if it’s customary to pay stand-by time, or that no money is paid for an incomplete crossing, if neither issue is addressed in the contract.
- Make sure your set of contract documents is complete. This is a bigger problem than many contractors realize. Most subcontracts contain “flow down” clauses, provisions that incorporate the terms in an upstream contract; for example, the agreement between the general contractor and the project’s owner. The two contracts are not always consistent and, in some cases, the terms in the upstream contract may override or nullify the terms in the subcontract. If your contract incorporates other agreements or documents, it is important that you obtain and review these documents before signing the contract.
- Increase your contract literacy. Given that most contracts are signed without the involvement of a lawyer, most contractors would benefit from a better understanding of how contracts work and, especially, how to spot and understand terms most likely to cause trouble. Such terms include those that limit a contractor’s right to recover losses caused by the other side, indemnity clauses, warranty provisions, and disclaimers. To be honest, I have no idea how contractors wade through the legal mumbo-jumbo that passes for contract drafting these days, other than to learn from trial and error. However they do it, contractors should empower themselves to understand the terms commonly included in construction contracts and the business purposes they are meant to serve.
Closing Thoughts
Nobody wants to fight over a claim for extra money or time. Lawsuits are expensive not only in terms of fees paid to lawyers and experts, but also expensive in the time and resources that required to deal with them. The occurrence of a project risk alone lead does not usually lead to an expensive legal fight, though some type of significant cost-impact like a delay or differing site condition is a necessary ingredient. The expensive disputes that end up in court usually also entail some type of misunderstanding or mismanagement of the contracting process. The five rules discussed above, if successfully implemented, should go far in avoiding such missteps.