The Builders Counsel Blog :: Washington Construction Law :: Seattle Construction Lawyer

Sureties can't wrap their hands around the green building liabilities.

***This post was first made on www.NWConstructionLawyers.com. To see the original article written by Douglas Reiser, please visit their wonderful site.***

A bright new topic surfaced on one of our favorite construction law blogs today and we thought we would continue the discussion over here at NWConstructionLawyers.com.

Construction Law Musings is a construction law blog focusing on Virginia law. The site is managed and edited by super prodigy Christopher Hill, one of the most inciteful and engaging construction law attorneys on the web. Check out his twitter and his blog for great construction law news and information.

Musings has a Guest Post Friday section wherein people from the nationwide construction world are plucked to post their incite on the construction world. Wolfe Law’s Doug Reiser and Scott Wolfe have each been given the honor to post on Guest Post Friday in the past.

This Friday, Kevin Kaiser, of Surety Bond Education Center and the Surety Bond Insider, was Chris’ guest. Kevin stopped by to comment on the growing concerns apparent in the bonding industry, resulting from a boom in green construction.

Kevin’s article shows that the majority of sureties are frightened by increased liability for performance standards in LEED (and other) green construction. Do sureties provide performance bonding for post-construction energy performance? Are sureties assessing the inherent risks of green construction in writing bonds?

Kevin discusses that change is coming. Recent policy changes by top surety organizations are seeking to eliminate the Green Building Act’s “performance bond,” by changing the requirement to simply require a “bond.” Whatever that means is still up in the air, and green building expert Chris Cheatham correctly points out that the availability of these bonds is still an unsolved mystery.

In any event, surety companies are going to have to meet this challenge head on. Green building has infiltrated almost every community, due to federal and state mandates to utilize sustainable building practices on public works. Soon enough, nationwide private construction will be rife energy performance standards (if not already). Sureties will have to meet the goals of these projects and provide suitable bonds.

Continue with the debate over at Construction Law Musings. We commented, so can you. Let your opinion be heard.