What Happens When Green Becomes Code:
Increased Standard of Care, Risk & Change in
Building Practices -- Are You Prepared?
George H. DuBose and Chuck Allen
Liberty Building Forensics Group
The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) is a noble step forward for the building design and construction community with measures intended to create more efficient, waste-reductive construction sites from start to completion. This push forward by more and more municipalities and states to green codification has some looming consequences that should not go unnoticed as these standards become the law of the land. What are now simply best practices will soon be considered the minimum standard of care, increasing the risk profile of many projects and potentially triggering some exclusion clauses in current insurance policies. Designers and contractors will be forced to implement building features with complex components that many do not fully understand, leading to more frequent failures, while subsequently closing the gap in market differentiators among firms, such as experience and unique technical expertise.
While the IgCC is meritorious and inarguably a step toward the improvement of the Earth’s environment, firms must anticipate the unintended consequences of many of the code’s requirements as they begin to act together in an operating building. These national mandates rarely take into consideration the unique requirements of differing regions around the country; variations in climate - hot, humid, very cold, or very rainy - will quickly identify deficiencies through building failures that codification simply cannot predict. As construction firms and contractors quickly morph into green practitioners, lack of expertise will result in design and construction deficiencies and an increase in lawsuits.
This 90-minute recorder webinar will prepare you for what’s coming by helping you:
- Understand that designers and contractors will soon be forced to implement building features that many do not fully understand, leading to more frequent building failures as firms design and construct buildings with complex components in an effort to keep the work coming in.
- Realize that what are now considered “best practices” will soon be considered the minimum standard of care, increasing the risk profile of many projects and potentially triggering some exclusion clauses in current insurance policies.
- Recognize that national mandates rarely take into consideration the unique requirements of differing regions around the country (e.g., hot and humid, very cold, or very rainy climates).
- Prepare for a time when everyone will quickly morph into a green practitioner - a period when the true marketplace differentiators (those with experience and unique technical expertise) will become difficult to discern, and design and construction deficiencies and lawsuits will increase.
- Identify the increased risk in your green-designed and -constructed project due to use of innovative products.
- Identify LEED credits in your project that may add minimal value but dramatically increase risk.
- Give you a better understanding of the technical concerns of green building failures.
- And much, much more!
Who Will Benefit?
This webinar is a must if you’re a design professional, engineer, architect, owner, contractor, subcontractor or attorney.
Buy it today to gain a better understanding of increased risks that construction professionals face as they go green and how you can minimize your project risks when building green!
Meet Your Expert Instructors:
| George DuBose, CGC, is a general contractor with a mechanical engineering degree. He’s also a building forensics expert and Vice President of Building Consulting Services with Liberty Building Forensics Group in Orlando, Florida. He has lectured on building performance problems for more than 10 years and authored more than 15 technical articles and co-authored three manuals on moisture-related mold problems and commissioning in hot/humid climates, including NCARB’s mini-monograph: “The Hidden Risks of Green Buildings: Avoiding Moisture & Mold Problems,” which is proving invaluable in the construction industry and related fields. Mr. DuBose was technical adviser to the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games. He is also a co-inventor of a hybrid fan coil unit (patent pending) specially designed for hot/humid climate use and installed in more than 10,000 rooms in central Florida and 2,000 rooms in Hawaii. Mr. DuBose has more than 10 years’ experience in diagnosing, correcting and remediating moisture-related mold problems in buildings.
Chuck Allen, AIA, of Liberty Building Forensics Group in Orlando, Florida, is a forensic architect specializing in diagnosing building envelope and building moisture problems. He has managed and consulted on a wide range of building deficiency projects, including a LEED certified University Science Laboratory, resort hotels in Colorado, Central Florida and the Caribbean, a world-class Performing Arts Theater complex in South Florida, as well as commercial buildings, multi-family residential complexes, and condominiums. Mr. Allen’s areas of technical expertise include building envelope assessment and repair, moisture and air intrusion investigation, litigation support, peer reviews, and quality assurance during construction. Mr. Allen received his Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Florida and has been a registered architect in Florida for over 15 years. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
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