Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets ：How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry

Publication subTitle ：How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry

Author： Barry B. LePatner

Publisher： University of Chicago Press‎

Publication year： 2008

E-ISBN: 9780226472706

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780226472676

P-ISBN(Hardback): 9780226472690

Subject： D9 Law

Keyword： Construction industry -- United States -- History., Construction industry -- United States -- Management.

Language： ENG

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Description

Across the nation, construction projects large and small—from hospitals to schools to simple home improvements—are spiraling out of control. Delays and cost overruns have come to seem “normal,” even as they drain our wallets and send our blood pressure skyrocketing. In Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, prominent construction attorney Barry B. LePatner builds a powerful case for change in America’s sole remaining “mom and pop” industry—an industry that consumes $1.23 trillion and wastes at least $120 billion each year.

With three decades of experience representing clients that include eminent architects and engineers, as well as corporations, institutions, and developers, LePatner has firsthand knowledge of the bad management, ineffective supervision, and insufficient investment in technology that plagues the risk-averse construction industry. In an engaging and direct style, he here pinpoints the issues that underlie the industry’s woes while providing practical tips for anyone in the business of building, including advice on the precise language owners should use during contract negotiations.

Armed with Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, everyone involved in the purchase or renovation of a building or any structure—from homeowners seeking to remodel to civic developers embarking on large-scale projects—has the information they need to change this antiquated industry, one project at a time.

“LePatner describes what is wrong with the current system and suggests ways that architects can help—by retaking their rightful place as master builders.”—Fred A. Bernstein, Architect Magazine

“Every now and then, a major construction project is completed on time and on budget. Everyone is amazed. . . . Barry LePatner thinks this exception should become the rule. . . . A swift kick to the construction industry.”—James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal

Chapter

ONE - Overbudget and Overdue

TWO - The Economic Context of Construction

THREE - False Starts and Frustrated Beginnings: A History of the Industry

FOUR - Asymmetric Information: The Big Barrier to Change

FIVE - Minor Blemishes: Unions, Workers, and Government

SIX - Fixing the Construction Industry: Consolidation, Intermediaries, and Innovation

SEVEN - Practical Advice to Owners for Getting Started Now

Notes

Index

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