Category Archives: Construction Planning

The town of Bolton was awarded nearly $1.8 million in two state grants for revitalization of its Lake George waterfront area.

Bolton will receive $1.725 million from the state’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), and $50,000 from the state’s Smart Growth Planning and Zoning grant program.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 29 announced over $22 million in grant funding was awarded to 76 communities across the state through Round XII of the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative to promote smart, sustainable and equitable community growth.

The funding will help communities revitalize their waterfronts, clean up and redevelop abandoned industrial sites and create neighborhoods that are environmentally sustainable through three state programs including the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program and the Smart Growth Planning and Zoning grant program.

The $1.725 million is for Veterans Memorial Park improvements. Bolton will advance its Local Waterfront Revitalization Program by designing and constructing the second phase of the Veterans Memorial Park Master Plan.

Improvements include a new multi-use waterfront recreation building which will house visitor information services and accommodate special events throughout the year, pedestrian access connections into the park, and stormwater management improvements for continued water quality protection of Lake George.

Construction firms added 28,000 employees in December and continued to raise wages for hourly workers more than other sectors as the industry’s unemployment rate fell to a record low for the month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. 

Association officials said the data align with their newly released survey, which found the majority of contractors are optimistic about demand for most construction types, despite reporting difficulty filling positions.

“There are more people working in construction today than ever before, and those figures are likely to continue to increase,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But as optimistic as contractors are about 2023, they remain worried about their ability to find enough workers amid record-low unemployment.”

Construction employment totaled a record 7,777,000, seasonally adjusted, in December, an increase of 231,000 or 3.1 percent from a year earlier. Nonresidential firms—comprising nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms—added 17,900 employees in December. Residential building and specialty trade contractors together added 9,500 employees.

Construction employment in December remained below levels reached just before the start of the pandemic in more than half the states as firms struggled to find enough workers to hire, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America. 

But the Biden Administration’s decision today to withdraw its emergency vaccine mandate for firms that employ 100 or more people will help firms avoid losing workers unwilling to comply with the new measure, officials said.

The decision by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration to withdraw its emergency temporary standard requiring workers at firms that employ 100 or more people to be vaccinated or tested weekly comes after the Supreme Court signaled its strong support for legal challenges filed by the Associated General Contractors of America and other entities against the measure.

The association challenged the rule late last year noting that the measure was unlawful and would do little to boost vaccination rates among construction workers, citing the fact that 64 percent of the construction industry works for firms that employ 99 or fewer people. With nearly 90 percent of construction firms having a hard time finding workers to hire, the rule would simply have encouraged vaccine-hesitant workers to move to smaller firms.

“The Biden administration is right to abandon its misguided vaccine emergency rule and we encourage them to do the same with a similar measure affecting federal contractors that we are also challenging in court,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “At the same time, we will continue to work with the administration to ensure its planned permanent vaccine rule applies only to workers in industries like healthcare that OSHA deems at high risk from the coronavirus.”

By Christine Graf
Economists and industry experts predict that the construction industry will continue to be plagued by rising material costs, material shortages and supply chain disruptions throughout 2021.
Thomas Albrecht Sr., owner of Hilltop Construction in Glens Falls, said his residential and commercial construction company, like so many others, has faced issues with material shortages.
“Expectations of delivery are non-existent,” he said. “My biggest challenge is educating our clients that you can have contracts and you can set dates, but we can’t necessary meet them because of the challenges we are faced with. What you could get in 4 weeks max could now be out 8 to 12 weeks. That means our planning has to be much more extensive.”
Hilltop Construction has 30 employees, many of whom have had to quarantine due to COVID exposure. As a result, the company has to absorb additional labor costs.
“The fallout continues as we see employees being exposed and having to quarantine,” he said. “We, by law, have to pay them up to five days. That’s a revolving door that continues and the financial burden continues.”
“The price increases are pretty drastic,” said Sara Turoczy, manager of business development at MLB Construction Services in Malta. “Along with lumber, we are seeing steel pricing skyrocket.”

By Jill Nagy
There is a $1 million building project planned for the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, which is the Warren County airport. Eight new hangars will be constructed.
The project will also result in a new building to house snow removal equipment and one replacing an original structure built in the 1940s.
Work is expected to begin in the spring.
Officials are also applying for a grant to upgrade the runway lights to LED lights.
Plank Construction of Schenectady is the general contractor. That project is budgeted at $993,000, of which the state Department of Transportation will pay 90 percent and Warren County will pay the balance.