Though Some Military Construction Remains Strong 

The General Services Administration will not start new projects this year. Although military construction is strong and specific agency facilities will result in spending of $117 billion this year, down from $125 billion last year, in contrast to the 2012 request of $182 billion. (Figures courtesy of the Associated General Contractors of America.) Back out the Department of Housing and Urban Development, grant and contract spending will be cut in half. And construction pulls through so much related spending like IT, audio visual, and furniture.  

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Researchers are getting results.

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame has made a major advance toward their goal of creating an inexpensive "solar paint" that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.  They must up the the light to energy conversion rate in order to really shine.

Read the Science Daily Post

Office holiday parties can be a joyful celebration of the year’s accomplishments.  But they can also give the gift of legal liability.  Employers should remember a few basic rules:

• If attendance is mandatory, non-exempt employees must be paid for their time.
• Non-exempt employees who “volunteer” to help with set-up or clean-up must be paid for their time.
• If alcohol is served, alternative transportation home should be offered to those who have overindulged.
• All prohibitions against sexual harassment and other harassment apply to employer-sponsored holiday parties.

The National Labor Relations Board announced that it was postponing to January 31, 2012, the effective date of its new notice-posting rule.  That rule, issued in August, will require all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act to post a notice advising employees of their right to unionize and certain other protected rights.  The Board’s press release asserted that the deadline has been extended in order to allow more time for “education and outreach” to employers.  Many commentators, however, suspect that the delay has more to do with pending legal challenges to the new rule.  Among its other flaws, the new rule requires employers to notify employees of their pro-union rights but not of their rights to oppose unionization, such as their right to speak out in opposition to a union, to refuse to sign an authorization card, to vote “no” in a union election, to refuse to pay full union dues (in all states) or to pay any money to a union at all (in right-to-work states), and their right to “decertify” a union.  For now, employers should plan to post the required notice on January 31, 2012 - unless the Board postpones that deadline again, for more “education and outreach.”

The best and brightest minds in commercial real estate gathered at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on November 10th to discuss what the industry will look like in the future.  BOMA International hosted the symposium entitled 2025: A Vision for Commercial Real Estate, which was presented by the BOMA Foundation and the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies and its Masters of Professional Studies in Real Estate.  Topics covered included:

• Work Space will Compress - Increased density means less square footage per worker
  
  
• CRE Sustainability Movement Needing Incentives
  
  
• Teleworking Gaining Momentum - Employee Magnet Incentives Needed
  

Read this interesting report to learn how finding solutions to these challenges for your CRE customers may benefit your commercial painting company.  Perhaps with more workers in less footage, more maintenance painting will be necessary.  Consider the benefits your company can provide to transform and improve the workplace environment