While signs are pointing to a positive 2022 on the nonresidential construction front, there still are headwinds to navigate, industry executives say.

Getting stuck “between a rock and a hard place” is something that happens to most all of us as we navigate through life. It’s that sinking feeling you get in your gut when you must make a tough decision. 

Chicago has been known as the last major city in the United States that still mandates lead and oakum cast iron systems in buildings. No-hub fittings have never been allowed in the Chicago Plumbing Code. What is interesting is that caulking tools used to make lead and oakum joints are normally found in the plumbing museum.

As part of a project that lasted a year and a half, The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) performed structure rehabilitation and pipelining along 175th Street and Ridgeland Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Illinois.

There is no safe level of lead in drinking water. With this in mind, eliminating lead exposure via drinking water has been an incessant goal for regulatory agencies for several decades.

The Hartford Insurance Co., in its statistical review of types of insurance claims, lists water and freeze damage to properties accounts for 15% of their insurance claims. The total annual losses due to water damages cost the United States $15 billion dollars, according to Iproperty Management.

Growing up in West Bloomfield, Michigan, Brianne Hall remembers receiving engineering concept lessons in her father’s car on the way to elementary school. Her dad — who had degrees in both civil and mechanical engineering — handed her a paper clip to explain the concept of failure due to fatigue.

Accept who you are. Nowadays, we are encouraged to accept everyone for who they are whether we like them or not; and that pretty much goes for everyone.

Apartment buildings and condominiums are home to families with different comfort preferences or attitudes on energy use. Similarly, many commercial buildings are divided into spaces where tenants have different temperature requirements or usage schedules.

To increase the standard of living for many working-class families in Arlington, Virginia, the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) added quality and affordable apartments in the area, constructing the Queens Court Apartments in 2021. T