WestCon Tribune

The presentation of common problems of drainage, grading, and water filtration was seen from two vantage points: that of the landscape architect (Carducci), and that of the geotechnical consultant and engineer (Hillebrandt). The solutions explored were almost always the result of cooperation, coordination, and communication among those involved.

Please note: we will adjourn our meetings no later than 9 pm out of respect and consideration for those who are obligated to be on their way to face demanding schedules, long miles, and early hours.

Webster will also discuss how what is seen equates with what we, as experts, say is required for correction. When considered, the empirical formula is itself a contradiction. "Empirical" is the reliance of observation and experience alone, without consideration of science. "Formula" is the essence of the science of mathmatics. Putting the science into our observations should be of great interest to most, if not all, of our members. See you at the meeting.

October wil be a special meeting with our past president, who will share his expertise not only as an expert in his field of acoustics, but as an author of his forthcoming book ACOUSTICS: Architecture, Engineering, and the Environment.

The presentation has been developed as a professional marketing tool to explain Charles M. Salter Associates and is designed to explain, not sell. We as a group of professionals show a particular apathy to sell and have a definite desire and need to know how to explain our services in a non-vulgar, professional manner. October's meeting will address such information as "How to be heard without being loud" - both professionally as well as acoustically.

December - Holiday Party

Your Club, Your Party, You're There. Set aside the 3rd Wednesday in December for the Annual Westcon Holiday Bash.

Money Matters

Westcon's finances were itemized and placed before the Board by Treasurer Habache. It was agreed that the organization should at least break even each month. We are not charging enough for the monthly dinner and the wine, which averages approximately $30 per attendee. The Board feels that in consideration for the non-drinkers in the membership, we shall not raise the price of dinner. Instead, the Board felt obligated to eliminate the gratuitous wine. Hereafter, the wine will be available at the expense of those who choose to drink it.

www.westcon.org

The Website was discussed, and all Board members expressed their appreciation to Westcon member Art Zigas for all of his help in getting the site into shape. The membership is invited to become familiar with that particular page devoted to each member. Any member is able to expand upon that page to best represent the firm or individual. Westcon is developing a questionnaire for the members to provide additional information in a uniform format. See Art Zigas' memorandum below for further information. In addition to Art Zigas, we can thank our President Rod Tosetti for the many hours that he has devoted to our place on the web.

Westcon Symposium

The pros and cons of a symposium were discussed with the Board, who resolved to take the next step in realizing Westcon's First Symposium. See Secretary Fedorov's article regarding the Code Committee meeting for further details.

In an attempt to clean up the site, the number of disciplines that appear on the first Member Page has been reduced to make it clearer and more professional (everyone is an "Expert Witness," for example). However, each individual member page listing is just as you requested, and can be edited anytime just by contacting Art Zigas. As for the Discipline Index on the first page, to get the ball rolling, each member was restricted to no more than two disciplines. Of course, this can be changed: disciplines can be added or deleted if the membership feels strongly about this.

We hope to add the Resource Guide with hyperlinks to any site the resource has, and perhaps gain reciprocity. We will also be adding an email address on the Home Page for "More Information."

For the moment, the What's New page will show the next meeting notice, with Lina Habache's hyperlinked email address for direct reservations.

It should be noted again that each member literally has his or her identifiable web page, which can be directly addressed by their individual URL - www.westcon.org/name/ - where "name" should be the first seven letters of your last name. For example: www.westcon.org/zigas/

Now, the "beauty part" is that each member can expand his or her page as they see fit to make it first class, add graphics, etc. Keep in mind, however, that this is an individual expense: contact Art Zigas for more information.

Art Zigas can be reached at 415.882.7805
fax 415.882.7758
email ArtZigas@compuserve.com

ASTM - Third Symposium on Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS): Innovations and Soulutions to Industry Changes
Sunday, 12 October in San Diego

Merger Notification -
A.C.C. Consultants, Inc. and Waterproofing Services Manfred (Fred) Honeck and Harv Abernathey have merged in the formation of AQUATECH CONSULTANCY INC. offering expanded services -- Effective 1 August 1997

Tentative Title: "Construction Defects in Frame Buildings - Why doesn't the industry get rid of them?"

Like the time dozens of residents in an East Bay condominium complex were routinely electrically shocked when they sat on their toilets because of defective sewer piping.

Or the Contra Costa County condominium project with the missing fire walls between units.

Then there were the housing projects in Mountain View and Pleasant Hill, which won awards for their innovative designs. Great, except for the fact that the roofs leaked, the walls, decks and landing cracked, the windows warped, and the outdoor drain systems didn't drain.

Those two projects resulted in $11 million from the builder to homeowners, and the 58-year-old Abend's biggest legal win to date.

An now, lawyers like Abend - whose firms specialize in construction defect litigation - are catching up with the shoddy workmanship, ill-designed structures, and poor site selection that seems to have plagued home builders throughout California in the 1980s.

Homes were built anywhere: on hillsides and over filled-in ravines and ancient river beds. The rush to build often overlooked quality control, and the sheer number of contractors, design professionals and subcontractors only served to invite later trouble.

The number of construction defect lawsuits in Southern California has reached the point where a cottage industry of sorts has emerged among lawyers who regularly sue developers and their counterpart attorneys who defend them.

Now, that trend has spread to Northern California, where the ྌs building boom from the East Bay to the San Joaquin Valley added tens of thousands of new homes over a relatively short period of time.

The case load had gotten even thicker with the advent of homeowners associations in California in the late 1970s and ྌs. A 1986, UC Berkeley study showed that a third of the state's 16,000 associations were involved in some level of legal action. Another study, by San Diego's California Western School of Law, showed that homeowners' lawsuits jumped by some 300 percent since 1987.

"If I had a choice, I would much prefer to buy a home built in 1927, as opposed to some home built in 1987," said Steve Kolb, spokesman for California's Contractors Licensing Board - a state agency which in the 1990-1 filing year fielded 31,000 complaints from homeowners about their dwellings.

To get a taste of just how busy the agency is, pick up a phone and dial 1-800-321-2752 and see if the lines are ever free.

"Houses in 1927 were built slower and with better workmanship and materials. Today the pace is much faster, with different tools and different goals in mind that try to get away with greater tolerances."

Not all those complaints will result in a construction defect lawsuit, Abend said (most are resolved by the agency). But it takes only a handful of major awards for homeowners to drive the point home to developers that something is wrong.

That message is also being sent by the nation's major insurance companies, few of which still offer builders coverage or the performance bonds critical to a project. Insurers regularly cite the proliferation of construction defect lawsuits in California as a major reason they've abandoned that line of business.

Joining that move away from residential construction are architects and other professionals, whose insurance carriers have warned them away from such developments.

"By and large, all the larger geotechnicians in the state have gotten out of the residential business. That's bad for consumers because what's left behind are the smaller, less experienced firms with less to lose financially," said Stan Rinne, vice president of Woodward, Clyde Consultants in Oakland. Rinne's recent "focus" has been working as an expert witness in construction defect cases.

"I just don't know what the answer is," said Sam Chun, a San Francisco developer specializing in urban projects. "These cases make it awful tough for companies. We try to settle them out...The problems are that we have too many subcontractors working for us and we can't watch over their shoulders all day. Then there is the problem of running into defects that are not defects, or are subjective in nature. Yet it is often less costly to settle them out."

Forcing developers into settlements is a squeeze created by strict liability. California and federal courts have determined that builders are strictly liable when warranted items like roofs fail, and when areas covered by implied warrantees - such as drainage systems or retaining walls - falter. Combined with statutes of limitations of up to 10 years for filing damage claims, the liability questions linger and haunt developers.

Builders Look for Protection

Builders are said to be working behind the scenes to gain legislative limits on the size of awards homeowners can win, but such laws will receive a firestorm of opposition from trial lawyers and well-organized homeowners groups. One Southern California plaintiffs lawyer did say, however, that some attorneys might support limits on smaller defects that can often pad a defects claim. No formal bill has been introduced in Sacramento.

Developers are starting to complain loudly that plaintiffs' lawyers are growing so large in numbers, and the list of potential clients has not kept pace, resulting in some ethical violations in the attorneys' search for work. In San Diego some plaintiffs' lawyers regularly send blanket queries to owners in new developments, asking them to look for defects, and telling them they may be due large sums from builders.

It is a rare construction defect case that does not result in an award for the homeowner. In the Bay Area, anywhere from 86 to 90 percent of construction defect cases are settled before trial, using skilled "special masters" who are granted special powers by local judges to force opposing sides to the negotiating table, and to expedite investigations into alleged problems.