Location, Location, Location — But Which One? The Few Words in Your Construction Contract that Pick Where You Fight
June 29, 2026 —
Brad Sands - ConsensusDocsMost professionals know the old real estate line: location, location, location. It turns out to be just as true for construction contracts as it is for property.
Consider a recent case involving a project owner that hired two design firms for a project. When issues arose during construction, the owner sued the design firms in state court in Brazoria County, Texas, pursuant to the forum selection clause in the parties’ contracts. The defendants then removed the case to the federal district court in Galveston, a courthouse in a different county. But the owner wanted the case back in Brazoria County state court. Whether it got its wish came down to two words in the contract: “situated in.” This article is about words like those.
A construction contract’s forum selection clause names the place for the fight nobody plans to have, and where that fight happens can shape how it goes. This article explains why the wording in your forum selection clause deserves careful reading before you sign a construction contract. It is not a deep dive into the mechanics of federal removal jurisdiction, and it is not an academic comparison of the terms “forum” and “venue.” Instead, it is a practical look at how courts actually read these clauses, so the location of a future fight is the one you intended.
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Brad Sands, Jones Walker, LLPMr. Sands may be contacted at
bsands@joneswalker.com
Can Anything Supersede Excel in AEC?
April 27, 2026 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessIf there’s one piece of software that dominates the business world across industries, it’s Microsoft Excel. Can AI finally dethrone the mighty spreadsheet?
Memorable Spreadsheet Moments
Everyone has memorable spreadsheet moments. I have a few. For example, my then-architecture firm was involved in more than a dozen housing developments abroad. I developed an Excel workbook that took the required number of households as input and automatically generated a breakdown of buildings and their apartment types for AutoCAD. This was urban planning and architectural design done with a spreadsheet.
I also developed business software using Excel for project portfolio management. The prototype was later scaled into a commercial SaaS that is now used globally.
Another memorable moment was when a property owner told me their Excel file grew so large that it ran out of rows and columns. That must have been before 2007, when the maximum number of columns on a sheet was still just 256 and the maximum number of rows was 65,536. The current limits are 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, which I hope no one will exceed.
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Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
aec-business@aepartners.fi
Four Families Now Live in the Season Six Rock the Block Homes in Grantsville, Utah
April 20, 2026 —
Hamlet HomesSALT LAKE CITY, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The premier of Rock the Block season seven aired last Monday and is set in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rock The Block is HGTV's highest rated show. Last year, season six was set in Utah and had HGTV's highest rating yet, with over 14 million viewers. All episodes of season six were filmed in the Worthington Ranch community in Grantsville, Utah. The four homes on the show were built by Utah builder Hamlet Homes. During the show, the location of the four Rock The Block homes had to be kept secret and were surrounded by a locked gate. After over a year of being inaccessible, the Utah public was invited in May 2025 to tour the homes and help raise money together for charity. On May 30-31, 2025, Hamlet hosted a 'Rock The Block Party' where the public was able to walk through the homes made famous by the show.
Hamlet Owner, VP of Marketing & Design Tami Ostmark shares stories from the show and her perspective of what it's like to be the builder on a national show like this. Ostmark was on set almost the entire time. "As expected, there were times when there was tension on the set. All four designers were super competitive with each other. It's amazing that the production team was able to produce the show as well as they did. I'm very impressed," said Ostmark.
Another interesting point related to the show is how much work the local builder is responsible for. Some nights as many as 30 Hamlet team members worked through the night to keep up with the pace of production. "Each designer provided their own trusted carpenters to do finishing work. In two of the cases, designers' flew their favorite carpenters in to carry out their visions. Given the quick turnaround, it's not always practical for finishing work to be permanent. Sometimes, it just needs to look appealing on camera," said Ostmark. This is frequently referred to as 'TV Magic'. "When the show was over, Hamlet re-did any areas that required extra attention". The show really does shoot in only 7 weeks as depicted. This creates a fast pace that was very exciting to be a part of", continued Ostmark. All four of the homes featured on the show have since been purchased; four Utah families currently call them home.
ABOUT HAMLET HOMES
Hamlet Homes (www.hamlethomes.com) crafts quality customer-oriented townhomes and single-family homes located in attractively designed communities in Utah and Idaho. Since the company's founding in 1995, Hamlet has built over 5,000 homes in 80 communities. The company is a proud recipient of many awards on Sustainable Business & Design, Quality Builder Awards; recognized both locally and nationally. Named by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as the 'Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year, in 2019'. Hamlet has since been named several times to the Professional Builder's Housing Giants List and annual HOME AWARDS Best Customer Experience. Most recently in 2026, Hamlet was named Utah's 'Best of State for Real Estate Development and Utah Businesses 'Best Companies to Work For' for the 6th consecutive year.
Arizona Supreme Court Clarifies Parties’ Post-Default Conduct Cannot Validate Void Default Orders
August 24, 2026 —
Joseph Kanefield, Ryan P. Hogan & Lilly M. Geiler - Snell & WilmerAfter filing a lawsuit, the first step is always serving process on the opposing party. While that preliminary step sounds basic enough, in McMahan v. Grasshopper, the Arizona Supreme Court recently provided a helpful refresher on the nuances of the service requirement and its importance in litigation for plaintiffs and defendants alike.1
Background
McMahan arose from a hit-and-run where a tractor-trailer collided with safety barricades and injured a construction worker. The construction worker sued the tractor-trailer company, and he attempted to serve the company by leaving a copy of the complaint with the assistant to the company’s statutory agent who forwarded the complaint to the company. The assistant, however, was not authorized to accept service on the company’s behalf. Before the company appeared in the action, the construction worker successfully obtained an entry of default.
Reprinted courtesy of
Joseph Kanefield, Snell & Wilmer,
Ryan P. Hogan, Snell & Wilmer and
Lilly M. Geiler, Snell & Wilmer
Mr. Kanefield may be contacted at jkanefield@swlaw.com
Mr. Hogan may be contacted at rhogan@swlaw.com
Ms. Geiler may be contacted at lgeiler@swlaw.com
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The Single Source of Truth in Construction Projects: Reality or Myth?
March 24, 2026 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessThe idea of a single source of truth has been a fundamental part of the digital vision in the AEC industry for many years. From centralized CAD storage to BIM collaboration platforms and, more recently, Common Data Environments, the goal stays the same. Project teams want a reliable place where everyone can access the latest information.
The phrase “single source of truth” comes from database and information management practices in the IT world, where the goal was to maintain one authoritative record of data and eliminate data redundancy. As the AEC industry began adopting digital tools, the same idea was applied to project information and workflows.
Despite decades of technological progress, the question remains whether “one ring that rules them all” can actually be implemented in real construction projects.
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Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
aec-business@aepartners.fi
Micromobility in Smart Cities: Keeping the Wheels in Motion
May 26, 2026 —
James P. Bobotek - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogMobility is the lifeblood of any city. How people are able to travel in, out and within a metropolitan area is vital to its citizens, businesses, supply chains and social services. And as U.S. cities have expanded in size and population density, the strategies for addressing mobility have evolved. Many have taken different approaches to public transit, and each city boasts a dense tapestry of roadways, walking paths and various parking options. But as cities continue to reexamine infrastructure strategies through smart city technology, a new field of transportation has emerged—micromobility.
Designed for short-distance travel using lightweight vehicles (bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, etc.), the industry’s global net worth has grown exponentially in recent years to the tune of hundreds of billions, with one forecast predicting it could reach
$340 billion by 2030. Micromobility also finds itself at the forefront of various smart city technological improvements. Geofencing has been implemented in
U.S. cities to determine where micromobility vehicles can operate, control speed limits, and park utilizing the vehicles’ GPS location. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies (satellite-based location receivers, cloud communication, internet links, etc.) have
improved vehicle lifespans by keeping track of when vehicles require service and prevent vandalism and theft. Data collected from vehicles’ location tracking is routinely used for
urban planning and smart city development.
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James P. Bobotek, PillsburyMr. Bobotek may be contacted at
james.bobotek@pillsburylaw.com
Kamran Salour Named to Los Angeles Times' 2026 Legal Visionaries List
June 02, 2026 —
Lewis BrisboisOrange County Partner and Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Co-Chair Kamran Salour was named to the Los Angeles Times' 2026 Legal Visionaries list, which honors the most innovative attorneys in Southern California.
In announcing this year's Legal Visionaries, the Times said that Mr. Salour and his co-honorees "distinguish themselves not only through skilleand results but through an unwavering commitment to their clients, their craft and the communities they serve."
"Their paths – shaped by rigorous education, defining cases and purposeful leadership – offer a deeper perspective on what sets true standouts apart," the Times' announcement stated. "Together, these visionaries exemplify a forward-thinking approach to the law, elevating both their profession and the people who depend on it."
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Lewis Brisbois
Data Center Construction: Contractors Must Step Up
May 26, 2026 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessI attended the
Datacenter Forum 2026 in Helsinki last week. Over 400 people packed the room. Walking out, I had one overriding thought: Is construction operating in a different century from the technology it is being asked to house?
Is Our Industry on Par?
Ciarán Forde, Senior Vice President at CTS Nordics, opened the forum with a statement that set the tone for everything that followed: data centers are no longer just a technical challenge; they are a national strategy. Before AI, Ciarán had worked in telecoms, where data centers were already complex. But now, he said flatly, everything has changed, and the industry must rethink everything.
The numbers behind the claim are staggering. Current AI data center racks run at 40 to 100 kW. In three years, 800 kW per rack is on the roadmap. And the development cycle for a new chip is roughly one year, which means deployments begin aging out almost as soon as they are commissioned.
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Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
aec-business@aepartners.fi
