FOND DU LAC COUNTY WISCONSIN CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Modular Construction’s Hidden Risk: Where Things Go Wrong Between the Factory and the Field

June 15, 2026 — Jack Mayo - ConsensusDocs
Introduction As modular and prefabricated construction methods are increasingly adopted, so too are the potential challenges that come with them. The appeal is straightforward: faster timelines, controlled fabrication environments, and reduced on-site labor demands. But the risks that accompany these benefits are often less clear—and, in many cases, poorly defined. For example, what happens when a prefabricated component is delayed past its installation window? Who is responsible for a defect discovered inside a sealed, installed module? What happens to warranty obligations when a prefabricated component must be modified on site? Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jack Mayo, Jones Walker LLP
Mr. Mayo may be contacted at jmayo@joneswalker.com

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USDOT’s DBE Interim Final Rule: How It Affects Current and Out-to-Bid DOT and Airport Projects

June 15, 2026 — Zachary F. Jacobson - The Construction Seyt
In our April 16, 2026 post, we discussed the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) concerning Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) certification, specifically as it concerns transportation and airport projects in California. This post addresses a broader question: What does the IFR mean for current and out-to-bid DOT projects operating under pre-existing DBE goals? The answer is that the IFR did more than change who qualifies as a DBE. It also changed how federally funded transportation and airport projects must be handled during the re-evaluation period. This affects active contracts, pending procurements, airport projects, design-build teams, and anyone relying on old assumptions about DBE goals and counting of DBE and ACDBE credit. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Zachary F. Jacobson, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Mr. Jacobson may be contacted at zjacobson@seyfarth.com

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Contractor Dispute Resolution Framework and Prevention

July 06, 2026 — Construction Executive
WHAT DEFINES A CONTRACTOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK A contractor dispute resolution framework is a structured system of contractual terms, governance processes and escalation pathways designed to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts between contracting parties with minimal disruption to cost, schedule and performance. The framework operates as both a preventive control and a corrective mechanism. Preventive elements establish clarity in scope, expectations and accountability before work begins. Corrective elements define how disagreements are identified, documented, escalated and resolved once they arise. Reprinted courtesy of Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...

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New York Enacts First-in-the-Nation Statewide Data Center Moratorium

August 03, 2026 — Joshua L. Sturtevant - Sheppard
As of May 2026, nearly 12 gigawatts of data center load requests were in the New York Independent System Operator interconnection queue, with more than two-thirds of capacity requests entering the queue in 2025 alone. On July 14, 2026, in response to concerns over this rapid growth, Governor Kathy Hochul issued Executive Order No. 62 (the “Order”) imposing a temporary moratorium on data centers in New York State. Among the concerns cited in the Order are the cost burden on ratepayers associated with transmission upgrades required to accommodate large loads, potential environmental impacts, and large-scale water use. The moratorium is intended to halt activities while the state government develops a comprehensive legal framework for data center development. While dozens of municipal and county-level moratoriums are in place throughout the U.S., and while the legislatures of several states, including Maine, have proposed moratoriums, the Order is the first statewide moratorium to be enacted nationally. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Joshua L. Sturtevant, Sheppard
Mr. Sturtevant may be contacted at jsturtevant@sheppard.com

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Lawmakers Vote to Reauthorize Programs to Support Water Quality, Coastal Protection

April 20, 2026 — Pam McFarland - Engineering News-Record
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a package of 14 bills that includes measures to reauthorize several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency programs to protect and restore critical water ecosystems, expand access to broadband, reduce regulatory requirements on airport projects and programs and lower costs of federal buildings. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pam McFarland, Engineering News-Record
Ms. McFarland may be contacted at mcfarlandp@enr.com

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Yet Another Reason That Your Contract Matters

February 10, 2026 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
I have discussed on several occasions the fact that construction contracts matter. The words in contracts matter and, in Virginia (as well as other states), most provisions, if not all will be enforced to the letter. Recently, the Western District of Virginia federal court ruled in a way that reminded me of another reason for a well-drafted contract. In Rockingham Precast, Inc. v. American Infrastructure – Maryland, Inc. the Western District of Virginia Court considered a motion to transfer the venue to Maryland filed by American Infrastructure. The plaintiff, Rockingham Precast, a Virginia-based company sued in Virginia. American Infrastructure conceded that VA could be a proper forum for the lawsuit but argued that the form was much too inconvenient and costly for the party and non-party witnesses and that the cost made the forum an unfair place to try the case. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

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Four Families Now Live in the Season Six Rock the Block Homes in Grantsville, Utah

April 20, 2026 — Hamlet Homes
SALT 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.

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Why Construction Tendering Needs Specialized Intelligence

March 31, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
The construction industry has never lacked data; it lacks usable intelligence at the moments that matter most. In the high-stakes phases of tendering and pre-construction, the industry still relies on manual “Control-F” searches through thousands of pages of unstructured documents. I recently spoke with Herman Smith, a civil engineer and former Chief Digital Officer at Multiconsult, who left the corporate world to solve this specific bottleneck. His startup, Volve, isn’t just another AI wrapper; it is a specialized “drill” designed to penetrate the complexity of construction documentation. The Paradox of Digitalization without a Productivity Boost For years, the AEC industry has faced a frustrating paradox: we have more digital tools than ever, yet productivity has not improved. Herman observed this from the inside, managing hundreds of unique software licenses while seeing companies struggle to adapt to new workflows. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

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