Health insurance helps protect you from high medical care costs.  Health insurance provides many things: a safety net, should you get sick or injured; the means to maintain your well being with tests, screenings and vaccinations; and peace of mind, knowing your family can get the cheap health care it deserves.

Health insurance is important in the event that you, or any member of your family is ever sick or injured.  Health insurance plans come in a range or premiums, deductible and health eligibility requirements  families have widely differing needs too.  By comparing different insurance companies that have similar Health Insurance plans, you will be able to see at a glance which Health Insurance planmay better benefit you as far as money paid and services to be rendered

Megaprojects are keeping construction crews hopping in California and Hawaii. Five projects on ENR California’s 2013 Top Starts list are valued at more than $1 billion; in 2012 only one project exceeded the $1-billion level.

Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual’s or individuals’ death or other event, such as terminal illness or critical illness.  Life insurance is never taxed when it passes on to a beneficiary.

Life insurance is a great instrument for assuring your family’s financial stability no matter what happens to you.  Life insurance is basically just money  if the insured lives, it is called savings and if he dies, it is called life insurance. Life insurance that does not build up cash value and provides coverage for a specified period of time. Life insurance is one way to help protect yourself as well as your savings. The life insurance companies are the largest institutes in the World, even bigger than oil and that to me is a solid company to be putting my money on rather than a stock market where you have no guaranteed return on investment, especially when the market crashes

The construction job count edged upward in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada during the month of February.

In Arizona, there were about 126,000 construction jobs in February up from 125,500 in January, reflecting a 3.6% year-over-year increase on the month. The state’s overall unemployment rate was 7.3% in February, down from 7.5% in January. Arizona’s civilian labor force numbered about 3,006,200, up from 3,004,300 in January.

Business Property Insurance: Coverage against loss or damage to your business property or contents. Business Liability Insurance: Coverage against a claim by others that your business caused them a loss Commercial Auto Insurance: Coverage for vehicles used by your business.  If you produce goods, you may want to look into purchasing product liability insurance.

This goes beyond general liability because it protects you in case your products, once out there in the world, cause injury to customers.  General liability insurance is a type of business insurance that covers any issues that arise concerning you business, such as accidents, injuries and negligence.  If your company manufactures goods, wholesales or retail sales goods, product liability insurance can help protect you in issues concerning the safety of those goods.

According to a new New York Building Congress (NYBC) study, New York City construction spending reached $29.3-billion in 2013, up 6% from 2012, and helped by growth in the government sector.

Painting insurance helps to protect your painting business from things like paint spills, falls, or other mishaps that could result in injuries or costly property damage. Without painting insurance, even one of these problems might prove difficult to overcome.

Business owners insurance for painters or what is also sometimes called a BOP, could provide various protections for painting businesses including general liability and loss of income coverage and property coverage.

The U.S. construction industry gained 19,000 jobs in March and the construction unemployment rate fell to 11.3 percent (non-seasonally adjusted), according to the April 4 employment report by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Nonresidential construction segments added 6,700 jobs in March, a marked improvement from the 2,800 jobs (revised) added in February. The improvement led the construction unemployment rate to fall from 12.8 percent in February 2014 and 14.7 percent in March 2013.

Business owners providing services should consider having professional liability insurance (also known as errors and omissions insurance).  However, homeowners policies only go so far in covering home-based businesses and you may need to purchase additional policies to cover other risks, such as general and professional liability.  A BOP is a package that bundles property and liability insurance together through one affordable premium.

Nonresidential construction spending increased 0.6% in February and has risen 6.1% since February 2013.  Total construction spending in February edged up from January despite adverse weather in much of the nation, as private residential and nonresidential components posted solid growth compared with early 2013, according to an analysis of new Census Bureau data by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Association officials noted that the construction spending figures would have been stronger if not for declines in public sector construction and infrastructure investments.

In general, property insurance covers damages to your business property; liability insurance covers damages to third parties; and workers’ compensation insurance covers on-the-job injuries to your employees.  If someone sues you for personal injuries or property damage, the cost of defending and resolving the suit would be covered by your liability insurance policy.

Construction materials prices expanded 0.5% in March and are up 1.1% from March of last year, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s April 11 producer price index release. Nonresidential construction materials prices are up 0.4% for the month and are 1% higher than the same time one year ago.

Malpractice insurance, or professional liability insurance, pays for losses resulting from injuries to third parties when a professional’s conduct falls below the profession’s standard of care.  Then you should consider getting product liability insurance to protect your business from liability resulting from the product’s nonperformance.  Professional liability insurance protects both you and your clients.  “Property and Liability insurance are essential for all small businesses, but Business Interruption, Key People, or Disability insurance can also make the difference between having to close down and being able to carry on.

TxDOT director: Agency needs $4 billion more for roads, maintenance

FORT WORTH — The Texas Department of Transportation needs an additional $1 billion a year to keep up with maintenance on 80,000 miles of roads in the state, the agency’s executive director said.

Phil Wilson told a group of officials that TxDOT also is likely to need an additional $3 billion a year to deal with growing congestion on interstates and other roads.

On June 28, 2013, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a Final Rule relating to the penalties involved when a contractor misrepresents its small business size status. While the current regulations provide that a contractor might suffer certain penalties for “knowingly misrepresenting” its small business status, they offer little guidance concerning what those penalties might be. Moreover, the current regulations fail to identify what type of conduct constitutes a “knowing misrepresentation.”  The Final Rule seeks to clarify these points, and both increases the severity of the penalties associated with a contractor’s misrepresentation of its small business status, and broadens the scope of conduct that might expose a contractor to penalties.

Despite some improvement in the volume of new contracts, the Southeast’s construction market remains a fraction of the size it was during the pre-recession peak years. While specialty contractors working in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas are growing more optimistic about market recovery, for many, the next wave of construction can’t get here soon enough

Tunneling 100 ft below a busy city with varying substructure is a delicate job, especially when the work comes within 8 ft of existing tunnels. Such is the case on San Francisco’s new $1.5-billion Central Subway Project, which began major subterranean excavation last month.

Commercial property coverage forms: Commercial property insurance forms that define, limit, and explain what property or property interest is covered.  The most widely used commercial property coverage forms are the building and personal property coverage form  and the business income and extra expense coverage form .

The grants will help to further the Hudson River Estuary’s 2010-2014 agenda to conserve, protect and revitalize the waterway, DEC says.  The New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program has issued 12 grants worth a combined total of $564,000 for water resiliency projects in NYS. The funding comes after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee both rocked the region in 2011, says DEC, which is working in partnership with the non-profit New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) on the grant program.

The Veterans Benefits, Health Care and Information Technology Act of 2006, allows the VA to set-aside certain contracts for SDVOSB and VOSB concerns. The intent of the VA’s Vets First program is “to increase contracting opportunities for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans with service-connected disabilities.” This goal is accomplished by favoring SDVOSB and VOSB companies over other disadvantaged groups when the VA sets aside a procurement for small business. In its first seven years, the program has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in contracts for SDVOSB and VOSB companies.

Clearly recognizing the many benefits of the VA’s program, Congress is looking to expand it. On June 14, 2013, Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R- Penn.) introduced, and the House unanimously passed, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013. If enacted, this amendment would require the Department of Defense to perform a study analyzing the potential benefits of adopting its own “Vets First” Program. The amendment directs DoD to work with the SBA and the VA for purposes of developing a report detailing “the impacts of Department of Defense contracting with [VOSBs and SDVOSBs] on veteran entrepreneurship and veteran unemployment,” among other things. First, however, the bill must gain Senate approval. SDVOSB contracting has received much attention over the last several years, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the Senate. We will keep you posted on the progress of the amendment.

Property insurance is a first party insurance that indemnifies the owner or user of property for its loss, or the loss of its income-producing ability, when the loss or damage is caused by a covered peril, such as fire or explosion.

Spring training ballparks are great places to take in the national pastime in sunny Arizona. Until recently, these parks have been relatively straightforward to design and construct—most with seating for less than 10,000 fans.  The project in Mesa, Ariz., is more expansive than a typical spring training facility, yet it is on track to be completed in less than 18 months.

The Southwest construction market is emerging from the recession leaner, smarter and poised for growth. After years of weakness, construction levels across the Southwest appear to have established a new baseline and are entering the beginning of an extended period of growth. Eight of the top 10 firms on this year’s Top Specialty Contractors ranking had increased revenue in 2012.

A team of 27 investigators is “confident and in complete consensus” that Sandy flood waters compromised the electrical wiring under the boardwalk.

A bill designed to prevent environmental challenges for the new Sacramento Kings arena was passed days after a project labor agreement was reached.  In an effort to expedite the construction of a new $448-million sports-and-entertainment arena in downtown Sacramento, the California Legislature late last week overwhelmingly passed a bill to prevent potential litigation over environmental concerns.