carolinas agc building and successful projects spur

MAY/JUNE 2012Volume 7 No. 2

www.ncconstructionnews.com

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR ADVERTISERS & SPONSORS

www.nextplans.com

Carolinas AGC Building andHighway Pinnacle Awards

PAGE 3

What Tar Heel Contractors Need to Know About ProposedChanges to the Lien Law PAGE 2

CPN 2012 Star Awards:

Successful Projects SpurEconomic Developmentin the Triad

PHOTO COURTESY OF NYGHT FALCON

PAGE 6

Things got hot last summer in Raleighfor North Carolina’s construction industry,with contractors, subcontractors and suppli-ers, title insurers and construction lawyersbutting heads over proposed changes to thestate’s lien law. Everyone agreed somethingneeded to done, but no one could decide ex-actly what.

The N.C. Bar Association held a public

hearing to find a solution to the problemswith the law last revised in 1969. Stake-holders were also invited to express theirconcerns with the association’s draftingcommittee members. Several drafts weresent out to those who had attended the pub-lic meeting to obtain their thoughts andcomments. Still many comments were atodds with those of others in the industry.For example, general contractors said theyface a problem of “double payments” tosubcontractors and suppliers.

The problem, the contractors say, ariseswhen a first-tier subcontractor doesn’t payits own suppliers and subcontractors. Thegeneral contractor can be liable to the sec-ond-tier and below subcontractors even ifhe made full payment to the first-tier sub-contractor, which is where the double pay-ments come in.

The subcontractors and suppliers, ofcourse, had a different concern. They sayrecent bankruptcy decisions stripped themof many of their lien rights unless theyserved liens before the first-tier subcontrac-tor filed bankruptcy. That is difficult, theysay, because they don’t routinely want toserve liens unless there is a problem.

Title insurers, meanwhile, griped aboutwhat they call “hidden liens,” which occurwhen a building is finished near the closingdate. The title insurer does its search, findsnothing encumbering the property and is-sues title insurance.

Meanwhile, a contractor who hasn’tbeen paid by the original owner has 120days from the time he finishes the projectto file a lien. Once he does, the new ownerfiles a claim against the title insurer, whichis obligated to make the title good.

There was another factor complicatingthe process of revising the law. Three bank-ruptcy rulings handed down by the Bank-ruptcy Court of the Eastern District ofNorth Carolina clouded some of the rulesthe stakeholders were working under. The

other was a legislature unwilling to diveheadfirst into the issue without consensusfrom the industry. House Bill 489, intro-duced in March 2011, failed to gain trac-tion.

Instead, the issue was assigned to a leg-islative study committee, which has scaledthe provisions back. There’s no longer anyprovision, for example, on “hidden liens.”

The latest proposal does classify off-sitenon-commodity work as “improvement,”which means it qualifies for lien rights evenif it is not delivered to the project site. Italso provides standardized lien waivers, de-signed to eliminate confusion that arisesfrom the language of existing forms. Thechanges that will go before the legislaturethis summer also increase sanctions forfalse statements and subject violators to dis-cipline from their governing boards.

The changes also would require contrac-tors on public projects to provide lower-tiersubcontractors with a project statement thatwould give them the information necessaryto provide pre-notice to the contractors. Aslong as the notice is timely, the subcontrac-tor would be entitled to pursue its claim.But if the pre-notice is delayed, it wouldlimit the subcontractor’s claim to the valueof work done within 60 days of the claim.

Even though the proposal has beenscaled back, some players still have misgiv-

PAGE 2 – May June 2012 – The North Carolina Construction News

www.cgspllc.com

ARTHUR MURRAY – The North Carolina Construction News

What Tar Heel Contractors Need to Know AboutProposed Changes in the State Lien Law

–––––––––––––––––––––––Please see page 8

They might not have leaped tall build-ings in a single bound, but the people be-hind the Carolinas Associated GeneralContractors 2011 Pinnacle Awards forbuilding and highway projects certainlyshowed superhero spirit.

For example, when the usual path fortrucking around materials at a road projectwas going to be inefficient, a team opted foran overhead conveyor system. When alandslide cleanup/repair project involvedmanpower working, literally, on a moun-tainside, supplies were not just hoisted upto them but lowered into place via a heli-copter. And when shifting sands and pound-ing surf threatened to interfere with placingpilings at a beachfront site, a high-tech so-lution ensured accuracy. Many workersshivered and sweated through the seasonsto meet deadlines for these multimillion-dollar projects, but their professionalismpaid off. Here are the details.

Best Building Project: North Carolina Jennette’s Pier,Outer Banks

As millions of locals and tourists (andbluefish) will attest, Jennette’s Pier at NagsHead had a long and busy life. HurricaneIsabel, however, dealt it a death blow in2003. North Carolina decided to replace thevenerable wood site with a 1,000-foot con-

The North Carolina Construction News – May/June 2012 – PAGE 3

Carolinas AGC Building and Highway PinnacleAward Winners Reflect Best Building Practices

GABRIELLA JACOBS– The North Carolina Construction News

–––––––––––––––––––––––Please see page 4

Best Building Project: North Carolina Jennette’s Pier, Outer Banks

Best Highway Project: I-40 Widening, Raleigh/Cary

Best Highway Project: I-40 Slope Stabilization/Rock SlideRemoval, Haywood County

crete pier and a three-story, 17,000-square-foot educational facility (each the largest ofits kind in the state.) Plus, the new sitewould have three 90-foot wind turbines,solar panels, and its own wastewater treat-ment facility, helping it earn LEED Plat-inum certification.

The Wilmington division of Clancy &Theys Construction Co., a family businessfounded in Raleigh in 1949, was generalcontractor and construction manager for theproject, collaborating with Bowman Mur-ray Hemingway Architects of Wilmington.Clancy & Theys also has worked on thestate’s Pine Knoll Shores and Fortthe archFisher aquarium facilities.

“Our whole company is very proud ofthis project. I know that our team workedvery hard to develop ideas to make the pro-ject work from a budget standpoint,” saidScott Cutler, vice president, Clancy &Theys. “Marine construction presents someunique challenges, and it has been impor-tant to our company that our WilmingtonDivision has that expertise, and now alsohas an impressive portfolio of experiencefor the North Carolina Aquariums.”

Several cost-saving decisions were madeat the outset of this project, such as:• 24-inch square vs. 30-inch cylindrical

piles. The smaller size cost less for de-livery and structural reinforcing, yetstill achieves the desired wave forceand appearance.

• Open crawl space design. This enabledcontractors to move more easily be-neath the pier house, thus reducinglabor and materials, and it saved time.

• Pre-cast concrete pier level framing.This was chosen over cast-in-placeconcrete because of better cost, timeand placement.The team also decided early to construct

two temporary trestle systems outwardfrom the shore, describing them as “a road-way” for the three cranes and semi truckneeded to transport and set materials. Sur-veyors used high-tech GPS instruments toexactly place the building and structuralpiles.

Combined with the challenging weather,the ever-moving ocean, and the vibrationscaused by the constant pile driving opera-tion, workers had to face the task of build-ing 25 to 60 feet above the ocean.

The feats didn’t end there. Extra founda-tions were needed for the wind turbines,which were assembled on the trestle systemthen lifted over the water and into place bya 250- ton crane. A worker 115 feet upguided the blades into position.

Work on the pier and pier house oc-curred simultaneously. At times there wereas many as 100 workers – including trades-men, carpenters, and artisans — on site.

Clancy & Theys says ongoing safetymeetings were held, and its corporate safetydirector inspected everything regularly. Asa result, there were no OSHA recordable orlost time incidents.

Best Highway Project: I-40 Slope Stabilization/RockSlide Removal, Haywood County

Founded in Robbinsville, NC in 1952,Phillips & Jordan is a general and specialtycontractor known for its experience withland clearing, earth moving, undergroundutilities, erosion control, storm drainage,and debris management projects. “P&J hasbeen a part of some of the largest disastersin history. The World Trade Center, Hurri-canes Andrew and Katrina, but none ofthose prior events brought the complexityand danger as this project, “said Dudley Orrwith Phillips & Jordan. .

Most of those areas of expertise werecalled on when the firm was hired to tacklea major rock slide onto four lanes of I-40near the North Carolina-Tennessee border.First task: clear the road of 75,000 cubicyards of soil, trees and boulders. That took45 days. Second task: stabilize the moun-tain slope to prevent another slide —- whilevehicles, many of them commercial trucks,resumed passage below.

Phillips & Jordan’s primary subcontrac-tor was Janod, Inc., which has handledslope stabilization assignments all over theworld.

Not only was the work daunting, so wasthe contract. The state Department of Trans-portation wanted intermediate completionin 60 days, or the contractor would be pe-nalized $20,000 a day – and action was tobegin during the week between Christmasand New Year’s Eve. Regardless of the icy,windy conditions at that particular time (thegovernor had declared a weather emer-gency), work was urgent because the roadclosure was affecting local residents, whofaced hours-long delays going to work, andschool, etc., and affecting commerce, assemis’ loads were unable to use a vital in-

terstate corridor to access the region and be-yond.

Janod brought on Golder Associates,Inc. of Greensboro, NC and Manchester,NH for quality assurance, field engineeringto adapt the DOT design to encounteredconditions, coordinating details among allproject participants and making a masterspreadsheet for drilling, anchor installation,and testing available to the state Depart-ment of Transportation. ”Golder broughtclarity to a daunting process of record keep-ing and analysis,” said Orr.

How do you fix a mountainside? Well,you don’t just go to it. You have to be on it.Personnel, equipment, and materials allneeded to be on the slope 900 feet above thehighway to perform the remediation. To fa-cilitate moving equipment and steel, Janodused a heavy-lift helicopter for 120 hoursto get rock bolts and related items up towhere they were needed. “Without the fore-sight and willingness to utilize the heli-copter, meeting the project timeline goalswould not have been achievable,” accord-ing to Phillips & Jordan. Once completed,the Janod team had installed over 16,000LF of tensioned anchors as well as another33,953 LF of passive anchors. All of theapproximately 50,000 combined LF of an-chors was installed using the heavy lift he-licopter that was crucial to the completionof the job. “This work was unprecedentedfor production under difficult terrain andweather conditions and a tribute to the teamthat got it done,” said Pete Ingraham,Golder’s lead geotechnical engineer on theproject.

There were other complications: in someparts of the mountainside, actual rock massstrength was not as consistent as tests hadindicated it would be; in other parts, sub-surface water was found, forcing a designchange from tensioned bars to a passive an-

chor system. The original scope of workchanged so much that eventually, 18 sup-plemental agreements were signed.

Worksite hazards abounded, and asPhillips & Jordan told the Pinnacle judges,“the margin for error with all of the workwas very slim.” Special safety plans wereneeded for fall prevention, slope access, rig-ging, blasting, working under the heavy lifthelicopter, traffic management, tree re-moval, and respiratory protection, just toname a few. Nevertheless, it was a safe site;the most severe injury was to a subcontrac-tor’s finger. In just sixty- six contract days,the team of workers succeeded in their ef-forts to stabilize the slope so that the vitaltransportation corridor could be reopened.With numerous changes and revisions totheir work during this time, the contractsum overran. With pro-rata there were noliquidated damages assessed to Phillips andJordan.

Best Highway Project:

I-40 Widening, Raleigh/CaryWilson-based S.T. Wooten Corp.,

founded in 1952, is known for competencein widening, grading, paving, lighting andnoise wall work — all of which came inhandy when it was general contractor for a6.23-mile-long design-build project for thestate on busy I-40 in Wake County.

Wooten was tasked with widening thisstretch of highway and four bridges. Archi-tect/engineer was Rummel, Klepper & Kahlof Raleigh. Major subcontractors includedT&H Electrical Corp. of Wilson, Stay AlertSafety Services of Kernersville, ClarkPavement Marking of Apex, Fred SmithCo. of Raleigh and Smith-Rowe of Mt.Airy.


Carolinas AGCContinued from page 3––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

–––––––––––––––––––––––Please see page 5

Some days, this particular stretch ofhighway handles as many as 130,000 vehi-cles. Adding trucks to haul debris from andmaterials to the worksite would onlyworsen the already-overburdened area, plusincrease hazards. That’s when CEO SethWooten decided the only way to go was up– as in an overhead conveyor system.

Wooten personnel opted to erect oneconveyor for asphalt and one for stone overI-40 to the median at the NC 54 inter-change. The placement of conveyors alsoallowed Wooten to deliver constructionwater via pipeline to a water tower in themedian, further reducing project trucks’ im-pact on traffic.

Staff at S.T. Wooten Corp. developed theconveyor system; Design Service Inc. ofWendell engineered the overhead truss sys-tem.

Wooten had utilized the overhead con-veyor system on a previous project to con-vey dirt across U.S. 1, but the company says“…Nobody in North Carolina had everconveyed stone and asphalt over a roadwayfor a construction project before.”

Cleverness continued when the Wootenteam used warm mix asphalt for outsideshoulder strengthening in one section of thehighway. That reduced the cooling time be-tween each layer of asphalt and increasedthe distance that could be strengthened ineach night’s operation – saving time.

Over a 23-month period, S.T. Wootenpersonnel worked about 180,000 man hoursand subcontractors worked about 125,000

man hours but there were no lost time acci-dents. S.T. Wooten monitored the project’sbudget with Heavy Job cost tracking soft-ware.

David Farmer of subcontractor T&HElectrical in Wilson, praised the project.“The ability of S.T. Wooten to assemble awinning team and to keep all members fo-cused on achieving the project goals was initself a success,” Farmer said. “Wooten’sapproach began at the pre-bid stage togather input from each discipline on anypotential constructability or schedulingconflict. From there it was carried forwardto the build stage. That approach along withthe NCDOT’s willingness to sign on withthe schedule and construction approachlead to the project success. Lead designerRK&K’s close working relation with allparties, especially the NCDOT, cut losttime to a minimum.”

Farmer added: “Our participation wasmade easy from others’ hard work.”


Carolinas AGCContinued from page 4––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The city of Greensboro grabbed thespotlight at this year’s CPN of North Car-olina Star Awards presentation last month,as both honorees hailed from the Triad city.

One building looks to the past, while theother one looks to the future. But bothdemonstrate – and contribute to — the on-going economic vitality of the area.

The International Civil Rights Center &Museum won for projects with budgetsunder $20 million, while the Joint Schoolfor Nanoscience and Nanotechnology(JSNN) won for projects costing more than$20 million.

The Star Awards are presented annuallyfor construction excellence. The selectionis based on the merits and challenges of theproject. In presenting the Star Awards, CPNhonors the general contractor along withother member who participated in complet-ing the projects.

“The Civil Rights Center is huge for thePiedmont in terms of what it stands for inthe civil rights movement,” says FredPatrick, who chaired the awards committee.“It was challenging to get it done, but it wasa great story for the community, and thecontractors came together to get it done.”

“Nanotechnology replaces tobacco andtextiles, and the JSNN Building takes thePiedmont in to the 21st century,” Patrickcontinues. “It’s our most technically so-phisticated building ever.” He is also direc-tor of facilities design & construction atUNC-Greensboro.

Penny Whiteheart, executive vice presi-dent of the Piedmont Triad Partnership, aneconomic development organization, saysthe group was proud and excited that bothawards went to Greensboro projects that arehelping bring attention and prosperity to thearea.

“The Civil Rights Center is helpingGreensboro emerge as a destination andcultural center that brings visitors’ dollarsinto the community,” Whiteheart observes.“The JSNN Building brings together thebest of academia, science and business on

the cutting edge of nanoscience for the eco-nomic development of the community.”

The $7.5-million Civil Rights Center isa Smithsonian-quality museum housed inthe restored 1929 F.W. Woolworth’s thatwas the site of the first civil rights-era sit-in in February 1960. The deterioratingbuilding – included on the National Reg-ister of Historic Places — has been trans-formed into a 45,000-square-foot,three-story facility that hosts 30,000 squarefeet of exhibit space, plus a gift shop and a180-seat theater.

“The project was very challenging,”says Daniel Estes, president of Greensboro-based Weaver Cooke Construction, the pro-ject’s general contractor. “But you don’tget asked to do these kinds of historicallysignificant projects every day. The subcon-tractor community pitched in and steppedup to the plate to make it happen.”

Some of the challenges were financial.The project began in 2004, but by July2005 work was halted due to a lack of ade-quate funding. Work started up again inspring 2009, and the project was finishedin nine months in time for the sit-in’s 50thanniversary on February 1, 2010. Weaver

Cooke and the subcontractors put in longhours seven days a week to pull it off.

“The owners did a phenomenal job insecuring reasonable financing and makingsure all the parties were paid,” Estes says.

The building’s age and condition addedto the difficulty of the project “It’s alwaysa challenge to repurpose an historic build-ing – and we also found the drawings werenot accurate,” says Georde Selkirk, associ-ate principal with The Freelon Group, theproject architect.

The biggest surprise, he adds was “theamount of water that had collected in thebasement” due to underground streams dis-covered during construction.

First the water had to be removed. Thenthe basement was totally renovated, includ-ing adding a new slab on grade with an ex-tensively engineered drainage system. Thiswas needed to control the moisture levels inthe building, a major concern in a museum.

“The ways the construction team helpedresolve issues was as good as any I’veseen,” Sulkirk notes. “And the executivecommittee pulled the resources together tomake things happen that needed to occur.Everyone was committed.”

For museum co-founder Earl Jones –who helped save the building from beingdemolished to make way for a parking lot16 years ago – the reality of the final centerexceeded his expectations.

“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” saysJones, an Alamance County native whowas 11 at the time of the sit-in. “It’s acrown jewel for the entire Triad and thestate and is a major economic engine fordowntown Greensboro.” Jones is a formerlong-time Greensboro city council memberand state legislator.

The museum attracted 70,000 people inits first year and had 100,000 visitors lastyear.

The contractors and subcontractorsworking on the JSNN Building in the Gate-way University Research Park also shareda sense of pride in being involved in aunique project that contributes to the vital-ity of the Triad area.

The $64-million, 105,000-square-footproject is a collaboration between NorthCarolina A&T State University and UNCGreensboro. Nanoscience is the study ofmolecules and atoms, and the related tech-nology manipulates particles measured innanometers, particles 1,000th the width ofa human hair. It encompasses industriessuch as pharmaceuticals, biotech, aero-space, semiconductors, chemicals and de-fense.

In addition to serving as an educationalcenter for students, the center will alsoserve as a center for research and innova-tion, resulting in the creation of new busi-nesses and additional jobs for arearesidents.

Says Sam Kerr of Charlotte Glass Con-tractors, “This was a unique project thatwill help the region, and we were glad tobe part of it. It’s cool for us to say that wewere involved in it.”

At the peak of construction, there wereabout 450 workers on site, and 96% of thesubs were from a 100-mile radius. Con-struction began in December 2009 and wascompleted two years later. It was built to

BEA QUIRK– The North Carolina Construction News


North Carolina Construction News is distributed throughout the Carolinas construction industry from offices located at 127 College Ave., Durham, N.C, 27713-6033. NCCN is circulated to a rotated controlled circulationlist of qualified readers including members of most major construction associations.

If your business is interested in promoting itself within the Carolinas, and in communities across Canada andthe U.S., we invite you to arrange a special editorial feature. We’ll post it in PDF format in communities whereyou wish to do business, and print extra copies for your own marketing purposes. With supplier-support advertising, there is no cost to your business. For more information, please phone Bob Kruhm at (800) 578-3216 or send an email to [email protected].

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from The North Carolina Construction News, please access www.copyright.com or contact Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC) 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers,MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users.

Supporters of:

ISSN: 1940-3682 ASA Carolinas ABC Carolinas

CPN 2012 Star Awards: Successful Projects Spur Economic Development in the Triad

–––––––––––––––––––––––Please see page 7

[email protected] www.commissioningworcx.com

Our services include LEED Consulting as well as Commissioning of new buildings and Retro-Commissioning

of existing buildings to lower energy costs.

Proud to be a partner in the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering

101 Depot Street, Jamestown NC 27282335-601-2249

[email protected] www.commissioningworcx.com


meet gold LEED certification. HDR Architecture designed a glass-and-steel structure

that manages to exude a welcoming feel. The focal pointof the structure is an egg-shaped auditorium – which seatsup to 232 – visible to the public through floor-to-ceilingglass walls.

“The biggest challenge was the time frame, and we onlysucceeded because we took a team approach,” says JohnMerrill, executive director of the park. “For example, theconstruction team met every Friday morning, and that kepteveryone on the same page.”

The building was a joint venture between Greensboro-based Samet Corporation, SRS, Inc., Gallatin, TN and theBarton Malow Company, a Southfield, MI firm with ex-pertise in building laboratories and research facilities.

Helping the project move quickly and efficiently wasthe extensive use of Building Information Management(BIM).

Says Samet’s Ken Grube, “This project had so muchpiping and ductwork, if we hadn’t coordinated with BIM,we would still be building it right now. It eliminated con-flicts and kept track of changes. This was a textbook ex-ample of the value of using BIM for a project.”

Because of the nature of the work, even the most basicbuilding systems were far more complex than for typicalcommercial buildings. This included process piping, elec-trical, plumbing, HVAC and chillers. To meet stringent vi-bration-canceling requirements, the facility was anchoredon bedrock.

Commissioning WorCx, Jamestown, NC was the com-missioning agent for the chiller plant for the new JSNNbuilding. President Tom Foster, Jr., PE was engaged bythe owner to ensure the facility was operating in an energyefficient and sustainable manner. Envelope commission-ing was also done to evaluate the building envelope to in-sure the skin components worked effectively to repelmoisture and save energy.

Grube describes the 7,000-square-foot clean room as a“hospital on steroids.” To minimize any contamination,people working inside the room as it was being built worehaz-mat suits.

CPN 2012 Star AwardsContinued from page 6––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

PHOTO COURTESY OF HDR.PHOTO COURTESY OF HDR.

301 Creek Ridge Rd.Greensboro, NC 27406

Ph (336) 273-4472Fax (336) 274-6035

www.accorporation.com

The Complete Source for Industrialand Commercial Systems

Quality Performance Since 1935

–––––––––––––––––––––––Please see page 8


ings about the changes, and passage is notassured when the full legislature takes therevisions up in the short session of the Gen-eral Assembly this summer.

John M. Sperati, a construction lawyerwith Smith Debnam Law in Raleigh, sayshis clients are divided. “It’s a knife that cutsboth ways,” Sperati says. “For general con-tractors and owners, some of those thingsare good. But for subcontractors, it createsburdens on them. We pushed to take outthose burdens. North Carolina is one of ahandful of states that have constitutions pro-tections in lien laws. Some of the proposedchanges would have removed the constitu-tional protections.”

Melissa Dewey Brumback, a litigatorwith Ragsdale Liggett PLLC in Raleighwho focuses on construction, also remainsleery of further versions to the lien law. “Myconcern with the various proposals to mod-ify the current lien statute relate to my rep-resentation of design professionals; that is,architects and engineers,” Brumbacksays. “Currently, the design professionalsare usually in the best position with regardto lien rights, as they are usually the firstand often the last to furnish services to im-prove a property. This enables them towork well with their owner-client regardlessof the owner’s temporary financial issues.Because the lien ‘relates back’ to the date offirst service, the designer does not have topress for late payments from the ownerquite as quickly as subcontractor or supplier

needs to do. They can work with an ownerexperiencing temporary financial issueswithout risking their own lien priority.”

Some of the proposed revisions to theLien Law have attempted to change the cur-rent lien law priority in an effort to reducethe potential “hidden lien” issues for title in-surance companies. While the proposal onthe table right now does not significantlyalter anything for architects and engineers,I remain concerned that future efforts todeal with the “hidden lien” issue may reviveproposals that put the design team’s earlylien rights at risk,” Brumback says.

Sperati recognizes that his clients havecompeting needs, which means there likelywon’t ever be agreement on changing thelaw. “The best compromises are ones thatnobody is really happy with. I’m still con-cerned about the changes for subcontractorsand suppliers, particularly the bond claimon state-owned projects. For the generalcontractors, those things are fantastic. Butit could hurt the people providing labor andmaterials. For folks that are small suppliers,it puts a recordkeeping burden on them thatmay not justify the cost.”

He’s hopeful that a provision exemptingeverything under $10,000 will be approvedas part of the eventual package. “If it wentthrough as it is, I think everybody could livewith it. But additional changes could hurt.If those provisions from last year sneakback in, my clients would be more unlikelyto support it.”

Readers are welcome to visit www.ncconstructionnews.com

for updates on the NC lien law revisions.

Those working on the sophisticatedbuilding never lost sight of the importanceof what they were doing. “The Joint Schoolis state-of-the art for the east coast,” saysFoster. “Nanoscience is an emerging sci-ence and the Gateway University ResearchPark will attract professionals and start-upcompanies to the Triad area. Plus studentsfrom UNC-Greensboro and NC A &T StateUniversity can now learn and work in aworld-class educational and research facil-ity.”

The 2012 CPN Star Award for a projectunder $20 million was presented to the In-ternational Civil Rights Center & Museum.Members participating in this project in-

cluded: Weaver Cooke Construction; BradyTrane; Connor Gwyn Schenck; CarolinaBank; J.D. Clark Company; Johnson’sModern Electric Co; City of Greensboro,ECS Carolinas; DARI / D.H. Griffin andDuke Energy

The 2012 CPN Star Award for a projectover $20 million was presented to The JointSchool of Nanoscience and Nanoengineer-ing. Members participating in this projectincluded: Samet Corporation; Brooks,Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard;Chandler Concrete; City of Greensboro;Commissioning WorCx; Duke Energy; ECSCarolinas; Gateway University ResearchPark; Hoffman & Hoffman,; John J. Kirlin,LLC, Johnson’s Modern Electric Co.; RonRothrock & Associates; Scott InsuranceCompany; Sparrow, Wolf & Dennis, PA;Sutton-Kennerly & Associates and UNC-Greensboro.

CPN 2012 Star AwardsContinued from page 7––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

State Lien LawContinued from page 2––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––


www.protegeservices.com

We spend time at Qudeso looking at the changes affecting online marketing that im-pact our clients. Gone are the “good old days” where businesses, large or small, couldbuy a domain, put up an inexpensive website, sit back and wait for the magic to happen.Equally gone is the inattention many companies and organizations gave to network se-curity and database protection. Is your information really safe, or is it time to makechanges?

If your online marketing strategy is more than a couple years old, it’s time for somespring cleaning and there are some steps you should consider to make sure your cus-tomers still consider your products and services first. Do they find the informationyou provide relevant, useful and possibly entertaining? Take a good look at your ana-lytics. Consider updating the information you display and see if your marketing dollarsare focused on the right people and places. You should look at competitive sites just tosee if they “get it” or are they even more vulnerable.

Get your social media projects in line with changing markets. Make sure that youhave a member of your team regularly keeping your target communities aware, in-formed and enlightened. Is your company listed on Linked In? Have you upgraded yourbusiness and personal pages to Timeline? Are you blogging? Are you sure you’re get-ting the biggest SEO bang for your buck?

The web is changing and you have to work smarter to stand out, be found, heardand recognized for the things that make you great.

Chris Hearn is Co-Founder of Qudeso, a North Carolina-based full service mar-keting firm. For more information call 919-395-1802 or email [email protected].


It’s Not Just Online Any MoreCHRIS HEARN – The North Carolina Construction News

carolinas agc building and successful projects spur

Documents