The Austin AGC wants to keep you informed on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and its impact on construction activity. In addition to regular emails such as this, we are frequently posting information on our
LinkedIn,
Facebook and
Twitter social media outlets, so be sure sure to follow those as well.
1. GENERAL INFORMATION & RESOURCES
2.
AUSTIN & TEXAS CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
For now, we can tell you that public work (AISD, ACC, public works etc...) here will continue. Further, projects related to an "essential service" (as defined in the Orders) are continuing as well from what we are seeing/hearing, though defining "essential" can be a challenge.
Meanwhile multi-family and condo projects are shutting down, generally, unless providing affordable housing. If you have any questions about your projects, please
contact me and I will try to provide guidance, or find somebody who can.
For projects shutting down, the deadline is midnight tonight. However, the
Development Services Department issued guidance on Thursday allowing extra time to address safety issues if needed. The building restrictions continue until April 13.
3. AUSTIN AGC ADVOCACY EFFORTS
The Austin AGC has been extremely active and working with like-minded industry groups in urging City leaders to allow construction here to continue. Here is the group letter we sent to the Mayor and County Judge on Wednesday. Similar efforts are underway by our AGC Texas Building Branch organization at the State level.
We are also working with a very large group of general contractors that perform work here to coordinate industry action and advocacy in response to the City and County orders.
Over the next 3-5 days we do not anticipate any substantial changes to the City Order or to the Guidance for the Construction Industry document, but there could be additional clarifying guidance provided by the City or County. Also at this time, we are not aware of any effort by the Governor to establish a statewide policy for construction activity.
All that being said, this is an unprecedented public crisis we find ourselves in and so we cannot rule out that a change may come at any time from either City, State or even Federal authorities.
Please be assured we are working very hard on behalf of our commercial building industry. This has been a long week, but this has also served as a reminder why the Austin AGC has been here in Austin since 1946: to serve as the collective voice and resource for our local commercial construction industry.
4. JOBSITE SAFETY, NOW MORE THAN EVER
Providing jobsite safety services has been an important part of the Austin AGC for decades, but with the arrival of COVID-19 we need to be more vigilant than ever against the spread of this virus via construction activity. AGC of America has
resources
to assist in that effort and will continue to share those safety resources to any and all members of the construction community, regardless of whether they are members of our association. We also encourage you to read this message from AGC of America President Steve Sandherr on this topic.
5. LEGAL GUIDANCE
We are fortunate that our industry partners in the legal world are regularly writing and sharing expert guidance for contractors during this challenging time. We strongly encourage you to check the websites of the construction law firms below for the latest information they provide.
As always,
both
myself
and Chapter Safety Director
Michael Welvaert
are available at any time to help you and your company address coronavirus issues as they impact construction activity. Do not hesitate to contact us.
Austin Chapter AGC
