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Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry

Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry

Across the nation, construction projects large and small—from hospitals to schools to simple home improvements—are spiraling out of control. Delays and cost overruns have come to seem “normal,” even as they drain our wallets and send our blood pressure skyrocketing. In Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, prominent construction attorney Barry B. LePatner builds a powerful case for change in America’s sole remaining “mom and pop” industry—an industry that consumes $1.23 trillion and wastes at least $120 billion each year. 

With three decades of experience representing clients that include eminent architects and engineers, as well as corporations, institutions, and developers, LePatner has firsthand knowledge of the bad management, ineffective supervision, and insufficient investment in technology that plagues the risk-averse construction industry. In an engaging and direct style, he here pinpoints the issues that underlie the industry’s woes while providing practical tips for anyone in the business of building, including advice on the precise language owners should use during contract negotiations. 

Armed with Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, everyone involved in the purchase or renovation of a building or any structure—from homeowners seeking to remodel to civic developers embarking on large-scale projects—has the information they need to change this antiquated industry, one project at a time. 

“LePatner describes what is wrong with the current system and suggests ways that architects can help—by retaking their rightful place as master builders.”—Fred A. Bernstein, Architect Magazine

“Every now and then, a major construction project is completed on time and on budget. Everyone is amazed. . . . Barry LePatner thinks this exception should become the rule. . . . A swift kick to the construction industry.”—James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal

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Specification
  • Product Details

    Paperback: 240 pages
    Publisher: University of Chicago Press; Reprint edition (September 15, 2008)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 0226472698
    ISBN-13: 978-0226472690
    Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
    Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
    Customer Reviews: 3.8 out of 5 stars

    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #11 in Construction Industry
    #15 in Construction Law (Books)
    #55 in Manufacturing Industry (Books)

Technical specification
  • Unique ref.Broken-Buildings-Busted-Budgets
  • Product familyEducational Materials
  • Product groupBook
  • TypeDocumentation (information only)
  • Date of publishing2019-02-06
  • Edition number1
Related
  • Material mainPaper
  • Designed inUnited States
Classification
  • BIMobject CategoryConstruction Materials - Other

Region availability

North America
United States