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July 2024 The Contractor’s Advantage
HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000 jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com
When everything goes according to plan, whoever made that plan may end up getting sued. This is because of what’s called the Spearin Doctrine, which we will get into shortly. Before we begin, I will acknowledge that I am not a builder or an architect. However, I have looked at many building plans in my line of work. That doesn’t mean I could ever build anything based on them, of course! To this day, I am always amazed at the $50 million superstructures talented crews can put together with few , if any, issues. But the larger and more costly a project gets, the more likely something serious will go amiss. And when that happens, a few important factors determine whether the builder or designer is at fault. How Commercial Projects Get Started Commercial projects go through a basic process before construction can get underway. A client hires an architecture or design firm to draw up what are known as plans and specifications — if you’re a contractor reading this, you know exactly what I’m talking about — and these set the stage for the entire project. The “plans” are essentially design drawings, and the specs are written instructions describing the equipment, materials, and mechanisms found in those drawings. Once these are complete, contractors and subcontractors bid on them, and the client chooses whom they want to move forward with based on those bids. Between all those designs and how contractors implement them, there are plenty of people involved in a project. However, planning isn’t everything. While those original MATERIAL MISHAP DETERMINING LIABILITY BETWEEN BUILDERS AND DESIGNERS
plans and specs contain 80%–90% of a commercial project, meaning it’s “specced out” from the beginning, many blanks still need to be filled in. The Spearin Doctrine Remember what I said about the designer getting sued when everything goes to plan? That is because of the Spearin Doctrine, which resulted from a Supreme Court ruling. The doctrine maintains that a contractor is not liable to the client for loss or damages resulting from insufficiencies or defects with the plans and specifications. Therefore, if the builder follows the plans precisely and the plans turn out to be faulty, then the designer of those plans may be liable instead. However, when large construction projects run into significant issues, it typically results in costly and complicated litigation. When that happens, legal teams look through every detail to determine who is liable. In many instances, manufacturers can be a significant factor. Let’s say a designer recommends a material, and that material ends up setting a project back significantly. The courts will have to determine whether the material choice was at issue, or the vendor from which the builder sourced the materials, for example. In the latter case, the builder would be at fault,
and the designer would be footing the bill in the former. Much like the construction projects themselves, the question of liability in commercial construction projects is vast, complex, and often costly.
“When everything goes according to plan, whoever made that plan may end up getting sued.”
-Jeremy Wyatt
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decide what to listen for online and on what platforms. Then, figure out what you want to accomplish. Most businesses use social listening to learn how people feel about their brand, monitor industry trends, and identify high-impact keywords and hashtags. Casting a wide social-listening net will undoubtedly capture some negative reviews. Rather than avoiding unpleasant feedback, use it as an opportunity to shine. If a customer complains, reach out as quickly as possible and say you’re sorry they’re having this experience. (You’re not admitting missteps but acknowledging the commenter is unhappy.) Then, describe what you’re doing to solve the problem or offer to discuss the issue directly with the commenter. This demonstrates a sincere intent to keep that person as a customer. Log, organize, analyze, and study your data for trends and insights. Over time, understanding where, how, and why your business is mentioned online will empower you to stay ahead of customer tastes and industry trends. TAKING THE PULSE Social Listening Supercharges Marketing Success
Monitoring what people say about your products and services on social media, known as “social listening,” can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Deciding how to use it, however, is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, a training and certification company, social listening has huge potential rewards if done well. These include burnishing your brand’s reputation, understanding your customers more deeply, and gathering valuable intelligence on your competitors. However, if you decide not to bother with social listening or do it poorly, you miss out on the world’s largest source of customer insights at your peril. For example, if a new marketing campaign touches on negative commentary on social media, a tuned-in business can quickly retool the campaign. A company that doesn’t use social listening is likely to be blind-sided. Companies can also analyze conversations to determine what customers like and don’t like about, for example, a new hamburger menu item or a meal-delivery service, and understand the underlying emotions.
This doesn’t mean you must spend all your waking hours reacting to YouTube, Facebook, X, and TikTok notifications. Various social listening tools, including Hootsuite, Google Alerts, Brandwatch, SparkToro, and Mention, can assist you. The first step in working out a social listening strategy is to research your buyer personae, or the fictional profiles of your prototypical customers, to help you
Also, if your business should
face a crisis, insights gained through social listening are essential to crafting an effective response. Social media will most likely provide the first notice of the problem
and probably be the best medium for an initial response. A finely tuned social listening strategy enables businesses to get out in front of the issue, show they’re working to solve it and assure brand loyalists that damage control is in place.
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Modern Design Her persistence prevailed. Spurred in part by her cupcakes’ iconic “modern dot” flourish, a circular decoration that adorned the tops of all her treats, Sprinkles stood out from the competition.
dispensing ATM, a contactless system serving scrumptious cupcakes, cupcake mix, and merchandise. Best of all, it was open and stocked 24/7 with fresh goods. Author and Entrepreneur Not satisfied with Sprinkles’ success, Nelson is
To her credit, she anticipated her small touch would be significant and trademarked her design to prevent copycat competition. Cupcake Convenience Her foresight has proved fruitful: Starting in a single 600-square-foot location, Sprinkles now has over 40 locations and has sold more than 200 million cupcakes nationwide! But her innovations did not stop there. In 2012, Nelson banked on a new idea. Sprinkles introduced a unique cupcake-
dead-set on revolutionizing how Americans eat pizza. In 2017, she co-founded a Neapolitan- style pizzeria called Pizzana. Also, Nelson is far more than just a baker; she is also a TV personality. In 2021, she co- created the competition show “Best in Dough,” streaming now on Hulu. Nelson believes anyone can make it in life if they have the right recipe . Her book, “Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion Into Profit,” is a guide to help anyone establish an expectation-defying brand. Nelson’s success is an example of how dreams can come true with just a sprinkle of innovation and perseverance.
HAVE A Laugh
Why are placemats adorned with forks, spoons, and knives commonplace today? To find out, we have to get our hands dirty — because the history of cutlery, much like the history of civilization, is complex, nuanced, and full of gossip. From Fingers to Forks The Evolution of Dining Etiquette
Spoons are the oldest examples of cutlery that have been consistently used for millennia. Likewise, people have always used knives to cut up meat and prepare meals, but only the advent of individualized meals brought along the advent of dinner knives. Forks are altogether newer. Around 1,000 years ago, the Byzantine noblewoman Theodora Doukaina brought a golden fork to her wedding feast in Venice. Despite the initial controversy surrounding this “new” utensil, forks gradually caught on as royals began intermarrying. By the 1800s, cutlery, as we know it now, had become widespread. While most sit-down meals will always be the domain of the cutlery-wielding elite, we can still count on finger food sticking around, too.
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Jeremy Wyatt jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000
40 West Chesapeake Avenue, Ste. 600 Towson, MD 21204
Inside This Edition
1. Navigating the Liability of Builders and Designers 2. Successful Businesses Tune in to Social Media Trends 3. The Fascinating History of Cutlery 4. How Sprinkles Started the Cupcake Craze
The start of the 21st century marked the end of the dot-com bubble: Tech stocks that had seen tremendous growth in the 1990s suddenly plummeted. In the wake of this economic turmoil, entrepreneur Candace Nelson made the radical decision to leave her career as an investment banker and enroll in culinary school with a degree in Pastry Arts. Many were skeptical of her choice, but Nelson was committed to pursuing her true passion. Starting Sprinkles Trained and ready to chase her dreams in earnest, Nelson, then just 31 years old, opened Sprinkles, the country’s first cupcake bakery, in Beverly Hills, California. “Everyone thought I was nuts and that I was having my quarter-life crisis,” Nelson told NBC News. As it turns out, they were crazy for doubting her. Having grown up overseas, she borrowed Europeans’ habit of buying baked goods from specialty shops. She believed Americans would warm up to the idea of a treat, once THE ENTREPRENEUR BEHIND THE FIRST CUPCAKE BAKERY Sweet Success
reserved for special occasions, available as a daily delicacy. In the lead-up to her grand opening, many predicted the business would fail. It was 2005, carb-free diets were in vogue, and no one had attempted to create a bakery business solely focused on cupcakes. Moreover, Nelson was charging $3 per cupcake, which many felt was excessive. “I stood behind that cupcake counter and explained the value of my product until I was blue in the face,” Nelson told NBC News.
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