Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry | 
| Author: Barry B. Lepatner
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
List Price: $17.00
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 222175
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0226472698
Dewey Decimal Number: 624
EAN: 9780226472690
ASIN: 0226472698
Publication Date: September 15, 2008
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Biased Point of View October 21, 2007
Bleed Blue (Durham, NC USA)
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
Yeegads, this author thinks the construction industry should be more like the automobile industry as if somehow that would improve its performance. This premise is so misguided that it reduces the validity of the legitimate points he has to make. The fact of the matter is that the auto industry and the construction share many of the same characteristics.
He comes at the subject from the point of view of someone who sues construction firms on behalf of owners all the time. It is a legitimate perspective for someone who is looking for more work, but it neglects to address the role of the owner in the flaws of the industry -- which is equally huge. If the owner suffers from imperfect information then it behooves him/her to find that information and understand the entirety of their construction needs. Caveat emptor.
Many of his points are laudable though but in the end he misses the biggest problem that exists today within the segment of our economy that creates our built environment. That problem is the lack of leadership on the part of either the architect, the builder or the owner the result of which is that we continue to develop an incredibly inefficient infrastructure that is driving us down the road of resource depletion and environmental ruin (in a car).
 fascinating general interest material on the economics of construction September 27, 2007
scaler rdh
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I try to read all of Robert Wright's books because his prose is always
crystal clear and his analysis is often incisive. (I'm not sure why
Amazon doesn't list him as third author but plenty of other online sites
do. Maybe it is because his name is on the title page but not the
cover?) In any event, he does not disappoint here. Combined, the three
authors provide a provocative take on the construction industry and its
problems. This book may represent the first time that construction has
been analyzed from the perspective of game theory and asymmetric
information. I'm not sure it's right, but it is a fascinating read and
too little of general interest is published on the economics of
construction.
Critical Insight, Worth Reading December 22, 2007
Fernando Pages
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book will not make contractors happy, but anyone in the business for more that few years will recognize the author's critique. Our industry has not grown from craft to professional management. We resist improvement and defend the status quo. The author points out the flaws in our industry, provides valuable history lessons, and then suggests, in principle, that equal information for owners and builders might help balance the scales.
I don't know that these suggestions will amount to more than so many other attempts to bring construction into the 19-th (let alone 21st century). But looking at the truth straight on seems to help one resolve to do better; for the owner it serves as a caution. A bit repetative, but insightful and most certainly worth reading. My compliments to the author for good research and blunt talk.
 Invaluable Insight October 11, 2007
B. Moore (NYC,USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Never has a book so thoroughly explored the troubles plaguing an industry. But as sobering as the book is, it's also encouraging. Mr. LePatner proves that a reformed construction industry doesn't have to be some kind of unattainable utopia. He lays out what we can all do, engineers and architects alike, to make positive improvements in the industry. Now it's time to make his suggestions a reality.
The Glass is Half Full January 11, 2008
Stephen Shay (Boston, MA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
LePatner is a lawyer and he sees a lot of nightmare projects in his practice. Unfortunately, LePatner doesn't see the successful projects, the ones which are finished on time, on budget and the clients are happy.
I'm seeing a growing division between what happens in the field and what happens in the office. Technology has made the office more efficient and also more dependent. My fellow arm-chair managers are constantly at our desks, buried in e-mail, and married to our computers. We've invested time to learning mountains of software applications, but we've sacrificed our hands-on knowledge.
The traditional career path for project managers has also changed, the old days of putting your time in the field has changed to putting your time in college, then starting to manage projects. From my personal college experience, I didn't spend much time bolting things together. We are transferring more of the coordination process from the office and moving it into the field.
As things move to the field we're starting to deal with a lethal combination: rising labor costs and dropping productivity. Simply put, things are arriving in the field, but their not ready to be installed: now every minute is burning money.
LePatner offers advice, which is dead on: an owner needs a qualified person to decipher the mountains of information and technical complexities, but I think it's time for the industry to start getting back to the basics: good projects come from great builders.
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