The concern about insurance-related issues was hardly limited to the people in the room. Grover Simpson cited a recent article in an industry publication that ranked insurance and surety issues as "the second most significant" of all issues facing the profession.

Simpson saw an opportunity amidst the difficulties, one that did not exist three or four years ago when insurance was much more available. "If you are a construction firm or a design firm that's done the right things managing your busi- ness and controlling claim costs," he contended, "you are going to see a much more significant advantage in the market place today than you did three or four years ago."

Jim Pateidl agreed that there was an opportunity "to turn the economy into an opportunity." Decisions made now under duress to minimize risk and "to play to your strengths" can drive the business to ensure survival and eventual prosperity.

Dennis Thompson of Walton Construction argued that "the industry has to become an advocate to get owners more educated" about insurance-related issues, particularly in the negotiation of contracts. "We are all in it as a group," he contended. "We should all share [in the educational process] as a group."

Ernie Straub, however, was less sanguine about the opportunities available. "We've seen a dramatic increase in our insurance costs and coverage," he said of his own company, "and we've been doing the right things for 15 years."

Think Stucco

The wounds on the American economy have come both from within and from without. There is perhaps no better example of a self-inflicted wound than the one visited on the building industry by an unlikely culprit called, in industry shorthand, "EIFS," or exterior insulation finish system. As Susan McGreevy noted wryly, "Think stucco."

As it happens, EIFS are a likely source of mold, and mold has become a flourishing new source of litigation. The quote of the day goes to Tom Turner who instinctively summed up the duality of the threat facing the industry, saying, "Whether it's mold or terrorism or anything else, it increases the cost of real estate development, which is ultimately passed on to the borrower."

"Mold or terrorism?" Based on the comments of those at the table, trial lawyers have made mold the more pressing problem.

"This is ridiculous," said Tom Cohen emphatically. "Here I am, a mortgage banker trying to pay off construction lenders so those loans don't remain on the books, and the primary issue I'm dealing with is mold insurance."

"What is mold insurance?" Cohen asked rhetorically. "There is no mold in new construction in Kansas City." If mold ought not be an issue because of its absence in new construction, it likewise should not be an issue because of its presence everyplace else.

"There probably isn't a house in this city without some mold," observed Terry Dunn. "The problem is way overblown," agreed Susan McGreevy, an authority on the subject. "There is no evidence that anyone has ever died from mold exposure. And no one can tell you how much is safe."