CONSTRUCTION LAW

Contract Preparation & Negotiation

The success of your projects depends on your contracts. Whether you’re using your own form or your customer’s proposed contract, you have to start with a good contract. You have to know the value you bring to the project; demand fairness for payment terms; change order and claim provisions; and factor in project risks.

We get it. Our team prepares strong but practical proposals and contract forms that you can use as a basis for your projects. In cases where your customers send a contract, we know their intent firsthand. They aren’t crafted to protect you. We figure out where to push back on those customer contracts and when to stand your ground so you end up with a fair agreement.

We help you master your contract and follow the terms you’ve negotiated. Then, we look out for issues like extra work, project delays (due to the supply chain, design issues, or otherwise), misunderstandings about the project, or any number of common problems we see in the field.

Bidding Issues & Protests

Many of our clients perform public work. As your company competes for federal, state, and local government contracts, there is a good chance you will become involved in a bid protest—whether that means challenging the terms of a solicitation, the award of a contract, or assisting a government entity in defending a contract award to you.

Timelines for filing a bid protest are tight, and the procedures are specific. Deadlines can impact both your ability to preserve your protest rights and to secure a stay of a contract award or performance. We make sure your protest doesn’t get dismissed as untimely, all the while keeping in mind the big-picture goal of any bid protest: getting business and making money. We’ve spent over a decade understanding how to effectively pursue and litigate the protest with a sensitivity toward your customer relationships. We take care of the entire process so you can continue to run your business without any major interruptions.

Claims Management & Support

When you’ve started work on a job, that project—the site conditions, the schedule, the work of the other contractors—can become completely different than what you bid on. Change is inevitable on construction projects, and more often than not, those changes cost time and money.

We help you quickly master your contract, highlight the critical terms, and develop and execute a game plan to pursue the right claims. We go over the original project scope and schedule and work with you to figure out what went off the rails. Then we gather all the documentation you need to adjust the contract sum, timeline, or both. We know the industry in and out, which forms our support strategy as we get through your claims together.

Mechanic’s Lien & Bond Claims

Every contractor and supplier working on a construction project has mechanic’s lien rights, generally speaking. It’s actually one of the oldest concepts of American law. (Thomas Jefferson wrote the first Mechanic’s Lien Act, which protected contractors’ rights to payment.) When your bid is accepted, you don’t plan on not getting paid. But it happens, and so mechanic’s liens and bond claims are real possibilities. We’ve dealt with hundreds of these claims, so we’re here to support you.

We make sure we have all the facts about when you have notice of furnishing obligations; when your lien rights will expire on public, private, or residential projects; and what needs to happen to perfect those liens so we can enforce them. Then going forward, we’ll help you develop systems to make sure you don’t risk losing your lien rights. For larger and public projects, we represent subcontractors and suppliers on payment bond claims to secure payment rights against the general contractors’ sureties, and when necessary, enforce those claims.

Dispute Resolution & Trial

We help you through any disputes that arise during the course of your construction projects, whether that’s through the claims process during construction or later on. When you have to pursue or defend a claim in arbitration, mediation, or in court, it can be daunting, time-consuming, and expensive.

But we’re always upfront, telling you when to fight or settle outside of court (but not without exhausting every possible scenario). Protecting your rights is our top priority, so we’re as thorough as possible as we go through the process together, all the while ensuring an efficient and cost-effective approach. We have a proven track record of successful results and victories for our contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in all phases of dispute resolution.

We’re focused on finding the solution that fits you best. We don’t let our ego impact your case—our objective is your objective.

Insurance & Risk Management

Construction jobs come with a bunch of different risks, from accidents to property damage to theft. We help you understand not only the insurance coverages required at the start of a job, but also make sure your customers, subcontractors, or suppliers also carry the right coverages and limits. We quickly assess the potential risks given a project’s work scope, focusing on managing worst-case scenarios.

Jobs can be unpredictable, so we keep the lines of communication open if and when a loss occurs. We understand the risks firsthand and can advise on and manage insurance claims and negotiations so you’re not stuck with unexpected losses. Given recent developments in insurance law, carriers may deny your claims. We’ll work with you to manage the claims process so the structure of the claim is set, pursuing critical strategies to compel coverage, including in court if necessary.