The simple answer is “Of course not!”. But are you taking any precautions to make sure that it doesn’t happen to you? How can this happen? We’ve all heard the stories of a subcontractor that failed to pay its laborers prevailing wages on a Davis Bacon project. Typically, the Department of Labor catches this failure to properly pay employees in an audit of the project. If the subcontractor doesn’t have [...]
Several months ago, I wrote about an escalator subcontractor that sued a general contractor, demanding payment for work completed based on approved shop drawings. The trial court agreed with the subcontractor, but the general contractor appealed. Ten months later, the Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the subcontractor had a duty to bring to the general contractor’s attention major discrepancies or errors they detect in the bid documents. The subcontractor [...]
You've been awarded the bid on a project and you let all your subs know that you were awarded the job. But, what do you do about that subcontractor that says, glad to hear it, but we can’t do your job anymore. The knee jerk reaction is to tell the subcontractor that he’s bound to do the job. But is he? Submitting a Bid In order to have a binding [...]
More contractors and subcontractors are having trouble getting paid for their work. While an owner losing financing is nothing new, subcontractors are more and more finding pay-if-paid clauses in their contracts that arguably prevent them from pursing the general contractor for payment. What can you do to minimize this risk? Read Your Contract I know this sounds obvious, but pay-if-paid clauses can get stuck deep in the contract. And, after [...]
This is the first in an ongoing series discussing construction contracts. Would you ever agree to a contract without knowing the terms? Most contractors would say no, perhaps a bit more emphatically. But, it happens every day—where contract terms that you have never seen are incorporated into the contract by reference. Be on the lookout for phrases that incorporate external terms or standards to make sure you know what you [...]
Have you ever wondered if you can limit your liability on a construction project? Well, there are ways that this can be done. Nebraska courts have allowed contractors to limit their liability, but only in limited circumstances. The contract might contain a waiver of subrogation clause. This means that if the owner’s insurer pays for damage, even if it’s caused by the contractor, the owner cannot pursue claims against [...]
Welcome to Lamson, Dugan and Murray’s Construction Law blog. Here, we’ll be posting articles on a wide variety of construction related topics, including contracts, liens, dispute resolution, employee problems, insurance coverage, and updates on Nebraska and Iowa law and statutes. We hope that you find our articles beneficial to your business, and if you have a topic you’d like us to write on, drop us a line and we can [...]
