Construction Insurance Contracts | Do Your Provisions Actually Have You “Covered”?
Construction insurance contracts are a must as construction projects are notoriously risky endeavors. In order to cover these risks, the parties usually employ the following types of insurance coverage: builder’s risk, commercial general liability, umbrella, contractor’s pollution, auto, and workers’ compensation/employer’s liability. Each insurance type has gaps, but often there are ways of modifying the […]
Arbitration – It’s time to give it a second thought
The construction industry has used arbitration as the primary method for resolving disputes for many years. Builders routinely include a well-worn arbitration provision in their contracts. When disputes occur, however, builders are often surprised at certain limitations of the arbitration process. Therefore, it is worth giving that old arbitration clause a second thought and seeing […]
It’s Pay Day! (or Is It?): Dealing with “pay-if-paid” Clauses in Construction Contracts
A new construction project springs financial hope for all parties involved. Unfortunately, if the owner fails to pay the general contractor as expected, that hope is quickly replaced by financial anxiety. In these situations, the general contractor is faced with the dilemma of “financing” the project by paying out-of-pocket, or incurring project-damaging problems with labor […]
How Do You Handle Real Property Damage?
Once an owner discovers there is a defect or property damage to its project caused by the general contractor or one of its subcontractors, the owner will want to know what damages it may recover. While a full discussion of damages in a construction dispute is too in-depth, the following will show the general category […]
To Give Early Notice or Not to Give Early Notice: That is the Question!
Notices, such as notices of delays, changed conditions, objections to payment applications, and claims, can be required for many aspects of a construction project. However, provisions in construction contracts sometimes require notices to be issued in a relatively short time frame. From this arises the question: does a claim die or not die if a […]