Originally posted 2011-07-25 09:00:48. Recently, the legal/construction blogosphere (if that’s still a word) has been discussing a move by Ohio State University to eliminate the need for construction payment and performance bonds on public projects for the university. Needless to say, this move is not popular with certain portions of the construction industry. In fact […]
Why I Enjoy Visiting a Job Site
Originally posted 2016-07-25 11:26:44. Last week a friend of mine at a local construction company invited me to lunch and for a tour of a local project here in Richmond. This was the third visit to this project that was to take an historic train station and renovate it into a newer working train station […]
Quick Note: Be Careful with Pay if Paid Clauses (Both Subcontractors and General Contractors) (now with a caveat)
Originally posted 2015-06-15 09:00:38. Aside from waiver of lien rights (something that will be illegal in Virginia after July 1, 2015), the most troublesome contractual impediment to payment for a subcontractor or supplier on a project often is the “pay if paid” clause. As a general rule, in Virginia, these clauses where drafted in the […]
Be Careful in Contracting and Business
Originally posted 2014-06-06 09:00:34. After an hour long phone conference with a client, I have had several thoughts, only a few of which I can share here (grin). The first is that my friends and clients in the construction industry are hurting, but need to work with an attorney to assure that the pain is […]
An Interesting Take on Unjust Enrichment from the Virginia Supreme Court
Construction jobs involve numerous contractual relationships between and among general contractors, suppliers, architects, and subcontractors (to name a few of the relationships). In most cases, aside from exceptions such as mechanic’s liens, the concept of contractual privity keeps those “lower” on the contractual chain from jumping over the party with whom that company has a […]