The news is everywhere that construction spending is down. Contractors face the liability issues inherent in having to cut prices while construction material costs either increase or stay the same. However, opportunities exist for a construction contractor to turn a profit, even in these seemingly dire times. In order to do so, a contractor must […]
Mechanic’s Liens and Contracts: A Roundup
Image via Wikipedia Musings thought that it would step away from its discussion of “green” construction to discuss a few interesting construction cases that came down recently in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The first of these is another warning to contractors that arbitration provisions can be waived by conduct. In Shoosmith Bros., Inc. v. Hopewell […]
Construction Construction Law Contracts Green Building Marketing Mechanic's Liens Occupational Safety
Construction Contracts, Mediation and Venue
I have preached the mantra of “read your contracts carefully” on numerous occasions here at Construction Law Musings. I have also discussed my thoughts on ADR and mandatory mediation. A recent case out of the Eastern District of Virginia mixes these two ideas quite nicely. Dominion Transmission Inc. v. Precision Pipeline Inc. involved the construction […]
Sometimes Scope Of Work Isn’t Obvious
We discuss contracts often here at Construction Law Musings. Why? Because in most states, and particularly in my home state of Virginia, the contract creates the “law” that will govern your interaction on a construction project. In construction, every word of the contract will be read carefully in the event of a dispute. You need […]
Contractors Need to be Teachers Too
As I was looking through my Google Reader feeds at the end of last week, I ran across a great post by my friend Andrea Goldman (@andreagoldman) at her Massachusetts Builders Blog. Her blog is a great resource for Massachusetts home builders and their attorneys. In her post, she points out something that contractors (whether […]