As construction projects increasingly rely on specialized or international suppliers, project teams should evaluate more factors than pricing and product availability. Overseas vendors can offer significant advantages, but they may also introduce legal and practical challenges that become difficult to manage if problems arise.
When disputes involve foreign suppliers, resolving issues like delayed deliveries, defective
Data center construction projects involve more than delivering complex technical infrastructure on an accelerated schedule. Owners, developers, contractors, and design professionals must navigate legal and contractual issues that can affect project performance, increase costs, and lead to disputes throughout the project lifecycle.
From performance-based specifications and schedule delays to equipment procurement challenges and commissioning requirements
The party responding to a proposed design or construction contract may satisfy itself that the contract proposes arbitration or litigation to resolve any disputes and leave it at that—as long as the method of resolution is generally aligned with the party’s preferences. In order to eliminate surprises for their clients if a dispute arises and
In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and economic sanctions imposed by countries around the world in response, supply chain disruptions and the resulting scarcity of construction have resulted in price escalation that threatens construction project budgets. To allocate the risk of these sorts of cost increases, project owners and contractors may use
At the forefront of concerns for those in the construction industry is the escalation in material prices and disruptions to supply chains that were in large part a byproduct of the pandemic. Project owners and contractors want to understand their rights with regard to these risks and also how the risks should be apportioned. In
In its March 11, 2021 opinion, Division Three of the Washington Court of Appeals considered whether the 90-day period to record a claim of lien is extended by a contractor performing work after substantial completion to correct nonconforming work – usually referred to as “warranty work.” In the case of Brashear Electric, Inc. v. Norcal Properties, LLC, the Court strictly construed the statutory term “repairing” to exclude the contractor’s correction of its own work and rejected the notion that warranty work extended the 90-day timeframe to file a lien claim.
Norcal Properties, LLC (“Norcal”) and Blue Bridge Properties, LLC (“Blue”) own adjacent properties. Norcal and Blue separately contracted with Vandervert Construction (“Vandervert”) to construct a building on each property. The prime agreements’ substantive provisions were identical. Vandervert subcontracted with Brashear Electric, Inc. (“Brashear”) to work on both projects.
Under the prime agreements, Vandervert promised to correct nonconforming work up to a year after substantial completion. Vandervert’s subcontracts with Brashear required Brashear to assume the prime agreements’ warranty provisions.
In my latest column for the Daily Journal of Commerce, I look at the concept of liquidated damages – in my experience one of the top five heavily negotiated (and litigated) clauses in a construction contract. Because a project owner’s potential delay damages are often difficult to determine with certainty at the beginning of
In an ideal world, a contractor performs a portion of the work on a project as provided for in a construction contract, the owner pays the contractor an installment payment for that portion of the work, and the parties continue similarly until the work is finished. However, many factors can upset the equation – changes
Originally published as an Op-Ed in the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce on June 19, 2020.
Whether you are an owner, contractor, or design professional, construction disputes are, unfortunately, inevitable. Below are some tips to avoid potential pitfalls and help resolve disputes as efficiently as possible, whether before or after formal litigation (or arbitration) commences.
Parties involved in a construction project can expect to spend much energy and effort to finalize the terms and conditions of a contract. Although those terms usually carry great weight in any contract dispute, of equal or greater importance can be the parties’ actions and course of dealing during construction. A lack of strict adherence