Construction Contracts

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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…

On February 25, 2022, my colleague Zachary Davis and I will be presenting as part of a HalfMoon Education live interactive webinar Managing Engineering Liability and Risk in Oregon. Zachary will present “Law of Engineering Malpractice,” an overview of professional liability claims. I will present “Understanding How Contracts Can Shift, Reduce (or Increase) Risk,”…

The year 2021 was an interesting and unsettled one in the construction industry — bids and projects grew in numbers in some market sectors and regions yet slowed or halted in others. An aftereffect of this activity was a variety of claims and disputes, which, coupled with the ongoing pandemic and increasing market uncertainty, particularly…

Construction projects are complex and often experience delays.  The party responsible for the delay can find itself subject to potentially severe consequences. There are various ways project owners and contractors can cause project delays, and each party wants to “own” the project float to be able to apply the project’s extra schedule time toward its…

If a contractor cannot meet deadlines on a construction project or a subcontractor pulls out of a new project bid in order to pursue a more attractive opportunity, the project owner and/or prime contractor face potentially significant damages, which can include corrective work, costs of completion or substitute performance, and delay. In my latest column…

The importance of carefully drafting, and following, a construction contract’s termination provisions was made clear for project owners and contractors by a recent Washington Supreme Court decision, Conway Construction Co. v. City of Puyallup. The city contracted with Conway to build a major roadway, but when the city lost confidence in Conway’s work, it issued…

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…

Today, the construction industry faces a myriad of challenges – as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly increasing construction material costs, labor and material shortages, and a hot housing market are potential obstacles for project owners and contractors that, despite their best efforts and intentions, could prevent them from completing their construction projects on time.…