Liquidated Damages

“Liquidated damages”—the term strikes fear into the hearts of contractors. Liquidated damages, or LDs as they are often called, are monetary damages imposed by...

Contingency Funds

For contractors, there are three things in life that are certain—death, taxes, and unwelcomed surprises on their jobs. Surprises are often bad for the...

Critical Provisions

Pay-if-paid and pay-when-paid provisions and their legal effect can have critical consequences for contractors on construction projects when an owner becomes insolvent or fails...

Widespread Failures

In September 2024, the panel investigating the 2017 fire in the Grenfell Tower in London, England, which killed 72, issued its final report, placing...
settlement clauses

Settlement Clauses – Buyer Beware

Contractors have claims on projects all the time. Contractors seek additional compensation and time extensions on projects for many legitimate reasons. Some owners have...

Investing in America

For more than a decade, I’ve covered the lack of skilled workers in the trades impacting productivity, profits, and projects across the nation. I’ve...

Supervisor’s Misconduct Not Sufficient to Impute Liability

In construction cases, often a question of vicarious liability arises when a supervisor, whose conduct and knowledge may generally be imputed to the employer...
Drones

A New Reality

In the past few years, the proliferation of drones has expanded exponentially. Once limited to a casual, amateur pastime activity, the use of drones...
Navigating OSHA

Navigating OSHA’s Rules on Silica Dust Exposure

In recent years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has promulgated regulations specific to the hazard of crystalline silica dust exposure. This issue...

When to Stop Digging

In its recent “DIRT Report,” the Common Ground Alliance featured an interactive tool that showed sobering year-to-year statistics on the frequency of underground utility...