Understanding & Navigating a Performance Bond Default Situation
Most contractors deal with performance bonds on public jobs when they furnish a bond for the benefit of an owner. However, many contractors will...
Contracting to Minimize Risk
Most sophisticated parties want to avoid lawsuits because they understand that such disputes may be detrimental to a project and end up causing everyone...
Construction Ethics? You Bet!
Doctors, lawyers, and many other professionals are subject to specific codes of ethics that govern their performance and conduct. Architects and engineers are often...
OSHA Out of Luck Where Company Lacks “Employees”
Every now and then, I represent small companies in fighting citations issued by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration where OSHA jurisdiction becomes a...
Are Broad Risk-Shifting Provisions Concerning Site Conditions Enforceable?
Contractors often bid projects based solely on information provided by owners and after only a limited site investigation. Yet, owners often use broad risk-shifting...
How to Make a Bad Situation Worse
It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. In a recent...
Essential Construction Contract Terms
The importance of a well-crafted construction contract cannot be overstated. As Murphy’s Law states, if something can go wrong, it will. The best way...
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...
Crane Operator Certification Relief May Be Coming
On February 10, 2014, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) published a proposed rule aimed at revising one of the more controversial provisions...
Uncle Sam Wants YOU
The federal government is taking aim at occupational safety and health violations from a different perspective: criminal prosecution. On December 17, 2015, a joint...