Construction Law Firm

Quick Guide to Construction Law Firms

What is a Construction Law Firm?

Construction law firms help in building construction, contracts, estimating costs, construction insurance, construction management, health and safety services, and more. The best construction law firms offer services to national, regional, and local contractors, public and private owners, developers, design professionals, and other associations.

How Can I find a Construction Law Firm?

There are several methods that can help you find construction law firms around your local area and state. If you are looking for a construction law firm with a limited amount of time, some of the following methods may work better than others.

State Bar Association

You can either go to your State Bar’s website, or you can contact the service yourself. If you go to the website, you’ll likely have to look through a large directory of different lawyers around the state before you find a lawyer specifically in your area. If you contact the State Bar or go through a County Clerk service, you should be able to find a construction law firm within your area quite quickly.

Forum Committee on the Construction Industry of the American Bar Association

This service is mainly used by construction lawyers in part with the American Bar Association, but the website does give contact information to the public. If you have time to do research about construction law firms, this resource will prove very helpful.

Laws-Info.com

As you may have noticed, laws.com has a large and detailed section on construction law. As you’ve been reading through different articles on construction law, you may have noticed advertisements for construction law firms within your specific geographic area. These advertisements are attuned to your specific needs based on your searches and the specific services provided by construction law firms within your state and local area.

What Legal Services can I Receive from a Construction Law Firm?

As stated at the beginning of the article, construction lawyers will usually be able to help you with specific service with the construction, but a construction law firm will be able to provide a wide array of services. Most construction firms are quite large, and each lawyer will specialize in a different area of construction law.

Generally, a construction law firm can help in the following areas and provide the following services within those areas:

Construction Defects

A law firm can usually help contractor, commercial entity, or homeowner who are dealing with construction defects and any of the following problems:

• Negligent design

• Faulty design

• Problems with plumbing or electrical systems

• Foundation problems

• Hazardous materials and mold problems

• Water leakage

Construction Insurance Issues

After a construction defect is found, a construction law firm will help you with your insurance policies and any of the following:

• Coverage disagreements between the builder and insurance company

• Wrap-up insurance policies

• Liability policies

• Insurance payments

• Indemnity

If you need help with an insurance problem associated with construction, you should contact a construction law firm AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. There are many deadlines associated with filing construction claims, but if you don’t file a claim in a certain amount of time, the insurance company may refuse to cover you.

Contract Negotiations

There are contract negotiations everywhere in construction, and it’s imperative that you obtain the services of construction law firms to help with the following:

• Preparation of prime contracts, subcontracts, orders, owner/architect agreements

• Contract clauses like indemnity, payment, termination, dispute resolution, and scope of work

• The review of prime contracts, subcontracts, and other documents

• Bid protests and bidding disputes

• Help with bidding errors

Green Construction

There are liabilities associated with green buildings that don’t apply to other buildings. A construction law firm can help you with liabilities in green construction such as:

• Project delivery method problems

• Problems with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Certification (LEED)

• Problems with new products and materials

• Misrepresented outcomes

Home Improvement

There are a number of problems that can arise within the contracts for home improvements. The appropriate lawyer will usually be able to help you with the following:

• Drafting home improvement contracts

• Problems associated with the home improvement design

• Cost overruns

• Fraudulent billing

• Contract termination

Contract Preparation

A construction law firm will be able to help you with the following, as well as any other contract issues:

• Modifying contracts such as a Consensus, American Institute of Architects, or Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee

• Drafting design agreements

• Work and payment clauses

• Surety Agreements

• All federal, state, and local government construction contracts

• All contract terminations

Real Estate Law

Since all construction concerns real estate, a construction law firm will usually have lawyer who are highly specialized in estate law. The firm should be able to help you with the following:

• Adverse possessions

• Boundary line disputes

• Commercial purchase and sale contracts

• Real estate broker disputes

• Residential purchase and sale contracts

• Prescriptive easements

Alternative Dispute Resolution

If you are seeking the services of a construction law firm, you should ask them about their success in alternative dispute resolution cases. Although many construction and employment cases will often go to litigation, some of these cases can be settled in arbitration or mediation. Settling a construction dispute outside of litigation is often favorable because professional relationships can be preserved and even mended through alternative dispute resolution.

Even cases involving partnerships, joint ventures, LLCs, limited partnerships, and other partnerships can be handled in a private settlement agreement.