Tag Archives: document

Construction and Design Contracts— they are more important than you might think! (law note)

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As regular readers of this Blog know, contracts are extremely important for all parties involved in a construction project.  While verbal contracts can be enforced, a written contract, which is finely-tuned to your specific project, can save you a lot of time and money later on if the proverbial poo hits the fan.

I recently read AIA’s take on contracts, in their Construction Risk Brief (which you

Shaking hands with bribe money

Hopefully your own contracts don’t start like this handshake!

should subscribe to [free] if you have not already).  Their featured article is on “Best Practices for Construction Contracts”.  In the piece, they discuss  7 key points to address in each contract.  I concur for the most part, although want to point out that some of them (such as the regular monitoring and documentation bullet point) are deserving of their own post, as there is a *lot* that can and does go wrong during the construction administration phase.

The AIA, of course, is interested in having you purchase a subscription to their 300+ form database.  And, if you are involved in a lot of projects, you should definitely consider doing so.  The AIA contracts have almost become the ‘gold standard’ of construction contracts due to their familiarity and popularity.  They are not, however, a one-size-fits-all set of documents.  The AIA contract forms themselves have some decisions or elections to make within them.  And, you may find that an AIA contract doesn’t work for your project.  For example, it may be too verbose for a small porch addition to a house, for example.  If you work with homeowner clients, they will (rightly) be very intimidated by the length and breadth of an AIA contract—even a small project contract from the AIA.

Can a non-AIA contract be used successfully?  Absolutely.  It just needs to have the same key issues spelled out so all parties know the agreement.

Check out the AIA’s article, and let me know if your own contracts pass the test.  If not, now is the time to update them to best protect yourself from future risk.

 

Vacation during a Project? Time for your Construction Documents to Shine!

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Happy Lazy Day Everyone!  What’s that?  You didn’t know that August 10th is considered National Lazy Day?   Well, it is.  And it ties nicely in with today’s theme: how to take a vacation during the thick of the construction project.

Everyone needs a break.  You are no different.  It can seem, however, that it is impossible to disconnect from the ongoing onslaught of questions, requests for information, change orders, pay applications, and the like.  But you can.  The key to taking–and enjoying–your vacation is to plan ahead.  This is the time for your construction documents to shine.  Make sure that your designs are on schedule; make sure that the change orders and RFIs have been processed so there is no backlog.  And make sure that your second in command is familiar enough with the day to day details to step into your shoes for the duration.

Vacation

Then– be sure to give everyone notice.  Is it any of their business that you are taking some time off?  No.  However, everyone procrastinates.  So, if you give the entire team advance notice that you will be “off grid” starting on X date, they will be more inclined to get pending issues to you sooner rather than later.  They won’t want to be stalled on progress, and with a heads up on when you are out of pocket, they will make it a priority to get requests to you ahead of your departure date.

Will this be more work for you before you set sail? Yes.  A recommendation:  consider fudging the truth a little on your departure date.  Don’t tell the team the *exact* date you start your vacation— give them a day or two ahead of that.  Then you can use that “extra” time to respond to all of those last minute inquiries, and still be on time for your actual holiday.

Will things go wrong while you are on vacation?  Probably.  But will this advance notice help?  Absolutely.  Give it a try.

Do you have vacation-work horror stories?  Tips that made it easier for you?  Share in the comments below, or drop me an email. 

Photo Vacation by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

Being the Bearer of Bad News (Sounding the Alarm on construction issues early and often) (law note)

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Our recent look into termination brings up another issue important to architects and engineers–  how to sound the alarm about construction or building code violations.  Sometimes, a project owner may be so focused on project completion that they want to overlook the sub-par work that may be occurring in an effort to get project open “on time”.  In such cases, only if a life safety violation is reported to the authority having jurisdiction will the owner finally terminate a faulty contractor from a construction project.

Bad News

They kill the bearer of bad news sometimes, don’t they?

Even if the work is not a life/safety issue, it is important that when delivering bad news about the quality of work that your notice be early, loud, and frequent.  Basically, everyone involved should be aware, through written communications, that there is an issue that needs to be addressed on site, the contractor is messing up the construction, and what needs to be done to fix the issue(s).  If the owner is willing to live with the faulty work (and it is not a life/safety matter), then at least you’ve provided notice and warned them of the issue.

Even then, you could get dragged into litigation later on.  That’s right– even if you state, in writing, that something is happening which you do not approve of, and you limit your own further involvement in the project, you can be sued.  So if the issue is significant enough– you may have to walk off the job yourself.  

Think of the recent Titan tragedy.  One OceanGate employee has claimed that he was  fired after he raised safety concerns.  Despite warnings some several other experts that the submersible was not properly designed and safe for the underwater exploration, the company went ahead with the ill-fated trip.

As a design professional, you cannot always help owners help themselves, but you must try to do so.  You must document the issues, multiple times, multiple ways, to multiple individuals.  Even if that means losing out on a job.  As you watch others (but not your own Firm) get dragged into litigation over construction issues that you previously warned the owner about, your future self will thank you.

Your turn:  have you ever had to deliver very bad news about a project to the owner?  How did you do it? Did the owner take action?  Share below in the comments, or drop me an email.  

Photo (c) Bad by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

 

Never, ever, ever assume! (or, how a stuck shoe is like a construction project assumption)

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This summer, I had the fortune of taking a trip to Europe.   The first place I visited was Amsterdam.  A lovely town with a lot of culture and more canals than you can shake a stick at.  I was meeting family there, but had hours to kill ahead of time.  So, I decided to take the train from the airport into the City Centre, leave my bags at the train station luggage locker, and begin exploring.

My plan took its first misstep when I attempted to board the train.  Not being in a hurry, I let the other passengers get on first.  Sure, I noticed the train conductor blowing his whistle while I stepped onto the train, but figured I was fine since I was already on the steps up.  Until, that is, the door began to close, with me in the doorway, suitcase in the train, one foot inside, and one foot mid step up to the cabin.   The door closed on my backpack (which was still on my back), but I managed to force it into the train compartment.  My shoe, however, was not quite as lucky.  Part of my shoe made it inside, and part was outside the door.

 

shoe

The shoe in the doorway

No worry– just look for the door release mechanism, right?  Wrong!  There was none.  The train started up, with my shoe still halfway in and halfway out of the train.  (Luckily my foot itself made it inside all in one piece).  The conductor came along to scold me, and told me that he could *probably* rescue my shoe once we got to Central Station.  In the meantime, I sat on a nearby jump seat, keeping tabs on my shoe and  fuming that this was *not* the way I planned to start my vacation.  Long story short– the train conductor was able to salvage my shoe, but not without a lot of commentary on how I should never have boarded the train after the whistle blew.  Lesson learned.

HOW, you may ask, does my shoe tale relate to your construction project?  It’s in the title:  never, ever, ever (ever, ever, ever) make assumptions.  I made the unfortunate assumption that the train doors in Europe would release when met with any type of obstacle, since they tend to do that here.

You make that assumption when you do projects for clients without a formal letter or contract outlining your scope of work.  Sure, you’ve worked with a client before, and know what he wants.  But maybe times have changed, or management has a new policy in place.  Maybe in the past, you could simply email the client that you needed to increase your hourly rates.  Now, you are required to keep the same hourly rates for the entire project.   Unless, that is, you already planned for regular increases in your contract itself.

Or, maybe you are working with a new owner client.  That owner may assume that you will do certain things for your fixed rate, that are not standard and were never even on your radar.  Do you have exclusions to your Scope of Work in the contract?  If so, you are set.  Point the client there, and you should be done.  Or, you could be like me, and go shoeless into the City.  Your choice!

Have you ever made an unfortunate assumption?  If you did and lived to tell the tale, share in the comments below or drop me a line.  I want to know that I’m not the only want that has stuff like this happening to them!!!

How your disgruntled client can turn into your very own car crash! (and how to avoid it)

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Over the summer, I was involved in a car crash.  It was *not* my fault– heck, I wasn’t even driving but riding shotgun.  But it wasn’t my husband’s fault either.  A guy pulling out of a parking lot was watching the traffic coming up the road, but failed to see our car sitting in the same intersection waiting to turn into the same parking lot.  He ran right into us.  Here was the damage:

car damage

 

It may not look like much, but the panels were so damaged it cost almost $9k in damages, over a month of car rental fees, and a LOT of aggravation on our part.  The guy who hit us was very nice, apologized, and was concerned if we were injured.  His insurance company ultimately paid for all of the damage.  However– it wasn’t he who suddenly got a new part time job– that was me.  I had to spend lots of time with police, insurance representatives, auto body mechanics, rental car places, you name it.  If you’ve ever been in an accident, you know the headache involved.  In fact, I have had 2 other accidents over the years (again, neither of which were my fault– I think I’m just a beacon for bad drivers?).  One of those accidents was a 4 car accident– a driver hit my car, pushing it into the car ahead, which went into the car ahead of that.  In that accident, my car was actually totaled.  Fun times!

How is this relevant to your life as an architect or engineer?  If you stay in the game (that is, the design field) long enough, chances are, you will, at some point, end up dealing with disgruntled clients.  One of those clients may even file a lawsuit against you.  Or, for that matter, you may end up getting sued by another party involved in your construction projects– one that you don’t even have a contract with.

If that happens, you too will have a new part-time job– working on your defense.  Think meetings with your attorneys, calls with your insurance adjuster, unbilled time sitting for deposition, searches through all of your project emails and files, and the potential for a long jury trial (again, unbillable time for you).  Sounds fun, doesn’t it?  Maybe even makes you want to scream with the unfairness of it all.

The thing is, while there are certain things you can do to minimize your risks of being sued and your chances of prevailing if you are sued, even if you win, you’ve lost in time and opportunities.  In a fair system, you wouldn’t face this for unfair or frivolous claims.  In a fair system, I wouldn’t have to spend hours dealing with the fall out of an accident I didn’t cause.  But sometimes, stuff happens.

Just like there are ways of minimizing your risk of car accidents (turn signals, watching for inattentive drivers) and reducing damage when they occur (using seat belts, driving slower), there are also ways to minimize your risk of a lawsuit and reducing your damage when they do occur.

Some ideas:

  1. Have a written contract for every project, every time
  2. Get that contract reviewed by your insurance carrier and lawyer
  3. Be sure to specify what you will, and will not be doing in your scope of work  (being redundant is good here!)
  4. Establish clear payment terms, and expectations about fees for additional services, up front.
  5. Have good document management systems in place, which you’ll need for if/when litigation does occur
  6. Be aware of warning signs that there may be a lawsuit in your future; and
  7. If you do get sued, don’t panic, but take some steps to help your case get off on the right foot

But remember, when all is said and done:  you place your bets and roll the wheel.  Sometimes, your number comes up.  While these tips cannot prevent being sued by a disgruntled client, they can lessen the risk and impact.  And that is *almost* as good as getting your car fixed, returning the rental to the shop, and quitting your new part time job!

Have you had to suffer through an unfair lawsuit from a disgruntled client or third party?  Tips you wish you had known earlier?  Concerns about your own contracts?  Share in the comments below or drop me an email at mbrumback@rl-law.com.

Photo: Creative Commons License