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Alex Barthet

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You receive a message. Something is wrong with your work. What do you do? Do you ignore the request and risk liability, or do you fix the problem but risk destroying evidence – also known as “spoliation.” If litigation develops down the road, contractors that destroy evidence, even unwittingly or with the best of intentions, can wind up paying damages as assessed by a court. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to balance the immediate…
Do you know that a statute exists which, if properly exercised, could have a lien canceled.  That’s right – canceled. Florida Statutes provide that a lien properly perfected may still be discharged by an order of the circuit court of the county where the property is located. Upon the filing of a complaint by any interested party, the clerk shall issue a summons to the lienor to show cause within 20 days why his or…
Who doesn’t want to have and use a better construction agreement? You can do so by simply making sure you address the following 6 topics. Define the scope You need to define what the scope of work is that you will be providing. Will it be only materials; will it be materials and labor; or will it be just labor? You need to be very clear and very specific in how you spell out the…
Who doesn’t want to have and use a better construction agreement? You can do so by simply making sure you address the following 6 topics. Define the scope You need to define what the scope of work is that you will be providing. Will it be only materials; will it be materials and labor; or will it be just labor? You need to be very clear and very specific in how you spell out the…
Photocopies are very rarely challenged in court Obtain correspondence surrounding the transmission of the document Ensure only authorized people execute the agreement The average person believes that if a signature or document isn’t in its original form then somehow, it is going to be challenged in court, or the signing party can argue that it is not authorized or it is a forgery. All of that is possible, but having litigated hundreds if not thousands…
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Liens are critical to contractors. Without them contractors could lose an important tool to collect monies owed. But it would be a mistake to assume that your lien rights can’t be modified once your lien is filed. There are at least three ways your lien rights may be shortened. The owner terminates the notice of commencement Owners may do this for several reasons. The two most common involve the replacement of the contractor or the…
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Contractors should know that there are three clauses in most all construction contracts which could create significant exposure. PAY-IF-PAID:      Getting paid is obviously the most important part of any job. Not getting paid for one’s work is not anything a contractor would ever agree to, right? Well, in most every contract is a pay-if-paid provision stating that payment by the general contractor is specifically contingent on the general contractor’s receipt of payment from the owner.…
Construction defects can be found at all sorts of projects, big or small and they generally fall into one of the following four defect categories: design, material, workmanship and subsurface. Design professionals (such as architects and engineers) may sometimes be responsible for design defects. Building design can lead to issues in a structure’s performance, even if the design plans are followed precisely by everyone building the project. For example, complicated roof structures or inadequate structural…
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A number of popular American Institute of Architects (AIA) documents actually expired in October of last year. This means that the 2007 version of A101, A102, A103, A201, A401 and B101 contract forms will not be able to be created or edited. This is because the AIA released its revised versions of these documents in 2017 and allowed 18 months for the transition. This is important as AIA form documents have routinely been the agreements…
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Be careful – owners and contractors are now being held criminally liable for their carelessness and disregard of safety protocols. Safety may be job one on any number of job sites, but state and federal prosecutors are now charging developers, general contractors and subcontractors with actual crimes. No longer are safety violators just facing monetary fines, they are looking at actual jail time. A New York case involving a wall collapse at an excavation site…