Impact costs

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Pay-if-paid clauses make a prime contractor’s payment to a subcontractor contingent on the prime contractor receiving payment from the project owner. A recent federal court case illustrates how the failure to include a pay-if-paid clause can end up with a prime contractor paying one of its subcontractors out of pocket.

In Phillips and Jordan, Inc. v. McCarthy Improvement Co., a prime contractor was awarded a design-build contract for the construction of a $31 million roadway project for the South Carolina Department of Transportation. The prime contractor, in turn, entered into a unit-price subcontract with a dirt-work contractor to excavate and place soil at the project.Continue Reading Subcontractor Awarded $3.3 Million for Extra Work on a Roadway Project

Contractors and subcontractors that incur increased costs to complete their work due to delay or other impacts on a project sometimes have difficulty proving their damages. There are various ways to calculate those damages, but the surest way to have a claim rejected is by asserting a total cost claim.
Continue Reading Total Cost Claims—Frequently Rejected and Rarely Effective

(This post was included in the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association weekly newsletter.)

As contractors work through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many contractors have been impacted in their ability to timely and efficiently complete projects. COVID-19 impacts to a project may result in increased completion costs, including labor inefficiencies, increased equipment costs, and additional material costs. A contractor may attempt to seek those increased costs from the project owner, a subcontractor, or an insurer.Continue Reading The Importance of Documenting and Tracking Coronavirus Impacts to Construction Projects