I previously talked about a few common customer mentalities that lead to breakdowns in contracts between construction companies and customers. This time, I want to talk about the most difficult kind of problem to overcome from the contractor’s perspective: simple self-interest. What is Self Interest? “Self-interest” refers to a customer’s decision to do something because [...]
In my last blog post, I started talking about the customer mentalities that I see commonly leading to refusal to pay a contractor. The first case involved what I would term “buyer’s remorse,” which is where the customer decides they would be better off with a different contractor due to financial or communication issues. Except [...]
At Underhill Law, we do quite a bit of work involving collection related to construction contracts. We usually represent the contractor, but we sometimes represent the customer. In cases like these, we find the most important thing is to focus the parties on the original deal: workmanlike construction services in exchange for prompt payment. The [...]
When Colorado business owners choose the form of their business, they have several options. The most popular are probably the corporation, with directors and shareholders, or the limited liability company, with members and managers. The choice between the two often boils down to various accounting and tax considerations more than anything else, making a business [...]
One remedy available to those who perform construction work is the Mechanic’s Lien. In Colorado, this is a security interest in real property that is given to laborers or materialmen who do work on that property. It is a useful tool in ensuring payment on projects for a variety of reasons. It is a statutory [...]
While the public health emergency of Covid-19 may have ended, the legal ramifications of the pandemic will be with us for years to come. The federal government enacted many emergency steps to protect citizens and businesses during the pandemic and the shutdowns that followed, such as the CARES Act. One aspect of the CARES Act [...]
The Residential Roofing Bill A decade ago, Colorado enacted a new law as part of its Consumer Protection statutes that specified mandatory terms in roofing contracts to be paid by insurance proceeds to ensure transparency and protect homeowners. The Residential Roofing law was passed to protect consumers from roofing fraud following a surge in storm [...]
The Roof Insurance and Construction Process After a bit of a hiatus, hail is back with a vengeance in Colorado this year. From the perspective of a roofing company, that means now is the time to go connect with customers because it is far more likely roofs have been damaged and will require repair. From [...]
Ready to handle legal issues when someone quits? Long gone are the days where companies could expect every employee to stay with the same employer for decades. We now live in the age of “job hopping,” where employees are regularly changing jobs for various reasons, such as higher pay, better benefits, flexible hours, [...]
Many times, a homeowner or a general contractor is surprised to learn that the mortgage company on a house is able to intercept insurance proceeds on a covered loss and delay payment. The mortgage company might refuse to disburse money until after the construction project is completed, despite the fact that the construction contract requires [...]
