As contractor bidding on a construction project in North Carolina, you may expect many parties to be involved if you win the bid, including the owner, design team and subcontractors. Identifying exactly what each is responsible for allows you to avoid liability when someone else is at fault. This is where the construction contract comes in, and we at Triangle Law Group are skilled at negotiating these documents so that terms and clauses do not damage a client’s reputation and bottom line.
According to the American Bar Association, it is the scope or statement of work that will define the duties that you will perform as contractor. If you do not study the owner’s drawings and other design documents carefully, and later you discover that key areas for your performance are vague, it could lead to serious contract disputes. As a result, you may end up responsible for correcting the disparities to the detriment of your profits.
It is common for projects to adapt as new elements come up, whether they are owner requested changes, plan inconsistencies or some other issue that nobody anticipated. Any one of these, or all of them, could alter things so significantly, you are no longer completing the project you originally bid on. Adding a Change Order provision can prevent these from throwing you off track by setting up a process for making modifications. This could include specifications on how much notification you need and how to address disagreements between yourself and the owner, for example.
More information about innovative contract provisions and solutions is available on our webpage.
