{"id":896952,"date":"2020-01-15T13:15:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T20:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=896952"},"modified":"2020-01-15T13:18:53","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T20:18:53","slug":"where-pragmatism-and-law-collide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/where-pragmatism-and-law-collide\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Pragmatism and Law Collide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is one \u201ctheme\u201d to Construction Law Musings, those that read regularly hopefully see that I take my role\u00a0as counselor to construction\u00a0companies seriously.\u00a0 Aside from the fact that\u00a0litigation and arbitration are both expensive\u00a0and not a great way for any business, particularly a construction business, to make money, I have found construction professionals to be a pragmatic group of people that would\u00a0rather solve a problem\u00a0than go to court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have also discussed the need for a good foundation for the project in the form of a\u00a0well drafted and properly negotiated contract.\u00a0 This contract sets out the rights of the parties and essentially makes the \u201claw\u201d for your construction project.\u00a0 Virginia courts will not renegotiate the terms for you and while this can lead to problems where parties either don\u2019t understand the terms or don\u2019t work to level the terms, it does mean that the parties know what the expectations are where the expectations are properly set, preferably with the help of your friendly neighborhood\u00a0construction attorney and counselor at law.\u00a0 Practical considerations such as\u00a0your feel for the other party\u00a0and which terms are worth forgoing the work for should drive your considerations almost as much as the legal implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a good contractual foundation, hopefully you won\u2019t ever have to call your attorney to deal with a dispute (at least in a \u201cpublic\u201d sense).\u00a0 While I highly recommend\u00a0getting advice early and often<\/a>\u00a0when you see a problem coming down the pike (and there\u00a0will be problems), be practical about whether you want to use any of the \u201chammers\u201d in the contract (which can range from termination to stopping work to arbitration).\u00a0 The first and likely best option is to try and work through the problem and figure out a solution.\u00a0 The least expensive and fastest way to get through to the end of a project that has problems almost never to terminate a subcontractor or walk off a job.\u00a0 While these are proper in the right circumstances from a legal standpoint, they lead to additional issues, non-payment, mechanic\u2019s liens, and in the end litigation or arbitration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I come from a litigation background, and litigate more often than I\u2019m sure my clients would like, most often the practical approach, with a healthy dose of understanding the contract and the law, will get a construction project to the end and resolve issues in a less expensive and more satisfactory manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings If there is one \u201ctheme\u201d to Construction Law Musings, those that read regularly hopefully see that I take my role\u00a0as counselor to construction\u00a0companies seriously.\u00a0 Aside from the fact that\u00a0litigation and arbitration are both expensive\u00a0and not a great way for any business, particularly a construction business, to make money,… Continue reading Where Pragmatism and Law Collide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,172],"tags":[9895,12,27,11052],"class_list":["post-896952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-construction-law-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction","tag-construction-law","tag-pragmatic","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhere Pragmatism and Law Collide - 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