Labor productivity impacts can be among the most difficult losses to demonstrate and prove. There are numerous causes for such impacts, ranging from trade stacking and crowding to sequence disruptions and site access restrictions. Though such impacts are commonplace on many jobsites, they can be easily ignored by site personnel and project managers. Moreover, quantifying … Read more
Daily reporting is a nearly universal activity in the construction world. Yet, for all its ubiquity, it is often a practice with qualitative shortcomings and is typically underutilized as a tool for productivity and profit preservation. Contractors that understand the importance of good daily reporting and unleash its potential to enhance project earnings have significant … Read more
Pay-if-paid language has become ubiquitous in construction contracts throughout the country. These clauses have long been enforceable in Virginia under existing decisional law. Such provisions expressly condition subcontractor and supplier progress payments on receipt of funding by upstream contractors from the owner or other higher-tier contracting parties. Nevertheless, based upon a new statute passed by … Read more
It is an often-repeated rule that a surety “stands in the shoes” of its principal. This means, in part, a surety may assert all of its principal’s rights and defenses as it relates to claims asserted against its bonds. Nevertheless, this rule is not without exception, and these exceptions can be notable. This is particularly … Read more
In most cases, the liability of a surety for damages is co-extensive with that of its principal. However, an exception exists as it relates to calculating prejudgment interest. As explained in a decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, a surety cannot be liable for prejudgment interest before a … Read more
In today’s contracting world, subcontracts typically contain “pay-if-paid” clauses. In general these clauses require that as a condition precedent to a subcontractor’s right to payment, the contractor must first be paid from the owner for the work the subcontractor performed on the project. Such clauses are regularly relied upon by contractors as a valid defense … Read more