The attorneys in UB Greensfelder’s Construction Industry Group have decades of experience facilitating complex projects, anticipating problems before they occur, resolving disputes as they arise, and helping clients throughout the construction industry achieve their business goals. We advise a variety of players in both commercial and construction, ranging from developers to construction companies. Our clients include national and international contractors, national and regional architectural and engineering firms, subcontractors, and one of the ten-largest home builders in the country.
Who We Are
Our Construction Industry Group brings a practical understanding of construction to the complex legal challenges that we solve. In an industry where connections can make all the difference, our deep client and consultant relationships regularly add value to our clients’ businesses. Just as construction projects require input from various disciplines, so too does our work. The Construction Industry Group brings together attorneys well-versed in environmental, real estate, labor/employment law, immigration, financing, corporate transactions, tax, OSHA and industrial accidents, and other areas relevant to the industry.
How We Help
With our holistic approach, we assist clients throughout all phases of their projects, from initial programming and contracting to close-out. When disputes arise, clients call on our strength in dispute resolution and construction litigation. The comprehensive quality of our services and the depth of our experience allow us to assist on projects ranging from sporting arenas to corporate headquarters to public highways to residential homes/developments.
We regularly assist clients with:
- Bid and procurement: We help clients navigate the high-stakes and competitive bidding process, including interpreting contract requirements and addressing other contract issues quickly and thoroughly so clients have a valuable competitive advantage when needed most. We also help clients through the course of a bid protest.
- Contract preparation, negotiation, and administration: We assist clients with the preparation, negotiation, and administration of contracts to address all types of delivery systems (traditional design-bid-build, design-build, design assist, construction management, multi-prime, integrated project delivery, and turnkey) and payment approaches (lump sum, unit price, cost plus GMP – with or without shared savings). We also help clients establish administrative and documentation procedures to enhance the client’s competitive position throughout the life of the project.
- Corporate transactions: We regularly assist clients with joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, licensing, and tax matters.
- Contract default and termination: If a default occurs, we help clients address the default by assessing their rights to terminate, evaluating the practical and legal risks associated with termination, determining the viability of engaging a completing contractor (either directly or through a performance bond surety), and analyzing the financial impact of termination. Once the decision to terminate has been made, we guide clients through the various challenges ahead, working with clients to keep their projects on track by helping clients draft and negotiate completion and takeover agreements, negotiate with upstream and downstream entities to ensure their continued participation on the project, and/or seek appropriate equitable relief by way of injunctions.
- Insurance issues: When personal injuries or property damage occur on a construction site, we help clients avoid inappropriate recoveries and promote continued reasonable insurance premiums for their business. Should a dispute arise, we assist in the resolution of that dispute to further the client’s interests.
- Employment and labor matters: We help clients comply with the wide range of employment laws impacting the construction industry while also striving to work more effectively with a client’s various labor groups. We interpret and skillfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements, helping to ensure the continuity of projects during labor disputes. We also assist clients with wage and hour and other employment law compliance, providing proactive counsel relating to discrimination issues and OSHA compliance.
- Mechanic’s liens and bonds: We prosecute and defend all manner of claims, including mechanic’s liens claims, payment and performance bond claims, and collection claims.
- Claims and disputes: We prepare, analyze, prosecute, and defend virtually all types of construction claims, including defective plans and specifications, defective workmanship, scope of work, changes, acceleration or delay, disruption, loss of efficiency, inadequate project management, lack of coordination, differing site conditions, denial of site access, suspension of work, termination, industrial accidents, and mechanic’s lien and payment bond claims
- Construction litigation: We assist clients with mediation, arbitration, or litigation in state and federal courts across the United States, including AAA arbitrations throughout the country and ICC and JAMS arbitrations and sovereign boards of grievance.
Why Clients Choose UB Greensfelder
Our attorneys understand construction business situations, empathize with client challenges, and can see how the pieces fit together to bring critical legal insight to the task. Our team draws on its collective decades of experience to provide industry-focused counsel with efficient and practical solutions.
