Over the course of the past decade, the construction industry has faced tough challenges and has seen huge changes. For instance, because of the jump in technology, the construction industry has fewer employees than ever before. As a matter of fact, between April of 2006 and January of 2011, the construction industry had to eliminate more than 40% of its workforce. However, some things are constant in this industry like lawyers for construction companies being essential!
According to the International Organization for Standardization, the builders coverage form is the basic avenue to builders risk coverage in the simplified language commercial property program. This is the type of situation where the work of lawyers for construction companies is absolutely imperative to keep construction managers protected and covered in the case of an accident. Here are more facts on why lawyers for construction companies are so important!
Builders risk coverage is written for a minimum one-year term to cover a new building or structure under construction or an existing structure undergoing additions, alterations, or repairs. This type of builders risk is really important when putting together a new construction project. Absolutely anything can happen on a job site and it is important that everyone is protected from any type of danger.
In the recent year of 2016, economists crunched numbers to try and estimate the value of the construction industry. This work managed to reveal that in that year, the United States construction market was worth nearly $1,162 billion. When industries have a high value of worth like that, it makes them viable options for people who want to try and scam them or take money in the court of law.
Per Texas law, a breach of contract claim must be filed within four years, unless the contract specifies two years. Lawyers for construction companies are the only real viable options for knowing the specifics of the laws of each state. That way, construction sites and project managers can make sure they are paying attention to all of the fine details.
A construction law firm will be able to help construction manages to deal with one of the toughest legal situations, which is arbitration. To put it in simplified terms, arbitration is a type of legal litigation where someone is looking to settle a commercial dispute in the court of law. That is why lawyers for construction companies are important and specifically a litigation attorney as well!
In 2015, the American Arbitration Association administered 551 construction industry cases with claims of $500,000 or more. The largest mediated construction case was for $2.6 billion, while the largest arbitration case was $96 million. The total value of all claims and counterclaims in 2015 was $5.5 billion. According to a 2005 review of civil cases filed in state courts, plaintiffs win bench trials 68% of the time and 54% of the time in jury trials.
According to the American Arbitration Association, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the preferred conflict-management process in the construction industry. The median time frame from filing to award for 2015 construction arbitration cases was just 232 days or less than eight months. According to the American Arbitration Association, the largest case resolved by one arbitrator was a claim of $232 million. The smallest case, which was resolved by a panel of three arbitrators, was a claim for just $23,000.
In Conclusion
Any and all project managers working in the construction industry need to make sure they adhere to the rule of law so they can avoid any sort of commercial dispute. These types of legal settlements are not pretty and usually take time, money, and effort as well. This will hurt the pockets of those who work in the construction industry and can also take away valuable work time that is put towards completing the construction project.