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Construction Lawyer
In today’s economy, more people have found it
beneficial to do much of their own building when it comes to their
house. Even when they aren’t doing their own building, however, it’s
still often preferable to oversee the work being done on a daily
basis. This is especially true when it concerns the legal side of
things, and when this is true, it may be time to get a construction
lawyer. This article will touch upon a few of the more common
instances in which having a construction lawyer will benefit you
greatly.
First, any form of construction that you will do, including digging
of plumbing and foundations, will fall under the civil aegis of
construction law. This law is very specific as to how low you can
dig and how high you can build, for instance. This too is determined
by the area that the building will take place. Zoning laws are very
different in commercial, residential, and semi-commercial (mixed)
zones, as well as in different city and county. Due to the
complexity of this fundamental issue, a construction lawyer is
highly recommended.
The reason for this is that a construction lawyer will know all of
the proper and most expedient channels to getting permits and
gaining the time of an on-site inspector, to name but a few sticky
bureaucratic instances. This last subject, inspectors, is very
important as there are a limited number of inspectors for each
county or municipality and until they arrive to do their inspection
and certify you for the next phase of building, all construction
must stop.
Further, let’s say that you’ve hired contractors to do your building
for you. There are numerous clauses that you may not think to
include in your contract, and others that the construction lawyer of
the contractors will include, and which may prove to be pitfalls for
you if unaware of them. (This can include clauses detailing
allowance for the contractors to make certain lengthy –and costly
for you, delays; of unfair overtime charges; and of the contractors
not being responsible for certain types of mistakes that they might
make –all of which will be legal catastrophe for you.)
An even more serious problem would be if the contractor or
sub-contractor sues you, for whatever reason. This is common amongst
an unprincipled minority of contractors who will sue you if they
themselves anticipate being sued, in hopes that they can scare you
away from forcing any legal indemnity upon them. To make things
worse, for a job which they have botched, and which you refuse to
pay for, they can actually place a lien on your home. However, just
having a construction lawyer will dissuade most dishonest
contractors from even considering such shady actions.
As you can see, there are many pitfalls involved in building,
whether from the ground up, in upkeep, or in remodeling.
Notwithstanding this, there is no reason to fear or defer such
building plans. Simply put, fear-based decisions will get you
nowhere, whereas having a construction lawyer will put your house on
the map.
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