Fort Lauderdale Construction Payment Dispute Attorney

If a payment dispute arises while you’re working on a construction project, you might wonder how to deal with the matter. Any dispute takes time to resolve and can hurt your relationship with the client. Also, filing a legal claim costs money and may bring the whole construction project to a halt. As a contractor or subcontractor, you can only do so much to avoid a dispute. If one arises, though, our Fort Lauderdale construction payment dispute attorney can help you determine the best course of action.

The Effects of Slow Payment or Nonpayment

Not receiving construction payments on time or at all can be frustrating and cause a lot of problems. Payment issues can occur because of contract clauses, complex pay requirements, lack of funds, the exchange of legal documents and more.

You rely on payments to issue paychecks to employees, buy materials, etc. Because of that, the domino effect of payment issues can prevent you from having the necessary funds to complete a project. The project could be put on hold or stopped altogether, which can ripple into further problems.

Filing a bond or lien claim might seem like a good idea, but could have worse results for you as a contractor. For this reason, your contract should have adequately guidelines for addressing a construction payment dispute in a prompt and reasonable manner.

Construction Draw Requests and Schedules

Construction payments are processed in draw requests. The project lender uses draw schedules to release funds to you at predetermined stages of the project. Usually, these stages are divided by completion percentages.

For example, if the percentages are broken up by 25%, then you’ll receive four draw payments over the course of the project. However, some draw schedules are divided periodically, such as monthly.

When part of a construction project is completed, you’ll submit a draw request to the lender. The submission needs to detail the invoices, receipts, change orders and lien releases related to that portion of the completed project. The lender can delay or deny a draw request if there’s a problem.