Contracts and Construction Law

A clear contract prevents most disputes, and a careful one wins the disputes it cannot prevent. The firm drafts, reviews, and enforces business and construction agreements for owners, contractors, and small businesses across western North Carolina.

What the firm handles

1. Contract drafting and review — purchase agreements, service contracts, independent-contractor agreements, and settlement agreements.
2. Construction contracts — owner-builder agreements, subcontracts, and change-order terms, written to allocate risk before the first nail is driven.
3. Mechanic’s and materialman’s liens — perfecting and enforcing liens on real property under Chapter 44A of the North Carolina General Statutes, and defending against improper liens.
4. Business formation and agreements — LLC operating agreements, partnership agreements, and the organizational documents a new venture needs.
5. Commercial leases — drafting and negotiating leases for landlords and tenants of retail, office, and mountain commercial space.
6. Contract enforcement — pursuing or defending a breach when a deal goes wrong; see Civil Litigation.

Built for the mountains

Construction and land work in western North Carolina carries its own questions — steep-slope sites, well and septic, road and access agreements, and the seasonal rhythm of mountain building. The firm writes agreements with those realities in mind, so the contract holds up when the project does not go to plan.

Before you sign a construction contract

Most residential construction disputes in this region trace back to a contract signed without review, or to no written contract at all. A few terms decide almost everything later:

1. Scope and specifications. What is included, what is an allowance, and what triggers a change order. Vague scope is the single largest source of conflict on a mountain build.
2. Price structure. Fixed price, cost-plus, or cost-plus with a guaranteed maximum. Each allocates the risk of overruns to a different party, and a homeowner should know which one is being signed.
3. Payment schedule and retainage. Payments tied to completed milestones rather than to the calendar, with a holdback surviving until punch-list completion.
4. Site conditions. On steep-slope lots, the rock, water, and access surprises are the norm rather than the exception. The contract should say who bears the cost when they appear.
5. Delay and weather. Which delays extend the schedule, which excuse performance, and whether any damages attach.
6. Lien waivers. Conditional and unconditional waivers collected from subcontractors and suppliers as payments are made, so a paid homeowner is not liened by an unpaid sub.
7. Dispute resolution. Mediation, arbitration, or court, and where. Chosen in advance, at a moment when neither side is angry.

An hour of review before signing is consistently cheaper than the dispute it prevents.

Mechanic’s and materialman’s liens

Chapter 44A of the North Carolina General Statutes gives contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals a lien on real property for the value of labor and materials furnished. The remedy is powerful and the deadlines are strict — a claim of lien must be filed within a set period after the last furnishing of labor or materials, and an action to enforce it must be brought within a further period after filing. Missing either deadline extinguishes the lien.

Subcontractors and suppliers face an added wrinkle. Their lien rights generally run through the contractor’s rights against the owner, and a lien agent designated on the project must be notified to preserve them. The firm represents both sides of these claims: perfecting and enforcing liens for those owed money, and challenging overstated, untimely, or improperly filed liens for owners whose property has been encumbered.

A lien filed against a property mid-transaction will also stop a closing. Because the firm handles real estate closings and title as well, a lien surfacing in a title examination and the work needed to resolve it stay with one attorney.

Contracts for small business

Beyond construction, the firm prepares the agreements a small business actually runs on — operating and partnership agreements setting out who decides what and what happens when an owner leaves, commercial leases for retail and office space, service and independent-contractor agreements, purchase and sale agreements for a business or its assets, and the confidentiality and non-solicitation terms appropriate to a small workforce. The firm also reviews agreements presented to you by a larger counterparty, where the practical question is usually which few terms are worth negotiating.

When a deal goes wrong

Not every dispute is worth litigating, and the firm will tell you plainly when a claim costs more to pursue than it can recover. Where a matter does warrant action, the path usually runs from a demand letter, to negotiation, to mediation, and to suit only if the first three fail. See civil litigation for contract and construction disputes already in or heading to court.