I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good construction lawyer

Hi ddl, Sorry, I don’t know any good construction lawyers, but if you’re going through all of this forum you’ll come across a few things I’ve said about building contracts. In my view you should not give a builder any money for anything until you’ve looked at the contract form he wants to use, and established that he’s open to modifying it if you or your lawyer feels it needs changing. I won’t say it all again, but previously I’ve mentioned that there are some quite reasonable ‘standard’ forms you can use. Or certainly refer to when you’re checking what should and shouldn’t be in a contract. Take a look at those before talking to a lawyer. Be cautious about letting a lawyer just sell you his own standard form (even assuming the builder will accept it). There are lawyers who think they know how to write a building contract, but not all of them do. But it makes life easier for them if they can just use one they already have.

Hi Chris Thanks for the response. Yes, I already spoke with one lawyer who mentioned the master build contracts vs “bespoke” contracts the company may want to use. Interestingly his firm represents one of the construction companies I am considering going with (I wouldn’t go with them if I choose to go with that company). This is a mine field!

Hi ddl, This might be an example of a lawyer who thinks they know about building contracts, but in fact do not. If the MB contract form is the same (or similar to) the one I saw a few years ago then I would not recommend using it as it stands. I mean it’s not the worst contract form I’ve seen, and because the builder I used was a MB we used it. But only after making several alterations/additions. In this case the builder accepted those changes (in fact agreed they were perfectly fair, and any reasonable builder would accept them). If he had not I would not have built with him. I know there’s a lot on this Forum, but try to find a previous entry I wrote about some standard forms which I think are quite good. Also be aware that there are standard legal requirements for things that must be included in every contract for work over $30k. As you say it’s a mine field. After many years in the construction industry I have learned that if you have an honest and reasonable builder, dealing with a sensible and reasonable client, the builder has not stupidly under priced the job, and the client has some contingency money to handle the inevitable glitches, then the contract can become almost irrelevant. But if, as so often happens, things go pear shaped, then all you have to fall back on is the exact legal meaning of what’s in the contract. Even a good one may not completely protect you, but a bad one will leave you hanging in the wind to dry.