Construction
Galbut Beabeau's construction attorneys have the industry expertise to effectively guide clients through every step of a construction project – from site selection to licensing, financing, construction, and sale. Our clients include owners, developers, general contractors and subcontractors, architects, engineers, suppliers, and other professionals involved in commercial and residential real estate development.
Recognizing each build project is unique, we provide proactive, personalized counsel tailored to our clients' objectives and focused on value creation, risk management, and practical problem solving.
Our firm emphasizes dispute prevention and early conflict resolution to ensure our clients stay on schedule and on budget, while preserving important business relationships. When necessary, we will aggressively defend and pursue construction-related claims in litigation and arbitration. Our construction attorneys are skilled at placing our clients in the best position to avoid conflicts and win the disputes that cannot be avoided.
We routinely assist clients with a wide array of construction projects, including construction of custom luxury residences, multifamily complexes, retail centers, office buildings, medical offices, and hotels.
Construction Transactions and Licensing
We are attentive to clients’ unique construction goals and work with them to strategically plan their projects, including advising on entity structure and formation, financing, insurance, and workplace policies. Our construction attorneys leverage their deep industry knowledge to strategically draft and negotiate project documents to maximize value and guard against litigation exposure.
We also counsel our clients regarding contractor registration and licensure process through the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC), including procedures and best practices for account maintenance, business name availability, and bonding.
Proactive Advocacy and Project Administration
Construction projects require the coordination of a network of industry participants, including owners, developers, contractors, architects, suppliers, lenders, and others. Unfortunately, these participants’ interests are not always properly aligned. Our attorneys are knowledgeable in the functional aspects of construction projects, and utilize proactive advocacy and project administration to ensure proper alignment among interested parties.
We appreciate the budgetary constraints, workmanship requirements, timelines, and other project management challenges inherent in construction projects. We advocate for transparency and accountability among owners and building professionals, and are singularly focused on streamlining the construction process to protect clients’ interests and advance realization of their project goals.
When problems arise during construction, our attorneys work to expeditiously resolve issues to help ensure adherence to project timelines, budgets, and other contract requirements.
Construction Litigation and Arbitration
Our team has a track record of successfully defending, prosecuting, and arbitrating claims for a wide range of parties involved in the construction project lifecycle. We diligently assess client disputes at the outset to determine the most productive path toward resolution, including leveraging our relationships with seasoned private building inspectors and other experts to identify optimal damage mitigation strategies. Our construction expertise includes litigating and arbitrating:
- Bid challenges
- Breach of commercial and residential contracts
- Breach of fiduciary duty by contractors, architects, and other building professionals
- Construction defect, warranty, and workmanship claims
- Defective materials and equipment
- Delay and disruption
- Environmental hazards
- Fraud and misrepresentation
- Inadequate and uncoordinated project management
- Incomplete or defective design
- Insurance and surety disputes and claims
- Lender deficiency claims
- Mechanic's liens, materialman's liens, and bond claims
- Prompt-pay claims
- Purchaser Dwelling Act
- Registrar of Contractors (ROC) consumer complaints
- Registrar of Contractors (ROC) administrative hearings
- Safety violations
- Unjust enrichment claims
- Warranty of specification suitability
Residential Construction Fraud
The incredible volume of residential construction in Phoenix and other growth markets has unfortunately been accompanied by an increase in construction fraud. Construction fraud manifests in many ways, including excessive charges to trusting homeowners and the concealment of self-dealing and conflicted relationships among contractors, subcontractors, architects, and other professionals.
Our construction attorneys are skilled and well-versed in litigating the variety of related claims that are usually implicated in construction fraud disputes with general contractors, architects, and insurance carriers in the custom home space. We draw on our extensive experience in residential real estate transactions, complex commercial litigation, and management services and the strength of our network of prominent construction advisors, forensic accountants, and construction expert witnesses to secure value-added results for our clients.
