Drafting, Reviewing & Negotiating Construction Contracts

Our Construction Service Group attorneys draft, review, and negotiate contracts for design and construction, and counsel a wide range of owners, developers, design builders and contractors about those contracts.

Both the wide range of projects on which we have consulted and our attorneys’ industry experience equip us to tackle any project our clients place before us. Our contract review experience includes both modified standardized form agreements and manuscript construction documents for private and public projects throughout the United States and internationally. The unique perspective gained from our group’s broad experience in dispute resolution and problem-solving helps us craft contracts that prevent problems for our clients.

Stites & Harbison’s Construction Service Group attorneys are regional and national leaders in developing contract documents for application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology and sustainable design and construction (LEED and otherwise). We have served in leadership roles for BIM development initiatives sponsored by AISC, the Associated General Contractors of America, and the American College of Construction Lawyers.

Nine Stites & Harbison lawyers are either LEED Accredited Professionals or LEED Green Associates. They know how to apply emerging technology and design theory, as well as emerging legal theory and practice, to real-world construction contracts.

Representative Engagements

• Atlantic Center Plaza, Atlanta – Located in midtown Atlanta, the $100 million Atlantic Center Plaza consists of a 500,000 square-foot, 24-story office tower and an 11-story poured-in-place parking deck. The contractor for the project was The Beck Group, the developer was Pope & Land Enterprises, and the architect was Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart & Associates, Inc. Stites & Harbison construction lawyers reviewed contract documents on behalf of the contractor for the project.
• The Beck Group develops real estate, designs architecture and interiors and constructs buildings. Stites & Harbison drafts, reviews and negotiates their construction contracts.
• Design/builder Denham Blythe relies on Stites & Harbison to negotiate construction contracts.
• Gray Construction – Our construction attorneys regularly draft, review, advise and negotiate subcontracts and contracts with values of up to $60 million for this national and international company that designs and builds commercial and industrial facilities.
• Judy Construction Company of Cynthiana, Ky. is a general contractor specializing in water and wastewater treatment facilities, commercial and industrial buildings and bridge construction. The company completed a $1.77 million project on the Fayette County Courthouse Plaza in Lexington, which includes an elliptical fountain, a water wall, and a courtyard. Stites & Harbison provides legal services to Judy Construction Company.
• Lexington-Fayette Urban County Detention Facility, Lexington, Ky. – The new $55 million detention facility was designed and built in the scenic Bluegrass area of Kentucky for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. To be a good neighbor to nearby horse farms, the structure uses traditional materials and forms.
• Lin Rogers Electrical – The Construction Service Group negotiates contracts on behalf of several subcontractors and suppliers including Lin Rogers Electrical.
• Yum! Center/Louisville Basketball Arena, Louisville, Ky. – Stites & Harbison attorneys represented the construction manager of Louisville’s Yum! Center sports arena.
• Precision Walls, Inc./Biltmore Inn, Asheville, N.C. - Renovation of the historic Biltmore Inn was accomplished with the help of Precision Walls, Inc. Precision Walls is one of the largest specialty contractors in the Southeast. With a home base in Raleigh, N.C., the company has 1,200 employees and locations throughout the region.
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington, Lexington, Ky. – Our attorneys regularly negotiate and draft contracts for the design and construction of churches, schools and multi-purpose facilities for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington.
• University of Louisville Hospital, Louisville, Ky. – Our group prepared owner-architect and owner-construction manager contracts for this university-built and -operated hospital.
• Bechtel Corporation – We advised Bechtel Corporation on environmental and contract matters for new construction in Oldham County for LG&E, a Kentucky-based utility.
• We represented a major league baseball franchise in drafting and negotiating construction and design contracts for extensive renovations and improvements to one of the country’s oldest and most famous baseball parks.
• We successfully negotiated a $63 million design/build contract with a tire manufacturer in Georgia, and subsequently defeated the tire manufacturer’s $9 million claim against the design/build – in part, on the strength of the contracts.
• Our group is currently advising the owners/developers of a $3 billion gasification facility in the western United States.