We represented a privately held commercial real estate investment and development firm specializing in industrial projects, overhauling its contracting strategy to empower its non-attorney employees to efficiently advance many contracts across multiple projects. We developed a suite of predominantly custom non-AIA contract templates, supplemented by select AIA agreements where appropriate for simpler projects, including owner-contractor agreements based on both guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and stipulated sum payment structures, as well as owner-architect and owner-engineer agreements. This approach allows the client’s team to start and manage the contracting process, reserving our involvement for direct negotiation with opposing counsel and strategic advice on project-specific issues. The custom non-AIA agreements give the client sophisticated, yet standardized, contract documents commensurate with the expectations of their investors, equity partners, and lenders on large-scale projects. The firm has successfully deployed these agreements on many projects, totaling about $100 million in construction spending, achieving timely and on-budget completion of industrial projects nationwide.
