We represent owner’s representatives and cost estimation firms in contract negotiation, contract template development, dispute defense, and related services.
Contract Negotiation for Public Projects
Our work often begins with contract negotiation for public projects. We negotiated a three-year master agreement, with two renewal options, for an owner’s representative consulting firm to provide cost estimating services to a large urban school district, covering projects from $10,000 to $60 million. We also advised a firm negotiating a $500,000 agreement to act as owner’s representative on a two-phase municipal project that included a 50,000 sq ft public safety facility, related public works buildings, and later renovation of existing municipal buildings.
Tailored Contract Strategies
We develop tailored contract strategies. For one client, we prepared a comprehensive template agreement for owner’s representative services which we carefully designed for insurability under our client’s professional liability insurance, to define the scope of its services – and to carve out from that scope responsibilities which properly remain with the project owners and their attorneys, such as legal compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and certain legal aspects of Mechanics Lien Act compliance which no owners representative or design professional could satisfy.
On another project, we provided risk analysis of a heavily owner-sided public project agreement, assessing insurability and contractual risks and guiding the firm in weighing its business decision about whether to accept the owner’s invitation to contract for the project.
Dispute Defense for Owner’s Representative Firms
Owner’s representative firms can be a target for claims; not just because they carry a wide variety of insurance policies which may be targeted by claimants, but because they can be convenient scapegoats, and often take on sweeping scopes of responsibility upon which claims may be premised when owners have disappointed expectations. When disputes arise, we are ready to defend owner’s representative firms and their executives from unreasonable claims.
In one federal court lawsuit, Jeremy Baker represented a cost estimation firm which was unfairly terminated from an international airport project by the lead design professional, a major engineering firm, which had over-designed the project well beyond the public owner’s budget. There, he mounted a vigorous defense, demonstrating that the cost of the project ballooned because of added scope and commodity costs, not imprecise cost estimates, and he prosecuted counter claims for unpaid fees, ultimately resulting in a negotiated resolution.
In one recent matter, we represented a consulting firm and its CEO in litigation tied to a $5.2 million renovation of a church facility. The lawsuit included allegations of breach of contract and fiduciary duty, cost overruns, disputed payments, and many mechanics liens – for which the project owner baselessly blamed our client. Acting as litigation counsel appointed by professional liability insurance, Jeremy Baker developed a defense strategy based on framing the dispute in its proper light by marshaling the facts of the dispute, and framing it through payment applications, sworn statements, and lien waivers. Ultimately, a negotiated resolution, largely funded by other parties, resulted in complete dismissal of our clients with prejudice.
Supporting Specialized Service Providers
We also support specialized service providers. For a permit expediter, we created a template agreement addressing scope, liability limitations, payment terms, dispute resolution, and risks related to fast-track permitting and unforeseen conditions.
We help owner’s representatives and cost estimation professionals with contracts, templates, and dispute defense for public and private projects. Call now to talk to Jeremy Baker about your project.
