{"id":371,"date":"2010-07-09T20:02:53","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T20:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=371"},"modified":"2010-07-09T20:02:53","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T20:02:53","slug":"new-residential-construction-contracts-in-massachusetts-in-this-case-less-may-be-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=371","title":{"rendered":"New Residential Construction Contracts in Massachusetts–In this Case, Less May be Less"},"content":{"rendered":"

First of all, I want to state my main premise when dealing with the new construction of homes. I insist that my clients do the research on the builder they have selected. There is no substitute for a great track record<\/strong>. I tell my clients to get at least two references<\/strong> of people for whom the builder has built a house, or performed substantial renovation work. This includes addresses and phone numbers. I tell my client to inform the builder that they intend to contact the former customers directly<\/strong>, either in person or by phone. They are going to ask questions like:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. How was working with this builder? Was he concerned about details? Did he get the house built on time? Did he come back promptly during the warranty period<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. Would you recommend this builder to your friends and family<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Assuming the answers to these questions are “yes”, I believe that, at the very minimum, the following elements need to be included in the Construction Contract:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. A commitment to build the home in accordance with the initialed plans and specifications<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. A delivery of an insurance certificate from the Builder which covers Builder’s Risks and Workman’s Compensation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3. An Arbitration Provision<\/strong> to cover disputes. Neither side can afford litigation in the course of building a new home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4. A commitment by the builder to deliver “lien releases<\/strong>” so-called before the final payment of the contract price is required.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5. A One-Year Builder’s Warranty<\/strong> which sets forth in detail what is covered,and not covered, in terms of the quality of the work.<\/p>\n

You would be surprised how “summary” some of the Construction Contracts my clients present to me from their builders can be.\u00a0 In one instance, the terms of the contract were written on the clean side of an envelope. I cannot let my clients move forward on a six or seven figure project with a “handshake”. In the case of something as important as building a new home is, a comprehensive Construction Contract is essential. That is what I provide for my clients, or I do not get involved in their representation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First of all, I want to state my main premise when dealing with the new construction of homes. I insist that my clients do the research on the builder they have selected. There is no substitute for a great track record. I tell my clients to get at least two references of people for whom … Continue reading New Residential Construction Contracts in Massachusetts–In this Case, Less May be Less<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[240],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-representing-a-client-doing-new-residence-construction-in-massachusetts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=343","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":0},"title":"Cleaning House–It is Time to “Fire” No Fewer than Ten Percent of My Clients!!!","date":"July 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The is no question that Jack Welch, the former CEO at GE, and now a frequent contributor on CNBC and other financial forums is extremely full of himself. If you have read his books, he will regale you with principles and approaches to management that he claims cannot fail. Well,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"annual purge of difficult clients\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":387,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=387","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":1},"title":"Fixed fee Billing for Purchase Transactions and Sale Transactions–I have found this the only way to provide effective representation to my Massachusetts clients","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a Massachusetts real estate attorney with over 40years of experience in the field of titles and conveyancing. If I don't know how to do a residential real estate transaction by now, it it pretty obvious that I will never know. I am not saying I know every nuance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Customer Service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":361,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=361","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":2},"title":"Massachusetts Buyer Beware!!!! If there is a foreclosure in your back title, you may not be getting what you are expecting","date":"July 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a tale of woe that is real, and may be repeated many times in the future for Massachusetts real estate scenarios. Well before I started representing my client, he purchased a home which had a recent foreclosure in its title. My client, now attempting to do a refinancing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Short Sales & Foreclosures"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":412,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=412","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":3},"title":"Acts of God Between the Signing of A Purchase and Sale Agreement and the Closing–The Buyer Really Doesn’t have a Lot of Remedies","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It happened last evening in a bedroom community north of Boston. The tenant who had rented the home my clients are purchasing had vacated the dwelling on January 31, 2010\u00a0and informed all affected utilities,including the electric company.\u00a0For reason still unknown, the electric company immediately\u00a0shut off the electricity. The pipes froze,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "closing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":234,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=234","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":4},"title":"If you Can’t “Walk”, You Can’t Negotiate–Never Truer Than It is Today","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"These are turbulent times in our industry. More attention than usual has been thrust on real estate because of the generous first-time owners tax credits and other incentives which are being offered to Buyers. A new HUD-1 Settlement procedure goes into effect on January 1, 2010. The thrust of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"negotiations\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=255","url_meta":{"origin":371,"position":5},"title":"–Demonstrate your commitment to your customers–An “E” for effort matters!!!!","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A while back, when I was just starting my practice, I read an article about a survey done in Missouri (not my home state) concerning impressions that clients had of attorneys whom they had previously retained. The point of the article was that most respondents said that their attorneys were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Customer Service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}