Should I Hire a Construction Attorney for Contractor-Damaged Buildings?

General contractors should possess the professional credentials required to complete a first-rate construction project. However, even with the right licenses and credentials, a general contractor can make a mistake that causes damage to your building. Whether a contractor damages the roof during a renovation or floods the basement while installing new equipment, should you hire a construction attorney if the contractor damaged the building?

The answer is an emphatic yes.

At Alves Radcliffe, we represent property owners who face financial losses generated by a general contractor. From a contractor walking off the job to working with shoddy materials, you have the legal right to recover the losses associated with a general contractor’s negligence. A construction attorney conducts a detailed investigation to collect physical evidence. Your lawyer reviews the construction contract to determine whether the contractor violated one or more provisions. With the help of a construction attorney, you file the legal documents required to initiate a lawsuit. Instead of going through with the lawsuit, the contractor’s lawyer might agree to negotiate a settlement with your construction attorney.

Now that you know why it is important to seek legal counsel after a contractor has damaged your building, let’s review what to look for in a qualified construction attorney to handle your experience.

Experience

A construction attorney straight out of law school is not going to have the experience you need to win your case. However, evaluating a construction attorney strictly on the number of years litigating cases is not enough to make the right hiring decision. You should consider construction attorneys who have accumulated several years of experience winning legal judgments concerning cases that involve damage to a building. Working a case involving damage to a building requires a unique set of investigative skills because of the need to acquire physical evidence that proves the building sustained damage.

Responsive Communicator
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Construction lawyers work several cases at the same time. However, this does not mean the construction attorney that you hire should put your case on the back burner. You should receive the type of attention that makes your case seem like it’s the most important case on your construction attorney’s docket. Your lawyer should respond promptly to all questions via text, email, and phone messages, with the preferred time limit being within 24 hours of you reaching out to your lawyer.

The best way to measure the responsiveness of an attorney is to leave a message with the lawyer’s office during the vetting process.

Open to Negotiations

Suing a general contractor for causing damage to your building can take years to resolve if the case goes to the trial phase of the civil lawsuit process. The most effective way to avoid litigation involves trying to find common ground that ends the case before it reaches the trial phase. Your construction attorney must be open to negotiating a settlement to help you save both time and money. In addition, the lawyer that you hire should demonstrate the attorney has worked several cases in which both parties reached a settlement.

Negotiating a settlement requires different legal skills than litigating a civil case in front of a judge.