Question From Lawyer Trying To Help Contractor

Winchester

A contractor who doesn't mark up his labour is a contractor who wants to pay to work instead of getting paid to work.

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Ryan

Bodger

DEWEY, CHEATUM, and HOWE!

skymaster

Does anybody here know the test to tell if a lawyer is lying?

Bodger

OOPS! Sorry TGEB, didn't see your reply before I did mine. Didn't mean be redundant folks.

You're a lawyer "Researching a question for a contractor client"....?
I'm about to be appointed to the California Supreme Court, primarily due to my vast knowledge of laws regarding general contracting.

Ping off an IM to me, and I will give you my address so you can send me a check for retainer and I'm sure I can assist you as you "help" your client.

FUGGEDABOUTIT!
Tell us who you are and what's really going on and maybe we can actually help you.

Forry

This must be the modern version of the test. We don't know if his lips are moving, so.... how do you know if an internet lawyer is lying? He's posting on CT.

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i've got all ten
smashed a lot of them stupidly before
-john5mt

We Fix Houses

Post the half or full page ad in the yellow pages. That would pretty much would do it.

reveivl

Watching this is like dropping a wounded baby antelope into the hyena cage at the zoo...

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From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

Ivinni

Damn if it ain't.

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

Bodger

silvertree

Now you scared him away, or, he's adding up our comments as billable hours for expert witnesses.

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Bodger

I think it was MALCO.

Aggie67

He's legit. I found his web site. I encourage him to offer more detail and his regional status, because it will help us help him to help his client.

This appears to be a simple case of contract law.

And the consensus I'm reading is exactly how we do our contracts: everything should be spelled out clearly up front in the contract to avoid this sort of confusion in the first place. We clearly communicate that any sub gets marked up a very specific percentage for OH&P. One thing I would also add is that we have a client sign-off sheet at the end of the contract where they indicate agreement to terms & conditions with their signature.

However, every company is different. The GC could mark up subs AND charge a flat fee for his own OH&P on the project. But that sounds more like an agent construction manager arrangement, not a traditional general contractor arrangement. It really depends on his practice, and how he spells it out in his contract. I have also been party to contracts where the (commercial) owner or owner's construction manager wants change order rates limited to very narrow structures (hourly wage marked up 10+8 for OH&P, etc). Which I have to say is nuts, and we always strike that clause. We give our in-house hourly billing rates (project managers included), and we spell out that the materials, rentals and subs' invoices get marked up a specific percentage. If they don't like it, don't hire us. But everyone in our market does it this way.

Crawdad

Will you mark up the info you get here, or will you give it to your client for free?

Max Nomad

Although I definitely appreciate the input that members like you and SCP have posted in this thread, I'm still not buying that this thread was started by a lawyer.

1. With all due respect, you saw *a* lawyer's website. That doesn't mean much. I could show you three corporate law firms and pretend to be attorneys in each one because I either know what they do or I've worked with them.
2. Any paralegal or college intern could've found the answer to that markup question with a quick trip to LexisNexus, Westlaw, a Law Library, a local university library or even at a book store. As great as this website is, it can't be considered a "substantiated source".
3. When it comes to cases, lawyers generally don't trust *any* outside advice from unsubstantiated sources -- they can't. To do so would open themselves and their practice up to all sorts of liabilities. This is one of the reasons why they spend the money to be members of state level (and national) organizations where they get access to hundreds of other attorneys with similar focuses, research sources, expert lists, and tons of other books and information.

I could be wrong but... well.. <shrug>..

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Bodger

SOMETHING just doesn't smell right about this. In any case, as informative and ground level as this forum may be, I have to believe there are more solid sources for a lawyer looking for good referencable facts.

Either way, this "lawyer" posting on this site has about as much chance as a narc in a biker bar if he or she is bullshi!!ing.

Aggie67

You guys are right, there is a chance the OP is not the lawyer I found. Could be someone using his name to get answers.

And I also agree that coming here is a little weird for a lawyer. I have my stable of lawyers (personal lawyer, labor lawyer, contract lawyer, insurance lawyer, collections lawyer), and whenever I've given them a task that they didn't know how to handle, they said "I specialize in X, and this is Y, so let me go down the hall and talk to Jack, who specializes in Y, and I'll have him give you a call." I'm not so sure how I'd feel if he told me, "you know, I went on this contractor's forum, and it looks like this is how GC contracts usually work."

BKFranks

I remember this from the Three Stooges, but it was Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey,_Cheatem_&_Howe



.

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Bodger

Believe it or not, (and I have the old yellow pages ad) when I was growing up, in our town there was a law firm with the following name:

wmallock

very standard all generals do it in their own little way some hide it some are upfront about it

skyhook

In business, nobody does anything for nothing.

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