Contractor City Blog

Most transactions have some sort of cost associated with them. The bank charges $2 to use its ATM. Your financial advisor charges his fee to execute your stock trade. Your lender charges interest for the immediate use of its capital to fund your project.

When it comes to breach of warranty claims, those transaction costs often appear in the form of attorney?s fees, and they can frequently be the tail that wags the dog. Texas has strict limitations on when attorney?s fees are recoverable. Generally speaking, they are only recoverable when specifically allowed by statute or if the claim falls into one of eight defined categories:

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The construction industry is driven, to a large degree, by contracts (just consider the name "contractor"). The AIA has its standard forms, and many companies have their own models that they prefer to use. But when is a contract formally created? Does it happen with a handshake? What about when forms get faxed back and forth, with each new round creating new modifications to the terms?

Generally speaking, a valid contract is formed when an offer is made, it is accepted, and there is a meeting of the minds. There is no acceptance when there is an attempt to change or qualify the terms of the offer. If there is such an attempt, the offer is rejected. A purported acceptance that adds conditions not contained in the offer is not actually an acceptance?it is a rejection of the offer. Additionally, a qualified or conditional response to an offer does not create a contract because there is no meeting of the minds. This is actually a counter-offer.

Continue reading ‘The Birth of a Contract’ »