Green Building & Environmental Trends : Green Building & Construction LEED AP Consulting : Rich Cartlidge : Environmental Trends, Urban Development

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Chris is a lawyer at the Richmond, VA firm, DurretteBradshaw, PLC, and is a member of Virginia's Legal Elite in Construction Law. Chris specializes in mechanic's liens, contract review and consulting, occupational safety issues (VOSH and OSHA), and risk management for construction professionals.

First, I need to say thank you to Rich for the great invitation to post here at GBET. Rich was kind enough to guest post at my Construction Law Musings blog and I am thrilled to return the favor.

As I study for the LEED AP exam and look at the issues surrounding the new construction landscape and “LEEDigation” (thanks to my friend Chris Cheatham for this term. I wish I’d thought of it). I feel the need to expand the discussion beyond what I believe has become too narrow a focus on “green” issues in building and law.

While the issues of the effects of third party verification, bonding, insurance, environmental issues, and contract drafting have rightfully focused on this growing economic and environmental trend, I do not think that we can drop our focus on more basic risk management issues. 

Without a broader view of the inherent legal and insurance risks in any construction project (large or small), the basics may get lost. Regardless of the unique issues relating to a project that seeks to meet a certain “green” benchmark (whether LEED, Green Globes or otherwise), contractors still need to be aware of the underlying legal risks and focus their efforts and contracts accordingly. 

The brave new world of sustainable building only adds an additional layer to the risk management techniques that are as old as construction itself. A contractor still needs liability insurance, still needs to make sure that payment flows well, still needs to be ready to file a mechanic’s lien or Miller Act claim if necessary, and still needs to make sure the scope of work is very well defined in a contract. 

Consulting with an attorney that is well versed in practical, on the ground, risk management from a general perspective will get a contractor 90% of the way toward the goal of sound business and contractual practice. Once this layer is established, a contractor will have a great base on which to “sustainably” build its “green” construction practice.