Insights

Construction

Construction insights on contract risk, payment disputes, lien rights, bond claims, and litigation issues.

Construction Trust Fund Claims Under Texas Property Code Chapter 162

Texas construction trust funds belong to the people whose labor and materials generated the payment, and control of those funds can create personal civil liability and criminal exposure.

Pay-When-Paid and Pay-If-Paid Clauses in Texas Construction Contracts

Owner nonpayment can mean payment timing or a full transfer of risk. Texas courts and Chapter 56 treat those clauses differently.

Payment Bond Claims on Texas Public Projects

A payment bond is the payment remedy on a Texas public construction project because a mechanic's lien doesn't attach to public property. Chapter 2253 protects covered claimants only when the notices, sworn statement, mailing proof, and suit deadline line up with the statute.

Texas Constitutional and Statutory Construction Liens

Texas provides two distinct mechanic's liens on private projects. The constitutional and statutory liens can secure the same unpaid work, but they differ in claimants, procedures, property coverage, and priority consequences.

Texas Construction Contracts Before Work Begins

A construction contract sets the price, defines the work, and assigns the financial consequences of delay, design changes, defective work, injury claims, and early termination. Those terms often appear across the agreement, general conditions, supplementary conditions, drawings, specifications, addenda, exhibits, and documents incorporated by reference.

Texas Construction Defect Claims Under the RCLA

A construction defect claim starts with the building, but it rarely ends there. A cracked slab, a leaking window system, or a failed balcony detail quickly becomes a calendar problem.

Texas Construction Prompt Payment Deadlines and Remedies

Texas uses different prompt payment statutes for private and public construction. [Texas Property Code Chapter 28](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.28.htm) governs payment for improvements to privately owned real property. [Texas Government Code Chapter 2251](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.2251.htm) governs qualifying payments by state agencies, local governments, and other governmental entities.

Texas Construction Retainage Release Rules

Retainage turns the last piece of the job into payment pressure. Texas law separates private reserved funds, contractual retainage, public project caps, and release deadlines.

Texas Mechanic's and Materialman's Liens for Private Construction Payment Disputes

Payment disputes on Texas private construction projects turn on a calendar built from the governing contracts and the work records. A claimant can have a valid invoice and lose the lien remedy by missing a notice, filing, delivery, or foreclosure deadline.