How to Avoid Contractor Disputes

If you speak to any real estate investor who has worked with a contractor, chances are you will hear at least one horror story. As with any profession, there are always some bad apples—and a savvy real estate investor needs to build in protections for their contractor relationship that will prevent the relationship from souring. Based on an extensive review of online discussions relating to contractor disputes, we have developed the following list of recommendations for how best to prevent such disputes:

Insurance

The first way to avoid a contractor dispute is to select a contractor who has an excellent track record and comes highly recommended. We previously wrote a blog post about how we selected our contractor for the renovation of our new office space.

Security

Making sure that appropriate and sufficient security measures are in place is another key factor in reducing the likelihood of a dispute with a contractor.

Contractor Payments

More often than not, disputes that arise relate to payment. In addition to the contractual terms relating to payment that we discussed above, the following steps should also be taken:

Miscellaneous

There are some additional factors to consider when contemplating how best to avoid disputes from arising:

Conclusion

There is no foolproof way to avoid contractor disputes. No contract can possibly contemplate every scenario that might arise and proactively address that issue. Still, incorporating the recommendations discussed herein will serve to reduce the likelihood of conflict.