Who I help · Construction businesses
Construction Businesses in a Payment or Project Dispute
Contractors, subcontractors, owners and developers share one problem when a project goes wrong: the money stops while the obligations continue. Texas gives each of them specific tools, with deadlines that do not wait for the dispute to settle.
- Commercial litigation, downtown Dallas
- State and federal litigation experience
- Represents contractors, owners and developers
The disputes construction businesses bring
Payment is the usual problem. The tools depend on where you sit in the chain.
- 01The owner will not payPay applications approved, retainage held, final payment refused. A contractor's remedies start with the contract and the lien statute.
- 02The general contractor was paid and did not pay youA subcontractor or supplier's rights run against the general, the owner's property and sometimes the trust fund statute.
- 03A lien has been filed against your projectOwners and developers need to know whether the lien is valid, what it does to financing and how to remove one that is not.
- 04A defect claim has arrivedYears after completion, the owner alleges defective work. Limitations, repose and the chain of responsibility all matter.
- 05The change orders were never signedExtra work was directed, performed and is now disputed. Getting paid for it is a contract problem with a construction twist.
- 06The contract says arbitrationAIA and other standard forms route disputes to mediation and arbitration. The sequence is mandatory and the timing is tight.
How Tina works with construction businesses
Construction disputes are document disputes. The contract and its exhibits, the schedule, the pay applications, the change order log, the daily reports, the emails and the photographs decide most of them. The company that kept its records and acted inside the statutory deadlines is in a different position from the one that did not, whoever was right on the job.
The decisions that come first
The deadlines come first because they are unforgiving: notice and filing dates for a mechanic's lien, notice periods under the contract, bond claim deadlines on public work, and the limitations and repose periods on defect claims. Then the contract's dispute resolution path, which on standard forms often requires an initial decision, then mediation, then arbitration, in that order. Then the money: what is owed, what is disputed, what is being withheld, and whether the interest and attorney's fee provisions of the Texas prompt payment statutes apply.
What construction businesses usually need
A lawyer who understands how a project works, so that the pay application and the schedule do not need to be explained from the beginning. Fast action when a lien or bond claim deadline is near. A sense of proportion: a payment dispute is rarely worth more than the payment, and most of them should be resolved by a well-documented demand and a negotiated release rather than a trial. And the readiness to try the case when the other side will not pay what is owed.
Both sides of the table
Tina Wysk represents general contractors, specialty contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, owners and developers in payment, lien, defect and contract disputes, in Texas courts and in arbitration. Her practice includes construction and real estate litigation over property, contracts and payment, which is why she reads these files quickly. Shareholder, Hallett & Perrin, P.C., downtown Dallas.
Where construction businesses most often need help
Each service page explains the kind of matter, the Texas law behind it and what the process looks like.
Construction Litigation
Payment, lien, bond, defect and delay disputes for every party on the project.
Learn moreBreach of Contract
Change orders, terminations and unpaid balances under the construction contract.
Learn moreDemand Letters
The payment demand that satisfies the statute and gets the check written.
Learn moreBusiness Arbitration & Mediation
The mediation and arbitration steps that AIA and similar contracts require.
Learn moreReal Estate Litigation
Disputes over the land, the lease and the development agreement behind the project.
Learn moreCommercial Litigation
The case in court when the project dispute cannot be resolved any other way.
Learn moreGuides contractors and owners read first
Payment, liens, defects and arbitration on Texas projects, in plain words.
Construction & Payment Disputes
The Owner Will Not Pay. A Contractor's Options in Texas
A Texas contractor who is not paid has four tools: Prompt Payment Act interest and suspension, a mechanic's lien, a contract claim with attorney's fees, and a demand letter.
Construction & Payment Disputes
Texas Mechanic's Lien Deadlines: Notices and Filing Dates
Every Texas lien date in one place: the third-month notice, the retainage notice, the fourth-month (third-month residential) affidavit, the five-day copy and the one-year suit.
Construction & Payment Disputes
The General Contractor Was Paid but Did Not Pay Me. Subcontractor Rights in Texas
An unpaid subcontractor can reach the owner's withheld funds through lien notices, charge Prompt Payment Act interest, and pursue the GC's principals under the Trust Fund Act.
Construction & Payment Disputes
Construction Defect Claims in Texas: Who Is Liable and for How Long
In Texas the party who promised the work is liable in contract, designers for their own errors, and the deadlines stack: four years, two years, and a ten-year outer limit.
Construction & Payment Disputes
Change Order Disputes: Getting Paid for Extra Work
Texas enforces change order clauses, but an owner who directed and accepted extra work can waive them. Since 2023 a contractor may decline unsigned extra work above ten percent.
Construction & Payment Disputes
Should a Construction Dispute Go to Arbitration or Court?
If the contract has an arbitration clause, that decides it. Where there is a choice, the number of parties, lien foreclosure, expert needs and the right to appeal tip the balance.
A project dispute with a deadline attached
Bring the contract, the pay applications and the correspondence. The first conversation covers the deadlines, the remedies and the fastest route to payment.