Payment Disputes
Construction runs on credit. The work is performed first and paid for later, which means the party doing the work is financing the project until someone decides to pay.
When payment stops, it is rarely a simple refusal. It is usually a defense: the work was defective, the change was never authorized, the schedule slipped, the sworn statement was wrong, or the owner has not been paid by their lender. Some of those defenses are genuine and some are leverage, and the difference matters before anything is filed.
The firm pursues and defends payment claims for owners, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, and coordinates them with the lien rights that usually run alongside.
How payment gets recovered
A payment claim normally has more than one route available, and they carry different deadlines and different pressure.
- Breach of contract, the direct claim against the party who agreed to pay you
- Construction lien, attaching the claim to the property itself and blocking sale or refinance
- Builders trust fund claim, available where construction funds were paid out and not applied to the people who earned them
- Unjust enrichment or quantum meruit, where work was performed and accepted without an enforceable contract covering it
- Claims against a payment bond, on projects where one was furnished
- Personal claims against individuals, where a trust fund violation or a personal guaranty supports one
You can be well within time to sue on the contract and already too late to record a lien. Because the lien is usually the leverage that produces payment, the lien clock is the one that has to be protected first. See construction liens.
Why the other side says it is not owed
| Defense raised | What actually decides it |
|---|---|
| The work was defective | Whether the work met the contract documents, and whether the objection was raised at the time or only when payment came due. |
| The change was not authorized | What the change order clause required, and whether the party now objecting directed or watched the work proceed. |
| You finished late | Whether the delay was excusable, who caused it, and whether the contract actually provides for damages from lateness. |
| Pay when paid | Whether the clause is a timing provision or a genuine condition, and how the specific language reads. |
| Your sworn statement was wrong | Whether the statement was accurate. This one carries real exposure and it should not be brushed aside. |
| Retainage is not due yet | Whether the contractual conditions for release, such as completion, closeout documents and warranties, have been satisfied. |
How these matters run
- Deadlines protected firstLien dates identified before anything else, because those rights expire and cannot be revived.
- The account reconstructedContract, change orders, payment applications, what was paid, what was waived, and the last date work was performed.
- The defense testedWhether the stated objection is genuine and documented, or was raised for the first time once payment was demanded.
- Demand, lien or filingA documented demand backed by real lien rights resolves many of these. Where it does not, claims are filed together rather than in sequence.
Questions about getting paid
The general contractor says they cannot pay me until the owner pays them.
That is a pay when paid argument, and whether it works depends on the exact wording of your subcontract. Some clauses only govern the timing of payment. Others attempt to make owner payment a true condition. In either case your lien rights against the property generally run on their own schedule and should be protected now.
I did the extra work but never got a written change order.
Common, and not necessarily fatal. If the contract required written approval, that language matters. But conduct matters too, including direction to proceed, acceptance of the work and a course of dealing where earlier changes were also handled verbally and paid. Whatever written record exists, including messages, becomes important.
They are withholding everything over a small punch list item.
Withholding an amount disproportionate to the actual issue is a recognizable tactic. What can properly be withheld is usually tied to the cost of completing or correcting the item, not the whole balance. A documented demand that separates the disputed item from the undisputed balance often resolves this.
Is it worth pursuing?
That depends on the amount, whether a lien is still available, whether an attorney fee clause exists, and whether the other side can actually pay. You will get a candid view on all four before committing to spend on it.
Protect the lien clock before you argue the invoice.
[PHONE]Matters with a lien deadline, a filing deadline or a hearing already on the calendar are handled by phone.