Construction Contract Review for Owners and Developers in New Jersey

If you are the one paying for a construction project, the agreement in front of you was almost certainly drafted by the contractor or the contractor’s attorney. That does not make it a bad contract. It does mean that every ambiguous provision in it was resolved in someone else’s favor before you ever saw it.

We represent owners and developers — the party hiring the contractor — on New Jersey construction agreements. That includes ground-up and fit-out work, investment property renovations, and owner-side review for businesses building out their own space.

What We Look At Before You Sign

• Scope and specifications. What is actually included, what is only an allowance, and what will come back later as an extra.
• Price structure. Fixed price, cost-plus, or guaranteed maximum — and what the contractor can add without asking you first.
• Change orders. Who authorizes them, in what form, and what happens to work performed without written authorization.
• Payment schedule and retainage. Tying draws to completed and inspected work rather than to the calendar.
• Lien waivers. Collecting waivers from subcontractors and suppliers as a condition of payment, so a job you have already paid for does not produce a lien against your property.
• Schedule, delay, and completion. What substantial completion means in this particular contract, and what actually happens when the date slips.
• Insurance and indemnification. Certificates, additional insured status, and which party carries which risk.
• Warranty and punch list. How long the contractor stands behind the work, and how defects get resolved after you have moved in.
• Termination and dispute resolution. How you exit if the relationship breaks down, and where any dispute would be heard.

Owner-Side Only

We do not represent the contractor on the other side of your project. That matters most on the provisions that divide risk between owner and builder — change orders, delay, indemnification, retainage — where the owner’s position and the contractor’s position are genuinely opposed.

While the Project Is Running

Contract review is the start, not the whole job. We stay on the file for change orders, non-conforming work, and payment disputes, and for the letters that resolve most problems before anyone files anything. The goal on a live project is to keep it moving, not to win an argument about it two years later.

When Construction Sits Inside a Bigger Deal

Construction work is often one piece of a larger transaction — buying the building, forming the entity that will own it, financing the work, and leasing the finished space. We handle those pieces together rather than sending you to a different lawyer for each one.

Send Us the Agreement

Send the contract before you sign it. We will tell you what we see, what we would change, and what the review will cost. Call (732) 548-3133 or email zach@gotliblegal.com.