News
Summer Reading
August 18, 2010
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| Construction contracts and lenders certificates are beginning to pile up again, as construction clients want to protect themselves, get paid for their work, and more financing becomes available. Zetlin & De Chiara partners Michael Vardaro and Lina Telese (who says attorneys didn't have summer reading?) also say more succession planning is underway, as certain owners look to pass on or get bought out of projects. Although the construction industry is getting slowly better, only time will tell if the increase in summer work is a blip or a actual sign of recovery. September, October, and November will be the true indicators of where the market is headed, they say. |
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| Lina shows us the pile of contracts on what was an emptier desk months ago. Many owners have been slow to pay contractors and design professionals, and the attorneys are working on putting enforcement clauses in the contracts to make sure their clients are being paid. In the meantime, the clients are using the slower market to diversify—particularly abroad in Abu Dhabi, Russia, Brazil, and Qatar—and to seek work in the public sector, which guarantees payment, albeit slower than the past. Lina's ready to spend the rest of the month in Abruzzo, Italy, where she's vacationed nearly every summer since she was an infant (and guess who's staying behind to handle the influx of e-mails that comes with this uptick in paper?) |
