The prime contract sets your scope, your schedule, how you get paid and how much risk you carry for things you do not control. We review the owner's draft, whether it starts from an AIA or ConsensusDocs form or from the owner's own paper, and mark up the clauses that move money and liability. You get a redline and a short memo that says which changes matter most.
At a glance
- Practice
- Construction
- Pricing
- Flat fee, quoted before we start
- Included
- 6 deliverables
- Process
- 3 steps, one named attorney
- Where we work
- Slack, email or a call
When founders call us
The moments that usually bring a company to us for this work.
- 01
An owner has sent a contract and wants it signed before mobilization
- 02
The owner's form has heavily modified AIA general conditions you have not seen before
- 03
You are moving from cost-plus work to a lump-sum or GMP contract
- 04
You are bidding work in a state where you have not built before
What you get
Scoped in writing before we start. One flat fee for all of it.
- Redline of the owner-contractor agreement and general conditions
- Issues memo ranking the terms that shift cost, schedule or liability to you
- Review of payment, retainage, termination and suspension terms
- Check of indemnity, insurance and waiver of subrogation provisions
- Notes on notice, claims and dispute resolution deadlines you will need to track
- Flags where the outcome depends on the law of the project's state
How it works
- 1
Project and contract intake
You send the draft, the bid or proposal and the project details, including the state and delivery method.
- 2
Review and redline
We mark up the contract against your bid assumptions and the law of the project state.
- 3
Attorney sign-off
A licensed attorney reviews the redline and memo before it reaches you, and we answer follow-up questions.
Mistakes we help you avoid
The ones we see most often, and catch before they cost you.
- Avoided
Accepting a no-damages-for-delay clause without an exception for owner-caused delays
- Avoided
Signing broad form indemnity without checking whether the state's anti-indemnity statute limits it
- Avoided
Missing short claim and notice windows that waive change and delay claims if not met
- Avoided
Agreeing to consequential damages exposure that no insurance policy will cover
Prime Contracts: questions founders ask
Both are widely used standard form families. AIA documents are often favored by owners and architects, while ConsensusDocs were developed with broader industry input and are often seen as more balanced. The bigger issue is usually the modifications the owner makes to whichever form is used, so we review those closely.
In a lump-sum contract you carry the risk of costs exceeding the price. Cost-plus pays your costs plus a fee, and a guaranteed maximum price adds a ceiling above which you generally absorb overruns. Each changes which clauses matter most, so we tailor the review to the pricing model.
It depends on the state. Many states have anti-indemnity statutes that void or limit clauses requiring a contractor to indemnify an owner for the owner's own negligence, and the rules differ on scope and on whether they apply to insurance requirements. We check the statute for the project state.
Each review is a flat fee, quoted before we start. The quote depends on the length of the contract and how much negotiation you expect.
Get a flat-fee quote for Prime Contracts.
A short call with an attorney. You leave with a written scope and one fixed price.
Book a call