Chuck Burkhart and Jimmy Williams Share Important Steps to Take When Identifying a Subcontractor in Construction Executive

Chuck Burkhart, partner, and Jimmy Williams, attorney, in the Birmingham office and members of the Construction Litigation Practice, co-authored an article for Construction Executive, discussing best practices for selecting a subcontractor. 

The article includes a subcontractor selection checklist with a series of key checkpoints in critical competencies for contractors to confirm prior to engaging with an outside party, including:

• Business and Construction Experience
• Qualifications and Licensure Status
• Financial and Banking History
  
  

Chuck and Jimmy note that while subcontractors are a critical element of any construction project, their jobs also carry inherent risks and countless construction disputes result from mismanagement of subcontractors, unknown hazards, or unintended loopholes in subcontractor agreements. 

In 2018, Chuck co-authored the Alabama Construction Law Manual, the state’s first treatise on legal issues affecting the construction industry to be published in more than a decade. Chuck has developed a national construction practice in which he represents owners, architects, general contractors, and subcontractors on claims ranging from mechanics liens, the drafting and negotiation of high-value construction contracts, to the litigation and trial of complex construction disputes - most recently defending claims against a major electrical utility on arguably the largest construction project ongoing in the United States. 

Jimmy focuses his practice on commercial, energy, and construction litigation for corporate clients nationwide.  Most recently, Jimmy represented a group of electrical utilities in in a billon plus dollar dispute with a contractor over the design and construction of the first approved new nuclear plant in the U.S. in the last 30 years, and continues to represent this group of utilities in connection with the nuclear construction project.