Wood frame construction is far and away the most common framing for residential construction projects.  The National Association of Home Builders recently reported that the average new single-family home uses more than 2,200 square feet of softwood plywood, and more than 6,800 of Oriented Strand Board (OSB), in addition to roughly 15,000 board feet of

Saving money on home energy costs through improvements that pay for themselves over time is a sound economic strategy, if you can afford the initial outlay.  But when it comes to new residential construction, the added costs of energy efficient buildings run headlong into legislative efforts to increase the affordability of new housing.  We are

The highly-touted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025, implements a number of tax changes that will impact the business of construction – some positively, some not so much.  Some provide direct tax benefits to contractors, while others are designed to increase demand for construction.   The one everybody talks most

This week’s sentencing of Stratham contractor Gerard Thibault to 10-30 years in state prison for taking over $2.4 million in down payments from customers without performing the work carries a message – for residential customers as well as contractors.  Unscrupulous builders, though rare in New Hampshire, are out there.  How can their customers protect themselves? While

In commercial and governmental construction contracts, it is common for owners to retain from general contractors, and for general contractors to retain from subcontractors, some percentage of progress payments earned until substantial completion (or, less frequently, final completion) of the contract has been achieved.  Its purpose is to protect the holder from the financial impact

Construction law is largely contract law.  Most of us know a contract when we see one.  Courts enforce agreements rather than mere promises, and require an offer, its acceptance, and an exchange of something of value (what lawyers call “consideration”).  One party promises to pay the other for a specified performance; the other promises to

Last year I blogged (#139) about the constitutionality of federal set-asides for disadvantaged contractors and the preliminary ruling in Mid-America Milling Co. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, 2024 WL 4267183 (E.D. Ky. Sept. 23, 2024).  The Biden-era case suggested that long-standing federal programs favoring the awarding of contracts to businesses classified as disadvantaged