In business as in life, everything has a time and place. The time to make changes to a contract is before or during the contract execution, not after the work is completed. When the change involves a unit price adjustment on a significant quantity overrun, the cost cannot be altered when the final bill comes due, especially when the contract specifically rejects such measures. The adjustment must occur as a change order during the course of the project, ruled the Nebraska Supreme Court.
For a supplier on a condo project, it delivered its goods on time and at the right place. However, when the payment never showed up, it could not file a mechanic’s lien against the owner because it was too far removed from the prime contract.
In another mechanic’s lien issue, an investor-owned utility tried to claim public status to avoid the lien statute. It also tried to claim private status to avoid culpability for the bond statute. Either way, it was liable for unpaid balances to its subcontractors.
