Preface

• Author: Carol J. Patterson - Ross J. Altman - Stephen A. Hess - Allen Overcash
• Pages: xxix-xxx

Preface

xxix

The rst edition of this book was published ten years ago to create a useful

resource for the construction industry by assisting professors in familiarizing

students with the principles of construction law. It was our goal that the avail-

ability of the textbook would encourage law schools and other programs to

recognize that construction law is a valuable subject for focused study and to

facilitate the development of courses guiding such study. We are pleased that

this has been the case. Many professors have found the book useful not only

in law schools but also in professional programs for architecture, engineering,

and construction management as well. We have also been told that the book is

a useful resource not only for many attorneys who are new to the practice of

construction law but also for experienced practitioners.

As the editors started work on the second edition, we wanted not only to

update the book but to improve it. We reached out to professors who use the

book and received very helpful responses, and we want to thank those who

took the time to respond to us.

While the overall organization of the book remains the same, we made

some changes that should make the book easier to use. As was the case in the

rst edition of this book, many of the discussions in the text and the questions

at the end of each chapter focus on typical small commercial construction

projects and the American Institute of Architects forms of agreement that are

widely used on such projects. This is consistent with our intent to familiarize

readers with a wide range of issues that arise on most construction projects.

The initial chapters of the book are still devoted to providing an overview of

the construction process, including the roles and responsibilities of the key

project participants: owners, designers, contractors, and subcontractors. In this

edition, all of the discussions of the roles and responsibilities of the design

team on a construction project are presented in Chapters 6 and 7.

The discussion of critical time-related issues, including tools for tracking

schedules of work and determining the time of completion, are consolidated in

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