Insights
Guides to the contract clauses that cost contractors and founders money, and what to ask for instead.
FeaturedFrom the field
Four days at the NECA convention in Las Vegas, close to 40 conversations at our booth, and one theme: more work than hours, and contracts nobody has time to read.
Rajat Raghuram, Co-Founder, ReCo.Legal
October 13, 2026 · 4 min read
Getting paid
Miss it and your lien and bond rights shrink. What the notice is, who sends it to whom, and the habit that means you never miss one.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors and suppliers · 5 min read
Getting paid
A lien is the strongest tool a sub has when the money stops, and the easiest to lose. The four deadlines, in order, and the two traps inside them.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors and suppliers · 6 min read
Getting paid
California has four statutory lien release forms. Which one you sign, and when, decides whether you keep your rights if a check bounces.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors and suppliers · 5 min read
Getting paid
The superintendent says "just do it, we'll sort out the paperwork". Here's why that sentence costs trade contractors so much, and the clauses that decide whether you get paid for extras.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 6 min read
Contract terms
Most subcontracts let the GC end your contract for no reason at all. The clause decides what you're paid when that happens, and the standard wording leaves a lot out.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 5 min read
Contract terms
The insurance exhibit is the part of a subcontract most subs forward to their broker unread. What each phrase means, and the questions to ask before you sign.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 6 min read
Contract terms
The dispute clause decides where a payment fight happens, under which rules, and who pays to get there. California gives local subs one protection worth knowing.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 5 min read
Contract terms
NDAs feel like a formality, so they get signed in thirty seconds. Most are fine. A few carry terms that outlast the deal by years.
ReCo.Legal
Contractors and founders · 4 min read
For founders
"Work made for hire" doesn't do what most founders think it does for software, and in California it can create an employment problem. What to use instead.
ReCo.Legal
Founders · 5 min read
Getting paid
California sets deadlines for paying subs, and a 2% a month penalty when money is wrongly held back. The rules for private jobs, public jobs and retention, and how to use them without burning the relationship.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 6 min read
Contract terms
GCs don't accept twenty markups from a sub. The ones worth spending your leverage on, the ones to price instead, and how to ask without losing the job.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 5 min read
Getting paid
Pending change orders tend to pile up until the end of the job, and then they're negotiated in one lump at a steep discount. Why that happens, and how to keep them moving while you still have leverage.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 5 min read
Contract terms
A symbol on the drawings, a "complete system" in the scope, and suddenly the electrical or low-voltage sub owns the design. How design responsibility shifts onto subs, and what the law and your bid can do about it.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical and low-voltage subcontractors · 6 min read
Running the business
Construction moves large payments between many parties by email, which makes it a target for fake "updated bank details". What courts do when the money is gone, and the contract clause and office habits that prevent it.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors, suppliers and GCs · 5 min read
Contract terms
Plenty of contractors and founders already paste contracts into ChatGPT before they sign. It's a useful first pass. Here's where it helps, where it falls short, and how to use it without creating new risks.
ReCo.Legal
Contractors and founders · 5 min read
Contract terms
On data center and other mission-critical jobs, the owner's cost of a late finish can dwarf your contract. How liquidated damages and consequential damages waivers work, and what electrical subs should ask for.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical subcontractors · 6 min read
Contract terms
The subcontract sits unread until the builder needs you mobilized, then it gets signed in a hurry, or not at all. What that does to your rights, and a one-page routine that protects you.
ReCo.Legal
Trade subcontractors · 5 min read
Contract terms
Electrical equipment can take a year to arrive, and prices can move a lot while you wait. If your contract is fixed-price and silent, that risk is yours. Escalation clauses, delay terms and stored-material billing explained.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical subcontractors · 5 min read
Getting paid
You can't put a lien on a public building, so on public jobs the payment bond is your safety net. It only works if you give the right notices on time. The California and federal deadlines, side by side.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors and suppliers · 6 min read
For founders
AI note-takers, call analytics and voice agents all record people. In California and several other states, everyone on the call has to agree. What the law says, what's being litigated, and how to build consent into the product.
ReCo.Legal
Founders · 6 min read
For founders
In 2024 the FCC confirmed that AI-generated voices count as "artificial" voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. What that means for startups building outbound voice agents, and the rules that come with it.
ReCo.Legal
Founders · 5 min read
Contract terms
Most of a subcontract is boilerplate. These ten clauses are where the money goes: who pays for claims, who's insured, when you get paid, and who carries the delay. What each one does and what to ask for.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors · 8 min read
Contract terms
Data center work is fast, valuable and unforgiving. Ten risks electrical subs should price or push back on before they sign, from liquidated damages and long-lead gear to owner-furnished equipment and commissioning.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical subcontractors · 7 min read
Getting paid
Most payment rights in California construction come with a clock attached, and a strong claim filed a day late can be worth nothing. The ten deadlines to put on every job calendar, on private, public and federal work.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors and suppliers · 7 min read
Running the business
The low number gets you on the shortlist. It doesn't always get you the job. Eight things general contractors weigh when choosing a sub, and how to look like the safe choice.
ReCo.Legal
Subcontractors bidding work · 5 min read
For founders
The legal problems that catch AI startups usually aren't exotic. They're consent, data and contract gaps that enterprise customers spot in diligence. Ten to fix before your next big deal.
ReCo.Legal
Founders · 8 min read
Contract terms
Scope creep, pay-if-paid, broad indemnity and delay damages decide whether many electrical subcontracts make money. What each one looks like on the page, and what to ask for before you sign.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical subcontractors · 6 min read
Contract terms
A subcontract is a risk-transfer document, and on most commercial jobs the electrical sub sits where the risks meet. A clause-by-clause guide to scope, payment, indemnity and delay, with the case law behind each and what to strike, limit, price or manage before you sign.
ReCo.Legal
Electrical subcontractors · 13 min read
General information, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Attorney advertising. ReCo.Legal is not a law firm; legal services are provided by independent, licensed attorneys.