Podcast 228: Quit Getting Screwed with Karalynn Cromeens

Karalynn Cromeens

If you’re like most of us and have ever been screwed over by a general contractor or a building owner (often through no fault of our own), or even if you haven’t, but would like to avoid contractual issues altogether, then you’ll enjoy the topic of today’s conversation!

My guest, Karalynn Cromeens, has written a great book that we’ll be discussing today: Quit Getting Screwed: Understanding and Negotiating the Subcontract. Listen in for tips and strategies that you can use right now!

Karalynn Cromeens is the Owner and Managing Partner for The Cromeens Law Firm, PLLC, in Houston, Texas. She is well-acquainted with the construction industry and knows the obstacles that contractors are likely to encounter, and she is passionate about protecting the businesses her clients have worked so hard to build.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

Karalynn explains how she has been involved in the construction industry from a young age.
Contracts are written with negotiation in mind.
Karalynn shares tips around some of the biggest problems that contractors face:
- How detrimental the “Pay when paid” clause is
- Not having a contract at all
- Once you sign a contract, you’re on the hook to do the work. There are consequences if you walk the job.
- Change orders
- Personal guarantees
- Progress / milestone payments
- Retainage
- Lien rights
- Arbitration
- Using subcontractors
For a flat fee, Karalynn can draft an 8-page contract that anybody that isn’t a lawyer can understand. She will also review a contract that you’re signing for somebody else for a flat fee.
To have a successful transaction in the construction industry, you have to be clear on expectations.
Karalynn’s firm has a flat-fee collection service for all states that includes the collection of liens.