Luke R. Conrad, partner in the Construction & Public Contracts Group, recently contributed to Construction Executive’s “Executive Insights 2026: Leaders in Construction Law,” where construction law professionals address pressing legal and regulatory issues affecting contractors, including project documentation and contract provisions to supply-chain uncertainty, artificial intelligence, dispute resolution, and payment risk.
When asked what advice he would give contractors regarding documentation and recordkeeping to better protect themselves during disputes, Luke emphasized the value of maintaining a complete, well-organized project record.
“My advice is to focus on maintaining project documentation and contemporaneous recordkeeping with uncompromising discipline. Many construction disputes are won or lost before the attorneys arrive. Construction teams that maintain quality records and comply with contractual notice provisions typically have a significant advantage; those that do not are often left reconstructing projects from memory and are at a significant contractual disadvantage.”
Luke explains that contracts establish baseline project expectations, while records such as RFIs, meeting minutes, daily logs, cost records, schedule updates, and timely communications help document what occurred when project conditions shift from those expectations. He advises contractors to confirm directives in writing, satisfy formal notice requirements, track cost codes to document and connect labor, materials, and equipment, preserve communications about project issues, and maintain regular reports that create a clear project history. These records can help support claims involving changed conditions or disputed work and can also provide an important defense against claims raised by other project participants.
Read the full article on Construction Executive’s website.
