Linden hotel

Brief

The renovation contract had vague change-order language and the project records were split across email, text messages and a shared drive. Each side believed the other owed a significant sum.

• Vague change-order language
• Records scattered across channels
• Both sides preparing to file

The hotel needed its restored wing open before the summer bookings began, and the contractor needed to be paid enough to keep the crew on the job. The Linden matter is an illustrative example prepared for this design sample. Compare it with the other matters.

Approach

We rebuilt the project timeline from every record we could collect, priced each disputed change order, and went into mediation with a document the mediator could use as the working draft.

We asked both sides to share their records in one folder, then priced every disputed change order against the original contract line.

Whoever brings the clearest timeline usually writes the settlement.

The owners got a short briefing before each call with the contractor, so they walked in knowing the numbers and the open questions. After each call we circulated a short note so both sides worked from the same record.

Client

Linden is an independent hotel with forty rooms and a restaurant in a restored warehouse. The owners bought the building a decade ago and have restored it floor by floor while keeping the restaurant open.

Results

The dispute settled in a single mediation session with a payment schedule both sides could meet and mutual releases.

The hotel reopened its restored wing on the revised schedule without a filed lawsuit.

The general contractor has since bid on the next phase of the renovation under a contract with clearer change-order terms.