Hinch Law

I'm honored to have the opportunity to write a guest blog post today for fellow construction law attorney Melissa Brumback's award-winning " Construction Law in North Carolina " blog.   The post is about selecting and using form construction contracts. Construction Law in North Carolina was recently named " 2011 Best Construction Law Blog " by Construction Marketing Ideas .  I have personally found Ms. Brumback's writing to be an excellent resource for legal issues affecting the construction industry. Nate Hinch is an attorney and partner at the law firm of  Mueller, Reece & Hinch, LLC .  He has offices at 404 N. Hershey Road, Suite C, Bloomington, IL 61704, and 809 Detweiller Drive, Peoria, IL 61615, and can be reached by phone at (309) 827-4055 and email at  nhinch@mrh-law.com .

This is the third in a series of posts about the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act ,  820 ILCS 130/0.01,   et. seq.   First we introduced the Act, then we addressed concerns from the public entity's perspective .  Up next - contractors and other private entities awarded contracts for "public works" projects.     The Act requires that "prevailing wage" be paid to laborers, mechanics and other workers for "public works" projects.  A public works project includes essentially any construction, maintenance, and equipment installation for any "public body" or for any project receiving certain public funding. Right out of the gate, contractors need to know this: IT IS THE CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY PREVAILING WAGE FOR ANY PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT, EVEN IF THE PUBLIC BODY DOES NOT TELL YOU TO DO IT!  Yes, the public entity is required to notice contractors that prevailing wages must be paid for a project, and the public entity can incur liabi