You don't bring in your generalist town counsel on retainer to handle a million dollar construction lawsuit.
Why would counsel get involved? Retainage is a pretty common practice for exactly this kind of situation. In fact I'm still waiting on payment for work performed two years ago for the exact situation you described.
Oh. Thought you were saying we should get all the legal work for free because of our retained counsel.
The way the contract was structured (apparently 'standard'), we retained about 2% of the total. Hard to retain more because the GC does have to pay subcontractors, or at least that's what we were told. We withheld, they sued, we countersued.
2% retainage seems really low. Contracts I've been involved with had retainage of at least 5% and as high as 10%.
Hard to retain more because the GC does have to pay subcontractors
Someone fed your town a load of horseshit. Retainage may apply to just the prime, or so everyone on the team. If it applies to just the prime, the contract should have language telling the prime not to screw the subs (I was involved in a project where the prime had retainage and I as a sub was not subject to it - the prime got fired from the job, and the agency contracted me directly to make sure I got paid in full). If it applies to everyone on the team, everyone's check arrives 5-10% light, again that's pretty standard.
Why would counsel get involved? Retainage is a pretty common practice for exactly this kind of situation. In fact I'm still waiting on payment for work performed two years ago for the exact situation you described.