Twelve red flags in a metal building contract, with the real clauses
None of these clauses is illegal. Each one shifts risk from the company to you. Reading them together, before you sign, is the whole point.
Where this comes from
My project record
What follows is drawn from the actual packet I signed with L&G Building & Concrete in February 2026. The quotations are theirs. The commentary is mine, and where it is an opinion I say so. If you are holding a contract from a different seller, look for the same ideas in different words.
1. “We are manufacturers not contractors”
The sentence appears in the permit clause. Its effect is to place the permit, the inspections and the licensing question on you. If a company that will grade your lot, pour your slab and erect your building describes itself as a manufacturer, ask what that makes you.
2. All down payments non-refundable, all sales final
My deposit was $19,700, non-refundable the moment it left my account, with one exception for a written permit rejection letter, minus the salesperson’s commission. During months of delay I asked for a refund more than once and was refused. The clause worked exactly as written.
3. Wire transfer only, no personal checks
A wire is final. A credit card has a dispute process. When a company will only take the payment method that cannot be reversed, the burden of every other protection in the contract gets heavier.
4. Payment on arrival, before the work
Footers and grading were due when the crew arrived. The concrete balance was due when the pour was scheduled. Ninety-one percent of my project total was due before completion. Ask for payments tied to passed inspections instead.
5. No warranty on concrete
A separate page, signed separately, says L&G offers no warranty of any kind on concrete and that cracks “are bound to happen.” That page covered $48,199 of my project.
6. “If the inspector requires for footers to be dug deeper, the customer is responsible”
Read with the concrete contract’s “1x1 footers” and the plans’ 14 inches, this clause turned the crew’s shortfall into my bill. In my view it was written for an inspector demanding more than the plans, not for a crew digging less than them. Change the wording so you only pay for more than the engineered drawing shows.
7. The customer provides the lift, at $0
A $0 line on an order form is a cost that lives outside the contract. The lift, the fuel, the insurance and every day it sits unused while the crew is late were mine.
8. Grading “up to 2 hours only”
Then $150 an hour, plus a $300 return trip if the site is found out of level, plus all fill, gravel and compaction supplied by the customer, with no responsibility for a failed compaction test. On a sloped lot these lines add up fast.
9. No start date, no finish date, no remedy
The only time estimate in twenty pages is that engineered plans “can take up to 20 weeks.” Weather, crew availability and “other unforeseen occurrences” may affect scheduling. Nothing happens to the company if the schedule slips. Mine slipped for seven months.
10. Hold harmless for pipes, cables and lines
The customer marks underground utilities and holds the company harmless for damage to yards, pipes, cables and lines during construction. My plumbing stub-ups came through the slab straight and ended up leaning and gouged during the install.
11. Security interest and repossession
The customer grants the company a security interest in the structure and agrees it may repossess anything not paid in full. Combined with front-loaded payments, this means the company holds both the money and the claim on the building.
12. The indemnity for code violations
The customer agrees to indemnify the company for any city or county code violation. On a project the customer did not design, engineer or build, that is a large promise to make.
What was not in the packet at all
A license number. A certificate of insurance. A dispute-resolution clause. A change-order process. A schedule. Their absence is not proof of anything, but on a contract approaching $100,000 each one is a question to ask before signing.
Why a customer wrote this
In February 2026 I signed a $98,750 contract with L&G Building & Concrete of Asheboro, North Carolina. By September I had a cracked slab, damaged plumbing and half a steel frame. This site documents it, with the contract, photos, texts and public records. The resources exist so the next buyer does not need to learn the same things the same way.
General information from one customer’s experience and research. Not legal, engineering or financial advice.