Are there any bad gotchas in the standard AIA contracts for working?
I did a room addition for an attorney a number of years back. A few weeks after signing the contract, I found out from another attorney client that I was building an addition for a nationally respected construction lawyer. He chose an AIA contract. So based on this information, and from what I know about AIA contracts, I would say that they are good contracts. But there are caveats. First, there are a number of AIA contracts and you need to be sure you have the right one. They have contracts for different types of construction, and for different payment arrangements, such as "cost-plus", "stipulated sum", etc. In general, AIA contracts are worded specifically for the inclusion of an architect in the agreement and spell out the duties of the architect, the contractor, and the owner. If you have no architect, then this would be an issue. As to the particular document numbers, I can't help.