Nate Budde

Nate is an attorney licensed in Louisiana and Texas, and is the Chief Legal Officer at levelset.com, a construction software platform that helps contractors and suppliers get payment under control, facilitate smooth payments and work for successful projects. Levelset empowers people in the construction industry to always get what they earn, and work for successful outcomes. Nate helps construction participants understand how to optimize financial and credit risk management through promoting visibility and collaboration.

Articles by Nate Budde

• Joint checks: Make sure you follow these guidelines to get paid

  Simply put, a joint check is a check made payable to two or more parties, such that both parties must…

  Tuesday, August 27, 2019

• Filing a mechanics lien is great protection — but only if it’s available

  ​The ability to file a mechanics lien is a powerful tool for construction industry participants to…

  Wednesday, December 06, 2017

• Are electronic signatures valid for lien waivers?

  ​For being such a document-intensive industry, the construction industry is notoriously slow to adopt…

  Thursday, July 06, 2017

• Lien laws can change drastically — Make sure your procedures change with them

  Mechanics lien rules and requirements are complex and demand strict compliance. With the high stakes…

  Thursday, April 13, 2017

• The difference between fair and fraudulent mechanics liens

  Mechanics liens are extremely powerful tools for protection against nonpayment in the construction industry.…

  Tuesday, March 07, 2017

• Defending a bond claim: What to look out for

  In order to discuss the appropriate ways in which to defend against a bond claim in any meaningful way,…

  Thursday, February 02, 2017

• What happens when state laws conflict with a bond’s terms?

  Payment bonds always have specific terms that purportedly must be followed to make a successful claim…

  Wednesday, December 07, 2016

• Pay special attention to these construction documents

  ​People and companies in the construction industry are routinely put in positions where they are forced…

  Wednesday, November 02, 2016

• Take a page from workplace safety to improve construction payment

  ​While safety on construction sites has dramatically improved over the last several decades, no such…

  Thursday, September 08, 2016

• Priority is king with liens, so what happens when everyone wants the same money?

  Mechanics liens are a great way to secure payment on a construction project. Rather than relying on contractual…

  Thursday, August 18, 2016

• How a Miller Act claim can get you paid on a federal project

  To understand the Miller Act, it's important to note why the act was even necessary. A subcontractor's…

  Thursday, July 07, 2016

• For liens, timing is everything — even if you’re right

  As far too many unpaid construction industry participants have come to learn, filing a lien requires…

  Wednesday, June 15, 2016

• Watch out for lien subordination

  Lien waivers are important in construction payment. The parties in control of the money want the project…

  Thursday, May 19, 2016

• How lien waivers can benefit entire projects

  What makes a successful waiver policy? Waivers must be sent with the proper payments. Also, the waiver…

  Thursday, April 07, 2016

• How to get paid by waiving your lien rights

  Mechanics liens are powerful tools, for many reasons. Ironically, one of the most effective "uses" of…

  Tuesday, March 08, 2016

• How to develop and implement a preliminary notice policy

  ​The construction industry runs on credit. As such, most credit departments (and some smaller financial…

  Thursday, February 04, 2016

• Bonding off liens: Projects keep moving and claimants get paid

  Mechanics liens are powerful tools. Through the consistent use of these security instruments, construction…

  Tuesday, December 08, 2015

• Increase cash flow through mechanics liens and bond claims

  Construction industry payment challenges can limit a company's available cash and result in too much…

  Thursday, November 05, 2015

• Common lien waiver problems and solutions

  Lien waivers are commonly exchanged on construction projects, and they are crucial to the payment process.…

  Thursday, October 08, 2015

• Reduce your risk through better visibility

  Construction payment is complex and full of challenges. The credit-heavy nature of construction projects…

  Wednesday, September 02, 2015

• Construction contracts: It’s better to be friendly, fair

  Construction contracts can be long and complicated documents, and form the basis of the relationships…

  Thursday, August 06, 2015

• Being fair can improve your construction business

  Honesty, respect, integrity, ethics. These values are the backbone of any successful business. In the…

  Thursday, July 23, 2015

• Watch out: These construction documents are not standardized

  Construction industry participants are routinely required to navigate complicated legal documents as…

  Thursday, June 18, 2015

• It pays to scan your contracts for lien subordination clauses

  Lien waivers have an important place in the construction payment process. The parties in charge, or "at…

  Thursday, April 16, 2015

• Combating slow payment (and nonpayment) in the construction industry

  Most of the time, invoices get paid. In the vast majority of cases, invoices are paid well before they…

  Thursday, April 02, 2015

• Strengthen relationships through technology

  ​The construction industry is based on relationships. While the same can be said for many industries,…

  Thursday, March 19, 2015

• How construction companies can maximize the benefit of the growing economy

  It goes without saying that a strong economy is generally better than a weak economy. For construction…

  Thursday, March 05, 2015

• Technology can make the cash flow for material suppliers

  Material suppliers are in a difficult place in the construction payment landscape. Compliance with lien…

  Thursday, February 19, 2015

• What to look out for in construction contracts

  Construction contracts are often lengthy and complicated documents. Despite the fact that these agreements…

  Thursday, February 05, 2015

• How a good lien strategy gets you paid

  A thorough lien policy is one of the best ways to ensure payment. However, it's important to note that…

  Wednesday, January 21, 2015

• Construction payment structure and risk simplified

  Construction projects have an interesting and unique payment structure. The credit-heavy nature and the…

  Wednesday, January 07, 2015

• Lien waivers: How technology can solve problems you didn’t know you had

  Lien waivers are an integral part of construction projects in general, and good credit management in…

  Tuesday, December 16, 2014

• Mechanics liens, bankruptcy and secured debt

  Once a party files for bankruptcy protection, all of the creditors have the same question: Will I get…

  Friday, November 21, 2014

• Construction companies should watch out for these 3 things

  The construction industry is volatile, faces high failure rates and works on slim-to-virtually-nonexistent…

  Tuesday, November 18, 2014

• Managing risk in the construction industry

  The construction industry is full of risks, from personal safety risks on construction sites, to financial…

  Thursday, October 30, 2014

• Construction technology: The cloud and beyond

  We use technology to improve or simplify our lives and jobs every day — no matter what job you have…

  Monday, October 13, 2014

• Why don’t construction companies use security as a matter of policy?

  Companies in the construction industry are lucky. They have the ability to secure extensions of labor…

  Wednesday, July 23, 2014

• Construction laws slow to adjust to ‘green’ building

  A rapidly-expanding segment of the construction industry is centered on "green" building projects, including…

  Friday, May 02, 2014

• Pay-if-paid clauses: An attempt to shift the risk of nonpayment

  Pay-when-paid and pay-if-paid clauses are pretty common in the construction industry. So what do they…

  Tuesday, March 18, 2014

• Protecting your receivables by sending preliminary notice

  ​Credit management professionals know that finding some way to secure an extension of credit goes a…

  Thursday, February 13, 2014

• The construction professional’s checklist to begin 2014

  The new year has arrived, and that means it's time for companies to make resolutions to get paid more…

  Tuesday, January 07, 2014

• Drafting a written collections policy is good for business

  ​While sometimes overlooked — or just noticed but ignored — a strong collection policy is an important…

  Tuesday, December 10, 2013

• Notice policy is key to protecting lien rights

  Making sure your company complies with all of the various notice requirements is a difficult, time-consuming,…

  Thursday, November 07, 2013

• Credit application can be the first step in getting you paid

  ​A thorough credit application is an integral part of any company's credit management policy, including…

  Wednesday, October 23, 2013

• Mechanics liens provide protection against contractor bankruptcy

  Unfortunately, the failure rate of businesses in the construction industry is high. This means that the…

  Tuesday, October 08, 2013