The Construction Counselor

On May 30, 2025, construction attorneys, Jodie McDougal and Brandon Underwood, presented at the Iowa State Bar Association’s Annual Construction Law Seminar. Jodie and Brandon presented an annual update of the major Iowa appellate decisions in the area of construction law and an update from the 2025 legislative session in regard to new construction laws. Review the slide deck (PDF) containing this Iowa case law.

The 2025 legislative session contained very few construction-specific legal changes. As previously discussed in a prior blog post, on April 25, 2025, Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law Senate File 574, which amends Iowa Code Chapter 573 by, among other things, reducing the maximum retainage that may be held by public owners on Iowa public construction projects from 5% to 3%.

In addition, on April 22, 2025, Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law Senate File 619, which is an 84-page bill relating to numerous insurance-related provisions of the Iowa Code. This bill took effect immediately. Relevant to construction law, Division 4 of this bill places further restrictions and requirements on post-lost assignments of benefits for “residential contractors,” as defined under section 103A.71, who are in the business of doing insurance repair work on residential structures resulting from a “catastrophe,” as also defined under section 103A.71. Post-lost assignments of benefits for “residential contractors” continue to be restricted to the residential contractor being named as a co-payee for the payment of benefits under a property insurance policy, as opposed to a full assignment of the claim, and now many more restrictions and requirements apply. For further information, please contact the undersigned.

If you have questions regarding your construction projects or construction law in general, please contact Jodie McDougal and Brandon Underwood.