Liens Filed Against Disney For Overdue 1.2 million Construction Loan

[Shelly F - Ohio]

https://www.wesh.com/article/unpaid-construction-bills-seaworld-walt-disney-world/32884501

 

[Jrb1979]

https://www.wesh.com/article/unpaid-construction-bills-seaworld-walt-disney-world/32884501

I had heard about the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens liens. Never knew Disney has some. You have to wonder cause of this lien it puts a dent for when projects get started again

 

[OSUZorba]

I am sure every major company had slowed accounts payable way down. I was working for a major industrial company in 2008/9 and they sent out an e-mail telling us the average pay on an invoice was 45 days, and they were working to make that 90 days. It's all about holding cash. You can see this with nearly every travel company and retail company taking forever to process returns, shopdisney.com took 90 days to process a return from us, Gap took about 50 days.

With Sea World, I bet the vendors are worried about them going into Chapter 11 and want to get their claims in and against property before that happens. With Disney it might be an attempt to shame them into payment.

Meanwhile, I am about to put a lean on Royal Caribbean who has been sitting on my cancelled cruise fare for over 90 days.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I had heard about the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens liens. Never knew Disney has some. You have to wonder cause of this lien it puts a dent for when projects get started again

True. I am wondering if this same construction company was the same one doing the Disney Reflections resort at Ft Wilderness which now has been halted and all construction equipment removed from the site.

 

[randumb0]

This is actually quite common with large projects

 

[Hummingbird]

With Sea World, I bet the vendors are worried about them going into Chapter 11 and want to get their claims in and against property before that happens. With Disney it might be an attempt to shame them into payment.

Meanwhile, I am about to put a lean on Royal Caribbean who has been sitting on my cancelled cruise fare for over 90 days.

Filing liens is actually very common in this particular field. In Florida you only have 90 days from the last date of work performed to file a lien. If it’s 91 days then you run into legality issues. A lot of contractors/companies will file the lien paperwork just in case and then will provide a ROL or PROL once payment has been made. So I don’t think it’s really about shaming them into paying.

 

[OSUZorba]

Filing liens is actually very common in this particular field. In Florida you only have 90 days from the last date of work performed to file a lien. If it’s 91 days then you run into legality issues. A lot of contractors/companies will file the lien paperwork just in case and then will provide a ROL or PROL once payment has been made. So I don’t think it’s really about shaming them into paying.

Yeah, that's true, I wasn't thinking about the work stoppages. Considering the work likely didn't stop at an obvious milestone payment, there is likely some disagreement on amounts owed too

 

[The Jackal]

There is no reason, I repeat no reason why Disney has not paid them. The money owed for work at SSR has been set aside for the renovation. All of the money for the renovation is there. They collect maintenance fees on a yearly basis and set aside a good portion of it for renovations. This is just bad for Disney to do this. Just plain bad. They are not even half way done the renovation yet either. Who is running Disney, they are making poor decisions.

 

[Hummingbird]

There is no reason, I repeat no reason why Disney has not paid them. The money owed for work at SSR has been set aside for the renovation. All of the money for the renovation is there. They collect maintenance fees on a yearly basis and set aside a good portion of it for renovations. This is just bad for Disney to do this. Just plain bad. They are not even half way done the renovation yet either. Who is running Disney, they are making poor decisions.

Paying invoices for things like this are not as simple as the way we pay our household bills. When it comes to construction and the like, there are more than a few things like inspections and testing that need to be done BEFORE a company pays the invoice for work/materials. Then you also may have retainage amounts that are withheld until the entire project is completed (standard is 10%). It's really bit more complicated than people realize.

 

[The Jackal]

Paying invoices for things like this are not as simple as the way we pay our household bills. When it comes to construction and the like, there are more than a few things like inspections and testing that need to be done BEFORE a company pays the invoice for work/materials. Then you also may have retainage amounts that are withheld until the entire project is completed (standard is 10%). It's really bit more complicated than people realize.

I think Disney could have had people inspect the rooms in the past 3 months that have been completed. I understand that construction can complicated. My point was that this project is fully funded, with money in the bank. Money that is not Disney’s money.

 

[Hummingbird]

I think Disney could have had people inspect the rooms in the past 3 months that have been completed. I understand that construction can complicated. My point was that this project is fully funded, with money in the bank. Money that is not Disney’s money.

In your original point you said there’s no reason they should not have paid yet and I pointed out a few reasons that are more than likely why they haven’t.

Again, it is not as simple as paying the invoice even with cash on hand. This is something I know for fact. It’s part of what I do daily and my company has done work at WDW. Right now have an invoice for around 900k for another big institution that’s over 1 year old even though we’ve completed our portion of the project. So again, just because the project is fully funded does not mean an invoice is paid net30 or even net60.

 

[samsteele]

Liens and holdbacks are just a reality in any construction. It's how business is done. Like a PP mentioned, can't compare it to paying our own household bills or even 99% of corporate accounts. Construction liens are a fact of life and an industry in itself.

 

[bookwormde]

while I am not sure what construction contract system Disney uses but almost all are based on AIA (american institute of architects)

If the payment were still within the contracts terms then the special provisions that exist in statute in most states to allow expedited lien filing on properties that contractors have worked on would not apply.

While I have not reviewed FL laws, some have time window start triggers of last work, last invoice or last payment

For this to be a valid lien there needs to be a payment overdue under the contract that has not been paid (retainage is not due until the terms for this component as stated in the contract )

 

[TheGecko]

These are called Mechanics liens and go back to the time of Thomas Jefferson. Essentially it is the only leverage craft labor has against a slow or non paying client. Every state has different rules on filing and time lines. Pretty common in the construction world.