Liquidated Damages for Contractors When Doing a Fix & Flip

[Bogdan Dragacevac]

Hey this is my first post on bigger pockets. I have been reading posts on a daily basis for about a year now trying to learn as much as I can. I am planning to start saving and get into REI as quickly as I can when I graduate in May.

I recently had an interesting thought that I was hoping someone could help with. 

I am currently a Building Construction major at Virginia Tech and have had experience in the construction industry my whole life. My question is:

Liquidated Damages are a part of every construction contract both for general and sub contractors. That being said, since I have a background in managing construction as a superintendent, if I were to create a schedule that both my contractor and I agree to, it should be possible to create a contract with liquidated damages included right? I've read numerous posts about people being screwed over my contractors, whether it be not finishing on time or going over budget. I feel as though adding liquidated damages to the contract would add a safety buffer to your work. Maybe $50-$100/day that the work is not completed. Having this in a contract would hold the contractor legally obligated for the work and would definitely give incentive to finish on time if not early.

Please let me know your thoughts. As I stated, I have never seen this even mentioned when reading any posts of forum discussions.