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Do you want to subcontract with Mortenson Construction? If so, you’re in the right place! This subcontractor guide to Mortenson brings you useful information about the company, including their recent payment history, subcontractor reviews, prequalification information, payment information, and a few tips to make sure you get paid on time no matter who you’re working with.

When it comes to working with a new general contractor, there’s no such thing as too much research. Continue reading to start your journey with Mortenson Construction.

About Mortenson Construction

Mortenson Construction, also known as the M.A. Mortenson Company, was founded by Mauritz A. Mortenson in 1954 at the age of 48. With words of caution from his father and a ton of help from his wife Jennie, Mauritz grew his new venture from a humble construction company in Minneapolis to be one of the largest and most prominent general contractors in the country.

Today, Mortenson sits at number 15 on ENR’s Top 400 Contractors list for 2020, boasting revenue of $5.05 billion in 2019.

As a major general contracting company, Mortenson operates in the following diverse markets:

  • Aviation
  • Civil
  • Cultural and performing arts
  • Data centers
  • Electric vehicles
  • Federal government
  • Healthcare
  • Higher education
  • Hospitality
  • Manufacturing
  • Offices
  • Power delivery
  • Public and PPP
  • Scientific/laboratories
  • Solar
  • Sports and entertainment
  • Transportation
  • Water/wastewater
  • Wind

Over the decades, Mortenson has made a name for themselves by working on iconic, valuable projects. Some of the most noteworthy projects attached to the Mortenson name are:

For those projects as well as hundreds of others, Mortenson provides the following services:

  • Capital project planning
  • Choosing a delivery method
  • Digital integration
  • Engineering
  • Energy services
  • Equipment solutions
  • Optimization of assets
  • Real estate development

Mortenson is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with offices in Denver, Fargo, Iowa City, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Mortenson also has international operations in Canada and China.

Before working with Mortenson

Before you work with Mortenson Construction, you should prequalify them. Prequalifying a general contractor is a good way to acquaint yourself with a new company, and it helps you determine whether or not their business practices and needs are a good match for you.

You can prequalify a new GC by following these five steps:

To begin prequalifying Mortenson, you should refer to their payment profile. You can learn about Mortenson’s recent payment habits as well as read informative reviews from their previous subcontractors.

Mortenson Construction’s payment profile

According to their payment profile, Mortenson Construction has a pay score of 83/100, giving them a B rating. Pay score is a metric that gives you an idea of how quickly (or slowly) a general contractor makes payments. Levelset compares their recent payment data with tens of thousands of other contractors across the country to calculate pay score.

Along with their pay score of B, Mortenson has a subcontractor rating of 2.8 stars out of a possible 5. Subcontractors who have worked with Mortenson in the past can leave reviews on their payment profile that other subs and suppliers can read and learn from.

Mortenson’s 2.8 stars come from eight ratings. Only two subcontractors have left written reviews:

  • “Most uneducated and poorly managed civil division I’ve witnessed. They don’t understand take offs or quantities, then offer .25 of work completed. Should have known better since they got caught bid rigging in the City of Denver.”
  • “Poor management. Set up for failure due to incompenacy [sic] from previous management.”

Each construction project comes with a distinct set of circumstances. When things go south, it can be difficult to determine which party is at fault for a payment mixup. That’s why it’s important to remember bad reviews are bound to roll in, and no matter how diligent a subcontractor, supplier, or general contractor is, some payment disputes are virtually unavoidable.

Keep that in mind as you review Mortenson’s payment history and recent payment disputes below.

Recent payment disputes

To get a more detailed picture of Mortenson’s payment practices, you can take a look at their recent payment history. Levelset has data for more than 1,000 construction projects that Mortenson has taken part in over the years.

Since December of 2019, there have been 12 mechanics lien filings on construction projects that Mortenson has participated in. One of those mechanics liens has been canceled, and five were filed by contractors who were directly hired by Mortenson.

You can browse each mechanics lien filing to look into the details and context of each one on the pay history tab on their payment profile.

How to get prequalified to work with Mortenson

After you prequalify Mortenson and decide you’d like to work with them, the next step is to get prequalified yourself. General contractors like to prequalify new subcontractors to make sure they have the money, resources, and experience to complete a project of theirs.

To get prequalified to work with Mortenson Construction, you first need to reach out to them on their Partner Prequalification Page.

There, you’ll find links to submit your prequalification information, add yourself to a bid list, and get help with prequalification at Mortenson.

Prequalification at Mortenson primarily occurs on a project-by-project basis, but you’re free to reach out to Mortenson to submit prequalification information if there are no projects in your area. Reaching out entails sending Mortenson your contact information as well as the Mortenson office you’d like to work with, the industry you’d like to work in, or a project you’d like to work on.

After that, a Mortenson representative will send you the information you must include to submit your prequalification.

Also known as a Request for Qualification, the form will likely request the following information about your company:

  • How long you’ve been in business
  • The number of employees at your firm
  • The type of work your company does
  • Financial institutions you work with
  • Your gross annual volume for the past three years
  • A list of your current projects
  • A letter from your surety that confirms your bonding capacity
  • An insurance certificate
  • Your company’s key personnel
  • Detailed safety information
  • Any OSHA citations on record at your company
  • Details about key projects over the last three years

Depending on the project and the circumstances, you may need to provide information outside of the above list.

To ease the prequalification process along, make sure you know what information will be requested and compile it before you sit down and begin.

Mortenson Construction’s payment process

Learning about a general contractor’s payment process is just as important as learning about their prequalification process. It prepares you to follow their procedures closely, allowing the project to run smoothly.

This section breaks payment with a large GC like Mortenson down into four sections: before you step foot on the project, first payment, progress payments, and project close-out.

Before work can begin

Before you can begin working on the project, you’ll need to provide some extra information. For a general contractor like Mortenson, this will usually include insurance certificates, the signed subcontract, your W-9 form, and any bonding information relevant to the project.

The Mortenson project administrator will let you know what you need to provide in order to begin work.

How to apply for first payment

Mortenson, like many other big GCs, uses the AIA billing process to pay their suppliers and subcontractors. This means you’ll need to be familiar with the G702 payment application and G703 continuation sheet.

Make sure you submit your pay apps before the 20th of each month, and that the information on your pay apps is complete and accurate. Otherwise, you could face payment delays.

How to apply for progress payments

Progress payments allow you to send bills based on the percentage of work that you’ve completed. This helps you regulate your cash flow while you cover the costs of labor and materials over the course of the project.

To apply for progress payments with Mortenson Construction, send a detailed pay app as well as a schedule of values.

In return for progress payments, you may be presented with a lien waiver or other documents. Make sure you go over these carefully with a payment expert to make sure you’re agreeing to good payment terms.

Close-out with Mortenson

Large GCs require their subcontractors to go through a close-out process. Close-out usually involves documents and forms including but not limited to:

Make sure you know what you’re singing during close-out. Otherwise, you could be stuck without payment and limited recovery options.

3 tips to get paid with Mortenson Construction

No matter who the general contractor is on a construction project is, there’s always an element of risk when taking the project on. That’s because the construction industry is complicated, and hangups and issues may arise from any number of causes.

Here are three tips you can include in your payment procedures that maximize your chances of getting paid with Mortenson or any other general contractor.

1. Always send a preliminary notice. 

We recommend that you send a preliminary notice on every construction project even if it’s not a requirement in your state. That’s because preliminary notices greatly increase visibility on a construction project, which helps your invoice stand out from all the others.

Not only does this help you get paid quicker, but it’s also a prerequisite to file a mechanics lien in most states.

2. Review any lien waivers on the project. 

Lien waivers are frequently exchanged at the end of a construction project. In effect, signing one means you voluntarily forfeit your right to file a mechanics lien in return for a promise of payment.

Although these are common documents, you should always review lien waivers with a construction attorney or payment expert. This way, you can rest assured you’re agreeing to terms that leave you with recovery options if things go south.

3. Keep your mechanics lien rights intact. 

Mechanics liens attach to a property, halting its sale until a debt is paid. Since mechanics liens are legally binding documents, they come with a set of prerequisites that you must meet in order to file one.

These prerequisites are different from state to state, so read up to learn your local requirements. Usually, you’ll need to send the proper notices, meet the required deadlines, and maintain a valid license for the work you provided for the project.

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