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The Claim Attorney
Law Office of Michael P. Bowman

Breach of Contract: First Steps in Texas

A Texas Checklist for Homeowners and Small Businesses

Most contract disputes I see are not close calls on the law. They are fights about what the agreement actually said, what was actually delivered, and what it actually cost. The side with the organized file usually controls the conversation. Before anyone talks about filing suit, do this.

1. Find the Whole Agreement

  • Locate the signed contract, every exhibit, and every attachment referenced in it.
  • Collect every amendment, change order, addendum, work order, purchase order, and statement of work.
  • Pull the emails and text messages that formed the deal or changed it. In many cases a written exchange counts.
  • Check for terms that control how a dispute proceeds: notice-and-cure, arbitration, venue, choice of law, limitation of liability, waiver of consequential damages, and attorney’s fee clauses.
  • Note any deadline the contract itself imposes for claims or notice — those often run before the statute does.
  • If the deal was oral, write down now what was agreed, when, where, who was present, and what each side did afterward.

2. Identify Exactly What Was Breached

  • Quote the specific provision, by section number, that was not performed.
  • Write what was promised, what was actually done, and the date performance came due.
  • Confirm you performed your own obligations — or that you were excused — and gather the proof: payments, deliveries, access, approvals.
  • Collect the evidence of nonperformance: inspection reports, photographs, delivery records, rejected work, downtime logs.
  • Note any conduct that may have waived a term or created a course of dealing, on either side.

3. Document Your Damages

  • Total what you paid and what you did not receive.
  • Get written, line-item estimates or invoices for completing or correcting the work.
  • Document consequential losses: lost revenue, replacement rental, storage, temporary labor, financing costs.
  • Organize the proof by category, with an invoice or record behind every number. A damages figure you cannot support is a number the other side gets to argue about.

4. Mitigate — and Prove You Did

  • Texas requires a party claiming damages to take reasonable steps to limit the loss.
  • Get substitute performance or a replacement vendor, and keep the quotes you rejected along with the one you accepted.
  • Keep a dated record of every step you took to reduce the harm, including the ones that did not work.

5. Send Written Notice and a Demand

  • Follow any notice-and-cure provision in the contract exactly — method, address, and timing.
  • Write a clear demand: the provision breached, what happened, the amount owed, the supporting documents, and a deadline to respond.
  • Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep the receipt and the green card.
  • Keep it factual. A demand letter is evidence, and it will be read aloud later.
  • Preserve everything from the moment a dispute is foreseeable: emails, texts, files, voicemails, and project management records. Suspend automatic deletion.

Attorney’s fees. Texas allows recovery of reasonable attorney’s fees on a claim for an oral or written contract, and for rendered services, performed labor, furnished material, and a sworn account, against an individual or an organization, with exceptions for certain quasi-governmental, religious, and charitable entities. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 38.001. To recover, the claimant must be represented by an attorney, must present the claim to the other party or its authorized agent, and payment must not have been tendered before the 30th day after the claim was presented. § 38.002. Chapter 38 does not apply to certain insurance contracts, which have their own fee statutes. § 38.006. Present your claim in writing and keep proof of when you did.

Limitations. In Texas, an action with no express limitations period, including most breach-of-contract claims, must be brought within four years after the cause of action accrues. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.051. A contract may shorten the time to sue, but not to less than two years; a shorter stipulation is void. § 16.070(a). Other claims that often travel with a contract dispute — fraud, negligence, and statutory claims — can carry different and shorter periods. When a claim accrues is a fact question in many cases, so confirm your dates early rather than assuming.

Your initial case review is free. Call (850) 572-8784 or email info@claimattorney.com.

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This guide is general information for Texas and Alabama residents, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and policy terms vary, and results depend on the facts of each case. Michael P. Bowman is licensed to practice law in Texas and Alabama only. Responsible attorney: Michael P. Bowman, Law Office of Michael P. Bowman PLLC, Austin, Texas. Questions? Call (850) 572-8784 or visit www.claimattorney.com.