Every figure below is the researched rule for Texas, with its citation and a direct link to the official source so you can confirm it yourself. Covers statutory interest and when it starts accruing, how Actual Cash Value is determined and whether labor can be depreciated, whether a “no damages for delay” clause is enforceable and how long you have to file, the state-specific inputs behind a fully burdened labor rate and who can be held liable for a construction-site injury.
The rate itself and the date interest starts running, which differs by claim type in most states.
Prime rate, floor 5% / ceiling 15%
Floats monthly with the Federal Reserve's published prime rate, set on the 15th of each month for judgments the following month.
The rate floats monthly with the Federal Reserve prime rate, set on the 15th for judgments the following month, subject to a 5% floor and a 15% ceiling. Pull the current figure rather than reusing an old one.
Common law: generally the earlier of 180 days after written notice of the claim, or the date suit was filed
Texas has no single statute for contract prejudgment interest; courts apply common-law rules and have generally followed the same 180-day-notice/filing-date framework Finance Code §304.104 sets for property damage (see below), even though that statute technically only covers wrongful death, personal injury and property damage claims.
This is common law rather than a statute, so it is less predictable than a fixed accrual rule. Confirm the current treatment before relying on it.
Earlier of 180 days after written notice of the claim, or the date suit was filed
Not date of loss. Prejudgment interest accrues starting on whichever comes first: the 180th day after the defendant receives written notice of the claim, or the date the lawsuit is filed and runs as simple (non-compounding) interest until the day before judgment.
Texas rewards a prompt written notice of claim: it can move the accrual date forward by months compared with waiting to file.
How ACV is determined, whether labor cost can be depreciated and the rules on releasing withheld recoverable depreciation.
Broad evidence rule
Courts weigh original cost, replacement cost, expert opinion and other relevant facts rather than a fixed depreciation formula.
Tolar treated labor, contractor overhead and profit and sales tax as all depreciable within replacement cost, which is a harder result for an insured than the roughly fifteen states that bar depreciating labor.
No Texas statute defines ACV or restricts labor depreciation; the law is unsettled and driven by conflicting federal court decisions applying Texas law plus a non-binding 1998 TDI bulletin.
Texas has no Insurance Code provision or adopted NAIC-model regulation that defines how ACV must be calculated or that restricts depreciating labor. TDI Commissioner's Bulletin B-0045-98 (1998) instructed insurers that ACV equals replacement cost with proper deduction for depreciation and rejected excluding labor costs from the replacement-cost base merely because an insured had not yet incurred them, but a bulletin is sub-regulatory guidance, not a statute. It does not squarely resolve whether labor may be depreciated once included. Federal courts applying Texas law have split: Tolar v. Allstate Texas Lloyd's Co., 772 F. Supp. 2d 825 (N.D. Tex. 2011) suggested labor is part of depreciable replacement cost, while Sims v. Allstate Fire & Casualty Insurance Co., 2023 WL 175006 (W.D. Tex. Jan. 11, 2023) and related 2023-2024 rulings found the undefined term actual cash value ambiguous and construed it against depreciating labor. Tex. Ins. Code Chapter 542A (enacted 2017, following Hurricane Harvey litigation including the Barbara Technologies case) governs first-party claim procedure, notice and attorney's fees for weather-related claims, but does not define ACV or address labor depreciation.
Chapter 542A is a prompt payment and pre-suit notice statute, not an ACV rule. The labor depreciation question is open in the Texas courts.
Texas conditions payment of withheld depreciation on proof the deductible was paid, but sets no release deadline.
Tex. Ins. Code § 707.004 lets an insurer on a replacement cost policy refuse to pay withheld recoverable depreciation until it receives reasonable proof the policyholder paid the deductible, such as a cancelled check, money order receipt, credit card statement or a copy of a financing arrangement. That is a precondition to payment rather than a deadline. No Texas statute sets a maximum holdback period.
Policies commonly set their own deadline for claiming the holdback, often 180 days to two years from the date of loss. That is a policy term, not a statutory one.
Whether a no-damages-for-delay clause will be enforced against you and the deadline for bringing a construction contract claim.
Enforceable, but subject to four recognized exceptions
The Texas Supreme Court held that a no-damages-for-delay clause is an ordinary risk-allocation provision between commercial parties, not an exculpatory clause, needing no special conspicuousness to be enforced. It is nonetheless subject to four exceptions: delays not intended or contemplated by the parties to fall within the clause; delays caused by fraud, misrepresentation, or other bad faith; delays extending so unreasonably long that the delayed party would have been justified in abandoning the contract; and delays outside the specific categories the clause enumerates. The court declined to add a separate 'active interference' exception urged by the court of appeals below.
4 years for a written contract claim; separate 10-year statute of repose for construction improvements
Texas's residual limitations statute requires a suit be brought within 4 years after the cause of action accrues when no other specific period applies, which governs an ordinary written construction-contract breach claim. Separately, a claim against a person who constructs or repairs an improvement to real property (design/construction defect claims, not a payment dispute) must be brought within 10 years of substantial completion regardless of when the defect was discovered, with a shorter 8-year period for claims against a governmental entity and a 6-year period for residential construction backed by a qualifying written warranty; presenting a written claim during the period can extend it by 1-2 years. Two deadlines sit in front of that one on most construction claims. A mechanic's lien and a payment bond claim each run on their own, far shorter clock, counted from last furnishing rather than from breach and missing either one removes the security while leaving the contract claim alive but unsecured. Check those dates first. Accrual is the other half of the question: the period runs from breach, which on a payment dispute is usually the date payment came due rather than the date the work was done.
A straightforward payment/breach dispute uses the 4-year residual period; the 10-year repose period is a separate, longer-running cutoff aimed at defect claims and doesn't extend the ordinary 4-year window for a payment claim.
The state-specific rates and requirements that sit underneath a fully burdened hourly labor cost.
For 2026, Texas unemployment tax rates range from a 0.32 percent minimum to a 6.32 percent maximum, with a taxable wage base of $9,000, the federal floor and one of the lowest wage bases in the country.
Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) sets employer tax rates as the sum of a General Tax Rate (experience-based), a Replenishment Tax Rate (0.21 percent for 2026), an Obligation Assessment Rate (0.00 percent for 2026), a Deficit Tax Rate (0.00 percent for 2026) and the Employment and Training Investment Assessment (0.10 percent). The minimum combined rate for 2026 is 0.32 percent and the maximum is 6.32 percent. The taxable wage base remains $9,000, the federal minimum and has not changed in many years. TWC did not clearly state a single new-employer rate on the page reviewed; new employers are generally assigned a rate based on the average rate for their NAICS industry classification.
Texas assigns new employers a rate based on the average for their NAICS industry rather than publishing a single figure, so look up the industry rate on the Workforce Commission's site. The $9,000 wage base is the federal minimum and has not moved in years.
Texas uses NCCI advisory rates through the Texas Department of Insurance, but workers' compensation coverage is optional for most private employers under the state's unique non-subscriber system.
Texas is an NCCI state for class codes and advisory loss costs, regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation (TDI-DWC). Unlike nearly every other state, Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers' compensation insurance; employers may elect to be non-subscribers, in which case injured employees pursue negligence claims directly against the employer rather than through the workers' compensation system and the employer loses common-law defenses. Non-subscriber employers must file a notice with the Division. Public-sector and some other employers still have mandatory coverage requirements.
Texas has a limited public-works wage statute under Government Code Chapter 2258 with no statewide minimum threshold, but it is decentralized: each contracting public body sets its own prevailing rate rather than a central agency and some sources describe it as effectively unenforced.
Texas Government Code Chapter 2258 requires workers on public works contracts, covering buildings, roads, bridges, water systems and similar construction funded wholly or partly with public money, to be paid not less than the general prevailing rate of wages. The statute states no minimum contract value. Texas does not centralise wage determinations the way most states with such laws do: each public body sets its own rate, usually by running a local wage survey or adopting the federal Davis-Bacon rates. The federal Department of Labor's summary describes Texas as having no meaningful state prevailing wage statute in practice, which sits awkwardly with the statute's text.
Sources disagree on how much Chapter 2258 does in practice given the decentralised structure. Check with counsel before treating Texas as a yes or a no.
OSHA enforcement structure, how much weight an OSHA violation carries in a negligence case and whether an injured worker's own employer can be pulled back in.
Modified comparative fault, recovery barred above 50% fault (51% bar)
Recovery is reduced in proportion to fault and barred once the worker is more than 50% at fault. A worker exactly 50% at fault still recovers half.
Texas measures the worker's share against everyone apportioned responsibility under s 33.003: the defendants, any settling person and any responsible third party a defendant has designated under s 33.004. That includes an employer immune under workers' compensation.
On a construction site that cuts both ways and practitioners on each side use it differently. Designating the immune employer as a responsible third party enlarges the denominator and lowers the worker's percentage, which makes the 50% bar easier to clear. But s 33.013 makes each defendant liable only for its own percentage, so every point moved onto the designated employer comes off what the worker can actually collect. A defendant designating the employer is usually trading a small risk on the bar for a large reduction in exposure.
Note the threshold direction: Texas bars only where the share is GREATER THAN 50%, so an even split recovers. Kansas, Idaho, Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and Tennessee all bar at parity instead and they measure against the defendants rather than against everyone.
No general cap on non-economic damages
Most states cap non-economic damages only in medical malpractice actions, which does not reach a third-party construction claim. Economic losses, medical bills, lost wages, future earning capacity, are not capped by these statutes.
Federal OSHA (no state plan)
Texas has no OSHA-approved state plan; both public and private employers fall under federal OSHA jurisdiction. Under federal jurisdiction the citation is issued by an OSHA area office and contested before the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Federal OSHA does not cover state and local government employees, so a public employee injured on a public job falls outside it. Reporting deadlines are a work-related fatality within 8 hours, an inpatient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. For a construction claim the inspection file matters more than the citation: photographs, measurements, witness statements and the inspector's narrative are usually obtainable and are often the best contemporaneous record of the site.
Evidence, not negligence per se
Proof of an OSHA violation does not establish negligence on its own in Texas, but the standards are admissible and relevant as the accumulated judgment of the industry about what is safe.
No traditional statutory-employer shield; Texas's subscriber/nonsubscriber election controls the whole framework and proportionate-responsibility rules govern allocation among multiple defendants.
Whether a third-party claim against a general contractor or owner plays out the usual way depends on whether the direct employer is a subscriber, with strong immunity, or a nonsubscriber facing direct negligence exposure under a separate regime. Proportionate responsibility rules under Chapter 33 govern allocation among defendants.
There's no traditional "exception"; immunity turns entirely on subscriber election. A subscribing employer gets strong immunity; a nonsubscribing employer faces direct negligence liability under a separate statutory regime.
Texas has no conventional exclusivity exception. A subscribing employer receives strong immunity under Tex. Lab. Code §§ 408.001 and 417.001, while a nonsubscribing employer can be sued directly for negligence under a separate regime that strips its common law defences. In practice exclusivity takes the direct employer off the tort table entirely, whatever the OSHA file shows. The claim runs against the other parties on the site: the general contractor, the owner, another subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer. The employer or its carrier then asserts a lien against whatever the worker recovers from those parties, so the figure the worker actually keeps is the recovery less the lien, the fee and the costs. Whether the lien is reduced for the cost of obtaining the recovery is a separate state question worth asking early, because it moves the net more than most people expect.
Texas is structurally different from every other state: whether an employer has workers' compensation immunity at all is elective.
A subscribing employer gets the strong immunity other states give automatically. A nonsubscribing employer instead faces direct negligence liability under a separate regime. No other state works this way, so a Texas injury analysis starts with the employer's election rather than with the exclusivity bar.
ClaimDuke's calculators compute delay and extended overhead (Eichleay), fully burdened labor rates, ACV/RCV property loss, claim interest and construction-injury settlement ranges. Every calculation is free and live; a documented, citation-backed report is $19.
This page is reference information for your own verification. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for confirming the current rule with the official source linked above or with counsel. Several states' interest rates float and reset on a schedule (monthly, quarterly or annually), so always check the live source for the figure as of today rather than relying on what is shown here. Which rule actually applies to your specific claim is itself a legal question this page cannot answer for you.
