Billings Sues Architects Over $1.772M in Rework
Residents funding the City Hall renovation face higher costs after missed historic tax credit deadlines forced work to be redone.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Home Renovation
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The City of Billings has sued Johnson Laffen Galloway Architects over $1.772 million in added costs tied to the City Hall rehabilitation. The city filed the lawsuit on October 29, 2026, after work stopped for about two months to meet historic tax credit requirements that the project team had not known about.
Why it matters
Renovating a 1964 building can carry tax credit conditions that shape how completed work must be done, and missing them can mean expensive rework. For Billings residents, the dispute shows how a public renovation budget can be pushed up when design and paperwork fall out of step.
The city says the architects were seven months late submitting a tax credit application for the 1964 building, and the delay forced it to undo and redo completed work. The added cost totals $1.772 million on a $46 million renovation.
The players
City of Billings
The Montana city that owns and is rehabilitating its 1964 City Hall, and that filed the lawsuit seeking to recover added costs.
Johnson Laffen Galloway Architects
The architectural firm named in the lawsuit, accused of submitting the tax credit application seven months late and breaching its contract.
The details
The 1964 City Hall building could qualify for historic preservation tax credits if certain requirements were met. The city and architects did not know about those requirements while remodeling continued for several months. When the application was finally submitted, representatives raised concerns about the proposed work and set conditions for receiving the credits. To meet them, the city halted work from April 2024 to June 2024 and chose to change completed remodel work rather than lose millions in credits.
Timeline
May 22, 2023: Architects told council the application was under state preliminary review.
April 2024 to June 2024: The city stopped work to meet tax credit requirements.
October 29, 2026: The city filed its lawsuit against the architectural firm.
The Home Front
Historic preservation tax credits can be worth millions on a renovation, but they come with requirements that must be met before work proceeds. Projects on older buildings in Billings and elsewhere face this tradeoff between credit value and the cost of redoing completed work.
If you are planning a renovation on an older home, ask your contractor whether any preservation or tax credit programs apply before work begins. Keep written records of permit approvals and application submissions so that scope changes can be traced.
The takeaway
Confirm early whether a renovation qualifies for tax credits and what conditions apply, because changing completed work later is costly. Ask any licensed architect or contractor for a written schedule that includes credit application deadlines.
Further reading
For more on the planning side of projects like this, see Home Renovation in our Billings coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Missoulian.
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