The Holloway Consulting Group, LLC is a leading construction contract changes expert. In this regard, our staff have been qualified in various dispute resolution forums as construction contract changes experts. Moreover, our work compares the scope of work reflected in the contract documents to the change requested by the contractor.
Approved and denied construction contract changes and their impact on project time and cost is the most common thread between the 1000+ projects we have worked on.
We will use this page in the future to present some of our many owned-caused and contractor-caused contract change issues that resulted in disputes and litigation. This page and more change-related text in CHAPTER 6, Construction Contract Changes and Extras, by STEVE HOLLOWAY, published in Construction Subcontracting, A Comprehensive Practical and Legal Guide, ABA Forum on the Construction Industry (2014).
Owner-Caused Changes
Elements of the construction contract documents that consistently produce changes, change orders, and disputes, include:
o Lack of Design Discipline Coordination
o Defective Specifications
o Nondisclosure of Information
o Incomplete Design
o Latent Conditions
o Owner Changes
o Updated Information
o Improvements in Workmanship, Time, and Cost
o Intent of the documents versus what the documents say.
o Illegal Restrictions
LACK OF DESIGN DISCIPLINE COORDINATION
The architect typically assembles the individual designs necessary for a complete facility. In the final composite, the walls enclose the steel columns; the beams fit on the masonry and the roof pitches toward the roof drains. Ductwork, heat piping, water piping, insulation, drain and vent piping, light fixtures, and electrical conduit all fit neatly above the ceiling without cutting holes in structural members. And the underground piping layout shows the sink drains in the exact location as the architectural plans.
If every job went like this, there would be no problems or change orders. The difficulty arises because independent and unmanaged consultants develop separate plans and details independently. As a result, the architect may complete the designs without full consideration for the other disciplines, or they progress with too many assumptions:
o Civil engineering assumed the architect would provide the finished floor elevations, ADA access grades, and routes.
o Even though the water closet dimensionally falls in the exact location as the steel column, the architect leaves the drawings unchanged, assuming that it will get “worked out” in the field or caught during shop drawing reviews.
o An engineer issued the HVAC ductwork drawings without adequate regard for steel beam locations.
o And, the mechanical engineer mounted the air handling units on the roof but did not advise the structural engineer.
Problems of this type arise because the job of coordinating the respective designs often isn’t performed properly. Either complete information was not given to the consultants, or the individual designs were thrown together as a package without the benefit of proper design coordination.
DEFECTIVE SPECIFICATIONS is the next owner-caused change element will be summarized at this link in the future.