“In a perfect world, the owner never changes his mind, the engineer never alters his drawings, the contractor never has execution problems, the resident engineer’s decisions are perfect, and Mother Nature behaves herself. That perfect world does not exist.
In the real world, with geometric precision, the forces of owner, engineer, contractor, and Mother Nature combine to make change. The owner changes his mind. The engineer changes his drawings. The contractor changes his means and methods. Mother Nature then changes what the others have missed.” – Andrew Avalon (Owner Practices that May Result in Construction Claims)
Below we have listed the top ten items, which in our opinion and based on our experience in recovering and completing delayed, distressed, dysfunctional and/or disturbed construction projects are consistently identified as owner practices that may result in construction claims during ICI, single-family and/or multi-family residential developments.
- Bidding the Project Construction with an Incomplete Design
- Assignment of Inexperienced Staff to Oversee the Contractor’s Performance
- Contract Language that Inappropriately Shifts Risks to the Contractor
- Major Changes in the Plans and Specifications During Construction
- Unrealistic Schedules and Underestimated Costs
- Inadequate and Ambiguous Scope Definition in the Bid Documents
- Inadequate Time Provided for Bid Preparation
- Excessively Narrow Interpretation of the Plans and Specifications
- Incomplete and Defective Plans and Specifications
- Inadequate Project Management Controls
Visit the following link: Owner Practices that May Result in Construction Claims, to view the entire list along with a brief description of each item.
The GeoFocus Group is a construction advisory firm specializing in construction management, project management, project recovery and land development planning.
From the common to the complex our principals have developed, managed, acquired and/or participated in projects within Canada, the United States and Europe. With the construction industry facing an unprecedented personnel shortage and with complex construction projects often left to inexperienced general contractors, construction managers, project managers, site supervisors, contracts administrators and trade contractors projects are faced severe delay, deficiencies, and distress leading to many construction project failures and suspensions.
Client-centric and assigning a principal to each and every file The GeoFocus Group’s history of meticulously delivered projects speaks for itself. Founded with the advanced knowledge and experience that is typically associated with larger management firms we utilize our size to our advantage. With expertise based on industry know-how from boots on the ground experience The GeoFocus Group provides leadership, experience and technical expertise. Our 50+ year record in the industry combined with our experience in the provision of technical due diligence and strategic project recovery, enables us to understand the issues that are associated with project failure and or suspension.
