Differentiating Between Types of Construction Claims

Written by: Lyle Charles

Summary: Differentiating between construction claims is crucial to expediting the process of resolving them.

Construction claims can grind business to a halt, and they can cause costly delays. It’s important to manage construction claims properly so that the process doesn’t drag out, and you can prove your side of the story. Before you begin construction claim analysis, you first need to understand what types of claims exist and have some general sense of how those claims get resolved.

Construction Claims

Let’s start with some of the basic disputes that might arise over the construction process. Contract documents are a good place to start. It’s common for poorly designed blueprints and documents to require “follow up,” which turns a well-designed process into something that is built on the fly. Changes to the scope of the project may mean more permits, and ultimately more down time. Down time is also a reason to file a claim because in the construction business time is money.

Personnel Claims

People are a crew’s greatest asset, so it’s important to encourage a safety-first mentality. That doesn’t stop problems with scheduling, overtime or work stoppages. These disputes commonly arise because of an over or under sight on the part of the project manager. It could be that this person was negligent, but more often the dispute was caused by conditions on the ground outside the control of the project manager.

Other Claims

Sometimes, a dispute can arise because conditions on the ground are not as they were originally discussed. Material shortages are another area ripe for dispute, but often out of the owner or project manager’s hands. When these situations arise, retaining construction advisory services can reduce downtime and financial risk.

Bio: Lyle Charles Consulting offers construction claim analysis and advisory services for managers and owners of commercial and residential construction projects.