Claims and Disputes on the Construction Project

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The Leon County Court House Project.




This project was a $25 million GMP (Guarantee Maximum Price) Contract between Leon County, Florida, and the Construction Manager I was working for in the late 80's.

A Dispute arose on this project in the Atrium area of the Courthouse.

         
                                                        Marble Atrium 

As you see in the figure, the 2nd-floor opening for the Atrium was offset 10’ to the right. All of the other floors were in line with the first floor.



That is how it was shown on the structural drawings. The Concrete Trade built the structure by these drawings.

What needed to happen was that the concrete floor at the 2nd floor would have to be saw-cut back so that it would be in alignment with all the other floors.

Change Proposal from the Construction Manager

When this problem came about the Construction Manager received a quotation from the Concrete Trade for $13,000 to retrofit the work. 

The Construction Manager then submitted a Change Proposal to the Architect for $15,000. The Architect rejected this change proposal.

The Architect stated that yes, his structural drawings were incorrect, however, the Construction Manager and the Concrete Trade had the Architectural drawings, and they showed that the floors were in alignment,




The construction manager only directed the concrete trade to perform this corrective work once they were given a change order for the work. So, it remained uncompleted.

The floors were being completed in this area and it was necessary to complete this work to finish the Marble on the Atrium walls, 

Contract Arraignment

As you see from the Contractual arraignment in this type of contract the the Owner has a separate contract with the Architect and the Construction Manager.





In this format, the Construction Manager has no contractual agreement with the Architect, however, they must submit a Change Proposal to the Architect for signature before they submit it to the Owner for final signature.

Schedule Delay  

This problem remained unresolved for over a year. In this format, there really is no one from the Owners that is involved with the project on a daily or weekly basis. 

The County Commissioners meet monthly, and these issues are never brought up. 

Owner's Representative

The commissioners hired an owner's representative to help them resolve this issue as it was affecting the completion schedule by four months. 

About that same time, I was brought in to help resolve these types of issues. 

I met with the Owner’s Representative, and we resolved that it was paramount that we worked together to resolve it so that we could get back on schedule.

Unilateral Directive Change Order

In my meeting, I found in the Contract between the Owner and Construction Manager a Unilateral directive Change Order Clause”. It gives the Owner the right to direct the Construction Manager to proceed with the retrofitting of the 2nd-floor concrete structure. This would be a zero-cost unilateral change order because the Architect had already rejected it. 

He presented this Unilateral directive Change order to me and I in turn presented it to the weekly Trade Contractors meeting the next day.

I discussed this directive change order with the Concrete Trade and informed him that the Construction Manager would be initiating a Unilateral directive Change order to him for this work.

I explain the process of this Unilateral directive Change Order.

According to the Contracts, they can refuse the work and if they do, the Owner can perform the work and back charge their account for this work.

However, the Concrete Trade can then file a Claim for the work. Each Contract is different, so you have to check your contract on how many days you are allowed to file a claim. In this case, it was 21 days.

The Claiming party would then notify the Architect and the Owner that they would proceed with the Work and also file for arbitration.

After the directive was issued, the Concrete Trade immediately commenced retrofitting the 2nd-floor concrete slab at the atrium,

We were able to continue completing the project within six months.

On these types of Municipal Contracts where there is an absentee Owner, hire an Owner’s Representative who can oversee the project on a Daily or at least every week.





Delays like this cost money and an Owner’s Representative would be able to review and resolve these types of problems and keep your project moving.

Shettig Construction Management provides Professional Construction Management services from the inception of your project through completion. www.shettig.com

mshettig@gmail.com












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