30% OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS END IN DISPUTE

ARCADIS Global Construction Disputes Report 2019

OUTCOMES ARE DETERMINED BY DOCUMENTATION.

Commercial building owners spend enormous amounts of capital on new construction and renovations. They expect and depend on their General Contractors/Architects to have the systems, processes, and procedures in place to manage all aspects of their projects. And, to represent their best interests in any disputes that may arise. In fact, they pay project management fees between 1–5*% of their total fees to do just that.

But when issues arise, the building owners do not have their own system of record with detailed information and documentation from the people doing the work to determine what went wrong, why, and how the team can make sure it doesn’t happen again. Effectively, the lack of an agreed-to common source of information is a big problem when disputes arise. And expecting the Architect or the General Contractor to manage this on their behalf may be a mistake.

Important things to consider regarding the construction industry

1. The day to day documentation of construction work is not captured in a single, accessible system. Most often owners receive weekly or bi-weekly status reports that sometimes do not provide the detailed information required to identify problems early enough to avoid disputes.

2. Construction projects suffer notoriously from poor communications.

3. The construction industry has the worst productivity numbers of all industries.

4. General Contractors and Architects have conflicts of interest during disputes – their reputation, project profitability, long time relationships with subcontractors, etc.

It is common that the Architect or the General Contractor (or both) caused or at least contributed to the issue in dispute. And let’s be honest, sometimes the building owner has some fault. Which means, potentially, everyone is conflicted in managing its resolution.

With dozens or hundreds of subcontractors coming and going it’s easy to understand how they would not be on the same page. AEC Profiles solves this.

As the owner, and for the best interests of all parties involved, you have the option to provide your construction teams with an easy to use way for every subcontractor to post comments and documentation about their work (including photos, videos, and links) daily or weekly. They document their work, as it happens, in their own words. They can also identify issues (current or coming) so EVERYONE is aware. The issue is not buried in a weekly status PDF document. Instead, its organized for you and easily searched in our cloud application.

What would it mean if you knew and could see what every contractor/subcontractor did, every week and on every project? What if you could access all the content and communication they provided each week over the life of the project? 

You could avoid a lot of disputes this way and for the ones that still come up; dispute resolution would be a snap!