无论是合同,保险单或其他管理建筑项目的规定,所有条款均以黑白陈述,或者应该是。如果没有,索赔和争议的风险通常会大大增加。

仅在铲子撞到污垢之前,仅建造合同就可以制定或违反项目,具体取决于多个文件的条款和条件是否准确,18luck官网全面,一致,也许最重要的是,所有主要各方阅读和理解。长期以来,如此紧密的阅读一直是建筑律师,担保人和风险专家的建议,尽管他们的话并不总是被关注。

Problems can—and do—arise from the outset if team members are not familiar with documents incorporated by reference (IBR) into their contracts, but not physically included in it, says Caryl Shuham, corporate counsel with Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based contractor and construction manager Moss. Typical IBR documents include upstream contracts, drawings and specifications, environmental policies, safety policies and procedure manuals.

“If incorporated by reference, those documents are as much a part of the original contract as if they were included in their entirety,” Shuham says. Accordingly, it is incumbent on contractors, subcontractors and other relevant parties to obtain and read all IBR documents before signing on the dotted line, she says.

鉴于项目文书工作通常是广泛的,仔细审查可能会发现合同内的冲突,包括IBR文件。结果,莫斯试图确保合同包括优先顺序,这意味着他们优先确定文件在发生冲突时真正管理的文件。

Contractors should also clarify the full extent of their responsibilities. Provisions included in scope of work, for example, may not only require contractors to perform all work expressly specified in the contract but also to provide labor, materials, equipment and services for tasks “reasonably inferable” from the contracts, but not included in writing, Shuham says.

她说:“承包商不能忽略在类似情况下合理承包商显而易见的遗漏。”例子:承包商可能应推断其安装的水槽固定装置和水线的责任,即使连接未在图纸中明确反映。还有问题是合同文件是否持有承包商或分包商,以确保其工作符合适用的法律,规则,法规,条例,法规或法规。

Shuham建议:“不包括参与设计建设合同,承包商或分包商应确保不会无意中承担设计义务。”“此外,当承包商完成的工作符合合同文件,但被发现违反代码时,承包商不得有义务在没有变更命令的情况下进行纠正措施。”

一项决议要求一项规定,使承包商负责根据适用的代码(即手段和方法)执行工作,但并不迫使公司确定该设计是否符合代码。

但是,即使这通常也不会释放承包商在“知道图纸要求不符合代码”之前继续工作之前,在继续工作之前通知所有者或上游方面的责任。她说:“在这种情况下,提交RFI(请求信息)。”

Because scheduling issues are among the most frequently litigated in construction, Shuham advises that contracts include a “time is of the essence” clause establishing that the specified completion dates are mandatory and critical to all parties. Further, the contract should incorporate a liquidated-damages provision to ensure “each party understands the cost impact of the delay,” Shuham says.

“通常会起草销售损失,以确定承包商每天不可原谅的损害赔偿的责任。”她补充说,但是,由于所有者相关的延迟而导致的逆向损坏越来越普遍。


Allocating Risk

“有效的保险计划将风险分配给该党的最佳位置,以便将其管理和尽可能经济地构建政策。”美国国家建筑业务实践美国建筑行业负责人戴维·马里诺(David Marino)与总部位于纽约市的保险公司Marsh USA说。

For instance, from an owner’s perspective, a contractor may be deemed best qualified to assume responsibility for bodily injury or property damage, since the contractor is in a better position to manage those risks by maintaining a safe jobsite. A common method of transferring risk involves incorporating additional insured coverage, allowing one party to obtain coverage under another party’s policy, Marino says. The intent is to protect upstream parties against liability related to the activity of downstream parties.

额外的保险保护”政策需要to be carefully scripted.”

– David Marino, U.S. Construction Industry Leader, Marsh USA Inc.

额外的保险保护”政策需要to be carefully scripted,” Marino says. “Problems arise when wording on downstream policies and related endorsements don’t line up. You may wind up with significant gaps in coverage.” Receipt of an insurance certificate is not sufficient, he says. “Downstream parties should supply upstream parties with endorsements and full copies of insurance policies to allow the upstream party to perform a proper audit of compliance.”

Schaumburg高级风险工程顾问约翰·菲茨杰拉德(John Fitzgerald)说,除了管理保险外,各方还可以通过更好地管理项目文档,预先资格的项目参与者以及质量管理或制定降低风险计划的质量的风险或索赔风险。伊利诺伊州的保险公司苏黎世北美。

“Documentation begins prior to construction and is applicable to owners, designers, contractors and subcontractors,” Fitzgerald says. Defaults may occur if formal documentation, including scope of work, change orders and other standard contract provisions are unclear, or when emerging issues or problems aren’t documented in daily reports, meeting minutes or correspondence via official letter or email.

“You want the documentation to be thorough, stating the issue’s potential impact on performed or unperformed work,” Fitzgerald says. “Documentation also should be contemporaneous with the corresponding issue, so matters are addressed in a timely manner.”

Incomplete or improper documentation can lead to problems. “Imagine starting construction on a refinery foundation, with specs based on assumptions concerning the completed facility’s load-bearing capacity,” Fitzgerald says. “What happens when the refinery equipment arrives four months later and weighs twice the amount anticipated? Work stops to upgrade the foundation.”

Prequalification programs should be equally thorough, investigating a contractor’s or designer’s prior experience with particular project types and geographic areas, in addition to evaluating backlogs to ensure a candidate has the capacity to perform the work, Fitzgerald advises. Prequalification of contractors and subcontractors should include safety documentation, financial statements for the previous three years and information pertaining to bonding capacity and bank lines of credit.

“An owner or contractor may neglect to properly prequalify if they’ve successfully worked with a candidate on three or four projects,” Fitzgerald says. “However, circumstances change. Financial issues may have arisen that prompt the firm to perform work with a smaller workforce. As a result, evaluations should be performed on an annual basis.”

一旦项目开始,注意力就会转移到质量控制。他说:“所有各方,包括所有者,建筑​​师,工程师,承包商和分包商都应定期检查施工活动。”

最后,业主和承包商应制定一项书面降低风险计划,以确定该项目所特有的条件。如果可能的话,将计划包括在分包合同中。他说:“当事方也可能希望将其纳入主要合同中。”