A building under construction. [Photo/constract.com]
Seldom will you find a construction project that has been completed smoothly without any claims arising. One may be forgiven to think that most contractors are claim-conscious, but the truth is, sometimes these claims are just inevitable.
You will often find that in the construction industry, claims may arise from the costs related to the time taken to complete the project or to do with the scope of the project. And so you must note that there are contractual costs of delaying the completion period of your project.
For instance, there will be costs arising from a contractor who fails to complete the project on time because of his slow pace of works. This may be because of the quality of labor on-site or due to unavailability of materials on site.
Beyond just the usual inconvenience to the client, he (the client) may bear the cost of extended rental and leases costs as he awaits his premises to be ready for occupation.
This is common to those who are building residential homes and decide to rent temporary homes during the construction period. When this happens, the contractor is obligated to compensate the client for the inconveniences caused.
On the other hand, if the employer may have contributed to this delay, the contractor may seek compensation to cover the overheads and related costs due to the extra time of being on site. Also, the contractor may seek to be paid interests on delayed monies in this regard.
You may be wondering how an employer can cause delays to the completion of the contractual period of the project. And this occurs if he does not make payments on time such that this affects the progress of work on site. Or if he delays in approving of design changes or giving instructions to the construction team.