Construction Blogs

Question. This matter arises from the excavation work undertaken in anticipation of the construction of a residential subdivision and golf course. Is the Contractor's surety responsible for the reimbursement of the Owner for certain fees and costs the Owner paid to the Town, and additional fees and costs the Owner may be required to pay to the Town, in connection with the excavation?

Closing out construction projects often involves the handling of claims and disputes from the contractors.  Contractor claims that have been submitted during construction have not been resolved or contractor claims are just being submitted because the construction is complete and the contractors are just getting around to closing out the project and tabulating costs.  Regardless of the reason, contractor claims and disputes can be a challenge to resolve.

Two relatively recent decisions of the BC Court of Appeal have quite drastically changed the law of tender for that province, and have given lawyers elsewhere reasons to pause for thought in determining whether or not the "duty of fairness" still applies, and if so in what circumstances, and what if any language can be used to avoid it or lessen its impact.

When mold was discovered in part of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, it ultimately resulted in the closing for more than a year of an entire 453-room 25-story tower.  It is reported that Hilton spent some $20 Million on consulting and investigation costs, and an additional $35 Million in the remediation.  This is one notable example among many of how the presence and growth of mold in commercial buildings has developed into a serious issue that has potentially far reaching consequences for residential and commercial property owners and managers, the construction and insurance industries, and for entities that operate and manage health care facilities.  In fact, indoor environmental quality issues are particularly critical in the context of health care operations.

The singular issue damning construction defect cases from prompt and efficient resolution is the confluence of multiple interests most of which are in a head on conflict with cost efficient resolution.  Without discussing the separate and conflicting interests of contractors, developers, insurers and lawyers, the purpose of this article is to recognize that the process of litigating and resolving these disputes has been fraught with waste and inefficiency, and a sane and disciplined approach to resolution is required.

In Charlie Chaplin's 1931 masterpiece, City Lights, Chaplin's iconic character, The Tramp, is briefly employed as a sanitation worker cleaning streets.  One day on the job, he approaches a team of horses pulling a carriage and quickly wheels about, 180°, so as to avoid cleaning up after them.  He then grimaces.  As the camera shot widens, the audience sees that The Tramp has avoided the path of the horses only to turn straight into a line of oncoming elephants. Like The Tramp, sometimes a subcontractor might get the feeling on a project that his only choice is "the horses or the elephants."