Viewing entries by
Guy Dudley
One year ago this week, we lost our friend and colleague Ty Womble in a tragic plane crash. Before his accident Stone Development had asked Ty to write a blog for our website. We never had a chance to publish the blog before his passing. Today, on the anniversary of his death, in his memory we would like to share his thoughts on Design Build / Strategic Alliances in Contracting Relative to Vertical Integration.
Change orders are one of the most controversial topics in the construction industry.
Owners and contractors understand that change orders are a fundamental legal concept that is to protect both parties. Change orders exist because construction projects often present unforeseen challenges, errors in plans, scope changes by ownership or budget reduction. Owners and contractors may not agree on whether something is a change (which costs more money) or part of the original contract scope (and included in the original price). This is where contractors must be prudent and if in doubt always refer to the contract or attorney for guidance.
Below are some helpful tips to reduce the risk of having attorneys litigate a change order dispute:
Is the change order justified? Review bid documents, RFIs, work orders, and change order wording in contracts. Consider clauses which determine whether written specifications or drawings control.
Never start work on a change order, until receiving a written, dated and signed change order from the owner.
If the owner and the contractor execute a change order, but the contractor fails to obtain a change order from its subcontractor, there may be a gap in the scope of work.
Every change order should identify the additional work being requested, including drawings, revised costs, scheduling updates, and revised costs.
This should all be reviewed, understood, and signed by each party. Make certain that you cover yourself as often contractors will perform the extra work of a change order with intentions of getting written approval from the owner. Normally, the excuse is a resorting to a verbal agreement, lack of time or placing too much faith in the other party. You want to eliminate any chance of confusion or dispute, get it all in writing upfront and document and photograph your work at different stages.
Reference:
Fantasy Business League - engaging the right people to finish the job.
Failure is not typically a positive word, but I think it’s absolutely necessary for successful business. We never learn from our successes, but we always learn from our failures. If we’re not failing, then it often means we are not pushing hard enough, challenging ourselves enough, and we may just be wasting our time.
Being on top of things is really important to us at Stone Development. There are many things we can’t control, but this is something we all CAN control. The only downside? You may have to clean your shower door a little more often!
Everybody has their own talents, and this is ours. It’s what we specialize in. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith writes about the division of labor and how individuals can get better at specific skills over time and are, therefore, able to specialize in that skill.
That’s one of the best things about the process. You put something together, start working at it, everybody works the same way and you find out ways together to do things better and smarter.
There are so many different things going on with project management, such as budgeting and scheduling. The only thing that’s really constant is that we can’t completely control any of it.
We always talk about the three-legged stool: cost, quality and time but is that really all that matters.
When it comes to project management software, everyone is looking for the newest, coolest, sexiest gadget
Owners must look at every aspect of the project differently, especially when it comes to operational costs vs. capital costs.
Rushing the preconstruction phase never positively helped anyone on the team. It is much better to flesh out design ideas up front than to wait until construction has started.
