Dr. Maryam Mirhadi, PMP, PSP
Contract documents for a construction project consist primarily of the agreement, conditions of the contract, drawings, and specifications, and any addenda issued to clarify or modify the bidding or proposal documents before the contract for construction is signed. As such, construction drawings and specifications are parts of the legal documents of the agreement that are issued to delineate the requirements regarding the materials, products, systems, installation guidelines and procedures, standards and workmanship, and quality aspects involved with the execution of the work. This short article identifies some of the design-related factors that may result in change orders.
Defective specifications are among the examples of design-related issues that may result in contract modifications. An owner may specifically direct a contractor to make changes to the contract scope of work if it finds out that the specifications are defective. It is more likely, however, that defective specifications result in constructive changes. Incomplete or inaccurate specifications are examples of defective specifications.
Here are examples of changes that may occur due to design-related reasons:
Changes due to incomplete specifications: If specifications provide insufficient information necessary to implement the work outlined in the contract, they are considered incomplete. In addition, if specifications provide inadequate information in coordinating construction details between different design disciplines (e.g., structural, mechanical, electrical), specifications are considered incomplete. A complete set of specifications are intended to provide adequate information necessary to execute the work to achieve the project objectives set forth in the contract.
Changes due to design discrepancies: If the construction drawings associated with different trades are inconsistent, a design discrepancy exists between contract documents. In addition, differences and discrepancies among plans, specifications, and details or discrepancies between planned and actual equipment details may be indicative of design discrepancies that need to be rectified by issuing proper change orders.
Changes due to physical or technological constraints: Specifications may also be considered defective if a project design does not provide adequate space for fitting all the elements or does not meet physical or technological constraints that need to be considered in design and construction. Depending on the level of complexity of the issue, site conditions, and other technical and contractual requirements, resolving such issues may require changes in design, modification of requirements, and subsequently making minor or major adjustments on-site where appropriate.
Changes to satisfy regulatory requirements. Design documents are supposed to satisfy the requirements of applicable codes, standards, and regulations. Therefore, if the project team finds out that the project scope of work needs to be modified to properly satisfy regulatory requirements, a change order may be needed to ensure the requested change is properly reflected on design documents and implemented to satisfy regulatory requirements.
Latent conditions: Some changes are made due to differing site or subsurface conditions, unknown at the time of bidding. They are conditions within the project site that are materially different from what was shown on the contract documents or those that substantially differ from conditions that are obvious and apparent.
Other changes that occur due to design-related reasons may include changes due to a change in needs and expectations, changes made to address value engineering concerns and modifications due to technology-related needs. It is important to identify, properly document, and control changes over the course of projects to ensure project scope is managed in an effective manner, and to ensure time and cost overruns arising from scope-related issues are minimized.