Answer these questions as sort essay for each.
1- You are the project manager for a large masonry subcontractor working for a bonded prime of your masonry wall collapsed and caused damaged to several cars parked next to the project site. Upon completion of your work, the prime contractor refused to pay the contract balance owed to your company .Describe what you would do to seek reimbursement for the damage to the cars and to seek payment of the contract provisions, law or other avenues that might be pursued in seeking reimbursement and/or payment.
2- You are the project manager for earthwork subcontractor. Youhave a dispute with the general contractor on a large, complexhospital project .The issues involved are delays to your company, an assessment of liquidated damages by the general contractor against your company for your late performance, acceleration as a result of your attempt to overcome the delays, and claims for performing additional work not within your scope.
Please list and describe the contract clauses that you would review to determine your rights related to the above issues. Also list and describe the documents which you will seek to review and copy from the files of the general contractor and list and describe any documents upon which you would rely to support a claim for additional compensation .Also indicate why you believe such documents are important.
3. As discussed in class, the construction contract delineates the rights and responsibilities of the project participants. In other words, the construction contract is a vehicle for allocating risks between the parties. Of all the risk allocating provisions in a construction contract, some are considered threshold “red-flag” clauses. Identify and discuss at least three of the threshold –“red-flag” clauses commonly contained in a construction contract. Do not discuss any clauses referred to in Questions 1 & 2 and be sure to discuss any legal enforceability issues that may be applicable.
4. As discussed in class, many conditions encountered during construction may constitute “differing” and/or “changed conditions.” Explain the difference between a “type I” differing site condition and a “Type II” differing site condition.
Encountering differing and/or changed conditions might result in the contractor increase additional direct and indirect “impact” costs. Identify and describe three types of impact costs and describe the “measured mile method” for quantifying such impact costs.
Perform an investigation for reject differing and/or changed condition claims submitted by contactor.
5. Acme Demo entered into a subcontract with ABC Construction Company to perform demolition on a renovation project for Baptist Hospital. Baptist hospital represented to ABC Construction Company that the office building would be completely empty and clean when the notice to proceed was issued. ABC Construction advised all subcontractors, including Acme, that the office building would be completely clean. All representations were oral. When Acme started its demolition work, some tenants in the office building remained. Baptist refused to vacate the tenants and Acme had to work around some tenants in performing its demolition work. As a result, Acme had to re-sequence its work and keep water and air conditioning services to the tenants while it was demolishing other parts of the building. Eventually all tenants moved out and Acme completed its work. Acme incurred over $150,000 in additional cost in the re-sequence and additional work. However, Acme only gave notice of its additional work when 85% of the demolition work had been completed. Acme gave no contemporaneous or prior notice that it was performing extra work.
Is Acme entitled to be compensated for its additional and re-sequenced work? Why?
6. ABC Construction Company entered into a contract with Bargain-Town in the amount of $6,500,000 to build a retail store. ABC Construction Company provided performance and payment bonds to Bargain-Town in the amount of $6,500,000 each. The surety for the performance and payment bonds was XYZ Insurance Company.
During construction, ABC Construction Company defaulted in its contract obligations to Bargain-Town and ABC Construction Company went out of business. XYZ Insurance Company decided not to complete the contract. At the time of default, Bargain-Town had paid ABC Construction Company $4,500,000. Due to extreme settlement of the floor because of compaction issues with the fill placed by ABC Construction Company, Bargain-Town spent an additional $3,000,000 to complete the retail store.
Bargain-Town initiated a lawsuit against XYZ Insurance for reimbursement of its completion costs under the terms of the performance and payment Bond.
What is the reasonable expectation of recovery by Bargain-Town against XYZ Insurance Company? Why?
7. David’s Homes provided a proposal to Mr. and Mrs. Don L.Smith to renovate the Smith’s existing home and to add an addition. The proposal price was $1,050,000. David’s Homes had a contractor’s license limit of $1,000,000. David’s Homes and the Smiths entered into a cost plus contract without a guaranteed maximum price.
During construction David’s Homes performed poor work to the extent that it was life threatening. The layout of the footings was so defective that the masonry walls were cantilevered and not fully supported by the footings. Because the addition was to be four stories, the masonry walls were designed to be structural with rebar and grout fill. However, the Smiths describe the David’s Homes had neither installed the rebar in the masonry walls nor filled the walls.
Finally, after performing the foundation work in a subcontractor manner, David advised the Smiths that they estimated the final cost to be $1,500,000 The Smiths, in frustration with the incompetence of David’s f Homes with respect to its performance and preparation of estimates, told David’s Homes to immediately leave the job. Thereafter David’s Homes left the job and filed a lien against the property .David’s Homes filed along with it and recover the value of the work reflected on the last pay Application (which was not paid to Smiths) and its lost profit on the work not performed.
Will David’s Homes be successful in obtaining a recovery against the smiths?
Discuss your rationale for your decision and any factors which could limit the recovery for David’s Homes.
8. A clause in the technical specifications of a contract for the construction area 3,500,000 cubic yard embankment provided as follows:
A clause in the technical specifications of a contract for the construction of a 35,000 cubic yard embankment provided as follows:
“Fill material shall be spread in 6-inch lifts and compacted by a maximum of four passes of a Catepillar compactor. The minimum compacted density shall be 95% of Modified Proctor.”
​When compaction tests were taken during contract performance, it was found that four passes of the compactor would not attain 95% Modified Proctor density. The engineer directed the contractor to compact the embankment to 95% Modified Proctor density. After filing a letter of protest and notice of claim for additional costs, the contractor complied and found that six to eight passes were required. Following project completion, the contractor testified in court that he believed the specification provision to mean that no more than four passes would ever be required and that the sentence about the required density being 95% Modified Proctor was included because it was thought that most of the time this density would be achieved with four passes or less. The engineer, testifying on behalf of the Owner, said that he had written the specification and knew what it meant, which was that 95% Modified Proctor density must be met and that the sentence about the four passes was included because it was expected that the 95% density would be achieved with no more than four passes.
Would the contractor prevail in its claim against the owner? Why
