Dispute Resolution

One definition of artificial intelligence is: “The study of how to make machines do things, which at the moment, people do better.” As of this moment, the process of construction requires people, including designers, engineers, managers and craftspeople, to direct and use machine...

Modular construction has grown significantly over the last few years and shows no signs of slowing down. This construction method is a departure from traditional approaches where all construction activity occurs onsite. Modular construction involves building standardized project ...

The American Bar Association's blog published an article about an Arcadis report on construction disputes, which listed as the three leading causes of disputes: 1. Failures to understand and/or comply with contractual obligations 2. Owner-directed changes leading to errors and/...

The point of contracts is to create certainty to avoid litigated or arbitrated disputes. Still, the various parties in the construction process may have different risk tolerances. For example, general contractors are often characterized as “risk-tolerant.” That risk, though, is u...

The construction sector has been in a bull market for an unprecedented period of time. With the novel impacts from the coronavirus—and all the associated side effects, such as government moratoria, shipping delays and materials availability—we are now in a market of extreme volat...

Construction mediation can occur during or after construction and prior to or during arbitration or litigation. But, regardless of when a construction mediation occurs, its success often depends on the parties’ willingness to exchange critical information well in advance of the m...

Congratulations! A contractor has just been awarded a fixed-price lump sum design-build contract for a new project. The award was based on a set of preliminary drawings prepared by a design professional in response to the project proposal. Unfortunately, the design professional f...

Construction disputes are famously high stakes, and the industry is currently experiencing an uptick in the value and number of disputes resulting from contractual obligations and third-party or force majeure incidents. While this is not entirely surprising given COVID-19’s disru...

The United States Court of Federal Claims (COFC) recently issued a scathing decision admonishing a government contractor (the contractor) for submitting dubious claims on a levee rehabilitation project (the project) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). The COFC went so fa...

Risk mitigation is a bigger part of managing construction projects than most people outside the industry realize. Construction is a risky business by nature. However, with the right tools, contractors can protect their businesses from costly litigation and keep jobsites safer an...