Managing construction variations and claims is an essential part of good project management. Construction contracts form the basis of projects (supply of product and service for a fee which could amount to millions or billions) and therefore expert contracts management especially in the areas of  variations and claims which must be efficiently and effectively managed to ensure contractual entitlements are captured and claimed. Successful variations and claims entitlements are critical and could run to huge amounts that could make or break a project or a company and hence projects must hire the best and practitioners must continuously upgrade their knowledge and expertise in contracts management.

A well developed and managed contract is a critical element to a successful project. Contractual rights and obligations must be thoroughly defined and managed to survive the extremely challenging construction industry operating at very tight profit margins. For government development projects, managing variations and claims could positively impact on efficiency, transparency and accountability.

This special module provides the basics and specialist knowledge on the principles of construction contracts management with emphasis on managing construction variations and claims including tried and tested strategies, to be delivered by a construction expert who managed major and mega projects hands on and onsite, and covering topics including below:

Changes and Variations

• Identification of contractual baseline
• Fundamentals of changes and variations
• Identifying a variation
• Types of variations
• Preparing and documenting a variation
• Record keeping and variations substantiation

Time and Delays

• Fundamentals of time and delays
• Requirements for producing/updating schedule
• Delay identification
• Preparing notices and claims for delay and extension of time
• Importance of time bar, scheduling and liquidated damages
• Damages for delay or late completion
• Disruption

Preparing and Managing Claims

• Legal claims
• Variation claims
• Time related claims
• Quantum meruit claims
• Defective work claims
• Claims after termination by frustration