Morgan Sindall's boss and founder wants his company to avoid entering into joint ventures with other contractors, he has told Construction News. Chief executive John Morgan claims JV arrangements make projects harder to control and create headaches for clients. "We're not that keen on JVs," he said. "You don't have the same control as if you're doing it yourself. The client - who do they come and talk to when there's two or three of you?" He added: "We have not been so successful [with JVs]; we have made less money on JVs than we have on other work." One reason clients choose JVs is to reduce their risk, as each contractor in the venture guarantees the contractual liabilities of the others in the event of a failure. "Sometimes the government would like two or three [firms] because then there's joint and several guarantees," Morgan said.The company experienced this in 2018 when JV partner Carillion collapsed, meaning Morgan Sindall took full responsibility for delivery of the JV's work on a number of highways projects. Morgan said that the strength of his firm's balance sheet meant that clients did not have to worry about its viability and could therefore appoint it without a JV partner.
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