Don't get stuck in unforeseen site conditions

摘要

Unforeseen ground conditions can have huge consequences for both your time and money on a project. Who takes the risk for them in standard form contracts? Under NEC3, risk lies with the contractor unless he encounters 'physical conditions' within the site. Physical conditions are defined as conditions (not weather conditions) that an experienced contractor would have judged at the contract date to have "such a small chance of occurring that it would have been unreasonable for him to have allowed for them" (NEC3 clause 60.1(12)). What should the contractor have known to make that judgement?