When the Rules Are Changed―How to Analyze a Claim

摘要

Some Time Ago, I represented a pharmaceutical company, which for years had employed an electrical contractor for maintenance and upgrades to its plant on a time-and-material basis. The owner then contracted for a new building to manufacture and package a dietary powder. The new building had an unusual configuration. Each of its 14 floors supported separate processes. As a result, each level had unique heights, some with mezzanines. The job was very difficult to estimate. There were a lot of rules on this construction project. No smoking was permitted in the building, or even on the owner's property. (A parking area for smokers was 200 yards away.) No food or drinks were permitted in the building, to maintain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. Only one hoist was available, and that was used for material, or on an as-available basis, as a man-lift. Most of the time the workers had to use ladders to move from one level to another. Structural work ran behind schedule. By the time the interior electrical work was to begin, the project was six to eight weeks behind schedule. The original milestone schedule in the electrical contract had to be modified both in sequences and durations.