Mitigating Dispute-Related Risks by Mediation

摘要

Disagreements between engineers, owners, and contractors on construction projects are common and can arise at any stage of a project. The disagreement may relate to a change in design, a delay, an unexpected subsurface condition, or any other of the numerous problems that might arise on a project. Oftentimes, these problems cause a contractor to make claims against the owner to recover extra costs incurred by the contractor to overcome the problem. In many cases, owners seek to hold the design engineer responsible for the financial consequences of the problem, resulting in a formalized dispute between the owner and the engineer that the parties are unable to resolve through their own negotiation efforts. Payment disputes may also become formalized where the owner for some reason is not satisfied with the engineer's work.