A Hawaiian excavation subcontractor learned late last year that it is a good idea to ask questions in advance if the contract documents are unclear. In Foundation International, Inc. v. E.T. Ige Construction, Inc., the Supreme Court of Hawaii held that estimated pile lengths shown on the plans controlled over a 4-ft minimum embedment criterion. Foundation submitted a successful bid to general contractor Ige for a Hawaii Department of Transportation concrete bridge project. The project required 71 concrete drilled shafts with an estimated length of 15.5 ft. Payment for the work was by unit prices for unclassified shaft excavation and cast-in-place piles in drilled holes. On Sheet S-1 of the project plans was the statement: "Drilled shafts for abutments and wing walls shall be embedded at least 4 feet into basalt." On Sheet S-25, the bottom footing elevation is listed at 474.5 ft and the "approximate drilled shaft tip elevation" is listed at 459 ft. The difference between these two figures provides the estimated drilled shaft length of 15.5 ft.
展开▼
