Highlands Ranch, CO – (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – The seventh annual Arcadis Global Construction Disputes Report 2017, “Avoiding the Same Pitfalls,” reveals the average value of construction disputes in North America was lower than in most parts of the world in 2016. This report, conducted annually by Arcadis, the leading global design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets, provides insight into the causes, duration and value of construction disputes while highlighting the best ways to avoid, mitigate and resolve them.
Cooper continues, “Looking ahead, the North American construction market is expected to change if infrastructure funding is increased by the new U.S. administration. In an aggressive construction market, we would expect the number of disputes to rise while the duration to resolve them to decline.”
For the third year running, the No. 1 cause of construction disputes in North America continues to be errors and/or omissions in the contract documentation. Again, North America departs from global trends where the predominant cause is failure to properly administer the contract.
2016 RANK | CAUSE | 2015 RANK |
1 | Errors and/or omissions in the contract document | 1 |
2 | Poorly drafted or incomplete/unsubstantiated claims | New |
3 | Failure to properly administer the contract | 2 |
Source: North American Dispute Causes from Arcadis Global Construction Disputes Report 2017. |
Other key North American highlights:
- The proportion of disputes caused by a joint venture-related issue increased over the prior year, representing nearly one third of all cases.
- The social infrastructure/public sector experienced the most disputes, an increase over the previous year. This was closely followed by the property/real estate and oil and gas sectors.
This research is based on construction disputes handled by the Arcadis team in 2016 as well as contributions from industry experts.