Rescue Job

You're on a 5 storey office job that have had 2 contractors with the first one terminated at 93%. The second contractor, who was the approved subcontractor to the first chap took over to completion, and it's well into the Defects Liability Period [DLP]. On one of your recent defects inspection you discover that a major... component - solar screens to the windows have not been installed. What do you do?

After going through a few rescue jobs in the past I’m of the opinion that terminating a main con in the 11th hour is a lose-lose situation. The 1st MC may go bust and Client loose time and money. But sometimes it is necessary to avoid a bigger lost.

One of the things that we did was to conduct a thorough audit to value the completed v outstanding works. We also included some disclaimers to cover any unforeseeable items due to access restrictions, etc. in formulating the scope of the rescue contract.

If BQ forms part of the contract, The QS must pick up all the items in the drawings and audit report to be priced in the BQ. Any items missed and/or not substantially referred in the BQ would grant the contractor a VO. The contractor has to check all the contract documents to come up with the contract the rates, not the quantity. The Employer (represented by the QS) is liable on the quantity.

PAM 2006 Article 5 expressly describes the QS’s professional liability in the contract. Would that be the reason why the PAM06 is not so popular among the QS? Among the possible negligence by the QS would be:

•Error in quantity
•Substantial under valuation of provisional sum
•Non compliance to the Standard Method of Measurement

In this case, for the solar screen to be considered part of the original contract sum, it must be substantially referred in BQ i.e .. inclusive of all other window components shown in the contract drawings. Otherwise, I’m of the opinion that the item is variation.

Instructions in general can be issued by the Architect right up to the issuance of Final Certificate where the Architect becomes ‘functus officio’ i.e instructions to rectify defects, etc. However, instructions that effect a variation to the contract should not be issued after CPC. If the solar screen is deemed as not part of the original contract sum, it may not be included in the contract after CPC unless there is an expressed provision that allows such variation (see: 150 Contractual Problems and Their Solutions by Roger Knowles). For instance, Clause 11.3 of PAM 2006 prescribes the time limit for the Architect to instruct a variation as: anytime before the issuance of CPC except for compliance to requirements by Appropriate Authority and Service Provider.