Written Notifications should not be forgotten for any reason. If notices are discussed in the Contract Documents follow these documents to the letter. Even if the contract documents are silent, provide written notification. As soon as someone on your field or office team recognizes that there will be or is an impact, provide a notification to the project owner's representative. If necessary, leave it open for finalization when the impact is confirmed.
The delivery of the notification must be confirmed and signed/timestamped by the receiving party.
Be sure that the items listed in the center column are included in every notice.
Notice Content Items |
Level of Importance |
Timestamped |
Critical |
Company & Project Information |
Mandatory |
Specification Section/Page |
Important |
Contract Drawing Reference |
Important |
Site Location |
Critical |
Topic in sufficient detail |
Critical |
Current Status & Reservation of Rights |
Critical |
Photos or Sketches for Clarity |
Important |
Perceived Impact to Work/Project |
Critical |
Suggested Next Steps |
Important |
The significance of failure to notify depends to a great extent on the stage of the project and the venue for claims settlement/decision. During the execution of the project the decision on how or if to proceed is made by the Owner or its representative. In arbitration it will be solely the decision of the arbitrator or panel since they need not strictly follow the contract or related case-law, though many will. In the courtroom this decision is made by the judge or possibly a jury. The odds here are that the contract will be strictly interpreted and adhered to.
It is certainly recommended that you know your contract and get a legal interpretation of the salient sections discussing notification. This is not a gamble that you should take.
Please select a subject from the drop-down menus that you know well and prepare text or a white paper, and submit it to the info@constructionimpacts.com. The completion of this site depends on offerings from contributors like you.
You will be listed as a contributor.