Contractor-Subcontractor in Construction Project

Garold D. Oberlender. 2000. SECOND EDITION. PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION. McGraw -Hill Higher Education.

  

WORKING WITH MULTIPLE TEAMS

As a project progresses through design into construction, the work of the owner's,

designer's, and contractor's teams must merge into a collective effort. Although

each of these teams have their own objectives, the diverse expertise that each

possesses must converge into an overlapping environment

p.19

CONSTRUCTION TEAMS

The work environment and culture of a construction project is unique compared to

most working conditions. A typical construction project consists of groups of people, normally from several organizations, that are hired and assigned to a project to build the facility. Due to the relatively short life of a construction project, these people may view the construction project as accomplishing short-term tasks. However, the project manager of the construction team must instill in the team that building long-term relationships is more important in career advancement than trying to accomplish short-term tasks

p. 21

The number of construction teams for a project depends upon the number of contracts awarded by the owner. For each construction contractor, and subsequent tier of subcontractors, a construction team is formed to perform the work in accordance with the contract documents issued by the owner.

P. 22

Number of Contracts One

As illustrated above, the number of contracts can vary from one to many, depending on the chosen method of project delivery. For D/B/B projects, the owner awards contracts to two parties: one to a designer, who may contract some of the design work to other design firms, and one to the construction contractor, who may contract to numerous subcontractors who perform special construction work. For D/B projects, the owner awards a contract to one party: the DIB firm, who may in turn subcontract to many contractors. For CM projects, the owner awards contracts to three parties: the construction manager, designer, and construction contractor. Under this scenario, there may be many subcontracts awarded under each of these three principal parties.

P.365

Contractual Relationship

A contractor may be viewed as an agent or vendor. An agent represents the owner's

interest, works for a fee, and usually is selected based on qualifications. A vendor

delivers a specified product or service, works for a price, and generally is selected

based on price

p.265

THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

ROLES AND LEGAL RELATIONSHIPS -THE STATUTORY CONTEXT

Peter Aeberli

RIBA, ARIAS, ACE, FCIArb, Barrister

Chartered Arbitrator, Adjudicator, Registered CEDR Mediator

September 2011. www.aeberli.co.uk

PART A: THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS

1. The nature and extent of construction activity

Construction activity extends from, at one extreme, the individual house for a private

client to, at the other, new hospitals or shopping developments. It encompasses

buildings, engineering works, such as sewers and bridges, and major infrastructure

projects, such as airports and trunk roads. Arguably, the defining characteristic of the

construction process is that it concerns the procuring of purpose built solutions to client

needs, not the purchase of “off the shelf” products.1

2. The persons involved

Those involved in the construction process include:

- The client, the employer;

- Design consultants – principally architects and engineers (civil, structural,

mechanical and electrical);

- Quantity surveyors;

- Contract administrators (employer’s representatives);

- CDM Co-ordinators (formerly planning supervisors) and principal contractors

(see the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (“the CDM

Regulations”));

- Contractors, sub-contractors and specialist contractors (“specialists”).

- Regulatory authorities – principally planning authorities (always a local authority)

and building control authorities (usually, but not necessarily a local authority).

- Specialist agencies, such as the Health and Safety Executive and the

Environment Agency.

There are, in addition, funders, purchasers and tenants, and users.

SUB-CONTRACTING

Vicarious performance (sub-contracting) does not generally relieve the original contracting party of its obligations. This is so even where the obligation is one of skill

and care and an apparently competent person is used/engaged for the design work in question, consider Moresk Cleaners Ltd v. Hicks [1966] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 338