We considered unknown or unanticipated problems to be the Owners responsibility.
If you do not someone has to guess how much it would cost to perform the required work. Some may guess that it might cost more than some who might think it should cost less. In the first case the owner eventually might pay to much. In the other case the Contractor might have to spend more than he had budgeted for. He might then want more money or possibly stop working.
To minimize this problem the engineer can identify the tasks and the materials that might be required. Thereafter he can specify some means of paying the contractor. Tasks can be specified that the Contractor would be required to pro provide unit costs, such as excavation and backfil per cubic yard ETC.. Time and material reimbursement specifications as well as many other ways of reimbursement can also be specified. The more one knows and the relative experience of the Specifier might determine which method of payment might be best suited for a specific job.
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Arnold Aronowitz P.E., F.ASCE
Consultant, Prof.
Geotechnical Engineer
Staten Island NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-06-2018 07:34
From: Michael Randolph
Subject: Utilities on Design Build Projects
John,
Are you able to share your procedures? On the large DB project I've worked on, we worked very hard to identify all the utilities correctly early. For the few that slipped through, the issue went straight to change management and became a bit of a greased football. We could have benefitted from an established procedure before hand. It's almost a guarantee that something will be different... particular for owners that choose not to use ASCE 38-02 SUE when putting together their project plans.
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Michael Randolph P.E.,L.S., M.ASCE
Project Manager
The Schneider Corporation
Indianapolis IN
Original Message:
Sent: 03-05-2018 16:43
From: John Campbell
Subject: Utilities on Design Build Projects
EJCDC (Engineering Joint Contract Documents Committee) has a new procedure on how to handle contractual issues regarding utilities and differing site conditions on Design Build projects. At TxDOT we found this contractual procedure to work well in bringing utilitity issues to the forefront and establishing a procedure by which to assign responsibilities between the Project owner and the DB contractor as the work progresses. How do others handle the responsibility for unknown or incorrectly depicted utilities on the plans?
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John Campbell P.E., M.ASCE
Independent Consultant
Austin TX
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