Causes and effects of contract management problems: Case study of road construction

Abstract

Contract management is a crucial component of any project. As construction projects are complex and difficult to manage, adequate attention must be given to the related contract management issues. Inexpert management can bring about serious unfavourable consequences that can even result in a project failure. This study aims to explore a specific case study: A private road construction project implemented in the Czech Republic. The analysis consists in identifying potential problems and discussion of their implications. The problem is investigated on three levels: economic, technical and legal. The paper also considers contrasting attitudes of the contracting parties (buyer and supplier), e.g., from the point of view of the causes of problems. Several recommendations are formulated on the basis of the research findings. The results of this study have an ambition to improve contract management capabilities in the construction sector in order to prevent the occurrence of similar problems in future and contribute to our understanding of long-term effects of contract management problems throughout the life cycle.

Insights: Frontiers in Built Environment

“…In this study, the "cracks" are corrected to be darker than the background, and the "free lime" is corrected to be whiter than the background to emphasize the distinction between the target area and the background area. Figures 9,10 show examples of images before and after color correction, respectively.…”

“…Poor contract documentation and omission of items in the contract are the highly-cited causes of rework under the client- [2,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,15,16,17,18,19,21,24,27,28,29,30,33] 20 2 Changes, modification, and revisions DEP1 [1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,13,15,18,19,22,24,25,30,31,33] 19 3 Financial issues and lack of funding DEG1 [2,5,6,7,9,11,12,13,16,17,18,19,21,24,28,29,30,31] 18…”

“…However, many research studies have emphasized the importance of the design stage in the process of construction ,2,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,14,15,18,22,23,24,25,26,28,29,30,31,32,33,35] 24 2 Inadequate planning and poor scheduling of design resources DST2 [1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,14,16,20,23,25,28,29,35] 18 3 Design changes in any form DSP1 [3,4,7,8,9,10,11,15,18,20,22,23,25,28,29,30,31] 17 4 Time pressure to complete design tasks DSG1 [3,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,16,23,24,27,28,29,35] 16 5…”

Life cycle cost modelling using 6D BIM in construction: A comparative study

“…The construction industry is often criticized for its poor performance [1] manifested in various areas such as time, cost, quality, and productivity. Many construction projects fail to meet their targets, resulting in time and cost overruns or quality issues that can lead to disputes [2][3][4]. In this regard, great expectations are associated with advancing digitization in the sector, which is referred to as Construction 4.0.…”

Decision-Support System for Estimating Resource Consumption in Bridge Construction Based on Machine Learning

“…Hanak and Vitkova, in their research in 2022, aimed to identify dispute factors and the related consequences of a case study involving the construction of a road to commercial premises [21]. The research explored a specific case study: a private road construction project implemented in the Czech Republic.…”