Construction Claims & Responses

Investigating Reasons for the Unsuccessful Extension of Time (EoT) Claim in the Malaysian Construction Industry; Views from the Professionals

“…A review on previous researches by scholars, identified six (6) common reasons for the rejection of EoT claim which are failure to establish cause-effect relationship, inadequate supporting document, late submission, non-entitlement in principle/non-valid grounds, non-compliance with contractual requirements and insufficient breakdown of claim amount/global claim. a) Failure to establish cause-effect relationship Clear establishment of a cause-effect relationship is a core ingredient in the presentation of any claim, and the EoT claim is no exception [10][11][12][13]. The link between cause and effect should be established to the extent where it is possible to show how other parties' actions and inactions have affected the progress of works.…”

“…The link between cause and effect should be established to the extent where it is possible to show how other parties' actions and inactions have affected the progress of works. In order for the claim to succeed, the contractor must be able to producefacts and evidence that the damages were incurred as a result of the actions or inactions of other parties,along with a measure of the damages, which is known as a demonstration of the cause-effect relationship [11,14].…”

“…As [6] further added, a complete evaluation of a contract's ability to withstand legal prosecutions requires carefully reading the contract's content and comparing it to project realities such as changes in scope, cost, time, quality, and so on. With respect to EoT claims, the provision regardingthe obligation of the claimant to submit notices or particulars with regard to the delay has often been cited as the most neglected and disputed clauses [21,[24][25][26].…”

“…The contractor might be lucky if the contract administrator fails to notice the non-compliance. However, in extreme cases, they may reject the claim as the delays could have been avoided if the contractor had served the notice earlier, or the contract administrator may at best reduce the amount of the claim instead of rejecting the entire claim [21,26]. It is therefore, vital for every party involved to be aware of, understand and adhere to the contract.…”

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the quantity surveying practices in Malaysia

“…The component ranked second in terms of the significance of the impacts caused by COVID-19 was post-contract services. The preparation of the final account and management of claims sometimes require QS to conduct site visits to re-measure the works and assess the current work progress (Hewitt, 2016;Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, 2012). The similarity of these four practices is that they require the management of various documentation.…”