Negotiating before establishing scope
Bargaining over the price of work that may not have been a change at all.
For Developers, Owners & Public Entities
Change Order Requests Analysis
Change-request questions may concern scope, pricing, time and how the request was administered. Analysts may consider quantities, assumptions, notice records, submission history, responses and supporting information in the project context.
Time is the element most often missed on this side too. Accepting a change priced for cost alone may settle the money while leaving the schedule consequence unresolved and unrecorded, which tends to reappear later as part of a larger and less tractable claim.
Possible assignment considerations
In practice
- 01
Establish whether it is a change
Read the contract documents together to determine what the original scope required, and record that reading.
- 02
Test the derivation
Check quantities against the drawings and rates against their component assumptions rather than against expectation.
- 03
Apply the contract's own pricing terms
Assess overhead, markup and rate provisions as the contract provides rather than by negotiation from a total.
- 04
Resolve the time effect explicitly
Determine and record any schedule consequence at the point of settlement rather than leaving it open.
Considerations and limitations
Questions and limitations to consider
Countering opacity with opacity
Meeting an underived lump sum with another one, which turns a testable question into a contest of nerve.
Settling cost, leaving time
Pricing a change order while leaving the request for extension of time open can leave a separate question to resolve later; the review addresses both.
Change Order Requests Analysis
Talk to a consultant
Also in this practice
Developers, Owners & Public Entities Construction Administration Services
- Baseline Construction Schedule AnalysisReviewing a submitted baseline, its assumptions and the scheduling requirements.
- Schedule Update AnalysisChecking each update against the last, so drift is caught while it is small.
- Project Progress MonitoringTechnical verification of where a project actually is.
- Time Impact Analysis (TIA)Testing whether a submitted time impact analysis actually demonstrates what it claims.
- Request for Extension of Time AnalysisAssessing whether a time request is supported on the contract and the evidence.
- Requests for Equitable Adjustment AnalysisAuditing a request for equitable adjustment against the contract and the record.
- Assistance with Preparation for Schedule Requirement SpecificationsWriting the scheduling requirements so the project produces a record worth having.
- Estimating AssistanceTechnical cost checks on budgets, proposals and disputed valuations.