How effective are standard form construction contracts in dealing with contractors' claims

Abstract

Construction disputes between clients and contractors usually arise when contractors claim additional expenses caused by delays, variation orders, and extra work, among others. The objective of this treatise is to investigate how effective the four accepted standard form construction contracts in the South African construction industry (i.e. JBCC PBA; NEC 1, 2/3; GCC and FIDIC) are in dealing with contract variations and contractors' claims by comparing the type of provisions they provide the contracting parties, supplemented with information from guidance textbooks dealing with the various standard form construction contracts and textbooks on construction claims.