Contract Claims and Dispute
In the case in which during the final commissioning process of a building there are a few minor defects noticed in the HVAC system during testing, there is a considerable amount of responsibility for the project manager. Specifically, he or she must record the results of the testing to provide as much detail as possible regarding the failure of the HVAC system. Additionally, he or she must also utilize these results to communicate the findings of the test to the client to which the building will be awarded. Thus, in communicating these findings to the client, the project manager must be extremely forthright about the exact nature of the failures -- where they are, why they occurred and, perhaps most eminently, what future processes can occur to correct them since defects in certain parts of a building can produce a negative impact on other parts of it (Kubba, 2010, p. 415). It is essential that the test results are communicated to the client to provide a micro perspective of the issues, while it is also valuable for the project manager to convey those results...
It is pivotal to note that the contractor, although he or she may have subcontracted the portion of the building's construction that pertains to the HVAC system, is still the one who is responsible for the deficiencies as well as for correcting them. There are a number of points in the wording of the contractor, then, that the project manager must identify in order to get the deficiencies properly handled. These include "contract intent" (Whitticks, 2005, p. 222), in which if there is no specific wording for the HVAC system in the building, there more than likely is wording to support the fact that the building will be fully functional and free from defects.
The project manager also has a couple of different options for interacting…
