Posted on July 21, 2017
Legal disputes over construction contracts slow down building projects, costing both sides time and money. The Arcadis Construction Disputes report for the year 2016 shared some positive and negative trends in legal disputes.
“For the third consecutive year the average value of construction disputes in North America have dropped slightly in 2016 to US$21 million,” the report finds. “It appears the U.S. construction industry has become more sophisticated in their approach to managing risk and early intervention appears to be an effective means to keep average dispute values in check.”
That’s the good news. “This average dispute value is lower than most parts of the world; however, the average time taken to resolve disputes increased by two months over the previous year,” Arcadis points out.
The report urges parties to take action sooner to reduce the number of disputes that end up dragging on, and to avoid taking issues to court if possible. “When it came to resolving disputes, party to party negotiation remained the most popular method of alternative dispute resolution,” the report adds.