Managing Risk in Construction Contracts

Construction claims can be complex and extremely costly. In the event that a loss occurs on a project, it is critical to ensure your claim to the insurer is as airtight as possible. To maximize expediency and minimize financial loss, an effective strategy dealing with losses needs to be in place in advance. Learn lessons from several large scale insurance loss cases and receive valuable, practical tips to ensure your company is ready for the eventuality of a loss.

• Case Study: learn from several large scale insurance loss cases
• How to ensure preservation on site after a loss occurs
• Methods for ensuring retention of appropriate records, e.g. how to retain e-mails and social media communications effectively
• Determining the first steps to take after a loss occurs and who to get involved first
• Working effectively with adjusters
• Advice for successfully settling claims
  

• Understanding the various insurance and surety products on the market: what they do and do not cover
• Assessing the pros and cons of subguard insurance products vs. surety bonds as methods for guaranteeing construction contracts
• Examining the use of liability caps in construction contracts to limit insurance exposure
• Effectively determining which policy governs events at various stages of a project
• Maximizing the support available from insurance companies with respect to litigation, compliance and other issues
  

More than ever, design professionals are becoming involved in construction projects in increasingly complex ways.(e.g. EPC, EPCM). With this increased exposure to a construction project, comes increased exposure to liability and an increased need to focus on the contract. In this session, find out how the project delivery method affects the design professional’s duties and standards on a project and the related implications.

• What are the minimum duties and standards for engineers involved in a construction project?
• How can contractors better protect themselves from liability due to consultants’ design errors and omissions?
• Minimizing costs due to ambiguous specifications and change order provisions
• What are the risks for parties involved in design/build contracts?
• Learning from recent case law with respect to professionals fulfilling the design component in construction projects
  
  

• Ensuring successful, open communication, pre-tender, to minimize cost and time
• Project planning with a labour shortage: planning for additional costs and delays
• Developing an effective contracting strategy, from pre-tender to the end of negotiations: What steps should be taken at each phase of the cycle?
• Effectively assessing risk exposure
• What should be done at the pre-tender stage to ensure RFPs attract thorough and accurate proposals?
• When risk assessment fails – learning from the mistakes of others
  

• Tercon: How have the courts been applying the new legal test for determining enforceability of exclusion clauses in construction contracts?
• Discussing the seemingly divergent approaches of BC vs. Alberta courts in various areas, including change order provisions and their implications
• A review of recent construction law-related insurance cases
• Understanding the implications of recent builders’ lien cases
  

Having a strong contract will improve your ability to manage and cope with risks, minimize budget overruns, and increase profit margins. In this session, learn the key issues that should always be addressed in a contract, from the owner's perspective. Also, become equipped with techniques for effectively managing common contractor issues, and other issues facing you as owner!

• Clearly defining owners requirements
• Measuring satisfactory performance
• Contracting strategies for alternative service delivery options
• Managing changing requirements
• How to enforce the schedule
• Strategies for successfully terminating construction contracts
• Discussing common pitfalls for owners when negotiating lump sum contracts
• Effectively handling common contractor issues
• Setting price structures, and limiting scope for abuse, in cost-reimbursable contracts
  

The concept of consequential damages is not a new one, but its definition remains unclear. Learn how Canadian courts are defining the term, and how they have applied it in several cases in British Columbia and Alberta – you might be surprised. This is critical knowledge to have when drafting and negotiating consequential loss “exclusion clauses” in construction contracts. In this session, find out the specific wording that needs to be included so that the events which are intended to be excluded, really are.

• Reviewing the state of the law with respect to consequential damages in Canada
• Determining what constitutes a direct vs. a consequential loss
• Successfully limiting consequential damages in construction contracts: how to ensure the contract reflects the parties’ intentions
• Offsetting risk with respect to consequential damages
  
  

• Learning from several high profile case studies
• Identifying crucial terms and conditions in P3 contracts
• Effectively competing in an international market
• Highlighting alternative financing options for P3s
• Successful methods for appropriately transferring risk
• Strategies for effectively negotiating P3 contracts
• Learning from the experiences of large-scale P3s in Alberta and BC
• Discussing future trends of P3s
  

• Deciding your procurement strategy, e.g. sole source, public tender, request for proposal, taking the type of project into account
• Correctly differentiating between Requests for Proposals, Tenders, Expressions of Interest, to avoid possible problems down the road
• How should contractors deal with unfairness during the bidding process?
• Minimizing overall cost and risk by successfully utilizing a Prequalification Stage in the tendering process
• Understanding how accepting the lowest bids might not be beneficial to owners
• Best practices for attracting the best suppliers and avoiding common mistakes that result in the alienation of suppliers
• Assessing the benefits of paying contractors to prepare tendering documents
• Discussing project agreements with unions
  
  

With an increasingly globalized construction industry, combined with a looming labour shortage in Western Canada and advancements in information technology, global sourcing is often an obvious choice. However, it comes with its unique set of issues. Ensure that your company knows the risks that can be present when tapping into valuable offshore resources, and how to plan effectively for them.

• Effectively evaluating performance of foreign contractors during the bidding process
• How to ensure adequate testing and quality of foreign materials
• Practical advice for contracting with foreign suppliers
• Examining differing contract laws of key source countries
• Ensuring communication of objectives to foreign suppliers and contractors
• Understanding differing bonding models of key source countries
  

Success stories of major projects incorporating green initiatives

• LEED Certification: Guidance for ensuring compliance
• How to manage uncertainties associated with the involvement of consultants and commissioning agents not present in usual construction projects
• Identifying other risks, specific to green building projects, to flag at the outset of a project
• Ensuring the appropriate project delivery method is selected pre-tender
• How can green building provide tangible cost savings in the near future?