Claim Management Practice of Public Building Projects in Ethiopia

Abstract

There are several parties involved in building construction projects; contract documents administer them. Their involvement may have several interests. Hence, an efficient contract document administration is needed. However, inadequate and complex contract documents result in complex claims. Therefore, claims prevention is required to save resources and resolve disputes. Consequently, this Research mainly focuses on claim management practices for an ongoing public building project in Ethiopia. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used and data was analyzed using a relative importance index using mean square and weighted average with the help of tables and charts to interpret the result. The study result indicates that claims in the construction of public buildings are highly raised due to fault of the contractor, owner, and consultant in administering contract documents, poor financing system, delay in performance and approval of works, poor quality of material selection, defective work and lack of communication and coordination. The major three causes of claims are rated by their level of effect and frequency of occurrence and ranked as owner-related claims, contractor related claims, and external factor-related claims; in the prevention of claims, parties manage claims by establishing and evaluating performance system of labor and equipment, updating the schedule of the project, by registering change, preparing detail cost breakdown during bidding period and by updating the schedule. Periodic reports, meetings, documentation, text messages, memos, and phone conversations are the best record and documentation systems.