CLIENT’S UNETHICAL INFLUENCE ON CONTRACTOR

By

Amith Anushke HennayakeBSc.(Hons) in Quantity SurveyingBatch 07

INTRODUCTION

In the industry of Construction it is a commonly known fact that most of the time the Contractor is over whelmed by the actions of the Client. This over whelming or the stress full act of the Client can cause many disadvantages to the Contractor and also to the Client. Even the disadvantages are clearly visible to the Contractor they tend to neglect them because they fear that if they act against the unethical behaviors of the Client, the client might terminate the project or have to face even bigger losses in the future.

In any Construction Project the Client and The contractor is legally bound together by a signed Contract by both parties, therefore the Contractor has no reason to worry to act against any unethical behavior and to be held down unless there are any breach of Contract.

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OBJECTIVES

Finding the unethical influence on contractor by Client/Client’s Representative

Exploring the effects on contractor by the Unethical behaviors of the client/Client’s Representative

Identifying the ways to outcome the unethical behavior of the client/Client’s Representative on an ethical manner using the contract document.

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METHODOLOGY

Before acting against the unethical behaviors of the client the reader should be knowledgeable about the relationship between a client and the contractor and how both of them meet also how they become Client and the Contractor. The contractor should have a good awareness of what is a contract document, the importance of a contract document, the legal aspects etc.

There are various Contract documents can be followed, the contractor and the client both should have a sound knowledge on contracts before choosing the appropriate contract to the appropriate project. In this study the Contract document I am willing to follow is “FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Building works and Engineering works Designed by the Employer”

Then it is to be discussed what are the unethical behaviors of the Client the disadvantages can cause by them the seriousness of the problem and how can it affect the contractor long-term and short-term also the limitations of the client, up to what extent the contractor can enforce the client and the method to follow without breaching the contract and affecting the contractor’s industrial reputation.

Finally even the contractor should stand for the unethical behaviors there should be a flexibility of any contractor towards the client. Therefore not every action by the client should be acted against, keeping the relationship healthy with client and the benefits of it is discussed at the end of the study.

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SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The study is done using the “FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Building works and Engineering works-Designed by the Employer” therefore the study is limited to the clauses and the conditions included in the FIDIC contract document.

The study is based on Literature review but I am expecting to do few interviews with personnel in the industry to collect data on the practical situations and to clarify what’s the client’s and contractor’s attitude towards each other.

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