JCA have noticed an increase in projects progressing to Arbitration due to disputes over late project completion over the last 12 months. We beleive that many of these projects, in the past, most probably would not have escalated to such dispute level.

With a lack of resources, both contractor’s and client’s designers/superintendants, have had their work cut out to complete works in the nominated timeframe. Although JCA try NOT to get involved in the legitimacy of the claims, we do provide independant analysis of the effect of delay events on critical path/completion.

We wonder whether the current global financial crisis (fall out from SubPrime Loans) will increase these delays risks and occurence of time related disputes. One thought is, that as companies try to find savings in expenditure and cut costs (such as employment costs), that their ability to resource projects effectively may be further punished. We have already seen anecdotal evidence that business’s are holding off on employing new personnel (even though they have needed additional staff and continue to need additional staff).

Only time will tell of course!