Courts Or Conference Rooms? Choosing Your Construction Dispute Battlefield

Disputes are always a risk in construction, and you may make decisions about how to resolve them years before any conflict arises. These decisions can significantly affect cost, timeline, and outcome. Pull out your current form contract or a recent project agreement and ask yourself these questions before you continue reading:

• Does your dispute resolution clause call for arbitration, litigation, or something else?
• Do your downstream or design contract dispute resolution provisions mirror those in the document?
• If a dispute arose tomorrow involving an owner, contractor, designer, subcontractor, and/or surety, could you bring everyone into a single proceeding?
• Do you know the difference in cost and time for claims in court versus claims in arbitration?