Please check our published article about what really drives construction projects and may lead to litigation if not handle properly. I call it “The undisclosed factors”.

The main message of this article is that the human factor and personalities are big factors in managing Construction Projects.

We often hear about various problems that take place on construction projects. Most common problems; a bad set of plans, a Contractor not performing well, Delays, Unforeseen conditions, change orders etc.…. These are legitimate and real issues that we have to deal with.

However, I would like to talk about the undisclosed causes that often contribute to the problems and disputes. These are factors that the project team often do not disclose or admit they exist. This is what I am referring to as the “undisclosed factors”.

Construction project teams include a wide variety of people including but not limited to Architects, Owners, Construction Managers, Inspectors, Community members, City officials, General contractors, Subcontractors and sometimes more parties.

If we assume that the measure of success for all these people is the success of the project, shouldn’t you logically assume that this common goal is enough to make everyone work together and help each other out? Obviously, that is not the case a lot of times. Often we get disputes and claims. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons to these conflicts and sometimes it is because of the “undisclosed factors”. Please read on.

Many years ago, I was working as a Project Manager for a General Contractor. We were at one of our weekly site meetings discussing a construction problem that needed a resolution. All of the above mentioned parties were present at that time. Each one contributed their feedback to resolve the problem, and gradually the atmosphere became tense and adversarial. While I was silently listening to the various proposed solutions, I was privately thinking “The solution to this problem is so simple and I can get it done if only these people will leave us alone and go back to their offices”. I went on to think “why are they complicating this issue?” Well, this is when I realized that each one has a different agenda, a different set of fears and liabilities, and each one is trying to push a solution that fit his/her agenda, not necessarily the best solution to the problem.

On another project, I saw an inspector giving one of the subcontractors an unusual tough time to pass the requested inspection. They almost got into a fist fight. I later took the inspector to the side and asked him why! His answer was not technical or referring to a specification section, despite the fact that the loud argument was all about specs and plans. His answer was simply, this sub doesn’t talk to me with respect.

Sometimes, conflicts on site arise because of personality conflicts between the parties. Again, no one admits that but instead, they look through the contract documents to find clauses that may give their position a contractual justification if interpreted a certain way.

Most of those people do not admit the above; instead, the conflict grows larger. That is why I call them the “undisclosed factors”.

Managing a construction project requires a skill in managing personalities and characters of the involved parties in addition the required technical knowledge.

Relationship counselors often teach that when you enter in a relationship with a person you’re taking in the person plus what they call “baggage”, which is all his/her background, flaws, strengths and pasts. The same applies to the project’s team that just met and has to interact with each other on a daily basis for the duration of the project. Perhaps project specifications should allocate a budget for a relationship psychologist. A wild idea, but it may help save money by having fewer claims.

I have managed a lot of projects through my career from both sides, the Contractor’s and the Owner’s. What I concluded is that to have a smooth running project, there is no substitute for building relationships based on fairness, flexibility, focusing on solving problems rather than placing blame, being practical and promote what works. All parties have money at risk. Make sure that all parties are profitable.

I certainly don’t mean to paint a bad picture about the professionals managing projects. In fact, through my career I had the good fortune to interact with more good helpful professionals than the ones described above. I can write a whole new article citing examples of great inspectors, architects and construction managers that helped me resolve problems and got projects to a successful completion. I’m simply trying to raise awareness about the above factors that do exist and should be kept in perspective.