Reference no: EM133133090

BCEE493 Legal Issues In Construction - Concordia University

QUESTION 1
You are an owner and hired an Architect to provide you with an Architectural design and then a structural Engineer to design your building. They collaborated and agreed on the concept and design and respected the scope of the project; the plans and specifications were completed. You proceeded and hired a general contractor to build the project.
(Just so there are no dilemmas, there was no tendering process; the project was given by invitation)
The Contractor realized that the site conditions may be more challenging compared to information and report originally supplied and outlined on the plans and specs and will therefor require additional costs.
The contractor comes to you to ask you that he will be requiring extras and you as an Owner are refusing to pay. All the contracts, for all parties were on a fixed price basis.
Now what?
Briefly describe:
a) The Architects and Engineer's responsibilities and obligations
b) The General Contractor's responsibilities and obligations
c) The Owner's responsibilities and obligations

QUESTION 2
Taking a twist to question 1, assuming the owner was the City of Laval. These are the differences from question 1:
- The contractor was the successful bidder and was awarded the contract & it was not a Design-Build
- The Architect and the Engineer on this project were employees of the city

a) Would the obligations, responsibilities, of the contractor be different?
b) The Architect & Engineer are the mandatories of the city, responsible for design, project management & supervision, does this change their responsibilities?

QUESTION 3
You are a contractor and for your most recent project, you are faced with extremely difficult clients. They are imposing, have no competence or understanding in construction, they try to interfere in the work site and attempt to impose methods of work that are contrary to the rules of art.
In your practice, you are familiar with Article 2119 C.C.Q. You understand that this article, is accessible to you and it allows you, the contractor, to evade responsibility by proving that defects resulting from decisions imposed by the client in, among other things, the choice of construction methods.
Q: Would this article in the Civil Code apply in this case, as you are facing with these clients, should any defects arise?

QUESTION 4
For any given construction project, an incomplete set of drawings and specifications (Called the Contract Documents) are a source of risk to Owners, Consultants and Contractors.
a) Identify what are the potential risks for each of the parties, the Owners, the Consultants, and the Contractors?
b) If there was no choice and each of the stakeholders had to work with incomplete drawings, in what ways can they anticipate mitigating potential damages and losses?

QUESTION 5:
Under the Civil Code of Quebec, Articles 6, 7 and 1375, the entering and performance of contracts must be carried out in "Good faith".
The cases we have discussed in class have looked at this issue in both an expansive and a restricted way; each case has been uniquely decided and many generalized principles have been born and have become the backbone support arguments, used as jurisprudence for construction cases being tried.
Q: In your opinion, if you had to pick just one case that you would say is the most effective to use, which would it be and why?

QUESTION 6:
Contract A is formed when a contractor submits a compliant bid in response to an invitation to tender. The principal terms of Contract A are the irrevocability of the tender during the acceptance period provided for in the "request for tenders (RFT)", and the obligation of both parties, if the tender is accepted, to enter into a contract (Contract B), on the terms set out in the RFT. The obligation of the parties to enter into Contract B arises from Contract A and is not dependent upon communication of the acceptance from the owner to the contractor."
a) What events give rise to a contract under an invitation to tender?
b) And if a contract arises, does it oblige the Owners and the bidders to always enter Contract B-the building contract, or could you see any exceptions?
c) In you opinion, would you change this principle, and why?

QUESTION 7:
This course dealt with legal issues in construction, we discussed laws, regulations, standard practice codes, the various court systems, and jurisdictions. More importantly, we dealt with many cases that brought to light some of the real issues in the construction industry and you saw how various issues were dealt with in the court system. During your employment, you will undoubtedly have to face complex situations, challenging your obligations as a professional

Q: All the questions below are inter-connected and should be a part of one answer
After taking this class, what are some of your take-aways, i.e., some of the key items that have impacted you and your opinions? how do you see yourself facing an issue now, compared to how your outlook was in January? And what factors would now shape your actions and decisions?

Attachment:- Legal Issues in Construction.rar