| dc.description.abstract | In construction contracting, both the owner and the contractor are protected under the contract law. Due to disparity of economic standing and perception of risks, the owner often has more to lose than the contractor does, should the contractual relationship be unexpectedly terminated. Many a contractual mechanism is so purposely designed to protect the owner, including various bonds, allocation of risks and insurance, award deductions, liquidation damages, and procedural restrictions for progress and payment. Contractor pre-qualification is also a powerful means adopted to protect owner’s project success.
After the commencement of construction, the owner protection mechanisms, which take the form of contract provisions, are enforceable only when the conditions hold true at any given timeframe. Unfortunately, this may not be the case in general. Both external conditions, including those relevant to the contractor, and internal conditions, in particular those related to construction progress, will vary. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the effectiveness of such mechanisms routinely and make necessary contractual adjustments if conditions turn against the owner.
This work investigates the scope and content of owner protection mechanism in construction. Both literature review and expert interviews were conducted to establish the basis of analysis. A set of factors is identified as critical to owner protection. Eigenvector Method is employed upon these factor, with experts’ opinion, to generate relative weights among them. Fuzzy Sets Theory is introduced to formulate an analytic model for evaluating the overall protection gained by the owner. Recommendations are given to how this simple model can be incorporated into the procedure of contract management. | en_US |