The Contractor's Field Guide

Great book!! Very informative and explains why contractors are so aggressive with submitting change orders (and RFIs). This book articulates the fact that there is a great discrepancy and conflict between the standards that contractors are held to (performing the WORK, and warranting and guaranteeing the WORK) and the standard level of care that architects are legally obligated to deliver to the owner(s)(the client). The underlining message in this book is that owners who receive the majority of the long term benefits from a building project by accepting the lowest competitive bid are pushing off their risks onto the contractor and architect. They simply are not willing to pay the "real" cost of constriction and contractors who must remain competitive can bid only "what they see" in the contract documents; in other words, owners want free work by accepting the lowest (unrealistic) bid. This book helps contractors who are in a competitive (lowest) bid environment get compensated for the "real" WORK performed or "real" cost of construction after they are awarded the contract. The other message in this book is that the design-bid-build project delivery system should never be used unless there is a construction project contingency of 10% to 15% included in the owner's budget. This book is a must read for any owner or architect who wants to understand the nature of change orders, unwarranted RFIs, project cost overruns and conflicts on a design-bid-build project.