Description:

As every project manager in construction business has to be a contract manager at the same time, understanding the contract - respectively contracting in general - is a must. Course of Construction Contracting is oriented on current business practices and methods, management techniques and understanding general legal principles, codes and regulations. It is about doing business in construction using standard procurement systems and applying given types of contracts, respectively standard contracts (e.g. FIDIC). Lectures are based on the real practice experience of both course's lecturers and various case studies are studied and solved in the course.

Contents:

1. Basics of Contract Law
2. The Parties to Construction-related Prime Contracts
3. Contract General Conditions: Provisions to Review Checklists
4. Typical Construction Contract Clauses
5. Understanding Construction Contract, Bonding, and Insurance
6. Procurement Systems
6. Why Contractors Fail
7. Contract Startup and Completion, Site and General Requirements, Subsurface Conditions
8. Contract´s Red flags, Inspection of Works, Rejected Works and Deficiencies, Changes
9. Standard Contracts
10-11. FIDIC standards - RED Book (D-B-B) and Yellow Book (D-B) case studies
12. Financing and Contract Payments
13. Arbitration and Claims; recap

Seminar contents:

Practicing the lectures' contents; solving case studies using FIDIC contracts, etc.

Recommended literature:

R.Clough et al.: Construction Contracting: Practical Guide to Company Management, Wiley, 8th.ed, 2015, ISBN13: 978-1118693216

L.Holm: 101 Case Studies in Construction Management, Routledge; 1st.ed., 2018, ISBN-13: 978-0815361985

FIDIC: Construction Contract 2nd Ed (2017 Red Book), 2017, ISBN13: 978-2-88432-084-9

Keywords:

construction contract, contract law, business practice

Abbreviations used:

Semester:

• W ... winter semester (usually October - February)
• S ... spring semester (usually March - June)
• W,S ... both semesters

Mode of completion of the course:

• A ... Assessment (no grade is given to this course but credits are awarded. You will receive only P (Passed) of F (Failed) and number of credits)
• GA ... Graded Assessment (a grade is awarded for this course)
• EX ... Examination (a grade is awarded for this course)
• A, EX ... Examination (the award of Assessment is a precondition for taking the Examination in the given subject, a grade is awarded for this course)

Weekly load (hours per week):

• P ... lecture
• C ... seminar
• L ... laboratory
• R ... proseminar
• S ... seminar